"It's Christmas Eve, Serena. Can't we allow Ruthie to open one gift?" Bernie wheedled, and Serena's sigh turned into a chuckle as she shook her head. "Why not?"
"We're not the Royal family, Berenice. We can wait to open our gifts on the proper day," she teased as she looked at her daughter, sleeping contentedly in Bernie's arms. "Besides, she's sound asleep now, why don't you just go put her in her crib and then come back to me?"
"All right," Bernie said as she gracefully rose to her feet and left the room. While she was gone, Serena topped up their wine glasses, finishing off the bottle, which she recorked and set to the side of the table before making herself comfortable in her corner of the sofa.
Bernie ambled back into the living room, and Serena smiled a little as her partner sank down onto the opposite end of the sofa, her feet automatically coming to rest in Serena's lap. "Did she fuss at all when you laid her down?"
"Not even a whimper," Bernie answered before she turned and grabbed her wine glass, taking a small sip from it before leaning her head back and staring up at the ceiling. "You know, I've been thinking."
"About what?" Serena asked as she began to softly rub Bernie's feet, turning her focus on her partner's face. A mix of emotions ran across Bernie's features as Serena watched, and she softly scratched the bottom of her foot to get her attention. "Bernie? What have you been thinking about?"
She cleared her throat a little before looking up, meeting her eye steadily. "The desert messes with your head. There's something about the stretches of sand that spread out in front of you, seeming to go on forever. In your mind, you know that that's not the truth, that there is an end, that there is somewhere green waiting for you when you have the opportunity to go home, or you're on leave, or you head to a different part of the country. But that's cold comfort to a suspicious heart.
"And the tales of things that happen in the desert slowly start to chip away at your surety of a rational, knowable, world. Once those tales start to get under your skin, to bleed into your soul, you start to see things where there might not be anything. You start to give credence to the ancient tales the speak of giant men who roam in the wilderness at night, killing anyone who is outside his home, when one of your group is found dead in the morning, and there's not been any hint of insurgents in the area."
"That much nothing would get to me, too," Serena murmured as she continued to rub Bernie's feet. "And I pride myself in thinking most rationally."
"I know, darling." Bernie drew in another deep breath. "But that's not the only thing, or even the largest thing. The Afghani people are very superstitious. Very. It took a lot of getting accustomed to while I was deployed there, since as a medic, I was working with the local populace as well, and so got to know them quite well. The largest thing that they would talk about where the djinn. How the djinn were always around you, and that they were harmless during the day, but you needed to take care wandering around at night." She trailed off before letting out a heavy sigh. "I guess, what I'm trying to say, is I can understand why you think she's a selkie child. And while the rational part of our brains try to deny it, there's something about the circumstances of her appearance that speak to us on that underlying part of our brain that we don't like to acknowledge."
Serena nodded, feeling a little more at ease with the whole situation, now that it seemed like Bernie was starting to see things a little more openly. "I try to convince myself that there more rational explanations for Ruthie, but…I'm just glad to know that you also know about the stories we only tell at night," she whispered before pushing Bernie's feet out of her lap and reaching over to grab her own wine glass. "When we've finished these, we should head up to bed. I want to spend some time exploring your body once more. I mean, you did get that opportunity with me last night…"
She let her voice trail off suggestively, watching Bernie give her a knowing smirk before she took a large sip of the wine. "Maybe I want to open a few presents tonight?" she said before licking her lips, Serena watching her closely the entire time. "I mean, we only have so much time together, before I go home, and you stay here."
The hangdog look in Bernie's eyes made her sigh lightly. "I wish that I was ready to be back at Holby, but there are demons that I still haven't put behind me yet. Ruth is helping with that, but there's still some work I need to do on myself before I can start to think of returning."
Bernie gave her a sad smile before getting to her feet and heading over to the tree. Serena couldn't help but stare at the curve of her bum as she knelt to pick up a present from the pile. She tilted her head to one side as she tried to figure out just what Bernie had in her hands, since it was so small. "Here, open this."
Serena took the small box from her partner's hands, watching as she sat down next to her once more. "What is this?" she murmured, looking between the box and Bernie.
"You need to open it to find out, Serena." The droll tone in her voice caused Serena to roll her eyes a little as she ran her thumbnail beneath the tape to break the seal. "Are you always this slow at opening presents?"
"Well, you don't want to rush something like this, darling. The best things in life should be savored. Wine, chocolate, gifts, you." She made certain to lower her voice an octave, knowing that the husky sound of it drove Bernie wild. And just like she had known, her partner began to blush deeply, even as her tongue darted out to lick her lips, deliberately provocative. As she shifted her hips a little, Serena pulled the paper off the small box and set it on the coffee table before taking a look at it.
"It's not going to bite."
"No, but I'm hoping that you are, later." They both giggled at her ribald comment, and then Serena flipped open the lid to reveal the last thing she had expected. "Bernie?"
"I know the necklace that you always wear was given to you by your father, and that you might not want to exchange it for another, but I saw this and thought of you and Elinor, and how you'll always hold her close to your heart, how she'll forever be your baby."
Bright tears flooded her eyes, and she nodded a little as she closed the box and leaned forward, wrapping her free arm around Bernie, pulling her into a tight hug before claiming her lips in a crushing kiss. "I love you so much, Bernie. And I don't know what I ever did to deserve you in my life."
