Serena had fought her way through a complicated surgery, only to learn that her patient had died on the ward. There was nothing she could have done to prevent the outcome, but it didn't make it any easier to swallow. The family, thankfully, understood that there was no blame to place; even going so far as to thank her for everything she had done to save their relative.
She had retreated to the office to complete paperwork, burying herself in work to forget about everything else. There was sympathy in the eyes of her colleagues; no doubt they were thinking about Elinor, comparing her death to the poor young woman she had failed to save that morning. There was no comparison in Serena's mind; her daughter had died because she'd been stupid enough to take drugs while Caroline Winters had died because she'd been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and a truck had ploughed into her car. She hadn't stood a chance, when the surgeon thought about it logically, whatever she'd done to try and prevent the inevitable outcome.
However, if one more person sent her the look that clearly showed that they pitied her, the consultant thought she might actually scream in their face. Letting out a long, deep breath that she wasn't sure she knew she'd been holding, Serena turned her full attention to the computer screen in front of her. If she was stuck in the office then she might as well complete some of the paperwork she'd been avoiding. Maybe then she'd make it home earlier than expected. She owed her girlfriend at least one date night for all the times she'd had to take rain checks recently.
Mentally patting herself on the back as she finished the latest report on waiting times on AAU, Serena heard a knock on the office door. Expecting Raf with the test results from her suspected appendicitis patient, she called out for whoever was outside to enter, opening a blank email and attaching the report. She was just typing Hanssen's email address into the bar at the top when she heard a familiar, but completely unexpected, voice. It was so out of place that it took Serena a couple of moments to realise that she wasn't imagining it.
"Emily?"
"Oh, hey, Ms Campbell." The younger woman greeted her girlfriend with a grin, sending her a cheeky wink. She made absolutely no reference to her unexpected appearance on AAU or the fact that she was addressing her so formally. "Got some files for you from the ED."
"You… files… what?"
Grinning delightedly at the surgeon's complete confusion, Emily nodded and handed over the folders in her hands. Serena took them wordlessly, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to understand what was happening. The twenty-one-year old standing in front of her dressed in, very well-fitting, pale green scrubs was undoubtedly her girlfriend but, as far as she was concerned, there was no logical reason for Emily to be dressed in such a way and standing in her office.
"I got a job!" Emily replied to the unasked question that was hanging between them, grinning proudly. "I didn't tell you before in case I didn't get it. But I did, so… I'm Holby's newest Health Care Assistant."
"What?" Walking past Emily, Serena pulled the door closed quickly, before turning on her girlfriend seriously. "What's going on?"
"I needed to find a job and… well, it was Jason's idea, really." Emily said, chewing her lip. She was suddenly starting to worry that, yet again, she'd accidentally done something to really piss the older woman off. The way Serena was staring at her didn't exactly fill her with reassurance. "He saw the ad for the HCA job and thought I should go for it. He said he never thought he'd enjoy being a porter so much until he did it and he thought I'd be really good at this." She shrugged. "If it's a problem I can jack it in and try and find something else."
"No, I… it was a bit of a shock, that's all. I didn't think you had any interest in medicine?"
"Well, I'm not going to say this is my dream job. Like I said, Jason persuaded me to give it a go. I probably would have even considered it if he hadn't twisted my arm. But I might as well give it a try and if it doesn't work out I can think of something else."
Catching sight of the name on the tag pinned to her scrubs, Serena's hand shot out and caught the card deftly, pulling Emily towards her and forcing her to stand still. Emily took the opportunity to situate herself between her girlfriend's legs, her hands running up the older woman's thighs to settle on her hips, squeezing gently. The older woman looked at the nametag for a moment, before arching an eyebrow at her smirking girlfriend.
"Really?"
"Well, if my mother can work here as Bernie Wolfe, I'm sure I'm allowed to be Emily Wolfe."
"Technically I think that was because she was working undercover for UNIT…"
Emily shrugged. "Whatever. I've got the nametag, it's fine."
"It's not, so we'll have to get it changed, ASAP." Serena informed her sternly. I'm not having people thinking my girlfriend has a doppelgänger running around!"
"You're OK with me working here, then?" The younger woman asked nervously, as though dreading the answer. She took an uncertain step backwards, her hands dropping from Serena's hips.
"I'm not sure working in such close proximity–"
Emily sent her a lopsided grin. "I'm not working on AAU; I'm not completely stupid. I'm up on Darwin. Cardiothoracics are fascinating."
"Darwin?" Serena's eyes almost dropped out of her head. "You're on Darwin?"
"Yes… Darwin. As in old Charlie, father of evolutionary theory."
"You're on Darwin with Jac Naylor?"
Emily grinned, a delighted giggle escaping her as she remembered her first meeting with the fearsome redhead. "That woman is hilarious."
"Don't let her catch you saying that." Serena cautioned. "And behave… do not give her any reason to report you or–"
"It'll be fine," Emily flapped a hand dismissively at her girlfriend, "I'll melt the ice queen. She's gonna love me by the end of the week, trust me." Glancing at the time, she shrugged. "I'd better get back. Catch you later, babe."
"Oh god." Serena sank into her chair and put her head in her hands as soon as the door closed behind Emily, wondering just how long it would be before Jac Naylor was on the warpath and she was on the wrong end of it.
