Berenice 'Bernie' Wolfe sighed and looked up from the stack of paperwork she'd spent the best part of the morning working through. She hated paperwork and often left it as long as possible before completing it, however it was an unusually quiet day on AAU and she had found herself with nothing to do and so she had conceded defeat. At the very least she could hope to plough through the lot and make her escape to Albie's with Serena in the next hour or so for a much needed glass of Shiraz.

Looking over to Serena Campbell's much more orgnanised desk (tidying was also something Bernie put off, much to the dismay of her officemate) she could see that Serena was having more luck with her own stack of paperwork, having completed nearly all of it. Other than the pen moving swiftly between her slender manicured fingers, Serena's appearance was the epitome of calmness, she didn't appear at all troubled by the effort of two hours of tedious paperwork completion.

As Bernie watched her work, she began to remember back to the first time they met, just six months ago...

***Walking in to JimmyNJudies, the only 'gay bar' in the tiny town that had been chosen for Lucinda's hen do, Bernie glanced around with a sense of trepidation. This wasn't her first time in a place like this, she often visited a quiet little spot with Alex whenever she could when she was home on leave. Marcus had never questioned the girls nights out, seeing it as a chance to let her hair down a bit- away from the horrors of Afghan and the difficulties she sometimes had settling back into home life. "More fool him for thinking its civilian life I'm struggling with, if only I was brave enough to tell him that he's the problem..."

Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts she looked across to the bar, if she was going to enjoy the night with this rowdy bunch of girls that she hardly knew- "why did they invite me anyway, its years since I've seen Luce, we've hardly been close..."- she'd need a couple of glasses of Shiraz...

Suddenly she lost track of all thought as her eyes fell on the brunette sat at the end of the bar, looking a little bewildered and nervous. The woman, Bernie thought, was about her age, sophisticated and had clearly never set foot through the door of a 'gay bar' before in her life. For some unknown reason, something compelled Bernie to go over.

She caught the barman's eye as she approached the bar, "large glass of Shiraz please" and as he laid it on the bar she paid and turned towards the brunette.

"First time?"

"Hmm? Is it that obvious?" The brunette laughed, a sweet hearty laugh. One that pulled at something deep inside Bernie. She smiled.

"You look absolutely terrified, like a deer caught in the headlights."

"Ha, yes, well, I must say I am rather out of my comfort zone if I'm honest. A friend suggested it but she's been unable to join me, something she only managed to let me know ten minutes ago, and so now I'm sat here looking a bit lost and wondering how best to finish this bottle of wine to myself and leave without looking totally pathetic..."

"Ah Shiraz" smiled Bernie, catching sight of the label, "well there's something I might be able to help you with as long as you don't mind? That way you don't have to look pathetic at all and I have an excuse to shake off the ridiculous hen party that I've been talked into just to appease my husband..."

"Husband? Oh so you're not gay?... Sorry that's rude, absolutely none of my business."

"No, no don't worry, yes there is a husband, its... Well, its complicated if I'm honest."

"Where there's a husband involved it usually is" she winked as she held out her hand, "I'm Serena, by the way, Serena Campbell, and yes you are more than welcome to join me."

"Thanks". Bernie smiled. "I'm Berenice Wolfe, though Bernie is just fine."

"I'll say." Serena mumbled and she raised her glass to her lips.

An hour or so and a couple of glasses of wine between them, Serena and Bernie were getting along like two lifelong friends. The hen party had long since left and Serena was just ordering another bottle of Shiraz when Bernie excused herself to pop to the loo. Looking at herself in the mirror above the hand washing sinks, she smiled to herself. It had been a long time since she'd felt this drawn to anyone. Sure Marcus had excited her once upon a time, but they both knew deep down that their marriage these days was more one of convenience for the sake of the kids. Long gone were the days of spending her 'R&R' holed up in bed romping away until the early hours.

Then there was Alex... Alex was special in the way that she'd helped Bernie really explore the other side of her sexuality. Sure there had been women before her, but Alex gave her the first proper 'relationship' that she'd had with a woman. "Relationship" thought Bernie, "its hardly even that really, away from Afghan we're more like friends. Even if Marcus wasn't around, I'm sure its more the loneliness of Afghanistan and the length of the tours that keeps pulling us together..."

She reapplied her lipstick in the mirror.

This Serena was something else entirely. Bernie wasn't even sure if she was even gay, or had ever thought about it, "But she's here, that means something surely?" Either way she was determined to enjoy whatever time she could get with her.

Smoothing down her blouse she gave herself one last look in the mirror and headed back out to find Serena.

Serena was sitting at the bar, holding her glass in her delicate fingers, wondering about the beautiful blonde woman she'd spent the last hour talking to with great ease. Questioning her sexuality wasn't something Serena had done until recently. It began sometime after she divorced Edward. It wasn't that she'd always thought of herself as 'straight', sure, she had always found women attractive, it was more that she had never had an opportunity to explore it further. She had met Edward just before graduating from medical college, they dated for a few months and married. In time came Elinor and they had all settled into family life. It was only during a long chat with an old friend after the divorce, "and maybe a couple of bottles of Shiraz" thought Serena, that the idea of exploring her sexuality really became something that she felt ready to do. Now here she was, sitting in a bar with the one of the most attractive women Serena had ever laid her eyes on, and she wasn't quite sure what she was going to do.

As Bernie seated herself back at the bar, Serena turned to her and smiled.

"So Bernie, tell me a bit more about you. What do you do?"

"Well actually" replied Bernie, "I'm currently on leave from Afghanistan, I'm an army medic. What about you?"

"Oh a big macho army medic are we?" She smiled again, Bernie couldn't help but laugh, a deep husky laugh that caused Serena's breath to catch in her throat- what was that feeling in her chest just then?! "Well that tops mine, I'm the head of AAU at Holby City Hospital, I'm sure its not half as exciting as the things you get to see but it keeps me on my toes nonetheless!"

"Oh trust me" grinned Bernie, "exciting isn't all its cracked up to be, some days I'd kill for the resources that you have in hospital."

"Well then, I guess we are equals after all.." Serena winked as she drained her glass. As she caught sight of her watch she gasped and grabbed the grey cardigan hanging on the back of her chair.

"I'm so sorry Bernie, I hadn't realised the time, I've got an important board meeting in the morning and I absolutely cannot be late! I really must go! Thank you though, for joining me and stopping me drinking alone, I really have had a lovely time!"

Bernie felt her stomach sink. "Must you really go?"

"I'm so sorry, I have to. Maybe we'll bump into each other again?"

Bernie sighed, "I hope so Serena, although it might be a while, I'm back in Afghan on Tuesday for my last tour, I'm not home for six months."

"Well then" smiled Serena, "you'll have to look me up and we can have a catch up over a bottle of Shiraz!"

Bernie laughed, "That... that would be nice."

"Great, come and find me up when you get out, I'll hold you to it." And with that, Serena surprised herself as much as she surprised Bernie as she leant forward and gently placed a kiss against the blonde woman's lips before turning and leaving the bar.

Bernie barely noticed her leave, sitting at the bar in a daze she gently touched her fingers to her lips and smiled.***

"Bern, you nearly finished?" Enquired Serena as she signed off on the last part of her paperwork. Lifting her eyes from where she had just scrawled her signature she looked across at the blonde she shared her office with and found her seemingly lost in thought with her fingers to her lips. In that moment she knew exactly what Bernie was thinking about, she had thought back to that evening many times, especially the novel way that Bernie has managed to 'look her up' afterwards as she had promised she would. Although Serena highly doubted that she had intended to get herself critically injured in the first place, it had taken somewhat of a miracle for Bernie to have been brought to Holby to be treated after her accident.

Neither had mentioned that night since they'd started working together, especially after Bernie's girlfriend/lover/whatever she was, had turned up and sent Bernie's marriage into the divorce courts. It was like a shared secret. There were occasional lingering looks and every now and again Serena would say something that would make Bernie's eyes light up in recognition of something that she had said that night, but other than that their relationship was purely platonic. "Well, apart from that back rub..." Serena smiled to herself.

Drawn out of her thoughts by Serena's question Bernie shook her head slightly, "hmm, what?"

"I said are you nearly done?" chuckled Serena, "Its been rather a long day what with all this paperwork and I quite fancy a drink!"

Bernie looked down at the half a pile of paperwork she still had to complete. "Bugger it" she thought, "it'll wait!"

She nodded to Serena, "Albie's?"

"I'll get my coat!"