Serena found it hard to sleep, even though she knew that she needed the rest in order to be able to properly treat Bernie and the other doctors that she had been working with. Still, she woke up feeling much more refreshed than the previous day, since she had a renewed hope now that Bernie was in her life once more. It didn't really matter that she had no idea how the other woman would react to her presence in Africa, in the country that she had fled to get away from Serena and her cheating, because Bernie was alive and able to be with her children once more. Looking over, she saw that Charlotte was still fast asleep, one leg splayed out from under the sheet as she quietly snored.
Chuckling a little, she got up from the cot and hurriedly changed into fresh clothes, deciding to forego the boots she had worn the previous day and stepping into sandals before heading outside the tent. Shermarke was brewing coffee over the fire, and she gave him a grateful look as she stumbled over to the fire and took a seat on the ground next to him. "I did not expect to see you up so early after the night we had, Doctor Campbell."
"I got as much sleep as I could, but I have important tasks to carry out before we can head back in to the city, and the sooner I can get them done, the faster we'll be on the road to safety. But I truly have to thank you for doing this for me, for us. You didn't have to go out on a limb and risk your life like you did for my partner and her children. And I'm certain that the other two doctors, their families will be just as grateful."
"Sometimes you have to take that risk in order to bring about a good outcome for everyone. And it has been nice getting to know you as you and the children have been so kind. I hope that the three people we rescued last night will be all right."
"That's what I'm hoping, too." Serena accepted the tin cup of coffee from his hands and wrapped her own around it, allowing the warmth to bleed into her skin. After taking a small sip, she let out a contented sigh before looking over to the tent where they had placed the three doctors last night. Everyone had been so kind in giving up cots for them, along with extra blankets and pillows. "I should probably start looking them over, since it will be quite the journey back to the city."
"We can cut off a lot of time, now that we don't have to be so secretive and can take the main roads back. But we should leave as soon as possible, just in case the rebels do figure out what happened."
Serena nodded as she got to her feet and went over to the impromptu hospital tent. It didn't surprise her to see that Cameron was also up early, though he looked a little more bleary eyed than she felt as he stumbled his way over to her side. "Morning, Serena. Will you need some help with this?"
"That would be nice, since we can get everyone seen that much quicker. I just…neither of us should truly work on your mother, but there's no other doctor here. So, we're going to save her for last and work on her together, so that we can check each other's work. All right? I know that it will be hard to not focus on her, since she was the impetus for us to come here, but it wouldn't be fair to the other doctors."
Cameron dipped his chin in agreement, though she could see from the look on his face that he wasn't entirely in agreement with her decision. Still, they went into the tent together as the camp around them began to stir. "I'll take the man, if you want to look over the woman?" he asked as he looked around at the patients, and Serena readily agreed, knowing that it would be the most comfortable for everyone involved. After sanitizing her hands with what was on hand, Serena pulled on some disposable gloves and began to look the woman over. There were a few scrapes and bruises on her extremities, but there didn't appear to be any truly serious wounds. After applying a few plasters to the worst of the scrapes, she gently shook the woman's shoulder to wake her, giving her a soft smile as she came to wakefulness, a scared look on her face.
"Where am I?"
"Somewhere safe. We rescued you late last night, and I need to ask if there are any other wounds that I need to treat. And being a doctor, I know that you'll try to underplay everything, but I need to know if there would be anything that would hinder you from being moved in an hour or so."
The woman nodded as she tried to sit up, wincing a little as she put weight on her left hand. "I think that there's something wrong with my wrist. I had hoped that it would be better by now, but there might be a hairline fracture."
Serena gave her a small smile as she tried to manipulate the wrist as gently as she could, seeing that there was some tenderness there, but it wasn't swollen too badly, and she bandaged it to keep it immobile. "I'm Serena Campbell, by the way."
"I actually sort of figured that you were. Bernie couldn't stop talking about how her partner would most likely be the one to come find her, since there was no way that she would accept Bernie being dead, no matter what anyone might tell her."
Serena teared up as she looked over at Bernie's still form and cleared her throat, trying not to start crying then and there. "I surprised that she would think of me as faithful after everything I put her through," she finally managed to choke out, and the other doctor gave her a wry smile. "What?"
"If you weren't faithful, you wouldn't have followed after her into this place and risked your life to save hers and ours. I think that you might have been a little harder on yourself than she has been. Hopefully, Bernie will wake up soon so that she knows that you really were the one to save us all."
Serena cocked her head to one side as she glanced over at her beloved and then back at the woman she was treating. "What do you mean?"
"She was struck in the temple with the butt of one of the men's guns, and hasn't woken up since it happened. But now that you're here, you can make everything better."
"I'm not a miracle worker," she murmured as she finished up working on the woman and then made her way over to Bernie's bedside. Cameron joined her moments later, and she nodded to him as she delicately began to probe Bernie's head with her fingers, easily coming across a large goose egg that lent credence to the other woman's story.
"What is it?" Cameron asked as he treated the wounds visible on his mother's legs.
"Your mother might have a concussion. I'm going to want to get her back to Holby as soon as possible, so that one of our doctors can look her over." Cameron nodded as he finished up with what he was working on before reaching up and grabbing hold of his mother's hand, squeezing it tightly. "I hope that she'll be okay. We travelled all this way to find her that to lose her before she's home would just be too cruel."
"Life is never kind, Cameron, it just offers us moments of softness amidst the strife and sorrow. At least we'll have this moment with her, our chance to say goodbye, if she doesn't ever wake up. I want to be optimistic, so desperately, but I have to be realistic, too. My training as a doctor has grounded me a bit too much, I fear."
"I'll be the optimist, then, Serena. You can focus on the grounded reality and make her better with the skills you can utilize here."
She nodded and gave him a small smile before reaching out and caressing his hair lightly. Bernie gave a slight jerk, which caused them both to jump and look at her, but there were no further movements from her. Serena let out a disconsolate sigh as she got to her feet and exited the tent where the patients were, and stalked over to the food tent, knowing that Shermarke would be there. "I need to make a call home. Is there somewhere I can do that?"
He nodded and handed her a satellite phone. "The reception should be good outside. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, I just need to make that call. If you want to load the patients into the back of one of the trucks will I do that, I'll have Cameron tell Charlotte to get all my things packed up."
"Very good, Doctor Campbell." He gave her a tight smile before leaving her presence, and she took a deep breath as she dialed Henrik's number from memory, praying that he would pick up quickly, and help her to arrange the most important flight of her life.
