Chapter Text
Serena didn’t believe in miracles. She hardly believed in Christmas, but loved to celebrate it with food, wine, and presents.
She was alone as Bernie was on a tour in Vietnam. She never went that far west, but something in her said to go. She knew she wouldn’t be able to come back for Christmas and it made her sad because she always spent Christmas with Serena.
It was getting scary in the Asian country and Bernie knew she had to be extra careful. They were stationed in Ho Chi Minh City, where it was the most intense. Luckily, she was in battle, but she was close enough that something could happen if they weren’t careful. She was in charge of taking the worst trauma patients, but they weren’t far from where all the action was. She had to treat each soldier as quickly as possible because more were coming in by the minute.
It was a week before Christmas, and Bernie was exhausted. She just wanted a break. It seemed she saw the same 5 cases, but somehow they were all different. Having to treat severely injured soldiers while gunfire and explosions happened half a mile away was intense. Normally, things like that didn’t bother Bernie, but now that she was with Serena, it affected her differently. Maybe it was time to retire. Maybe the army was just too much for her. Maybe she needed to be a civilian again.
Four days before Christmas, Bernie got the ok to go back to Holby for a week. She told her officer that she needed a break in order to be at the top of her game and he agreed. He could tell she needed time away. She needed Serena in her arms.
Bernie was just finishing up her last patient before she headed back to base to head to the airport, when an explosion hit 100 yards from the medical tent. She fell to the ground hard. When she tried to sit up, she looked down to see the scalpel that she had in her hand before, was no longer there. She felt around for it when she touched her abdomen and felt the instrument protruding out a tiny bit. It was deep in there. All she could do was breathe. She knew it was serious and didn’t want to lose consciousness.
One of the nurses that was helping her before, saw her laying there and went to get help. They got her out of the danger zone before assessing the wound. They knew they couldn’t remove the scalpel there, they weren’t trained and the only person that was capable was Bernie, and she definitely couldn’t do it to herself safely. They all agreed that she needed to be transferred to a hospital, so off she went.
Bernie remained conscious the whole time. She thought of Serena to keep her mind off of the situation. She knew Serena would be mad and scared and that she would have to keep her calm. She decided she wasn’t going to tell Serena until it was out because she knew she would be so on edge that she would try to fly to Vietnam.
She was taken to surgery and they removed the scalpel. By some miracle, it missed every organ in her abdomen. She was discharged the next day and was able to catch a flight back home.
When Serena arrived at Holby, she went straight to AAU to find Serena. She hadn’t told her that she was coming home, or that she had a scalpel removed from her. That probably wasn’t something that should be told over the phone.
Serena was so surprised to see Bernie, and that she had traveled from far away after just having surgery, but really it was pretty normal for Bernie to do stupid stuff like that.
They talked for a while in the office, before Serena went and told everyone she was leaving early to start her vacation. She was so happy that she wasn’t going to have to spend Christmas without Bernie.
When they got home, they sat on the couch and kissed. Serena broke apart and started crying. She was so emotional about the last hour. Seeing Bernie and hearing the news gave her mixed emotions, but all she could say was that it was a miracle. It was a miracle that Bernie was even alive, much less in front of her. They were going to make the best of the time they had together before Bernie had to go back again.