Chapter Text
Serena Campbell stretched lazily beneath the luxurious duvet, savouring the cosy haven which bordered the realms of sleep and wakefulness. It had been an unusually early night for her, retiring to bed early following the humiliation of having to ring the local police yet again regarding the disappearance of her car, only have to inform them that the missing vehicle now also contained a laptop which held numerous pieces of sensitive information with regards to local hospital staff and patients.
A familiar pair of chocolate eyes stared adoringly at her from the other pillow, a mess of golden curls spread lazily across the Egyptian cotton sheets.
Her blissful nirvana was rudely interrupted by a strong odour (which could only be described as fishy in origin) hitting Serena squarely in the nostrils. A warm tongue made contact with her bare cheek and began licking in earnest.
A pair of dark eyes snapped open abruptly as she jolted into consciousness.
“Teddy…” a threatening growl escaped from between gritted teeth.
“Off! Get off!” she gasped in horror as she sat bolt upright to survey the inevitable carnage which greeted her.
Her new housemate wagged his tail so hard that he nearly catapulted himself off the mattress in his giddy enthusiasm.
“Bloody marvellous.” Serena tutted grimly as she hauled herself into a sitting position and surveyed the interior slaughter scene that one small, yet very determined animal had managed to create in mere seconds.
Jason was not going to appreciate this any more than she did. She could already predict the impending meltdown that would happen when the door opposite hers on the landing swung open at precisely 8:15AM if the damage to the corridor was on a par of that inflicted upon her poor bedroom.
This morning’s shredded offering, the ultimate pièce de résistance of gnawed perfection had been placed with fastidious accuracy at the very bottom of her bed. Today’s masterpiece was the remains of one of the blasted high heels that her fashion forward daughter had insisted that she wear on her last crusade towards achieving the coveted CEO position.
“God...” she groaned and slumped sideways, burying her face into the cool satin embrace of the pillowcase.
She pondered just exactly where her life had gone so drastically wrong of late that she was now distinctly single, suspended from work pending enquiry and now forced to play hostess to quite possibly the worst behaved animal in the entire world.
Her furry nightmare had started a mere thirty-six hours ago when her daughter Elinor had arrived on the doorstep, the idling engine of her Volkswagen Golf sat on the driveway behind her indicating that this indeed was a flying visit.
“You do know that our Amalfi coast trip is next week?” Serena’s right eyebrow was already quirked at a dangerous angle as she took in the small suitcase sat at her daughter’s side.
In a simpering expression that was purely drawn from the genetic contributions of her scheming father, Elinor had proceeded to hitch a broad smile onto her face before rapidly starting to extol the virtues of an unexpected fieldtrip abroad that had arisen as an opportunity through her journalism course.
“So, maybe we could just, possibly, rearrange it for another time…” her voice had stilled at the expression on her mother’s face. “It’s such an amazing opportunity Mum, one that won’t happen again…”
“Yep. Of course. Absolutely.” Serena had swallowed tightly. “Studies come first.” She had managed to bite back the vicious retort that she had longed to throw at her fickle daughter in her disappointment. Don’t make things any wobblier than they already are, she had chided herself inwardly.
It was only when Elinor had stepped forward and thrown her arms around her in a tight hug that she had softened momentarily. Hugs were indeed a rarity nowadays, sincere or otherwise.
“So, the suitcase?” she had asked pointedly as they broke apart.
“Oh, that’s the other thing…” three short strides to the rear of the car and a hyperactive ball of furry energy shot past Serena and promptly slid the length of the immaculately polished wooden hallway in a flurry of scrabbling claws.
“Meet Teddy! Isn’t he sweet? Could-you-look-after-him-whilst-I’m-away-thanks-very-much-bye.”
Thankfully for the slightly more sensitive dispositions amongst her neighbours in leafy suburbia, Serena’s incensed shouts of rage had been predominantly masked by the loud revving of an engine and screech of tyres as her daughter disappeared at breakneck speed sans dog towards Holby International Airport.
It had transpired over the course of several expletive-laden phone calls that Teddy the cockapoo puppy had been the impulsive result of the arrival of Elinor’s latest student finance instalment. The ‘international journalism fieldtrip’ had also (by the looks of Elinor’s latest social media updates) been primarily focused around taking in the nightlife opportunities of Ibiza.
It had soon become clear that training of any description had not been part of Elinor’s commitment to dog ownership.
So far, the furry reign of terror had seen casualties including Serena’s wine club catalogue, several paperback books which had belonged to her father, a large chunk of kitchen wallpaper and the dustjacket of Jason’s copy of “Pompeii” by Mary Beard, all fallen victim to the determined, teething pincers of the errant hound. Admonishments were swiftly deflected by the most sophisticated of defence mechanisms, which included a pair of dark eyes so innocent and hopeful that even Serena’s patented wilting gaze (effective at reducing F1’s into a puddle of nerves at fifty paces) had little to no effect in reprimanding any misdemeanours.
An impatient little yap from her right (no doubt the little bastard inviting comment upon his latest art installation, Serena thought grimly to herself), reminded Serena that there was not a hope in hell’s chance of a successful return to sleep awaiting her, and that she may as well don her dressing gown and slippers and trudge dejectedly in the direction of the nearest available source of caffeine.
As she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and into her awaiting shoes, she was rapidly forced to revaluate her initial appraisal of how badly the morning was going.
Slobber and her unannounced companion’s unerring determination to lick every available inch of her face, she could tolerate to some extent. A steaming pile of unknown origin occupying her expensive sheepskin slippers, she could not.
Jason was awoken by a bellow of disgust approximately thirty seconds before his alarm was set to go off.
“TEDDY!!”
Letting out a deep sigh, he reached across to the bedside table and pushed his glasses onto his nose with a frown of concentration before picking up his phone and searching for “local dog training classes”.
Auntie Serena clearly needed backup.
Jason swiftly whittled down the results to create a shortlist to put to his Aunt over breakfast; presumably once she had taken three successive showers and burned the offending item of footwear.
By the time Serena had finally ventured downstairs from her unfortunate ordeal, Jason had eaten his breakfast cereal and set off to college in the car with his drop in carer.
A handwritten note sat propped against her mug on the counter, detailing the names and phone numbers of several local dog training businesses. As ever with Jason, a well-placed colour code referencing price, locality and average reviews seemed to give K9-Club a distinct advantage over the other two local firms that had made the final short list.
“Suspended…and stuck here with you!” Serena found herself smiling once more as the little dog wound his way contentedly around her ankles and settled down across her feet as she perched at the kitchen table. “Who knows, a dog for companionship may well be all I end up with one day…” a slightly bitter note crept into her voice as she thought about her somewhat acrimonious separation from Robbie. The senior detective had not taken her prioritisation of her nephew well.
Her suspension from work had come as a particularly hard blow, if not also serving as an uncomfortable realisation that there was precious little of meaning in her life save for the demands of the infernal Holby City Hospital. When tasked with thinking of anything that gave her life meaning or structure, save for her charming if not challenging nephew and daughter, she had struggled to think of anything save for the bloody template for the interdepartmental operational guidelines that she could be genuinely proud of or attached to. Even her old friends from university were either living it up in different parts of the Earth (Clare, international journalist), working their way through the bounties of a luxurious divorce settlement (Sian, divorce number three) or pushing the boundaries of their respective research fields (Isabelle, pioneering neurosurgeon). If anything, she seemed to have taken nothing but backward steps of late. Since her mother’s death, she just couldn’t find the ruthless competitor in her as often, bitterly resigned to the fact that the board would never allow her to become CEO, that her department was more than lacking in the necessary funds to launch a big research project to draw attention, or that she simply didn’t have the time to juggle such competing demands around being there for Jason. She had already managed to successfully alienate her own child over the years through a combination of overwork and short-temperedness and didn’t intend to push her nephew in the same direction. And now, she didn’t even have work to bury herself in as a distraction.
She felt strangely vulnerable not being the mighty ‘Ms Campbell, Deputy CEO, AAU Clinical Lead’ but merely ‘Serena’.
“Makes a change from dodging the fallout from Guy Self’s latest shenanigans or tolerating the demands of the board members… mind you,” she lowered her voice and attempted to look stern. “At least they haven’t yet resorted to defecating on my personal possessions…have they?”
Teddy merely wagged his tail harder at the joy of receiving eye contact from his temporary carer.
“I suppose you will be wanting a walk at some point?” she continued in a surprisingly soft tone of voice as she reached down to stroke the soft curly fur. The minute that the “W” word had passed her lips, it was as if she had passed an electric charge through the passive young pup sat in front of her who suddenly began charging up and down the tiled floor, quivering with pure exhilaration.
“What the…” Serena groaned as she realised the implications of her words. The toffee-coloured rascal was now chasing his own tail in a whirlwind of excitement, claws scrabbling frantically to keep up with his own frenzied pace.
It was only later as Serena lurched down the pavement, alternately being pulled along and yanking the lead back to a heel position that she fervently agreed with Jason’s recommendation for obedience training.
“Heel!” she snapped exasperatedly as Teddy picked up the enticing scent of a nearby field and set about towing her towards a five bar gate with the strong-willed uncompromising persistence of a tank. At least this seemed to be a more enticing place to walk than through the outskirts of the Lenton housing development.
“Teddy! H-e-e-l...” she spoke slowly and deliberately with more than a hint of menace in her tone. Her companion momentarily obeyed shortly before his fickle attention span had him lurching forward in pursuit of a passing squirrel. Serena swore loudly as the thin lead (pale blue, decorated with little sparkly bones) whipped through her fingers at a burning pace, unleashing the little dog who took off at full tilt towards the wooded coppice.
Elinor was going to kill her.
As she galloped across what felt like miles of the Wyvern’s finest countryside in pursuit of the furry menace, sweating profusely with her cropped dark hair plastered limply to the sides of her crimson cheeks, Serena Campbell pondered savagely exactly what sort of heinous atrocities she had evidently committed in a past life to warrant the stinking run of luck that she was currently in receipt of.
“Teddy! Teddy, come!” she panted, waving a fistful of treats in a fruitless bid to attract the skittish dog’s attention.
A loud splash came from the undergrowth to her right.
“Is that yours?” a friendly question greeted her from within the clearing.
A tall, blonde woman wrapped up in a pale pink duster coat was leaning carelessly against the bridge which crossed the narrow river. An unlit cigarette danced nervously between her slender fingers.
“Missing someone?” a friendly guffaw as she pointed downwards to the muddy waters where a small cockapoo was delightedly swimming laps beneath her in the filthy swamp.
“Yep.” Serena spat through gritted teeth as she stomped heavily towards the riverbank. There was a raging stitch in her side as her body reminded her firmly that she hadn’t even attempted the notion of cross country running since leaving school.
“Teddy, come.” She snapped brusquely, offering the treats to no avail. Embarrassment was seeping through her veins, making her want nothing more than to shed her own skin and flee. “Teddy, please…” she chastised herself as she had now evidently resorted to pleading with the oblivious little puppy, desperate to make her escape from the humiliating situation that she had found herself in.
“Here, let me help,” a quiet voice muttered in her ear before a cool hand reached out and took a treat from her. “Like this…”
The other woman crouched stiffly and winced enough for Serena’s trained eye to ponder the likelihood of a possible spinal condition as her new acquaintance bent down to eye level, waggling the treat enticingly as she introduced a playful note to her voice. “What are you doing Teddy? That looks revolting! Look, I’ve got treats! Teddy, come!” her excited chattering had caught the attention of the young pup who came slithering up the muddy bank and piled into the mystery woman’s lap before she quietly took hold of his collar as he munched the treat.
Serena exclaimed in dismay at the sight of the muddy paw prints which decorated the pristine coat, but the other woman shook her head with a rueful smile. “That’ll teach me to wear this on a dog walk!” she tutted as she clipped the lead through the metal ring and handed control of the escapee back to Serena.
“Thank you so much, I–” she began, smiling gratefully at her rescuer and holding out her hand.
Serena’s profuse thanks and introductions were cut abruptly short as Teddy chose that precise moment to entwine his lead around both women’s legs and lunge for the river once more. Serena felt herself stagger sideways into the warmth of the mysterious stranger, a pair of strong arms reaching out to steady gently around her waist before they were both falling sideways into the awaiting shallow stream.
A collection of swear words which would put most military units to shame flooded the air as the two women plunged unwillingly into the icy waters.
“I am so sorry…” Serena turned a mortified gaze to the woman whose lap she was still currently occupying, “it’s my daughter’s dog, she’s dumped him on me for a week and hasn’t made any effort to train him whatsoever. I’m so sorry…” the apologies continued to flow unstopped from between her lips.
She was certainly not expecting the loudest guffaw, no, honk of laughter, she had ever encountered as the other woman sat up to her knees in opaque water, splatters of mud adorning her pale cheeks as she visibly shook with laughter. Her eyes seemed to come alive with an entrancing sparkle that Serena found hard to look away from.
Serena slowly felt the long-held tension drain from her shoulders as the woman’s intoxicating laughter began to spread through her like a warm glow. A long-forgotten smile began to twitch experimentally upon her lips before she eventually surrendered any remaining pretence of dignity and threw back her head in an almighty chortle at the shared ridiculousness of their situation.
“The name’s Serena,” she eventually gasped weakly, standing up in a sodden mess of ruined clothing.
“Bernie,” the other woman winced as she attempted to straighten up. “Ouch…”
Serena frowned. “Back troubles? I am a doctor, could take a look at things for you if you like?”
“Back problems of sorts.” A wry smile as Bernie finally straightened up, a hand resting protectively upon the small of her back. “Predominantly caused by a disagreement with an IED whilst on active service. My back has never fully forgiven me. And snap, I’m a medic. Or was…” her face hardened. “Medical discharge. I turned down a commission to try and make things work with my family, but that ship seems to have long since sailed.”
“Blimey. I am sorry…” Serena floundered awkwardly, believing her response to be a somewhat pathetic attempt in itself to respond to what Bernie had said, but she found herself extending a hand and helping to pull the ex-medic up the riverbank.
Teddy, somewhat delighted with his escapades chose to come and sit perfectly in front of them, tail wagging.
“Well, talking of family…” Serena shook her head disbelievingly, “this little furry bastard belongs to my delightful daughter, who has chosen this week to recruit me as doggy day-care and bugger off to Ibiza without a backward glance.”
“The delights of children!” Bernie tutted fondly as they began to stroll through the woods together. “How old?”
“Old enough to know better,” Serena muttered grumpily as she wrung a small lake out of her coat sleeve.
“Ah, I’ve got two of those myself. Perfectly happy to be independent until they want or need anything doing for themselves.”
“And then they still come running to mummy!” Serena rolled her eyes in agreement.
"Quite..."
Eventually, the two women reached the wooden stile which marked the boundary of the woodlands between the Lenton and Westside districts of Holby and paused.
“Well,” Bernie smiled and gestured over her shoulder with a slight tilt of her head. “This is me.” She twisted her fingers slightly awkwardly before adding, “I’m only five minutes walk away if you wanted to drop by for a hot drink and a change of clothes? You look absolutely freezing…”
“Sounds like a fantastic idea to me,” shivered Serena gratefully. She stepped past and gracefully vaulted the stile with a little more flair than she would normally bother to exhibit, unaware of the sparkling pair of eyes that followed her every move with an interested curiosity.
"Lead on!"