Chapter Text
Serena sighed contentedly as the soft bubbles caressed her upper back, allowing her body to relax deeper into the warm pool. The underwater jets were strong, and she could feel her muscles tenderising as she held herself against the side of the pool, keeping herself from drifting away into the calmer water near the central fountain. Seeing nobody else in the room, she allowed herself to be carried away with the bliss of the moment, audibly moaning as she felt the pressure of warm water untying the knots in her shoulders. The air tinkled lightly with a strangely soothing cover of Elton John's "Can you feel the love tonight," played at half speed on some kind of harp. Luckily, the spa had been quite empty this morning, and Serena had been largely undisturbed so far.
Making a mental note to thank Jason for suggesting she take up a membership, Serena reluctantly extracted herself from the gently pummelling water. She wrapped herself in her towelled robe and slipped on her flip-flops, then pattered away in search of a good cup of coffee.
Unnoticed by Serena, she had in fact not been alone in the spacious hydrotherapy pool. Quietly enjoying the peace on the other side of the great central fountain statue, a slender blonde woman was aroused from the cusp of sleep by a series of gentle moans emanating from the distant edge of the pool. Tilting her head to peek around the fountain with mild interest, she felt an unexpected flutter in her chest as she became witness to the origin of the happy sound still reaching her ears over the spray of water.
A woman: short, brown hair simultaneously sticking up and plastered down with the effects of the water, with her head arched back against the side of the pool. Bernie's eyes traced a drip of water as it ran enticingly down the woman's jawline, past an elongated, glistening neck, then took the path of least resistance into the valley between two beautiful, bountiful breasts; finally disappearing underneath the fabric of a deep burgundy swimming costume. Bernie coughed quietly, looked away, but found her gaze drawn back again and again to the sparkling skin of her unwitting pool companion.
"Get a grip, Wolfe," she reprimanded herself, plunging her head under the water for as long as she could hold her breath, then re-emerging and shaking like a wet dog, clearing her head.
When she inevitably looked back over, the woman had gone...
***
Bernie did not plan to run into the woman again. She knew from experience that attractive women in spas were usually straight and always taken. So, it was entirely by chance that thirty minutes later in the sparsely populated steam room, she found herself once again having palpitations at the unexpected sight of the same woman, this time adorned in beads of sweat and condensation and staring right back at her. Fighting back the urge to turn back around and leave, she quietly closed the door, avoided the woman's eye and sat on the bench in front and slightly to the side of the brunette. This way, she thought, there would be no chance to stare and she could attempt to pretend to herself that the woman was, in fact, not there at all. Gritting her teeth and gripping the seat with both hands, Bernie fought her every impulse and base desire in a silent battle of her own wills. Something about this woman was so magnetic, she could hardly keep herself from turning and reaching for her, holding her close. At the same time, her internalised shame at even thinking this way about another woman made her so frightened to be near her at all. Bernie had been in a relationship with a woman before, during her time in the army, but it was a courtship of secrecy and silent passion: a recipe for shame even if her stiff military parents hadn't knocked it into her from an early age. She sat, staring straight ahead, and mentally calculated how long she could rationally be expected to remain in the steam room before making a reasonable exit.
While Bernie stewed in internal angst, Serena was having no such difficulties. She openly stared as the gangly blonde stumbled into the steam room, spluttered slightly, then sat right there in her eyeline, twitching slightly as if to stop her own head from turning of its own accord. There was something disarmingly breathtaking about the woman, and Serena did not even attempt to avert her eyes as the moisture of the steam room began to glisten and highlight the muscular contours of the woman's skin.
A mother and daughter, who had been the only other two occupants of the misty room, quietly picked themselves up and exited, whispering so as not to break the peace of the almost silent enclosure. As soon as the door closed noiselessly behind them, Serena felt as though an electric fuse had been diffused in the warm, scented air. Her skin was tingling, her ears pricked, her eyes still trained on the blonde woman's toned back. Once again, the woman seemed to be having trouble keeping her head still; it kept jerking as if to turn, then subtly drifting back around to face the steamed glass door. After what felt like ten minutes, but could easily have been ten seconds, the blonde let out a tentative cough, as if in experiment. Serena paused, then cleared her throat slightly and sighed. The other woman visibly tensed, then stood suddenly like a picked up puppet, and nearly ran from the room without looking back. Serena, alone in the mist, raised a solitary eyebrow, waited a thoughtful moment, then followed.
***
Bernie dropped herself deep into the icy water of the plunge pool. Her entire body shuddered in protest, but she held herself down, attempting once again to hold her breath until the building sexual tension had diffused. Surely, she should be able to sit in the same room as a beautiful woman without having a public meltdown or physically ravaging the poor unsuspecting lady, who was probably doing her best to relax and mind her own business.
All of a sudden, Bernie became aware of a second body descending into the small plunge pool from the opposite ladder. Abiding by the usual rules of politeness, she avoided eye contact as she resurfaced, wiping the freezing water from her face.
"Gosh, I was starting to think you'd require mouth-to-mouth!"
Bernie started to hear the woman's shivery voice, noticing with a skipped heartbeat that this was the same woman she had been ogling all morning.
"Um... what?" she managed to reply, staring wildly around for an exit.
"You were underwater for so long," the woman explained, still visibly and audibly shivering. "I was considering whether there would be a need to administer first aid."
Embarrassed, Bernie averted her gaze from the deep brown, searching eyes of the other woman. She wondered doubtfully whether the brunette was aware of the effect she was having; whether she was teasing Bernie on purpose.
"Yeah, oh, that - I was just-" she began.
"Serena Campbell by the way, lovely to meet you," the woman interrupted. "I'm here all alone and was wondering if you'd take pity and join me for lunch?"
Startled and bemused, Bernie could only nod her acceptance, hesitantly shaking the proffered hand.
"Bernie Wolfe. We should probably get out of the water now though, or we'll both get hypothermia and end up on adjacent hospital beds."
At this, Serena laughed, and finally broke contact from the handshake, which had definitely gone on for longer than what was normal. Both women turned away and climbed the opposite ladders of the small, icy pool, padding over to separate pegs to retrieve their respective towelling robes and flip-flops.
"Shall we?" Serena prompted, gesturing for Bernie to lead the way to the spa restaurant.
"I suppose we shall," the blonde responded politely, internally kicking herself in anticipation of the torturous meal awaiting her.