Bernie looks up from the computer monitor in front of her and catches Serena rubbing at her temples for the fourth time this morning.
“Headache?” she asks and Serena looks up startled for a moment and then nods.
“Sinus. It just won’t go away,” Serena sighs.
Bernie knows, in her heart of hearts that it’s a terrible idea that she offer to touch Serena in any way after what happened in theatre three weeks back. She can’t trust herself. But watching the dark haired woman across from her, drop her head once again, she can’t help but take action.
She pauses briefly then rises from her chair and crosses behind her colleague. Serena lifts her head and looks at her curiously, and Bernie holds her hands up, “I know a trick, if it’s alright with you.”
Serena looks like a deer in headlights for a moment and Bernie curses her three-weeks ago self for being caught up in desire and giving in to her own foolish fantasy, thereby changing the course of their friendship forever. But Serena nods and half-whispers, “Thank you.”
Pulling over the plastic chair by Serena’s desk, Bernie settles in to it in front of the woman that had once been a friend and is now a bloody infatuation. She reaches up slowly as Serena watches her. The tension is so thick it’s almost tangible, and she knows Serena’s feeling it too. They lock eyes for much too long before Bernie places her hands at either side of her scalp and her thumbs alongside the bridge of Serena’s nose. She massages in small circles and finds Serena’s skin hot beneath her fingertips.
Minutes pass but it may as well be hours when Bernie finally lowers her hands and asks if Serena feels better. The expression on Serena’s face is curious and Bernie tries to decipher what it means but before she can, Serena leans forward and places an awkwardly fast kiss on her lips.
They stare at one another, eyes searching, before Bernie feels herself smiling. Serena smiles as well and it’s like a flood of relief has washed over them.
Serena reaches out and takes one of Bernie’s hands in hers and they sit in silence. For the first time in three weeks, it’s a comfortable one.