The return of Imelda Cousins had come as a surprise to Serena, and an unwelcome one at that. Moreso, it was the way in which her return had come about - with the board forcing Henrik’s hand and telling him they were going to force him to step down if he didn’t agree to let them elect his deputy. All of this because of one stupid disagreement with Tristan Wood that ended a little heavy-handedly, it seemed that the hospital was no longer under the control of doctors.
“The trauma unit simply isn’t carrying its own weight! It was an over ambitious move and we want to keep it going then we need someone better skilled to get it off the ground! There’s no denying that Ms Wolfe simply isn’t up to the job!” Cousins exclaimed, and if Hanssen hadn’t been present then Serena was in her right mind to tear the older woman shred from shred. “Business is never personal, of course she’s a competent doctor and she’ll receive a marvellous reference but she isn’t what Holby needs right now.”
“Well, as the one who works with her on a daily basis and sees what she has done for the trauma unit, I say otherwise! Mr Hanssen, you know full well that there’s no one more capable of marinating that trauma unit - the only thing that has been pulled in to question since is the cost, and nobody else is going to be able to pull down spending any more than Bernie already has! She’s used to working in the field where it is absolutely bare minimum, working with what’s in front of you!” Serena retorted defensively, knowing full well that the corporate would do everything in her power to get rid of Bernie simply because she’d taken against her on a personal basis.
Hanssen looked over his glasses towards Serena with a meaningful glare, inferring with every ounce of himself that she needed to watch her tone unless she wanted to jeopardise her own integrity.
“I believe that the only rational way around this, is to bring in a replacement. Test them for a few weeks and see if they can do any better, meanwhile Ms Wolfe will remain on paid leave until she is either dismissed or is asked to return to work. Do we all agree that this would be a good way forward?’ The Swede suggested, trying to calm the situation as he glanced between the two women.
“You really think Bernie’ll be pushed to the sidelines for weeks on end? You know her better than that, Henrik, you know full well that she would sooner give the unit up!” Serena responded gracelessly, her cheeks reddening as she paced up to the desk and forced her hands against its edge somewhat forcefully. “And you know full well that if she goes, more than a few will follow. Because the staff down there - the medics she has trained and built relationships with - will not stand aside and watch as you dismantle the unit they built with her.”
“Ms Campbell, you’d do well to remember who you’re talking to.” Imelda interjected abruptly. “If you could ask Ms Wolfe to come upstairs, we’ll bring her up to speed on the plan.”
Pursing her lips and drawing in a breath, Serena stiffened her expression before stalking out of the office angrily.
Her journey downstairs was uninterrupted, she looked like she was on the warpath so people parted like the Red Sea to be out of her way. As she stormed on to the ward, she found Bernie yanking blood-sodden gloves from her hands and balling them up before throwing them in to waste.
“Alright, Serena?” Bernie questioned, obviously seeing the expression upon her colleague’s face and sensing that something was wrong.
“Right - you need to go up and speak to Hanssen but before you do. I want you to know that we’ve got you, we’re going to fight this and we’re not going to turn a blind eye to what they’re trying to do. The nurses won’t, Raf won’t and I certainly won’t - okay?” Serena’s tone was considerably softer than the anger dashed in her eyes as she placed a reassuring grip on Bernie’s bicep. “If it comes down to it, I’ll bargain everything I have…that includes my position here.”
Confusion laced Bernie’s gaze as she broke away and hurried across the ward, and then upstairs to find Hanssen in order to discover what dreadful fate she was about to incur.
The brunette struggled to concentrate for the next thirty minutes, not getting a single patient signed off because she was too anxious for Bernie’s return to the ward and to learn what had been said. It was late evening so the ward wasn’t too busy - there weren’t likely to be any new admissions so she could lighten her load just a little until she had confirmation that the blonde hadn’t acted recklessly.
When, after what felt like forever, Bernie returned onto the floor looking like a woman on a mission; Serena stood up and followed after the blonde eagerly. Reaching to grab her arm, Serena felt herself be swiped away - both physically and emotionally - by the blonde.
“Bernie, what happened?” There was an urgency in the brunette’s voice, a desperation to know what was going on, and the raw emotion behind her words was enough to stop Bernie in her tracks and make her look back towards Serena/
“Exactly what you knew was going to - I told them I wouldn’t be sidelined! But they offered me a trade - the Trauma consultant from Royal Holloway is coming here to ‘fix my mess’ as it was so eloquently put, but I can have his position if I want it. So it looks like I’m moving to London,” Bernie sounded bereft, almost lost in her own words as she broke from Serena’s gentle hold upon her wrist and made away from the brunette. “Just let me go, Serena-”
“I-I could come and see you!” Serena’s words were desperately spilling out of her mouth as she tried to stop the blonde, ignoring Bernie’s bitter rejection. “Or we could meet halfway-”
“Stop, please!” Bernie spoke, halting Serena in her tracks, as she pulled away and rushed in to the office, slamming the door behind her though it was stopped short by Serena, hot on her tail. “Serena, there’s nothing you can do- I don’t like loose ends so let’s call it quits and say this is it.”
As she crammed her belongings, scattered haphazardly across her desk, in to her handbag; Bernie ignored the tears that spilled over and rolled down her flushed cheeks. The brunette closed the door, moving so that there was barely a hairsbreadth between her and the blonde, certainly too little distance to ignore. As their eyes met, it felt like the world was collapsing around them so Serena did the only thing she could think of…the one thing in the world that, in that very moment, felt as though it was the right thing to do. She leant in and pressed a bruising kiss against Bernie’s lips, grasping at her thin waist tightly as she felt the blonde push back against her in desperation until they were so close that she could feel Bernie’s tears against her own cheeks.
It was Serena who drew away from the kiss, though she let only a minute distance be put between her and the other woman in that moment, clinging still to her waist forlornly.
“You don’t get to leave and pretend that I never existed, you don’t get to do that Bernie.”
“I don’t have a choice, Serena. I have to leave, and I won’t come back here if my own hospital doesn’t have faith in the fact that I’m the right person for the job…I won’t work in a place where the people around me have even a shadow of a doubt in my capabilities.” Bernie stated stoically, ignoring the tears that fell silently down her face.
“You know that we will fight it, Bernie. Hanssen, Raf, Fletch, Morven, Lou; everybody here believes that you are the only one capable of this job and they will not watch you be thrown to the dogs like this, they won’t. This - all of this - is the work of Imelda, and I will get rid of her, I will ruin her - I have done it before and I will do it again, I just need you to believe in that possibility for a little while.” Serena uttered, her tone reassuring as she kept a tight grasp on Bernie’s gaze. “I won’t let you run from this, and I won’t let you run from me.”
“Serena, I’ve hung myself out to dry! I told them I’d quit and I cannot go back on that now! No matter what you do, you can’t fix this,” Bernie spoke quietly, noise barely piercing the atmosphere as she swallowed down her emotion.
“Stop packing up your stuff, wait here for a few minutes while I sort out my patients and then we’ll go to Hanssen together. Cousins can keep out of it or I’ll remind her of what happened last time she crossed me, stop panicking. We’ll fix this, we are going to fix this.”
And as she watched Serena leave the office, Bernie had never felt safer.