Chapter Text
Major Berenice Griselda Wolfe (aka Bernie), trauma surgeon at Holby City Hospital, could not believe she was standing in a queue to meet the new Dr Who. She had been an avid viewer during her childhood, watching regularly with her father, but teenage years and then then her army career had put paid to that. She had briefly engaged again when she was on leave, and watched with her children, Cameron and Charlotte, but had not really had the time to invest more than a passing interest. So when she had been medically discharged from the army, she had been surprised to find that Charlotte had remained a faithful fan and that Charlotte would be the reason she was standing in this queue.
She and Marcus (her husband) had divorced after 25 years, within a few months of her being back home permanently, due to 'irreconcilable differences' (namely an intense affair with Alex Dawson, female anaesthetist in the RAMC). Charlotte had been so upset she refused to speak to her mother for a while. It had taken Bernie a good 12 months to ease back into her life, and so when Charlotte had all but begged her mom to pay for her to go to the MCM Comic Con in Cardiff, she had agreed as long as Charlotte would treat this as a mother/daughter day and that Bernie would go too. Charlotte had argued a bit at first, but finally acquiesced, as her love of all things Dr Who related outweighed the embarrassment of being seen with her mother. And right now Charlotte was really relieved she had agreed, as she had been required to attend an assessment by one of her lecturers at the last minute, and so had asked her mother to join the queue for autographs just in case she didn't get there in time.
Although Bernie was by no means the oldest person in the line, she did feel as if she didn't belong. There were plenty of people into cosplay who were wearing all manner of costumes, and even those in normal clothes like herself had some sort of t-shirt, hat or hoodie with at the very least a quote or image from their favourite show, film or graphic novel. Standing there in a plain white blouse and black (very) skinny jeans she actually felt that she stood out a bit, and if there was one thing she tried to avoid, it was being noticed. Bernie scanned the faces of the people passing by, hoping against hope that Charlotte would come running towards her. By her calculations it would be less than a minute before she reached the front of the queue when she would have to speak to the new Dr Who.
“Damn it” she muttered under her breath as the person in front moved away from the autograph table and Bernie was ushered forward to meet Serena Campbell, the first female Dr Who.
“Hello, um, I wanted to, um, you know,.. get a signed picture um.. to my, er..”
Bernie was inwardly cursing that she hadn't spent the time she had waited, practicing what she was going to say.
Serena Campbell smiled broadly and put out her hand to grab one of Bernie's, as she was gesticulating wildly as she tried to speak.
“Lovely to meet you. Please, don't be nervous. Contrary to the role I play I am only human you know. What's your name?”
“Oh, er it's Bernie but it's not... um” Bernie paused for a moment to look around, willing Charlotte to appear.
Serena let go of her hand and held it up to stop Bernie speaking, at the same time picking up one of her photo's.
“Is that spelt B.. e.. r.. n.. i.. e ? That's unusual,I presume it's short for something?”
“Er yes, Berenice”,
and then she watched in horror as Serena wrote 'Dear Bernie with love from Serena Campbell' across the photo.
“No, no, it's not for me!”
screeched Bernie and then blushed as heads turned towards her and she realised how loud she had been. She lowered her voice and took a deep breath to try and get control of her speech. She was always at a loss to explain how difficult she found it when she tried to express herself in normal social situations. Whereas at work and in the operating theatre she was focused and able to explain procedures to all manner of people, from new F1's to members of the hospital board with no fear or hesitation whatsoever.
“It's for my daughter Charlotte, who should have been here by now, I was just keeping her place in the queue.”
Serena raised one eyebrow and smiled.
“So you're not a fan then ? Or just not a fan of a female Dr Who, ..or me?” she said teasingly.
“Oh no, I was more than ready for a female to play Dr Who, and you are proving to be a very entertaining and attractive one, but... I mean..” Bernie's voice tailed off as she realised what she had said and her face flushed again with embarrassment.
Surprisingly, Serena also seemed to blush slightly at these words and she found herself quite captivated by this woman standing in front of her who appeared to be socially awkward, but had a sort of presence about her that made her difficult to ignore.
“Let's start again then, shall we? I think you said her name was Charlotte?”
“Yes, yes, that's right” Bernie replied, “I'm sorry that you have a ruined photo now”
“It's only ruined if you don't want it” said Serena, “no charge!” and then winked at her.
“Oh, er.. okay, thank you”
and Bernie gave an embarrassed laugh as she took the 2 photos .
“Maybe I'll get to meet your daughter later, has she a photo shoot booked” asked Serena.
“Mmm, yes” said Bernie, “Fingers crossed she should be here well before that.”
“Well, if the worst came to the worst you could always stand in for her again”.
Serena grinned, her eyes twinkling.
Bernie swallowed, she could swear that Serena Campbell was flirting with her!
She shook her head and bit her bottom lip,
“I don't think that would endear me to her at all, and as that is something I've spent the last few months working on, it would be a backwards step of rather large proportions.”
Serena tipped her head to one side, eyes still twinkling.
“Sounds like there's quite a back story there. How intriguing.”
Serena's agent was just moving forward to urge her to finish chatting and get on with the signings when Charlotte bounded up to the table, breathless and looking somewhat wild.
“Oh my god, I can't believe I nearly missed this” she gasped.
Serena looked at her, “Don't worry, your mother has done an admirable job standing in for you, and I understand we shall meet again later, at the photo shoot?”
“Yes, yes,” gabbled Charlotte, “Sorry for the manic entrance”.
“Not problem.” Serena looked at Bernie and smiled. “I'll see you later then.”
Bernie nodded and allowed Charlotte to lead her away.
“Just what had you been saying to her Mom, she seemed quite taken with you! Come on , let's get a coffee and something to eat, I'm starving, I missed breakfast.”
“Of course, let's go.”
Bernie grinned, it felt great to be doing something with Charlotte that they would both enjoy. After a hesitant start, today looked as if it was going to be good.