Berena- Coincidences

Chapter One- It's Been A Hard Days Night

It's been a hard days night for a certain Dr Bernice Wolfe, and by hard days night, I mean exceptionally hard. You see, working in a trauma unit can be hard at the best of times, however setting one up can prove to be a challenge, the hell, it could even prove to be fatal, especially after a double shift on top of that. In fact, it's probably been the hardest shift in which Bernice has participated in since arriving in Ukraine.

Shortly before receiving a rather alarming page that there would be a number of trauma patients arriving after a collapsed building, Bernie had received a rather numbing text message from none other than Serena Campbell, stating three rather gut-wrenching words, 'I MISS YOU'. The fact that they were sent in capitals left a sudden edge of guilt with Bernie. She wasn't sure if it was a statement, a demand or something of anger coming from Serena. All she knew was that those three words had left her in a comatose state for at least seven minutes, before Dr Yovenko managed to shake her out of it. Less than a minute later six patients would arrive at the new trauma unit and to be quite honest, Bernie wasn't sure that the unit could stand such stress and pressure of six patients.

One of the six patients was an unconscious 8 year old, Nataliya. Unfortunately for Bernie, Nataliya couldn't speak a word of English. Fortunately for Bernie Dr Yovenko could speak fluent English and would prove to be somewhat of a grade a translator during her stay in Kiev. Anyway, back to her patient, Nataliya, 8 years old, swollen abdomen, possible internal bleeding, trauma to the head (something in which Bernie had no speciality in), clear fracture of the Tibia, and a number of cuts and grazes that would require stitches. This case was clearly one for the OR.

"Care to scrub in Doctor Yovenko?" Bernie smiled at the younger doctor, clearly a troubled smile, but a smile none the less. "It would be a pleasure Doctor Wolfe" The handsome young doctor replied as they carted the young patent up to theatre. The two scrubbing in as the anaesthesiologist got to work putting the poor 8 year old to sleep. "So Doctor Wolfe, are you going to share the reason behind that troubled smile, or will you keep me guessing again?" Dr Yovenko laughed whilst gowning and gloving up. Bernie shrugged, letting out a huge sigh. "I don't know Anton, I really don't know" Bernie sighed once more. "Don't you just wish a huge black hole could just swallow you up in one, and then you don't have to have a care in the world?" Bernie asked, sounding rather depressed, or desperate, she wasn't quite sure on the levels of her emotions, just that they were there. There was also a sense of numbing, an emptiness in Bernie's heart. She knew exactly what it was that was making her feel like this, she just wouldn't acknowledge the reasons behind her feelings. She ran. She always ran.

Approximately three minutes later, the pair of eager doctors were in the OR getting ready to fix up Natalia. Of course their main priority was to stop the internal bleeding in the young patients abdomen. They set to work on their chose procedure, a exploratory laparotomy, a risky procedure, however one that Bernie was very much experienced in. Exploring the abdomen, the two doctors, and their residents found the bleeding, fortunately it was only the wall of the large intestines and could easily be fixed with a heat probe.

Continuing their work, Bernice could clearly be seen to be in some sort of different dimension. She had stopped explaining the procedure to the residents, and was even unresponsive to Doctor Yovenko's questions. "Earth to Bernice Wolfe" Doctor Yovenko waited for a reply, one that he would not receive. "Serena Campbell is in reception." Doctor Yovenko stated in a rather louder tone, teasing the older blonde. "Huh? What?" Bernice asked, leaving her fifth dimension behind as she landed firmly back into reality. Doctor Yovenko laughed slightly "Sorry, I had to Doctor Wolfe, you were high in the sky right then." The other students smirking to themselves, not really understanding what was going on. "As a was saying Doctor Wolfe, the students would like to know if the heat probe would be the most effective procedure with all trauma cases?" The students stood waiting for Bernie's response as she thought for the minute. "Yes, good question, as it so happens each trauma case is very different to the rest, as you all know. The heat probe isn't always the most effective, especially with larger abdominal trauma's and lacerations, however as our patient is so young, a heat probe would leave less scar tissue, and prove to give the patient a quicker recovery time. But the answer is no, it isn't always the most effective." Bernice smiled at her students, not that they could see her smile; with it being covered by her procedure mask.

A timely two hours and forty-five minutes later, Bernie was back out of the OR and eager to check to see if Serena had messaged her once again. Even though she hadn't replied to Serena's message, she somehow had hope that it wouldn't be the last message she received. The blonde raced back to her office, which she shared with Doctor Yovenko and grabbed her phone. Nothing. Her screen was empty, well, empty from a certain Serena Campbell. Bernice slid down her office chair in disappointment, her head in her hands, not realizing Doctor Yovenko was stood in the doorway watching her. "Just ring her Bernice." Doctor Yovenko told the blonde. "I can't." Bernice repeated at least five times, before Doctor Yovenko had interrupted, asking her why. "It would just be two hard, for both of us. I've always ran away form the things I value most in life and she just wouldn't understand Anton." The blonde replied, with her heart speeding up she placed one hand on her chest, the other clenching onto her phone, re-reading the last message she had received from Serena. Anton grabbed Bernie's phone, clicking the dial button, before handing it back to Bernie. "Just try and talk to her, explain how you feel." Anton swiftly left the room, leaving Bernie to deal with the ringing phone. Unfortunately it was no use, "Hello, you've reached Serena Campbell's answer machine, please leave a message at the end of the..." Bernie cut the phone off, before managing to leave a message for the brunette. "Its no use", the blonde thought, "she hates me", Bernie said to herself, before picking up her coat, swiftly exiting the hospital and Doctor Yovenko called out to her.