#open when

[madam-wakefield]

Open when...Chapter 1

AO3 Link FF Link

Summary:

When a few years into their relationship Bernie is asked to go back to the army and deploy Serena isn't sure how she's going to get through the nine months without her girlfriend. What she doesn't expect is for it to be her girlfriend who has the perfect set of surprises to get her through both the best and the worst days. Canon divergent - Elinor lives (well actually the accident never happens), Raf lives, and Cameron isn't a total ass! The staff of AAU also probably didn't all work on there at the same time in canon but do in this! The fic is already fully written with the first few chapters having already been Beta'd. 27 chapters including the epilogue. Hoping to post every Monday and Friday!

Chapter 1

Open when you get this…

Serena always knew she’d go to work the day after Bernie had deployed. In some way, she can make herself believe that this is just like the times when Bernie has gone away for a few days for a medical conference or to visit an old army friend. But deep down she knows it’s not, knows that she won’t see Bernie in person for nine months. 

She walks into their office and there on her desk is a beautiful floral box full of what look like ivory envelopes. Serena sits down in her chair and pulls it close to the desk, noticing one delicate envelope propped up against the front of the box.

She stares at it, eyes fixed upon Bernie’s messy writing on the front: Serena - Open when you get this…

She stares at it a little longer, wanting to commit this image to memory before complying. 

My Dearest Serena,

The main reason for writing these letters is because I love you! I love you so much and I want to be able to remind you of that as much as I can. In your moments of weakness. In your moments of joy. When you need to feel loved know that I will always love you. These letters are just here to remind you of that while we are apart for the next nine months. Put them somewhere you will see them often, or carry them around with you if you have to, so you always remember to Open When You…” 

I love you and miss you so much already.

All My Love, Bernie,

Your Big Macho Army Medic x 

She knows she doesn’t have time to respond instantly, she’s got ward rounds to do, and a short surgery scheduled but she promises herself this is the perfect excuse to write Bernie her first bluey. 

She plans to write to her on her break but of course, all the best laid plans always go wrong. Bernie’s red phone rings just as she’s about to go and get herself a pastry from Pulses. She’s missing her girlfriend, so who can blame her if she wants a bit of comfort food?

She goes into surgery with Raf, naturally taking the lead. He’s a good surgeon and she knows it, but it’s going to take her some time to be able to give up control to him in that way. She’s so used to working with Bernie in that respect, where neither of them really takes control, they just work side by side effortlessly without there needing to be a lead. 

After surgery she updates the patient’s family and is just thinking that she’ll have a break now, and maybe actually write to Bernie, when Sacha comes onto the ward to remind her that she’s ten minutes late for the clinical leads’ meeting. Thankfully, she can blame it on the emergency surgery.

She spends more of the meeting thinking about Bernie than actually paying attention. Wondering how Bernie’s flight was. Wondering exactly where Bernie is now. Wondering how she is ever going to get through the next nine months without her girlfriend. 

Normally after a meeting, Bernie will spoil her with coffee and a pastry and kisses if there is time, but she knows she isn’t getting that today or for the next nine months and she can’t help but feel a little deflated at the thought. 

She’s professional enough to offer her opinion a few times to make it look like she’s paying attention to the meeting but doesn’t really stretch herself. She’ll make up for it another time but today isn’t it. 

After the meeting she grabs her own coffee and pastry from Pulses and is this time determined to write Bernie’s letter, so she walks back onto AAU and locks herself in her office. She takes her time thumbing through the envelopes in the box, allowing herself to glance at what’s written on some of them, from love, to sorrow to anger, although she’s not convinced, she’ll need to use that last one. She then turns to her own bag and gets out one of the blueys she has in there—she and Bernie had picked up a stack from the post office before her deployment—and her favourite writing pen before sitting down at her desk. She knows she could use the INtouch electronic mail service to send Bernie an email but she wants the first letter she writes her girlfriend to be a handwritten one. 

Dear Bernie,

How!?! How did you ever get time to think so much about my needs while doing all the things you had to do? The idea of the envelopes has filled my heart with joy and all I can say is I’m so damn lucky that I am the woman you want to share your life with.

I had a quick look through the other envelopes, and I cannot believe all of the different occasions you have managed to cover. I do not have the words to tell you how loved this gesture of yours has made me feel. And you say that you don’t think you’re very good at romance!

I’ve got so much more I want to write but I’ve got to cut this letter short as your red phone is pulling me away from my break, but I promise to write again soon. 

All my love, darling…

Stay safe, soldier.

Serena x

The red phone call leads to a complicated surgery. Serena stays with the trauma patient and completes the surgery, even if it does mean that it’s two hours past her shift when she finally finishes. By the time she gets home and into bed she’s at least so tired and in need of rest that she doesn’t have as much time to miss Bernie, so she falls asleep much more easily than she had the previous night. 

#Open When #Berena #Bernie Wolfe #Serena Campbell #berena fanfic #holby city #holby #buckle fandom #madam wakefield writes #Berena Fanfiction #Berena FF #Holby Fanfic #Holby FF #Holby Fanfiction #Holby City ff #Holby City fanfic #Holby City fanfiction

[starsrosesglitters]

#letter for you #open when #open when letters #make happy #wishes #feel better

[lunaseaearth]

𝓞𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 : 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓼 𝓶𝓮

Hello my dearest soul,

You know how much more I've missed you? The days go by ever so slow & my heart warms only thinking of you. Our distance is temporary & the long kisses with our hearts will hold forever. When you miss me, think of the days we laughed on the phone. The colors of the sky when you said you loved me. How come you make my world absolutely passionate? Because I've never known the days without you. I miss you too babe. When you need me I'm here, waiting for you.

-G.A24

#romance #spilled poem #tumblr writers #open when #open when you miss me #open when letters #letters #mail #long distance relationship #long distance love #boyfriend #girlfriend #lgbtq #poetry #poems #relationshipquotes #relateable

[ryan-sometimes]

LIL TAY??????

#I did NOT think I’d see lil tay call jk rowling a transphobic bitch when I opened twitter today

[galaxyspeaking]

I would love you with our heads down

#good omens #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #crowley x aziraphale #good omens 2 #michael sheen held me at gunpoint to draw this #you know that feeling when you open pinterest and a gif of david tennant falls into your lap and you’re like: might as well?????

[lygma-nygma]

I miss the pre-New 52 Tim and Jason dynamic so much. It was basically Jason beating the fuck out of Tim well being all "nothing personal kid I just hate everything about you, your existence and the fact you're breathing right now" and Tim spitting up blood going "what if your mother was a whore, kill yourself" and Jason just deciding right then and there that this kid is his favourite person. Then it just turned into a Tom and Jerry hunt across the city where Jason keeps hitting Tim with the "join me, be my robin" and Tim kicks him in the balls.

#tim drake #jason todd #red hood #red robin #batfam #Third Tim post in a row the favourite Robin race clearly has a winner #There’s one particular panel where Jason asks Tim to join him and just looks like the saddest wettest cat of a man when Tim says no #Then he immediately open fires at him and tries to put a bullet in his head #It’s genuinely incredible

[townofcrosshollow]

Shocked how many people think you can just turn on a computer and leave it on for weeks or months or years and never turn it off and it'll be fine. Computers need their sleep, and sleep mode does not count

#seriously there are processes important to the health of your computer that run when you turn it off or on #if you computer runs like shit or if your laptop's always hot that's why #'oh but it takes so long to boot up' YEAH BECAUSE YOU'VE KILLED HER SLOWLY #you've done the equivalent of stapling her eyes open and tazing her when she falls asleep. STOP #incoherent rambling

[jakeperalta]

letting celebrities think they can and should "use their platform" to speak on all current events and political issues regardless of how educated they are on them was a grave mistake

#i honestly think that's why half of these celebrities are just sharing around these same few wishy washy unhelpful statements #at this point it's a relief when i open an instagram story and it's just a celebrity posting about their regular stuff #like good thank you feel free to just be quiet #or just share some fundraising links if you feel a need to be helpful #but like ultimately if you have a platform of many thousands/millions #then frankly it is your responsibility to make sure what you are sharing is accurate and useful #and not just posting for the sake of posting #but instead somehow we're at the point where the more followers you have the more you are expected to just post something anything #talking

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

#dog books #this chapter was very sad reading #when you become aware of punishment #and its use and its prevalence #it's hard not to despair #again this is why positive reinforcement feels like absolution #maybe now my eyes are open I can make up for what I did #what I did because it's what everyone does #because it's more acceptable to punish than to do anything else #I've been having so many thoughts about punishment and society and justice #this book was very validating #another great validating moment in my jumbled thoughts #was listening to the You're Wrong About episode on justice #with Amanda Knox #it helped to ease the despair a little

[oooocleo]

hmm hmmmmm hmmm

#my art #bug fae fate game #my take on my friends dragonfly fae design! #i was gonna offer these as a quick comm option but actually im incapable of drawing anything Quickly #to my own satisfaction.............lol.......... #esp when ppl r paying me #i might go ahead and open new YCH standee comms for september though!

[appaeve]

homesick

#big ordon village enjoyer #uh uh maybe hot take I actually really love the slow opening in tp #getting to run around ordon village and meet everyone made it 10 billion times worse when The Horrors struck #twilight princess link #link #midna #twilight princess #legend of zelda #loz #Snowpeak Ruins #comic

[madam-wakefield]

Open when...Chapter 2

AO3 Link FF Link

Summary:

Chapter 1 When a few years into their relationship Bernie is asked to go back to the army and deploy Serena isn't sure how she's going to get through the nine months without her girlfriend. What she doesn't expect is for it to be her girlfriend who has the perfect set of surprises to get her through both the best and the worst days. Canon divergent - Elinor lives (well actually the accident never happens), Raf lives, and Cameron isn't a total ass! The staff of AAU also probably didn't all work on there at the same time in canon but do in this! The fic is already fully written with the first few chapters having already been Beta'd. 27 chapters including the epilogue. Hoping to post every Monday and Friday!

Chapter 2

Open when you have been alone for a week... 

Serena forgets her girlfriend isn’t going to join her the first time she goes to Albie’s after Bernie has deployed, until after she walks through the front door. She goes to the bar and orders a large Shiraz and a whiskey. 

It isn’t until the man behind the bar passes her the whiskey that she realises what she’s done. She takes a long sip of her wine, eyes fixed on the other glass as if staring at it will make Bernie suddenly appear. 

“She’ll be alright, you know.” Dom’s voice shocks her, since she hadn’t known anyone was sitting so close.

“Sorry,” she says numbly, still in shock that anyone is actually talking to her. 

“Ms. Campbell, you and I both know you brought that drink for Bernie despite the fact she’s been deployed a week, and I just wanted to reassure you that she’ll be okay.” Serena doesn’t miss the way he calls her Ms. Campbell but refers to Bernie by her first name. She knows the two of them are close and often meet on the roof when Bernie goes out for a cigarette since Dom is one of the few staff members that doesn’t judge her for smoking.

“But what if she’s not? She landed at Holby after being blown up by an IED. Those haven’t disappeared in the years Bernie’s been away from the place. She may be there as a medic but you and I both know the insurgents don’t exactly follow the Geneva Conventions.” She’s shared all these worries with Bernie, not to stop her from going, but because their relationship is built upon honesty. Now that Bernie is gone, though, it’s nice to be able to voice them to someone else.

“I can’t promise you that she isn’t going to be caught up in all of that, I can’t promise you for sure that she isn’t going to get hurt. But what I can promise you is that every day she will do her job thinking of you and how she needs to get back to you. On the tough days she’ll think about how much she loves you and how much you love her and that’s what’ll get her through. Just how on your tough days here you’ll think of her and how it won’t be long until she comes back to you.” 

It’s exactly what Serena needs to hear, exactly what she needs to calm her nerves a little, something that hasn’t happened since she and Bernie separated at the airport. 

“Thank you, Dom.” She uses his first name because there really isn’t a need for formalities. “Do you want that?” She points to the glass of whiskey. “I don’t think I can bring myself to drink it right now.”

She watches the glass as Dom raises it but doesn’t drink, understanding he’s waiting for her to do the same. She lifts her already half empty wine glass, not realising she’d been drinking it during their conversation. 

“To Bernie,” Dom says gently. “The bravest woman and finest Major we know.” Serena lets her glass clink against Dom’s before she takes a long drink of her wine, letting his words sink in. Bernie is the bravest woman she knows, and she is so lucky that she’s the one that gets to call Bernie her partner. 

***

When she gets home there is a letter on the doorstep. It’s strange because Jason always brings the mail in if he’s home first and he was on the early shift this morning. She picks it up and turns it over, her breath catching slightly when she realises what it is. On the envelope in Bernie’s messy scrawl is the message “Serena - Open when you have been alone for a week…” 

She wants to rip the envelope open but stands in the doorway having just come in from work and when Jason is around isn’t the right time. She knows whatever is in the envelope is going to make her emotional and she doesn’t need Jason to see that, not yet as he’s still struggling with the day-to-day routine of Bernie being gone. Instead, she puts the envelope in her pocket and walks into the living room where Jason is watching “World’s Strongest Man,” a rerun she’s almost sure. 

“I’ll be with you in a second” she says as she passes him on the way to the kitchen. She pours herself a glass of wine before going to settle on the sofa with Jason, who might not actively appreciate his aunt’s companionship, but she knows that he does. She might not be Bernie Wolfe, but she’s hoping she can help Jason by at least taking her place tonight. 

She doesn’t get any of what’s going on, but then Jason doesn’t need her to. He just needs her to sit with him and be. It’s only later, once she’s safely in the privacy of her own bedroom, dressed in soft satin pyjamas, Jason having gone up to bed half an hour before that she finally lets herself take the envelope in hand and open it. Bernie’s handwriting is as awful as ever but the sight of it fills her heart with joy. 

“My Dearest Serena, 

Today marks the longest we’ve ever been apart since we first got together, and I don’t for a second imagine those days have been easy on you. I’m hoping that you are just about getting used to sleeping without your own personal radiator and can instead enjoy the luxury of stretching out on our king-size bed. If memory serves me correctly, I will have just about gotten used to the ridiculously small size of the bunks in camp. Of course, I miss you like crazy, but I also have to thank you again for trusting me to do this. For allowing me the closure that I need. I would tell you not to worry about me, but I know that will be impossible so what I will say is please don’t forget to look after yourself while I’m gone. Protect my trauma unit and don’t let Raf get too comfortable at my desk. I should be back in eight months and three weeks, after all. 

I have only one other request from you now, if you haven’t already, please write me my first bluey, the timing of it will mean it should arrive as my first month here comes to an end, and I usually find that’s the toughest part of being out here. 

Say hello to Jason for me. Remember that I love you deeply and I miss you more than you can ever imagine.

All My Love, Bernie…

Your Big Macho Army Medic x

She doesn’t bother wiping the tears away, the emotion is good, it reminds her that she can still feel. This isn’t like the last time Bernie went away, she’s coming back. She caresses Bernie’s name on the paper for a few minutes before standing and padding over to her own desk to grab her laptop. 

She realises now is the time to battle the dreaded INtouchmail service to send Bernie her first electronic letter. It’s a bit of a strange concept in Serena’s mind as she knows even though she types the letter online, Bernie gets a printed copy, unlike the handwritten blueys she knows she’ll also keep writing. The only bonus of this system is they arrive much more quickly. 

She realises soon enough that she does not have a clue how to use the INtouch electronic mail service and has to resort to Facetiming Fletch and Raf so she can show them her screen as she works out what she needs to do, only thanking them and ending the call once she’s on the page where she needs to type out her message. 

Dear Bernie, 

Thank you so much for my special one-week letter. Though I have to ask who you had deliver it as there is definitely no stamp! I’ll assume it’s the same person who placed the box of envelopes on my desk last week. I am missing you like crazy, and right now I don’t know how I’m going to get through the rest of the time without you! The bed is so cold without you, and I may have taken to hugging your pillow to sleep, but can you blame me, you smell amazing. 

The guys managed to drag me to Albie’s tonight for the first time. I may have brought you a whiskey before my brain even registered that you weren’t there. Dom drank it and sent his best. Tonight, Jason has even had me watching “World's Strongest Man,” though I’m sure you’ll say you don’t believe it. I have the day off tomorrow so I’m taking Elinor out for brunch before some girly shopping with Fleur. 

Your first handwritten bluey is already in the post, but I wanted to write to you again, so you know we are all thinking about you, that we love you and miss you so much. There isn’t much more news from here for now, so I’ll sign this letter off and write to you again soon.

All my love, darling…

Stay safe, soldier.

Serena x

#open when #bernea #bernie wolfe #serena campbell #berena fanfiction #Berena ff #berena fanfic #holby city #holby city fanfic #holby city fanfiction #holby city ff #Buckle fandom #Madam Wakefield Writes

[beybuniki]

i need dabi to experience the trials of being a stay-at-home adult son

#let's say he's 19 here idk but this is part of the todoroki visit lore i need to tag those properly #but yeah i like to think about the todoroki house being open to everyone so it's always full :) very cute to me #and annyoing to toya #hawks doesnt mind it he is an only child he loves when the kids are aorunddddddddddddd #maybe not in this moment but generally yes <3 they take them to the skate park and such OAUGHHH #bnha #todoroki touya #takami keigo #dabi #hawks #dabihawks #toukei #todoroki shoto #midoriya izuku #deku #bakugo katsuki #au: #todoroki visit

[biracy]

"Name a hobby outside of MEDIA CONSUMPTION" is the worst kind of post. It's squarely in that ever-growing genre of post where the point on its face is ideologically meaningless and entirely reliant on an audience's biased negative reaction to a certain popular online buzzword (in this case, "consuming media"). Define "media". Define "consumption". Are reading books, watching movies, and playing video games all inherently inferior hobbies for dumb babies? What about going to an art gallery? What about going to see a play? What makes those "different", if you instinctually answer "Noooo that's not the same!"? Where does creating art, or "media", fall into this equation? Why does your insistence on feeling in some way intellectually and/or morally superior than the peons who use TikTok always fall back on the idea that the only worthwhile, "real" hobbies require a certain level of physical, mental, and/or social ability and reinforce the glorification of manual labor? Why will we never Fucking be free?

#leftism is when bread baking and building things with your hands are the only two real valid hobbies #open mick night #1k #2k #3k #4k

[puppyeared]

learned something about myself lately

#i dont think its even the fact almost all my characters are somewhat beasts in one way or another. i just #really like tails and wish i had one myself #and then my oc designs are a little tame theyre mostly human shaped with animal features. but they always have tails #my eyes have recently been opened to the appeal of long whiplike unicorn tails.. so flowy and curly #something about the tuft at the end being long and swirly just does something for me.. #maybe it would make sense to change auggies tail shape so it looks like a meteor. her design is mainly pink with hot pink accent #so it would be cool to use that and orange to make it look like a fire meteor.. maybe itll help complement the blue/green in her design #head full of ocs today so expect a ramble later #if i had a tail i think it would be long with a kink. so it kind of folds over once but not in a curl #when it wags its kind of a swaying motion. i have thought about this a normal amount #yapping

[ceeejus]

looks like my summer vacation is… over.

#roxas #roxas kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 2 #roxas kh2 #kh #kh2 #axel #axel kh #namine #namine kh #edit i meant to put this in the tags but end of summer always gets me thinking about roxas #i really think the opening to kh2 is one of THE video game prologues of all time it’s so good and it pissed me off so much when i was 12