Battery chemistry vexation

I understand that through chemical half-reactions an abundance of electrons are amassed at the negative terminal of a battery and a deficit of electrons at the positive terminal. I also understand that you can connect two batteries in series to double the voltage. However, when the batteries are touching at their terminals, but before a circuit is completed, what is happening at the touching terminals? What is keeping the electrons from simply flowing from the negative terminal of the battery into the positive terminal of the other that it is in contact with?

Wouldn't the electrons flow into the positive terminal of the other battery discharging it until it uses up all of its excess electrons? This would create one battery full of electrons and another of positive charge. Clearly this is not the case, but what prevents this from happening?




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