Title: Growing Up Black
Summary: Growing up, Cameron and Jonathan Black's father taught them many things, but the most important thing they learned was their pain didn't matter so long as no one saw it.
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the show Deception, including its: characters, actors, sets, storylines, dialogue. I am merely borrowing for my own whumpy purposes.
Author's Note: I absolutely love Deception. It reminds me of a bit of Castle, with some of the old-timey set feel of Forever. And although I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I do, I really like Cameron. So, naturally, I now whump him, lol.
1) First note is that I've changed a bit of the set. I mention the scene where Cam and Kay talk about her sister's death at the end of 1.02, but after rewatching the scene, I realize that the chairs are not what I was picturing so I'm changing it. Rather than table chairs and a chess set, I'm now picturing comfy armchairs and a coffee table. It just works better and seems more cozy to me.
oOo
"Our dad, he uh, he taught us more than just magic."
Sitting in the surveillance truck while Cameron risked his life for the case was hard for Dina. It was always hard watching Cameron risk himself, whether it be for magic or the FBI. The month he had spent in hospital had been torture. Although Jonny had been free at the time, they had still postponed any shows because Cameron was the one comfortable in front of an audience for long periods of time. So, they had laid low, watching over Cameron while they waited for him to heal. His injuries had been numerous and Dina believed that remnants of them still plagued him from time to time. Getting Cameron to admit that he was hurting was nye on impossible, though, so she couldn't prove it.
The fact that he was now jumping on and over rooftops threatened to give her a heart attack. Amidst the cries for "Mekka" to catch up, Cameron let out a quiet cry of his own, this one of pain. "Cameron?" Dina asked, her voice showing her concern.
"I'm fine," he assured, sounding out of breath and definitely not okay. He gave a sigh and then, one assumes, started running again. "Yeah, okay, I can't make that."
"You're a bit rusty," Gunter did his best to encourage. "Don't be ashamed if you have to call it a day."
"I'm not rusty, I just-"
"You gave us a whole speech about how you're rusty," Jordan reminded.
"Cameron, you listen to me, don't do anything crazy, you understand?" Dina added, knowing that he would ignore her and continue. Why couldn't the idiot do as he was told for once?
"Yeah," he answered, his breath coming in pants over the comm. "Never do."
"Cameron?" Agent Daniels asked after listening to Cameron grunt and groan in effort.
"Guys, for the next thirty seconds I'm gonna need total silence."
It was a hard request to grant since everything in Dina urged her to check up on him, but she did as asked. Unfortunately, Gunter and Jordan weren't as obedient.
"He's gonna fall," Jordan whispered to his friend.
"Of course he is," Gunter agreed. "There's no way he makes this."
"Guys. You ever use a radio before?" Cameron admonished.
"Okay, no more headsets for you two. Take them off. Now," Dina commanded.
A bit more groaning from Cameron then he sighed, his voice becoming clearer as he, presumably, pulled down his mask and said, "Okay. Not dead." Another groan then, "Heading into the building now."
Dina sighed in relief. He'd made it. He was alive. Still, she couldn't stop herself from holding her breath as he entered the building. She had no idea what Cameron would find waiting for him and that scared her almost as much as him jumping between buildings had.
She flinched when she heard the sound of a fist meeting flesh, followed by a grunt of pain from Cameron. God, she hated this. She knew there was nothing that she could do to help him, but she would much rather be there with him than sitting on the sidelines, listening as he got hurt.
"What are you waiting for? Take him to the roof and throw his ass off. The man is a magician."
This time it wasn't just Dina who stiffened. Both Gunter and Jordan did as well. A quick look at them showed her that both were worried. But whereas Jordan looked nervous, perhaps a bit scared, Gunter looked ready to kill. Not that he didn't always look prepared to murder someone, but God help the poor souls who lay a hand on Cameron while Gunter is in striking distance. Though he did his best to hide it, Gunter was loyal to Cameron; he respected the magician, cared about both Jonny and Cameron, and wouldn't think twice about returning the favor should someone hurt either twin.
"You obviously don't know what that means, guys," Cameron stalled. Dina almost demanded that the driver of the truck go faster, but she held her tongue. The man was going as fast as he could with the little information they had to go on. "You see, my brother and I, we grew up on the road. Performing in my father's show. Strange city after strange city. Lot of sketchy promoters. We always paid in cash, so we were easy targets for thieves. Our dad, he uh, he taught us more than just magic."
And wasn't that the truth! Dina had known the Black boys long enough to learn precisely what their father had taught them. They had learned magic tricks, undoubtedly, but they had also learned how to defend themselves, how to take care of one another without the use of a hospital. And he had taught them that the show had to go on, no matter what. Sebastian Black wasn't an unkind father, per se, but Dina had always gotten the impression that the man had cared more about his work than his children.
When the first hit landed, Dina knew that it was Cameron throwing the punches this time. The whole thing lasted maybe three minutes, and in that time he had only cried out once. Not bad, considering.
"He taught us to survive," Cameron finished, sounding more out of breath than when he had been running.
"We're here," the driver announced.
"Cameron, we're coming," Agent Daniels said into the comm before throwing it off and standing up. "Stay here and tell us if you see him," she commanded as she followed Mike, Agent Alvarez rather, out of the truck and into the building.
Dina wanted to do a lot more than that, but she forced herself to remain sitting and allow the people trained to handle these kinds of situations to do their jobs. She would check on Cameron later. Right now, he needed Kay more than he needed her.
oOo
"Watch out, he'd got a gun!" Cameron warned, instantly putting everyone on alert.
"Who has a gun?" Kay asked in confusion when she noticed that it was just Cameron in the room.
"A Master of Deception," Cameron half whispered, sounding dejected.
Not knowing how to answer that, Kay didn't even try. Instead, she holstered her weapon and looked over at Mike. "I want every inch of this building searched. Switch may not still be here, but he may have left something behind." While Mike got on the radio to do as instructed, Cameron stepped to the side of the room so they could search the place without having to step around him. Kay hadn't missed the limp which he'd tried to hide as he'd moved, so she went up to him to check on him.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, not bothering to hide her concern. Though she had heard his grunts of pain over the radio, she still wasn't prepared to see the reddish-purple bruise on his cheek. Whoever had hit him had hit him hard. She winced when she saw the mark. "Do you need some ice for that? I'm sure Jordan, Gunter, and Dina would happily grab some for you."
"No, I'm fine," he answered, offering an assuring smile which quickly turned into a wince.
Taking that to mean that he wasn't fine, but that he also wasn't going to say otherwise, Kay nodded. "Well, you and your team don't have to stay. We're going to be here a while." She looked around at all the drawings one the walls. A part of her was impressed and amazed at how good they were. If it wasn't for the fact that it was illegal, Kay would have allowed herself to be just as starry-eyed about Bishop's work as Jordan had been.
"I'm staying," he answered, his voice harder than Kay had ever heard it. Something about this was bothering him, but what it was, she didn't know.
"Okay," she allowed, knowing that she couldn't talk him out of it if she wanted to.
Leaving Cameron to his own thoughts, Kay turned around and headed to the table where Switch - or was it Bishop? - had apparently been working when Cameron had arrived. If all else failed, she'd check on him via Dina. Something told Kay that, no matter how unwilling Cameron may be to open up to her, the same wasn't true for a member of his team.
oOo
When the visiting door opened to admit his brother, Jonny wasn't surprised. That is, until he saw the bruise on his brother's cheek. In the grand scheme of things, Cameron wasn't the type to get into fights. Which meant that something must have happened while Cam was "helping" out the FBI.
"Do I even wanna know what happened?" Cam asked him as he made his way to the table. The limp in his step was all too noticeable to Jonny, but he held his tongue.
While Cameron didn't mind mentioning the month he'd spent in the hospital in passing, he wasn't keen on going into details about it, or the weeks he spent recovering after he'd been released. Jon knew that his brother still felt pain from one of the injuries, but getting him to admit it was like pulling teeth so he'd settled for surreptitiously taking care of Cam as best he could. Now that he was stuck in prison, Jonny trusted that Dina would take over for him.
"Do I wanna know?" he asked, making Cam smirk.
"Let's say it on three," Cam suggested as he sat down. "One. Two."
There was a pause where Jonny patiently waited for his brother to finish, only partially expecting him to. Even if Cam had said three, Jonny wouldn't have said anything. When it came to Cam, prison was like Las Vegas - what happened here, stayed here. They both smiled when nothing further happened.
"So the reason I came-"
"-I know why," Jonny interrupted, his heart sinking just a little bit more.
"You do?"
"This is the part where you tell me your hunch about the mystery woman was wrong, and you shouldn't have gotten my hopes up." Cam slightly tilted his head to the right and shifted in his seat. "It's alright," Jon forgave, though it wasn't really. Nothing was right while he was stuck here, but his brother didn't need to know that. All of their lives, Jonny had to be the adult because there was no way Cameron was going to be. While Cam had managed to keep a rose-colored view of the world, Jonny had seen it for what it was and he had done his best to shield his brother from it. That didn't end just because he was in prison. "You don't have to apologize, Cam. I know you're doing the best you can and you can't just make clues appear out of thin air."
"That is true," Cam agreed. He then tossed a file folder across the table where it slid until it landed in Jonny's lap. Eying his brother with wary curiosity, Jonathan opened the file, saw the picture that lay on top and then looked back at his brother, stunned. "Everything that's happened in this case," Cam said. "I know who's behind it. But this isn't just about us, Jonny. All this? This is about something far greater."
Now if we just knew what, Jonny silently said. Much as he wanted to say it aloud, it wouldn't do any good. They both knew the mystery had gotten deeper; that, rather than bringing them one step closer to the mystery woman, they had only added another random clue into the pile they were beginning to drown in.
Jonny took a moment to let all this settle - the clues, the connections, the revelations - and then he slid the folder back to his brother. "You should go home," he said, eyes raking his brother up and down. "You look like shit."
"Thanks," Cam quipped, settling back in his chair, seeming to get comfortable. "That means a lot coming from the guy who seems to have a new bruise every time I come."
"I'm in prison," Jonny brushed off. "It's expected of me to enter looking bruised and beat up. But you?" A gleam came into Jonny's eyes and he allowed a teasing note to enter his voice as he said, "You're out in the world; nothing should be happening to you."
"Unfortunately, Bishop didn't share your sentiments," Cam answered. He flexed his hand, where Jonny noticed bruises on his knuckles, then allowed it to fall into his lap on top of the folder.
"Bishop did this?" Jonny asked, astonished. He couldn't imagine the man doing anything of the sort. But then, time can change people; he knew that from experience.
"Well, technically one of his other taggers did after we parkoured across the rooftops of New York for several minutes, but essentially, yeah. It was at Bishop's command."
"I'm sorry, did you just say that you parkoured across New York city?" The very idea was ridiculous. Cam's idea of exercise involved enough ab work to be able to free himself during stunts and some cardio in the form of sex. He wasn't a runner, and he definitely wasn't the type to do parkour. "You? Parkoured?"
"Yeah." Cam shrugged, looking a little offended. "What?" he said when Jonathan continued to stare at him. "I made it work."
"Is that how you hurt your leg?" Jonny asked.
"What are you talking about? My leg's fine," Cam predictably answered.
Every single time they had been hurt as kids, they had been taught to brush it off and hide the bruises. Being the Daddy's Boy that he was, Cam took that to heart. Getting him to admit when he was hurt, no matter how badly, was like hitting your head against a brick wall. In fact, you'd probably have a better chance of getting the brick wall to answer you.
With an annoyed glare at his brother, Jonny kicked his brother's ankle hard. Either his idiot brother had twisted his ankle while running, something that was extremely likely given how un-athletic Cam was, or he'd pulled a muscle or some such thing. Either way, Jonny had kicked him hard enough to jerk the leg and he knew it.
"Ah!" Cam cried, face scrunching in pain.
"Black!" the guard reprimanded, fully prepared to haul Jonny off.
Cam held up a hand, stilling the guard. "It's okay," he said, pain written in his face and voice. "It wasn't him. I twisted my ankle earlier and I moved it wrong. That's all."
The guard gave Cam a dubious look, clearly not buying the story, but he let it go. Once the matter was mostly settled, Cam threw a glare at Jonny, his expression asking what that was for. Jonathan shrugged then leaned back in his chair, answering that if Cameron hadn't been so stubborn, he wouldn't have had to do that.
"I'm fine," Cam said, his voice still a bit gruff. He pivoted, carefully moving his left leg a little out of Jonny's reach.
Jonny scoffed. A part of him felt bad, but the rest of him thought Cam deserved it for being so blockheaded. "Go home, Cam," he gently commanded. Knowing that Cam wouldn't be the first one to leave tonight, Jonny stood, heading to his side of the visiting room. Behind him, Jonny heard Cam's chair scratch against the floor then the sound of uneven footsteps. The limp was definitely heavier than when Cam had first walked in. As the guard began securing his wrists in handcuffs, Jonathan added, "And Cam?" His brother stopped and turned so that he was facing Jonny, shifting so that most of his balance was on his right leg. "Thanks for the update." He briefly hesitated, then added, "It means a lot."
Cam swallowed, eyes growing big as he read whatever he wanted into Jon's thanks. "Yeah," he said, shrugging. "No problem."
The door closed behind Jonny, cutting off anything more that might have been said. He'd call Cam tomorrow and apologize for kicking him. Tonight, he had other things to think about.
oOo
The Archive was home for Cameron. But it was also so much more than that. It was his office and his laboratory. The Archive was the one place where he didn't have to be Cameron Black, World Famous Magician. He could just be Cameron.
When he walked in, the dead silence he was met with made him sigh in relief. Much as he loved his team, there were days when he needed a break from them. And they from him, no doubt. Cameron encouraged them all to get out and do things alone as much as he could. When you lived and worked together, and were around one another more than fifteen hours in the day, there was a greater chance for team breakdown and that wasn't something that any of them wanted or needed.
Limping heavily, Cam made his way to the little alcove where he and Kay had discussed her first dead body; had discussed her sister. He still couldn't believe that Jonny had kicked him so hard. Sure, he had expected his brother to make a point, but did he have to do it so vigorously? Pain was not a new feeling for him. He had stopped counting every time he'd broken a bone or found a random bruise on his person after sixth grade; they had been too numerous by then and Cam knew that it was only going to keep happening so what would have been the point?
Cameron leaned back into the chair, slowly raising his left leg to rest on the table just to the left of the chair. Pain throbbed through his ankle and foot with every heartbeat, sharpening every time he moved or put pressure on his foot. Although the kick hadn't helped, it really hadn't done any harm. He had sprained the ankle while he'd been attempting to keep up with the other taggers and continuing to run about, and walk about if he was perfectly honest, had only made it worse. Annoyingly, it wasn't just his ankle that hurt.
Although Cam had healed well from his life-threatening accident, his body hadn't let him forget it had almost happened. Similar to the way an elderly person can feel bad weather coming because of an old injury, Cam had the same general problem. The bones in his left foot had been shattered when he'd fallen, the result of which was that whenever Cameron had a long day of rehearsing, or too many shows, or simply was on his feet for an extended period of time, the foot would let him know he needed to sit down for a bit. Unfortunately, that wasn't always an option, but both Dina and Jonny had gotten pretty good and managing him well enough to ensure it didn't get to that point. Running today hadn't been ideal, but he wasn't about to let Jonny, or Kay, down.
"How's Jonny?"
Dina's voice startled Cameron back to reality. He jumped, the move so minuscule that most people wouldn't have noticed, then lowered his hand, which had been supporting his head, to his lap. "He's, uh, he's okay," he answered, only partially lying. The discovery of yet another bruise hinted at things which Cameron didn't want her thinking about, so he left that part out.
Dina watched him for a minute, no doubt catching the lie easily. "Mmhmm," she said, sounding like she didn't believe him. She sat down in the chair across from his then leaned forward. "And how are you?"
"Me? I'm fine," Cameron all-out lied this time, adding a smile to help sell it. He winced when his cheek throbbed, reminding him that it was bruised.
"Cameron," she said, practically sighing his name out in frustration. "I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again. It's okay to admit when you're hurting. You are allowed to get relief from pain."
"I know," he dismissed, hoping he at least made the acknowledgment sound genuine.
Dina remained silent for a couple minutes, watching him as she thought. "Wait here. I'm going to grab the first aid box."
That's right. They didn't just have a first aid kit, they had a damn box. Being a magician was awesome, but if there was one thing about it that Cameron wished was different, it was the amount of pain involved in it. Now, he didn't mind taking risks to learn new tricks and come up with new escapes, but no one enjoyed pain. No matter how well they hid how much of it they were in. So, Dina had insisted on a first aid box to be kept around, keeping things from bandaids to ice packs and compression bandages in it. Once a month, she would do inventory on it and restock it if necessary.
"Take off your sock and shoe," she commanded when she came back and sat back down.
Knowing that it was better not to argue with her, Cameron did as instructed, unable to keep a constant wince off his face as he did so. Since Cameron knew better than to expect relief when the shoe came off, the influx of pain didn't surprise him. He hissed in spite of himself, though, as the throbbing became deeper and stronger. Yeah, that probably wasn't a good sign.
"You know that you should have gotten this seen to earlier, don't you?" Dina lectured and she gently guided his calf to rest on her knee and began to inspect the bruising that surrounded a good portion of his outer ankle. Without the restricting confines of his high-top shoe, his ankle and foot began to swell more. "We should probably take you to hospital to get x-rays," she suggested as she grabbed an instant ice pack and laid it over his ankle.
Cameron almost told her that he didn't need to go to the doctor but then he remembered his opener for Vegas. He knew that, no matter how much he didn't want to go, he should get it checked out. "I'll go tomorrow if it's still bad," he promised.
"I'm holding you to that," Dina promised. She stood up, gently moving his leg off her lap then laying it back down in the spot she'd vacated. "Stay there and let that work a bit. I'm going to go get another couple of ice packs then I'll wrap it for you."
"A couple?" Cameron repeated, confused. He could understand one for his cheek and one for his ankle, so what would an extra one be for?
"Yes. One for your face, and one for your side." Now how had she known that he'd injured his side? As far as he could tell, no one had known about it. Dina smiled. "After all this time and you still think you can hide things from me?"
That was fair. Although she and Jonny had become romantically involved, she and Cameron had become like family. For a while there, Cameron had hoped that Jonny would marry her, but then his idiot brother had gone and screwed things up. Now she and Jonny barely spoke, and him being in prison had nothing to do with why. It was obvious that she still loved Jonny, but Cam knew just how much his brother had hurt her and so he didn't push either one of them. Still, he and Dina had remained close as ever. Cameron was now beginning wondering if that was a good thing.
"Can't blame a guy for trying, right?" he joked.
"You can if it means that you spend almost an entire day hurting yourself," Kay said, scaring the beegeesus out of Cameron.
"Gah!" Cameron cried out, his hand going to his heart which was now racing a million miles a minute. "How long you been standing there?"
Kay smiled, enjoying his surprise. "Long enough to learn never to take you at your word when you say you're fine." As Dina walked into the kitchen, Kay walked around the chair Dina had vacated, pulling up her own seat before taking it. "Why didn't you tell me that you were injured? For that matter, why did you stay around in the warehouse after we'd raided it? We could have easily done what we needed to do without you." Cam smiled, making Kay stop and amend, "I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that you could have gotten checked out while my team and I cleared the crime scene."
"Honestly Kay? It wasn't a big deal," he answered dismissively. Her face hardened and Cam sighed. Yeah, he was going to have to do better than that or she might just hurt him herself. "Look, if I went to the doctor every time I got hurt, I'd probably have my own wing named after me."
"I get that you don't have to go to a doctor for everything," Kay appeased. "But for something like this," she lifted the ice pack off his ankle and examined the injury, "you should have."
"Here," Dina said, handing Kay one of the makeshift ice packs. Cameron didn't miss that she had three, rather than the two she had promised. She handed the biggest, a baggie filled with ice, wrapped in a towel, to Kay, while she held onto a small bag of frozen vegetables and another instant ice pack. Without need for instructions, Kay replaced the fairly warm instant pack with the towel of ice. "Open your shirt, Cameron," Dina commanded.
"Dina," Cameron tried to argue with a side look at Kay.
"No arguments. Either you open your shirt, or I do it for you."
"Fine," Cameron conceded with a sigh. He wasn't ashamed of his body by any means, but his and Kay's partnership hadn't progressed to the point where he was comfortable getting half naked in front of her.
"When did that happen?" Kay asked when his opened shirt exposed a couple fist-sized bruises on his right side.
"My guess would be during the fight with the other taggers," Dina answered. She knelt next to the chair then gently slid the bag of vegetables against his side. She wedged it between him and the chair, using his shirt to create a barrier between the bag and Cameron's skin. Cameron suck his breath in and Dina looked up at him to gauge his reaction. He knew from experience that she was making sure she wasn't hurting him; Dina could have a really light touch when she wanted to. "Normally, Cameron's a good fighter, but since he was already injured, his body instinctively protected his weaker side, leaving the right side open." She placed the instant pack against his cheek, saying, "Hold that there."
Cam's eyes closed as the cold began to minimize his discomfort. To some degree, he hadn't realized how much he hurt until he felt the pain's absence. His eyes snapped back open when he felt his leg being moved. Thankfully, it didn't hurt, but with Kay here, Cameron didn't feel as though he could fully let down his guard like he could when it was just him and Dina.
"So," he said when the silence began to stretch on far too long for his liking. He did his best to ignore Dina as she worked on his ankle. She would see how uncomfortable he was with the whole situation and he would no doubt hear about it once Kay left. Better to focus on Kay instead. "Did you need something? Or did you just come by for the pleasure of my company?"
"Well, I had a feeling there was something more going on with you, so I wanted to come and check on you."
Cam smiled, half teasingly, half sincere. "You were worried about me."
"With good reason to be, apparently," she answered. "I wasn't aware that magicians completely lacked self preservation."
"Okay, first, yeah, it's part of the job description. And second, a sprained ankle and a couple of bruises do not threaten my preservation."
"Self preservation doesn't just refer to things that could threaten your life," Kay argued, sounding almost rational. Had she practiced this on the way over? "The term could be used to mean keeping one's self healthy, no matter the severity. Now, call me crazy, but couldn't that mean not spending an entire day in pain?"
"Maybe," Cameron granted, not fully wishing to give in. He didn't really want to get into too much of his past with Kay - he'd seen the look of pity in her eyes every time he spoke of his childhood - but he also recognized that he may not have a choice. She could very well cancel their contract if she thought he was a danger to himself.
Kay waited a couple minutes for him to say something, but when he remained silent she leaned forward and said, "Talk to me Cameron. What's going on?"
Dina, who had finished with his ankle long ago, sat back in the armchair, leaving his foot to rest on her legs as she did so. Cameron would have moved his leg if he thought she would let him. Something told him that she wouldn't, though, so he left it where it was. She watched both of them closely, her expression a mixture of concern and curiosity.
Lowering the pack from his cheek, then pulling the bag of vegetables away from his side, Cameron placed them onto the coffee table then sighed. Where does one start when trying to explain their father's seemingly callous behavior? From the beginning? Middle? No where particular? In the end, it didn't matter where he started, so long as he started. Because Jonny was depending on Cam to get him out of jail and if this was what it took to make that happen, Cameron was going to talk Kay's ear off. He wouldn't fail his brother again. Not if he could help it.
oOo
Something wasn't making sense. Yes, Cameron Black wasn't what Kay would ever call a normal person, she wouldn't have ever pinged him as someone who would intentionally hurt himself. Then Kay noticed his reluctance to talk. He wasn't doing it on purpose; something else was going on here. She just couldn't tell what.
Originally, Kay hadn't planned on stopping by. But though they had technically answered his questions about the holes in the case, something had still nagged at Kay so she had decided to check on him. Cameron was predictable in his reaction and she had enjoyed scaring him with her presence. Watching Dina try and take care of him was fascinating as well as educational. She hadn't been at all surprised to find out that it all came down to not giving Cameron an option; the more she worked with him, the more Kay discovered just how stubborn the escape artist could be.
Finding out that he had been hurt worse than he had led on didn't surprise her in the least. Kay had suspected it in the warehouse, but she had also recognized that wouldn't be able to force him to receive medical care either and so had left it and him alone. Of course, now she wished she hadn't because she might have saved him from himself and spared him some pain. Oh well. Hindsight and all that, right?
After a couple minutes of silence, Kay leaned forward, resting her forearms on her thighs. "Talk to me Cameron," she earnestly begged. "What's going on?"
For a while longer, Cameron said nothing. Since she could tell that it was more from him trying to decide what to say and how to say it rather than a denial to talk to her, Kay stayed patient and allowed him to organize his thoughts. She could tell this was hard for him. She just wasn't sure why.
Cameron lowered the hand holding the instant ice pack to his cheek. He shifted, looking a little uncomfortable, and moved the pack of lukewarm vegetables from his side. Leaning forward, he placed both onto the coffee table, sighed, then leaned back once again. All throughout this, Kay didn't miss how his injured leg never left Dina's lap. Dina had finished wrapping Cameron's ankle long ago, and, after moving the other armchair closer so that it was easier for Cameron to reach, had then settled in with a throw pillow on her lap and Cameron's foot on top of the pillow. There was a level of ease between the two that spoke of a bond closer than friendship. They were family to one another.
"Growing up, our dad taught us many things," Cameron said after about five minutes' silence. He was still distinctly uncomfortable, but at least he was talking. "He taught us magic, of course, and how to defend ourselves. But a lot of the things Jonny and I learned from our dad weren't lessons he had intended to teach." Given the Black brothers' childhood, Kay wasn't sure she liked where this was going, but, knowing that if she interrupted Cameron now, she'd never get him talking again tonight, she held her tongue. "Thieves and bullies alike learned the hard way not to mess with Jonny or I. We always won in the end, no matter how long it went on or how many hits we took. But on stage, bruises aren't acceptable, so our dad would cover them for us with stage makeup and say nothing about it. Trouble was, he wouldn't ever ask if we were okay. He'd make sure we won, that we could do the show, and that was it."
Kay's heart broke a little for the two Black boys. On the road, traveling from place to place without a permanent home, was no way to grow up. But doing it all just to please a father who didn't seem to care one way or the other about you had to have hurt. The more she thought about it, the more Kay began to wonder just how much of Cameron's rose-colored personality was a front to hide deeper wounds.
Something of what Kay was feeling must have shown on her face because Cameron nodded and said, "Exactly. My dad wasn't a bad guy, you know? He did the best he could with what he had. But Jonny and I learned pretty quickly how to ignore pain. As many performers have said, 'The show must go on', right?"
"But you aren't performing anymore, Cameron," Kay said. She immediately thought of two or three arguments that could be used against her, but she had to say it anyways. "And I get that habits engrained that deeply can't be broken quickly, but you need to do it. This is the FBI, not a stage in Vegas. Your job isn't to perform for us, it's to trick criminals. And if you want your contract to continue, I'm going to need you to be a bit more honest when it comes to your health."
"Kay, if something was really wrong, don't you think I would have told you?" Cameron countered, probably not appreciating the lecture.
"Honestly, I don't know," Kay answered. "And since I didn't want to wait to find out, I wanted to make it clear right here, right now. Cameron, you had a concussion a few cases back and you didn't tell anyone about it until the headache had gotten so bad that you couldn't ignore it anymore. Stuff like that can't happen if you're going to work with me."
"Okay. I hear you," Cameron placated. "But to be fair, we were trying to stop an art heist. We didn't exactly have the time to let my head feel better."
Guilt trickled into Kay's stomach as his words partially echoed her own sentiments at the time. Granted, she hadn't known he had been injured, but even so, she couldn't deny that someone as perceptive as Cameron could have easily read her and figured it out for themselves. "Be that as it may," Kay said once she'd gotten a better hold on her emotions, "the next time you're injured while on a case, tell me."
"Don't worry," Dina said, her tone neutral in spite of the fact that Kay could tell the woman was feeling protective of Cameron and more than a little tired. "If he doesn't tell you, I will."
"After all we've been through, you'd sell me out like that?" Cameron half joked.
"In a heartbeat."
"No one's loyal anymore," Cameron joked some more.
"And on that note, I should go," Kay said, knowing that she wasn't going to get anything more out of the magician tonight. She stood up, moving her chair back to its spot by the chess table before returning to their triangle. "Get some rest, Cameron," she bid as she pulled the car keys out of her pocket. "I'll check on you tomorrow."
"You're never going to listen to me again when I tell you that I'm fine, will you?" he asked, sounding dejectedly resigned.
"Nope." Kay answered, giving them both a smile. "Night."
She left them to discuss what they would once she was gone. It had been a long, stressful day, and Kay was ready to sleep. She'd check on Cameron tomorrow, like she'd promised. If they got a case, well he'd just have to sit on the sidelines and direct or something, because she wasn't going to let him back until he was cleared by a doctor. As she got into the car, Kay smiled. That certainly wasn't going to fly with Cameron. Imagining the hissy fit he'd throw when she told him had her smiling all the way home. She couldn't wait to tell him.
Finis