Cameron's hand was burning. He'd sloshed coffee on it while jogging the stairs to his apartment, paranoid they would get cold. He really hated cold coffee. Hissing as the scalding liquid dripped down his wrist, he kicked at the door with his foot.
"Kirsten. Let me in. My hands are full." His voice was nearly an octave higher with the pain, and it came out more like a squeak than a demand. She came anyways, swinging the door wide open. He walked in, handing the tray to her before making a dash for the sink.
"Damn." There was a red mark where the coffee had splashed him, and it still stung. "I burnt my-" He broke off as Kirsten hushed him. Turning around in indignance, he realized she was on the phone, one finger held up to signal him to be quiet.
"Okay." She murmured into the phone. "Thank you. Yes, daddy. I got it. I'll see you later." She hung up the phone with a sigh, then turned her attention back to Cameron.
Daddy?
"Who was that?" He asked, a little disturbed. It obviously wasn't Ed, and as far as he knew she wasn't in contact with her real father, let alone on good enough terms to be calling him 'Daddy'.
She shrugged.
"No one." She took her coffee out of the tray and handed the other one to him. His mind was still spinning with the bizarreness of her phone call, but he took the coffee and set it down on the counter. "Did you say you burned your hand?" She asked, eyebrows drawing together in concern. He'd momentarily forgotten about that, but once she mentioned it the pain came back with a throb.
"Yeah. It's nothing." He gave it a little shake. "We should uh, we should get going. We're going to be late." Careful of his burn, Cameron slipped his messenger bag over his shoulder, and waited for Kirsten to do the same. She'd spent the night due to Camille sexiling her yet again, and he had crashed on the couch like the gentleman he was.
On the way to work, Cameron couldn't help but let his mind wander back to her phone call. Who had she been talking to? Did she have a daddy kink? The thought sent a literal shiver down his spine. Kirsten frowned at him from the passenger's seat.
"Are you cold?" She asked, noticing him squirming. "Should I put the top up?"
He shook his head.
"I'm fine."
"You're shivering." She pointed out. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm fine, Mom." He regretted his words immediately. They only made it worse.
"Alright." She held up her hands in surrender. The rest of the drive was silent, Cameron mulling over the daddy dilemma while Kirsten remained characteristically quiet.
Later, when Cameron and Camille were alone in the break room, he cleared his throat.
"I need to ask you something." He said, eyes darting around to make sure they were really alone. She raised an eyebrow.
"Well, this oughta be good. What can I do ya for, doc?" She leaned in, exaggerating his current attempt at stealth.
"It's about Kirsten." Her eyebrows shot up. "She's not in contact with her father, is she?"
Camille looked confused.
"What, Ed? No, I think that ship kind of sailed when his brain hit it's best-by date." She said slowly. Cameron shook his head.
"No, I mean her real father."
She frowned, thoughtful.
"No. I mean I investigated her life pretty invasively before she knew about the program, and I think I would know if she was talking to him now." She cocked her head, studying him. "Why?"
His face heated up a little, the prospect of actually telling Camille what he'd overheard earlier was starting to sound like a bad idea. But his curiosity got the better of him. He was a man of science after all.
"I just, uh, heard her talking on the phone earlier. She was calling someone daddy." He cringed as he said it, the memory fresh and just as disturbing. Camille choked on her coffee.
"She what?" Her eyes were wide, mouth hanging open in surprise.
"Yeah, she wouldn't tell me who it was. I just thought-"
"Kirsten has a daddy kink?" Camille interrupted him. "Kirsten?" He winced. Maybe he should have kept this one to himself.
"Did someone say my name?"
Cameron whipped around at the sound of Kirsten's voice.
"Heyy, Stretch." He forced a smile. She looked suspicious, but not angry. He decided she hadn't heard enough of their conversation that he should be worried.
"You talking about me?" She asked, heading over to the coffee machine to refill her mug. Cameron shot a glance at Camille who just shrugged.
"Just…talking about the stitch." He lied. Kirsten poured some cream into her coffee.
"What about it?"
He felt himself begin to sweat. He had never been good at lying.
"Um, Camille's really picking it up quickly. That's all." He looked at the brunette, who smiled. Kirsten nodded.
"Mhmm. Soon we won't even need you." She grinned at him. He was pretty sure she was joking, but could never really tell.
"Right." He gulped. She gave him one last, strange look, then left.
"Wow." Camille said, once they were alone again. "Smooth."
He just grunted.
"So, about this daddy thing." She whispered. He sighed.
"You've never heard her call anyone that?" He asked. She shook her head.
"No! And I've heard some stuff, let me tell you. One time Liam stayed over and they were up all night, and I swear I heard them-"
"Okay!" He said hastily, cutting her off. "I don't actually need to know that." She smirked. There was a little too much sympathy in her eyes for his liking.
"Maybe she's dating someone new. Maybe he's into it." Camille suggested. Cameron considered that, ignoring the bitter taste it left in his mouth. A new guy?
"Maybe." He said absentmindedly. Just then, Linus stuck his head through the doorway.
"Hey guys, refractory period is up. We're ready to stitch back in." He told them. He winked at Camille, then disappeared.
"You know." Camille murmured, as they made their way back to the main lab. "You could always just ask her. What's the worst that could happen? You find out she's dating a new guy who likes it when she calls him daddy?"
"Yes." Cameron muttered. "That's pretty much the worst that could happen."
They closed the case quickly, Kirsten navigating the victim's memories with her usual prowess and finding the name of his killer on a bloodstained receipt for pizza. Cameron didn't have to offer to drive her home, it was simply routine for them now.
"You want to get pizza?" She asked, tying her hair back so it didn't get tangled in the wind. He snuck a glance at her, incredulous.
"Really? You watched a guy get his brains splattered all over a pizzeria like two hours ago."
She shrugged. Come to think of it, he could go for a large special from Angelo's. Sighing, he took the next exit, headed for their favourite place. She perked up when it came into sight. He pulled into a spot and was halfway out of the car when he felt a hand catch his sleeve.
"Lar-"
"Large special, no sundried tomatoes with extra feta cheese. I know." He said, rolling his eyes. They got the same thing from the same place at least once a week. It had taken them a while to find a pizza they both liked, but once they did it became a staple for their late night on-the-way-home dinners. Cameron liked to cook, but sometimes they didn't finish a case until well after dark, and if they didn't pick something up Kirsten usually had him drop her off at home. At least this way he got to spend an extra hour with her.
"I'll be right back." He promised, but she was distracted by her phone ringing. "I-okay. You're not listening." She wasn't paying attention to him, so he just sighed and left her there. He put the order in for their pizza, then made his way back to the car. She was still on the phone.
"Thank you." Her voice carried through the parking lot, an occasional hazard of driving a convertible. "Alright. I appreciate everything daddy has done for me. Okay. Bye." She hung up and smiled at Cameron. "How long?"
He blinked.
"Oh. Uh, twenty minutes." Squinting in the dim light of the parking lot, he studied her face. He had always been naturally inquisitive, but this was almost too much for him. "So, who was that?" His voice was a poor attempt at casual and she saw through it immediately.
"You don't usually ask me that." She noted. He slid into the car beside her, glancing at his watch.
"I'm just taking an interest, Stretch." She didn't buy it, eyes narrowing at him.
"Mhmm. You've been weird all day today. What's wrong with you?" Her voice was neutral, as it generally was, but there was something like real concern underneath. He was touched, almost.
"Nothing. I'm fine." He shifted so he could look straight at her. "What about you, anything new in your life?" She hesitated for a beat, and he caught it. Damn. Was Camille right?
"Not really." She shook her head. "Just stitching into the minds of dead people, trying not to get sucked into Linus and Camille's drama. The usual." She was a much better liar than him. He still didn't believe her.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the argument between two of the staff on their smoke break. Finally, Cameron couldn't take it anymore.
"Do you have a daddy fetish?" He asked, regret following the words the second they left his lips. Beside him, Kirsten turned slowly to look at him, eyes wide and wearing an expression that could only be described as baffled.
"What?"
He could feel his face burning as it turned red, wishing he would just burst into flame on the spot.
"I heard you say daddy on the phone earlier, and just now, and I know you're not talking to Ed, and I'm pretty sure you aren't in contact with your real dad, so the only logical conclusion here-"
"Is that I'm seeing someone? And I call him daddy?" She looked almost offended. He perked up a little.
"You're not?"
Her answering glare only intensified his current desire to shrivel up and die.
"Of course not. I was talking to someone at the Division for Air Defence and Evacuation. Maggie wanted me to suck up to someone who works there, apparently the whole division is a false front for the government to divest money into sensitive projects." Her irritation seemed to be giving way into amusement as his own discomfort grew.
He groaned.
"D.A.D.E."
"Yeah." Something seemed to occur to her. "Is this what you and Camille were talking about earlier? I thought you seemed even more highly strung than usual." He scowled.
"I was just asking her if you talk to your dad." He sighed. "She's probably going to ask you about it too." Kirsten rolled her eyes.
"Is my sex life really that fascinating?" She wondered. He coughed.
"The pizza's probably ready." He fumbled with the door, eventually giving up and hopping over the side when he couldn't get it open. Embarrassment was an almost constant state of being for Cameron, but this was awkward on a whole new level. He hurried inside to pick up their pizza, thanking Angelo for throwing in a complementary antipasto platter. When he made it back to the car Kirsten was sitting quietly, hands folded in her lap. They didn't mention it again until after dinner, when she was helping him load their plates into the dishwasher.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled. She looked up at him. "For the daddy thing." Her lip quirked, and she sighed.
"Alright. Take me home?" He nodded.
It turned out that Camille told Linus before Kirsten had a chance to set the record straight and Linus, being Linus, told half the lab. Annoyed, and lacking any real sense of embarrassment about the whole thing, Kirsten cleared the air by standing at the railing above the lab and shouting 'I don't have a Daddy kink'. Camille thought it was hilarious. Maggie did not.
A few weeks later, after their first date, Cameron gained firsthand knowledge of a kink Kirsten actually had. That one, however, he kept to himself.