"Are you sure you're going to be alright?," he asked as he put his car into park in front of her house. After finishing the case, Camille announced that she was staying over at Linus's for the evening. Since she had given Kirsten a ride to the Halloween party, Cameron offered to give her a ride home.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Remember, I don't do scared," she answered with a small smile that was meant more to reassure him. She wasn't too sure, since she had been having nightmares about Devon ever since the stitch... or was it Gavin now? Either way, they had solved the case and Gavin had been arrested. With any luck, the residual emotion would be gone and she could get a good nights sleep. In fact, the only time she slept well the last few nights was when Cameron slept next to her. She attributed that to the fact that she was extremely tired at that point, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was Cameron.
"If you're sure," he trailed off. He was still concerned for her well being, even though she put on a tough exterior. He paused for a few brief seconds, in case she changed her mind.
She nodded and started to walk towards her house.
"See you on Monday, Stretch," he offered.
She turned back towards him on her front porch. "Good night, Captain Big Hair," she teased as she swiftly stepped inside her house. She heard Cameron's laughter even through the door.
Kirsten was so exhausted from the lack of sleep from the night before, that she quickly changed into pajamas and was asleep within minutes.
...
Cameron woke up to loud, persistent knocking at his apartment door. At this late hour, it could only be one person. Kirsten. He put on his glasses and shuffled his way to his door.
The knocking got louder. "I'm coming," he directed towards the door. He didn't bother checking the peep hole and opened the door.
Kirsten threw her arms around Cameron, knocking him back a step. He lightly placed one hand on her back and the other closed the door.
"Is everything alright?," he whispered into her hair.
She sighed, but didn't answer him.
He hugged her closer. "Do you want chocolate hazelnut spread?" After finding out that Kirsten loved it, he may have bought two more jars earlier that day. He also may have hidden it at the back of his one cabinet, since his friends made a habit of helping themselves to his pantry and he knew he would never hear the end of it from Camille.
She shook her head, pulling back from their embrace. "I had some while I was waiting for my Uber ride."
"Oh. Do you want to talk about it?," he asked.
"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, and Cameron thought she was ready to talk. She surprised him when she shut her mouth a second later, turned around and went into his bedroom. He took a moment for his body to catch up and he rushed after her.
Kirsten was already in his bed, laying on her side and staring at him.
"What are you, uh," he stuttered, gesturing from the bed to the living room. He thought he missed the point in the conversation where Kirsten was getting into his bed, for a second night in a row.
"Your bed is comfortable," she responded. Cameron just continued to stare at her trying to solve the complex, yet very logical, mystery that is Kirsten Clark. "Are you going to get in bed? Or just stare at me for the rest of the night?"
"Oh, right." He carefully got into bed next to her. Just like last night, she curled into his side. Cameron waited patiently for her to open up to him.
After a few minutes, she spoke. "It's about Devon. Or I guess it's Gavin."
He pulled her closer and drew circles on her shoulder. He could feel some of the tension leave her shoulders.
"Earlier tonight, I was trying to distract Gavin so I could stop him. I told him that I'm just like him, that we're different and people treat us like we're freaks. That nobody wanted to be around me, not even my parents."
Her words shocked Cameron, and his fingers paused their patterns on her shoulder. He wasn't quite sure what to say to comfort her. "Hey," he started softly. "You know that's not-"
"I know it's not true. I only said it to get close to him and knock him out with the weights." She sighed, and looked very intently at her hand in the center of his chest. "It's just that I had a nightmare. Gavin had captured me and tied me up at the party, instead of Camille. Devon was there, trying to talk him out of killing me. Gavin kept saying that I was just like him, that no one would come for me because I was different. That everyone was just pretending around me, and they really didn't want to be around me. Just like no one wanted to be around him."
Cameron placed his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers together. She smiled slightly at the gesture and looked up at him. "I would come rescue you. You know that, right?," he said.
She nodded. "I know. That's exactly what I told Gavin, that you would come find me. But he waited until the sun came up and no one came for me. He kept saying that no one would want me, over and over... He was about to attack me, when I woke up."
"I will always be there to rescue you." He pulled her in tighter. "I will always want you," he whispered.
Kirsten's gentle caress on his hand had stilled (which he didn't even register that she was doing until she stopped), and he suddenly realized what he said. What he admitted to her. He gave her a sheepish smile, and hoped she wouldn't read too much into it. She could interpret that as in a friendly manner, right? Not as a 'I am hopelessly in love with you and I always will be' sort of way.
She stared at him, trying to figure out what exactly he meant by that. And why exactly her heart fluttered in her chest as soon as he said those words.
His heart was racing, especially Kirsten was still staring at him with her usual stoic expression. And to be honest, it was beginning to terrify him. He had thought of saying that he only meant it in a 'I'll always want you in my life, as a friend' sort of way, but he couldn't make the words come out. They wouldn't be true. The way she was staring at him, trying to figure him out, made him think that she probably wouldn't believe him anyway. Still he had to say something, anything. "I, uh..." Something coherent would be helpful, as he tried to look away from embarrassment.
She tightened her grip on their laced fingers. He stopped and looked back at her. She wasn't quite sure what she was feeling, and it was definitely a good feeling, but she was sure about Cameron. That she felt whatever this was around him. Kirsten leaned up and pressed her lips against his. It took him a second to get over the shock and he kissed her back. She smiled into the kiss and pulled back just far enough so she could look into his eyes.
"I will always want you too," she said. Kirsten gave him the most genuine smile he had ever seen.
Cameron mirrored a similar expression, beaming back at her. He had known for a while that he would always care for her, always love her. He never imagined that she would always want him as well.
...
She would go on to tell him on more occasions than he could count, that it felt like they were always together. But for Cameron, he knew that his always had started after the Halloween party when he finally learned how Kirsten felt. It might not have been how he imagined them getting together, but it was perfect.