Family at Last
Chapter One: Kirsten the Roommate
Summary: When Camille's parents left her when she was sixteen, she never expected that she would find a family again. She got a family and so much more when she started working with the Stitchers Program.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stitchers.
Looking back, I can't remember how Kirsten and I came to be roommates. It might have had something to do with the program, but at this specific point in time, I'm not sure. Then again, I'm getting all of this out while being slightly buzzed, so my memory of that long ago is a little fuzzy, which I'm guessing is to be expected. But if someone had asked me, shortly after I had moved in with Kirsten, how I could stand being friends with my academic nemesis, I would have quickly cut them off to tell them that Kirsten and I were not friends. We were simply roommates. And if they decided that they wanted to try their luck with testing my patience by continuing to pester me with stupid little questions, and went on to ask if I thought I could ever actually be friends with her, I would have laughed irritably in their face, gave them some snide comment as my answer and then walked away. But that was over a year and a half ago, and things have changed between Kirsten and I.
For starters, I overheard (eavesdropped on) a conversation that Kirsten was having with Cameron, and I heard her say that while she appreciates me stepping in when he had stupidly stopped his heart, she never wanted to have to go through that again. And that part of why she didn't want to go through with that was because it had been hard on me, and she cared about me because I was her best friend. Honestly, when I heard her say that, I tried my hardest not to just walk over there and give her a huge hug. But I was able to restrain myself because I wasn't supposed to hear the conversation to begin with… so making it known that I had heard what she said would have completely defeated the purpose of Kirsten and Cameron having a hushed conversation at his desk… him sitting in his chair and Kirsten sitting on his lap. They were adorably oblivious towards what their actions implied. At least that's what I thought. At least at that point in time. It's been a few weeks since then and Kirsten told me recently that she and Cameron are attempting to have a real relationship, but that they are taking things slow, and aren't ready for the whole lab to know just yet, so she's mostly still staying at our place. She then went on to tell me that she was confiding in me because I was her only female friend, and she had been told (by Cameron) that that was the kind of thing that someone told their best friend.
Of course, being as how she is my only female best friend as well, I then felt obligated to tell her about the pool that everyone (including Fisher, but excluding Maggie) was involved in on when she and Cameron would be getting together. Given my abilities with a spreadsheet, the pool records were all on my laptop, so she had asked to see them. Again, me being her best friend and she being mine, I showed it to her. She seemed to be surprised at how detailed the pool was, and after a quick scroll through the calendar on her phone, she confirmed that both Linus and I had won, Linus because of how it happened, and me because of when. Of course, me being me, I couldn't keep my excitement to myself and I immediately called Linus to tell him before realizing that Kirsten hadn't told me whether or not Cameron had told Linus about our oblivious friends being in a relationship and before it even rang for the first time, I quickly hung up. I had seen the fear that had briefly flashed across Kirsten's face when I had hit the call button, and the sigh of relief that escaped her lips when I just as quickly hung up didn't go unnoticed either.
As it turned out, with some further digging on my part, I was able to determine that Cameron had in fact told Linus, so it was safe to share the news of our winning the pool with him. However, this time instead of calling him, I sent him a quick text before turning off my phone. I was finally getting somewhere with being friends with Kirsten and I wasn't going to let there be any interruptions. So, after some persuasion, Kirsten and I turned off the lights in the front of the house and moved to my bedroom to continue talking. She asked me if I had called anyone when we had all contracted the Spanish Flu at the lab, and I ended up telling her the story of how my parents left me when I was 16. And while I knew that sympathy is something new for Kirsten to feel, I could see it in her eyes. I might have been older than she had been when I lost my parents, but my parents had left me the same way that her father had left her. In her own way, Kirsten understood what I feel. Neither of us have any family, so to have each other, it's a big deal for both of us.
So yeah, if I had been asked when I first moved in with Kirsten if I would have ever been able to see us being friends, my answer would have been a big, fat "hell no!". But if I was to be asked that same question now, a smile would form on my face, and I would give a small nod and say "in our own way, Kirsten and I are friends.". A year ago, a friendship was something that I thought would be impossible with Kirsten Clark, but now? Now it's almost difficult to imagine not being friends with her. I wonder if that's how it feels for her, having Temporal Dysplasia?