A/N: I promise it has a happy ending! I swear.
Cameron and I were driving back to the lab from interviewing Dr. Danielle Martin about our latest stitch case- Anna Wolford. I had seen a flash of my mother in her memories at Dr. Martin's office with a very young me. Anna was one of the nurses that worked for Dr. Martin. I had to find out more information, about both my mother and Anna. Turns out that Dr. Martin was a general physician, and Anna hadn't worked for her for about three years. So we didn't get much information on the stitch case. I did however find out that I wasn't born with temporal dysplasia. It was the result of the car accident when I was eight years old. She had pulled up my medical records, noting that I was in the office about a month before the car accident. My mom had brought me in for a cold. Dr. Martin had also seen me as a follow up from the emergency room visit after the accident, and she had referred my father to take me to a neurologist. I had an injury that affected my cerebral cortex, ultimately causing the temporal dysplasia.
We drove in silence as I was trying to process the new information. I don't remember any of the visits to the doctor regarding temporal dysplasia, but it is possible that any doctor's visits were before my father left me with Ed. But Ed never mentioned it, and now I didn't have the opportunity to ask him. The only person I could ask is my father, and I haven't seen or heard from him since he left me with Ed. If I did enough digging, I'm sure I could find something about my father now. Maybe run the facial recognition software after running his picture through an aging simulation. And if that didn't work, I could ask Detective Fisher to look into it.
Cameron parked in his usual spot around the back of the building. He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?" The warmth of his hand on my shoulder was nice, it reminded me that he was still here with me. I had been having nightmares about what I saw in Vanessa's memories for the last week. I still hadn't told Cameron though. I figured that he would just rationalize it as my fears coming through Vanessa's memories, since they still couldn't explain where my consciousness went during the second stitch. I knew what I saw, and it terrified me that it might come true. I'm honestly surprised Camille hasn't told him either. Not that she knew what they were about, just that I had been having nightmares every night since that stitch.
I had even kept the quartz stone on me ever since Cameron gave it to me to protect my heart. I should have insisted that he keep it and come clean about what I saw. Every time I go to tell him, I lose the courage.
He drew small circles on my shoulder with his thumb, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, just thinking about everything we learned." I forced a smile, although he could probably tell the difference. If he did notice, he didn't say anything. The answer must have been sufficient, because he released his hand and got out of the car. We walked in silence to the elevator at the back of the restaurant.
Just as the elevator beeped that it had arrived, Cameron said "I forgot my phone in the car. Meet you down there?"
I simply nodded in response. I took the elevator down and changed into my stitch suit. We didn't have a lot of time left with Anna's memories due to the long refractory period.
I don't know how long I was standing there, waiting by Cameron's desk until Camille came up to me. "Hey, where's Cameron?"
"He went to get his phone from his car."
"You've been standing here for ten minutes. Maybe he got lost?" she joked. I looked at the clock, 5:39pm. She was right, I had gotten to the locker room at 5:25, factoring in a few minutes for me to change.
I knew she didn't mean anything by it, but I suddenly panicked. It should have only taken Cameron a minute or two to go to his car and get to the lab. He should have been back by the time I had changed. Before I knew what I was doing, my feet were taking me towards the elevator. I pressed the button with more force than was necessary. The elevator still wasn't here, so I pressed it a few more times. Camille came up behind me and said, "You know, I don't think pressing it more will make it arrive faster." I whipped my head around and gave her a look that caused her to back up a small step with her hands up as if to say 'I surrender.'
The elevator door opened, and Cameron was slumped over in the corner. "Cameron!" I yelled. I leaned down, lifting my hand to his face. "Cameron," I said more gently. "What's wrong?"
"I saw a guy in a mask... he had a gun." He glanced down at his left hand. I hadn't noticed right away. He was covering a gunshot wound. I pulled back his hand to see. His blue shirt was soaked in blood underneath his hand. I placed his hand over the wound, adding my own to apply pressure.
Camille yelled behind me, "Ayo! We need help now!"
"Cameron, stay with me. We're getting you help," I said, trying to comfort him.
"Thanks Princess," he said giving me a small smirk.
I heard feet shuffling behind me. Ayo and Tim came up with a stretcher. "Kirsten," Ayo started. "Can we get through to help him?"
I didn't respond, but got up and took a step back.
"Kirsten?," Cameron moaned. His eyelids had fluttered closed.
"I'm right here Cameron, right here." I was nervous and agitated, unable to do anything to help. I ran my hands up my arms to give myself something else to focus on.
Ayo and Tim got Cameron on the stretcher and brought him out of the elevator. They didn't get very far into the lab. Ayo looked worried, wanting to tend to Cameron's wound right away. Someone handed her a medical kit. She examined his abdomen, looking at the entrance and exit wound. "It's a through and through," she said. "Appears to have missed vital organs. We just need to cauterize the wound, and stitch him up."
"Kirsten," he moaned again, pain showing across his face.
I took the few small steps and crouched down to Cameron. I placed my hand on his right shoulder to comfort him, while staying out of Ayo's way. "Cameron I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." My response caused him to smile again. I ran my fingers through his hair, needing to keep contact with him.
My eyes completely focused on Cameron, making everything else a blur. They were attaching electrodes on his chest to monitor his heart rate. I saw Ayo in my peripheral, cleaning his wound.
…
They had finished stitching up his exit wound. Ayo just started on his entrance wound, when I heard it. Cameron was flat lining. He wasn't smiling at me anymore, his face was lax.
"Cameron!," I yelled.
I could barely hear anything besides my heart pounding in my chest. I think Ayo said that his renal aorta had been nicked and he was losing a lot of blood. She started chest compressions. Cameron hadn't responded.
She attached AED pads to his chest. I heard in the distance, "Kirsten, get back." I couldn't leave Cameron, I just couldn't. Arms wrapped around my chest, pulling me away. It was Camille. "They need to work Kirsten."
He was still flat lined. Ayo said, "clear" and shocked Cameron. No response.
"Increase to 150!" She shocked him again. No response.
"Increase to 200!" He wasn't responding.
I fought against Camille, freeing myself from her grip. I knelt down again by his face. I reached my hand out, but recoiled back when Ayo said "Clear!"
No response.
"Cameron!" No no, he couldn't leave me. I couldn't do this without him. The pain in my chest was unbearable.
My memories pulled me away for a second...
"Is this what love is? Intense connection and then heartbreaking loss?"
"Maybe."
"Is it worth it?"
"Tis better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all... Tennyson."
"Do you think he's right?"
"I don't know. But if you figure it out, tell me?"
I was in love with Cameron... If this is what love is, I don't think I ever want to experience it again. The excruciating pain is more than what a person should be able to handle.
I heard Ayo yell, "Again!"
"Cameron, please," I whispered with a shaky voice. "Please come back to me." I can't lose him, it was much too soon.
Then I heard it, a faint blip on the heart monitor. A heart beat.
"Cameron, I'm here. Please don't leave me," I said again, stroking his hair. Hoping that talking to him would help. Another blip on the monitor. Then another.
"He's back," Ayo said. "We need to get him stabilized."
She worked on repairing his aorta. I continued to stroke his hair. Whether it was to calm him or me, I wasn't sure. Maybe to calm the both of us.
…
"He's stabilized for now. The wound is all closed up," Ayo said.
"Why isn't he waking up?," I asked. I continued to draw small circles in his hair.
"He appears to be in a coma from the shock to his system. We just need to wait for him to wake up."
"How long will that take?"
"It's unclear. It could be an hour, or days." I must have given her a death stare, because she continued. "He just needs time to rest."
I looked at the clock again, 7:30pm. I just sat there, stroking his hair, willing him to wake up. "Cameron, I'm here. Please come back to me."
They must have allowed me to sit there for a minute, the clock said 7:31 now. "Come on, let's get him to the medical bay," Ayo stated.
"No," I said, almost surprising myself. "I'm stitching into Cameron."
Camille, as usual, was the first to speak up. "Wait, what? Why?"
"He needs my help. I'm not going to sit around and do nothing."
"Kirsten, he just needs to rest," Camille reiterated.
"Cameron should be awake. He's not. He needs my help."
Maggie was the next to say something. "Kirsten, you can't stitch into Cameron. We've never tested this technology on a living person."
"Linus, you can still map his memories, right? You just won't use the nanobots to bridge the gaps in his neurons, since they're all still intact." I rationalized.
"Yeah, I think that should work," he replied.
I turned back to Maggie. "I'm not asking for your permission. I'm doing this with or without your help." I practically yelled at her.
She weighed what I said. I could almost see the recognition on her face, I wasn't backing down. "Alright Kirsten."
"Camille, you can run the controls right?," I asked. Disbelief was on her face. "Camille!"
"Uh yeah, I can run the controls."
"Ayo, please take care of him." I caressed his face one last time, before going into the fish tank. They moved him to the corpse cassette.
Linus was typing away furiously at his computer. "I just need a minute to map his memories."
I impatiently waited, while settling into the fish tank. I put the straps around my waist and feet.
"Neural mapping is complete. We're good."
I saw Maggie in my peripheral, at the edge of the fish tank. "Kirsten, if anything, and I mean absolutely anything goes wrong, you need to bounce out right away."
"Alright." There was no way that was happening. I wasn't leaving until I could help Cameron.
"Kirsten, I mean it."
"Alright, I got it." Yeah, that was so not happening.
"Kirsten, can you hear me?" I heard Camille ask in my ear. It was disconcerting that it wasn't Cameron's voice I heard.
"Yes, I hear you."
"We're good to go for stitching. You ready?"
"Yes."
"Okay then. Three... two... one... mark."
...
I was pulled into Cameron's memories.
Everything was flashing by so quickly. Like his life was flashing before him.
There was a flash of him as a child. Then high school graduation. He's in college, deciding on a major. He's meeting Maggie, she's offering him an extraordinary opportunity to make a difference. He's developing the stitchers technology, I can sense that he's proud. Now I see Marta's accident, there's regret and guilt. Her funeral flashes by. I see me. Lots of flashes of the two of us. He's meeting me, hesitant but intrigued. I see the computers flicker while I'm in the stitch. I'm coming out of the first stitch, he's worried. I'm kissing him, there's lust and concern. He's carrying me into his apartment with Ayo. He lays me down, brushes the hair out of my face, I sense concern again and something else. We're at the rave, I sense more lust. We're at the Santa Monica pier, he's worried for me. He finds his neighbor, he's shocked. We're all in his apartment, now he's telling me about Marta. More guilt, but also protection. He wants to protect me. He's worrying that he might lose me. He's telling me that I'm pretty remarkable, I sense love. He sees me outside his bedroom, he's shirtless. He's ashamed. We're in his apartment again after I woke him up in the middle of the night to confront him about the stitchers algorithm being leaked. He's hurt that I would think that. Now we're talking about Camille and Linus sleeping together. He's looking at me, I sense hope. He hears "I heart Liam," there's heartbreak. It's going by quicker- I see Liam, jealousy. The virus outbreak- regret about not telling me his feelings, I feel that he doesn't want to get between Liam and I. He finds out about the proposal, shock and hurt. He picks up the phone, I'm calling him to tell him that I rejected Liam's proposal. He's happy. He wants to comfort me. I sense love again when we're talking on my porch.
"Linus, Camille. Everything is flashing by too quickly. Can you put me in one spot?" I asked, knowing they both could hear me.
"Here's an emotionally charged moment. Is that better?" she asked in my ear piece.
We're talking about love, the same memory I thought of earlier. I feel that he loves me. It's almost overwhelming. Why didn't he tell me? We've been working together for months now.
"Cameron? Cameron are you here?" I'm looking around the living room. "Cameron please, are you here?" That's when I see him in the dining room. He's shirtless, wearing his dark gray jeans from today. He's giving me a huge smile.
"Three minutes Kirsten," I hear Camille in my ear.
"Cameron, are you alright?" I ask, ignoring her.
"Kirsten? I must be dreaming."
I close the gap between us, brushed my hand lightly on his face. "Cameron, you're not dreaming. You're in a coma." Might as well get to the point.
"Yeah, I must be dreaming then. You're in your cat suit." I see a new look on him, a devilish smile, full of lust.
"Cameron, you're not dreaming. I stitched in."
I wait for the realization. His smile disappears.
"Am I in the corpse cassette?"
"Yes, but that's not the point. Cameron, you're in a coma. I need you to come back to me. Please." My voice is strained, I need him to understand.
"Is it worth it?" I hear myself ask in the memory.
"Cameron, it's worth it. Please don't leave me, it's too soon to lose you. I need you to wake up."
The memory changes. We're in his dining room, he's face timing with Linus about the stitchers algorithm.
"What are you saying Kirsten?" I take a small step closer towards him.
"So you're okay... with coworkers dating?" He asks. I sense hope and love from his memories.
"Two minutes," I hear in my ear.
Another step closer, he's inches away from me. "Cameron, I love you. I can't do this without you. I need you to come back to me." I'm searching his green eyes for a response.
The memory changes again. We're in the lab, Cameron is calling his mom.
"I just want to know. Was it worth it?" I hear her in the phone. He's gazing at me, love again, and regret. He doesn't want to die with secrets between us, he wants to tell me. "Yeah," he replies, his voice hoarse.
He pulled me to a memory he wanted me to see.
"Kirsten, I love you too."
"One minute Kirsten," Camille says.
Cameron is pulling me closer, his hands circling my waist. He presses his lips to mine. I'm kissing him back. My hands instinctively go around his neck, my fingers running through his hair. I run my tongue across his lower lip. He pulls me impossibly closer, deepening our kiss.
"Thirty seconds."
I pull away from him. "Cameron, I need to leave soon. Please come back to me," I plead.
"Ten seconds, Kirsten!"
He's smiling at me. "I love you Kirsten. I'll try, I promise."
"I love you too. I need to leave."
"I know. See you soon." That's the last thing I hear as I'm typing my pin code.
…
I sat up, rushing out of the fish tank. Ayo is opening the corpse cassette.
"Cameron," I said softly. "Please wake up." I caressed his face again.
"Let's get him to the medical bay," Ayo declared. I just nod in response.
… two days later...
Cameron still wasn't awake. Ayo has been in to check on him almost every hour. His vitals were better, stronger. But he's still in a coma. She wasn't sure when he'll wake up.
Since the stitch, I haven't left his side. Camille has been in to check on me, she brought me a change of clothes to get out of the stitch suit. She tried to get me to change in the locker room, but I wasn't having it. I needed to be here when he woke up. I had just changed in the medical bay.
So I waited. I pulled up a chair right along side the hospital bed. I didn't leave his side, not even to sleep. I had just rested my head on the edge of his bed, using my arms as pillows.
When I was awake, I drew circles and patterns on his hand, needing the constant contact to make me feel better. I hoped it would help, for Cameron to realize that I was here waiting.
I must have dozed off. I had placed my hand underneath his. He was the one making gentle circles on my hand. My imagination must be getting the best of me. I dared to look at his face. He was still asleep. But the movement of his hand didn't stop. "Cameron?" I asked cautiously.
His eyelids fluttered open. "Princess?"
I couldn't contain myself any longer. I launched myself over him, pulling him in for a hug, while carefully avoiding his wound. "Cameron, I've missed you."
"I missed you too," he replied. I pulled away, needing to see his face again. "But what are you doing here?" His eyebrows narrowed. He looked honestly confused as to why I was here.
"What's the last thing you remember?" I was worried now. I hoped he didn't have any lasting damage.
"I was in the restaurant, coming back from getting my phone. Someone came at me, he had a gun..." he trailed off. "Then I think I was dreaming. You were in your cat suit."
"So you do remember," I exhaled with relief.
"Remember? It was just a dream."
"No it wasn't... I stitched into you."
"So that was real?," he asked. He started to smile.
"It was real," I confirmed. I smiled as well. "I love you Cameron. I'm in love with you."
"I love you too Princess." The smile lit up his face now, he was grinning from ear to ear.
I slowly leaned in, pressing my lips gently against his. His lips were soft and inviting. He kissed me back. I felt at home here with him.
But I needed to know something, so I pulled away. Much too soon from the look on his face.
"Promise you won't leave me again?"
"I promise Cupcake, I'm not going anywhere."
Satisfied with that answer, I shifted my body so I was laying on his right side. I left a trail of kisses down his jaw and along his neck as I settled into his side, placing my hand on his chest. I felt his heart beating underneath my fingers. Cameron came back to me.