Author's Note: Vincent/Cam was cute in seasons 4-6…now it's a bit sad, I know, but it's summer vacation, I'm revving to write, and I love to live in the past.
It was a very simply gesture, almost comically so. Vincent walked into the autopsy room to find Cam standing at her desk, as tall and statuesque as always. With one graceful hand, she held her hair bun and with the second she was removing bobby pins from it, slowly and deliberately. Doing so made the usually tight and coiffed style give way to a loose pony tail, equal parts silky and soft. Whatever information Vincent had come to pass on was long forgotten now.
As if time itself was slowing purely for Vincent, Cam very gingerly pulled at the hair elastic of the pony tail which released the cascade of long, dark hair. The thump of his heart began to beat at a slightly faster rate now as she ran her fingers through the beautiful, wavy strands, completely unaware of his presence. Surely, Cam without her strict up-do was an especially rare sight and the color growing on his cheeks recognized this.
Full of resolute, Cam began to coax the beautiful hair into a tighter pony tail, elegant fingers still working through it. As she smoothed the ponytail, gathering it in her hands, Vincent felt his breath hitch as he gave into leaning on the doorframe. The elegance and focus that she equipped for this arguably mundane routine left him intrigued, that and her gorgeous hair itself.
She twisted the ponytail into a hair bun, holding the bobby pins between her teeth, and expertly contained the previously loose mass. As she began pinning it back, her eyes slightly wandered into her periphery when she noticed the aloof British squintern leaning on the doorframe.
"Mr. Nigel-Murray, do you need something? How long have you been standing there?" Cam asked, parts quizzical and surprised.
Vincent's cheeks flushed and he jumped from his leaning position. "O-oh. Um, no time at all, Dr. Saroyan." He stumbled over his words like a small child caught in the cookie jar. "Did you know that contrary to popular folklore the bumble bee actually possesses the physiology to indeed fly?"
Her eyes narrowed and head tilted in growing confusion. "You left your work to come all the way to my office to tell me…nothing?"
"Well, Dr. Hodgins d-did find something on the body." He reached his arm behind his head nervously.
"And?" Cam asked expectantly, patience decreasing by the second.
"That's all, Dr. Saroyan." The nerves on his face had begun to pull together a slight smile.
Head tilting at the look on his face, she continued. "So, you left your work to come all the way to my office so I can walk all the way to Hodgins' station to hear what he found?"
"Ah, precisely." He said. "I am fostering an environment of workplace comradery."
She slowly nodded. "If you want to call it that, Mr. Nigel-Murray. Didn't you think to bring that information with you?"
"Oh, well my mind is just a jumble of thoughts right now."
Cam frowned again, eyebrow raising in mild suspicion. "Alright…" She said while walking past him. Watching her go, he felt one final jolt to his system as he saw her meticulously tuck away a strand of hair that had escaped the hair bun.
"Mr. Nigel-Murray, have you found cause of death yet?" The question entered his ears, but his brain didn't bother to make any sense of it. "Are you paying attention?" The voice that might've belong to Dr. Brennan repeated.
"Hm?" Vincent perked up from lapse in consciousness as he stared off into the X-rays.
"The cause of death? You've been staring at the bones for a while, clearly you should be onto something…" Brennan began again, annoyance slowly building.
"Oh," He tilted his head at the X-rays. "Did you know that black hair is the most common hair color in the world?" His mind slipped back into the beautiful sight of flowing black hair he stumbled upon earlier in the day. It wasn't just the sight itself that caused the thrill, but it was also the idea of seeing her in a position that was even somewhat removed from the strict boss-intern relationship.
"There is no hair left on the victim, so I fail to understand the relevance of that and if there was, surely that fact would not help us in identifying him. " Brennan's brown furrowed. "Are you sick, Mr. Nigel-Murray? You are typically my most attentive intern. Are you distracted by your impending dissertation?"
"It's something along those lines, I suppose." He cleared his throat. "There does appear to be a great deal of breaks and fractures on the bones, this could be cause of death." He said, turning his attention back to the bones on the lab table.
Analyzing the injuries Vincent indicted, Brennan's look of suspicion rose. "The lack of hemorrhaging shows that these injuries were sustained postmortem. Any undergraduate student could see that…"
He stared at the bones for a moment too long, hand caressing his chin in thought. "Intriguing…"
Brennan stood upright to face him. "Are you drunk? Consuming any drugs or alcohol while at work is not allowed, Mr. Nigel-Murray, and I could report you to Dr. Saroyan."
"Drunk? Oh no, Dr. Brennan I could never manage that at work." Letting his chin fall into his hands, he continued. "And I highly doubt Dr. Saroyan could help me focus."
Losing her patience, she frowned even more. "Perhaps you should take your lunch break, Mr. Nigel-Murray. Come back when you are ready to take the case seriously, if not we may have to reconsider your hours at the Jeffersonian." Her assertive, tough tone fell on deaf ears and failed to jolt him back to reality.
"Ah, alright." He said, cheeks still rosy and tone still distracted. Making his way to the break area atop the catwalk, he didn't even think to actually bring his lunch. He took off his lab coat and sat down on the couch, elbows resting on the coffee table and his hands folded, as he considered his jumbled synapses. The lack of hemorrhaging on those bones would be quite easy to notice, that was quite a blunder he would admit, but he simply felt too flustered to even look carefully at the damage.
It wasn't like he hadn't noticed how pretty Cam was, admittedly all of his coworkers were, heck even Hodgins could be from time to time. And he had encountered his fair share of attractive women in his lifetime, if they actually returned the sentiment was another issue, however. But it hadn't been quite like this, he hadn't felt so completely overcome.
It was a truly interesting thing to witness, Cam thought as she noticed the squintern in the break area grounded in thought. Vincent managed to be quite a paradox in that he was both extremely focused and intelligent, yet also managed to be the most easily distracted and aloof of his fellow grad students.
Holding her yellow coffee mug, she considered his furrowed eyebrows and intense eyes, clearly consumed by his rapid firing thoughts. Like all of her colleagues, she couldn't help but wonder what even took place in that complicated tangle called his mind. Sometimes getting distracted by that tangle couldn't make him a bad worker for his still tried his best and clearly cared about his work.
Though Cam often preferred Brennan's attitude of distance and discipline with the interns, maybe she was a tad too hard on Vincent. Considering their delicate work environment, she could at least try to be more understanding and accommodating unlike her behavior earlier in the day.
"Dr. Saroyan? Do you need something?" Cam had lost herself so deep in thought that she hasn't noticed Vincent's break from his trance of contemplation.
She stood up straighter from her previous lean again the metal railing. "Oh," she patted her hair and cleared her throat. "Did Dr. Brennan already give you your lunch break?"
He winced. "More like strongly suggested I take one. She claims that I am 'off my game,' as Agent Booth might say." He returned to his position of contemplation.
She carefully sat down across from him. "Well, as we all know Dr. Brennan has very high expectations for her students."
His attention perked, could her previously strict demeanor actually be growing to one of understanding?
"And sometimes, they are a bit unfair." She was avoiding his beaming, cobalt eyes in thought. "Maybe, she hasn't really forgiven herself for not picking up on Zach's...secretive behavior. I'm not sure if any of us every really will." Her features grew somewhat somber with eyes glazing over and mouth tensing.
The tingling, woozy feeling of distraction was shaken from his body now, and his own features were struck by just how sad she looked. Over his year at the Jeffersonian, he had gathered how highly they regarded Zach, but had never understood the deeper emotional toll until he saw it expressed on Cam's typically rigid face.
"It's quite alright, Dr. Saroyan. I like to think that the height of Dr. Brennan's expectations will prepare me for any trials I may encounter on the job." He finished with a sense of encouragement, trying his best to lighten the mood. Was that the suggestion of a smile he saw? It did look quite good in her, he thought, as his cheeks warmed.
"That's a very productive way to look at it, Mr. Nigel-Murray." She replied assertively, as if trying to re-establish the protection against her slip of emotional sensitivity. Noticing his bright look of encouragement did pull her muscles into a slight smile, though, and his cheerful eyes weren't too bad now that she let herself look at them. She stood up, straightening her dress, but in the process a small lock of hair escaped the prim bun. "I look forward to you and Dr. Brennan discovering cause of death."
His mouth opened to say something about the escaped piece of hair, but all that managed to escape was a soft "Thank you." As she walked away, he realized he began and ended his break the same way; mystified and distracted.