That finale! Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen it!
Cameron was really starting to hate hospital beds. He had never had any great fondness for them, but his new propensity to wind up in them was irritating. This one looked different than his previous one. It was more spacious, more modern. The glass walls had words written on them, but they were impossible to read in the dim light.
His immediate concerns were a glass of water, something to put his dry-as-dust contacts in, and and a nurse. He was a little hazy on the details. A searing pain flashed across his brain whenever he tried to search for what had happened. Between that and the pressure he felt on his chest, he figured it was time to call a nurse. Then he could call Kirsten. He was too tired to pretend it was for any reason other than he wanted her.
Cameron tried to sit up, but was met with resistance. He peered down the bed. A blonde head rested right over his heart. It was Kirsten sleeping on top of him. If she had been awake and listening, she would've heard a slight uptick in Cameron's heartbeat. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. The movement shifted his sleeping partner slightly. She snuggled into him further.
Cameron hated to wake her, but he needed to. The tricky part was how he was going to do it. He thought about touching her face, her hair, but that seemed too intimate. Her hands her wrapped up in his shirt. His best bet was her arm or shoulder. It was a safe place to touch her. His hand found her elbow. He moved a little higher and gently squeezed her arm. Kirsten's breathing became shallower though she didn't wake up.
"Wake up, sleepyhead," Cameron whispered as he shook her arm lightly.
Kirsten burrrowed deeper into his chest. "Not going home Camille." Her grip on his shirt tightened. "Can't make me."
Cameron's heart clenched. She had refused to leave him, still wouldn't. "No one's making you leave. I just need to see a nurse or something."
Kirsten yawned softly. Cameron couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was waking up. Eventually, she adjusted her head against his chest. A sigh of relief escaped her. Cameron's heart clenched.
Kirsten was listening to his heartbeat.
After she was satisfied with that she moved so she could see his face. Her eyes squinted at him in the darkness. "You're awake?"
Cameron nodded. "And alive. It appears that was up for debate." He cleared his throat. "How long have I been out for."
"You flatlined at 8:53. We brought you back at 8:57. I'm not sure what time it is now, but most people cleared out around midnight." Kirsten leaned over her side of the bed. She grabbed her phone off of the table there. Her fingers flew across the screen. "I'm letting the rest of the team know you're up. Everyone's been worried." She flung her blanket off and got out of the bed.
"Did you sleep on top of the covers?" Cameron asked in amusement.
Kirsten raised an eyebrow. "It's what you did when you watched over me."
Cameron laughed. "I guess I did, didn't I? " He let Kirsten tuck her blanket over his, then placed his hands gently over one of hers. "You're welcome to join me anytime."
Kirsten stared at their joined hands. She smiled and searched Cameron's face. "You scared me today. And surprised me actually." She pressed a quick kiss to his forehead and placed her free hand on his cheek. "I don't know what I would do without you."
Cameron leaned into her touch. There was something different about the way Kirsten was looking at him. It set a thousand butterflies free in his stomach. It was too much to think she felt the same as he did, right?
"I'm going to go find Ayo so she can check your vitals." Kirsten let go of him. "I'll be right back."
Cameron stared at the ceiling, wondering what the hell just happened. Kirsten had never been that affectionate with him. Had he said something about his feelings for her? He remembered asking her why she didn't trust him. He remembered having a plan.
Then it came back to him in stunning clarity: he had essentially killed himself. Cameron remembered thinking it was the only way to find the guy hunting them down. He needed to keep Kirsten safe. It was a drastic measure, but it felt right at the time. Everyone else had balked at his idea. He forced their hand when he administered the drug himself. Once he was better, Cameron imagined there would be a long line of people wanting to yell at him for being so cavalier. Linus and Camille would probably come back once or twice for good measure.
Cameron looked around his room again. It clicked for him that he was still at the Stitchers lab. His travel case sat on the table next to him. He rifled through it for his contact case and glasses. Whoever had packed it brought both, thankfully. Cameron filled the case with contact solution. He peeled both of his contacts off and placed them in the case. His eyes stung less now that he'd removed the dry pieces of plastic from them. He put his glasses where he could easily reach them, then laid back down.
Ayo and Kirsten appeared in the doorway. Cameron wondered if Ayo had been up when Kirsten found her. She was alert and efficient. The yawns she stifled behind her hand were the only giveaway that she had been sleeping only moments before. She finished his vitals and seemed satisfied with them.
Ayo had barely left the room when Kirsten climbed back into bed. She arranged herself just as she had before, head over his heart. Cameron almost suggested that she get under the covers, but he held back. He wasn't sure if that would break their little bubble. Instead he wrapped his arm around Kirsten's shoulders.
"I'm sorry I scared you," he told her.
Kirsten sucked in a deep breath. "Let's not talk about that now. You need your rest." She moved in closer. "Good night, Cameron."
She fell silent, but not asleep. Her breathing wasn't deep enough. Cameron laid there for a moment taking in the feel of Kirsten in his arms. He tried to hold off on sleeping so he could hold her just a little longer. When he finally drifted off to sleep, he noticed that Kirsten was still awake, keeping watch over him.
There are probably going to be four or so chapters to this. If anyone wants to talk about the finale, you can find me on Tumblr. My username is your-girl-thursday :)