"Do you want to come over later?" Cameron asks Kirsten, passing her the cream as they re-fill their coffee in the breakroom. She shrugs.
"Sure." It's their routine anyways, she practically lives with him now. He frowns.
"You don't have to." He sounds unsure. She sighs.
"I said sure, Cameron." She sets down the coffee pot and sits in one of the chairs by the glass wall. He sits at the other, and they stare silently across the table at each other. They've been officially together for just over six months, starTing immediately after he woke up in the hospital, and for the most part they've been sickeningly happy. Camille and Linus are bickering in the other corner of the room, and normally Kirsten and Cameron would cheerfully spectate. But not today.
"I can't do this anymore." He says. She turns her head from where she was watching her roommate, and blinks.
"What?"
"I thought I could handle this, the whole you never expressing your emotions thing. But I can't. I feel like you don't really care, like you're just…there." He scrubs his face with his hand. "I'm tired of feeling like I'm the one putting in all of the effort." He doesn't seem to notice that the bickering in the corner has stopped, and it's Camille and Linus who are doing the spectating today.
"I don't-what are you saying?" Kirsten asks slowly.
"I can't ask you to change who you are. But I'm not happy. I think we should break up." The words are quiet, but they echo like gunfire around the room. She looks like he's slapped her. For a second he could almost swear he sees tears in her eyes. But she blinks and they're gone, along with the pain and vulnerability in them moments before.
"Alright." She says, voice flat. "If you're not happy, let's break up."
He opens his mouth, like he was expecting her to argue, but quickly closes it. She stands, taking her mug of coffee with her.
"I'll pick up my stuff later." She says stiffly. He nods, a little dazed at how fast it all was. Then she's gone.
Linus and Camille are silent for a few seconds, glancing at each other.
"I'm sorry man." Linus finally says, and Cameron starts, as if he's forgotten he wasn't alone.
"Uh, thanks." His eyes are glazed, unfocused. He stands too, forgetting his coffee as he walks out the door and into the hallway.
Camille, still processing, turns to Linus.
"Well, I don't think anybody predicted that in the office pool." She mutters. Then she heads off to find her roommate. Kirsten might seem cold, but she's anything but. And in the last few months she's been happier than Camille has ever seen her. Now that's all come crashing down.
Word travels quickly throughout the lab, and soon Maggie is approaching Cameron to offer her condolences, and a warning.
"Is this going to affect your work?" She asks. It's not exactly sensitive, but between her and Kirsten, Cameron has gotten used to that.
"I'll be fine. And you know Kirsten, she's probably already over it." He shrugs. Even thinking about that hurts a little. Maggie nods, satisfied, and leaves him to his work.
Later, Cameron's in the middle of making spaghetti when he hears the knock on his door. He swings it open, unsurprised to see Kirsten standing there.
"Hey." He says.
"Hey." She responds. Then her face cracks into a wide smile, and she tugs him toward her by his collar, pulling him into a smoldering kiss. When they break apart, he's wearing the same dazed look he had on earlier.
She pushes past him into the apartment, pulling a bottle of wine out of her bag.
"They totally bought it." She says, still grinning.
"Maggie asked me if it was going to affect our work." He tells her, taking the wine from her and fishing two glasses out of the cupboard. Behind him, she snorts.
"Well, it looks like our plan worked then."
He passes her a glass of wine, and they clink their glasses together in celebration.
"To selling the fake break up and getting Maggie off our backs about the no inter-departmental dating rule." He toasts, taking a sip. She mimics him, then sighs.
"I don't know how we're going to hide this from Camille and Linus." She muses. He shrugs.
"Who cares? Today was a success. Let's just enjoy it." He swivels her barstool to face him, catching her in another long kiss.
"Mmm. Maybe we should break up more often." She says, as his lips travel down her neck. He stops.
"Don't even joke about that." He pleads. Her eyes soften.
"Don't worry, Doctor Goodkin. You're stuck with me for good." She promises, cupping his jaw in her hand. He smiles.
"My damn luck." He curses, still beaming. "So, how hard do you think it would be to hide it from Camille if you officially moved in with me?" She laughs.
"You know what? We're two pretty intelligent people. I'm willing to give it a shot if you are." She says. At that, he picks her up, tossing her over his shoulder. After they started dating Kirsten had found out pretty quickly that Cameron was much stronger than he looked, and he was hiding some serious muscles under all that plaid. He carries her toward the bedroom, chuckling to himself.
"What?"
"I'm just thinking, Stretch. Is this break up sex or make up sex?"