Sorry this took so long. There were a lot of moving parts. Hopefully the length makes up for it :)


Camille leaned her head against the kitchen cabinet. They were still sitting on the counter, talking. "Alright so that was Friday. Today is Sunday. You need to hurry this story up before the wine makes me sleepy. It's already starting." She yawned loudly for emphasis.

Kirsten rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. I spent my entire weekend with Liam..."


Kirsten squinted at her phone in the sunlight, willing it to chime. She had never truly experienced impatience before, and it was eating her alive. There had been zero messages from Cameron since Friday. They had both left the police station in a great mood. Blaine Campbell had been brought in for questioning in Nora's case. He had started spilling his story even though he wasn't charged with anything. Once the data on Meaghan's missing phone and the results from the DNA under Nora's fingernails came in there would be enough to arrest him.

Once Cameron pulled into Kirsten's driveway he told her goodbye. He said he would talk to her Monday.

It never occurred to Kirsten to take that statement at face value.

Usually Cameron texted her throughout the weekend. It was mostly work related things. Sometimes he sent her pictures of whatever ridiculous thing he made for lunch. Sometimes she sent him a picture of her PB&J in return. She usually received about a dozen texts from him over the course of a weekend. It had been radio silence from him for almost a day and a half though. Kirsten hadn't realized how Cameron had occupied every corner of her life until he wasn't around.

Kirsten had spent her entire weekend with Liam. He wasn't bad company. On the contrary, he was funny and smart. He could carry a conversation and knew a little something about everything.

The only problem was that he wasn't Cameron.

Every time they went somewhere, Kirsten's mind drifted to Cameron. On Friday, Liam wanted to go to the pier. Kirsten told him she wasn't up for it even though she had been yearning to go back. The next time she went would be with Cameron. They had promised each other that after their last adventure at the pier. It felt wrong to take Liam somewhere that was important to them. Kirsten talked him into window shopping in the artsy side of town. There were a lot of galleries and specialty boutiques in that area.

They went to a cupcake shop for dessert. There were dozens of flavors to choose from. If Cameron had been there, they would've picked a dozen and tried bites of them all. He would've suggested ranking them in order of tastiness and finishing the best one.

Liam didn't want to do any that. He wanted just one cupcake, the orange creamsicle. Kirsten would never understand why people would get fruit-flavored cupcakes when chocolate ones were available. She could be swayed by a nice caramel or espresso flavor, but plain lemon or strawberry just confused her.

On Saturday, they went to a museum. Liam refused to play the game that Cameron always did. It went like this. Every time they walked into a new room they would inspect each piece of art. They would then pick one to decorate their dream home. It was sort of silly, but Kirsten enjoyed hearing why Cameron chose the pieces that he did. They spent a whole fifteen minutes trying to determine whether a Mary Cassatt or a Manet would look better in their hypothetical foyer. Cameron had joked that they should get a painting from the artist that lived across the street from him.

It was weird not talking about the paintings. Kirsten felt like Liam could've been a stranger moving at the same pace as her. They barely talked so they could 'hear the artists speak to them' or something.

On Sunday morning Liam decided he wanted to go to the nearby farmer's market. Kirsten wanted to tell him no, but she couldn't come up with a good excuse. It was one of Cameron's favorite things to do. He had taken Kirsten, Camille, and Linus once before a movie.

They didn't get much of a chance to look at any of the stalls except for one. Cameron zeroed in on the grilled cheese booth and didn't let anything distract him from getting there. His favorite was the turkey, brie, and apple sandwich. Kirsten trusted him when he ordered it for her. He joked that if she didn't finish it, he would. The first bite was magical though. The crunch of the bread and the apple were perfectly balanced by the creaminess of the cheese. She had downed half of it before they even left the stall. It was hard to say what made her happier: that sandwich or Cameron's pleased smile. As they walked toward the movie theater, he pointed out some of his favorite sellers and what all they offered.

As Kirsten walked down the street with Liam, it was a very different experience. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with the stalls. That would've been fine. It was that he got into extensive discussions with each and every person. He was fussy about everything, but was polite and charming anyway. Half of the time he would finish talking without buying something. That was okay by itself. What annoyed Kirsten was that he felt the need to explain that he had someone who could get him a better product elsewhere. More often than not those distributors were halfway around the world, which made them useless.

Kirsten spotted the grilled cheese stall. Her mouth watered at the thought of one of their sandwiches. She pulled Liam over and began describing how delicious they were. Kirsten ordered the turkey, brie, and apple. Liam had the pesto, mozzarella, and tomato.

"What do you think?" Kirsten asked around her mouthful of sandwich.

Liam nodded. "It's really good."

"Best grilled cheese ever," Kirsten corrected.

"It's better than most grilled cheese I've ever had. I will definitely make it for you," Liam told her. "I really like it, but you made it sound like it was better than sex. This sandwich, while delicious, is not better than sex."

Kirsten shrugged. "We're going to have to agree to disagree there."

Liam kissed her on the cheek. "I guess tonight I'll just have to prove you wrong."

Kirsten squirmed slightly, but continued eating her sandwich. She scanned the market for their next stop.

She spotted a familiar face in the crowd just as Liam did. "Hey, isn't that -"

"CAMERON," Kirsten called, ignoring the looks she received for yelling.

Cameron looked up from the honey he was inspecting. He awkwardly waved at Kirsten and Liam before finishing his purchase. After he was done he joined his partner and her boyfriend. It had only been two days, but Kirsten couldn't help feeling like it had been longer. She had missed Cameron.

Cameron pointed at Liam's sandwich. "Looks like you found Mabel's stand."

Liam gave Kirsten a smile. "We did. I was just telling Kirsten I would make it for her sometime." He peered into Cameron's reusable bags. "What all did you get?"

The boys discussed all of Cameron's purchases. He told Liam which homemade cheese stalls had the best product. There were several that weren't up to his standards. He showed him the jar of honey he had just bought. Cameron was explaining that different seasons had different flavors due to what pollen was available at that time of year.

"Cameron, can you help me pick out which honey we should get for our picnic?" Liam turned to Kirsten. "I feel like I'm not letting you have a say. Why don't you pick out something for dessert. Whatever you want."

Kirsten looked at Cameron to see if he was okay being left with Liam. He gave her an amused shrug. It was an awkward situation, but both guys seemed to enjoy each other's company. Kirsten tried to keep an eye on them as she found a booth selling brownies. She purchased several then hung back so she could watch her boyfriend and partner. They still seemed to be having a civil conversation, which was good. If Liam hated Cameron, Kirsten would have to dump him.

The thought crossed Kirsten's mind instantaneously. She puzzled over it. That shouldn't be such a hard limit for her. Cameron was her partner, her person, though. If someone didn't get along with him, how could they expect to be a large part of her life? Plus, he was so easy to like. He was funny and smart and kind. It was a serious red flag if someone didn't enjoy his company. She enjoyed his company above everyone else's.

Kirsten had slowly been walking herself to this conclusion, but it still made her uneasy. She wanted to be around Cameron more than any other person. He was the one who pulled her out of the bad stitch she had. That had to mean something. Given the choice right then, she would rather continue her day with him than her boyfriend. She was mostly certain that she wanted to continue her day with Cameron as her boyfriend. That was something Kirsten wanted to talk over with Camille first though. She didn't want to jump into that if she was misreading her emotions. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Cameron or make their partnership awkward in any way.

The first step was breaking up with Liam. No matter how she felt about Cameron, Kirsten wasn't feeling confident with Liam. He was the perfect guy, just not for her. Their relationship couldn't go past what it had been. The question was how Kirsten should do it. Her fingers itched to text Camille or use Google to find an answer. Before she could though, Cameron spotted her. She discarded the wax paper from her sandwich along with her line of thought. Now she had to rejoin the boys, pretend she hadn't just made a potentially life altering decision.

From far away it had looked like they were getting along, but now something seemed off. Liam was relaxed and happy. Cameron, on the other hand, looked overly cheerful. His smile was a touch too wide. His movements seemed jittery. It was like he'd had five espresso shots in the time Kirsten had left.

"Well, this has been fun, but I gotta jet. Things to see, stuff to do." Cameron turned to Liam. He tried to fist bump him, but it turned into a strange handshake. "Good luck, man, you know in life and with the picnic and everything." He turned toward Kirsten, his pseudo-caffeination slipping. The smile was more genuine, though slightly sad. "You've got a great guy here. I'll talk to you later." He practically sprinted down the street, narrowly avoiding a woman carrying a whole tray of pies.

There was something Kirsten had missed entirely. Cameron had been fine before she left. Now he was a mess of nerves underneath a paperthin veneer of normalcy. "What did you guys talk about?" Kirsten tried to keep her voice calm. During her time with Fisher she had learned how attacking people was a bad way to start an interrogation.

Liam steered her toward the nearby park for their picnic. "Nothing much. I told him we might call later to see if everyone wanted to go out for drinks."

Kirsten narrowed her eyes. Liam was doing that thing Maggie liked to do: hedging. They told a lie, but it was wrapped up like the truth. It reminded Kirsten of the fairies from Ed's bedtime stories. They were unable to lie, but could twist the truth to suit their needs and deceive anyway.

They reached the park. Several other couples had the same idea they did. They all had their sheets or blankets out along with some sort of food. Liam found a shady, secluded spot and laid out their blanket. Kirsten stood while he unpacked everything. She wasn't sure she could handle small talk during their meal.

"We need to talk about our relationship," Kirsten blurted out, unable to contain herself any longer. "The current parameters aren't working for me."

Liam smiled up at her. "I agree. That's something I wanted to talk to you about today."

Kirsten's body slackened in relief. "I'm so glad you agree with me. We were never -" A loud noise cut off the rest of her sentence.

The cracking noise reverberated around the park. Many of the other people ducked. Kirsten, however, tried to sprint toward the noise, toward Cameron. She had to know if he was alright. Liam's hands snapped around her, pulling her down toward safety. She struggled against him. When she figured out it was no use fighting him she pulled out her phone. If she couldn't visually confirm how Cameron was doing, a text would do. The noise came again followed by a mechanical sputter.

Liam laughed nervously. "It was a car backfiring. We're safe." He kissed her soundly on the forehead.

The sound of a car rumbling by confirmed what Liam was saying. His words loosened the coil of panic in Kirsten's chest. She erased the message she had been typing to Cameron. Her heartbeat hadn't quite reached its normal rhythm yet. The adrenaline flooding her system made her feel useless. With no other way to expel the excess energy, Kirsten took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. Liam's hands wrapped around hers, feeling the pulse at her wrist. He said something that Kirsten blocked out. She kept repeating the same thing over and over to herself until her body's fight response calmed down.

Cameron's fine.

Kirsten removed her hands from Liam's and shook them out. "Now back to our discussion about our relationship. I'm so glad you agree with me. We don't have any obvious problems, but our relationship doesn't really work outside of our original arrangement. You're still a really good guy."

Liam frowned. "Wait, what?"

Kirsten continued on, trying to explain her point. "Just because I don't think you and I should be together doesn't mean I think you're a bad guy or something. You're smart, incredibly good looking, great in the kitchen and in bed. I just don't think we're compatible past a sexual relationship. In fact -"

Kirsten's voice trailed off as she studied Liam's face. It looked more like she had punched him than agreed with him. She wasn't sure what she had done to cause that look on his face. He couldn't even meet her eyes.

Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"I thought that was what we both wanted," she said slowly, unsure of her footing in their conversation.

An angry noise that was half laughter, half scoff escaped Liam's throat. "I wanted to propose Kirsten. I want to marry you." He pulled a ring box out of his jacket pocket and tossed it onto the blanket.

Kirsten had never been surprised before. She had felt it in stitches, but hadn't experienced it until she saw that ring. It was difficult for her to find words. "Wow. I just - what can I even - wow." Kirsten blew out a frustrated breath. "I don't know what to say other than um my answer is obviously 'no.'"

Liam visibly recoiled at her words. "This is not how I saw this going."

"Me neither," Kirsten agreed. She wondered at what point she was supposed to leave. It seemed odd for them to have a big, long discussion. She was just going to follow Liam's lead. He could barely look at her so maybe he would ask her to leave before she could awkwardly stomp all over his heart more.

"Just tell me one thing." Liam paused to steel himself for his question. "Is there another guy? I would suspect Cameron, but he told me he just started seeing someone."

Kirsten's heart plummeted to the ground. Cameron was dating and didn't tell her? It wasn't hard to tell whether it upset her more that he was unavailable or that he hadn't told Liam before her. Kirsten tried to push that hurt away and focus on her task. The pain was thorny and pervasive though, stinging in between heartbeats.

"I feel so stupid. Of course it's him." Kirsten tried to interrupt, but Liam held up a hand. "Please don't lie to me. You should've seen your face just now. I've never seen you display that much emotion. Ever." He rubbed a hand over his face. "How long have you been leading me on?"

Kirsten felt awful for making Liam so upset. There was nothing she could say to fix things. "Not long? It's only been during the last couple days that I realized how I felt for him. I haven't been sure of our relationship - yours and mine - for a while. I thought it was because I just needed to adjust to being in one or something. I didn't think I deserved being with you. Then I realized it wasn't that I thought you deserved someone better than me. It was that you deserved someone who was in love with you. I wasn't. You have always cared about me so much more than I cared about you. Even if you took him out of the equation, I'd be breaking up with you."

Liam's wince let her know that she wasn't doing a great job of explaining herself. "You really know how to make a guy feel special."

"I just don't want you to think that if I hadn't met Cameron or if you had come back six months ago that this would've worked out," Kirsten explained. "Nothing would've made this work."

Liam pressed his lips into a thin line. "Please stop trying to make me feel better. It's not working."

Kirsten scrambled to her feet. This sounded like her cue to exit. She was going to take it and run. The conversation was overwhelming her. Plus, she was just making Liam more upset, which stressed her out more. "Well, if we're done here, I'm gonna go." She felt like she should say something that was more of a goodbye. "I hope your life turns out well. Good luck. All the best."

Kirsten could practically hear Camille laughing at the number of cheesy sentiments that had escaped her mouth. She was just trying to cover her bases and make sure she didn't worsen the situation. Liam still looked like she had run him over with a car, drove the car in reverse, and hit him again.

"Goodbye."

Kirsten awkwardly waved then turned to leave. She made it two steps before Liam called out to her. Her nose scrunched up, but she faced him.

"A couple minutes ago, were you running to help or running to see if he was okay?" Liam asked.

Kirsten sighed. She didn't want to actually say the words and dig the knife a little deeper. "I think you already know the answer to that."

Liam nodded once. "That's all I needed to know."

A strange chill snaked up Kirsten's spine. She wasn't sure what it was, but it made her uneasy. She hastened off in the direction of the bus stop near the farmer's market. A bus pulled up as she reached the sign. Kirsten didn't even check which route it was. She just wanted to put some distance between herself and Liam. Distance would let her think.

The route soon became familiar to Kirsten. It would take her near the mall. She couldn't have planned it any better. The mall was the perfect place. It wasn't outdoors like the beach or a park so she didn't have to worry about sunscreen now. There was no one with her to remind her to apply it. Shopping was an activity. It would give her something to do while she tried to sort out her feelings. She had a lot of things to untangle in her mind before she could explain herself.

Kirsten decided to ignore time for the rest of the day. There was nowhere she needed to be. She would leave when she was ready to talk to Camille, not one second sooner. Kirsten spent as long as she needed to in each store. Her stomach grumbled at one point so she bought a slice of pizza.

Sixteen stores and three purchases later, Kirsten was ready to leave the mall. She called a taxi and told them which exit to meet her at. They gave her a time and hung up. Kirsten checked her watch and made a face. It would already be dark out, which meant she wouldn't get the chance to wear her new sunglasses. The taxi came to collect her. It arrived two minutes before it said it would. Kirsten gave the driver her address. They dropped her off fourteen and a half minutes later.


"...and then I went and got you. So now you're up to speed." Kirsten bit her lip. "Do you think I should call him?"

Camille raised an eyebrow. "Liam? No. Your breakup skills could use work, but I don't think you need to talk to him ever again."

Kirsten shook her head. "I meant Cameron." She blew out a sigh. "I think I have feelings for him, but what if I'm wrong?"

"I think that you're asking because you know you shouldn't, but you want to. Do you want me to give you permission? Is that what this is?" Camille asked not unkindly.

Kirsten put her head in her hands. "This is such uncharted territory for me. What if he really likes this new girl? What if I'm too late? I just don't know what to do."

"I'm pretty sure there isn't a new girl. Let's wait on confirmation of that before we worry too much about her." Camille slung her arm around her roommate. "The rest you'll figure it out. I'll help."

"Thank you."

Camille smiled "For the record, I think you two will make a very cute couple."

Before she could reply, Kirsten's phone lit up on the counter. The display popped up with Maggie's name. Both women frowned at the device. It was way too late for a work call. Kirsten hit the green button and put the call on speaker. She held it in between them.

"Hey, Maggie. Camille's here too. What's up?" Kirsten said.

"Have you seen your boyfriend lately?" Maggie asked.

Kirsten's jaw tensed so Camille answered for her. "They kind of broke up today. She hasn't seen him since this afternoon."

"Well, someone matching his description just attacked Les while he was at a work dinner. He'll be fine, but I need you to come in, Kirsten. You're integral to making the program work, and he knows where you live. We need to get you somewhere safe."

The roommates exchanged a glance. "We kind of powered down a bottle of wine, boss. We'll get someone to pick us up," Camille explained.

Kirsten felt strangely pleased that Camille wasn't going to leave her alone. She was having trouble processing what happened. It was like Liam had always been a bad guy. She didn't feel quite so badly about breaking up with him.

"Do it fast and meet me at the lab." Maggie hung up without a goodbye.

Kirsten called Chelsea to pick them up. Of all of their coworkers, she lived the closest to their house. Kirsten's long legs swung back and forth nervously as she talked to her coworker. Chelsea had been home and was on her way. There was nothing to do until then.

During Kirsten's conversation, Camille hopped down from the counter. She paced the floor and chewed on the edge of her thumbnail. When Kirsten hung up the phone, she slid off of the counter and joined her roommate. "What's wrong?"

Camille licked her lips. "Liam's been working for years for your trust. He lost it so now things will get messy. He needs leverage." Her hands shook. "What would be your next move if you were him?"

"Usually leverage is a hostage, someone close to who you want to hurt." Kirsten's heart lurched as she realized what Camille was getting at. "Call Fisher. Tell him to go to Cameron's."

Kirsten dialed Cameron's number. She took a few breaths to steady herself. It wouldn't be much of a warning if she couldn't talk. The phone rang before it finally went to voicemail. His pre-recorded voice chilled her blood.

Kirsten called back.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Every time it went to voicemail.


Thank you all for continuing to read, leave comments, follow, and favorite!

The original idea for this story was that there was real gunfire and Kirsten shielded Cameron, not Liam. It sort of evolved wildly into what you've read.

And I'm the kind of weirdo who eats lemon cupcakes and talks through the entire museum.