Juicy stuff, guys. Juicy juicy stuff. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stitchers and I have nothing against McDonald's or their breakfast foods. In fact I'm quite the junky. Shhhhhhhhhh

Chapter 10: The Past and The Presents

Kirsten woke up feeling oddly disappointed. Her sleep had been dreamless, just a seam of black between periods of consciousness. The last thing she remembered before she'd dozed off was Cameron asking her the twelfth time if he was hurting her. The thought was almost laughable considering how delicately he was cradling her.

"My sling doesn't have a bomb in it." she muttered, "You don't have to be so careful."

She felt his entire body tense and his hold around her tightened.

"Glad to see you've grown more cautious from your near death experience." he said with a serious edge to his voice.

The weight of his tone surprised her. She wanted to apologize but couldn't form the words and simply nuzzled deeper into his chest. Cameron sighed and rubbed her side. It felt like his silent forgiveness.

Now, as she blinked to adjust to the harsh light of the hospital room, she could see that he was still holding her with the same tenderness.

"My hero," she slurred, still groggy from the pain medicine.

For the next few minutes-though it might as well have been decades- Kirsten was content to focus on nothing but Cameron. She mentally cataloged the way his heat radiated deep into her skin, the way his eyelids fluttered as he slept, the way his heart beat against her ear. It was telling her a message.

Bah-bum. Bah-bum. Bah-bum. I'm safe. I'm safe. I'm safe.

Slowly, Kirsten moved her head and planted a small kiss in the center of his chest. She had never been considered a very imaginative person, but right then she tried to fathom a world without him in it. It was duller, greyer, and made her shudder.

"I can't lose you," she echoed their words from early, confused by the tremor in her voice.

Why was fear suddenly so heavy in her veins? Why was she suddenly terrified to take her eyes away from the sleeping man's face? It was illogical, it was insane, and yet she didn't fight the feeling as it coursed through her like a tidal wave.

Shifting gingerly in his arms, trying her very best not to wake him, Kirsten leaned in so that her face was merely inches away from Cameron's. Her judgement was still hazy from the stupor she found herself under.

Feeling herself break some kind of threshold, Kirsten closed the empty space between them and planted her lips firmly on his. They were chapped and limp beneath hers, but inhaling she caught a whiff of his signature scent and relished in it.

As sense returned to her head, she began pulling away, but froze when she felt pressure against her lips. He was kissing her back. The rational thought that was creeping its way back into her mind disappeared, again. She thought she was seeing stars.

Her conscience was rebelling against every action she made. It ordered her to still her hand as it curled into the fabric of his shirt, demanded that she jerk away when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss.

Eventually, rationality won the battle and she pulled away from him- slowly. His eyes were shut, a dopey, helpless grin on his face. When he opened his eyes, the green was glossy like a marble. They were focusing and un-focusing, like he was just waking up. He was just waking up.

Kirsten held her breath as his gaze became more concrete and comprehension dawned on his features. All she could do was stare.

He opened his mouth like he was going to speak, closed it, licked his lips, and then silently opened them again. He looked like a fish in the headlights. Kirsten bit the inside of her cheek.

"Sorry," she offered.

Cameron's eyebrows perked up. His brain was like the quantum computer, calculating hundreds of different courses of action at once. The most favorable scenario worked out like this: Cameron would play it smooth, cool, run a hand nonchalantly through his hair.

He'd flash her a charming smile and say, "Why do people always do that?"

She'd blink at him with those curios copper eyes and ask what he meant.

He'd remember back to their earlier conversation and say, "Apologize when they have nothing to be sorry for."

Then he'd slip a hand under her jaw and pull her to him, returning the kiss with all the emotion he'd been holding back since he met her.

But he was a man of science, and knew that scenario was far too close to magic to be true. So he settled on the most innate response, to shut down and not say anything.

Kirsten realized she was still clutching his shirt and released the fabric, dropping her hand into her lap. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for anything else to look at. To her relief she spotted her old leather backpack in the corner by the door.

"That's my back pack." she said intelligently.

It was enough to get Cameron's eyes off of her. He craned his neck around, readily accepting the distraction

"Oh yeah. I brought presents."

Kirsten's ears wiggled, ever so slightly. Cameron scooted off of the tiny bed and grabbed the bag off of the floor. He placed it at her feet and began taking things out.

"Some clothes- Camille approved, of course- when you're ready to ditch this whole Grey's Anatomy look."

Kirsten eyed them up and down. It was her usual jeans, loose tank top, and cardigan.

"Walkman," Cameron regained her attention, placing the device on the bed, along with all of its accompanying cassettes.

"Another trick to try and wake you up." he explained when her brows furrowed.

Kirsten nodded, the fact that she'd been unconscious for eight days biting uncomfortably under her skin.

Cameron grimaced at the next object, gripping it until his fist trembled. The blonde leaned forward, eager. When he didn't say anything, she extended her hand and he placed the trinket in her palm.

"To protect your heart." he spoke softly.

Kirsten turned the stone over in her hand, running her fingers over the smooth quartz. The image of Cameron in the corpse cassette came unwelcomely into her mind.

"Guess it worked." she said.

"Yeah," he agreed, "oh, and I saved the best for last."

Kirsten stare was much more livid than she felt as she watched him pull the encyclopedia out of her bag. She was confident that no one on Fisher's team had seen her slip it under the bed, but she couldn't be sure they hadn't gone back and found it later.

Cameron moved around the bedframe and retook his seat beside her, their shoulders touching.

"Did you find anything?" she took the book from him, flipping through the pages.

After what she was sure must have been at least a few moments of silence, she looked back into his reserved eyes.

"No," he admitted, looking away, "I searched every page, I swear! There's just-"

Nothing.

The word wrapped around her chest like a chain.

"There must be something you missed." Kirsten swallowed.

She hadn't meant for it to come out sounding like an accusation. Cameron kept his gaze on the floor. Kirsten wanted to apologize, again, and touch his shoulder. She wanted to kiss him again.

Sighing, she passed the book back to him and threw her legs out over the bed. His muscles visibly contracted with concern, but as soon as she proved she was walking steadily on her own, he relaxed. She picked the clothes up off the foot of the bed and passed into the other half of the room where the second bed was. The two could be separated by a thin curtain, which she pulled out to form a suitable half wall.

"Did you look under a black light?" she asked, very slowly removing her sling.

It just occurred to her how sore her shoulder really was.

"Yes. I looked for invisible ink, missing pages, hidden compartments, the whole kitten-caboodle."

Kirsten scrunched her nose, "What a weird saying."

"Anyway," Cameron said, flatly, "there was nothing."

After processing for a second- and trying to slip into skinny jeans with one hand- Kirsten asked, "Did you scan it?"

There was a pause.

"With?" he inquired.

"The ultraviolet magnetic counterfeit scanner Fisher uses." she said like it was obvious.

Another pause, and then, "God damn it!"

Kirsten smirked, pulling back the curtain to see Cameron pressing his head into the pillow, hands over his face.

"What would you do without me?" she teased, sitting back in bed.

She held the book again and stared, like if she looked hard and long enough, it would come alive and tell her the secret itself. Replaying her most recent memories before the shooting in her mind, something odd occurred to Kirsten.

"Hey, Cam?" she said.

"Yeah," his voice was muffled under his hands.

"How did you get this out of the apartment?"

"I climbed back up the fire escape and broke in," he said without hesitating, "just like you said."

It felt like Kirsten's brain had short circuited. In truth, she hadn't been kidding when she'd said it, but she never would have believed that Cameron would do it- unless he thought he needed to protect her, of course. She gaped at him.

"Really?"

Cameron peaked an eye out from in between his fingers, "Nope. The key was in your pocket."

Kirsten computed this. That she could understand, but she also knew something else.

"You would have." she said.

He sat up, "What?"

You would have climbed eight floors up a rusty old fire escape. You would have broken into an active crime scene. You would have gone against Fisher, against Maggie. You have. You've done it for me. Because you love me.

Realization warmed her skin like the sun. She felt feverish. Cameron's eyebrows knitted with confusion.

Before she could make an excuse, the door opened with a click. Camille and Linus waltzed into the bleach white room, identical smiles plastered on their faces. Linus carried two joyfully colored paper bags and Camille held a tray of large lidded cups.

"Wakey wakey, chickadees." she beamed.

Cameron and Kirsten instantly scooted a few centimeters apart.

He cleared his throat, "What's all-"

"You guys were asleep when we got here," Linus cut him off, pulling the second bed closer to the one they were in and taking a seat.

"You're like the cutest sleepers ever. We didn't want to wake you." Camille said, "So we went out and got breakfast."

Kirsten narrowed her eyes, "It's almost eight o'clock at night. How did you get McDonald's to serve you breakfast?"

Camille plopped down next to Linus, "Tell them that your sister just woke up from an eight year long coma and they'll start giving you all kinds of stuff."

Kirsten's glared intensified, but the brunette ignored her.

"Coffee, two creams, one sugar for Linus." she said distributing the drinks, "Mocha latte for me. Green tea for Cameron and last but not least…"

She held the cup up like it was a trophy.

"One grande black coffee for the lady of the hour."

Kirsten had been ignoring the hunger in her stomach for a while, but the tantalizing smell of the coffee brought it back to the forefront. She eagerly took the cup from Camille's hands and took a long swig. Linus began passing out breakfast sandwiches. Cameron eyed his with contempt.

"Do you know what they put into these things?" he pointed at the beagle like it was some lab created mutant, "That's not even real meat, and the eggs are-"

"You know what, Mr. Man?" Camille gestured to the tray a nurse had brought in earlier, sitting on the chair behind them, "There's a Jell-O cup right there if you want it."

Kirsten chuckled as his face dropped into a pout. He ate his food silently. They all did, probably realizing for the first time how little any of them had eaten in the past week.

After a few minutes, Linus spoke up.

"So, Kirsten," he began hesitantly, "has anyone talked to you about… you know, what happened?"

She blinked at him. Then her eyes widened and she pressed her palm into her temple.

"God d- I didn't even think to ask!" she mentally chastised herself for the lack of prioritizing, "What happened? Did Fisher find anything?"

The three group members shared cautious looks.

"Maggie was targeted, too." Cameron said, "Do you remember that?"

Kirsten looked away from him, ashamed, and shook her head.

"She's fine." Camille said, "Boss lady was wearing a fricking bullet proof vest. Apparently she does that."

Linus chimed in, "Like all the time! Maggie was shot first, which lead Fisher to believe that she was the primary target."

"You moved into the line of fire reaching for her." Cameron said through locked teeth, "We saw it on the surveillance footage."

They took a moment to let Kirsten process all of this.

"So," she sipped her coffee, "Fisher doesn't think I was the intended target?"

"It's not for certain," Linus said, "but he told us that's what he'd put his money on."

She nodded, trusting Fisher's instinct.

"Okay, so did they find anything out about the shooter?"

"Had a sniper set up on the tenth floor." Camille looked displeased, "No trace."

Kirsten thought or a minute, then paled.

"What's wrong," Cameron's hand laced protectively around her elbow.

She met his eyes, hers were wide and wild.

"The tenth floor, Cameron."

"Okay, so?"

"The tenth floor, Cameron!" she urged, "That's the floor the woman in the elevator selected."

At first Cameron shook his head.

Camille sucked in a breath, "Kirsten, just because that one woman was going to the tenth floor doesn't auto-"

"Yes, actually." Cameron looked as white as the plastered walls, "It does."

Camille and Linus looked at him, then at each other."

"The nurse who just started working here, the one with the grey eyes." he stammered, "I knew they looked familiar."

He looked at Kirsten, "She's the one. She's the shooter from the tenth floor."

bum Bum BUUUUUUUUUUUM! Craziness. Thank you so much for reading and for all your lovely support. Have an awesome day :D