Chapter 14:

Central Park. Noonish.

Kilgrave had never walked so briskly in his life, especially not in the expensive shoes he usually wore but once at the Park he slowed down, taking a much easier pace. His mind raced.

"Her misery wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, I don't know why, it just wasn't," he thought to himself as he walked along a trail. "I did all that without my powers and I'm still not happy, hell..I'm only happy when she is. Why the hell is that?" he asked himself. "She's not wholly different from other women, I have met the spitfire artist-types before. Tho the whole her getting a migraine whenever I used my powers is a fun twist," he chuckled to himself. "She wasn't special, at all, but there was something about her..." he mused to himself when his phone suddenly rung.

Kilgrave took it out of his pocket to find one voicemail and one text message. The text was from Camille, "Hey, you rushed out pretty quickly. Are you okay? -Camille," it said. He put the phone to his ear and listened to the voicemail which was also from her, "Hey, sorry to bother you but you didn't answer my text. You ran out so fast I couldn't say anything but..." she sighed, "Thank you for getting Cosmo back to me and letting us both live with you. Not all of your sins are absolved but..this was a very nice gesture..thank you. Text me back so I know you're okay," she said and the message ended.

"That was a surprise, it seems she still cares about me," Kilgrave thought to himself. He started to think and think hard, "What..what if instead of just a plaything, she was my replacement Jessica...until Jessica returns?" he thought with a growing smile on his face. It felt weird to him but he didn't want to hurt Camille anymore...he wanted to have some fun, actual fun, WITH her and not at her expense. That way, when Jessica returned, him and Camille could part on more...amicable terms.

He blinked, "why the hell am I thinking like that? Who cares how Camille feels," it was like a different part of his brain was talking to him. "I need someone to keep me busy until Jessica returns and Camille is the best candidate...that's it. She won't take much more of my bullshit so now is the time to play fair and have some fun. Real fun. Life is always better when you have a partner in crime," he told...well, he convinced himself.

Kilgrave got back home soon after. He quietly walked into his home and followed the sound of Camille's voice into his kitchen. She was singing along with Otis Redding as 'Try a Little Tenderness' played from her phone. "Ironic choice of song," he smirked to himself as he leaned against the wall that made up the archway that led into the kitchen. He winced a bit as he watched her bathe Cosmo in his sink but he figured this was better than any of his bathrooms.

Still walking quietly, he came up behind her and gently rested his chin on her shoulder. Camille jumped and yelped, turning around quickly.

"Holy shit you scared me!" she yelped but took a calming breath once her brain realized it was him. "Good to see you're back, I was worried you had a melt-down or something," she said, turning back to Cosmo who was nosing a toy around in the water.

"I did but not the sort of meltdown you'd expect," he told her. Kilgrave took a breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do. Grabbing her hands she pulled her around to face him, his face serious as he looked right into her green eyes. "I'm sorry Camille. I'm sorry that I spread rumors about you wanting to go solo. I wanted you all to myself," he told her in the most earnest voice he could muster but...it wasn't a fake earnestly, just him trying as he had never done it before.

Camille looked at him confused for a bit before shaking her head, "what about the woman? In the hotel room in France?" she asked.

Kilgrave sighed, "I don't know about that Camille. I don't know if I was sabotaging my own efforts to keep you to myself or what...but I did it and it was wrong and I'm sorry for hurting you," he told her firmly. He blinked and looked a bit confused himself...as he did not know where the lie was in his apology. Did he mean it? He didn't know and the fact that he was questioning himself made more questions arise.

She sighed at his words and apology, it was better than nothing but all of the hurt was still right there and the wounds were so-so new.

"I accept your apology Zebediah and I know for someone like you.."

"A sociopath?" he interrupted with a smile.

Camille snorted a laugh, "Yes, someone like you, it's not easy. At all. Don't think I don't know how hard it was for you just now...but, my wounds are still fresh."

"Ah, don't worry about that. I know better than to try and get into your pants after one measly apology...but maybe we could be mates again? Friends at least?" he asked, giving her his big pearly white smile.

She chuckled a bit,"how about this? We start out as civil roommates then work our way up to friends?" she offered and held out her hand for a shake.

Smirking, he shook her hand firmly then let her go back to washing Cosmo. Kilgrave stepped back and started to ponder a few things.

"What is keeping me from using my powers to convince her to forgive me completely?" he asked himself. He watched her a bit longer as he searched for answers within him, "Ah, hell, the girl deserves better than that. Besides, when my Jessica comes back, I have to be able to get rid of Camille easily and without much fuss," he told himself with a small nod...yet he kept watching her for a while longer before shaking his head and heading into his room. "What the hell am I thinking?! 'she deserves better?'" he asked himself aloud. In his ensuite, Kilgrave splashed his face with some water. He looked at himself in the mirror.

"Get some more 'fun' out of her than kick her out when Jessica comes back," he told himself in the mirror sternly. His serious look faulted for a moment and he sighed, "No, she does deserve better than that...I mean, that would be no fun really. It would just a repeat of what I have done to her already," he decided aloud. "I'm gonna make that hot lil tart happy and when My Jessica returns, we'll split and all will be well," he said to himself as he continued looking into the mirror. The smile he was wearing faltered for a tiny second.