Third Person's POV
When her cousin told her she had a boyfriend named Sam Winchester, Cami questioned it. Could he be the same Sam she knew twenty-two years ago?
But she was too afraid to get her hopes up, in case she was wrong, because you know what they say about hope; it breeds eternal misery.
Currently Cami was driving to Stanford University to visit her cousin Jessica Moore who had invited her to stay with her and her boyfriend in their apartment for a few days.
Cami parked her car in the underground parking and went up to the apartment her cousin had told her to and knocked.
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal Jessica standing in the doorway. "Cami! I'm so glad you're here! I've missed you! Come on in." Jessica told her and pulled her into a hug before leading her in.
Jessica lead her to the living room where a brown-haired 6'4 young man was waiting. "Cami, this is my boyfriend, Sam Winchester. Sam this is my cousin, Camilla Moore." Jessica introduced the two and Sam had a slightly quizzical expression on his face.
"Cami." Camilla told him. "Nice to meet you." Sam responded, shaking her hand. "The pleasure's mine." She replied, smiling at him warmly. The quizzical expression hadn't left Sam's face yet.
"Have we – Have we met before? You look kind of familiar, but I can't quite place my finger on where from." Sam spoke and Cami thought about it for a second.
Cami knew that even if he was the same Sam Winchester, there was absolutely no way he would remember her. The Sam Winchester Cami knew was only six months old when she last saw him, too young for him to remember.
Cami shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm good with faces and I don't remember seeing yours before." She answered and Sam still looked like he was wracking his brain, but gave it up for now.
~~~
The rest of the day went by quickly as Cami caught up on what had been going on in Jessica's life and got to know Sam better.
Soon, night came and Jessica and Sam were leaving for a Halloween party. "Are you sure you don't wanna come?" Jessica asked Cami, one more time. "I'm sure. Now go, have fun, live a little." Cami told them with fake enthusiasm, making them laugh.
"Okay. We'll be back in a bit. Don't wait up." Jessica told Cami. "Wouldn't dream of it." She replied before they left.
Cami immediately went into the guest bedroom and crashed on the bed. She was exhausted. She had been hunting like crazy lately, only getting two or three hours of sleep a night. So she was happy for the break. Not a minute later, she was out cold.
~~~
Cami woke up to the sound of fighting, which soon turned into talking. She went out to investigate and bumped into Jessica. Cami gave her a questioning look and Jessica shrugged, not knowing what was going on either.
The cousins walked into the living room and Jessica turned the lights on. "Sam?" She questioned.
What Cami saw in front of them made her breath catch in her throat. It was him. She would've recognized those eyes anywhere.
"Jess, Cami, hey. Guys this is-" Cami cut him off. "Dean," she breathed out, staring at him with eyes wide in shock. Everyone looked at her, confused.
"Do I know you?" Dean asked her. Wow, that hurt. "Um, yeah, but I don't know if you remember me. My name is Camilla Moore. I was your neighbour a while back." Cami explained, watching his face carefully to see if he remembered.
Dean froze, looking towards Cami in shock. Sam and Jessica were watching the interaction in confusion, but neither Dean or Cami seemed to notice. Cami was too focused on the man she had spent practically her whole life looking for.
After a moment, Dean's shocked face turned into a grin. "Cami!" He exclaimed and they both raced towards each other, meeting in the middle in a tight hug.
"Oh my god." Cami muttered, still shocked but grinning. Neither of them wanted to let go of the other.
After a minute, Jessica cleared her throat awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt, but how do you two know each other?" She asked them. Cami and Dean pulled away from each other and looked back toward Jessica and Sam, who they had forgotten were there.
Although Jessica asked the question, Cami turned to Sam who was standing next to her. "Oh my god, you are the same Sam Winchester. Man you grew. What happened to the six month old you that was-" Cami held her hands about a foot apart.
"Now you're-" She raised her hand as high as she could, but it was pretty pathetic. She was only 5'5 and he was 6'4.
Realization dawned on Sam. "That's why I recognized you. You're the Camilla Moore that Dean always talked about, the one in all the pictures." Sam spoke.
"Pictures?" Cami questioned. "Yeah, Dad has some family pictures from when we were younger and in almost every one of them there was a girl with Dean. That was you." Sam said, making her smile.
Cami looked back at Dean and they got caught up in each other's gaze for a few moments until he seemed to remember something. "Sam, I've got to talk to you-" He glanced at Jessica, who still looked quite confused. "-in private."
"No. Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of her." Sam put an arm around Jess' shoulders. "Okay. Um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean said and Cami became concerned.
"So he's working overtime on a 'Miller Time' shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam replied, dismissively.
Dean ducked his head before looking back up again. "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." Dean clarified, like there was a double meaning to his words. Cami thought it was kind of strange but then dismissed it as just being in the hunter world too long.
Sam's face didn't change as he processed the information. "Jess, excuse us, we have to go outside." Sam said before he went to go grab his coat.
"Is he okay? Have you heard from him at all?" Cami questioned Dean, worried about the man whom she had seen as a father-figure all those years ago.
"No, I haven't, but he's just deer hunting up at the cabin. I just came to get Sam to help bring him back." Dean explained with the story he was sure Sam would tell Jessica when he convinced him to come with him, and Cami ignored her instinct that he was lying.
"Can I come? I'd love to see John again." She spoke, hopefully. Dean hesitated. "I don't think that's such a good idea." He said and Cami immediately felt stupid. It made sense to Cami: she hadn't seen him in twenty-two years, why would Dean just let her go with him?
Cami took a step away from Dean, suddenly feeling self-conscious of how close they were standing, shaking her head at her stupidity. "Of course. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Cami said, embarrassed, ducking her head to not look him in the face.
"No, that's not what I meant." Dean quickly said, stepping forward so they were standing close to each other again. He saw her embarrassment and didn't want her to feel that way.
He hated that he had to lie to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth. As far as he knew, she was like most people in the sense that she didn't know the truth about what really went bump in the night. And he just got her back, he wasn't going to tell her about the supernatural — he wasn't ever going to tell her that. He wanted to protect her.
"I'm sure Dad would love to see you too, but I'm also sure he wouldn't want you to see him in whatever shape he's in now. Will you be here in a few days?" Dean asked her and Cami nodded.
"Great. Then when we get back, I'm sure he'd love to catch up with you. I'd also love to catch up with you." Dean admitted, biting his lip nervously as he waited for her response.
Dean didn't get nervous often – not with girls – but this wasn't just any girl. This was the girl that was practically his other half when he was four years old. This was the girl that his parents loved like a daughter. This was the girl he had loved. Not a romantic love since they were only children, but a type of love he had never forgotten.
Dean didn't remember all that much from before his mom died, but he did remember some of it. And a large of part of that was Cami. He had never forgotten her or the way that they had been inseparable, well, until the night of the fire. But even growing up, he would always look at old pictures and remember her, even telling Sam stories about her and just about her in general.
"I would love that too." Cami replied, grinning. Dean let out a silent breath of relief, as Sam walked over after finishing the quiet conversation he was having with Jessica.
"Come on." Sam told Dean, who glanced at Cami one more time before following his younger brother out.
The door shut behind them and Jessica walked over to Cami, who turned to face her. "Wow, what a small world. I can't believe you knew Sam and Dean when they were younger. You must've known them quite well." Jessica spoke, still sounding surprised.
"I did." Cami confirmed, her voice soft as she reminisced about those good times when everyone she and Dean loved were still alive.
"This was before their mom's death, wasn't it? That's why you were separated from them. Sam told me after his mom died, his dad got a job on the road, so they never stayed anywhere longer than a month after that." Jessica explained and Cam nodded in response to her question.
"I was spending the night at their house the night Mary died. After the fire, I remember sitting on the hood of the car with them. Then Mom and Dad made me come home to get some sleep. The next day, they weren't at their house anymore, obviously, but no one could tell me where they went.
"They were just gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye, to any of them. Not to Mary, or John, not to Sam, and not to Dean. They were like family to me and Mary's death was hard enough, but I didn't just lose her, I lost all of them that night." Cami explained to her and Jessica heart tugged for her cousin. "I'm sorry." Jess said softly, placing a hand on her cousin's arm.
Camilla inhaled deeply. "Yeah, me too. But I found them again, that's the important part. I just hope – I hope I'm not a disappointment to Dean. I mean, it's been twenty-two years, I'm a completely different person. I don't want to let him down." Cami admitted, which was much harder for her than she thought it would be. She wasn't the greatest at expressing her fears.
"Cami, you won't let him down. Of course you're different than you were when you were four. But he is too. Everyone changes when growing up. You just need to get to know each other again. And if he can't see how absolutely baller you are now and just focuses on the ways you're different, then he'll just be wasting your time because the way you are now is amazing." Jessica told Cami, who just smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks, Jess. I appreciate that."
Cami yawned and that's when she realized she was still exhausted after the adrenaline of seeing Dean again wore off. "I'm still really tired. I'm going to head back to sleep." She told her cousin. "Okay, see you in the morning." Jess replied and Cami nodded before going back to the room she was staying in.
Cami laid down on the bed, just staring at the ceiling. She couldn't believe she had finally found Dean after all those years. She honestly had stated to believe she would never be able to find him again. But now she had and she just hoped that the years hadn't changed them too much for either of them to handle, though Cami wasn't worried about Dean changing.
Cami was aware that he wouldn't be the kid she once knew, but she was certain that he still had a good heart and that was enough for her to know that she'd accept him for who he is, ugly warts and all. Not that there was anything ugly about him from what she had seen. He looked pretty attractive, she had to admit. And the thought made her blush before she shut her eyes and allowed herself to fall asleep again.