A/N: Again, thank you all so much for the reviews, you guys are wonderful! I'm feeling a little insecure about this chapter; I've been really ill so I'm not sure it's my best work. It's one thing to be able to describe an object or a setting accurately as a writer, but it's another task altogether to successfully describe a feeling, and again, I'm not sure if this is a particularly good chapter, so my apologies…

Chapter 7

It was one of those mornings where it is not possible to wake quickly; a dark, brooding beginning of a day that would inevitably end in the same way. The sky outside was overcast and grey; the light diffused the room with a softness that made the corners of everything less solid, more indistinct. Cameron woke slowly; sleep making the room hazy, a mirage of light hitting dust and the receding blur of her dream.

As she opened her eyes, she gazed across at Thirteen, her face a vivid tableau of amazement. Thirteen was lying on her front, her hand resting alongside her face on her pillow, her back and arms exposed. Cameron felt as she watched her that she could only now understand what made the difference between something being beautiful, and something being majestic. Buildings were majestic, rivers and trees and forests were majestic, but a human person was beautiful in an entirely different way. Thirteen was beautiful, Cameron thought, because her sleeping serenity did not betray her anguish. She was as peaceful in sleep as she was sorrowed in life.

Cameron reached out a tentative hand and hesitantly traced along Thirteen's spine, as if she were painting fine art or playing the keys of a piano. She watched the minute hairs rise along the vertebrae in an involuntary reaction to her touch. She held her breath as she danced her hand along her side, Thirteen's skin the only thing bright and warm enough to be alive in the grey light.

She didn't realise that Thirteen was awake until she heard a soft muffled laugh from her pillow.

"You should know I'm extremely ticklish." Thirteen said, opening her eyes to look at Cameron.

Cameron smiled, "I was hoping you were. I can have a lot of fun that way."

"Not if you're ticklish too." Thirteen replied, her hands finding Cameron's stomach and teasing her until she collapsed into a hysterical fit of laughter. Thirteen watched her, laughing herself, stopping only to kiss Cameron sweetly and tenderly. When she pulled away, Cameron looked up at her, still laughing breathlessly, and Thirteen smiled at the feeling she felt, her heart melting once again as it always did when she looked at Cameron.

"What do you want to do today?" Cameron asked, "Considering that it is, at last, Saturday."

"I knew there was a reason why I didn't mind waking up this morning." Thirteen joked, "I don't know, do you want to go out and get some breakfast?"

"Yeah," Cameron replied, "that would be a good idea considering you have no food in the house."

"Hey," Thirteen exclaimed, "Is it my fault you ate it all?"

Cameron laughed again, "You did your fair share, I seem to remember."

"Yeah," Thirteen grinned, her eyes narrowing mischievously.

"I didn't mean that!" Cameron exclaimed a shocked but amused look on her face, hitting Thirteen with her pillow.

They sat in a small and quiet café two blocks from Thirteen's apartment. Cameron sipped her coffee quietly, before starting to speak.

"I like staying at your house." she said, taking another sip.

Thirteen's face lit up in the way Cameron loved, "You do?" she asked, and Cameron nodded. "I like having you there. I could do with decorating the place really. You're the first person who's really seen it since I moved in; Kutner came over for a beer once but that's about it."

"Hey," Thirteen said as a thought suddenly struck her, "D'you want to help me paint the place?"

Cameron's eyes sparkled. "That could be fun," she grinned, "as long as you promise to wear just a shirt."

Thirteen spilt her coffee on the table as she picked it up. "Okay," she said, laughing as she wiped it up with a serviette, "If you will?"

"Deal." Cameron answered quickly, making Thirteen laugh all over again.

"What do you want to do after this?" Cameron asked.

"Hmm," Thirteen said as she thought, "How about we go shopping for a bit and then go to the park. It's cold enough for the park to be fun."

"It has to be cold for the park to be fun?" Cameron asked.

"No, but it feels nicer if it is."

"Okay," Cameron replied, a bemused expression on her face, "I'll take your word for it."

They walked the four blocks north to the main shopping area, holding gloved hands. Thirteen couldn't help stealing glances at Cameron as they walked, thinking how beautiful she looked with her skin flushed in the cold air and her eyes bright and shining.

"Where first?" Cameron asked.

"I have no idea, I trust your judgement." Thirteen replied.

"Okay, designer shops it is then." Cameron said as she laughed.

They browsed shops and boutiques, both a little too absorbed in each other to pay much attention to the merchandise.

"Remy?" Cameron whispered.

"Yeah?" Thirteen replied, turning around to face Cameron.

"I think you should try this on." She held up a long evening gown of green satin.

Thirteen tried to suppress a laugh. "And what would I wear that for?"

"The hospital fundraiser next week."

"I don't know Allison, it's not really that - you know - me."

"Are you joking?" Cameron retorted, "You would look amazing in this. And you can hardly wear suspenders to the fundraiser."

Thirteen gave her a hurt look.

"Not that I'm not a huge fan of the suspenders." Cameron added quickly. "I think I proved last night that I am an avid suspenders supporter."

"You weren't very supportive of them," Thirteen hit back, "You couldn't wait for them to be gone…"

"Yeah… well, they were in my way." Cameron laughed.

Thirteen looked at the dress and at Cameron's eager eyes. "Okay, let's go try it on."

Cameron smiled smugly.

"And why aren't I allowed in?" Cameron asked, trying to peek through the changing room curtain. "I've seen it all before, remember?" she whispered lightly.

"Vividly." Thirteen replied, her voice muffled from inside the booth. "And it spoils the suspense. It's not like you'll get to see me in a dress like this everyday." she said flatly.

"That could be arranged." Cameron called, turning around to look at her reflection in the long mirror at the end of the hall. She sighed and turned away.

The curtain was pulled back as Thirteen emerged from the booth.

Cameron was speechless for a second. "Oh my God."

"That bad, huh?"

"Wow, wow – just wow – is all that's coming to mind right now." Cameron stuttered.

Thirteen looked down bashfully and blushed.

"Well," she began, "this begs only one question."

"What's that?" Cameron said, still staring at her as if in a dream.

"What are you going to wear?"

They carried their shopping bags to the park as the light began to dim, although it was only early evening.

"It'll be Christmas soon." Thirteen said thoughtfully.

"Yeah." Cameron replied, looking at her. "What do you normally do for Christmas?"

"Last year I worked, and the year before that I worked, and the one before that." Thirteen said, a pained smile gracing her features. "And the Christmas before that I went home and it was so weird I decided it wasn't a good idea to go home for Christmas again."

Cameron felt sad. She knew there had been a lonely time for Thirteen in her past; perhaps she was still lonely. Cameron knew that Thirteen felt the despair of her condition still, at times, when she caught her looking as if into some invisible place. Some place in her past or her future, it was impossible to tell. She knew she put a brave face on her pain for Cameron, and that made her even sadder. She knew she had to make sure Thirteen could talk to her about anything, before the door shut, before she was just another person that Thirteen built up brave walls for.

Cameron asked tentatively, "Would you like to spend it with me?"

She half expected Thirteen to say no, to lock her out.

Thirteen's eyes were still sad, the kind of sad found in happiness because it must always inevitably end. "Yeah." she said, "I would really like that."

Cameron felt a huge smile overtake her whole body, inside and out. "Now," she said, changing the subject, "I'm starving, can we get some food?"

They bought hot dogs from a stand just across the road from the park, and sat down on a bench to eat them.

"I love this time of night." Cameron said as she watched children still playing baseball under the floodlights of the green, despite the darkness. "I love that you can just start to see the stars."

They both gazed up at the slowly brightening orbs in the darkness above.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Thirteen quoted wistfully, hugging her knees against her body to stay warm.

"That's beautiful," Cameron replied, thinking, "who's that?"

"Oscar Wilde." Thirteen replied, "He's probably my favourite author."

"That really is beautiful." Cameron said, pausing. "Remy… I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. I don't want you to put on a brave face for me, I don't need protecting. If you feel something, no matter what it is, even if you get scared in the middle of the night, you can tell me."

Thirteen's eyes met hers, "Thank you," she said softly, "I know I don't open up very much. Or easily. I will talk to you, I promise. It might take time, but I will." She paused, her eyes gazing back up to the sky again.

"You know," she continued quietly, "whenever I feel sad or lonely I always sit outside and look at the stars." She paused. "We're made of them, you know?"

"The stars?" Cameron asked quietly.

"Yeah, a million stars, all dying and being born again, like everything in the universe. And sometimes that reminds me that it's not really possible to be alone. We're all made of little pieces of each other."

Cameron followed her gaze. "I'd never really thought of it like that."

"It's not like I believe in God, so it's nice to feel that there's some connection to someone, something."

"I feel the same way." Cameron said thoughtfully. She blinked as she felt a raindrop hit her. "Oh no, not again." she exclaimed.

Thirteen laughed as the rain began to intensify. She pulled Cameron up from the bench and kept her hand as they started to run through the pouring sheets.

"What is this, a fucking monsoon?" Cameron yelled over the noise of the droplets hitting the concrete below.

Thirteen laughed again, as they splashed through newly formed puddles. They were soon completely drenched, their clothes dripping as much as the clouds above. Something in Thirteen soared, she felt a new kind of freedom, as her skin tingled and shivered with the wetness, and the raindrops clapped their applause against the earth in exultation.

She stopped suddenly.

Cameron stopped too, realising that Thirteen was no longer pulling on her hand.

"What are you doing?" she cried, "It's pouring!"

"I know." Thirteen replied, looking at her. "I love you."

It took Cameron a moment to realise what she'd said, she was so surprised. Then, mindless of the rain beating down on them, she said, "I love you too."

Thirteen laughed, water running in streams down her face. She pulled Cameron close to her, still smiling, and kissed her, as strangers rushed past them running in the rain and cars sped through the rivers forming in the roads, their lights bright and sweeping in the darkness.

More chapters? You decide. This is either going to be a 7 chapter sort of story or 14 chapter sort of story, if you get my drift.