At this point, I think I've seriously read all of the other Camsten fics out there, so I've resorted to writing my own. Hope you like!

Disclaimer: Obvs I don't own Stitchers

Normally, Kirsten wasn't the kind of girl who really cared about going to bed happy or burying hatchets. If someone was pissed at her, so what? As long as she was right it didn't matter. That's why she was having trouble justifying herself as she stepped out of the elevator in Cameron's apartment building. She hadn't seen him since the stitch, but Maggie had told her enough about the results to know he probably wasn't happy with her.

0o0o0o0o0

"Do you remember anything from the stitch?" her superior asked as she stood in the doorway of the med-bay.

"I remember," Kirsten struggled, "seeing Flora press this hidden switch in her desk. It opened a passageway behind the bookshelf."

"That's correct." Maggie said stepping closer, "What else?"

"There was a little girl," Kirsten could imagine her blonde hair clearly, "she was there, in the passageway."

"Kirsten," Maggie's voice was reserved, "this was when your vitals began to spiral out of control."

"She was asking Flora not to go," she continued like she hadn't heard, "to come back."

"We checked Flora's records. She had no sisters, no nieces, no children. We don't have any idea who the girl could be."

"I couldn't see her face," Kirsten's eyes were fixed on the wall, "but I knew her. Or, Flora knew her."

"Kirsten," Maggie urged, "do you remember anything after that?"

She didn't, which made her mad. Who was that girl?

"At this point, you were unresponsive and bleeding out of your nose. Ayo said it was a ruptured blood vessel."

Kirsten didn't respond. Maggie pressed her lips together in a pale line. Her stare hardened as she inhaled deeply.

"You were in there for 1 minute and 58 seconds," she said keeping her tone even, "Two more seconds, two more seconds, and Cameron wouldn't have been able to unstitch you. Two seconds and we might have lost you for good, along with the future of our entire program."

Kirsten finally looked at her, "What do you mean the entire program? I die, you can just replace me with another puppet, right?"

Maggie's face didn't change but her eyes showed surprise.

"I've told you," she said, "your aptitude is unique."

"There are approximately 32,000 people in the United States with temporal dysplasia," Kirsten challenged, "over 1.5 million worldwide. You don't just need my condition, you need me. What I don't know is why."

Maggie was silent which Kirsten took as confirmation.

"Did Ed know?" she demanded in a cool voice.

Now Maggie's eyes were on fire and Kirsten guessed how many different ways she was imagining killing her right now.

"We can talk about your conspiracies later." she hissed, "If that really is the last thing you remember, then we're done here."

With that she left, leaving the room in virtual silence. The machines across from Kirsten displayed pulses and sounds saying she was stable and the overhead light hummed quietly. Kirsten sighed and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She needed to know more about that girl. She was important, Kirsten was sure of it.

That's when she remembered something Cameron had said. All lab proceedings were recorded for future reference. If she had said something during the stitch, something about the girl, maybe it would jog her memory. It was worth a try, anyways.

Kirsten unhooked herself from the monitor and shut it off before anyone could hear the flat line. As quietly as possible, she left the med-bay and weaved into the main lab area. The moment Ayo found her, she knew she'd be force to go through a tedious medical examination and she didn't have time for that right now.

Sitting down in her desk chair, Kirsten felt a shiver run over the course of her lean body. The metal was freezing and she was only dressed in a thin tank stop and shorts. She feverishly typed away on the keypad until she found the desired file. She unraveled her headphones from her iPod, which was thankfully still on the table, and started the video.

"Alright KP," Cameron was pacing the floor with his tablet in hand, "what's the sitch?"

"Flora's in her father's study." Kirsten said, "She's shredding the documents. I need to go back further."

Kirsten's eyes hadn't left Cameron since she started the video. It was fascinating to her, since she normally could only hear his voice in her ear. The nervous twitch his head made right before the neural sync, the way his shoulders tensed every time she jerked in the tank, the way he rarely looked away from her; it made her cheeks feel hot.

"What about now, Shortcake?"

"Good. It's good." Kirsten breathed, "She's… she's reaching into the desk. She just pulled some kind of switch."

"Cerebral temp is increasing." Ayo cautioned, "99.8 and climbing."

"Talk to me, Love," Cameron's voice tightened, "what's happening?"

"The bookshelf," Kirsten said in a distant tone, "it's a door."

"Cameron," Linus was looking at his screens with furrowed brows, "something's going on with the com connection. It's wavering."

"There's a girl." Kirsten called urgently, "She has blonde hair. I can't see her face but-"

Kirsten witnessed the monitors all over the room go haywire, flashing bright red errors. The lab looked like it was on fire, in a way. She watched her back arch out of the chair. The contortion was horribly unsettling.

"Heart rate is 158!" Ayo was glancing frantically between Kirsten and her monitor, "She's seizing!"

On cue, Kirsten's body fell limp in the chair for a few moments before arching again. A think stream of blood was running out of her nose, tainting the clear water.

"Kirsten, can you hear me?" Cameron's features were twisted in panic.

"Cameron!" Maggie said speeding down from the balcony, "There's still time. Bounce her out, now!"

He did. It was like watching water in a pool ripple. The monitors returned to blank screens and people unhinged themselves from their stations. Despite being the furthest away, Cameron was the first person beside at the tank. She had her hand on Kirsten's cheek, thumb hooked under her jaw, feeling for a pulse.

Hesitantly, Kirsten switched the video to 1.5x speed. People buzzed around her like drones. Camille and Linus hung back from the mob, she noticed. The expression on her roommate's face surprised her. It wasn't one that she'd ever seen her dawn. Her initial guess was fear, but vestiges of guilt were present, as well.

She watched herself be placed on a gurney and taken off screen; Cameron, Ayo, and two other techs disappearing with it. When nothing happened for a few seconds, she warped it up to 2x speed. Linus and Camille traveled off camera in the same direction as she had. After that, nothing changed.

Kirsten thought for a minute before closing the video and hacking the surveillance system. She read through the code until she found footage of the med-bay and opened it.

Kirsten laid passively in the bed. An oxygen tube sat just below her nostrils and wrapped around her pale cheeks. Ayo assured the group that she was stable and that the bleeding had stopped. Camille sat curled up in the corner of the room, nervously biting her nails. Linus stood beside her, arms folded over his chest- his telltale that he was uncomfortable.

Cameron sat in a stool beside the bed, hands clasped between his knees. His eyes were boring holes into Kirsten's face.

What did he think, that he could wake her up just but willing it?

"Cam," Linus began, pushing off the wall, "I know what's going through your head, right now. But you-"

"Can't blame myself?" he growled without turning around, "Save it."

Camille pounced out of the corner. She looked livid.

"Hey," she yelled, "you got her out, okay? This isn't like last time so don't act like it is. You're not at fault and she's not Marta. Or have you not figured that out by now?"

Some noise that sounded close to a choke escaped her throat and she stormed out of the room. Linus looked apologetically between the door and Cameron before following her and leaving him alone in the med-bay.

Kirsten sped up the video. Cameron still didn't make any move to leave. This intrigued her and concerned her at the same time. She leaned in close to the computer screen, looking for any sort of detail to help her understand.

Finally, he made some motion that confirmed that he was still alive. He pulled the stool even closer to the bed and placed his hand over hers, the pulse monitor making it a little awkward.

"You're not Marta." Cameron whispered, "I know that."

No, I'm not. She was kind and feeling. She could love you. I can't give you that, hard as I may try.

"You're stronger than she ever was." his gaze hardened.

Kirsten sat rigid in her chair, mouth open slightly. Strong wasn't the word she was thinking of, but hearing it come off his lips- it made her feel warm and a little proud, even.

"I trust you." he said bending so that his face hovered just above hers, "I trust that you're not going to leave me."

He pressed his lips to her forehead and held them there for several heartbeats. Giving her body one finally look over, he released her hand and turned toward the door.

"Kirsten!" Ayo's voice rang from somewhere behind her, "Kirsten, you had better still be in this building or so help me I am going to-"

"Relax," Kirsten groaned, closing the file, "I'm here. I haven't done anything risky."

The African-American nurse appeared in front of her, eyes ablaze.

"For a woman who just had a seizure and was then unconscious for 72 hours, risky takes on a completely new meaning."

The corner of Kirsten's lipped twitched into the most miniscule version of a smile. It disappeared quickly as Ayo insisted on giving her a complete physical. No, insisted implied that there was still a choice, free will. That was not the case.

0o0o0o0o0

Now Kirsten was here, standing awkwardly outside of Cameron's apartment door; simply staring at the gold letters painted onto the wood. Maggie had pressed that she should call him.

"He's been a mess." she had said, "Give him some peace."

Kirsten would, but she wanted to see his face. She hadn't a deep understanding of what rage felt like besides the tastes she got from past stitches. However, she could imagine that that was what Cameron was feeling toward her right now. She had promised that she was different then Marta, but here they were.

The rational part of her mind told her that she couldn't place any blame on herself. She was doing her job. What fault was there? But there was this strange feeling she was experiencing: the desire to apologize and comfort the person she had caused to feel pain, even if it wasn't intentional. Was there an emotion to encompass that? She honestly wasn't sure.

She was stalling, which was immature. Rip the Band-Aid off fast. She knocked four times on the door and held her breath.

She heard footsteps padding toward the door, heard in wine against its hinges as someone leaned against it to peer through the peep hole. For a few moments, there was silence. Kirsten held her gaze on the glass, imagining bright green eyes on the other side. Finally, the door knob turned with a click and it opened.

Cameron's hair was a mess, she noted. He was wearing a dark grey t-shirt and a worn pair of sweat pants. Clearly, he hadn't been out today.

His gaze was intense but his face was hard to read. Kirsten shivered as a draft careened through the hallway and mentally cursed herself for not changing before she left the lab. She hadn't even thought of it. The only thing occupying her mind had been getting her, getting to him.

"I woke up a couple of hours ago." she said rubbing her arms, "Maggie told me to call you but I wanted to talk face to face."

He said nothing and retreated from the doorway. He hadn't slammed it in her face, so Kirsten took it as an invitation inside. She closed the door behind her while Cameron retreated into his bedroom. The blonde stood in the middle of the entryway, not sure what he was expecting her to do. Before she could ask, he returned with a grey hoodie in his hands.

"Here," he said handing to her, and Kirsten was thrown off balance by the wave of relief she felt upon hearing his voice.

"Thanks," she said softly.

He took a seat on the sofa and she moved to stand in front of the coffee table. She shifted her balance in between both of her feet.

"So, first I want to apologize for what happened during the stitch." she began with some reserve.

Cameron's eyebrows knitted together in confusion but he didn't say anything.

Clasping her hands together, Kirsten continued, "I know we needed more from Flora's memory, but now it's too late and we'll have to make due. Second, I want to apologize for breaking my promise."

At this, Cameron cocked his head to the side, still holding his perplexed expression. Kirsten sighed.

"I had told you that I wasn't like Marta," she said with reserve.

Cameron's face became sullen and he raked a hand through his hair, gaze dropping to the floor. Kirsten's skin felt like it was covered with insects. Her chest constricted like she was preparing to scream.

"Say something." she said through clenched teeth.

His eyes were foggy, like colored glass. Clenching his fists, he leaned forward on his knees and looked straight into her.

"You can't blame yourself for anything that happened in there." his voice wavered, "You were doing exactly what you were supposed to do. I'm the one who was supposed to watch out for you. I was supposed to keep you safe."

Kirsten knelt beside the table so that she was directly in front of him; her knee grazing up against his foot. She had to tilt her head back, slightly, to look him in the eyes now, unlike usual when they were virtually the same height. She was close enough to scrutinize how his Adam's apple quivered when he swallowed.

"You did keep me safe, Wonder Boy." she said earnestly, "You got me out."

"But if it had been just a second later-"

"It wasn't." Kirsten urged, instinctively placing her hand on his shoulder, "Even if it was, I know you'd do what you have to do. I trust you."

At that word, Cameron's eyes widened slightly and he drew in the smallest of breaths. Holding his gaze, Kirsten slid her hand slowly up to the side of his face. Her finger tips moved in delicate circles, weaving locks of brown hair in between them. She felt him lean into her palm.

"I can't risk you." he restated.

You don't want to risk me, she mentally corrected him.

Instead she whispered, "I know."

She was having difficulties analyzing her present situation. Her toes curled and her heart felt like it was out-growing her ribcage. She was acutely aware of the heat growing in the pit of her stomach, but hadn't any idea what to do about it.

She wasn't supposed to be able to understand regular human emotions, and to an extent, she still didn't. But there was something deep, something primal about the way her muscles tensed as Cameron leaned his face closer to hers. It felt preprogrammed, the way his breath sent shock waves across her skin.

Maybe it was that simple. It was basic instinct to pull Cameron's face down to hers, to press her lips against his and inhale his sent. It was common sense when he leaned against her, when he deepened the kiss and made her moan against his mouth. It was intense, it was right, and it was exactly as it should be.

Well what do you think? Thank you so much for reading and please fav, follow, comment if you'd like. As always, I'll see you next time. :)