Chapter Text
“Sarah, I don’t know. I’d be fine watching Adriana for a few days, but I’m not sure how Kirsten would feel. She’s not exactly ecstatic to be around other people, let alone small children.” Sarah laughed, and Cameron cringed knowing that Kirsten’s dislike of kids wasn’t going to persuade his sister to have someone else watch her 2 year old daughter.
“She’ll be fine Cammy. Besides you guys have to have the kids talk one day, so why not now?” Cameron cleared his throat and shifted nervously in his seat.
“Okay Sarah, we’ll watch her. Just, please don’t blame me if she comes back and starts spouting off some weird things Kirsten tells her.” He heard muffled shouting for a moment, and a brief bout of laughter.
“Alright, I’ll drop her off this Thursday and pick her up Sunday. Don’t worry about stocking up on her favorite foods, I’ll take care of it. Love you Cammy!”
Kirsten was going to kill him. While sitting at the stop light, he put the top of his convertible back down and sighed. He was on his way home from picking up dinner for the two of them, while Kirsten stayed in the apartment working on some paperwork for their latest closed case. It wasn’t the fact that he’d agreed to watch Adriana without asking her first that was worrying Cameron so much. It was the children conversation.
He knew it was one of those conversations they would have to have at some point, and putting it off would only make the topic more difficult. Cameron wasn’t crazy about children (the misbehaved, obnoxious ones anyway) but he knew that he eventually wanted at least one. Kirsten however…. He remembered her face as she watched some children at a restaurant.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just watching these kids at the table over there. They’re revolting.”
“Revolting how?”
“There’s food everywhere, on the table and them. The girl has snot running down her face, oh gross she just wiped it on her sleeve! The parents didn’t even tell her not to or, ugh, the other one just coughed everywhere and didn’t cover his mouth.” Her face was twisted in disgust, the grimace growing the longer she watched the kids.
This was going to be a rough weekend.
Eventually Cameron made it back to the apartment and found Kirsten curled up on the couch watching a movie on Netflix. Her hair was down and around her shoulders, indicating she was settled for the night. She looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled. Despite the rocky start to Kirsten getting her emotions back, Cameron would be lying if he said it wasn’t worth it. Seeing her genuinely smile at him and to feel the love pour from her made it all worth it.
“You look comfy, so I’ll bring everything over.” Kirsten shrugged and turned back to the movie. It wouldn’t hurt to suck up a bit before telling her about Adriana.
They ate mostly in silence, with the occasional laugh echoing throughout the apartment. She seemed to be in a good mood. Cameron knew to try and bring it up if she were anything other than happy would be a possible death sentence.
“You’ve been distracted. Is everything okay?” Her hand sought his, and the sincerity of the question made his heart ache. Before The Stitch, she had only asked questions like that after noticing facial cues or something different in his body language, but now she could actually be concerned.
“I’m fine Buttercup, but I do have something to ask you.” Kirsten had been lying against his chest for some time after they finished eating, so Cameron felt it when she tensed up.
“I swear to god Cameron if you propose right now…” He laughed and swept his fingers through her silky hair.
“No, you’ve made it clear that if it’s not romantic you’re gonna say no and then kill me. I have something different to ask.” She hummed for a moment before relaxing again.
“It can’t be too bad. You’re not twitching or fidgeting with your glasses, so spill.”
“How would you feel about helping me watch my niece from Thursday to Sunday? Sarah and Ben are going out of town for a bit and need someone to watch Adriana.”
“Why do I have the feeling there really isn’t a choice, and you’re just asking so I won’t freak out about a kid suddenly running around?” He grinned guiltily, even though she couldn’t see it.
“Sarah was begging me. I couldn’t say no! I just thought that if you really didn’t want to be around, then you could go back to the house.”
“I live here now, and Camille lives there. I will take watching a kid any day over listening to Camille and Linus go at it all night.” He kissed the top of her head, thankful the conversation had gone over fairly well.
“So, you’re gonna help with Adriana?”
“Sure, how hard could it be to watch a seven year old? Aren’t they pretty much self-sufficient at that point anyway?” Cameron sighed. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought.
“She’s two, almost three.”
“Is it too late to change my answer?” He just laughed again, and promised she wouldn’t have to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with.
~.~.~.~.~.~.
Maggie had surprisingly been understanding when both Cameron and Kirsten asked for the four days off they would have Adriana. She only asked that if something came up that needed one of the two, that one of them would come in to handle it. Since Turner’s death, Maggie had been less on edge concerning the program. There was talk of promoting her to director, but Maggie insisted that no one else could handle her team as well as she could (although Camille would argue she had as much control over them as a bunny rabbit). She did ask to be involved in the decision of picking the new director however, to ensure that the level of secrecy Turner forced her to keep would not happen again.
So when Kirsten was called in to look at an algorithm coding sequence that Thursday, it came as no surprise. To be completely honest, by the time Kirsten finished and was on her way home she had forgotten about the two year old running around her home.
She was reminded as soon as she stepped through the doorway, when a pair of bright blue eyes were staring her in the face. She froze, staring at the strange creature who had not blinked since she made eye contact.
“Cameron… A little help please…” He cracked up as soon as he rounded the corner. His girlfriend was standing frozen in the entryway, while Adriana beamed at her. The look of confusion and slight hint of terror was the icing on the cake. Adriana soon realized Cameron was standing behind her and screeched in happiness. Kirsten flinched and covered her ears, already dreading the next three days. The toddler giggled as Cameron picked her up, swinging her a bit before settling her against his hip. He approached Kirsten slowly, trying not to scare her.
“Adriana, this is Kirsten. Kirsten, this is my niece Adriana.” Adriana giggled and reached towards Kirsten, opening and closing her little fists in excitement. Kirsten’s eyes were as wide as they could go, and an almost imperceptible shake of the head made Cameron distract the toddler.
“How about we go back into the kitchen, and you help Uncle Cameron finish dinner?”
“No! Auntie Kwisten!” She took a deep breath, reminded herself that she loved Cameron, and stepped forward.
“I’m Kirsten, and I’ll come with you guys into the kitchen, okay?” She clapped her hands happily, squirmed to be let down, and ran into the kitchen. Cameron hung back to give Kirsten a quick kiss and a hug.
“See that wasn’t so bad, right?”
“I don’t have a choice, so it’s what I make of it. What are you cooking? I can maybe help.”
“Hotdogs and macaroni and cheese. If you want you can finish up the macaroni and put on the hotdogs while I entertain.” She nodded thankfully, and took to the stove while Cameron entertained with a coloring book.
Bags of things were strewn everywhere already. A backpack filled with games sat on the table, opened with half the items spilling out. There were a few reusable grocery bags sitting on the floor by the fridge. If she had to guess, the kid was a picky eater and Sarah had thoughtfully provided food to avoid any showdowns over a meal. Finally she caught sight of a lone messenger bag-type carrying device with butterflies all over it. Consider the girls age it had to be… Kirsten paled at the thought of the diaper bag.
“Hey Cam? Remember what you promised me about this?”
“Yeah, why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just wanted to remind you of that promise. Just in case.”
~.~.~.~.~.~.
When Adriana was finally put down in the guest bedroom for the night, Kirsten laid with Cameron on the couch looking smug. When it came to small children, she wasn’t comfortable about anything to do with them. Growing up she had never been exposed to kids younger than herself for long periods of time, and still didn’t remember anything from before five years old. Some of her memories had come back, but nothing before five was there yet.
“I knew you had thought of something when you asked me about my promise.”
“I am not comfortable arguing with a toddler to get her to eat, I am not comfortable with the way she stares at me, and I am absolutely not comfortable with changing a diaper. I’m not even comfortable touching her or looking at her. Toddlers are so creepy…” He would have found the confession hilarious, had he not been the one to take care of everything she felt uncomfortable with. He did still find it funny though.
“A deal’s a deal, but what if Maggie calls and needs me to come in. I can’t take Adriana with me, and I have no idea how long I’d be in the lab.”
“Well let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”
“Whatever you say Princess. Let’s go to bed. I know you’re tired, and Adri will be up early in the morning.” Kirsten groaned and buried her head into his neck. Cameron laughed and scooped up his toddler-fearing girlfriend to take her to bed.
Halfway through the night, Kirsten woke up to eyes staring at hers. She barely stifled a scream and jumped back against Cameron.
“Can’t sleep. Me sleep with Aunt Kissy and Uncle Cam?” She started elbowing Cameron, trying to wake him up while Adriana started to try and climb in the bed.
“Aw, come here Adri. You can sleep by me, okay?”
“No, Aunt Kissy!” The pure look of terror on Kirsten’s face made him shake his head.
“Aunt Kirsten moves around a lot in her sleep, and she’s afraid she’ll accidently squish you. So how about you sleep by me?” The toddler nodded her head, apparently placated with the explanation and crawled over Kirsten to get to Cameron.
For a while Kirsten laid there watching the ceiling, thinking. Children had never been on her agenda, even after getting her emotions back. She knew she loved Cameron, but was it enough to give him something she didn’t really want? Some people didn’t want a child until they got pregnant, but what if Kirsten still didn’t want one even after that? She sighed in frustration and decided that it was a problem for another a day, one that she definitely needed Cameron to help her with.