Goodkin and the Flu (Stitchers, M, Birthday Fic for BMG!)

[FadedRose]

@batmansgirl  Alrightyyyyy! I know you've been looking forward to this for a really long time (Aka 30+ days) So, I tried my best. I tried to include Protective Mama Maggie Bear and Big Brother Fisher as best I could. This happens right after S2 E2-3. Somewhere in that range after the Spanish Flu outbreak but before Camille gets her badge. Hope you like it, and happy birthday. Also, apologies for this being a day late. I really aren't feeling well and I know I promised I'd have it up by yesterday. I had her tell you but I'm not sure you got the message. I had it done I just couldn't get it posed. So yeah... sorry about that. I guess it just became a Valentines/ Birthday Fic now.

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It was Thursday morning when Cameron Goodkin was awoken by his alarm going off on his phone. He reached over and sleepily pressed the 'dismiss' button. Ah, 7:03 am. Exactly. See, where Cameron worked, precise timing was everything. The times he woke up, got to work, finished stitching, finished field work, and got to bed always varied from body to body. Cameron pushed himself to get out of bed and trailed down the hallway and into the bathroom. He started the water for a warm shower. He timed it out every day, but today he had two minutes less to shower. Damn. He had gotten out of bed 2 mintues later than usual.

Cameron went about his business in the shower and dried off afterwards. He got dressed into a gray button up and a pair of blue jeans, then brushed his teeth and combed back his hair. He grabbed an energy bar for the drive to work, and left his apartment at 7:17.

Once there, Cameron parked his car behind the Chinese building and went inside, heading to the back as he did every day. The brunette pulled back the curtain and pushed the button. He took the old elevator down the exact 200 meters to the basement.

The Stitch lab seemed a little more energetic than usual today, and Camille and Linus were already having an enthusiastic conversation about upgrades to Kirsten's Cat Woman Suit over cups of coffee. The body was already in the Corpse Cassette. Cameron dropped his bag off at his station and went to go get his own coffee. When he got in the back room, Kirsten was already making her own.

"Hey Girlfriend." Kirsten smiled.

"Hey Stretch." 

Cameron said nothing else as he waited for his coffee.

"Intro meeting in Maggie's office on the body in 8 minutes." Kirsten sauntered out of the room.

Cameron stayed put and let the quietness soothe him. For some reason his head was already hurting. That was unusual, that only happened after extremely stressful stitches and long hours of field work with Kirsten and Fisher. He stayed in the back room until it was time for the meeting, which was much too soon. The young Neuro Scientist made his way to Maggie's office and took a seat at the table. The display screen was already on and showing a picture of the diseased subject.

"Melanie Brown. Age 29, a small botique owner here in LA. One of her employees found her dead in the back room when opening shop this morning," Maggie started.

Camille turned to the tv display and pushed a button on her tablet. The display turned black for a second before the slideshow of pictures started.

"This is the botique. It's just 10 miles north of here. I'm pushing out the address to everyone in 3..2..1.." All the phones in the room chorused with their individual ringtones. "Now that'll help with field work later."

Maggie cleared her throat.

"Thank you Camille. She had no significant other, not even a love interest according to one of her workers. So figure out what happened. I want you to stitch into her as soon as-"

Just then, two harsh sneezes escaped Cameron. He had his head in his arm, covering his face and turned away from the table. "HRrYSHhhHEW! HrSCHHhEWww!" Everyone in the room turned to glance at him.

"Bless you, Goodkin," Maggie called. "Anyway, I want you stitching into Miss Brown as soon as possible. She won't have much time. You are dismissed." 

Everyone in the room got up simultaneously. Not even two minutes later they were already good to go. Kirsten was already in her "Cat Woman" suit standing next to the Fish Tank. Maggie came out of her office and nodded at her newest Stitcher. Kirsten climbed into the Fish Tank and slid her ankles into the restraints, then her hands on the ledges.

"Lights at 20% please," Cameron asked. They had gone through this routine, the exact words, so many times. Now the lights dimmed before he could even finish his sentence.

"I need a go, no-go for Stitch Neurosync, Life-sci."

"Go."

"Sub-bio."

"Go."

"Engineering."

"All systems online. Go"

"Communications."

"Go."

"Medical."

"She's looking good. Go."

"Comm check. One-two, one-two. Kirsten can you hear me?"

"Yeah. I can."

"Mission clock to 5 minutes please." The monitor flashed with the timer and Kirsten closed her eyes.

"Indu-" Cameron's voice caught in his throat and he coughed softly to clear it. Maggie gave him a concerned glance, but of course he didn't see it.

"Induce Stitch Neurosync on my mark in 3... 2... 1... Mark." Cameron slid the levers up. 

"Tell me, Stretch, what are you seeing?"

Kirsten shifted a little in the water. "I'm... in the botique." She watched the memory play in her own mind. She spoke of nothing else, until the flowers in the backroom started to glow. "The flowers are... glowing."

Cameron pulled the microphone away from his mouth and buried his face in his shoulder. "Hrr- HRKshhHTCh.. *snf!* Memory hotspot. I'm going to move you ahead in
time, closer to the death. Keep watching the flowers." Cameron adjusted the levers and cleared his throat.

"Was that a sneeze?" Kirsten asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No, Princess. It was a yawn," Cameron said blankly,, his voice unenthusiastic with the sarcasm. He started to cough into his shoulder, his hands still on the levers, holding them in the precise place. 

Back in the lab, Maggie tilted her head. "Cameron?"

He blushed. "Sorry. Little tickle." 

"It's really late... 11:13. I'm still in the shop, no one's here. Wait, I take that back. Someone came in but she looks like she belongs... she knows where everything is.. A worker. Poisoning Melanie's flowers. I don't.." Kirsten started to talk until loud, harsh coughing came back through the microphone. "Cameron?"

There wasn't an answer, just more coughing for the next few seconds. Cameron was hardly able to choke out, "Camille."

Camille abandoned her tablet instantly and moved to Cameron's station. He made sure she had control of the levers before switching off his mic, the cough still going. Kirsten immediately started kicking in the Fish Tank. "Cameron!" She yelled. With her eyes closed and in someone else's memory, she couldn't see or hear from Cameron, and she panicked. "Cameron!!"

Camille was panicking too. She adjusted her mic. "Kirsten, calm down."

"Her heart rate is dangerously high!" Ayo informed, obviously looking concerned, both at Cameron who had left the room coughing, and at Kirsten. She started to follow Cameron. 

"Ayo, stay with Kirsten." Maggie's heels clicked as she followed Cameron down the hallway.

Camille took a shaky breath. Last time she had to do this job Cameron was the subject... "Kirsten, I need you to get your heart rate down. Deep breaths or we're going to have to bounce you."

Linus shook his head. "Camille you can't bounce her yourself. It's too dangerous after the minute-mark."

"Kirsten, listen to me. Cameron's okay. Maggie's going to check on him. He's fine."

The blonde was still breathing incredibly fast, not at all focused on what was happening in the Stitch. Last time Camille took over, Cameron was dead. Cameron had killed himself to be the subject of the Stitch. Kirsten was in his memory the last time they did this. Pictures flashed lightning fast.. them as kids meeting in the hospital, Cameron's scar, Cameron injecting himself, Cameron's death, Cameron in the Corpse Cassette, shocking him back alive, Kirsten's mom in the hospital bed, Kirsten's dad leaving her, Ed's tape. Tears slid down her face as she thrashed about, the water spilling over the edge of the tank from the movements.

"It's not safe for her being in there like this. You're risking a coma," Ayo announced, shaking her head, her eyes wide as she didn't dare to take them off the screen. She couldn't let another Stitcher fall into a coma. 

"Kirsten, bounce," Camille instructed nervously. Kirsten's fingers slid over the keypad in a flash, typing in username: Kirsten and password: iheartlinus. She sat up and slid her ankles out of the restraints and climbed out as fast as she could, almost slipping on the wet ladder. She ran down the hall, dripping water all over the place. 

"Cameron!" She found him hunched over, still coughing slightly. Maggie was right next to him, kneeling. Only a few seconds later Camille came in with Kirsten's towel and Linus followed with a bottle of water for Cameron. He passed it over to Maggie who made him sit up and take sips of it. Cameron sighed as he slowly recovered his breath.

Ayo then came in with an easy read thermometer and a stethoscope. She held the thermometer to Kirsten's head, checking for signs of damage or potential risks due to such a reaction. She checked her heartbeat and made sure to keep her standing until it fell below 120, which took a while. Kirsten stood there impatiently huffing and rolling her eyes. As Ayo waited for Kirsten to calm down the rest of the way she kneeled down and checked Cameron's fragile heart. Steady. Good. She held the thermometer to his head. It flashed back with 101.2. Ayo flipped it around so Maggie could read it and the woman sighed. 

"I'll go call Fisher." Maggie walked off and lifted her phone to her ear.

Cameron coughed again but it ended soon after and he took the water from Linus, gulping down half of it in only seconds. He had been feeling off earlier but he never knew it would get this bad. As soon as Maggie came back in, he would definitely have to apologize. Probably so many times it would start to hurt his throat. He didn't want to be cut from the program over a small illness. After all he had survived the Spanish Flu. But then again so had Maggie, Kirsten, Camille, and Linus.

"Maggie... I'm sorry," He apologized breathlessly as she re-entered the room.

"Hey, none of that."

"Maggie I'm sorry, I really am. Don't cut me.. Please."

"Wait, what? You think I would cut you off my team because of a cold? No way in hell. Cameron, you're one of our bests. You're the only one who knows how to work that Quantum computer anyway. It takes a genius. There are only 5 of those computers in the world. You aren't leaving."

Ayo nodded at Kirsten and she pulled a chair up next to Cameron and sat down. She couldn't help but put her hand on his arm. She knew no boundaries anyway. She invaded people's privacy for a living. And it made Cameron smile, so there was that.

"Okay. Everybody back to work. Except you two. Stay here until Fisher gets here." Maggie walked out of the room. She had mentioned none of her plans to either of them. Camille, Linus, and Ayo followed out.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Cutekats
Alignment and stuff..

[Rook]

HOLY CRACKERS ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME THIS IS THE BEST GIFT EVEEER AHHHHH....I'll come back with more epic reactions tomorrow lol

[FadedRose]

Alright. I'm trying to write part 2.. I'm struggling to write Fisher specifically... I'm not sure I can write someone who has saved so many characters so many times, lol. Anything in specific you want included in the next chapter?

[Rook]

On 2/20/2017 at 6:52 PM, Cutekats said:

Alright. I'm trying to write part 2.. I'm struggling to write Fisher specifically... I'm not sure I can write someone who has saved so many characters so many times, lol. Anything in specific you want included in the next chapter?

Protective but not smothering

[FadedRose]

23 minutes ago, batmansgirl said:

Protective but not smothering

You got it. Chapter 2 is half done. Sorry it's taking so long.

[Rook]

sweet