Penny woke up to find Cam sitting by her bedside.

??

How could that be? Last she'd heard, Cam was in surgery, and she could tell from the look on Yoko's face that the situation was dire. Cam was in surgery, with a plastic surgeon fighting to save his face and his life, and there was no way in the world he could be sitting by her bed crying.

Could she be dreaming? Could she have dreamed that she'd woken up, but actually still be in a drug-induced sleep?

Then she noticed that  dream Cameron was wearing a pretty sleeveless blouse with a lacy peach overlay that real life Cameron didn't own, along with light blue denim capri pants that, again, her Cam didn't own. And, upon closer inspection, this Cameron had a smaller nose and more delicate features in general than her Cameron, along with darker hair, hair that was really light brown more than the blond that Penny was used to.

Plus, she seemed to have breasts.

Which was a weird detail, even for a dream.

"Yoko, she seems to have woken up."

And when Penny heard the voice, the last piece of the puzzle slipped into place in her groggy mind.

This was Genevieve, Cam's sister, who was studying to be something over in England.

Yoko suddenly materialized at Cam's sister's side, looking relieved.

"Hey, Pen, how you feeling? You want some water?"

Penny nodded. She was parched.

Penny poked a straw into a bottle and held it to Penny's lips.

"Cam?" she asked as soon as she was finished drinking.

Genevieve's face crumpled and fresh tears began to flow as soon as she heard her brother's name.

Yoko put a comforting arm around the taller girl's frame as she spoke to Penny.

"He's out of surgery, and they've done everything they can for now. He's in the hospital's burn unit, recovering, but they're not letting anyone in to see him yet, because of infection risk. And that's all we know."

"Burn unit?"

Yoko nodded. "They're best set up for Cam's level of--injury, with the grafts and stuff they had to do, so that's where they've put him for now. I don't want to tell you any more because I'd probably get it wrong, and I don't know much, so let's just leave it at that, okay?" Yoko's voice was firm. "Your family's on their way from San Diego, they'll be here in a couple hours, and the police want to talk to you as soon as possible, too. Oh, and in case her face didn't give it away, this is is Cam's sister, Genevieve."

Penny smiled at Yoko's pronunciation of Cam's sister's name. She said it the American way, "JEN-eh-veeve," instead of the French way that Cam pronounced it, "JHAN-vee-ehve," which Penny thought was prettier, but she supposed it didn't matter, since everyone pretty much called her by her nickname, anyway.

"Hello, Vivi," she said, holding out her hand from the bed. "I'm so sorry we have to meet under these horrible circumstances."

Vivi only nodded, unable to speak, as she shook Penny's hand and came in to kiss her on both cheeks. "Me too," she responded, and Penny could hear that Vivi had a bit more of an accent than her brother.

"Simon's out getting us some coffee," Yoko explained as she and Vivi took seats next to Penny's bed.

"When can we see Cameron?" Penny asked, sitting up.

"We were going to check again after you talked to the police."

Penny nodded. "Okay, let's get that over with, then," she said, gesturing toward the door where she assumed they were waiting.

So they came in and interviewed her, which didn't take long, because, once Penny's shock had subsided, her recall of the horrifying events that had passed in the apartment was clear and precise.

Of course Vivi and Yoko waited outside while she spoke to the police, and for this Penny was glad, though she wouldn't have minded having Yoko with her. However, she didn't think Vivi needed to hear the details of how she had found her brother.

"So you never actually engaged with the deceased? He ran into the bathroom, tripped over your cat and hit his head on the lip of the bathtub and expired?"

Penny nodded her head. "The cat always lies down right there, just inside the door, when it's really hot and humid like this, because the tiles are in shade all day and they stay cool."

"And your plan was to go out the window and drop onto the roof of the business next door? Had you ever done that before?"

Penny shook her head this time. "I don't even know if I would've thought of it. But Cam told me, yelled to me that Frederick planned to mess up the door so no one could go in or out, and that this might be the only way for me to save myself." Penny took a deep breath and wiped away a tear. "Do you think I shouldn't have run? You think I should've tried to help him instead?"

The detective put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you could've done a thing against a crazy person wielding a gun and a knife, hon. You saw what he did to your boyfriend's face. And obviously your boyfriend thought so, too. He never once asked for you to come and help him. He told you to go, he wanted you to run and get help for the both of you. Don't second guess what you did.

"Besides, look how it turned out," she continued, rubbing Penny's shoulder. "You're both alive, which is the best you could've hoped for."

Penny nodded through her tears.

"So let's get this interview finished so you can go see him, okay? Just a couple more questions," the nice detective said.

Penny finished answering their questions, then the nurse got her settled in a wheelchair because they didn't want her walking on her foot, and she, Yoko, Vivi, and Simon headed up to the burn unit to check on Cameron's status.

"You guys are pretty famous," Simon remarked as they walked down the corridor. "You've been on the news and everything, and there are reporters down stairs and all that."

"Are they going to bother my family when they get here?" Penny worried.

"I don't think so," Yoko reassured her. "They don't know who they are or what they look like or anything, do they? Not yet, anyway."

"Some of them tried to talk to me when I arrived, but I'm so obviously Cameron's sister," Vivi said, gesturing to her face as they stepped on the elevator.

Penny nodded with a smile.

"Hold the elevator, please," an imperious voice commanded just as the doors were closing.

Simon held the doors, and Claire stepped in, surprising the hell out of Penny.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Are you serious? Cam nearly died at the hands of a madman, do you think I could stay away?" Claire responded, shifting her heavy sheaf of blonde hair back from her face. "I feel so badly about how I ended things between us, also."

She looked Penny up and down, from her wrapped foot to her bandaged knees. "Yeah, I heard you'd been hurt as well," she remarked as the elevator doors opened. "You doing okay?"

"I'm doing better than Cam, if that's what you mean," Penny answered.

They went straight to the nurse's station, where Vivi asked the nurse if they could get an update on Cam's status and possibly see him.

"Normally, no one in this ward is allowed visitors, but he's a special case, so I'm not sure. My last orders were that no one sees him, but I know his doctor wanted to talk to you, so let me page her," the nurse offered.

Penny was beside herself with worry. Why was he a special case? Because he wasn't going to last long? Because he was so injured? Why?

Next to her, Claire was crying, perfect, beautiful tears that did nothing to detract from her beauty. Her weeping got louder as they wandered over to some chairs and sat down to wait.

"Oh god, what if the grafts didn't take? What if he's going to be scarred for life? What if he's going to look like a freak, with those awful railway lines all over his face? I knew I should've had my father call in a specialist, shit--" she was pulling out her phone, punching numbers and holding it up to her ear. "What time is it in England now, anyway?"

"Sorry, no cellphones in here, ma'am," the nurse admonished from her station. "You'll need to go out to the main lounge to use that." She bent back to her paperwork.

"Bitch," Claire hissed, loud enough for the nurse to hear as she rose and went to the double doors which led to the main lounge.

The nurse just shook her head without looking up from her paperwork.

The doctor, a tired looking woman with kind eyes who wore a cap with flowers on it and a name tag which read "Dr. Garcia," finally came about ten minutes later. Claire had yet to return from the main lounge, but no one was about to wait for her.

"The surgery went as well as we could hope for under the circumstances," the doctor began without preamble, speaking primarily to Vivi and Penny. "We were lucky in that, while some of the lacerations were quite deep, all of the cuts were very, very sharp, and none of the skin was actually cut off of his face, so it was simply a matter of replacing some of the fat close to the bone, and sewing the skin back together."

Vivi blanched at the graphic description, and Penny held her hand, but she listened and nodded, and seemed to be okay.

"So now we wait to see how he heals, and watch him very carefully for signs of infection, which is the biggest danger with what is basically one giant wound," Dr. Garcia concluded.

"Can we see him?" Vivi asked, squeezing Penny's hand.

"He's been in and out of consciousness, and has asked for you," the doctor said. "It is basically a clean room situation, however, so you'll have to wear full gear, masks, boots, everything. And family only, I'm afraid, for no more than five minutes every few hours. It's just too risky."

Family only. Penny's heart sank.

Dr. Garcia saw her face.

"You are considered family, Ms. Patrick, you live with him, you'll be allowed in," she reassured her. "If you can walk without the wheelchair?"

Penny nodded firmly.

"He asked for you first, actually, even before his sister," Dr. Garcia told her.

Vivi looked at Penny and smiled.

"I'll leave instructions with the nurse to get you two gowned up, okay?" Dr. Garcia was already walking away, obviously a busy woman with a million things to do.

Claire returned just as an attendant was taking Vivi and Penny away to put gowns on to see Cam.

"We taking turns to see him, then?" she asked.

"We can't go in, only family," Simon told her.

"What? But I came all the way from England," Claire said, as if that made a difference.

"Come on, you can have your tantrum out here with us," Yoko suggested.

Penny was so glad Yoko was around, and put Claire out of her mind as she put on the sterile gown, put her hair up in the cap, and got the booties on over her good foot and the foot that had the dressing on it.

Then, with Vivi helping her walk, the two of them entered Cam's room, which was cool and dark, with only the sounds of the various pieces of equipment to break the silence. Penny was glad they were hanging on to each other.

Cam was lying motionless in the bed with his face bandaged nearly completely. Only his eyes, nostrils, and part of his mouth showed, and his eyes were closed. Two chairs had been placed next to the bed already, and Vivi and Penny sat in them without making a sound, careful not to bump the bed in any way. Penny knew that if five minutes passed without Cam waking up, they would have to leave without having spoken to him.

Again, after they sat down, Vivi wordlessly reached for her hand, and they sat this way, in silence, just staring at the man they both loved.

After a couple of minutes, however, Cameron moved in the bed, opening his eyes into small slits and looking at the pair, and Penny could see recognition.

Thank god.

He moved his hand a little, but Vivi shook her head.

"We can't touch you, brother, not yet, there's a risk of infection still."

"Penelope." His voice was a raspy whisper.

"Yes?" Penny leaned forward as far as she dared without risking falling onto the bed or brushing against him.

"Okay? Hurt?"

Penny shook her head. "I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine."

Cam shook his head slightly. "Ease."

"What?"

"Ease. Ease."

Penny leaned in a little more. "I'm sorry, Cam, I don't know what you mean."

Cam's chest heaved. "Knees." He pointed without lifting his hand from the bed.

FFS. He could see her knees and the bandages where her gown had ridden up.

"I'm fine, I just have a couple skinned knees, honest," she assured him. "Please don't worry,"

Cam nodded and closed his eyes.

"Love you, Penguin," he murmured. "Vivi. Love you both. So much."

They sat until their five minutes were up, then they rose and left, arms still around each other.