"You what?"

"Just until I'm not so sensitive anymore, that's all." Cameron looked at Penny. "Please, it's nothing personal. It's just that my face really hurts right now. Any little thing touching it, even by accident, can hurt, surely you understand that? If you were to roll over in the night and accidentally brush against me, the pain is, well, excruciating."

"But I can be really careful, Cameron, I can," Penny began. "I can sleep way over on the side. I could even sleep in the chair by the window. I think I should be in the room, at least, in case you need something in the night." She knew she sounded whiny, but she didn't care. "I don't see why I have to sleep all the way in my old room. I can't even hear you if you call. It might be dangerous."

Cam smiled, though it was a travesty of his old smile. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not in any danger. And you won't be alone in caring for me. Claire's offered to come and stay for a bit as well."

"Claire?" Penny couldn't believe it. "No. Cam, no. I don't want her with us." Penny sat up on the sofa in the living room, where this conversation was taking place. Vivi had just left for the airport a few minutes earlier, and the door had barely closed behind her when Cam had told Penny he wanted her to start sleeping in her old room.

"Penelope, I'd think you'd be glad to have the help, to be quite frank. As you pointed out, I still need help with some things. I can't apply my medications by myself and I still need some help getting around. And in case you hadn't noticed, you're still limping quite badly yourself, using crutches some of the time. Don't think I hadn't noticed, Penguin. How can you help me when you still need help yourself half the time?" Cameron's good eye flashed fire.

"Where's she going to sleep?" Penny asked.

Cameron gestured to the couch where Penny sat.

Penny pursed her lips. She found it hard to believe Claire would be happy with a sofa. "I don't want her here," she repeated. Her words sounded weak, even to herself.

"Well, last time I checked, the lease on this flat was in my name, not yours," Cameron said, his voice sounding cold. "I think I can have anyone I want to stay, don't you?"

Penny looked at him, stung.

She took a hitching breath, willing herself not to cry. Was she really going to get thrown out of two different dwellings by two different men in one year?

Cameron sighed and closed his eyes. "Jesus, Penguin, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Look, Claire's had a bit of practical nursing experience, and she offered, so it seemed like a good idea, that's all. Please, let's not argue, it's so upsetting, for both of us."

Penny nodded, swallowing and hunching her shoulders. "When is she coming?" she asked in a small voice.

"In an hour or so."

Penny nodded again, rising.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my stuff out of your room."

Penny opened and closed the dresser drawers carefully, though she wanted to slam them and make a mess. She blinked and wiped her eyes, not wanting Cam or Claire, if she arrived early, to know she'd been crying.

She carried her clothes the long way, through the kitchen, to her old room, refolding them and putting them away.

She could hear talking coming from the living room and knew that Claire had arrived.

Wonderful.

She went back through the kitchen and grabbed Cam's meds from the cupboard and took them to him with a bottle of water.

"Time for your medicine," she called cheerfully, entering the living room.

"Hello, Claire," she called.

"Hullo," Claire answered. Her hair fell in a shining blonde sheaf down her back, and she was wearing what looked like size zero pink jeans and an oversized hairy blue sweater that brought out her eyes.

Next to her, Penny felt like a Yeti.

"I guess I should learn his medication schedule, too, so I can help out," she mentioned, gesturing at the pills in Penny's hand.

"I'll write it out and tape it to the cupboard where we keep them," Penny offered.

"Sounds good." Claire watched Penny hand Cam the medication and the water, wincing as he swallowed them.

"It's going to take me a while to get used to looking at your face," Claire said. "It looks so painful. When's the swelling going to go down?"

"Gradually over the next month," Cam responded, looking down.

"And the scars? How long until they're gone?"

Cameron shrugged and said, "Some of them will never go away, Claire, didn't anyone tell you that?"

"What?" Claire looked over at Penny. "But that would mean he's going to look like this forever!"

Cam bit his lips together.

"Can I talk to you in the other room for minute?" Penny asked Claire.

"Penelope, don't bother, honestly," Cam said in a disgusted voice. "It's not as though I were ten years old!"

But Penny rose and waited for Claire to follow. She walked all the way to the bathroom and shut the door before turning to the much smaller woman.

"Could you please, and I mean this in the most courteous way, watch your motherfucking mouth just a little in front of Cameron? He's really fragile right now, and we need to try to build him up, not blindside him every five minutes with reminders of how bad he looks and how long he's going to look that bad!" Penny put her hands on her hips and glared at Claire.

Claire huffed out an irritated breath and looked back at Penny. "Well, I was a little shocked, you know? No one told me that his face was going to look like it went through a meat grinder forever! I mean, Jesus, he was so handsome--he can't look like that for the rest of his life! What kind of doctors do you have over here? Do they know he used to be a model? It's ridiculous that he should look like a freak in a carnival side show because some ex-boyfriend of yours got a bug up his arse about you shagging him!" She took a step closer so she was right in Penny's face. "What the bloody hell were you thinking, anyway, trying to be with someone like Cameron? He was doing perfectly well, then you come along and ruin--his--life! Well done, you cow." And with those parting words, she turned and left the bathroom.

Penny just stood for a moment, then went back to the living room, feeling like she'd been slapped.

"We're just going to watch a movie, if you want to join us," Claire said pleasantly from her place next to Cam, making it seem as though she were being generous in asking.

"No thanks, I'm pretty exhausted, I think I'll go and take a little nap, if you have everything under control here," Penny responded.

Cam was getting ready to respond, but Claire again spoke before he could. "Of course, we're fine, we'll call you if we need anything."

Penny went to her room and lay down, finally giving in to her tears. And once she started, she discovered she couldn't stop. She wept into her pillow, feeling stupid, feeling huge, feeling ugly and unneeded. She was glad that whatever movie they were watching was loud.

She finally cried herself into a deep sleep, and she woke up feeling disoriented and like something was wrong. Even though it had only been a few months, she'd gotten used to sleeping on the right side of Cam's spacious king sized bed in his room, which had a south facing  window, instead of the double bed in her old room, which had a north facing window.

It was dark, and she could see a bit of the river from her window, but that wasn't what had awakened her, she could tell.

She sat up, staring at Carol Channing, who was also sitting up, staring back at her, pupils huge in the near total darkness.

Then she heard it, the sound that had reached into her slumber and pulled her up to consciousness.

Cameron's cry of pain.

Penny leapt out of bed and came down running, heading toward the living room, where the TV was on. When she got there, it was empty, however.

"No, it's not right! Stop!" Again, Cam's gassy howl of pain.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll try to be gentler."

Penny raced toward his bedroom, and then toward his bathroom, where the light was on.

Cam was sitting on the commode, which had the lid down. His shirt was off, and he was in his sweats, and Claire was bending toward his face, wearing medical gloves trying to apply his antibiotic ointment to his face. However, Penny could tell, just from how it was sitting on the counter all by itself, with just the lid sitting next to it, that she hadn't diluted it.

"Claire, oh my god, stop!" She shouted as the blonde woman once again lowered the applicator toward Cam's face. "You have to dilute it with purified water first! It's in the refrigerator, didn't you read the directions? It's too strong otherwise! Even diluted, it's so painful, but undiluted it can burn his skin, Jesus!" Penny strode forward and grabbed the applicator from Claire's hand.

"How do I get it off my face?" Cam asked.

"Straight purified water," Penny replied, already headed toward the kitchen. "Just sit tight, I'll get it."

She was back in moments with the cold jug and a couple of sterile cups, into which she poured the water.

"Move!" she barked at Claire, who stepped back without a word.

"This is going to hurt, though hopefully less than what's already happened," Claire said to Cam as she snapped on a pair of gloves.

She draped a towel around his shoulders and began applying the water to his suture sites with a fresh applicator.

"Oh god," Cam moaned. He gripped the side of the counter with one hand and the towel rack with the other. He closed his eyes, but the tears squeezed out from beneath his lids and slid down his cheeks, rolling into the suture sites and exacerbating the burning.

"Shh, shh, Cam you have to stop crying," Penny crooned. "Please, please try, or we're going to have to go back to the hospital and start all over with wrapping your face, please."

She blew gently on his face as she continued to apply the water, trying to use the towel to dry his tears before they could burn him. Slowly, they got things squared away, though he couldn't always keep his yelling under control.

Eventually, after about twenty minutes, Penny managed to medicate his suture sites with diluted antibiotics, though his face looked like a raw mess by the time they were finished, and his entire body was trembling from the pain.

"I'm so sorry," Claire began as Penny put the lid back on the medication.

"Let's not do this until we get him in bed," Penny said shortly.

She turned back to Cam. "Come on, honey," she said as she helped him rise. She got him to his bed and pulled the blanket back. Once he was comfortable, she gave him a pain pill, and asked him if she thought he could sleep.

He nodded.

Penny kissed the top of his head and turned to leave his room as C-Chan jumped up on the bed and curled into his side.

"I'm so sorry," Claire said again, to Cam this time.

"I know," He said, his voice blurry with pain and drugs.

Penny gestured to Claire from the door to his room and they went back to the living room.

"Why the fuck did you try to put his ointment on without me?" Penny began before Claire could say a word.

Claire shrugged. "You were sleeping, Cam said his face was starting to itch and that it was time for his ointment. I found it in the cupboard and figured I should start helping since I came to help."

"Why didn't you at least read the motherfucking instructions?"

"Will you please stop swearing at me, you stroppy cow?" Claire huffed a breath at her and crossed her arms. "And besides, it's Cam's bloody medication, why didn't he know it was to be diluted?"

"Cam's doped out of his mind half the time!" Penny shot back, arms akimbo. "That's why he needs help, you stupid bitch."

"Oh. And does he scream like that all the time? I mean every time you apply it? Even when it's diluted and applied correctly? He told me he would," Claire asked, ignoring Penny's last words.

Penny nodded, distracted for the moment. "Yeah. It's pretty painful still."

"And he really is going to look--all cut up like that--for the rest of his life?" Claire's voice had become hesitant.

Penny sighed and nodded, arms dropping to her sides. "No one can really predict, but he will not heal one hundred percent, no way, that's what his doctors say."

Claire looked around, hugging herself. "I didn't know that," she said. "I didn't know any of that." She looked at Penny. "No one told me any of that," she said accusingly. She walked around and started gathering her things. "I can't do this," she finally said.

"What?" Penny was sure she'd misheard.

"I can't do this," Claire repeated, a little louder. "I can't do any of this. I can't deal with hearing Cameron scream like that every day, hear him in pain like that? I loved him, don't you understand? More than anything? He was my lover. And I certainly can't see his beautiful face remain mutilated like that." She shuddered delicately as she turned to look for her suitcase, which she hadn't unpacked yet. "He was the most beautiful human being I'd ever seen in my life. There's no way I could ever bear to see him the way he is now for the rest of his life. I'm too sensitive." She shook her hair back as she shook her head.

"Please tell him I'm sorry, and that I love him and I'll keep him in my prayers."

And she was gone, as if she'd never been there at all.