"Claire?"

Penny, who'd been slouched in the easy chair in Cam's room, jerked awake and cautiously approached his bedside.

"No, honey, it's me, Penny."

Cam turned his head away in irritation. "No. Where's Claire?"

Penny swallowed and turned on the lamp next to his bed to its lowest setting, illuminating the room in soft light. Even so, Cam's face looked angry and scarlet, his sutures and scars nearly glowing. On his other side, Carol Channing lifted her head and meowed at her mistress.

Penny sat down on his bed, taking his hand carefully. He tried to pull it away, but she held on, and he finally allowed it after a few preliminary tugs. "What do you want?" He asked sullenly. "My face hurts. I need another pill. Could you get Claire for me, please?"

Penny squeezed his hand. "Claire's not here, Cam."

"What do you mean, she's not here? Did she go out? When will she be back?" Cam finally turned his head to look at Penny. He seemed embarrassed. "I need--I need--" he gestured toward the restroom.

"I can take you," Penny said, nodding encouragingly. "I took you at the hospital a few times, remember?"

Cam shook his head. "I don't remember that, no," he answered. "Everything from my time at the hospital is just a blur, to be honest." He sat up. "I should probably try to do some of these things on my own, anyway. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the rest of me, you know? I shouldn't have trouble walking, just because the nerve endings on my face are damaged, should I?"

"Cameron, no," Penny objected. "The doctor explained all that. Your face was all wrapped up for weeks, and the nerves act like the whiskers on a cat, they help with your equilibrium or whatever." She reached for him. "I'll help you get there and then I'll leave, okay? I won't help you stand up or anything, if that's what you want, how's that? Then, after you've flushed, I'll help you walk back."

But Cam waved her away. "I can do it," he insisted. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Could you please bring me a pill? And it's time for my antibiotics, as well, I think." His pain pills weren't supposed to be kept at his bedside so he wouldn't be tempted to take too many at once, so they were kept with his others in the kitchen. "And where exactly is Claire, anyway?"

"I'll tell you after," Penny suggested, giving in to letting him go alone, though she was uneasy about it.

She watched him until the door to the bathroom was closed, then she ran to the kitchen, grabbed his pills and ran back, just in time to hear the toilet flush.

She opened the door and saw him clutching the sides of the sink, his head down.

"What? What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Just dizziness and pain, probably from standing," he murmured. "Suddenly felt ten feet tall and six inches wide, you know?"

Penny got an arm around him and helped him back to bed, wondering to herself how the rail thin Claire could possibly have helped him do any of this.

She handed him the pills and watched him swallow them.

"So? Where'd Claire get to?"

Penny sighed. "She left, Cameron. She took her things and left the apartment. I don't know where she went. She may have gone all the way back to England, for all I know." Penny shrugged.

Cam was staring at her with his one good eye, struggling to open his other eye as well, she could tell. "What? Why? She said she was here for good. She said she'd stay. She promised--"

Penny shook her head and shrugged as she wondered if she should make something up, some sort of family emergency for Claire to soften the blow. But no, she was a terrible liar, she knew.

"She said she couldn't deal with seeing you like this. I think it was too much for her, too intense."

Cam picked listlessly at the comforter cover. "Great. Wonderful. Now what do I do? Who's going to take care of me?"

Penny looked at him in consternation. "What about me? Cam, I don't understand you. What's wrong with me taking care of you?"

"What about you?" he repeated, his voice growing louder. "I don't want you, Penelope! How many different ways can I say it? I've tried to be kind about it, but you just don't seem to hear me!" He balled his hands into fists and hit his thighs for emphasis. "You're just a reminder of all I once had that I no longer have, don't you see? With all of your coming and going and your gossipy news of the theatre crowd and our old friends? You and your kind, horsey face and ungainly body and your trying so hard to act like the sight of my face doesn't make you want to vomit into the nearest bin?" He leaned forward so his face was inches from hers. "Please leave, Penelope!

"There. I can't be any clearer than that, can I?" He lay back on his pillows, spent, turning away from Penny, who remained where she was, motionless from shock.

They sat in frozen tableau for a few minutes, with neither one moving, until finally, Penny broke the silence.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Cam, but the truth is that I have nowhere else to go, and you can't afford to hire anyone come in and look after you, so I guess we're stuck with each other for the time being! How about if you stop being such a baby all the time, huh?"

"I'll thank you not to shout at me!"

"Why not? You were shouting at me! And you could at least do me the courtesy of looking at me while you do it, I think!"

But Cam wouldn't move his head, and kept it resolutely turned in the direction of his bookshelf the entire time.

Penny finally rose from the bed; at least, Cam felt the mattress shift, and assumed that's what had happened.

"I'm going to bed back in my room now. I doubt I'd hear you if you called, so just send a text if you need anything before morning, okay? Good night, Cameron, sleep well."

Cam was pretty sure he heard her voice break on the last syllable, and felt terrible.

Penny managed to make it back to her room before the tears started again, and she was glad Cam had taken a pain pill and was probably sleeping and therefore couldn't hear her anyway. She sobbed into her pillow, trying not to relive every unkind word he'd just spoken to her back in his bedroom.

Had he really said she had a horsey face and ungainly body? And that he didn't want her around?

But where could she go? When she'd first moved in, it was with the caveat that she'd keep looking for a place to live, and move out when she found a place, but she hadn't ever looked, not seriously, not after she asked Yoko if she could live with her. The truth was that she loved living with Cameron in his beautiful loft, and she thought he loved living with her as well.

She thought.

And she knew that, even though he'd gotten paid a couple of times for the play, he didn't have the funds to have someone come in and take care of him on a daily basis.

They needed each other right now. There was no way around it. She'd have to stay here, in this apartment, with a man who no longer wanted her around, to care for him, because she had no other options, and he didn't either.

Penny finally fell asleep, just as the eastern sky was lightening, and the loft was quiet for a few hours.

Carol Channing padded to her mistress's bedside and jumped up to sleep with her for a while, confused. Normally her two humans slept together, providing her with a warm space between them. She wasn't happy with this latest turn of events.

Cam woke up, remembered his rant of the night before, and felt his face burn with shame. How could he have said those things? But it was for the best, surely? He got out of bed, trying to be quiet, but somehow Penny heard him and came to help, wordlessly pulling clean clothes out of his dresser and laying them out on his bed for after his bath. He preferred bathing because there was less chance of the water splashing up on his face and hurting him than when he was in the shower.

"Do you want my help in the tub or not?" Penny asked. His hair had been cut in the hospital, so he could manage it on his own, though it was easier if someone else did it for him.

"I'll try on my own, thanks," he answered. "And Penelope? I'm very sorry about--about the things I said last night," he continued. "I was in a lot of pain, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm very, very grateful that you're staying on to help me for a bit. Thank you."

Penny nodded. "You're welcome. I'll--I'll look for a new place and try to be out of here as soon as I can. I mean, within a few months, as soon as you don't need me anymore, okay?"

Cam nodded and turned to enter the bathroom.

Penny waited in his bedroom, turning back his bedclothes to air out his bed and generally tidying up while she waited.

She heard him call her name, and cautiously entered the bathroom.

"Yeah? You need something?"

He turned to look at her. "I can't really rinse my hair without pouring the water on my face," he began. "Do you think you could do that bit for me?"

"Of course," she responded. "Here, just lie back a little--" She grabbed the cup and filled it, pouring it over his head, being careful not to let it spill onto his sensitive face. He closed his eyes, and Penny noticed that his sutures seemed to be healing very well.

She carefully wiped his forehead and wrapped his hair so it wouldn't drip onto his face and helped him out, trying not to notice his nice physique and remember how good it had made her feel just a few short months before.

She helped him get dressed, then put the diluted ointment on his face.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" he asked politely.

"Okay."

So they sat, a sedate distance apart, while he found something for them to watch.

Another day had begun.