Day 7 of 14

At some point overnight, Camilla received a message that some of her belongings from the Barracks were recovered and able to be picked up from Base. Since Camilla hadn't been able to sleep anyway, she left Elsie a note and went straight to get her things, borrowing Elsie's car in case it ended up being too much to fly back.

She ended up only having about two boxes worth of things to transport, but it was better than nothing. At least she had no trouble carrying them both up to Elsie's condo and could easily let herself in with one hand.

Surprisingly, Elsie was already awake when Camilla returned, if the smell of eggs cooking was any indication.

"Milla?" Elsie called from the kitchen, having evidently taken a liking to the nickname Mack had given them. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Camilla replied as she set the boxes down on the living room coffee table. "Do you need help?"

"No, I'm just about done," Elsie said. "Want to eat out there?"

"Sure."

Today's breakfast was supposed to be reminiscent of one of their meals from Hawaii, according to Elsie. She had been surprisingly successful at making sunny side-up eggs lately, so she decided to challenge herself by joining it with a hamburger patty, rice, and brown gravy, just as they had while in the islands for filming.

The dish looked impressive, but Elsie bashfully admitted she had to substitute the hamburger patty for a breakfast sausage, the rice had come from a microwaveable pack, and the gravy was from an instant mix that was still a little lumpy. Regardless of her concerns, Camilla thought it was delicious, and she told Elsie just as much.

They sat on the couch as usual, Elsie in one corner with her back leaning on the armrest and Camilla on the center cushion next to her. While they ate, Camilla sifted through her boxes.

One of them contained her old travel duffel and the clothes she had taken with her to the Games, filled with warm clothes for Japan's chilly early spring. She thanked her past self for being too tired to unpack them when she returned to LA, freshly out of comatose and having no need for warm clothes when LA weather had been heading into summer at the time.

The second box contained belongings that had been in a metal lock box in her Barracks bedroom. Most of the things were those of sentimental value, such as trinkets from her late classmates at the Academy and a box of her dad's possessions she had snuck from her home in San Francisco.

Among them was her camera, the most expensive luxury good she ever bought herself. It was a little dusty and scratched up, but the battery apparently still had a charge and a quick test proved everything was still functional.

"You should test it out," Elsie suggested, her mouth full of food.

"You got some rice on the couch," Camilla pointed out, and continued talking as Elsie searched for the grains that had fallen out of her mouth. "And that's an idea... would you let me take pictures of you?"

"Absolutely," Elsie agreed instantly, just as she found the missing rice hidden by one of her thighs. She was about to eat it too, before glancing up at Camilla's blank stare and guiltily placing the rice on the edge of her plate to throw away later. "Where do you have in mind?"

Camilla thought for a moment before an idea came to her.

"The park at the pier is still open, right?" she asked.

Immediately, Elsie looked surprised by her suggestion. "I think so?"

"Can we go there then?" Camilla asked, slightly tentative. "There's still a bunch of food we haven't tried yet."

Camilla hoped she wasn't dredging up bad memories of the pier and its amusement park, especially since she was the one responsible for the resulting mess that ensued. In fact, just watching Elsie's reaction to the suggestion made Camilla want to take back her words, and she was immediately filled with regret over all the mistakes she had made both in the past and present.

"That's a great idea," Elsie happily agreed before Camilla could retract her suggestion. "Sunset afterwards?"

With no reason to say no, Camilla nodded. As much as Elsie seemed fine with the idea, Camilla couldn't help but worry, and as much as she tried to ignore it, the sense of dread lingered over her for most of the day.

They drove over to the pier later in the afternoon, not really rushing to find parking once they arrived. Eventually, they found a spot a slight distance away from the pier entrance, but they were both fine with the walk, and Camilla made sure to keep her senses tuned for any stray paparazzi.

Thankfully, none had caught on to their trail, and the few people that did recognize Elsie kept a respectful distance away. Elsie, in the meantime, didn't notice anything was even amiss, and she rattled off the rides that she wanted to go on.

Inside, the pier's amusement park hadn't changed a bit. Camilla let herself be swept away by the nostalgia of it all and was happy to accompany Elsie on her rides of choice. In exchange, Elsie eagerly assisted Camilla with her food escapades and helped Camilla work through more of the items she had yet to sample.

Throughout the trip, Camilla would snap shots of whatever caught her eye: the bumper cars in action, Elsie playing a ring toss game, the Ferris wheel backlit by the sun, Elsie protecting her churro from a seagull, the waves splashing up against the foot of the pier, Elsie gazing peacefully out at the ocean...

"How was that one?" Elsie suddenly asked, having noticed Camilla taking a picture of her.

"It's alright," Camilla replied, trying not to seem embarrassed for having been caught staring.

But Elsie grinned. "It was a good one, wasn't it?"

Since Camilla didn't want to confirm that, she instead took a small handful of kettle corn and shoved it at Elsie's mouth. Her reaction only made Elsie laugh, and she chewed on the snack with a pleased smile.

They headed to the same beach as before to watch the sunset and found it to be thankfully empty. A few fans had stopped them for pictures and autographs when they were on the pier, but no one followed them to the beach, and all of the day's beachgoers were long gone, not willing to experience the chilly weather of LA's late October nights. Neither were Camilla and Elsie for that matter, so after Camilla took a few pictures of the beach bathed in the light of the lowering sun, they huddled close together in the sand and Camilla easily warmed the air around them.

The setting sun and the silence between them only let Camilla remember what she had done the last time they were there. She also knew even Elsie could sense her discomfort, and Camilla didn't want to make her feel bad for agreeing to their outing or anything.

"I know I said this before, but I'm sorry about what I said to you the last time we were here," Camilla finally said. "You were a great friend, and all I did was hurt you."

"I already said it was fine," Elsie said easily, but when she glanced at Camilla's expression, she suddenly grew serious. "But you still feel guilty about it, don't you?"

Camilla nodded.

Elsie sighed. "Is that what's been bothering you?"

"Weren't you bothered by it too?" Camilla asked. "When I suggested this place you seemed surprised."

"I was, but it was because I realized how we were coming full circle," Elsie explained. "We were sorta friends the last time we were here, before we had that big misunderstanding. And now that we're back here..." Elsie smiled. "Well, we're more than friends now."

Camilla nodded, but she couldn't help the nagging skepticism in the back of her mind over Elsie's words.

Elsie's smile disappeared from her face as her eyes searched Camilla's. "You want me to be angry with you." It wasn't a question.

"I don't want that," Camilla insisted, but she couldn't deny there was some truth to Elsie's words. "It just feels weird that you're not. It's... not what I expected."

Elsie was silent for a while, mulling over Camilla's words, before she spoke again.

"Tell you what," she began. "I was mad. At first, I was pissed off and heartbroken and I was so sure that love was a joke that wasn't real. And I was sure I was going to hate you forever. Sure, for a while I would always get irritated whenever I saw your face or heard your name, but once we were forced to spend more time together, it got exhausting to be constantly bitter."

Elsie shrugged. "Plus, I realized that there was more to you that I hadn't seen the first time, and I figured that maybe you had your reasons for treating me like you did. Having reasons doesn't make anything excusable, I know, but I eventually became less irritated by what you said to me and more irritated by your double personality. I wanted to see the real you, so whenever I did, I was fine."

She looked directly into Camilla's eyes, showing how she was telling her nothing but the truth. "That's how I was able to forgive you so easily. You had asked me to be friends when you were your real self, and that alone was enough for me."

It still sounded unrealistic in Camilla's mind, but she was also aware that her own trust issues probably skewed her perspective. But knowing a little more about Elsie's true feelings made things slightly more believable, and it was enough to make her relax a bit. She pressed herself even closer to Elsie's side, even though they couldn't get much closer.

"Thank you," Camilla said as she rested her head on Elsie's shoulder.

Elsie chuckled a little. "For what? I haven't done anything."

Camilla shook her head slightly, even though she wasn't sure Elsie could see her. "You've done a lot. You've done everything."

While it may have seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, that's truly how Camilla felt. Before she met Elsie, she had refused to trust anyone, to the point that she pushed people away from getting too close to her. She had done the same to Elsie too, yet Elsie gave her another chance, one that Camilla probably didn't deserve.

Even though Camilla could have gone on with her life without befriending a single soul, it was a lonely and terrible way to live, and she remembered the aching emptiness that would resound throughout her body whenever she longed to know what it felt like to trust someone. She hated that feeling, and she never wanted to experience it again.

"Can we take a picture together?" Camilla asked, glancing up at Elsie.

"Absolutely," Elsie smiled, her easy-going grin showing no indication that she was aware of just how much she saved Camilla's life.

Camilla lifted her head from Elsie's shoulder to fiddle with her camera, adjusting the settings to take their picture. Even though she had a wide angle lens, it wasn't enough to capture a decent selfie with her short arms, so Camilla used her abilities to have the camera hover in front of them.

Without thinking, Camilla let her head rest on Elsie's shoulder again, and Elsie leaned her own head against Camilla's as she settled her hand gently on Camilla's waist. Camilla took several shots, then floated the camera back to her hands so she could review the pictures.

"How's that?" Elsie asked, looking at the screen from over Camilla's shoulder.

Upon initial glance, Camilla would never have guessed that it was her in the pictures. The woman next to Elsie looked so content and calm, especially under the soft glow of the setting sun. Camilla felt a smile appear on her face, and a comforting warmth spreading throughout her body.

"It's perfect."

---

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting!