[center]
[img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLjkzYmNjOC5RMkZ0YVd4c1lTQlJkV2x1YmcsLC4w/lovelyou-free.regular.png[/img][/center]
[hr]
[indent]
One thing Camilla had always minded was silence. A fan was always blowing at night, or the TV murmuring in the background. Now, with Jack’s breathing at her side, it was relatively easy to begin to drift asleep. The barely grating voice beside her, however, brought her back to reality and she almost groaned until she heard the content of what he spoke of. She listened, each part of the story causing the pit in her stomach to grow heavier with every consonant that resonated from Jack’s mouth. Her fingers clenched at the thought, curling into a fist that only tightened with each new word. 

She couldn’t imagine such an atrocity, especially happening to her own kin. It was one thing for her to experience a poor childhood; so many others had, how could it possibly be that much of a problem? Ultimately, she was still alive and would still manage her own fate. A little girl, though. Cam’s fingers relaxed minutely as Jack stopped for a moment, allowing her to catch a breath from the horror of which he spoke. She thought he was done, but he wasn’t, and immediately Cam inhaled sharply, keeping it in her lungs until he was done a second time. 

The picture he’d painted was certainly one that would stay with her for a while and, truth be told, she couldn’t imagine living it. It was entirely barbaric, though she knew that monsters cared not about any man. In fact, it had probably been nearby, holding the girl’s dead body with a smile on its face as it looked on. A shiver racked Cam’s body as she tried to think of something to say. Anything but ‘I’m sorry’, the two words that were too blasé and too easy to say.

And if she hadn’t imagined the story getting worse, it sure the hell did. Now he’d lost his wife, too, just as horribly as his daughter. Perhaps less so, given that he at least had a body to look as opposed to wondering what had happened to poor little Hannah. No longer could she keep her breath held in, and Cam exhaled shakily. She’d barely noticed the way his hand now rested on her, almost as a secondhand gesture. 

Was it something he’d done with his wife? Those slow, circular motions would have been too intimate in any other situation. However, now, Cam suspected that it was comforting for him. Not once had the man offered her a tender gesture and now, in the span of a few hours, he’d offered two. What had happened, for him to become so sentimental? She wouldn’t say anything of it, of course, but they’d just been on a unassuming hunt. Nothing earlier had been out of the ordinary, save for the peculiar way the woman had acted.

And, perhaps, that was exactly what had triggered his memories. That a woman – so clearly grieving – was looking for a son that had simply disappeared. Cam met his eyes as they turned to her, giving her head one affirmative shake. [b][color=powderblue]”I’ll help you,”[/color][/b] A corner of her mouth quirked up as she slid a hand down, grabbing his fingers with her own. They were certainly rougher than hers, though that much was to be expected. It was all she could muster at that moment, uncertain of what else to say. [b][color=powderblue]”I don’t exactly want me dead either, so the sentiment is appreciated.”[/color][/b] Cam’s eyes flickered back up to Jack’s, unaware that she’d even looked away in the first place.

[b][color=powderblue]”We’ll get the son of a bitch,”[/color][/b] she said definitively after a few quiet moments. [b][color=powderblue]”And when we do, maybe you can retire. And be a gentleman, for once in your life, and treat me to dinner.”[/color][/b] Cam sighed once more, this time less weighted than when her partner was speaking earlier. [b][color=powderblue]”I should get up,”[/color][/b] she said, slowly untwining her fingers from his but not making a move to leave the bed. [b][color=powderblue]”Unless you can spare a few hours to let me sleep. I was…”[/color][/b] She almost felt bad for her next admission, though she didn’t know why. [b][color=powderblue]”Very active last night. Then I’ll get to researching.”[/color][/b][/indent]