Please Remember Me

Cameron’s alarm went off as dawn began to break across the Chicago skyline. She rolled over to reach for her phone and turned the alarm off, still not ready to get out of bed quite yet. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again thinking about the night before. A night she figured would never happen.

But, one thing was for certain. Cameron woke up a different woman. She felt…free. She finally felt the weight of her past with Jon lifted off of her shoulders. But she still felt indifferent. Second chances, she knew, did not come around very often. Regardless though, it felt good to finally air her thoughts, emotions, and feelings that she had pent up for years. It felt good.

But that kiss. He kissed her. The way he kissed her, it felt so natural. She couldn’t help but to kiss back. She swore to herself that she was going to play it cool from now on though. There was no way she was going to rush back into his arms.

Her phone buzzed again, but this time it was a text. She took a peak and saw a familiar number across the screen. It was Jon. “Good Morning.” It read. She felt her heart flutter. She thought for a minute about how to respond, but ultimately decided not too. She couldn’t make this easy for him. If Jon wanted to be with her, he would have to work to get her back. She placed the phone back on the bed, then got up to get ready for the day.

__________________________________________

; "I need you, Cam. I need you back in my life. You were the only thing that was ever a constant, the only thing that was certain.”

“Jon. I – I need time to think about this.” Cameron said breaking free from his arms. She stepped back and looked up at him, unsure.

“I get that.” Jon said. It was killing him inside to see her move away from him so quickly. “Cam. Just remember. I love you. Always have, always will I know this is a lot to take in at once. It’s a lot for me to say, but I promise you, I mean every word.”

“I know…” Cameron replied breathlessly.
__________________________________________

Having her near made him feel good. Kissing her made him feel complete. The familiar smell of her perfume, the smell he would know anywhere, made him crazy and he couldn’t get her off his mind. His teammates were starting to notice too.

The Blackhawks were on a quick trip to Detroit and Columbus for a couple of games. They had left the morning after he had seen her. He was in his own little world, zoning out during card games on the plane and being uncharacteristically quiet at team meals. Kaner noticed a difference in his attitude almost immediately. He’d spent enough time with the kid over the years to know when and when not to bother Jon. He knew something was off with his captain, he knew better than to pry for information, but he tried anyway.

“What’s got your panties all in a twist?” Kaner asked in the locker room after a a light practice in Columbus. Instead of practicing drills with the team, Jon went off on his own, skating laps and shooting pucks on the goaltenders on the opposite ends of the rink. “Think you’re above us? You can’t practice with us? You played like shit last night in Detroit, you needed this practice.”

“Kaner, shut up.” Jon replied throwing his practice jersey on top of the others.

“Seriously man, you’ve been a dick lately, more so than usual.”

“Kaner. Just stop, I’m not in the mood for you right now.” Jon said again sitting down at his stall. He rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes hoping to escape from Kane’s questions.

“You on your period or something?” Kaner continued.”Kaner, you need to stop. Jon, you need to lighten up, alright?”

Patrick was wearing the whole Dad look well. Maybe too well.

Jon got up from his stall and walked towards the showers. If Kane said one more thing, he would have gone off on him for sure.

“What’s his deal?” Kaner asked.

“Cameron’s back.” Sharpie said with a smirk. “She’s got him wrapped around his finger and he’s freaking out.”

Kaner’s jaw dropped. “No way.” He replied.

____________________________________________________
“So he told you he loved you still? That’s intense.” Meredith said taking a bite out of her salad.

The two women were sitting inside the hospital’s cafeteria enjoying lunch together. It was the first time they had seen each other in awhile and Cameron had filled her in about the encounter with Jonathan. Three days had gone by since the kiss. Three days had gone by with her ignoring every single one of his calls and texts. Jon didn’t know what to think of it all, he was growing more and more frustrated every day. She had to have known that he was out of town on a road trip with the team. Maybe she was waiting until he got back so that they could speak face to face again. Whatever the deal was, all he could do was think of the words that were said after that kiss and wondering if he scared her away.

“I know. It’s just, crazy.” Cameron said, still trying to process it all.

“So, what happened afterward?”

“I left. I went home. I told him I needed time to think about it.”

“Did he kiss you?”

Cameron felt her cheeks turn red.

“He did!” Meredith couldn’t contain her excitement. “He did! You’re totally in love with him still. You’re under his spell.”

“Stop it, please.” Cameron replied. “I don’t know what to do about it anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Meredith asked.

Cameron knew she had to be careful with her words. Meredith had known her for long enough that she would be able to see right through anything Cameron said. The two girls met their first year of undergrad at Loyola. They had been best friends ever since.

“I mean that I don’t want to rush into something with him again. I’m scared.” Cameron’s phone started to vibrate on the table. She looked down to see Jon’s number and turned it over so she didn’t have to look at it.

“You’re ignoring him.” Meredith said, observing her behavior. “Oh my god. Don’t do that.” Meredith said grabbing the cell phone faster than Cameron could. She answered it and held the phone up to her ear.

“Hello?” she said.

“Finally! Why won’t you answer my calls?”

“Jon. Hi. It’s Meredith.”

“Hey… Meredith.” Jon said with a ting of disappointment in his voice.. “No offense, but I wasn’t expecting you. Can I talk to Cameron please?”

“Cam, he wants to talk to you.” Meredith said.

Cameron shook her head no.

“Jon, she seems to be a little shy.”

“Meredith. Please. Just hand her the phone, she doesn’t have to talk, just listen.”

“He says you don’t have to talk.” Meredith repeated. She pulled the cell phone away from her ear and handed it to Cameron. Cameron shook her head no. “Fine. Speaker.” Meredith put Jon on speaker phone then set the device down onto the table. “Here she is, Jon.”

“Cammie.” He started. Cameron could sense the nervousness in his voice and it suddenly made her nervous. “Cammie. I know this whole thing is weird. I know it didn’t work as well as we wanted it to the first time around, but that was then. Our lives have changed, we’re in better places. We can make this work. I want this. I want you.” He said.

Cameron started to fidgit. Her hands gripped around the stethoscope around her neck and she nervously bit her lip. Was she ready for this type of commitment?

“Cam. We have a game at home tomorrow night. Against Florida. I want you to be there. I’ll have a ticket for you at will call. I’ll have an extra one so you can bring Meredith or whoever else if you want. I don’t know if you saw our game last night against Detroit, but it was bad. I couldn’t get you off my mind, Cameron. So please, please come. I’m better when you’re there. You make me better, you know that. I’ll take you out to dinner afterwards or something, we can have a nice evening. We can talk about this, we can work this all out.”

Cameron let out a sigh and closed her eyes. “Okay.” She said.

“Okay.” Jon replied, a bit of confidence coming through. “I’ll see you tomorrow night then. Bye, Cammie.”

Cameron reached for her phone and held it to her ear. “Jon, wait!” she said. But it was too late, he had already hung up. “I love you too.” She thought to herself, repeating the sentiment that he had said to her a few nights ago.

“I knew it!” Meredith said. So much for taking it slow there, mama.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Cameron replied. She stood up from her chair and put her lab coat back on. “I need to go back to work. Pick me up tomorrow at 6.”