Heart Pangs

Chapter 33 - Into the Fold

Benji wants to take things slow. He wants to give Camille ample time to recover before she does anything too energy consuming. He wants her injuries to heal, her cheeks to fill out again. He wants the light to return to her eyes.

But Camille will have none of it. She wants to get in contact with McMullen as soon as possible. She wants to dive back in and pick up right where she left off. Her stay at the Facility had only doubled her drive to further Epomis' goals.

Benji convinces her to take at least one day of rest before she does any of that. Besides, he tells her, even if she reaches out to McMullen right away, it's doubtful he'll get back to her immediately. He is a very busy man. So instead she agrees to let Benji attend to her. She agrees to let Benji reach out to Oscar and let him get in contact with McMullen.

And so Benji makes the most out of this single day of having Camille to himself. He feels like having her back in his life has reenergized him. He pulls back the curtains and lets the sunlight in. He cleans the house and waters the plants. He plays music while he works. Camille doesn't do much else besides watch, but he doesn't mind. It's more than he could have ever asked for.

When meal times come around, Benji cooks her whatever she wants. He has to make a quick trip to Sprockets, the local grocery store, as their food supply is woefully lacking. He hates leaving her alone, but she assures him she'll be fine. She's tired anyway.

Camille does a lot of sleeping that day. More than Benji expects. It's during one of her naps that he makes a call to Oscar. He's too afraid to say much, but Benji explains that he needs to see McMullen face-to-face right away, that he has insider information about the Facility that he can only pass on in person. Oscar is suspicious at first, but eventually he gives in and says he'll get back in contact as soon as McMullen is available.

Once Camille awakens, Benji relays the news. He can't tell how she feels about it. She simply nods and moves on, for which Benji is grateful. They have no more discussions about Epomis or the Facility for the rest of the day. Felix's name is never mentioned. There is absolutely no arguing over the private contract.

In between cooking and cleaning and Camille napping, Benji convinces her to let him look over her injuries. He pokes and prods at her. She winces and grits her teeth. He puts antibiotic on any of her open wounds and makes her hold an ice packet to anything swollen or freshly bruised. He's quite sure she has at least one cracked rib and possibly a sprain in her ankle. Her left shoulder doesn't have as much mobility as her right, and she admits that at one point it got dislocated and she had to reset it herself.

"You really need to go to the hospital for most of this," Benji tells her gently after he finishes wrapping her ankle.

Camille shakes her head. "I can't. I'm legally dead now," she explains. "If I do anything to put me back on the Facility's radar, we'd both be at risk. Besides, there are doctors in Epomis. When I return, someone there can take care of me."

Benji doesn't like it, but he agrees with her nonetheless.

Benji doesn't hear back from Oscar the next day. Or the day after that. Camille starts to get restless. Benji reminds her McMullen is a busy man. At least, Benji thinks, Camille has more time to recover. Even only a few days have shown much improvement in her. He only worries she might end up permanently injured in some way the longer she holds off on seeing a real doctor.

The only reprieve they get from the ever pressing tension of waiting for Oscar to call back, is when Benji's phone rings and it's not Oscar but Brandon calling. Breathless, the oldest Marotta explains that Sarah has gone into labor. Within 24 hours, Brandon is the proud father of a beautiful baby girl named Isadora Marotta.