Two Worlds, One Heart

Chapter 4

Cameron stared at the man in a mixture of shock and confusion. She didn't know if she should trust him or not. The rational part of her was screaming at her to jump out of the car and start running, but she wasn't going to be rational tonight. "Storybrooke?" The young woman repeated. August nodded and climbed in the front seat. Cameron put down her pepper spray but kept one hand on the door handle.

"Look, let's just say I knew you when you were a baby. I was told to care for you but I broke that promise. Well, now I'd like to help you get back to your family." August explained. Cameron shook her head. "First off, there's no way you could have known me as a baby. My parents-"

"Aren't really your parents. You were adopted. We shared the same foster home for awhile." August interrupted her. "My parents would have told me that I was adopted. Even if this were true, how did you find me?" The doctor argued.

"I was sent here by a friend. Your real family is back in Storybrooke. That's why you have to come back." August said. Cameron tried to wrap her brain around all of this. "You're crazy. Storybrooke doesn't even exist. You're just some creepy guy that is trying to pick up women for your own twisted amusement."

"Cameron, just listen to me. You've felt like an outsider your whole life, right? Always felt an emptiness you couldn't fill. This is why. I felt the same way as a child, and then I found my family. You know somewhere deep down you can trust me. Just let me show you." The older man laid a hand on her arm and she felt her heart jump.

The woman looked into August's eyes and suddenly everything clicked. "Okay, I'll go with you. But I'm not letting you drive my car." She answered. "Sounds good to me." August smirked and leaned back against the passenger seat, putting his feet on the dash.

About a mile away from her house, Cameron forgot about meeting House and Foreman. Her phone started to buzz violently and August threw it out the window. "Hey!" Cameron complained, looking in the rearview mirror at her shattered phone. August simply shrugged. "Where we're going you won't need anything else besides yourself." He said. Cameron smiled over at him, noticing just how attractive he was. "You're crazy." She said lightly and stepped on the gas.

The two stopped in Boston at a hotel for the night. As soon as they got up to their suite, Cameron threw her heels across the room and laid down on the bed. August came over with bottles of alcohol in his hands, biting the lid off of one of them and taking a swig. "You got into the mini-fridge? That's going to cost me a fortune! I already paid for this room." The brunette grumbled irritably.

"Oh come on. Live a little! Lighten up Cam." The older man teased, throwing one on the bed next to her. Cameron sighed and sat up, moving to the floor in front of the fireplace and downing the little bottle all at once, wincing at the taste. "It's kind of hard to lighten up when your whole world is falling apart." The woman said sadly. August grabbed the rest of the alcohol and sat next to her. Cameron grabbed another drink and sipped it slowly.

"I know how that feels. Do you want to talk about it?" The dark-haired man asked gently. Cameron glanced at him. No one had ever listened to her before, not really. She was always ignored, overheard. Her parents did it growing up, House did it at work, and Chase was always distracted at home. But looking at this man, this stranger, Cameron felt like she could tell him anything. She took a deep breath, drank the rest of her second bottle and started to tell her story. "My parents were lawyers so they weren't home much to take care of me. I was an only child, so I was by myself a lot. It didn't bother me too much, although I did wish for a sister sometimes." August smiled at that part.

"In college, I met this man who I fell in love with. We started dating, and then he started getting sick. Turns out, he had progressive cancer and it spread to his brain. I married him and shortly after our honeymoon he died. I had quit med school for awhile to take care of him, but his family encouraged me to go back. So I did."

She paused, and August nodded at her to continue, waiting patiently. "I got a job working at a hospital after I graduated. I'm part of a team of doctors who solve medical cases that other doctors can't. I liked it at first, but now it's like I'm forcing myself to get up in the morning." Cameron continued.

"Maybe it's because of who you worked with and who your friends are. Maybe you don't belong in this world." August interjected, polishing off his third bottle of whiskey. Cameron shrugged in answer. "Maybe. It doesn't help that all the relationships I have never work out. I fell in love with my boss but he never had those feelings for me. He played games and led me on though, which made it worse."

August frowned and shook his head. "Then I started to have feelings for my co-worker, Chase. He seemed to like me and we dated for a year before we got married. I loved him more than anything but I started to feel that emptiness again, you know that emptiness you talked about, about not being fulfilled and I pushed him away. Well, tonight I caught him cheating on me with another woman. I gave him his ring back." Tears welled in the young woman's eyes and she opened another bottle in the pile between both of them.

"I'm sorry. Truly, I am. I just don't understand how someone can destroy a heart like that. My father always taught me to be selfless and honorable, and I admit I've strayed from that path. But I would never treat someone the way you have been treated. Cameron, I don't know personally those things you've struggled with but I know that you didn't deserve any of it."

Cameron felt his hand slip into hers and she allowed it, her head starting to swim from the alcohol. His piercing blue eyes meet her bright green ones, and she found herself leaning in towards him. Before their lips could touch, August pulled back, gently holding her at arm's length. "Not like this." He said quietly, pulling her up and leading her to the bed. Cameron laid down on the bed and the older man tucked her in. "You don't realize how special you really are, Allison." Are the last words she heard before she drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

The next day they set off for Storybrooke again, only stopping for food once. They listened to the radio and chatted until August instructed her to stop. Cameron looked around at the dense forest around them, confused. "We're in the middle of nowhere." She said but pulled the car over. "Storybrooke is hidden from people that don't know about it. A curse that the Snow Queen put on the town." August answered, his smile growing as Cameron became more and more confused.

She followed him out a few feet from the car. August stopped and stood in front of her, grabbing both of her hands in his own. "Close your eyes." He instructed. "What have you gotten yourself into, Cameron? This man you barely know is talking about curses and hidden towns and you're in the middle of nowhere! He's probably a serial killer." Cameron thought. She glanced up at August, who was smirking at her. "If that's the case, then why didn't he kill me last night?" She wondered, closing her eyes nonetheless. "Okay, open them." The older man said. The brunette peeked one eye open, half afraid of what she would see. She opened both as she realized nothing had changed. "There's still no town. Are you sure you didn't escape from a mental hospital?" Cameron half-joked. August held out his hand. "Trust me." He said, smiling. Cameron took his hand, and they took a few steps forward. She gasped as a motorcycle appeared in front of her eyes.

August let go of her hand and handed her a helmet. "Ready to see the town?" He asked. Still unsure of what exactly lay ahead, she numbly climbed on the back of the motorcycle and wrapped her arms around August's waist. "Hold on tight." August said and revved the engine.

After a few miles of being surrounded by forest, Cameron looked around in amazement as buildings started to appear. This man wasn't lying, it was a town. They stopped in front of a place called Granny's Diner. Cameron climbed off and August's hand slipped into hers as he saw the worried look on her face. "Welcome to Storybrooke." He said and led her inside. Cameron breathed in sharply as she came face to face with a woman that looked exactly like her with blonde hair. "Meet your family."