Photograph (camren)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Trigger warning: Anxiety attacks, talk of death

Sleep hadn't been Lauren's strong suit again that night. After her small breakdown in the bathroom, she was hit with another attack that caused her to change her t-shirt due to the severe nose bleed. Once Camila had really noticed the marine had been absent for the better part of the last hour, she grew worried. But being the person she was, Lauren managed to suck it up enough to convince the smaller of the two that she needed a shower afte their little game, which Camila had just accepted, and returned downstairs. Tonight however, was a completely different story.

The marine now laid in her former childhood bed, with the girl she had dreamt of each night during her teenage years, wrapped up in her arms. Camila had conked out a little over three maybe four hours after a heated discussion involving Spider-man and something about him being better than Lauren's favourite super hero, Iron man. Which resulted in Camila being unable to pronounce 'iron' correctly and Lauren laughing and jokingly saying she was 'only in it for her ass, because her brain was certainly elsewhere'. This earned a slap on the arm, a 'you're sleeping on the couch', and a pouty baby faced brunette for the remainder of the evening. And of course, the marine finally gave in to watching 'The Amazing Spider-Man'. Luckily that had given her some brownie points and she was no longer sleeping in the doghouse that night.

Now if only she could just sleep.

The frustration of having a time limit was becoming tax worthy and even when the lieutenant felt most at ease, like now, her shoulders never relaxed. Maybe Dinah had been right to call her uptight the other day, that wasn't necessarily wrong, was it? Her plan for well- that day now, had certainly been stress worthy, which Ally confirmed. But what was this odd feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought of giving Camila that small box with the key to the apartment inside? Anxiety? Maybe. Would the brunette get upset with her? Probably not directly, but most likely for the fact that this was a sign of Lauren potentially not coming back. And, truthfully, it wasn't something they had talked about much although Monday and the inevitable had been fast approaching.

The lieutenant shook her head to rid the negative thoughts, no today was about Camila. Today was about their relationship, not her job, and no matter how much they needed to talk about it, it could wait until Valentine's day was officially over. Turning her head to look at the digital clock on her nightstand, the marine winced at how much time she had spent in her own head. It was 6am, the sun was slowly rising, and Lauren could see the different coloured hues if she squinted her eyes enough. How merciless it was to be of a loud mind and a silent heart.

Without taking time to convince herself otherwise, the lieutenant decided now would be the right time to start phase one of operation 'Love Shack'. Don't ask. Ally named it after having one of her hormonal spurts and had been three quarters deep in a tub of Ben and Jerry's. In which Mani had agreed, it had been a rather 'cute' name, and Dinah being deathly afraid of the demon glare the mother to be had given her when she had started to disagree, nodded in acceptance. Thus, led Lauren to unravel herself from her girlfriend and sneakily make her way to the kitchen without making too much noise.  It wasn't that hard of a task, she had been a part of team no sleep before for at least three days, one night without it shouldn't be a challenge. Right? Yeah, she had this one in the bag.

Although, the regular old '007', forgot one important detail. The damn stairs were whinier than Camila after a bad shift at work. As soon as she put any weight on the first stair, the horrid sound filled the once quiet house. When she heard a small sigh coming from her old room, the marine had been sure she had blown her cover. But luckily, the small Doctor was a heavy sleeper, which Lauren had come to know only recently. Silently congratulating herself she sped down the stairs and into the kitchen, ready to begin making a breakfast that would surely, knock her girlfriends socks off.