A Life for a Life

STITCHERS ALT. REALITY: A LIFE FOR A LIFE
It had been two months since the stitch.
The stitch that may have taken away Kirsten's chance of love, that may have taken away the very person that could bring out her emotions. Cameron was in a coma in the hospital, since Ayo was only able to bring his fragile heart back to life and not his brain; well, not completely anyway. The doctors, as clueless as they were to what put him in this state, knew that he may never wake up, and he may be a lost cause. He was on life support, and the doctors had been contemplating pulling the plug.

     Those thoughts were the exact reason that Kirsten, Linus, and Camille practically lived in his hospital room. Linus and Camille chose to stay in a wing of the hospital that offered board to the family of long-term or terminal patients. Although this was a more comfortable choice, Kirsten didn't want to risk the doctors making a decision and coming in during the middle of the night and ending it, so she stayed in Cameron's room 24/7. She slept in a cot that she had set up, and sent Linus or Camille out to get food and necessities. She only went out to shower if she knew that someone besides a doctor was in Cam's room with him.

     After another couple of weeks, they had an unexpected visitor. Maggie hardly ever came to visit, since she blamed herself for what happened to Cameron. She thought that she should have been able to stop him from injecting himself with the chemicals that would stop his heart. Anyway, as she walked into the room, Kirsten sat up.
"Maggie?" she questioned. "What are you doing here? You hardly ever visit."

"I heard that the doctors are planning something to get you and the others out of here just long enough to pull the plug on the life support machine. Whatever you do, DON'T leave Cameron alone. And don't trust the doctors," she said.

Kirsten and Camille, who were the only ones in there at the time. Their mouths hung open in shock, and then Kirsten's set into a determined line. "I'll never leave him. Not for anything, not for anyone. They won't get a chance to kill him."

Then, Maggie smiled. "I also have another visitor, and this one should be able to help with that."

As soon as she said that Fisher walked through the door, looking as good as new.
"FISHER!!!" Kirsten and Camille yelled in happiness and relief.

"Hey guys," he said, "I heard about what the doctors are planning on doing to Cameron. As annoying as the nerdy guy is, I can't bear to see him dead. So, Maggie and I have organized a security team of highly trained military members that are looped in with the program. They know the situation, and are willing to protect Cameron at all costs."

Kirsten sagged with relief. "Thank you guys, so much. I don't think, even as much as I love him, I wouldn't be able to fend off the whole of hospital security. When will the team get here?"

"They already are. Run out the door and take a look."

Kirsten and Camille looked out into the hall. All they saw were doctors in their white lab coats, but the hallway did seem more crowded than usual.

"I don't see any hottie, bodybuilding guards out there, Fisher. Did you tell them the wrong hallway?" Camille said, only half joking.

"We did more than just get guards. All of the guards here are undercover, and the doctors know it. They don't understand, but now they know that Cameron is special enough to have ten undercover officials guarding him." Fisher replied.

"Guys, that's amazing! Now I can relax a bit more." Kirsten said with obvious relief. "There's still no chance of me leaving here, though. Not until he is awake."

"We know you're worried, Kirsten, but trust Fisher on this. He'll make sure that the doctors won't get to Cameron." Maggie told her.

Kirsten looked around at the room, all the flowers and decorations sent by people from the lab. They were all hoping for a miracle, for him to wake up. She decided to go home for at least an hour to shower and pick up new clothes from her closet. "Okay. Fine. But guys, I want you to stay here until I get back, ok? Don't leave him alone even if there are undercover guards watching him. Until they prove themselves, I don't trust them."

Camille, Maggie, and Fisher all agreed to stay and watch Cam until Kirsten came back later that day. But, the doctors saw her leave and began planning a way to get around the guards. What she didn't know was that the guards were all on Les's payroll... and even Fisher can't stop them all on his own.

***

At home, Kirsten started a load of laundry with all of her comfy shirts, shorts, and pants that she needed to keep with her at the hospital. As she turned on the TV and grabbed something to eat, she felt a nagging feeling in her stomach, a kind of dreadful feeling ache that wasn't painful but more annoying, like a mild headache. It was there, but didn't get any better or worse. She began to get anxious, wanting to return to Cameron and make sure all was ok. Suddenly, her phone began ringing and Fisher's name popped up. She quickly picked it up and could hear nothing but chaos coming from the other end. "Fisher?!?! What's going on??" she yelled into he phone.

"The guards let the doctors in! They're trying to pull the plug, Kirsten, get back here!" Fisher screamed. After that, the phone went dead, but Kirsten didn't know. She was already in the car and halfway to the hospital.

When she got to Cameron's hallway, everything was in chaos. The guards were holding Linus, Camille and Maggie back and Fisher was in the room trying to fight everyone off. Since they hadn't realized that Kirsten had came in, she used the opportunity to sprint into Cameron's room, just to see Fisher go down with a punch to the head. "Go ahead doc. This is taken care of." the guard that had taken Fisher down said.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Kirsten lunged for the doctor just as the other guard took out his gun. As she threw herself in front of Cameron, she realized something. His eyes were fluttering. The heart monitor was speeding up. And, finally, after two months, Cameron spoke.

"Kirste-"

All of a sudden the guard shot. It hit Kirsten in the chest after she put herself between Cameron and the bullet.

Cameron was horrified. He had just woken up after fighting the darkness to go back to his love, his Kirsten, but now, he didn't want to think that this blonde that had thrown herself in front of him was her. He wanted to think that she was just outside or at the lab, somewhere safe, where he could go to her and hold her close. But, as he turned her over, he broke. He just broke.

This lifeless body couldn't be her. It just couldn't. Could it be? As he came to his senses, he realized it was. It was his worst nightmare, Kirsten being hurt because of him. As he took in what was happening, tears streamed down his face. Even though he had just woken up from who knows how long of a sleep, he didn't want to live without her. Without his Kirsten. His Stretch. His Cupcake. His Sparky. So, without thinking, he held her body closer to his as he sat up out of the bed. He reached quickly for he nearest gun he could find, which so happened to be in Fisher's holster next to him. He held it up to his head and held Kirsten as close as he could. "I wish I could've told you this earlier. I love you, Kirsten."

With that, he pulled the trigger and collapsed onto the bed, still holding his love in his arms.