Guest room, Sam's apartment - Late morning

[cameronmitchell]

His conversation with Sam the previous day had made Cameron think about a lot of things. He'd been back for three weeks now and he'd been mostly hiding from everyone. Which was stupid even if he did think he had a valid reason to. He still wasn't sure how to do this. Any of it and he knew there was one person he had to start with. He also knew this

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[marsheadtilt]

Veronica was busy in the kitchen when her phone rang. The Easter dinner her father had planned had fell apart, so she and Piper were trying to cook one at their place to take along.

Assuming her father was calling again, she answered the phone with an annoyed, "What do you want now?"

[cameronmitchell]

Okay, that hadn't been planned either. "Um... Hi, Veronica."

[marsheadtilt]

That was most definitely not Keith Mars.

Veronica swallowed hard and stared at the phone in her hand, not sure if she had heard correctly.

[cameronmitchell]

He realised belatedly that maybe his voice had changed or she wouldn't recognise him the first instant. "It's Cameron. Mitchell. Did I lose you?"

[marsheadtilt]

"No... I thought I lost you," she replied, still dumbstruck. Her throat felt very dry all of a sudden. "Cameron? Is it really you?"

[cameronmitchell]

"God, I hope so," he replied and pinched the bridge of his nose, he still had no clue how he was supposed to do this. "Yes. Hi."

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica left the kitchen and went to her bedroom, where she sank weakly on the bed. "I... I thought I was never going to see you again," she admitted. "It's been... God, so long. Almost ten months since you left for Basic. What happened?"

[cameronmitchell]

"I know," he said quietly, scratching nervous at the back of his neck. "It's been longer for me. I've been gone for two and a half years."

[marsheadtilt]

"Oh, wow. I guess that explains why I wasn't able to reach you or your family," she said. "You got cut off like Xander did."

[cameronmitchell]

"Yeah, seems like it. I couldn't reach any of you, not even when I went to Virginia," he said, this was the easy part.

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica was starting to relax a little. "I can't even imagine what that must have been like. But you're back now. I've missed you so much. Where are you?"

[cameronmitchell]

He swallowed, not sure if he was back like she wanted him to be. "I'm with Sam right now," he replied, not sure how she was going to respond to it and even less certain if he would be able to tell her why.

[marsheadtilt]

"Oh," she said, trying to figure out why he was there. "Did she somehow find you?"

[cameronmitchell]

"Sort of. She was at Fandom when I made it back," he closed his eyes, knowing he was doing this all wrong.

[marsheadtilt]

That confused Veronica a little. "So you went home with her from Fandom?"

[cameronmitchell]

"Yeah, pretty much," he replied, his fist clenching and wow he was sucking at this. Maybe he should have lied. "I just didn't want you to worry and think that I'd fallen off the face of the earth. I know it's been a while, but I would have called if I could have."