you brought the flood, [LIZ]

[cameron michael richards]

being home felt nice. sure it brought back a lot of bad memories for cameron, but it also brought back some really good memories. he had only been home for a month and it was still kind of weird for him. he had been gone for so long he had a hard time readjusting. he had after all lived with an adult his whole life and had someone to take care of him. now that he was back home, he was out on his own. he was twenty-three after all and he had to get his life back on track. cameron was trying to quit drinking but that proved to be a challenge seeing as he was old enough to buy it, and when someone was around, then he would just start drinking if he knew them well enough. cameron's parents had been helping him out financially which wasn't a good idea because most of the money he did have was spent on alcohol or he wasted it on stupid stuff for his camera.

cameron of course didn't realize this was where all his money was going or even how much he was spending until he went to go buy a case of beer and he realized he had no cash. when he checked his bank account later on, he realized he was down to almost nothing. this freaked him out. he ended up calling his parents and all they told him was no, and that he needed to get a job because they were done helping him out. they knew where the money was going, and they weren't going to support his habit anymore. this was when he realized how bad it was, and today he decided that's what he was going to do. he was going to go out and find himself a job and he was going to quit drinking. of course it wasn't that easy because he had said he was going to quit drinking a thousand times. but he was mainly just working on finding a job for the moment.

so that's exactly how his day started. he had woken up, ate a piece of toast for breakfast along with a glass of milk before he showered, got dressed and set out for the city. at first he was just going to go into every store he could find and see if they were hiring and fill out an application. but by the time he had gone into five stores that weren't hiring, he was getting pretty pissed off. he ended up walking into a bakery down the street from him, one that he had taken elizabeth to when they were sixteen. when he walked in he instantly froze because the smell.. it just brought back memories of her. every single memory of her came flooding back to him. he quickly turned and walked out. it had been like this ever since she had left. at first she was what he thought about day and night and all he did was sit around waiting for a phone call or a letter or even an email. but there was never anything. finally after the third year he began to lose hope that he would ever see her again, and that hurt him.

when he walked out the door of that bakery and saw the surrounding buildings, he still just kept thinking of memories with her. they used to run around all the time together taking pictures of those buildings, and even though they were just little things, it was still driving him insane. that's why he decided to just head towards hartford. maybe there would be less memories coming back to him there and he would be able to just breath and be out of that town. he stood there in a trance. all he could think of was her and the city, he had absolutely no idea where to go or what to do at that point. he needed a drink, but he knew that if he had one, then it would end up to be five or even more and he would just end up passed out somewhere.

so he did the first thing that came to mind. flagged down a taxi and told him to drive him to hartford. it was the first place he thought of. he had a few family members that lived there, including his cousin who he used to be very close to. that part of the family was super religious and very strict and he knew that if they were to find out about his drinking problem, then he would be screwed. so he figured that if he went and spent a few days with them, or even just overnight, he would be fine because he would be too afraid to try anything. as he arrived in hartford, he chewed on his lip before he asked the driver to just drop him off where he was at. he jumped out after handing the guy the last of the cash he had with him before looking up at the building. it looked to be a little diner and he realized he was really hungry. hell even though he hated using his credit card, he figured it would just have to do. not like he had anywhere else to eat. and with that, he walked into the diner and the first empty seat he found he sat in.

[elizabeth selena kennedy]

it was almost strange being home after being gone for so long. coming back to a place where people knew her from her teen years and earlier. people who had known her during the time that she and cameron were together. it really was strange, which was why she'd realized that her decision to move to hartford really had been a better idea than going back to new haven. too many people who knew her face, too close to her parents, too likely of a chance for her to run into cameron if she were to be perfectly honest. of course, she was planning on finding him eventually. she did have his kid after all, and it'd been long enough since she had disappeared and really, he deserved to know his kid. and charlie deserved to know his dad. cameron had never been a bad guy. maybe that's why she did what she did. because cam really was the best guy that she had known in her entire life and she really didn't want to ruin his life by them having a kid. she still wasn't sure if she made the best decision when it came to cameron, telling him that she had gotten rid of the baby, but she couldn't take it back now.

all there was for liz now was to go on with life like she had been doing for the past five years. eventually she would gather up the courage to find cameron and tell him what was up, but not yet. no, she needed a bit to settle into living on her own back near her home first. she needed some time to see her old friends, quinn, especially. who she hadn't even tried to keep in contact with when she moved no matter how much she loved the girl. and the reunion with quinn had been great. filled with squeals and hugs, just like people would suspect the two would greet each other after not seeing each other for so long. it was great seeing quinn. she always did have a level head on her shoulders, something that had been such a help to liz while they were growing up. now that was still there, and she felt like she'd be able to go through with finding cameron and everything that included with quinn's support. truth of the matter was, that she was scared out of her mind. scared to face him. to tell him what had happened. to be honest. scared that he wouldn't want anything to do with her or their son.

even if liz knew that was stupid because it had been the thought that she had gotten rid of the kid that had caused such problems between them. she knew that he would've been a great dad. and if she could've stayed, she would've. and then they would've been a little family. that wasn't how things worked out though. and liz supposed that her only hope was that he would want to be in charlie's life. even if he wanted nothing to do with her. the lie that she had told him was a pretty big lie after all, not something to be taken lightly. from the rumors she had heard about how things had gone with that love of her life, she had a feeling that he hadn't been doing well like she had hoped he would. liz really had hoped that he would've found himself a nice girl. someone else. someone different that wouldn't put him in the situation that she had. and maybe she was a bad person for what she did. it didn't matter, though, because, she would make everything right soon.

so that day she had simply gone about her day as usual. she had gotten up, and gotten dressed in her work uniform. she'd tucked her hair up into a blonde bob style wig before making sure that charlie was ready for pre-school so she could drop him off on her way there. then came her work day. she enjoyed her job well enough. it wasn't like it was something that she wanted to do for the rest of her life. but it paid the bills. and she tended to make damn good tips from the people that she waited on. she liked to attribute that to her stunning personality and bright smile. she was almost half done with her shift when she came up to the table with only one customer at it. those tables always weirded her out. like she felt bad for the people who were all alone instead of going out on a date. none the less she had a bright smile on her lips. "hey there, can i get you something to drink?" she asked her tone all kinds of chipper, and she hadn't yet really gotten a good look of the man.