Doctor of the Heart

Chapter 5: Lose Control

Cameron was at the table eating breakfast when her phone pinged, indicating she had received a message. Picking it up, she scrolled through the message, reading paragraph upon paragraph that she was sent by her publicist. Swallowing the bite of fruit that was in her mouth, she felt sick. "Jimmie?" She called out to him airily, feeling as if she could faint.

"Yes, sweetheart?" James had come into the kitchen as he tied his necktie for work. He looked down at Cameron's breakfast, not knowing anything was wrong. "You know you can eat the skin of the kiwi too, instead of peeling it, a lot of nutrients in the rind, believe it or not."

Her brow furrowed slightly, Cameron looked up at James. How could he be acting so nonchalantly? "James, did you send my pictures out to anyone?" Her voice was hushed, an edge in her tone.

James looked at her surprised. Very rarely did she use 'James' and not 'Jimmie,' "Your pictures? What do you mean?"

"The pictures, James. The naughty ones I sent you last week? With...everything on display. Those were only for you to see, not the whole world," Cameron was panicked, picking up her phone from the table to thrust in his face. "Have a look, won't you?"

Still confused, James gave her a look before reading the messages from Anna. His stomach dropped as he kept reading the barrage of insults and reprimands directed at Cameron for, supposedly, 'leaking' her nude photos. James met her gaze once more, his face ashen, "Cami, I swear to you, I didn't show anyone those photos. I-I have no idea how anyone could have..." He trailed off.

"Is...your phone backed up with your email?" Cameron asked nervously.

After a moment of silence, but internal panic, James answered, "Y-Yes."

"Your...work email, perhaps?"

James swallowed, nodding slightly, "Yes."

"Christ," Cameron buried her face in her hands.

"Someone from work must have gotten into my email, or the administrator of the server must have, Cameron, I-I'm so sorry, what can I do?"

"At this point, nothing, what's done is done," she wouldn't look at him, fighting back the tears that were welling in her eyes with her frustration.

"Do you want me to stay home with you, Pidgeon? I wouldn't mind, if there was a real emergency, they could page me." James squeezed her shoulders slightly, trying to reassure her.

Cameron sighed, "No, that's alright, I'm sure Anna will want me to make a statement or comment on this...PR nightmare."

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to fix this."

"You can go to work and start making heads roll, starting with the pervert that's been going through your sensitive information." Cameron sniffed, crossing her arms.

"Believe me, by the end of the day, someone is getting fired." James kissed her forehead before grabbing his coat to make towards the door, "Keep me updated, please."

Cameron nodded, "I will, you do the same, so I can quell Anna's fury."

"Absolutely I will, I love you," James turned to leave out the door, but Cameron had stopped him, embracing her partner tightly, his arms pinned to his side.

"Tell me everything is going to be alright?" Her voice was muffled, her face buried in the fabric of his jacket.

"Look at me," he freed his arms to embrace her in return, "everything is going to be just fine."

"You promise," Cameron looked up at him with pleading eyes, not asking, but demanding he promise her.

"I promise," James bent down to kiss her, "just don't fly away on me, little bird. I will see you later, okay?"

"Okay," she gave him a final squeeze before he left their shared home. Cameron wished he would stay with her, knowing today was going to be long, and no one would be on her side. The only one that would, was going to be over 30 miles away, elbows deep in someone's chest cavity. She could certainly deal with this, help herself, while he helped other people have a quality of life. Still staring after James, who had long since gone, Cameron could hear her phone ringing at the kitchen table. She was dreading answering the calls she would be receiving today, most likely having to go out and about on her day off to quell the insatiable thirst of the public and media. "Hello?"

"Cameron, I've been trying to get hold of you for the past three minutes, get your head out of your ass!" It was Jason.

"Jesus, calm down, what if I was taking a s**t?"

Jason scoffed, "I don't care if you were having tea with the f*****g queen! Now, tell me, what kind of pants are you wearing? Are they a nice, comfortable pair of pants?"

Cameron knew Jason was setting himself up for something, but didn't know why. "Um, I guess, why?"

"I just wanted to see what kinda hit you'd be taking when the studio sues the pants off ya for breach of contract," Jason barked back.

She sighed. Of course, who asks about pants? "Are you wearing a comfy pair of shoes? Because that was a long road to take to get to that stupid punchline."

"Don't get smart with me, Missy," Jason snapped. "Look, I've been in talks with Anna, we're handling it. But you have a lot of explaining to do on your end."

Cameron plopped down in her chair at the table, her breakfast being forgotten, her oatmeal cold, and her cottage cheese warm. "Jimmie is going to find out who got their grubby little mitts on those photos today, and he's going to have them fired, not to worry."

Jason sighed exasperatedly, "Of course, it was your little boy-toy that f****d this all up. Why am I not surprised?"

"Excuse me?"

"What can I say? If I were him, I'd be showing everyone too. Those photos were pretty hot, I have to admit, honey."

"I just told you that someone had gotten their hands on them without any consent. It's not like we intended for this to happen. He knows more than anyone that I don't like that kind of attention."

Jason let out a short laugh, "Then you're in the wrong line of work, babe. I'll see you at the office. We gotta do some damage control."

"Fine," Cameron scowled on her end of the phone, hearing Jason disconnect without fully hearing her reply.