Never Be The Same (Camren short fic) (COMPLETED)

III

Three hours into the surgery and Lauren is still hunched over onto the floor of the hallway outside the operating room, unmoving. Ally, Dinah and Normani all went to the cafeteria for a quick coffee to take care of their jetlags while Alejandro excused himself as he took the reluctant Sofi back to their house so she can rest, and Sinu has been trying to convince Lauren to get some quick rest as well but the green-eyed girl didn't budge.

The women of Fifth Harmony and the Cabello's have decided to put their differences aside for now to come together and give whatever support they can give Camila when she comes back from surgery. It was a bittersweet moment for both parties as they have talked it out earlier and Lauren is somehow grateful for not getting kicked out by Camila's family. Not that she would ever blame them had it happened.

Lauren feels a presence sitting beside her on the floor but she doesn't look up. She has her eyes closed while her forehead is perched atop her knees. One would think the green-eyed girl pop star is sleeping while sitting on the floor but she has been constantly praying the whole time, begging to any deity she can think of to save Camila and bring her back to them. She'd do anything to see Camila in good condition again. Even if the cost of it would be loving her from afar forever. She already had done that for about two years now anyway..

"You know," Sinu's thick Cuban accent complimenting her soft voice fills Lauren's ears, "Camila doesn't like hospitals too."

Lauren looks up and sees the Cabello mother properly for the first time since they arrived. She looks so worn out and the bags under her eyes highlighted the weariness that's bringing her down. Lauren can only imagine what Sinu must feel like. The green-eyed girl is already distraught enough waiting for any news about Camila's well-being and to some she's just a former band member. The woman beside her is Camila's mother herself, so she must've been feeling a million times worse.

"I remembered when she was sick before one of your shows and got hospitalized. She almost fainted when she saw the nurse carrying the IV bag because she hates needles," Sinu chuckles softly and thrusts a steaming cup of hot coffee towards Lauren. The green-eyed girl smiles sadly upon hearing the story and reaches for the cup, giving the older woman a tight-lipped grateful smile.

"Camila will make it," Sinu continues at pats Lauren's knee, her voice so firm like it holds truth to it and Lauren wants to believe her, she does, as she is trying to convince herself that she isn't too late. "So she would want you to be strong for her."

"I know.." Lauren speaks for the first time in over two and a half hours, her voice even raspier from not being used and from all the time she spent crying. "It's just that, the moment I found out she was shot, I didn't know what to feel first. I felt pure rage against the man who fucking shot her, I felt agony at the mere thought of almost losing Camz like that," she sniffles, setting the cup down on the floor with shaky hand, "and I felt the regret washing over me for taking this long to try and reach out to her.."

Sinu silently nods as she stares ahead. Lauren can tell that the ever-levelheaded Cabello mother is keeping her hatred for the sick twisted man who shot Camila under wraps, as thinking about the lowlife scum like him is the least of her worries. Camila's well-being is the top priority. And for that, Lauren's respect towards Sinuhe Cabello-Estrabao exceeds further.

"You should hate me, you know."

Sinu turns to look at Lauren. "What do you mean?"

"I hurt your daughter in many ways than one," Lauren answers, feeling the self-hatred with every word she says. "I took her for granted. I denied her in front of a lot of people and made her feel like I was ashamed of us while I was still figuring myself out. I made her feel small and I made her feel like shit enough for her to succumb to depression. And when she did, I let her deal with it alone. We let her take the heat from fans and I was--I still am--a terrible person to her and you shouldn't let me stay here and be nice to me and---"

"Lauren," Sinu takes Lauren's hand and clasps it in her own. Warmth floods Lauren's chest and she stops her rambling as fresh tears start to brim her waterline. She doesn't understand why the Cabello's accepted them like this when all she did--all she and the girls did--to their daughter were horrible.

"I admit, for a while I was angry at you and the girls," Sinu admits and Lauren nods in understanding. "But Camila.. Camila never hated any of you, not one bit."

Lauren breathes out and looks away, feeling shittier at what Sinu just said.

"She was hurt, yes. But I've never, not once, heard her say bad things about you." Sinu cups Lauren's cheek and makes the green-eyed girl face her. "She still loves you, Lauren."

Lauren finally lets her tears fall, her lips quivering as she meets Sinu's eyes. The older woman opens her arms and pulls Lauren into it, and the green-eyed girl clings onto the mother of the woman she loves and cries in her arms. She feels the older woman rub her back, and the gentleness of the gesture makes Lauren cry harder. All the pent-up emotions come rushing out of her and Sinu just lets her cry it out even if it's her daughter in there fighting for her life.

The kindness of this family continues to amaze Lauren.

"I'm so sorry," Lauren whispers into Sinu's chest, her own shoulders rising up and down rapidly as she wracks a sob after the other . "I'm r-really sorry.."

"Lauren," Sinu pulls away and looks at Lauren square in the eyes. "Are you still in love with Camila?"

Lauren frowns slightly at the question. No one besides her and Camila knew the real relationship going on between the two of them. Sinu couldn't have known....could she?

As if reading her mind, Sinu gives Lauren a small smile as she wipes the green-eyed girl's tears with the pad of her thumb. "I knew about you two, Lauren. You and my daughter haven't exactly been that discreet before," the older Cuban chuckles softly, trying to lighten up the air between them. "So..? Are you still in love with my daughter?"

Lauren blushes despite herself and sighs. There's no sense hiding it to her now, for she knows anyway.

"I do," Lauren nods, looking straight into Sinu's eyes to convey the sincerity of her words. "More than anything."

"Then make things right with by her," Sinu says and gives Lauren a motherly smile. "And don't you hurt her ever again, or I will see to it you will never see her again."

Lauren is about to respond when the door leading to the surgery room swings open, making the two Cuban women stand up to meet the exhausted-looking doctor who walks out of it. The fear and distress is back on Sinu and Lauren's face as if a switch has flipped.

"Where is my daughter? How is she?" Sinu's voice quivers and Lauren places a hand on the woman's back, trying to ground her and keep her calm.

The doctor looks at both women. "May I speak to you alone, Mrs. Cabello?" He says, his tone serious and it gives Lauren goosebumps as the words usually imply that something bad happened during surgery.

"No," Sinu shakes her head. "What you say to me, you can say to both of us," the older woman looks at Lauren the back at the doctor. "She's my daughter's girlfriend."

Lauren's breath hitched slightly and her heart pounds in her chest at Sinu's words.

But the green-eyed girl doesn't have time to react as the doctor nods at both of them. "The good news is that the bullet didn't hit any of Camila's vital organs and only tore through minimal muscle tissues that we're able to pull the bullet out of her immediately."

Collective sighs of relief can be heard from both Lauren and Sinu but the green-eyed girl feels that there's more to it than that. "W-What's the bad news..?"

The doctor's features become somber as he looks at Lauren. "The bad news is that the bullet was infused with a neurotoxin that is now coursing through her body and we might have to induce her into coma soon to slow the pace of the toxin spreading all over her body so we can have enough time to flush it fully out of her system."

Lauren's breath knocks out of her and her knees almost buckle upon hearing the doctor's news. She doesn't hear the other things he say as two words keep repeating in her mind: neurotoxin and coma.

'Dear god, please don't do this to Camz...'