Work Text:
February 2007
“It’s done, it’s finished, it’s fucking complete!”
“Christ, Cameron, do you know what time it is?”
“Christ, Christopher, do not tell me you’re still in bed!”
“I’m on vacation. You do know what vacation means, right? Oh, wait, look who I’m talking to – one of the world’s youngest workaholics. Of course you don’t know what vacation means.”
“Fuck you, Evans. It’s eleven in the morning. Get that fabulous ass of yours out of bed and celebrate with me. It’s done!”
Chris sat up in bed. “It’s done? You finished the score to the film? Babe, that’s fantastic! Congratulations!”
“Thank you! And yes, it is done, good sir! Written, orchestrated, recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered! God, this must be what giving birth feels like…” Cameron giggled madly and threw herself back onto her own bed. And how telling was it that the first person she called was not her oldest friend on the planet, Gia, or her long-time partner in musical crime, Josh, but Chris Evans, the last member to join their circle of friends? She decided not to give that a whole lot of thought.
“Man, how long have you been working on this thing? A year now?”
“Yep,” she said, popping the ‘p’ loudly. “I started working on the score about the same time I started filming the movie. A year ago this month. Actually, no. I’d written the main theme before filming since that was going to show up in the finale and I wasn’t sure when that part was going to be filmed. So a little over a year. Wow. Didn’t think it would take that long.”
“But I bet all that time was worth it. I know it’s going to sound phenomenal, Cam. I really liked the bits and pieces I’ve heard over the past year.”
“Well, you can judge for yourself soon enough. I’m having a listening party at the recording studio this Friday. Can you come down for it? You can stay at my place. And, you know, stay the whole weekend, if you don’t have any other plans.” She crossed her fingers.
A chilly long weekend in New York with Cameron? He felt like Christmas had come all over again. “I have no plans for the whole rest of this week, actually. Mind if I come down on Thursday and hang out with you?”
“Not at all, Christopher Robert. Mi casa es su casa.”
“Terrific!” There was a knock on his bedroom door. “Hey, Cam, can you hold on a quick second?”
“Sure.”
He lowered the phone and yelled, “Who goes there?” The door knob turned and his brother, Scott, stuck his head around the door. “What’s up, Scott?”
“Good late morning, Sleeping Beauty. I heard your voice and wanted to make sure you weren’t talking to yourself,” Scott said as he strolled into the room. “Let me take a wild guess who that is. Hey, Cameron!” he called as he grinned at Chris.
Chris brought the phone back up to his ear. “Hang on, babe. Let me put you on speaker since he’s showing no signs of leaving. Oh great, he just made himself comfortable on my bed.” Chris adjusted the phone and he and Scott could hear Cameron giggling. “Glad you find this all so amusing, Cam.”
“I do,” she said through her giggles. She got herself under control and called out, “Hey, Scott, love of my life, how are you?”
“Very well, thank you, my beloved. To what do we owe the pleasure of your call?”
“What’s this ‘we’ shit?” Chris asked his brother. “I don’t recall inviting you in here.”
Ignoring Chris, Cam said to Scott, “I’ve invited your brother to come down to the listening party I’m having on Friday. I finally finished the score, Scotty! Can you believe it?”
“You did? Oh, Cam, that’s wonderful! Congratulations. You must be so relieved.”
“And then some. Oh, hey, if you’re not busy, why don’t you come down with Chris for the party?”
Chris exclaimed, “What?” just as Scott answered with a delighted, “I’d love to, Cam!”
Cameron laughed. “Well, I’ll leave you boys to work out the details. I’ve got to ring off, have a bunch of other calls I need to make. Chris, give me a call later on, okay? Love you, Scotty. Love you, Chris.”
“Love you much, my beloved!” Scott said, eliciting a delighted laugh from Cameron.
“Shut up, Scott. I’ll call you later, babe. Love you, too. Bye-bye.”
“Bye, men!”
Chris ended the call then looked at Scott through narrowed eyes. “’My beloved’? Since fucking when?”
Scott snorted. “Jealous much, big bro? It’s your own fault, you know. You should have gotten with her months ago.”
Chris scowled at his brother. “What makes you think I haven’t been trying, Scott. But you know all this so I really don’t feel the need to rehash it with you.”
Scott reached over and patted Chris on the leg. “Give it time, bro. It’s not like you guys haven’t been so busy lately that you’ve had time to miss each other.”
“Well, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands right now…and I do miss her.”
Scott sighed. He felt bad for Chris, he really did. His brother had it bad for his best friend but Scott could see the wisdom behind Cameron’s wanting to keep Chris at bay. How many times had he heard Chris complain during his relationship with Jessica that their careers kept them apart too often? Well, Cameron’s schedule was ten times worse than Jessica’s ever was. Her career as the world’s most renowned female violinist/pianist kept her on the road – a lot. And when she wasn’t on the road for her own tours, she was making appearances on other people’s tours, like Josh’s and, most recently, Michael Buble’s. If she wasn’t doing that, she was in the recording studio. Cameron had one of the most impressive recording catalogues in music history, partly because she didn’t stick to just one genre. She was as good with pop and rock as she was with classical. That meant she was always in demand. And that meant she could easily spend six to nine months of the year away from home. She was right when she told Chris, repeatedly, that it wouldn’t be fair to either of them to try to have a relationship now. However, as smart as she was – and Cameron Kennedy, with her IQ of 192, was uber smart – she didn’t seem to realize that she was already in a relationship with Chris Evans, albeit a weirdly platonic one that looked romantic. It would take a genius to pull that one off.
“Well, looks like you’ll be able to get your fill of her this weekend – such as that will be, all things considered. What’s the plan?”
Chris sighed. He loved his brother and would ordinarily welcome his company on a trip but he’d wanted to spend as much of this weekend alone with Cameron as he could. He was still working on wearing her down; he wouldn’t be able to do much of that with Scott around. But Cameron adored Scott and they got along like a house on fire so it was almost a given that she’d invite him down as well. “I’m planning to take the shuttle down on Thursday. Can you come or will you need to come down on Friday? If you come on Friday, I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
“I don’t have anything on my schedule so I can fly down with you on Thursday. And don’t worry, big bro. I’ve got plenty of friends in New York. I can totally make myself scarce for a long while on Saturday and Sunday.” Scott smiled at his brother.
Chris grinned back at Scott, gratitude written all over his face. “Thanks, bro. You’re the best.”
“Don’t I know it!”
“Hello?”
“Joshua,” Cameron said in a sing-songy voice, “whatcha doing?”
“Well, sweetie, I was sleeping. You do know what time it is here in California, don’t you? It’s,” Josh squinted at his bedside clock, “eight-thirty in the morning.”
“Sorry, hon, I figured you’d be up by now. You’re not like Evans…he was still in bed a half hour ago.”
“Woke him up too, did you?”
“Yep.”
“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of your early morning call?”
“Not that early, Groban.”
“State your business, woman!”
“The score is done, my friend. Finally, completely finished! Listening party at the studio on Friday. You in?”
“I’ll fly in on Thursday, babe.”
“Ooh, could you call Evans and coordinate with him? He and Scott are coming down on the shuttle from Boston on Thursday. Maybe if you guys arrive around the same time, I can just pick you all up at once.”
“I can do that, but wouldn’t you want to be alone with him for the ride back to the city?”
“You are still half asleep. Did I not mention he was coming down with Scott?”
“Oh, sorry, I must have missed that. Okay, I’ll call him and see what we can work out. In the meantime, congratulations on finishing the score. I’m happy for you and proud of you. I can’t wait to hear it on Friday. I’ll call you later tonight and let you know if we were able to coordinate arrival times. Love you, Cam.”
“Go back to sleep, dude. Love you, too. Bye!”
Josh ended the call, put his phone back on his nightstand and rolled over to go back to sleep.
It took some finagling but Josh and the Evans brothers managed to get flights that would bring them into LaGuardia Airport within twenty minutes of each other. Cameron was thrilled. She argued down her butler/driver Nigel over who would go to the airport to pick them up and here she was, waiting in the Delta Shuttle Terminal for the Evans boys to arrive. Josh was arriving on Delta also, one terminal over. So nice of the boys to make things fairly convenient for her.
She signed autographs and posed for pictures as she waited for the Boston shuttle to arrive. When the flight was announced, she hurriedly finished signing an autograph for an older couple and their granddaughter and excused herself so she could be right at the gate. The idea was to grab the boys and head right over to the regular terminal so they could get Josh as soon as he got off the plane and hustle him out of the airport before too many people recognized both him and Cameron.
Cam went over to the gate then took a moment to give herself the once over. She wore her favorite navy blue pea coat over a gorgeous royal blue Fair Isle sweater that had been hand made for her back home in Dublin. Under that she wore a black turtleneck that she paired with black jeans and knee high black leather boots. She wore her hair in a French braid that hung straight down her back. She normally wasn’t so fussy when she made an airport run but she wanted to look good for Chris…and Scott and Josh, of course. She smirked. Who was she kidding? This outfit was for Chris’ benefit. And she looked damn good in it.
A few moments later, the first passengers to disembark from the shuttle were coming towards her. She spotted Scott immediately; he was wearing the heavy black leather jacket she’d given him this past Christmas. Behind him was Chris, sporting the dark tan shearling jacket she’d given him. Both of the Evans boys looked breathtaking. Lisa Evans, their mom, had a whole lot to be proud of. Every female eye in the place watched as Scott and Chris walked through the arrival terminal, both smiling broadly at the grinning Cameron.
“Gentlemen,” she said as Scott came up to her and swept her up in his arms.
“There she is, our own little Einstein. Hi, sweetie, how are you?” Scott said as he hugged her tightly.
Cameron returned the hug then shared a quick kiss on the lips with him. “Looking good, Scotty. You surely do wear that jacket well.”
“Your taste is impeccable, Cameron. I love this thing and get compliments on it all the time.”
“Um, excuse me, can I get some of that?” Chris said as he elbowed his brother aside. “Hi, babe,” he said as he leaned down to give Cameron a lingering hello kiss as he wrapped his arms around her. Cam burrowed her arms under his open jacket and snuggled into him. She grinned as she heard Scott mutter, “No one is ever going to believe you two are just friends based on all that PDA.”
Chris pulled back, gave his brother the side eye then swept a look down Cam’s body from her head to her toes. “You look amazing, Cam. That is a gorgeous sweater.”
She smiled and gave a quick curtsey. “Why, thank you, kind sir. It’s one of my favorites.” She crooked a finger at them then turned to lead the way towards the main Delta terminal. Josh’s plane was due to land in less than ten minutes. “So, gents, I thought since we’re all in town, along with Mr. Scott here, we could have dinner and drinks at Uncle Patrick’s pub tonight. Any objections or other suggestions?”
The Evans boys shook their heads. “The Dubliner sounds great,” Chris answered. “We’ll make a night of it. Gia and Dominic coming?”
“Of course.” She led the way into the main Delta terminal and stopped to check the arrivals board. “Oh, hey, Josh’s plane just landed; it’s a few minutes early. Cool. We can get out of here that much faster. He’s just got his carry-on.” Because Josh was such a frequent visitor to her townhouse, Cameron had insisted he start leaving clothes there. When Chris started staying at her place instead of a hotel, she told him to do the same. She even got Scott to bring some things to leave at her place on his last visit. She turned to Chris and Scott. “Let’s hustle over to the gate so we can get him and go before he gets mobbed.” She moved off towards Josh’s gate at a fast clip, the Evans boys following in her wake.
Five minutes later, Josh and Cam were sharing a tight hug and a noisy kiss. They hadn’t seen each other since Christmas. Chris watched them with a fond smile, even though he still felt an irrational stab of jealousy at the closeness and flat-out adoration between the two old friends. He knew the jealously wasn’t warranted; Josh and Cameron were like brother and sister, and he knew Cam held him in just as high regard as she did Josh, but he had to admit that he was jealous of the affection Cameron showed to any other man besides him. God, he really needed to get over himself. Someday, he consoled himself, someday.
Josh let go of Cameron and turned towards the Evanses. He greeted Scott with a quick hug then stepped over to Chris. “Hey, man, it’s been too long,” Josh said as he threw his arms around him. Chris returned the hug with a fierce one of his own; he loved Josh like a brother.
“How’ve you been, man? It’s good to see you. Glad you could make it up,” Chris said as Josh let him go.
“There was no way I was going to miss our girl’s unveiling of her first film score. Besides, she’d kill me if I didn’t show up.”
“Indeed,” Cam drawled as she stepped up to them and put a hand on each man’s shoulder. “Now let’s blow this popsicle stand before the ladies get a load of my three handsome men and mob us.”
Fifteen minutes and several autographs and pictures with fans later, the four of them were settled in Cam’s silver Range Rover and she was pulling out of the short-term parking lot. By unspoken agreement, Josh and Scott took the backseat so Chris could ride shotgun next to Cam. She gave them a look through the rearview mirror, complete with arched eyebrow. Josh and Scott returned her look with innocent smiles then laughed when they heard her give an unladylike snort.
They finally arrived at Cam’s Greenwich Village townhouse over an hour later, after fighting heavy traffic that brought out Cam’s considerable Irish temper and decidedly foul mouth. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Kennedy?” Josh said with a laugh as they drove around looking for a parking spot on an unusually crowded West Ninth Street.
“You are far from the little innocent everyone believes you are, Groban, so shut it,” she retorted as she spotted a space only a few doors up from her front door. She quickly pulled up to the spot and expertly parked the big Range Rover. “All right, get out,” she said unceremoniously as she shut off the car. The boys all chuckled; Cameron hated traffic with a vengeance and it always brought out the worst in her. They stepped around to the back as Cam unlocked and opened the tailgate and handed the boys their bags. She slammed the tailgate shut, pressed the remote lock and stepped up on the curb. She took a deep breath then smiled. “Sorry for the pique, gents, but you know me and traffic. But we’re home, thank Jesus.” She turned and led them towards the beautiful 1845 townhouse she’d been calling home since she turned eighteen and decided to strike out on her own, much to her parents’ apprehension. They’d hoped to keep Cameron home for a couple more years but their eldest daughter’s independent streak reared its head and she dragged them along as she shopped for her very first place. They’d tried to talk her into perhaps buying on the Upper West Side (“maybe a nice condo?” her mother had asked) but Cameron had long ago fallen in love with Greenwich Village and once she started working on her Master’s in Music Theory and Composition at NYU at the age of seventeen, she knew she had to live there, no question about it.
They reached the ornate white double doors of her home and she let herself and boys in. Nigel appeared almost immediately and offered to take their bags and show them up to their rooms. “Carry on, Nige,” Cam said as she walked towards the parlor. “I gotta call Uncle Paddy and tell him to expect the lot of us tonight.”
That night, at Patrick Kennedy’s pub, The Dubliner, there was music, laughter, and much cause for celebration. Gia and Dominic announced their engagement and asked Cam, Josh, and Chris to be in their wedding party. Scott, of course, was expected to attend.
“Cam, I’d like you to be my maid of honor. My big sister, Carmela, is going to be the matron of honor,” Gia said.
Cam smiled widely. “Nothing would make me happier, G.”
Dominic turned to the boys. “Josh, Chris, I want you to be groomsmen. My older and younger brothers, Giorgio and Michelangelo, are going to be my best men. My cousins Anthony and William will be groomsmen as well.”
Josh and Chris looked at each other and nodded. “We’re in, man,” Chris said with a grin.
“Oh, wonderful!” Gia said, clapping her hands excitedly. “This is gonna be some wedding, what with all these big stars in our wedding party.”
“G, please,” Cam chuckled. “Josh and I have been around your family so much, we’re like old furniture. Now Chris, on the other hand, well, he may cause a stir among the ladies in both the DiNapoli and DiLorenzo families.”
“That’s true,” Dominic said with a grin. “Wait till my mother gets her hands on you, Chris. She’s been wanting to fix you up ever since she met you.” The others laughed as Chris’ jaw dropped open.
“Don’t worry, Christopher, Josh and I will protect you,” Cam said through her giggles.
Chris looked at her. “I’m gonna hold you to that.”
Late in the afternoon on Friday, a group of Cameron’s friends and colleagues gathered at The Cutting Room, a recording studio in Greenwich Village, eagerly awaiting the unveiling of Cam’s first ever movie score. However, the composer herself was running late.
“Okay, peeps,” Gia said as she ended the call she was on. “Cam’s about five minutes away. Her meeting at the Make-A-Wish Foundation ran late. She’s on the board there and she also hosts their annual fundraiser every summer and she says that she ran into some problems with the planning of the event. I won’t repeat what she said since there are a couple underage ears here,” she nodded at Cam’s younger twin siblings, Jeremy and Elizabeth, both of whom played on the soundtrack, “and her dad, who might frown at Cameron’s turn of a very colorful phrase, but there was something about old men getting stuffed and that she’d be here soon.” Everyone laughed and applauded Gia’s delivery of the message. She imitated Cameron’s trademark performance curtsey and sat down next to her fiancée.
True to her word, Cameron blew through the doors five minutes later, apologies on her lips. “Jesus, I’m so sorry, people. Fu--, er, freakin’ old men who have no business being involved in anything, much less planning a charity concert, held me up. I hope you guys have been able to enjoy yourselves without me. God knows, there’s plenty of food and booze here.”
Chris couldn’t believe how gorgeous Cam looked. She was wearing a tan cashmere coat that came down to her shins. Under the coat, she had on a beautiful double-breasted wool suit in a deep royal blue with a snow white, high-necked blouse. The suit’s skirt ended a couple of inches above her knees which managed to make her look demure and businesslike and drop dead sexy all at once. She wore sheer off-black stockings and black patent pumps with four inch heels that did wonderful things for her already magnificent dancer’s legs. Her ebony hair was up in an elegant French twist. She was, in a word, breathtaking. He felt Scott jab an elbow into his ribs. “Wipe the drool off your chin, big bro,” Scott said quietly, a big grin on his face, “you’re embarrassing yourself. But, I can’t say I blame you. If I weren’t gay, I’d give you a real run for your money. I don’t think there is a man alive who wouldn’t try to hit that.”
“Scott!” Chris hissed, his cheeks flushing pink.
“It’s true, Chris. I mean, look at her. She’s beautiful, she’s got the body of a Greek goddess, and she knows exactly what looks phenomenal on that body. And she’s also one of the nicest people on the face of the planet. If you don’t do everything in your power to get with her and eventually marry her, I will friggin’ disown you.”
Chris sighed then smiled at his brother. “I’ll take that as a challenge.” He watched as Cameron went around the room, greeting everyone individually and thanking them for coming. “It’s going to happen one day, Scott. I feel it in my bones. I won’t let her get away.”
“That’s my bro,” Scott said happily as Cameron finally approached them. “There’s my beloved,” he said with a grin as he stood to embrace Cam. “You look spectacular, darling.”
“Why, thank you, sweetie. This is one of my favorite power suits. Gotta show the old men on the board I mean business.”
“How could they ever doubt you?” Scott asked with a chuckle.
Cameron rolled her eyes. “You’d be fucking surprised, Scotty. After all, I’m only twenty-one. No matter that I have a butt load of Grammys, several Emmys, countless gold and platinum albums, four degrees and a doctorate, and just about every presidential and royal honor a human being can have, and I’ve been involved with the planning and the hosting of this event for the past five years, I’m still the cute little upstart that plays the violin real pretty and doesn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground. Grrrr.”
“They’re idiots,” Scott said as he passed Cam to his brother. “Somebody obviously overrules them if you’re still so actively involved in this event.”
“Thank God for that. Hey, a ghra, how are you?” she said to Chris as she went into his embrace. She hugged him tightly then pulled back to share a soft kiss with him.
“I’m thinking I might be a little better than you right now, babe,” Chris said with a grin. “Take a deep breath, now. Don’t let those idiots ruin this evening for you.”
“Uh uh. No one’s ruining this for me. I’m so excited, I can’t stand it!” She surprised him with another quick kiss then pulled out of his arms. She stepped to the middle of the studio they were gathered in and raised her hands to quiet everyone down. “Again, I’d like to thank everyone for coming and sharing in this moment with me. This puppy’s been a long, long time in the making, and I cannot tell you how proud I am of it. In my opinion, it came out great. I hope that once you hear it, you’ll be of the same opinion.” She stopped and took a breath. “I know several of you have heard bits and pieces of the music over the past year,” she said, sweeping a hand towards where Gia, Dominic, Josh, Chris, and Scott were seated, “and I especially thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here to hear the whole thing. I’m going to have Eddie,” she pointed into booth at the engineer who sat behind the sound board, “play each piece after I’ve given you a little overview of what the piece is about and how it fits in the film. The movie still needs a bit of work but the music’s pretty much in place. We’re looking at an October release date. It seems like it’s taken forever to get here, but doing a film where the score was just as much a star of the film as were the actors, and the locations, was kind of hard work.” She paused and laughed along with everyone else. “So, without further ado, I present to you my very first film score, the music to August Rush. Please, God, I hope you all enjoy it.” Everyone laughed again.
Chris was disappointed when Cam turned and walked to the other side of the studio and sat down. He thought for sure she would sit with her best friends, well, with him, in particular. But when he saw her gesture to the sound engineer after she introduced the first piece, he understood why she sat over there. Eddie needed to see her cues and he wouldn’t be able to see Cam from where Chris and the others were sitting.
A little over an hour later, Cameron stood and clasped her hands together, a little nervously, it seemed Chris. In fact, her entire demeanor suddenly seemed a little nervous. That was weird. The group in attendance had been nothing but in awe of the amazing music Cameron had written for this film. He tried to catch her eye but it seemed that she looked everywhere and at everyone but him. He frowned.
“Okay, folks,” Cam said, “we’ve reached the last piece. This will be the song that’s played over the end credits. Of all the music I wrote for this film, this is tied with “August’s Rhapsody” as my favorite piece. It also means a great deal to me, for more reasons than I have time to elaborate on here. The words were written mainly from the point of view of Jonathan Rhys-Meyer’s character, since he spent quite some time looking for my character, but, well, there’s a lot of me in this song too. I mean, yes, there’s a lot of me in all of the music for this soundtrack but this one…this one’s really special. Okay, enough build up.” She signaled to the booth. “Okay, Eddie, let ‘er rip.” She sat down again and leaned over to speak with Susan, her publicist. Again, she appeared to avoid looking in Chris’ direction.
The song began with a plaintive piano solo then Cameron’s vocalizations came in.
As days go by and fade to nights
I still question why you left
I wonder how it didn't work out
But now you're gone
And memories’re all I have for now
But no, it's not over
We'll get older, we'll get over
We'll live to see the day that I hope for
Come back to me
I still believe that we'll get it right again
We'll come back to life again
We won't say another goodbye again
You'll live forever with me
Someday, someday
We'll be together
Someday, someday
We'll be together
Our someday might be today
Mysteries of destinies
Say our somehow and our some way
For all we know may come tomorrow
But for today my eyes are open
My arms are raised for your embrace
My hands are here to mend what is broken
To feel again the warmth of your face
I believe there is more to life
Oh, I love you much more than life itself
I believe I can change your mind
Revive what is dying inside
And someday, someday
We'll be together
Someday, someday
We'll be together
Someday, someday
We'll be together
We'll be together
We'll be together
Someday
When the song ended, everyone in the room jumped up and burst into wild applause. Cam stood up and bowed to her audience, a wide smile on her face. Her father and siblings immediately went to her and enveloped her in a group hug. The others in the room started drifting towards her to congratulate her, but Chris hung back. He was still stunned by what he’d just heard. That song, “Someday,” wasn’t just written for the film; he knew that she’d written it about him. That’s why she couldn’t look him in the eye. She was nervous about what his reaction would be. She needn’t have been. He couldn’t have been more delighted. That song told him more about her feelings for him than she could have ever verbally articulated. For the first time since her promise to him a year ago, Chris felt completely confident about his future with Cameron Kennedy.
Cameron gracefully accepted everyone’s praise and congratulations, thrilled at her guests’ overall reaction to the music they’d just heard. As Scott stepped up to give her a hug and tell her how much he loved her work, she finally worked up her courage and looked towards Chris over Scott’s shoulder. Their eyes met and Cam felt a shiver run down her spine. In his eyes, she saw that he completely understood what she had been trying to say to him with her song. In his eyes, she saw the joy, the happiness…the love that awaited her in the future. She had only to say the word and Chris Evans was hers.
At last, Chris came up to her to offer his congratulations. He took her in his arms and pressed a kiss on her cheek. They held each other tightly for a moment and as he pulled away from her, he whispered, “I heard you, babe.”
She gave him a small smile and whispered back, “It’s good to be heard.”