Camille Saroyan

Camille Saroyan
Bones character
First appearance	"The Titan on the Tracks"
Created by	Hart Hanson
Portrayed by	Tamara Taylor
Information
Nickname(s)	Cam, Dr. Saroyan
Gender	Female
Occupation	Head of Forensic Division; Pathologist
Family	Felicia Saroyan (sister) Hany (great-grandmother)
Spouse(s)	Andrew Welton (ex-fiance; deceased)
Children	Michelle Welton (adoptive daughter)

Dr. Camille (Cam) Saroyan, M.D. is a fictional character in the American television series, Bones. She is portrayed by Tamara Taylor. Camille was introduced as a forensic pathologist in The Titan on the Tracks, Season 2, Episode 1, as the head of the Forensic Division, a new division formed during the summer of 2006.

Taylor first appeared in Episodes 1-6 of Season 2 as a guest star. She was promoted to a series regular and appeared in the opening credits beginning with Episode 7, "The Girl with the Curl".

Brief character history

Previously Dr. Saroyan worked in New York, performing autopsies in difficult and sometimes unsanitary conditions, and admits to Booth she took the job because of the facilities. In "The Parts in the Sum of the Whole", it is revealed that Cam, who had briefly met Brennan at a conference on decapitation, advised Booth to seek her advice on a murder investigation, which became Booth and Brennan's first case together.

She is a 'hard line' woman who takes charge of her Division and defends them if necessary, as long as she believes they are in the right (though she does at time crack jokes, but no one gets her humor). In the beginning of Season 2, Saroyan butts heads with Dr. Brennan and the other team members, but she eventually accepts their quirks and develops relationships with them. At one point early in Season 2, she considers removing Dr. Brennan from her position at the Jeffersonian, until both Angela and Booth make it abundantly clear if Brennan goes, the entire team will leave.

In the episode "The Man in the Cell", Camille is almost killed by a neurotoxin (methyl bromide) to which she is exposed by serial killer Howard Epps. Epps' attack on Dr. Saroyan has an extreme emotional effect on both Brennan and Booth. Luckily, Hodgins manages to find out what the toxin is and alerts the hospital in time to save Cam. Originally, Saroyan was supposed to die in the episode, ending her character run; but the cast and the producers thought Camille Saroyan was a good addition to the storyline and decided to keep her. Like all the other "squints", she is interested in Booth and Brennan's relationship. She often overhears their telephone exchanges or overly intimate conversations and smiles or shakes her head at their apparent obliquity and insistence their relationship is strictly platonic and professional.

In the Season 2 episode "The Headless Witch In The Woods", Cam reveals her mother, who died when she was 23, came to her the day after she died and led her to find a necklace in a drawer. Cam still wears the necklace.

In the season 3 episode The Pain in the Heart, it is revealed Dr. Saroyan was a police officer for 10 years prior to obtaining her position in the Jeffersonian.

Cam has a poor relationship with her younger sister, Felicia. Their father had his 60th birthday during the episode, The Intern In The Incinerator.

In the season 5 episode, The Dentist in the Ditch, it is revealed that Cam has Arachnophobia.

When asked by Angela if she would ever like to have children, she says that all the inconvenience and additional chores that having a baby entails would not be worth losing her physical shape.

In Season 4, Saroyan became concerned when Jared Booth, Seeley Booth's younger brother, went out on a date with Brennan and was relieved to hear the two did not have sex. While Cam was not comfortable expressing why she felt this way, Angela was: "It would have been a creepy way to have sex with Booth, without having sex with the real Booth". Later in the season, in the episode "The Doctor in the Den," Cam's ex-fiancé dies, and Cam meets his daughter, Michelle, again after ten years. At the end of the episode, Cam offers to move in with her and Michelle accepts. The episode ends with the two of them hugging.

It has also been hinted many times she is an occasional smoker. However, Cam vows to stop smoking when Michelle starts to smoke to rebel against her.

Cam enjoys reading trashy romance novels as a way to unwind after a day on the job. In the Season 2 episode, The Bodies in the Book, she reveals that she has not read Brennan's books because she doesn't like to deal with murder on her off-hours.

In Season 6, it shows Cam in a relationship with a doctor named Paul.

Former relationships

Camille and Booth have had an intimate/romantic relationship in the past, but he did want to marry her. They entered into a rekindled relationship at an undisclosed point midway through the series. In the episode "The Boy in the Shroud," several comments, conversations, and scenarios between different characters suggest Cam and Booth may have been romantically involved at a young age, most likely in high school or early college, although this has yet to be explicitly confirmed. Later episodes reveal Cam has known Booth and his younger brother for fifteen years, which seems to support this conclusion or at least indicate they knew each other as adolescents. It is further revealed in the episode "Aliens in a Spaceship" that Booth and Saroyan had struck up their relationship again after she came to the Jeffersonian, although Booth appeared to have some reservations and was uncomfortable telling anyone at work, especially Dr. Brennan, about his connection with Camille. The relationship between Booth and Saroyan ended in "The Man in the Cell," when Booth asserted workplace relationships put everyone in danger when high-pressure situations arise. She still asked him to play her boyfriend for her father's birthday dinner in the Season 3 episode "Intern in the Incinerator."

Camille also had a brief fling with Angela's ex-husband Grayson "Birimbau" Barasa. After flirting a bit at the Jeffersonian, she offered to drive him to the airport, where his flight was canceled and he checked into a local hotel with her.

Cam was once engaged to and lived with Dr. Andrew Welton, a cardiac surgeon. While they were dating, and later engaged, Cam helped to raise his daughter, Michelle. However, after his wife's death (Michelle's mother died in childbirth), he was never able to fully commit to their relationship and was constantly cheating. Though Cam did love him, she ended the engagement, leaving Welton and the young Michelle behind. Ten years later, in the Season 4 episode "The Doctor in the Den," his remains are found in a tiger exhibit at a zoo. Upon learning the identity of the remains, Cam takes it upon herself to inform Michelle of her father's death. Michelle claims to barely remember Cam and she treats her coldly. Later in the episode, Michelle admits she had been very deeply hurt by Cam's apparent abandonment, and she had waited at the window for weeks, "waiting for [Cam] to come home." Finally, at the end of "The Doctor in the Den," Michelle and Cam are reconciled, and Michelle accepts Cam's offer to move in with her.

As Season 5 progresses, Cam begins finds herself in typical teenage-parent situations with Michelle. Though Cam sees herself as Michelle's mother, it is clear that Michelle sees Cam only as a legal guardian. This places strain on their relationship, as Cam doesn't want to be a doormat but also wants Michelle to like her. As Christmas approaches, Cam plans a big, festive holiday, but Michelle asks if she can go to Hawaii with a friend. Cam reluctantly consents, initially; on their way to the airport, she stops and refuses, claiming that they are a family and need to act as such. Michelle is furious, but the two soon share an emotional hug, the gap in their relationship repaired.

In "The Proof in the Pudding," Cam finds a positive home-pregnancy test in the bathroom that only she, Brennan, and Angela use. However, she knows Michelle had been in there that day. She knows the pregnancy test is not Brennan's because she would not make a life-altering decision so spontaneously. Angela claims the pregnancy test isn't hers, so Cam assumes it's Michelle's and freaks out. She is extremely concerned and unhappy that Michelle hasn't told her. However, the pregnancy test turns out to be Angela's (and also a false-positive) so Cam is relieved.