It was the day before winter break and I had I was in COW (Countries of the World) when I was called down to my mom's office, being the spy I am I made sure no one was around when I slipped into one of my secret passageways as a shortcut.

When I stepped out I was at the end of the Hall of History and I started to my mom's office when I heard "hurry up kiddo." I knew it was my mom calling me but she couldn't even see me. She was a spy so she knows everything, it's kind of scary. When I walked into my mom's office I saw Zach sitting on the couch and my mom behind her desk.

"Hey mom, hey Zach," I said nervously but covered it up, I hate getting in trouble especially when Zach is involved.

"Hey Gallagher Girl" Zach smirked and I just rolled my eyes.

"So... winter break is tomorrow" I could see my mom getting nervous and she never gets nervous, well at least I'm not in trouble.

Wait a second she's nervous, being one of the best spies in the world she should be able to control her emotions, wow something must really be up.

"Is everything okay mom?"

"Now that The Circle has been defeated we're going to spend Christmas with your grandparents in Nebraska."

"What does this have to do with Zach?"

"Well... over the winter break he..." she trails off but then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"He's staying with us." It came out as a statement than a question but I knew I was right.

"Yep. Fun right?" his smirk widened.

"Why?" it came out sounding like I was whining, honestly I was really excited he was coming but I wasn't going to let him know that.

"What's the matter Gallagher Girl? You want me to spend Christmas all by myself? I'm hurt." He fake pouted.

It took all my strength not to run up to him, and cuddle him, and tell him everything was going to be okay, so I just glared at him.

"Why don't you spend Christmas with your aunt?" He was looking at me like I was crazy, so was my mom. I guess I should be more specific.

"Not her, not the evil twin aunt, I meant your other the one the good on, the one who wanted to be a civilian. I guess you could call her the one that got away."

It hurt that Zach of a people wasn't going to trust me to spend a month on my own. But he look more confused than ever.

"How do you know I have another aunt?"

"She told me. She said at least she had one sibling that she didn't have to fight against. From what I heard she puts family first, you're her nephew, you're her family, she's gonna take care of you. So why don't you spend Christmas with her?"

"I don't have another aunt!" Zach shouted.

My mom clearly didn't want to be the referee so she said, "Okay, I'm just going to go now." And with that she quietly slipped out the door, if I wasn't a spy I wouldn't have noticed her.

It was now that I realized his smirk had finally disappeared.

"I don't have any family left. Believe me Gallagher Girl I wish I did but I don't. I haven't since I was seven, since my mom died. This here has become my family."

I knew he was telling the truth and I felt terrible.

"Joe was like a father to me, your mom is just how I imagined the perfect mom to be, Bex, Liz, and Macey are the sisters I wish I had. This is the closest thing I'm ever gonna get to family so I'm going to take advantage of it while I can."

I noticed he left me out but I wasn't going to ask him because it was rare when he was being openly honest with me and not cocky and arrogant.

"We have all agreed that besides your mom I should be the one to spend holidays with you. Well actually I insisted that I spend winter break with you."

"I can take care of myself," fortunately the office is soundproof so no one could hear us shouting at each other.

"I don't think you can if you run away, come back, and don't even remember anything about the summer!"

I winced but I wasn't about to back down, especial after that low blow. "The Circle is eliminated! They don't exist anymore! There is no threat anymore! I'm fine by myself! I don't need your sympathy and I certainly don't need you!" I could see the hurt in Zach's eyes. I know he's a spy but even spies have weaknesses we can't hide.

"I'm not letting you leave by yourself. You did that in the summer but you're not doing that to me again." He sounded like a mouse compared to the volume we were just at.

"Why not? It's not like I'm going to run away again." My voice and facial expressions had softened but I knew my face was still red.

"Because I care about you!" He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which left me speechless.

After what felt like an eternity (2 minutes and 16 seconds later) I could only say 1 word "why?" Barely above a whisper but I knew he heard me.

"Why what?" He looked confused.

By then both of us had calmed down so our discussion was a lot more civilized.

"Why do you care about me?" Once those words were out I knew I couldn't take them back. Now I would have to hear his response which would probably go something like 'good question I never really thought about it but now I do I realize I don't really care, you were just gullible, arm candy you know?'
But he didn't say anything like that. His response shocked me.

"Why wouldn't I? You're beautiful, you're smart, you're funny and, well," he looked at the ground then back up at me. "You're mine."

He smiled at me yep you heard me an actual smile, for that I think we should get the president here (which shouldn't be too hard because Macey is the Senators daughter). I could feel the tears slowly making their way down my cheeks he came up to me and kissed them away. I hugged him for 36 seconds wondering how soap and shampoo could smell so much better on him than anyone else but my thoughts were interrupted when he spoke into my hair.

"So you don't mind me coming for break?"

I stepped back and looked into his eyes. "I never did, I just thought the only reason you're coming was to keep me safe."

"That is why I'm going" he smirked "but that's not the only reason."

Before I could ask what the other reason was he brought his face down to mine and kissed me. It started out soft and sweet. He ran his tongue along my bottom lip asking for access which I allowed. His tongue slipped into my mouth and he started exploring. I let out a small moan I felt him smirk but I didn't care. After 5 more minutes of slipping our tongues down each other's throats and our hands up each other's shirts we broke away for air.

Gasping he put his forehead on mine. "This is going to be one interesting break." He smirked.

"We sh-sh-should um..." damn smirk I thought. I cleared my throat and tried again. "We should get back to class."

"We should."

I turned to walk out the door. "Wait," Zach called.

I turned around he stepped closer and tucked the ends of my shirt into my skirt. I could tell my face was as red as a tomato.

He leaned and whispered in my ear "you're cute when you blush." He kissed my ear then started fixing my hair, that's when I realized he looked just as bad as me. I tucked in his shirt, fixed his tie, and messed his hair up in all the right places.

"You look beautiful" he kissed me on my cheek, took my hand and led me to P&E.

He was right this was going to be an interesting break.