So, I was going to write another chapter for Hong Kong but this came to me instead, so here it goes!
a perfect day for a silent heartbreak
As soon as he wakes up in the morning he knows it is going to be a perfect day. Seventy degree weather and sunshine will greet the small crowd gathered in front of the Roseville gazebo. A gentle breeze will make the bride's hair dance like a scene in the movie. The bridesmaids will walk down the altar, their stunning figures paling in comparison to the white gown following shortly after. Flowers and smiles will radiate and everything will be like a dream, too perfect to be true; but to a dark-haired assassin, it will feel like a nightmare.
-\-/-
A genuine smile finds its way to his face as he remembers the first time they met. Her hands were shaking and he had offered her M&M's. She looked naïve, proving her lacking skills by giving him the information on her destination. He goes back in time to her shocked face as she realizes her mistake. Blackthorne boy is spit from her mouth, a desperate attempt to prove her worth. The words find their target. Suddenly, he knows he's not the only one who stayed up all night researching. Maybe he likes this girl after all.
-\-/-
The dark haired boy's thoughts are far away from the dream wedding, but his body stands amidst it all. He plays his part as best friend to perfection; not once letting his smile fade. Pretty soon everything starts to bother him. And as terrible as it is, he wishes it would rain. Even the gods had decided that this was meant to be, and that killed him. Deep down a part of him longs for something to go wrong.
-\-/-
The day she finds out about his mother is one of the worst of his life. In seconds, his perfect plan to forget his past and become someone new is gone. The sarcastic, slightly full-of-himself boy is gone; the smirks vanish without a trace. His cover has been blown. Masks and walls and secrets come flooding back as his cruel reality hits him. The jokes are gone and all he wants to do is protect the girl he cares about, but she doesn't trust him anymore. No one does.
-\-/-
He looks at the girl twirling around the room with her new husband. She looks innocent and sweet, and he can only think that this is exactly what she wanted. Their eyes meet and she grins at him before she is twirled away again. He smiles for the first time since the vows.
-\-/-
She had decided a year earlier that it would never work between the two of them. Blue eyes pierced into green as she told him about her choice to lead a normal life; a life away from danger and espionage, a life that certainly couldn't include falling in love with an assassin. If he was angry, it didn't show. He knew the pain that she had grown up with, pain that his own mother had caused. So, like any decent gentleman, he let her go.
-\-/-
He stands; he watches from a distance, never breaking character. It shows he is a good spy, a legend. No one suspects a thing. Not a soul realizes that his heart aches, that he actually feels something toward the girl in the glistening ball gown. Or so he thinks; but across the room, someone notices.
-\-/-
Rebecca Baxter had one thing in common with Zach. They both cared about Cammie. When Cammie ran away, the two bonded over the pain; they used each other to try to fill the void. Bex knew how much Zach cared for her. She was the only one who truly saw how much it pained him to watch this. He wanted Cammie to be safe, and she was safer leading a normal life with a civilian. Zach would never be free from danger; the offspring of a terrorist never get that luxury. She could. He made a sacrifice for her, and Bex might be the only person on this planet who knows.
-\-/-
Forks clink against glass, signaling the happy couple to kiss. They're all back at the head table now; Macey on Zach's left and Bex on his right. The cake rolls out and it's magnificent seeing as McHenry was adamant about being in charge of it after Cammie declined her offer of designer dresses. The bride and groom took turns smashing cake in the other's face, bringing laughter from the small crowd. Zach focused his breathing, counting to five before exhaling. He felt a gentle squeeze in his left hand and a sad glance from the woman to his right; both conveying what no one dares say aloud. This isn't how it was supposed to be.
-\-/-
His mind drifts to a conversation months earlier. A knock on his front door reveals Cammie, a pizza box in her hands, her face reading: We need to talk. He thinks that this is the moment he's waited for, the moment where she gives their relationship a chance. Then she starts speaking. She talks about her new boyfriend, Josh.
"He asked me to marry him." Something flashes in his eyes, and a stillness fills the room until he speaks.
"That's amazing, Cam." She scans his voice, searching for a lie.
"I haven't given an answer yet, but I think I'm going to say yes. Are you okay with that?" Her face is concerned, wondering how he'll take this news.
"You know, you don't have to talk it over with me."
"I don't want my best friend hating my husband." Silence settles upon the house.
"I wish it could work out between us," she whispers. "In an alternate universe, I'd marry you in a heartbeat. But we don't get perfect endings, and I just can't stand the thought of one of us being called into the director's office to find out our spouse is dead. I can't become my parents."
She's crying now, and he just holds her tight. The love between the two is blatantly obvious, but one has a target on his back and the other just wants her family to be safe. Their love is doomed.
"I think you should marry him." No, he doesn't.
-\-/-
A microphone booms out to announce the dollar dance, last event of the night. Friends and family get their chance to dance with the newly-weds, the proceeds going toward their honeymoon. Zach slips a dollar bill into the basket being held by the flower girl. Cammie accepts his hand and they dance. They spin and twirl like the dance at Gallagher years ago. Neither breathes a word, careful not to break the little window outside of reality they've created. The pain is evident in their eyes, but for a moment they're away from the bullets and the bombs. For a second it's okay for them to be close.
-\-/-
Their time runs out. The song is over and the spell is broken. One walks out of the building towards a life of a normal person with a family. The other leads a life of constant danger. Yes, their lives will cross, but they'll keep their distance because they'll never quite stop loving the other; and their love is doomed. Cammie's mother never got over the grief of losing her father, and Zach's own mother took a turn for the worse when her lover never came home. So, they'll let go of each other, and it will hurt. But it's safer that way. The closest they can ever be is friends, and eventually he'll learn to be okay with that; or at least learn to fake a smile.
-\-/-
Sometimes, if you love something, you have to let it go.
Reviews would be awesome, but no one is forcing you (:
-psychicchameleon