Joe Solomon and Edward Townsend had never been friends. It might've had something to do with the fact that for a majority of the time they'd known each other, Townsend was trying to kill Solomon. It might've had to do with how different their spying styles were. But it was probably the fact that they were spies, and they were never supposed to truly trust anyone.
They sat across from each other, tense, and glanced up from time to time. Somehow, someway, they had been brought together, but maybe that was a symbol of the power of having a common enemy. And common allies.
It was true; whether or not either of them would admit it, they both harbored feelings for the Cameron sisters, Rachel and Abby respectively. And maybe that was why they were there, together, because any amount of love is stronger than any amount of hate.
The door opened and a handsome young man walked in, taking calculated, precise steps until he sat down in a chair next to Joe.
Zach.
Zach was something that they had in common. He'd proven himself to both of them that he was reliable and useful and they liked and respected him.
Not to mention he was after the third Cameron girl.
They were meeting to discuss, plan, and strategize what they were going to do to take down the Circle. They'd agreed to meet without the girls because they'd said out loud that they would get too emotionally involved.
On the inside they knew that if the girls were there they themselves would get too emotionally involved… and distracted.
Their voices were hard and trite, none of them willing to become too comfortable discussing the best ways to go about committing mass murder. It was touchy subject for all of them, murder, because they were each more human than they'd have people believe.
Eventually the sensitive subject was dropped and they moved on to a much more sensitive and even more dangerous topic: the girls.
Zach lifted a teasing eye to Joe and said, "So how was Rachel last night?"
Joe gave him hard look, disguising what might have been a blush. "She was lovely."
Zach and Townsend shared a mischievous look. "I'm sure she was," Zach said in a patronizing tone.
"So how's Cammie been doing? Or should I say how's your Gallagher Girl been doing?" Joe looked at him, already knowing how he would react.
Zach's jaw twitched. "She's great."
"I heard that she got a 97% on her last CoveOps test," Townsend said, trying to get a rise out of him. "Faulty, faulty, faulty."
Zach had to control his anger about that because she had actually been proud of that grade and it had given him an excuse to kiss her.
"And who did you hear that from, Abby?" he asked because Abby was still at Gallagher teaching CoveOps and he knew that any mention of the younger Cameron sister would make him react.
But Townsend controlled himself well. "I have a reliable inside source."
"Yeah, I'm sure she's really reliable whenever you want to be inside of-" Zach tried to finish his sentence, but Joe had hit him on the shoulder, half laughing, half telling him to shut up.
Townsend had this look of contained rage that resembled what would happen if a hurricane was forced into a cage.
"And what about Cameron? How's she on the inside? Or would only a certain civilian know that?" He had struck a nerve in Zach, because he probably hated Josh more than he hated his mother.
Instead of quipping with an equally insulting remark, Zach turned to Joe. "So what have you heard about Abby's teaching?"
Joe, catching on, answered, "Oh. It's the worst. And I've seen her notes and they're unintelligible."
"I bet Liz wouldn't be able to have a 100 average in that class." Zach and Joe were smiling at each other.
"It's not her, she's a great teacher!" Townsend cried out, and then seemed to realize what he had done and tried to retract his emotional outburst.
Zach and Joe, however, were smiling and laughing, and Townsend regarded them resentfully. But then he gave them a begrudging smile, because he was impressed by anyone who could get him to outwardly feel something.
They all walked out of the room drained and tired and with the same cautious respect between them as they headed to their rooms for the night. But being tired and drained had a way of making the night that much more mischievous, and the evening had a lot more in store for the three of them.
Joe walked to Rachel's office to see if she was there. Or at least, that's what he told himself but he suspected it had more to do with him just wanting to see her.
He sighed, knowing that Zach and Townsend had had every right to tease him about Rachel because he would do pretty much anything to see her. But he also knew that he had every right to tease them because they were just as crazy about their girls. (Crazy being a relative term, of course).
He reached the office through one of the passageways Cammie had shown him so he could travel about the mansion unnoticed, and he knocked gently, not wanting to disturb her peace if she was there. The door was not all the way closed, which was unusual for Rachel because she was usually so careful, and the door opened at the slightest touch. He listened, but all he heard was gentle breathing, and his heart dropped. What if she was knocked unconscious or if that was someone else snooping through her stuff? He opened the door in a huge gust and prepared to fight. What he saw was Rachel who was in fact unconscious, but instead of being panicked and confused, he was stopped in his tracks at how adorable she was when she slept.
She must have been doing paperwork, because her desk was a covered in papers and she still had a pen in her hand. Her head was down on the desk and her hair was splayed out so messily perfect that it made his heart twist.
He carefully removed the papers and put them into a neat pile before waking her up gently. Her eyes opened and she looked at him confused for a second until she realized she probably should have been self-conscious. Her eyes widened even more and she sat up in a hurry.
"Joe! I was just…" She looked around for the papers she'd been filling out and felt sort of stupid when she couldn't find any of them.
"I put them there," he said, smiling down at her.
She might've relaxed if she hadn't gotten a glimpse of herself in the mirror and tried to hold back a cringe then stopped herself from uncontrollably fixing her appearance. Joe noticed and found it mind-boggling how she didn't find herself the most attractive person ever, because he was pretty sure she was.
She stood up and said a little bashfully, "I guess that's a signal that it's time to turn in for the night."
He laughed and met her eyes, but she turned away quickly.
It was the game they'd play, the one where they'd dance around each other wondering if the other felt the same way and wondering if the relationship would even be ethical, because he was the best friend of her late husband.
"Let me walk you to your room." He said, not giving her room to resist as he whisked her out of the office door and waited for her to lock it.
He showed her the entrance to the passageway he'd come from and they started walking the twisty turns of the old servant hallways. Rachel silently marveled his ability to navigate the many offshoots and turns, and Joe, noticing, said, "Don't be too impressed. It was Cammie who showed this to me." She nodded because she should've guessed. No one knew the mansion like Cammie did. "She's a lot like him, you know. He would've loved these hallways, too." Rachel knew. She also didn't want to talk about it. "And she does the same thing as him- when she argues- where her chin sets in a stubborn line and she just looks at you like 'Prove it' only hers is distinctly more feminine. And her incurable sweet tooth, of course." Rachel's eyes were downcast, but Joe didn't stop. "And she's really, really hard to find."
Her voice was small and in a whole other time, seven years ago, before he disappeared. "I know," she paused. "She's amazing."
He stopped her from walking and looked at her, really looked at her, and forced her to look at him. "She's also a lot like you."
Rachel's breath caught at that, because Matt used to insist that Cammie was more like her but all she'd ever seen when she looked at her was him.
"She's selfless and hardworking and ambitious, but perfectly rational as well. And she's got this way with words, and you can pick them apart like a classic book for all of the meaning they have, just like your words. And she's the kind of person you want to trust, and want to be close to because you'll be a better person for it. And she cares about the rest of humanity more than herself, just like you do." He was close to her, entirely too close for rational thought, which what exactly what he wanted. "And she has someone who will do just about anything for her, because he cares that much." He brought one of her hands up to his mouth and kissed it. "Just. Like. You." He dropped her hand and silently led her through the halls again.
They reached the employee hallway and they stood in front of her room facing each other. He wanted to reach for her, but he didn't dare.
Neither of them remembered moving closer but they soon found themselves almost touching. She looked at his lips and unwillingly shifted closer, but they heard someone coming and she grabbed him and shoved him into her room.
Once they were safe to talk they still didn't say anything because Joe knew better than to ask her about what just happened and Rachel didn't have anything to say. She had made up her mind.
Her lips pressed against his confidently, and for once, Joe Solomon was shocked. He barely had time to react before she was pushing him against the wall. He put his hands on her hips but didn't move them, not wanting to offend her but wanting very badly to touch her. Her hands, however, didn't stop moving up and down his torso, leaving trails of fire in their wake. He found he liked this sexy, commando Rachel and smiled into the kiss. She smiled back then broke away before the situation could escalate from kissing to… other things.
Her confidence must have run out at that moment because she seemed to realize what she had done and want to swallow herself up, but Joe just kissed her quickly then whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."
She stood there stunned as he walked out of the room feeling better than he had in years.
Edward Townsend was exhausted. Really, truly exhausted. He thought he'd been exhausted in Micronesia after running from enemy agents for hours then being mistaken by the locals for a deity and was forced to partake in bizarre tribal rituals or when he was in Papua New Guinea and he had to stay in hiding in the trees for three weeks during the rainy season so he couldn't sleep no matter how tired he was and he even thought that he was exhausted in Buenos Aires. But true exhaustion can only come with living in the same building as Abigail Cameron.
She drove him crazy in all the best and worst ways, making him feel simultaneously like his insides were on fire from her anger and melting from her sweet passion.
He resisted dragging his feet as he walked through the hallways full of girls who would either whisper and giggle or turn and run away. He ignored all of them.
He approached his door and was looking forward to settling down in his bed with his lush, down comforter. What he found when he opened his door, though, was concurrently better and worse.
She didn't even try to hide the fact that she was in his room and going through his stuff, and just kept searching through the drawers frantically amidst the mess the room was in. The few changes of clothes he brought and his toiletries were strewn about the floor, and the sheets had been stripped off of the bed and appeared to have been manhandled.
In the middle of it all was Abby, facing him looking confused and wide-eyed and… crazy. But also really, really sexy, which definitely should not be overlooked.
"I think the question is implied, but what are you doing?" He wasn't angry; why would he be? There were no secrets he kept in that room, and she'd known that he wouldn't have been that careless. But if she'd known, why was she there?
"You're not… a person," she said, looking up at him for explanation. He raised a condescending eyebrow, not following. "You… you… have clothes and toothpaste but there's nothing that shows you are actually living or a person with distinct personality or any sort of personality and I came in here to just see if there was anything that meant anything to you but it's like you're going to just up and leave tomorrow." She glared at him and cocked her hip. "But you're not, right?"
He didn't even blink. "I wouldn't want you to miss me." He maintained a poker face expertly, not letting her know that he would actually miss her and that she was again managing to make him want to hold and hurt her.
"And even now, you don't even give a real answer, just another dispassionate remark." She was leaning in close, glaring hard and challenging him to do something so impossibly passionate and out of character. And he wanted to take the challenge. He really, really did. But he couldn't because not only was that against the way he was trained but the way he was raised, so emotions he couldn't handle. Abby Cameron, he could.
Or maybe he couldn't, because lately, the two went hand in hand.
She shoved hard against his chest, and he had to take a few steps back to compensate for the force. She pushed him again, and again, just trying to make him do anything, but he just took it without giving it back, which was pretty much how he worked with everything.
"What's wrong with you?" she yelled, desperate.
He just looked at her, hoping she wouldn't see what was underneath his steel eyes and vague disposition.
He realized suddenly that he was scared. Not of Abby, though he'd seen her in action and it was terrifying, but of the answer to that question. What was wrong with him? It was everything she'd just accused him of: not being a person. But he was terrified of anything that he would say to her so he kept his mouth shut and eyes cold.
His silence did not please her and her eyes set aflame, and for a moment he wondered if all anger could start fires, or if Abby's fury was something completely on its own. She certainly started something in his cold heart.
"Ice," she decided. "It's what's in your heart, your eyes." He realized with a start that she regarded him in the exact opposite way that he regarded her. Fire and ice, forever at odds, both fearing destruction by the other.
He suddenly feared his inaction more than he feared his actions, because if there was any time to do things, it was when really, really beautiful women showed up in your room contemplating your identity, and he swept her into his arms and clutched her there, close to him.
She had a reaction as if she was actually fire touching ice, and chocked on her breath, and he did feel a sort of melting sensation although it was more pleasant than unpleasant.
"Fire." He said, still holding her closer than he ever thought he would get to.
"What?"
"It's what I fear." He looked at her, trying to tell her with his eyes how he felt, that he was human, because humans had faults in their fears, and goodness did he fear her in that moment.
She hesitated, and in the hesitation he tried to make his eyes less cold and warm his heart with her heat, but he wasn't sure it was working because what she had to understand about him was that there was a lot of ice to melt.
Finally she settled for standing close to him, because even if they were misunderstood by the world what they knew about the other was that all they needed was the illusion of empathy to be happy. So together, in that false understanding, they slept on a bed that didn't have sheets because of a question of identity and misunderstood the world together.
Left. Left. Right at the second corridor. Another left.
Zach had gotten used to navigating the halls of Gallagher, and they had actually become a part of his routine. The school no longer felt oppressive or unwelcoming as it had when Cammie had been missing, and he had started to see why she loved it so much. Despite it grandeur, it was actually quite homey.
He came to the teachers' hallway where he resided and slowly walked down the long hall. It was actually kind of funny how he had gotten used to living in a place and caring about people there. It had never felt that way at Blackthorne, and certainly not when his mother raised him. There was always something to worry about and to dread.
But living a Gallagher felt completely different. Though the routine of the day got boring once and a while, he knew his crazy (but not literally) girlfriend and her friends would do something drastic, and there were always his meetings with Joe and Townsend to make his life crazy, he thought, remembering the teasing that had gone on.
But the routine made him feel like he had plan, one beyond destroying the Circle. He felt like he could actually care and be cared about, and that he could plan a future that wasn't bleak and crime-filled. And his plan, to put it simply, was Cammie.
He'd been thinking about it for a while, and couldn't imagine anything that didn't involve her. He knew the CIA had programs where two agents could be placed together on missions each time until one died, but he didn't know if she would want to work with anyone that closely, never mind him.
He nodded politely at Mr. Smith who gave Zach a strange look but acknowledged him. He realized he'd been dragging his feet and walking at a sluggish pace in the manner of a normal teenager. He halted where he was and turned around, jogging toward the senior girls' wing. Cammie had mentioned that Tina was having one of her movie nights that she was apparently notorious for, and he reached the door he knew was Tina's from the sounds of a movie and whispering, gossiping teenage girls.
He knocked apprehensively, because despite a vast knowledge of many things, teenage girls were not one of them. He heard a loud, obnoxious shout to just open the door, so he did but didn't dare enter.
"And I swear Zach was totally checking me out when…" one girl whispered until another hit her as a signal to be quiet. A silence fell over the room and even the movie seemed to have reached a quiet part, and the only noise was Cammie's friends' continued conversation after nodding casually at him. The rest of the girls stared and fixed themselves.
He clenched his jaw for a second as he was reminded of how different he was from everyone else there. And he most certainly was not checking any girl besides Cam out. "Where's Cammie?" he had directed the question at Liz, Bex, or Macey, who he liked far better than any of the other girls, but several of them jumped up to talk to him, and through many of them talking over each other he understood that she had left to go to her room.
He stood there a bit uncomfortably, and looked at the three sane ones in the room for help. Bex just looked at him teasingly and nodded at the other girls like, get a load of them. Macey rolled her eyes at their lack of dignity, but Liz said kindly, "She wouldn't have locked the door of you want to go and talk to her."
He nodded thankfully and turned to leave, turning down offers of staying and watching the movie, which looked horrific.
He knocked gently on her door, which pushed open silently and Cammie looked up at him from her bed where papers surrounded her. At first he thought they were her homework for the night, but he then recognized them as pamphlets from different agencies that wanted to recruit her.
"Hey," she said quietly. He sat down close to her and looked at all of them. She had so many opportunities and offers for her future and when he looked at her he could tell she was a little over whelmed.
"Looks like you're a wanted woman. Should I be nervous someone's taking you away from me?" He was teasing of course, but he wanted to see how she would react.
She laughed softly and said, "Absolutely. I due to pick up and leave any minute."
He got serious quickly. "Cam-"
"I'm kidding." She looked at him almost adoringly. "You haven't got a thing to worry about."
He laughed suddenly. "I'm sure you'll find a new and exciting way to worry me." She rolled her eyes and pulled him down so he was lying with his head on her lap. "Eliminated any options yet?" he asked, though he was nervous as to whether or not she'd want to discuss it with him. He didn't know if she saw him as a permanent fixture in her life as he did for her.
"Yeah. I want to go to the CIA, but there are just so many programs within it. I'm not sure where I'd be happiest." He was thinking about whether or not it involved him, but them he noticed one of them looked thoroughly read through and dog-eared and even written in. He picked it up and saw it was the type he was thinking about before, with two people as permanent mission partners. He wondered who she'd been thinking of when reading it so many times.
Zach got up suddenly and pulled Cammie with him. "Let's go for a walk," he whispered. She nodded quickly and followed him out her door.
He held onto her hand as they slowly made their way through the hallways of Gallagher. They both wanted to speak but didn't for fear that someone would hear would hear them.
They got to the library, and Zach watched as Cammie ran her dexterous fingers along the contours of the hand-carved wooden shelves. He knew she loved the library, and he loved watching her be so happy and at ease. She turned and smiled at him and suddenly he needed to talk to her about the pamphlet. He needed to find out if it was him she had in mind to work so closely with, to trust and protect.
He gestured to a nearby passageway entrance, and she slipped in, closely followed by him.
Their footsteps echoed for a while until he stopped her and held her arms. She looked and him expectantly, wanting him to ask the question but not wanting to bring it up herself in case he didn't want to see her after graduation.
"Cam. I-" he didn't know what to say, but he wanted desperately for her to understand the magnitude of his desire to be with her. "I know that were graduating relatively soon, and I saw that you were trying to decide which CIA program looked the best and would make you happiest, but I saw that you'd gone through the one with the two people working together." Say it, say it... he thought to himself. "Who were you thinking about?" Close enough, he figured. Don't make her feel like she has to choose me.
His hand slid down her arm and grabbed her hand, gently rubbing it with his thumb.
She looked panicked for a second, but steeled her face into a neutral position with resolve. "I thought... Bex would be a good choice; the most logical, you know?" Her fast was downcast and she refused to look him in the eyes.
He froze, and he could've sworn his heart stopped beating. Of course she wouldn't want to be with me. Why would she? "Oh. Okay. Good. She'd be the best for you, especially since I don't really plan on keeping in contact with anyone from this place." He'd said it to make her feel like she wasn't disappointing him in the largest way, but afterwards he thought he might've said it to hurt her the way she'd hurt him.
And he instantly regretted it. She looked at him, not bothering to hide the hurt of his statement. "Well, fine then. I'll just leave you alone." She turned and started walking away from him, but he followed her.
"Cammie! No, that's not what I meant! Please, just listen." She started going faster in an attempt to escape him, but he kept up and kept trying to talk to her.
Suddenly they heard a noise from inside a connecting passageway. There was a crossroads in front of them and there were people coming from the other way. Cammie looked for a second like she might keep going and give herself away, but Zach grabbed her, pulled her flat against the wall, and slanted his hand over her mouth. She gave him an indignant look but complied.
As the people approached, they recognized the voices as Rachael and Mr. Solomon. "She's selfless and hardworking and ambitious, but perfectly rational as well. And she's got this way with words, and you can pick them apart like a classic book for all of the meaning they have, just like your words. And she's the kind of person you want to trust, and want to be close to because you'll be a better person for it. And she cares about the rest of humanity more than herself…" His voice faded away.
She had relaxed in his arms but wouldn't look at him. "They're not wrong, you know," he said after they were far out of earshot.
She glared at him. "What do you care, since you don't ever want to see me again."
The words hurt, they were meant to hurt, he knew, and righteously so. "Gallagher Girl, I didn't mean what I said. I just…" He looked at her, not wanting to complicate things.
"What, Zach? And don't think you can just use that nickname and I'll forgive you." He'd never try that, and they both knew it, but there was a lot for Cammie to be mad at at the moment.
He looked pained. He didn't want to sound needy or whiny but he wanted desperately to be with her, so he went with the opposite of what he'd been trained to say: the truth.
"Look, I brought it up because I'd been hoping you'd wanted to work with me, but since you don't, I didn't want to make you feel badly but I was really upset so I just said the first thing that popped into my head and I screwed up really badly and God I don't want to lose you." He buried his head in the crook of her neck, his warm breath tickling her and his blush concealed.
Cammie, meanwhile, was floored. She could hardly get a grip on herself, and his lips brushing her neck was not helping. "Zach…" she looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way to you saying that. Honestly, I lied, too. I was imagining you and me together when I was looking through that pamphlet, saving people and protecting each other and waking up next to you every day. But…" she looked up at him nervously, "I didn't want you to feel obligated to." Her head was angled down, but she looked up at him, trying to gage his reaction.
He looked at her affectionately and drew her in. "I want to be with you. Every day, every mission. How could you think I wouldn't?"
"I don't know. I guess for the same reason you thought I wouldn't." He smiled and bit down on her ear softly. She gasped, and her back subconsciously arched.
"Well who wouldn't want to work with someone who's selfless and caring and ambitious and rational and-" She kissed him quickly, and smiled widely at her. "You should do that more often." She blushed looking down, but he thought he heard her agree with him. "And what do you say? Official partners in crime?" He put his arm around her shoulder and smiled like, Can you see it?, but his eyes looked a little nervous.
But she was happy, happy, happy, and she could most definitely see it. She nodded.
He breathed out in relief and started walking with her, arm still slung around her shoulder. They were almost at her room when they saw Bex, Liz, and Macey walking back from movie night.
Macey took one look at the two of them and said, "There is only one thing that can make you guys this happy at this time of the night. Did you finally ask him?" Zach was more than pleased to know that she had discussed it with her roommates and it was something she really thought about and her friends approved of. It made him feel… hopeful. And that was something he hadn't allowed himself to be in a long time.
He just smiled and kissed her temple and let her tell them what happened and about their plans. He smiled as he walked away and took one last glance at her door, then walking to his room for the best night's sleep he'd had in a while.
I could give you excuses about why I haven't updated anything, but I'd rather let you bask in the glory of all that fluff. I do not think I will be writing anything like this any time soon, but I have an idea for a more angsty one shot to do.
I'm out of ideas for my actual story, but I'll plow through as soon as I can.
Also, if anyone is interested, I'm a beta reader, so PM me if you think you'd like me to edit your work.
-Angel