Zachary stood inside a dark room, his back to a large mirror that opened into a dimly lit one. The mechanical buzzing of the computers was faint, but in the pin drop silence, it filled the dark room like a suffocating wave.
He couldn't. He just couldn't bring himself to watch. He could see her in his mind's eye. Her dirty blonde hair, frayed from weeks of travel, would be unkempt and sprawled over her bare shoulders. Her freckled face framed by waves as her small lips pursed into the tiniest frown. She would be leaning over the edge of the table, the lampshade above splashing light across her pale face. He could imagine her brows furrowed in thought. To take the tea or not?
But he knew what her decision would be long before she did. How could she not want to forget? The pain of Grant's death, the fear of being on the run, shoved into a world of lies and deceit. She had not known this life before she met him, and her life had changed for the worst because of it.
So he knew.
He knew she wanted to erase everything from her mind. To forget and return the the normal world as a 20 something girl in the city.
Zach glanced over his shoulder through the mirror just as Cammie did. She wouldn't be able to see him however. Zach took a long gaze at her face. Regret swirled in the bottom of his stomach. All those weeks that he was cold to her, the times he yelled and shoved, treating her roughly came back to him. He never imagined he would one day stand before her wishing with all his might that she would choose to stay by his side. She hadn't chosen to become a part of this plot. Things hadn't gone the way she had hoped or planned but now was her chance to fix it. So how could he ask her to choose him? To choose a world of spies and espionage when she had nothing to do with any of it? He wanted so badly to run to her. To promise to protect her regardless of what happened. He didn't think the tea would ever work on him. Cammie might want to forget but he didn't.
The feeling of her soft lips on his.
The way her skin felt under his finger tips and the exact color of her eyes.
The smell of her hair, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled. The way her brows furrowed when she was angry. The sound of her voice, and the shape of her lips when she called his name. The way she weeped for Grant, the way his heart dropped the moment she ran in front of the bullet.
No he wouldn't forget. No matter what, the good and the bad, he would never let the memories slip from his mind again. His heart clenched at the thought of her bewildered face when she saw him, her eyes not recognizing his emerald green ones. But he at least should treasure their memories. It was the only way he knew how to make it up to her. Zach looked at Cammie one last time. He dried the trail of tears on his face, straightened his back and left the room.
On the other side of the mirror, Cammie had already made her decision. She reached for the cup.