Chapter 11

Cammie's POV

Talk about an awkward car ride… It only took Mom 10 minutes to recover herself, get Zach and then probably apologize for me running out without being checked out. I could tell, as my mom wheeled Zach past my door, that he wanted to talk to me, but I think he must have known something had happened between me and my mom. So, instead, he just sat quietly in the back seat…the entire 45 minute drive.

Meanwhile, Mom was attempting to make polite conversation with us, and trying to look excited that we were going home. Not that I didn't think she was excited that we were; I just meant that I think she's trying to hide how she feels about our little argument and the COC document. In case you didn't know, my mom and I try not to-and don't- fight but a few times a decade, lately though, in the past year, there have seemed to be more. About what? Oh, the COC and how no one will ever tell me what's going on- whether it's classified or not. I mean, don't they understand that I'm the one who is being hunted; the one- of all people- who should know- to better prepare and strategize for what might happen.

…Anyways…sometimes I'd give her a more-than-one-syllable answer, sometimes I'd actually say a few, full sentences, but other times I'd just nod my head. The conversation was just making me more frustrated, though, and right about now, would have been the time I would have disappeared into one of my many secret tunnels and hid away there for awhile 'till I could calm down, come out, and apologize. But I was in a car, a little under 30 minutes away from Gallagher mansion, and those tunnels, my tunnels, were gone, sealed forever from me, to keep the enemy out-but really to keep me in.

I guess I blame my mom a little bit for that, but deep down I know the majority of it wasn't her decision; it was theirs. The CIA and FBI and M16 agents who thought, if given a window, I would fly from it, if given the chance, I would hide forever in one of the passageways where they couldn't ever find me, and then I'd find a way to sneak away from them, forever escaping their cage of protection.

What am I doing? I'm acting like Gallagher is nothing but a prison, but it's not. It's the only home I have; it's my family. It is also prison, but it's the best safe house I would choose- if it's even safe anymore. And even now, if there are new bars on the windows, I'm glad to finally be going back.

The road and scenery were becoming more familiar; we were close, so close that we just passed a Roseville sign and shortly after, saw a sign for the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. If it had been a week or two closer to when school actually starts, this street would have been backed up for miles as parents dropping off their girls, waited to turn onto the side street that led to the Gallagher mansion. But now it was practically deserted (I could only imagine how abandoned Gallagher mansion must be).

My heart was racing as we pulled onto the side road that ran right in front of Gallagher Academy. As much as I thought this place was becoming tainted with too many restrictions (we are spy after all, our fun is sneaking through tunnels and becoming the ideal fly on the wall), I undeniably missed it. And you know what? I was actually looking forward to having it all to myself for a little, like I use to at the end of summer when I was younger, roaming the halls, exploring the passageways, so mystified by it all. Maybe I'd do that again now; look to see if they missed any passages…or maybe discover new ones. I feel like the little, newbie, seventh grader I once was, amazed by the entire place, eager to explore it all, be an adventurer and learn of secrets that only I would know. Who knows…maybe, if I get the time, I could…or maybe the mansion would be even more locked down than before.

It was like I was having a panic attack I was so excited…which is really weird; I felt I could get there faster by running. Yet, I couldn't move, just stare intently at the road ahead, waiting for the break that was the exit from the mansion. The beautiful dog woods that outlined the entire mansion's perimeter and the road, extended over the car, creating a fall like shade, but their healthy green leaves had no sign of autumn in them.

And there it was… the opening…the long opening. There it was just how I'd left it almost 6 weeks ago. Except, now the drop-off area in front of the school wasn't packed with cars and people. There was just one…Aunt Abby's. She hadn't come to see me at all in the hospital, but at least I could see her now. As the car stopped next to Aunt Abby's, I got out to help Zach ease into his wheelchair, even though he resisted it.

"It's okay; I got it," he said, kind of squirming away from me, and I moved to the side out of his way so he didn't further hurt himself.

I guess I understood; he was guy, who didn't like to depend on others and had probably always just had himself to depend on…but it still hurt a little.

He knew it too, because when he finally got settled into the wheelchair, he took my hand and gently kissed it.

"Thank you though." He whispered, so it was all okay.

My mom was hesitating near the front of the car as if she was waiting for something, with a giant smile on her face. That something just came flying out the door and flew into me.

"Cameron Morgan, don't ever do that again." At first I thought Aunt Abby was really mad, but then she pulled back, smiling. " You had too many of us worried, Squirt, when no one could find you…I must say…you're so much like your dad-nah, your mom…ok, both of 'em."

"No, I'm pretty sure she takes after you, Abby," my mom joined in, laughing.

"If she could be so lucky," I loved Abby's laugh. Suddenly, her attention shifted to Zach.

"And you…" I thought she was maybe mad at him for not bringing me in when he found me, and by the looks of it, he did too. "You didn't do bad kid."

It seemed like something had changed in her attitude towards him. She no longer seemed to have the same opinion as she did when she warned me to stay away from him. I don't know if I'd say she completely trusts him yet, but I think she's getting there. I wonder what changed her mind.

"Alright, come on; let's go inside."

My heart sped up again when Mom said that. I wonder if it had changed, or if it was the same Gallagher as I remember. (There were no bars on the windows at least.) I began wheeling Zach towards the stairs, and began to contemplate how we were going to get him up. But they had already taken care of that though; a new, temporary ramp was installed to the right of the stairs, the top laying on the little part of porch that lay all on the front of the mansion that wasn't connected to stairs.

Despite how steep the ramp was and how not light Zach is, I still managed to roll him up it pretty quick. Aunt Abby had left the big, oak front doors open as she had run out to greet us, and it felt just like normal to walk through them, into the stone grand foyer. It looked normal, like before they had sealed my passageways and I had begun to question whether it was still a home or not. Not much could ruin this moment, in fact, nothing did. Not when my mom said I should go unpack the things that had been at the hospital and then she'd make dinner, not when I thought I'd have some alone time since my mom was going to go help Zach get settled into his room he'd have in the infirmary until he was ready for the one in the west wing he had stayed in last semester and then my three best friends appeared from nowhere, bounding down the grand staircase at me, not even when my mom was the one that made dinner.

Well, that last one maybe would have had a little effect had I not been able to share it with the six people in the world I loved the most, with the only exception that I still wished two other special men could have been there. We laughed a lot during dinner; Aunt Abby was her usual comic self, with the added assistance of Zach, Bex, and Macey. When I was rolling Zach in there at the beginning of dinner, I was kind of worried he wouldn't really feel comfortable, or everyone would just sort of not any pay attention to him, but I think it's official that they've pretty much adopted him into the school-which is not an easy thing to accomplish.

When we all finished, all the paper plates had been thrown away, and we had all had enough hysterical laughter, we said goodnight to my mom and aunt, and the five of us dispersed into the hallway. I told the girls to go ahead to our room; I'd take Zach back to his and then come up-pinky promise. After a little coaxing, they left.

We went in silence…yeah, I know, now would be the perfect time to have a talk, but I wasn't ready to bring it up myself and he must not feel like talking. I can't say I minded much; quiet never felt weird around Zach, silence never felt uncomfortable; we were both just thinking, analyzing and interpreting about a million things a second, like we were taught. Well, like I was taught; I no longer knew how much different that could be from Zach.

He surprised me though, when we finally reached his room and he lifted himself onto the bed. "Hey, Cam? ...Look I-"

I was kinda not wanting to have this conversation right now, and so I started easing back to the door.

"Um, I'm really tired Zach, and I want to see…Mr. Solomon before I went to bed, so we can just talk tomorrow…"

If he hadn't been so sore when he walked he would have followed me and probably made me stop and talk to him, but now all he could do was call after me. You probably think I'm being kind of… cruel? Immature? Avoidant? And I will fully admit to being all of those, but can you blame me for wanting to put it off? Maybe you can.

However, not all of what I said had been a lie; I really did want to stop in and see how Joe was doing. I hadn't seen him in six months and I wanted to see if he'd changed at all, looked better-possibly worse. I slowly walked to his room, afraid what I might find; I knew he wouldn't look as bad as I was imagining. The girls had said that he was the same-not worse. But even the same can be bad.

His door was open and my spy ears could just barely make out a slight, but steady beeping that was his heart monitor. When I walked in, I have to say, heart lifted a little. He looked much better than he had right after the accident; the cuts and bruises on his face and arms weren't as noticeable, in fact they were practically transparent scars, and his skin wasn't so sickly. It looked healthy again; he looked healthy, and yet he wasn't awake yet…he may never be.

The girls may have been wrong about how he looked but they had also been right; he was the same: still in a coma, still seeming as if he was gone from us. I hated seeing my amazing CoveOps teacher looking like this, the one that risked everything to make sure I believed he was innocent, and had gotten captured and pretty much ended up in the situation he was in because he had to make sure I had been safe.

Back when this had happened, so many other things had been going on with it that I never really had the time to think about him, and all of the things that I was now. Moments where his lessons weren't meaningless units, but had mattered and had cause me to succeed instead of fail, moments he had encouraged me and praised me for being one of the few to complete something successfully.

And before I knew it, I was breaking one of the key spy rules by crying-hysterically. I couldn't take it anymore as I rushed out of his room, running into something extremely hard…Zach? Yep, there he was, standing with crutches, well now kind of stumbling since I ran into him-which would have been rude of me if he wasn't supposed to be walking in the first place. I was shocked-no I was way past shocked or stunned and had past surprise a long time ago. Luckily, he regained his balance by himself, because I was still wide-eyed and staring open mouthed.

"How-You-!" The rest after that was just a bunch of incoherent syllables. I know, as a spy I should be prepared for anything…but can anyone be prepared to run into someone on crutches that still had a broken leg and shouldn't be making serious movements. Eventually I formed actual words and then phrases, and finally I got to: "Zach…! How-What the heck are you doing? You have a broken leg! Walking on it could cause serious damage!-"

"Therefore I'm using the crutches-"

"But you're not supposed to moving at all; you had internal-"I have to admit, I was FREAKING OUT! …Well…I was worried about him.

"A doctor's coming tomorrow to put on a walking cast, besides, I don't need as much healing time as anyone else-I heal faster-"

"Yeah, yeah; you're Mr. Indestructible, but Zach…You're. Going. To. Get-"

"Cammie!" I don't think I'd ever heard Zach yell like that before. He looked really frustrated but then his face softened and he reached up to touch the side of my face. "Just shut up for one second so I can tell you why I risked re-breaking my leg- or whatever you think I'm going to do." He had a small smirk- nothing compared to his normal one.

Whatever it was that he wanted to say was seriously bothering him so I stayed quiet and waited for him to talk, except he was having trouble with the crutches and was starting to wobble.

"Ok look, I'll listen to whatever you want to stay but please just go back-"

"No, it's okay; I have a solution." He hopped backwards a little and leaned against the wall. It made me nervous though; anything could happen that would cause him to ho tumbling, hurting himself worse than he had started out. But the way he had situated himself against the wall allowed him to not really need the crutches anymore.

He reached out, and since he had such long arms, he was able to take my hand and pull me towards him, and hold me at arm' length.

"I know that tomorrow could be a completely different day than the one before, and we have no idea how long I will be remaining at Gallagher, and my mom…she's well-her…but…Cam, will you be my girlfriend…and go out on a date with me-a whole date?" he didn't look vulnerable, but he didn't look cocky either; his face was hintless to how he felt and I searched it for a second before I answered.

"Yes…and that whole ditching thing was technically your fault since you kept lying to me." I was smiling like a fool, luckily Zach was smiling too otherwise I would have felt like a smiling idiot-which I probably was anyways.

Zach pulled me closer to him and kissed me.

Not to sound like a total girl…but he had finally asked me out; we're official…oh, God, I hope this one turns out better than the last relationship I was in. But I knew it would be; Zach and Josh are completely different people, completely different lives, and Zach and I are more alike than Josh and I would ever be. This relationship didn't have to be a secret, in fact, it already wasn't; we didn't have to sneak around; Zach didn't have to not know about who I was, the secret about my school, because he already knew. He knew me, and slowly I was starting to know him.

It was starting to get harder to think as the kiss got more intense. Something new was there between us, something pushing us closer and closer to each other. It was kind of like the feeling when we kissed in the tower, but this one…wasn't like we were afraid it'd be the last one; this time we knew it wouldn't be, and this time, I know where I stood with Zachary Goode, and I knew where he stood with me, regardless of his past, his family, or what could possibly be his legacy. So many new, foreign feelings were rushing around inside me, things I had never felt while kissing Josh, and all of them wanted more, to be closer and closer to him. Something told me we should stop though, but I wasn't listening to it. And the longer I ignored it, the louder it got until it was just screaming at me.

Yet my fingers remained tangled in his hair as he held my face to his with one hand while the other was wrapped around my waste, hugging me close to him. I could feel his body heat through his shirt, and his hand on my face felt like a raging flame that had escaped and everywhere it touched, it set it afire. It felt amazing and intoxicating all the same time.

But a minute and 31 seconds later, we finally had to pull away from each other because 1) I don't know about him, but I needed to breathe, and 2) I had realized we had to stop, that it wasn't the time for this; yeah, maybe after Zach no longer has a cast still on his leg and is out of the infirmary (I'd say until his arm is healed too, but he doesn't seem to be having any issues with it right now).

I smiled at him," Night Zach." I quickly kissed him sweetly, and then started to walk out of the infirmary, but turned around to stop and smile at him in the doorway as he said," Night, Gallagher Girlfriend."