Just after 10AM, when I had slept a total of 20 minutes for the six hours we had been in the hotel, I turned over and looked at Zach. He wasn't sleeping either.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" I said jokingly, and winked.

Zach rolled his eyes. "I didn't sleep at all. This was a stupid idea."

"I know."

I sighed and got up, changed, washed up, and put everything back in my bag. The hotel had really been a waste of time. I was sure part of the reason Zach suggested stopping was because of my ankle. But now we really had to leave. The longer we stayed in one place, the easier it was for them to find us. I sat on the bed and waited for Zach, and the minute he was ready, we left.

Going down the stairs was considerably easier than going up them, so I passed my bag to Zach, and, grabbing the railings on both sides of the stairs, swung myself down the entire flight and lowered myself to the ground gently at the bottom. Zach just looked at me, and then shook his head, as if he knew that it was to be expected of me.

I had perfected my way of getting around injured last time I broke my ankle, and I was pretty used to it. When you've been injured as many times as I have, you have to be a little creative.

When we got to the lobby, Zach checked out and I went to the truck. He joined me a minute later and unlocked the doors. I climbed into the passenger side, knowing Zach wouldn't let me drive until he absolutely had to.

"Seven hours, Zach. That's if you take a direct route."

"That's not too long."

I shrugged. I guess it wasn't, compared to the 17 hours we did yesterday.

The drive was better than it had been yesterday. We sat in silence for the two hours or so, until we came into a small town and stopped to drive through a Starbucks.

I sipped my newly ordered coffee happily as we pulled away, and looked up at Zach.

"You know, we can't just show up." I stated the obvious, hoping to start a conversation.

"Well, that just ruined my 'drop in and surprise everyone plan'. What are we going to do now? Sneak in? What do you take me for? A spy?" Zach replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, but ignored his comment. "What I meant was, we should probably not even go to the school at all."

"Well, that's kind of where I was driving..."

"We need to go to the cabin." I realized suddenly. It made perfect sense. After all, the person we were looking for was Joe. And I had been to the cabin enough times that I figured he wouldn't be mad.

"Good idea." Zach agreed.

I stretched my feet out on the dash and put in my earphones to listen to music.

The drive went by surprisingly quickly. We didn't talk much, since there wasn't much to say. It seemed almost laughable to make small talk. In fact, come to think of it, Zach and I had never been ones to make small talk. We usually ran into each other during life threatening situations.

So when we got to the road near the cabin and Zach pulled over and parked the truck, I looked up in surprise. The memories from the place came flooding back, and I leaned against the truck for a few seconds just looking and reminiscing.

Zach came around the car and stood next to me. He reached for my hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Well. We're here, I guess." I whispered.

"I guess." Zach echoed.

I shook off the feeling of nostalgia and smiled. "Well, shall we go in?"

Zach nodded, grabbed our bags and put his free hand around my waist. We walked like that down the hill until we came to the trip wires, when I let go of him so I could balance better.

I made it down the hill slower than I would have liked to, but Zach waited for me as I went down.

When we got into the cabin, I sank into the couch gratefully, letting out a sigh. I allowed myself thirty seconds of rest, and then I got up and helped Zach with the bags. I threw mine over my shoulder and took it to the bedroom while Zach, who had already dumped his bag, fixed himself something to eat. I stood alone in the bedroom for a while, allowing memories to flood back. Zach came into the room a few minutes later and stood just behind me. I leaned into him and he put his arms around me.

He rested his chin on the top of my head and drew me against his chest. I put my hands on top of his and we stood comfortably together. I could feel his chest moving slightly each time he took in a breath.

I turned around slowly so that I was facing him, and I kissed him quickly.

"I'm going outside." I murmured when I broke away.

Zach studied me briefly, and then nodded. He understood. He didn't need to tell me to be careful. He knew I would be.

So I left the room and, slipping on the closest shoes- Zach's Toms, which were much too big for me-, I stepped out the door.

The night air was chilling, and goose-bumps started to appear on my bare arms, but it felt nice, almost refreshing. I stumbled down the hill in Zach too big shoes until I got to the lake.

I sat down on the dock and, careful not to lose Zach's shoes, let my feet dangle off it. I stared off into the darkness, to the spot on the horizon where I saw the lake end. I thought about the discs at the bottom of my bag that I had retrieved from the warehouse. I wasn't exactly sure why I hadn't told Zach about them. Maybe I didn't want to worry him. Or maybe I felt like if I looked at them the information I might find would just be too much to handle. Not that I didn't trust Zach. I just didn't want to get him involved, to put him in danger. I always felt inclined to deal with things on my own. It worked better when no one else got hurt.
A cool gust of wind made me shiver and pull my knees to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I realized Zach was walking down the hill behind me when I heard a leaf crunch about two feet away.
"You almost had me." I joked when he came and sat next to me.
"I wanted that leaf to crunch. Otherwise, I would had scared you with my super spy stealthiness." He smirked at me.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course. I would have been terrified. How considerate of you."
He chuckled and wrapped an arm around me, his body heat instantly warming me up.
"You know, Gallagher girl, I'm starting to think you have an aversion to all your own clothes." He said, glancing down at my-his- shoes.
I leaned into him and whispered: "Oh, shush."
Zach laughed, and played with my hair.
I sighed. Why couldn't things always be this easy?
Zach's hand squeezed my shoulder reassuringly as if he knew what I was feeling.
We sat silently for a long time, just staring out at the lake.
Eventually, I lifted my head from his shoulder and started to get up. Unfortunately, my right foot had fallen asleep, and my sprained ankle wasn't help in terms of support. So when I stood up, I toppled over, and almost fell into the lake. Zach, who had also gotten up, reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me from taking a midnight swim. However, he had only gotten hold of my finger tips, and I had so much momentum that I fell into the lake anyway. I shrieked as I hit the water, because although it wasn't winter, the lake was still freezing cold. I sunk for a bit, but then I pushed myself to the surface, only to see Zach laughing his ass off on the dock. He hadn't seen me come up, so I took a breath and dove under again, searching for the shoes that had fallen off when I fell in. Luckily, they weren't too far from where I fell in, so I found them quickly. I picked them up, and as I got closer to the surface, I heard Zach calling my name worriedly. I came to the surface, and he immediately smiled.
"Got your shoes."
He laughed, and lay on his stomach on the dock so he could grab them and help me out.
Once I was on the dock again, dripping wet, I grinned at him mischievously.
He just realized what I was about to do when I did it. I jumped into his arms, succeeding in getting him completely wet and cold. He had no choice but to grab onto me, and he held me for a while before setting me down. When he unwrapped his arms, I started to shiver and I realized how cold I actually was. Teeth shattering, I hugged him again, this time just to get warm. Even though it was probably awful for him, he held me tightly and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to warm me up. I pressed my face into his chest and tried to stop shaking.
"Gallagher Girl, let's go inside." Zach said, pulling away from me.
I nodded in agreement and, slipping on his shoes, started to trudge up the hill beside him. Even though his arm was around me the whole time, I was still freezing cold.
As soon as we got in the house, I went into the bathroom, stripped my clothes and stepped into a hot shower. Oh my god, did it feel amazing. After 15 minutes, I got out reluctantly and wrapped myself in a towel. I got changed in the bedroom. I was just grabbing Zach's Blackthorne hoodie when I heard Zach say "Gallagher Girl..."
His tone worried me a little. It was like he was warning me of something.
I walked into the living room calmly, pulling on the hoodie as I went.
I stood next to Zach at the window and looked up at him inquisitively. He nodded towards the road, so I looked up and saw a figure getting out of a small blue car. I tensed, an Zach put his hand on my back.
"I think it's Joe." He said.
I squinted at the figure coming down the hill. It did indeed look like Joe.
"Does he know we're here?"
"I doubt it." Zach answered. "But soon he'll know someone's here; the lights are on."
"Should we go out there and meet him?"
"You're not climbing up that hill again, Gallagher Girl."
"Fine. Then what?"
"Turn off the lights?"
"No, then he'll think we're hiding. Let's sit and wait for him to come in. If he sees we're not hiding he'll know we're friendly?"
"Makes sense." Zach agreed.
So we sat and waited. A few seconds later, Joe burst through the door, shaking his head and saying "Only you two would be so stupid-"
He stopped himself and took a good look at us. Zach had stood up when Joe walked in the door, and he was smiling, looking the happiest I had seen him recently.
I was still sitting on the couch since getting up was a bit harder for me, but I was grinning like crazy.
I started to get up, and Zach offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet.
Joe stared at my left foot.
"Not again?"
"I'm fine."
Joe looked at Zach as if for confirmation, and Zach rolled his eyes.
"You know how she is." He said in reply to Joe's silent question.
I rolled my eyes and nudged Zach with my shoulder.
"It's good to see you, Joe." I smiled, and
Joe pulled me into a quick hug. "Rachel worries about you, Cam." he whispered in my ear.
I pulled back, frowning. "She shouldn't worry."
"Looking at the state the two of you are in, I would say she had plenty reason to worry." Joe furrowed his eyebrows.
Zach and I both started to protest, but Joe silenced us. "Have a seat." He ordered us more than offered.
I sank down into the couch gratefully, and Zach next to me. Joe, however, leaned on the back of the chair and did not sit.
"Well then. Would you two care to explain yourselves? Why are you here when you are supposed to be on a mission together?"
I looked at Zach and found myself at a loss for words.
"It's your story to tell, Gallagher Girl."
"Hardly." I scoffed.
"Come on."
"But,"
"Cammie." He said, his tone serious.
"Zach." I mimicked his tone.
Zach rolled his eyes and turned to Joe.
"She was being followed and attacked by different men before the mission even started. And she didn't tell me about it until they attacked her again in my building when she was meeting me at the start of our mission."
Joe ran his hands through his hair, clearly upset. "Cameron. Ann. Morgan." his whisper was deadly.
I looked at my hands.
"How long had they been following you?" He asked, his voice strained with anger.
"Six months." I whispered.
Joe exhaled angrily and looked at me.
"I was FINE." I protested.
"I'm sure you were. But you certainly aren't now."
I started to protest but Zach squeezed my hand. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised.
"Just keep going, Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered.
And I did. I told Joe everything we knew, from learning that our mission was a fake, to finding out the true identity of the Director, to finally coming face to face with them and escaping. I explained how I sprained my ankle, and Zach told him the way we drove to get here.
"And so, we were hoping, maybe, that we could borrow your cabin, and you could help us?" I finished with a question.
Joe's face was blank. "You two can stay here for now. It's safe enough. But we'll have to talk to Rachel or even some people over at MI6 if we want this thing solved."
"I don't think we need to get my mother involved."
Zach looked at me, stunned. "Gallagher Girl..."
Joe looked at me deadpan. "Cammie. Please be realistic here."
"We. Are. Not. Getting. Her. Involved." I said through clenched teeth.
I wasn't going to make my mother worry any more than she had to. Only a year ago and a half ago, the circle had been chasing me, and I had run away, causing her worry that I wasn't proud of. As far as I was concerned, she didn't need another thing to worry about. I didn't want to be a burden.
"Cameron."
I looked at Zach, startled. He had never called me by my full name. Ever.
"Zachary." I responded, as serious as he was.
Zach looked straight into my eyes, more serious than I had seen him in a long time.
"Gallagher Girl. You're not a burden to anyone. You need to know that."
Wait, how did he know I was thinking that?
"But-"
"Don't you trust me?"
"Yes." I said immediately.
If Zach was surprised at how quickly and honestly I responded, he didn't show it.
"Then listen to me! I know you want to fix this with as few people as possible, but that won't work. When you were gone-"
"Don't." I whispered. I didn't want to hear him talk about the worst part of my life.
"When you were gone," he continued as if I hadn't said anything, "we had as many people as we could looking for you without letting the CIA or MI6 know you were gone. It makes sense to get help from the same people now."
I sighed in defeat. "My mom, the Baxters and Joe. That's all Zach. And no. We are not telling Bex, Liz, or Macey. They have missions of their own to worry about and I'm not telling them this to mess them up."
Zach realized that was the best he would get from me, so he nodded.
It was about three in the morning at that point, and I could barely keep my eyes open, so I got up to make myself a cup of coffee. I searched through the cupboards, but all I could find was decaf. While I put on a pot of that, I went into the bathroom to wash out my bloody shirt and hang it to dry. By the time I finished, the coffee was ready. I poured myself some in a mug and went back to the couch. Zach eyed my mug eagerly and after I drank a bit I laughed and passed him the mug.
"It's decaf," I informed him, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but drank some anyway.
I pulled my ankle onto the couch so that I could unwrap then redo the tape.
Zach got up and left. I paid no attention to him, until I noticed he was coming back with more tape. He sat down, pulling my foot into his lap, and started to re tape my ankle. I relaxed and leaned back into the couch, letting Zach do his thing.
"Thanks." I mumbled.
Zach looked at me and simply smirked.
"Yeah, because it's so hard for me to this. Honestly, Gallagher Girl. You have no idea." He whispered sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes at him.
The room was silent for a long time, and all your could hear were the small noises of the tape being wrapped around my ankle.
After a while, Joe walked over to the computer in the corner of the room and started working on it.
When Zach finished with my ankle, I pulled my foot away and curled up against the corner of the couch, tucking my right leg under me and stretching out my left one towards Zach.
I didn't notice when I closed my eyes, but about 30 minutes later, I felt the room get darker around me. I opened my eyes a little and saw Zach totally asleep next to me, his arm draped on the top of the couch, just above my shoulders.
Joe had left when the light was turned off, I guess, so I turned over and leaned against Zach, curling into a ball with my head on his chest. I shivered a little, and his arm almost immediately came around me, leaving me to question if he was really asleep.
I closed my eyes and relaxed against him.
"Zach!" I whispered in his ear, opening my eyes.
"Mmmm?" He groaned.
"Where's Joe?"
"In the bedroom." He muttered, half asleep.
I smiled and kissed him softly. Zach opened his eyes and kissed me back.
I pulled away and whispered "This isn't going to work."
Zach looked at me, sleepy and confused.
I smiled. "I meant sleeping on the couch. It's too small for both of us."
Zach stretched out so he was lying on the couch and pulled me on top of him.
"Remind you of something?" He whispered, regaining his usual smirk.
"I'd rather not sleep as if I was in an un-collapsed collapsible bed on a train." I quipped.
I got off Zach and curled up in the arm chair across the room.
Zach was almost asleep again, but he still winked and smirked at me. I smiled and turned away, finally falling asleep.