He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not Chapter 13, a gallagher girls fanfic

My hands were on Zach's broad, muscular shoulders, fingernails embedding themselves into the surface. Both of our breath was quiet and steady, our bodies breathing as one. His gaze led to the same area as mine, and only one thought came to my mind. This is it.

Approximately 1 day earlier

Ow. Ow. Ow. My legs ached with every step I took. We had just spent the last two days sparring. Sparring and exercising. Word of advice, never do 7 sets of sumo squats under 4 minutes; they are pure torture.

"I wanna sit down," I whined, looping my arm with Zach's, and resting my cheek on his shoulder.

He chuckled. "You'll live."

"No I won't," I insisted. "I'll die of overexertion, and then you'll be sorry. You'll be like, 'I should have listened to her, but, no, I was too busy being a stubborn little meanie'."

Zach stopped walking, and turned to look at me. He just raised his eyebrows, not speaking. His expression read, "Really, Cam? 'A stubborn little meanie'?"

I shrugged, "Well.." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. He just rolled his eyes and kissed my temple.

"Remind me why I keep you around again," he said, smiling slightly.

"Because you love me," I sang, wearing a big, bright smile.

"Oh yeah, that's right," he smirked, leaning in to kiss me. I tried to look into his eyes, sensing his mood had just shifted, but he was too quick for me. Like clockwork, Stacia interrupted.

"Will you two get over your little love-fest? It's sickening."

"Maybe that's just 'cause you don't have anyone to love on," I said under my breath.

Stacia just glared and stalked away.

"Nice, Gallagher Girl," Zach whispered softly in my ear, chuckling.

"Shh," I whispered to him, slapping his chest lightly. "Someone's gonna hear you."

"It'll be fine," he promised, waving it away like it was no big deal. "Now are you just going to leave me here kiss-less?"

It was my turn to smirk. "Yup." And I started to walk away, but Zach's arms snatched my waist.

"You're not getting away that easily," he mumbled as he kissed my neck, nuzzling against it.

"Alex," I giggled, pushing him away playfully.

"Mmm," he groaned in protest, returning to his previous position. This time, he brought his way up to my lips, not allowing me to escape. I tried to resist at first, but I always crumbled, and he was well aware of that fact. Soon, I was grabbing Zach's hair, and his hand was hot behind my neck, as well as on the small of my back.

"Wow, you two really know how to steal a spotlight, don't you?" Devon seethed.

We broke apart, and observed our surroundings. Sage and Devon were still eating dinner, and there were 2 other people I had never seen before. Everyone was staring at us, mouths gaping. I felt my face get hotter, and I turned my head into Zach's broad chest. He chuckled, and hugged me tightly.

"I think its cute," Sage piped up, saving me. "Sorta." Her smile faltered for just a second, but it quickly reappeared.

I smiled in return, flashing her a quick look of thankfulness.

Stacia reappeared. "Get some rest. I can't have you all sore and tired tomorrow. You need to be alert." Soon, the room began to empty, and Zach and I left to rest as well. I wish that we had to take out the contacts to sleep, but Zach got us the kind where you didn't need to. They didn't damage your eyes or anything like that, they were just specially made for going undercover. I know it was an extremely helpful thing, because our cover wouldn't be blown, but I had been longing to look into Zach's green eyes. He lied on to bed first, pulling me down next to him. I snuggled myself into his strong arms, and smiled into his chest.

He brushed the hair behind my ear, and kissed my cheek, whispering, "Goodnight." I looked up to meet his glistening eyes, and whispered the same thing. Zach rested his hand on my cheek, caressing it. He looked into my eyes, and I could see that he was worried. What about, I didn't want to think about.

"I love you," I said softly. A long silence passed between us.

"We should get some rest," he finally replied, looking away. I looked down, my heart sinking. Zach hadn't said he loved me since we'd been in the car together. Maybe he changed his mind I thought, tears beginning to form. I closed my eyes, not letting them escape, and went to sleep.

Earlier that day

I woke up to find myself alone. 4:46 am. I sighed, and went to take a shower. Once I was dressed, I sought out for the breakfast table, complying to my growling stomach. Devon and Stacia were the only two seated at the table. Stacia was giggling. Giggling.

"Hey," I said, feigning happiness. I sat down, and reached for two slices of toast. Stacia glared at me.

"You're up early." She was staring daggers at me.

"Um, it's 5:13. I thought today was 'the big day'?"

She deepened her glare, if that's even possible. "I said to get your rest."

"I did," I nodded, as if I were talking to someone who couldn't understand English.

"Well why don't you go back to sleep? I'm sure Alex is missing you."

"Yeah," I said, my voice barely audible. My eyes dropped to the ground, and I began to fidget with my hands.

"Oh, don't tell me there's trouble in paradise?" she gasped, putting her hand to her chest for added effect. Now I was glaring.

"We're doing fine, thanks," Zach replied, sitting down next to me, and putting his arm around me. He turned his head towards me. "Why'd you get up so early, babe?" he whispered to me, making sure it was just loud enough for Stacia to hear. "I missed you." He kissed my jaw.

"Aww, see? I told you he was looking for you," Stacia gushed. I wanted to take that apple juice she was sipping and do some things I'm not allowed to mention here.

"Mm," I hummed, mostly in annoyance.

"Why don't you two sleep in for a little longer?" she suggested sweetly, and I was ready to wipe that grin off of her face.

"Good idea," Zach chimed in. "Thanks." He stood up, pulling me up with him, and walked us back to our room. "So are you gonna tell me what the hell is wrong, or am I going to have to guess?" Zach asked once he closed the door.

"Everything's fine," I said coldly, going to open the door.

"Don't give me that." Zach blocked my exit.

"Well that's the truth, so I don't know what else you want me to say," I insisted, crossing my arms. We stared each other down for approximately 3 minutes and 27 seconds.

He huffed. "Will you please, just tell me what's going on?" Zach begged, putting his hands on my hips, pulling me closer to him. "Tell me what I can do to make this right."

I sighed and uncrossed my arms. "Could we talk about it later?" I asked, looking up at him. "I just want to get this over with." I didn't have to tell him what "this" was; we both knew why we were here.

"Sure," Zach sighed after a moment, admitting defeat. He leaned in to kiss me, but when he tried to deepen it, I pulled away.

"I'm hungry," I said, and my stomach growled to help me prove my point. I'm pretty sure Zach was convinced it was an excuse, but when my stomach growled, maybe he changed his mind. Or maybe he just thought I got lucky.

"I'll go get us something." With that, he left the room. I sat on the bed, waiting. I didn't want my mind to wander, so I went to begin a game of solitaire to keep me busy. Right as I was about to turn on my iPod Touch, I realized something. If I turned it on, Liz was sure to track the location in a heartbeat. I sighed again. I missed my friends, especially at times like this. I wished Macey was here so I could figure out what was going on with Zach.

"Hey," Zach popped back in the room, snapping me back to reality. "Okay, so I got toast, strawberry jelly, biscuits, margarine, and croissants." He said the name of each item as he lay them down on a blanket. It was obvious he was trying to lighten the mood. "I only got orange juice," he said as he lied the carton down. "Milk's not really my thing," he explained, smiling sheepishly. I giggled. He looked so cute when he was embarrassed.

"Sure." He looked at me, thoroughly confused, so I added, "You don't get muscles like those drinking orange juice." I gestured to his body for emphasis.

Zach smirked, but didn't say anything. He just grabbed a piece of toast, and loaded on the margarine. I could feel my eyes bulging. "What?" he asked, his mouth full of bread.

"How can you eat all that?" I was amazed, and my tone definitely reflected that.

"Huh?"

"All that margarine."

"Um, I don't know." He just shrugged. Guys were so lucky. You and your stupid fast metabolism I thought.

I shook my head, and began eating as well.

~ZC~

Once we finished eating, we went outside and suited up. We were armed with the basics: guns, comms devices, proper footwear. Just the usual.

"Everyone ready?" Stacia asked once everyone was prepared. "I want no mistakes on this. Got it?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Now, Sage, and Logan, you two will go together. You two,"-she pointed to us- "Go together. Devon and I will go together. We get in, grab the girl, and get out. Only go for the alumni disk if it's in your reach."

I could feel my eyebrows furrow. Are they talking about me?

"We will meet up with Chris at the Blackthorne warehouse, and head back here at 11:00. Remember, no mistakes." Yeah, they're definitely talking about me. "This is a one-time opportunity. Solomon is taking the girls on a mid-term exam, roughly 120 miles from their warehouse. If we mess up, we're screwed. These girls stick together glue. Mess with one 'sister', you mess with all of them. So don't screw up."

I smirked. It was good she knew what she was getting into.

"What are you grinning about?" Stacia scowled.

"Nothing. Just, if you don't think you can handle it,-"

"I can handle it," Stacia said through her teeth.

"Okay," I put my hands up in surrender, channeling my inner Zach. "If you think so." Stacia opened her mouth to say something, but Sage beat her to the punch.

"Wait, a.m or p.m?" Sage asked, raising her hand. Stacia just sighed and shook her head.

"A.m," I smiled, leaning forward so I could look at her.

"Thanks," she smiled, her face pink.

"Don't worry about it. It's an honest question."

"Yeah, if you're a dipshit," someone coughed.

"You wanna say that again?" I glared, staring down some stranger I had never even met.

"No ma'am," he answered, looking down.

"That's what I thought," I mumbled, walking over to Sage. "He's an idiot, just ignore him."

"He's right, though. I don't even belong here."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "Hey, remember what we talked about?" She nodded. "If you weren't important, you wouldn't be here."

"But if I'm so important, why didn't they train me earlier? Why did they take Stacia and not me? Why-"

"I find that the word 'why' can make a person go crazy. Especially a girl," I interrupted. I know it's made me crazy I thought, going back to all the time I spent wondering about Zach.

"But-"

"Come on," Zach interrupted, his tone gentle. "We're about to leave." I nodded, and turned back to Sage.

"We'll talk later," I assured her, smiling, knowing that I'd never see her again.

"Okay." Sage walked outside to help load the cars.

"Ready?" Zach whispered to me. He went to hold my hand, but quickly decided not to, letting his arm drop to his side.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I whispered back, reaching out and holding his hand. He smiled, and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled in return. I checked my watch and said, "We better get to the car."

He said okay, and led me to our vehicle. We got in, and checked for bugs again. It took about 3 minutes and 15 seconds to properly dispose of them all.

"They're suspicious," I said solemnly, noticing there were much more bugs than before.

"They're smart," Zach replied. He turned so that our eyes were locked. "We just have to be smarter." I nodded slightly, acknowledging how serious a situation we were in. He turned back to the road, and drove at a moderate pace. We didn't talk much for the rest of the ride.

We finally pulled up to the familiar building, and I sighed. Zach took my hand, and squeezed it reassuringly. I smiled nervously, and took a deep breath.

"Let's go," I whispered. We followed Stacia and the rest of the Cavan followers to the entrance to a carnival. It brought back bittersweet memories. Memories of my first CoveOps mission, my first boyfriend. Nearby, there was a rusty warehouse. Are warehouses like the one-shouldered dresses of the spy world? (A/N: ive seen like a bunch of celebs wearing these, so i just thought they were pretty big. sorry if i'm wrong). Solomon was sitting on a fairly near bench, quietly saying commands into a comms unit. He kept discreetly glancing over to the warehouse. Stacia noticed this, and told us to get into the building.

"Get to the back entrance," she whisper-shouted to Zach and I. "We're going to get the girl." We obliged, and sneaked to the warehouse's back door. There were huge, wooden boxes stacked on top of each other, guarding each side of the door. Zach pulled me behind him, so that my back was against the boxes, and I held onto him. He leaned forward to peer in, opening the door the slightest amount.

"The alumni disk is in there," he whispered to me, opening the door so I could see.

We sneaked (or rather, glided) in, and secured the disk in my jacket. Then, we carefully exited the old warehouse, and went for our car. We both knew this would be the hard part, getting out safely.

In the distance, I heard Chris' voice yell, "They've escaped!" I turned to the direction of the voice, and made eye contact with the boy I despised so much. He pointed to us, but before he could yell anything, Macey pounced on him.

"Go!" she screamed, dragging Chris to the ground. Stacia and Sage saw Zach and I, and I saw the hurt look on Sage's face.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, running next to Zach. They were coming after us, and it was definite they weren't going to show mercy. Zach and I swiftly entered our car, and stepped on the gas. The sound of the tires screeching signaled our presence.

"You've got the disk, right?" Zach asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," I nodded, equally as breathless. I looked into his eyes, and we shared a thought of victory. We did it. But the sound of gunshots interrupted our moment.

"Whoa!"Zach moved over to his left. "Take the wheel!" he screamed, pulling out a gun. My eyes widened. I had never seen Zach in action like this before. He rolled down the window, and leaned half of his torso out into the open. He fired three times, and I tried to concentrate on the road. Another shot fired, but not from Zach's weapon.

"Zach?" I asked, pulling him back into the car. He had a bullet under his right shoulder. "Oh my god," I said, sobs escaping from my chest. I looked back at the car behind us, and saw an injured Devon smiling evilly.

"Keep your hands on the wheel," he ordered.

"But Zach-"

"Keep your hands on the wheel," he repeated, his tone solemn. He groaned softly, and pulled himself so he could get in a shooting position. He fired one more shot, and collapsed back into the seat.

"Zach?" I cried frantically. "Zach? Zach?" I shrieked repeatedly, shaking him, tears soaking my face. I looked back, and saw Devon's corpse laying half-out the window. I put my knee on the wheel, steadying it, and took off my shirt. I held it to Zach's wound, and kept applying pressure.

"Come on, Zach," I whispered, speeding down the road. "Just please, hang in there."

~ZC~

Zach's eyes opened slightly. "Cammie?" he asked, his voice rough.

"I'm right here, Zach," I assured him, holding his hand between mine.

"The disk. Is it-"

"It's fine. Everything's okay. Just rest."

"Nah, I'm good." He sat up, and looked around. I did the same, staring at the white walls I had been looking at for so long. Zach turned his head to the IV he was connected to, and looked back at me. "How long have you been here?"

"A couple days. How are you feeling?" I asked warmly.

"I'm okay." He looked at me, and I was so glad they removed his contacts. It had felt like forever since I stared into his green depths. "Come here," he said softly, pulling me by the hand into his lap. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," I smiled.

"Are we okay?" he asked, cradling my face. I had no choice but to look at him.

"Well..," I trailed off in thought.

"Just tell me what's wrong. I'll fix it."

"Well, you can't exactly fix this kind of problem."

"Cammie." He looked at me, and pointed to himself. I smiled, knowing what was coming. "Spy."

"That doesn't really apply here," I told him.

"Just say it. And then, we can decide whether it's fix-able or not."

"Okay, but I really don't think you can fix someone not loving you." I looked down and played with my fingers.

"Oh," Zach said in understanding. "So, you changed your mind. Um, that's okay. W-"

"What?" I looked up at him, extremely confused. "You changed your mind, not me."

"Where did you get that idea from?" Zach looked just as confused as me.

"Well, at the warehouse, you just seemed so distant, and I..."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I did that because.." I waited for him to continue. "I didn't want you to get your hopes up in case something happened," he sighed heavily.

"I don't get it."

"If you knew that I loved you, you wouldn't be able to be happy once I was out of your life. You'd always think about what could have been, and you wouldn't be able to live a happy life."

"And what makes you think you know what's best for me, Zachary Goode?"

He was completely thrown off by my sudden anger.

"If I want to be in love with someone that's going to eventually cause me pain, then that's my choice. Why do you get to have a say in that?" He furrowed his brows even more, and sighed in utter surrender.

Zach pulled me closer to him, and snuggled me into his muscular chest. "You're crazy," he whispered, shaking his head. He kissed my forehead. "But I love you."

I smiled and hugged Zach. Closing my eyes, I replied, "I love you, too."

I think there will be one more chapter, and idk about a sequel yet. sorry about the long wait. please review:)