A/N: CHRISTMAS EVE! Merry Christmas Fanfictioners!

First off, I'd like to apologize for the wait. December is the busiest month for me. Not only do I have to plan for Christmas, but every single Sunday in December, my church has a play or concert...And I'm in or in charge of a section of every single one! Craziness... And I had to be tutored for Calculus 0.o ...Please read the AN below.. very important!

The piercing sound turned into a tangible pain, forcing me to my knees. I curled up in a ball and lay there, whimpering. Zach dropped to his knees beside me. He pulled me into his lap, wrapping me in his arms.

"What's happening to her? What did you do?!" He yelled at his mom as she was pulled away. I stared at him as my vision tunneled.

"What did she do?"

"Do something!"

"Get the paramedics in here, now!"

I could hear the screaming, the panicked voices, the maniacal laughter. But as the pain overwhelmed me, the noise slowly faded away, and I faded out with it.

-:-:-:-

(Cammie POV)

(2300 hours)

I awoke to mass panic. Or so it seemed. My eyes wouldn't open, but I could hear the frenzied conversations, the footsteps rushing around. The pain doubled with a sudden intensity. I curled up on the cold concrete floor, missing Zach's lap.

"Get JD in here now! It's getting worse!"

My hands gripped the sides of my head, trying to somehow get rid of the pain. A dull headache was starting to form where my forehead was furrowed in pain and concentration .I forced my eyes open and looked around as best I could. There were agents surrounding me; several doctors, scientists, and older versions of Liz and Jonas that were working on various gadgets placed close to my head. I felt my body begin shaking involuntarily as the piercing shriek continued pounding on my skull.

"Cammie!" I felt a familiar strong hand gently brush my cheek. I looked over at Zach's worried face. And despite the darts of pain shooting through my head, surprise still registered when I looked into his eyes. Was he…crying? I squinted—half from confusion and half because my head hurt—at his face. His eyes seemed a bit shiny….nah. Just the light, I decided. My eyes felt so heavy. As much as I tried to fight it, I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness again.

Then his hand was pushed away as the experts crowded around my throbbing head. At least, I hoped they were experts. The thought made me uneasy for a moment. I looked at the faces around me.

"Close your eyes," said JD, a buff guy wearing a lab coat. His brown hair fell in front of his glasses as he leaned over me. I obeyed, trying to relax my taut muscles. Another moment passed. Then the waves of pain came back, crashing through my head even stronger than before. My knees jerked up to my chest in an involuntary reaction as I let out a gasp. My eyes flew open.

"What's happening?" JD picked up a handheld device and started typing furiously.

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out except a strangled whimper. And I felt that feeling, the one that I had come to both hate and love so much. The feeling of darkness, unconsciousness taking over me. As much as I hated how much it happened, I welcomed the pain-less sleep. I looked over and found Zach's face, anger and worry fighting for control, and then I blacked out.

-:-:-:-

The man smiles down at his daughter, a gleeful look on his face that is almost childlike. He holds up the two tickets.

"Dad," the 11 year old girl shakes her head in amusement, "I'm too old for the circus!"

"That's funny," he pauses for a moment. "Because I'm not."

He opens the door to the passenger side and waits for her to climb in.

"After you," he smiles. She laughs and hops onto the seat. He walks around the car, got in, and starts up the vehicle. They are a few miles down the highway when he suddenly pulls one hand off the steering wheel. A bag of M&M's appears in his hand. The little girl stares at him curiously, wondering how he did it without her noticing.

They eat the chocolate candy the whole four hours, all the way across the state of Virginia until they arrive at the circus.

"Look!" He points off to the left. "Lion Tamers!"

She smiles. "And clowns." She gestures to the brightly dressed characters that dance around on the grass. They stand and watch, laughing at the clowns antics, and gasping when a performer sticks his head into the lion's mouth.

"Come on, over here!" He walks over and buys some cotton candy, handing her a blue puffy cloud of sugar, an identical replica of the one he is eating. They walk into the large red tent, their faces sticky with blue sugar and their fingers rainbow colored from the hundreds of M&M's they had devoured. The young sixth grader grins in delight as she sits down with her dad, watching the animals and entertainers.

"Oooohhhh," she gasps, grabbing his arm and pointing excitedly. "Look, Dad! Trapeze artists!" The two people climb up the ladders on opposite sides of the ring. They each grab a hold of their bars and take off, swinging out into the open space. Her eyes widen as she takes in the graceful performers flying around the tent. One of the trapeze artists suddenly lets go of the bar, falling through the air. The girl's breath catches in her throat as she stares, enraptured. The fallen performer is caught by her partner, and they fly together, performing tricks as they glide by.

The girl leans against her father once they are done and watches silently as the next few acts come out. She sits up again only when it is time for the tightrope walker. She marvels at the complexity of his act. The performer makes it look so easy. Is it really that simple, she wonders?

The show is over, all the performers completely finished, and most likely resting. The father and daughter walk out together, weaving through the crowd and talking about the performance.

"Thank you, Daddy," the girl smiles happily.

Her father is opening his mouth to answer, when suddenly a woman stops in front of them, digging through her purse. She fumbles with the bag for a moment and then the purse falls from her arms, the contents scattering all over the ground. The father stoops down to help, handing the lady various items. The little girl watches as her father picks up a napkin and offers it to the woman.

"No, that's trash," the lady smiles and walks off.

The dad looks at the napkin a moment. The young girl comes up behind him, slowly and quietly. She glances at the napkin, only taking the time to look at it once. There is a list of names written across the thin papery sheet. Her eyes trail down the list, her brain committing it to memory accidentally. Her father notices her reading and folds the napkin, placing it into his pocket. He smiles and leads her to the car. She looks up as she walks and notices the music for the first time: light airy circus music that immediately catches her attention. She hums the tune as they get in the car and drive off. Circus music….

-:-:-:-

"Elias Crane. Charles Dubois. Michelle Schaffer. Elise Richards." The names fell from my lips easily. I paused for a moment, absentmindedly humming under my breath. "Johnny Ryan. Chase Mitchell. Josh Hutsley-" I paused for the last one, well aware of who was in the room with me. "-and Samuel Winters."

A silence filled the room. I shifted in my chair and looked at my friends and family. Everyone important to me was in the room. Bex, Macey and Liz. Aunt Abby, my mom, and Joe. Grant, Jonas, Preston and Kyle. Zach was sitting on the arm of my chair, his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. And then there's Townsend. But I decided to cut him some slack.

The past 24 hours are a blur, honestly. I don't remember much of anything after I passed out the second time. What I do know, I have been told.

Catherine escaped. They don't know how she got away. Townsend swears that they will figure it out. But to me, that isn't really important. I don't care how she escaped. I only care that they get her back and never let her go again.

No one has been able to figure out the pain in my head. That fact does bother me. I have eyes on me at all times now, just in case something happens.

Preston's parents have gone missing. It's all over the news and the internet. But I'm not worried. It's taken Preston time to get used to the idea though. He's been spending pretty much all of his time wandering around the Academy. Macey is the only one who's gotten a response from him. I sent Zach to talk to him a few days ago. I figured Zach is one of the few people who actually understand what he's going through. From what I can tell, it worked pretty well. Preston isn't as quiet as he was, even though I've yet to see a smile from him. But I mean, if I had just found out that my mom was part of the Circle, I'd probably react worse than he has…

-:-:-:-

I sat in the pigeon room, the same room I had been in with Zach before I left. I stared out the windows, my arms wrapped around my knees, and felt a rogue tear slide down my cheek. I sniffed, not bothering to wipe it off.

"Cam?" I felt Zach sitting down beside me on the old wooden bench. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. I buried my face in his shirt and sighed. There was silence after that. Not an awkward uncomfortable silence, but a nice, calm, soothing one. The kind that most people only get with the person they're closest to. And for me, that was Zach. He sat there with me, completely fine with the silence, just available to talk. Finally, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, staring out at the sunset.

"I…She…" I trailed off, not really knowing what I wanted to say. "…They got it." I finally said softly, looked over at him.

"They got….?" Zach frowned, confused. Then understanding dawned. "Oh, Cammie, no."

"It's true." More rebellious tears welled up. "They have it now. They have the list. And I gave it to them!" I let out a sob and turned in my seat, burying my face in his shirt once again.

Zach wrapped his arms around and rubbed my back, letting me cry. I cried silently for a few minutes (3 minutes and 17 seconds…but who's counting really?) I let out a deep shuddering breath.

"It wasn't your fault, Cammie." He rested his chin on the top of my head. "You didn't do it willingly. You had no idea what was going on. It wasn't your fault, it was…hers." He spit the last word out, as if he wasn't sure what to call her. His mother.

"I know that here," I tapped my forehead. "Just not…here." I motioned to my heart. "It's just…my dad died to keep that list away from the Circle. He died. And all they had to do to get it away from me was play some music. They have the list now."

Zach paused for a moment. "Okay, so they have the list. Fine. But so do we. We just have to beat them to it."

-:-:-:-

"I'm in. Definitely." Grant stood up from his seat. "Kick some Circle butt!"

I smiled wryly. "You mean, what happened yesterday wasn't enough action for you?"

He tilted his head and winked. "Never. I will never get tired of it. They've invaded our lives so much, it feels good to reciprocate."

Bex walked through door and into the guy's room. "Wow, Grant… reciprocate? Big word! I'm proud," she said, stealing Zach's smirk.

I laughed, while Zach looked slightly affronted by the theft of his trademark. "So, what do you say Bex… You want to help?"

Bex stood by Grant. "Jonas, Liz, Macey, and Kyle already filled me in. And there's no way I'm letting you do this without me!"

I felt a huge smile light up my face. The rest of the gang had already agreed enthusiastically.

Everyone except Preston. I hadn-

"So have you told Preston?" Grant suddenly interrupted my thoughts. I stared at him for a moment, wondering when he had learned to read thoughts.

"Um… no….not yet." Zach answered for me.

"I don't know if he'd want to guys." I admitted. "I mean… it's his parents…"

Bex and Grant exchanged a look.

Suddenly, Preston appeared in the doorway. He walked into the room and sat down on one of the beds slowly. "Hey, guys."

"You okay?" I walked over and sat beside him. He was hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees, his eyes gazing at nothing.

"I…I'm gonna come." Preston spoke softly, gently nodding his head. He looked over at me. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but I'd like to come."

I smiled at him. "Okay."

-:-:-:-

Walking back to the room that night, I tried not to think about all the things I still didn't know. Like where Catherine had gone, or how to find her. Or who the asset was that my dad had met at the circus and how she'd gotten a copy of Gilly's list. I didn't let myself fixate on exactly where and how I had given away the list without knowing.

Those questions would come back eventually, I was sure. But not now. Now, I let myself realize the one fact I'd been too afraid to admit: no one is chasing me anymore.

Now, Gilly's list is still in my mind, crystal clear and waiting. For me to be rested. For us to be ready. For a new semester and a new chance to finish the work that Gilly and my father started so many years before.

Now I know that, from this point, we'll be the ones doing the chasing.

And I like it.

THE END

A/N: Well, this is a pretty big milestone for me... my very first story has ended! The italicized section at the end is actually the end of Out of Sight, Out of Time. I liked how well it worked with my story... Okay news:

There WILL be a sequel! I'm not sure when the first chapter will be up, but I will post the first chapter on this story so you all can find it :) Also, I can't decide what to name it... So I thought I'd see what you guys thought! What do you think of these:

Shell Game
Ahead of the Game
A Whole New Spy Game (Play off of a whole new ballgame)
Game plan

Let me know what you think :)

I purposely did not mention how exactly Catherine caused the pain in Cammie's head for two reasons: 1.) I couldn't make up my mind... I have a few ideas, but couldn't pick. 2.) That will brought to attention in the sequel...If you have an idea, or a reason why it happened, I'd be interested in hearing other ideas! Reviews.. sigh... I love them!

I have a few new stories that are either published, or about to be:

The Gallathorne Games is a parody of Hunger Games that I'm tweaking and changing to fit Gallagher Girls.

Going Through the Motions: This is a new story I'm in the middle of writing. Basic summary- Much like this story, it's set after OSOT. Cammie leaves and goes to take down the Circle. She gets caught, and wakes up one day completely blind after a section of the Circle base is attacked. She decides not to go back to Gallagher immediately, but then accidentally runs into Zach! And that's all I'm going to tell you ;)

Double-Take: Cammie gets kidnapped in the Roseville Mall. Her kidnapper takes her out of the mall, threatening Cammie if she says anything. Cammie tried to get Rachel's attention, but Rachel's frantic gaze passes right over her, like Cammie is invisible. Rachel freaks out, and gets Cammie's flyer posted all around the small town of weeks later, Zach sees Cammie in passing. Something about her sticks in his mind. He sees a flyer posted in the gas station near his house, on a board that says: "Have you seen this child?"

Please check them out!

I hope you guys have enjoyed the story.. Please review! The most this story has gotten for a chapter is 11 reviews... It'd be amazing if you guys could beat that on this final chapter!

The sequel should be out pretty soon... Thanks so much for following this story! You guys are awesome!

-Ash