Welp, I'm back… My list of excuses would be as long as this chapter, so here goes… the chapter, not my excuses.

Everything was going as normal, I got my coffees, ate my salad with the girls, and we went to work out. I was doing some paper work in my office when the director called everyone down to the rarely used conference room for a meeting, the newbie's first. It was quite exciting for them, actually.

I met up with my friends when we reached the conference room. We sat down in our chairs and waited for the director to start the meeting. We chatted quietly about what our thoughts of the meeting were. We would have never guessed what it was really about.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me on this lovely day." started the director. "With this new batch of new operatives we are going to do things a tad different around here. We will be doing a buddy system. Each veteran operative will be receiving a new operative to counsel, make feel welcome, and show the ropes of CIA." You could practically hear the gasps in peoples' heads, since we would never do it aloud.

He started assigning the names, and two by two groups left with their newbies, until it was Michael, Zach, and me. Oh, an odd number, what a fascinating coincidence, I thought sarcastically to myself.

"Miss Morgan, you will be assigned to Michael, due to the fact that you live in the same building. But, you will also half way be Mr. Goode's mentor, because he still needs to know how the CIA works, yet he doesn't quite need the full attention as a new operative fresh out of high school will need. You are dismissed." We all nodded and left the conference room.

I walked up to Michael. I suggested we go out to dinner later this week to get to know each other, he happily obliged. I sure do hope he knows this is going to be a mentor student relationship only. Zach and I made eye contact, from a distance he smiled and mouthed "hi." I knew I had a faint smile on my face when I nodded and turned to get my stuff to go home. Maybe, just maybe, working with Zach wouldn't be too difficult after all. Psh, what am I thinking, it'll be hell.

*time skip, later that evening*

I was in the process of burning some brownies when I heard a knock at my door. With my oven mitt and super cute apron I threw the smoking pan on the stove and went to get the door. I had chocolate all over my face and apron, my hair was in a messy bun, and I had an old t shirt of Zach's on with some booty shorts. I'm not even ashamed of the shirt, it's literally the softest t shirt I have.

I opened the door to a familiar, unwelcome face that was sporting the smirk I hated so much. Yet, there was a smidge of an endearing smile in that smirk, that made me miss him more than I should. My eyes softened. I opened the door a bit wider, the universal signal inviting him in.

"Is that my shirt?" He asked with a quizzical look on his face. Seriously? That was the first sentence that he's said to me, literally since he left.

"Well…" I started. "Yeah." There was no denying it. It was his shirt; it said Goode on the back with the number 36. I smiled really big, remembering that this is how it used to be. I'd wear his clothes all the time and well… then I wouldn't be. You can come up with your own explanation for that one. Then I stopped smiling, knowing that would never happen.

"Is something burning…?" He asked. Oh my goodness. Does he only ask questions?!

I bit my lip. "I made brownies…" I said containing my laugh. He walked into the kitchen and started laughing. It wasn't that funny, he's seen my famous burnt brownies a million times.

"Honestly Cam, why do you continue to make brownies?! Or anything for that matter, you know you can't cook!" I had to bite my tongue from telling him that I've had the cook for myself ever since he left, when he took his amazing cooking skills with him.

"This was a new recipe, it seemed easy enough…" I trailed off, looking up at him. Lord, he sure was tall. He smiled at me and turned around to my pantry where I had some more brownie mix in a box. He started getting out all the ingredients and a bowl.

"Well, are you going to help?" My helping always consisted of standing next to him and taking scoops of batter out of the bowl with my finger and sitting at the bar making us some chocolate milk. I just smiled and nodded and got out the milk and chocolate and went to sit at the bar.

Once he had the brownies in the oven and the timer set, he sat down next to me and drank his chocolate milk. I sighed without even meaning to.

"Cammie…" I stopped him. "No, let's just go watch a movie." As much as I wanted to get this sorted out, I didn't want to deal with anything heavy tonight. He just broke out into a smile, a real easy going smile that I've only seen a handful of times.

I picked out a movie and popped it in. I sat down on the couch where he already had his feet propped up onto the coffee table, he knew I didn't mind. He pulled my feet onto his lap. We both knew, subconsciously, that this was perfect, almost back to normal, except we weren't a couple, and we definitely didn't have things sorted out yet.

I know what you're thinking, that I shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be forgiving this ignorant jerk. And I haven't forgiven him, really, I haven't. The timer on the oven beeped and we paused the movie. He got the brownies out of the oven while I scooped out giant bowls of ice cream. We each got a huge brownie and ate to our heart's desire.

We finished the movie and it was almost midnight. We yawned simultaneously and looked at each other and laughed. "I should probably get going." He said. I nodded and walked him to the door. He hugged me, and we hugged for a really long time, just feeling each other's warmth and smelling each other's scent, which, hasn't changed in the slightest. He kissed me on the top of my head and left, leaving me to shut the door behind him. I just stood there, with my back against the door, trying to sort out my thoughts.

Well, for taking that long of a break, I'm actually pretty pleased with this chapter. I love to write Zammie, even if it's just friendship Zammie at the moment. Thank you all for the continued support, you are truly amazing.

xoxo, Shmemily.