Chapter Six
"You're what?" Rachel Morgan lowered her glasses to her desk and stared across the room at her daughter. Zach cleared his throat and tried not to make eye contact.
"Hm, well, surprise." Cammie winced as her mother stood up and fire ignited in her eyes.
"This better be a joke." Rachel folded her hands and her eyes snapped to Zach. "Please tell me you didn't go and take advantage of my daughter."
"Mom, it wasn't like that!" Cammie butted in. "I'm as much to blame as Zach."
"How could you even let something like this into your realm of possibilities?" Rachel cried. "Cameron Ann Morgan, you're smarter than that! And you!" She faced Zach. "You were raised to do nothing but respect women and treat situations like this with the uttermost discretion!"
"Ma'am, with all due respect, Cammie is right, this is a complete accident." Zach grimaced and gave Cammie a look. She bit her lip and took a step forward to sit in the chairs at her mom's desk. Zach did likewise and the whole family took a seat.
"I don't want to know when, I don't want to know how, I just want to know how you can possibly know for sure that you are." Rachel explained, trying to regain control of her temper.
"I've been sick for a while now," Cammie began, "and Macey and them finally convinced me to take a test. The test said positive."
"Great. Well the first thing to do is go to a doctor. Those tests can be wrong." Rachel grabbed a pen and began to scribble something down on her calendar. "And when did you take the test?"
"Two days ago." Cammie sighed.
"Didn't you go on a mission last night?" Rachel's eyes began to crackle again.
"Well…"
"Cameron!"
"I tried to stop her. We all did." Zach spoke up.
"Thanks a lot." Cammie mumbled.
"You have not been the responsible girl I know you to be! Where has all your good judgment gone?"
"Look, we feel bad enough already." Cammie grumbled. "Maybe you could just show us the smallest bit of sympathy and tell me what to do?"
"Here's what we do," Rachel pursed her lips, "we will go to the doctor's tomorrow and find out just what exactly is going on. Then, Joe is going to have a talk with Zach about just exactly what he expects from him." Rachel glared at the boy and Zach went rigid. "Lastly, we will begin to plan accordingly based on the doctor's report and the details you will tell us further when we ask for them."
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"Yep, there's a baby in there." The nurse nodded as Cammie sat back down on the exam table after pacing the room.
"You're sure?" she had still been clinging to the possibility that this all had just been a big misunderstanding.
"Yes, Hun, we're sure." The nurse replied, amused.
"Maybe the test was wrong?" Zach suggested.
"This is a clinic, not a drug store." The nurse removed her gloves and handed the test back to Cammie. "I've logged everything into the computer. Your printout is on the counter. How you decide to approach these next few months is very important. If you need to think, take that time, but don't wait too long. We need to begin whatever course of action you decide on. Whether it's prenatal vitamins and regular checkups, a different family doctor, scheduling a midwife or taking classes, adoption, abortion…" Cammie watched as Zach gripped the chair he was in when the nurse said abortion.
"Um, we'll think and set up something right away." Cammie spoke before the nurse could continue.
"Have a nice day." The nurse nodded and excused herself, leaving Zach and Cammie alone in the little room.
"Abortion." Zach choked out. "Cam, I don't care what you want. We are not killing that innocent thing."
"Don't you know me at all, Zachary Goode? Of course I'm not going to kill it!" Cammie defended herself.
"Boy do we have a lot to think about." Zach leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. "Adoption?" he questioned. "I hadn't even thought of that."
"Keeping it?" Cammie retorted. "I hadn't thought of that."
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"This is not good." Rachel slid Cammie's pregnancy papers across her desk to Joe. Joe's eyes scanned the paper quickly and he swallowed thickly. He was smart enough to know what the rest of the papers said.
"You're sure?" he asked. Rachel sighed and nodded.
"Joe, what do we do? Should I punish her? Somehow that just doesn't seem right in their situation."
"I think first things off, we need to ask them what they're doing about it." Joe became his calm, serious self and Rachel thanked God once again that she was married to this man. "Adoption? Are they keeping it?"
"Are we allowed to tell them what to do about it?" Rachel wondered aloud. "I think society would frown upon that now."
"I think it should be a decision they make." Joe agreed. "But I think we should advise them. I think their punishment will be accepting this responsibility when they weren't ready for it."
"Call them in." Rachel nodded.
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"You are dead." Were the first words Joe spoke when Zach stepped into the room. The boy swallowed and stopped in the doorway. Cammie froze behind him.
"Joe?" she called. "Mom? You called Joe in?!" Cammie couldn't believe it.
"Mr. Solomon, Sir, I can explain." Zach began.
"Yes, I hope you can." Joe replied icily. "You two are going to sit down and explain a few things right now. And then I'll decide if I'm going to let you live or not. Because that's my stepdaughter you decided to-"
"Yes, thank you Joe." Cammie stopped him before he could finish. "We're very aware what he did to me." Rachel flinched hearing her daughter say the words. The two kids sat down on the couch and Joe and Rachel came to join them in the sitting area. Joe didn't sit down, though, he was on watch as if he expected to have to diffuse a bomb at any moment. Cammie began counting the seconds the conversation was taking and checked for all her possible escape routes.
"First off, you're going to have to decide very quickly the course of action you're taking." Rachel began after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"Wait," Cammie snapped to attention, "you mean you're not making us give it up?"
"Cameron, I can't make that decision for you. This is your kid and I'm not the one that's responsible for it. Your job is to make the decision that will give it the best life possible. Now I can give you some advice. Joe too. Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes." Zach spoke up. "We would appreciate it very much." He knew Cammie would not have accepted the advice, judging by the frown on her face.
"Well, first of all, I would suggest buying some condoms." Joe spoke up. Zach froze and Cammie coughed.
"Joe." Rachel warned. She folded her hands. "We think you should first of all sit down and have a conversation just the two of you about what you're going to do with this kid. Now, I would be fine with you doing either: keeping it, or adoption. However, you must be aware of the ramifications of both choices. With adoption there will be paperwork, child support if you want to stay connected, pain, and finding a good family. With keeping it there will be finances, late nights, work work work work. But it would still be yours."
"Now, after you decide that, we strongly recommend you getting married." Rachel continued. Zach's eyes widened and Cammie stood up.
"What?" she choked out. "Did you just say…"
"Why are you acting so surprised?" Rachel questioned as Cammie slowly sat back down. "I told you that sex was something reserved for married couples. Well, the damage is done, but I highly doubt you two are going to stop sleeping together now especially when she gets into her second trimester. You'll be wanting it all the time."
"Ew, Mom, I didn't need to hear that." Cammie gasped.
"It's true." Joe looked at Zach. "The second trimester is our lucky day."
"Joe!" Rachel chuckled dryly. "The point is, if you two are really committed to each other and in this thing together, you should get married. It's the right thing to do."
"Mom, can you slow down, please?" Cammie didn't even know what to think. "I still can't even believe I'm pregnant."
"Well, you're going to have to get over that, Cameron. You don't have time to sit around on this. You need to get moving. Literally. If you two are gonna have a kid together, you also are moving in together."
"I didn't even think of that." Zach breathed.
"Everyone just slow down!" Cammie cried, the room falling silent. "Zach and I are going to figure this out." She pushed her hair out of her face and let out a long breath. "But please, let us work this out on our own first." Her mother and Joe regarded her quietly. Zach squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Come on." Zach helped her up and led her to the door. "Let's go for a drive."
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"We're not ready for this." Cammie said as soon as they got out of the car and began to walk through the streets of Roseville. Everything looked exactly the same, thus the basis of its appeal, but also its tedium. Zach took Cammie's hand as they wove their way through the cute streets and let their unseeing eyes glance over the storefronts.
"Cam, we're international spies. A kid couldn't be too hard." Zach tried to calm her down.
"That's just it!" Cammie pointed out. "We've been trained how to punch people and make a bomb and you knew how to shoot a gun when you were four years old. We can't be parents! I can't be a mom. I'd kill the thing! We never learned how to be affectionate or how to take care of another human being. We're trained to kill. Not to bring life."
"Cam, you're exaggerating this. Spying is just a job, just like working in an office. Yes, it's a little more extreme than other careers, but still, I bet you that the person who make assault rifles for a living has kids. Just cause he's good at building weapons doesn't mean he's bad at being a father."
"Why do you sound so calm about all this?" she accused and he stopped her and turned her to face him.
"I'm not calm. God, Cam, I'm freaking out. But I also have faith in us. I know what you're capable of and I have no doubt that whatever decision we make about all of this, that you will come out of it in the best way." He promised, watching as her face softened slightly.
"I hope this kid gets your eyes." She whispered. Zach froze. She took his hand and began to walk again, still looking into his eyes.
"Do you know what you want to do?"
"I want to do what makes you happy." He admitted.
"I don't know what would make me happy." She conceded. "I have to admit, the thought of sharing a life with you is appealing." She blushed and Zach chuckled at her awkwardness. Cammie could still be so shy. "But I don't want to rush into anything that we'll regret."
"Here's the thing, Cam." Zach explained. "Regret is a choice. We can regret anything we've done in life so far. But if we choose not to, and be happy with what we have, we can have the best life possible. So don't think of what will make you less sad. Think what will make you happy. Right now. This moment. Cameron Ann Morgan," Zach stopped them on the sidewalk, in the square, "what will make you happy?" Cammie looked at her boyfriend, then slowly around the square. She saw herself, a high schooler, at the carnival that one night. Her first mission. And then another time, when she had walked down the street with Zach and he had kissed her right in front of Josh. She was in love with the man in front of her. She was nineteen. She had no idea what would happen. She wasn't used to making decisions based off of the moment. But maybe that would right for now. She looked back up at Zach.
"You." She said simply. He smiled and took her face in his big hands and captured her lips in his.