Right after that, the door was kicked down..

Zach's POV

I stood up so fast that the chair fell back against the floor. Shit! Cammie was sleeping, and the bed was a good 5 steps away from the door. I sprinted out, and I nearly fainted in relief to see that my mother hadn't come in with a gun to shoot Cammie's brains out.

Cammie was already up, sitting on the bed. She looked at me.

"Zach! You'll never guess who's here."

She was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't help but notice that her hair was adorably messy from her nap, traces of sleep still lingering on her face. She hadn't quite put her walls back up yet - and right now, she looked incredibly innocent and vulnerable. Not at all the spy girl she actually was.

I looked around. I didn't see anyone.

"Who?" I asked, my eyebrows pushed together.

"Boo!" That scared my guts out, but I was a good enough spy to just casually turn around to see Bex, Macey and Liz sitting at the kitchen table where I had just been. I smiled. This was unexpected.

"Hey Bex, Macey, Liz. How are you guys? Why are you here?"

Bex answered for all of them.
"We're fine. And we're here, because we've been tracking you guys down for weeks! Do you know how hard it was to find you? I mean, who knew you'd be hiding in...plain sight?"

Cammie and I chuckled.

"That was sort of the point." Then Cammie sighed.

"So you're gonna bring me back, huh? Or at least..." She smirked. "You're going to try."

Suddenly, Macey and Bex went in their spy modes, while Liz just sat there trying to look demanding.

"Oh," Macey growled, "We'll get you back. One way or another."

"I'd like to see you try." Cammie cocked an eyebrow.

"I'd like to see you try and stop us." Bex and Macey grinned at each other.

"No fair! Two against one!" Cammie cried. She looked at me for backup. I held my palms up in surrender.

"Hey. I'm on their side."

"What?" Cammie screeched. "Three against one? Lizzie bear?" She added in the most pitiful, adorable tone she could manage. She widened her dark blue eyes and looked at her small friend.

Liz just sat on the table, arms crossed, swinging her legs, smiling playfully. Cammie let out a small shriek, and then we tackled her. Or attempted to. Macey fell off the bed, Bex, luckily, landed on the bed, and I caught myself so I wouldn't land on either of them. How awkward would that be? But anyways.

Cammie had lept off the bed and backed herself into a corner. Oooh. Stupid move. She seemed to realize this, but we had already cornered her. Suddenly, her eyes watered, and a tear rolled down her cheek She leaned her face into my chest, and whispered, "Zach..."

My eyes widened immediately, and right when I reached my arms up to pull her into a hug, I felt her smirk against my chest and slip in-between my right leg and the wall.

"Cheater!" I yelled as she ran into the kitchen. I heard her laugh. Ugh, that just made me want to go in there and kiss her. But Bex and Macey shot me a look. We sprinted in there, but she was no where to be found...

"Cammie..." Bex and Macey put on their nicest voices, which probably would have lured bunnies out of their holes. But Cammie was strong. She was immune.

"Cam!" I tried. It didn't work. Not even a peep. We checked under the table, out the window, in the cabinets. Suddenly, Liz let out a scream. Apparently she started to help us look for her. And she found Cammie.

She was hiding underneath the sink, and sprinted out from Liz's legs and into the bathroom. I heard the lock click. I rolled my eyes. She knew we could all pick that lock with a bobby pin in under 5 seconds. Bex picked one from her hair and picked it. We piled in, but she wasn't there. I looked up.

The air vent. I sighed.

"Really, Cammie, you seriously have to come back to Gallagher Academy now! We don't want you getting hurt." Macey called up there.

"You can't make me! I'm serious, guys," Cammie sounded serious now.

Bex opened up the vent and right as I saw Cammie's foot flash away, Macey reached up and caught it. Cammie screeched as she was being dragged out of the vent. I caught her and pinned her on the floor.

She started trashing around, wriggling like a worm.

"Gallagher Girl," I grunted, trying to keep her arms behind her back. She was stronger than I expected. "Stop!"

"You can't take me back!" This time I saw real tears were in her eyes, and my heart melted.

"Cammie," Bex reasoned. "You can't stay out here. We know you were kidnapped. You're only safe in Gallagher."

"But I haven't even figured anything out yet!" I had let her up immediately as I saw her tears flowing down her cheeks. She was leaning on me – we were all sitting in the bathroom on the floor. "And the whole reason I ran away was to keep you guys safe, because I didn't want anyone getting hurt because of me, but now you're all here and I don't get why you guys keep putting yourselves in danger for me..."

"Cam," Liz said in a gentle voice. "We love you. We would do anything for you. You would do this for us, wouldn't you? And figure out what?

"Anything out about the COC." Cammie said, in a 'isn't it obvious?' sort of way.

"It doesn't matter. We're still taking you back." Macey said in a stern voice.

Her lower lip trembled, fat tears threatening to flow out onto her cheeks. She had just gotten through one crying session. She was making sad, whimpering noises.

Bex rolled her eyes. "Cammie. That's not going to work on us." She eyed me. "Or Zach."

But her tone wasn't so sure when she said my name. It was like a warning – but I looked at her again. Tears were flowing down her flushed cheeks, and she was clinging to my arm. She looked so sad it made me want to cry.

How the hell were Macey, Liz and Bex 'immune' to this? They were just looking at Cammie, a bored expression in their eyes, waiting for her to stop crying. I sighed and picked her up and placed her on the bed. I gave her a quick kiss on the head and she pulled the covers up around her body, curled up into a ball, and bawled. I guess all of the stress from being captured and chased down for her whole life was getting to her.

I went back to Liz, Bex and Macey. And was surprised at what I saw.

They each had some tears running down there face. I was surprised at how strong they were. They wouldn't cry in front of Cammie. No wonder they looked bored. They were trying to contain the tears.

I stood there awkwardly, and then finally sat down.

"You guys okay?" I asked quietly.

"Today's March 27th. The day Cammie's dad died." Liz whispered.