Was sitting at the computer with my Root beer, trolling tumblr, listening to old Disney movie song and realized I should probably update…

So here you go… second to last chapter!

Chapter 16

He's On To Something

He was calm.

He was awake.

He was holding my hand.

He was looking at me with wide eyes.

Just like mine.

I stared back.

"You're not Rachel." He said hoarsely. I shook my head.

"I'm Cammie. Remember? I was simply a fetus when you left."

"Your more beautiful than I ever imagined you would be." He said softly. I looked at his hand clasped in mine.

"You're mom and I used to guess what you were going to look like." He recalled, looking back up at the ceiling.

"I know."

He was silent. "Was he good to her?" he knew that Mom was dead. I don't know how he did. Maybe it was the fact that he loved her.

"Very." I answered, swiping my finger under my eyes.

"Good." His eyes drifted closed. Maggie appeared.

'Joe," she said softly. His eyes fluttered open.

"Mags." He said with a soft smile.

"Hey baby brother." She smiled, her eyes gleaming.

"Isn't she beautiful?" he asked Maggie. He was talking about me. Really I had never thought of myself as beautiful. Bex was beautiful, Macey was elegant, Liz was… pixyish. Me? I just disappeared into the background.

"Yes, she is Joe."

His eyes flashed towards my neck. "Cammie, your necklace." I looked down at the chain around my neck.

'What about it?" I asked.

"I remember that." He gazed at it, reaching for it and fingering it lightly.

"it was mom's. She gave it to me right before…" I didn't finish. The image of her lying in a hospital bed, dying. Her skin seeming too loose for her bones. The once lustrous hair, limp. Her eyes no longer carrying that tell-tale spark.

I remembered her frail fingers closing around mine after she put the necklace in my palm. Her hand had been so cold.

Now Joe's hand squeezes mine. I just couldn't bring myself to call him my father yet. His hand was warm. He was getting better. Not dying.

"There's something about it." he murmured, his thumb running over the crest imprinted onto the cool metal.

I looked down at it. It looked the same. A shield divided into two with a large tree in the center, touching the two sides.

He was quiet, eyes still locked on the necklace.

"Joe?" Maggie asked tentatively.

He moved his head to look at her. "Yea Mags?"

Her face smiled a bit when he called her by her nickname. "I'm sorry, but Cammie here needs to go. It's curfew."

I looked at Joe. He looked crestfallen.

"Don't take her away from me Mags. I've got seventeen years to catch up on." He squeezes my hand.

Maggie looked at him. "Joe, you need rest. Having Cammie here will prevent you from getting it. Cammie, Go."

I stood up. My dad kept his surprisingly strong grip on my hand.

"No!" he protested.

"Joe, she need sleep as well. I'll take care of you." Maggie removed his hand from mine.

"Maggie, No! You don't need to care for me anymore." Joe argued.

"Now you do. Come along Cammie." She reached for me.

"Maggie! NO! Don't take her away from me again!" Joe yelled.

Maggie froze. He had a hard determined look in his eyes. Not wavering. His grip was deathlike. Watched the two adults carefully.

Maggie carefully set down the cup she was holding and walked calmly to the door, which slammed with so much force I was surprised it didn't break.

Joe closed his eyes. "We never fought like that. We only started disagreeing when your mom become pregnant with you. In many ways I bet my sister is glad Rachel isn't here. But then you're here." He squeezed my hand again.

.

.

.

A few hours passed. My dad fell in and out of sleep. My head fell onto the bed and I felt him stroking my hair. Mom used to do that. When I'd have a bad day, she'd pulled me close and run her fingers through my hair. When I was a kid she'd sing as well as tell stories.

Zach had liked my hair to. He'd play with it when we watched movies or talked.

It was soothing.

I had really just fallen asleep when my dad shook my awake.

"Cammie. Cammie. Cameron." He said in a horse whisper.

I lifted my head, blinking groggily. "What is it?" I ran my hand over my bleary eyes.

"Your necklace. Let me see your necklace." He motioned towards the necklace.

Dazed I flipped on the light and lifted the chain from my neck. He took it and studies it intently.

"Help me up." He said,

"What?"

"Help me up!" he said again, straining into a sitting position.

"I don't think…"

"Just do it!"

"Ok! Ok!" he had thrown he covers to the side.

"Hand me that rode." He said. I did and he slid it on.

Getting him off the bed was different story. Joe hadn't walked in weeks and his legs didn't support him well.

So I half carried him out of the bed.

"This way." He led me around the school, making quiet the noise.

"J…." I hisses.

"Shhhhh." He said. I shut up.

"What in blazes is going on?" DeeDee appeared, Josh close behind.

"Why don't we just wake up the whole school?" I thought.

What I really said was, "No idea. But he's onto something." Josh hurried over to take my place in supporting Joe.

"This way." Joe urged. He dragged Josh towards his destination.

DeeDee sighed, wrapped her rode around her and followed.

I didn't think about my wrinkled shirt or my two day old jeans. I focused on the face that I had to follow the man that is my dad.

"Here" He stopped at bay window.

"Joe… What are you up too?" DeeDee asked.

"You don't remember?" he asked, cocking his head towards her. Josh shifted his weight.

"Remember what?" I asked, lifting my hair off my neck.

"This place." He said as if in a dream.

"I'm sorry. No." DeeDee said.

"It's Rachel's window. Where she would sit. She'd stare out this window and think. The gears in her mind were always turning. She'd come here to study and when her dad died…. She came here to cry. This is where we had our first kiss." He said simply.

DeeDee looked at the ground.

"But Rachel… oh she was smart… See here Cammie." Joe weakly beckoned to me.

With shaking hands he took my necklace. "See here… this… this crest… this is the Gallagher family chest. Oj your mother knew what she was doing. Look! The same crest is there!" he pointed.

The window looked like any other stained glass window. The glass was put in to be hills and grey put into be a castle oo a fort in the middle.

But my dad was pointing to the sun, which looked like it was setting.

In the sun was the crest. The same one on my necklace.

"Dad…" I choked on the word. "What does that mean?"

"It means," his eyes were wide with wonder at his discovery. "It means, we are going to Ireland."

Boring. I know. But it sets up for the next chapter. WHICH IS THE LAST ONE! But you can't forget the Epilogue!

Been meaning to update but got caught up in the fact that The Mortal Instruments is filming! And they started filing Catching Fire! TUMBLR SAYS ALL!