AN: Sorry it took so long to update, but I had surgery and couldn't write! Also, sorry it's so short but it was necessary.
Chapter 23
"Alright girls, up, up, up we've got one heck of a day ahead of us." Macey called at way too early the next morning.
"What time is it?" I mumbled.
"Time to wake up." Macey answered.
"Okay, okay. I'm up." Bex groaned sitting up.
"What are we even doing today?" I asked following Bex's example and sitting up.
"We're going to figure out what the heck is going on at Gallagher, and why we might have to leave early without extracting suspicion." Macey replied as she started shaking Liz.
Liz let out a tiny meowl at being moved before rolling over and sitting up.
"Your hair looks like a lion's mane." I mentioned to Liz.
"You've got a red mark across your face from your pillow." Liz mentioned back.
"Bex has drool on her chin." I added.
"Macey actually looks rumpled for once." Liz agreed.
"Well aren't we all just a vision in the morning." Macey said dryly.
"Okay, moving past our bed head, do you have a plan for how we're supposed to pull off this miracle you seem to have planned?" Bex asked referencing Macey's list of things to do today.
"We take shifts. Move it turns. One of us distracting Mom and Solomon at a time, another distracting the boys, and the other two figuring out what exactly has got Mom so freaking." Macey explained.
"I get the feeling you already decided who's going to do what." I mentioned as I climbed to retrieve my phone and practically fell when I tried to stand.
"I get the feeling Cammie's one of the ones searching." Liz observed.
"You are both correct." Macey revealed as she bent to get my phone for me. "Cammie and Liz will search, Bex is our boys doggie treat, and I'm on parent patrol."
"I'm a doggie treat?" Bex said incredulously. "How exactly am I supposed to distract all four of them at once?"
"With the only thing every boy enjoys."
"Macey no matter how important this is, I'm not going that far especially with your guys' boyfriends." Bex explained carefully.
"I meant VIOLENCE." Macey said enunciating very carefully.
"Oh thank the stars." Bex sighed in relief.
"How do you plan on distracting Mom and Solomon?" I asked.
"You leave that to me. You and Lizzie however have the hardest part. Bex and I will tell the guys and the 'rents that Liz isn't feeling well and your ankle hurts too bad to do anything today so hopefully you can just hole up here for the day. They may want to come up for a surprise visit, we'll try to give you warning but have a plan set up in case they barge in." Macey instructed.
"Does that mean we can stay in our pajamas all day?" Liz asked excitedly.
"Yes you can stay in your ugly sweats all day." Macey sighed. Liz and I exchanged high fives.
"So when do we go down to break the bad news? And when did we decide to start calling Mom and Solomon 'the 'rents'?" Bex asked.
"Good question. To the second one, not the first." I put in.
"We go down as soon as you're ready and calling the two of them 'the 'rents' just feels right." Macey informed us.
"I concur." Liz agreed as she began to pull her head into a braid.
"Alright well I want food so let's go down now. We'll send something up for you guys. Keep your phones on you." Bex said as she pulled on some socks and crossed to the door.
"Hand me my laptop before you go?" Liz asked as we rearranged ourselves more comfortably.
Macey retrieved the electronic and handed it to her before following Bex down the stairs.
"You have your phone on you right?" Liz asked.
"Yeah, why?" I said holding it up for proof.
"Mines still over by the bathroom door." Liz said gesturing.
"Well then let's hope they text me instead of you. What do you have planned? On the tech side of things I mean." I asked.
"Well, we don't have much to go on. I was thinking I would start on the CIA base and see what Gallagher's been tagged in and if there's nothing important then I'll try to get into Gallagher's without leaving a trail. I might need your help with that if it goes that far." She explained.
"You think it's going to take all day?" I wondered.
"If we're lucky, no. If we're not lucky...we may have a long night ahead of us." She began pulling up files and and opening programs.
"What's our back up plan?"
"I'll set a shortcut on the keyboard and it'll send us to a video game. If we had movies it could send us to that, maybe Macey will bring us some later." She explained as she pulled up a browser with an old mario game on it and set the shortcut.
My phone buzzed once. Text from Bex or Macey.
"Solomon's on his way up." I informed Liz as I pulled my leg out from under the blankets and deleted the text.
Sure enough, seconds later a knock came on the door. After double checking that we were decent, we called for him to come in.
"Hello ladies how are you today?" He asked politely, closing the door behind him.
"We've been better." Liz said with a small smile.
"Cam, would you mind if I re-examine your ankle?" He asked gesturing to the ace bandage that still held my ankle secure.
"Of course." I said sitting up and moving closer to the end of the bed for him to reach my ankle.
He gently removed the bandage and examined my ankle. He turned it and twisted it and felt along the bone. After a couple of moments he returned my ankle to me and backed up.
"I hold to my earlier diagnosis. You need to spend the day in bed, no arguments." He informed me.
I feigned irritation and sadness but inside I was glad I could spend the day with Liz. She would need the help.
"What's ailing you Miss Sutton?" Mr Solomon asked nicely.
"I believe nothing more than a common cold but the symptoms are too immature to tell. I decided to rest today to be safe and to keep Cam company. Hopefully nothing develops." Liz answered sweetly.
"I hope you ladies feel better. If you need anything, let me know." Solomon said kindly before exiting the room.
I let out a breath. "Okay, let's do this." Liz hit a few keys and then I watched the magic unfold.
Let me tell you something about Liz, she's a genius. I know people use that word a lot like "Einstein was a genius" or "Wow! You're a genius!" but Liz is a legitimate genius, and not only that but she's like the queen of the genius'. I've honestly never met someone so smart or someone that can do what they do better than Liz. She was born for this.
It's always incredible to watch a master musician play their instrument or a gifted athlete play their chosen sport. That's what it was like to watch Liz at her computer. It was beautiful, in a strange way. It was like watching an artist paint a masterpiece. Nothing compares. I could see how Liz always lost herself in her work because before I knew it, hours had past and it seemed like mere seconds.
A vibration was all it took to jolt me out of my trance. I pulled out my phone to find a text from Bex. Zach was on his way up.
"Liz, Zach's coming." I warned her and she quickly finished the line of code she was currently writing before hitting the short cut and changing the screen back to the video game.
I feigned intense interest and waited for Zach to come in. I didn't expect him to knock and luckily neither did Liz so neither of us were very surprised when Zach slipped silently into the room, closing the door behind him.
"Hey Gallagher Girl." Zach called softly.
"Hi Zach." Liz replied and I chuckled.
"E tu, brute?" Zach quoted as he gave Liz a look of utter betrayal.
"Hi Zach." I echoed and turned to look at him.
He grinned. "Hi. How's the ankle?"
"Well, still sprained unfortunately." I replied as I glared at the offending ankle.
"How dare it." He joked before sitting on the end of the bed and placing my sore ankle on his lap.
"I'm seriously considering replacing it with an ankle that can function better if it doesn't pull itself together." I replied, keeping the joke going.
He grinned. "How are you, really?" He asked, all seriousness.
"I'm good. Better now that I'm not the only one confined to bed rest." I said gesturing to Liz.
"I'm glad." He ran his fingers up and down my calf.
"How are you?" I asked, focusing on anything other than his wandering hand.
"Dead bored with you stuck up here." He replied, rubbing circles in my knee.
"Do you think you can survive the day without me?" I teased.
"I don't know...but I think I'll find a way to carry on." He teased back.
"Well, if you need me desperately I do have a phone." I reminded him.
"Very true, but as I recall you are truly horrible at keeping in contact with me through the phone your mother paid good money for." He pointed out.
"True. Isn't Bex keeping you occupied? She promised she would." I asked.
"Ah yes, hours of sparring to keep us all interested and when that fails, good old fashioned competition. She is a real charmer, your Bex." He said charmingly.
I grinned. "Try not to be hard on her, she's just keeping a promise to one of her best friends. It would be amazing if you went along with it." I mentioned hopefully.
He let out a dramatic sigh. "Oh the things one will go through for the one he cares for. If I end up with any broken bones, I'm afraid I will blame you." He moaned.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." I smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him.
He reacted excitedly and I probably could've stayed like that all day if it weren't for Liz. She let out a cough and we reluctantly pulled apart.
"Do I have to go back to spar with Bex?" Zach whispered to me, our foreheads touching.
"I wish I could say no…" I replied honestly. His hand reached up to brush my cheek.
"I wish you would...I could stay here forever and be happy." He told me quietly.
"So could I...but you have a Bex to keep occupied and I have a Liz to keep company." I reminded him.
"One day...one day you'll have to keep me company. Just you and me. I promise." He told me gently.
"I look forward to it." I replied.
"As do I...do you promise you'll be there?" He asked.
"As you wish." I whispered and stroked his jaw line, staring into his eyes.
He grinned wildly then leaned forward to kiss me once more. I never wanted to be the kind of girl that melted in a boy's arms, but I can say truthfully that I will always want to be the girl that melted into the arms of Zachary Goode and could in turn make him melt in mine.
I don't know how long we sat there, but I wanted it to last forever. A gentle knock on the door broke us apart.
"Zach, bro? Bex is starting to flip." Grant's voice came from the hall.
I sighed as he promised that he was coming. His lips met mine once more, and then he was gone.
"You okay Cam?" Liz asked with a smile as she returned to the code.
"I am over the moon." I replied honestly as I lounged once more on the pillows, a green eyed boy on my mind.
The day ended with good news and bad news. Good news? We weren't caught as we broke into the CIA and Gallagher databases. Bad news? We didn't get any information on what could be wrong at Gallagher. Like at all. So it was with heavy faces that we informed Macey and Bex that their day of distraction had essentially been for nothing.
"Bloody...well bang goes that line of inquiry." Bex said as she flopped onto the mattress.
"Well...I guess all that's left is to wait and see. Maybe nothing will come of it." Macey mentioned rubbing a hand over her face.
"Maybe…" Liz agreed. Macey took a deep breath.
"Okay, nothing we can do about it now. Let's focus on what we can control. We've got a big day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow. You guys ready?" Macey asked.
"Umm...in what way?" I asked curiously.
"Do you have a game plan in mind, places you want to go?" She clarified.
"Didn't we already plan all that out?" Bex asked, confused.
Macey got a confused look on her face. "Yeah...yeah we did. Right. Well, are you ready for our long day of shopping then? It could get intense."
"Yeah, we're as ready as we'll ever be." I informed her, a little worried.
"Okay well then, let's get some rest. Liz had a long day of computering and Bex had a long day of sparring and I just had a long day over all." Macey said rubbing her head.
"I'll hit the light." Bex said as Macey dropped onto the mattress and crawled under the covers.
Soon we were all asleep.
Hours later, a light chirping noise came from Macey's phone alerting us that it was time to start the day.
"Macey, your alarm sucks." I informed her as the incessant chirping continued.
Seconds went by. "Seriously Mace, are you going to turn it off or what?" Bex asked irritably.
Not a sound came from Macey.
"Mace?" Liz asked, concerned. All three of our heads popped off the pillow as we crowded around our best friend.
"Macey?" I asked a little louder, shaking her shoulder. She didn't move.
"Oh my gosh." Bex said flipping Macey onto her back.
"Mace? Macey, can you hear me?" Liz asked as I checked her heart rate and breath.
"She's breathing and her pulse is steady." I informed them.
"Well then what's bloody wrong with her?" Bex asked loudly.
"I'm going to get my mom." I said jumping to me feet, ignoring my sore ankle.
"Hurry!" Liz exclaimed, and I ran.
"MOM!" I yelled as I made my way to the top of the stairs.
"Cammie?" She replied quickly "What's wrong?"
"Macey won't wake up! Something's wrong with her!" I informed her.
She paled. "Get her to the car, we've got to get to Gallagher. The boys are all on a run you and Bex will have to carry her." She informed me as she made her way to her room, probably to grab her purse.
I nodded, pointlessly, and made my way back to the room the girls and I shared.
"Bex, we've got to get Macey down to the car. We're going back to Gallagher."
