A Gallagher Girls & The Listen Series Promptober

Power Cut

Haven't read Gallagher Girls? Please do not continue if you wish to avoid spoilers.

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Zach Goode POV / Timeline: Summer between book 4 and 5 (aka, the summer Cammie Morgan disappears).

This was an anon request for Bex/Zach (author's choice of platonic or romantic). It's not totally platonic and it's not totally romantic...aka it's Bex and Zach. I know this is not technically taking place in October, but, Cammie wakes up the day before Oct. 1st, and I just wanted to write about their relationship when she was gone.

Oct. 16th | Power Cut:

Day 01:

Cammie ran away. She ran away and it's all my fault.

Day 05:

We should have known she'd go to Joe's cabin. We were too late.

They won't let us help. They won't let me go with them. Joe's asleep and Cammie is...

Cammie is gone. And I'm going to find her. I am.

Day 15:

Going to London with Bex. "Try to enjoy our summer."

Stupid. They're stupid. They still won't let us help. We know Cammie better than they do, they're literally training us for this, it's stupid. They're stupid.

Day 40:

July 4th. There's fireworks going off in America.

There's people eating countless amounts of fried and grilled food, carnivals, picnics...all of it happening like she hasn't been missing for forty days.

Cammie would be eating funnel cakes and corn dogs and grinning at me over her shoulder...instead she's...what if she's...

How can people keep living when Cammie is gone?

Day 52:

I think I'm going to find her. I think I know how. If I can get away, I'll find her and we would be back before classes start. I can't take Bex or her parents will-

"Zach," her voice calls from the door and he looks up, his journal hidden on his thighs as his legs are pulled up on the bed, leaning against the wall.

Bex doesn't have her confidence anymore. Her smile is rarely on her face and when it is, there's no real emotion behind it. Her hair isn't shiny. Her eyes look sunken in, her cheeks hollow.

He doesn't even want to know what he looks like. He's been avoiding the scratched and scuffed mirrors every time he's showered in the shabby safe houses they've been bouncing around Europe in.

She glances towards the flickering lamp on the floor next to the mattress, "My mom and dad had to go..." she looks down, frowning, "They wouldn't tell me why of course but, can you make some grilled cheese?"

He nods, standing and tucking the journal into his back and heading to the kitchen.

Bex follows, he feels her eyes burning into the journal as she asks, "Taking up writing?"

He clears his throat, "It worked for Joe. Never know when you might need to clear your name or become unconscious when everyone needs you..." he trails off and grabs the bread, "Or ya know, maybe I'm planning to run away. Have to leave a note, even Cam was decent enough to do that."

Bex hops up onto the counter, "If you run away I'll kill you with my bare hands."

He tosses the sandwiches onto the hot pan, smirking, "You'd have to find me first."

Bex looks down, his words affecting her more than he realizes until he turns to see her eyes filling with tears and she quickly wipes one away.

"Shit, Bex, I didn't mean..."

He takes a step closer to her as her tears fall furiously now and she laughs sadly, wiping at them, "I'm sorry," she looks up at him again and covers her mouth with shaking fingers, "I think she's...I think she's gone Zach."

The storm outside seems to agree with the feeling the words give him, a large crack of thunder echoing overhead, filling his chest and making his brain fuzzy. He turns, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Don't say that."

Bex looks up at him, her tears still falling and on impulse his hands move up to hold her face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks.

She didn't realize her hands were on his sides, gripping his sweatshirt as she whispers, "Please don't."

He blinks, his thumbs stalling, "Don't what?"

She sighs and closes her eyes, "Don't run away Zach."

When she opens her eyes again his green ones are filling with tears and she shakes her head, her jaw bumping into his palm.

Their faces are moving closer to each other and his nose brushes hers, "I have to find her, Bex."

His breath is warm on her lips, her tear stained cheeks are breaking his heart and they both take a breath, both thinking about Cammie, both thinking about what it means that they have no leads, that they haven't found her, and both thinking about what it means for the two of them if she never comes back.

The rain pounds against the window, leaving streaks that mirror her cheeks. The thunder doesn't seem to have pauses anymore, a low and constant rumble, building in volume. The wind makes the walls of the house creak. The air is filled with tension and a charge, outside and inside, waiting for one more strike.

He's between her legs, their hands on each other and their noses and foreheads pressed together and when they look into each other's eyes, a flash of lightning illuminates their faces harshly through the kitchen curtains and then they're in total darkness.

They both grab each other tighter on instinct, waiting for the light to come back on, their breath short against each other, their lips not meeting, but close enough to feel every breath. Their eyes adjust and they stare at each other, he's not sure when the tears finally left his eyes, but they're both crying now.

It could be seconds or minutes that pass before Bex's hands remove themselves from him and she whispers, "I think there's candles and matches in the drawer to your left".

The charge starts to fade, the air starts to cool again. He nods, brushing her thigh with his wrist as he opens and finds them, pulling them out and placing them on the counter.

She lights them, hops off of the counter. They each grab a sandwich, a candle, and make their way back to the room.

Neither speaking, both sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall, eating their sandwiches as their tears slowly fall down their cheeks.

Neither sure when or how it happens, but they sink into the mattress together, her head on his shoulder, his on the top of her head, their hands clutching each other's in between their bodies. Their eyes slowly close as the two candles burn lower.

When she wakes up, Zach is gone, a piece of paper where he used to be.

"I'll be back. Promise." -Z