Chapter 23- Epilogue

Zach pov

Cammie was released from the hospital a week later. She was recovering faster than expected, I knew she was a survivor. The only physical reminder she had was the thin scar that ran along her stomach. It's just another battle scar. We've both have too many of those.

"Are you ready Cammie?" It wasn't me who said that. The doctor was here to tell Cammie about her meds that she will have to take for another week. They were also talking about her next appointment and things of that sort. I got lost in my own thoughts shortly after that.

Cammie agreed to going away with me. It's been a week and I still haven't decided when or where. I wanted it to be a surprise for Cammie. I guess I'll surprise her when we have nowhere to go, I'm sure she'll like that.

We have to wait until she has finished all of her medication, obviously. As for the location, we can't go to any of the places we have been over the past couple of weeks. So that takes out most of Europe, and D.C. I wasn't planning on going to D.C anyway. I want us to go somewhere far enough to forget our problems after a while. I don't want to be reminded about the past couple of weeks, and I'm sure Cammie feels the same.

As for this moment, I want her to come home. I've been waiting for this moment for months now. It's been awhile since any of us have been there. Hopefully, we can make it feel like a home again, for the both of us.

I actually have a surprise waiting for her once we get home. Technically it's not exactly at home. The surprise starts at home. I have a feeling she's going to like this.

"Zach?" Hearing Cammie's voice brought me back to reality.

"Yeah Cammie?" I turned my gaze to her and saw her with a stack of papers on her lap. "A little help here." I'm guessing those were her discharge papers. I nodded and took the pen and all the papers from her hands and began filling them out, adding my signature whenever required.

"I got this, why don't you make sure you have everything." I tell her. "Sure Zach, that will only take me a minute." She says standing up to get her things. Her family visited almost every day along with Macey, Liz and Bex. They brought her some stuff from home since I was unwilling to leave her.

I stayed with her every night and day she was in the hospital. I only left her side to sneak her in some food or to get coffee. While Cammie falls asleep easily, I have trouble falling asleep myself until I know she is sound asleep. I wait until I hear her soft snores, before holding her hand and drifting to sleep in the chair right next to her. And I wake up the same way.

Normally after a mission, I would be plagued by the events of it for days, depending on how badly it went. It's surprising that after this one, I've had no nightmare, just nights of dreamless sleep. Previously after a few days with Cammie, the nightmares usually disappear.

"Are you finished yet?" She asked slinging her bag over her shoulder. "All you had to do was sign a few times and write your initials. Is that too hard for you Zach?" She said smirking at me. I stood up signing for the last time, pulled the bag from her shoulder and placed it on my own.

"Hardly Gallagher Girl." I kissed her cheek before grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the hospital room. All we had to do now was drop off her papers, and find our way home.

"I'm going to drop you off when I get home. Then I have to go get your medication before the pharmacy closes." I said. I wasn't exactly lying per say, I did have to get her medicine, but there was another stop I had to make first, one I couldn't have her knowing yet. And I also lied about never leaving Cammie. Last night when she was sleeping, I left to take care of the surprise. I was back within the hour.

"Sure, you are going to have to lend me your keys though." I reached into my pocket and fished out my keys I asked Bex to bring me a few days ago. Cammie sighed, telling me to come home soon because she was worried about all the cleaning she had to do.

"Stop being overdramatic Cammie, the only thing you have to do is clean out the fridge. And we can postpone that for tomorrow. Why don't you go home and take a nap. I'm sure the bed still isn't made." I tell her lightly. I still need some time to put things together. However, she doesn't question my motives.

"You better make the bed when you come home because I'm not doing it. And a nap sounds good right now. I got a lot of sleep over the past couple of days, but I am exhausted. Something about the hospital makes me so sleepy." She leans her head on the window, her eyelids drooping. The doctor told me yesterday that fatigue was a common side effect of her medicine.

"We're almost there Cammie. You can go to sleep once you get home." If she falls asleep now, she won't when she gets home and I would have less time. I need that time to make everything perfect.

"Okay Zach." She said rubbing her eyes with her hand. I made small talk with her to keep her awake for the next couple of minutes. I didn't want her to suddenly fall asleep in the elevator or something. Maybe I should go up with her.

When we finally got in front of our apartmen, I took the keys out once I parked.

"You're coming with me?" She asked confused. When she looks confused, she scrunches up her face in the cutest way.

"Yeah, I want to make sure you get up safely."

"I'm fine Zach. I'm tired but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of climbing some stairs and opening a door. Just go get the medicine, the faster the leave, the quicker you'll come back." I knew she was right, she could handle herself. I kissed her cheek.

"I'll be back soon." I told her opening the car door.

"Bring me back some food, I get hungry after my naps!" She called out before waving at me and walking through the doors of our apartment complex.

I had to work fast. And somehow I need to incorporate some food into this. I can definitely plan a proposal. I have an idea for most of it, all I have to do now is set it up and get Cammie. I made myself a promise that once we finished this mission I would ask her to marry me. After not being to be with her for so long, to not know if she was alright for months made me realize that I can't stand being away from her. I love her, and I'm ready to be with her for the rest of our lives (if she says yes) because I can't live without her.

I got Cammie's medicine quickly, and now with that out of the way, all I had to do now was stop by the florist, and set everything up at the museum. I already was able to convince them to leave the the ruby slippers exhibit open for a few more hours. They agreed once I told them I wanted to propose to my girlfriend there. It was where we first met afterall.

Once I had that secured I sped up to get home faster. Hopefully she is awake by now, I would hate to wake her up and leave her grumpy for the next couple of hours. That would put a damper on things.

I got home and pulled the blindfold out of my pocket. If I didn't cover her eyes, my Gallagher Girl would know where we were going as soon as we got on the freeway. I knocked on the door softly. She opened it in mid-yawn.

"Finally. Where have you been, I was waiting for you." She said pulling me inside by my arm.

"I was finishing your surprise." I grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and put it around her shoulders.

"What surprise?" I stood behind her and put the blindfold on. "What are you doing Zach?" She immediately began to try and take it off. I slapped her hand away lightly.

"It won't be much of a surprise if you can see where we are going."

"Can you help me at least put on my jacket and shoes properly. "It was more of a demand rather than a question.

"Of course." I helped put her arms through her jacket. The entire time she had this frown on her face. "You'll like it, I promise." I told her grabbing her hand and leading her out of the apartment to the car.

She didn't stay angry for a while, after a few minutes she began to guess where we were going.

"The Gallagher Academy?"

"Nope."

"Roseville."

"Tempting but still no." It went on like that for another half hour, until we got to the museum. I was planning on keeping the blindfold on until we got to the elevator. She'll recognize it soon enough.

"Are we there yet?" She asked sounding bored. Things would get more interesting soon.

"Almost. I'll take your blindfold off in a minute." I promised. She sighed. "Finally, it's been long enough." I laughed at her impatience.

We got to the elevator and there was a slight ping in the air as it arrived, "Why are we in an elevator Zach?"

"You'll see soon enough." Then as I guaranteed, I took off the blindfold. She looked around in shock. "Why are we in the Smithsonian?" She asked me fidgeting slightly.

"Are you ok, you seem a little jumpy." She seemed to notice what I was doing.

"I have low blood sugar." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a new pack of peanut M&M's. I offered them to her, which she took gingerly. She had a shy smile on her face, I think she knows what is going to happen.

The elevator doors opened. I held her hand and led her to the ruby slippers exhibit. Right in front of the case was a picnic blanket, some candles and food spread out. And in my pocket was a small velvet box.

"Hi again Gallagher girl." I told her once we were a few centimeters away from the picnic. It was dark, seeing as how the candles were the only source of light. However, I could still see the shocked and dazed expression on her face.

"Do you like it?" I asked her tentatively.

"I love it Zach. It's breathtaking and so worth waiting up for you." I chuckled. "What brought this on?" It's now or never. I was originally planning to wait until we ate, but my Gallagher Girl is too clever for her own good.

I bent down on one knee and reached into my pocket to pull out the small box. "Cammie, ever since we met I have been infatuated with you. I love you,and every day that we are together I find a way to love you even more than the previous day. If these past months proven anything it's that I can't be without you. I love you Cameron Ann Morgan. Will you marry me?"

She looked down at me with tears rolling down her face. "Yes!" I slipped the ring on her finger, and wrapped my arms around her. Her arms found their way to my neck as mine went to her waist. I dipped her slightly.

"Just so you know Gallagher Girl, I'm going to kiss you right now." I leaned down and kissed her passionately. She agreed, she agreed to be my wife. When we pulled apart I leaned my forehead on hers.

"I told you, I always finish what I start." She smiled and pulled me down for another kiss.

Life was good.

A/N: AHHH! This story is over, I can't believe it! I started this last summer and honestly I thought it would take me longer than a year to finish this. It was only 23 chapters but my updating was very spaced out.

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