Only The Goode Spy Forever

Chapter 28: Facing the Ghosts

   "I said not to write! I said not to come get me!" Chase fumed.

   "Relax," Zach said with the flick oh his wrist. "They think we came to lecture Jonas's class. Besides, we needed to come to talk in person. This is dangerous."

"I know it is," Chase said casually. "Which is why I didn't want you here. I have things under control."

"Really," I snapped, finally finding my voice. "Because I don't think standing in front of a target while someone throws knives is having things under control, Chase."

"I caught every knife that dad threw. Therefore, having things under control," he sang. I glared at him.

"Do you have any idea what Catherine would do if she got to you? Do you have any idea what would happen to Anna?" I said softly. Chase's cocky grin fell. He fixed his posture and looked more like a man.

"Yes, mom, I get it," he sighed. He ran his hands through his hair. He didn't look like Zach did when he was joking around anymore. He looked like Zach when he was stressed. I put my hand on his arm. He regained his composure and we entered his room.

   "Wow," I laughed. "Looks like prison." Chase laughed back. I turned around to see a frozen Zach. He just stood silently at the door. "Zach?" His eyes locked with mine. I saw a small amount of sadness cross his eyes.

   "This was my room," he whispered. I nodded. Zach's ghosts had been left at Blackthorne for years. He finally had to face them.

   "Ya, I uh found your hiding place," Chase said, motioning to a shoebox. Zach walked over to it and picked up a journal. He skimmed through the pages and put it down. He picked up 2 pictures. 1 he looked at with pain, the other made him smile.

   "Look, Gallagher Girl. Our first ball," he said with a smile. I looked at the picture and saw myself holding Zach's arm in a strapless red dress. "You didn't look hideous that night." I punched his arm. He flinched like he did every time.

   "Chase have you been to the tombs?" I asked. I didn't know what made me say it. I was greeted with wide eyes from the boys.

   "We don't really go there. It's kinda blown up a bit," Chase replied. And just like that my mind flashed to another day at Blackthorne. A day where Zach pointed a gun to explosives and mouthed goodbye. A day where I ran, leaving him to die. A day that I would never forgive myself for.

"Gallagher Girl!" Zach shouted. I looked at him confused. He grabbed my wrist. Hard. "Put that down."

"Put what down?" I asked as Zach pressed on a pressure point and I relaxed my hand. A throwing knife crashed to the ground. Chase was looking at me like I was crazy. Zach looked concerned.

"I think it might be time that we leave," Zach said cautiously.

Bex found me and her and I went for a walk. Grant and Zach talked to Chase and gathered intel on everything that we needed to know. I hugged my son goodbye and left him. In a way it felt like when I left Zach. I was leaving someone I loved at Blackthorne with the ghosts. Only this time I knew it was to keep him safe.

We were all quiet on our way home. It wasn't one of the casual get togethers that I sometimes had with Bex. It was purely work related. We did talk about our kids. We talked about how her daughters were liking the Academy and how excited Annalise was to go there.

As usual, I was sad to see Bex leave. We hugged each other goodbye and went our separate ways. When Zach and I got back to our house, unlocked the door, and strolled through the door, Annalise was sitting at the counter doing homework, Riley was playing video games, and Jaycee was drawing at the table. Zach glared as he looked at his siblings passed out on the couch. Matthew was snoring.

"Mommy!" Jaycee cried. She ran and jumped into my arms.

"Hi, sweety!" I said happily. Riley jerked his head up from his video games and ran to greet us.

"Dad!" He and Zach did a cool little handshake that they had come up with.

"Hey kid," Zach said with a grin. Anna greeted us. Zach was still glaring at his sleeping siblings. They were supposed to be watching the kids. He put a finger to his lips and walked over to our bookshelf. He picked up the thickest book.

"Zach," I warned. He smirked back at me. I just shook my head. He made his way towards the couch. He dropped the book on the table and a loud crash sounded. Matthew jumped up and started looking around. Morgan threw a punch without even opening her eyes. She hit Matt square in the jaw.

"Ouch!" Matt exclaimed. He held his jaw. Anna brought him a bag of frozen peas. He held it to his jaw.

"Thanks for watching the kids," Zach grumbled. Matt and Morgan shared a glance.

"Oh anytime! We just had a blast," Matt lied.

"Really?" Zach said faking energy. "Then we'll ask you to watch them all the time. This calls for date night!" Morgan and Matt's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"No!" The shouted at the same time. Zach started laughing.

"How bad were you?" Zach asked, grinning to his youngest kids. Riley and Jaycee both gave him devilish smiles. Zach nodded and gave each of them a five dollar bill.

"Wait a minute," Morgan exclaimed. "YOU put them up to this?" Zach just started laughing. Morgan punched him in the arm. The twins huffed and left. Zach pulled me and the kids close to him and smiled. It was good to be home.