Disclaimer: I do not own anything Ally Carter owns.

Claimer: Anything else is mine.

Safe

"Zach..." I said softly.

I was still locked in his arms. He didn't seem to want to let me go anytime soon. I could feel his ragged breath on my neck as he held me close.

"Zach..." I said again. "They'll find us at some point."

I knew it was true. My running away plan to find answers hadn't gone all that great. Zach found me before a week passed.

We teamed up, but I knew he was aching to go back.

But I'd promised myself not to go back without any answers, and I never broke my promises.

He'd tried to convince me. We fought at some point, I told him to leave if he wanted, but I wasn't going anywhere.

I remembered how his expression hardened in that moment as he spoke, "I'm not leaving you even if my life depends on it."

And from that moment on, he never questioned me again.

"We're safe now, Cam," he said quietly while holding me closer. "We're safe."

"They'll find us again in less than a day. We need to move out of his area."

He let go of me ever so slightly, and turned me to face him. "We're safe for now."

We were.

We were currently in the middle of nowhere, someplace in Arizona.

We'd found something that looked like an old summer home to stop at. It was abandoned, clearly it'd been like that for a while.

We were stopping there to plan. We'd been found and attacked twice that day. We needed to be of the radar for a few days.

"Zach, they're searching for us high and low. We can't just stop."

"We're not. But right now, right here-"

"We're safe," I cut him off. "I know."

He smiled. "Cam, don't worry. Nothing will hapen to you. I won't let them hurt you."

"That's the problem!" I shrieked. "You can protect me, but I can't protect you! Everyone I care for gets hurt!" I sighed softly, looking down. "Zach... I just can't lose you."

He held my chin up again and looked straight into my eyes. "Cammie, if you're safe, then I'm safe. If you're alright, so am I. If you're hurt, same goes for me. So if I keep you safe, I'm keeping myself safe. Do you understand?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again, gazing straight into my own. "Cammie, you're everything to me now. As long as I know you're alright, I'll be fine."

He didn't let me answer, and instead pressed his soft lips against mine.

He'd kissed me before, three times actually.

The first time, he was 'finishing what he started', as he put it. It was sudden and right in front of the whole Gallagher student body. I didn't know if it meant anything to him, I'd thought he was just teasing me, like he'd made a habit of doing.

The second time, our lives were in danger. We were hiding from cameras and lookout lights. We were flat on the ground. He'd kissed me, thinking he might never be able to do it again.

The third time, we'd been recovering from... an incident. We were broken, both on the inside and the outside. I'd recently plummeted into a waterfall, and Zach had come out alive from an explosion. He kissed me out of many emotions that time.

Relief of both being alive. Anger of avoiding each other for so long. Need and desire, stress and sadness.

We'd been confused, we'd been hurt. We only had each other in that moment, and we didn't need anything else.

And now... now was so alike to all three, yet so different.

This time, he wasn't teasing, but it felt as if he were. This time, we weren't in imminent danger, but we were in a constant dangerous situation now. This time we weren't hurt or distraught, and yet the worry and stress inside of us was quite large.

But the one great difference, was that this time there was something else. He kissed me, but this time, he did it out of love.

He worried for me, cared for me. He'd take a bullet for me, and he'd kill for me.

He loved me.

I just hoped he knew that I loved him too.

His lips were softly brushing against mine, his hands were caressing my face. He was being sweet, simple, and loving.

No one had ever kissed me like this before, Josh would never even come close.

One of his hands traveled to my back and held me close. He broke off the kiss, but our faces were mere millimeters apart.

I felt his warm breath against my face, and I felt his lips brush mine slightly as he spoke: "As long as we're together... we're safe."

AN:

Pretty short, but cute.

I made this just so you guys had something to read while waiting for Zach's POV of OGSY to come out… hehe, speaking of which, I need to get started on it :P

I also wrote this since a friend of mine read one of my other fics, and told me that she couldn't believe I could write romance so well, so I made this just to prove my point.

Now here's the question for you guys, am I, or am I not, capable of writing non-OOC romance? Your pick, let's see who wins the bet :D

Thanks for reading, leave a review and check out my other stories! :D

Hope you liked it!

-DemiSpy.