Disclaimer: I do not own Suite Life

Recovery

Zack frowned. It was not a whole day since his twin brother Cody had split up from his girlfriend Bailey Pickett, due to some misunderstanding whilst the ship was docked in Paris. After Cody had returned to the ship, he had just gone to his room, and according to Woody, had spent most of the night crying. Zack pondered this as he stood outside his brothers cabin, contemplating going in to see his little brother. He knew he was hurting, and despite the sometimes unfeeling demeanour he showed, he actually really loved his little brother, younger by a whole ten minutes, and wanted to cheer him up and help him through this.

And he was worried about him now. He knew that Cody had fallen in love with Bailey from day one, and now that they had broken up he had to be hurting a lot. Zack hesitated at the door, his hand stopping halfway to it. Cody had always been the more sensitive of the twins, and he was probably still quite weepy. Zack himself rarely cried, and if he did he usually used it to pull girls, who thought it was cute that a boy would show his feelings. And he even more rarely comforted people, unless they were girls.

But his brother did need him right now, so taking a deep breath and bracing himself for the worst, he knocked and entered. His brother needed him.

As Zack entered, he became aware of something slightly concerning. His twin was nowhere to be seen. His bed was unmade, which Cody never did in his right mind, and Woody's clothes were all over the floor, which Cody ordinarily would not stand for.

"Cody?" he called hopefully, hoping his brother was in the bathroom, and was just feeling too depressed to clean.

There was no answer, and Zack hated to admit it to himself, but he was slightly worried. It wasn't as if he thought Cody would do anything but stupid...but he might do something not very smart. And that was more his field of expertise. Cody was normally the smart one. But a broken hearted Cody...

Worriedly, Zack headed to find his brother.

XX

Cody sat in the planetarium. This was one of his favourite places, probably his favourite place on the entire ship. He could just look up at the projection of the stars, and he always found it soothing. And today he needed soothing a lot.

Bailey, the most beautiful girl he had ever set eyes on, had broken up with him, on the same day as their one year anniversary. She was smart, sassy, an excellent singer, slightly nerdy just like him, and she had a sweetness about her that he had found adorable. But now it was over. She had seen him talking to London and had assumed the worst, and he had done the same when he saw her with Jean-Luc. They had had fights before this, but nothing quite so bad. And now they had split up and it was most likely that they didn't want to see each other again.

As he looked up at the image of Saturn, staring at the rings to try and make himself forget the girl that he had now lost, tears welled in his eyes. He had lost her. After falling so hard for her when they had first come on board the ship, after working so hard to win her heart...he had now lost her.

Feeling depressed, so depressed that even star gazing couldn't make him feel happier, Cody rolled over and let the tears flow onto the carpet beneath him. Depression, hurt, guilt and despair rushed through him in equal measure as the tears flooded down his face, pooling on the carpet beneath him as he lay with his face down. Sobs wracked his body as everything caught up with him. He had spent most of the previous night crying, and now here he was, at it again, the tide of despair threatening to crush him under its weight. He had lost Bailey, all because of some stupid argument that made no sense now that he looked on it in hindsight. But he knew there was no going back this time. They had broken up before, but this time, there had been a terrible finality to their relationship that squeezed his heart like a vice, threatening to crush it entirely.

Cody sobbed louder, and as he did so he failed to hear the door to the planetarium open.

XX

Zack looked sadly down at his crying brother. For a moment, he was glad that he didn't allow himself to fall in such a way for girls. But Cody...he was always going to be the one who had his heart shattered by some girl. Zack just wished it wasn't Bailey. She and Cody had been perfect for each other. Both ridiculously smart, both slightly nerdy in a sort of sweet way, both made for each other. And she actually made Cody happy, in ways that he had never been with Barbara. Fair enough, in Zack's opinion, Bailey was a whole lot hotter than Cody's last long term relationship anyway, but something about the two of them together just fit.

And now it was over. He had seen London on his way up here and she had told him that Bailey had howled all night, so much so that she could now to a good impression of a panda. Typical London there then. But he knew that in her own odd way London did care about Bailey and wanted to help her too, just like he wanted to help Cody.

Zack looked at his little brother, and wondered what he should do. A tiny part of him was crying 'run for the hills', but the part that truly loved his little brother knew he couldn't. So, although he had no clue as to how he would go about calming his brother down or cheering him up, he headed into the planetarium and sat down beside Cody. Cody didn't even notice him as he was still crying onto his hands, and Zack then, not even realising he was doing, started to gently stroke the back of Cody's blond hair, a slightly darker shade than his own.

"Bailey?" Cody asked mid sob, his head rising a little bit.

"Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but it's just me." Zack said sadly, profoundly wishing that he could at least be a girl so he might have a better chance of comforting his brother.

Cody sat up, and Zack felt an unfamiliar flicker of hatred for Bailey. He was good friends with her...but she had made Cody into a mess. Yes, he had split up with her as much as she had with him, but he couldn't even bring himself to blame Cody for this. And things were really bad for him when he couldn't bring himself to pick on his little brother.

Cody's eyes were red rimmed, his fair coloured face was streaked with grimy tear stains. He had changed into a black top with a black hoody. His jeans were also black, and Zack had to bite back a retort about him being dressed for a funeral, knowing that would just further depress his brother.

"Oh, hey Zack...what are you doing here?" he asked miserably, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand, trying to look a little more macho in front of his twin.

"Making sure you're ok." His twin reported earnestly, and Cody looked slightly suspicious, as if he didn't believe that his brother would actually care that his heart had been broken, as if he was expecting Zack just to say 'get over it'.

"Really? Don't you just want me to write some damn book report for you to add to my misery?" he sniffed.

Zack looked down slightly in shame. Yes, he usually did rely on Cody to write his book reports, and he knew he probably deserved this to be asked of him. But even he wasn't so heartless that he would make his brother do his homework for him when he felt so down.

"No I don't. I came to check on you Cody. I'm worried about you, I thought you might do something dumb." He said quietly, and Cody looked at him sadly.

Then without meaning to, without knowing what he was doing, Zack sat beside his brother and pulled him to him in a hug. Cody gave a sniff and rested his head on Zack's shoulder and resumed his sobbing. Zack thought about pulling away from his crying brother, but that would probably just make Cody more upset, as he would think that he couldn't rely on his twin. So, rather than pulling away and putting his arm down, Zack instead pulled Cody closer to him and hugged him tightly, letting him cry on his shoulder. Cody sobbed, his tears staining the shoulder of Zack's tshirt, allowing himself to be hugged by his brother in a way that they hadn't hugged for a very long time. Cody cried, and Zack started rubbing Cody's back gently, trying to soothe him. Zack looked sadly at his brother.

It was a sad day when he of all people didn't have the heart to pick on his baby brother. He couldn't bring himself to add more hurt and despair to his baby brother when he was already in such a mess.

"It'll be alright Cody." He said firmly, willing his brother to believe it.

Cody just sniffed some more, and Zack wrapped his other arm around his baby brother, hugging him tightly as his brother sobbed his heart out. Zack wanted nothing more than to make his brother's pain go away. He felt so hopeless. His brother was so hurt and sad...and he couldn't do anything. And that made him feel bad. Vaguely, despite the fact that he didn't like what had happened between her and his brother, he hoped Bailey was doing slightly better than Cody was.

But for now, all he could do was be here for his brother. Hoping that what his mom had used to do to calm them down would work, he started to rock his twin, while rubbing his back with one hand and gently stroking his hair with the other. Eventually, Cody's sobbing lessened, and Zack smiled slightly as he saw that his brother was asleep. He looked so peaceful, unbothered by the sadness in his heart.

"I won't hurt you like that little brother." Zack promised, and kissed Cody's forehead gently.

Cody moaned a little in response, and the small sound was so full of pain that Zack had to blink away tears from his own eyes. His brother was too good a person to feel this low. He wanted to make him better again. He just didn't know how. His brother was hurting so much...and he could do nothing. His brother was full of pain...and he didn't know how to make the pain go away.

All he could do was hug him and be a shoulder for him to cry on. That wasn't normally what Zack did, but the situation demanded it. And the little moan of pain that came out his brother's lips next finally broke Zack's shell and he too started to cry.

"Oh Cody..." he whispered sadly, wishing the entire breakup had never happened.

"Zack...don't leave..." Cody said in a small, watery voice, mumbling in his sleep.

Zack looked down at his baby brother.

"Not a chance Cody." He said, and kissed his brother's head again and gently laid back, guiding Cody's sleeping form so that it lay beside his.

Cody wriggled a little, snuggling into his twin, and Zack didn't mind. It wasn't as if anyone would come in here, aside from maybe Miss Tutweiller. And she would probably think it was sweet. After all, the entire ship knew of the breakup, and he couldn't be blamed for consoling his brother.

As such, Zack continued to rub his brother's back and snuggled up to him, eventually falling asleep himself.

Well hello!

This is a first for me, but watching the Disney channel is a slight indulgence of mine, and I fancied giving this a shot, so here I am!

Just a little bit of Zack comforting Cody after Breakup in Paris, a little brotherly caring for his upset brother. And I thought their scene in Going Bananas was really sweet, which also partly inspired this.

At the moment this could just be a two shot, but I'll see how it goes! If you like it, please review, and I might see about expanding it!

Hope you like!