Introduction - Meeting Leila.

4th of September, 2003.

Cody hastily paced back and forth through the waiting room with his head bowed and his hands joined behind his back. The soles of his red converse shoes scrapped across the tiled floor in a squeaking sound with every step he took, and this along with the incessant ticking that echoed from the clock on the wall eventually caused his brother, Zack, to speak up.

"Would you stop?"

Cody's ten year old eyes shot up to meet the identical ones that stared back at him.

"If you keep walking in that same spot you're gonna put a hole in the floor." Zack spoke again from where he sat in an uncomfortable looking gray chair against the side wall of the waiting room.

Cody shook his head at his older brother's sarcasm and went right back to striding from side to side, "This isn't funny, Zack." He retorted, "Our whole world's about to go down the tubes."

Zack groaned in annoyance at Cody's negativity and ran a hand through his short length blonde hair.

"Is this gonna be like the time you were complaining about Mum marrying John in the first place?"

Cody froze on the spot at the question that came from Zack as he was instantly thrown into a subconscious loop of a bunch of memories he was all too familiar with thinking about.

A lot had changed in the past year for the Martin twins. A one bedroom apartment in the middle of Boston hadn't exactly been the fresh start they were expecting when their parents had finally settled their divorce agreements. Their mum, Carey, was doing anything and everything she could to keep a healthy amount of money in the bank, but the odd gig here and there every night of the weekend didn't quite make the budget she would've liked, even for someone with a singing voice as great as hers. Of course Kurt, their father, was still helping wherever he could – they were still his sons after all, but no matter what they tried, there was always something about the way Carey and the boys lived that only allowed them to enjoy the necessities in life.

Although, it was certainly amazing how quickly things could turn around. For a popular bar in downtown Boston, it had been quite a disappointing turn out one evening for one of Carey's cabaret performances. There were a hand full of people sitting around enjoying a quiet drink, but no-one seemed all that interested in the act Carey was putting on. That was, until, she caught eyes with one man who was gazing at her from where he leant against the bar. Jonathan Mackenzie, the head manager of Boston's number one newspaper, introduced himself to Carey after her show. Maybe it was the deep blue colour of his eyes, the soft blonde tinge in his dark hair, or the intriguing mystique that came with his immense stature, but something about the man made the two immediately click. The chemistry they had, Carey thought, was similar to what she suspected she could've had with the drummer in Kurt's band if Kurt hadn't kept getting in their way. Only what she felt with John was about a million times better.

Carey and John had been dating steadily for a year when he finally popped the question. At first, Carey was uneasy about the idea of getting married again. And after one failed marriage, she couldn't really be blamed for that, but there were so many overwhelming positives she saw about her relationship with John to ignore. For one he was trustworthy, affectionate, funny, charming – everything she could possibly ask for in a man. She saw a real future with him, but more importantly than anything else, he got along with Zack and Cody incredibly well.

Zack had been too engrossed in his video game at the time when Carey told him and Cody about the engagement, however judging by the way that Cody dropped his gaming controller to the ground and ran into his and Zack's bedroom slamming the door behind him, it was pretty clear that he was less than thrilled about the announcement. It was Zack who got through to him in the end. Between arguing Carey's happiness, the financial security that could be brought to the family and the fact that John had gone halves with Carey in buying the boys' Playstation 2 for them for Christmas, Cody was only destined to give in sooner or later.

After the wedding Zack, Cody and Carey all moved into John's high rise apartment in the centre of main stream Boston. Through advertisements in John's newspaper Carey was also receiving more flattering performance opportunities, and in turn was able to start making a better life for the twins to live in. What's more, Zack and Cody learnt very quickly what and awesome step dad John was, the true reality of things crushing Cody's initial skepticism towards the man's addition to the family. Everything, for once in their lives, was perfect.

Shaking his head in an effort to erase the images from his mind, Cody looked back up at Zack and then slumped down into the chair next to him.

"This is different." Cody spoke assertively, "We were already used to having John around all the time. Besides, I was only really worried that we weren't gonna see Dad much anymore. But we still do."

"So why do you think this will be any different?" Zack asked, starting to sound irritated by the lack of sense coming from his brother.

"Because," Cody began, "this is going to change everything! Our life as we know it is over."

Falling into silence, Zack shot Cody a look of disbelief, "Cody," Zack said, the tone of his voice matching the look on his face, "it's a baby, not a weapon of mass construction."

"Destruction." Cody corrected half heartedly.

For the past nine months every mention of that 'B' word had thrown Cody off track. He had already been through enough changes to last him a life time, and frankly he wasn't sure how much more he was willing to put up with, or how much longer it would take for one of these altercations to turn into a bad one.

"Whatever." Zack replied, "I'm just saying that you better stop acting like a baby before the little he slash she finally gets here."

Cody shifted his vision to his brother to see that Zack had concluded his statement with a wide spread grin that stretched across his face at the mention of the little bundle of joy. He then felt his heart sink and his own expression drop.

"Why are you so excited about this anyway?!" Cody snapped, much to Zack's surprise, "You've already got me! Isn't that enough?"

Zack's face softened as something Cody said to him, at long last, made sense. He took a few seconds to look over his shoulder at the door to the room just to make sure that they were still alone. All the other expectant siblings, grandparents, aunties, uncles or anyone else that had shown up were all in the corridor of the maternity ward, but Zack and Cody had been left in the waiting room so the receptionist could keep an eye on them.

Turning back to Cody, Zack calmed his tone of voice, "Is that what all this is about?"

Cody shrugged his shoulders as his only means of response causing Zack to sigh at the stubbornness he wasn't used to dealing with from his brother.

"You think I'm gonna like the new baby more than you?"

Cody gazed down at the floor and shrugged his shoulders again, "Sorta." He confessed faintly before continuing straight away, "Cause, like, Mum and John are gonna be busy with the baby all the time, and you seem really happy about everything, I just don't want to… disappear."

"Disappear?" Zack repeated.

Even though Zack and Cody had lived and breathed the same air for the past ten years and ten months, and as much as this may have been more the attitude he was prone to expect from his brother, the fearful expression that caked Cody's voice was still enough to take a brutal tug at Zack's heart strings.

"Cody, you're my twin brother," he said, resting a hand on Cody's shoulder, "I'm not going to let you disappear. It's always been you and me against the world, and it always will be, ok?"

Cody's head lifted at the sound of reassurance from Zack. He matched the smile that was still being directed at him then confidently nodded his head, "Ok. Thanks Zack."

Before another single word could be said, loud footsteps were suddenly heard booming up the corridor, and in a matter of seconds the door to the waiting room was flung open cutting right through the adoring brotherly moment.

"Boys!"

Zack and Cody both looked up to see the massive six foot tall figure of their step father, John, standing in the doorway. Although, the greatness of his height was immensely outdone by the immeasurable appearance of happiness that lay across his face.

"What is it?" The twins asked in unison.

Failing to leave them waiting on an answer, John replied instantly, "There's someone in here who wants to meet you."

Feeling overcome with excitement and angst, and not being entirely sure how to react, Zack and Cody both stood shakily and followed a very energized John up the long, white hallway.

At least there was one thing that the twins could be completely sure of, and that was that John was going to be an amazing father to the new baby, just like he was great to them. But after being pulled out of school half way through the day and then left by themselves in the small waiting room for what seemed like forever, both Zack and Cody just hoped that what was about to happen in their lives was going to take just as much as a positive effect on them, too.

Upon entering Carey's room, the boys could instantly tell how exhausted she was, though behind all the anticipated emotions there was an obvious sense of total bliss and ecstasy as she gazed down at the petite bundle she held in her arms. Zack and Cody both assumed, to some extent of disappointment, that they had never seen her so happy, however they were soon proven wrong as Carey's expression of happiness grew to a million times the scale as she set eyes upon the twins standing in the entrance.

"There's my little men." She spoke gently, "Come say hi to the little girl."

"A girl?" Zack asked brightly.

While he ran to Carey's side and was swiftly followed by John, Cody staggered over slowly in the background and stood nervously at the end of the bed.

"Her name's Leila." Carey said, "Leila Elizabeth Mackenzie."

"She's so pretty." Zack commented, unable to take his eyes off his new sister.

Gradually allowing curiosity to get the better of him, Cody strolled closer to Carey and apprehensively looked over Zack's shoulder down at Leila. The instant that his eyes came into contact with her, Cody was swept over with wonderment. Zack looked on in delight as he felt all of Cody's primary perceptions of the baby fade away.

"She's so tiny." Cody finally managed to say.

Carey beamed at the emotions that had taken over both of the boys, "Do you want to hold her?" She asked.

Cody's eyes widened as he shot his vision up to Carey, "Won't I break her?"

Carey and John both laughed at the raw tone that came with the question from Cody, "Of course not, sweetie."

Carey then shifted her position on the bed carefully so as not to disrupt Leila and sat with her legs apart. She patted the spot on the bed as Cody uneasily climbed on and sat against her chest. She lowered Leila down into his lap with care and then showed him how to hold her with one hand around her legs and across her back and the other supporting her head.

Cody felt the warmth of Leila against his body as he powerlessly fixed his eyes upon her. Every gurgling, babbling, murmured baby sound she made drew him into her ambiance like she had him under a hypnotic spell. Her long eyelashes then parted as she forced her eyes open as wide as she could. The deep blue colour of each iris sucked Cody right in and gave him a sensation of pure awe.

"Wow." He said in sheer astonishment.

If this was the life changing, world ending event Cody had been talking about, then he was totally ready for it.

"Honey, do you want to let your brother hold her now?"

Permitting Leila to break him away from his trance, Cody gawked up at Carey before rapidly snapping his head back down to face his sister again,

"One more minute."

Hey guys :)! It feels good to be back with a brand new story for yaz. What did you think of the little introduction I prepared? Did yaz like the interaction I made between a younger version of Zack and Cody and the new baby?

I'll just give you guys a quick run down of what I'm planning for this one. Not including the introduction, this story is a three-shot with each 'shot' taking place in a different time period that explores how the twins and their new sister grow up together. Each part is also like a short story, so expect that they'll probably be pretty long.

So, let me know what you think so far about the idea and the new characters I came up with and whether you think I should really get going on it or not. A nice amount of reviews to set off on would be really encouraging, by the way :) Thanks guys!

Reneyyyyyyyyy x.