Disclaimer: Don't own a thing!
College Years: The Next Year
Chapter 1
Waking Up
Cody was sitting on a cot in the corner of a jail cell, his head in his hands, thinking about the mess Hannah had caused. His head snapped up at the sound of the door being slid open. He sat there, starting at the officer with a puzzled look.
"Well? Come on, Martin! You've got a visitor."
"Really!"
"No. I'm kidding. Get up!"
Cody sprang to his feet and walked quickly towards the officer, who then led him down the hall. While they were walking, Cody asked, "Who's here?"
"I don't know!"
"Well what'd she look like? Brunette, kind of short?"
"No…little blonde number. Real beauty. You're a lucky man!"
Cody pondered as they headed towards the room where prisoners were allowed to see visitors about what blonde was here to see him. They reached the room and Cody went inside, curious. He looked around him but only saw darkness. He called, "Hello?" A light bulb was turned on above a table suddenly, and the chain was swinging over the most unlikely person. Cody cried, "Hannah!"
Maddie's eyes fluttered open and saw Zack sitting by her bed, his head resting on his arm, his hand in hers, his eyes closed. Without moving she looked around the room. How long have I been out of it? She picked up her hand, the one Zack was holding, and rubbed her eyes. Zack woke up at the movement, startled, and cried, "Maddie! You're awake!" She nodded her head slowly and he jumped up, hugging her at the same time. She grimaced and cried, "Zack! Stop! Ow, get off me!" He immediately pulled away from her and said, "I'm so sorry, Maddie. It's just that, well, I—I'm just so happy that you're awake!"
"Well chill out, okay?"
He watched her for a minute and she said, "I remember being out of it."
Zack gave her a look of disbelief and said, "That's like…impossible. How? What do you remember? How much do you remember?"
"Whoa, one thing at a time, Zack…I know it's weird. I could hear things…not everything…I blacked out a few times…but I remember people talking to me."
"Wow."
"Zack. I heard what you said the other day. Was it the other day? Maybe it was longer ago. Maybe shorter."
"It was yesterday."
"Okay, then. I heard what you said yesterday. About what I mean to you, and about everything."
"It was all true, Maddie. Everything I said. You mean the world to me."
"I know, I know. I don't doubt that those words came from your heart. And I really want you to know…that you're right."
"About what?"
"I was crying, and that's why I ran off the road. I was crying…because you were right. I don't like the idea of us breaking up, either. I don't want to spend a day without you."
Zack felt like he was going to cry. This was the happiest moment of his life. The girl of his dreams wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her! He said quietly, trying to contain his enthusiasm, "Really?" She nodded. His excitement burst out him and he cried, "Yes! Oh, Maddie, yes! This is great! This is the happiest day of my life!" He jumped up and down a few times, then stopped, seeing her smiling face, seeing her eyes wishing she could get up and celebrate with him right then, but she couldn't get up yet. He smiled wider and wider and bent down quickly to kiss her gingerly on the lips. A nurse, curious as to the nature of the noise coming from the room, walked in, startled. She cried, "What's going on here?" Zack jumped back and blushed. The nurse looked at Maddie and said, "Oh! You're awake! That's…that's good!" She turned and walked back out of the room to retrieve the doctor.
The doctor came in a little later and said, "This is just a procedure we perform to all of our patients who experienced a head injury. We're going to ask you a few questions, to make sure you're memory is fine. Do you know you're name?"
"Madeline Fitzpatrick."
"How old are you?"
"I just turned 21 a few months ago."
"Do you know the man standing next to you?"
"His name is Zack Martin, he's my boyfriend." She stole a glance at Zack, who just couldn't stop smiling.
"And these two people over here?" He motioned across the room.
"My parents."
"Do you attend college?"
"Yes, I'm a senior at Berkeley."
"Well! Everything seems to be okay then, Miss Fitzpatrick. I'm going to keep you here for the night, just to make sure you're stable, and then you can go tomorrow." Maddie nodded and he left the room. Maddie's parents immediately rushed to her side and her mother started hugging her and saying, "Oh, Maddie! I'm so glad you're okay!" Her father smiled proudly at her and then looked up at Zack. He caught his eye, and without saying a word, Zack understood his look of thanks. Zack understood that Maddie's father was grateful for all the time he had spent here, waiting for her. Zack felt proud that Maddie's father finally accepted him. It sure did make his and Maddie's relationship a little easier.
Later, after Maddie's parents went to go get dinner to give Zack and Maddie some privacy, the newly united couple was talking. Zack smiled and said, "I can't believe this is real. I'm so happy we're back together!" Maddie shook her head with a smile and said, "Come on, Zack, you need to chill out…" She laughed softly as he gazed at her. He whispered, "God, you are so beautiful." She looked away, blushing, and said, "I love you, Zack…but…"
"But? Oh, God, no…no, no, no, no, no…oh, Jesus, no…"
"Zack, calm down. What I want to say is that I think we should have a few…er…ground rules about us being together again."
He nodded and she continued, "First: While I definitely do love you, I don't think it's a good idea for us to be living together just yet."
"But Cody and Sarah—"
"If you will recall, Zack, right before I walked out, we had a fight about this. You can't compare our relationship to Sarah and Cody's. It's different. While I've known you for 6 and ½ years, and loved you for 6 months, I'm just not ready to be living with you yet."
He nodded and said, "I understand and I respect your decision…though I'm not happy about it."
She frowned and he smiled to show he was kidding and she continued on, "Second: No more talk about our ages, okay?"
He gave a puzzled look and she explained, "Don't use our age difference in any argument or anything like that. I'm okay with you being 18 and my being 21, but I don't want it to be a wall in our relationship. I'd rather not mention it."
He nodded again in agreement and she continued on, "Third: Communication. We have to talk."
"We always talk!"
"I know we talk, but I mean we need to talk. We were never open about insecurities with each other and I think we should be."
"Very true. I think that rule is more for you than it is for me."
"How so?"
"Well, you never told me you were still uncomfortable with living together or that you had a problem with our age difference. It took prying to make you open up to me in any way."
"Touché."
He smiled and said, "The whole time we were apart, I kept thinking of this song that reminded me of what we were going through."
"What song is that?"
"'What Hurts The Most' by Rascal Flats."
"How's it go?"
Zack started singing.
I can take the rain on the roof of this empty houseThat don't bother me
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out
I'm not afraid to cry
Every once in awhile
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days now and again I pretend I'm okay
But that's not what gets me
What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing what could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do
It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go
But I'm doing it
It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone
Still harder
Getting up, getting dressed, living with this regret
But I know
If I could do it over
I would trade, give away, call the words that I say in my heart
That I left unspoken
What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing what could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do
Oh
What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing what could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do
(Not seeing tat loving you)
That's what I was trying to do
Zack finished the last bit of the song as Maddie wiped tears from her eyes.
"Well?"
"Zack, that was beautiful."
"You think it relates, then?"
"For the most part, yeah."
"I can't tell you how bad it hurt to watch you get up, crying, and walk away. And then it just kept hurting, no matter where I went. I pretended I was fine as I moved out of the dorm…but then I got that call and I let it all out. But really, I had so much that I wanted to say to you before you walked off, and then I just didn't. It's perfect."
Maddie blinked away more tears and leaned forward to kiss him passionately.
"Does it still hurt you?"
"Watching you cry from something I did is the worst punishment I could ever endure. But being with you wipes away the pain."
She smiled even wider and said, "When did you get to be so romantic?"
"I've had a lot of time on my hands over the past few days." He joked and she laughed quietly. She kissed him again but they were quickly interrupted by Zack's ringing cell phone.
"Hello? Mom? Mom, what's wrong? Cody's in—Cody's in jail? Wait, slow down a second, Ma. Mom! Mom, you've got to calm down." He listened for a second and then said, "Well that's definitely not very Cody-like." Through the phone, Maddie heard Ms. Martin say, 'This is no time for jokes Zachary!' She stifled a grin as Zack said, "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't worry, Mom. He'll be aright. Cody's a big boy, he can handle himself. Mom, you need to calm down or you're going to pass out…Mom? Mom! Oh, jeez!"
He hung up the phone quickly and dialed another number quickly, "Moseby? It's Zack Martin. Look, Cody's apparently in jail down in Oklahoma and Mom's up in the suite. She passed out. Please, oh please send someone to help her. Oh, and make a reservation for her to fly to Oklahoma. Tell her to remain calm and I'll be there as soon as I can…thanks, Mose. You'da man." He hung up again and jumped up saying, "No time to explain, Maddie. Cody's in jail for the accused sexual assault of Sarah's younger sister. That made no sense. Anyway, I've got to get to Oklahoma and help him out. I'll be back as soon as possible. Don't worry." He picked up his keys and turned back to Maddie, who was pulling back the covers and pulling on a pair of clothes on the chair beside her. Zack said, "Maddie? What are you doing?"
"I'm going with you."
A/N-
MWAHAHAHA! I'm evil, yes I know. But hey, what's a good story opener without a major cliffy, right?
Note #1- Well, the Cody/Hannah scene will be in the next chapter, along with a mini-argument for the newly reunited couple about Maddie going and the flights down and a whole bunch of juicy stuff.
Note #2- so, this is the first chapter of my first sequel to my first (and favorite) SLOZC fic. That's a tongue twister, right? So, like the summary is supposed to say (dunno if I'll remember to put it in there) it is required to have read the previous story before reading this one. You'll be lost without it.
Note #3- Sorry it took so long, guys! Writing the first chapter is always hard because I wanted to get a lot of good stuff in here without giving away much, and that's a lot harder than it sounds. Plus I had a Writer's Block and a MILLION things to do at school so writing time was scarce. BUT, summer is rapidly approaching which means I'll have a bit of extra free time between my 2 jobs (3x a week babysitting and pool) and inspiration is FILLING ME UP! Soooooo, that means that updates won't be too far off…I hope…
Note #4- The song is "What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flats (is that the right spelling?) I do NOT own the song. Borrowed for the purposes of this chapter.
Note #5- As always, please review and let me know of any mistakes, hopes, thoughts, or anything at all. I'm always open to a good review!
Note #6- Be on the look out for a new SLOZC fic (check profile for info) Hopefully I'll be able to get it up soon…I just have to close a up a few other stories and then I'll post that one.
Love,
Dangerous Combonation