Disclaimer: I do not own the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Chapter One

Ten Years Later

The young woman hurried into the building, looking a bit frenzied as she stepped up to the receptionist's desk.

"Hi," she breathlessly said, "I'm looking for the owner of this company."

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist eyed her, looking at her disheveled appearance, clearly thinking that she did not.

"No," she said, after regaining her breath, "but that doesn't matter. Just tell him it is Maddie Fitzpatrick."

"I'm sorry," the receptionist said in a way that made it very clear she was not sorry, "you can only see the owner by appointment."

"But I know the owner," Maddie protested.

"That's great," the girl rolled her eyes, "but without an appointment."

"Don't worry Sheila," a voice spoke up behind Maddie, "I can handle it."

"Sir, she doesn't have an appointment," the receptionist protested as Maddie whirled around to see a tall man standing behind her.

"It will be fine," he soothed the receptionist, while leading Maddie into the elevator, when on the elevator, he finally turned to look at her, "so, you want to speak to the owner?"

"Yeah," Maddie smiled, relieved, "where is he?"

"I am the owner," the man frowned slightly.

"No, the owner is Cody Martin," Maddie shook her head, "well, and Zack …,"

She trailed off as she noticed the slightly confused look on the man's face, "Zack … Zack Martin?""That would be me," he finally smiled.

"I haven't seen you in years!" Maddie gushed, "how have you been?"

"Good," he said, "how are you Maddie?"

"Did you know the whole time it was me?" she asked, somewhat wearily.

"Yeah," Zack smiled, "I would recognize you anywhere.""I can't believe I didn't recognize you," Maddie shook her head. But, as she took another look at him, she realized how she could have made the mistake. She had last seen him on his high school graduation, and he had been tall, blonde, a little chunky, and had blue eyes. Now, well, he was still tall, but he now had brunette hair, was more muscular than chunky, and must have been wearing contacts because he had green eyes.

"I have changed a good deal over the last ten years," he flashed a smile as he stepped off the elevator and motioned for Maddie to follow him.

"It has been ten years, hasn't it?" Maddie smiled too, but then remembering the last occasion she actually talked to Zack, the smile died from her lips.

"Anyways," Zack's smile waned a little too, "you are here to see Cody. Any particular reason?"

"Let's just say wedding dress shopping with the future Mrs. Cody Martin is driving me crazy," Maddie rolled her eyes.

"It is part of your duty to go shopping with the bride-to-be as they maid of honor," Zack laughed, "and London is one crazy person to shop with."

"You're telling me," Maddie stated, "the reason I have to talk to Cody is because I have to ask him if he doesn't mind a strapless dress. And the reason she couldn't just text message him was because she wanted to make sure of how he felt and with text messaging, she can't see him face to face."

"Yup, sounds like London," Zack said, stopping in front of what seemed like a fairly large office, "okay, here's Cody's office."

"And where's yours?" Maddie asked, looking around for a similarly sized office.

"Up one floor," Zack stated, then turned to the secretary, "will you please tell Cody that Maddie is here for an emergency with the dress."

"Okay," the secretary obeyed, but with one eyebrow arched. After paging Cody, he quickly stepped out of his office.

"Hey Maddie!" he greeted, somewhat surprised at her sudden appearance and then looked at his brother, "what's going on here?"

"And this is where I leave you two," Zack excused himself, backtracking towards the elevator.

"London wants to know if you are okay with a strapless dress," Maddie stated, after a few seconds of silence as she watched Zack leave.

"What?" Cody asked, somewhat taken aback by the question, "what does it matter?"

"Okay, apparently I am going to have to educate you on this," Maddie rolled her eyes at his dumbness, "if you don't like the dress, she will be completely devastated on her wedding day, but you can't see the dress because that would make it bad luck."

"Tell her that I don't care what kind of dress she wears," Cody shrugged, "she'll look beautiful in anything and there is no way I won't love the dress."

"I'll tell her the last part," Maddie said, exasperated, "but the first part is definitely not something you should say to your fiancée."

"Tell her whatever part you want," Cody smiled at the girl, "she is beautiful. And she should know that of all people."

"I'll tell her you said that," Maddie gently smiled at him, "Cody, I'm glad she chose to marry you."

"Me too," Cody winked at the girl, "well, I better get going so I can finish my business for the day."

"Okay, I'll see you sometime later," Maddie said. She then turned to leave as Cody walked back into his office.

9999

"You actually saw Zack?" London asked Maddie as they were discussing Maddie's trip to Cody's office earlier.

"It was weird," Maddie confirmed, "I haven't seen him since I told him that I didn't feel the same way he did."

"Huh uh," London replied, looking down at the wedding dress she was trying on before turning to her friend, "how do I look?"

Maddie sighed as she told London how great she looked. She didn't understand why London just wouldn't let her talk about the problems she was having. Ever since she had been London's best friend, it had always been about London.

"Are you okay?" London arched an eyebrow at her as she came out of the backroom with her wedding dress.

"Yeah," Maddie sighed, lying to her best friend, "I was just thinking about how weird it is that you are marrying Cody Martin."

"I know," London giggled, "he is really cute."

"And rich," Maddie said, bringing up something that had been bugging her for a while. Cody had always been like a brother to her and if London was just using him for his money, well, Maddie didn't know how she would react.

"And?" London asked, "I have my own wealth. Yay me!"

London was right; she did have her own wealth, mostly inherited from her dad's chain of the Tipton hotels. London had not even finished colleged, but she managed the hotel chain as if she was an old business professional.

Maddie couldn't help but smile at her friend's old catch phrase, "you're right. I just want to make sure Cody doesn't get hurt."

"And what about Zack?" London asked innocently, "you hurt him."

"I haven't spoken to him in ten years," Maddie protested, "he's got to be over that by now."

"I don't know," London stated, "how about the fact that you haven't spoken to him in ten years? He's avoided you like the plague. He left his own brother's college graduation early so he wouldn't have the chance of running into you."

Maddie didn't know how to react to this stunningly cruel statement of London's. However, it was a correct statement. In the ten years since Zack had told her how he felt, Maddie hadn't seen him once. Maddie, an art curator, even lived in the same city as Zack, albeit New York City, but he still avoided her. Until now.

9999

"You actually talked to her?" Cody asked Zack as the two went over some documents for their business later. The twins had successfully opened and run a sporting goods corporation, named C&Z Martin.

"I know," Zack shook his head, "I just saw her and I knew I could have walked right past her without her recognizing me, but I decided to stop."

"But you avoided her like the plague for ten years," Cody echoed the sentiment his fiancee had used earlier with Maddie, "you even left my college graduation early so you wouldn't have to see her."

"I know," Zack repeated, "I just saw how pretty she still looked and I guess I just wanted her to know how well off I was."

"But she already knew that," Cody pointed out.

"I know," Zack said for the third time, adopting a frown, "I can't explain it. I saw her, I saw her and I had to talk to her. After ten years of avoiding her, I had to talk to her."

"London says she isn't that happy," Cody somewhat shifted gears about Maddie, "she thinks it is because she doesn't have her favorite Martin twin around anymore."

"Please, she didn't need me then, and she doesn't need me now," Zack said harshly, turning back to his work. That night was something that had not left his mind in ten years, and after one time of seeing her again, Zack wasn't going to just let it leave his mind now.