A/N: Thank you, my truly fantastic readers and reviewers. I had to post this earlier than I'd planned because you were all so generous with your feedback! Enjoy chapter 2- it's a little short, but I promise that chapter 3 (the best and biggest chapter) will be up asap. Enjoy!

Ten minutes later, she was sitting wrapped in a blanket on a chair in the semi-shelter of her battered house, clutching a chipped mug of cool water between her hands. Her mother knelt in front of her, holding her other hand.

"Bailey, sweetie... I'm sure Cody's just fine. We'll find him, you'll see." She smoothed back her daughter's bangs with a loving hand. "Your daddy and Moose have almost got the truck running again, and your friends seem to be making progress with their..." Eunice glanced at Moseby, London, and Woody, who were attempting to use a trash can lid and a collection of kitchen utensils to fashion a rudimentary satellite dish to restore phone service. "...contraption." she finished, rather generously.

"I know." Bailey murmured. The shock was beginning to wear off, and feelings of fear and anxiety were slowly replacing the numb feeling she'd gotten when she heard the news. "But... if he's... not fine..."

Her mother pulled her into a hug. "Don't borrow trouble, honey. Until we find out otherwise, we should assume he's okay. Which I'm sure he is... I remember you telling me that he's a real smart boy, right?"

"Yes..." Bailey hedged. "But... he's book smart, not farm smart. I don't know..."

"I'm sure, if he was caught in the storm, he figured out what to do." her mother soothed. "Some farm family would have taken him in."

Bailey nodded, but she couldn't take her mother's reassurances any longer. The what-ifs were reducing her to a quivering mess. "Mom? I... need a drink of water." she said, shrugging the blanket off of her shoulders as she stood up.

Her mother gave her a look, eying the mug in her hand pointedly.

Bailey blushed, caught in a lie. "I just need a few minutes alone." she said gently. "I won't go far."

Eunice accepted the mug her daughter held out to her. "Go ahead. And try not to worry too much. Things'll turn out, baby girl. You'll see."

Bailey just shrugged, leaving the splintered porch and turning around the corner of the house. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Moose give her a little wave, and her heart just sank even more. A few hours ago, Moose had been everything she wanted except one thing: he hadn't been Cody. She knew now what her answer to Moose would have to be. She couldn't be with Moose when she still had feelings for Cody, even if Cody was...

Ducking around the corner of the barn, she collapsed against the rickety wood, burying her face in her hands. Back in Belgium, Cody had told her he still loved her, and she'd rejected him. And still he'd come to rescue her when he thought she was in danger!

Tears began to dampen her fingers. She'd shut the door in his face when he'd come to apologize for making fun of her in his play, said she never wanted to speak to him again... If only she had the chance to speak to him now! She wouldn't care a bit if he was wearing one of her dresses, or feeding tofu to her lab rat, or any of the million-and-one things he'd done to make her angry over the past few weeks. To just be able to look into those caring blue eyes one more time-

"What are you crying about?"

Bailey's head snapped up, and she found herself looking into the same blue eyes she'd just been dreaming about... except these belonged to Zack. "Zack!" she cried in surprise. If anyone was feeling worse than she over the loss of Cody, it would be him. "Oh, Zack, I'm so sorry." she murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Zack jerked away from her touch. "Of course I'm not okay." he said in a hard, angry voice. "Cody's missing. He could be dead."

Bailey was momentarily speechless. She'd been thinking it, of course, but to hear it said so bluntly, and by Zack! "Zack... I- I'm sure he's... I mean, maybe he's completely fine. We don't know..." she said desperately. "I'm worried about him too, but-"

Now Zack cut her off. "You're worried? Now you suddenly care about him? You broke his heart over and over- in Paris, in Belgium, after the play last week when you told him to not even bother talking to you anymore... After all that, he still stuck out his neck coming to rescue you, and now he's gone!" Zack hissed. "And you weren't even in trouble!"

Bailey took a step back, feeling physically wounded by his words. She blamed herself for what happened to Cody, it was true, but she hadn't realized how it would feel to have others blame her as well. "I never wanted this to happen!" she defended. "I didn't know he would come after me!"

"Of course he'd come after you! He's in love with you!" Zack shouted back accusingly.

They stared at each other in silence for a long moment.

Finally, Zack relented. "I'm sorry, Bailey. Cody would hate it if he knew I was blaming you for this. You didn't know he was here, and you couldn't control the weather." he said quietly. "I shouldn't have attacked you. I just... needed to blame someone."

Bailey rushed into his arms and this time, he didn't pull away. "I'm so sorry, Zack. I'm so sorry." she whispered into his neck. By the time she said, "I love him too," she was crying in earnest, and from the slight shaking of Zack's shoulders, she suspected he was as well.

"Bailey! Zack!"

The pair pulled apart, quickly wiping their eyes as London rushed breathlessly around the corner. "Did you get the phones working?" Bailey asked her.

London stopped short. "No," she said. "We took a break when Cody got here."

"What?" Bailey and Zack chorused, causing London to jump back in alarm.

"Cody's here?" Bailey gasped.

"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Zack demanded.

"He just got here-" London began to explain, but the others had already brushed by her, racing toward the farmhouse...

Just in time to see Cody collapse.