Disclaimer: I do not own"The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" or any of its characters

A/N: This is not only my first TSL fanfic but this is also my first non-anime/manga fanfic so please, be gentle.

Sick Producer

The Article

"SMART HOOLIGAN GET OUT HERE!!" Carey yelled towards the direction of the twin's room. She was greeted by absolute silence. Knotting here eyebrows, the single parent thought it strange that Cody would ignore her command. Even if it is early in the morning, Cody will always wake himself up to answer a summon. Not the same can be said for Zack though unless he gets a 100 chocolate-chip-pancake-for-breakfast guarantee.

"Cody?" she knocked on the door, Mr. Moseby right behind her.

There was still no reply. It was getting awfully eerie and the mother of two is definitely not too happy about that.

"Well this is strange…" Mr. Moseby has been around the Martin family long enough to know the difference between Zack and Cody. Though they are both troublemakers in his eyes, he knows that the younger one is more responsible of the two.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of the door handle turning.

"I'm going in…" Carey bluntly murmured as she opened the door ever so slightly and quietly made her way toward the younger twin's bed. Zack is comfortably sleeping in his part of the room mumbling something like "Sweet Thang"

"Cody?" the dark haired mom lightly tapped the boy's shoulder.

"Hn?" The reply was weak and nearly mute and inexistent but it was there. Cody grudgingly turned towards his mother, still half asleep.

"Oh my god!" the exclamatory statement was hushed but the worry was there, loud and clear. The moment Cody looked at her, she saw the reason of his unnatural laziness in the early morning. Even in the dimmed room, one can clearly see the boy's red, teary and puffy eyes, the exceedingly pale, almost white-grayish skin and his roughened state of clothing.

"Cody are you okay?" all thoughts of the controversial photo seen a few minutes earlier was replaced by pure worry. She pressed her hand on his forehead and felt his temperature.

He was hot, very hot. His body temp is way hotter than the time he collapsed during London's web show.

"Mr. Moseby!" Carey called the manager in a hushed manner.

The said manager entered the room ever so lightly as he walked towards Carey. "What?"

"Can you call the hotel doctor. Cody's fever is acting up again and this time, I'm thinking its worse than before"

The manager nodded, sensing the worry in the woman's voice told him that he'll have to get his answer from London.

"LONDON, OPEN THIS DOOR"

"Who is it?" The heiress grudgingly replied as she was abruptly awaken by the obnoxious loud knock on her door.

"It's me, Maddie. This is urgent" the person on the other side of the door answered, her voice labored and tired.

Mumbling random, insignificant things to herself, the heiress stood up and opened the door. "What is it? It's like 0 o'clock in the morning"

"Sorry…" Maddie apologized "…but I think you need to see this" she held up the magazine in front of London.

London's half lidded eyes suddenly became as big as dinner plates. Displayed on the cover page is a picture of her and Cody taken during their last production. The picture was grainy and blurred but it was there. The picture featured the time when she used her producer as a cushion for her little crying session yesterday. However, at the angle the camera took the picture, it looked more like they were making out!!

Doves and other birds flew, cats flee and rats hid in their houses as the Tipton screamed her lungs out. The title of the article was "London's Day Out"

There was an implication in the title and even more on the actual article itself. "How the…when did…who…" the rich heiress struggled for the words to come out of her mouth. She doesn't know what to say…doesn't know what to do…how to react.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHEN DID THEY GET A HOLD OF THIS?! WHO GAVE THAT PICTURE?!" the heiress demanded as she turned to her most trusted Tipton employee and her best friend.

"I don't know. How should I know? I wasn't even there. Obviously, it was taken yesterday, seeing as to how you were distressed. As for who did it, you have about a million suspects. Every person watching your web show could've taken that picture" Maddie explained.

"God, this is a nightmare. If Cody finds out…" the black haired girl suddenly realized something. She turned to Maddie with a horrified expression "…oh no…Cody!"

"Yup…" doctor Chip Walters, the hotel doctor brought his stethoscope on Cody's chest as he gave a satisfactory nod. Standing up and away from the boy, he gave his disagnosis "…he's sick!" he pointed a finger towards the semi-conscious boy on the couch.

Mr. Moseby gave an incredulous look towards the doctor. Carey and Cody is already accustomed to his rather childish knowledge and actions so they weren't that surprised

"Oh no, really?" Carey feigned surprise "so a pale skin, teary red eyes and roughened voice is a sign of a fever?"

"Yup" the doctor replied, nodding to himself, completely oblivious to the sarcasm behind the mother's tone. "Anyway, I suggest you take a lot of rest…" he started towards the door as he made his exit "…don't leave the bed"

"WHAT?!" Cody shouted towards the already inexistent doctor in the room "I can't stay here all day!! I have that essay writing contest at school today and I have to take London to the dance tonight!"

"WHAT?!" Both Carey and Mr. Moseby said in unison.

"What?" Cody replied, looking perplexed at the two adults on either side of him.

"What do you mean what? Why are you taking London to the dance? I thought Mr. Tipton will be her escort" Carey asked, looking at Mr. Moseby

"Mr. Tipton can't make it today…" the black man replied "…but I didn't know she chose you!" he pointed a finger towards the sick figure on the sofa bed.

"Yeah. I think she wants me to see something in the dance to help for our next web cast. Maybe decorations and themes"

"Is that all?" the manager took on a more suspicious tone

"Yes. Why?" the boy replied, starting to feel a little cornered

"Then how do you explain this?" Carey held up the newspaper where a picture of him and London was displayed on almost half the page.

Cody's mouth fell open and his eyes widened as he took the newspaper and read the article. "London's Day out…" he began

"…London Tipton's new love interest seems to be a lot closer than we first thought. Is this her mysterious mystery man or is he a new branch in London's tree of boyfriends? Whatever he is, all fans of 'Yay Me starring London Tipton' know who he is, he is the blonde kid that produces her show…"

His hands began to tremble as he gripped the newspaper tighter and tighter. He can feel the sweat pouring down his body as he feel the piercing stares of the two adults in the room with him.

"…Though three years younger than her, this little blonde kid seems to have skipped the ladder and went straight to the action yesterday, Thursday. Nobody knows how or when they reached such a point but according to attentive audiences of the show, London was very distressed during the show and her producer, aptly named Cody Martin, came to comfort her. It seems as though an innocent and kind act of comforting just took a whole new level with this couple."

Cody brought down the newspaper as he nervously looked at the two, glaring adults beside him. "Heh heh heh…" he gave out a nervous laugh "Journalists…what whacky minds they have, eh?"

To be continued

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