Disclaimer: I don't own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody or The Suite Life on Deck.

Chapter 14: The World Turned Upside Down

The next day was Saturday, and Maya Elizabeth Bennett woke up on it feeling completely furious.

After she and Bailey had witnessed the inexplicable reunion between Zack and Cody, they had snuck back to Marcus and Woody's cabin and explained to the boys what they had seen. They were just as amazed and confused as Maya and Bailey, and the group had spent a long time debating how what they had seen had happened. Because they had watched Cody die, they had watched his heart stop beating, and they had seen his casket at his funeral. How could he possibly still be alive?

Maya, Bailey, Marcus, and Woody had stayed in the cabin for several hours, just waiting for Mr. Moseby, Zack, and Cody to come. Mr. Moseby would explain to… the twins, it was now… the videos, and then to them just what had happened in the five years since Cody's "death".

But, although they had patiently waited, that had never happened. Maya and Marcus had even gone out to scout the ship to see if they could prompt a meeting by "accidentally" running into Mr. Moseby, Zack, or Cody, but they were nowhere to be found. They had even gone so far as to check the hallway where the twins had had their reunion.

Mr. Moseby had to know that he couldn't keep them in the dark forever. If Cody began going to school at Seven Seas High, it was inevitable for them to meet him. And once they did, he wouldn't be able to stop them from questioning him. It would also cause more problems if Mr. Moseby let Zack and Cody find out about the videos on their own. He needed to be there to explain what had happened, and why he had shown them the videos. Zack- Maya had no idea about Cody, but she knew Zack- would be angry if the explanation didn't come from the manager himself. So they all knew it was only a matter of time.

Once again, Maya, Bailey, Marcus, and Woody decided to test their luck in prompting a confrontation by choosing to sit in Marcus and Woody's cabin with the door open while they did their homework. It was a good opportunity to study, but not even Bailey was able to focus on her work for long, if the way she refused to remove her eyes from the door for more than a few seconds was any indication. Maya didn't even bother trying to work, instead just absentmindedly poking at the curls of paper in the rings of her notebook with her pencil as her mind raced.

For an hour they sat, the situation going down the exact same way as the day before, except that everyone was asking their questions silently instead of at each other. Eventually, Maya was startled from her thoughts by Marcus angrily slamming his notebook down on his desk. All three other occupants of the cabin fixed their eyes on him at this sudden action, but he paid no attention as he slammed back his chair, walked over to the door, briefly stuck his head out, then stomped to his bed and collapsed on it. They continued staring until Marcus finally rolled over and fixed his gaze on each of theirs.

When it was her turn, Maya arched a skeptical eyebrow and asked, "You okay there?"

Marcus broke her gaze and sighed, tilting his head back towards the ceiling as he rubbed his hands across his face. "I just don't understand," he confessed feebly.

Bailey and Maya hummed and nodded, for they understood and agreed with his meaning, but could offer no real advice or solution. Woody however, a bit slower, asked, "Don't understand what?"

Marcus peeked one eye out from behind his hands to eye the curly-haired boy skeptically. Upon seeing that he was serious, he responded rather vaguely, "How this even happened."

Woody screwed his face up in frustration out of the lack of a clear answer and opened his mouth to resume the barrage of questioning, but when the words "How what even happened?" cut across the room, they had not belonged to the black-haired boy.

All four occupants of the cabin jumped at the familiar unfamiliarity and snapped to look towards the door, where Zack Martin was standing with his arms and legs crossed, leaning casually against the door frame. When he saw their reactions, he raised one eyebrow and a slight smile graced his lips, contrasting with the piercing gaze he fixed upon each of them with his cool blue-gray eyes.

"Zack!" Bailey exclaimed, retrieving her fallen textbook. "You scared us! You really should knock first!"

The eyebrow crept higher. "The door was open," he pointed out. Bailey's response was to blush and feebly mumble, "R-right."

Partly to rescue her friend from embarrassment, but mostly because she was very, incredibly curious, Maya fixed her brown eyes to Zack's gray ones and said, "Is there any particular reason you're here, Zack?"

Her boyfriend looked hurt for a moment at her perhaps less-than-tactical wording, but it quickly passed, drawing Maya's eyes for the first time to something rather peculiar. It was very subtle, but she noticed a sort of… life to Zack's face that hadn't been there before. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, whether it was his eyes sparkling in an unfamiliar way or a brightness and openness to something she hadn't even known to be shut off. And of course, she knew exactly what had caused it. The others more than likely hadn't noticed it, for they were not Zack's girlfriend, but it proved to further qualify, for Maya, just how big an impact the enigmatic Cody Martin had on his brother's very existence.

Zack pushed off the door frame and fixed each of them with another calculating gaze. "There's… there's something I want to s-show you," he asserted with a persona of confidence. But Maya noticed how pale his hands were and how they were trembling. Her stomach twisted and she had to avert her gaze. She hoped that their knowing about Cody would make this better, not worse, for that was surely what Zack wanted to show them.

The other four stood and followed Zack as he led them out the door and across the small hallway to his own cabin. Once they reached the threshold, the blond boy grabbed the doorknob and fingered it for a moment before looking back up hesitantly. His nervous eyes fell on Maya first and she tried to communicate silent encouragement; he didn't know it, but he really didn't have to be uneasy. They already knew everything.

"I… this is going to be weird," Zack began hesitantly. "But I'll explain everything. I promise." Maya, Bailey, Marcus, and Woody all nodded, playing the part. It wasn't as if Zack was wrong; the Cody situation sure was confusing.

After another second of deliberation, Zack swung back the door and led them inside, where they instantly noticed not only Cody Martin, in the flesh, but also a very conflicted Mr. Moseby. Maya was able to shoot him an amused look before her attention was wholly captured by finally seeing her boyfriend's twin brother up close and personal. Marcus and Woody hadn't been in the hallway the day before, so neither of them could hold back a gasp at seeing the thought-to-be ghost. Even Maya and Bailey, who were there, couldn't help but be startled by the merely different perspective between watching through a tiny window in a closed door.

Cody was dressed in a plain while polo shirt and dark pants and had a warm smile on his face that reminded Maya of Zack… but with a few subtle differences that meant that the only way she could describe it was Cody. It was fascinating, the way that the twins seemed to be so similar yet slightly different, but unfortunately she didn't have time to dwell on it for long. When Cody took in their reaction- or rather lack of- the smile was replaced by a confused frown and twinkle in his blue-gray eyes.

From her side, Maya caught Zack shifting on his feet and noticed that the expression on his face mirrored his brother's- down to the same confused twinkle. Her boyfriend aimed her with a bewildered look, but nevertheless continued on with his confession.

"Um, this is Cody Martin," he said, moving over to stand by his brother's side, further heightening the obviousness of their similarities. "He's my twin brother. I know you guys have never met him before, but there's a good reason for that, I promise. I-"

"Zack," Mr. Moseby spoke up, drawing all eyes to him. The manager shot a brief look to the girls, Marcus, and Woody before turning it back to the Martin twins. "They already know about Cody."

Zack sent his friends a bewildered look, and when Maya gave him a slight nod, he turned it to Mr. Moseby. "I… how? I never told them." Suddenly, his look turned angry and he demanded, "You told them!?"

She didn't want Mr. Moseby to get in trouble, and she still had about a million unanswered questions that an argument would only delay, so Maya quickly stepped forward, rushing to the defense. "It's not his fault!" she exclaimed, drawing her boyfriend's and his brother's attention. "We were all concerned about you after the first day of the twin unit, so we begged him to show us the videos. He really didn't want us to see them, and did everything that he could to discourage us. If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at us, not at him."

For several minutes, the hard, angry look remained in Zack's eyes. But then Cody rested a hand on his shoulder, and Maya was shocked by how completely her boyfriend's expression changed. He looked at his brother, who observed the rest of the room's occupants for the first time, studying them intently.

"Don't be mad at them, Zack," Cody finally commanded his brother. "They only did it because they care about you and wanted to make sure that you were doing okay." Zack hesitated, then looked up briefly, searching for something within Maya's eyes, then turned back to his brother and sighed in resignation.

Cody grinned along with the rest of the teenagers and faced them. "Now that that's settled, I believe introductions are in order. I am Cody Martin, Zack's twin, as I'm sure you already know."

Maya couldn't help but grin back. She could tell that she was going to like her boyfriend's brother. She prepared to step forward and introduce herself, but Bailey beat her to it.

Her blonde friend stepped away from the group and held out her hand in a shy demeanor that Maya couldn't remember ever seeing on Bailey. She watched with a raised eyebrow and a grin as the blonde held out her friend and said, "Hi. I'm Bailey Pickett." Her curiosity grew as a faint blush spread across Bailey's cheeks as Cody shook her hand and gave her a tender smile. A look she exchanged with Zack showed Maya that he had clearly noticed the same thing and was equally amused by the interaction playing out before them.

The brunette allowed Bailey and Cody another moment for their moment? before stepping forward and holding out her own hand. "I'm Maya Bennett," she said with a smile. "Zack's girlfriend."

This earned an eyebrow raise from Cody and he shot his brother a curious look. Zack blushed slightly at the accusation, but mostly winced. "Things are different now," he said vaguely. "She's special." Cody grew a bit somber, obviously understanding his brother's meaning, but still tried to remain positive as he turned back to Maya.

"It is an honor to meet you, Maya," he said with a grin. She couldn't help but smile back. She definitely liked Cody Martin. The smile remained even as she stepped back and Marcus and Woody introduced themselves.

Once everybody had become acquainted, Mr. Moseby took the lead and addressed to Zack and Cody, "I showed them all the tapes we have from five years ago, so context won't be necessary, but I imagine that they're very curious as to how Cody is here." Maya, Bailey, Marcus, and Woody all eagerly nodded in agreement.

A brief flash of anger crossed Zack's face at the qualification of Mr. Moseby's betrayal, but it passed after only a glance from Cody. Maya's fascination only increased.

After looking away from his brother, Cody turned his gaze over each of them before glancing back for support. Zack nodded, so Cody cleared his throat to speak, although fidgeting awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

"Right," he began. "So you four already know about the fact that I was in a coma?" He paused, looking, Maya noticed, to Bailey for confirmation. When she nodded, a hint of pink blush on her cheeks, Cody paused for a minute before taking a deep breath and launching into his story,

"It all started a few days after the doctors had declared me brain-dead. I had requested beforehand for my body to be used for science, so they were preparing to do so. One of the doctors was so close to starting to cut when she noticed that my eyes were open."

Maya's eyes widened. "How did you survive? On the tape, it shows your heart flat lining twice. Or was that inaccurate?"

Cody quickly shook his head. "No, that was real. When Drew… when I was hurt, most of the damage was to my brainstem. And the brainstem controls-"

"-involuntary reflexes… like heartbeat," Bailey interjected, her voiced awed.

With a dip of his head and a slight smile, Cody acknowledged her point. "Exactly. As the doctors explained it, when they used the defibrillator, it sent so much energy that my brain was temporarily overwhelmed and shut down. That's why the flatline happened a second time. But my body was able to regulate the energy and give my brainstem the ability to recover."

Everyone was shocked for a moment by how miraculous Cody's tale was. Marcus recovered first, drawing Maya's attention as he cleared his throat and eyed Cody skeptically.

"So your brainstem was so badly damaged that it caused your heart to fail twice, but one shock and a few days later you woke up perfectly fine?" he asked.

Zack opened his mouth and stepped forward with an angry look on his face, presumably to scold Marcus, but Cody quickly saw this coming and grabbed his shoulder to stop him as soon as he moved. Reluctantly, Zack stepped back and stood silently as his brother addressed Marcus's question.

"No, of course not," he confessed. "It did recover, but it took several days for me to improve enough to even open my eyes. Once they saw that I wasn't dead, the doctors moved me back into the ER and resumed trying to help me recover. There's condition often suffered by those who fall into comas, called Persistent Vegetative State, where someone recovers enough to open their eyes and do things essential to basic survival, but never regains full capacity of their brain or becomes able to rejoin society successfully. The doctors feared that I might have been in that, so they observed me for a couple of weeks to figure it out."

Woody spoke up- completely unnecessarily, Maya felt the need to add- "And you weren't… right?"

He looked slightly confused for a minute, but Cody nodded. "Correct. I started showing signs of recovery after a few weeks, but it took several months to wake up completely. That was all right, though. Once they saw that I had the ability to get better, the doctors kept me alive for long enough to do so."

Marcus nodded once Cody finished, but followed it up with, "But were you fine after you woke up completely?"

Judging by his standing in fount of them seemingly completely fine, Maya expected for him to confirm it. To her surprise, he shook his head no. At that, even Zack looked at him bewildered. When he saw this, Cody fidgeted awkwardly for a moment.

"My brainstem was still slightly damaged," he explained. "When I woke up, my legs were completely paralyzed. I had to use a wheelchair several weeks. They became less stiff after that though. It took years, but I was able to relearn to walk after several years of intensive therapy."

All six of the room's occupants were stunned into silence by this revelation. Especially, if his wide blue-gray eyes and horrified expression was anything to go by, Zack.

"I didn't know that," he accused, glaring at his brother. Cody winced and shrugged apologetically.

Seeing this exchange brought a pressing question to Maya's mind. "Speaking of which, how come it's been five years and Zack didn't know that you were still alive?"

The wince that her words brought on almost made Maya feel bad for Cody, but she reminded herself that her boyfriend had been suffering so terribly that whole time and had carefully crafted an exterior to hide the pain so that no one- even his closest friends- could be let in.

"When they first noticed that I was still alive, the doctors decided not to tell Zack or our mom because they were very unsure if I would survive or get out of PVS," Cody began hesitantly.

Still unrelenting, Maya crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "And after you began recovering?"

Yet more fidgeting. Zack noticed this and gave his brother a supremely hurt and angry look. Cody turned his gaze to his twin and for several minutes, the two held a silent conversation with their looks. Even though she was still angry, Maya couldn't help but be fascinated by their exchange. A glance to the side showed that the others were similarly enthralled. In the past few minutes, Maya had learned more about Zack Martin than she had in the entire rest of the time she had known him.

Zack and Cody finally broke their gazes, drawing Maya's full attention except for a small fraction that remained behind, mulling over that revelation. Cody began talking again, looking at Maya with a plainly open gaze. "Once I began to recover, the reasons remained very similar. I wasn't sure I would ever get better enough to successfully rejoin the society. And I didn't want to tell them only to put them through the pain of losing me a second time. Zack went off to Seven Seas High before I recovered enough to be sure I would end up okay. I contacted our mother, and she helped me apply and get here, even if just for a little while."

To Maya, this explanation was nowhere near satisfying, and she was tempted to tell Cody this, but several things stopped her. For one, when they had had their silent conversation, Zack had forgiven Cody. And she noticed, sneaking a glance, he didn't seem excessively angry now. If Zack, Cody's twin brother, the one she was upset for, wasn't mad, then what right did Maya have to be?

But also, the truth she had realized earlier resurfaced. Even in the brief time Cody had been there, Zack had already transformed into a completely different person. He hadn't joked or seemed as mischievous as when he was, say, pulling pranks and for a portion of their conversation, had been incredibly angry and upset at Cody, but her boyfriend still looked happier than she had ever seen him. His brother's very presence seemed to ease a burden within Zack that was so subtle that Maya hadn't even noticed it until it was gone. How could she be angry- even minutely- at Cody after noticing that?

Subconsciously, Maya looked over to her other three companions, just to check their reactions. Woody, as she could've figured, still looked completely in shock about the fact that Cody was even there. Marcus still looked a bit indignant for Zack's sake, but had mostly relaxed from his accusations against Cody. It was Bailey's reaction, though, that interested her the most. She was staring at Cody with a look of fascination and admiration, absolutely no hostility in her gaze. If Bailey wasn't mad at Cody, how could she be?

Resolved, she turned to face forward, meeting Zack and Cody's identical gazes. When he saw the forgiving look on face, Cody seemed to read Maya's thoughts and gave her a tiny grateful-yet-apologetic smile. It seemed so sincere and genuine yet reminded her of something Zack would do that Maya instantly knew that she had made the right choice. She wanted to have Cody Martin in her life.

At that thought, she looked around once again to her companions, and noticed that they all seemed, to a degree, to reflect the emotions she was feeling. The air seemed almost electrified as all six of the teenagers realized that they were on the cusp of something great, and their world was about to be turned upside down. No matter what, the world would never be the same.

After several moments of this silence, the boat's newest resident broke it by grinning at his brother, then the others in turn.

"All right," he said. "Now that that's over with, I think we have some catching up to do."

Yay! Chapter 13! I hope you liked this one, and it finally answered all the questions about what happened to Cody. Before I wrote this chapter, I did a ton of research about comas and how recovery from one works, so I tried to make it as accurate as plausible. I'm not completely convinced that he'd be able to recover from his heart stopping twice, but for the sake of the story, let's pretend, alright?

We're almost to the end now! Only one more chapter after this, just to wrap everything up! I hope to have that up soon...ish.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 14!

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