Chapter 13 – The Hardest Days

Disclaimer: I do not own the Suite Life series or any characters from the shows.

Zack had sat crying in Cody's arms for almost a full hour after he broke the news. It wasn't until they both heard the door open and close, signaling their uncle had returned, that he gathered himself. Cody just watched, feeling like his stomach had turned to stone, as Zack dried his tears and forced himself to stop crying. The sight of this almost made Cody produce his own tears. Nobody should have to endure what Zack had. Nobody, especially a sixteen-year-old should have to endure that. Nobody, especially someone whose mother had recently tried to kill herself should have to endure that. Nobody, especially his brother should have to endure that.

But, as reality would have it, Zack did have to endure it. Zack was sixteen years old. Zack's mother had just tried to kill herself. And Zack was Cody's brother. Cody couldn't figure it out. Why did all of the bad things happen to them? It seemed as if their happy-go-lucky, perfect world had come crashing down in front of them in the past months. Cody knew it wasn't normal for anyone to have to go through any of this, but two teenage boys, brothers, having to deal with all of this in less than a year? It was madness. It was worse than madness; it was… there were simply no words for it.

The next few days after that hardly passed easily. Cody kept his mouth shut. The first day he had wanted to confront Tim. Cody wanted so many bad things to happen to their uncle, and he wanted to be the one to cause all of those bad things. He figured he could have been classified as insane or murderous if someone would have been able to listen to his thoughts.

Cody found himself watching Tim cook hoping he would accidently cut his hand off with a knife or spill boiling water on the parts that had mostly destroyed his brother. Cody found himself in a car with him hoping, at every light they went though, that some maniac would crash into the car and Tim would fly though the windshield and die a painful death. Cody found himself watching Tim drink a glass of water and hoping that somehow he'd choke on it. Cody knew these thoughts weren't healthy for him but there was no excuse for him. Cody wanted Tim gone and the only thing that stopped him was his brother's reminding him of the promise he had made.

After anger came protectiveness. Cody began following Zack everywhere. It became second nature to keep an eye on him at all times. He could feel his muscles relax whenever Tim wasn't in the house but every time they were all in the same room Cody could hardly breathe and he always kept an eye on his brother. Cody had also made it a point to try and keep Tim as far away from Zack as possible. Whenever possible, Cody sat between the two. This hadn't gone over too well with Zack.

Zack had gone to Cody when their uncle was out of the house and sat him down fighting to refrain from landing a fist in his face.

"Cody, what the hell are you doing?" Zack had been furious.

"What do you mean? I'm just trying to keep him away from you."

"Yeah, that's going to have to stop, Cody! If he gets any idea that you know… you know what will happen."

"Yeah. Zack remember, I told you I'd figure something out?" Cody knew what he had figured out was weak at best but weak was better than nothing.

"What's up?" Zack had gone from angry to genuinely interested.

"Well if he finds out I know he said he'll make me kill mom. And then he'll kill me. Well here's the thing. That's not going to happen because no matter what he does I'd never kill mom. I'll always be here with you."

Zack laughed in his face, his anger returning. "That's what you came up with? Cody he'll torture you, he'll make you feel so miserable and alone until you'll do whatever he tells you to. Can't you see it in his eyes Cody? Can't you tell?"

Cody sighed, "No Zack, I can't. I haven't seen what you've seen. I haven't been through what you have."

Zack shook his head, "No Cody, you haven't. Just please don't do anything stupid until we can figure something out that actually makes sense."

It had been hard for Cody to agree with that but he couldn't bear to deny him anything. Zack could have asked for all of Cody's worldly possessions and all of his pride and honor and Cody would have given it all to him without question. Cody knew what to call that. That was called unconditional love.

"Fine."

As much as Cody tried to return to normal, or at least what had been normal for them before this all happened. He nearly lost it again when Tim mysteriously needed Zack's help picking something up from the store.

"Hey Zack. I'm going to head out to the store and I'll probably be buying a few things. Mind coming with me and helping me carry some stuff?"

Cody nearly tackled his uncle to the ground. He simply tried to put on a happy face, hoping his eyes wouldn't give him away, "I'll go with. Six hands is better than four right?"

Tim seemed to think about it for a while, "No Cody. Just stay here this once. I think your brother and I will be able to handle this one." He winked at Cody after saying it.

Normally the wink would have been a harmless, meaningless wink. It would have been a friendly promise to include Cody in the next run to the store. Only this time, Cody had nearly vomited on the spot. He felt bile rising in his throat and had met Zack's eyes with a sorrowful gaze. Zack had simply given a faint smile and the smallest nod Cody had ever seen, before closing his eyes for a while.

Cody, feeling truly sick went to his room where he closed the door and waited until he heard the front door close to scream into his pillow as loudly as he could. This was the second time that Tim would be ruining Zack's life and that was already two times to many. Cody knew he had to sit down and think, this needed to end as soon as possible and there were only two ways that it would. Cody either had to tell someone and get Tim arrested, or Tim had to die. As much as Cody wanted to carry out the latter he knew he'd never be able to. Cody knew he had to tell someone. He had to call the police. The only problem was that he had to get Zack to agree. If Zack didn't agree and Cody told somebody, Zack would never trust him ever again, and that was probably the worst thing that Cody could ever go through.

If Cody didn't have Zack's trust he may as well not have anything in his life. Suddenly Cody's world became focused on one thing: convincing his brother to report their uncle.

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We've begun our descent towards our final destination. Please return seats to their upright positions and tray tables upwards and locked in place. This part of the story is winding down now, but don't worry, this tale of Zack and Cody is far from over.

Some questions to ponder...

Will Tim get carted of to jail or will he somehow cause another great tragedy in the Martin's lives? How can Cody convince Zack to report Tim? Why is Zack so afraid that Tim will carry out his threats? What will Carey's reaction to all of this be and what secrets lie there? Stay tuned for the next chapter of It Ain't So Suite Without You Here...