Chapter 38

Again, I don't own any of these characters

Everyone finally got up and about and they met Carey and Ellie for breakfast. After a quick bite to eat, Carey decided to join Zack and Cassie in just hanging around the hotel while Ellie decided to go browse the after Christmas sales with Cody and Bailey.

Zack, Cassie and Carey were just sitting around the suite when Zack noticed his Mom staring off into space.

"Everything okay, Mom?"

Carey snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Zack. "What was that?"

"I asked if everything was okay. It looked like you were thinking pretty hard about something..."

Carey sighed. "Yeah, I was...I had an interesting chat with Arwin earlier this morning..."

Zack smiled. "So, he finally asked you?"

Carey turns to her son in surprise. "You knew?"

"Yeah...Cody and I encouraged him to go for it..."

Carey sighs. "I wish you guys had talked to me before you did that..."

"Why? Are you already seeing someone?"

"Well, no..."

"Then what's the big deal, Mom? If you don't already have plans for New Year's Eve, why not give it a shot?"

Carey sighs again. "I don't know..."

Cassie speaks up. "Arwin seems like a really nice guy. It could be a lot worse..."

"I know...but its Arwin..."

Zack looks at his mother. "So?"

"Its just..."

"Mom, Arwin is a good guy. And he likes you. And he already knows Cody and I and likes us. And we like him. If you remember, he was one of the few people who always kept an eye on us growing up and was always around to help us out..."

Carey sighs. "I know..."

"So what do you have to lose? Give it a shot. If it goes alright, great. If it doesn't, oh well..."

Carey turns to Zack. "I suppose..."

"Good...Now why don't you tell him 'yes'?"

"But what if its just the two of us and it gets awkward?"

Zack smiled. "We already told Arwin we would be there too...Besides, it will only be awkward if you let it be awkward..."

Carey paused to think. "You know, you're right...Thanks, Zack."

"Anytime, Mom...Now, get out of here."

Carey gets up and heads off to find Arwin.

Zack notices Cassie smiling at him. "What?"

"That was really sweet what you just did for your mother...and for Arwin..."

Zack shrugs. "Who knows, maybe something good will come out of it..."

"What do you mean?"

Zack sighs. "It would be nice to know that while Cody and I are gone off to college that Mom will have someone around to take care of her..."

"I think your Mom can take care of herself...but, I can understand you wanting to know she has someone. I felt the same way about Aunt Sarah..."

Zack smiled. "And that ended up working out pretty well..."

"Very true..."

"What do you say we get out of here too?"

"And go where? Its almost a blizzard outside..."

"I was thinking about trying out the spa...I've wanted to do that for years now..."

Cassie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Sure, why not...That definitely sounds a whole lot more relaxing then hitting the stores today..."

"Tell me about it..."

Meanwhile

Cody, Bailey and Ellie have hit several stores already. Cody and Bailey have found great deals on several things they both liked and needed. Eventually, Cody was carrying so many bags that someone might have thought he had gone shopping with London. He begged the two ladies a chance to go drop them off in the car. Bailey and Ellie both decided to take pity on him and agreed to stop for a cup of hot chocolate while he ran to the car. As they sat waiting on him, they begin to chat.

"Now, Bailey, if I may, I keep noticing that locket you wear. Its absolutely beautiful..."

Bailey smiles and reaches down and rubs it. "It was a gift from Cody on our anniversary. I like to wear it as much as possible. Its like I've always have a piece of him with me at all times..."

Ellie smiles. "I know what you mean..." She holds out her left hand to Bailey. "You see that ring on my finger?"

Bailey looks down and looks in awe. "Oh my...Its absolutely gorgeous. I've never seen anything like it before..."

"That's the ring my Charlie gave me when he asked me to marry him. I haven't taken it off once since the day he slid it on my finger. I know he's gone, but as long as I have that ring, I can still feel him here with me..."

"He must have been a wonderful man..."

Ellie smiles. "Oh he was. He was one of a kind. He was never the most suave person, but he was always the most sincere..." She begins to chuckle. "He used to say the corniest things, but I couldn't get enough of them..."

Bailey smiled. "That explains a lot then..."

"Yeah?"

"It sounds like Cody and his grandfather were a lot alike. Cody can be pretty cheesy himself, but I find it completely adorable...And I know he means every word he says"

"Is my grandson pretty romantic?"

"Yeah, he is. He's always doing little things for me or surprising me with something. He may be unconventional, but I wouldn't want it any other way..."

Ellie laughs. "Sounds just like Charlie...So, tell me, what did he do for a first date?"

Bailey smiled remembering. "Well, our first date was kind of a whirlwind..." Bailey explains to Ellie about the teen cruise, the Hannah Montana concert, Cody vowing to get tickets and everything he did trying to get them, Hannah herself giving them tickets and the concert itself.

Ellie just sits there staring. "Wow...Now, what was that about a six month plan?"

"Cody formulated a six month plan to win me. He went about trying to impress me and prove himself to me..."

"Why didn't he just ask you out?"

Bailey sighed. "I don't know...I wish he would have just done that though. But, I can't complain. Everything worked out in the end, and that's the important thing..."

Ellie just shakes her head. "I love both my grandsons equally, but they can be so different. Zack seems to like living by the seat of his pants while Cody always wants to have a plan..."

"I know, but sometimes that can be a good thing..." Bailey smiled. "He spent so much time planning our anniversary and if was perfect..."

"Wasn't that the night you two almost got mugged?"

Bailey nods. "Well, okay, that part wasn't so good, but everything before that was so romantic...And Cody did save my life..."

"Yeah, I heard all about what he did..." Ellie smiled. "My grandson must really love you if he was willing to risk his life for you..."

Bailey smiled. "Well, I love him too...I like to think I would risk my life for him too..."

"I can see that. You two are just so natural and at ease with each other..."

"I know. With Cody, I can just be myself and know that that's okay with him...I just love being with him as much as I can..."

Ellie smiled. "So, odds are I'm sitting here with my future granddaughter-in-law, huh?"

Bailey smiled too. "I hope so..."

"Well, I can tell my grandson does love you and its obvious to me that you make him happy..." She pauses and grins. "Of course. I wouldn't mind some great grandchildren..."

Bailey laughs. "I think we are still several years away from that..."

"Well, you now know twins are a frequent occurrence in our family...so, I hope that doesn't scare you..."

"Not all...I grew up with nine other sisters. I'm used to a big family..."

Ellie nodded. "Good..." She paused to think and sip her hot chocolate. "I hope this hasn't come off as some sort of interview process. I just wanted to get to know the young woman who has my grandson so tightly wrapped her little finger..."

Bailey smiled. "Its okay. I know my Dad did the same thing to Cody...Of course, I don't think he was as nice about it..."

Ellie laughed. "Well, that's fathers for you...I can just see that you bring out the best in him. I wanted to know the person who had that affect on him..."

"Well he brings out the best in me too..."

Ellie nods and at that time Cody rejoins them and sits next to Bailey. Ellie watches them talk to each other and thinks. She knew Cody had met his match. But, she knew she needed to talk to her grandson. She wanted to make sure he knew what he had and wanted to make sure he knew to appreciate it. Most of all, she wanted to make sure he didn't make the same mistake his great uncle did.

To be Continued...