-1Chapter 8: Dragonfly
A/N: Okay, so um yeah. Maddie's pregnant and stuff. AWWWWW! Anyways, this is the 8th chapter. Oh yeah, no lyrics this time. I couldn't really think of a song to fit the theme of this chapter. I know, I'm making the story slightly more mature this time, but the characters are all older so I figured I'd make them act like adults. Sometimes...
Disclaimer: I don't own Cody, London, Maddie or Zack who are the only characters featured in this chapter. Carey is mentioned, but I don't own her either.
Chapter Summary: Cody, London, Maddie and Zack decide to take a relaxing vacation on a cruise ship. Bad idea.
!#$&()+
"Ready?" London asked Maddie, who was sifting through her luggage. Maddie nodded. She needed this. They all needed this trip. A break from life altogether. It hadn't been roses and daisies lately. It'd been stressful, dramatic and any other bad word you could think of. Maddie touched her stomach thoughtfully. London caught her, and did the same.
"I can't believe your gonna be a mom!" London squealed.
"Me either. Zack and I are gonna move the wedding closer because...well, obviously because I'm pregnant," she said, saying the word 'pregnant' like it was the oddest word in the world. It was something that would take some getting used to. She wondered what kind of parents she and Zack would be. Hopefully loving, caring parents like their own. Maddie smiled inwardly and grabbed the rest of her suitcases, carrying them out into the empty living room suite. She thought empty because no one was in there. London had gone down to the lobby to say goodbye to Moseby. Zack and Cody had driven Carey to a spa that was about an hour away. Maddie turned to stare at the room, retreating backwards slowly. She chuckled softly as she turned around and made her way to the elevator. The ride down seemed to take forever, and she was all alone on it. The hotel seemed strangely vacant today. As doors slid open, she saw that the lobby was the same. She gave London and Moseby a quick glance as she sat her suitcases down by the door. She didn't see Esteban anywhere, so she had to carry her own bags. London appeared beside her minutes later, as Maddie was staring out into the parking lot awaiting Zack and Cody's return.
"There they are," London said with a smile, spotting them out of the corner of her eye. They glanced back at the luggage they'd packed. They'd crammed a whopping eight suitcases through the elevator. They looked at each other, giggling. They'd overdone themselves a bit. Zack and Cody greeted them, walking through the swinging door, frowns appearing on their faces when they saw how much luggage the girls had. The girls glanced at each other and shrugged innocently.
"We can't fit all this stuff in the car," Zack chuckled.
"What? We only packed the essentials," they lied, pouting. The twins looked at each other and rolled their eyes, each grabbing two suitcases. London and Maddie grabbed the other four. As they all piled into the car, they began, as always, bickering over the radio station. Maddie and London were pulling for the Pop station. Zack and Cody were fighting for the Rock station. After a few minutes, they all agreed on turning the radio off to stop the fighting. The ride to the coast was a bit long, but not much conversation was taking place. Maddie began to feel carsick an hour into the trip. They had to let her out at a gas station six miles from their destination. After she'd threw up about four times, she made her way back to the car, woozily, yet briskly. This whole baby thing was pretty bad sometimes.
They finally arrived at the pier about eight minutes later. They saw a grand cruise ship at the dock and stared up at it in amazement. They'd never seen such a big ship. They read the name of it aloud in unison.
"R.M.S. Dragonfly," they said slowly.
They grabbed their suitcases and pushed through the bustling crowds and made their way to the onramp. They showed their tickets to the woman standing at the entrance and passed through a metal detector, Zack being stopped several times because of all the metal things he had. Chains, keys, you name it, he probably had it stashed somewhere. Maddie and London kept shifting their eyes around, embarrassed, while Cody was laughing at him. After he'd finally passed through, they were on a quest to find their rooms. Cody and London's room was 659, on E deck. Maddie and Zack's room was on the same deck, but the number was 666. Maddie stopped in front of the door, a wide-eyed, scared expression on her face.
"Bad things are going to happen in this room," she said almost sounding possessed. Zack stared at her for a moment, then nodded.
"You bet," he said, wriggling his eyebrows at her flirtatiously. She punched him, hard, in the shoulder.
"You're a moron. I meant the number. 666. It's the omen. That number is cursed. It's a sign of the apocalypse" Maddie whispered, going back into her terrified trance.
"It's fine," he said, reaching out to unlock the door. Maddie grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Maybe we should go home. I have a bad feeling about staying here," she pleaded.
"Maddie, everything's going to be okay. We're gonna be fine. We're going to relax and have fun," he reassured her. She gave him a small smile.
"Maybe you're right. I'll try to calm down," she said, in a fake "calm" voice. Zack bought it, and unlocked the door. Inside was a pretty nice room. There was a huge king-sized bed with a floral comforter and big, fluffy, white pillows. There was a few lamps, to make up for the lack of sunlight. There was, of course, no windows. Maddie heaved a sigh and plopped down on the bed, her uneasy feeling not leaving her for a second. She sat up hurriedly a few moments later, noticing Zack had left the room.
"Must've dozed off," she said with a yawn. She pulled herself off the bed and poked her head out the door, her light blue, flared jeans getting snagged on the doorstopper. She spotted Zack down the hall, coming out of Cody and London's room, a bit of anger on his face.
"What's wrong?" She asked him, a little hesitantly.
"Their room is bigger than ours," he said madly, leaning against the door of the room. She giggled to herself for a moment before emerging wholly from the room.
"Wanna go up and get some lunch?" She asked, taking his hand, not waiting for an answer.
Meanwhile in Cody and London's room
London stared in awe at the room she'd be in for the next four days.
"It's gorgeous!" She exclaimed, although no one could hear her. Cody had excused himself to go up to the upper deck to look around. London felt a hand on her shoulder and instinctively spun around quickly.
"It's just me," Cody revealed himself. London breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes momentarily.
"They have rock climbing and swimming pools and pottery classes up there! It's crazy!" He said excitedly. London smiled to herself. She loved when he got excited. It reminded her of when they were all younger. That's something that had never changed about him. His childlike quality is what she loved most about him.
"Why don't we go do something then?" London asked, sitting down beside him on the bed.
"What should we do first?" He asked, perplexed.
"Well, we could grab some lunch first. Then we could go rock climbing!" She suggested standing up.
"You really wanna rock climb with me?" He asked, not expecting the suggestion.
"Of course! I love you. And plus, it sounds fun," she said with a smile. He questioned her no further, but instead, took her hand and pulled her, running, up to the top deck.
When they made it up there, the deck was completely packed with people. They made their way, pushing past people, over to a restaurant that was nearby. They spotted Zack and Maddie sitting at a table and went to site down with them.
"Hey guys," Maddie stammered, through a mouthful of a sandwich. London laughed as she sat down.
"Hey," they greeted.
"We're gonna go rock climbing after we eat, wanna come?" London offered. Maddie nodded excitedly, while Zack looked a little thwarted.
"Are you sure you should be rock climbing in your condition?" Zack asked, arms crossed. Maddie rolled her eyes.
"It'll be fine. I'll be fine," Maddie bolstered, forking some kind of salad into her mouth. Zack still looked unconvinced, and remained that way all the way to the rock climbing portion of the ship. There was no one there, fortunately. The instructor approached them cheerfully.
"First rock climbers of the day!" He said in a hospitable southern voice. They all nodded excitedly, with the exception of Zack, who was still concerned for Maddie's well-being. Cody and London started out on the first wall, laughing and racing each other to the top. Maddie was still strapping herself to suspenders and cables and Zack was trying to help her. She slapped his hand away.
"Stop trying to be so protective! I'm fine. I can do it myself," she said, a bit more hostile then she meant. He sighed and worked on his own.
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little bit edgy. It's the hormones. I'm really sorry I snapped at you, but really, I'll be okay," she said, laying an encouraging hand on his shoulder, and smiled. He bit his lip, but returned the smile. As they began to climb the wall, everything seemed great. They were having a lot of fun. Maddie made it to the top before Zack and laughed at her achievement. She laughed for a few seconds, until suddenly, her cable broke. She toppled to the ground, with no physical restraint to stop her, she heard people screaming her name, as she hit the floor, darkness swirling around in her head, as she lost consciousness.
A/N: OH NO! I just realized that I've been really mean to Maddie throughout this story! Lol, sorry Maddie. But, I do like her. She's my favorite TSL character! The next chapter will be up soon!