The Last Place You Look
Chapter Five: Much Ado about a Carnival
by Aeris Tiniel Mirime

Notes: Here's the next chapter. It's a long one!
(All disclaimers still apply)

"I would fain have it a match, and I doubt not but to fashion it, if you will minister such assistance as I shall give you direction."
-Much Ado About Nothing

It was night time in Boston. In front of the Tipton, Maddie, Zack, Cody, and Carey were standing, waiting for one of the many Tipton transportation vehicles to arrive. Carey was going to a hotel performer's expo in Houston for the weekend, and Maddie was to stay over at the hotel to babysit the twins. Carey's flight didn't leave until 10:00 pm, so it was dark before she left the hotel. When the chauffer finally pulled up, Carey bent to kiss her sons both on the cheek.

"You kids be good," she said.

"We will, Mom," Zack and Cody answered as they hefted her suitcase into the trunk of the car.

"I left Maddie some extra money for emergencies. Zack don't even think about it," she added as she saw the gleam in her currency-loving son's eye.

"Love you, Mom," he said innocently.

"Love you, too," she said, while giving him a "you don't fool me" look.

"Have fun, Mrs. Martin," Maddie called as Carey got into the car.

"Thanks, and phone me if you need anything," Carey responded through the rolled-down window as the chauffer began to pull away. Together, the three youngsters waved her off, and watched as the car moved out of sight.

"Come on, let's go inside," Maddie said after it was gone. So they turned to go into the lobby, but as they did, they met a green uniform coming out of it.

"Hey Esteban," Zack said at once and jumped into the spinning wheel-door. Cody hesitated for a second, looking with concern at his two friends, but soon followed Zack inside. Better to let them have some privacy, he thought. As he watched them though the glass, he saw Esteban and Maddie standing frozen in their spots.

"Hel - hello," he stuttered, only looking at her for a second before dropping his eyes to the ground.

"Uh...hi," she mumbled back, lowering her gaze as well.

"Maddie, come on!" Zack and Cody's voices rang through the air.

"Oh, I should probably...I guess I...I've gotta go," she stammered, and gestured towards her young charges.

"Yeah..." Esteban said lamely.

"Ok, bye." Maddie said, bolting past him, up the stairs, and vanishing through the door in a flurry of flying blonde hair.

Later that night, as all in the Martin suite were going to sleep, Zack's voiced floated towards his brother through the darkness of his room.

"What was that about?" he asked

"What was what about?" Cody asked back.

"Esteban and Maddie," Zack explained. "Why were they acting weird like that earlier?"

"Because they like each other, duh."

"Eww, really?" Zack asked.

"Where have you been?" Cody asked, looking at Zack strangely. "You were here when we found out about it. Remember when Esteban asked what Maddie would think?"

"Oh yeah." Zack said slowly. "I guess I blocked it out of my memory. Too painful. Thanks for bringing it back up again." Zack said, making a sickened face, even though Cody couldn't see it in the dark.

"No problem," Cody said. "So, do you want to help me get them together?"

"Now why would I want to do that?"

"London's in on it too, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind paying you."

"Pay?" Zack asked, his eyes again shining at the mention of money.

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to meet her tonight to go over our plan. I'm going as soon as Maddie's asleep" the younger twin said. Zack watched him get up and crack open the door to the living room where Maddie was settled on the couch.

"Ok, she's out," Cody whispered over his shoulder. "Are you coming or not?"

"Of course I am," Zack spoke right in his ear, causing him to jump. He was already right behind Cody, not wanting to get to the meeting, and therefore his money, a second later than was necessary.

"Maddie, Maddie, Maddie," Zack chanted the next day as he skipped over to the couch where Maddie was sitting. As Cody had promised, London had payed him to join her and Cody's scheme. She even offered to pay him bonuses for any extra effort he put into making their plan work. So today he was hamming it up.

"What, what, what?" Maddie asked, smiling at his antics, yet unaware of the real reason for them.

"Did you know there's a carnival that just set up down the block from here?"

"Yeah, I saw it when I was coming over here yesterday."

"You can see it from our window, too. Come look." Cody said as he pointed out the window to the street below. So Maddie got up to look where he was pointing.

"Don't you think it looks cool?"

"Yeah,"

"Don't you think it would be fun?"

"Probably."

"Do you think you could take us?" they asked, hoping that by getting her into the habit of saying "yes," they would get her to say it for this question too.

"Nope," she said instead, a smug look on her face. She had anticipated their scheme, and wasn't going to be fooled by it. Before Carey left, she had told Maddie not to le the boys leave the hotel. "I know they can be a handful even indoors." the singer had said. "So I don't want you to have to deal with them outdoors, where there aren't any walls to stop them from bouncing from here to Timbuktu."

"Aww, come on," the two short blondes whined at the taller one.

"No."

"Please?"

"No, your mom told me not to let you go out."

"Maddie, you should know by now that 'Mom says not to' isn't a good excuse not to do something," Zack said.

Maddie knew that for Zack, this was true, so she looked for another excuse not to take them.

"Your homework's not finished," she said. There was no way Zack could beat that one, because he never did his homework. But to her surprise, he answered with:

"Yes it is."

"No way. Let me see it."

Zack went to the kitchen table, picked up a handful of papers, and handed them to Maddie.

"I helped him," Cody said brightly as Maddie looked through the papers.

"Now can we go?" Zack asked.

"No," said a frustrated Maddie. Count on this to be the one day when Zack actually did do his homework. She quickly tried to think of another reason, but was running out of ideas.

Zack decided to take advantage of her silence. "Let's go get our jackets," he whispered to Cody. Slowly, they began moving towards the coat closet.

"I said no!" Maddie barked, stopping them in their tracks

"Fine," Zack said simply. He sat down and kicked back in front of the TV as if it didn't matter to him whether he went or not. Cody didn't say anything, but looked hurt that Maddie would yell at him like that. He sat down next to Zack and hung his head. Maddie could hear quiet sniffles coming from that direction while Zack leaned over and patted Cody on the back.

"It's ok, buddy," he said. "It's my fault she's mad."

Watching them, Maddie started to feel sorry about the way she reacted. She had been kind of mean to Cody recently, with this most recent ouburst, and the day she had made that stupid mistake with Esteban. Maybe she should take him and Zack to the carnival to make up for her shortness with them.

"Ok, ok." she said. "I'll take you if you want to go so badly. But there are going to be some rules you have to follow or else there's no deal,"

The boys cheered and ran to their room to get their personal effects, while Maddie gathered hers into her purse. After they were ready, Maddie stood in front of them like a seargeant drilling his troops.

"First rule, you will not tell your mother about this. Second, you will not leave my sight. There will be no running away from me just for fun, or for any other reason. Thirdly, when I say it's time to go, it's time to go. No complaining, or whining, or arguing."

Zack raised his hand.

"Yes, private?" Maddie asked.

"I just wanted to know if we should ask London to come with us."

Maddie thought about this. Maybe London could help her control the twins. That is, if she didn't act like a little kid herself. It was a long shot, but Maddie decided it was worth it to ask her. "Alright," she said. "But you are going to listen to her just like you'll listen to me. Unless of course, she says something like 'Let's run away from Maddie.' Then my directions take precedence. Are we clear?"

"Clear," Zack and Cody agreed.

"Good, now march." Maddie commanded, and pointed to the door.

Having reached London's floor, Maddie rapped on the front door of her friend's suite. It opened, and London's head, with hair full of curlers popped out.

"London," Maddie said. "We're going to the carnival down the block. Do you want to go with us?"

"Ick, no." London cringed. "Carnivals are grody. You don't know how many people have touched those rides. Besides, Roberto Cavilli's having an exhibition tonight, and I was gonna go to that."

Maddie sighed. So much for that extra helping hand. In her disappointment, she didn't notice London wink at the two boys before she vanished back inside her suite.