A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

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

Heaven forbid you end up alone and don't know why
Hold on tight wait for tomorrow, you'll be alright

-The Fray; Heaven Forbid

C h a p t e r T w o

Hunter, Connecticut

By the next morning Zack had forgotten about the email from Cody. He hurried down to eat breakfast and enjoyed the Frosted Flakes with his father. Kurt wasn't conservative on most things, but when it came to meals he believed that no man should ever eat alone.

It may have steamed from his own rocky childhood, but as he began the topic of classic rock (Queen vs. The Rolling Stones) with his son, Zack really didn't care. He munched on his peanut-butter toast (a delicacy he now loved) and defended Bohemian Rhapsody and Don't Stop Me Now.

"Alright, kiddo," Kurt said a few minutes later, glancing at the clock above the little oven. "We gotta get you to school."

Zack sighed but nodded. "Yeah," he said.

"But keep up those terrific grades, Zack-man."

Zack looked up at his father, eyes suddenly wide. "What did you call me?" he managed to ask, voice choked.

Kurt frowned. "Zack-man?"

Zack fought to catch his breath, the color draining out of his face. "Don't-," he forced out, blinking and trying to calm himself down. "Don't call me-,"

"-Zack?" Kurt moved towards his son quickly and grasped his upper arms. "You okay? You need your inhaler?"
Zack clutched at his throat, trying to suck in air but only managing to gasp loudly. He nodded and clenched his eyes shut. A bolt of panic shot through him and he began to shiver violently. That name…That nickname brought back painful memories of Patrick and drugs and all the crap he'd gotten himself into…

Suddenly, he remembered the email from his brother and he began to groan before realizing that his throat was on fire and he couldn't breathe…!

Kurt came bolting into the room, inhaler in hand, and Zack took it, inhaling oxygen greedily.

His father watched him in concern. "Are you okay?"

Zack nodded, still panting a little. "Yeah," he said softly. "Thanks,"

Kurt helped him rise from the seat and looked skeptically at him. "You gonna be okay at school? I can take you in late-,"

"-Nah, dad, really, I'm good," Zack pulled off a grin (he was getting very good at faking those) and repressed a yawn. "Tired, but good."

Kurt looked unconvinced. "What triggered the asthma attack, Zack?"

Zack ran hand through his long bangs and coughed slightly. "It's just-," he shrugged, suddenly feeling rather silly for reacting so harshly to a simple nickname. "-When you called me Zack-man? This guy, Patrick, I told you about him, remember?" Kurt nodded gravely. "He'd always call me that so I guess it just…I dunno, brought back the memories, or something."

His father nodded again. "Thank you for telling me, kiddo," he smiled and nodded at the door. "Go get your backpack; I'll meet you out in the car."

And Zack grinned and ran to fetch his things.

Boston, Massachusettes

Cody stood at his locker, staring at his textbooks but not really seeing them. Math. He had math first period. He needed the red book. But his arms wouldn't listen to his mind and he simply stood there like an idiot.

"Cody Martin thinking," a voice from his left. Cody didn't even need to turn to know it was Tapeworm. "Always a dangerous thing."

Cody sighed. "Are they waiting for me?"

Tapeworm leaned in closer. "In the science hallway."

Cody nodded. "So if we take the west stairs and cut through the Spanish area…"

"That should work," Tapeworm glanced behind him before leaning in again. "Report cards came yesterday. Patrick should be in a bad mood."

Cody swore under his breath and groaned. "Great," he spat out sarcastically. Tapeworm gave him a sympathetic shrug.

"We should get going. It'll be at least three more minutes the way we're going, and I got four tardies last quarter." Tapeworm laughed nervously. "Thank God I had all A's to pull it off, right?"

"Yeah," said Cody, trying to sound optimistic. "Yeah, me, too," he lied.

"Man," Tapeworm shook his head as they started off towards class. "I don't know how you do it, Codes'. You've had a perfect four point o' GPA since the ninth grade. If I had that my parents would worship me."

Cody faked a laugh and bent his head so he wouldn't have to look at anyone staring and pointing at him. "Yeah, well, you know," he said quietly.

It was only when his first hour class had started that he realized he had grabbed the blue textbook.

Kurt watched Zack join Nick and his friends out in front of the school and was about to pull away when his cell phone began to ring. Seeing who it was, he frowned and answered it.

"Kurt," said his ex-wife. "It's Carey."

"Yeah. How are you?" He put the car in park and glanced at the clock. He'd have to be at the dealership in twenty minutes.

"This isn't about me, Kurt, it's about Cody,"

Her tone was that guarded angry voice she always used when speaking to him. "Cody?" Kurt scratched his head. "Is he alright?"

"No," said Carey and Kurt frowned deeper.

"Is he hurt?"

"No, he's not hurt," Carey sighed. "He misses his brother."

"Zack?" Kurt raised a brow. "Well, Carey, I'm sure Zack misses him, too, but we agreed that he'd stay here until he-,"

"-Until he felt better about things. Yes, I know," Carey let out another long sigh. "But isn't he by now? It's been almost a year. We haven't heard anything back in awhile and I'm worried about him."

"Carey," Kurt fiddled with his seatbelt. "Zack's doing really great right now. Really great. His report card came yesterday; all A's and B's."

"That's-that's the best he's done in high school," Carey said softly, as though hesitant to believe that the good grades had only come whenher sonwas with his father.

"Yeah. And he's happy, too." Kurt grinned. "I mean, you should see him with his friends. They really get along good together. And he loves the school."

"He can't stay there forever!" Carey cried out. "His home is here; in Boston! He's got a mother and a brother who miss him and want him back. If he's over his problems then he needs to come home-,"

"-Did you ever think that maybe he wants to stay here?" Kurt couldn't help feeling angry; his son had finally felt good about himself and his life, and now he was being asked to just drop it all and go back to where he'd screwed everything up.

"As a matter of fact I did," Carey answered, tone icy. "That is exactly why I didn't want to send him to you, Kurt. You've…Convinced him to stay. You've made him hate Boston and love living with you-,"

"-I haven't done anything but be a good father to him, Carey," Kurt defended himself. "You can't ask him to leave. He's got to make that choice. Alone."

And he ended the call and drove away.

To Be Continued

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