Author's Note: Well it wasn't a month now was it? lol. So this chapter is lonnggg. I'm already (yes this is the same person haha) working on Chapter 11. So far it's not very long and I'm wondering whether to continue it from there or not...but it'll probably be up soon. Woww I actually have nothing to say ahahaha. Oh! Except! I'm working on Chapter 6 of Sensitivity Kills so that'll probably be up soon too! hehe! Woww I really am on a roll hahaha...anyways here's Chapter 10.

Oh but before I let you read it ahahaha...the clocks that you will read about in this chapter are real clocks that were given to me and my (ex - don't ask about this please.) friend by the lady who collected them. She didn't die though, at least...as far as I know. I have the clock that Zack will receive (wow spoiler haha) and my (ex) friend has the other one. I had to make most of that one up as I don't remember precisely what it looked like.

So here ya goo:

Chapter 10: Til Death Do We Part

Zack stared into the bathroom mirror as he straightened his tie; his eyes were red from crying. Today was Martha's funeral; today was the day he was forced to say goodbye, forever.

The ballroom was all set up for the reception. Some of the employees had graciously volunteered to help with serving the food and all of that.

He took a deep breath. It sounded shaky and nervous, maybe even scared. Zack could already feel the tears welling.

"No," He told himself angrily, "You're not going to cry, again."

"Zack?"

Zack whipped around at the sound of his brother's voice.

"Hey, uhhh…you ready?" Cody asked, a slight nervous tone edging his voice.

Zack nodded and followed his younger brother from the room. Carey smiled softly as they entered the living room.

"You finally ready?" She asked. It was meant as a joke, but neither of the boys took it that way. Zack nodded absently. He didn't want to talk; all he wanted to do was get this over with.

"Oh, honey…" Carey began, reaching out to him, sensing the miserable air about him. Suddenly irritable, however, Zack edged away, scowling.

"Can we just go?" He muttered, his gaze switching to the floor. Carey and Cody glanced at each other briefly but Carey nodded.

"Yeah…yeah alright let's go." She said, snatching her purse from the counter.

Zack had never really been in a church. Sometimes, when they had lived with their grandmother, they'd gone. And sometimes they went on Christmas and Easter. But this church, was absolutely huge. And, he couldn't help noticing, beautiful.

Zack desperately tried to remember just exactly what you were supposed to do at a service, but couldn't; most of the times they'd gone, they'd stood in the back.

And when the actual funeral started, he tried to remember what happened at a funeral. Except there was one flaw to this idea- the last time he and Cody'd been to a funeral was when they were three. That was when their dad's mom had died.

He glanced over at Cody anxiously. Cody usually had a better memory than he did. But Cody seemed just as lost as he was.

Most of the funeral passed in a blur. Hymns were sung (none of which he knew the words to) and incense was brought out. The priests read scripture readings and one gave a big long talk about Martha, which brought burning tears he refused to shed to his eyes.

And then, towards the end, one of the priests invited Martha's eldest son (Zack couldn't pinpoint his name) up to speak. Again, this talk filled Zack's eyes with tears. And then he, her son that is, did something none of them expected.

"…Mom was a great person," Her son was saying, "And I know she helped a lot of people during her life. But there's one kid that she really seemed to connect with. He's been through a lot and I think he probably knows our mom better than we do."

Martha's son paused to share a laugh with his family before continuing, "So now, if he doesn't mind, I'd think he deserves to come up here and give us a little piece of his mind. Zack?"

Zack felt his blood freeze at the mention of his name.

"What!" He glanced at his brother standing next to him. Cody nodded. Carey nudged him gently,

"Go on," She whispered. Zack nodded and numbly rose from his seat and approached the lectern on legs made of jelly.

He stared out into the faces of the congregation. Martha's family. His family.

What on earth was he supposed to say?

Zack opened his mouth but the words simply refused to come. He closed his eyes and his mouth and thought hard, trying to come up with something nice to say.

"Let your heart talk for you." He half heard Martha's voice advising in his head. She'd once given him the exact piece of advice when he was trying to figure out a way to talk to Rebecca. Maybe it applied here too…

Zack opened his eyes and his mouth and began to speak, loudly and clearly. What he actually said he couldn't recall. But his words affected the entire congregation, including himself.

By the time he'd told himself to shut up, he was bawling. Huge, sloppy tears were making their way down his face.

"Thank you," He almost whispered into the microphone. He hardly noticed the round of applause he received as he made his way back to their pew.

Carey embraced him tightly, whispering, "I'm so proud of you," and kissing his hair. His gaze fell to the floor as he cried softly and Cody's arm fell around his shoulders.

The Martins followed the family up to the cemetery for the burial service. Zack cried, clutching his mother's hand in his. Five minutes into the ceremony and Zack could take it no longer. Carey embraced him once more as he sobbed harshly into her dress. She understood.

Watching a coffin being lowered into the ground and knowing it wouldn't be surfacing, and, more importantly, knowing your best friend was in it couldn't be easy.

She was genuinely surprised to feel tears of her own trickling down her cheeks.

She reached for Cody's hand, needing to reassure herself that her sons were both still there. Cody slipped his hand into hers, absently.

A half an hour later and half the Tipton staff, Martha's entire family, Zack, Cody, Carey, Raine, and Rebecca were gathered in the ballroom. Mr. Moseby raised a toast and the reception began.

Zack sat sullenly at a table with Cody, Raine, and Rebecca. He stared at the plate of food sitting in front of him. He wasn't hungry.

Rebecca and Raine were eating and laughing and talking. Zack found himself feeling kind of jealous that he couldn't bring himself to do the same.

He glanced over at Cody so he wouldn't have to watch them. But Cody was just sitting in his chair, staring off into space, a deep distant look in his eyes.

Zack sighed. Cody was even worse that the girls. Snatching up his fork, he returned his attention to his food again. He felt irritable again.

This was, by far, one of the worst days of his life.

Zack managed to make it through the rest of the reception. Just as they were leaving Martha's son (Zack still couldn't come up with his name…Kevin or...something like that…Martha hadn't talked much about him) approached them.

"I just wanted to thank you for setting this up," He said with a smile.

Zack nodded, "Least I could do…"

"Well it means a lot to us. And I know you meant a lot to her."

Zack nodded again.

"I don't know if you know this," Nameless Son continued, but Mom was a big collector of clocks.

Zack nodded yet again. Yes, he knew that.

"Anyways, we decided to give each of her grandkids a clock to remember her by. And we though that, to thank you, we'd give you each one." He said, nodding towards Zack and Cody.

The twins glanced at each other and then watched as Nameless Son pulled two clocks Zack hadn't seen before from a brown grocery bag he'd set on a nearby table.

One, which he handed to Cody, had wolves and other wilderness animals carved onto the bottom. The second, which he handed to Zack, had hot air balloons sailing upwards. The clock frame was a brightly painted blue cloud.

And even though this was something Zack normally wouldn't be caught dead with, he knew he would cherish it, because it connected him, in a way, to Martha.

"Thank you," He managed to get out, without taking his eyes off the clock.

A smile spread across Zack's face, a real genuine smile, as he settled the clock alongside his old baseball and basketball trophies, on the shelf above his bed about twenty minutes later.

"Just the way she'd want it," He whispered to himself as he straightened it, "Perfect."

Author's Note: Yeah so uhhh that was Chapter 10. Now pleeaasse review lol. And...I do have goofs but...I forgot to write them down so...you'll have to wait til next time lol.

Pleeaase review :)

Fig