Again, I own nothing sourced from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
"You alright Maddie? Want to tell me what your letter said?" Zack was looking to comfort Maddie who had broken down while reading her letter from London.
"I'll be alright, but, I don't want to talk about the specifics, OK?" Maddie replied through her sobs
"That's OK" Zack smiled at her as she said it, a warm comforting smile which Maddie loved, Zack always found a way to cheer her up.
"Are you alright with yours?" Maddie asked
"Yes, but there's just one thing, it's like London knew she was going to die, why else would she have written these letters that are so out of character?" Zack asked, his mind full of wonder as to why
"Yes, it does seem weird, now that I think about it" Maddie replied with a note of confusion in her voice "I have no idea though Maddie" continued.
"Want to go for a walk? Try and find Cody?" Zack asked after a while, he was beginning to get more worried about Cody's condition, seeing how upset Maddie had been upon reading her letter.
"Yeah alright, any idea where he could be?" Maddie replied. Maddie was also getting worried about Cody; he had been gone for three hours now.
"Well the nurse said he went in an up elevator, if I know Cody then he'll be somewhere quiet and out of the way, but this is a big hospital, so it will take a while to find him, hopefully someone has seen him."
Zack and Maddie slowly made their way outside; Zack hadn't walked much since his surgeries and moved gingerly around. Zack and Maddie made their way out to the nurse's station, Zack dragging his IV drip next to him.
"Hi, we're going for a bit of a walk around, to try and find my brother" Zack informed the nurse
"Ok, but I think it would probably be better if you went in a wheelchair, if that's alright" the nurse seemed insistent, Zack agreed and they got him a wheelchair which Maddie would push.
"I'll page you over the PA if your parent's or anyone else comes to see you" The nurse said to Zack and Maddie as they moved down the corridor toward the elevators.
"So where should we start?" Maddie asked Zack as they looked at the labels for each of the floors.
"Well, I suppose we should check the main public areas, and around those places, it's a cold morning for summer, and Cody doesn't have many clothes so he's probably not outside, lets have a look around the cafeteria first, maybe we'll run into a security guard or something who's seen him" Zack replied, he honestly had no real idea where to begin, and the cafeteria was a long shot, but it seemed a logical enough place, though he did think it was a distinct possibility that Cody would be in some quiet room away from anyone.
"OK, sounds good" Maddie said as she pressed the button for the basement, where the cafeteria was located, since Zack couldn't reach them form his wheelchair.
Not surprisingly Zack and Maddie did not find Cody in the cafeteria, but there was a security guard walking around who had been patrolling the hospital since early that morning. The guard was sitting down to get a coffee on his break so Zack and Maddie politely approached him and asked
"Excuse me, have you seen a patient walking around today, he looks like me, but with blonde hair" Zack asked, the guard looked to be searching his memories but he came up with an answer Zack wanted.
"Yes, now that I think of it, I saw him upstairs, about 2 hours ago, walking around the 13th floor, but he looked to be heading toward the stairs to go up to the top of the hotel, near the roof, is something wrong?" The guard continued, Zack was suddenly shot with an amount of fear, at hearing Cody was moving toward the roof, he didn't want to believe Cody would jump, but he couldn't fully discount the idea.
"No, nothing is wrong, he's just gone for a walk, so we're looking for him. Do you know if there are any quiet lounges or anything above the 13th floor? Where he may have gone to be alone" Zack asked, now sounding a touch worried and more urgent
"On the 15th floor there is a lounge near the administration offices, there won't be many people around today, because it's Saturday" The guard replied, now a little concerned about the nature of the enquiry.
Zack and Maddie thanked the guard and quickly made their way to the elevators, neither said it, but they both thought the worst was possible, they just hoped their worst fears were not confirmed.
"Zack, I'm sure Cody is OK, he's not going to leave you, I know London's letter will probably have effected him lots, but I'm sure he'll be OK, he just has to be" Maddie tried to comfort Zack as their elevator moved slowly up toward the 15th floor.
"I hope so Maddie, I hope so, but, we have to think, it's not just Cody's physical well being that's the problem, I don't know how I can help him get over London" Zack's heart was hurting, like a spike through his stomach.
"We just have to be there for him, I don't know how I'll get over London either" Maddie sadly replied.
Zack couldn't bring himself to properly comfort Maddie; he was too worried about Cody.
The elevator dinged as it reached the 15th floor of Boston Medical Centre, Maddie quickly pushed Zack out in the direction of a security guard who sat behind a desk at the entrance to the hospital's administration area.
"Excuse me, we're looking for the administration lounge, can you show us where it is?" Zack asked the guard manning the desk
"There's a guy who looks almost just like you in there you know, I suppose he's your brother?" The guard asked inquisitively
"Yes" Zack replied eagerly, very relieved that he had found Cody.
"It's down that hallway, to the end, then turn left" The guard said as he pointed toward a corridor behind the desk, Zack and Maddie thanked him and they moved down the corridor, moving quickly toward the room.
In the lounge Cody lay curled up on a couch, still weeping, as he had been for the last 90 minutes at least, since reading London's letter. All Cody could think about was how he could never be happy again, and how he had wasted his chance to be with the only girl he had ever loved. Cody thought he loved Barbara when he went out with her, but he knew now he didn't, London was the girl of his dreams, and now she was gone, taken from him.
"Cody, man, you had me worried" Zack said as him and Maddie arrived at the room. Cody looked up from his huddle to see his concerned brother sitting in the wheelchair; Zack got up and went over to hug Cody. Zack saw the open letter and he knew Cody must have read it.
"You read your letter, want to talk about it?" Zack asked as he hugged his brother on the couch.
"Not really, it was just sad, made me realise how I have a chance with London and now it's gone forever, I just don't think I'll ever be happy" Cody sobbed into Zack's chest.
"Don't talk like that, you can be whatever you want Cody" Zack tried to comfort his brother.
"Thanks Zack, I don't know why I came up here, the view is so depressing, you can see where this all happened" Cody said, Zack and Maddie then looked over to the window and saw the smoke rising from the rubble visible across the city. It was horribly sad for everyone to see it; so much pain had come from that place. Before there was much of a chance for discussion of the view a message came over the PA system:
"Mr. Zack and Mr. Cody Martin, you have visitors in your room, thank you" Carey, Kurt and everyone else must have arrived at the room.
"Want to go down and see them?" Zack asked Cody
"Yeah, alright, I don't know how happy I'll make anyone though" Cody replied glumly and they left, Cody on his crutches and Zack in his wheelchair being pushed by Maddie.
A few minutes later Zack, Cody and Maddie arrived back at their room to be greeted by Carey, Kurt, Barbara, Bob and Max. Zack's confusion set back in, he could vaguely remember the five new figures, he knew Carey and Kurt were his parents, but he couldn't figure out who the others were.
"Who's all this? Sorry if I don't remember you" Zack said glumly, sadness at his condition again setting in.
Barbara, Bob and Max reintroduced themselves to Zack, Carey had explained to them on the way over what might happen, so they were not too upset, though secretly they had all hoped they would be the ones he remembered.
"I'm so sorry about Tapeworm Max, how are you holding up?" Cody asked her
"I don't know, it's so sad, we'd been friends for so long, and now he's gone, how are you holding up, with everything?" Max replied
"I don't know" was Cody's truthful response.
"Zack, Cody, Maddie, there's something I need to tell you, Barbara, Bob, Max, could we have a minute please" Carey asked, she knew she had to tell them about London's cancer, she didn't quite know how it would effect them, she hoped it would help them get over London's death, to know she had been ready to die.
When the room had been cleared Carey began to speak
"Guys, Mr. Tipton got London's autopsy report this morning" Carey began, drawing confused and inquisitive looks from the three, they were all confused as to what the information she had was, it seemed plain to them as to why London had died.
"They found out from her medical records that London had cancer, she was going to die anyway, it must be why she wrote all those letters" Carey said. Zack, Cody and Maddie just rocked back in shock, total shock at what they had just been told.
Well there we go, hope you enjoyed this rather long chapter, hope your still enjoying the story, keep the reads and reviews up!