Chapter 5

Again, I don't own these characters except the ones I create.

Meanwhile, a couple of days earlier in 2014, Cody found himself back on the campus of Yale University. He began getting his bearings again when he realized he had no idea where it was exactly that Bailey was murdered. So, once again, he pulled out the newspaper he still had on him. Briefly, he wondered where the print out was of his obituary, but he had other more important things on his mind. Fortunately, the article mentioned where Bailey had been murdered, so he had a location. But, he wasn't familiar with New Haven or Yale's campus, so he knew he would have to find a map. So, he decided to head over to the campus library to do some research.

Arriving at the front desk, he felt a chill go down his spine as well. And he too shook it off before knocking on the desk. A bored young man looked up.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I need to borrow a copy of the campus directory."

The young man sighed, reached down to pick it up and handed it to Cody. "This can't leave the reference desk..."

Cody nodded and looked up the location mentioned in the newspaper article. Once he wrote it down on a scrap of paper, he flipped to the maps in the book. And that's when his face fell. From where he was, it was several miles to the scene of the crime. He looked up at the clock over the reference desk and noticed it was already 7:00 PM local time. Cody glanced at the article again, but he sighed in frustration when he saw it never gave a time frame.

Returning the directory, Cody headed out. He had to get several miles away, and he didn't have a car, a bike or even a skateboard to get there faster. So, he did what he had to do. He began running.

Unfortunately for Cody, what is shown on a map and what is really there often don't match. Fences and other barriers he wasn't counting on kept blocking his path. Finally, after an hour, he found himself on the right street. Cody felt a second wind and ran as he was checking out street numbers. And as it was dark, he was having trouble finding them.

Finally, Cody arrived at the right address but found himself blocked off by a chain link fence. But he could look through and he saw someone he would never forget. It was Bailey. And she looked agitated as she kept checking her watch. Cody was about to yell out to her when he saw someone else enter the alley.

"Give me your purse and all of your valuables!"

Bailey whipped around and found someone pointing a gun at her.

"What the feathers?'

The man growled at her. "I said give me your purse and all of your valuables!"

Bailey instantly handed her purse to the man. "Th..there you go. You have what you want, now please leave me alone..."

"I want the locket you're wearing too! That looks like it would fetch a few bucks..."

Bailey took a step back. "Please, No! My..." She paused. "My friend gave this to me. It means a lot to me. Its very sentimental...Plus, its just gold plated, not worth much at all..."

"I don't care! I want it now!"

The man reached out for it, and Bailey began to struggle with him.

Cody looked around for anyway for him to get through the fence or over it as quickly as he could. Not finding a gate, he decided to try to scale it. But as soon as he began climbing, he heard a sound that caused him to fall back to the ground – a gun shot.

Cody looked and saw Bailey was laying on the ground motionless. The man had ripped off the locket and was standing over Bailey. "It didn't have to end this way, Toots..."

Both Cody and the robber were startled when they heard a voice.

"Hey!"

Both looked up and saw Cody standing there. Seeing himself was kind of jarring to Cody, but he was quickly shaken out of his stupor when he saw the robber take off running and knocking Cody down. When Cody got up, he almost went after the robber, but instead checked on Bailey. And that's when he saw that Bailey had been shot. And while he was pre-med too, he knew it didn't look good.

Cody pulled Bailey up into his arms and hugged her tight.

"Bails...Hang on! Don't you dare think of leaving me here without you!"

Cody quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. He gave them the location and what happened before turning back to Bailey.

"Bails, its going to be okay...an ambulance is on its way..."

Bailey slowly opened her eyes. "Cody?"

Cody smiled at her. "There they are. Those beautiful brown eyes that I always get so lost in. Bails, you're going to be just fine. I just need you to hang on for a little while longer..."

"Cody, I'm so cold..."

Cody wrapped her in his arms tighter. "Let me warm you up then..." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Bails, I promise you if you will hang on for me, I will do whatever is in my power to make sure nothing like this ever happens to you again..."

"Cody..."

"I mean it. Bailey, I'm...I'm so sorry for being a complete idiot for so long. I let my stupid pride and stubbornness and anger get in the way of what was truly important to me...and that's you. Bails, I love you, and I always have. You have to hang on so I begin the long process of making everything up to you..."

"Cody..."

"Shhh...Save your energy, Bails. We'll have all the time in the world later to talk..."

"I...I...I love you too..."

And with that Bailey slumped in Cody's arms. Cody began crying uncontrollably and just looked up at the sky. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The other Cody just stared at the scene in front of him. He felt like half of him had just died right then as well. If his fingers weren't gripping the chain link fence so hard, he would have collapsed to the ground. And like his future self, Cody was crying uncontrollably.

"I...I...I can't believe she's really gone..."

Cody reached into his pocket for his handkerchief when he felt the time machine device. He pulled it out and looked at it. His tears stopped and his determination built.

"I may have been too late this time, but I can come back earlier next time and stop this from happening. The space time continuum be damned! A world without Bailey is not a world I want to be a part of!"

Back in Cody's cabin, both Cody and Bailey began to re-emerge. Once they were both there, they both noticed the other was there.

"Bailey?"

"Cody..."

"What are you doing here?" Then he noticed she held one of the time machine devices. "Did...Did you use it?"

Bailey nodded. "I did...After I found this..." She handed him the folded piece of paper she had found.

Cody opened it up, saw what it was and sighed. "Yeah...There is something else you should know. It seems like you..."

Bailey cut him off. "I was murdered...I know..."

Cody was taken aback. "And that isn't freaking you out?"

Bailey sighed. "I haven't let myself really think about it yet, but..."

Cody interrupted her. "Yeah, well I have! I just got done witnessing it! I've never felt so helpless before in my life watching you be murdered and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it..."

"I know, the space time continuum..."

"Forget the space time continuum! I couldn't stop it because of a stupid chain link fence! If not for it, I would have!"

"But..."

"But nothing! I know I've done my fair share of stupid things. I can't take those back..." He looked down at the time machine. "Well, I can, but that's not the point. The point is that if I have a chance to save your life, then I'm more than willing to risk the universe to do so..."

Bailey was taken aback. "You would risk destroying the universe to save me?"

Cody calmed himself. "Of course I would. You are the most important thing in the world to me. I don't want to live in a world that you're not part of..." He turned away and sighed. "That's probably why I committed suicide..."

Bailey felt her heart swelling, but there was something she needed to tell him. "I was about to do the same thing...Risk screwing with the universe to save you..."

Cody turned back to her. "Huh?"

"Cody, you didn't commit suicide. You were murdered. From what I gathered, whoever murdered me killed you because they thought you saw who they were..."

Cody fell back into his desk chair. "Wow..."

Bailey pulled the other chair over and sat next to him. "I know...This is all pretty heavy, huh?"

Cody nodded. "It is...I mean, after everything, you would still risk the universe for me..."

Bailey smiled. "Well, you were going to do the same for me. I mean, if you were willing to do that for me, I really can't say you hate me..."

Cody looked into her eyes. "I never did. The opposite in fact. I love you so much that I still couldn't deal with the pain I still felt. I just picked the worst possible way to let it out..."

"Well, I did my fair share of stupid things too. My Gram made me think how I would have felt if the situation in Paris had been reversed..."

"Yeah?"

Bailey nodded. "And it felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart...I guess in my own anger and pain, I never let myself realize how you must have felt. And I'm sorry for that..."

"Me too...I just wish none of that day ever happened..."

"Same here..."

Cody looked up. "Really?"

"Really..."

"So, does that mean..."

Bailey smiled. "As aggravating as you can be at times, yes...I do still love you..."

"I still love you too...But, unfortunately, we still have the problem with us getting murdered in the future..."

Bailey nodded. "I know..." She paused and grinned. "But I think I have an idea to solve everything at one time..."

"How so?"

Bailey stood and entered a new date and location in the time machine. "Does this answer your question?"

To be Concluded...

Author's Note: Looking around this site, I find myself sad. So many people here claim to love the Suite Life Universe, but you can tell its a lie. Either they have no idea who these characters really are, or they don't care so they can write them however they want. The amount of character assassination here is appalling. And having learned what those closest to real show feel about fanfiction, I bet it sickens them to see all the hard work they've done mocked and insulted. The writers and actors have dedicated years of their lives to this show and its characters, and personally, I find it extremely arrogant to see writers on this site thinking they know the characters better than the show's writers and actors do. To those from the real show who may be reading this, just know that there are still some writers on this site who try to write the characters true to the vision and personalities that you have poured so much blood, sweat and tears into. Keep up the good work, and some of us will try to keep writing to reflect that.