As you may have noticed, I've given up on writing the times already. I'm afraid I'm not very good at writing in real time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter as well as the new character that Cody and Max are about to meet, as I poured a lot of myself into him. I also just realized that there was another character on the Suite Life named Gwen that Zack had a crush on played by Selena Gomez. As you can probably infer from her physical description, there is absolutely NO connection with that Gwen and my Gwen. Now read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter 5: Empathy

--Downtown Boston--

"Alright, remember the plan. In and out." Cody griped. It had only been moments after they had orbed to the back alley that led to where they were going, and he was already anxious to leave. One would think he was nervous about the ill reputed area of the city they were in that was putting him on edge, but both he and Max knew perfectly well that it wasn't where they were, it was who they were going to see.

"Quit whining and help me find the brick." Max set herself to the task of finding that one loose brick in the wall that would get them to where they were going. While she felt around, Cody folded his arms and leaned against it.

"I'm not whining. I just want to get back to Zack as soon as we can."

Max huffed."You really think he'd do something stupid like go after Skinny-Hulk alone?" She faced Cody to see the look on his face, and she couldn't exactly disagree. "Yeah, you're right. Let's make this quick." She felt around the brick wall of the back of the building, trying to find that one block that came loose with her fingernails. As her fingers slid along the crevices where the bricks met, she found one deeper than the others, but so discrete that one would have to feel it to know that it was any different. The naked eye was easily deceived by it. She forced her fingers a little deeper into it until she could get a firm grip. Then with little effort, she slid the brick neatly out of its slot. The moment she did, the entire wall around it faded, like a reflection on a window at first, and then vanished altogether. "He's getting better. Didn't even notice a crack this time."

"Yeah." Cody answered, not at all amused. Beyond the wall one would think would be the inside of the building, but instead the two were met with a yawning stretch of cavern, pitch black save for the daylight from the alley that illuminated the way in for only a few feet. "Shall we?" The two of them started into the "cave" with little hesitation. "Do you think he knows we're here?"

There was a clang and a whoosh off to their left, and before Cody could react, a glint of metal, a blade zoomed past him, just inches away from his face. Cody yelped and leapt back. Max giggled to his embarrassment before she gave an unneeded answer to his question. "He knows."

Cody glowered at her when he had recomposed himself. "Shut up."

"That gets you every time. You know it's just an illusion."

"I have quick reflexes." He defended.

"Was the scream a reflex too?" Max grinned at his distress.

Cody was spared further humiliation from his whitelighter by another out of place noise. A shrill cackling and gobbling sound, like a thousand demented turkeys closing in on them. A glance around them revealed that the sound was accompanied by a hundred pairs of floating yellow fiendish eyes, like something out of Snow White. They floated and jeered at them in a manner that would have terrified anyone else, but Cody and Max knew better.

"Just come out yourself, you little weasel!" Cody shouted above the shrieking, looking back and forth in the darkness for the master of these phantoms. Max held him back and moved in front of him.

"Trevor, it's us. You can come out now."

There was a sharp crack that bounced off the walls of the cave, then all at once, the shrieking stopped. The eyes vanished as if they had closed and melded into the darkness, which was retreating from their feet now. When the scene was once more lit, they found themselves not in a cave, but in what appeared to be an apartment. Judging from the tattered bean bag in the corner, the mini-fridge, the worn out couch that had probably been salvaged from the gutter, and the stereo stacked on top of the TV set which sat upon what looked like it used to be a nightstand, it was clear that this place belonged to a college kid. They heard the door close behind them, accompanied by a slurping sound. They turned around, Max a little slower and less anxious than Cody, to see who they were looking for. A tall wiry young man who looked about eighteen was bolting the door. He was dressed in simple black jeans with a tear in the knee, tucked into steel toed combat boots. Despite the warm weather outside, he wore a loose burgundy hoodie over his gray T-shirt. He turned so they could see his thin face which was pale and heavily freckled. His mud brown bangs which hung in his face had been pulled away from his blue-green eyes. The slurping they had heard had come from the Big Gulp sized soda he was still guzzling through a straw. In his hand was a grocery bag carrying six twenty-ounce bottles of cherry cola. Tucked under his arm was a twenty four pack of soda cans of the same brand. His expression was a little surprised when his eyes met theirs, and he spoke in a smooth, almost feminine voice.

"Oh hey guys. What'cha doing here?"

"You mean your illusions attacked us, and you weren't even here?!" Cody questioned back accusingly.

"What can I say? It sure beats BRINKS. So Cody, how long has it been? And your voice still hasn't changed. Still a soprano I take it?"

Max smiled wide at the joke that Cody clearly didn't appreciate. "Hey Trevor."

"Maxine! You're looking as lovely as ever." He crossed the room and shifted his load so he could take Max's hand and lift it to his lips, kissing it in a very suave manner that she didn't seem to mind at all. Cody on the other hand turned a furious shade of red.

"So how have you been? How's the old gang since you guys went straight?"

"Well I'm still going to community college until I can become a vet. I see Matt from time to time. Heard that Donnie went off to Europe. And Maggie and a few of the others are going back to Magic school. Mags might even teach there. It sure is great to see you. Have a seat. Did you see, I added a couch?"

"Congratulations." Cody muttered.

"Sorry we can't relax." Max apologized sincerely. "But we're here on business. We thought you could help us."

"What?" Trevor sounded amused. "Big bad Cody Martin of the seven needs my help again?"

Cody narrowed his eyes. "This was all her idea."

"Right, right, you probably thought you could find all your answers at Magic School." Trevor didn't bother to stifle a chuckle at that. "Well have a seat anyway while I put these away. I've just been out stocking up." He moved past them to the mini-fridge and set his "groceries" down so he could open the door, revealing just about every soda known to man already sitting in there.

"Have you ever thought of putting something else in that fridge you could use, like… gee, I don't know. Food?"

"Psh, the only food I eat comes with fries." He loaded the sodas quickly into their place of honor that he had cleared for them and shut it delicately, so as not to fizz the goods. He stood back up and turned to face them. "Well, Trevor Sykes is at your service. What can a coke addicted Wiccan do for you today?"

Max took a seat on the couch and motioned for Cody to do the same. However, the young witch folded his arms and remained standing defiantly. Trevor paid him no mind and plopped onto the worn out maroon bean bag. Max rolled her eyes at Cody's childish behavior before turning back to Trevor. "Lets get straight to the point. What can you tell us about a demon named Gabriel."

Sykes visibly shuddered. "Steer clear. Man I didn't know you guys were into that kind of stuff. Are good witches even allowed to mess with stuff like that?"

Max and Cody exchanged glances, not following his meaning. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that's a taboo. Not even me and my gang were dumb enough to try that."

"Hunting demons is our job." Cody said flatly. "Your old gang wouldn't know about that."

"But isn't that going a little too far? Come on Cody, you're the last person I'd think to be desperate enough to go for that."

"What are you talking about?" Cody demanded. "Do you know anything about this demon or not?"

Trevor looked confused for a moment, but understanding crossed over his features once he connected the dots. "Oh, so you're hunting a… and you think it's a… I guess that makes sense."

"What does?"

"Well… Gabriel's not a demon, per say. He used to be, a few millennia ago, when magic was first starting to come out of the darkness."

"So you do know about him?" Max asked.

"Well, it's just a bed time story, really, but yeah. The way I heard it, he used to be a powerful demon warlord who used his powers against witches, but not to kill them. He was more interested in turning them. Evil likes to kill, but it gets nothing out of it. If the good can be corrupted by it, it's just as effective, and makes them stronger. But he was vanquished by a group of good witches, one of the first covens."

Cody and Max were even more confused than they had been at the start of the story. "That doesn't make any sense! We just fought him two days ago! You can't tell me we fought an already vanquished demon."

"No I can't, but I can tell you that what you were fighting wasn't Gabriel."

Cody furrowed his brows and threw his hands up in frustration. "That doesn't make any sense either!"

"It does if you quit being rude and interrupting me. So shush puppy."

Cody gave the other witch a venomous glare and turned to Max for support. She only put a hand on her hip and held one finger to her lips. "Shh."

"Now as I was saying, Gabriel was vanquished thousands of years ago, but it's said that his spirit can be invoked from beyond the wasteland. It can possess witches and give them those weird brutal powers you've probably already seen."

Cody fought not to rub the bruise in his ribs which throbbed from the memory. "So you're saying that Nathan's a witch that's using Gabriel's spirit to fight us?"

"Most likely."

"So how does this help us?"

"It doesn't. It actually makes things a little harder for you. There's a catch to invoking Gabriel. Remember what I said about him wishing to corrupt the good when he was alive? Well that never changed. Gabriel can only be called by a good witch, and he can only possess them if they are willing."

Cody's jaw tightened. "But why would any good witch use an ancient evil power?"

Max answered his question. "They would if they were desperate enough."

"Exactly." Trevor said with admiration.

Cody tried running the new information over in his head. "But what would he be so desperate for? What would possibly drive him to do something so dangerous?"

"My guess would be Nicole." Max replied. "I guess technically, that would make him an innocent now."

"Not quite. We still don't know everything."

"Still, it's a good thing we didn't do anything stupid like vanquish him."

Her words triggered something in Cody's mind; a reminder of his own worries before they had come into this place. "Oh no, Zack!"

--Bromfield Street, Boston--

"Says right here that she should be near that diner, right there." Zack pointed first to the screen on his GPS, which had the scrying crystal jacked into its port, then to the nondescript diner just fifty yards away. "You ready for this?"

"Are you?" Gwen shot back teasingly.

Zack made a macho pose. "I'm ready for anything. That's why they call me Nasty Z."

"Who calls you that?"

Zack shrugged. "Actually it's one of the stage names I was playing with for when I'm a famous rock star. You like it?"

"Not really." Gwen answered honestly.

"Then how about, The Dark Prince of Awesome?"

"Give it a rest."

"Zackattack?"

"Not very original." Their conversation went on like that until they reached the diner. "Is she in there?"

Zack took a quick look inside through the window. "The crystal says yes, but I can't see anything from here. I'm going in. Will you be okay waiting here?"

"You're going in alone? What if Gabriel's with her?"

"He won't try anything in public. And if she's alone then both of us going in might scare her. I just need to talk to her."

Gwen's look was skeptical. "What makes you think you can get her to talk to you. I'm a school counselor. I'm trained for this."

"But she doesn't know you. She knows me. Don't worry." He licked the palm of his hand and used it to slick back his shaggy bangs. "I've got a way with the ladies."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Just go."

Zack went in while Gwen sat inconspicuously on the bench for the bus stop nearby, keeping an eye out for their target. The vials of potion remained tucked away on her person. Zack strolled to the front counter where a bored looking waitress was waiting for the next customer to seat. She was a short squat woman with short blond hair and sunken in eyes from sleep deprivation. At Zack's entrance she stood upright and gave him a smile.

"Welcome to Connie's Corner. If you could just have a seat, I'll find you a table. How many will there be in your party?"

"Actually I'm here to meet someone. Did a girl come in here?"

The woman raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Ah, come to think of it, there was a girl who came in here and said she was waiting for someone; Gangly little Latin thing with a white streak in her hair."

"That's her."

"Not very nice of you to keep a pretty little thing like her waiting. You're a slick one aren't you. So will you be ordering the Love Bird's Special?"

"What? No, I just… I mean yes." Zack corrected quickly, deciding it would be smarter to play along with the woman's assumption. "One month ago today when we met in Algebra class. Love at first sight. So where is she?"

There was a glint in the woman's eye as she moved around the counter. "Ah young love. I'll show you to your table." She lead him through the diner, mostly quiet save for the low murmur of the handful of customers. In the booth at the far corner, there she was. Her startling blue eyes were downcast at the table, though the menu in front of her was closed. That loud white streak in her otherwise night black hair was pushed behind her ear. She sat with her hands in her lap. It was a heart breaking picture.

"There you are sweetie." The woman said in a gleeful voice. "No more frowns, your man has arrived."

Nicole's gaze shot up from the menu, startled by the approach. Her eyes narrowed when they landed on Zack. The waitress didn't seem to notice as she called over another waitress, younger than her, apparently college age. "Charlene, make sure these kids are taken care of." She pulled the girl aside to whisper something in her ear. "And spit that gum out. For crying out loud, try to look professional."

"Give me a break Connie. This is the only thing that keeps me awake." She turned back to the two customers and put on the friendliest smile she could muster. "One Love Bird's Special coming right up." Nicole's face said she clearly didn't appreciate the assumption. "Well don't be shy, honey. Have a seat." Charlene nudged Zack toward the booth. He edged into it and sat down, though he didn't dare get too close to Nicole. Charlene and Connie left to get them their food. Zack couldn't think of anything to say, and he was almost grateful when she broke the silence.

"So which one of the clones are you? The smart sissy one, or the dumb jock."

"Neither. I'm the funny attractive one. I don't know where you got dumb jock from." He smiled, but Nicole didn't seem to enjoy the joke. "Look, I'm sorry for the way things happened at the hotel."

"We're going to have to move again thanks to you." She grumbled.

"To be fair, he was the one that threw my brother and my whitelighter through a wall."

"Your whitelighter shouldn't have come in the first place. You think we didn't know what you are? I've known since we came to the Tipton. You're not the first to come to us asking all your nosy little questions."

Zack could see it would take a lot to get her to open up. Even the way she sat was sending the message "back off". "You know we're just trying to help." He tried again. But her reply was as hostile as ever.

"We get along by ourselves just fine, thank you. Things would be a lot easier if you'd just back off."

"If you're so happy by yourself, why did you go to Magic School for a term?"

She didn't have an answer at first. For a while Zack thought that she'd decided to just ignore him altogether, until she growled resentfully, "It was his idea."

That caught him off guard. Why would a demon want to send his kidnapped surrogate to Magic School? "How long have you been with Nathan?"

Again she was silent before replying. "Since I was six. I don't really remember anything before that. I just remember running. There have always been people like you that want to take me away from him."

Zack considered his next words carefully. "Has he ever told you why?"

She paused again. It was taking her much longer than most people to trust him. Zack usually had an easy time making people around him comfortable. His personality was infectious that way. "No. Only that he just wants what's best for me, and that means we have to stay together." She hissed suddenly and put a hand to her forehead, as though seized by a horrible migraine.

"What is it?"

She pointed across the diner where another couple sat. The woman had risen from her seat after apparently having slapped her date. She threw the pay for her half of the meal onto the table before gathering her purse and storming out of the diner. The man was left rubbing his cheek in bewilderment. Once the woman had left, Nicole relaxed. "That happens a lot. I can't really understand it. Whenever someone gets angry, I get angry. But… it's different when I do. It hurts." She drank hastily from the glass of water Charlene had brought her earlier. "I feel that almost everywhere I go. I thought it was another power, like my fire. But Nathan doesn't know what it is. He can't explain it."

But Zack knew what this was. Phoebe had once been able to do this. "What do you feel now?"

"Nothing. It's pretty numb in here."

That made sense. The other customers seemed pretty content with their meals, their minds not on anything too unpleasant with food and friends nearby. "You're an empath."

Nicole furrowed her brows. "A what?"

"You have the power of Empathy. It's a pretty rare power. It lets you feel the emotions of other people around you. I knew a witch named Phoebe who could do the same thing."

She still looked confused. "But all I can ever feel is anger. The only time I'm really free of it is when I'm asleep. I can feel it almost everywhere I go."

"Anger is a pretty strong emotion. And something tells me you're pretty familiar with it. It's probably the only emotion that can get through to you while you're rejecting your gift."

"I'm not rejecting anything. I don't even know what it is." She said defensively.

"Not that you're doing it on purpose." Zack corrected himself quickly. "It's just that you haven't really practiced with it, so it hasn't developed. Once you get used to it, the good feelings will balance the bad ones out. At least that's how Phoebe would tell it. She used to kick serious butt with that power."

"Used to?" Nicole's eyes were a little fearful at the implication.

"Oh no, it's nothing like that." Maybe he wasn't as good at this as he thought. So far he'd gotten her to go from angry, to really angry, to scared out of her mind. "She just kind of lost that power. The Elders had it taken away from her or something like that."

She didn't have anything to say to that, but the fear seemed to have faded. "So you mean I can feel other things from people if I tried?"

"Let's find out." He held out his hands to her. "What do you feel from me?"

She eyed his hands warily, but curiosity seemed to win out over suspicion. She placed the palms of her hands over his and closed her eyes, scrunching them in concentration. "Nothing yet… Well it's faint."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. I think I've felt it before, but it's too weak right now, so I can't be sure. But it feels like it could be really strong if it's triggered."

This caught him off guard. He'd only been projecting the feeling he got from anticipating the food they were still waiting for, since it smelled delicious. It shouldn't be that hard for her to identify. But she sounded like she was speaking of something else entirely. But he didn't have long to wonder. Charlene came back to their table with a tray of food. It held two servings of mashed potatoes and mixed fruit. In the center was one serving of spaghetti and meatballs that looked big enough for both of them. He wondered why they had only brought one plate, but then he remembered that they had ordered the "Lovebird's Special", and his mind flashed back to a certain Disney movie. These people had an odd sense of humor.

"Enjoy, sugar." Charlene winked at him and headed back to the kitchen.

The food suddenly reminded Nicole why they were here and she shot him a scowl. "I just remembered, I'm not very hungry." She made to get up, but an audible gurgling from her stomach gave her away. She glared sourly at Zack's smug expression before sitting back down. "Just until Nathan gets here."

"Fine. I don't think I can eat it all anyway. How do you feel about going Dutch on this one?"

This time she couldn't fight the smile that twitched at the corners of her lips. Once they started eating, he was amazed at how easily she slipped into conversation with him. He focused on keeping her comfortable for the most part, like asking her what she was into, if she liked sports, and she'd ask him about what it was like to do what him and his brother did. She sounded a little impressed to learn that he knew the Charmed Ones. But every now and then he'd feel brave enough to probe her with a deeper question if he felt like she wouldn't get upset and run out.

"So you really don't remember anything about where you lived before?"

"Nothing. Nathan doesn't like to talk about it. But… sometimes when I'm asleep… I have this dream."

Zack remained attentive. "Dream? What kind of dream?"

"Well it feels… more like a memory. But Nathan says it's just a nightmare. In it, I'm looking up at someone, like I'm being held. He's a man with dark hair and a dark beard. And he has this frightening hungry look in his eyes. But I never feel afraid of him. Because he's not the one holding me. I can't see who is, but I feel very safe with them. And warm. But Nathan's probably right. It's probably just a nightmare."

Zack shook his head. "That sounds a little too specific to be just a dream. Besides, Phoebe always says that every dream has some kind of meaning."

"So, basketball pro, extreme skateboarder, fire starting witch, and a psychiatrist? Is there anything you can't do?" She smiled wryly.

He blushed a little at the compliment. "Nope. I pretty much walk on water." He was a little annoyed to find that his cell phone was going off. He reached into his jean pocket to find a text message from Cody. That was odd. Cody hated to text. It must be urgent. He opened it and his mouth tightened into a hard line. The message read: "Help. Bck Ally." Help, back alley? Now he knew it was an emergency. It wasn't like Cody to make any kind of spelling error. Even when he was forced to text, he always wrote in complete perfect sentences. It drove Zack crazy. He snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket, pulling out a twenty for their food. He grabbed Nicole's hand and started to lead her out. "Come on."

"What is it?"

"Got to go save my baby brother."