The Suite Life Of Speed

by goldjackal17

Maddie takes some time off of school to visit with her friends at the Tipton and to finally tell Zack how she feels about him, but she finds out an interesting fact about her young friend when she arrives. That he now has a passion for the fast life. What will happen when she is introduced to it as well? And Cody and London are together? How did that happen? Read and Find out.

7. Chapter 7: Opening Up 3

Disclaimer: I don't own The Suite Life Series, Disney Does.

Chapter 7: Opening Up part 3, Looking Back and Moving Forward

Zack woke up again around eight o'clock that morning. Rolling out of bed, he walked over to the dresser. Selecting a comfortable pair of blue jeans, a yellow long sleeved shirt, and a black t-shirt with a skull on it, he dressed himself. After he had all that put on he grabbed a pair of socks, put them on and walked out into the main room of the suite.

"Morning, Zack." Carey greeted, seeing him exit the bedroom.

"Morning, Mom." he repeated back to her.

"Did you want some breakfast?" she asked as he walked past her to get his shoes.

"Nah, I'll eat on the way." he replied, putting his sneakers on and lacing them up.

"Where are you headed?" she questioned, watching him grab the remote for his Lamborghini off the table by the door, "Must be somewhere special if your taking that."

"I'm going on small road trip." he told her, "And I'm gonna see if Maddie wants to go with me."

"Oh?" she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Don't worry, Mom it's nothing like that. I'm going out to Maya's grave." he explained, easing the worry he knew his mother was having over him inviting Maddie on a road trip.

"But, aren't you afraid she'll ask questions...nevermind." she stopped herself short remembering that Maddie had overheard the two of them talking last night.

"That's why I'm going though. I'm taking her with to tell her everything." he answered honestly, "It's time for me to move on with my life. I've been dwelling on the past so much that I've nearly forgotten how to live properly. It's time I closed the Maya chapter of my life and begin another." he added, dawning a black wind breaker.

"Okay, just be careful." Carey said with a smile. The old Zack was slowly starting to show through and it made her happy to see that.

"I will, Mom." he walked over to her, gave her quick hug, then turned back around and walked out the door.

"Good luck." Carey added quietly after the door had closed behind him.

Zack walked across the hall and knocked on Maddie's door. When she didn't answer he knocked again.

"Hang on a minute." called Maddie's groggy voice from the other side of the door. The door opened and she looked out at him, "Oh!" her eyes went wide and her mouth formed a circle before she closed the door in his face.

"Um...Maddie, is everything alright?" he asked through the door. He couldn't help himself from smiling though and couldn't blame her for closing the door on him considering her serious state of bed hair.

"Yeah, hang on a second...ow." her heard her reply from the other side of the door.

After about five minutes, she opened the door again and motioned for him to come in.

Looking down at her he grinned when he saw that her hair was a little bit less disheveled then it had been when she had opened the door the first time, "What had to make yourself pretty for me, Sweet Thang?" he teased, using his old nickname for her.

She playfully smacked him on the shoulder, but didn't deny it, "What did you need, Zack?" she asked meeting his eyes with her own.

"There's something I want to show you, but it's an eighteen hour round trip? I was wondering if you would go with me?" he asked, a little skeptical of what her answer would be.

"Where is this, that you want to show me?" she questioned.

"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." he stated, gaging her reaction.

"Wow, isn't that like...five hundred miles from here?"

"Five seventy-one, to be exact." he replied, remembering the last time he had driven there.

"What are you wanting show me?" she asked.

"I'm going there to close a chapter of my life, I'd like you there with me when I do." he answered, hoping she would get the meaning behind that.

It dawned on her, then that he was going to Maya's grave, "Okay, if your sure you want me along?"

"Positive." he nodded, "I've kept all this bottled up for too long. Your the person I want to share it with first."

"Let me get ready." Maddie said, agreeing to go along.

Zack sat down on the couch in the center of the room, "Take your time." he smiled, relived that she said she'd go.

She nodded and went back into the bedroom. Grabbing a quick change of clothes she headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

While he waited for her to be ready, Zack leanded back on the couch and turned on the TV, channel surfing for a few minutes, he decided on a music station. He watched as the videos on screen changed every few minute, bobbing his head along to the beats of each song.

Twenty minutes later, she came out of the bathroom, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, and her sneakers. Stopping beside the couch, she waited for him to notice she was standing there while still toweling her hair dry. It took him a minute but when he did notice her standing there, he stood up. He watched as she drug towel through her damp blonde tresses. Unconsciously his hand went from hanging at his side to cupping her cheek. Slowly he leaned toward her.

Her heart rate increased when she realized how close he was getting and not a second later their lips met again. Unsure at first whether he would pull away and run again, she waited. When he didn't break away from her she slowly started to kiss him back. The towel she had been using to dry her hair slipped out of her fingers and fell to floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

He was afraid at first, when she wasn't kissing him back, thinking maybe he had overstepped and was about to break away when he felt her start to respond. When her arms found their way around his neck, his went around her waist. The feelings that went through him from her response were incredible. All of a sudden he felt like he was flying and like fireworks were exploding in his head. He hadn't realized until that moment how much he truly loved her.

It was the same for her, she felt like she could take on the world. Channeling every ounce of her feelings for him into the kiss. But as with all good things, they must eventually come to an end and this was no exception. They broke apart from lack of oxygen. She leaned herself into him not quite ready to be completely free of his embrace.

"Wow." was all that came out of his mouth when they broke apart.

"Yeah, wow." she repeated.

Knowing full well though that he wouldn't be able to give himself fully over to her until the task he had set himself was completed. He released her from his arms, looking into her eyes again he saw the fear that had entered them upon pulling back.

"I'm not gonna run again." he assured her, and with that the fear in her eyes dissipated, "I love you, too much to do that again."

Her face broke into a wide smile upon his declaration, "I know I hurt you once before. I'm truly sorry for that. I should have said this then. I love you, with all my heart, Zachary Martin."

"That's good to know, and that was in the past. Now it's time to move forward." he smiled back, "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, knowing he forgave her for the time she had rejected him on the S.S. Tipton. She walked over to the coat closet, pulling out his leather jacket she offered it to him.

"It looks better on you." he stated simply, shaking his head.

Smiling, she put on, "Let's go."

He didn't have to be told twice. Walking over to join her by the door, he took her hand in his and they walked out of the suite and down the hall to the elevator.

Coming out of the elevator into the Lobby, he spotted Mr. Moseby standing at the front desk, "Can you wait here a minute?" he asked, turning to her.

"Yeah, I can." she nodded.

Placing a kiss on the top of her head he walked over to the hotel manager. She watched as they talked and saw Mr. Moseby's eyes brim with tears on one of Zack's statements. The next thing that happened surprised her. Mr. Moseby wrapped his arms around the younger man in a fatherly like hug which Zack returned. Maddie waited as they exchanged a few more words. Mr. Moseby nodded and extended his hand to Zack. Zack shook the older man's hand, then turned and walked back over to her.

"We can go now." he said, as he came back to her side taking hold of her hand again.

She nodded and allowed him to lead her out through the tunnel to the parking garage. She was taken by surprise though when he took her over to the steps that led to the upper levels.

"Aren't your cars down here?" she asked as they began ascending the stairs.

"All but the one we're taking." he replied, with a small smirk.

They ascended two more flights and came out in front of two doors and a guard booth. She gasped, realizing that somehow Zack had gotten a hold of a car that the hotel considered high security.

The guard tipped his hat to Zack as they walked passed the booth. Pulling a pass card out of his jeans pocket Zack slid it through the reader beside the door. He opened it and they walked through. Looking around she saw ten cars, all of foreign make, and all expensive. After placing the pass card back in his pocket, Zack pulled out a black and silver key-less entry remote and tapped the unlock button twice. Laughing at the look on Maddie's face when she saw the lights of the jet black, Lamborghini Aventador flash on, then off.

"Before you ask, it wasn't my idea," he started, "London ended up feeling bad after the hauler carrying her summer wardrobe crushed the '68 Camaro Convertible, our dad gave me and Cody. So she took us out soon after we got back to Boston and bought us these as repayment." he motioned to the black car and the silver one sitting right next to it.

"Geeze. She really does go all out now a days, doesn't she?" Maddie asked as she walked to the passenger side.

Nodding his head, Zack walked over to the driver door and both of them got in. After sitting down and closing the doors, he reached up and locked the remote in its place in front of his right knee causing the cars power to turn on. He flipped the red cap that covered the start button on the center console, pushing the button, the cars engine came to life with growl.

Opening the storage compartment in the center he pulled out a small remote and clicked the button once. The big door at the end they had come in rose up. He pulled out of the parking space and drove the car out the door. After clearing the opening he clicked the button on the remote again and the door closed behind them.

He followed the ramp from the top level of the garage all the way down the road and they were off. Headed for Maya's grave and for him to finally close that chapter of his life. It took about 10 minutes to get from the hotel, to the toll road. Zack turned up the westbound on ramp and after paying the toll, took off down the highway.

Maddie, who had been silent since they left the hotel, reached over and took hold his right hand which had been resting on the center console. He looked down as she intertwined her fingers with his and smiled. After the last time she had shot him down on the boat, he had never thought he would be in this position with her.

"You know, I don't get it. Out of all the guys in the world that you could have had, why choose me?" he asked.

"Because, out of all the guys I've known, your the only one who has ever treated me like more then just a piece of meat." she replied, looking over at him with a small smile, "You've always treated me like a princess. No other guy has ever done that."

"What about that rich guy, Jason? The one we helped you try to fool in to thinking you were rich?"

"After he left the Tipton, I never heard from him again."

"And that scholar guy, who looked sorta like Zac Efron?" he asked.

"Yeah, some scholar he was. He was only looking to get in a Boston girl's pants." she answered, a little bit of a bite behind her words.

Zack didn't ask about anymore of the guys she dated in the past after that. He also made a mental note to kick that Zac Efron wannabe's ass if he ever ran into him again. They lapsed into another comfortable silence as he drove. A little while later he felt her grip on his hand slacken a bit and looked over at her. Sure enough, she had fallen asleep with her head leaning against her window. He chuckled to himself as he continued to drive, changing course whenever the built in navigation system told him too.

While Maddie slept, he had time to reflect on everything that had led him to where he was now. Smiling, he shook his head as he remembered his first race. He had been lucky to win that one. Marcus had ridden along with him and to this day his African American friend was still apprehensive of riding in any car with Zack behind the wheel.

Flashback

Zack had been moping around for the past three weeks. His brother had gotten so tired of it that he had called in reinforments. That's how Zack now found himself sitting in the driver seat of Marcus' supped up Nissan 350Z staring at the instrument cluster.

"Ok, you know how to drive," came his African American friends voice as he got in the passenger side, "Now, Racing is a little different then just your daily driving. You've got to be precise on everything you do. You also need to keep an eye on all your gages that way you know if the car starts to have problems." Marcus explained.

"Anything else?" Zack asked.

"Everything else is pretty strait forward. But make sure, and I can't stress this enough, that you do not over rev the engine or shift to quick. Over revving can cause you loose speed, shift to early and you lose traction in the rear end. Do you understand?"

Zack nodded, "Make sure to be precise, keep an eye on the gages, don't over rev, and don't shift to quickly." he counted each thing off on a finger as he repeated it back.

"Right. Here." Marcus handed him the key.

Zack took it and started the car. Revving the engine a little he smiled at the sound. Releasing the parking break, he put it in first gear and pulled the car up in line with the other three that were there.

"Hey, Lil' are you sure about letting him do this?" asked a voice from outside the car.

"Yeah, Ronnie. He needs somethin' to do, otherwise he'll just sit in that hotel till he rots!" Marcus replied through his open window.

"You and your cars funeral!" Ronnie called back as he got ready to start the race.

"Ignore him." Marcus intoned to Zack, upon seeing that his knuckles were turning white from how hard he was gripping the steering wheel, "You'll do fine, just relax and listen to the car."

Zack nodded again, revving the engine a little more, he visibly relaxed a little upon hearing the purr of the engine.

Ronnie's left arm raised, pointing to each car with his other hand he counted down, then dropped the left arm on the word go. Zack released the clutch and floored the accelerator peeling the back tires in the process, he started to fishtail a little. After correcting himself, he pushed the pedal back to the floor and took off. He got the hang of it pretty quickly over taking two of the other three drivers with relative ease. The third however was not so easy. As Zack came up behind him he slammed on his breaks, causing Zack to rear end him and stall the car.

"Son of a bitch!" Marcus exclaimed, as he was thrown against his harness, "I'm gonna kill him!"

Zack pushed the clutch in and fired the car back up. Putting it in first he took off again just as the two he had already passed started to gain on them. Marcus was fuming in the seat beside him as he sped through three of the six gears of the transmission then slamming it into fifth. Coming back up on the leader, Zack was ready for any tricks he might try this time. When the driver slammed on his breaks again, Zack veered the car to the right and shot up beside him. Taking a quick glance to his left, he saw the guy try to slam into his side and veered away. This happened twice more until the other driver got smart to what Zack was doing. He faked another try and Zack veered to the right again only to realize to late that the other guy had been faking. As Zack tried to come back in line correctly on the road the other driver slammed his car into them. It only took Zack a second but after righting himself from the slam, he looked over to Marcus who looked about ready to go through the roof of his car.

"Dude, chill out, I've got this. Just watch." Zack tried to reassure his friend, for all the good it did. Marcus just stared out the front window. If his ears could of, they would've had steam pouring out of them.

"Mother fucker!" was all Zack's passenger said.

Upon seeing his opponent try for another slam, Zack pushed the brake pedal down and the other driver lost control, spinning out, his car ended up right in Zack's path. Acting on instinct Zack hit the breaks and spun the steering wheel toward the other lane. In the process throwing the car he was driving into a drift.

"Shit!" he exclaimed trying right himself, only to flip the drift's direction the other way, "Damn!"

"Just follow it through!" Marcus hollered.

Doing as he was told Zack flipped the drift back the other way just in time to go around the other car. Not being far enough away though, his front bumber scraped the others rear.

"Didn't mean to do that!" Zack said as he righted himself once again just before crossing the finish. Hitting the breaks he came to a stop

As soon as the car stopped moving, Marcus threw the door open and got out. Ready to knock the other guys teeth down his throat. He stopped when he found his path blocked by Woody.

"Get out of my way, Woody!" Zack heard Marcus yell as he got out of the car himself.

"No, he's not worth it!" the heavier boy said.

"Do you not see my car?" Marcus bellowed out, pointing at the beat up piece of machinery, "Do you realize how much that's gonna cost me to fix!"

"You aren't gonna be able to fix it." Woody stated, pointing to the car also.

"Why not?" Marcus asked looking back at his ruined car, "ZACK MOVE!" he yelled, seeing liquid pouring out of the bottom and sparks flying out of the engine block.

Zack dove out of the way just as the car exploded into a ball flame.

"FUCKIN DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Marcus screamed upon seeing his car go up in smoke, "That son of a bitch is DEAD!" he growled trying to dart passed Woody.

Woody grabbed onto the back of Marcus's hoody and drug him back toward him.

"LET ME GO!" Marcus yelled, struggling to free himself.

"Not gonna happen!" Woody grunted, keeping hold of the other boy.

The sound of sirens snapped Marcus back to reality.

"We've gotta bail out of here!" Woody said, darting over to his own Mitsubishi Eclipse Syder, getting in, and starting it up. He pulled the car over to Marcus who dove into the back seat thanks to the top being down. Woody pulled up to Zack just as he was standing back up.

"GET IN!" Woody yelled, as the sirens came closer.

Knowing full well what would happen if he was caught, Zack didn't need to be told twice and jumped over the passenger door and into the seat as Woody slammed the gas pedal to floor and took off away from the scene.

End Flashback

Zack could still remember Marcus's ranting about his destroyed car the whole way back to the Tipton. Ever since that day, Zack had been racing and loved every minute of it. He was always happiest behind the wheel of a car. He looked over at the sleeping woman beside him.

"Well, till now that is." he said quietly to himself.

Looking up at the clock, he realized they had been on the road for a good three hours. Taking a quick glance at the gas gage, he saw he only had an eighth of a tank left and knew he better stop at the gas station and refill it. Keeping an eye on the signs on the side of the road he saw there was one coming up in about five miles.

He turned down the off ramp, and followed the next road up a little ways till he came upon the gas station the sign had advertised. Pulling in he went up to the pumps and killed the engine.

"Maddie?" he said, lightly shaking her left shoulder. When she didn't respond he raised his voice a little, "Hey, Sweet Thang?"

At the invocation of his nickname for her, she responded, opening her eyes she looked around, "Where are we?" she asked.

"A gas station." he answered with a smirk.

She gave him a look.

"What? That's a legitimate answer." he grinned, ducking as she went to smack him, "Alright, we're a little ways out of, Newburgh, New York." he relented, opening his door and getting out.

"How long was I asleep?" she questioned, following suit.

"About 2 hours, you fell asleep a little bit before we hit, Springfield and slept the entire way through, Connecticut." he replied, going around to her side of the car and opening the gas cap.

"Sorry, didn't mean to." she apologized with a sheepish look.

"It's all good. That's what I get for waking you up early, after keeping you out late the night before." he said with a small chuckle as he pumped the gas into the car, "I'll remember that for future reference."

She smiled at that statement, it helped to cement the fact that they now had a future together and nothing was going to change that if she could help it. Watching as he finished pumping the gas, her eyes followed him as he walked back over to his side of the car and reached in. She heard him hit the dash board and a second later come back out of the car stuffing something into his pocket.

Seeing her watching him, he came back over to her and whispered in her ear, "My stash of emergency cash."

"How much is there?" she asked.

"A little north of ten grand." he replied, to which she went slack jaw, "Feel lucky, your the only one besides me who knows about it." he added.

"If you keep that kind of money in your car..."

"Cars. There's a stash in each one. All hidden in secret compartments I installed myself." he cut her off.

"Geeze, why are you guys still living in the Tipton, if you have that kind of cash?"

"Cause, Mom doesn't want to move." he stated simply.

"But, if you keep cash in your cars, then you just lost a fair amount of money the other night, when your Mustang was destroyed."

"Nope, took it out the night before when you met me in the garage, right before I got out of the car." he grinned, walking past her and up to the entrance to the small store.

She followed him inside, still a lit flabbergasted at the fact that he had normally at least twenty grand just lying around. They used the restroom, grabbed a couple of sandwiches and a drink each, then went up to the register.

"Nice car, kid." the older gentlmen behind the counter said, motioning toward the Lamborghini through the window, "That'll be...seventy eight, fifty five."

"Thanks." Zack replied, handing over the cash.

"We don't see a lot of those come through here, so when one does it's a treat." the clerk smiled, handing Zack his recepit.

"It was a gift." Zack stated, taking the small slip of paper and pocketing it.

"You two have nice day, now." the clerk nodded to both him and Maddie.

"You too." Zack said with a polite smile, taking the bag of stuff of the counter and heading for the door with Maddie in tow.

They got back in the car. Reaching up in front of him, Zack took the wad of cash back out of his pocket and put it back in the small open cubby hole under the steering wheel. Maddie watched as he closed it and was surprised to see it blend perfectly with the rest of the dash board. Unless you knew about it being there, you'd never find it.

He started the car back up, pulled out of the gas station, and headed back to the highway. Turning up the on ramp, the hit the interstate again and were back on track, headed for Pittsburgh. It took them another forty-five minutes before they crossed the border of, New York into Pennsylvania.

"This scenery is beautiful!" Maddie exclaimed, fifteen minutes after they crossed, staring out her window in awe.

"I know, Pennsylvania is beautiful state. The mountains look even better then this." Zack nodded, "Mom wanted to do a little site seeing the last time when we went home. So I've seen some of the stuff this state has to offer. It also has some of the best hospitality you ever want to find." he continued as they passed two semis.

"You ever thought about vacationing here?" Maddie asked glancing over at him.

"Not really, but it probably wouldn't be a bad place for a vacation." Zack nodded after thinking over it for a few minutes, "Especialy considering it's home to the first ever Hershey's Chocolate Factory. Which, coincidentally is now Mom's favorite place in the entire United States." he added.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. She's a woman, and one of a woman's best friends is chocolate." Maddie grinned.

"True, considering it's one of the few things, if not the only thing that can keep her sane during a certain time of the month." he laughed.

"Hey, that's not something to joke about!" she scolded.

"It is when you grew up in a family that had a full time Mom and only a part time Dad." he retaliated.

Maddie thought about that for a second, "I didn't know that ever bothered you." she replied.

"It's not that it really bothered me all too much, it's just it would have been nice of he would have been around more often then he was." Zack stated.

He looked at the clock again and was surprised to see another hour had passed while they were talking, "We're making decent time."

She nodded when she noticed the time herself, "Around what time do you think we'll get there?" she asked.

"Well we pulled out of the Tipton around nine thirty, so probably somewhere in the realm of six thirty or seven o'clock." he said, quickly glancing at the navigation screen to see where they were and seeing they were only a few miles out of, Hazleton, "That is if we hopefully don't run into any road work." he glanced at the screen again, "Which apparently we will be in about another hour."

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"The car's navigation system has real-time traffic updates. At least the road isn't closed though. That can be a pain in the ass. Especially in this state."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well the first time, when we came out for the funeral, we only ran into three areas of road work and none of it was closed. The second time, it was just me and Mom, we ran into about seven areas and the detours added a good three hours to the trip."

"How many times have you come out here?"

"This will be the third."

"What was the second time for?"

"To see something that wasn't completed in time for the funeral."

"Which was?"

He sighed, she had asked a question which would make him explain everything. He hadn't planned to do that until they were at the cemetary.

"If you don't wa..." she started, but he silenced her by raising his hand up and shaking his head.

"It's okay. As you know, Maya was pregnant when the accident happened. Well her parents weren't overly excited, to say the least. They decided it'd be better not to broadcast that their daughter was pregnant out of wedlock to the entire funeral. So when we got there, they pulled me aside and asked me about it. I told them the story of what had happened on the ship, and the fact that the condom had broken. They still weren't happy about it, but they at least were more hospitable. It kind of surprised me really, they had been so nice to me in the letter they had wrote and when Cody had talked to them over the phone. But face to face, they were kind of brutal. I found out later on though, after the funeral that it was Mr. Bennett who was overly mad at me. Maya's mom pulled me away again soon after the end of the service to apologize for the way her husband had treated me and asked me then what I wanted the baby's name to be, so they could put it on the stone. I gave her a name and told her that I'd find a way to help pay for everything." he explained.

"Is that all or is there more?" she asked.

"Well the second time me and Mom came out here, was to see the Headstone. One of the nights we were here, I left Mom at the motel we were staying at and took a quarter of what the funeral cost, to Maya's parents. Her father, apologized to me himself that time. He explained to me that for a while he had blamed me for Maya's death until they found out that she had decided to change to an earlier flight. They found out that the pilot on the flight she had changed too was a hotshot and was know for trying to fly through bad whether. Maya's flight was no different. He tried flying through a pretty bad storm before they were even out of Africa and the plane got struck by lightning. The engines on the struck wing exploded taking the wing with them in the process." he continued, stopping for a minute to wipe away a few tears that had escaped during his story.

"Do you want me to drive?" Maddie asked, seeing his emotional state.

"No...I'm okay." Zack replied, "When I gave them the money, they tried to refuse it but I wouldn't let them. I had told Mrs. Bennett at the funeral that I would try to pay half of what it cost. They thanked me and I told them that I would try to get the rest to them at some point. I figure while I'm here I'll do that too. If you don't mind?" he finished.

"I don't mind at all." she said staring at him, surprised that he had finally opened up to her completely, "So she died cause of some dumb ass pilot?"

Zack nodded, eyes still on the road in front of them, "Yeah, pretty much."

"I understand now though, why it was so hard for you to open up all this time." she consoled him, taking hold of his unoccupied right hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze, "You blamed yourself too, didn't you?"

When he didn't answer, she knew she was right, "You know it wasn't your fault."

"If only we hadn't had..."

She silenced him this time, "No, Zack. It wasn't your fault. You both made a decision to have sex that night on the ship. She decided to go to Africa, not knowing at the time she was pregnant. She decided to take an earlier flight. But it's not your fault and it's not her fault either. The person to blame is the pilot. He's the one who decided to fly through that storm. He's the one who decided to try and show off. He's the one who flew the plane into danger with no regard to anyone on board." she said.

"Thanks, Maddie. I almost started to blame myself again." he glanced at her real quick, a sad but thankful smile on his face.

She squeezed his hand again, "Anytime."

For the rest of the trip to Pittsburgh, they talked off and on about different things which helped to pass the time. However there was no more said about Maya's accident or the funeral. They did run into a few patches of road work on the remainder of the trip but they were able to get around them pretty quickly only adding about an hour to their travel time.

They pulled into the cemetery around eight thirty that night. Zack navigated the car through it easily and stopped when he came to a certain row. Getting out he grabbed the bouquet of flowers they had stopped off and bought when they had arrived in Pittsburgh. Maddie got out of the car and followed him over to one of the graves.

The Headstone was beautiful, the engraving on it was a picture of Maya holding a baby in her arms. Maddie read the saying underneath the picture,

Beloved daughter,

You were taken out of this world, before your story was finished. You were taken from us by God's untimely hand. We know you are in a better place with him. You will be missed by many, as will the child you were carrying that none of us ever got to meet, Always.

Love, Mom, Dad, and Zachary

Maya Bennett, and Marion Alex Bennett-Martin

Bellow the names were the dates of birth and death. Though there was only a date of death for the baby seeing as though she had never made it into the world.

"Hey, Maya. I told you you I'd come back when I got the chance." Zack said to the grave, "Thank you, for everything. And for opening my eyes through that dream last night."

Maddie gasped when he said that, So he saw her too, she thought watching him place the flowers in one of the connected vases on the side of the Headstone.

"I'll never forget you. But you were right, it's time for me to move on with my life." he finished, standing back up and walking back over to Maddie.

"I'll say thank you also, Maya" Maddie started, talking to the grave as well, "For appearing to me as well and bringing Zack and I together." Maddie smiled.

Zack just stared at the blonde woman standing next to him.

"What?" Maddie asked, meeting his gaze.

"She appeared to you too?" he asked.

Maddie just nodded in response.

"Wow, even when she's dead, she still covers all her bases." he smiled, remembering the way Maya always meticulously did things.

"Appaently so." Maddie said, meeting his eyes with her own.

Both of them looked back down at the headstone. Zack reached behind himself and pulled two envelopes out of his back pocket. Reaching into the pocket of his wind breaker he pulled out a Zippo Lighter, "Goodbye, Maya." he said striking the lighter, a small flame appeared on the wick.

"Are you sure about this?" Maaddie asked, stopping him just before he lit the letters on fire.

"Yeah, it's time to let go. These are just proof that I held on to long." Zack replied, putting the lighter to the corners of the envelopes and watching as the lit ablaze. Laying them down on top of the Headstone, they both watched as the flames ate away the two letters leaving nothing behind but a small pile of ash in their wake. A small breeze blew around them, and Zack and Maddie watched as it picked up the ashes that remained and scattered to the winds.

Turning around, they walked back to the car, got in, and drove away.

Somewhere in heaven, a young woman holding a little girl in her arms watched the two people standing at her grave, "Your both welcome." she stated watching as they turned around, got back in Zack's car, drove off, "Take care of each other. Cause you never know how long you have." Smiling down, knowing she had a hand in putting the two together, she herself turned around and walked into a bright light, carrying her young daughter along with her.

A/N: Phew, finally got it done. I'm sorry this chapter took a little longer then I expected. But here it is, finally. I hope you all reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, even though it took me four days to get it all down.

Countrygirl19: Thank you for your review, and I apologize for making you cry on the last chapter, that honestly was not my intention, but I should have known it would happen considering I myself was almost in tears writing it. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think?

Killerm1: Thanks for your review, and I'm sorry that the last chapter made you tear up. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think?

And to everyone else: Thank you again for taking time out of your day and life and joining me in my world. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I also hope some of you will eventually let me know your thoughts on my story, but that's your choice. I'm just thankful that you've decided to read my story. Until next time.

Sincerely, Goldjackal17