Carey Martin could feel a major headache coming on. Her rehearsal time with Mikayla had been very informative...and very frustrating. It had quickly become apparent that the young singer was going to need a lot of work before she could start performing in the lounge.

When Carey got back to her suite she took a couple aspirin and washed them down with some juice. As she went to sit down in the living room, she saw Cody came out of the bathroom.

"Hey Mom," he said. "I'm glad you're back. I want to ask you something about your lounge act."

"Oh honey," she answered wearily. "Can you ask me later? Right now I don't even want to think about the lounge."

Sensing that something was wrong, Cody sat down by her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine honey. I'm just a little worried about Mikayla. And a little angry." She paused. "No, actually I'm super angry. I swear, if I ever meet that girl's parents...well, I may need your help disposing of the bodies."

Cody raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Huh?"

"It's bad enough that they exploited their daughter in the first place," Carey continued. "But they didn't even see to it that she developed properly as a performer."

"What do you mean?" Cody asked.

"Mikayla has a good voice," Carey explained. "But her vocal range is limited. That by itself isn't a big problem, there are lots of successful singers with limited range...but those singers know how to compensate for their weaknesses. Mikayla doesn't. When I had her try a few songs in the lounge, I was shocked. She's nowhere near ready to start working here."

Cody was both alarmed and confused by this news. "How can that be? She's performed plenty of times on TV and at concerts."

"I talked to her about that and from what she told me, I'm pretty sure that...." Carey trailed off as an idea struck her. "Honey, get your computer. I think I can show you the problem."

After Cody had grabbed his laptop, Carey asked him to look for any the videos he could find of Mikayla performing. There were plenty of examples on YouTube of old television appearances, mostly of her singing If Cupid Had a Heart.

"That seemed fine to me," Cody commented after watching one of the videos.

"Now watch another one," Carey said.

Cody did. And then he viewed a third video. Then a fourth. The problem soon became apparent.

"She's giving almost the same performance each time," he said in surprise. "Even when the songs are different...the way she tilts her head, the way she holds the microphone...it's all the same."

"That's all she knows how to do," Carey replied. "Her parents, her manager, her old record label...none of them treated her like a performer. They treated her like a product. They took a pretty girl with a nice voice, gave her a catchy pop song to sing, and then just had her do it repeatedly."

"But eventually, people go tired of the song," Cody observed.

Carey nodded. "And instead of showing her how to do something different, they just kept giving her new songs and had her perform them the same way, hoping that they'd strike gold again."

Cody felt disgust at the way people had used the young singer so callously.

"By the way," Carey said. "Don't talk to Mikayla about any of this. She's in a fragile state right now. She knows she needs to improve but she's afraid she won't be able to. We need to be positive around her. Help her work on her confidence."

"Right," Cody agreed. "I'll do whatever it takes to help her."

Hearing the conviction in her son's voice, Carey looked at him thoughtfully. "Sounds like you care a lot about her."

"She's been on my mind a lot," he admitted. "And it's actually bothering me."

"How so?"

"I feel bad for her and all she's going through," he explained. "I want to do more than just help her. I want to take care of her. Protect her."

"I can understand that," Carey said. "I feel the same way."

"The thing is, I've been questioning my motivations a little. She's...well, let's be honest...she's a beautiful girl."

Carey let out a soft chuckle. "And you're attracted to her."

"Yeah, I am. But things are complicated right now. She's got so much to deal with." He sighed. "And I'm just starting to feel like I'm over Bailey."

Carey felt sympathetic for her son. She knew that he'd briefly dated Bailey, a classmate from the semester at sea program, but that the girl had decided they worked better as friends than as a couple.

"And then there's Zack," Cody added. "He's been hitting on Mikayla so much that I actually asked him to back off."

"Oh boy," Carey said softly. Things had a tendency to get messy whenever her sons became interested in the same girl. "Are you two going to be able to handle things in a mature way?"

"I'm going to try, Mom. And Zack said he'd back off from Mikayla until her life calmed down. I'm going to do the same."

"I think that's for the best," Carey said, silently hoping that both her sons would be able follow through on their good intentions.

The next couple of weeks at the hotel saw developments both good and bad. Carey spent a lot of time helping Mikayla develop her talent. The young singer worked very hard, but the results were mixed. She did show definite improvement, but she was constantly stressed out about her progress. Despite all Carey's encouragement, Mikayla's self-confidence continued to suffer.

Zack and Cody both did their best to cheer the girl up...individually. Whenever the two brothers were around her at the same time there was an unspoken tension in the air. As a result, Mikayla hardly ever saw the two together. But at least she was able to enjoy their company on a one-on-one basis.

The one person who did stay constantly positive was London. She and Mikayla got along very well, their personalities proving to be very compatible. As an added bonus, Mikayla had developed a taste for 'the good life' back when her career had first taken off, and now she got to experience it again by tagging along with London on lavish shopping trips and going with her to the most exclusive parties.

On a limo ride back from one such party, the two girls found themselves talking about their favorite pair of twins.

"Do you ever bring Cody and Zack with you to one of these parties?" Mikayla asked.

"No, I haven't," London answered. "Do you think they'd enjoy it? All the other party guests would be rich or famous. Don't you think the guys would feel out of place?"

The singer shook her head. "No way. With Cody being so smart and Zack being so...Zack, I think they could fit in with any crowd. Don't you think it would be fun if we could all do something together?"

"Yeah, it would be," the heiress agreed.

When the two girls arrived back at the hotel, they were surprised to run into Zack in the lobby.

"Hey ladies," he greeted them. "Enjoy your night out?"

"Sure did," London answered. "But what are you doing down here so late?"

"Were you waiting up for us?" Mikayla teased.

"Nah. I just got back from the movies," he explained. "There was supposed to be a midnight showing of Monster Apocalypse tonight, but when I got to the theater, it was sold out."

"Sorry your plans didn't work out," London said.

"Yeah, I'm crushed. But I think I could get over it if I had some female companionship," he finished as he flashed a wicked grin towards Mikayla. While it was true he'd agreed to back off from her for the time being, he couldn't help flirting sometimes.

"Well. I'm not tired," the singer replied. "Are you, London?"

"Nope," the heiress answered. "What do you want to do?"

The three friends started tossing out ideas on what they could do. Their options were somewhat limited due to the lateness of the hour. Somehow in the course of their conversation, mention was made of the hot tub in London's penthouse. The idea of a nice relaxing soak sounded appealing to all three of them.

"Alright," Mikayla said. "Let's all go grab our swimsuits and meet up at the penthouse." She turned to Zack and smiled. "Ask Cody to join us, okay?"

"Yeah," London added. "It'll be more fun with all four of us."

"Sure," Zack said without much enthusiasm.

He's probably asleep, Zack thought as he entered his suite to fetch his swimming trunks. So I won't have to ask him to come along.

Zack made his way quietly to the bedroom he shared with Cody, careful not to wake his mother on the way. But when he entered the bedroom he was surprised to find Cody was still awake, reading as he lay in bed.

"Back from the movies already?" Cody asked.

Zack explained how his original plans for the evening had fallen through. As he did so, he carefully reached into his dresser drawer and stuffed his trunks under his shirt, hoping that his brother wouldn't notice. Since Cody's attention was focused on his book, Zack was successful in his task.

"Where are you going now?" his brother asked as Zack tried to leave.

"Not tired," he answered. "Going to go for a walk down in the lobby. Might help me sleep."

Cody thought this was little odd, but shrugged it off and kept reading.

"I'm afraid Cody's already asleep," Zack announced when he got up to London's penthouse.

Mikayla and London both had similar looks of disappointment flash across their faces at those words.

"Hey, we're still going to have fun," Zack said.

The three teens then went into different rooms and changed into their swimwear. When Zack made his way to the hot tub, Mikayla and London were already there. His eyes went wide when he saw them.

"Whoa," he gasped, and then smiled. "Nice."

To be continued...

author's note: Please comment. I'm curious as to how all of you think the pairings will end up...because anything could happen at this point. Maybe Bailey or Maddie or Max will show up. (I have no plans for the last three right now, but who knows if I'll change my mind?)