Episode 3

"Shaping Up & Shipping Out"

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

On a Plane Flying Back to Boston

Cody and Clyde did eventually finish getting the dish and the TV hooked up, and within minutes of that, Clyde and all of Cody's soon to be brothers-in-law huddled up around the TV to begin channel surfing. And for the next couple of hours, none of them moved from their seats unless they had to go to the bathroom. Naturally, all of the women noticed they were all missing and went looking for them. Needless to say, they couldn't help but laugh at the site in front of them. Then, they focused their attention on to Cody, and teasingly thanked him for turning all of the guys into mindless zombies for the rest of the day. Fortunately for him, Cody didn't have to put up with too much of that as it was soon time for he and and Bailey to say their goodbyes to everyone. To make sure they didn't miss their flight back to Boston, they left Kettlecorn about two o'clock that afternoon to begin to head to Tulsa. Fortunately, it wasn't that hot of a day, so the malfunctioning air conditioner on their rental car didn't turn out to be that big of a deal on their drive back. By 3:00 that afternoon, they finally arrived at the airport just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Cody was happy to get to cross off yet another state on his list of ones he hadn't visited yet.

"Bails, I think I'm getting close to thirty now. I still have a bunch down in the south and then from Idaho east towards Wisconsin to knock out too."

She smiled. "Pretty much the same ones for me too. Its kind of funny that the ones most people have trouble knocking out, Alaska and Hawaii, we've already been too before..."

"I know...too bad the ship couldn't make its way to places like Montana or the Dakotas or we would have them knocked off too. I mean...we've seen were Otto von Bismarck was born in Germany but not to the state capital named after him..."

After turning in the keys to their rental, they checked their bags and made their way through security. Fortunately, Tulsa's airport was not as busy as others that had been through. And their timing couldn't have been better as their flight was being called to board just as they walked up to their gate. The new airline they were flying back on didn't have assigned seats but rather gave you boarding number. When your number was called, you boarded with that group and it was first come, first serve as to seats once you got on the plane. Equally fortunate, Cody and Bailey had been assigned to boarding group #1, and as they had just arrived at the gate, they just strolled on over to the counter and were the first ones in line to board. So, with that, they got their choice of any seats they wanted on the plane, and chose ones in the front row. Not only did it have more leg room than any other row, but there were only to seats in the row. So, they didn't have to worry about a stranger sitting next to them. Once the flight was airborne heading east, the seat belt sign was turned off, and people got up to use the bathroom and roam around the cabin. Naturally, those who had been waiting at the gate longer than they had gave Cody and Bailey dirty looks for getting the best seats on the flight.

But that didn't matter to them as they had other things on their minds.

"You know, Bails...before we left, your Dad talked to me and gave me some things to think about."

She turned to him. "Oh yeah? What did he say to you?"

Cody replayed the conversation he and Clyde had had, and Bailey agreed that her father had made some very valid and interesting points. "Well, if I think about it like that, what he said does make some sense. I can definitely see us scouting out the best schools for our kids. And I know we've both done the same thing for our own educations. It does make it sound a little hypocritical for us to do that to schools but get upset if they do it back to us..."

"I know. And the more I think about I, the more I think he's right. I shouldn't let my anger get in the way of what's really important. I mean...its evident that despite everything, Harvard wants me enough to actually offer to pay me to go there..."

She looked over at him. "So, are you saying we're ready to stop with all of these interviews and that we're Harvard bound now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. What do you think about all of this? I mean, if you want to keep looking and see what these other schools have to offer, we can do that. And if you want to stop our search now, I think I'd be okay with that too."

Bailey paused to think again. "You know, I say we continue looking at least through our next trip back here over Father's Day. By then, we'll have seen Duke, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Penn too. After seeing all of them, maybe by then, we'll be ready to make a final decision?"

Cody nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me." He smiled. "Now that we have that out of the way and have some down time until we land back in Boston, I think this would be a good time for us to do our homework less we face the wrath of London when we get back..."

She laughed. "Good idea. Well, we have all of our guest lists now, so that's done. We just need to take the spreadsheets your Mom, your Dad, my Mom and the one we made with our friends on it and combine them into one big master list."

"That won't be too difficult. And Chef Paulo is on vacation now, and he won't be back until the week after Zack ships out. But we do have an appointment to meet with him as soon as he returns."

"And London is setting up the appointment with Arturo for us, so nothing for us to decide there until after we meet with him."

"So, I guess that leaves us with making a decision on our wedding party..." Cody paused. "Unfortunately, I can kind of see a problem we might have. If you want all of your sisters in it, I don't know if I can think of enough groomsmen to just match up with them alone..."

Bailey sighed. "I know. And if I ask one or a couple of sisters and not the rest, the others might feel slighted. So, its either none of them or all nine of them..."

"Your call, Sweetie."

"Right now, I'm leaning towards none of them. I have others I want to be bridesmaids too, and if we add them to my nine sisters, there very well could be more people in the bridal party than guests at the wedding." She shook her head. "So, I think none of them then just to make things easier. Now, with that decided, lets analyze everything else. You already know who your best man is going to be."

Cody nodded. "Yeah...Zack. One of the perks of being a twin I guess - a built in best man."

"And that would leave you with Woody, Marcus and Tapeworm as groomsmen."

"Which would leave you the need for a maid of honor and three bridesmaids. Plus, I'm sure we can get your niece and your nephew to be our flower girl and ring bearer."

Bailey nodded this time. "Yeah, those take care of themselves pretty easily. But as for bridesmaids, the obvious candidates are London, Gertie, and Addison. Of course, that leaves one final spot for either Courtney or Maya or..." She sighed again. "I wish our number matched up better..."

"Well, if you want, I can try to think of one more groomsmen...maybe I could ask my Dad or Moseby or Bob?"

"I guess that could work..." She topped to think again, and that's when an idea came to her. Bailey grinned and turned to face him. "Cody Bear...maybe we should be thinking of less instead of more?"

Cody just looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

Bailey smiled. "Well...since our wedding will be on the beach, what would you think if we only had a best man and maid of honor standing up there with us? You know...keep things simple."

Cody paused to consider that idea too. "Well, I guess that would make things easier. And for me, I already know who would be standing next to me. But can you narrow down your candidates for your maid of honor to just one person?"

"I don't know. I mean, I do have several very good candidates..."

"Again, that would be your call, Bails. Just know I'll support you in whoever you do choose."

"I know. Let me think about it some more."

He smiled. "Tell you what. You take the rest of our flight to think about it, and I'll take care of merging all of our lists into a master one. I can then go through and sort them all alphabetically to make things easier. And Bails, don't feel like your rushed to make this decision. Take all the time you need..."

So, that's what they did. For the rest of the flight back, Cody worked away on his laptop forging their master list , while Bailey used hers to make a list of pros and cons for each potential candidate to be her maid of honor. And as they began their final descent into to Boston, she turned to Cody and smiled.

"I think I've made my choice."

Boston

Even though it was getting late by the time they arrived back in Boston, Cody and Bailey were just in time to join Zack and Maya in taking Carey out for a late Mother's Day dinner. But they weren't the only ones who had just gotten back to Boston right before it was time to go out. Maya and Zack had met up with her parents at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort over in Connecticut to spend some time with her Mom that afternoon. When it was time for Zack and Maya to head back to Boston, Zack was a little envious when he head that the Bennetts were off to spend some time in the casino before having a late dinner themselves in one of the restaurants there. It was particularly bad when Zack found out that the restaurant was owned by none other than a famous ex Chicago Bull who used to wear the number '23' and who might actually be in the restaurant himself that night. Maya just laughed.

"Zack, we have to head back now if we're going to get there in time..."

He sighed. "I know, but how many times will I get the chance to meet Michael Jordan?"

"I know, but think how much it will mean to your Mom that you passed on the chance to meet him so you could spend Mother's Day with her..."

Zack reluctantly agreed, and Maya practically had to drag him out the building. And since she was driving, she turned on the manual door and window locks in case he changed his mind and tried to escape once in the car. So, both twins had had quite the days by the time they took their mother out to dinner that night. And even though the refrained from bringing up the major topics in their lives that evening, they were all Carey wanted to talk about. She kept going on about how one of her boys was about to head to back to sea for the summer while the other was traveling the country looking at medical schools he might attend the next year. At one point, she even implored of Cody and Bailey to take second looks at all of the local medical schools. They just winked at each other before telling Carey they were indeed considering all of the medical schools in the Boston area. Once dinner was over, everyone decided to call it a day as all of them had to go to work the next day. Of course, Zack getting a text message picture of His Airness standing next to Maya's parents almost caused him to cry.

Of course, that following week was to be Zack's last week of working at London Inns before leaving for the boat, Maya's last full week of work before her summer school classes started and Cody and Bailey's first week of work that summer back at the Tipton Clinic. And while their weeks all went fine, everyone was ready for a day off by the time they were over. But a break was not to be in the cards for any of them. Cody and Bailey had to head down to Providence on Saturday morning for an interview at Brown. And Zack, and Maya had some errands they had to run that day. For Zack, that meant going shopping for clothes and other necessities he would need for his time onthe ship, and for Maya, she had to go buy her Physics book and supplies for summer school the following Monday. As they walked out of the bookstore, she sighed.

"I think I liked shopping for your stuff a whole lot better. My purchases are full of formulas and problems that I could care less about right now."

Zack just smiled. "Yeah, well, your summer school experience won't potentially cause you to get nauseous from sea sickness..."

Maya laughed. "I don't know about all of that! Its been a while since I've studied physics. I can easily see myself getting nauseous trying to figure this stuff out..."

"Yeah, maybe that's why I never took it before. I could have taken it my junior year on the boat, but by then, Bailey had already become Cody's favorite lab partner. If I couldn't have him do most of the work for me, I passed..." He shrugged. "Anyways, how do you want to spend our last week together before I'm gone for six weeks? You want to go hit a Sox game or head to Six Flags or head to the water park or...?"

She shrugged too. "Doesn't really matter to me, but we'll have to do whatever it is tomorrow though. Starting Monday, I'm in class every morning and then work every afternoon. And then, next Satuday, you ship out..."

"Well, I guess we're doing something tomorrow then..." He paused and smiled. "How about this? Whatever we do tomorrow, we'll do the same thing again when I return from the ship at the end of the summer. It'll be kind of symbolic that our summer apart is finally over and that I'm back for good."

Maya smiled back at him. "I like the sound of that." She paused and couldn't help but to laugh. "Is it bad that this is the first time that I can ever remember that I wish the summer would hurry up and be over and for school to start back again as soon as it can?"

Zack laughed too. "Nah. Its going to be a rough summer on the both of us. While we might not have to like it, we both know we're doing what we need to do. I have to go on the boat to get credit for the class I need to graduate. And you're taking those two physics classes so you can graduate on schedule..." He grinned. "But if you didn't, I'd do whatever it took to convince London to send you to the boat with me..."

"And I'd do whatever it took to convince her to sent me to the boat with you. But, I guess this is another sign we're growing up and maturing, huh? Doing the right thing although its hard and not what we really want?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Zack grinned. "But, don't worry. We'll be sure to do something later on so that it doesn't seem like we've totally lost our coolness. At some point, we'll pull another prank and remind people of what were capable of..."

Maya laughed. "Works for me."

"Come on. Lets get out of here. We have to go figure out what we're going to do tomorrow."

And on Sunday, they decided to head to Six Flags and spend the day there. They asked Cody and Bailey to join them which they agreed to do as they thought it sounded like fun. Unfortunately, right before it was time to leave that morning, London showed up at their suite and told them they weren't going anywhere as they had more important things to do. Sighing, Cody and Bailey told Zack and Maya to go on without them, so they just waved goodbye and left. That left Cody and Bailey alone in the suite with London, and she just looked back and forth at them and shook her head.

"I can't believe this! You two of all people going to goof off when we have work to do!"

Bailey could only sigh. "But we've done all the homework you asked us to do..."

"Yeah? Lets see your guest lists then..."

Bailey smirked at her friend. "Would you rather have hard copies of our master list or would you prefer us to e-mail it to you?"

"Both." London paused and smiled. "But that's more like the effort I want to see..."

Cody rolled his eyes. "And we have an appointment set with Chef Paulo as soon as he gets back from his vacation."

London nodded. "Good, good...What else?"

"And we have our wedding party set..." He looked over and Bailey and winked at her. "Or at least we did until a few minutes ago..."

"Oh yeah? Well, let's hear it. Arturo needs to know how many bridesmaids dresses he needs to design too."

"Well, we decided that we're only going to have a best man and a maid of honor. Naturally, Zack will be Cody's best man."

"Just one of each, huh?" London shrugged. "Works for me, and Zack being best man was a no brainer. Now, who is the maid of honor going to be? We'll need to schedule a time for Arturo to take her measurements too. Do you think she would be available to come to our meeting with him next week?"

Bailey couldn't help but smile. "I don't know - why don't you tell us if you'll be available to make it?

"Huh?"

She just shook her head and kept smiling. "London, that was me asking you to be my maid of honor. I'd be honored if you would..."

London looked at Bailey in surprise. "You want me?"

Bailey just kept smiling. "Yes, you. I mean...without you, who knows where Cody and I would be right now. You were the one who blackmailed your father so that we wouldn't be separated after the tornado. You were the one who tipped us off with the information about your father so we could...persuade him to use his influence to get Cody accepted to Yale. Face it, London - even though you've always said you hate helping people, you've always been there for us. And London, outside of Cody, you're the best friend that I've got..."

London found herself getting very emotional and had tears beginning to well in her eyes. She was so touched by Bailey's gesture that her voice was only barely above a whisper. "Well, if that's what you want, it would be me that would be honored to be your maid of honor, Bailey."

Cody grinned. "Just a warning, I hope you know that part of the job responsibilities will be keeping Zack in line during the ceremony..."

London laughed. "Consider it done!" She paused and dabbed a tissue at her eyes. "Wow...I never expected this."

Bailey grinned too. "Well, the job is yours. So, just remember, any crazy time lines and deadlines or anything else require of us, you'll have to deal with them yourself..."

She smiled too. "Understood. Well, we really have some work to do then, don't we? If I'm going to be part of this thing, we have to make sure its going to be spectacular! We need to start thinking of ideas to share with the wedding planner when she gets here in a few weeks!"

Cody spoke up again. "Actually, Zack inadvertently had an idea we both really like. What do you think of a luau instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner?"

London paused as she considered that. "You know, I like it too. It would be very in keeping with the whole tropical motif of the wedding. That was a really good idea. I guess Zack is getting a lot better at those than he used to be..."

Bailey continued. "And we figured the reception would be inside. We've tried dancing on sand before, and it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do. I'd rather not fall on my butt during our first dance as husband and wife."

Cody nodded. "Plus, it would be much easier to keep the food fresh inside with the added bonus of not having to worry about insects trying to get into it. And, it will be the middle of July in Hawaii. I think air conditioning would be nice..." He laughed. "...especially if there are going to be ice sculptures!"

London laughed too. "Good, good. Lets keep these ideas coming!"

Boston University Fitness & Recreation Center

On Tuesday of that next week, Maya found herself walking out the classroom as her physics lab of the summer had finally come to an end. While her summer school class wasn't high on her current list of favorite things, she had found out she had several things going for her. For one, she was relieved to find out that she wouldn't be taking the calculus based physics that was exponentially more difficult than the algebra based variety. For another, one of the other girls who taught swim lessons with at the fit&rec center was not only in her actual class but in her lab as well. So, she had a friendly face whom she could sit next next to in class as well as be her partner for the lab. But she was done with class for the day, she had other things on her mind and immediately caught the bus down the street to the fit&rec center. That Tuesday was one day she didn't want to be late to work as it was going to be the first time she would actually have an aquatic therapy client. So, once she got to work, she immediately changed into her aquatard and headed to the aquatic therapy area to wait for her first guinea pig to show up. Fortunately, there was a desk and chair off along the wall where she could sit down. And while she waited, she began reviewing her new client's file so she could familiarize herself with his injury and treatment. With that knowledge, she could design the exercises for his first session. And just as she was finishing up doing that, a guy about her age with a knee brace and crutches hobbled into the area. Maya just looked up him, smiled and pointed.

"The men's locker room is right over there. Go change into your trunks, and we'll get you started..."

The guy nodded before he paused and looked at her. "Wait a minute...Aren't you in my physics class?"

"I could be. I'm in 105 every morning from 9:00-10:30..."

He smiled and laughed. "I thought you looked familiar. I'm in there too. I'm Ryan McDonald, a pleasure to meet you..."

"I'm Maya, and I'll be assisting you through the aquatic therapy part of your rehab." She grabbed her chart and glanced at it again. "It says here that you tore your ACL and had surgery to repair it a couple of months ago. Well, lets see what we can do to strengthen it and get it back to normal."

Ryan just looked at her funny. "You didn't know what my injury was beforehand? Don't you know who I am?"

Maya shook her head. "No. Should I?"

He laughed. "Well, I guess I thought everyone around campus did. I went down in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament this year. If I hadn't, we might have won the championship."

Maya shrugged. "Oh...Sorry, I don't really keep up with hockey all that much except for the Rangers. I'm more of a football, baseball and basketball kind of gal..."

He gave her another look. "A girl who likes sports? I might be in good hands then..." He grinned. "This might not be so bad afterall then..."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Well, we'll see if you still feel the same way after I put you through your first round of aquatic therapy. Once its over, you might think I'm the devil incarnate..."

Ryan laughed too. "Lets see what you've got!"

And those would be famous last words. By the time his first session of aquatic therapy was over, the big athlete on campus was completely exhausted and sore from head to toe. He didn't even have the energy to pull himself up from the side of the pool.

Maya just laughed again. "So, how bad do you hate me right now?"

He just looked up at her and tried to catch his breath. "You weren't kidding! That was rough! I've never had a hockey practice that tough before!"

"Well, its supposed to be difficult, but, if you keep up with it, your knee will get strengthened back to normal and you'll be back out on the ice before you know it. But you have to take it seriously. If you don't, I think you can kiss your future hockey career goodbye..."

Ryan just shook his head. "Sounds like you really know your sports injuries then."

She shrugged. "I grew up around them all my life. My Dad is an agent, so I've always met athletes who have gotten injured in one way or another. I've even met Dr. James Andrews a few time. And I've seen some of the biggest, toughest and strongest guys in the world either not be able to hack rehab or didn't put in the work necessary. So, they basically threw their careers away for nothing!"

"Well, don't think I'm giving up. I know I can do this, so give me your best shot!"

Maya grinned. "That's the right attitude to have!" She checked her chart again. "Looks like your scheduled to come in on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for the next couple of months to keep doing this. So, I guess I'll see you on Thursday then at the same time."

"What if I want to do it more often so I can get back on the ice even sooner?"

"Well, I guess I could come in on some Saturday mornings, but I would ease into your rehab if I were you. The one thing they keep stressing to us is never do too much or push too hard too soon. That could be just as dangerous as not taking things seriously. You could do irreparable harm and make everything a moot point."

"Fair enough, but would this Saturday be too soon to start?"

Maya laughed. "Definitely. Besides, I already have big plans that day that I won't miss for anything. So, lets just stick with Tuesdays and Thursdays for the time being. Now, pick yourself up, go get changed, and I'll see you on Thursday."

Ryan finally pulled himself up and headed into the locker room while Maya finished writing up her notes from the first session into his file. Once she was done, she headed off to change herself. After she had, she headed back out into the lobby of the rehab so she could drop his file back off to the girl working the front desk. But when she got there, she saw Zack there waiting and grinning at her.

She smiled. "Well, well. I think I could definitely get used to you being here waiting on me..."

He laughed. "Well, I figured I could take you out to dinner again tonight."

"Sounds good to me. I'm was just about to get out of here anyways."

And as they walked out hand in hand, Maya turned to Zack. "You'll never guess who my first patient was today..."

"Oh yeah? Who was it? Somebody I know?"

"I don't think you know him personally, but it was some guy on the BU hockey team who tore his ACL."

Zack stopped them in med step and turned to look at her. "Wait a minute! Is it that McDonald guy?"

Maya nodded. "Yeah, I believe that's his last name. Do you know who he is?"

He laughed. "Don't you remember that Youtube clip I showed you a couple of months ago? He's the one who had a break away goal on an empty net and ended up tripping over his own stick and hurting himself! I don't care how good he is, that's embarrassing! An even if he does end up becoming a future pro, he'll never live that down..."

Her eyes went wide and she began laughing too. "I do remember that now! That was hilarious!"

Zack paused. "But as funny as that was, you should also be careful around that guy..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, because I've overheard girls in some of my classes talking about him. His reputation is not necessarily the best, and there are a lot a rumors floating around about him. Some of them are pretty bad..."

The S.S. Tipton II

Saturday finally arrived, and it was the day everyone had been dreading ever since they found out Zack was going to spend the summer on the boat. That day was actually the day the crew was scheduled to get settled in on the boat and have orientation before the guests officially began arriving on Sunday. And since Zack was considered an official part of the crew now, he had to be there bright and early that morning. Naturally, he didn't show up alone as Maya, Carey, Cody and Bailey all were there to help him get settled in. And his new cabin wasn't quite what he was expecting. Zack could only look around it and shake his head.

"This place is tiny!"

Cody laughed. "Well, it is smaller than our student cabins were, but then again, those were designed to house two people. Look on the bright side though, you do still have your own bathroom. And it is bigger than the one you, me and Mom had to share that one time..."

"True...and at least there doesn't appear to be any rats in this one..." He paused and looked around. "Speaking of Mom, where is she?"

Maya grinned. "Oh, she went to have a word with Esteban to make sure he keeps an eye on you."

Zack sighed. "Great. I'm 20 years old, and my mother is still asking other people to take care of me..."

Cody shrugged. "To be fair, she did the same thing when we were 14. Then, it was Moseby she asked to keep an eye on the both of us..." He paused. "...and me she asked to keep an eye on you..."

Zack just shook his head. "Why won't people understand that I'm old enough to take care of myself now? I am a man now, and I don't need a babysitter!"

"Well, too bad! Because you got one! Moseby asked me to keep an eye on you too!"

Everyone turned around when they heard that familiar voice and saw a very large man standing in the doorway smiling at them.

"Kirby!"

He laughed. "In the flesh! So good to see all you guys again!" He turned to Cody and Bailey. "And I got the Save the Date in the mail from you two, and I want you to know I wouldn't miss your wedding for the world!"

Zack shook his head as in disbelief. "What are you doing here, Kirby? I thought you were a big actor now. We've all seen the beer commercials you've been in..."

Kirby shrugged. "They went with a different marketing campaign and didn't need me anymore. I guess I joined the ranks of has beens like Spuds MacKenzie and the Wassup Guys. So, when I got the call from London asking me if I was interested in being the chief of security here on the new shop, I jumped at it."

Maya smiled. "Well, it will be nice knowing I'll have someone else around here to keep Zack out of trouble for me."

He laughed. "I'll do my best, Maya, but technically, while he's here on the boat, he'll be my boss..."

Zack was confused. "Wait a minute! I will?"

Kirby laughed. "Yeah, you will. Now, if you want the other employees around here to respect your authority, you need to learn those kinds of things..."

Zack sighed. "Guess I need this orientation after all..."

Kirby smiled. "Well, I'll see you later, Zack. I need to go finish unpacking myself." He looked around the cabin and whistled. "I sure wish I had a cabin this nice..." He shrugged again. "Anyways, it was good to see everyone again, and I'll catch you all later..."

And with that, he was gone, and Bailey turned to Cody.

"We should head on up to the main deck too and give these two some time alone."

Cody nodded. "Good idea." He turned to Zack and Maya. "We'll see you both up by the gang plank when its time for us to leave. So...Don't fall overboard, Bro." He turned back to Bailey and smiled. "Why don't we head up to the new skydeck and see if we can get a smoothee."

Bailey's eyes lit up. "Definitely! Lets go!" And with that, they made their exit too.

Maya turned to face Zack. "I guess this is it then, huh? The moment I've been dreading ever since I heard you were going to have to do this..."

Zack smiled at her. "I know, but I'll be back for the week of the 4th of July. Just Remember that. Its only six weeks away, and I'll be flying home on the Tuesday night before the 4th..."

"I know. My final is that morning, but I'll be done with classes the rest of the week you'll be home. And I'll have to work that day too, but nothing will stop me from being at the airport to pick you up. I've already asked for and gotten the rest of that week off to spend every moment with you that I can..."

"I'm really going to miss you, Maya."

Tears were forming in her eyes. "Not more than I'll miss you. You better call me at least once a day!"

"I will." He grinned. "I'll just have to make sure I get the time differences right so I don't call you in the middle of class or while you're at work."

She wiped her eyes. "I wouldn't care if you did! You can call me at three o'clock in the morning, and I'll answer..." She smiled. "It might take me a few minutes to fully wake up and figure out who you are, but I will answer..."

Zack leaned in and kissed her. "I love you. Don't ever forget that."

"I know. I love you too."

At that moment, they heard the ships horn begin to blow, and he sighed. "That's the signal. Everyone not a crew members has fifteen minutes to get off the boat."

Maya nodded. "We better get up to the gang plank then..."

"Lets go." He paused. "Before we do though, I need another one of these..." He leaned in and kissed her long and passionately. "Okay, that should last me for the next six weeks."

She smiled. "Just remember...there will be a lot more of those waiting on you when you get back..."

To be Continued...

AN: Sorry for the delay in posting this, but I was temporarily banned from posting for three days. Don't ask, but I'm sure you can guess which group of writers on this site was probably behind it. Anyways, for anyone who happened to watch the Hatfields & McCoys on the History Channel earlier this week, don't believe what they showed is what actually happened. As Costner was a producer and playing a Hatfield, it was slanted in that direction. They weren't the honorable people the series made them out to be, and actually terrorized people on both sides of the boarder with their antics. And I'm not just saying that as someone who may or may not have McCoy relatives in his family tree ;)