Episode 4

"The Summer is Starting to Heat Up"

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...

S.S. Tipton II

His first week on board the boat turned out to be a very exhausting one for Zack. He quickly discovered that from eight o'clock every morning until seven o'clock every night that he was going to be constantly busy and on the move. Whenever it seemed like he had put out one fire or satisfied the request of a passenger, there was already a line of other ones to take its place. And the few moments he did get each day to just stop and catch his breath, he found himself shaking his head and wistfully remembering all the free time he used to have on the original boat while he was in school. Zack was quickly coming to the realization that his time on the new boat wasn't going to be anything like the times he had on the old one. To make matters worse, when he finally did finish working everyday, he didn't have any of his old friends there to hang out, have fun with or even just have dinner with. Sure, he had Kirby, Esteban and Francesca there to try to take their places, but it just wasn't the same. By the end of his first week on the boat, Zack couldn't help but to realize that this new adventure he thought was going to be so cool was just going to be a job and nothing more.

And while he missed the old times on the boat, he missed seeing Maya even more. Sure, he tried calling her everyday, but while they were out on the open ocean, cell reception would fail every so often with so many passengers trying to use its cell tower. So, for the first week, some of their phone calls would be very brief ones before they got cut off. Add that to the increasing time differences between which made determining when to call a real task. So, Zack should have been excited when they finally arrived in Spain on that Friday evening as he would finally be able to get a better signal. But after one of the longest weeks of his life, he was flat out exhausted. With the guests able to finally get off the boat, he was grateful that they wouldn't need him as much, and he figured he would have more down time to relax. But that was not to be. While he didn't have actual work duties to do, he did remember the lists of places Cody had made for him that he need to go check out for his summer school assignment. So, on his own, he headed out into Barcelona so he could began checking them off of his list. And at one such restaurant, they almost threw him out as soon as he walked in. Turns out it was one of the places Cody had been kicked out of, and Zack had to convince them that he wasn't his brother. But that wasn't the worst part of it - it was kind of depressing seeing all of these cool places and having to do it all by himself. When he finally returned to his cabin late that evening/early that morning, he checked his watch again. And after doing the math to find out what time it was back in Boston, he decided to try calling Maya again. After two rings, she picked up.

"Zack!"

He could help but smile when he heard her voice. "Hey, Babe. I just wanted to talk to you and hear your voice again. Is this a good time to talk?"

"Yeah, its actually perfect. I just got back to the Tipton a few minutes ago after getting off work. And, Babe, I so happy to hear your voice too. Its been lonely around here without you. I mean, Cody and Bailey did ask me to go see a movie with them last night, but the one they chose was so boring. It wasn't the same as going to one with you..."

He laughed. "It better not be! I remember what you and I do at movies we both find boring!"

Maya laughed too. "So do I, but without you there to distract me, I had to actually focus on the movie's plot, and it was horrible! I don't understand how they can enjoy movies with subtitles..."

"Sorry to hear that, Maya...but if it makes you feel any better, I haven't had time to watch a movie even if I wanted to..."

"I take it things are still pretty rough, huh?" She paused. "Is it just me, or I can I actually hear you without any static this time?"

Zack laughed. "Yeah, you can. We're docked in Barcelona right now, so I have the benefit of the cell towers here along the docks. Actually, with us out of the Atlantic now, I should have much better reception until its time for me to come back to Boston."

"Good. I had almost forgotten how terrible reception was in the middle of the ocean. And there was no way I was going to ask you to pay almost ten bucks a minute to use a satellite phone."

"It would have been worth it just to hear your voice..."

"Same here. It was kind of hard seeing Cody and Bailey spending 24/7 together and me not knowing how long I'd get to talk to you each day..."

"Well, it will be much better now. Speaking of those two though, how has it been living with them? Is everything going alright?"

"Actually, its been going pretty great. Every night, they can condense into fifteen minutes what my professor spends an hour and a half trying to teach us. And they actually make it to where this stuff all makes sense to me. So, I've been killing my homework, and I think I did really well on my first test today."

He smiled. "Good. I'm happy to hear that. And I'm glad those two aren't being pains in the butts..."

She laughed again. "They're fine, but I'm not going to complain about having the suite to myself this weekend. I'm thinking of fixing myself a nice bubble bath and soaking it for a long time tonight..."

Zack's smile changed to a frown. "The suite to yourself? They've left you alone for the weekend? Where did Broseph and Brosephina go?"

"Yeah. They were gone by the time I got home today so they could head down to Philadelphia. They both have interviews at Penn's medical school in the morning. And London hooked them up with a room at the Philadelphia Tipton, so they are going to spend the whole weekend down there..."

"I guess they really are heading all over for their interviews..."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure this will be the norm for the rest of the summer. Next weekend, they are heading over to Ithaca, New York to interview and see Cornell, and the weekend after, they are heading down to New York City. They're going to interview at Columbia and hang out with Marcus and Melanie."

He paused. "You sure you're going to be okay being left all by yourself like that?"

Maya laughed. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm actually going to be working some Saturdays at the rehab center. So, it'll get me even more experience plus some extra change in my pocket."

"Well, that's good I guess..."

"How about you? Other than what you've already told me, how are things going on the ship?"

"Well, fortunately, in the little free time I've had, I've had Kirby to hang out with. And I admit...a few times, he and I have attacked a buffet together."

Maya laughed again. "I should have seen that coming. So, any passengers you've felt like throwing overboard yet?"

Zack laughed too. "Actually, there has been one. You remember that one old lady back on the old boat who was always hitting me with her purse? Well, she's back on this one too and has resumed hitting me again for no reason. And she's always giving me a dirty look..."

"Doesn't she have a real home to be at?"

"I have no idea. I'm starting to think she's lived on a ship as long as I have. And her purse is even bigger now! It starting to really hurt!"

"Awww...my poor baby."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Enough of my job, how are things going with yours?"

"Pretty well actually. My new boss is really happy with my work in the rehab area. And, I still love teaching the swim classes. I've got a whole new group of kids I'm helping out. One of them is a natural and could be the next Michael Phelps."

"So, I'll see him on Subway commercials here in a few years?"

Maya laughed again. "Maybe...I mean, they do need someone new after what happened to Jared..."

Zack cringed. "Yeah, that wasn't pretty...When he fell off the wagon, he really fell of the wagon..."

She cringed too. "Tell me about it..."

He sighed. "Out of everything, I miss this the most. You know, just talking to you like this about anything and everything."

"Me too, Zack. But the good news is your now a week closer to coming back to Boston. We just have to think of it like that..."

"I guess so. While I'm here, is there anything you'd like from Barcelona? I'm supposed to go out with a tour group in the morning so I can write about it for my journal..."

"Nothing that I can think of. I mean, I'd love an authentic churro like we got there our senior years, but it would probably be stale by the time you brought it back to me..."

Zack shook his head and laughed. "Wow, I must be more exhausted than I thought! I completely forgot that I'm actually in the land of churros!" He checked his watch. "I wonder if any places that sell them are still open?"

"Well, if there are, go easy on them. I don't want you falling back into some old bad habits. And Zack? If you do find a place open, don't rub it in about how good it was when you call me tomorrow..."

He grinned. "I won't...Sure there isn't anything else around here you'd like?"

"I'm sure. The only thing I want you to bring home to me is you."

Zack smiled again. "Be patient, Babe...I'll be back before you know it."

London's Penthouse

On Wednesday evening of the following week, Cody and Bailey had another scheduled meeting in London's penthouse to go over further details of their wedding. But this would be a special meeting as it was also when they would finally meet with Arturo and see his ideas for what he saw Bailey, Cody and the rest of the wedding party wearing on their big day. And figuring it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of extra pairs of eyes and opinions there, Cody and Bailey asked Carey and Maya to join them that evening. And to begin with, they discussed the other details they had decided on including the reception menu that they had planned out with Chef Paulo a couple of days earlier. As they did, London was checking things off on her master list, and there were only a very few things left to do. She was about to begin discussing colors schemes and flowers arrangements when everyone heard a knock at the penthouse door. When London opened it, she saw and greeted Arturo with the air kiss thing before he walked inside. And when he saw Bailey sitting on the couch, the biggest smile formed on his face.

"There she is again! The inspiration for my farm line that got me out of my slump several years ago. Well, don't you worry, Bailey, I'm here to pay off a little of the debt I owe you! I have some truly fabulous ideas for a beach wedding dress!"

Bailey smiled back at him. "Thank you, Arturo, and its nice to see you again too..." She gestured over to Cody. "And this is my fiance, Cody. He was in Antarctica when you came aboard the boat..."

Cody was about to say something himself when Arturo cut him off. He just glared at Cody. "So you're the groom, huh? Stand up!"

Cody was taken aback by this demand and looked over at Bailey who just nodded for him to do so. Shrugging, he stood up. And that's when Arturo held out his hands so he could frame Cody in his vision.

"Hmmm...Well, I think I can work with him..."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Gee...thanks."

"Oh settled down, Sweetcheeks...I just meant that the ideas I had in mind will work for your body frame." He turned to London. "You're right - a normal tuxedo would just simply not work. I'm think something in..." He paused to think before his eyes lit up. "A sand colored tan!"

London clapped. "Oooo...I like it!"

"A more casual type suit made out of linen...no...silk...no..." He grinned. "...tropical wool! Now that would be absolutely perfect!"

Cody wasn't quite sure what was going on here, so he turned to Bailey again with a questioning look in his eyes. But she just smiled up at him. "Actually, Sweetie, I actually like the sound of that too. But you'll be the one who actually has to wear it, so what do you think?"

He just shrugged again. "Well, if you like it, Bails, then its fine with me..."

But Arturo wasn't quite done with his vision just yet. "And a long sleeved white button up shirt underneath. Definitely with the collar open though. A tie would be way too formal for a beach wedding..." He paused again before smiling. "I've got it! Since we'll be in Hawaii, instead of ties, the guys will all be wearing flower leis!"

Bailey's eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously. "Oh...I love the sound of that too!" She turned to Cody and smiled. "Cody, I can picture you wearing that in my mind, and I just know you'll look so handsome..."

Arturo continued. "Naturally, a white one for the groom here. The other guys will be wearing shirts of a different color and their leis will be of a mixture of flowers that are white and of that same color. And the bridesmaid dress should match them as well. And I'm make sure the dresses for the mothers have some of that color in them too." He looked over at Bailey again. "Do you have a secondary color in mind?"

Bailey paused to think about that. "Well, if the suits are going to match the beach, maybe we pick a bluish green to match the color of the ocean there?"

Arturo's eyes went wide again. "I love it! That sounds absolutely perfect!" He chuckled. "I always knew you had great taste, Bailey!"

London shook her head and sighed. "That was just luck, Arturo. Its like I told you before, she's really not that good of a dresser. I mean...look at what she's wearing right now!"

Bailey sighed. "London, these are scrubs. Neither Cody nor I have had a chance to change clothes since we got home from work..."

Arturo ignored them though. "And the groom's shirts can have a matching Hawaiian pattern in that same color! You know, to give his ensemble a little color to it. This is going to be so fabulous! Come on people, give me more ideas here!"

And as everyone else began shouting out ideas and suggestions, Cody was just standing there shaking his head wondering if it had actually been necessary for him to be there after all. But the next thing Arturo said reminded him why he was there.

He pulled out his measuring tape. "Okay...Groom...let's get your measurements so I can get to work on this."

So, Cody stood there in front of everyone as they watched a strange man run a measuring tape all over his body. To say he was a little uncomfortable when he was getting his inseam measured would be an understatement. But he knew he just had to grin and bear it as he was doing all of this to give Bailey the wedding of her dreams. And when Arturo was finally done, he just slapped Cody on the butt.

"Okay, you can leave now, Honey. I'm through with you..." He laughed. "Besides, you aren't supposed to know anything about the wedding dress until you see your bride here wearing it as she walks down the aisle..."

Cody just stood there with his eyes and mouth agape in shock at what Arturo had just done, and almost everyone else in the room laughed at his immediate reaction to. Fortunately, Bailey was still thinking about the guys' suits and had a question that diverted the attention away from him.

"What about shoes though, Arturo?"

He shook his head and laughed again. "Oh, silly me! Where was my head? I can't believe I almost forgot about that as I have another idea I think would be perfect! I was thinking for the ceremony, everyone would be...wait for it... barefoot! That way you can feel the sand beneath your toes!"

Bailey couldn't help but laugh herself. "You know, I do like the sound of that!"

Cody looked over at her in surprise. "You do? If everyone is barefoot, wouldn't that increase the risk of someone stepping on a sharp, jagged shell and cutting themselves?"

She paused. "Oh...I hadn't thought of that."

London rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. I'll make sure the staff of the hotel combs the sand and gets rid of anything like that the morning of your wedding..."

Bailey shrugged and turned back to Cody. "Well, if that's possible, I think I'd like for us to go with Arturo's suggestion. Cody Bear, what do you think?"

He smiled at her. "If that's what my Boo Boo wants, that's what she's going to get..."

Arturo grinned again. "Excellent! Of course, everyone will get commemorative flip flops to wear for the reception. Can't have bare feet there!"

London's eyes went wide. "Oooo...I like the sound of that! We'll ask everyone to include their shoe size on their RSVPs!"

Cody just sighed and shook his head again. "Okay, well, if I'm done here, I'm going back downstairs. I think I need another shower..."

Of course, Arturo and London were ignoring him as they were deep in conversation about something else. But Bailey got up and walked him out to the elevator. And when they got there, she leaned in, kissed him goodbye and then whispered in his ear. "I know this wasn't your idea of fun and that you aren't particularly enthused about some of Arturo's ideas. But I want you to know how much it meant to me that you are willing to go along with all of this."

He just looked at her and smiled. "You know I'd do anything for you. And I told you I'd give you the wedding of your dreams, so I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen."

She smiled back at him. "I know, and I love you all the more for it. And if you can hold off on that shower for a little while longer, I'll be down there for us to share it..."

Cody quickly agreed with her suggestion before kissing her again when the elevator doors opened. Once he was gone, Bailey walked back into the penthouse where Arturo was smiling at her. "Good. With the groom gone now, I can show you my piece de resistance. I can show you the sketches I've made for your wedding dress, Bailey. Now, I resisted the urge to make them too outlandish as I know that's not your style. But I think I have a few ideas you're just going to love!"

He sat down next to her on the couch and showed her his sketch book. The first couple of ones Bailey liked but she didn't love. But when she got to the last one, her eyes lit up.

"This one! This is the one I want for my wedding dress!"

Carey, Maya and London all looked at it over her shoulder and nodded their agreement. London couldn't help but laugh. "I have to admit you made an excellent choice, Bailey. I really like it. Maybe your taste isn't that bad after all..."

"I don't think it ever was. I mean, I know have the perfect dress for me to go along with the perfect groom for me..." Bailey was almost beaming. "I just wish these next thirteen months would hurry up and fly by..."

Boston University Fitness & Recreation Center

A couple of weeks later, Maya once again got out of her physics lab and headed straight over to the fit&rec center to get ready for her afternoon aquatic therapy session. After she had changed into her aquatard, she headed over to the area's desk so she could review her her notes from the previous four weeks of Ryan's therapy. Once she had done that, she was able to judge his progress and determine how much if any to ramp up the intensity of the sessions that week. As just as she was finishing up her evaluation, Ryan came out in to the pool area in his swim trunks and grinned at her.

"You ready to get the show on the road?"

She looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah, I think I'm ready. Why don't you go ahead and hop in the pool?"

Like usual, the opening task was walking on the underwater treadmill to allow his leg muscles to get warmed up and stretched out. As he was doing that, Ryan looked up at her.

"So, how do you think you did on our second test this past Friday?"

"Pretty well I think. I actually think I knew how to do everything that we were asked to do. But, I guess I won't know for sure until we get them back this Friday."

He laughed. "Well, I really need to have done better this time. I got a C- on the first one. That thing was brutal!"

Maya couldn't help but to smile. "The first one wasn't that bad. I mean, it couldn't have been if I got an A on it."

Ryan just looked up at her again. "You got an A on it? Maybe you should be tutoring me as well as rehabbing me..."

She shook her head and laughed herself. "I don't think so. Trust me, I'm not qualified to tutor anyone in physics. I just got lucky that my two roommates for this summer are pre-med students, and they've already taken the Calculus based physics classes and aced them. If I'm doing well in that class its because they've been explaining things to me in ways I can actually understand them."

"Maybe they'd tutor me then too? You know...as a little show of school spirit."

Maya shook her head again. "I doubt it as they actually go to school at Yale. They have no allegiance to BU whatsoever, so I don't think trying to play up on their school spirit would work. Besides, I'm grateful that they are spending what little free time they do have helping me. As it is, they've already got enough on their plates with working, going on medical school interviews all over the country and planning their wedding next summer. So, I'm not about to take their kindness for granted and ask them to tutor a total stranger too."

"Awww...where is your school spirit at then?"

She just gave him a look. "I'm helping you rehab and get your knee back in shape, aren't I? Aren't I showing enough school spirit by helping a member of my school's hockey team be ready for when the season starts?"

He just paused. "Well, yeah...I guess technically you are..."

Maya laughed again. "Alright. Enough chit chat. I think you're loosened up now, so lets get you doing some new exercises."

A couple of hours later, Maya was writing down her notes about the current session in Ryan's file, and comparing them to his previous results. And as she was doing that, he came out of the locker room hobbling on his crutches again.

"Well, how am I doing?"

She looked up. "Well, I can't authorize it myself, but I'd say in a couple of weeks, the physical therapist might be ready to rid you of your crutches. In my opinion, I think you're close to getting to the point where you won't need them anymore."

He smiled. "So, you're saying I might get rid of them just in time for our final and the 4th of July weekend?"

"Theoretically assuming you continue improving at the same rate you have been." She smiled. "So, if you're lucky enough to get rid of your crutches, don't do something stupid over the holiday weekend to cause a setback and put you right back on them again..."

"Don't worry, I won't. If I did, my coaches and teammates would kick my butt. But me getting rid of the crutches would be yet another reason to celebrate that weekend. You know, that and finally being done with physics on top of the 4th of July..." He paused and smiled. "You know...after our final, we should go out afterwards and celebrate..."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. First of all, after our final that day, we'll still have another rehab session here." She was about to say why else it wouldn't happen when he interrupted her.

"Of course, I should have remembered that. Okay, we'll go out and celebrate after our session that day. How does that sound?"

Maya sighed. "Again, I don't think so. You see..."

He smiled as he cut her off again. "Awww, Come on! It'll be fun! I mean, if you're there with me, you can make sure yourself that I don't do anything stupid."

She just shook her head and sighed again. "Once again, I don't think so. I can't..."

Ryan cut her off once again. "Let me guess. You can't because there are rules about going out with your patients, right? Well, I can understand that. I wouldn't want you to lose your job. So, how about we hold off in doing this until I'm no longer your patient? They can't get mad at you then because there aren't any rules about socializing with non patients." He smiled at her. "Tell you what, they day after I'm officially done with rehab, we'll go out and celebrate and maybe even call it a date..."

She shook her head once more. "I really wish you would have let me finish. Yes, there are rules about fraternization with clients, but even if there weren't, I wouldn't do it. You see, I have a boyfriend who I love very much. I wouldn't like it if he went out a date with someone else, so I seriously doubt my boyfriend would like it if I did the same thing..."

His smile faded away, and he had another look on his face Maya couldn't quite decipher. "You never told me you had a boyfriend..."

"Because the fact that I do isn't relevant to my work in helping you rehab your knee. Look Ryan, my goal is to be a professional physical therapist some day. And to keep a professional appearance, I've refrained from mentioning my personal life completely. My goal is to keep my professional and private lives completely separate. I hope you can understand and respect that."

He sighed. "And here I thought we were becoming friends..."

Maya just sighed again "Look, if you want to consider us friends in a way similar to work colleagues, that's fine. But, that is all there ever could or will be. Understood?"

Ryan just looked at her for a few minutes before he smiled. "Of course. I can definitely respect and understand your wishes..." He paused and laughed. "...but, if you and your boyfriend should ever..."

There was fire in Maya's eyes as she interrupted him that time. "You can stop right there! My personal life is none of your business, so I won't tolerate you wishing bad things to happen to it! If you continue on with behavior like that, I'll see to it that you are assigned to another physical therapist ASAP!"

He held up his hands to try to diffuse the situation. "Sorry! Sorry! I was just trying to have a little fun...I didn't mean to offend to you."

Maya continued glaring at him again. "Well, I didn't find it very funny at all! So, don't let it happen again!"

Ryan realized Maya was really angry. So, to keep from making matters worse, he just nodded and quickly hobbled out of the aquatic therapy area. To calm herself down, Maya took a few deep breaths. Once she had managed to get a hold of her emotions again, she went back to recording her notes from the session. But she couldn't focus on them as she kept thinking about the exchange she had just had with Ryan. One one level, Maya thought she might have overreacted just a tad bit, but on the other, she wanted to be firm so that Ryan knew that their relationship was purely professional and nothing more. After everything she had gone through to get Zack back in her life, she wasn't about to do anything to screw up her relationship with him. Of course, the more that she thought about it, Maya did have to laugh. She was pretty sure she had just confirmed at least one of the rumors circulating around campus about Ryan - he definitely would try to flirt with anything in a skirt or aquatard as the case would be. But when she realized those stories were now more than likely true, Maya couldn't help but wonder at the veracity of some of the others. While she felt they were more than likely made up by a scorned ex or something along those lines, she looked up at the hidden closed circuit cameras in the aquatic therapy area and was glad they were there just in case.

Maya turned back to finish up her paperwork, and just as she had closed the file, one of the physical therapy staff members walked in holding what looked like a small thermal cooler.

"This was just delivered for you, Maya."

Maya looked at it in surprise as she had no idea who would be sending her something like that. So, she took the thermal cooler and opened it up wondering what could be inside. But when she saw what it was, she couldn't help but smile and laugh. At seeing the confused look on the staff members's face, Maya lifted up what was inside to show her what was inside.

"Why would someone send you a churro?"

Raleigh, North Carolina

The following weekend was Father's Day, and fortunately, Kurt didn't mind that he wouldn't get to spend the day with his boys. He understood that Zack was somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea and that Cody and Bailey were off visiting yet another medical school. And that weekend was to be their second combined trip of visiting Kettlecorn while also knocking out an interview at a medical school not within driving distance. And this particular excursion was to visit the Duke University medical school in Durham, North Carolina. On that Saturday morning, like they had on almost every single interview they'd been on so far, they were given a tour of the facilities and campus before sitting down to have their interviews. Once their interviews were over, they headed over to the campus student center. This time, they had planned ahead and reserved a small room where they could change out of their interview suits in to more comfortable clothes for their flight. And once they were changed, they headed back to their rental car and began the drive back to the airport in Raleigh to catch their flight to Tulsa.

Once they checked their bags, got their boarding passes and made it through security, they were glad to be able to sit back at their gate and relax for a few minutes. And as they were sitting there awaiting their flight to be called, they had a chance to review their trip thus far.

"So, what did you think of Duke?"

Cody shrugged. "It was alright. I mean, it was nice enough I guess, and I know its a very good school. But something was off about it..."

Bailey nodded. "I know what you mean. I don't know how to explain it, but were was definitely something about it that felt very weird to me..."

He laughed. "Are you referring about the fact that everyone we met had a New Jersey accent?"

Her eyes went wide. "Yes! That's exactly what it was!"

Cody smiled. "Well, I'd heard the rumors that no one from the state of North Carolina actually went to school there, and that most of their students were from the New York/New Jersey are. I used to think it was all just a rumor propagated by the University of North Carolina, but I'm starting to think that it might be true..."

"Well, based on what we just experienced, I would tend to think its absolutely true..."

"It was almost as if we were back at Gertie's family's beach house again, didn't it?"

"That's exactly what it felt like." Bailey shook her head. "But other than that, it was pretty nice. However, I can't say it was any nicer than the other ones we've seen so far." She paused. "Though, this was the first time they made sure to show us the basketball arena..."

"Yeah, shouldn't it have been obvious that a gym or how good a school's basketball team plays isn't going to be a deciding factor in our decision? I mean...that should be a given."

"Tell me about it..." Bailey paused and looked over at Cody. "So, what do you think? We've now been to and interviewed at Harvard, Yale, Tufts, UMass, BU, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Penn and now Duke. Sweetie, I don't know about you, but I can't help comparing every school we been to so far with Harvard. I guess I keep looking for one that is on par with it in my mind, but so far, I haven't found one..."

Cody nodded. "Same here, Bails. Which if you think about it, its kind of silly really. Are we really looking to find another school like one we've not only been accepted to but is also willing to pay us to go there?"

"But what about..."

He cut her off. "Lets just forget about that for now. Its like what your Dad said. We can't let what happened affect our thinking here. If Harvard is the right school for us, then we're wasting our time with these side trips."

"Alright, well, why don't we make a list of pros and cons about it. Pro - its the best medical school in the country."

"Con - their methods have already been proven to be kind of shady in some regards..."

"Pro - we won't have huge student loans to pay back when we graduate from there."

Cody paused to consider that. "I hadn't thought about that, but that's a great point. And I'm not sure if this next one would be a pro or con - we'd be back in Boston."

Bailey looked at him and frowned. "How would that be a con?"

"Well, I didn't know if you would rather start our new adventure somewhere new. Boston, we know pretty well, but we'll have a lot of family and friends around. While that would be good thing, they could also be a distraction..."

She just gave him a look. "Cody, no one is a distraction unless we let them be a distraction..."

"I guess you're right."

"Here's another pro. We'll be competing against the best of the best. We'll get to see how we measure up against them."

"True, and I would have to think that going to Harvard Medical School, it would look a lot better when it came time to apply for our residencies."

Bailey smiled. "Great point! It'll be just like how having Yale on our resume has gotten us into some doors for interviews already."

"Plus, it would give me the chance to prove a second Ivy League school wrong. I hope I've proven to Yale by now that they should have accepted me from the very beginning. Now, I could prove to Harvard that they shouldn't have treated me so poorly in the interview..."

"Exactly! You'll show them how lucky they should feel that you decided to go there. We both will."

Cody paused and just looked at her. "So, are we saying what I think we're saying?"

"I think so. I think we've made our decision."

He nodded. "I guess we have then. Well, on Monday, we need to start calling and canceling our other interviews. We'll have to do it as nicely as possible though. Don't want to burn any bridges that we don't have to."

"I completely agree. And then we'll have to tell our families and friends."

Cody couldn't help but to laugh. "I can just imagine what my Mom's reaction will be when we do..."

Bailey laughed too. "I bet I can too..." She paused. "Of course, that brings up another question. Do we want to move back into the Tipton full time or find our own place?"

"Our own place. I think its better that we be able to walk to class. I know Zack does it, but I don't want to chance traffic or a late train."

She nodded. "You're probably right about that. And I do like it how we've been able to walk to all of our classes at Yale. Alright, Sweetie...add looking for a place near campus to our list of things to do."

"Yeah, we should probably call the school and get them to recommend some places within walking distance when we call to accept."

Bailey was thrilled with their decision, but she had to make sure one last time Cody was too. "Sweetie, are you sure this is what you want to do? I don't mind to keep looking..."

Cody smiled. "I'm sure..." He paused and laughed. "Of course, you know when we get back to school, we can't tell anyone else but Gertie and Tapeworm about this. With the level of hatred between the two schools, we don't want to deal with any potential backlash from anyone..."

She laughed too. "Another good point. Well, we'll just have to keep it to ourselves that we are now officially Harvard bound for medical school..."

To be Continued...

AN: 1) I hope no one takes any offense to the scene where Cody finally meets Arturo. All I was doing was paying an homage to a Friends episode I saw right before I wrote this chapter when Chandler went to a tailor to get pants made. I did refrain from going with 'cuppage' though. So, again, I hope no one will think I was trying to make fun of the ambiguity of Arturo's character. 2) I know some people wanted me to have Cody and Bailey go somewhere outside of New England for medical school. And to be honest, I seriously considered doing just that. But at the same time, those two are ones who want to go to the best and compete against the best. Plus, I remember in early episodes of SLOZAC, it was Cody's dream to go to Harvard. And, I thought I could have fun with the whole idea of him being banned from there thanks to Zack only to have it come around where he would get to go there after a few bumps in the road.