Episode 7

"Coming to a Boil"

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...

Logan International Airport

Maya was caught so completely off guard by what Zack had just asked her that she could only just sit there in her chair as if she was frozen. At that moment, she could have been knocked over with a feather, but she could see Zack was still smiling at her and looking at her expectantly. But at that moment, she wouldn't have been able to tell him anything. Zack asking her to stay at the Tipton with him and not move back to her dorm when the fall semester began had been the last thing she could have imagined him saying right then. It was such a shock to her system that she was rendered completely speechless. Not that it mattered though because her mind was spinning in a thousand different directions. So, even if she could have spoken, she had no idea what would have come out of her mouth right then.

For his part, Zack couldn't help but to find humorous the sight of Maya sitting there with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open in shock. But he realized the seriousness of the moment and resisted the urge to laugh. He knew he had just dropped a bomb on her and wanted to give her enough time to recover from it. Unfortunately, time was not something he had an abundance of right then as he really needed to get moving towards his gate before long. So, Zack was forced to break the silence and try to get their conversation moving again.

"So, what do you think, Maya? How does moving in with me full time sound to you?"

She just kept looking at him for a few more minutes before she was finally able to form coherent thoughts and then regain her ability to speak. "Zack? Are you serious?"

He just shrugged at her. "Sure, why not? I mean...you've said you've enjoyed living at the Tipton this summer, and I assume you've been able to prove to yourself that you can catch the subway and still make it to your early morning classes, right?"

"Well, yeah...but..." She began rubbing her eyes trying to figure out what she wanted to say.

Zack paused as his confidence began to wane. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to?"

Maya shook her head very rapidly. "No, I never said that! Its just that I never expected you to ask me this!" She paused herself. "Well, I had hoped eventually you would, but I just didn't see it coming at this particular moment! But, Zack...I have to ask. What brought this on?"

He smiled. "Well, I was talking to Kirby a couple of weeks ago, and he was teasing me that it looked like Cody wasn't the only Martin twin that was in a lasting, committed relationship. He even mentioned that he wouldn't be surprised if he was invited to another wedding in the near future..." Zack held up his hand to stop her from responding to that. "Now, I told him we weren't anywhere near ready for that stage in our relationship yet, but then he asked me a simple question. When I think about my future, are you right there with me? Are you a major part of it? And Maya, I didn't even have to think about it as I already knew the answers to those questions. The answer to both was a resounding 'Yes'. I want and fully expect us to have a long future together..."

She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. "So do I, Zack, but...I mean...all things considered, we haven't been back together all that long - barely a little over a year now..."

"Fourteen months to be exact. But that is a long time, Babe. A lot of other couples live together much earlier in their relationships than that."

Maya sighed. "But how many other couples have had to overcome my level of stupidity that we've had to deal with. Zack, I want us to have a long future with each other too, but I don't want us to do something to rush it too far too fast. Us living together is something I want - when the time is right."

Zack was confused. "But I don't understand. Pretty much all last semester, we spent nearly every weekend together..."

Maya smiled at him. "Yeah, we did. But spending weekends together isn't the same as living with each other all the time. Then, It would be 24/7. There's a huge difference in that and weekends. And with me having my dorm room, there was someplace for us to go to our separate places to cool off if we had a fight. If I give it up, we don't..."

"But we've never had a fight where we've had to separate and cool off..."

"I know. And for that I'm grateful. But I'm not naive to think that it will never happen. Zack, like I said, I do fully plan on us living together full time at some point, but I want to make sure we do it when the time is right. We should really think about this a lot more before we rush into it..."

He shook his head. "But I have, Maya! Believe me, I've spent the past couple of weeks thinking about this nonstop in my free time and even some of the time when I should have been working. I pretty much thought of it my entire flight back to Boston too, and after being back here with you this week, I'm even more convinced than ever that its what I want. Look, I know the idea is kind of scary, but I'm ready to face it head on." He smiled at her again. "I just need to know if you are too..."

She rubbed her eyes before letting out a laugh. "Zack, while you might have had a couple of weeks to think about it, I've only had a couple of minutes! I'm going to need a lot longer than that to give this idea every thought and consideration that it deserves..." She smiled at him again. "I'm not saying 'No' right now, but would you mind if I took some time to really consider this?"

"Of course not." He sighed and felt like kicking himself. "I guess I should have foreseen that you would want some time, huh?"

"Hey, don't take this as a bad thing. I just want a chance to think about it for a little while like you have." Maya grinned at him. "Besides, I think this truly shows just how much we've really grown up. Four years ago, the Zack I knew then would have run the other direction when Kirby mentioned something like that to you. In fact, I'm willing to bet there would have been in hole in a wall shaped like you somewhere. And there is no way he would have been so gung ho about doing it."

He had to nod. "I guess that's true..."

"Well, three years ago, the Maya then made a hasty decision without thinking about the consequences of her actions, and she ended up doing something she really regretting. Now, I like to think the older version of her is wise enough now to do just that. She wants to to think about the consequences of this and make sure we don't do something that we will end up regretting. Zack, our relationship is way too important to me to risk doing something stupid with it again. Can you understand that?"

Zack nodded again. "When you put it like that, I guess I can..."

"Good." She smiled again. "But I hope you know that no matter what I decide to do here, it doesn't change how I feel about you in the least. Zack, I loved you then, I love you now and I'm going to love you for a long, long time."

"I know. I feel the same way about you, Maya. That's how I know I'm ready to do this."

"Tell you what. When you return to Boston in six weeks, I promise I will have an answer for you. Right now, that is the best I can do."

He smiled. "Well, I guess I can handle that. But if I may, can I request one thing?"

"Anything. Just name it."

"When I do propose to you one day...and I fully plan on doing that, can you promise me that you'll give me an answer then in a time frame shorter than six weeks?"

Maya laughed. "I think I can safely promise you that..."

Zack was about to say something when the alarm on his cell phone began beeping. He had programmed it to let him know the last possible time he could get in line to head through security and still be able to catch his flight. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned it off and sighed. "That's my cue, Babe. I need to get moving through security and on to my gate or I'll miss my flight."

She nodded and sighed. "I know this moment would come, but it honestly wouldn't hurt my feelings if you did miss your flight. But, I know you need to be getting back, so come on, I'll walk with you as far as I can go."

And while Zack waited through the long line, Maya stood next to him the entire time. When there was only a handful of people in front of him, Maya sighed again. "I guess this is my cue then. Zack, I'm going to miss you so much."

"Not as much as I'll miss you. Now, you take care of yourself for me."

"I will if you do the same."

"I promise. And don't let that Ryan guy give you a hard time anymore. Remember what I told you."

She leaned in and gave him as passionate of a kiss as she could. "I will. I love you."

"Love you too. Just keep remembering that, and the next time you'll see me, I'll be home for good."

"I know." She swallowed down her emotions. "Now, go on. Get out of here. I'm willing to let the ship have you for six more weeks but not one minute longer. So, the sooner you go, the sooner I'll get you back..."

Zack and Cody's Suite

Maya could only stand there as she watched Zack go through security. Once he was done with that, he turned around and they both waved goodbye to each other and just looked at each other for a few moments. But way too soon, he to make his way to his gate. Maya stood there and just watched him disappear into the masses of people heading for their own flights. But not being ready to leave just yet, Maya went to the airport's observation deck and sat there until she saw his plane take off. And once she saw that it had safely, she finally left the airport and headed back to the hotel. When she opened the door to the suite again, she saw Bailey sitting on the couch watching TV by herself. And when Bailey looked up, she could see fresh tears still on Maya's cheeks.

"You okay?"

Maya could only shrug. "About as well as can be expected I guess. I miss him already..."

Bailey nodded in sympathy. "I can certainly understand that. When you love your feller, you hate to be away from them for any amount of time."

She wiped the tears from her face. "Yeah. Speaking of yours, where's Cody?"

"Oh, he went downstairs to hit the gym to get his workout in. We were watching a movie and were about to watch the one coming on after it. But when it came on, we saw it was Groundhog Day. While I love the movie myself, Cody doesn't care for it at all..."

Maya couldn't help but frown. "Why not? Its a great movie..."

Bailey paused as she remembered Cody telling her that the movie reminded him way too much of his International Dateline ordeal, and it hit way too close to home for him. However, she didn't think Maya was in any mood to try to explain that to her right then and there. "He...ummm...has his reasons."

"Okay..." Maya just shrugged before sitting down on the couch next to Bailey. "Maybe that's a good thing after all. Bailey, can I talk to you about something? You know, woman to woman?"

She nodded. "Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I know you and Cody will officially be roommates this year at Yale, and I know you two have lived together here the past few summers. I was wondering - has that changed your relationship with each other at all?"

Bailey just looked at her. "You mean as in us actually living together?" After Maya nodded, Bailey answered her. "I don't think so. Well, not really. Naturally, it does change things some, but not in anyways that really matter. Why do you ask?"

"Because before Zack left to catch his plane, he asked me to continue living here next semester and not return back to my dorm. He wants us to live together now full time..."

Bailey just looked at her in surprise. "Really? Zack asked you that?"

"Yeah, he did..."

"Wow...he's grown up even more than I thought he had..." She shook her head. "Sorry, that's not really relevant to this conversation. Anyways, what did you tell him?"

Maya shrugged. "I told him I needed some time to think about it. After doing some rash the last time, I've learned my lesson to think through decisions now. I want to make sure if I do this that it won't come back to haunt us later on."

"Well, I think that is a very reasonable and mature thing to do. Now, let me back up a minute to your earlier question on whether or not Cody and I living together has changed our relationship. From my personal experience, I absolutely love living with Cody. I love that he's the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first sight I have when I wake up. But I also thing we're lucky in that we have such a high level of comfort with each other. I mean, you saw that a couple of weeks ago yourself..." She paused. "...even if London didn't care for our outfits. Anyways, you saw that he was watching TV while I was reading a book. We're beyond that stage of wondering if we have to keep an ongoing conversation or worrying about keeping the other entertained. As long as the other is nearby, that's good enough for us. Just being in the other's presence is a comfort to us, but it does help that we have so much in common. We do enjoy the same books, television shows, activities and things like that. But I think that can all be traced back to the fact that we were friends before we were a couple..."

"Yeah, I've noticed that..."

Bailey smiled. "Well, we've known each other so long now that we practically know everything about the other. Sure, there are little things we keep learning, but besides that, we know each other almost as well as we know ourselves. And not to toot our horns or anything, I really think Cody and I now have the ability to really communicate with each other without having to say a word. We can see the expressions on each other's faces and know what the other is thinking. We know how the other will react to a situation. And we know what the other likes and dislikes. I know we don't have some strange fruit, but sometimes, its as if we can actually read the other's mind now.."

"I've noticed that too. Sometimes, I think I've seen you two carry on an entire conversation without a single word being spoken out loud..."

"Well, that comes with time..." Bailey smiled again. "Besides, I am marrying him in a year. So, I think its a good thing that we lived together first to know that we could successfully co-habituate with each other."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean we already know each other's quirks, habits, routines, etc. You have to understand that living together will only magnify them. Being with Cody 24/7 could have made his more irritating to me or mine more irritating to him. But that hasn't happened. We've had time to let ourselves adjust and get used to them." She laughed. "Trust me..after enough time, what you think would initially drive you up the wall actually becomes quite endearing to you. For example, Cody has this meticulous way that he eats. At first, I found it very unusual, but it really didn't bother me. Over time, I began not to notice it as much. But now, I do again, but I see it as part of what makes Cody who he is, and I embrace it."

Maya nodded. "I can understand than. Heaven knows Zack has several quirks like that himself, but they don't really bother me either." She paused. "And I think Zack and I could live together just fine, but what happens if we have a fight? We would both be under the same roof with no place for us to go cool off..."

Bailey laughed. "Oh, fights are going to happen. Especially with two strong willed people. No two people are ever going to agree on everything. What you have to do is learn to pick your battles and know when to compromise..."

"I guess so..." She paused and shook her head. "But if I did agree to do this, I can see another issue we would have that would just be waiting to come up..."

"What's that?"

Maya paused trying to figure out how to bring up the subject she wanted discuss. "Look, Bailey...I don't want to upset or embarrass you, but Zack's told me that you and Cody have..." She paused again to figure out how to word it. "...taken a step in your relationship that we haven't yet..."

Bailey looked at her kind of funny. "Taken a step..." She stopped as it suddenly dawned on her what Maya was talking about. Her eyes went wide, and she began freaking out. "He told you that? Zack promised us that he wouldn't mention it to anyone!"

Maya tried to calm her down. "I know, he told me that too. But don't blame him too much as I kind of forced him to tell me. You see, this past Valentine's Day, it started snowing on us pretty heavily, and I guess without thinking, he mentioned that big snow storms like that can actually be romantic. When I asked him what he meant by that, he tried to clam up. But I wouldn't let him and made me tell him. I used the same method you always use on Cody - you know, kiss them and leave them helpless to say no..."

"Still!" Bailey began rubbing her eyes as another thought entered her mind. She looked up at Maya. "That's why you were looking at us funny when we met in New Haven on spring break!"

"Yeah, but to be fair, it was the first time I had seen you two since I found out..."

"Great..." Bailey sighed. "Look, I promise you that Cody and I have never...you know...while you've been here in the suite with us. We wouldn't do that!"

Maya laughed. "I wouldn't care if you did. I mean, its obvious how much you two love each other, and its like you said, you two will be getting married in a year. Don't worry about it..." She paused before laughing again. "Though, now that I think about it, when you two told Carey you had a surprise for her, she was actually closer in her first guess than she knows..."

Bailey just glared at her. "That's not really funny..."

"Sorry..." She stopped laughing and collected herself. "My point is that you two have made the next step in your relationship with each other that Zack and I haven't yet. And its not like I haven't thought about because, trust me, I have. But every time I do, there are just so many questions. Like...will it ruin our relationship? Will it make things awkward between us? And even if it doesn't, when would be the right time to take that step? And how will I know if I'm ready when the time is right?"

Bailey tried to calm herself down as well. And once she did, she nodded. "Trust me, I know those questions all too well as I had them too. So did Cody. And I'm willing to bet Zack probably has them too. Unfortunately or rather fortunately in our case, Cody and I found ourselves in a situation where those questions didn't matter any more..."

"Because you were trapped in that cabin and thought you might die?"

"Exactly. We were faced with the prospect of not surviving that night. And considering that we didn't know if we would even be alive the next day, none of our worries or concerns mattered any more at that moment. If I was going to die, I wanted to spend the last remaining time I had showing the man I love just how much I truly do love him..."

Maya shook her head. "I can't imagine being in a situation like that or how I would react..."

Bailey had to laugh. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't recommend putting yourself in a life or death situation like that just to find out. Cody and I got lucky that we were able to walk away from that whole ordeal with our lives."

"Understandable." She paused. "Again, I don't mean to get too personal here, but that next day when you realized you were going to make it, did you have any regrets about what you had done?"

Bailey could help but to smile. "Only that we had waited so long. Maya, there's no feeling in the world like knowing how much you desire your feller and seeing in his eyes that he desires you just as much. Ever since then, I feel shivers down my spine when I see him give me that same look..." She giggled. "And trust me, he gives me that look a lot!"

Maya's eyes went wide. "Bailey! Too much information!"

"Sorry. I can't help it though. I don't think I'm all that special looks wise, but I can see in his eyes that he thinks I'm the most beautiful, sexiest woman in the world. And I feel the same way about him...well, exchange handsome for beautiful. But my point is that its only added to our relationship. Even though we might not know exactly what we're doing all the time, it doesn't matter to us at all. As long as we are enjoying ourselves, that's all that matters to us..." She paused. "Of course, we did buy this book that..."

Maya held up her hands to interrupt Bailey again. "Okay, you can stop right there! I don't need to know any more details!"

Bailey blushed a little. "Sorry again. I guess I got kind of lost in the moment there. But, to be fair, its just those moments I have with Cody are my some of my happiest moments. When you get to show each other just how much you love each other, it really is a beautiful thing. To us, its the ultimate way for us to express to each other just how much the other means to us, and we love the fact that its something that we will only ever share with each other. Knowing that its just something between us just brings us all that much closer together..."

"That makes sense. I have a feeling it would be the same for us too..."

Bailey just gave her a look. "It would?"

Maya grinned. "Yeah, it would..." She paused. "Alright, Zack shared one of your secrets with me, so I'll share one of ours with you. Despite both of our dating histories, neither one of us taken that step before..."

That surprised Bailey. "Really?"

"Really. But Zack would not be happy if I let that fact get out. So, please, if you would, told tell Cody..."

"Why not?"

Maya laughed. "Zack's afraid he would catch nothing but pure hell from Cody. When those two were growing up, Zack always viewed himself as the more of the ladies man of the two, and he always liked to tease Cody about it. But it turns out that its not true. Cody got his first kiss before Zack did, and now this..."

Bailey laughed too. "I guess I can understand that, but I don't think Cody would do anything like that. We've tried very hard to keep the fact that we've even done that. With you know, the number of people who do know is now five..."

Maya paused. "Five? You two, Zack, and now me. Who is the fifth?"

Bailey sighed. "My Grammy. We never told her, but she seemed to figure it out on her own..."

"Wow..." She shook her head. "Anyways, lets get back on topic here. Since it would be a first for us too, that's why I'm still wondering how I'll know when the time is right..."

Bailey paused. "Well, you have to remember that when it happened to us, Cody and I had already been through a lot together. This happened the spring break of our sophomore years of college. By then, we had been back together a little over two years after our mutual periods of stupidity."

Maya sighed. "And Zack and I are still only a little over a year away from mine..."

"There's no defined time period no matter what some idiotic books like the Guyble or Girble may say. Its different for everyone and every couple. Everyone and every couple makes mistakes and some point. In the grand scheme of things, mistakes like what we all made aren't all that bad. Some mistakes are so massive that there are no coming back from. In our cases though, its more about what you learned from your mistakes. Cody and I learned to never take our relationship for granted. We learned that every relationship needs constant upkeep no matter how long its lasted. And we promised each other we would do a better job of always talking to the other and trying not to view everything as a competition with each other. We try to remember that we are on a team now, and the better one of us does, the better our team does. And we vowed if something was bothering either of us, we would sit down and discuss it with the other to find a solution to it..."

"Sounds like good lessons to learn."

"I think so too. And so far, its worked wonderfully for us. We've even made a pact with each other that we'll never go to bed angry at each other..." She paused and grinned again. "Besides, we've also learned that the real fun of arguing is making up with each other afterwards. Sometimes, I think we pick small fights with each other just so we can..." Bailey had a far away look in her eyes. "This one time, we picked a fight over who was better between Monet and Manet, and it lead to..."

Maya just shook her head again. "Bailey! Focus!"

Bailey blushed again. "Sorry again. Okay, lets get back on topic here. Maya, the only person who can tell you if you are ready or not for that next step...is you. I can't. Cody can't. And most importantly, Zack can't. Likewise, you can't tell him that he's ready for it either..."

Maya just nodded at that. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Bailey. You've definitely given me a lot to think about."

"Anytime."

And it was probably a good idea that their conversation came to a stopping point as less than thirty seconds later, Cody returned from the gym. And Maya could help but notice the look on Bailey's face as she drank in the sight of Cody's t-shirt stuck to his torso with sweat. Not only did Maya did think to herself that she might indeed have to borrow Zack's ear plugs that night, but she decided to make herself scarce from the suite for a little while. So, she told them she had some errands to run and would be back in a couple of hours. But the way they were looking at each other, she wasn't sure they had noticed.

And Maya saying she had errands to run wasn't a lie either. She really did need to make a trip to the BU bookstore and buy her new textbook and materials for her CAS PY 106 class that began the next morning. Fortunately though, it would follow the same schedule that her CAS PY 105 class had the first summer term, so she wouldn't have to get used to a new schedule. So, once she had been to the bookstore, she got back on the subway to head back to the Tipton. And as she sat there, she began to seriously think about what Zack had asked her as well as her little chat with Bailey. By the time she got back, Maya hadn't make any decisions yet, but the one thing she did know for sure was that it was going to be a long and interesting six weeks.

The S.S. Tipton II

Unfortunately for Zack, he had been 100% correct about how bad his return to the ship was going to suck. The day he flew back to Lisbon and rejoined the boat turned into one of the longest days of his life. By the time he arrived at the airport in Lisbon, he was already exhausted as he hadn't gotten as much sleep on the plane as he had hoped. While he waited for his bag to come down the baggage carousel, he did call Maya to let her know he had arrived safely. But he could tell she was half asleep and needed her rest for her class later that morning, so he didn't keep her on the phone too long. Once he finally got his bag, he was successful in getting a cab to the docks, and the cab driver did seem to understand his directions as he did make it back to the ship. But when he finally walked up the gang plank, he could only sigh knowing that a full day of work was staring him in the face. Fortunately, Zack managed to make his way through his entire shift with the help of large hourly doses of caffeine. And once he finished his shift, he decided to skip dinner and head straight to his cabin to crash. On the way there, he did call Maya again, but this time their roles were reversed as he was the one now half asleep, and she didn't keep him on the phone that long either. Once he got inside his room, he barely had time to bid Maya goodnight before he fell onto his bed and passed out.

After being back on deck for a week, Zack soon got back into the swing of things. It had taken his internal body clock that long to use to being back in Europe again. He was just grateful that the ship crossing the ocean again wouldn't throw it off like his plane trip had. Fortunately, the ship was headed up to the British Isles for a few days so he wouldn't have to worry about that again for a few days. And another added perk for him was that he wouldn't have to worry about the locals there speaking a language he wouldn't understand. While they were docked in Dover, Zack took advantage of it to continue with his assignments for BU. By the end of that first week back, he was completely caught up with his journal and had close to two dozen entries in his cuisine review notebook. By then, he thought he had finally re-acclimated to life back on the ship. In fact, by then, the only thing thing that was a downer to his mood, other than missing Maya of course, was how freaked out Kirby was getting.

"You can't be serious about this, Kirby..."

Kirby shook his head in a very somber manner. "I'm dead serious, Zack! The last place were stopping before crossing the Atlantic again is - ummm...Colby something or another..."

Zack sighed. "Cobh, Ireland..."

"Yeah, that's it! Anyways, that was the last port that the Titanic stopped at before it began crossing the Atlantic itself. And we both know what happened to it!"

Zack just shook his head. "Yeah, but we're not the Titanic! Kirby, there are a lot of reasons why nothing like that could happen to us..."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, for one, this is 2014, not 1912. In over a hundred years, communication and ship building has gotten much, much better. This boat is more structurally sound and actually has enough lifeboats for everyone. Second, even if something did happen to the boat, help would be on the way to us instantly. And back in 1912, the airplane was only about ten years old. Nowadays, we have planes and helicopters that could be right here in less than 30 minutes. For another thing, we're not heading to New York. We're heading to Rio. We won't be in the North Atlantic for very long at all. Last but not least, this is mid July, not early April. I seriously doubt we'll encounter any icebergs..."

Kirby just looked at him in surprise. "How do you know all of that?"

Zack sighed again. "You have no idea how many times Maya has made me watch that stupid movie. I think people older than me must hate Leonardo DiCaprio as must as we hate Justin Bieber. And earlier this summer before I came on the boat, Cody and Bailey were watching this show on the History Channel about the Titanic, and Maya wanted to watch it with them. So, I had to watch it too..."

Kirby laughed. "Well, I'm glad she did. Speaking of Maya, did you do what you said you were going to do while you were back in Boston?"

"Yeah, I asked her to move in with me." He paused. "Of course, she asked me for time to think about it..."

"Well, that makes sense. You don't want to pressure her or anything..."

"I know. I just keep hoping she says yes though."

"So do I, Little Buddy. And when you see her again, tell her I said thanks for making you watch all that stuff..." Kirby paused. "But to be on the safe side, I'm going to start carrying my inflatable duck with me everywhere I go. At least Moseby isn't here to kill this one. I can't swim!"

"Well, something tells me you would have no trouble floating, Big Man..."

"Yeah, well, that does me no good. That would leave me a sitting duck for the sharks. I don't want them to do to me like Moseby did to my other duck! And I doubt my Kirbina could get there in time to save me..."

Zack shook his head again. "Kirby, ordinarily Maya is the one who teaches people how to swim, but you're stuck with me. Besides, it will give me a project to do in my free time for the next several weeks..." He paused and smiled. "And in some way, this will make me feel even closer to Maya."

"You're going to teach me how to swim?"

"Yeah, I am. I figure if you can teach Cody not to be so pathetic at football then anything is possible..."

Boston University Fitness & Recreation Center

While Zack now had Kirby as a student, Maya was still teaching her own swim lessons three days a week. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she was still helping Ryan rehab his knee. After his altercation with her and Zack on the Tuesday before the 4th of July, Ryan pretty much kept to himself during the sessions. And that was just fine with Maya. She liked it better when the only things they said to each other actually dealt with his rehab. She had enough on her mind without having to deal with his old obnoxious behavior.

As the next few weeks flew by, Maya was even more grateful for Cody and Bailey continuing to help her study. Physics 105 was bad enough, but now that she was dealing with new concepts like electromagnetics and nuclear forces in Physics 106, she felt completely lost everyday as she left class. Fortunately, her roommates were able to explain to her in layman's terms what was actually going on. And once they did, she just shook her head and said she wished they were her professors instead. Of course, she thought her fellow classmates could probably do without Cody's huge stack of note cards, but she wasn't about to complain. In fact, as the class continued on with her having an understanding of what was going on while the rest of the class was completely lost, Maya began thinking of some way to pay Cody and Bailey back for all the help they had given her over the summer. And that was especially so after she got her first test back and got an A on it. Coupling that with the fact that the next highest grade in the class was a C+, and Maya was flat out giddy.

All in all, while she was missing Zack something fierce, Maya couldn't complain about how the rest of her summer was going. Of course, she was still counting down the days until he would be home. A couple of weeks later, she had had her second exam in 106 and actually felt pretty confident about it. So, as she prepared for Ryan's rehab that afternoon, she actually found herself whistling to herself as she looked over his file. She thought he might soon be in good spirits too as her boss agreed with Maya's assessment that he no longer needed his crutches or aquatic therapy any longer. So, once his session was over that afternoon, she delivered the good news to him.

"Ryan, I think I have the news you've been waiting for for a long time. I believe and my boss agrees that you can stop using your crutches now. And as far as we can tell, you are no longer in need of any further aquatic therapy. As long as you keep wearing a knee brace and complete your other weekly therapy sessions, you should be ready for when the next hockey season begins..."

He just nodded his head. "Cool..."

His lack of a reaction to that surprised Maya. "I guess I just figured you'd be more enthusiastic about it..."

He just looked at her. "Oh, I am. Especially the part where I don't have to work with you again. I'll be glad not to see you everyday and be constantly reminded of the way you swindled and tricked me!"

Maya couldn't help but laugh. "Swindled and tricked you? I did no such thing! We made a bet that you lost. No need to be a sore loser, but if you are going to be one, don't expect me to care..."

Ryan glared at her. "You should care! How can you live yourself knowing you set me up and stole money away from me? You should me ashamed of yourself, but I bet you and your little wimp probably just keep laughing at pulling one over on me, don't you?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We didn't set you to do anything! You're the one who pushed the issue and wouldn't believe I had a boyfriend. And as I recall, it was you who proposed the bet in the first place. And I didn't force you to agree to the $500 part of it. So, again...quit being such a sore loser!"

He walked over to her and tried to tower over her. "The only loser I saw in all of this was your boyfriend!" He paused and began laughing. "Well, I guess that makes you one too for actually dating him..."

That did it. Maya was now royally ticked off and just laughed in his face. "Whatever. I don't care what you think or say. You're just mad that I wouldn't give you the time of day. It gnaws at you that I would rather be with a real man who actually knows how to treat a lady rather that someone like you..." She shook her head. "Oh, believe me, I've heard all the stories about you, and I'm willing to..." she emphasized the next word. "...bet they're all true too."

Ryan was growing angrier by her attitude too. "None of those can be proven!" He leered at her. "Besides, it doesn't matter right now. Neither you're little boyfriend nor your stupid bodyguard is here to interfere. I want my money back!"

Maya smirked at him. "Too late. I already spent it all. But, thanks for the filets you bought us. They were quite tasty..."

"You either pay me back my money now or I'll find some other way to get it out of you..."

She laughed in his face again. "I'd like to see you try!"

He reached out and grabbed both of her wrists. "You just don't know when to shut up, do you? I'm going to teach you a lesson that you're never going to forget!"

Maya just glared at him. "This is your one and only warning! Let go of my wrists right now, or I'll be forced to defend myself!"

Ryan laughed. "Oh yeah? I'm sooooo scared. As if a little thing like you could do anything to a big guy like me..."

She gritted her teeth. "Last chance..."

He smirked. "Go ahead! Give me your best shot!"

And in a flash, Maya lifted her leg and delivered a lightning quick kick to the side of Ryan's injured knee. It was such a textbook kick that her sensai would have been proud. Almost instantly after her foot made contact, a loud crunching sound began echoing off the walls of the aquatic therapy area. Ryan was forced to let go of her wrists as they immediately went down to grab his knee. Unfortunately for him, he knee was in no condition right them to support his weight and he fell to floor, sobbing in pain.

"My knee! You're going to pay for this, you bitch! By the time I'm done with you, you're going to be expelled from school!"

A couple of minutes later, Maya's boss ran into the area after hearing a loud noise followed by Ryan's wails of agony. And when she saw Ryan on the floor withering in agony, she looked at Maya. "What happened in here?"

Before Maya could respond, Ryan yelled out. "That bitch kicked me in my bad knee! I was minding my own business and doing nothing when she attacked me! She's a psycho!"

Maya couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, whatever..." She turned to her boss and smiled. "You can check the closed circuit camera footage and see for yourself what really happened. This poor excuse for a human being grabbed my wrists in some lame attempt to intimidate me. And then you'll hear me giving him two warnings to let go or I would defend myself. The university paid for my self defense classes after what Bruno tried to do last year. Well, Ryan didn't let go, so I did what I had to do. My sensai says to always know your enemy and hit them where it will incapacitate them the quickest."

Her boss just stood there not quite sure what to make of the scene she had walked in on. "Okay...well, why don't you go wait in my office, Maya? I'll call an ambulance for Mr. McDonald, and after they pick him up, I'll go review those tapes myself..."

A couple of hours later, Maya was still sitting in the office when her boss and an older man walked inside and closed the door behind them. And from the look on her boss's face, Maya could tell this whole situation was almost more than she could handle. And when she finally spoke, the exhaustion in her voice was evident.

"Well, I checked the tape, and it went down exactly as you told me it did, Maya. As you know, you have every right to file criminal charges and a complaint with the univeristy against Mr. McDonald, but this gentleman here would like to try to convince you not to do that. He's one of the big boosters of the university's hockey program..."

The man spoke up, and Maya could instantly tell by his very powerful and intimidating voice that he was used to getting whatever he wanted. "Miss Bennett, this is a very sticky situation we have here. If you go public, it would case much public humiliation for the university and the program. We'd be the laughing stock of all the local and national sports media. So, I'm hoping you and I can come to some sort of an agreement where what happened here today never leaves these walls..."

Maya paused to consider that. "Well, I might be willing to consider that, but I have some conditions that would have to be met first..."

"Name them."

"First, I refuse to work with him ever again in any capacity."

Her boss nodded. "Already done."

The booster spoke up too. "Agreed. Besides, I don't think he'll be needing any more physical therapy for a long, long time after what you did to him..."

Maya smiled to herself when she heard that. "Second. I want him to stay at least a thousand feet away from me and my boyfriend at all times. I know it won't be an official restraining order, but I think you know what I mean. And if Ryan decides to violate that, I'll be in the office of the Boston Globe within an hour with no prior notification to you...right after I stop by the campus police station."

The man just looked at her. "But he's in your physics class! Its too late for him to withdraw from it, and if he can't show up to the rest of the classes, he'll flunk it and be ineligible to play next year..."

Maya just shrugged. "Not my problem. I didn't start this..."

The booster bit his tongue to keep from saying something else. "Very well. Is there anything else?"

As she stopped to think about it some more, an idea began forming in her mind. An almost evil grin began to spread across her face. "Actually, I do have a couple of more simple requests that if you agree to, you'll have my silence..."

The S.S. Tipton II

The calendar had finally turned to August, and the ship had finished crossing the Atlantic safely without any sight of an iceberg. That was a huge weight off of Kirby's mind, though he now felt like he had a chance of surviving if they had hit one. For the past five weeks, Zack had been teaching him to swim for about an hour every evening with some degree of success. While Kirby would never qualify for the Olympics, he wouldn't drown now either. And for Zack, that had made the past five weeks not to seem to drag by so slowly. He still talked to Maya every day, but for the past week or so, she kept telling him that she had a big surprise for him. Despite his protests, she wouldn't tell him what it was only that he would get it when she next saw him again.

So with less than a week of his time on the ship left to go, Zack was ready for his summer to be over. And by then, the ship had already visited ports in Brazil, Suriname, Colombia, and Venezuela and passed through the Panama Canal. On the Friday before Zack was to fly home on the following Wednesday, the boat was docked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Zack had been trying to get a hold of Maya all day to find out how her physics final had gone that morning, but he hadn't had any luck in getting a hold of her. After leaving yet another voice, he shrugged and figured he'd try calling her again after dinner. So, he went looking for Kirby to see if he was ready to eat, and he found him up on the skydeck.

"You ready to go get some food, Big Man?"

Kirby shook his head. "No can do, Little Buddy. I have dinner plans with Bertha tonight. She has the night off..."

Zack shrugged again before sighing. "I guess I'm on my own then. Well, I only have a few more days of this left. I guess eating alone won't kill me..."

Kirby smiled. "Yeah, I guess you could eat alone...or maybe those guys would let you join them?" He pointed behind Zack.

And when he turned around to see who Kirby was pointing at, Zack's mouth fell open in shock. "Maya? Cody? Bailey? What are you guys doing here?"

To be Continued...

AN: I was going to wait to post this until after the Belmont today to know if we were going to have a Triple Crown winner. Alas, that will not happen now. But don't feel too bad for I'll Have Another. He's about to begin the next part of his life as a stud. Sometimes, its good to be a horse lol