Episode 13

"Runs in the Family"

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...

Boston

That Friday was shaping up to be a normal one for Zack. And that afternoon, he followed his usual schedule of getting out of class and then having lunch with Maya. But once she had to leave to head off to teach her swim lessons, he made a change of plans from his usual Friday after routine. Instead of heading back to the Tipton and vegging out in front of the television, he made his way up to the London's penthouse. It was time for him to finally follow up on the text message that he had received on Tuesday evening. So, once he knocked on the door, he waited patiently for the door to open. And a few minutes later, London opened the door, and she had her cell phone pressed to her ear. She let Zack inside as he listened to her tell who ever was on the other end that she had to go. When she finally hung up, London just looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"About time you finally showed up here! I told you that we needed to talk as soon as possible on Tuesday night!"

Zack just smiled at her. "I know, but after the look you gave me that night, I kind of figured it had to do with Maddie and her decision not to tell Trevor about her pregnancy. Based on that, I figured you'd prefer to talk without her knowing about it. Well, since then, whenever I've not been at either work or school, she's been here at the penthouse with you. So, when I saw that her first day at work was today, I thought this would be the first time we could actually talk. So, what's up?"

London could only nod. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that..." She paused and glared at him again. "But the next time I say ASAP, I expect you to at least text me back!"

"Yeah, yeah. So, you want to tell me why you wanted to talk to me or would you prefer to continue to talk about text etiquette?"

She sighed. "Fine. Well, you were right - I do need to talk to you about Maddie. In particular, I wanted to discuss with you her irrational desire to keep this a secret from Trevor. I think she is making a big mistake in doing that!"

He nodded. "Well, I can't disagree with you about that. I think she should tell him because he has a right to know..." He shrugged. "But what can we do about it?"

London grinned. "Funny you should ask. I want you to tell him!"

That surprised Zack. "Me? Why don't you just do it yourself? I mean, wouldn't it be a lot easier for you to do with all of your resources then it would be for me?"

"Yeah, it would. But I promised Maddie that I wouldn't..." She gave him a look. "Now, if someone else were to do it, then I would still be keeping my promise to her."

Zack could only nod as he realized what was going on. "I think I understand this now. You made a promise to her but since I never made a promise, there's your loophole..." He paused. "But don't you think Maddie would get pretty ticked off at me when she finds out what I did? And London, she's going to find out..."

London just looked at him and shook her head. "I think I got the wrong person then. I was looking for Zack Martin. You know, the guy who was the master of being sneaky. The guy who would look at this like a challenge and not run away from it. I need the guy who used to play Moseby like a fiddle..."

He sighed. "I'm still him..."

"Then you should have no problem in doing this then. Zack, I'm asking you to do me a favor here. More than that, I'm asking you to do Maddie and her baby a favor..."

Zack thought about that as he sat down on the couch. Finally, he began shaking his head. "Alright, I'll do it...for the kid. But if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it my way..."

"I don't care as long as you get it done."

"Okay, but I'm going to do it in a way that can't be traced back to me if I can help it."

"Even better."

He just gave her a look. "But you're going to have to give me somewhere to start. Mainly, can you find out for me the name of the newspaper Trevor is supposed to be working for?"

London nodded. "I'll get right on that. I know its a conservative paper, I'll see if I can dance around the subject and get Maddie to slip which one it is."

"Good. Once you have a name for me, I'll go about find out an address and phone number for it. Then, I can simply disguise my voice and leave him a voice mail. That sounds easy enough. Trevor finds out, and nothing can be traced back to either one us..."

"I just hope its that easy. And I hope you know what you're doing, Zack..."

He grinned. "Trust me, London. This isn't my first time being devious and conniving. I may have cleaned up my act as I've gotten older, but its like riding a bike - you never forget how."

She laughed. "I'm not sure if I should be ecstatic or concerned that you'll one day be leading London Inns now..."

"Well, I always did like walking the fine line between mischief and illegality." Zack paused. "But, I will need your help with something else."

"Name it..."

"Tell Moseby to look the other way if there are several international phone calls coming from my office phone..."

London shook her head and reached for her purse. A few seconds later, she pulled out a cell phone. "Here, just use this instead. International calls are included, and calls can't be traced back to it. Besides, I'd rather Moseby not know about this. Maya too if you can help it."

"Why?"

"Because the more people who know, the more likely it will get back to Maddie..."

Zack nodded. "Good point." He checked his watch. "Alright, its about three o'clock right now. Unfortunately, by now in London, all offices are probably already closed for the weekend. I'll get on this first thing Monday morning."

New Haven

A couple hours away on that same Friday afternoon in New Haven, Bailey was just getting back to her and Cody's dorm room after her appointment over at student health. She would have been back much quicker, but irony of ironies, there was a long wait to see the doctor due to flu shots. When she opened the door and headed inside, she expected the room to be empty as Cody should still be out computer shopping with Gertie. But, instead, Cody was sitting at the small table in their kitchenette with his cell phone pressed to his ear as he quickly scribbled notes on to a notepad in front of him. He was so engrossed with whoever he was talking to that he didn't even hear Bailey come in. So, she sat down her purse on their coffee table before heading over to sit right across the table from him. And once he did see her, he smiled, held up one finger and returned his focus back to his mystery phone call.

"Excellent! His name is Theodore Robert Cavanaugh. I know he is from Boston originally, attended a boarding school somewhere in Georgia, and then attended Princeton before making his way here to Yale..." He paused as he listened to whoever he was talking about. "Thank you so much! And if you wouldn't mind, the sooner you can find out anything, the better. And once you do, please fax me whatever you have to 475-555-9253. Its my and Bailey's land line number here in the dorm, but we mainly just use it for the fax machine..." He paused again to listen. "No, its a completely secure line. No one else has a key to our room except us." Cody smiled. "Thank you again for your help in this matter. I really appreciate it."

Cody finished his phone call before shoved his phone back into his pocket. And when he looked up again, he could see that Bailey had a questioning look look on her face. So, he just smiled at her. "Hey you..."

Bailey couldn't help but smile back. "Well, hey to you too. What are you doing back her so quickly? I figured it might take you and Gertie a few hours to find what she was looking for..." She laughed. "Actually, I was kind of thinking of coming back and taking a long, hot bath while I waited for you to get back."

He kept smiling. "Well, I tought it would take us a while too, but we got lucky. Like I had suggested, we started out at the campus computer center. Turns out that not only do they do tech support, but they also will build computers for students too. And since they are a not for profit organization, they gave Gertie one heck of a deal on exactly what she wanted to get Tapeworm. Add that to the fact that most of the people working there are computer science grad students, they knew exactly what programs and software that he would need. So, we were actually in and out in less than an hour." He paused and laughed. "Though, one of the guys working in there is a TA in our Computers and the Law class. We got to talking, and he gave me some suggestions on our final project in there. According to him, if you focus your project on the...seedier parts of the internet and legal issues surrounding them, you're more than likely to keep the professor's attention and get a better grade."

She laughed too. "Well, I'll definitely keep that in mind when it comes time for us to work on our project in there. And I'm glad everything seemed to work out for Gertie too..." She was about to ask about Cody about his phone call when he cut her off by speaking up himself.

"So, how did your afternoon go? Did you have any problems with your appointment over at student health?"

Bailey just shrugged. "Well, other than having to wait almost an hour because of a flu shot back up, it went pretty much they way it usually goes. I gave blood, they checked it, and then I got my shot. If hadn't had to wait, I would probably have been in and out in ten minutes." She paused. "But to be honest, I took today a whole lot more seriously than I probably would have a few days ago."

Cody nodded. "I know what you mean. I was just as confused as you were when London told us to be ready for a webchat on Tuesday night. I had no idea it was going to involve Maddie dropping the bomb on everyone that she was pregnant. And if it can happen to someone as responsible as Maddie, it can happen to anyone. It made the possibility of us having a surprise pregnancy ourselves a whole lot more real to me."

"Yeah, it did to me too. And its not that I don't look forward to the time when we're ready to have kids, but they aren't in our plans for at least seven more years - this year, four years of med school and two years of residency. After that, I know I'll be more than ready."

Cody laughed. "Hey, you don't have to convince me, Bails. You're preaching to the choir here. I won't lie though - if you came to me right now and told me you we're pregnant, you'd quickly find me passed out on the floor unconscious."

Bailey shook her head and laughed too. "Gee...thanks, Cody. I appreciate that."

He grinned. "Hey, I'm just forewarning you. We could already have five kids and you would be telling me that our sixth is on the way, and I'm pretty sure I'd still faint then too."

She shook her head and teased him. "And you're sure you want to be a doctor?"

"I never said anything about being an obstetrician! Besides, after seeing the video of Zack and I being born, I think I can go the rest of my life without ever having to see a live birth ever again. I'll leave that up to others..."

Bailey just gave him a look. "I don't think so, buster! When the day does come for me to give birth to our children, you will be standing there right beside me holding my hand and feeding me ice chips! Do you understand me?"

Cody smiled again. "Will you promise not to yell at me while you're having contractions? Will you promise not to squeeze my hand so hard that you end up breaking bones? Remember, I have sparrow like bones..."

She leaned over the table and kissed him. "Sweetie...Not a chance."

He shrugged. "Fair enough I guess. But Bails, even if I do pass out when you finally do tell me that you're pregnant, it won't mean that I won't be thrilled about it. I really do look forward to us being parents someday." He smiled at her. "Of course, I know if we have girls, I won't get any sleep whatsoever once they become teenagers. Especially if they are even half as beautiful as their mother is..."

Bailey smiled back at him. "I appreciate you saying that, Sweetie. And I do hope our sons are as handsome and brilliant as their father is. Tell you what though. If you will be there with me by my side and hold my hand when I'm giving birth to our kids, I'll be there for you and hold your hand when you go in for your prostate exam or if you have kidney stones."

He shuddered. "I could have gone all day without having either of those images in my mind...Thanks, Honey."

She laughed. "Anytime, Sweetie." She paused waiting for him to finally bring up his phone call, but it looked like he was still having disturbing mental images. Bailey shook her head and sighed. "So, who were you talking to on the phone when I came in?"

He looked up at her again and smiled. "Curious about that, are you?"

"Well, yeah. You were telling someone all about Theo. Who were you telling about him?"

"Well, when I got back to the dorm this afternoon, I saw Master Chun downstairs. And seeing him reminded me about something. You remember this summer when Maya was telling us about her encounter with that guy she was rehabbing?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"She mentioned something that her and Zack's sensai had told them - know your enemy. Well, it dawned on me that I really only know Theo from about eight years ago. That's a large chunk of time where I have no clue what he's been up to. I mean, just thinking about myself, my life has completely change in that amount of time. Anyways, seeing Master Chun reminded me of something else he told us. You remember him saying that there was something off about his records from Princeton?"

Bailey nodded. "Uh huh..."

"Well, it dawned on me there may be something there worth knowing. So, I called London to see if she could recommend someone who could solve that mystery for us. Unfortunately, there was a knock at her door, but before she had to go, she gave me the number of her father's personal private eye. What you heard when you came in was me talking to him. And the good news is that he's agreed to see what he can dig up for us. If he finds out anything, he's going to fax it to me immediately. If you insist of still tutoring him to keep an eye on him, I want to know what we should be looking for..."

Bailey could only nod again. "Probably a good idea, Sweetie." She paused again. "I wonder if he'll find anything..."

Boston

On the following Friday, the 10th of October, Zack once again had to afternoon off to devote all of his efforts towards his quest to try to find Trevor. For the past week, he had spent several hours of company time trying to track him down in England. Unfortunately, London hadn't been successful in finding out of the name of the paper from Maddie, so Zack had to try a scorched earth tactic. He contacted every newspaper in London that he could find, but he still wasn't having any luck. Most of time someone actually answered the phone, they would hang up on him after hearing his question. And the ones who actually did say something would just reply they had never heard of the bloke before hanging up too. Zack was beginning to get really frustrated as his opinion on Londoners continued to decline. He thought they had been bad enough when he was playing croquet there, but now, they were just being plain rude. (AN: No offense to anyone from London) However, luck was about to finally shine on him as he finally found someone who was willing to talk to him. And even better, it seemed like he finally found where Trevor was working. Of course, that was as far as he got before he ran into red tape. After hanging up, he at least felt like he had made a break in the case. Zack was sitting back on the couch trying to figure out his next move when he heard a knock at his door. Getting up and opening it up, he found London standing there. And before Zack could even say hello, she strolled on into his suite and closed the door behind her.

"Well, have you been able to get a hold of Trevor yet and tell him what was going on?"

Zack shook his head. "Not yet. Until today, I had come up with nothing but dead ends, but I believe I've finally found out where he works. Unfortunately, the person I spoke with began giving the run around with something about employee privacy and stuff like that. After I explained that it was a matter of life and death, she finally put me through to the person there in charge of human resources. However, the lady never picked up, so I left a message on her voice mail saying that Trevor was having a family emergency back here in the States and I needed to get a hold of him ASAP."

London sighed. "I hate red tape. Daddy says it always makes things more complicated than they should be."

"Well, I plan on keeping on trying to get through to this lady." He checked his watch. "Unfortunately, its now past 8:00 over there now. I doubt I'll hear anything back before next Monday at the earliest."

She just nodded. "Probably not, but I fully expect you to call me as soon as you do!"

He nodded. "I will. I..." But before he could finish his thought, his cell phone began ringing. Checking out the caller ID, he could tell it was an international call and held up a finger to London. "Hold that thought a second. This phone call might be her actually calling me back..."

Zack answered the call, and he began talking. London could only hear one side of the phone call, but it was evident Zack was trying to explain why it was so imperative that he got in touch with Trevor. But that's when she noticed him go silent.

Finally, he spoke again. "Oh...Well, if you do hear back from him, please tell him to call me ASAP. Tell him it has to do with Maddie, and I guarantee he'll want to call me back. And thank you for returning my call..."

Zack closed his phone and London just looked at him expectantly. "Well? And what was that about having him call you back? I thought you were going for anonymity here..."

He swallowed. "Umm...Well, I was, but that was before I heard what she just told me. London, we may have a big problem now!"

London could tell by the expression on his face that this wasn't going to be good. "What do you mean? What kind of problem?"

Zack shook his head. "Seems Trevor was so upset about Maddie breaking up with him that he...that he..." He paused and sighed. "...that he volunteered to go on a foreign assignment for his paper..."

London was getting an even worse feeling after he said that. "Where to?"

He just sighed again. "Afghanistan..."

She hung her head before shaking it back and forth. "I can't believe this! What a complete idiot!"

"Well, I imagine Trevor was pretty upset about about everything and wondering why Maddie broke up with him out of the blue like that. After what happened to me and Maya, I can kind of understand what he was thinking..."

London cut him off. "Not him! I was talking about Maddie!" She stood up and began pacing. "Well, forget that promise I made to her now! I'm stepping in right now to make sure that child does has a father to come home to it! If something happened to Trevor while he was over there, Maddie would never forgive herself!"

She pulled out her own cell phone and dialed a number. "This is London...Wilfred's daughter." She paused. "Good. I have a big assignment for someone to do immediately. I need someone found, and I need them found yesterday!"

New Haven

On that same Friday evening, Bailey, Cody, Tapeworm and Gertie had just gotten done having dinner in the dining hall, and they all decided to go out and see a movie afterwards. But before they headed out, Gertie remembered that she hadn't checked her mail for the day yet. And while they were down by the mailboxes, Bailey was surprised to see she had something in hers. When she had checked it right after lunch, she was pretty sure she had gotten everything out of it then. So, shrugging she pulled it out to see what it said. And she was even more surprised when she saw they there wan't a return address on it.

"Okay, this is really odd..."

Cody looked over her shoulder. "I thought it was illegal to send a letter nowadays with no return address. You know, after all those anthrax scares after 9/11..."

She paused. "It is...Which makes this even more curious as to what's inside. But I'm going to wait until I have a mask and gloves on. You guys mind if we head back up to our room real quick?"

No one did, they all headed up to Bailey and Cody's room where Bailey got out a surgical mask and Cody's yellow gloves. Slowly, she opened the envelope, and was surprised to see what was inside of it. There were several pictures of Cody and Gertie out somewhere together by themselves.

"What the feathers?"

Tapeworm frowned. "Why would someone send you pictures of Cody and Gertie together?" He paused. "Where was I when these were taken?"

When she heard his questions, Gertie was getting a sinking feeling in her stomach that her Christmas surprise was about to be ruined. If push came to shove, she wasn't about to lie to him about it. And just when she was about to speak up, she heard Cody begin talking instead.

"You were in class then, Man. And Bailey was over at student health getting her flu shot..." He faked a sigh. "From the shirt I'm wearing in them, I know these were taken last Friday. That was the afternoon when I asked Gertie to do me a huge favor. You see, I had this idea of what I was going to get Bailey for Christmas, but I wasn't quite sure if it would be something that she would like. So, I asked Gertie if she would mind giving me a woman's perspective on it..." Cody faked another sigh. "Unfortunately, she didn't think Bailey would like it all that much, so I'm back to square one in trying to figure out what to get her for Christmas..."

Bailey winked and smiled at him knowing that he had just helped their friend dodge a big bullet. "Its okay, Sweetie. I truly appreciate the thought, and I'll know I love whatever it is you end up getting me."

Gertie spoke up too. "Yeah, sorry I couldn't have been more helpful. But if you find something else, I'd be more than happy to help you out with it too. I wouldn't worry about this though. Sometimes, you can have the best intentions, and things don't work out the way you hope you will..."

Tapeworm just laughed. "If it makes you feel any better, Man, I'm still trying to find the perfect gift for Gertie for Christmas too. Tell you what, one weekend we'll head out together and see if maybe us working together will help us out. Besides, the pictures don't show where you guys were, so whatever it was you did have in mind can safely stay a secret..." He turned to Gertie and teased her. "Now as for you, did you ask Cody to return the favor and help you with anything for me while you were out?"

She let out a nervous laugh. "Of course not. Unlike you, I have already found my Christmas gift for you. But, I did mention it to Cody, and he did seem to think you would really like it..."

He smiled. "Well, then I can't wait to see what you came up with..." Tapeworm paused. "But that still leaves the million dollar question. Who would someone send those pictures to Bailey and why? The only reason I can think of would be to cause some trouble. But whoever it was doesn't really know you guys that well then if they though that..."

Cody just shook his head and sighed for real. "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea who sent them, and I'm willing to bet anything that his intent was to try to cause problems..."

"Who?"

Cody gritted his teeth. "Theo..."

"Theo?" Tapeworm gave him a look. "Wait a minute! You aren't talking about that same creep from Boston that you and Zack told me about are you?"

"Unfortunately, I am...Seems he is now a student here at Yale, but going by the name Rob..." As concisely as he could, Cody filled them in on his and Bailey's encounters with him so far.

Bailey shook her head. "I think you're right, Cody. I can't think of anyone else who would go to the trouble of trying to do something like this..." She paused. "Well, there is one other person, but I don't think he is smart enough to even come up with something like this. And if it was Theo, this definitely means he's ramped things up a little bit from just being a sleazeball. But wouldn't he think that I would ask you about these? And didn't he think you would tell me the truth and explain them? I must say, despite being able to get into Yale, I don't think he has much common sense..."

Cody sighed again. "I know. Of course, when he sees that this didn't work, he'll definitely try to escalate his plans even further in the future. By doing this now, it sure seems like Theo isn't one to give up on something once his mind is set on it..."

"What do we do then?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Bails...I really don't know. I just wish we knew what all he was capable of so we would know what he might try next. If we did, we could..." Before Cody could finish his thought, they all heard strange noises coming from Cody and Bailey's home office. Both of them looked at each other before hurrying in there to see what was going on. And to their relief, the noises were coming from the fax machine part of Cody's new high tech printer. It began spitting out pages at them, and they collected them to see what they had to say.

Cody laughed. "Ask, and ye shall receive! Bails, this is the report from Mr. Tipton's private investigator!"

And once they knew what they were looking at, they began poring over it to see what it said. Unfortunately, neither one of them could believe what they were reading. It seems Theo had only gotten worse as he had gotten older, and Bailey realized that Cody may not have been so far off when he compared Theo to Ted Bundy after all. When they finally finished reading the whole report, both turned to look at each other with somber expressions on their faces.

"Bails..."

"Cody..."

Cody shook his head. "Well, I guess we know know what Theo's capable of now..."

Bailey nodded a little uneasy. "Yeah, we do..."

Both just stood there thinking when Cody finally spoke up again. "Well, look at the positives. We know to be on high alert around him now and some of the tricks he might try..."

"I guess..." She paused. "You really think he'll try to...you know?"

He nodded sadly. "I wouldn't put it past him..." She smiled at her. "But that doesn't mean he's going to succeed. I won't let him." He laughed. "Besides, if he does try it, I think its safe to say we know when he's going to try it..."

She looked at him for a moment in confusion before it dawned on her too. "Halloween!"

"Exactly! What better time to hopefully find someone with their guard down then when they are blowing off some steam at a party..."

Bailey sighed. "Looks like another Halloween where our focus will be elsewhere..."

"I know, but if you're up to doing some more acting, I think I have an idea."

"Good. What can we do to help?"

Cody and Bailey both turned to see their friends standing in the doorway smiling at them Bailey shook her head. "We can't ask you two to get involved with his. Anyways, if we're right and he chooses Halloween, that will be your anniversary..."

Gertie smiled. "We know, but we'll celebrate the day after like we usually do. Besides, we're not asking you to help. We're telling you that we're going to help. So, just tell us what you need us to do..."

Cody grinned again. "Thanks guys. Now, I do have a plan. I may need to flesh it out some more, but we fortunately have three more weeks to perfect it. First off, sorry, Tapeworm, but I going to need you to make some changes to the costumes for both of you. I need you two to be recognizable, so I can't have you wearing masks or anything else to disguise your identities. Next, Gertie, here is what I need you to do..." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and explained to her what her role was going to be.

She smiled again and laughed. "Consider it done!"

Tapeworm spoke up again. "What do you need me to do then?"

Cody grinned. "You, my friend, I have a couple of jobs for you that will require your unique talent and abilities..." He did the same thing to Tapeworm as he did to Gertie and filled him in on what he needed him to do..."

Tapeworm couldn't help but laugh too. "I like it!" He paused. "Man, I bet Moseby is glad now that you didn't actually help Zack with his schemes when we were younger. Cody, I'm just glad your my friend and won't ever have to scheme against me..."

Bailey smiled. "Well, this wasn't the first good idea he's ever come up with. He did save my family's farm from Mr. Tipton..."

Cody smiled at her. "My first good one was deciding to chase after you..." He paused. "Alright, lets head to that movie. Tomorrow, we begin putting this in to motion." He shook his head and laughed. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Bailey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Not that again..."

Boston

The next three weeks passed by, and it was finally Friday, October 31st - Halloween. All around the country, college students were preparing for a night of letting their hair down and getting a little crazy. And that was the plan the Zack and Maya had for the evening - with one slight modification. They were limiting themselves to two drinks a piece all night. Neither one of them had any desire to have a repeat performance of their birthday celebrations. While it may have seemed fun that night, the resulting hangover was not worth it. Their plan for the evening was to head to a Halloween party thrown by one of BU's fraternities to be held at a popular establishment near campus. And this year, Zack was quite happy with their costumes as he didn't want to literally look like a clown again. Rather, they were going dressed as Bonnie and Clyde, and Moseby had even said he couldn't think of a more appropriate costume for them. Once they got down to the lobby, they were about to head out towards the subway, when Zack realized something.

He sighed. "Maya, I'll be right back. I left my plastic Tommy gun upstairs. This costume just isn't complete without it..."

She smiled and nodded at him before she began walking around the lobby. And that's when she too noticed that Maddie was over at the candy counter. So, Maya walked over there to see how she was doing.

"So, Maddie, what's your costume this year?"

Maddie turned to Maya, and it was evident she had her hands full of candy bars. Shaking her head, She sighed. "This is it...I'm going as a pregnant woman who is having a serious craving for chocolate...Pretty pathetic, huh?"

Maya smiled. "Well, if it helps any, I think you've got your costume nailed. So, what are your plans for your Halloween night?"

"You're looking at it. I'm going to head back up to London's penthouse, lay back on the couch and watch some classic horror movies on TV while I scarf these down."

"You sure? If you want, you're more than welcome to head out with Zack and I tonight. This party were going to is supposed to be a lot of fun."

Maddie smiled. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think so. I can't drink, and the smell of alcohol will probably make me throw up. Besides, I'm already exhausted as it is. I seriously doubt I'd be too much fun to hang out with. But, you two have a good time..." She laughed. "But not too much of one..."

Maya laughed too. "Trust me...after the way we celebrated our birthdays, it will be a long time before either of us does anything like that again. I've learned I quite like being in complete control of all my facilities. Tonight, we're limiting ourselves to two drinks a piece."

"Good for you then. I think that's a lesson everyone has to learn at least once in their life the hard way."

"Well, done and done here. But, if you change your mind, just give one of us a call, and we'd be happy to tell you how to get there..."

"I think it best I stay in tonight. I'm not quite ready to subject my unborn child to a college party..."

Just then, the elevator door opened with Zack inside. Maddle hurried over to catch it herself, and smiled at them. "I'll see you guys later."

And with that, the elevator doors closed. Zack shrugged and walked over to Maya.

"You ready to head out?"

She nodded. "Yeah, lets get out of here." She paused. "I was just talking to Maddie. She seems to be doing pretty well."

"Good. Hopefully, she'll be even better once we get Trevor back here with her. I just hope we can find him before anything bad happens."

Maya just looked at him. "We? What are you talking about and what have you been up to, Zack?"

Zack paused realizing he had let something else slip. "Maya, I can't say..."

She rolled her eyes, shook her head and pulled him in for another kiss. "Tell me now?'

He sighed. "Fine...I really wish you didn't know you could do that though..." And briefly, Zack filled Maya in on what he and London had been up to and what they had found out so far.

Naturally, Maya's eyes went wide. "He's in Afghanistan!"

He nodded. "Yeah. But London has some of her father's best men on his trail. I'm just hoping they can find him sooner than later."

"Me too..." She shivered. "This situation keeps getting even crazier and more messed up."

"Tell me about it. London and I have both accepted that Maddie could be really ticked off at us, but if that's the price to pay..."

"Zack, you two are doing the right thing here. Hopefully, Maddie will understand that."

"I hope so too."

"You think he'll be found soon?"

Zack shrugged. "I have no idea, Maya. But, if Mr. Tipton can make someone disappear that easily, I have to hope that he's just as good at making someone reappear..."

In a Dorm Room in Berkeley South

Halloween night had arrived on Yale's campus too, and everyone was getting ready for the big Mortician's Ball that evening. In his private dorm room, Theo was dressed up in scrubs with blood splattered all over them as he hadn't had time to go out and get a proper costume. But, his attention had been focused elsewhere, and he was pacing back and forth in his room talking on the phone discussing what had gotten him so distracted.

"Yeah, tonight's the night I put my ultimate plan into action. Ordinarily, I would rather not have to resort to these measures again, but my first few plans seemed to have failed miserably. I started off by trying to flirt with her, but that didn't work. Then I tried to build up doubt in her mind about Martin, but that was a dead end too. I even tried my old reliable method of plying her with expensive gifts, but she refused to accept them. In fact, she chewed me out again and made it clear that our study sessions were about organic chemistry and nothing else. She said if tried talking about her personal life or badmouthed the geek again, she would stop tutoring me. Unfortunately, that class is kicking my butt, and I actually do need her help studying..." He sighed. "She's different that most of girls down at Princeton. And for some unknown reason, she really does seem to love the nerd boy and spend the rest of her life with him..."

Theo shook his head. "No, your idea sucked too. I hired a PI to find dirt on Martin, but he found nothing. The only time they weren't together is when she was helping out a friend of them shop for a computer or working out with her boyfriend. I sent the pictures of them together, but I knew it would never work..."

"The friend? Nah, I don't dare. Her family is loaded too and has even more connections than mine does. I know where to pick my battles. And the girl nerd boy is tutoring has a boyfriend the size of a bulldozer, and I don't have a death wish. No, I'm sticking to my original plan here. At first, it was just going to be fun, but now its gotten personal..."

He laughed. "Nah, I'm not worried about them trying to get any kind of payback on me. For one, my connections would get me out of it again. And second, she's just a country bumpkin, and nerd boy is...well...nerd boy. Besides, with what I have planned, I seriously doubt there will be a 'them' once they feel my full wrath. They're going to learn that you don't piss off Theo Cavanaugh and get away with it..."

Cody and Bailey's Dorm Room

The past three weeks had been really busy ones for Cody and Bailey. Sure, they had a three day fall break during that time, but they spent most of it finishing and editing their rough drafts of their EP&E papers to hand in to Dr. Ryan. And with those now done, they used their Fridays to work on their group projects in both of their food and computers class. Cody had even convinced Bailey to have the focus of their computer one be something right up their professor's alley.

Bailey still kept up with her tutoring of Rob aka Theo, but it made her skin crawl every time to be in a room alone with him. She always left her keys out so she could grab her small can of mace if she needed it. Plus, she and Gertie had learned a few new moves in their class that she was kind of anxious to try out. The only good thing was that Theo has seemingly agreed to keep everything on a professional level. But, Bailey was well aware of the old saying about the calm before the storm. However, in those three weeks, Cody and Bailey decided to have their first measure of payback on Theo. His second exam in organic chemistry had been the Friday before Halloween, and they decided to mess with him in regards to it. Bailey never told him anything wrong, but she did subtly emphasize certain areas that would not be as heavily tested on as opposed to other far more important things. Of course, to cover herself, she did remind him to make sure he was comfortable with everything that could be covered on the exam.

Finally, the night of Halloween arrived, and Cody and Bailey were both finishing up putting on their costumes for their final Mortician's Ball that evening. When Cody finished adjusting his costume, he turned to Bailey and smiled.

"What do you think? How do I look?"

She could only shake her head and laugh. He had on a purple zippered sweatshirt with padding underneath it to make it look like he had a large gut. On his head, he had on a bald cap with hair glued along the sides and back. Finally, there was a pair of skinny jeans with numerous paternity suits shoved into the back pockets. "Looking good, Sweetie. I definitely think you've pulled off Beiber at 50..."

"Thanks, Bails. I'm just glad I finally have a good reason to wear a bald cap again..."

"I know, but at least you didn't do what Woody did and actually shave your head."

"True. Knowing my luck, I'd have a birthmark on the back of my head..."

She laughed and slapped his butt. "I doubt it. We both know where your birthmark is..."

He grinned at her. "Am I allowed to slap where yours is?"

"Nope...not now anyways..."

"Fine then..." He grinned again as he took in her costume. There was the blond wig that had streaks of gray added to it. And there was the t-shirt that said 'Comeback Tour #4' while the rest of her outfit contained similar touches to make it as close to possible to one formerly worn by the person she was supposed to be mimicking. She even had the fingerless gloves. The only thing that was different was that she had added padding too to make it look like she had really wide hips and a big rear end. Finally, Bailey had added several fake tattoos on her arms and neck. "And I definitely think you've pulled off Hannah Montana at 50 as well..."

Bailey laughed. "Thanks...I think. I still shudder when I think how crazy I got around her that one time..."

"It happens..." He paused as he tried to walk around. "Now answer me this. Why did I ever wear skinny jeans? These things are as uncomfortable as can be, and I think I'm beginning to lose feeling in my legs...and other places..."

She laughed again. "Because it was the fad, Cody. Just like bell bottoms in the 70's, member's only jackets and leg warmers in the 80's, and flannel shirts in the 90's. Fortunately, it quickly disappeared just like the other ones did."

He grimaced. "Thank goodness."

She paused herself. "So, how come you didn't choose that girl Beiber used to date for me to dress like?"

Cody shrugged. "I never had a problem with her...you know...other than her taste in men. Besides, she kind of reminded me of this girl I went to middle school with."

"Yeah, the funny thing is she always reminded me of that girl I met on the boat during the teen cruise. I don't think I ever caught what her real name was though..."

"Well, you ready for tonight?"

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready." She smiled at him. "But after this, you can't say our kids will only get their devious genes from my side of the family..."

At that moment, there was a knock at their door. And when they opened it up, they saw Tapeworm standing there dressed up like Peter Parker (with his shirt unbuttoned to show his Spider-Man costume) and Mary Jane Watson. But when Tapeworm and Gertie saw Cody's and Bailey's costumes, they both began laughing so hard they were almost crying.

"Oh wow...those two costumes are classics!" Tapeworm shook his head. "Now, why didn't I think of something like that?"

Cody smiled. "Well, I like yours as well. I'm just sorry that you had to change away from Han Solo. Unfortunately for me, I could never pull off that one. With blonde hair, I'm more of the Luke Skywalker type. And Luke and Leia together would be kind of creepy since their brother and sister..."

Tapeworm nodded. "Yeah, I always thought it was unfair to Luke that the only woman in that galaxy far far away turned out to be his sister. Of course, in the expanded universe, he married Mara Jade, but hardly anyone else would have any idea who she was..."

"Tell me about it..."

Gertie rolled her eyes. "Are you guys about done? Its about time to get this show on the road..."

Bailey nodded. "Gertie's right." She paused and smiled. "But first, happy anniversary to you two. Two whole years now."

She smiled. "Yeah, it has. Best two years of my life."

Tapeworm grinned. "Mine too."

Cody nodded. "Alright guys, lets do this!"

Tapeworm paused. "Before we do though...Cody, how in the world did you ever come up with a plan like this?"

He grinned. "Easy. I give full credit to my Mom for this idea..."

That surprised Gertie. "Your Mom?"

"Uh huh. You see, Mom has this unhealthy obsession with George Clooney. Thanks to that, she made Zack and I watch all of his movies..."

To be Continued...