Episode 19

"The St. Valentine's Day Massacre"

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...

New Haven

The next four weeks seemed to fly by fairly quickly as January eventually gave way to February and Valentine's Day weekend neared. Everyone was getting close to finishing up their first months of their spring semesters and found themselves trying to keep themselves motivated without senioritis kicking in. Well, that wasn't really a problem for a certain duo. Even though they only had actual classes on two days a week, Cody and Bailey were still extremely busy the other three days of the week doing their work for their three 'real' classes. And for Bailey, that meant searching high and low for a copy of the article Cody had given an interview for as well as a trying to get a sworn affidavit from Luis (their tour group leader) that Princess Zaria was indeed real. Naturally, she did have to hold back a smirk when she finally gave all the information she had gathered to her professor to show him how wrong he had been. But Cody did warn her not to cross the line like he had once with his chemistry teacher with the toupee. Seems he learned the hard way teachers don't like to be showed up by their students and not do something about it. Well, except for Tut who who just sigh, shake her head and take it.

But there was a major event for them even before Valentine's Day. On Wednesday, February the 11th, Cody and Bailey officially ended their last experiments for their Biology senior project. All that was left for them to do was to compile and organize their results before writing up their findings and preparing their presentations. So, from that day, they had three and a half weeks until spring break began to get all of their data transferred over to spreadsheets and begin outlining how to present it. Of course, they had to make sure they still found the time to do all of their work for their other classes. But that weekend was going to be a work free weekend as they had to head back to Boston for Maddie and Trevor's wedding.

On the morning of Friday the 13th, Bailey was still sound asleep until she was awoken by the familiar sound of her rooster alarm clock going off at 6:45. Still half asleep, she reached her hand over to hit the snooze button to give herself fifteen more minutes of sleep. After all, she didn't have any classes that day to be up for. Instead of getting up, she instead reached over to pull Cody in closer to her. But when she felt out out for him, she quickly discovered his half of the bed was now empty. Naturally, that alarmed her and caused her to open her eyes and wake up fully. But once she did, she could detect the smell of something good wafting in from the main room of their dorm suite. So, she climbed out of bed, donned her robe and headed out to investigate. And when she walked into the main part of their suite, she saw Cody standing around their small table and chairs trying to organize roses into a vase. Bailey just smiled at the sight before her before clearing her throat.

Immediately, Cody whirled his head around and noticed her standing there. And that caused him to smile. "Happy Valentine's Day, Bails!"

She just shook her head. "That's not until tomorrow..."

"Yeah, I know, but I couldn't risk doing this in the morning. One, we won't be alone then, and two, I have no desire to hear Zack rant and rave and accuse me of trying to one up him yet again on Valentine's Day..."

Bailey laughed. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time. And, I can definitely see him doing just that. I can still remember him complaining about you somehow causing him to blow a whole week's salary on Valentine's Day our senior year in high school."

"Not my fault he found out what I had planned for you and felt the need to try to keep up..." He grinned again. "Now, my dear, if you will, please join me as I have breakfast ready to be served."

Cody pulled out a chair for her and scooted her in once she was seated. He followed that by lifting the cover off of the plate directly in front of her.

"Without a real kitchen, I wasn't able to actually cook you anything, but I think I got all of your favorites - heart shaped pancakes with maple syrup, scrambled eggs a little on the runny side, and turkey bacon extra crispy..."

Bailey smiled up at him. "Sweetie, its perfect! But I do have to ask...how did you pull all of this off this morning? Its not even seven o'clock in the morning yet..."

He grinned. "Because I had my cell phone alarm on vibrate to wake me up at a quarter till six. I pre-ordered breakfast last night, and picked it up as well as your roses this morning while I was out. I was hoping you wouldn't wake up and notice I was gone, but I had left a note on my pillow just in case you did. And when I got back, I saw it was still there and you were still asleep. So..." He held out his hands. "Voila!"

She laughed. "Well, I love it, but I love you even more..." She leaned up and kissed him. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Cody Bear. Not that I'm in any hurry to go anywhere right now, but what time do we have to be back in Boston today?"

"We're supposed to join everyone for the rehearsal in the Tipton's big ballroom at 6:00. So, I figure we'll want to be back by 4:00 at the latest so we have time to freshen up and get changed for it."

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, at the very latest 4:00, but I think it would be best if we left here right after lunch today. That way, we avoid the early rush hour traffic in Boston."

"Good call." Cody smiled again. "That gives us about five hours until lunch then. What would you to do until then, my Valentine?"

She paused to think. "You know what? I say we finish up our research on our advanced seminar papers this morning. We're already getting close to being done as it is, so I say we go ahead and do that this morning. We can finish up breakfast, get cleaned up, and then head straight to the library. From there, we can head back over her to the dining hall for lunch before we come back up here to pack..."

Cody just nodded his agreement while trying to hide his disappointment. "Yeah, that would probably be the prudent thing to do..."

Bailey winked at him. "Its seven o'clock now. I figure if we make it over to the library by 9:30, that will give us plenty of time to finish up. Until then, I say we put breakfast in the microwave and heat it up later. I think we should do a little heating up of our own first so we can really build up our appetites..."

Cody just gave her a look before laughing. "Have I mentioned yet how much I love the way you think?"

About one o'clock that afternoon, Bailey and Cody had finished up all of their tasks for the morning and were walking through the lobby of Berkeley North on their way to catch the shuttle over to their car. Bailey was pulling their bag on wheels behind her as Cody held a garment bag holding their dress wear for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner later on that evening. Fortunately, her bridesmaid dress and his usher's tuxedo were already back in Boston waiting on them. And as they were about to head out the front door, they passed Master Chun standing by the front desk. And when he saw them, he smiled.

"You two heading off for a big Valentine's Day Weekend?"

Bailey just smiled. "Something like that."

He shook his head. "Again, thank you Cody for making me look bad..."

Cody laughed. "Well, I'm trying my best."

"I can see that. Well, you to be careful when you head back. There's talk of a big snow storm potentially hitting the area on late Sunday afternoon."

"We know. We're planning on being back that afternoon well before it hits. I hope you and your wife had a good Valentine's Day too, Master Chun."

At that moment, they saw the university shuttle pull up out front of the dorm, and they ran as fast as they could to make sure they caught it. Not more than fifteen minutes later, Master Chun was still standing at the desk reviewing some paperwork when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir. I was hoping you can help me out here."

He turned and looked at a young man standing before him. "Certainly. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I stopped over at that library place next door, and they checked their newfangled computer directory for me. They told me that a...friend of mine lives here in this building. I was hoping you could help me find her..."

"I'll certainly try. I like to think I know all of the residents here at Berkeley College. What's your friend's name?"

"Bailey...Bailey Pickett."

Master Chun just shook his head. "I do know Bailey pretty well, but unfortunately, you just missed catching her. She and her fiance, Cody, just left out of here not more than fifteen minutes ago for a Valentine's Day weekend. They said they wouldn't be back until Sunday afternoon..."

"Do you know where they were going?"

Master Chun shrugged. "No clue. I didn't ask them because it wasn't any of my business..."

The young man frowned and shook his head. "Great...I came all the way up here from Kettlecorn, and she ain't even here..."

Boston

That afternoon, Zack returned back to his suite to enjoy the fact that he was completely done for the afternoon. He definitely remembered what Moseby had said to him several weeks before, and he had actually considered talking to Maya about it. But every time he almost did, he ended up chickening out. By that Friday, he figured it wouldn't hurt to put it off until after that weekend. After all, there was no need to potentially get Maya ticked off at him on Valentine's Day, was there?

So, the first thing he did as soon as he got home was to call the dinner cruise company to make sure everything was still a go for the following evening. After getting the reassurance that there wouldn't be any potential bad weather until Sunday, Zack was relieved. He had no desire to go deal with the same worries he had the year before. Of course, the company did ask if either of his parties of two would mind holding off and take the 8:30 cruise instead of the 8:00 PM one he had booked. Zack told them he didn't think so but would call them back if something came up. Once he finished his phone call, he began looking around the suite trying to figure out how to spend his afternoon. But instead of goofing off and playing some video games, he was decided to do the prudent and responsible thing and do some of his homework. A couple of hours later, he was still sitting at the kitchen table hard at work with the front door to the suite swung open. Zack looked up to see Cody walked in holding a garment back and pulling another bag behind him.

"Well, well...the prodigal twin returns..."

When Cody saw his brother sitting there being all studious, he just grinned.

"Well, well...big brother somehow manages to get himself accepted into Harvard's business school and is now hard at work actually studying on a Friday afternoon. I believe you used to have a word for people like that – nerd!"

Zack could only roll his eyes. "Yeah, whatever..." He decided to change the subject. "Where's the wife?"

"Oh, London had left a note for Bailey downstairs to head up to her penthouse as soon as she got in. I think Arturo wants to do a final fitting for Maddie's wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses before the rehearsal. So, she stuck me with our bags while she headed on upstairs. I'm guessing Arturo waited to the last minute to do the final fittings so there wasn't a chance Maddie would get any bigger in 24 hours..."

He winced. "I hope that's enough time. You haven't seen Maddie in over a month. She's gotten...quite large in that time. With her still planning on wearing white tomorrow, you might get images of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man in your head when you see her..."

"Really?" Cody paused and laughed. "Or maybe someone will yell out 'Thar She Blows!', and I'll be looking around for Ishmael, Starbuck, Queegueg and Captain Ahab?"

Zack just gave him a look. "Huh?"

"You know...Moby Dick...the great white whale made famous by Herman Melville's epic novel?"

He rolled his eyes. "And you called me a nerd?"

Cody laughed again. "Anyways, I'm just glad Bailey and I won't have to worry about anything like that happening to us in a few months..."

Zack gave his brother a look. "You better hope not. After some of the things Maya told me about living with you guys last summer, you better go knock on wood just to be on the safe side..."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Zack. No offense to Maddie, but I'm glad our wedding wasn't thrown together in less than three months...

"Well, Broseph, you should consider yourself extremely lucky. But not for that reason. I talking about the fact that you've actually found someone willing to marry you. I still say Bailey needs to get a cat scan to see if there is something wrong with her..." He shook his head. "Oh well, I guess there is the chance I actually will be an uncle someday. And for another thing, you're also lucky that we aren't going to be able to give you a real bachelor party because of everyone's schedules."

Cody shrugged. "No big deal to me."

Zack grinned. "Oh, you're not off the hook yet! All of us guys have been talking, and we're all going take you out for your last day of freedom that Friday before the 4th of July. I think you'll really enjoy what we have cooked up for you..."

"Zack..."

"Don't worry. I got the list you sent me of things that are strictly forbidden, and we've found a way to work around it. So, just be prepared for a long and full day that day. And just because I'm such a nice guy, I'll tell you that London is letting us have the Tipton box suite at Fenway for that game that night. And Broseph, Tapeworm has told me you aren't that big of a drinker, but that will be no excuse that day..."

Cody sighed. "I'm already getting a very bad feeling about this..."

"And no trying to order non-alcoholic beer for yourself and trying to pass it off as a regular one. I know that's something you'd try to do!"

Cody shook his head and sighed. "You know, if you give the same kind of effort to HBS next year that you have to my bachelor party, you'll end up at the top of your class..."

Zack paused and figured this might be the perfect opportunity to finally tell someone other than Moseby about his desire not to go to Harvard. "Well, that would be pretty impossible to do since I'm not going to Harvard next year. I fully plan on staying at BU!"

Cody dropped the bags on the couch and gave his brother a look. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"You heard me. I'm telling Harvard no..." He paused. "...you know, once I find a good way to break that news to Maya, Mom and Mimi..."

Cody looked at his brother incredulously. "Are you insane?"

Zack sighed. "Why do people keep asking me that? Moseby said the exact same thing..."

"Because maybe its true! Zack, you've been accepted to the best business school in the country! Can't you see how big of an opportunity this is for you? Why in the world would you not go?"

"Exactly for that very reason! Codester, you and Bailey may be ivy league material, but I'm not! I know my own limitations, and I know I wouldn't last a semester there!"

"Says who?"

He rubbed his eyes. "Says me!"

Cody paused before shaking his head. For as long as he could remember, directly arguing with Zack never seemed to work out. So, he figured he'd try a different method to try to get through to him. "I never thought I'd ever see this day. I remember growing up thinking that my older brother wasn't afraid of anything...well, except the ghost of Suite 613...and zombies. But now, that same brother is now afraid of failing at something. I wish the twelve year old version of yourself was here to hear you say that! He'd kick your butt!"

Zack yelled back at him. "So, now its wrong that I've grown up and stopped putting myself into positions were I do stupid things?"

"You may have grown up and matured, but it hasn't stopped you from stupid things. Like for example refusing to take advantage of the opportunity of a life time..." He sighed. "You never were afraid of failing at things before. What happened to my brother who failed to graduate junior high and had to go to summer school?"

"Its like I told you before, he grew up. Besides, you of all people have no right to give me hell about this. You yourself were about to turn down Harvard!"

Cody paused. "You know that our situations are completely different. If you want a similar one, imagine if I told you I had decided to go to UMass's medical school instead of Harvard's because I thought it would be too hard."

Zack shook his head and laughed. "Uh uh. That won't work here, Broseph. While those situations may be more similar, you and I are two totally different people. You've been afraid of a lot of things in the past, but never of an academic challenge!"

Cody just looked at his brother before nodding. "You're right. You always were the braver of the two of us growing up..." He paused again. "I'm just trying to figure out now when that switched. I know I've gradually built up my courage over the years. I mean, I stuck my neck out on the line to win Bailey over and then save her when she got possessed by Princess Zaria. And then, I saved all of your lives when you got stuck on the submarine while you wussed out a female wrestler. And then, it was me who practically had to drag you back to save all of those twins at the Gemini Project. So, I'm guessing I passed you up sometime in high school..." He shook his head before shrugging. "I guess it doesn't really matter now though. Maybe you should have been the cowardly lion in Bailey's dream instead of Woody..."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter. This is a sad day to find out the brother I used to look up to is nothing but a pansy and a wuss now..."

Zack glared at him. "Don't forget that I can still whip your butt, Baby Brother!"

"Can you? I kind of seriously doubt it. I mean...if you're afraid of a school, why should I be scared of you? Now that I think about it, you probably wouldn't do anything because you'd get scared of me fighting back and whipping your butt..."

"You think so, huh? Well, lets step outside and I'll prove to you why you should be afraid of what I can do to you!"

Cody shook his head. "No, thank you. I'd prefer that you prove that you aren't afraid of Harvard. Prove to yourself that Harvard isn't more than you can handle. The brother I grew up with wouldn't be afraid of trying it. I mean...what's the worst that can happen?"

Zack was growing angrier. "How about me flunking out?"

"Zack, if you gave it your best effort and flunked out, no one would ever hold that against you. But not to even try? That's something you would regret for the rest of your life. That's the thing about life. Its what you make of it. You can't be afraid to try. If you don't, what's the point of even living then? Someone very wise once told me it was an adventure. But to begin that adventure, you can't be afraid to take the first step..."

And with that, Cody picked up the bags of the couch to take them into the bedroom so he could hang up the garment bag. While he was doing that, Zack stormed out of the suite and pulled out his cell phone to make a call. The rest of that afternoon and evening, Zack was still so angry at Cody that he made a conscious effort to keep from talking or being around him as much as possible. Naturally, as they were ushers for the wedding, that proved to be a little difficult, but he managed it. Even at the rehearsal dinner, he made sure that he and Maya sat across the room from Cody and Bailey. He even managed to avoid saying anything to him as everyone returned to the suite to call it a night. But as they were getting ready for bed, Bailey had noticed something was amiss and had some questions for Cody.

"Okay...what's going on between you and Zack? I'm not blind, Sweetie. It was obvious to at least me that he was purposely avoiding and not talking to you all night. Did something happen between the two of you that I don't know about?"

Cody sighed and filled her in on the conversation/argument that he and Zack had had earlier that afternoon. When he was done, Bailey just looked at him in shock and surprise.

"He's really going to turn down Harvard just because he thinks he might fail?"

He nodded. "Yeah. And he even brought up the fact that I almost turned them down too..."

She shook her head. "That's not the same thing at at all! You had a valid reason for thinking about going elsewhere. He doesn't."

"I tried to tell him the exact same thing, but he wasn't listening to me..." He sighed again. "Looks like my attempt at tough love didn't work out so well..."

Bailey pulled him in for a hug. "Don't blame yourself. The only thing else you could have done would have been to literally give him a kick in the butt. He seriously needs one if he's being that stupid..." She paused. "Maybe its just because of the way you and me are wired, but that seems incomprehensible to me. I mean...I dared to leave behind everything I ever knew to head to the boat, and you fought with everything you had to get in to Yale. We both saw the educational opportunities of a lifetime and didn't let anything get in our ways from obtaining them..."

Cody squeezed her close to him even tighter. "I know. But Zack can be just as stubborn as I am, and we both know how stubborn I can be. It took a lot to make me realizing how stupid I had been about us our senior year. He's going to need something major to happen to him that will force him to realize that he's wrong about this..."

The Large Tipton Ballroom

The next afternoon, everyone celebrated the wedding of Maddie and Trevor. The actual ceremony itself had been held at Maddie's family's church, the Cathedral of Holy Cross. And for those in attendance who had never been to a Catholic wedding before, they had been in for quite the surprise and were worn out by the end of it. Of course, everything went off with a hitch, and Maddie and Trevor were now officially husband and wife. London had gone all out, and the large ballroom at the Tipton was decorated exquisitely for the reception. Everyone gathered as the usual reception festivities began. And even though they had been ushers together, Zack had still found a way to get by without saying a single word to his brother, and it looked like he was going to continue on with that same approach at the reception. Whenever Cody and Bailey would be on one side of the ballroom, Zack would steer Maya over to the other one. Cody and Bailey knew what he was doing, but they refused to allow him to ruin Maddie's reception. And at one point, Maddie slipped away from her guests to sit next to Cody and Bailey at their table.

She smiled at them. "Well, I guess you two are next to go through all of this. Here's a little bit of advice, Bailey - be thankful that your wedding dress won't have any elastic in it!"

Bailey laughed. "Well, I don't think it will, but I won't know for sure until I actually try it on for the first time in a few weeks..."

"And another thing, I commend you for having everyone go barefoot. My feet are killing me in these heels!"

Cody grinned. "Well, to be fair, Maddie, our wedding won't be a Catholic one. There won't be the constant standing up and sitting down like yours had. I'm sure its a very nice denomination, but after today, I'm glad neither Bailey nor I are Catholic..."

Maddie laughed. "Yeah, Catholic weddings to tend to drag on and on, don't they?"

"You can say that again. I'm pretty sure ours won't even last half as long as yours did..."

Bailey couldn't help but to roll her eyes. "Don't listen to him, Maddie. Cody and I decided to write our own vows, so knowing Cody, ours could end up lasting twice as long as yours. I'm seriously considering giving him a time limit that he has to get out whatever it is he's going to say. I mean, I'd rather not still be standing there when the tide comes in..."

He just gave her a look. "So, its a bad thing that I want to fully express to all of our family and friends just how much I love you?"

She smiled at him. "No, not at all. But lets be a little realistic here, Sweetie...you can be a little...verbose at times."

"You act like that's a bad thing!"

Maddie laughed again. "All I know is I can't wait to see how you handle this. You know, Bailey, you could even pull an Oscars and have the string quartet begin playing if he begins to drone on and on. You just need to arrange a signal to give them..."

Bailey laughed too. "Hmmm...you know, Maddie, I think you may be on to something there..."

Cody just sighed. "Great..."

She elbowed him. "I'm just teasing you, Cody. I would never do that do you - unless you had been going on for a real long time with no indication that you were close to wrapping it up." She turned back to Maddie. "Changing the subject, you've got to be pretty excited these days for another reason. What are you now? About five weeks away from your due date?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm due a few days after St. Patrick's Day. I'm not sure who is more eager for it to finally come to an end – me or Trevor..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, I've loved carrying our child...especially since Trevor's been back, but I'm tired of being as big as a whale. I miss seeing my feet when I stand up and not crying at those stupid telephone company commercials. And I know Trevor is getting tired of my hormonal mood swings and my late night cravings. He said he and the guy at the 24 hour Dunkin Donuts near our place are now on a first name basis."

Bailey winced. "Wow...I'm sorry to hear all of that..."

Cody nodded. "Me too. I now have a better idea of what I have to look forward to in a few years..." He paused and grinned. "Maybe its a good thing that our new place has a Dunkin' Donuts right down the street from it. That way, I won't have to drive there. And if the guy there will give me a number to call, I can call in whatever Bailey wants as I walk there and have it ready to be picked up when I get there. As for mood swings, well...thankfully our place will have an exercise room for me to escape to for a little while..."

She just turned and gave him a look. "Cody!"

He laughed. "Hey...just teasing your right back, Sweetie."

Maddie laughed. "Something tells me that when its time for you two to have your first child that its going to be fun to watch...from a distance. All I know you two better hurry up and get through medical school. My child is going to need his or her pediatrician..."

"Still haven't found out what you're having yet, huh?"

"Nope. And I don't want to know. I've made it this long without knowing, so..."

"Well, if you want a pediatrician, that would be Bailey. I still have no clue what I want to specialize in yet..."

Maddie laughed again. "I still think you should be an obstetrician. You know, you could deliver them and then Bailey could treat them once they are born. You two could make quite the one-two punch..." She looked around and sighed. "Alright, as much fun as this has been, I guess I should mingle around some more. Plus, this little guy or gal is sitting on my bladder right now. You'll see how much fun that is too in a few years. See you two later." She paused. "I guess when you guys come back for spring break in a few weeks."

The rest of the reception continued on, and like they had planned, Maddie and Trevor made their exit from the reception by six o'clock that evening so that all of their guests could still have their own Valentine's Day plans that evening. But before they did, they did do the timeworn tradition of tossing the bouquet and garter. All the single men and women were supposed to gather in the middle of the dance floor, but Cody and Bailey declined to participate as they didn't feel it was appropriate. While they were technically still single, they felt they were close enough to being married not to qualify. When the bouquet was tossed, London boxed everyone else out for it and came away with it. She began jumping up and down in excitement as Todd just shook his head and smiled. But the real surprise was when Trevor shot the garter straight up and it landed on Zack's shoulder without him trying to make a play for it. Rather, he looked at it in horror as Maya and Carey both teased him about it.

Once Trevor and Maddie made their departure, Cody and Bailey both stuck around to help clean up a little, and it was close to seven by the time they got back upstairs to the suite. Fortunately, Maddie had chose bridesmaid dresses that weren't hideous and could be worn for other occasions. So, both didn't need to change clothes before heading back out that evening. But when they got to the suite, Cody found a envelope with his name on it. Opening it up, he found their two tickets with a note from Zack saying he had switched their dinner cruise to one starting at 8:30 while Zack and Maya would still be going on the 8:00 one.

Cody just sighed. "Looks like he's not going to get over being ticked at me for a while then..."

The Dinner Cruise

Zack made sure he and Maya left the reception as soon as Maddie and Trevor had. He had wanted to immediately leave the hotel, but Maya had said she needed to head upstairs to freshen up some. Reluctantly, he agreed, but he realized that he could just leave Cody and Bailey's tickets up there. That way, he wouldn't have to give them to his mother and come up with an excuse as to why he just didn't give them directly to them. Fortunately, Maya was ready to go rather quickly, and they made their way over to the pier on the St. Charles river. After being seated at there table, Zack took a deep breath as he and Maya took the opportunity to enjoy the view from the window next to their table.

"So much better weather than last year. I don't think we have to worry about the river freezing around us this year..."

Zack laughed. "Yeah, that's definitely a major perk."

Maya smiled at him. "Well, this has certainly been a very full and interesting Valentine's Day. Even though the ceremony seemed like it was never going to end, it was very beautiful. And Maddie seemed to be practically glowing..."

"Yeah, I'm just glad we got through it without her going into labor. For some reason, I could have seen something like that happening to all of us..."

She laughed. "You know, I can too..." She paused and decided to tease him. "Of course, we did get a brief moment of comedy when the garter landed on your shoulder. I thought you were going to freak out there for a minute..."

He shook his head. "I was just caught off guard. I was actually checking the time to make sure we weren't going to be late for here when I felt something land on the shoulder. You're the physics expert from this summer, how did that happen exactly?"

"Like I remember any of that now..." She kept teasing him though. "But maybe the same thing will happen to you at Cody and Bailey's wedding this summer? If it happens twice, I think somebody is trying to tell you something..."

"I'll just threaten to kill him if he aims it at me..."

Maya began laughing. "Well, maybe then I'll be able to get better positioning on London then too. With the way she boxed out, she could teach Amare and Carmelo a thing or two about rebounding..."

"No thank you. Even though they won on Christmas, the Celtics in full rebuilding mode now. I don't want the Knicks to have any more advantages for you to taunt me with. Its bad enough that the Heat, Bulls, and Pacers are all still better as well as the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets..." Zack laughed too. "Besides, London is tougher than she looks. You remember Bailey saying that London knows Shoe Jitsu? Well, she can actually throw one of her shoes as a weapon..."

"Really? You mean like it Austin Powers"

"Exactly! And if she has high heels on, that could actually cause some real damage..."

"Well, I hope she and Todd are having a wonderful evening out tonight too. I bet there going somewhere really nice."

"You could say that. They're flying out to Vegas..."

"Wow..." Maya paused. "You know, I kind of thought that Cody and Bailey might have joined us out tonight. With them being in town for the weekend, I figured this would be right up their alley too..."

Zack let out a nervous laugh. "Oh...ummm...I think they made other plans for tonight. Not sure what though because I...ummm...didn't get a chance to talk to them at the reception."

Maya paused again and frowned. "You know, now that you mention it, I didn't either. It seemed like they were always on the other side of the room. I wonder what was up with that?" She paused again as she kept thinking. "Now that I think about it, it seems like we've hardly seen them at all since they've been here for the weekend. I think I spoke to Bailey for a few minutes at the rehearsal dinner, but that's it..."

He grabbed her hands. "Maya...Babe...Its Valentine's Day. I'd much rather spending our time focusing on you and me. No offense, but thinking about my brother doesn't exactly set a romantic mood for me..."

She smiled. "Fair enough. And since we have a few minutes before our dinner gets here, lets go dance. I love this song..."

The Suite on the 23rd Floor

That night, Zack and Maya decided to go do some dancing and then hit a midnight showing of the Sex and the City movie. Normally, Zack would rather have slit his wrists than watch that movie, but he figured if he could suffer through it, the odds of them running into Cody and Bailey that evening or the next morning would be greatly diminished. And it seemed like he was right. The next morning, Cody and Bailey woke up early so they could begin gathering their things to head back to New Haven. Since they had some time, they decided to head out for breakfast. But when they were walking back to the Tipton, they noticed the clouds were looking rather ominous. Realizing the bad weather might be getting there sooner than forecasted, they hurried back to the hotel so they could get on the road as soon as possible. Cody took their bags down to the car while Bailey did the one last check to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. And once she was sure they hadn't, she was about to head down to join him at the car. But before she could exit the suite, the door to Zack and Maya's bedroom opened and Maya walked out yawning.

"You two heading back so soon?"

Bailey nodded. "Yeah, when we went out for breakfast, we noticed the clouds. Looked to us that the storm that is supposed to hit this afternoon may be getting here sooner than we thought. So, we're hoping if we leave now, we'll miss as much of it as we can."

"Probably a good idea. Well, it was good seeing you two again. I just wish we had had more time to hang out this weekend though."

"Well, we'll be back in three weeks for spring break, but I'm pretty sure the reason we didn't hang out that much this weekend was because of Zack being so angry at Cody."

Maya frowned. "Why is he angry at Cody?"

Bailey just raised her eyebrows in surprise. "He didn't tell you?"

"Uh uh...what happened?"

"Well, Cody basically called Zack a coward because he said he was going to turn down Harvard Business School because he thought he would fail at it..."

Maya's eyes went wide. "He did what?"

Bailey paused and tried to cover for Cody. "Well, Cody was just trying to use a little tough love on him to try to get him to change his mind..."

She cut her off. "No, not that! Did you just say that Zack said he was turning down Harvard?"

Bailey swallowed as she realized she had once again said something she probably shouldn't have. "You didn't know that either?"

"Uh uh, I had no idea that he was going to do that..." Maya shook her head and took a deep breath. "Looks like Zack and I need to have a little talk as soon as he wakes up..."

Not wanting to be there for that, Bailey made a hasty exit. "Good luck. I hate to drop a bomb on you like that and run, but I really need to get going so we can stay ahead of the weather. See you guys in a few weeks...I hope."

A couple of hours later, Zack finally woke up himself after sleeping in late that Sunday morning. And after using the bathroom, he walked out in to the main part of the suite. And that's when he noticed Maya sitting on the couch staring at him with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"You okay, Babe?"

She looked up at him. "No, I'm not. In fact...I'm furious!"

Zack paused trying to think of anything he might have done to have caused that. "About what?"

Maya glared at him hard. "About the fact that I had to find out from Bailey that you're turning down Harvard! You and I need to talk now!"

New Haven

About that same time, on Yale's campus, Cody and Bailey unlocked the door to their dorm room and carried their bags back inside. Both were grateful that they have avoided any bad weather on the drive back. Rather, just as the shuttle dropped them off right in front of Berkeley, snow began to fall on them. And as it did, both just looked at the other in relief. But, they smiled too as they realized they had nowhere they had to be the rest of the day. So, once they got back to their room and hung up their dress clothes, they both slumped back on to the futon to relax.

"Well, looks like we're probably going to be stuck inside for the rest of the day..."

Cody grinned at her. "You act like that's a bad thing..."

Bailey smiled back at him. "I never said that. But I do think I quiet afternoon alone sounds really good right now."

"Sounds good to me too." He checked his watch. "Tell you what. If you don't mind unpacking the rest of our bags, I'll head down the street to that Chinese take out place we both like. When I get back, we can channel surf and see if there's anything on as we eat lunch..." He grinned again. "...and then see what else we want to do afterwards..."

"Sounds perfect to me, Sweetie."

"You want your usual?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but get me an extra egg roll too."

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Bails, I already factored in an extra one as part of your usual. And two fortune cookies too, right?"

She smiled. "You got it. You know me so well..."

"Darn right I do! Okay, I'll call it in as I walk, so I should be back in a little bit."

"Hurry back."

Once Cody donned his winter coat again and headed out, Bailey finished unpacking their bags. When she finished, she smiled as she thought of something. Cody might have surprised her on Friday morning, but she had a surprise for him that afternoon. And like for his birthday, she had a Valentine's Day gift for him that technically wasn't for him. She slipped it on, and was admiring how it looked in their mirror, when she heard a knock at the door.

"Wow...that was fast. They must have had it ready for him to pick up as soon as he got there. The weather must be slowing down their business today..."

So, she donned her big fluffy robe to hide her present for Cody until later and walked out to their door. She checked the peephole out of habit, but the person outside had dark hair. So, it wasn't Cody, and it didn't look like anyone else she thought it could be either. Cracking the door, she stuck her head out to see who it was. But when she saw who was standing there, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and sighed.

"Moose? What are you doing here?"

To be Continued...

AN: Happy 4th of July to everyone! Hope most of you aren't in a severe heat wave where the local government has banned fireworks due to the fear of them setting everything on fire. Anyways, its good to have a day off again. And, it was nice to see I got my first hate review in a long time. I had almost forgotten what one felt like. But, its seems the band of abysmal hacks is back being even more pathetic than ever. They actually asked how I write so much with still being in law school. I guess they weren't paying attention to my story When Two Worlds Collide when I mentioned graduating and taking the bar. Heck, it was last June that I did take that test. But, I guess anything they can do to try to bash me with fits their agenda. I hear rumors they are trying to post their crap stories again. I would strongly encourage everyone to avoid them. They are best used to line the bottom of a birdcage with. Oh well, again, Happy 4th of July! lol