A/N: Thanks as always to WoundedHearts for betaing

Chapter 5: Rolls of thunder

Bailey looked down at her watch noticing it was already 6:45. She sighed wondering if he would ever show up. Cody was supposed to have been there 45 minutes ago, but there was still no sign of him. She was shocked when he wasn't there early, and even more so with each passing minute. It wasn't like him to be late or forget about something this important. She knew something had to have happened to keep him.

Getting up from her seat, she paid the clerk for the drink she had and began walking back toward the ship. Most people would be angry if their boyfriend stood them up on their first date, but she was more worried than mad. For as long as she had known Cody, he'd always been there for her. If he'd gone through all that to get her to go out with him there would be no way he'd just stand her up on the first date. She was really worried for him.

Walking down the street, she saw a fire in the distance with smoke filling the sky. "Oh no," she said softly to herself. Several fire trucks zoomed past her calming her fears. She just hoped that everyone was okay. A blaze like that could change someone's life in a matter of seconds.

She quickly forgot about the fire though once she made it back to the ship. The first thing she did once on board, was run to Cody's room and pound on his door. However, after waiting for a response for several minutes, she figured he must not be there. Instead, she went across the hall to Zack's room. She thought he might be with his brother or at the very least Zack would know where he was. However, there was still no response.

She was genuinely worried now, but she refused to give into her panic, at least not yet. After all, there had to be a perfectly good reason why Cody missed their date and why neither he nor Zack were in their rooms.

The next person she thought to ask would be her roommate. After all, she had known the twins for many years so they could be with her. He'd give Cody a piece of her mind for missing the date, but at least that would mean Cody was alright.

"How'd the date go?" London asked once she entered their room.

"He never showed up," Bailey answered. There went that theory.

"You should probably dump him," London answered thinking back to all the times guys had stood her up.

"I'm sure there's a good reason for him not being there," Bailey said in his defense. "So you haven't heard anything from him then London?"

She merely shook her head no.

"In that case I'm going to keep looking," Bailey told her.

Once she left her room, she tried thinking about all the other places he could be. She remembered that Woody was sick the night before due to some food poisoning, so maybe that got to Cody too. Those shrimp had caused problems before, so maybe it happened again. So she then decided to pay the infirmary a visit.

"Hey Bailey, what are you doing here?" Woody asked seeing her come in the door.

"Looking for Cody," she said softly.

"Why, is he okay?"

"I'll tell you once he gives me an explanation for missing our date."

"That's not like him at all."

"I know." Bailey had already tried talking to all the people who might be with them, so she was getting worried. It's not like people just randomly disappear off the face of the earth.

"Have you asked Zack where he was?"

"Couldn't find him either."

"London?"

"She hadn't seen him."

"Moseby?"

"It's worth a shot," Bailey said shrugging her shoulders. Maybe he hadn't been able to get off work or had to help with something on the ship. Although the least he could do was call.

"Hey Moseby?" she asked hesitantly as she opened the door to his office.

"Can I help you with something Bailey?" he said still focused on the papers lying on his desk.

"Well I was wondering if you had seen Cody recently."

"I think I saw him on the sky deck about an hour and a half ago, why?"

"Well, he was supposed to meet me for a date an hour ago and never showed up, and no one else had seen him."

"That's not like him," Moseby said echoing her thoughts.

"Any idea where he could be?" she asked.

Moseby tried to think of another place Cody could be, but before he could offer any suggestions, his phone rang. "Hold on just a second," he said as he answered his phone.

"Marion Moseby, ship manager at your service."

"Yes, they are students on the ship," he answered the person on the other line.

The manager's eyes widened and his hand went straight to his heart. "Are you sure, I mean do you know it's them?" he frantically asked. He ran for his chair and began breathing heavily. Bailey could swear she saw a tear fall down his cheek. It was rare for her to see Moseby show emotion, well except for anger but that was normally reserved the trouble making students.

"I guess it couldn't really be any others then. Th-thank you for calling." Moseby hung up the phone and let his head fall into his hands. To her complete shock, he began sobbing uncontrollably.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He didn't know how to respond, especially after getting such terrible news. He wanted to lie to her, to come up with a story that would make everything better. He knew though, that he had to tell her and that lying wouldn't do anything to change what happened. "A man called asking if I knew Zack and Cody." He paused for a second and she nodded. She knew that something terrible must have happened to affect Moseby in that way. "There was a horrible fire in town today, apparently lightning struck the flower shop where the twins were," he said somberly.

"Are they okay?" she frantically asked.

Moseby gently shook his head. "The fire was too fast and neither of them could escape." The manager could hardly bring himself to utter the next words. "They both died."

"No. No, it has to be a mistake. Maybe it was someone else." This couldn't have been happening. Just a day ago, Cody had made her the happiest girl in the world, and now he was gone. No, this was impossible.

"They found their id cards on the bodies. They couldn't be anyone else."

Bailey couldn't accept it. It was impossible that the man of her dreams had really died in just a random fire. No, it couldn't be true; there was no way. It was just a cruel joke; it had to be. Zack must have put them all up to this, to mess with her. She was on one of those hidden camera shows, that was it, anything but the fact that they were both dead.

"Bailey, are you okay?" Moseby said as he stood and gently wrapped an arm around her.

"No, it can't be true," she said shaking her head as the tears fell staining the manager's suit. He didn't care that such a superficial item was ruined, when two people he cared about deeply were taken from this world.

One week later

"You in there?"

Bailey was half-asleep when a voice woke her. She'd been doing that a lot lately, drifting between the realms of sleep and reality for hours on end. "Yeah, door's open," she softly said.

"Well here is the homework Tutwiler assigned today," Woody said setting several pages on Bailey's desk. He was about to leave, but he knew he had to do something for his friend, so he sat her on bed and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

She shook her head in response. How could anyone be okay after something like that? Tears began pouring down her cheek, covering her pillow in a small puddle. She couldn't believe there were any tears left in her eyes.

"Don't cry; Cody wouldn't want you to just lay here in bed."

"Cody," she said softly. It was the name that brought her so much happiness; ever since they first met, she felt something for him and was so happy when they were finally together. It was also the name that brought her so much sorrow, with his untimely death.

"Yeah, he'd want you to get out in the world and live, to go win those Nobel prizes for peace, science, and baking for him."

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I know Zack would want me to continue pranking the ship for him, so I'm not going to let him down, and you shouldn't let Cody down either."

"You might have a point," Bailey said as a smile came to her face for the first time in the week.

"Of course, how could anyone question the great Woodman?"

She sat up and embraced her friend in a hug. "Whatever you say Woodman."

"How about dinner on the sky deck followed by putting itching powder in Kirby's underwear? It has to be better than sitting in your room crying all night."

"That actually sounds like fun."