I'm Right Here by Rose Haze

Disclaimer: I do not own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

A/N: First of all, I want to thank everybody who reviewed. That really meant a lot to me. Individual responses are at the bottom of the chapter! Alright, I have a question for everybody: Have they ever mentioned the father's name on the show? Or is it mentioned on a website somewhere? Because I have been calling him "Austin" in my story, but I'm not sure if he has a real name that I am unaware of. If you do know his name, please let me know :) Now on to the chapter...

"Hope, the patent medicine for disease, disaster, sin." –Wallace Rice

Chapter Three

At the Hospital

Zack stared out the window of the car the whole way to the hospital. Thousands of thoughts raced through his mind. He thought about how he was just complaining (to himself) about how Cody was always around. He thought about the last things he said to him—telling him that he didn't have a life and saying that the only point of having a twin brother was so he could do his homework for him. But the one thought that was torturing Zack more than anything was that he knew that this was all his fault. If Zack hadn't caused all the trouble with the Devereux's, his mom would have picked up Cody when she was supposed to and he never would have gotten hit by the car.

As soon as they got to the hospital they went to the emergency room on the first floor. Carey ran to the front desk.

"I'm Carey Martin," she told the receptionist, "They brought my son, Cody in a little while ago. He—"

"Carey! Oh, thank goodness you're here!"

Carey and Zack looked up and saw Mrs. King rushing towards them. Mrs. King was the teacher who supervised the Trig Club. Her eyes were red rimmed like she had been crying. She pulled Carey and Zack into a hug.

"Tell me exactly what happened," said Carey.

"After the meeting the kids were getting picked up. Eventually Cody was the only one left so I offered to drive him home but he said he wanted to walk home. The next thing I knew he was walking out of the library and he was gone. I went outside to get in my car and all of the sudden I saw a huge group of people crowded around the street. It was because of Cody..."

A police officer and a doctor approached Carey. They wore somber expressions.

"Ma'am," said the officer, "Are you Cody Martin's mother?"

"Yes," she replied, "Is he okay? Can we see him?"

"He's in surgery right now," the doctor said, "it'll be a few more hours. And we won't know the extent of his injuries until he wakes up."

Zack bit his lip. Things didn't sound good. Not at all.

"Why don't we go somewhere where we can talk in private?" The police officer suggested gently.

Mrs. King squeezed Carey's shoulder, "Call me," she said softly, "let me know if there is anything I can do."

Carey and Zack followed them into a small, secluded room. Zack felt really dizzy, so he was glad when they all sat down.

"Okay," the doctor said once they were all sitting down, I'm Dr. Harrison, and this is Officer Ryan."

"I want to know exactly what happened to my son and what you are doing about it." Carey said.

"It was a hit and run," Officer Ryan told her, "a dark blue Tiburon according to the witnesses."

"Is he okay?" Zack asked, speaking for the first time since they left the hotel, "Can he come home after the surgery?"

Dr. Harrison sighed, "When the car hit him he fractured his skull. We started prepping him for surgery in the ambulance on the way here... right now he's in a coma."

Zack felt all of the air leave his lungs. Those words echoed in his head. 'He's in coma- he's in a coma- he's in a coma..'. He blinked back tears, 'My brother is in a coma. Cody is in a coma. Cody…'

"Zack? Zack!" Zack opened his eyes. Dr. Harrison, Officer Ryan, and his mom were all hovering above him. The lights on the ceiling were shining brightly in his eyes—and that's when he realized that he was lying flat on his back on the floor.

"Honey, are you okay?" Carey asked nervously.

"Yeah," he replied. He sat up—a little too quickly. The room began to spin.

"Zack?" said Dr. Harrison gently, "why don't you sit down on the couch."

Carey helped him up. Dr. Harrison stood and went to the table on the other side of the room. There was a coffee maker, creams, cups, and an ice box on the table. He gave Zack an ice cube and told him to hold it to his cheek. Zack still felt light headed. He took a few deep breaths and tried to shake the dizziness away. Carey stroked his back and kissed him on the side of his forehead, trying to comfort him.

Zack was sort of embarrassed. He never passed out before in his life, and now his mom was making a big deal about it. He returned his thoughts to Cody.

"When will Cody wake up from the coma?" Zack asked.

"It is impossible to tell," Dr. Harrison answered, "it will be another couple of hours before he's out of surgery. Once he's out we will be able to tell you more about his condition. But he won't wake up until he's ready to. It could be days, weeks, or even longer."

'Or never,' Zack thought, 'he might never wake up.'

"So what happens now?" Carey asked.

Dr. Harrison stood up, "I have a team of doctors working on your son. I will let you know if anything happens. I have to go now, but if you have any questions you can ask when I come back to check in on you."

Officer Ryan stood up also, "I'll be in touch with you soon," he told them, "I already sent the police report to the station. I'll let you know as soon as we get any leads as to who was driving the car."

"Thank you," Carey said weakly.

"Is there anything I can do for you before I go?" asked Dr. Harrison, "any questions I can answer?"

"I have a question," Zack said, "Is Cody—he's gonna live, right?"

"We're going to try out hardest to make that happen."

Dr. Harrison's answer did not satisfy Zack.

"If you guys want to be by yourselves, take all the time you need. You are free to stay in the waiting room until Cody's out of surgery."

The doctor and the officer left Carey and Zack alone. They sat in silence for a minute—not even looking at each other. Finally, Carey broke the ice.

"Zack," she said softly, "do you want to talk about this?"

Zack was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his face resting in his hands, "I can't believe this is happening."

Carey wrapped her arms around Zack and squeezed him tightly. He didn't resist at all. He fell into her embrace and hugged her too. She started to cry softly. Zack closed his eyes to keep his own tears inside.

"Come on," Carey said, wiping her eyes, "let's go to the waiting room..." she paused, "Or maybe we should stay in here for awhile so you can lay down. You're probably feeling a little dizzy still, aren't you?"

"No, I feel better now. We can go sit in the waiting room."

"Of course you don't feel better," Carey said gently, "You just fainted a couple minutes ago, Zack. And you had that headache earlier today, and on top of all this, you just heard some very shocking news. I want you to take it easy."

"I'm fine," Zack insisted, "you're the one who should take it easy. And you should be worrying about Cody—not about me."

Carey's expression softened, "maybe we should both take it easy."

Together they went back to the waiting room. Mrs. King was still there, and so were some other kids from the library with their parents. While Carey filled them in on what was going on with Cody, Zack sat down and thought about what Dr. Harrison said.

'We're going to try our hardest to make that happen.'

He crossed his fingers that their 'hardest' would be good enough to save Cody.

To be continues…

Thank you to everyone who reviewed:

Britt119: Thanks for both of your reviews!

Optimistic Girl94: Typing more:p

Hearts Corruption: It made sense to me, lol. Thank you very much.

Spork Princess: I decided to hurt Cody (I feel like such a sadist saying that lol) because I wanted to explore Zack's emotional side. I'm glad you like this.

Kaoticjellybean: Thank you very much for the review!

Olivetree1: Wow, thanks for the compliment! I agree, the tsl characters are rather one-dimensional. I'm glad that you think that they are in character. Thank you for reviewing!

Solitaire's Mornie: Thank you for the review. As for the Stephan King reference, 237 (the Devereux's hotel room number) is a number that he uses frequently.

Thanks, guys! Keep reviewing!