.:Epilogue:.

Zack reached up and pulled down the edges of his black beanie, making sure his ears were covered. His breath clouded in front of his face, swirling up towards the night sky dotted with stars and a half-full moon. Bringing his hands up, Zack blew on them, rubbing them together, and then shoved them into the front pocket of his equally black sweatshirt. Sniffing loudly, he continued to walk through Liberty Park, nodding to whoever passed him on the dimly lit trail.

He and his friends had spent many afternoons there, staying until dark and racing to get back to their houses so they'd be home in time for dinner. He hadn't been there in a long time, since they had all gotten into high school, usually preferring to go to the Boston Harbor. It was calming, though. All of the memories he had there was helping lift his spirits. It was tough being back in Boston, more than he thought it would be. Prom was great, as he thought it would be, but there was still a part of him that was detached from the whole thing.

He danced, ate, talked to teachers that were happy to see him back, forgetting about his treatment. Having dinner that night, when everyone was around, it was difficult for him, knowing they were trying not to bring attention to it. Moose didn't seem to have the same sort of tact as he constantly talked about his diet and workout plan while on the farm. He didn't think the guy was trying to make him feel bad; nonetheless Bailey did a good job of wrangling him and his comments in whenever the time came.

I'm going to have to get used to it if he's transferring to our school for the next year, Zack thought. He gave a wry smile. It should definitely make things interesting. He had seen how some of the girls at the dance were drooling over the teen from Kettlecorn. If it wasn't for Bailey continuing to deny she wanted to get back together with him, Zack would have thought she was jealous.

It was the tamest thing that happened that night and he was glad. Proms and dances were always some sort of drama magnet that he wanted to avoid like the plague, the only reason he had ever gone was because Max wanted to go and because all of his friends were going. Yeah, having been nominated for the Prom Prince the year before blew up his ego, but not even being nominated for Prom King this year helped bring him into the celebration.

"They only voted for me because they wanted to make me feel better for what happened," Zack complained, shaking his head. Max, who was sitting at the table beside him, rolled her eyes.

"Dude, dwell much?" She asked, reaching out and gently hitting him on the arm. "Who cares why you were nominated?" She leaned forward, looking at him seriously. "We're all just glad that you decided to show at all. We weren't sure if you were going to come."

Zack snorted. His eyes moved over the dance floor as his classmates danced enthusiastically to the high energy music that was playing. The loud music was already starting to give him a headache, but he wanted to stick it out a little longer. He deserved to be happy, and he was going to get there no matter how long it took.

"I'm starting to wonder if it was a good idea," Zack said honestly. He slouched down in his seat, rolling up the sleeves of his button down shirt. "Being around all of these people is just so weird."

"What did you expect to do?" Max's eyebrows furrowed together. "Hide out?"

"Not exactly." Zack rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm talking to Mom about finishing the rest of the school year at home and then going back next year." He shrugged. "It's probably better that I slowly try to go back into all of this craziness and everything."

"Please!" Max laughed, tucking some loose hair behind her ear. "You're the cause of all of the craziness that goes on around here!"

"I know," Zack said honestly. He grinned. "I just figured I'd give it some time before I go back to my wild ways." He ran a hand through his hair. "Of course Mr. Moseby is my first target, I'm just lulling him into a false sense of security."

Max laughed again. She stood up and grabbed onto Zack's hand lifting him up as well. "Before you do all that, maybe you can put that brain to good use and figure out how a slow dance works."

"If memory serves correctly, I'm a master at dancing," Zack reminded her as he followed her onto the dance floor. "I was your partner for that dance competition wasn't I?" He pulled her into his chest, holding one hand in hers, the other hand resting on her lower back.

"Yeah, and you were the one that didn't listen to me when I said that you were going to hurt yourself by goofing off."

"You can't tell me what to do and expect me to actually do it."

"I can, actually. It's called common sense."

"Unfortunately it's not all that common."

Max smiled wickedly, reaching up and gently pinching him on the cheek. "You've proven that ages ago, Zack." Zack brushed her hand away and Max rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to sway to the music that swelled around them. While he was having a good time, Zack had decided to duck out early, not wanting to spoil everyone else's night, and found himself wandering the park.

Zack walked over to a bench and sat down, spinning a toothpick around his mouth with his tongue. Reaching back, he rested his right arm on the top of the bench and slouched down, crossing his legs at the knee. He let out a deep breath, sitting in silence, taking in everything around him.

His mind drifted back to his friends and family; they had been so worried when he was put in the hospital, excited when he got back out, and was treating him normally when he was at the dance. If they could get over what he went through, he could too.

It was going to be tough, but he was going to do it.

A/N: Alright, that was the last chapter of the story. Thank you for all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts for the story. It means a lot that you all liked the idea of the story and what I had to say while writing it (though I had my idea change a lot throughout writing it as you could probably tell). Like I said before, I'm going to do Downfall for a while so I'll be getting back into writing action/adventure stories again. The sequels to this will focus a bit more on teenage problems as well as what Zack's and Cody's immediate plots are.

Thanks, Charlotte Pierce, for PMing and asking about this story from the first time it was written. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have done this story at all. It was fun and I'm enjoying planning out the rest of the stories so I hope you enjoy those when they're done. Thanks again to everyone for reading.

Cheers,

-Riles