A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my reviewers! Your great response to this story thus far completely made my day. Hope you enjoy the last two chapters just as much!


Like God, Head Injuries Work in Mysterious Ways

Bailey reached the safety of her cabin and sighed, closing the door behind her. It had only been two days since Cody had been released from the hospital and she was already starting to rethink the wisdom of not telling him about the breakup. She had never realized how much time she spent with Cody and the gang before- classes in the morning, lunch, studying after school, games and movies and just plain hanging out in the evening... Keeping up the act in front of Cody was difficult for all his friends (and almost impossible for London, who could luckily be sidetracked at any time with a shiny piece of tin foil), but for Bailey, who was still reeling from the reality of their breakup, it was nigh on impossible. Cody obviously knew something was wrong with her, but he didn't understand what.

Sinking onto her bed, Bailey flipped open her calculus book and started working on her homework, thankful that the soothing repetitions of derivations and integrations were distracting her from thinking about Cody. Since their anniversary she'd been an emotional wreck- angry at him for his anal behavior on their date, hurt by his words during their fight, devastated by their breakup, frightened by his accident, and so very, very relieved by his recovery... Not to mention the anxiety she felt about his current memory loss. At this point she didn't know which to fear more: that his condition would worsen and his memories would never return, or that he would remember what happened and be angry at her for lying to him. Their friendship was already on the rocks because of trust issues- what if this little act was what made the damage irreparable?

Glancing down at her empty paper, Bailey quickly realized that her homework was not doing a very good job of distracting her. She quickly copied down the first equation when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Just as she'd feared, Cody entered, perching casually on the side of her bed. "Hey, Bails... Doing calc without me?"

Bailey smiled guiltily. She and Cody were the only two students who'd elected to take the advanced calculus class, and they always collaborated on their homework, helping each other out and checking their own work. "I've barely started." she confessed. "I guess I've just been busy."

Cody smiled back and gave her a half-shrug. "I'm here if you need help." he said. "I guess I should get working on it too. I don't think the ol' 'head injury' excuse is going to work on the teachers much longer."

"Yeah, right." Bailey laughed. They both knew Cody hadn't made the slightest attempt to use his accident as an excuse for slacking off. In fact, he continued to keep up with his homework even after the teachers granted him extra time on his assignments. "Speaking of which, how's the head today?" She held her breath waiting for the answer- would today be the day he remembered?

"Better." Cody said. "It barely hurts at all, and I'm finding it a lot easier to focus. My depth perception is back and everything!" he joked, referring to the way his balance had been affected by the concussion.

"Fantastic!" Bailey said encouragingly. "The, uh, the bruise looks better." Cody had been left with a hell of a shiner when he hit his head- the bruise had extended from his temple and forehead to the area around his eye. However, today it seemed that the swelling had gone down, and the angry purple color was beginning to fade to a yellowish-brown.

"Huh, that's not what London said." Cody remarked. "She's been on my back all day about how my face doesn't match my outfit."

"I meant from a medical standpoint, not a fashion standpoint." Bailey grinned. Cody always knew what to say to make her smile. Either that, or make her spitting mad. "Fashionably speaking, brown and black don't match any better than they ever did. Even a backcountry farm girl knows that." she teased, plucking at the fabric of his black "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate" t-shirt.

Cody snatched her hand as she pulled away, a teasing smile on his lips. "I'm sure London would be glad to hear it." he scooted closer to her, shutting her textbook with one hand and sliding it aside.

Bailey knew what was coming next by the way her heart was fluttering. She had tried her hardest not to be alone with Cody over the past two days- all they had really done was hold hands- but she had a feeling this encounter was about to be less casual... and what was worse: she wanted it to be. "Hey! I thought you liked the way I dress!" Bailey protested, scooting back a few inches.

Cody leaned in on his hands, brushing their lips together briefly. "I do." he said in a low voice. "I especially like..." Slowly, he brought one hand up to her throat, tracing the collar of her checkered shirt before undoing the top button. Spreading the collar with his fingers, he dipped his head to kiss her neck.

Bailey giggled. She couldn't help it, his nearness was like a drug whose effects she couldn't fight. But her conscience wouldn't let her enjoy the moment, reminding her that although they had made out before, doing it now- while Cody wasn't himself- was wrong. "Cody..."

She grasped his wrist and pulled away from him, and he got the hint immediately, pulling himself up to her level and sitting alongside her, a look of concern on his face. "What's the matter, Bailey?" When she didn't answer, he pressed her gently. "Bails, you've been acting miserable since I got out of the hospital. Please, tell me what's wrong. You know you can trust me."

There it was again. Trust. Her lack of trust in him was what had caused all this trouble to begin with. "I know I can trust you." she repeated, mostly to herself. It was true: she would trust him with anything. So why had she been so quick to assume the worst when she'd seen him "kiss" London in Paris? How could she have been so stupid? "You'd never go behind my back and kiss a girl with black extensions on top of the Eiffel Tower on the day before our anniversary."

Cody frowned. "Of course I wouldn't do that... oddly specific hypothetical action..." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Is there something we need to talk about? I love you, Bailey."

I love you too, Cody, she wanted to say, but instead what came out was, "What would you do if you thought you saw me kiss another boy?"

Cody paled, and for a minute Bailey worried that she was stressing him out, just as the doctor had warned her not to, but he pulled himself together. "I'd be crushed." he said quietly. "I guess I'd confront you, ask why you did it... Is... is there someone else, Bailey?"

"What? No!" Bailey denied vehemently. "There's never been anyone else. It's just..." She toyed with the ends of her hair, trying to figure out how much she could tell him without breaking her promise to Zack. "When we were in Paris, I met this guy in the park. He seemed nice, we got to talking, and he started hitting on me, so I told him I had a boyfriend and I just wasn't interested in being anything more than friends. But he was really persistent."

Cody tensed up. "He didn't try anything, did he?"

"No. He hugged me once, but nothing else. I just didn't want you to get the wrong impression about it."

Cody shook his head. "I didn't even know about it-" he broke off abruptly, pausing for a long time. "Was his name Jean-Luc?" he asked finally.

Bailey's mouth dropped open. "Yes! How did you-"

"I don't know how I knew!" Cody answered, looking surprised himself before making a joke. "I mean, everyone knows all Parisian guys are either named Jean-Luc or Pierre so it was a straight fifty-fifty..." Despite his attempt at levity, there was a troubled look on his face. Bailey held her breath for a moment, sure he was beginning to remember, but he shook his head and changed the subject. "So I might need your help on the calc homework." he said with a forced grin. "After all, I do have a head injury..."


"Zack, there you are." Bailey approached the Easy Squeezy, where Zack was closing up the juice bar for the night.

"Here I am." Zack agreed, dissembling the blender and tossing the pieces into the sudsy sink water. "I hope you're not looking for a smoothie, because we're closed. All that's left is this." He set a cup of brownish-colored slush on the bar.

"It's not that. We need to talk." Bailey said, taking a seat on one of the stools.

"Uh, we need to talk?"Zack paused in his cleaning, raising his eyebrows. "What, you broke up with my brother and liked it so much you decided to break up with me too?"

Bailey just gave him a stony frown.

"Okay. Too soon." Zack noted under his breath. "Well, Bailey, what's on your mind?"

"It's Cody-" Bailey began, and Zack rolled his eyes.

"Why did I even ask? All right, if you're here to whine to me about my brother, get back here and dry for me while we talk."

Bailey huffed but did as he said, sliding off the stool and going behind the counter. "Aren't you worried about him? It's been almost a week and he still hasn't remembered!" She accepted the dripping blender lid Zack handed her and dried it off with a dishtowel. "Do you think we should call the hospital in Paris and ask them what to do?"

"They already told us what to do: Give him time." Zack pointed out, scrubbing out the inside of the blender. "Act normal around him, and he'll get better on his own. Eventually."

"But he's not!" Bailey argued. "Sure, the bruise is healing, and his concussion seems to be getting better, but he can't remember, and pretending like nothing is wrong is killing me!"

"Uh huh." Zack said slowly. "So is this about what's best for him, or what's best for you?"

"What?" Bailey said, upset by his insinuation. "How dare-" She cut herself off, thinking for a moment, then relented. "I'm trying to think about what's best for Cody. I really am." she said. "But I can't help but wonder if lying to him is really what's best." She paused, and then continued is a very soft voice. "And the thing is, the longer I put off telling him about the breakup, the less I want him to remember it."

"What?" Zack was confused. "I thought you just wanted to get it out so you could move on with your life?"

Bailey bit her lip. "I never wanted to break up in the first place! But I was angry, and I thought that was what he wanted, and I wasn't going to beg him to stay where he didn't want to be."

Zack snorted. "Are you kidding me Bailey? Cody sobbed like a little girl for eighteen straight hours after you two broke up... Probably because he finally realized how far out of his league you were, and that he was never, ever going to hook another 8.2."

Bailey stopped drying and looked at him. "I'm an 8.2?"

"Yeah." Zack said. "When we first met you were an 8.7, but that was before I realized how lame you were."

Bailey smacked him with the dishtowel.

"What? I'm not saying you're not hot, 'cause you are," Zack defended. "But hello? Corn cob art?"

"Hey!" Bailey folded her arms in annoyance. "I'm not sure whether to be more upset that you're mocking my hobbies, or that personality only accounts for half a point on your hotness scale."

"Yeah, you'd be surprised how little weight personality carries in these matters." Zack said, ducking before she could hit him again. "If you don't stop whacking me with that towel I'm going to make you wash while I dry."

Bailey twisted the towel in her hands thoughtfully. "I'm not out of Cody's league." she said, returning to the original subject. "He was right about me. I didn't trust him, I let myself fly off the handle and into the arms of some other guy without even telling him what was bothering me... It's no wonder he didn't want to be with me anymore."

"Bailey..." Zack sighed, finishing the washing and draining the sink. "With you is the only place he's wanted to be since you met. Well, since he knew you weren't a dude, anyway."

Bailey smiled sadly. "I can forgive him for the way he acted in Paris. I can even forgive all the horrible things he said to me. But if he never remembers what happened between us, how can I know that he would have forgiven me? He doesn't have enough information to make his own choice."

"I see what you mean." Zack said after a moment. "But he loves you. Would one fight ever make you stop loving him?"

Bailey looked into Zack's eyes, startled, for a moment, by the way he'd hit the nail on the head: she loved Cody. She had before the breakup, and she still did. "I guess not." she said finally. "But I have to tell him what happened." She smiled bitterly. "It's ironic... I guess I just have to trust his love for me."

"Yep. Sounds like you've already learned that lesson once." Zack remarked. He reassembled the blender and stashed it under the bar. "Just do me a favor and tell him gently, okay? If the big surprise makes him throw himself into the propeller, or starts a brain hemorrhage... well, I'm going to blame you either way."

Bailey frowned at him. "Don't joke about things like that." Absently she took a sip from the cup on the counter, immediately spitting it back out. "Gross! Zack, what is this?"

"Uh, the stuff I cleaned out of the overflow trap?" Zack snatched the cup from her hands, laughing. "I didn't think you'd actually drink it! Sick!"

"Ugh!" Bailey ran her tongue over her teeth, trying to wipe away the lingering taste, as she lifted the counter and stepped out from behind the bar. "Good talk, Zack. Thanks."