Chapter 36

Again, I don't own any of these characters

Shortly after midnight, everyone left the restaurant to head back to the hotel. Porkers was already passed out on his bed, so everyone else called it a night as well. In the teens suite, they again wished every other a Happy New Year and headed to their separate rooms. For that night, it was probably a good thing that there were soundproof walls.

The next day was the Heat-Celtics game for them. It was an enjoyable game, but it was kind of painful to watch. Shaq and Kevin Garnett were not the same players they used to be. Ray Allen had definitely lost a few steps, and Paul Pierce still hadn't met a shot he wouldn't take. It was becoming more and more obvious that this was Rondo's team, and that this year may be the Celts last real chance for a deep playoff run for a while. Of course, seeing Wade, Bosh and Lebron playing in person was a treat. Zack even had to take a picture on his cell phone and send it to Woody. Woody's response was not a very nice one and the exact words were not fit for print.

Unfortunately, while the two colleges ended at the same time, they didn't start back at the same time. Yale was scheduled to return back to classes the next Monday while UCONN didn't start back till the Tuesday of the week after that. And the UCONN dorms didn't open up until the weekend before classes started. Cody and Bailey decided to stay in Boston until Wednesday morning, but they had to get back to New Haven. Not only did they have to both make a phone call, they still had to go get their books for the next semester. Besides, they didn't want Porkers to get used to living high on the hog at the hotel.

So, on Wednesday morning, they said goodbye to Zack, Cassie, Carey and Arwin, and were on the road back to New Haven. A couple of hours later, they were pulling in behind their apartment. After unloading everything from the SUV, they got Porkers settled back in and began to unpack. Jo had gotten their mail for them over the break, but the only thing really pressing was their cable bill. Cody immediately wrote a check and put the bill back in the mailbox to be picked up.

Since it was still early afternoon, they both decided to go ahead and make their phone calls. Both calls were expected, and both had appointments to meet the next morning. Once that was done, Cody and Bailey weren't quite sure what to do then, but Cody suggested that since they hadn't been home in almost three weeks, it might be a good idea to hit the grocery store. Bailey realizing that there wasn't any food in the house quickly agreed.

The next morning, both got dressed up for their interviews. Since Bailey's interview was scheduled first, Cody dropped her off and promised to be back to pick her up once his was done. Bailey slowly walked into the animal hospital and walked to the front desk. The receptionist looked up at her.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Bailey Pickett and I'm supposed to have an appointment with Dr. Ryan."

"Ahh yes. Dr. Ryan is in with a patient, but she said to have you wait in her office for her. Follow me."

Bailey followed the receptionist to a small office filled with bookshelves filled with books. About fifteen minutes later, an older woman in a lab coat and scrubs walked in and sat down.

"You must be Bailey."

Bailey nodded. "Yes, Dr. Ryan."

Dr. Ryan nodded. "Call me Sam. Bonnie Douglas tells me you are a pre-vet student here at Yale."

"That's right."

"What experience do you have with animals?"

"Well, I grew up on a farm and was surrounded by animals my whole life. One of my responsibilities was taking care of them."

Sam nodded. "Alright. Well, I am in need of an assistant for the summer. If you're smart enough to get into Yale and if Bonnie is willing to recommend you, I'll give you a shot."

Bailey smiled. "Thank you! I promise I will do my best for you."

Sam smiled. "That's all I can ask. I will tell you that we are very laid back around here. Before you first day, we'll have to get you some scrubs. Now come with me, and I'll show you around the place. We mostly concentrate on smaller animals like cats, dogs and the occasional guinea pig and rabbit. But on occasion, we do have to deal with larger animals. I've never been all that good with them, but maybe your experience with them will help out..."

"Anything you need."

Sam pauses. "Do you have a problem with spaying and neutering?"

Bailey shook her head. "Not at all. I once neutered a bull with my bare hands..."

Sam just looked at her and laughed. "Oh, I think you're going to work out around here just fine...But, I bet that probably does frighten your boyfriend..."

Bailey laughs. "Not really. He knows I love him. He knows I would never do that to him..."

Sam just nods. "Any pets of your own?"

Bailey nods. "Yes, my fiance Cody and I have our pet pig, Porkers..."

"Nice. You'll have to bring him around sometimes. We love to have animals all around here."

Meanwhile, not too far away. Cody is sitting in a waiting room ready for his interview. Finally, an older man with salt and pepper hair and glasses comes out.

"Cody Martin?"

Cody stood up. "Yes, sir."

"I'm Dr. Cole. But everyone around here calls me Jimmy. I understand that you come highly recommended from Dr. Miller and Tipton Industries."

"Well, I don't know highly recommended I am, but I've known the Tipton family for a long time..."

Jimmy nods. "Well, we get a lot of funding from Tipton Industries, so if they recommend you, we listen. So, lets head to my office."

Cody follows him to his office where they both sit down.

"So, Cody, tell me a little bit about yourself."

Cody proceeds to give him a brief background about him and his plans for the future.

Jimmy nods. "Very impressive. Well, I will tell you a little bit about us. We are a research facility that has two main specialties. One is we do research on various strains of diseases trying to find treatments for them. The other is we assist the state police labs in doing CSI work and helping to determine DNA and other causes of death. I hope you don't have an aversion to corpses."

Cody shakes his head. "I don't believe so. Even if I do, I better get used to it before gross anatomy."

Jimmy laughs. "That's a good point. Alright, well, for the summer you will be assisting me, and I have my hands in both sides around here, so you'll be getting to see the full gambit."

Cody nods. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright then, welcome aboard then. We'll look forward to seeing you once the semester ends."

Cody shook his hand and was surprised it had gone just that smoothly. But, he wasn't about to ask questions. He had just taken care of his summer employment problem and wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Plus, what they were doing sounded absolutely fascinating.

Cody left the lab and immediately began to head back towards the animal hospital. And as if on cue, Bailey was just stepping outside as he pulled up. She climbed in and turned to Cody with a smile on her face.

Cody grinned. "You got it, didn't you?"

Bailey grinned right back. "I sure did. It looks like it will be a lot of fun."

"Congrats, Bails. I knew they would be stupid not to hire you."

"What about you? How did yours go?"

Cody just smiled back at her.

"You got yours too!"

"I sure did..."

"Sounds like a good reason to celebrate to me."

Cody nodded. "To me too. Why don't we go home, change, go take care of our getting our books, and then go have some fun?"

"Let's go!"

And that's what they did. They went home and changed and headed for the bookstore. Again, they were thankful that Yale was picking up the tab. Cody and Bailey had debated whether to sell their old books back, but in the end, they decided to keep them for their personal libraries for later on. Well, they again went with brand new books and had to buy all new notebooks and folders and replacement pens, mechanical pencils, tabs and highlighters.

And then it was off to celebrate. But to Cody and Bailey, this was having a nice lunch somewhere and then spending the afternoon walking around the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. While it might not seem like fun to some, to those two, it was a blast. After a long day, the both decided it was time to head home.

Once home, Cody said he would unload their books if Bailey would go get the mail. Bailey agreed and walked around front and Cody carried to the several large heavy bags in the back door and deposited them on their desk. Cody was stretching his back out after carrying them in when Bailey ran into the home office with him looking very excited.

"What is it, Sweetie?"

Bailey handed a letter out to him. "Its from Jeopardy!"

"Well, what did they say?"

"I don't know. I haven't opened it yet..."

Cody smiled at her. "Open it already!"

Bailey did and began to read out loud. "Dear Miss Pickett and Mr. Martin...We would like to formally invite you two to be contestants on our Jeopardy College Team Tournament..." Bailey looked up at Cody. "We did it!" Immediately, she flies into his arms again.

"See...I told you we would..."

"Oh my gosh...I know I thought we would, but now its so real..."

"When do we tape?"

Bailey picks back up the letter, skims it and looks back at Cody and smiled. "Well, I think our spring break plans are going to change again..."

Cody nods. "That makes sense. Film when students can get away..."

Bailey nods. "Yeah..."

Cody smiles. "So, are we off to Los Angeles?"

Bailey looks at the letter again and pauses. "Not exactly..."

"Where then?"

Bailey sighs. "Phoenix..."

Cody looks at her in confusion. "You mean...as in Arizona?"

To be Continued...