'To live, and not to breathe
is to die in tragedy.
To run, to run away
to find what you believe.'
Movement V - Tales of Another Broken Home.
Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day.

Chapter Six - Whatever It Takes.

Bailey sat on the cold, concrete footpath, her legs crossed in the gutter, as she continued to watch Cody pace back and forth a couple of metres away from her trying to hail a taxi. It was nearing on nine o'clock already, and although there weren't as many people out and about in the L.A. streets as the younger twin and his girlfriend may have suspected – being that it was a Sunday night and the fact stood that everyone had to get up early for work the next morning – there was still enough activity going on that would prevent the two teens from standing out.

A few soft specks of gentle rain tenderly graced Bailey's face while her head persisted on flipping and twisting her thoughts all about, causing the dull throb of a headache to explode in the back of her mind.

Words couldn't begin to describe how worried she was about Cody. There was no possible way that he was thinking straight – even if that was the only bit of truth he had left to hold in himself, there was no way that he was. Bailey had never seen or heard him act so irrational in all their time together. She was certain that she knew him well enough to recognise when he was allowing his reckless side to seep through, and as much as the thought scared her, she knew that now was one of those times.

"Finally!" Cody scoffed, gaining Bailey's attention. She shot her head up just in time to see a yellow taxi pull up at the curb where Cody stood.

As the farm girl walked over to join him, Cody leant against the driver's seat door and nodded to the cabbie.

"Where to, kid?"

Cody pulled out his wallet and quickly took a look through it, finding two hundred dollar bills and a twenty. "How much will it cost to get to Newberry Hospital?"

The cab driver raised an eyebrow, "Ok, sure, lemme' just check."

Cody turned to Bailey and smiled as the cabbie leaned over and glanced at the metre that sat next to the car radio, before twirling back around to face the two teens, "That'll be about three-hundred and fifty bucks."

Cody and Bailey both felt their jaws fly down to the ground, "What?!"

"Sorry, kids, Newberry's about two and half hours from here."

"Two and half hours?" Cody repeated in disbelief, "But that's where all the injured passengers from the S.S. Tipton capsize were taken. Why so far away?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the cabbie scratched his balding head, "Not enough room around here, I 'spose. Or work. It's the same problem all over the west – there aren't enough beds in the hospitals or available nurses and doctors working there. All those victims from that cruise accident had to go some place where there was room and help for all of them. Newberry was just the closest location."

Cody slowly shook his head in defeat. He knew that going after Zack wasn't going to be the easiest task in the world, but he never suspected for a minute that he and Bailey were going to be forced to cross half the state of California just to find him.

The rain was starting to fall slightly heavier now, the cool sensation of it mixing in with the warm tears that were beginning to build up in Bailey's eyes again, "Well, what do you think we should do?" she asked, her tone on the verge of pleading.

The older man fell into a silent moment of hesitation, rubbing the thin stubble that dappled his face, "There's sure to be a bus service that'll take you out there, or to a train station at least. You'll find your way."

Cody sighed. That wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for. Taking a side glance at his girlfriend, Cody could tell that the last thing Bailey wanted was to take a journey into the unknown roads of the city with nothing but a slim hope that they would even be successful in finding Zack at all, let alone alive. But, as selfish as it may have been, the younger twin was not going to let this bump in the road stop him from what he had left the safety of the L.A. Tipton to do.

"Thank you," he spoke firmly to the taxi driver.

Then, without uttering another word, he flicked his head around and fixed his gaze back on Bailey. The yellow taxi gradually pulled away from the curb and tore off down the busy street, while Bailey's eyes locked with Cody's.

After a long minute or two, the younger Martin heaved his shoulders up and let them fall back into place, "I'm still going, Bailey. I need to."

A breath of disappointment emitted from Bailey's lips. As much as that may have been the exact statement that she expected to leave her boyfriend's mouth, it still pained her to hear it.

"Well then, I guess I'm coming, too." Cody's eyes narrowed slightly at the unsure tone that coated Bailey's voice. The farm girl rolled her eyes, "I'm not leaving, Cody. No matter what happens, I'm going wherever you go."

The two teens remained solidified in a quiet hush, constantly being interrupted by the sound of car horns honking angrily and young adults laughing and having a wild time in the clubs and restaurants nearby. But, nevertheless, a sincere, yet, small smile crept across Cody's face as he took Bailey's hand back in his and the two set off back along the walkway without making a sound.

London slowly walked up the corridor of the L.A. Tipton's nineteenth floor, head down, trying to find an interest in the intricately designed, beige carpet beneath her feet. Usually, this would be an all too easy task, but at that precise moment, the heiress found that there was too much else on her mind to form any flow of mere concentration.

She was on her way down to Cody's room to check on he and Bailey, and though she wasn't exactly sure why, the two younger teens had been dwelling on her mind all day. It was an annoying, nagging feeling that absolutely refused to leave her alone. Mr. Moesby had told her that the feeling she was describing was compassion, and after looking up the meaning of the word 'compassion' on dictionary dot com, London soon agreed with him.

While many believed that the daughter of Wilfred Tipton didn't have a single un-superficial bone in her body, as the heiress stood outside the door to Cody and Bailey's hotel room, she sensed the most contradictive emotion of sadness sweep over her. Throughout the entire ordeal of the capsize, the only things that London had lost was her stuff. Her belongings. Her materialistic items. Cody had lost his twin brother, and as much as this had been a horrible chain of events to do so, London had brought herself to realise that clothes, jewelry, stuff could be replaced. Friendships and heartbreak couldn't.

Pushing a strand of her long, black hair behind her ear, London tapped softly three times on the wooden door and waited for a response. After about ten seconds of not getting one, she felt her brow furrow in confusion.

The heiress reached down to the doorknob and twisted it, finding it to be unlocked, and immediately bolted inside. She glanced around for a few seconds before her eyesight landed upon a meticulously folded piece of paper sitting on Cody's bed. London wasn't exactly sure if it was her place to actually read the note or not, but as she picked it up between her manicured fingers and thought back to all the times where she had shamelessly searched through the twins' and Bailey's e-mails and text messages, she figured it wouldn't be a problem. The setback only came when she discovered that the words scribbled down before her were almost as frightening as flying business class.

Bailey… everyone,
I can't stand this anymore. Zack's not dead. I know he's not. And I'm going to find him to prove it to all of you.
I'm sorry.

Considering the number of his homework assignments that London had copied off of in the past, she was one hundred percent certain that the letter she was holding was written in Cody's handwriting. Panic instantly took over her whole being. Struggling to shove the note in the pocket of her overly tight jeans, she then raced out of the room, en route to Moesby's across the hall.

"Stupid compassion!" she sniped to herself as she drummed loudly on Moesby's door, "It was so much easier when I was just beautiful, not beautiful and kind!"

London heaved a breath of relief when the door eventually jarred open. She was just about ready to scream the roof off the whole building, but rapidly bit her tongue as Moesby appeared in front of her, phone to his ear, and hand held up to silence her.

"Yes?… Really? Oh, great. Great… Yes, of course, I'll tell him… Ok, see you tomorrow, Carey."

The heiress' heart froze in its place and she felt a lump of nerves impulsively form in her throat. The sheer mention of Carey's name caused her vision to direct downward at the piece of paper she could sense burning a hole in her pocket.

"London?"

The sound of Moesby's voice triggered her head to snap back up and meet her long time guardian directly in the eye.

"Is everything ok?" he asked, his voice filled with anxiety.

London gulped, "That depends," she began apprehensively, "Why were you talking to Carey?"

Moesby raised an eyebrow, "Her and Kurt have found the next possible flight out of Boston. They're leaving soon and are flying here overnight."

"So they'll be here tomorrow?"

"Yes, why, what's the matter, London?"

Without uttering a single word, London carefully took the folded up note out of her pocket and handed it to Mr. Moesby. As he opened it up, and his suspicions increasingly continued to climb, Moesby then allowed his eyes to scan over the few words that were written before him. In a matter a seconds his expression widened in shock.

"This is from Cody?!"

London cringed slightly at the thunderous tone that boomed from Moesby, "Yes… I went down to his room to see how he and Bailey were doing, but I only found that."

The seriousness of the situation suddenly reached its extremities as Moesby quickly began pacing where he stood, just outside of his hotel room. He read the letter once more and cupped his mouth fearfully with his hand.

"Well this is all we need, isn't it? Not only are Carey and Kurt coming tomorrow and trying to deal with their loss of Zack, but now Cody has gone missing, too?! What else could go wrong?!"

London bit her lip, "Er, Moesby?"

The ship manager's glare fell upon London at the nervous words that stuttered from her mouth. She glanced away for a moment, unable to face the look of fury – but more predominantly, terror – that was plainly spread across his face.

In a final, tense sigh, London gulped a second time and licked her lips, "Bailey wasn't in the room, either…"

The rain had begun to pour only minutes after Cody and Bailey had managed to find shelter under a bus stop a couple of blocks away from where they had spoken to the cab driver. They weren't sure how long it would take, but they now found themselves waiting for a bus, any bus, to come along so they could ask if it was headed anywhere near Newberry Hospital, and if so, how close it would get.

Cody was rested up against the side wall of the shelter, his legs stretched out across the seat, and Bailey leant on him, her head relaxing on his chest. The two hadn't spoken a single word to one another in what felt like ages, and the only thing breaking the silence for Bailey was the sound of Cody's heart pounding lightly in her ear.

The farm girl shifted slightly and craned her neck upward to shoot her boyfriend a glance. His jaw was set in a hard line of clear determination, but still, the feelings of pure nervousness were still residing in the back of Bailey's mind.

Biting her lip, her vision then moved to the side of his face, where the faintest possible red mark glared back at her. She instantly directed her eyesight away as her mind turned back to only an hour or so ago when she had let fly and allowed her emotions of anger to get the better of her when she had slapped Cody.

"Cody?"

The younger twin didn't move a muscle, "Hm?"

"I'm sorry I hit you," she spoke with some trivial hesitation.

Cody's head hastily shot down as he gazed at Bailey. He placed a delicate finger under her chin and tilted her head up, locking eyes with her.

"Don't be," he urged strongly, "It's ok. I shouldn't have ever tried to pull a stunt like that on you. I'm sorry."

Bailey sighed a breath of relief as Cody placed a tender kiss on her forehead, "I just want you to be ok, Cody. I can't stop worrying about you…"

Before she had any chance to go on, Cody moved his lips to Bailey's, feeling the warmth of her touch eliminate any sensation of the cool rain falling around them.

Just as a set of headlights from a long bus shone visibly up the street, Bailey opened her eyes as she and Cody parted, and a rare, genuine smile slowly crept across his face. His eyes gawked at her sternly, "Everything will be ok. I promise."

Bailey felt her heart flutter with a newfound confidence as Cody traced the outline of her bottom lip with his thumb before taking her hand and standing up alongside her while the bus pulled up at the curb and the driver opened the doors to the two teens.

Cody took a step forward, still tightly holding onto Bailey's hand, "Are you going anywhere out near Newberry?"

The aging bus driver's eyes widened in surprise, "Uh, yeah, I'm going out that way, but you'll only get about a half hour closer – if that."

Cody impulsively turned to face Bailey. While the younger twin was certain that one way or another he was going to get to Newberry Hospital, no matter how long it took, if there was one factor that would hold the smallest potential piece of influence over any of his decision making, it was Bailey's safety and sense of comfort.

Without a single dose of uncertainty, Bailey matched Cody's previous smile and nodded her head.

The younger twin forced a smaller grin and squeezed his girlfriend's hand, before finally turning back to the bus driver, "Count us in."

Hello everybody :)

Sorry this chapter's a little shorter than the last one. It's been a bit of a long week, but this was pretty much all I wanted to cover here anyway.

School holidays now, so hopefully I'll be able to update at the same rate. Reviews would be awesome :) Thanks guys!

Reneyyyyyyyy x.