I then noticed that Maddie's fingers were beginning to move. Some people said that could be small movement when you're in a coma, especially if it was reflexive but then noticed that there was some other movement as well. I hoped this was what I thought it was and she was in fact waking up. She was definitely beginning to stir and her breathing got heavier. Her eyes shot open. She was awake!

"Maddie?" I asked as I walked closer to her bed.

"Zack?" She replied.

"What?" I questioned. I was not expecting that kind of response. Had something happened to her to her when she was in a coma? Did being in a coma make her suddenly unaffected by the spell? But she also somehow still knew who I was. I needed to know more.

"You're Zack." She stated. "I saw what happened to you in my dream. Someone turned you into a girl."

"I should probably get the doctor to tell them you're awake." I remarked. "We can talk about this later."

So, I called the doctor to let them know that she was awake. It was at that point that I realized how hungry I was. I was confused about how she was able to dream about me but I knew that I could probably stop being confused long enough to eat because I really hadn't done much of that while I was waiting for her to wake up.

"I think I'm going to go get something to eat." I announced.

"How long will you be gone?" Maddie asked. I didn't know the exact period of time it would take me to eat, but I was pretty sure that I did not want to eat at the hospital. Part of me thought that I should tell everyone the good news. I had thought about making a video to ask for prayers but decided against it because I felt like it could be considered exploitative.

"Not long." I promised. I knew that we had a lot to discuss. "I'll come right back."

"She's been by your side this whole time while you were asleep." The doctor declared as he entered the room. "I can tell that she really cares about you. We have to run a few tests so don't worry about taking too long. "

I left the room, took out my phone and called Max, who was currently staying with her parents. I hoped that she had had some time to try to patch things up with them. I wasn't even sure if they knew why she had left, but they also didn't seem to care that she had.

"Is she awake?" Max asked. I was a bit surprised by the bluntness of her response, but she probably figured that the only reason I would call her was if Maddie had woken up.

"You know saying hello is okay." I responded. She was lucky that I loved her and also that I was in such a good mood. "But yes, she is awake. We need to meet at Denny's. I have something that I need to talk to you about. It's kind of important."

"Okay I'll be there. I love you, bye." Max agreed as she hung up. It may have been corny, but Max and I made sure to say that we loved each other before we hung up. At least we weren't like Cody and Bailey who were so sweet you wanted to throw up. Speaking of which, it probably would have been a good idea to tell Cody as well, but I was pretty sure that he was still in Rhode Island.

We met at Denny's and got a table together. I ordered a grand slam for a change since it had been a long time since I had my last meal. I wanted nothing more than to eat it all.

"You must be really hungry." Max noted. I was a little bit surprised that she felt the need to say that.

"I haven't eaten since lunch a few days ago. I didn't want to leave Maddie until she woke up. I'm so glad that she's alive." I reminded her as I began to dig into my food. I wasn't gorging but it didn't take me long to eat all of it. I still remembered my etiquette classes and found them useful in this type of setting. I supposed they were useful for something after all.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Max asked after I was finished eating.

"Maddie knows the secret." I said kind of quickly and possibly unintelligibly.

"What did you just say?" Max questioned. "It was so fast that I couldn't make any of it out."

"Maddie knows the secret." I repeated, much more slowly.

"What secret?" She asked in confusion. I supposed that I probably could have been more clear, but I still wanted to be a little bit vague because I didn't know who could be listening to our conversation. Maybe doing this in a public place wasn't the best idea.

"My secret, the one that only you, me, Cody, and London know." I clarified.

"How did she find out?" She asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure. Apparently, she had a dream where she saw it happen while she was in her coma." I explained. I still didn't understand how comas worked since I had never been in one. "I have to talk to her more later. You're not jealous that I'm going to be spending more time with her, are you?"

"As long as you don't plan on kissing her then I'm okay with it." Max stated as the waiter came with the bill. Actually, apparently our food was free, so we just had to pay the tip. I wished that they had told me that they were going to do that. Not to mention, since it was free, I couldn't run my card. There was also a probably since my cash was a little bit limited.

"Do you have any dollars on you?" I asked. "All I have is pounds."

"I don't carry cash." She replied. I couldn't help but sigh. "All of my money is in my account."

"I guess I'll just have to pay with pounds then." I remarked as I called the waiter back over and explained the situation to him. He was happy when he found out how much the money was worth and gladly accepted it. I supposed when you were a waiter living from paycheck to paycheck, you would take whatever you can get. I had to politely decline listening to his demo because I didn't really have time for that and in all honesty, I probably would have forgotten or lost it. At least by telling him no, I wasn't giving him any false hope.

"I'll see you later." I told Max with a kiss before I headed back to the hospital. I wondered how Maddie was doing and if they were done with the tests that they were going to do on her. I also couldn't help but wonder what kind of tests they would be doing. I walked back into the hospital and to the front desk.

"I was wondering if I could see Maddie Fitzpatrick right now." I said to the receptionist.

"Are you family?" The nurse asked me. I sighed because I didn't think that I would have to deal with this again.

"I already have clearance to see her." I remarked in annoyance. "You can ask Dr. Hawkins."

So, I waited for a few minutes as the receptionist called the doctor to confirm that I was allowed to visit Maddie before I was finally let in. I walked over to Room 101 and closed the door to make it so no one would enter with knocking. Maddie and I had a lot to discuss now that the cat was out of the bag. I was a little afraid of what she would think of me.

"Hey I'm back." I announced. I didn't know why I felt the need to do so since I was pretty sure she could see me. "How'd the tests go?"

"They said I'll be able to leave in a few days." She replied. That was good news.

"Then as soon as you get out of here, the two of us are going to do something together. How about we go to Disneyland?" I inquired.

"That sounds like fun." She agreed.

"So why don't you tell me exactly what happened in your dream." I asked.

"Well, I was there as it was happening." Maddie explained. "You were the old you and you were with Cody and Max. Three of you were talking and you suddenly saw a Gothic girl and decided to hit on her. Then she changed you into a girl and then disappeared. Is it true? Did that really happen?"

"Yes, it happened." I confirmed. "Some goth chick really did turn me into a girl."

"It's really weird because I remember you being a girl, but I also remember you being a guy." She stated. "I think I like you better as a girl. I don't have to worry about you hitting on me anymore."

"I think I do too." I agreed with a bit of a laugh. "Yeah, I guess I'm kind of sorry about that. I never realized how annoying it could be. But hey at least I was good-looking. You should have seen some of the guys that have hit on me. So, are you still dating James?"

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. I went over to open it and it turned out that it was James. This was going to be awkward because it would be the first time that we had seen each other since we broke up.

"Oh hey." James remarked. "I'm here to see Maddie."

"I know that you're dating now." I replied. I was a bit annoyed that he was interrupting my conversation with her, even though I was pretty sure that I didn't have any right to be.

"Do you think you could give us a moment." He asked.

"Where were you?" I responded.

"Excuse me?" He replied.

"Why didn't you get here sooner?" I asked.

"I was visiting some family in California." He told me. He never told me that he had family in California. "I couldn't just come here at the drop of a dime. I didn't really expect you to be here. Last I heard you were still in England."

"I was in Providence visiting my brother." I explained. "But I flew down here as soon as I heard the news."

"You know Providence isn't that far from here." He stated. "You probably could have drove."

I just walked out of the room. In all of our time together we never had a fight and now the first time we saw each other after breaking up it was like we hated each other. Actually, he didn't seem that mad at me. I was madder at him, and I couldn't even think of a good reason why. I decided to stay in the hallway and eavesdrop. I hoped Maddie wouldn't tell him about me.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't have been here earlier." I heard James say.

"It's okay. I just woke up about an hour ago." Maddie stated.

"I know this may sound like a weird question but what was it like being in a coma?" James asked. "I kind of wanted to write a paper for my psychology class about comas before this happened."

"Well, I was basically having a bunch of different dreams." Maddie replied. I felt like he shouldn't do that because it would also be exploitative. His girlfriend had been shot and he didn't need to use her trauma for his work. "I can't believe that I got shot. I thought I would never see that guy again."

"How did you know him?" James asked.

"He came to the Tipton a few years ago with his daughter. From the start, he conned his way into getting a free room while Holly was swindling everyone in the hotel. We eventually revealed his lie and he got sent to jail for fraud." Maddie explained.

"So, when do you get out of here?" James asked.

"In a few days." She explained.

"Well, I'm gonna take you somewhere as soon as you do." James offered.

"I can't. Zoey's already taking me to Disneyland." She declared. "But I'm sure you could come."

I didn't exactly want to spend my time at Disneyland with my ex but if Maddie wanted him to come then I assumed I had no choice. I supposed that I could probably ask Max to come along to make it less awkward. Though I felt that it might make it a little awkward for him as well.

"Well, I wasn't quite going to do that." He remarked. "Are you sure that she'll want me to come?"

"Yeah, I think you two got along pretty great when you were together." She replied. "It's a shame that you two weren't able to make it work."

Did I just here her right? Did she just say that she was upset that I broke up with her boyfriend? I kind of felt like I should interrupt them, but I didn't want to do that because I didn't want them to know that I was eavesdropping.

"Shouldn't you be happy about that?" James asked in confusion.

"Actually no. I'm dating you because you the two of you both agreed to end your relationship. Zoey is like a sister to me. If you had broken up with her, I wouldn't be with you right now." Maddie explained. "Anyway, thanks for stopping by."

"I'll visit you every day until you get out of here." James promised as he began walking.

I got out from against the wall and began walking toward the room. I met him as he walked out. I felt like maybe I was a bit harsh to him.

"I'm sorry for what I said in there." I apologized. "That was out of line for me."

"Apology accepted." He replied as he walked away, and I walked back into the room.

"So how long has it been?" Maddie asked me.

"It's been about a year." I explained. "It's kind of hard to imagine right now. I've been like this for so long. It's hard to even remember what it felt like before."

"So how did you do it?" She asked. "How did you manage to make everyone believe that you'd always been a girl."

"Well, I had help from Max and Cody." I explained. "Max helped me act feminine and Cody found out everything that I needed to know about Zoey."

"So did you and James ever have sex?" Maddie asked as I blushed and nodded. "That must have been hard for you."

"Not really." I admitted as I sat on the edge of the bed. "By then I had already been like this for a few months, and I was starting to fully accept my feminine side. What was awkward was having first boyfriend be someone I play basketball with and then having him beat me."

"That's what your black eye was from? I thought you got accidentally punched at the basketball game. I wanna strangle that guy." She told me.

"Max already got revenge for me." I explained. "I don't need you to do it as well. I'm just really glad that you're okay."

"In a way I'm kind of glad that I got shot. I mean I would have wanted to avoid it if I could, but it did bring you back to me." Maddie declared.

So Zoey and Maddie finally got to spend some real time together. Unfortunately, things aren't quite as good with James as they were with her. Please don't forget to review.