Episode 1

I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did.

Wait...In this story, I created some of the characters, so I will actually own them.

Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves.

And as to the ones I create, who they are is up to me, so...

Cody's Hospital Room

Bailey just sat on the side of Cody's bed alternating looking at the gorgeous ring inside the box and at a smiling Cody. As much as she tried, she couldn't form any words. She was was left completely speechless as Cody laying there proposing to her was the last thing she ever could have expected. Sure, she knew that this day would eventually come and she knew without a doubt that Cody would propose to her one day, but the fact that he was doing it lying in his hospital bed the day after having surgery? She shook her head to try to collect her thoughts, but they were going in all different directions inside her mind. But looking into the face of the man she loved and couldn't live out, she couldn't help but smile. At that moment, her heart was so filled for love for him that she thought it might burst. Still, throughout all of this, she still hadn't said anything, and Cody finally spoke again as he was now getting a little worried.

"Bails? Are you okay? Did you hear what I said? I just asked you to..."

She cleared her throat so that she could talk again and interrupted him. "Cody...how did you?...I never saw this..." Bailey exhaled. "I don't know what to say..."

Cody smiled at and teased her. "Does this mean my guaranteed yes isn't so guaranteed after all?"

Bailey just looked at him for a moment trying to figure out what he was talking about when it suddenly dawned on her. She brought her hands up to her face gasped. "Oh my gosh! Of course my answer is yes! You always knew it would be!"

He let out a small chuckle. "Well, I thought it would be, but you had me worried there for a minute..." He reached up to pull her into a hug and just rubbed her back. When he finally pulled back, he was still smiling at her. "When you didn't say anything, I began to think this had royally backfired on me..."

She smiled back at him. "Not a chance of that. You just completely caught me by surprise with this. I mean...you are in a hospital bed recovering from surgery after all..." She laughed. "Of course knowing how you love surprises for me, I should have seen it coming. But, in my opinion, of all your surprises for me, I love this one the most..."

"Well, I decided last night that I was going to do this as soon as possible. I admit that I kind of lied to you last night. I faked being asleep until I heard you snoring..."

Bailey interrupted him again. "I don't snore..."

Cody just smiled. "Whatever you say, Dear. Anyways, last night, I laid here and watched you sleep for a little while. And as I did, I stopped to do some serious thinking. Like I said, I've had how I was going to propose to you all planned out in my mind for several months now. I figured there were only two places that would be appropriate for me to do it. One would have been in the lobby of the S.S. Tipton where we first kissed and got together. Unfortunately, with the ship no longer in existence, that was out. So, the other place was the storm shelter where we got back together. And I had it already planned out to do pop the question to you while we were back in Kettlecorn for your birthday. But after what happened to us in Virginia and then yesterday, I didn't want to wait a second longer than I had to. I didn't want something else to happen that could prevent me from doing this." He paused and sighed. "Now, I know this isn't the most romantic setting in the world..."

Bailey put her fingers up to his lips to shush him. "Don't go there. I don't care about any of that..." She smiled at him. "I think we learned in Virginia that even situations that shouldn't be romantic can actually turn out to be very much so. And to be honest, in its own way, you proposing to me here like this is extremely romantic. I mean, after what you just went through, no one would blame you if you had just laid here and rested. But you didn't. Like usual, all of your thoughts were still about me and about us. And while what you did have planned does sound completely wonderful, I wouldn't trade this moment for anything in the world. It means so much to me that you didn't want to waste any more time because I don't either..."

"We've done enough of that for a lifetime."

"Yeah, we have. But, that's in the past, and this is the present. And now, we have one definite for our future as we now know there is a wedding to begin thinking about..."

Cody nodded. "And about that. I will do whatever it takes to give you the wedding of your dreams...whenever or wherever you want that to be..." He smiled at her. "Whether it be outdoors surrounded by nature or not..."

Bailey smiled back at him. "We'll worry about all of that later. Right now, I just want to bask in the fact that I officially have a fiance now." She paused as something else dawned on her. "Wait a minute! You said instead of finding the perfect ring that the perfect ring found you. What did you mean about that? And how the feathers did you get it here into the hospital?"

He grinned at her. "First, I'll answer your last question as its the easiest. Bringing me the ring was the favor I asked of Tapeworm. Now, for your other one. You remember that bequest I got from my distant relative in Martinsgrab?" He nodded at the ring. "There it is. According to the what my Dad was told, its been in the Martin family for generations upon generations. Supposedly, they belonged to the twin sisters of Knut and Olaf..."

"They?"

Cody laughed. "Oh yeah. Seems twins run heavily in the Martin family. Knut and Olaf's father's name was Sven, and he was a very powerful man in Martinsgrab. Well, until the whole herring fiasco. Anyways, while he was proud of his two sons, he simply adored his two daughters. So, in one of the...ummm...expeditions they went on..."

Bailey smiled. "You mean one of the pillaging and plundering sprees?"

He sighed. "Yeah...one of those. Anyways, he found a pair of almost identical rings somewhere. The difference is one of them was encrusted with rubies, and the other, the one here in the box, was encrusted with emeralds. I kind of figured with you being a farm girl from Kansas and the dream you had about the Wizard of Oz, this would be perfect. You know...the emerald city and all."

She kept smiling. "I love the symbolism, Sweetie. What happened to the other ring?"

He smiled back. "Take a wild guess..."

"Zack got it, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Anyways, beyond the symbolism, Bails, you are already family to me no matter what the hospital tried to tell you. And by you agreeing to become a Martin woman, the family tradition will carry on. It was found for one Martin woman and will now be worn by another..." He paused. "Assuming you aren't having second thoughts about joining the family. I mean, you've seen first hand that we can be a kind of an unorthodox and kooky clan..."

Bailey smiled at him again. "I can't wait to officially join it..."

"Me either. So, that's what I meant when I said the perfect ring found me..."

"Well, I love it. I think this ring is gorgeous and all round perfect..."

"Just like you."

She leaned down and kissed him. "And since I fully plan on being a member of that kooky clan, I think you better put that ring on my finger right now. Don't you?"

Cody grinned. "With pleasure, Sweetie!"

"Hold on a sec..." Bailey slid the promise ring off of the ring finger on her left hand and placed it on the corresponding finger on her right hand. "This way, it doesn't matter which hand anyone sees, they'll know I belong to you."

Cody took the ring out of its box and slowly slid it onto Bailey's finger. And after he did, she held her hand out and just looked at and admired it while Cody just watched her feeling totally content.

"Welcome to the family..." Cody paused and smiled. "You know, that's the exact same thing your Dad said to me when I called him this morning to get his blessing." He laughed. "I was so glad he said just to call him to get his blessing when I was ready to propose..."

Bailey laughed too. "So am I. Cody, do you have any idea how proud I am to wear this?"

He smiled. "Not any more than I am that you're wearing it."

She leaned down and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Bailey then whispered in his ear. "Be a good boy, do what the doctor tells you to do and heal up. And when you are feeling better, I show you again just how much..." She grinned and teased him. "That's the only drawback of you proposing to me now..."

Cody looked up at her and grinned. "Trust me, that thought crossed my mind too. But if I needed any motivation before hand to heal up, I've sure got it now."

She laughed. "Good..." Bailey then took a deep breath. "You remember how I said I was ready for us to end this rollercoaster ride we were on? And you said maybe we could find a tunnel of love?"

"Yeah?"

She winked at him. "I think we just officially entered it..."

About that time, the door opened, and a beautiful, young nurse walked in with bowl of water and a sponge.

"Sorry to interrupt, but its time for Mr. Martin's sponge bath."

Bailey just looked at her and shook her head. "Uh uh. If anyone is going to give my fiance a sponge bath, its going to be me!"

Tuesday Afternoon

Like the doctor had said, if there was no complications, Cody was going to be released on Tuesday morning. So while the doctor was giving him a thorough final examination, Bailey headed out to get their car to bring it over to the hospital. When she got back, the doctor was just giving Cody his final instructions on what to do and what not do do. Bailey just winked at Cody and told the doctor not to worry about them. And with that, the doctor signed off on the paperwork to discharge Cody. Unfortunately, he and Bailey got their first glimpse at how hospital paperwork could slow things down to a crawl, and it was well after noon when he was finally given the green light to go home. And Cody got a first glimpse at just how strict hospital procedures were when he found himself being rolled out of the hospital in a wheel chair. When the orderly rolled him out the front door, Bailey was there waiting with the car packed and ready to go. His doctor stopped him one last time to see if he knew what to do with his charts and records when he got back to Boston.

Cody just nodded. "Trust me. I have experience doing this all before."

The doctor just shrugged before wishing him good luck and heading back inside. Just as Cody standing up to get into the car, Tapeworm came running up to them completely out of breath. He hunched over and gasped as he tried to get oxygen back in his lungs. "I...made...it..."

Cody just smiled. "I'm glad to see you again, Man. And thanks again for all of your help yesterday."

Tapeworm smiled back. "I take it everything turned out alright?"

Bailey held out her hand. "It sure did! We are now officially engaged!"

"Congratulations to you both." He turned to Cody. "And thanks for putting the pressure on the rest of us..."

Cody laughed. "Hay...I've been in love with Bailey for almost five years now. You've been dating Gertie for about seven months. I think she'll understand if she doesn't get her own ring tomorrow. Where is she anyways? I was hoping we'd get to say goodbye to her too before we left."

"She said she'd be here as soon as she got out of her last final. I finished mine a little early, so hopefully, she'll be here real soon."

And as if on cue, she came running up to them out of breath too. "I'm...here..."

Bailey smiled. "Well, I'm glad you two could both make it here before we headed out. We're really going to miss you both this summer."

Gertie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. More importantly, how did everything go last night? You said yes, didn't you?"

Tapeworm laughed and Cody and Bailey both gave him a look. "Like I wasn't going to tell her..."

Bailey laughed too and showed off her ring to Gertie. "It went very well, and I definitely said yes."

Gertie shrieked and hugged her. "Congratulations!" She turned to Cody and was about to hug him when she paused. "I'll give you yours later when it won't cause you any pain."

He laughed. "I appreciate that."

Bailey turned to her. "So, you guys are all done now too, huh?"

"Yeah. We still have to pack, but my flight doesn't leave until tomorrow afternoon."

Tapeworm grinned. "Which gives us one last night together...until we visit each other over the summer. Not that we won't miss you two, but it'll be nice to have some privacy."

"Hey, we completely understand. You better take care of my girl here for me though."

"I will." He patted Cody's shoulder. "And you better take care of my boy here. But don't let him give you any trouble. If he gets difficult, just slip him some of his pain meds and let them knock him out."

Cody sighed. "Don't give her any ideas..."

Bailey laughed. "Don't worry. I think unlike the last time I had to take care of him, he'll be a much better patient. Of course, this time, I'll know he actually should stay in bed and do nothing but rest..."

Gertie smiled. "Well, we'll let you two get moving. Call us later to keep us updated."

"I will." Bailey hugged them both goodbye as the both patted Cody on the shoulder.

After getting Cody comfortable in the passenger seat, Bailey climbed into the driver's seat, and they were off. Once they were away from campus, and on the interstate, Cody looked over at Bailey.

"I hope you know we aren't looking at a very restful time once we get back to Boston..."

She frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, we'll have to tell our news to Mom and Zack. And then there is calling my Dad and then your family. Plus, we have several friends who might get offended if we don't call and tell them."

"That's true, but didn't you say you already called my Dad to get his blessing?"

Cody smiled. "I did, but we never called him back to tell him how it went..."

"True...Well, we'll make all of those phone calls, but we'll keep them brief. I want you in bed and resting as much as possible."

Cody laughed. "Yeah, good luck with keeping them brief..."

"Cody, you just got out of the hospital. I think they'll understand."

"I hope so." He paused and grinned. "You know, all things considered, that was a pretty good hospital stay. I lost an appendix but gained a fiancee. Seems like a fair trade to me."

Boston

About three o'clock that afternoon, Bailey pulled the car into a parking space in the Tipton Hotel's underground parking garage. And one of the first things she had to do was gently nudge Cody awake. It seems his body was still tired, and he had fallen asleep before they had crossed over into the state of Rhode Island. When he woke up, he was disoriented and groggy, but quickly realized where they were.

Yawning, he turned to Bailey. "I guess we need to get a luggage cart, huh?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I've already called ahead to Esteban. We're going to drop off the car keys to him, and he's going to have two bellboys unload the car when they get the chance. Besides, I don't want you lifting anything heavy and risking popping a staple."

He nodded. "Good point. I should probably tell that to my boss at the Tipton Clinic on Monday."

Bailey smiled at him. "Already called them too. They told me to put off our starting dates for another week so that you can heal up. But, I did make an appointment with them for you for next Wednesday to have you're staples removed. They said they would be happy to do it."

Cody just paused before smiling at her. "Anything else I missed that I should know about?"

"I think that's it for now. Now, lets get you up to bed. From your nap, I can see you need your rest. We'll worry about everything else after that."

He grabbed her hand. "Thanks for taking such good care of me."

She smiled at him. "Any time."

Fifteen minutes later, they were up in the suite, and Cody made it to the couch before stopping and sinking down into it. That was fine with Bailey, and she plopped down next to him. Both knew they would have some alone time for a while as Zack was in the midst of finals, so both were happy to just be able to sit there and know they had nothing they had to do. Well, that was the plan anyways. About four o'clock, Cody had nodded off again and Bailey was halfway there herself when there was a knock at the door. Bailey got up to answer it figuring it was the bell boys with their stuff. But instead, it was Carey.

"You're back!"

Bailey shushed her nodding over at the sleeping Cody. "Yeah, we got in a little while ago. I wanted Cody to take it easy, so we came straight up here."

Carey nodded. "Looks like he needs his rest. How is he doing?"

"Fine. He's his usual, normal self except that it hurts him when someone hugs him too hard or when he laughs. I've already made calls to the clinic, and while they gave us next week off, I did make an appointment then to have his staples removed."

"Good." Carey paused. "Look. I wanted to apologize to you for that scene in the hospital. I was like a mother bear protecting her cub. Old habits die hard I guess. I know you are the woman in his life now, but I guess I forgot that in the heat of the moment."

Bailey smiled. "Don't worry about it. You were right - it was the heat of the moment. We both love him and want the best for him. Its only natural that we both got defensive about trying to take care of him."

"Thank you for that, Bailey. Now, I can't promise I won't try to mother him some while he's recovering though..."

"Understood. I..."

But before Bailey could finish, Carey interrupted her. "Bailey! What is that on your finger?"

She paused and smiled. "That's another surprise we have for everyone. You see...last night, Cody kind of sort of...proposed to me..."

Carey's eyes went wide, and immediately, she pulled Bailey into a tight hug. "Congratulations!"

Bailey grinned again. "Thank you..."

"I know Cody was going to do this someday, I just didn't know he was planning on doing it now of all times. I didn't even know he had a ring..."

"Well, it was the inheritance he got from Sweden. Zack got a similar one too."

Carey paused. "Hmmm...After the other day, I wonder if I'm closer to seeing that one used as well." She shook her head. Carey smiled, and spoke a little too loud. "Anyways, this calls for a celebration! I know you were pretty much already a member of the family, Bailey, but this makes it official."

Bailey shushed her again. "Ordinarily, I would agree, but we need to let Cody get his rest."

She toned it down some. "You're right. We'll have to wait until he's up for it. But this is so exciting! We have a wedding to plan..."

Bailey smiled. "That's the furthest thing from my mind right now. Maybe once Cody is feeling better, then we'll start thinking about it, but for right now, his recovery is my main concern. Besides, at the earliest, we wouldn't do it before we graduated college. That's over two years way right now..."

Carey just looked at her and laughed. "Which means you need to start planning it now!"

"Well, I still need to break the news of our engagement to my family, and I know Cody will want to tell the rest of his too. So, we still have a lot to do before we even think about anything else."

"Tell you what. While Cody is asleep, you contact yours, and I'll take care of notifying the rest of Cody's. That's something we can do while he is resting."

"I guess that would be okay." Bailey paused and laughed. "Cody did say once the cat was out of the bag, there would be no rest."

Carey smiled. "Oh, this will be nothing. Just wait until it gets closer to the big day. There will definitely be no rest for the weary then. Why do you think people take honeymoons? They need a break from all of the wedding stuff..."

Later that Evening

By six o'clock, Cody was still fast asleep on the couch while Carey and Bailey sat around the kitchen table making phone calls. Everyone on both sides of their families and all of their friends were extremely happy for them as well as the fact that Cody was going to be alright. Of course, sometimes they had to talk a little louder to be heard over Cody's snoring.

Carey shook her head. "How do you put up with that?"

Bailey laughed. "You get so used to it that after a while. And after Sunday, it has become a very comforting sound to me."

"You must really love my son then..."

"That I do. And everyone back home is thrilled for us. Of course, none of them were too surprised though."

"Same with my side of the family. Kurt said he would spread the word to the rest of his side. And he said he would stop by Boston soon to check on Cody himself with his own eyes."

Bailey nodded. "Good. I know Cody will like that."

About that time, the door to the suite opened up again, and Zack and Maya walked inside with their backpacks over their shoulders looking worn out. Carey looked up at them.

"How did your finals today go?"

Zack sighed. "My Financial Accounting for the Hospitality Industry test was not a whole lot of fun. I think I knew what I was talking about, but still..."

"And you, Maya?"

She sighed too. "My Human Anatomy final really did cover everything." She paused and laughed. "Though, I need to thank Cody. Thanks to him, when I studied, I made sure I knew what the appendix looked like. And it was actually on my exam. I heard several people afterwards complaining they had no idea what it was..."

"When is your next one?"

"Tomorrow afternoon for both of us. Its our Philosophy & Film final. We spent the afternoon studying in my dorm room, but we decided to move our base of operations back here." Zack paused. "But with you guys back..."

Bailey shook her head. "Don't worry about us. I'll wake Cody up and we'll get out of your hair."

Carey nodded. "You two can come across the hall and take it easy over there. I'm sure you're both hungry, so I can fix everyone dinner. Zack, you and Maya can come over for some when you get a break."

Zack shook his head. "No thanks, Mom. I don't think that is a real good idea. I don't want us to risk having an upset stomach during our final. And Cody...he just got out of the hospital. Hasn't he been through enough already?"

Carey just frowned at him. "Zack..."

He smiled. "I kid...I kid." He decided to change the subject. "So, how long has the Codester been sawing logs?"

Bailey answered. "Most of the ride back to Boston and then almost immediately once we got back. But that's good. I want him to rest as much as possible." She smiled. "So, how are things going with you two on Day 3 of being back together?"

Maya smiled. "I'm still on cloud nine."

Zack smiled too. "Its been good. I just wish we didn't have finals right now so we could spend more time together that didn't involve us studying. We won't be able to have our real first date again until they are over."

Maya turned to him. "I know, but it will make it so much better when we finally get to. I mean...I've waited this long. A few more days won't kill me especially when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

"Yeah, good point."

Bailey smiled. "I remember those first few days right after Cody and I got back together. It felt so wonderful to feel complete once again. And Cody and I sat down and had a long talk about our relationship so that we didn't let stupid things get in our way ever again."

Zack turned to Maya. "Probably a good idea if we had one of those too."

She nodded. "I think you're right. I don't want anything to get in our way again either."

Carey smiled and spoke up. "And turns out there is even more good news."

Zack turned to his Mom. "Yeah? What's that?"

"There is now an official countdown to you having a sister-in-law! Cody proposed to Bailey last night!"

Maya's eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh! Let me see you're ring!"

Happily, Bailey showed off her ring as Maya gushed about it. "Its gorgeous! Congratulations!"

"Thank you."

Zack nodded, but not quite as enthusiastically as Maya was. "Yeah, Congratulations. Welcome to the family." While Zack was indeed happy for them, he couldn't help being a little miffed at his brother's timing. He had been happy that Cody's surgery and recovery would take the focus off of him and Maya getting back together, this was completely different. Did Cody really have to propose to Bailey right after he got back together with Maya? Was he trying to one up him? Zack felt himself getting upset as he felt himself slipping back into his brother's shadow again, but he shrugged it off and forced a smile on his face. "How did he do it?"

Bailey just smiled as she told them about Cody enlisting Tapeworm's help, calling her father, and then proposing to her from his hospital bed. "Not the most traditional way of doing it, but I thought it was absolutely perfect."

Maya grinned again. "Have you two planned anything yet?"

Bailey laughed. "Not a thing. Once Cody is recovered, maybe then. But until then, I'm not worried about it." She paused. "But you two do have a final tomorrow, so let us get out of your way."

Bailey got up and headed over to the couch. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she woke up Cody the best way she knew how – with a kiss. Slowly, his eyelids began to flutter, and he woke up with a smile on his face.

"Hey...I was just having the most amazing dream about you. Wish you had let me finish it..."

She just smiled at him. "Sorry, Sweetie, but it was time for you to get up for a little while so we can get some food in your system..."

He nodded as he yawned. "Probably a good idea. Did I miss anything while I was asleep this time?"

"I'll catch you up everything while we eat..."

To be Continued...

AN: Just got back from Catlanta! If anyone has free tickets to the Final Four in the Big Easy, I'll take them! Time for the Cats to once again take on those evil, vile dirty birds from down the road. I hear cardinal tastes like chicken though. Anyways, true to my word, here is the Final Four bonus chapter. And congrats to the UK women's team. They defeated Gonzaga tonight to make it to the Elite Eight against UCONN. If a miracle happens on Tuesday night, there will be another bonus chapter. Alright. I'm exhausted after that game and the drive back to LexVegas, and I need sleep now.