Cries in the Dark

Summary: The Tipton Hotel is the perfect place to be at Christmas. For all except one lonely little Hotel Heiress, and her only companion, the Candy Counter girl. Maddie and London friendship fic.

Author’s Note: London seriously doesn’t get enough credit. I love her character, she’s so awesome, and her offbeat, semi-spoiled-but-can-be-serious-at-times nature opens many a door of possibility to explore her character. Because no one in real life is only skin deep.

Disclaimer: I do not own London, Maddie, Zack and Cody, or anyone/thing else from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Disney has, sadly, all the rights…with the possible exception of the Sprouse Twins themselves.

December at the Tipton. Usually, it’s such a lovely place to be, the warmth from the large fireplace resting comfortably in the lobby, to the soft glow of the Christmas lights at every turn. To complete the perfect ambience is the slow drifting snow outside the tall hotel windows. Yes, the Tipton is such a lovely place to be…

To everyone except one girl. Her name is London.

And she hates December.

The usually-jubilant teen sat miserably in her suite, her only accompaniment a box of Godiva dark chocolates and the flickering of her scented candles. London curled her knees further under her, sighing and wrapping her lips around another bite-sized square of peace.

‘It’s funny how the only peace of mind I get is when I’m eating chocolate…’ she thought aimlessly. She then looked down at herself and at the bump in her usually flat midriff and rolled her eyes ‘Forget Evana, if I don’t stop this I’m going to get lovehandles…’ Her eyes wandered to the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, and then out to the snow-covered buildings.

’10:29, huh…’ London mused, then sighed and got up, heading to the door. ‘Three…two…one…’ She pulled it open to reveal a petite blonde, mouth open and hand poised to knock. She looked confused for a moment, until London stepped back to let her in. The girl gave her a look and stepped inside, heaving a paper bag of who-knows-what in her arms.

“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how you do that.”

London smiled her first genuine smile all day, waving her finger at her friend. “That, Madeline, is a secret that you will never know.” She took the bag from her and set it down on the coffee table, taking out the contents one by one as Maddie took off her coat and scarf, making herself comfortable.

“So!” started off the bubbly blonde, sitting herself down on the lavish sofa next to London. “Two weeks of doing nothing and not leaving your extremely large, and may I say extremely dark, suite while eating all the junk food we can!” She laughed as London rolled her eyes and plopped down next to her, a big bag of mini-marshmallows in her hands.

“Hey, I like the candles, they smell good! ‘Sides, it sets a mood!”

“And what kind of mood were you looking to set with me, huh?”

“MADDIE! That’s not what I meant!”

“Suuuure it isn’t. I totally believe you, Lon.”

“Ugh…I never win with you…”

Maddie laughed, one of those innocent, 5-year-old-at-a-candy-store kinds of laughs. “So tell me,” she took a deep breath after calming down, switching into a slightly more serious mood. “What’s going on London? And don’t say nothing because you know you can’t hide things from me anymore!” Maddie crossed her arms, now sitting Indian style and fully facing London, and gave the hotel heiress her full attention.

London hesitated, looking at Maddie’s concerned face through the corner of her eye, mini-marshmallow halfway to her mouth. “Uhh…well it’s nothing really…important…”

“London…” Maddie started warningly. “Don’t give me that, I know there’s something bothering you that you just don’t wanna tell me about.”

London rose a brow. “Aaaannd how do you know that?”

Maddie pointed to the half eaten box of chocolates and gave her a look.

“Oh…”

“Yeah.”

London sighed and set the bag down, turning to Maddie on the sofa. “It’s just…I don’t understand why my dad doesn’t love me. Is it me?”

Maddie looked taken aback. “What? No, London, your dad loves you, you know that! Look at all this stuff he sends you all the time! And he calls too…sometimes…” Her own argument began to sound weak, even to herself, and she sighed.

London looked disinterested, placing her chin in her hand. “Oh yeah, sending me thousands of dollars worth of gifts and things I don’t use has ‘I love you’ written all over it.”

‘Maybe I should stop with the sarcasm; it’s rubbing off on her.’ Maddie thought wryly.

“Okay, you’re right. Let’s be not superficial for a moment. He comes to visit you, right?”

London scoffed. “Like, once a year.”

“He calls…”

“To either tell me to go to school, or to stop spending his precious money.”

“He writes—?”

“—Faxes. To tell Moesby, to tell me, to go to school or stop spending his money.”

Maddie sighed. What more was there to say? She knew London was right, but flat out saying ‘Yeah you’re right your dad doesn’t love you at all haha!’ is not exactly the kind of thing anybody wants to hear. Especially on Christmas.

London took Maddie’s silence as an affirmative to what she already knew. She sighed again. “Look, let’s just forget it, okay? I know it, you know it, there’s no use discussing it to death.”

Maddie made a face like ‘well if you’re sure’, and offered her a smile. “Well, just make sure you know that your dad might not care all that much, but you have plenty of people who do, like Moesby, Carey, Zack and Cody, and me of course.” She leaned over and hugged London briefly, who gladly returned it.

“I gotta say Mads, you’re really sappy sometimes.” London giggled as Maddie put on a shocked face.

“London! I am not!” Maddie picked up a pillow and threw it at her, which she caught easily.

“Third degree black belt, remember?” She giggled and threw it back.

Maddie caught it in the stomach and hissed in pain, quickly dropping the pillow. She leaned heavily on the side of the sofa, holding her abdomen gently.

Instantly, a look of worry and suspicion crossed London’s Asian features. She removed the obstructing pillow carefully, and took Maddie’s hands gently from her stomach.

“Take off your shirt.”

Despite the obvious pain she was in, Maddie grinned weakly. “Wow, London, I didn’t know you liked me that much.”

London just rode her brow, ever inch of her face serious. “Maddie…” she said warningly.

The smile dropped off her face as Maddie groaned softly, sitting up slowly and tossing her shirt over head in one fluid motion, wincing. She fond that if you had to move it, do it fast, it hurts less.

London inhaled sharply, stopping breathing altogether shortly after.

There, like a slap in the face, was a large, obviously newly-applied gash, stretching from below her chest to her bellybutton; a long sideways slash. It was red and puffy, the surrounding skin irritated and the wound barely scabbing. Several large sickly yellow and purple bruises spotted the surrounding area on her abdomen, amplified by the contrast of her smooth light skin.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Maddie felt like London could see right through her, scrutinizing her every move and form. She felt completely open and exposed, and she shivered slightly. Maddie shifted uncomfortably after a few minutes of London’s silence, inaudibly gasping as she heard a small tear and felt a warm liquid begin to make its way down her stomach.

London quickly broke her gaze with the horror on her friends’ stomach and jumped up, running to find her first aid kit.

“Gauze, gauze, I need gauze!”

“There’s some in my bag.” Came the small reply from back in the room.

London grabbed the Bactine and some cotton rounds from the counter and rushed back into the room, finding the wrap from Maddie’s bag.

London put some of the disinfectant on the cotton round and hesitated, before meeting Maddie’s sort of glazed brown eyes.

“It’ll sting a bit…”

“I’m used to it.”

London applied the liquid and tensed when Maddie tensed, not wanting to hurt her.

“I’m fine, it’s just a little sting.”

London finished cleaning and dressing Maddie’s wound in silence, handing the petite blonde her shirt before settling back down on the couch next to her, waiting for her friend to explain. She sent her a questioning glance after many a moment of silence, before sighing. It was clear she wasn’t going to say anything.

“Why didn’t you wrap it before?”

Maddie looked away, squirming. “I…ran out of gauze. I got some from the store before I came here and thought I’d put it on when you were sleeping or…something…” She suddenly felt awfully guilty. Why did she feel like she needed to hide this from London, when she already knew?

But London only looked worriedly at her. “How bad this time?”

Maddie sighed. What could you do, if your mom, that’s right, mothers do these kinds of things too, hits you and takes out her frustrations on you, your dad walked out on all of you years ago, and your siblings could give a rat’s ass if you woke up the next morning?

“It was okay…I guess, I mean, the slash only stung for a little bit before the baseball bat. It’s true what they say though, if you’re in pain, give yourself another pain to distract it.” She chuckled weakly, hoping to clear up some of the tension in the air.

London only shook her head, desperate. “Maddie! ‘It was okay’! You’re getting used to this! Do you know how bad that is! I hate seeing you here hurt all the time!”

Somewhere deep inside her mind, Maddie knew what London meant, but selective hearing took this chance to kick in, and what she heard was ‘I hate seeing you here all the time’. It hurt, more than the home life she suffered through, more than the daily beatings given by her ‘mother’, it hurt the most in her heart, and she whimpered miserably, clenching her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry…I…I don’t meant to be a burden…”

Tears gathered in London’s eyes, feeling a sting at seeing her usually strong best friend reduced to a shivering, terrified shell of her former self. She sat closer to Maddie and hugged her, letting the blonde cry on her shoulder.

“You’re not a burden on me, Maddie. You’re my best friend, and it’s my job to take care of you. Besides, you listen to me whine all day, it’s the least I can do.” London smiled as she heard a small watery chuckle escape her crying companion.

“Thanks London.” She pulled away and sniffed, wiping her tears on her sleeve. She laughed a little louder now, a little confidence returning to her. “I’m sorry, I made your Burberry pajamas all wet.”

London shrugged, waving her off. “It’s fine, it’s just clothes.”

Maddie’s jaw literally dropped, and London looked at her weirdly before realizing what she just said. She laughed sheepishly.

“Well, I do have like, fifty pairs of the same thing…and besides, this was more important.”

Maddie smiled genuinely, ‘aww’ing. Then she smirked. “I gotta say Lon, you’re really sappy sometimes.” She giggled, repeating London’s earlier claim.

London pulled an offended face. “Hey!” She then burst into a fit of laughter, Maddie joining her.

They settled down after a few minutes, a comfortable silence resting on them, the tension previously present now long gone. Suddenly though, they both sighed, then looked at each other an giggled.

“You go first.” Maddie said, shifting to get more comfortable. Just because it was cleaned now doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

“No, you.” London retaliated, crossing her arms.

Maddie giggled again. “Well, I was just thinking, your life sucks, my life sucks, so I figure our lives can suck together!” She laughed.

London rolled her eyes. “Okay! But its Christmas, the only semi-happy time I get in the year, so let’s enjoy it!”

Maddie shot her a look. “Semi happy?”

London looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I get most depressed around this time too, you know.”

“Oh.”

London just chuckled and got up, heading to the kitchen to make some hot cocoa. The suite was barely lit by now, a heavy blue light streaming in from the moon and the snow outside.

Maddie felt at peace, for the first time in a long while. Usually, at home things were so tense, and there was always a constant fear within her. But now that fear was gone, and her mind was clear. It was a wonderful feeling.

London came back into the room, smiling at Maddie’s content face. She sat down, the movement on the couch jolting the blonde from her thoughts. London handed her the steaming mug, which she gratefully accepted.

“What are you thinking about?”

Maddie shrugged, sipping her cocoa. “How comfortable I am right now.” She got a slightly dazed look on her face, and London had to laugh.

“Wanna go watch the snow?” Maddie asked, in the very same way she asked about the baseball game when London had stayed at her house.

“Sure.”

They both lifted themselves up from the sofa, Maddie with some help because of her wound, and walked over to the large rounded window sill, sitting on the cushions placed there.

The night was peaceful as the two friends sat in the heiress’s large suite, overlooking what seemed to be all of Boston lit up and glowing from the white adorning its buildings.

The night drifted on, and the two teenage girls drifted off into a deep sleep, empty cocoa mugs forgotten on the floor, and each other as a pillow.

Outside that window, crime, poverty, and sadness hit many a person in the world, but to the two inside, even for that short time, their world was just perfect.

Author’s Note: Ugh sorry, this fic was driving me insane. I didn’t know where to take it towards the end, so I just ended it. Lols, oh well, it’s just supposed to be a short friendship fic anyway. I liked digging into London to see what’s going on in her head…but Maddie leaves more possibility. Which is why this is kind of a lead up to a chaptered fic I’m doing, a darker Maddie-centered story. But that’s waaay later. Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed!