Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and I am making no profit from their use.

A/N: Follows "Putting Down Roots" and precedes "Better Than Fine" in my SL series, but as always, you won't have to have read the others to read this one.

I feel like I should tell you that this story wrote itself- I practically had no control over it lol. I know it's excruciatingly sappy (as my stories are wont to be), and there may be some... well... implied adult activity (:P), but hopefully I didn't overdo it and end up writing a tiny trashy romance novel. Or if I did, oh well, it still makes me grin. Enjoy, and please, don't forget to tell me what you thought!

Oh my gosh. He's really not going to do it.

Bailey Pickett frowned as she stared over the railing of the S.S. Tipton, watching the hustle and bustle of the people onshore.

"Bails?"

She turned around quickly, facing her boyfriend.

Cody grinned, holding out a hand to her. In the other hand he held their suitcase. Bailey had been amazed that they'd managed to fit a week's worth of clothes for both of them into one suitcase, but Cody was a very efficient packer. "Hurry up, we have to check out before we leave."

"Right." Bailey said, a little wistfully, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her into the oh-so-familiar main lobby of the ship. It had been refurbished since they'd graduated Seven Seas High almost five years ago, but it still felt essentially the same. The biggest difference was the absence of Mr. Moseby behind the front desk. (He had gone back to managing the Boston Tipton, and she made sure to stop and say hi to him whenever she visited with Cody.)

Cody released her hand and left her standing with the luggage while he approached the desk, their keys in hand. Bailey sighed. The past week had been amazing: a cruise to the tropics with the guy she loved, to celebrate their impending college graduation. They'd spent the week relaxing in the sun, walking sandy beaches, exploring their old high school haunts...

Not to mention, Bailey thought with a satisfied blush, doing things they definitely hadn't done back in high school.

Yes, the much-deserved vacation had been paradise, and yet...

He didn't do it.

He didn't propose.

She tried to tell herself it didn't matter. Cody loved her, and she loved him. That was never in doubt. And they were young, and they had all the time in the world to consider the prospect of marriage.

But she could admit it, if only to herself: she wanted that ring, darn it!

Maybe she was being silly. The fact that he'd planned this amazing trip back to the place where they'd met meant nothing. He probably just thought she'd enjoy being back on the ship for old times' sake, and he was right: she'd had a wonderful time. There had been no reason whatsoever to assume that the ship was supposed to be a romantic backdrop for a marriage proposal.

But she'd been hoping.

No, scratch that. She'd been so sure, so sure that this was going to be it.

And now they were leaving, and her left hand was still bare.

Maya was going to be shocked.

"Oh my gosh. Give me a hug before you leave!"

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Maya, it's just a week-long cruise. I'll see you in eight days."

"Yeah, but when you come back you'll be engaged!" Maya crowed.

Bailey swatted the other girl gently in the stomach. "We don't know that. And since when do you get so excited about stuff like this?" She'd met Maya on the S.S. Tipton during their senior year of high school, after Maya had started dating Cody's brother Zack. They'd since broken up, but she and Bailey remained close friends... and she had to say she'd never seen Maya like this. "You're usually so grounded and sarcastic. Not that those are bad things."

"I'm just happy for you." Maya shrugged. "You and Cody have practically been engaged since I met you. It's about time he popped the question. Besides..." she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "You want to marry him. It's so obvious, I can see it in your eyes."

Bailey squirmed. "No you can't."

"Yes I can!" Maya countered. "Maybe... you should just ask him yourself."

Bailey bit her lip to keep from admitting that she'd often considered doing that very thing. "Cody's very traditional. He'd never admit it, but he'll want to be the one who asks."

"Sure, but he'd say yes in an instant." Maya pointed out with a smile.

Bailey smiled too, a soft, patient smile. "I know. But I can wait. He'll do it when he's ready, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Well, you won't have to wait much longer. It'll be this week, I just know it."

"How?" Bailey challenged, deciding to indulge her friend's hunches.

Besides, she had the same feeling.

"Well." Maya began counting off the evidence on her fingers. "First of all, he's obviously in love with you. And if that's not enough, there's his secret visit to Kettlecorn."

The memory made Bailey grin- just a few weeks ago she'd been talking to her folks on the phone, and her father had let slip that Cody had visited them in Kettlecorn without her. She'd pressed her father for details, and he wouldn't tell her what Cody had said to him.

But she knew.

"I mean, he lied and said he was visiting Zack, and then he goes to see your parents. Totally asking their blessing to marry you. What else could it have been?" Maya said, and Bailey couldn't disagree. How ecstatic had she been when she heard that news? But then days went by, and then weeks went by, and still no proposal.

Maya held up a third finger. "Last week he surprises you with a vacation cruise. He says it's to celebrate graduation, but he doesn't invite Zack, or any of your other friends who are graduating this year. Just the two of you. And just in case it's not clear enough, he arranges it so you're sailing on the S.S. Tipton, the very place where you met for the first time." she grinned. "I bet he does it on the Sky Deck. Oh! Or maybe in the Neptune Room, after a romantic candlelit dinner."

Bailey laughed, leaning in for the hug Maya had requested earlier. "That does sound wonderful..." she admitted. "But back on the farm, we have a saying: don't count your chickens before they hatch."

"You know, we have a similar saying in New York. Except it's with pigeons." Maya joked, hugging her back. "But that doesn't apply here. Your pigeons are totally going to hatch."

"Uh huh." Bailey rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "See you in eight days, Maya."

Maya waved her off. "See ya then, Mrs. Martin!"

Looks like we were wrong, Bailey thought. She glanced over at Cody. He was still talking to the man at the desk.

The worst part was that there had been times when she was sure this was the moment, when she looked at Cody and just knew that the words will you marry me were right on the tip of his tongue, when they were positively shining in his eyes.

Just the other night, they'd been sitting over a romantic dinner in the dim lighting of the Neptune Room, and Bailey had been unable to stop herself from recalling Maya's prediction.

"I can't believe we're back in the Neptune Room." Bailey murmured. She took her napkin from her lap and placed it on her empty plate. Now that their meal was finished, she found herself taking the time to really look around at the candles, the ocean-themed décor, the fine linen tablecloths. If Cody proposed right now, this scene would be as clear in her mind as a photograph. "It's exactly like I remember it."

Cody raised his eyebrows. "You must be remembering a date with someone else... Back in high school I was way too broke to take you to a place like this." he joked.

Bailey laughed. "You took me here once or twice." she reminded him. "There was that Valentine's Day. And for one of my birthdays."

He reached across the table and took her hand. "I know." he said softly. "I remember. Even way back to our Seven Seas High days."

"Way back? You're hardly an old man, you know. Even if you do act that way sometimes." Bailey said with a smile. "Our Seven Seas High days weren't that long ago."

"I know." Cody said with an answering squeeze of her hand. "But time's been flying since I met you."

Their eyes met in the dimness, and Bailey was almost surprised at the intensity with which he was looking at her. This was it. He was about to ask her.

"I love you, Bails." he said, and her heart fluttered with such fervent anticipation that it was almost painful.

"I know." she said quickly, willing, praying, that he would ask now. There was a long pause, and he raised his eyebrows again, and she was forced to reconsider the response she'd so hastily made. "I mean, I love you too." she said with a sheepish grin. Her heart slowly resumed beating at a normal rate as she noticed a slight change in his features.

He leaned in towards her. "You know, there's one thing that's different between our Seven Seas High days and now..." His eyes held a wicked twinkle as he finished, "Tonight, when I walk you back to your cabin, I get to come inside."

Bailey's eyes widened in delight, and she moistened her lips subconsciously. All thoughts of a proposal fled her mind, and her heart began fluttering again... this time, with a slightly different- but still delicious- form of anticipation."That," she said coyly, "Is very true."

In unison, they pushed their chairs back from the table.

Shaking herself out of her daydream, Bailey blushed, though of course no one could see her inner thoughts. She couldn't honestly say she would change anything about that night. Not for the world. It was just...

Was it so wrong for her to have wanted him to ask? This would have been the perfect place, the perfect time. Now, with the sun setting on their school years and the real world looming just ahead.

Here. On the S.S. Tipton. She'd laid eyes on him for the first time on the deck just below her feet. Right down the hall was the gymnasium where they still held senior citizen karate lessons, where he'd pulled her close and they'd danced for the first time.

And did he even remember that they'd shared their first kiss on this very spot?

She looked back at the front desk, only to realize, with a start, that Cody was gone. And stranger still, everyone in the lobby seemed to be staring at her. Or, more accurately, at something just below her line of vision.

She looked down, and her breath caught in her throat.

He was there, of course. On bended knee at her feet, just as she'd imagined. And in his hands, he held a velvet-lined box, nestled into which sat the most breathtaking ring she had ever seen.

And after years of rooming with London Tipton, Bailey had seen her share of spectacular jewelry.

"Cody!" she gasped. To her horror, tears began welling in her eyes and she quickly dashed them away, not wanting to miss even a moment of this. She'd pictured this a thousand times... but nothing she'd imagined had prepared her for the intensity of the emotions she was experiencing right now. None of those dreams had even come close.

"I know it's not Hannah Montana tickets, but..." Cody joked, and his voice had a shaky, awestruck quality to it. He reached for her left hand. "I'm hoping you'll accept it anyway."

Bailey could give no response but a watery laugh, and Cody continued.

"When we met on our first day of Seven Seas High, I liked you. By the same time the next day, I was smitten. But it was when you first kissed me, right here in this very room, that I knew my heart was yours forever. And now that we're right back where we started, I'm hoping you'll promise me yours."

Bailey clapped her right hand over her mouth. To stifle what, she didn't even know.

"Bailey Pickett, I love you, and I will always love you." Cody was looking up at her from the ground, exposed and vulnerable, and yet he looked happier, more confident... more in love than she had ever seen him. By the time he actually said the words, she was drowning, sinking into his eyes. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Bailey burst out. "Yes, yes, yes!" She barely registered the hoots and applause of the bystanders as he slipped the sparkling diamond onto her ring finger. Then she hauled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him neck. "Oh, yes." she breathed, before joining her lips to his.

His arms slid around her waist and he kissed her back, grinning into the kiss. When they finally pulled apart, he said, "Thank god."

Bailey let go of his neck to examine her engagement ring, tilting her hand so that it caught the light and glittered, like a tiny sun. "It took you long enough." she complained with a wide smile.

"Well how was I supposed to ask when I could see you were expecting it?" Cody murmured into her ear. "Every time I tried to do it, like the other night in the Neptune Room, you would look at me like you knew exactly what I was about to say. And that's why I couldn't do it- I wanted to surprise you."

Bailey shook her head at her own silliness, knowing that he was completely right. She'd been anticipating this for weeks... and yet he'd still managed to catch her in the one moment that her guard was down. "You did surprise me." she confessed. "I thought you were going to do it on the boat, but by now I'd figured it was too late."

"That's what I wanted you to think." Cody said triumphantly, pressing another short kiss to her lips. "And... speaking of too late..."

"We have to get off the ship, don't we?" Bailey finished, laughing.

"Yep." Cody grabbed the suitcase with one hand and her left hand with the other, bringing it up to his mouth and brushing a last quick kiss over her ring-clad finger. "No matter how many amazing memories we have of the S.S. Tipton, I'm afraid we actually have to return to the real world."

"Well..." Bailey said slowly. "Are we still engaged in the real world?"

Cody raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course we are."

"Then why," she returned brightly, "Would I mind going back?"