The Lightning Fiend

Rating: T, for language and sexual situations

Summary: Sequel to 'The Lightning Tree'. Surviving a lightning strike and twenty-foot jump may seem like miraculous feats, but things are never easy when you're Miley. Is a new danger really lurking or is Miley simply as crazy as everyone thinks? Liley

Here, as promised, is the long awaited sequel! It's taken me quite some time to put something together, in fact, I had started the sequel and scrapped it, so I really hope you all enjoy this story. Let me know what you all think...hopefully you'll want me to continue ;)

Chapter I

A truck moved across the gravel road towards the house, kicking up dirt and pebbles in its wake. The road and surrounding area were covered with fallen leaves, painting everything a murky yellow and brown. They'd had the first few nights of frost this past week and the ground was wet and cold. The sky, too, was a dreary gray, filled with rain clouds that refused to give more than a weak drizzle now and again. Despite the gloom outside, the occupants of the vehicle were anything but somber. One in particular was exuding an aura of excitement and glee, though this did not go unnoticed by the other two occupants.

Lilly gave a cursory glance to the girl by her side. She raised an eyebrow at Miley, who was starting to fidget as a beautiful, two-story farmhouse came into view. Miley turned to her girlfriend, gave one of her trademark grins and focused her attention back on the scenery moving by. Lilly suddenly felt anxious as well. She had been assigned a very important task and she turned to meet Susan's eyes in the rearview mirror, in silent confirmation of their agreement. Susan pulled up in front of the farmhouse, practically able to feel the excitement rolling off her daughter. She was almost hesitant to stop the truck.

As the truck was slowing to a stop in front of the house, Lilly was already reaching for her girlfriend, determined to do her job. Suddenly her phone began vibrating and with a quick curse she fumbled in her pocket to find it. That split-second of inattentiveness would cost her and Lilly realized it almost as soon as Susan turned off the motor. She tried valiantly, half lunging across the backseat to grab Miley's arm, but the younger girl had already thrown open the door. Lilly, imprisoned by her seatbelt, was unable to stop her. Miley was already running towards her favorite tree, before either of the other two had even exited the vehicle.

"Miley! No running!" yelled Susan, though she already knew her words would fall on deaf ears. "Miley Ray, I swear I will ground you if you touch that tree!"

Lilly, finally having freed herself from her seatbelt imposed imprisonment, slammed the truck door shut as she stepped onto the wet ground. She wasn't going to voice her opinion, but when had being grounded ever stopped Miley from doing something she wanted? They both watched, half in awe and half in concerned anger, as Miley grasped the lowest branch of the tree and hoisted herself up.

"Her upper body strength's certainly improved," said Lilly, her voice tinged with a hint of amusement.

Susan turned to look at her, eyes stern. "Fantastic. You were supposed to stop her."

Lilly shrugged and held up her cell phone. "She tricked me."

"I'm gonna regret the day I got that girl a cell phone."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll lose it before the end of the year," said Lilly with a smirk and moved to the bed of the truck to grab their things.

Susan took the duffel bag from Lilly's hands and walked towards the front door, stopping on the bottom step of the front porch. "Miley, if you don't come down this instant, I'm gonna put you over my knee, girl."

Her only response was laughter and she shook her head, though she couldn't help but smile as she ascended the stairs and went into the house. Lilly threw a glance at the tree and with a heavy sigh she grabbed the crutches out of the truckbed, before walking over to her girlfriend.

Miley wasn't very high in the tree, merely straddling the lowest branch, swinging her legs as she looked down at Lilly. She was grinning, looking absolutely content sitting in the miserable December weather on a wet and moss-covered tree branch. Lilly looked up at her, hoping her face looked pitiful enough to convince Miley to come down.

"Miley, please come down; I just wanna go inside and get warmed up."

"Or you can come up here and get warmed up," said Miley, wearing a sly grin on her face.

Lilly rolled her eyes, though she had to admit the offer was somewhat tempting. "Or we can go inside and you can finally see the house."

It was the only trump card she currently held and Lilly hoped it would get Miley off the tree. After the farmhouse burned down some time ago, it had finally been rebuilt after over a year, thanks in large part to various donors who'd read about Miley's astonishing jump in the local papers. Grandma Ruby had been handed the keys last week, when Miley was confined to a hospital bed. Lilly knew she was dying to see her new room.

Miley seemed to consider the offer, almost frowning at the realization that Lilly was about to win. But she did really want to see the house and the tree would still be here later, when no one was around to stop her. She nodded. "Okay. Move back so I can jump."

A cold fist clenched around Lilly's heart at the statement and she quickly shook her head. "No! No, don't jump, Miles. Just…slide down and I'll catch you."

Lilly wasn't sure whether the fear came from the knowledge that it would be incredibly stupid for Miley to jump when she wasn't even supposed to be walking without crutches or whether it arose from the memories of that horrible day last summer which nearly cost Miley her life. She shook her head to clear the remnants of that day, realizing Miley was, surprisingly, already doing as instructed. Miley slid off the branch sideways until she was hanging onto it and Lilly immediately wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's midsection. Miley let go off the branch and slid down Lilly's body, much to the younger girl's delight. When they were finally face to face, Miley grinned and darted forward to plant a soft kiss against her girlfriend's lips.

Lilly had almost let herself be tricked again, but this time she grabbed a hold of Miley's arm before the girl could run off again. "Not so fast, Road kill," she said and handed a disgruntled Miley the crutches.

Lilly smiled and leaned forward to kiss Miley again and waited for her to get the crutches situated. Over the past few months Miley had gotten quite good with the crutches, though unsurprisingly she ditched them every chance she got. She had spent a good amount of the past few months between a wheelchair, crutches and a hospital bed, enduring the multiple surgeries required to fix her with a calm resolve. Now, however, she'd just put the, hopefully, last surgery behind her and the need to run and climb was overpowering.

The ground was wet and muddy and they walked slowly back to the house, Lilly closely watching Miley for any signs she was considering escape. But Miley did want to see the new house, so she followed along on her crutches dutifully.

xxx

"My legs are hairy." Miley sounded unperturbed, as if she was merely stating a fact and Lilly couldn't help but snort at the statement. After months of braces and external pins, Miley's legs were more than just hairy.

"You're road kill with fur," said Lilly, grinning until Miley shoved her hairy legs onto her lap.

Lilly shifted in the bathtub, sloshing water and foam across the bottom of Miley's face. Miley spluttered and pushed herself up far enough to not have to drink bathwater again. Once she had discovered her new bathroom contained a whirlpool tub, everything else had been completely forgotten and she'd been in the tub before Lilly could talk her out of it. Of course, Lilly didn't think she'd ever talk her gorgeous girlfriend out of taking a bath, so she had merely shrugged and joined Miley. Now, lying in the foamy, hot water, she felt completely relaxed and at peace.

Miley nudged her with her leg again and Lilly groaned. She leaned half out of the tub to grab the razor sitting on a cabinet and handed it to her girlfriend. "If you're gonna shave, I'm getting out. I am not sitting in hairy bathwater."

"But I thought you loved me, hair and all." Miley pouted at her and her face was just too adorable for Lilly to pass up. She leaned over and planted a wet kiss on Miley's lips.

"Nope, I never said that. Now shave off your fur, Road kill." Lilly kissed Miley again and stood up, grabbing a towel to wrap around herself before stepping out of the tub. She knew Miley was probably still pouting and because she had little resistance for it, Lilly didn't turn to look as she left the room.

Miley grumbled as she watched her go, but set to quickly finish her task so she could get out. The tub was suddenly a lot less fun without her girlfriend in it. She shaved quickly and emptied the tub. Miley wrapped a towel around herself and walked back into her adjoining bedroom. She was still amazed by the size of the new house and particularly her room, which had an open layout with plenty of space for her few things and several big windows overlooking the trees and pastures outside. Her mom had picked most of the furniture and decorations, supposedly because Miley had been in the hospital still when the house was completed, but Miley knew her mother well enough to figure the woman had been worried about what her daughter might choose. Miley didn't mind, she liked her room and as long her guitar and the pictures of her father and brother had made the move, she was perfectly happy.

"Where are your crutches?" Lilly had heard the door open and turned from her spot on the bed, where she'd been reading. Miley was wearing nothing but a towel, her hair still dripping wet, grinning as usual and the sight made Lilly's mouth go a little dry. Miley was gorgeous, there was no way around it, but the mischievousness was what did Lilly in. She wanted to throw Miley onto the bed and have her way with her, knowing full well this was probably what Miley had intended by coming into the room like this. Nevertheless, Lilly's concern for her girlfriend's health overrode her hormones.

"Are you only dating me for my crutches?" Miley gave her a little pout and Lilly shook her head, refusing to be baited.

"You have no idea how sexy those things are, Miles."

Miley only threw her a look and made her way over to the bed, though her steps were somewhat unsteady. Lilly almost jumped up to help her, but stopped herself. Miley was old enough to know better and Lilly refused to constantly fret over her. Miley's mother and grandma had that job covered already. So she waited until Miley sat on the edge of the bed before she got up. Looking down at her girlfriend, Lilly immediately noticed the grimace on Miley's face.

"That hurt?" asked Lilly, crossing her arms.

"Yeah," said Miley easily and it was one of those things Lilly loved about her – Miley had no need to lie or pretend.

Lilly shook her head. "And that's why you're supposed to use crutches. Now stay here and I'll get your clothes and your crutches."

Miley smiled at her and grabbed Lilly's hand before she could walk away. She tugged on it until Lilly relented and leaned down, bringing their lips together. Even after over six months the tingles that shot through both their bodies at the contact was overwhelming and all-consuming. Miley's tongue brushed against Lilly's and suddenly Lilly had forgotten what she'd been planning to do right before. All she knew was that she loved Miley and she was never going to let go.

The doorbell brought them out of their reverie and they both pulled back, out of breath. Miley was smiling brightly, but as soon as they heard voices coming from downstairs, her smile fell and her expression became clouded. Lilly wanted to comment, but knew it would only fall on deaf ears, and instead went to grab Miley's things. Miley was just pulling on her sweatshirt when a knock sounded on the door and Susan opened it just a bit without looking inside.

"Are you guys decent?"

Miley snorted, but Lilly's face turned beet red. Susan may have warmed to her over the months, but that didn't mean she wanted the woman to think she was defiling her daughter while everyone else was downstairs. "You can come in, momma."

Susan opened the door, almost a bit reluctantly, but when she saw both of them fully dressed, sitting on the bed, she relaxed. All it had taken to make her wary of entering her daughter's room was one little mistake where she had walked in on them making out heavily and now Susan always made sure it was safe.

"Dinner's ready."

"What's for dinner?" asked Miley, sounding skeptical.

"Richard brought pizza. He got a Hawaiian for you, Miles."

Miley made a face and shook her head, exasperating both her mother and her girlfriend. "Can I just stay up here?"

"Why? You love pizza," said Susan, though she already knew the answer perfectly well. They'd been having this same fight for months now.

"I don't like Richard," said Miley gruffly, the tone in her voice leaving no room for argument. And they had tried arguing, not just Susan, but Lilly, who thought Richard was a pretty nice guy, as well.

"Then I guess you'll just have to pretend. Now come on downstairs."

Miley thought long and hard on whether she'd be able to get downstairs, out the door and into a tree before someone could stop her, but she knew the stupid crutches would slow her down. Her mother noticed the contemplative look on her face, one that was sure to spell trouble.

"Miley, downstairs. Now." Susan didn't have to tell Miley she was serious, the look on her face and tone of her voice saying it all. She turned to leave and Lilly stood up, handing Miley her crutches before following Susan.

Miley didn't want to get up, but her mother was already angry, so she stood with the aid of her crutches. She stalled for as long as she could, making her way across her room and down the stairs as if she'd never used crutches before, but inevitably she ended up at the dining table. And there was Richard, smiling at her and Miley just wanted to run.

to be continued