This story is going to be a bit different than my last one, but it promises to be quite long as well. This is most definitely a Liley story, though this first chapter is mostly set up. Please let me know what you think and whether I should continue with this...

Rating: T

Pairing: Miley/Lilly, some Oliver/Luann

Chapter 1 – Something for Nothing

"Come on, it's getting dark," the brunette said, crossing her arms to ward off the approaching chill. She glanced over her shoulder at her sister trying to keep up and slowed her pace. The familiar chain link fences and red brick buildings were becoming visible up ahead and though they had almost reached their destination, it did not provide her much relief.

She noticed a few young guys on the side of the road exchanging money and steered her sister to the other side. She wasn't looking for trouble. A few people passed them and a guy on a bicycle shouted at her as he rode past, but she wasn't really worried. They were from here, after all; everyone else knew they had nothing to take and nothing to give.

They squeezed through the broken gate of the fence and the girl felt through her pockets for her key. Nothing, of course. She turned to her sister, "Miles, you have the key?"

The other brunette rolled her eyes at her sister, "Seriously, what would you do without me, Lu?"

Luann took the key from her sister's hand and shrugged. They entered the stairwell door and expertly maneuvered around the broken furniture and trash littering the entranceway. She ascended the stairs slowly, though still had to wait for her sister at the top. Luann said nothing, instead opening the door to the apartment.

She noticed the empty bottles strewn across the coffee table and kitchen counter immediately and hesitated. It didn't look too much different than it had that morning, but the eerie calm worried her some. Miley closed the door behind them softly and dropped her backpack to the ground. Luann was already in the kitchen, looking through the fridge. It was empty, except for some mustard and green bologna. She angrily turned to her sister who was leaning against the breakfast bar.

"I'll bet you anything mom spent her paycheck on booze and drugs again."

Miley shrugged. She didn't want Luann to get angry and maybe do something stupid again. They might have been identical twins, but their personalities were completely different. Whereas Miley was reserved, shy and generally believed the best of people, Luann was hot tempered, outspoken and pessimistic. But Miley knew her sister was there for her, always.

A thud from the hallway alerted them and the girls looked at each other, apprehensive. A tall, shirtless, muscular man with a large tattoo across his chest entered the living room. He didn't look too steady on his feet at first, but seemed to adjust after a few moments. His eyes were squinty and bloodshot. He walked up to the breakfast bar just across from Miley and grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the counter.

"Where the hell have you been?" he said, his voice rough. He tried to shake out a cigarette, but came up empty.

"At work; which you would remember if you didn't drink and smoke all your brain cells away," Luann said, annoyance shining through her voice.

"Don't get fresh with me, girl," the man said and pointed a shaky hand at her.

Miley could tell Luann was getting ready for an argument and spoke instead, "Where's mom?"

The man shrugged, looking through several more empty cigarette packs on the counter, "Asleep. Don't you brats go wakin' her up, she gotta work tonight."

The twins shared a look; they knew 'asleep' was usually code for 'passed out'. Luann looked through a stack of mail on the counter with increasing frustration. Mostly bills, all in various stages of being overdue.

"James, did mom get paid this morning?" Luann asked.

He'd given up on finding a cigarette and reached for a can of beer next to Miley. He shook it, sensing it was only half empty and took a swig. "None of your damn business; ain't your money, Miley."

"I'm Luann," the brunette ground out, "and it is my business if there's no damn food in the house."

James glared at the girl, "Don't you work at a food joint? Maybe if you ask real nice they'll give ya some free burgers."

"I don't want Miley eating that shit," Luann said, jaw clenched. James really got on her last nerve; she had no idea what her mom saw in him. He had no job, was always drunk and dumb as a doorknob.

"You are really somethin', you know that? Your mama's workin' hard to put a roof over your heads and here you go being ungrateful."

"This shithole barely qualifies as a roof. And hey, maybe if your lazy ass actually got a job and stopped drinking away all of mom's money, we'd have some damn food in the house!" Luann yelled, moving towards the breakfast bar.

James lunged at her, but his impaired coordination was making it harder. He shoved at Miley to get to her sister. His momentum and weight were enough to knock her over, head cracking against the linoleum floor. Luann saw red and jumped at him. She swung a right hook, but missed as he straightened up. He was stronger and a much better fighter than her, though still impaired. James swung in retaliation and his fist struck Luann on her jaw. She wished she could have stood her ground, but the force of the impact sent her sprawling, partly on top of her sister who was still on the ground.

Her head was ringing; jaw throbbing and she lay there momentarily, stunned. She felt Miley grab her hand and managed to push herself up. James stood above them, fury in his eyes. Luann knew she should never have antagonized him when he was drunk and high, but she just couldn't help her anger.

"I've told her a million times ta get rid of ya two; don't know why she keeps you around. Useless, especially that one," James yelled and threw his beer can at Miley. It hit her forearms that she'd raised to cover her head and beer spilled across her. "Maybe I just need to teach y'all a lesson."

He fumbled with his belt buckle. Luann didn't know exactly what he meant, but she knew whatever it was, it was not good. She glanced back at her sister and whispered as quietly as possible, "Miles, run. Go, I'll be right behind you."

Miley nodded curtly and pulled away, scrambling around the breakfast counter and away from James. Luann was only a split-second behind her. James was not fast enough to stop them, but his position near the doorway still kept them from getting out of the apartment. They ran down the hallway and into their bedroom. Luann locked the door, but she knew it was mostly useless – it was broken, anyway. She looked around the sparse room; there was nothing she could really use to block the door. She saw her sister sitting against the far wall, legs drawn up against her chest. Miley was gasping for breath and Luann felt her panic turn back into anger.

She went to her bed and reached underneath it. The aluminum baseball bat she pulled out from underneath gleamed beautifully in the sparse light falling in through the window. Heavy footsteps thundered down the hallway. Luann looked back at her sister. "You're gonna be okay, Miles. Just hold on."

The doorknob jiggled. The door burst open with a heavy crash and James crossed the threshold. Luann swung the bat. The resounding crack chilled her to her bones, yet it brought sweet relief. James tumbled to the ground.

* * *

A heavy knock sounded on the door and loud footsteps thundered through the apartment. Their mother's hysterical voice could be heard all the way in their bedroom and Luann closed her eyes. She just wanted to take Miley and get out of there. Deeper voices now joined their mother's and they were coming closer.

"She killed him! Take her away…oh my god…she killed him!" Brenda was wailing, voice reaching an uncomfortably high pitch.

"Ma'am, I need you to calm down, okay? Can you show us where he is?" A deeper voice, much calmer, joined in. Footsteps came closer and Luann opened her eyes.

She sat next to Miley on the ground, holding her sister's hand. Miley was still struggling to breathe and Luann was worried she was going to pass out. The bedroom door stood wide open, light from the hallway falling into the room. James still lay sprawled on the ground, unmoving. Some blood was on his forehead, trickling down his temple and onto the carpet.

Two figures entered the hallway, each one with a hand on the gun strapped to their hip. She thought she heard more voices out in the living room and the thunderous assault of multiple feet on the rickety floor. The bedroom light was off and she didn't think they could see them, other than James lying in the light from the hallway. She shifted and suddenly there were guns pointed at her.

"Let me see your hands!" the deep voice from before shouted. They rushed closer and one flicked the light switch right outside the door.

"I'm not armed…it was self-defense," Luann said, though her voice was shaky. Nevertheless she raised her hands minimally, palms facing the two cops. Miley copied her actions, barely.

One of the cops stepped into the room, gun still trained on them. "Get on the ground, face first and spread out your arms!"

Luann bit back an angry retort and followed his instructions. She knew better than to argue with a man with a gun pointed at her. As soon as they were on the ground, he'd put his gun away and was on her, one knee in her back. He grabbed her wrists and handcuffed them behind her back, pulling her up into a kneeling position. She saw the second cop with his gun still on them. His hands were checking her body for hidden weapons and she saw him move on to Miley. She got angry again.

"He was coming after us! He hit my sister and he hit me and he came after us! It was self-defense! Look, he's still breathing," Luann yelled, pulling at her handcuffs. The cop next to her handcuffed Miley as well and the one by the doorway holstered his gun. He knelt down to check on James and yelled back into the hallway for the paramedics.

The cop was patting Miley down as well and Luann tried to get a glimpse of his nametag. M. Anderson. "Look, Officer Anderson, could you please not handcuff my sister? She didn't do anything. You need to arrest James, he was going to hurt us."

Officer Anderson looked at her, his face stoic, "Until we can figure out what really happened here, it is standard procedure to secure all people involved. You are not under arrest at this point, okay?"

Luann scoffed and turned when she noticed the paramedics kneel down next to James. That asshole didn't deserve medical care. She glanced briefly at Miley then back to the paramedics, "Hey, how about you stop helping that drunk bastard?!"

No one moved. Suddenly their mother rushed into the room and Luann threw an angry glare at Officer Anderson when she noticed her mother was not handcuffed. Brenda tried to get to the girls, but one of the cops stopped her, forcing her to sit on the bed. Her face was streaked with tears and mascara, a horribly grotesque mask only worsened by her bloodshot eyes. She saw James on the ground and started wailing.

"James…oh no…she killed him…aren't you gonna arrest her?" Her words were slightly slurred and she looked unsteady.

"Ma'am, I told you before, I need you to calm down. Can you tell me what happened?"

Brenda took a shaky breath and nodded, "I woke up because I heard shouting and I saw her standing over James with a baseball bat in her hands."

Officer Anderson turned to look at Luann, "Did you hit him with the bat?"

Luann groaned, "I already told you I did! He was coming after us! She was too drunk or high to pay attention when he was punching and throwing shit at us!"

Before Anderson could speak, a female officer entered the doorway. "Hey Anderson, we found a bunch of weed and some crack in the living room."

"That's definitely not ours," Luann interjected before anyone had a chance to accuse her, "and she's on probation." She nodded towards her mom.

Brenda jumped up as if to lunge at her, "You little bitch!" The other cop stopped her.

Luann felt Miley leaning against her slightly and looked over. Her sister was bent over as if in pain, hands still cuffed behind her back. The paramedics were too busy loading James onto a backboard to pay attention. She wanted to lash out.

"Is anyone going to fucking help my sister or are you going to let her die?" she said loudly and suddenly all eyes were focused on the two of them, kneeling on the ground.

One of the paramedics rushed over and pushed Miley gently to sit down, "Hey hun, can you hear me? What's your name?"

"She's not deaf, dumbass, she can't breathe!" Luann said and earned an aggravated glare.

"You're having trouble breathing? Does your chest hurt?" he asked and Miley nodded.

He looked at Luann, "Does she have Asthma?"

Luann shook her head weakly, watching her sister, "No…it's her heart…could you just help her please?"

He got up and grabbed one of his bags, setting it down next to Miley. "I'm gonna put a mask on your face to give you some oxygen, okay?" She nodded and he slipped the mask onto her face. He motioned at the cop, "I need you to take the cuffs off her so I can take her vitals."

The cop complied and Miley sagged back against the wall, eyes closed. Luann stared at her and noticed she was starting to look better already. She watched the two male cops standing next to her mom and one was talking on his radio. The first paramedic was done working on James and came over to them.

"We gotta take him to the hospital. Does she need to go?" the paramedic asked his partner.

"She's not going anywhere with him and without me," Luann said angrily.

"Why are you arresting me?!" Brenda screamed and Luann turned her head towards her mother with the two officers.

"Ma'am, you are in violation of your probation. Not to mention the obvious neglect your daughters are suffering from," the female officer said, her voice harsh.

"What the hell are you talking about? They're fine; whiny little brats, don't let them fool ya," Brenda said.

The officer narrowed her eyes and grabbed Brenda's arms behind her back, "Your one daughter has bruises on her face, your other daughter is clearly ill and you have yet to show a bit of concern; you were too drunk to notice your boyfriend was hurting your children, there is nothing in this apartment other than booze and drugs, this place is trashed and crawling with cockroaches, would you like me to go on?" Brenda remained silent and the officer cuffed her hands, "Good. You are under arrest for violating the conditions of your probation and child neglect. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an…"

Luann turned her head. It was depressing to think of how many times she had seen her mother get arrested. They led her away and the female cop made her way over to the twins. She squatted next to Luann and took her handcuffs off. Luann rubbed her wrists and sat back on the ground next to her sister. The officer smiled and Luann tried not to make a smart comment; at least this one was trying to be nice.

"Hey, I'm sorry you had to see that, okay? How is your sister doing?" the officer asked, her voice soft and sweet, as if she were talking to a small child.

Luann glanced at Miley, who was looking at her while the paramedic took her vitals. She turned back to the officer, "She'll be fine. Can you please tell them that she's not riding in the ambulance with James?"

The officer looked at the paramedic, "Does she need to go to the hospital?"

"She should get checked out, yeah."

"Is it alright if we wait for the second rig to come? I really don't want her to have to go with him, either," the cop asked and he nodded reluctantly, packing up his equipment. She turned back to the girls, smiling at them and Luann suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. What was there to smile about? "There's another ambulance on the way. I'll ride with you two to the hospital, okay? But first I just want you to know what's going to happen. Your mom is going to jail tonight; do you understand what that means?"

The sisters met each other's eyes and Luann sighed heavily, "CPS."

The officer's smile faltered slightly, obviously having expected to need to explain it to them. The way the girl had said it, too, made her think this was not the first time this had happened. She nodded sadly, "Yeah, child protection services will meet us at the hospital. I need you to pack a bag, for you and your sister, with some things you might need, okay?"

Luann nodded and got up, walking over to their closet as if on autopilot. She was cursing James and her mom and the damn cops for actually showing up and caring for once. They'd been doing alright, getting by, and now their whole world would be turned upside down again. Luann hated foster care and she dreaded going back. And she knew Miley felt the same way. In a daze, she packed their bags.

to be continued...