You guys are seriously way too nice. Seriously. But thank you for your comments.
JennaW: Yeah, don't get your hopes up about a plot. This story really doesn't have one.
Stupid-Lollies: I meant Emily Osment. She was like, idk, six or seven in it. Tiny and very adorable. The episode itself was crap, though. They pretty much all were.
mileymadness: Yes, they worked, so this stupid story is your fault. I take no responsibility for it.
Lady Tru: I didn't delete it, but I'm sure the download link has expired by now. I'd say I'd re-upload it, but my computer died and reassembling all the tracks seems like it would be hard. Because I'm lazy.
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One Week Later
"Miley Ray Stewart, you have got to get outta that bed." Her dad's voice was slightly muffled due to the number of blankets she had pulled over her, but his stern, I-mean-business tone came through loud and clear.
Miley held her breath and didn't move. She wanted to snag one of the pillows and pull it under the covers and over her head, but she thought her best bet was to pretend to be asleep. It was hot under the covers, she was coated with sweat, and it smelled. She smelled. She hadn't taken a shower for a week. But she didn't care. She was going to wait him out. There was no way she was up to doing a concert tonight. Not without Lilly there.
"Miley Ray," her dad said again, impatiently. Miley kept still. "Now I have had just about enough of this," Robby Ray said. He sat down on the bed. "I know you're hurting, darlin'. We're all upset about Lilly. I think I've been pretty understanding. But it's been a week now, and you've got to face the fact that you can't spend the rest of your life in bed."
Miley didn't say anything. She breathed out through her nose soundlessly.
"Do you want me to call Oliver? I'm sure he'd be happy to come over and talk with you. He's been by every day this week wanting to see you. He's taking it pretty hard himself, you know."
She didn't want to see Oliver. She didn't want to see anyone except Lilly.
Her dad switched back from coaxing to stern. "All right, Miley, you've got five minutes before I dump ice water on you and haul you out by your ankles. Miley might be able to miss out on a week of her life, but Hannah can't. You made a commitment to perform tonight and you're going to do it."
Miley went even stiller than before, but not in an attempt to fake sleep or from fear at his threat. She was thinking about what he'd said. Miley could but Hannah couldn't. Miley could do some things that Hannah couldn't. Just like Hannah could do some things Miley couldn't. Like talk to Lilly.
She sprang up so suddenly that Robby Ray almost fell off the bed in surprise. "Daddy, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly.
"It's good to see your face, bud," he said. "You mind telling me why I'm a genius?"
"No reason," Miley said. She ran over to her desk and opened her laptop, hitting the power button and tapping her fingers on the back of the desk chair while it booted up. "Daddy, I've gotta get ready, do you mind?"
"All right," he said, moving to the door. "Just don't get back in that bed. We've got to get going in about an hour."
"I won't," Miley promised. She watched the laptop screen avidly, lightheaded from excitement and the fact that she hadn't done so well with eating the past week. Or sleeping. Or anything, really.
As soon as her dad went out and shut the door, Miley took the laptop and sat on the bed with it. That didn't really count, though, because she wasn't back in the bed, not like she had been for the past week. She got online and connected to the Hannah email account. There were hundreds of new messages. Miley scrolled through them quickly, skimming over the standard subject lines that told her how Hannah totally rocked. She was sure Lilly would have thought of this.
There it was. The fourth page in, sent three days ago, subject line: is it true you eat possum? Miley let out a half-laugh, half-gasp. That had to be Lilly. Her hand shook as she clicked on it.
Hi Hannah!!!
Omg I am totally your #1 fan!! You are awesome!!! My name is Chloe Logan, and it's totally my dream see you in concert one day and maybe even meet you! Do you think you're going on tour anytime soon? I get really excited every time you do, because I really want to see you!!
Actually, right now I'm kind of sad, because me and my family just had to move. Our new house is okay and everything, but I had to leave all my friends behind and I really miss them a lot. Especially my best friend.
Anyway, my subject line is kind of about that, because one of my friends back home said there was this rumor that you eat possum. But I told him that was crazy, and there was no way it was true. He bet me $20 that it was, so I'm hoping you can settle the bet for us. If you want to know the truth, I think he made up the rumor himself. He's kind of a donut.
I guess I better go now. My dad has dinner ready. I hope you write back, because writing to you is making me feel a little better about missing my friends.
Love,
Chloe
Miley blew out a breath and reread the email several times. It was definitely Lilly. The whole third paragraph proved that. But why was she bothering to talk in code instead of just saying things straight out? Miley chewed on her thumbnail, thinking. Maybe she was worried the Marshals were screening her mail.
Whatever the reason, she'd better play along. Miley took a minute to figure out what she was going to say, then started typing.
Hey Chloe,
It was great to get your email. I'm glad you like my music so much!
You can tell your friend that I definitely DO NOT eat possum. I never have and I never will, so congratulations, I guess you just won $20! Thanks for sticking up for me. Your friend sounds kind of like one of my friends, Mike. He's totally a donut, too!
I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with your move. I know how much it can suck. My best friend in the world, Lola, recently had to move and I miss her like crazy. In fact, I've been missing her so much that it's been hard for me to get stuff done, which is why it's taken me so long to write back. Sorry! I know she knows how much I love her, but that's not the same as being able to see her and tell her that all the time, you know? I'm sure your friends are missing you just as much as you miss them.
As for touring, you might be in luck. I was thinking of doing a mini-tour soon. Where do you live? Maybe I'll be playing somewhere close by. If you make it to a concert, you'll definitely have to come backstage after and meet me, okay? That should help you take your mind off missing your friends!
I've got a concert in an hour, so I need to go get ready. I'll dedicate one of my songs to you tonight, how does that sound? It's been nice talking to you, and I hope I hear from you again!
Love,
Hannah
Her dad knocked on her door just as she finished typing Hannah's name. "How's it coming in there, Mile?" he called.
Miley hurriedly hit send and slammed the laptop shut. "Great, daddy! I'm just gonna hop in the shower real quick." She jumped up and opened the door, grinning at him.
"You're gonna have to be fast," he said. "We have to leave soon."
"Ten minutes, daddy, I promise," Miley told him, starting down the hall for the bathroom.
"I'm real proud of you for doing this, bud," he said. "I know Lilly would be, too."
Miley hardly heard him. She was too busy wondering if Lilly would write back by the time the concert was over.
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It took two weeks to set everything up, which was fine, because spring break was in three. Chloe wrote back to ask if Hannah had ever performed in Iowa before, and didn't she think Des Moines would be a nice place to have a concert? Hannah agreed that it would, stating that so far she'd displayed a horrible lack of attention to the middle states, which would have to be fixed immediately.
They talked about other things, too. Lilly told her about her new school, how hard it was to start at the end of the year, how lonely it was because all the other kids already had their cliques, and anyway she still missed her friends too much to make new ones. How worried she was because her dad had this big presentation coming up at work, and it was really important that it went well, or he might be out of a job.
Miley translated school stories into the Hannah world, and updated Lilly on Hannah's friend Mike, and talked a lot about how much she missed Lola.
It helped some, being able to email back and forth. But she hated having to talk in code, having to be so careful. She had a calendar in one of her school notebooks and she started marking off the days until Des Moines. She wouldn't let herself think about what would happen after that. After all, how often could Hannah play Iowa? How often could Lilly go to Hannah concerts?
But they'd deal with that later. They'd work something out when they saw each other. They had to; she missed Lilly too much to allow for anything else. In a way, it was even worse than when she'd lost her mother, because she knew that Lilly was still alive, that she was out there somewhere, and Miley just couldn't get to her.
The Spring Break Tour was going to be three shows: Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Des Moines. The others were camouflage. Her dad wasn't so sure it was a good idea at first, but she told him she needed to spend some time away from Malibu, doing something that would help keep her mind off things, and he came around.
The hard part was figuring out how to get him not to go. Roxy she could work around; her dad hanging backstage would be a much more serious problem. She gave Jackson $100 to mope around the house and complain about how he needed another father-son fishing/bonding trip, and an extra hundred for him not to ask questions.
She thought he knew anyway, though, because when she gave him the money he just looked at her and said, "I hope you know what you're doing."
She didn't, really. But she knew she had to see Lilly again.
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Wells Fargo Arena – Des Moines, Iowa
They kept trying to cheer her on into more encores. She'd done three already and they still kept screaming their heads off. Under any other circumstances, she would have gone for four, but right now Miley was kind of pissed she'd had to do three. Lilly might be backstage waiting for her.
She yelled good night to the audience and thanked them for coming, ignoring their disappointed shouts as she ran from the stage. She made herself slow down in the hallway, checking to see if Roxy was around. Miley didn't see her. During one of her breaks earlier, she'd told Roxy that a guy in the fourth row kept looking at her funny. Roxy had run off before she'd even finished talking and probably still had the guy in a headlock. Good.
The venue had provided additional security, and one of the guards was posted outside her dressing room. Right before she'd gone onstage, Miley had given him Chloe's name, and told him to let her in, and that if Chloe was in there he shouldn't let anyone else but Hannah in. And she'd had him spread the word over his headset that Chloe was cleared to come backstage. Now she just had to hope that nothing had gone wrong, that Lilly would be there.
The guard, a big, burly man who looked like he could twist Miley into a pretzel without breaking a sweat, smiled and nodded at her a little as she got close, and Miley felt her pace pick up. Did that mean Lilly was inside?
She was almost running again as she went through the door. Her first, wild glance took in the vanity, the rack holding her outfit changes, the table of snacks. Lilly wasn't there.
Miley slammed the door shut. She wasn't –
"Miley."
Miley whirled around. And there was Lilly. She was getting up from the couch that was pushed up against the front wall. She looked exactly the same. Miley wasn't sure why she'd been expecting otherwise; it had only been a month. But it seemed like longer. It seemed like a lot longer.
"Lilly!" She wanted to jump up and down, she wanted to hug Lilly until she choked, she wanted to...kiss her senseless? Where the heck had that come from?
Let's go with the hug, Miley thought, and did.
"Miley," Lilly said, sounding like she was about two seconds away from actually choking. Miley hugged her harder. "I missed you, too," Lilly whispered in her ear, and Miley pulled back enough that she could see Lilly's face, her eyes watery with unshed tears. Miley couldn't tell if they were happy or sad ones. Probably both, if she was feeling anything like Miley was.
They sat on the couch with their arms around each other, legs pressed together from hips to ankles, and Miley listened while Lilly told her everything about the move and her new house and the trial. Her dad was leaving to testify in a week and the Marshals still hadn't stopped hanging around because they didn't know how Deane's men had found Lilly's family the first time and they were worried it would happen again. Even if his men didn't find them, there was a good chance they'd be waiting to try and get to Lilly's father at the trial and Lilly was worried sick about what would happen.
Miley listened, she really did, and she knew she was making some kind of response every time Lilly paused, but all she could really think about was how much of a relief it was to have Lilly there. She felt like she was awake, alive, for the first time since Lilly had left. They were sitting practically in each other's laps, and Miley had to fight not to make that a reality. She wanted to crawl into Lilly's lap, to get as close to her as she possibly could and then never move again. The urge to touch Lilly, to make sure she was really there, was overwhelming. Miley's hands kept trying to move from their spot around Lilly's waist and roam over every inch of her body. Miley had to lock them together to keep them in place.
"Mom wants to go with him to the trial," Lilly was saying. "But Dad won't let her. Neither will the Marshals. I...I'm kind of glad she's not going. I mean, if something happens to him..."
"Nothing's going to happen, Lilly. The Marshals will be watching him. They won't let anything happen."
"I know. But it's still scary." Lilly leaned her head against Miley's and laughed without humor. "This whole thing is scary. It's like we're in lockdown. Sam's pissed because she got yanked out of school while she was writing a paper that was going to be published. She keeps trying to get the Marshals to let her send parts of it back to her advisor, but they won't let her. I was lucky they let me email Hannah. You don't know how hard it was to get here tonight."
"I'm sorry," Miley said, hugging her closer even though that wasn't really possible. She turned her head, nose brushing the skin just under Lilly's ear. What were they going to do? How would they ever be able to see each other again? They had to think of something. Miley wouldn't let them take Lilly from her, not this time.
"Lilly," she said softly, her breath warm in the small space between her mouth and Lilly's neck. Lilly shivered and Miley wanted to make that space disappear, to put her lips to Lilly's neck and taste her skin, feel her pulse jump under Miley's tongue. She didn't care if that didn't make sense, if she didn't understand it. She wanted it, needed it, and she wasn't going to waste time questioning why.
Miley tilted her head to close the distance, felt Lilly tilt hers to better let her, and that was when the Marshal burst through the door, badge in hand, and found them.
"I told you, you can't go in there," the security guard said, grabbing at the woman's shoulder. Miley and Lilly sprang to opposite ends of the couch and froze.
"And I told you, I'm a federal – " The Marshal took one look at the two of them and her mouth snapped shut, anger clouding her features. She knocked the guard's hand off her shoulder and glared at Miley and Lilly. "You have got to be fucking kidding me," she said.
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It turned out that a blonde wig and a one-of-a-kind designer rockstar outfit didn't really cut it as a disguise when U.S. Marshals were involved.
Half an hour later, Miley was sitting in a small, windowless room in the Marshals' offices. The walls were a bland cream color and the only furniture was the dark wooden table in the middle of the room and two chairs, one on each side of it. Miley had been sitting in one of them, alone, since Karen put her in here ten minutes ago. She didn't know where Lilly was, though she'd overheard Karen on the phone in the car ordering the rest of Lilly's family brought to the offices until they could figure out where else to take them, so she thought Lilly might be here somewhere.
Roxy had tried to stop the Marshal from taking Miley at first. Then she'd seen Lilly, and Karen's badge, and after that she'd given Miley a disappointed look and just insisted on coming with them.
The door slammed open so hard it hit the wall and bounced back halfway shut. Miley jumped nervously, then told herself that the Marshal had probably done that for theatrical effect. Karen just wanted to scare her so that she'd confess everything. Not that Miley really had anything left to confess. Karen had even made her take the Hannah wig off before they left the concert so they'd attract less attention. She'd watched Lilly help Miley take it off, so there wasn't even anything left of the Hannah secret to tell.
And the barely constrained rage on Karen's face didn't seem theatrical at all. But Miley couldn't be in that much trouble, could she? Because if she was, Roxy wouldn't let them talk to her by herself. There were, like, laws against that, weren't there? Miley tried to remember everything she'd picked up from watching Law & Order reruns, but then Karen sent the door slamming all the way shut and Miley had to concentrate on ducking the laser-beam glare Karen was leveling at her.
The Marshal stalked over to the table and yanked out the chair opposite Miley. She didn't sit in it. Instead she planted both palms on the table and leaned over it, towering above Miley, who gulped and shrank a little in her seat. Even if it was theatrical, it was working.
"You want to tell me what the hell you were thinking?" Karen growled.
Miley forced herself to meet the woman's eyes. She hadn't done anything wrong. They were the ones who had ripped Lilly away from her life. "I just wanted to see my best friend."
"Your best friend is in the Witness Protection Program. For good reason."
"I know that," Miley snapped. "I'm not stupid. Why do you think I came as Hannah?"
"You think your silly little disguise is going to fool anyone who's serious about finding Chloe's father?" Miley hadn't been thinking anything but Lilly Lilly Lilly since she'd seen her, so it took her a few seconds to figure out who Chloe was. Her chest tightened when she did. She didn't want to hear this woman calling Lilly by some other name. "I saw you twice for a total of twenty seconds and I figured it out! How effective do you think it'll be against someone willing to watch you every second to see if you lead them to Chloe and her family?"
"No one was watching me," Miley said, defiant. She was starting to hate this woman. "I would have noticed."
"I don't think you realize how serious this situation is. Let me make it perfectly clear to you." Miley opened her mouth to protest but Karen held up a hand. She sat down in the chair and pinned Miley with her eyes, all of the anger gone, replaced with a deadly seriousness that Miley wanted to look away from but couldn't.
"I am not your enemy. I'm trying to keep Chloe safe. You could have gotten her killed." Karen paused to let that sink in. "You could have gotten her entire family killed. Do you understand me?"
Miley jerked her chin down. She understood. Lilly could be dead right now. She could have gotten Lilly killed. She'd known it was dangerous, Heather had said as much before they left and all of Lilly's emails had bled worry and fear for her family, but Miley hadn't cared about the danger because all she'd thought about was how much it hurt to have Lilly gone. But she could've gotten Lilly killed, and it wasn't worse, having Lilly alive and out of reach, it wasn't worse at all. Lilly dead was worse, and it would have been her fault.
The silence in the room grew with her guilt until it felt like a physical thing, until it was pushing down on her, bowing her head and shoulders as she tried to curl in, away from the knowledge of what she'd done, how selfish she had been.
Karen spoke again, finally, just when Miley thought she might break down if she had to bear the quiet a moment longer. "I spoke with your father," Karen said. "You and your bodyguard are taking the next flight out. He's going to meet you at the airport." Miley nodded, past caring what her dad would do when he got hold of her. She could have gotten Lilly killed. She deserved any punishment he could come up with and more.
"Chloe and her family are being relocated and you are not, under any circumstances, to try to contact her again. If you do, you will be arrested. Am I making myself clear?"
"I won't," Miley said softly. "I promise."
"Good." Karen stood. "You leave in an hour. I'll send Roxy in to keep you company."
The Marshal was almost at the door when Miley cleared her throat and called out. "Wait."
Karen turned and raised an eyebrow.
"Can I see Lilly?"
"That's not a good idea."
"Please," Miley begged. "I...I need to say goodbye."
Karen nodded slowly. "All right. But only for a minute."
"Thank you."
The door closed behind Karen and Miley stared dumbly at the table. She didn't look up when it opened again, even though she knew it was Lilly. She couldn't face her, not after what she'd done.
"Ten minutes," Karen said, and shut the door.
"I'm sorry," Miley said, eyes still on the table.
"It's not your fault. I'm the one who sent you that email."
Miley shook her head. "I shouldn't have answered. I should have thought, I should have...I should have let you go."
"I didn't want you to."
Miley looked up finally, watched Lilly cross the room and perch on the edge of the table in front of her. She leaned forward on the chair, wrapped her arms around Lilly's waist, pushed her face into Lilly's stomach until she couldn't breathe.
Lilly ran a hand over the crown of Miley's head, stroking, soothing. Miley's mother used to do that whenever she woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Miley wished she'd wake up from this one.
"It'll be all right," Lilly whispered.
Miley raised her head an inch. "No, it won't." She pulled back further so she could look Lilly in the eye. "I don't think I can do this."
"Yes, you can." Lilly's smile was lopsided. "You're Hannah Montana. You can do anything."
"Not this."
"Even this." She left You have to unspoken.
"Lilly," Miley said, because she wasn't confused anymore. She'd figured it out the moment she'd realized she could have gotten Lilly killed, the moment she'd realized that this was real, that there was no crazy plan she could try or stupid costume she could wear to fix it, that she was never going to see Lilly again. She'd figured it out and this was the only chance she was going to get to say it. "I think I love you."
She leaned her head back against Lilly's stomach and they stayed that way, Lilly's hand in her hair, until all the seconds they had left ticked away and Karen came for Lilly.
"Sorry, girls," she said from the door, and she did sound sorry. "Time's up. Chloe's family is leaving for the safe house."
Lilly stood, took her hand from Miley's head. Miley sat up and grabbed it, hard, stopping Lilly from going more than a few steps away. She couldn't do this.
"Miley," Lilly said.
"Don't." She couldn't. It wasn't fair. No one could expect her to. She needed Lilly.
"Miley. Let me go."
She was doing it again, she was thinking about herself and her grief when this was about Lilly, her safety, her family. Miley loosened her grip and let Lilly slip free.
She couldn't look away as Lilly left, couldn't stand to miss even an instant of her, so when Lilly whirled around at the door and came back towards her at a run, Miley stood up so fast she upended her chair.
She didn't say anything, just grabbed Miley by the front of her shirt, hauled her forward, and kissed her harder than Miley had held to her hand. Miley's bottom lip split, blood sharp as pain in her mouth, on both their tongues.
And then it was over, Lilly was backing away, her eyes on Miley's until she reached Karen, who gently turned her around and ushered her from the room. The door closed and Miley licked her lip, hoped it never healed, because now she knew that Lilly loved her too.
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I may have lied about the last part being up tomorrow night. I forgot I have to work late tomorrow, so it might be Tuesday instead.
