Nick sighed. Looking at the headline on his computer screen, "Billy Ray and Tish DIVORCE", he knew that this couldn't be good. And when he scrolled down to the next one and saw that Miley's dad wouldn't be home for Thanksgiving, he knew things were worse than he expected. Nick knew what he had to do and where he had to be tonight, at Miley's, helping her sleep.
He knew that Miley thought that everything was her fault. He knew that she blamed herself for her parent's divorce. He knew everything, not because he had talked to her, but because he was her Prince Charming, and he knew her better than she knew herself.
Suddenly his cell phone blew up with a familiar ringtone, Miley's. Glancing at the clock, he answered. "Hello?" he said.
"Nick?" the girl on the other line asked quietly. "It's Miley," she sniffed. "I just wanted to call and say hi, I haven't talked to you in a while. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving," she said.
"Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Mi," he said before she quickly hung up the phone.
And again, Nick sighed. He knew that this was as close as he was going to get, as anyone was going to get, for Miley to say she needed him, needed someone. She never was the type of girl to ask for help, and that was as much as she had ever said when she was upset. He knew that she had been crying on the phone. Now, he just had to go make sure her tears had stopped and if not, he would be there to wipe away each and every one.
Nick hopped in his car and drove over to Miley's house. She had recently started to slowly move in to her own house, and Nick guessed that she would rather be there than with her parents right now. When he pulled up and saw her car, he knew he guessed correctly.
Nick had never been inside Miley's new house, but it was easy to guess what window led to her bedroom. It was a lot like the window in her room at her parent's house and Nick knew that Miley had always loved that window.
Checking to make sure the window was unlocked; he slid the window up and slipped through.
Walking around, he gasped. Her room was a mess; she had clothes thrown everywhere, a broken picture frame with her and her parents lay on the dresser. "She must be worse than I thought," Nick said aloud.
"Hello? Who's there? I have a baseball bat! And a gun! And I…I know karate! Hi-ya!" a voice, Miley's, called down the hallway.
"Miley, chill out! Relax, it's me?" Nick came from her room into the hallway.
He saw her, standing there, with mascara tracks down her face and fresh tears making new ones. And holding a baseball bat.
"You weren't kidding about that baseball bat," Nick chuckled.
Miley giggled. "I thought you were an intruder. Now Nick, why are you here?" her eyes became cold and the ocean blue was replaced by a steel gray.
"I heard about your parents, I wanted to make sure you were alright. I was worried about you," he said quietly, looking down at the floor.
"You didn't have to do that, besides, I have a plan. We'll all be together for Thanksgiving anyways-"
"Mi? You're parents haven't told you? I saw an article that said your dad was going to be in Nashville, not here, for Thanksgiving," he told her. He hating being the bearer of bad news, but he thought it would be better if she knew.
"What?" she gasped. Suddenly, she lunged forward, tearing down a picture of her parents from the wall and smashing it to the ground as new tears replaced those dried on her cheeks.
"Miley, stop it! Miley, stop! Calm down!" Nick told her as he grabbed her to prevent her from knocking down anymore pictures.
"Just go away," she sobbed. "My parents don't want me, obviously you don't want me, just go away," she cried again, but this time louder.
"Obviously, I do want you. I'm here aren't I? And your parents love you Miles. You should know that. "Now come on," he said grabbing her hand as the sobs subsided, "Let's go watch your favorite movie, The Notebook. That always calms you down."
"NO!" Miley screamed. "I hate that movie! Stupid people, stupid movie, make you believe two people can be in love forever when they obviously can't. If it can't happen with my parents it can't happen for anybody!"
"Alright, alright," Nick soothed her. "Come here," he told her as fresh tears fell from her eyes.
He picked her up bridal style and carried her into her room. He laid her down on her bed. "I'm gonna stay with you here until you feel better and until you can watch your favorite movie without going into a fit. Alright? Everything's gonna be okay, Mi. Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it?" she nodded at him. "Then something bigger and more beautiful is going to come out of this. You just have to believe. Trust me," he shot her a small smile.
"Scoot closer," she said quietly, more as a question than a command. She buried her head in the crook of his arm and slowly fell into a deep slumber.
Nick smiled at the sleeping girl in his arms. "You know when the sun forgets to shine, I'll be there to hold you through the night, We'll be running so fast we could fly tonight, And even when we're miles and miles apart, You're still holding on to my heart, I promise it will never be dark, I know we're inseparable." He sang to her her favorite song of that he had wrote, surpassed only by "My Girl" as her all-time favorite. "See? I keep my promises Mi. Goodnight Cinderella," he said as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Goodnight, Prince Charming," she mumbled before curling closer to him as they both drifted off into a deep, peaceful, and beautiful slumber, dreaming of each other and better days to come.