Here's the first chappie. Enjoy!

AGE FIVE

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I wanna play on the sing set!" Miley shouted, running over to the swings. Trish Stewart smiled at her beautiful little daughter tiredly and sat on a bench.

"I'll be right here, sweetie," Trish called.

"I can see you fine, Mommy!" Miley said impatiently. Trish laughed at her daughter and heard another woman laughing too. She looked up and saw a woman walking over, holding her daughter by the hand.

"Little girls!" The woman said, with a laugh in her voice. "How old is she?"

"Five," Trish said. "Her name's Miley."

"Oh, my baby girl is the same age!" the woman said brightly. "I'm Ellen Torres. This is Demi."

"Trish Stewart," Trish replied, smiling at Ellen and Demi. "Hi there, Demi, sweetie."

"Hi, ma'm," Demi said in a voice as soft as a kitten's mew. Trish smiled at the adorably polite little girl. She had long hair just like Miley, but her hair was darker and her skin was tanner.

"Demi, why don't you go play with Miley?" her mother said gently. Demi looked up, frightened, at her mother. "Go on, sweetie. I'll be right here." Demi walked off reluctantly. "And don't get your dress too dirty!" Ellen called after her slowly retreating daughter. She sighed and sat next to Trish. "The poor baby has hardly let go of my hand since we left Texas."

"Did your husband get transferred?" Trish asked and immediately regretted it. Ellen's face collapsed at the corners. "Oh, Ellen, I'm so sorry."
"No, you didn't know," Ellen assured her. "My husband walked out on us a few months ago and I couldn't afford to keep our house in Texas. So we moved into the apartment building downtown and I got a job as a secretary in the doctor's office."

"Oh, Ellen," Trish breathed. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's alright. My ex-husband was, is and always will be a jerk," Ellen said in a hard voice that softened when she said, "But he loved his daughter. And she loved him. That's mostly why I feel like kicking him in the ass. Demi used be a beautiful, effervescent girl and now that Victor walked out on us, she's barely left my side." Ellen rubbed her eyes and took a breath. Trish put her arm around Ellen and gave her a hug.

"Ellen, I'd like to introduce you to the town. My friend, Leah, is coming over to our house later and she's bringing her son, Nick. Would you and Demi like to join us?" Trish asked. Ellen's eyes widened and she smiled.

"Trish, that sounds fantastic."

*******

"Demi, this is Nick!" Miley announced, pointing to a tall, curly-headed, five year old boy. "He lives in the BIG blue house next door!"

"Hi, Demi!" Nick said, smiling brightly at Demi. Demi looked up at her mother, pleading with her eyes Can we go now?.

"Demi, baby-sweetheart, you're going to play with the other kids while Nick's mom and Miley's mom and I talk, okay?" Ellen said, giving her daughter a hug. Demi clung to her, scared. "Sugar, I'll just be downstairs. Play nice now." And she set down her daughter and left.

"Demi, have you played princesses?" Miley asked in a serious voice. Nick groaned.

"Miley, I hate princesses," he complained, pawing the ground with his foot.

"Shush, Nick. I'm not talking to you, mister," Miley said, glaring at him before turning back to Demi. "Have you?"

"No," Demi whispered shyly.

"Okay! I'll teach you!" Miley said, grabbing her new friend's arm and dragging her to a box. "Okay, because there are two of us, we BOTH put on beautiful long gowns and tiaras and fancy shoes." Miley opened the box to reveal a large jumble of her mother's old dresses. "What's your favorite color, Demi?"

"Pink," Demi said quietly.

"Oh, good! I have lots of pink dresses!" Miley exclaimed, digging through the box and finally pulling out a long pink dress that her mother had worn to her junior prom. "My mommy likes this dress a whole lot. Here, try it on!" Miley said, thrusting the dress at Demi. Demi, not wanting to argue with Miley, put the dress on over her own shabby green dress. "Yay! You look stunning!" Miley said, clapping her hands.

"Miley, you don't even know what that word means," Nick snapped.

"So? Do YOU, mister-smarty-pants?" Miley snapped back. Nick reluctantly shook his head. "See? So SHUSH!" She turned to Demi. "Do you like it?"

"It's really pretty," Demi said, reverently touching the dress. She liked Miley. Miley had some good ideas.

*****

"Kids, Demi and Nick have to go home," Trish said, poking her head into the room.

"YES!" Nick shouted, jumping up and bursting through the door.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE, MISTER!" Miley shouted, gathering up her long, aquamarine skirt and preparing to run.

"Oh, no you don't, young lady," Trish said. "Say goodbye to Demi."

"Aw, MOMMY!" Miley whined. "We were playing princesses. Five more minutes?"

"PLEASE?" Demi added. She had grown as loud and confident as Miley in the hour and a half that she'd been here.

"Girls, Demi and her mom need to go home and unpack," Trish said gently. Upon seeing their crestfallen faces, she smiled and said, "But Demi can come over again some other time."

"YAY!" The girls screeched, throwing themselves into a big hug.

"Bye, Miley. Here's your dress back," Demi said, wiggling out of the dress and handing it to Miley.

"Bye, Demi. We should play again soon," Miley said and they exchanged a tearful hug goodbye. Demi went downstairs and skipped out the door. Because they didn't have a car yet, they had to walk but it was a beautiful Pennsylvania summer night and they didn't mind. They had only gotten halfway up the street when they heard a screech of, "WAIT!" They turned and saw Miley running up the street with something in her arms. When she reached them, breathless, she shoved the thing into Demi's arms. It was the beautiful pink dress that Demi had worn to play the game. "I asked my mommy if you could borrow it until you got your own princess dress and she said it was okay," Miley said, breathlessly. Demi stared at the beautiful dress and her eyes filled with tears. Then she threw her arms around Miley and gave her a big hug.

"Thanks, Miley. You really are a beautiful and kind princess."