Chapter Two; New Home

Lilly looked around at her new house she'd be living in for the next several years of her life, if that is how long her new family keeps her. She admired every room in the house; it reminded her of her own house she and her parents lived in before all this tragic stuff happened to them all.

Coming out of her thoughts, she felt a soothing sensation streaking down her back. When she turned around she saw standing before her, Miley, who was grinning at her. "Hey Lil." She spoke softly to the blonde girl, in her cheerful southern accent. Lilly looked at her in astonishment. Know one has called her Lil since her parents had passed away, and to hear it from Miley it sounded kind of nice to her.

The brunette sighed after waiting a few moments and not getting a reply. She wrapped one of her arms around Lilly's shoulder then softly whispered into her ear, "Don't be afraid to talk to me Lilly, I'm not going to hurt you." The other girl looked away from her in shame of herself. She didn't know how to communicate with people anymore, the only one she was able to talk to was no longer there with her. It scared Lilly to be without her. Everything in the real world had.

****

"Guys it's time for lunch." Mr. Stewart said as he finished setting the dinning room table while his wife took the casserole out from the oven. Jackson came running into the room as fast as he could, taking a seat at the table, followed by Crystal and Miley. "Where's Lilly?" Susan asked, placing the pan in the center of the table. All three children shrugged, with Jackson already digging into the food.

The brunette stood up from her seat looking at her mother. "I'll go get her; she's probably just washin' up for lunch." Her mother nodded at her as she took a seat at the end of the table.

Miley rushed up the stairs and into the room she shared with her two sisters finding the blonde girl curled up, sniffling on her bed. She rushed to her side, pulling her into an embrace. "Lilly, shh, calm yourself. Everything's alright." The brunette soothed into the other girl's ear. Lilly shook her head as she tried to push the taller girl away from her.

Unfortunately for Lilly, Miley wouldn't budge…instead she only pulled her closer so that she was practically lying on top of her. "I'm not letting you go anywhere Lillian, until you tell me why the hell you're so scared to talk to anyone in this house!" She half yelled at the girl, who was now shaking in her arms with fear towards her. The brunette gasped, not able to believe what had just come out from her mouth. Miley had never yelled at anyone like that before, now she scared the poor thing to death. "Oh, Lilly I'm sorry…I didn't mean to be so rude." The blonde didn't say anything, only buried her face on the other's shoulder.

She sighed realizing she wouldn't get a reply so she stood with her arms still wrapped around the smaller girl and walked them down to the dinning room.

"Ah, nice for you to join us Lilly." Robbie smiled at the girl who had sat herself down beside Miley. The blonde nodded at him while she starred down at the table. "So tell us about yourself, dear. We'd be delighted to know more about you." Their mother spoke as she took a bite of the food from her plate.

Lilly sunk further into the seat at the thought of having to speak up to these strangers that were now her family. She began to fiddle with her thumbs trying to think of what to say. "T-today was the day my parents and I were in the c-c-crash…" The blonde spoke as tears leaked out from her eyes. Everyone sitting at the table looked towards the girl with sympathy, feeling bad that she lost her parents. Miley, sitting beside her, ran her hand up and down the girl's back.

The blonde girl exploded with death-wrecking sobs. It had been years since she had cried like this, and she hated it.

****

Lilly was sitting upon the porch of her new house, staring up at the various clouds in the sky. She watched closely as the clouds scattered in the sky. Tears flowed out from her eyes as she remembered the days she and her father would sit together in their back yard to look out at the clouds. "Dad…" She began to sob, lying on the cemented sidewalk.

Watching the clouds move about only made things worse for her. It was her father's favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon, an inspiring experience for himself. And when she was little he'd take her out with him to watch them move. So everyday beyond her parent's death she'd always go out after lunch and just look up at the sky for hours, observing the cloud's many different sizes, shapes, and especially movements. Yet most of the time she would end up thinking of the time she spent with her farther and begin to cry herself to sleep.

"Lovely day out here isn't it, Lilly?" Mr. Stewart said, walking out the front door of the house to sit beside his new daughter. The girl nodded looking up to see her new father sitting beside her. Robbie gave her a small smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "It must have been tough, losing your parents and having to go through such a traumatic thing as you have…but I promise you that my wife and I will you give a very loving home."

The blonde nodded, being forced into foster care when she was only around twelve years old was just horrible. The social workers first of all were creepy only by looking at their clothing, all of them had worn black shirts and black pants; everything they had on was black. Most of them didn't even care for the children, for instance if they were bad or didn't do a chore they had been told to do that day they'd be forced to sleep in the cold cellar for the night. Fortunately though for Lilly, she was never put in there.

Robbie observed the expression on Lilly's face, giving the assumption that she was deep in thought. He sighed thinking of how hard it must be for her to have lost both of her parents at the same time, and then being forced into foster care. It pained him to know that children had to go through things like that everyday of their lives.

"How bout' we head inside before it starts to storm? I heard it rains a lot here in California during the evening." He got up, helping the girl up as well. She said nothing, only nodding as she walked into the house. Mr. Stewart sighed he had really hoped he'd be able to get her to talk.

****

Sitting upon the wooden chair the brunette strummed the strings that lied across the top of the guitar. She smiled as she finally came to a tune that had sounded write to her and wrote the notes down in her notebook that she always had with her.

Her passion for music had begun when she was only five years old; their farther had been a country singer for a long period of time and had brought the family along with him on tour. Miley hadn't really known what was going on considering she was still very young, and ran up onto the stage with her farther. Susan tried to get her to come down but the little girl refused and Mr. Stewart smiled, giving her the microphone so she could sing as well. And that's when she had begun to love singing. She'd sing all the time, in her room while she combed her hair, when she was in the shower, while she did her homework at the kitchen table, she'd sing everywhere. No one had mind though, they all loved her voice, saying how natural and pure it had sounded.

Miley was always in the talent shows that their school had done back in elementary school and she always had got first place in the singing category, though all the other singing contestants had never been rude about it, instead they'd congratulate her and cheer with everyone else as they called her name. Singing had always been her passion.

Still playing her guitar, she hadn't even notice that Lilly had come in. "You're really good." The girl's voice was quiet but it had stopped Miley in her tracks. She threw down the instrument onto her bed and ran over to her new sister, engulfing her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Lil." She smiled softly, surprised that the girl had finally spoken to her.

The blonde became silent again, sitting herself down onto her own bed. Miley sighed knowing it was too good to be true, and then she too sat down. She wrapped one of her arms around Lilly's shoulder pulling her a little closer to her own body. "I hope you know that I'm always going to be here if you need me." She began softly, running her hand through the blonde's long hair. "You're my little sister now and I want you to know that I will not let anything ever harm you, I'll always be here to protect you." Miley meant every word she had said. She would do anything for her now younger sister; she was going to do everything her eldest sister had done for her.

Her sister cautiously rested her head upon the other's shoulder; it felt quite nice to have someone to lean on for once. Even though she was the only child of parents (not counting the brother she had for only a short time in her life) sometimes she had wished she had an older sister to be able to talk about boys or her problems or anything but sadly that never happened but now that she had an older sister who had moments ago promised to protect and be there for her, her mood brightened up a little bit.

"C-Can I ask you something?" The blonde asked a little nervous.

Miley laughed, wrapping her other arm around her as well. "Sweetie, you can ask me anything." She said, caressing her hand. She was ecstatic to finally have a conversation with the girl. And although the girl had still seemed a bit scared when she spoke to her, she knew it would fade soon because she would remind her that she doesn't ever have to be afraid talk to her or anyone in their family.

Lilly half smiled at the elder girl. She was beginning to really like the brunette. She was always being so kind to her ever since she had met them when she was back in the orphanage and she knew that Miley was probably the most sincere person she would ever meet. "Uh, have…have you ever had a b-boyfriend?"

The brunette shook her head. "Nope." She began stroking the top of the girl's head, not being able to believe how soft Lilly's hair was.

It was getting darker out and the girls were beginning to feel sleepy. A huge yawn escaped Lilly's mouth making the other girl giggle. She placed a kiss to her cheek. "Aww, you're tired." Miley cooed as she held the girl in her arms as if she were an infant. The other girl laughed while shaking her head side to side. The brunette laughed as well while shaking her head up and down. Lilly shook hers side to side once more. "Oh yes you are sweetie." Her sister smiled at her, loving how cute she was acting.

"Nahh." Lilly said.

"Yeah." The other said.

"NO!"

"YES!"

After a few moments of arguing about being tired both girls lied down in their beds, the blonde snuggling close to her pillow clutching it with her hands, as tears began to form in her eyelids. Night time was always the hardest part of the day for her. Another day going by without her parents there to experience with her. It had been exactly four years since their death and it hadn't been getting easier at all. If anything it's been getting worse each year.

Soon her cries had turned into sobs and before she knew it, Miley was over there lying beside her with her arms wrapped tight around her waist. "Shh…shh." The girl soothed into her ear. "It's okay sweetie, it's okay." Miley lied there holding her securely in her arms for at least a half an hour until she finally calmed herself down.

"Shh, it's all okay now. Go to sleep Lils, I'll be right here beside you." She said softly, running her hand up and down her back slowly. With a few last sniffles the blonde girl was slowly lured to sleep by the soothing touch on her back.

****

It was Monday morning and the three girls were awoken by the sound of Miley's alarm going off. Groaning she got up, shutting off the alarm, and then walked over to Lilly's bed to wake her up. She slowly unwrapped the covers from her while gently caressing her cheeks. "Lilly bear, time to get up. Come on sweetie." She spoke softly to her younger sister, who tiredly sat up in her bed as she stretched her body.

The brunette smiled at her as she pulled her onto her lap. "Morning cutie pie." Miley said happily, getting up from the bed with her sister in her arms. "Morning Miley…" The blonde's voice was still tired from getting up so early. Though it felt nice to be in her sister's arms. She smiled as she buried her face into Miley's shoulder, so it'd block the lights.

Miley only laughed, she adored how cute the girl was and could not wait to tell her friends back home in Tennessee about her amazing new sister. She walked down the steps still holding Lilly in her arms and walked into their new kitchen which was twice the size of their old one.

"Mornin' you two." Said their mother who was making breakfast for everyone. "Well, I see ya'll are close already." Susan smiled at them, she was thrilled that they were getting along well although she knew Miley loved pretty much anyone she met, but she figured the girl would be very protective of Lilly. Considering how much she had talked about having her as a sister when they had first found her.

The brunette smiled as she took a seat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table with her sister sitting upon her lap. "Good morning mama." She said cheerfully. Mrs. Stewart chuckled as she watched the two girls in amusement.

"You know, Miles, Lilly's able to sit on her own…"

Miley only smiled while she ran her hand softly through the blonde's hair. She knew Lilly could sit on her own but having her on her lap was a hole lot better. She loved being able to hold her, it was her turn to be the bigger sister and she was definitely going to take advantage of it.

"Believe I know that, mum. I just enjoy being able to hold her." She smiles down at the girl who she had in her arms. "It feels great to be the older sister for once."

****

Miley wrapped her arm around the blonde's shoulder as they walked out the door to school. She pulled her close so her head was nearly touching her chest. "Are you ready for school, Lil?" Lilly looked to her hands, she hadn't been to school in a very long time.

Back at the orphanage she had spent about three years in, they were all taught there by one Amy's aunts. The last time she had gone to school was right before she turned twelve. And school was not her favorite place in the worlds, considering she was always made fun of because of her personality. The only friend she had was Oliver Oken but after the tragedy she had suffered she hadn't spoke to him in years.

Lilly looked back up at the brunette who was looking at her in concern. She stroked her cheek with the tip of her thumb. "You okay?" The blonde nodded. Miley sighed and continued walking as she held the blonde close to her with one arm.

Tears began to leak out of Lilly's eyes as they approached the new school they'd be going to, though she had realized that it was the school she'd gone to long ago. The other girl noticed her tears and hugged her closer. "Shh. Calm down sweetie." She soothed into her ear, rocking her back and forth. "I'm not gonna let you get hurt, okay? I promise. I'll be by your side the whole time."

The blonde sniffled a few more times as she snuggled her head into the crook of Miley's neck. "Shh…shh." The brunette kept her arm wrapped around her the whole time as they came across the entrance of the school. She carefully opened one of the doors and both girls walked in.

Miley walked them into the office groaning when she saw the line of people waiting their turn, so she sat them down instead of standing in the long line. "Lil, we'll have a good day. I promise. As long as we've got each other everything will be fine. Don't be afraid of anyone sweetie, because with me around no one will be able to harm you. As I've told you last night, I will always be here to protect you. Always, always, always. I promise you." She said while pressing her lips to Lilly's forehead.