Freedom Chapter 6: Bliss, a hannah montana fanfic

This kinda makes me sad. This is the last REAL chapter of Freedom. I think I might write an epilogue type thing though. I guess it's been a good ride though. Wow, that was a bad pun. So, I hope you guys approve.

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Jonas Brothers. Darn.

Why must I be so nervous? Like seriously, this is not a big deal. Well, you know, except for the fact that if I screw this up, Nick will never know how I feel, and I will live a lonely spinster life surrounded by cats. God, I love being an optimist.

That's what Lilly was thinking as she sat in the broom closet that Frankie had assured her was a dressing room. She stared at the reflection in the mirror, so unlike the one that had faced her a month ago. This girl was nowhere near as sure as herself as the other girl was. This girl was deathly afraid of getting her heart broken again.

She straightened her dress, the blue one she had gotten in Iowa from Rose. She had put a soft, gray, button-down sweater over it. It accentuated curves that she shouldn't have, thank you Cherry Garcia.

Her makeup looked okay, considering she had almost forgotten how to put it on after moping in the house for so long. Her hair was, well, it was what it was.

She heard a knock on the door, and, assuming it was Frankie, seeing as this was a top-secret performance, told them to come in.

Frankie looked good, in a younger brother sort of, I'm glad he's not embarrassing himself, way. Skinny jeans, bright blue T-shirt. Hot little emo teen; the girls in the audience were going to love it. Lilly remembered back when she'd been one of those girls. She'd never thought she'd be here.

"So, you ready?" he asked, looking around, realizing that he'd actually put her in a broom closet.

"No. I'm taking it back. He's the guy, he has to come find me. This relationship should not be on my shoulders."

"Ah-ah-ah, no breaking of the copper rule in the broom closet," he said, knowing that at least he thought he was funny.

"Can I go break it out there?" Lilly asked, half-seriously, turning toward the door.

"But isn't Nick out there?"

"Touché," Lilly said, turning back to the mirror. She started fidgeting with her hair.

She felt two strong hands holding her shoulders and his eyes met hers in the mirror.

"You look great. Nick is lucky to have you," he said, trying to up her confidence level.

"And I though Nick was supposed to be the cute sensitive one," she said, smiling weakly.

"Oh, baby. I'm all three. They don't call me the Bonus Jonas for nothing," she continued to look worried. "Hey, you can do this."

"Alright, I just need a minute," she said, wishing she could be as sure of herself as Frankie was.

"Sure, of course. Nick's going to go on first. I think you might want to see him," Frankie said, all too knowingly for a kid still in high school.

"Thank you Frankie, for everything," Lilly said earnestly. He nodded before slipping through the door.

Lilly took one more look through the mirror. The eyes staring back at her showed a glimmer of hope. She could do anything, especially if it got Nick back. She only hoped that she was better at this than Miley had told her.

-FREEDOM-

"Nick, you're going to be fine. You've done this hundreds, thousands of times before. This is not new," Frankie tried to encourage his older brother as he was about to take the stage.

"I haven't done this in so long. Plus, back then, my biggest issue was my blood sugar. I have bigger things on my mind right now," he said nervously. Trying to be discreet, he sniffed the Johnny Cash T-shirt that still managed to smell like Lilly.

"That's why you have to do it. You have to forget about her," Nick looked at him critically, "For like a second, then you can go back to moping, okay?"

Nick nodded once. Frankie handed him his guitar before following him out on stage. The audience applauded, most of them original Jonas Brothers fans, and it empowered Nick.

He approached the mike-stand, taking a deep breath, trying to push her from his mind if for only a second, knowing that it was impossible.

"Hey everybody, I'm Nick Jonas. Uh, I wrote this song more than ten years ago, when I was fifteen, but I don't think I ever really knew the meaning of it until recently. Uh, this is to Lilly, the one I let slip away."

Even though Nick couldn't see it, behind the curtain, Lilly gasped.

Nick slowly started to sing:

You warned me that you were gonna leave
Never thought you would really go fool
And I didn't deserve you

I was blind
But baby now I see
Broke your heart
But now I know
That I was being such a

I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I don't know if I'll get up
And I don't wanna cause a scene
But I'm dyin' without your love
Beggin' hear your voice
Tell me you love me too
'Cause I'd rather just be alone
If I know that I can't have you

Looking at the letter you that you left
(The letter that you left, will I ever get you back?)
Wondering if I'll ever get you back
Dreaming about when I'll see you next
(When will I see you next? Will I ever get you back?)
Knowing that I never will forget
(I won't forget, I won't forget)

That I was being such a fool
That I still don't deserve you

So tell me what we're fighting for
'Cause you know that truth means so much more
'Cause you would if you could
Don't lie

'Cause I'd give everything that I've got left
To show you I mean what I have said
I know I was such a fool
But I can't live without you

For the last refrain, he could only whisper the words. No matter how hard he tried, he had to force them. He could feel tears lying heavy on the back of his eyelids, but he had to finish the song.

He could barely hear the applause over the throbbing of his heart. He was about to break down, but he couldn't do it here, on stage. Instead, he leapt into the crowd, pushing his way toward the back of the crowded room.

"Nick, wait!" his brother yelled. "Please Nick, stop!"

Nick ignored his brother's pleas, continuing to push until he was almost to the doors. Then he was stopped in his tracks.

"Nick, I did not come all the way from Malibu for you to run away again!"

He spun around to see his brother looking shocked to the edge of the stage, where Lilly must have been peeking from behind the curtain.

Lilly realized that she had lost the element of surprise and grabbed the guitar that Frankie handed her. He not so much handed to her as she pried it from his frozen grip.

"Hi, everybody…uh…yeah…I'm Lilly, Lilly Truscott…from the last song…yeah…so, um, I'm gonna sing a song…yeah…"

She stumbled for a second, trying to finger the chords and failing horribly, but she watched as the crowd parted like the red sea and she had no choice but to start singing.

She started slow, dropping the tempo so badly that the band had to almost drop out, but she was convinced that baby steps were necessary if she was ever going to get to the end of the song.

Maybe I'm wrong, you decide
Should of been strong, yeah I lied
Nobody gets me like...you

Couldn't keep hold of you then
How could I know what you meant
There was nothing to compare to

There's a mountain between us
But there's one thing I'm sure of
That I now how I feel about you

By now she had caught up, empowered by the lyrics, but she still didn't have the nerve to look down into the eyes that she knew were her weakness. If she was ever going to finish the song, she had to acknowledge everyone but him.

Can we bring yesterday back around?
Cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

All that it takes, one more chance
Don't let our last kiss be our last
I'm out of my mind, just to show you

I know everything changes
I don't care where it takes us
Cause I know how I feel about you

Can we bring yesterday back around?
Cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

Not a day, pass me by
Not a day, pass me by
When I don't think about you
And as though, moving on
Cause I know, you're the one
And I can't be without you

Can we bring yesterday back around?
Cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

Lilly finally gained the courage to look down. As soon as their eyes met, she started to stutter. Frankie cut the band, but the song went on. Another, stronger voice joined Lilly's. As Nick got back on stage, Lilly finally got the song back, playing it acoustically. Their voices harmonized as they brought the chorus back around one last time.

Can we bring yesterday back around?
Cause I know how I feel about you now
I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down
But I know how I feel about you now

But I know how I feel about you now
Yeah I know how I feel about you now

As soon as the last note was finished, they were in each other's arms, as if they'd never been apart, but at the same time, as if they'd been apart for a thousand years.

Nick held her as tight as he could, leaning down to her ear to whisper, "I love you. I'm never gonna let you leave me again. You're mine forever."

She was almost taken aback by his possessiveness, but it comforted her to know he'd never leave her again. She whispered back, "Okay."

He grinned before forcing three weeks of emotions into one hard, passionate kiss. When they pulled away, completely out of breath, they were aware the cheering, finally remembering that they weren't alone.

Frankie tapped his brother on the shoulder, pointing backstage. Nick got the memo and pulled Lilly behind the curtain, kissing her one more time before sprinting toward the stage door.

She giggled as he straddled the bike that was steps away from the door. She got on, holding him tightly, not so much for protection as sheer contact, and they rode off into the sunset.

-FREEDOM-

Frankie finally pulled into the parking lot at 2:30 AM. He dragged his guitar case up the three floors to Nick's apartment. The nerve of that stupid landlord, taking three months to fix the elevator.

The bike had been downstairs, in its usual parking spot, so Frankie assumed that his brother had made good time taking Lilly back to Malibu, or had dropped her back off at the Palace.

He finally found the door to the apartment and tried to turn the knob. How lovely of his brother to leave it unlocked, the ungrateful bastard. He leaned the heavy guitar and even heavier amp on his knee and struggled to find his key. He finally found the jagged piece of metal in the bottom of the back pocket of his extremely tight pants and opened the door.

All the lights were off, but the T.V. was on. Frankie could tell that it was The Notebook, I mean, he had watched it like fourteen times, I mean that one time on his date's birthday, yeah.

Frankie set the keys on the counter gently, and dumped his equipment near the door. He walked over to turn the T.V. off and found his brother on the couch. She was leaning against his shoulder and they were both asleep.

He turned the T.V. off, aware that his brother was an extremely light sleeper, and turned to see the older man eyeing him groggily.

"Tank?"

"Yeah. I thought you were gonna take her home?"

"I thought against it," Nick said, smirking like he had this big obnoxious secret.

"You asked her, didn't you?" Frankie asked, knowing his brother too well,

"Yeah. She said yes," he continued smugly.

"Wow, shocker. Guess what that means? I'm taking your bed," Frankie said, walking toward the bedroom.

"Hey, Tank!" he turned. "Thank you."

Nick looked back down at his fiancé in his arms, then up at his brother again. The young man nodded before walking into the bedroom.

Nick gently kissed her forehead, swept her bangs back from her face, and started to hum:

God only knows what I'd be without you
If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you

-'God Only Knows' by the Beach Boys