Hear me calling on the wind
Can't you feel the change begins
Hearts of truth will freedom bring
I'm calling on the wind

-Gamma Ray

Chasing Fire: Chapter 10

Miley was halfway to school the next morning when she decided that she and her dad needed to talk. If Ingrid already knew about Hannah Montana, why had her dad suggested that they tell her? Ingrid had left for a spa as Miley was leaving for school (she of course didn't offer a ride), and Tim hadn't come back to the house last night, so Miley turned around and headed home for the most important heart to heart of her life.

"What'dja forget, Ingrid?" came her dad's voice as she walked in the door. Without answering, Miley walked to her dad's room at opened the door. Robbie Ray was on top of his bed flipping through the morning paper. He put it down in his lap when Miley walked in.

"Miles? Why aren't you at school? What's wrong?" Looking at her feet, Miley couldn't look at him. Robbie sighed.

"Bud, you know how important you education is, and you've already missed some school this week."

"I need…" Miley trailed off and took a deep breath. Meeting her father's eyes, she said, "I heard you talking with Ingrid last night. I know what she's doing." Robbie looked shocked, then without saying anything, he grabbed the phone and called the school to tell them that Miley was sick today, and motioned for her to join him on the bed.

"How much did you hear, bud?" He asked as she snuggled up on his side.

"Pretty much everything. Why didn't you tell me, dad? And what was with that whole conversation we had about telling Ingrid if she already knew?"

"I guess I figured that it was better if you knew what a danger she was. I was just trying to protect you. As for your other question, I wanted to know how you'd react to Ingrid knowing about us. Then when I caught that miscreant…." Robbie trailed off, and Miley felt him tense. She gave him a squeeze of reassurance. "Boy, I saw red. Why didn't you tell me before then?" Miley looked up at him.

"You seemed really happy with Ingrid, I didn't want to ruin anything." Robbie chuckled.

"I only pretended to be happy for your sake. Wouldn't you've become suspicious if I had acted otherwise?" Miley smiled faintly.

"So we're both pretty miserable then, huh?" Robbie chuckled.

"I guess that makes us both pretty foolish." Father and daughter were silent for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.

"So what are we going to do?" Miley asked after a while.

"I guess that's up to you, Miles. The way I see it, we've got four options. One, we go on pretending that we're all fine. Two, we tell Ingrid to stuff it and she tells everyone that you're Hannah Montana. Three, we tell everyone you're Hannah Montana."

"What's the fourth option?" Miley asked, looking at him curiously.

"Hannah hires a hit man to take out that evil woman and her devil spawn." Miley giggled.

"I think I like that one the best." Her dad gave her a big hug and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"How's your arm feel?" he asked after a little bit. Miley grimaced and held it up for him to see.

"It's fine, you did a good job wrapping it up. I mean, it doesn't really hurt that much, it was more the shock of it you know?" Robbie nodded, then swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Why don't we go downstairs, I'll cook us some flapjacks!"

As her dad was mixing up the batter, Miley sat at the bar and thought about the options her dad had given her. The only thing that was clear was that neither of them could do this anymore. How long would it be before Tim really hurt her? And Ingrid? Her dad definitely needed out! The only thing that could fix everything was to have Hannah reveal herself as Miley.

"Tough choice, huh?" Her dad asked. Miley looked up.

"How'd you know what I was thinking about?"

"Call it a father's intuition."

"I don't know what to do, daddy. What do you think?" Robbie didn't say anything as he poured some batter into the frying pan. With a spatula in his hand, he looked up at his daughter.

"I can't tell you what to do, Miley. It's your secret to tell. That's the whole reason I've been doing everything Ingrid wants. Didn't matter what I wanted, you're the one who'd have to deal with the consequences." Miley tilted her head and held out her plate.

"How did she find out, anyway?" Robbie flipped some pancakes onto her plate and handed her the syrup.

"Complete accident. She came over during her lunch break after we'd been dating for a few months and overheard me talking on the phone. It's been me catering to her every whim ever since." Miley nodded then fell silent as she started to eat. What a pickle they were in!

………

Miley and her dad had spent the whole day together and were still no closer to a solution. Lilly had called during her first break to find out what was going on, and was heading over after school with Jake and Oliver. Miley was fiddling around with the piano and waiting for them to arrive when someone knocked on the door.

"Come on in, guys!" she yelled, thinking it was one of her friends. She heard the door open but didn't look up until after she'd written down a chord progression on a piece of paper.

"You don't look very sick to me," came a snooty voice. It was Amber, standing near the door and looking like she'd just stepped in something icky. She went on, "and why don't you have anyone to answer your door. Don't you know that it's rude to leave people like me at your doorstep?"

"I'm feeling better, thanks for asking. Now whaddya want?" Miley said flatly.

"Michelle wanted me to bring by out midterm project assignment. Not only do I have to work with you, I also have turned into a skunk!"

"What?" Miley said, standing from the bench. Amber was acting like Amber and Miley didn't want to deal with it right now.

"Duh, aren't like, skunks your messengers in Tennessee?" Miley rolled her eyes and took the piece of paper from Amber.

"What do we have to do?" Miley asked.

"Ugh. Write and perform a variation on some stupid play. As if I need to know this for the fashion industry. Daddy got me a job at Vogue…not that you even know what that is..." Amber flipped her hair, then turned as Lilly, Oliver and Leslie came in.

"Amber!" Lilly exclaimed loudly, a large and very fake smile plastered on her face. "How nice of you to stop by!"

Amber's only response was to flip her hair again and stride out the door without another word. As soon as she was clear, Oliver kicked the door shut, making obscene gestures with his hands. Jake was making his way over to Miley, who had sunk back onto the piano bench.

"So…?" Lilly said, making her way over as well. "What's up? At lunch you said you had big news?" Miley looked around quickly to make sure they were alone, then led them upstairs to her Hannah closet. She closed and locked the doors and everyone took a seat. Miley plopped herself down next to Jake, who had removed his wig, and took a deep breath.

"Ingrid's blackmailing my dad." She looked around to see how her friends were reacting. Lilly looked extremely angry, Oliver's mouth was hanging open, and Jake had completely tensed up. After a second, Jake pulled Miley into a hug.

"You do mean that she found out about you being Hannah Montana, right?" Jake asked. Miley nodded into his chest.

"I overheard them talking about it last night…they were arguing about…" Miley took a deep breath, trying to spit out everything that she'd been going through. She felt ashamed for lying to Lilly especially, and she started to feel a prickling behind her eyes.

"Miley?" It was Lilly, of course it was Lilly. "What were they arguing about? What's wrong? You know you can tell me…tell us anything." Miley felt Lilly squeeze her hand, and she willed herself not to cry. She couldn't think of where to start.

"They were arguing about this," she finally said, and rolled up her sleeve to expose the bandaged part of her arm.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Lilly demanded.

"Tim threw me into a wall and some glass broke over my arm."

"Why would he do that?" Oliver asked. Miley looked at all of them. Of the three of them, only Jake seemed to understand. Probably because he'd seen her tackled to the ground. She looked at him pleadingly. His eyes softened and he looked at Lilly and Oliver.

"Tim's been abusing her." He said. The reaction was instantaneous. Lilly went white, and Oliver stood up in a rage, fists clenching. Miley flinched away from him involuntarily, and he sat back down quickly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lilly asked faintly. Miley looked down. "All those bruises I noticed, you…lied…"

"I was afraid to, Lilly," Miley said, looking up. "I know now that it was really stupid of me, my dad helped me understand that. I'm sorry I lied to you guys." Lilly gave her hand a squeeze and smiled. "That's how I found out that Ingrid knew about Hannah Montana. Dad didn't want Tim in the house anymore and Ingrid was blackmailing him into it. Now I really don't know what to do." She looked at each of her friends in turn, but all were silent.