A/N: I know it's been ages and ages and more ages and I'm sooooo sorry but I have simply been sooo busy…I'm sure fellow writers get what I'm going at. But, I'll stop wasting time and get to it. Hope you enjoy and please do remember that the nominations for the NJK awards are on again. That means the Fic of the week is on too and you can pm jonasfan101 and tell her what stories should be nominated for each category. Please participate...everyone puts a lot of effort into these awards.

In the last episode:

"But, you're still not as old as it gets and...You need to look after yourself, Mi; it's important." He told her as he caressed her cheek softly and attentively. "Love always makes you suffer, and too much suffering when you're young, makes you miserable."

"Like Joe?" Miley asked, biting her lip.

"No, Joe...Joe doesn't even know what's going on with himself. Well, come on, go to bed, it's late. We'll leave the bed night story for..." And he stopped talking and looked at her for a second, looked at how wise her eyes looked. "We'll leave it for...another life."

She gulped a little as she realized what he was saying...he was admitting that she wasn't a kid anymore, she'd never be a kid again.

He leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek before heading to the door. He waved at her and she waved back absently as he turned off the light and closed the huge white door behind him.

She stared at the place where he'd left and smiled to herself, taking a hand to the nape of her neck.

She then opened her mouth slowly and whispered into the night: "He's amazing..."

CHAPTER 7

Feelings Keep Bleeding Out

The grey household awoke to a beautiful day but they knew it wouldn't be one for them. Joe hadn't stayed up to shout at them last night but they all knew that he would definitely shout today and, most likely, during breakfast.

"Is the ogre up yet?" Miley Stuart spoke in a jokey tone as she walked into the kitchen, which was already crowded by her three younger siblings, Lilly, Greta and a lot of food.

"Miley!" Lilly told her off. "Take whatever he gives you without answering back and don't you dare make a joke out of it...or all of us will be darned because of your attitude."

Miley rolled her eyes. "Okay..."

"Good morning," Joe's serious voice came. They all stood still, far too afraid to even consider breathing in his presence.

Joe walked into the kitchen and placed himself on the high table, opposite Miley and the twins.

"What you did last night was irresponsible and a terrible way to behave. I never said you could go to that practice, I never said you could arrive home late and I never said you could do anything without my permission. Dad and mum aren't here so I'm in charge and you, none of you, can go out as you please...we have rules and, believe it or not, they are for your safety. Last night was the last I will ever find your bed's empty when I think you're in them, is that understood?" he shouted at them.

They simply nodded.

"Fine, then, we shall not speak about this again," he spoke clearly before sitting down.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

Nick was sitting on a bench, in his grey suit and with Selena on his lap as they kissed.

"It's so great that you came to see me before work," Selena told him with a smile before stealing another kiss.

Nick smiled against her lips. "Yes, well, we didn't really manage to spend a lot of time together last night, did we?"

Something decorated his voice as he spoke about the previous night and Selena realized it but she didn't want to be noisy, nor did she want to seem controlling.

The leaned into each other again when a strong cough was heard to their right. They break apart and turn their heads to find Miley, Cody and Zach standing there, in their school uniforms which consisted on a white polo shirt with a badge and blue shirt and trousers.

"Hi," Miley spoke drily, feeling something horrible take over her body. She couldn't place it but she could completely realize that her friend Selena was starting to go down in her ranking of BFF's. What was Nick doing with a girl like Selena? A girl who had left school at sixteen and who was working at a specialised clothes store that had no future; she was pretty, yes, but what could Nick possibly see in her that was attractive enough to date her?

"Hey, Miles," Charlotte said, coming out of the shed and hugging Miley, who still had her eyes set on the couple sitting on the bench. "On your way to school?"

The question as directed to Miley but Zach answered. "Yes," he said with a flirtatious edge to his voice. "How about you?"

"I've got free period first thing so I don't have to make it there until nine," she informed the three of them.

Cody looked at his watch and turned to look at Miley, who still hadn't stopped looking at Nick and Selena.

"It's getting late, Miley," the 14-year-old blonde said.

"Yes, you're right," Zach agreed.

Nick looked up and met Miley's strong glare for the first time. "Will we see you at home later?" she asked him.

Selena did a double take and glared at Miley. What the hell was this kid doing?

"Y-yes, I guess," Nick answered.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

"So, there was four super cute guys, fighting for me...fighting to just be able to see me..." Demi described a dream she had the previous night as she made her way into Miley's bedroom. "And they were all so hot...seriously..."

"And what happened?" Miley asked with a laugh. Lying down on her bed as she looked at Demi walk around her room with a pillow held to her chest and a daydream smile on her face.

Demi suddenly stopped walking and frowned. "Well, for your information, you passed in front and they all forgot about me."

Miley laughed and threw another cushion at Demi, who laughed with her. Her best friend wasn't ugly, not at all. She had an amazing figure, gorgeous eyes and the most sexy lips but she wasn't the kind of girl who guys went for because, no matter how fit she was...she always wore clothes that made her look more fat than thin and she always washed her hair and let it down without straightening it or curling it...and, trust me, newly washed frizzy hair is not a pretty site and, to make things worse, unless you had spent years with her, hearing her speak for more than two minutes was always something to run away from.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

When Joe opened the door to his house he seriously wanted to scream. The whole living room was infected by little six-year-olds running around and his blonde fiancé was in the middle of the room, wearing some kind of clown hat and faking a pretty obvious false smile.

"What the..." Nick's voice came from behind.

Joe took a step forward. "Taylor, what the hell is this? Who are these kids?"

Taylor looked up with wide eyes and her fake smile became even faker. "Well, honey, Noah came from school and she felt lonely so I invited her friends over..."

Joe had to roll his eyes. "Since when do you care if Noah feels lonely?" He knew it sounder extremely mean but it was honest.

"Joe," Taylor speaks in a Barbie voice. "Come on, I'm having a kid of my own...it's normal that I..." But Joe put a hand over her mouth and looked around to make sure no one had heard. The only other adult in the room was Nick and he was already going up the stairs, probably to go to the toilet.

"I thought you weren't sure, I thought..." Joe whispered, still covering her mouth. "Did the doctor tell you...? Did you take a test?"

Taylor took Joe's hand of her mouth. "I told you I wasn't going to take a test, Joe. And, no, I haven't gone to the doctor but I can feel it, okay...We're having a baby, Joe..."

"You don't know that for sure, it could be anything else..." Joe snapped far too quickly.

Taylor gulped. "I think I can differentiate an illness from a baby in my own body, Joseph. And you don't know how much it hurts me that you don't..." she spoke in a faked broken voice before breaking down in false tears.

Joe sighed. "I'm sorry, Taylor," he apologizes. "Look, where's Lilly, I'm sure she can solve this and you can lie down and rest."

"Cinderella's gone out with that guy from your office...he came and I said she could go," she spoke, testing him.

He tensed. "It's not her free day," he said threw his gritted teeth.

"I can handle this, why do you always need her?"

And he simply didn't have an honest answer that he could give his fiancé but, contrary to what some might think, he had thousands of answers in his head.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Seriously, can't anyone in his house give me any peace," Miley moaned before getting off her bed and opening the door.

However, her frown turned into a smile as soon as she opened the door and found Nick standing there.

"Hey," she said in a sweet voice, completely forgetting how angry she had been that morning.

"Hi," he greets with a charming smile.

"You want to come in?" Demi asks from behind, where she was sitting in a yellow armchair. It wasn't a strange thing for the adults to spend some times with Maia and Demi when they were both at home. Lilly was obviously was the one who did it more often but Nick and Joe had spent the whole evening with them

Nick looked at the two teenagers but hesitantly declines the offer. "No, I've got work to do; I just came up here to advise you to not go downstairs..."

"Why?" Miley asked with a big grin on her face; a grin that got even bigger when Nick looked directly into her blue eyes.

He chuckled. "Well, I think Taylor wanted to look good in front of Joe or something and she invited every single one of Noah's friends over. It's like a rebellion of 5-year-old monsters. So..." Nick was cut off as he realized how deeply his eyes were engaged with Miley's...he tried to look away but he found himself stuck there. "W-well, so...you know...if you find one...hide."

He chuckled nervously as Demi and Miley laughed. He heard Joe call him from downstairs and found it in him to look away from Miley's breathtaking blue eyes.

"Bye, then," he said quickly before leaving.

"Bye," Demi spoke cheerfully before returning to the armchair she had been sitting at; however, Miley remained still, clearly looking straight at the place where Nick had just been a second before.

"Mi!" Demi spoke, noticing the absent stare of her best friend. "Mi! Where are you at? You thinking about Jake?"

Miley paid no attention so Demi stood up and clicked her fingers in front of the brunettes face.

"Miles?"

Miley did a double take. "W-what?"

"No-No...what Jake? No, I'm not thinking about Jake..." Miley replied, still sounding a little absent.

"Oh! Of course!" Demi exclaimed. "You're thinking about Tyler, aren't you? Of course, you are! How could you not be? He's just so bloody hot..."

"No, no!" Miley made clear. "It's not Jake...or Tyler..."

"OMG! It's someone from school, isn't it? It's probably the..."

"Shut up, Demi!" Miley shouted. "Stop talking and let me explain."

Demi shut up quickly. Miley calmed down again and stared down at the ground.

"It's Nick..." she whispered, barely audibly.

"Nick? Nick, as in? Nick Grey!" Demi shouted in complete awe. "You were thinking about Nick? Girl, are you crazy?"

Miley bit her lip. "It is crazy, isn't it?

Demi was pensive for a moment and then stood up, smiling. "Well," she said with a cheeky smile. "He is pretty hot."

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

Miley was walking down the stairs of the mansion when her cell phone started ringing in her pocket. She picked it up and answered quickly.

"Hello?" she spoke.

"Miley, it's Jake..." Jake Ryan said in a voice that worried Maia.

"Jake, are you okay?" Miley asked him as she continued descending the stairs, now quicker.

"Can you come by?" his voice asked in response.

"Yes, I'm right there..."

Miley grabbed a jacket and started opening the door when a voice interrupted her.

"What the hurry?" Nick's melodic voice said. "Where are you going?"

Miley turned around and bit her lip. She stepped towards Nick a little and stopped when only a metre or so was separating them.

"I'm gonna see Jake," Miley answered honestly. "He called me and he sounds a little down..."

But it seemed that Nick had not heard a word past "Jake". "Are you gonna see Jake or your piano teacher?" He asked her coolly.

Miley raised her eyebrows at him and nearly chuckled, since when did Nick act so protectively? "Oh, my, god...since when did you get so protective...you're nearly like Joe, now!"

Now it was Nick's turn to raise his eyebrows. And give Miley a look that clear said "what?-Me?"

"Hey, did anyone say my name?" Joe asked, coming out from his office with a coffee in his right hand.

"Umm..." Miley muttered biting her lip. "I was just telling Nicky that I'm going to hang around with the girls at the shed."

Nick glared at Miley but she ignored him.

"Nicky?" Joe repeated with a chuckled, surprised at his best friend's new nickname. "Okay, you," he spoke, looking at Miley. "Have to be back in an hour."

Miley smirked at him. "Yes, sir," she shouted in a military tone before leaving.

As soon as Miley had left, Nick turned to Joe. "Can I suggest something? I mean, I don't want to interfere or anything but...what is she doing? Going out all the time...I mean, doesn't she have to study or something?"

Joe laughed at his friend. "Be really careful, Nico, or you're gonna end up with the 'grumpy German' reputation that I've got.

"Hey, hey, hey," nick spoke, raising his hands defensibly. "I am no Grumpy German."

Joe chuckled again. "I never said that," he said as he started heading back into his office. "But, if you're so worried, go and follow her...see what she does."

"What? How am I...I can't follow her...Don't be...Look! I'm just gonna go to work...see you later." Nick mumbled before leaving.

And Joe loved that he had a partner in crime to control Miley, he always knew that, in the end, Nick would be another brother to all of his siblings...so, Joe simply smiled.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

Miley was sitting behind the counter of the bar that Jake worked at. They were both sitting opposite each other, their hands intertwined between them.

"Your call got me by surprise, I thought you wanted nothing to do with me...I mean...yesterday..." Miley mumbled.

Jake smiled. "I'm sorry about yesterday, I'm sorry about everything...I just wanna fix things. So," Jake changed the topic. "What's going on with this pianist guy?"

Miley grinned. "Tyler? He's really sweet," she confessed. "And you should see how amazing he is at playing the piano...it's just fantastic. Oh! And he sings like an angel."

"Wow...that's cool," Jake accepted. "But, anyways, I don't think he's that amazing at everything."

"Really?" Miley asked. "What is it he's not amazing at?"

And, before Miley could even recall what was going on, Jake whispered: "This..." And kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

His lips crashed against hers brutally, working together robotically. The kiss continued but at one point Miley opened her eyes and, as soon as she saw who was staring at them from the other side of the street, she pulled away.

Well,

I do know that it's been ages.

An, I am, of course, very sorry.

It's just, you know, life

But, it would be great if you could tell me what you thought about this chapter.

Just, please, tell me what you liked and disliked.

It means a lot to me.