Chapter 10

(Nick's POV)

The sun had finally set, but this being a city, it wasn't very dark outside yet. We were walking down the path towards my house, which she'd never been in. She had her guitar in her left hand and was gripping my arm with her other. I'm not sure whether she was holding my arm for support because she was so tired, or for protection, but it didn't matter to me. It was mostly silent at the moment, all I could hear was the sound of rushing cars on the highway in the distance.

I was still getting over what Miley had told me; I couldn't believe she could have gone through all of that, but still manage to be happy. I looked down at her face; her eyes were half shut as her head rested on my arm, ancient tears were drying on her face as the corner of her lips pulled back slightly into a smile. Her hair was falling in front of her eyes and my hand twitched, itching to push it back behind her ears. A voice in my head reminded me of that old saying, "you never know unless you try", so I lifted up my right hand and brushed the hair out of her face. Her eyes opened fully and she lifted her head up to look at me. She gave me a weak smile and moved her hand from its place on my arm, to intertwine her fingers with mine. We stayed like this for the rest of the way home, when I had to release her hand in order to unlock the door.

I took Miley's guitar from her and gently set it down on the bench just inside the front door. "Mom??" I called out into the silent house, where is everyone?

"She's outside cooking dinner with dad," Joe said, coming into the hallway, "Woah, are you okay Miley?"

"I-uh-I'm-uh," Miley stuttered, "Go Joe," I interrupted, glaring at Joe in the process.

"Geez, nice to know how welcome I am here," he huffed, going up the stairs. Miley looked lost so I grabbed her arm, leading her to a seat in the kitchen.

"Sit here, I'm going to go find my mom," I told her, walking out of the kitchen.

(Miley's POV)

I looked around the unfamiliar setting from my place on the island chair. Everything was so perfect and clean. I got up off the chair and wandered around the kitchen, stopping every so often to admire the expensive looking utensils placed carefully on hooks on the walls under the cabinets. I was looking at a picture of the whole family hanging on the wall by the door when Nick came back in. I turned around to face him, suddenly feeling very dizzy. I grabbed onto the doorframe, trying to steady myself. I felt Nick's arms go around me, "Miley?" I heard him say. I tried to respond but no words came out of my mouth. I could feel my heart pounding away in an unusual rhythm. My legs were going numb and then my vision went totally black and I collapsed into Nick's arms.

(Nick's POV)

"Miley? Miles? Answer me!" I yelled at her, to no prevail. Her body was lank in my arms and her breathing ragged. "MOM!!! MOM!!!" I yelled, praying she could hear me. I heard Frankie run downstairs, curiosity getting the better of him. He entered into the kitchen, his eyes going wide at the sight of an unconscious Miley. "Go get mom, Frankie, NOW!" I screamed at him.

He darted out of the kitchen running into my mom halfway to the back door. "Nick needs you," I heard him say to my mom. Seconds later she entered into the kitchen, gasping at the scene before her eyes.

"Nick, what happened?" she said rushing to my side.

"I dunno, she just collapsed, mom what do I do?" I said, my voice cracking from tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

"Nicholas, calm down, put her on the couch," my mom comforted. I walked into the living room, carrying Miley bridal style, her head flopped back, and the dried tears still present on her face. "Joe, Kevin! Come down here now!" my mom yelled up the stairs. By this time my dad had come into the living room, wondering what all the commotion was about.

I placed Miley gently on the couch and kneeled down beside her head. "Please, Miles, Please be okay," I whispered looking tearfully down at her face, stroking her hair.

"We have to get her to the hospital," I heard my mom say to my brothers and dad. "Frankie you're going to stay here with daddy, ok? Kevin, go bring the car round, Joe, help Nick get Miley to the car."

I heard everyone shuffle about, my dad taking Frankie to his room, out of the way and Kevin running out the get the car. Joe came to my side, patting me on the back. "She'll be okay," he whispered softly.

I put one arm under back and the other under her knees, letting her head rest against my shoulder. Her breathing was almost impossible to hear now and her heart was beating out of control. Joe walked in front of me, opening door and knocking stuff out of the way. We met my mom and Kevin at the car where they were both seated in the front seats. Joe opened the door for me and I slipped inside, careful not to bump Miley. Joe walked around and into the other door, pulling Miley's feet onto his knees as her head rested on my lap.

The drive to the hospital was torture; it seemed that every set of traffic lights we came to was on red, and we got stuck behind every slow car in L.A. Finally we reached the hospital and I ran in the main doors with Miley in my arms. There were tons of people waiting in the entrance, sitting plastic chairs with tired expressions on their faces. I rushed up to the check-in lady, my mom following as Kevin and Joe sat down, trying not to be recognized.

"Can I help you?" the lady said. God dammit, could she not see I had an unconscious girl in my arms?

"She's not breathing for Christ's sake!" I yelled back at her.

"Nicholas, calm down," my mom lectured, "she's unconscious, her heart's not beating correctly and she's barely breathing, sometimes not at all."

"I need a doctor over here!" the lady yelled, rushing into motion. She grabbed a nearby gurney as a nurse rushed over, taking Miley from me and setting her down on the blankets. They started wheeling her away, and my mom and I swiftly followed them into a dim hospital room.

"What's her name?" the doctor we met in the room asked.

"Miley, Miley Stewart." I responded, calming down now that she was in hospital care.

"Are you her family?" guess the doctor didn't know who we were.

"No, she doesn't live -"

"Her guardian's on the way" my mom interrupted, "I called Demi and she's coming now with her mom" she whispered to me.

"Any known medical conditions?"

"She has a dog tag," I said, as my mom gave me a questioning look. The doctor lifted up the chain to read the dog tag as the nurses stuck an IV in her arm and put an oxygen mask on her face.

"Oh my! I need an x-ray done in here!" the doctor yelled after reading her condition. "Stop the IV flow, she can't have that medicine, I need the other one," he continued yelling at the nurses. Everyone stepped into motion, rushing in and out with new equipment and more people. "You're going to have to step outside" the doctor said to us,
we'll come get you as soon as we have news.

I was frozen to the spot as I watched them poke and prod at Miley, her face pale as anything and her fingers trembling. I felt my mom grab my arm and drag me outside the room where we walked back to the waiting room, taking a seat next to Kevin and Joe.

"What's her condition?" my mom asked me.

"I-uh-I don't know," I replied, Miley didn't want anyone to know, and I wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

"Yes you do," my mom retorted sternly.

"I-uh- heart." I sighed, giving in.

"A heart condition?" my mom questioned, shocked, "How bad?"

"It's uhm-" I was searching for the right words when Demi ran into the hospital followed by her mom.

"How is she? What's wrong? Where'd they take her? What happened?" Demi asked frantically.

"Woah, Demi, chill, one question at a time," Joe joked, trying to lighten the mood. Demi just glared at him.

"The doctors are looking at her now. They're getting some x-ray's done, we don't know what's wrong yet." My mom explained to the anxious Demi.

Just then a nurse walked into the waiting room, "Stewart?" she asked to the crowd of people.

"That's us," Demi's mom replied.

"The doctor needs more information, she has a scar on her chest, what's it from?" Everyone looked expectantly at me, the only person who seemed to know.

"Uh… bullet wound," I hesitantly said.

"You're going to have to come with us, we need as much information as possible to figure out what's wrong." The nurse said, looking at me and turning around ready to walk away. I got up out of my seat, glancing at the shocked faces of Demi's family and mine.

(Demi's POV)

A bullet wound? I looked around at the other faces, mirroring my own expression. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was totally clueless. Kevin was the first to break the silence, "She was shot at?"

"I'd never have thought," Joe responded, deep in thought.

"Why didn't she tell us?" my mom asked, as though this whole incident was her fault.

"Because she didn't want this to happen," I said, sighing, "she didn't want us to get all worried about it, when to her it wasn't a big deal."

"But we could've helped!" Joe cried out.

"Honey, Demi's right, she didn't want us to know, if it was important she would've told us, that probably not the problem, just a means to find the problem." Denise Grey, Nick, Kevin and Joe's mom said.

"Nick knew," Joe retorted.

"Because she wanted Nick to know," I replied. "Look guys, sitting here bickering about why she didn't tell us isn't going to help her, just everyone be quiet."

Ten minutes later Nick walked back in, looking even more disheveled, and ready to cry. He sat down in an empty seat a few chairs away from the rest of us and put his head in his hands. I walked over and sat down next to him, putting my hand on his back. "It's okay to cry Nick" I whispered and felt his body tremble and the tears poured out of his eyes.

"I finally got her to open up to me, I can't lose her now," he muttered, turning his head to look at me. The sight on him almost broke my heart. Poor Nick, Miley meant so much to him, and she didn't even know.

I let him cry a bit before asking the one question burning a hole in my mind. "Will she be okay?" I whispered.

"They d-don't kn-know." Nick stuttered, erupting in a fresh round of tears. I felt a tug at my heart and tears started to come out of my own eyes. She was just getting the chance to live her dream, I prayed that chance wouldn't be taken away from her.