A/N: This chapter, I warn you, may seem a bit sudden in content. ALSO: I will not be updating this story UNTIL I can post The Angel Of Death Chapter 8, which could be anywhere from two days to two weeks from now. It depends on how much inspiration I have for them to explore D.C. (courtesy of desertstormx's recommendation). Not much foreword to say about this chapter, other than I love all the reviews I got for the previous one. :)

Ghost: I'm glad you're enjoying the ride. I'm not mad at all by your analysis of what I've written thusfar; it's actually helped me kinda construct the next couple of chapters. Lilly definitely has a lot more coming to her, you can be sure of that. There is a question asked twice in this chapter...just, well, keep it in mind for future reference. That's all I can really say about it. As for the M-rating, it's partly for language, but it's also because, well...I don't skip over sex scenes the way other authors do. I will indeed write one out, possibly two. There...might be one that's nothing short of uncomfortable for some readers...if you have faith in me, just know that I will post a warning at the head of the chapter (as well as in the chapter) to let everyone know when the mature content stuffs is coming up.

RosieHale: Ahaha, you'll find out soon enough. And you're welcome. :)

xxDarkAngelBabyxx: I'm glad! :)

SGM: I have to keep Miley shrouded in mystery. That way you always wonder if she's truthful or innocent or honest in what she's saying. Keep in mind; the entire rape thing from the chapter before could have been made up. Just saying. ;)

desertstormx: From what I've seen thusfar, history repeats itself, and children do tend to walk similar lines to those of their parents due to their upbringing. I wonder if Lilly can break the mold, though...do you think she can? As for the child, I actually used Lilly to share my own personal belief, but that's just me. It fit her character as much as it fit my beliefs, so I utilized it to the fullest extent. Much of writing is based on experience, is it not?

Ian: It's because of her writing talent that she has such a structured mind. It's similar to the way my own mind works, although I still don't give myself as much credit as some think I should as far as writing skill and style goes. I realize that I labeled Lilly as stupid very early on, but the tide seems to be changing. And for the fascinating read, that's always good news in my book. :)

Morbid Crow: Oh, you think so? Hmmhmm...you'll just have to find out, now won't you? ;)

Also, thanks to InfusedSour and PinkCheesy for the +watches and to BillieTheKid6 for the +fav! I know I say it every single chapter, but it really means a lot to me when I get so much attention from you guys. It keeps me motivated.

And now, onward to the tenth chapter in my slowly spinning story. Hopefully it's not spinning too terribly slowly, though...

Chapter 10: Trust-cott

The clock on the nightstand read thirty-seven minutes past midnight when Lilly woke up to gaze at its glaring red numbers. She blinked blearily as her body slowly came to and she realized that the numbers were not the only thing staring at her. Beside her, the brunette beauty whom she'd come to call a friend had her alert, curious stare focused on Lilly's face. Lilly wondered why, but thought at the same time that it was a tiny bit disturbing and a larger bit cute that Miley had such interest in her. She attempted to stretch, but only ended up rolling her shoulders and popping her left hip. She yawned quietly, trying not to breathe on Miley, and then smiled gently in the moonlight.

"Hey, Miley," she breathed, blinking slowly. "How did you sleep?"

The brunette shrugged and Lilly noted that the grip on her left arm tightened slightly. She suddenly became suspicious.

"Did you manage to get any sleep whatsoever?"

Miley bit her lip. It was all Lilly needed.

"What's wrong, Miley?"

Eyes darted surreptitiously toward the window. Lilly blinked, her mind running. "You had a nightmare?"

Miley shook her head no.

"Just bad memories?"

Shrug.

"Premonition?"

Miley nodded, still chewing her lip. Lilly lifted her left arm up, Miley's hands gripping it relatively tightly. The blonde blinked at the thin, lithe fingers on her forearm and positioned her arm so that the fingers were resting gently on the side of her face. She snuggled into them a bit, feeling the gentle scrubbing of smooth, perfect nails on her cheek. She loved the feeling.

"You're safe with me, Miley."

The brunette immediately relaxed; Lilly watched her melt into the bed like warm butter. Lilly was very conscious of the fact that Miley was finally relaxed, and by her side, no less. It seemed to Lilly that Miley was now heavily dependent upon her. It also seemed that Miley was falling for her. She didn't know what chilled her more, the thought of Miley falling for her, or the thought that she could fall for Miley. It was looking to be a scarily real possibility.

Did she want to? Really, that's all it came down to. But did she truly want to fall for Miley? Was it conceivable? Was it something she could uphold and was ready for? Could she deal with being gay, if only for Miley? She barely knew this girl. She didn't even know what had happened during the entire course of Miley's life. They weren't even legitimate best friends.

Lilly felt incredibly confused. She also felt that she was going insane. It seemed so wrong of her to have feelings for Miley, hence her apprehension, but yet, at the same time, she had no problem whatsoever with the idea. She could easily get into Miley. At least, that was what she believed.

But what if Miley hadn't grown out of her old ways? What if she was still the horrible, taunting individual that she had been so many years ago? Was it worth the risk to Lilly, should she decide to pursue her new friend? Could she really trust Miley?

The question terrified her. If she couldn't trust Miley, and they were together, everything they would have built, everything they would be sharing together, everything that they were and could be would come crashing down around them in a pile of broken promises and shattered hearts. Lilly shivered inwardly. She couldn't let Miley know her internal battle. She wouldn't understand the fight. She wouldn't understand Lilly's feelings.

Or would she?

Lilly felt her head begin to hurt. Too much thinking that soon after waking up was definitely not healthy for her, especially at twenty-to-one in the morning. Miley's eyes were closed peacefully, as though she had finally relaxed. Lilly sniffled.

"Miley, you up?"

The brunette opened her eyes a bit, her lips curling slowly into a pleased, relaxed smile. Lilly felt the happiness washing over her and couldn't help but return the gesture. She slowly sat up, cracking her neck loudly in the silence.

"Help me a bit, Miley. To my chair."

The brunette rolled out of bed and stood up straight, reaching to scoop Lilly up. Lilly waved her off and swung her legs over the edge, laying her left foot on the ground. She placed all her weight on it, her right leg a limp, dead weight connected to her hip, her arm crooked and pressed to her stomach. Miley's eyes found hers, the irises reflecting the silvery moonlight with fear and concern.

"Reach into the third drawer down on my bureau and grab me a pair of pants," Lilly whispered, sitting gently back on the bed, the springs beneath her groaning slightly. She didn't weigh all that much, but the bed was somewhat old; she'd had it for the past five years. She ran her hand along the seam of the bed sheet that spread over the mattress with a fondness that she'd not known herself capable of having toward anything. She could still remember the day her parents had brought it in, back when they were at least trying to make her life easier, make it better. Back when they believed that she wasn't stupid, just that she didn't think the same way others did. The memory stung. Lilly hadn't been stupid intentionally. If the goddamned doctor had done his job the right way, the nurses wouldn't have pulled out a blue baby girl to resuscitate. It stung that she had been a victim of a crime she had not committed.

Miley finally shut the drawer and looped a pair of cozy flannel pajama pants over Lilly's ankles, taking great care to slowly slide the garment up her bare legs and over the bandages, placing as little pressure as she could on the damaged leg. Lilly every now and again felt Miley's fingers push a bit on her scarred thigh, and the pain seared through her veins in anger, but she blinked it off into tears, for it was a good pain to her. She liked it because it at least meant that someone cared enough for her to want to make it better.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons she believed she could fall for Miley if she'd let herself. But could she trust Miley to safeguard her naked heart?

The waistband of the pants overlapped the waistband of her panties and Miley gently patted it to ensure that it would stay. She then looked up at Lilly's still-sitting form, asking her what to do next just with her eyes. Lilly stood again, putting pressure entirely on her left leg, letting the right side of her body hang like a wet noodle from a fork.

"Be my crutch," she pleaded. Miley nodded and wrapped her left arm around Lilly's waist while the blonde gently retracted her broken arm from its sling and draped it over the shoulder of her crutch. Miley looked sideways at Lilly, concern scarred on her face.

"We need to change the bandage on your head in the morning, Miley. It's soaked with blood."

Miley nodded and gestured to Lilly's thigh. The blonde shook her head.

"I can't change that one. I know it's bloody, but I have to leave it until Wednesday when I go back in for a second opinion. It's nasty-looking and bloodied up pretty bad, but I can't do anything about it until then."

Miley sighed. She then pointed at the wheelchair questioningly, toward which Lilly began hop-limping. She was grateful once she felt the leather seat of the chair beneath her butt once again to support her broken frame, but she was loathe to part from Miley's touch. It was steadily becoming harder and harder for her to fight her present frame of mind with the scars from her past. Her excuses seemed to lose their validity with each new spout of assistance the brunette offered her, whether asked or not.

"Alright. To the backyard!" she cried in a whisper. Miley dutifully pushed her out of her room, taking care to open the door slowly and quietly, and maneuvered the chair out into the backyard. They sat on the patio, the chilly air freezing them to their bones. Both of them shivered. Lilly wondered if a jacket should have been incorporated into her scheme. Then again, they were already outside. Too late to change their minds.

"Miley, look up. Straight up."

Thankfully, their was no patio cover over their heads, and when they both gazed upward into the sky, they saw a gorgeous cascading array of twinkling, glimmering, glistening stars. Lilly gazed upon the sky as though it were an old friend. She glanced at Miley, who seemed breathlessly taken by the simple beauty of the stars. It was bliss to Lilly's soul to know that Miley was enthralled by something Lilly had to share. Never had she ever before shown anyone what she saw when she looked to the heavens. Somehow, her house and the ones nearby were caught in a sort of eye of the storm, though there was no hurricane around them. No, this eye was one of a storm of smog and pollution. The tainted air seemed to swirl around the general vicinity of her house, never entering, leaving her with a clear, unobstructed view into the dark eternal night.

She again glanced at Miley standing behind her. The brunette was captivated. Utterly stunned. That much was easily visible. Lilly felt a sort of happiness swell within her. Miley was totally absorbed in something that she had to offer. It was a great feeling to have. Lilly took the time to gaze at Miley's figure rather than the sky.

Chocolate curls hung loosely around the pale, smooth, iconic-like perfection of her face, framing it just perfectly as they dropped to her chest level, the strands splaying outward in front of and behind her shoulders, so perfect it was as though it was drawn, signed, and framed by the likes of a thousand angels. Her shoulders tapered from her long neck just perfectly enough to suggest a strong sense of passion and pride, but with enough counter-balance of respect and humbleness so as to make her highly desirable. Lithe, strong arms tapered down gently into soft, delicate hands with long, thin fingers that were as dexterous as they were devious. Her chest was possibly the most perfect of her features, just large enough to hint at her age and sophistication and maturity, but not crossing the line that would draw gawkers and droolers and those who would otherwise tease her or criticize her. A strong stomach from sports, both contact and non-contact, blended her chest into her hips, thinner at the waist as her curves were like to define her figure of exuberant beauty. Her hips were just cut so that they held her sturdily and could endure the exhaustive physical abuse from sports, yet delicate and flexible enough so that she was still most definitely feminine in appearance and demand, her appearance entirely uncompromised. Strong thighs, larger than Lilly's from use but not overly noticeably so, blended down into smooth, seamless calves, down further into thin, strong feet. Miley was a strong woman, physically, spiritually, emotionally, sexually, and she was not afraid of who she looked like and who she was. Lilly liked that about her. It was one of the many things about the girl that she was taken by.

Miley looked down, her eyes meeting Lilly's, interrupting her train of thought. It seemed awkward to Lilly, given that she had just been admiring her friend's body, but yet, Miley had no way of knowing what Lilly happened to be thinking. The simple guilty pleasures were beginning to overrule the blonde's sense of judgment.

Miley pointed at Lilly and made an 'okay' sign with her hand, tilting her head questioningly. Lilly nodded.

"Just...thinking about something."

Miley waited, seeming to want her to continue. Lilly tried to think about what to say.

"It's...not really something I can describe...not with words, at least."

Miley nodded in understanding.

"Speaking of which, we need to get you to learn a bit more."

Miley shook her head, minute nudges left and right. Lilly nodded, overemphasizing the motion.

"Oh yes, we do. Let's give you some more words to practice. First...say what you know how."

Miley screwed up her face. She swallowed and coughed, but the words that followed were whispered. "Lilly...Miley...daddy..." she shrugged. Lilly nodded.

"That's actually fairly good. We can easily build on that. You have 'Miley', your name, right?"

Miley nodded slowly.

"So you've got the sharp I, the weak I, the sharp E, and the weak A. Let's give you a U sound. How about...just try that. Three simple sounds. It's a 'y' sound, then a sharp E, then a sharp U. 'yeu'. Try it."

The brunette closed her eyes. Lilly could see her visualizing the word in her head. Y-O-U was such a simple concept of a word, but it seemed to be a bit more tricky for Miley to pronounce.

"Yyeeew," she said quietly. There was almost no use of her vocal cords behind the sound, save for a small squeak, but the word was clear and concise. Lilly clapped.

"Bravo! Yay Miley!"

Miley hung her head in embarrassment. Lilly giggled.

"Alright. Next, let's give you a sharp O sound. How about a greeting?"

Miley nodded slowly, still embarrassed.

"Try to say 'hello'. It's a breathy 'h' sound, then the weak E, then a 'lll' noise, then a round, sharp O. Try it!"

Once again, Miley leaned her head back, concentrating. She mouthed out each of the letters individually as they sounded, recreating the word within herself. Lilly watched a vein pulse in the side of the girl's head, right in the midst of the bump on her head. It was a bit disturbing to her to watch the blood struggling to maneuver its way around the crippled brain.

"Hhhellllooh..."

"Yes! Yes, good! Very good, Miley! You're very quick to get it!"

Another blush. "Ai...can't...sssspeeeek...rriiight..." she mumbled. There was a slight bit of use of vocal cords, though the majority of the sentence was a whisper. Lilly was astonished.

"Y-yeah, but you're getting better with each passing day, Miley! I believe in you. You can do it."

"Ai...doohn't...nnnoooh..."

"Sure you can! Look how well you're doing!"

The brunette shook her head, bringing her left arm to meet Lilly's left bicep. It gives me such a terrible headache to try and speak, Lilly. I'm sorry...it's just so hard. I want to speak again, I do, but I have such a terrible, terrible pain right now.

"Relax, Miley. Speaking that much in one go is enough to give any speech impaired person a headache. You're doing fantastic."

"Nnoooh..."

"Yes. God, yes. Being able to say that much after such a short time from the incident? Miley, that's amazing."

I haven't managed to use my vocal cords, though.

"Doesn't matter. Speech is speech, no matter what the circumstances. I think you're too quick to put yourself down, Miley. Have faith. You're getting it. You're doing in one day what most people with similar afflictions can't do for months. Trust me, Miley, you're doing a fabulous job."

But I don't want to be told I'm doing a fabulous job, Lilly. I just want to learn to speak and forget about it.

Lilly paused. "So...you want me to teach you, and then you're gone? Just like that?"

Realization dawned on Miley's face and she immediately backpedaled. Lilly, that's not what I meant! I don't want to forget about you and what I've learned, what I've discovered about myself.

"Miley."

The brunette stopped writing on Lilly's arm and locked eyes. Her irises were gray, that much was obvious in the moonlight. Lilly hated the gray; it usually signaled stress or malcontent.

"Come closer. I've got a secret to tell you."

Lilly's mouth went dry as Miley slowly slid to her knees beside her friend. Her ear came up close to Lilly's lips, but it wasn't what she had intended. She continued looking up at Miley leaned over the chair, waiting to hear what it was Lilly had to say.

Except that Lilly didn't have anything to say.

Her left hand cupped Miley's face, gently, and slowly lifted it up a bit, so that they were once again looking into each others' eyes.

It was now or never.

Lilly felt her heart pounding in her chest. Was she really about to find out who she was? Could Miley really be the one to tell her? Was it fate, or just chance? Was she ready to try and figure herself out?

Could she trust Miley?

She gently, ever-so-softly, stroked her thumb along Miley's cheek. Her eyes went from confused gray to emerald green. Her eyes slid halfway closed as she relaxed into Lilly's touch. It was now or never.

Lilly leaned up, tilting her chin just a bit. At the same time, her hand gently guided Miley down a bit, the brunette's chin hovering over the spot of skin between Lilly's nose and upper lip.

Could she trust Miley?

Her eyes slid slowly shut and she felt the heat from Miley's lips just barely brush against hers, the barely perceptible contact sending chills down her spine. She tilted up just a slight hair more, lowering Miley's face just that same small increment, and their bottom lips touched, tentatively, as though unsure of what to do. Lilly knew Miley would not move unless she took the first step, and so she gently teased Miley's plump bottom lip between her own, gently suckling on it for a brief moment between her own soft lips. Miley returned the gesture with all sweetness and innocence. It was only a short moment before Miley slowly stood back up, gazing down at Lilly in confusion, worry, and admiration.

Lilly was convinced. She had never before felt the emotion that she had just experienced in that brief moment. It was one of a fluttering heart, a flipping stomach, of soft sighs and gentle breathing with an excited body. She could not mistake the feeling of want still broiling within her stomach. It ached within her now, an ache she hadn't noticed before, and she was loathe to leave it sit.

Her left arm reached once again for Miley's face, but the brunette shook her head. Instead, she wheeled the chair back into Lilly's room, shutting the door gently with a light click of the handle. Lilly was confused; what the hell had just happened? She'd kissed Miley, that much was certain, but now she was back in her room without so much as a smile or a frown or anything? What the fuck?

Miley lifted her body up and lowered her gently back into the bed, sliding the flannels back off her legs and drawing the comforter up. A small amount of Lilly was relieved that Miley then crawled into the bed beside the blonde, but was even more relieved when she saw the green in her eyes that always spoke of joy and happiness. Though, now, the green was deeper than when she'd last seen it the weekend of the incident. Lilly believed this deep green could only mean one thing, but she had no proof.

That is, until Miley closed her eyes, gently scooted toward the blonde's waiting figure, and touched their lips together once again.

Lilly did not feel the fireworks or sparks that most people claimed. She did not feel any of those theatrical bullshit lies that people created just to claim they felt some sort of emotion, no. What she felt was akin to that of a butterfly's wings beating at the same instantaneous moment of a lion's roar within the same two millimeters of one another. It was not a spark, no explosion, no fireworks, none of that hocus-pocus. It was, simply, and without a doubt the single greatest feeling she'd ever had in her life, one that she had never felt for another individual prior to that day and time.

It was an emotion that Lilly had no word to describe, other than the same word that came to mind when gazing into Miley's gorgeous emerald eyes. It was the feeling of love; unconditional, reciprocated, and grid-iron. It bonded them together, it separated them, it made them at odds with one another and yet made them even, split them and joined them, broke them and fixed them, split them into opposites and sames on a spectrum of indefinite suppositions and intricate delicacies.

It was the simple, pure joy of being in love, and Lilly was confident that she could indeed trust Miley to be there for her when she needed her most, just as she would be in return.

Sappy Chappie. Sorry if you didn't like. Yay if you did. I'm not usually one to take stuff like this slow, but I think I've had enough girlfriends in the past to know what it feels like to kiss the person you believe is "the one," even if they later turn out to be some sort of slut, bitch, or whore, whatever the case may be. Ah well. Hopefully you all enjoyed and are looking forward to more; Liley is starting to surface here within this story. Hopefully it's not too soon, but as this is the tenth chapter and I will be shifting gears back to The Angel Of Death until I update that story, I figured you guys needed some sort of happy note to end on. I love all you guys, and I'll be back to this story really soon! :)