A day early, really? That's cause you're all so awesome and I just felt bad leaving you all hanging like that. This fic has some life in it, yet...make sure to keep it alive with your reviews ;)

Chapter 11 – The Kids Are Alright

Spend all your time waiting/ For that second chance/ For a break that would make it ok/ There's always some reason/ To feel not good enough/ And it's hard at the end of the day/ I need some distraction/ Oh beautiful release/ Memory seep from my veins/ Let me be empty and, oh, weightless/ And maybe I'll find some peace tonight/

She was floating. A softness embraced her body and she felt so light she knew immediately where she was. There was no pain in her body now, not like she was used to. She couldn't open her eyes they were so heavy, but she could see the blinding white from behind her eyelids. Every part of her felt incredibly heavy and she wondered if that's how it was supposed to be. Her left hand twitched and for the first time she noticed the rough warmth wrapped around it. It did not feel like it was supposed to. A bad feeling settled in her chest at the thought. If there was a hand holding hers and it was not the one she was used to, then whose was it and where was the one she needed it to be? If this was heaven, then why was it not Lilly holding her hand?

Miley wanted the heaviness gone now. She remembered Lilly clutching her so tightly before she heard the gunshot and felt the searing pain in her chest. She had been ready to die, but she hadn't wanted to lose Lilly in the process. Where was her best friend?

She tried to clench her left hand again and suddenly something rough brushed against her face. It was not Lilly and she wanted it away from her. Panic started settling in her chest. Miley thought she heard voices, but they were so muffled and dull it was as if she was hearing them underwater. She tried to open her eyes again, but they did not cooperate. Perhaps she could call for Lilly, but her throat and mouth were so dry she could hardly move her tongue. The floating feeling was slowly ebbing away and she became aware of more parts of her body.

Something cold was in her nose, making her throat hurt worse. A burning pain took over her chest and she clenched her hands. The voice from before sounded closer now, but she still could not make out what it was saying. She knew enough; it wasn't Lilly. She wanted Lilly.

"Lil…" she managed to croak, the sound of her own voice scaring even her.

"Miley," the muffled voice said, though this time she could mostly understand it.

She tried to lick her lips; she couldn't remember eating all this sand. "Lilly," she got out at last, voice weak and scratchy, but sounding almost normal.

"Miley, just open your eyes, honey."

That voice again. It was clearer now and she thought she knew it. She tried to open her eyes again. The light blinded her as soon as she got them just a tiny bit open and she closed them again. The voice was egging her on and she wanted it to stop. Lilly would have let her be. She blinked her eyes open again, squinting feebly at the light. The first thing she saw was a face so close to her own her immediate instinct was to lash out. Her arm did not cooperate in its heaviness. She tried to shrink away, eyes only slowly focusing.

"Miley," the face above her breathed, pulling back slightly.

She blinked and stared at the face. It was a little different than she remembered, older, more worn perhaps, but she recognized it at last. Tears filled her eyes.

"Daddy?"

"Oh, Miley," Robbie Ray exhaled, both hands now clutching her left one. She tried to pull away weakly. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms, but he didn't want to hurt her. And she looked so confused and scared.

"I'm…dead?" she asked, wondering why her mother wasn't there if she was in heaven. And Lilly.

Robbie Ray stared at his daughter, confused. "What?" He tried to think back to what the FBI agents had told him, but he hadn't heard much of anything after 'your daughter is alive'. They'd mentioned something about the end of the world. "You're alive, honey, and it's a doggone miracle."

Miley scrunched up her face and slowly lifted her right hand to where she could see. An IV catheter was taped to the back of her hand. She touched her face tentatively. She felt real. She looked at her dad, who was watching her with apprehension. He was crying and Miley couldn't remember the last time she had seen him cry.

"You're not dead?" she asked weakly and when he shook his head, she thought about everyone else, "Jackson? Mamaw? Uncle Earl?"

She could tell he was being patient with her. It made her think he was telling the truth. Had they really been duped for years into believing the Emergence's harebrained end of world story? It had seemed so real. But if she really was dead and in heaven, then why was she in a hospital? Why was her chest on fire and her hand freezing cold and her throat so dry? Miley felt incredibly stupid. Tears leaked from her eyes and suddenly her dad's hand was on her face and Miley flinched away. He wasn't Lilly; but Miley hadn't wanted to put that look on his face. He was still being patient with her.

A sudden thought came to her and she panicked. If she was alive and Lilly was not here, then was Lilly dead? And if she was, how would Miley be able to live without her best friend at her side? The pain clutching her heart at the thought left her breathless. She had to go find out where Lilly was.

"Where's Lilly?" When her dad didn't immediately answer her, Miley pushed herself into a sitting position. Her chest screamed in agony; she tried to push the pain away. All she could think about was Lilly. She tried to swing her legs over the side of the bed. She suddenly felt dizzy.

"Whoa, Miles, what in the Sam heck are you doing?" Robbie Ray moved quickly to stop her from getting out of bed. She struggled feebly against him, but was too weak to really fight back. She was crying now and the sight broke his heart.

"Lilly, I want Lilly," she cried, knowing she'd never feel whole again if her friend was gone.

Robbie Ray held her down as gently as he could; he was afraid she'd already hurt herself more. He leaned closer to get her to look at him, but remembering how she had flinched away from his touch, he stopped himself. "Bud, Lilly is fine. She's fine. Her mother took her to the cafeteria, because she'd been sitting here next to you for so long."

Miley closed her eyes and tried to relax. Lilly was okay. They had made it out, like Lilly always said they would. Of course, Lilly had been lying then. Would her dad lie to her about Lilly being okay? Miley knew it was a possibility. She knew she would not be okay until Lilly was next to her.

Robbie watched his daughter, heartbroken. He had seen the look in her eyes, not just the panic, but the worn and tired look of someone much older. The FBI hadn't told them much; they'd gotten a knock on the door in the middle of the morning and been told their daughters were alive. He'd thought he was being Punk'd at first, but the agents had them on a plane to Montana within the hour. He'd agonized the entire plane ride and the hour drive to the hospital. Miley was alive; he hadn't wanted to believe it until he could see for himself. Heather had clung to him in Malibu and hadn't let go the entire time. She knew exactly what he was feeling.

He still thought it a miracle he hadn't fainted dead upon seeing Miley for the first time in five years. She was so broken. The doctor hadn't told him everything, he knew, only about the gunshot wound to the chest and the tube they'd had to put in to drain the blood. They had told him she would be fine and that was all he had cared about. But he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her. What had put that look in her eyes.

Robbie sat in the chair next to her bed, wanting to take hold of her hand again, but he remembered how she'd pulled away before. He just wanted to make sure she really was there. He thought about her words just now, her panicking and remembered how similar Lilly's words had been when the doctors were done with her. She'd sat in that very chair and would hardly let anyone get close to Miley. The doctors had told them she might be irritable and confused because of her concussion, but Robbie wasn't so sure now. He just wanted his little girl to be okay again.

* * *

The noise was nearly unbearable. Like a persistent buzzing in her brain, adding to the throbbing and pounding already part of her head. She didn't want to be here. What if Miley woke up and she wasn't there? Miley didn't know yet what was going on, something Lilly herself had a hard time wrapping her head around.

Her mother was alive and sitting across from her. The world had not ended. They'd thought they'd been so smart, evading the brainwashing and indoctrination and crazy beliefs of the Emergence, but, in the end, they'd fallen for it anyway. Just two simple fools, kept at that compound by fear and uncertainty. Maybe they could have run away, after all. They hadn't even tried. And seeing her mother's look upon having her back, she felt guilty about not having tried.

"Honey, you're not eating your burger," Heather said softly. She didn't want to make Lilly's obvious headache worse, or startle her. After just two hours with her daughter she could tell Lilly was incredibly tense. Perhaps at first she'd brushed it off as an effect of the concussion and pain medication, but no longer.

They sat in a far corner booth of the hospital cafeteria, as far removed from the regular bustle as possible. Every time someone passed too close to the table, Lilly's head jerked around, hand reaching for something invisible next to her. And every time she did, she groaned at the pain in her head. Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring her here, Heather surmised, but she couldn't stand just watching Lilly staring at Miley, willing her awake. Neither girl had looked particularly healthy, though in all reality she had envisioned much worse.

Lilly looked down at her plate, stomach turning. She'd felt nauseas to begin with and shoving huge amounts of food her body was no longer used to down her throat was not going to help. She fingered the edge of the dressing taped over the stitches on her forehead. She did not remember what had happened, only vaguely remembered gunshots and explosions and fighting. The doctors had told her a bullet had grazed her head, cracked her skull and given her a concussion. They told her she was going to be fine. She looked at her left arm, which was in a sling. She did not remember breaking her shoulder, either. All she remembered was waking up in a hospital, without Miley. Everything she had believed for the past three years had come down around her. The only thing she still had to hold onto was her friend, the one true thing in her life.

"I'm not all that hungry, mom," she mumbled, feeling bad for not acting like she should after finding out her mother was alive.

It wasn't that she was not happy. The doctors in the ER had tried to explain some of it to her, but she had been confused and disoriented mostly. When she had finally seen her mother, she hadn't known what to believe. Part of the emptiness inside of her had filled and she'd let her mother hug her tentatively and she had felt happy about it. But the biggest part of her had needed to see Miley. She had nearly thrown a fit in the ER until they had let her see the brunette.

"You need to eat something, Lilly, you're so skinny." Heather hadn't meant to bring up any part of her daughter's physical condition, but it had slipped out. Seeing her daughter again for the first time, with broken bones, a gunshot wound and covered in blood had nearly been too much for her. She had leaned on Robbie then, before they had gone to see Miley. Her stepdaughter was not much better off, she knew, and Heather wondered again what had happened to the girls in the past five years. She did not really want to ask.

Lilly managed a smirk at her mother's words. Perhaps they hadn't had the best nutrition over the past five years, but Lilly knew she could probably pick up her mom and carry her around. Neither her mom nor Robbie Ray had asked about what had happened to them, and Lilly was glad. She did not think she ever wanted to talk about it.

"Maybe…I can eat it later," she tried, hoping her mother would be appeased and let her return to Miley. She was trying to be as nice as possible and keep her aggravation at bay.

"Lilly…" Heather trailed off when she met her daughter's eyes. They were almost cold and she didn't know what to make of it. Though Lilly had spoken with her some, she had been very reticent and even inattentive at times. She knew Lilly had been happy to see her, they had cried together even, but she almost felt like her daughter was closed off from her.

"No, mom, Miley needs me and I'm going back upstairs," Lilly said, not having the energy to pretend anymore. She was frustrated. How did one merge their strange existence from just 24 hours ago with the normal life they'd left behind?

Heather reached across the table and covered Lilly's hand with hers. She just wanted her daughter to relax and stop worrying. Whatever it was they'd had to worry about back there, the girls were safe here. "Lilly, she'll be fine and her dad is with her. Why don't we give them some space and you and I can have some more mother-daughter time."

Lilly resisted the sudden urge to lash out at her mother. She didn't know where it had come from, but thankfully it only lasted a split second. She had spent the past five years solving problems with her fists if people refused to listen to her and she figured it was a habit she'd have to break. She knew her mother was trying to be there for her and comfort her and reassure her that the nightmare was over. But Lilly knew, for her and Miley, it would never be completely over.

She slowly pulled her hand away and turned to get up. Too late did she realize she was reaching for her rifle and grasped at empty air, before sliding out of the booth, angry tears welling in her eyes. They did not understand and they never would. She stood, facing her mother.

"Mom, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I am going upstairs to be with Miley. You can come if you want to."

Lilly walked away from the booth and Heather stared after her. What had happened to her little girl?

* * *

Lilly walked briskly along the corridor, arm brushing the wall. She did not like the crowds, the people rushing past her. At the compound there had been a lot of people, but she had known each of them, had seen them day in and day out for five years. She had known what to expect. Here every shadow, every noise, made her tense up.

Her mother was walking behind her somewhere, watching her. Lilly knew her mother was worried and had gone through a lot and had missed her terribly and loved her, but Lilly did not feel like she could relate. Of course she loved her mother and had wished for her numerous times over the years, but she could do nothing with her mother's feelings. She could not provide the happy, bubbly daughter that was lost and she could not control the angry, taciturn person she had become.

A door opened up ahead and a man stepped out, directly into her path. Lilly moved to walk around him. She looked at his face and moved several steps back in shock. She balled up her right fist, sizing him up. His right arm was in a sling; she figured she could still take him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she said and he turned to face her. Heather stopped next to her daughter, wondering what she had missed. A guy of medium height with scraggly, dark hair, dressed in military fatigues, stood before them.

Malcolm raised his good hand, backing up a step. He had no desire to have the blonde punch him again, "Whoa, Lilly, it's alright. I'm with the FBI."

Lilly took a step closer, then stared at him, "You…Wait, you're what?"

"I was undercover at the compound. I was supposed to find the Emergence illegally stocking weapons and instead I found you two."

Lilly narrowed her eyes. Was he telling the truth? Two more men wearing suits exited the room behind him, one patting him on the shoulder. They certainly looked like FBI. "So, the attack…that was the FBI?"

Malcolm nodded and Lilly bit her lower lip. "I guess you're the reason we got out then, Collins."

"My name's Malcolm. I'm just glad I got you both out…when I saw Boomer…well…we both got out of there with scrapes, huh?" Malcolm said with a smirk, motioning at his arm.

"So, Boomer?"

"Dead."

Lilly nodded, not sure how she felt about it. Part of her had wanted it to be her to pull the trigger on their number one torturer. Heather tried to hide the shock on her face at her daughter's callous reaction to hearing about a man's death.

"Well, uh, thanks, Malcolm. And I'm sorry about…you know," Lilly said, shrugging with one shoulder.

Malcolm grinned and nodded, "No hard feelings. I'm sorry for starting it. Good luck, Lilly, to you and Miley."

They nodded at each other before turning and walking in different directions. Heather caught up with her daughter, looking at her funnily.

"What did I miss?" she asked, confused about the exchange between the two.

"Oh, I punched him in the face," Lilly said casually.

Heather thought she was joking for a moment, but then realized her daughter was completely serious. She wanted to ask why or how or what had happened, but knew having her questions answered would likely be worse than never knowing. So she remained quiet and followed Lilly back to Miley's hospital room.

* * *

Miley was breathing steadily, in and out, despite the stabbing pain it caused in her chest. It was all she could do to keep calm. She didn't know how long she had been awake now, but it had been far too long a time for there to be no Lilly. She was starting to think her dad had lied to her, after all. Inhale. Exhale. The panic was creeping its way in. Miley thought her dad could tell; he had tried to tell her stories of back home, of Jackson, of Uncle Earl, probably to distract her. Miley did not care to listen to them now; they meant nothing to her and the realization unsettled her. Life had gone on without them and now it was not the same. They were not the same.

Her dad was standing by the window, talking quietly on his cellphone. Miley liked it better that way; she could not take him sitting by her bed, staring at her with that sorrowful look on his face. He was talking to Jackson now; Miley had already turned down phone calls from two other family members. She did not have the energy to pretend, especially not without Lilly there.

She was incredibly tired. A nurse had come in a short while ago and put something in her IV. She'd been all sweet and smiling, telling Miley she needed to rest. She was still fighting it. Her dad kept glancing at her, the look in his eyes telling her to go to sleep already. They just didn't understand.

The door opened and Miley looked up. Lilly walked in and Miley closed her eyes. She finally felt whole again. She could finally relax. The fatigue swept over her and she reached out a hand. When Lilly's hand slipped into hers, everything was right again. A weight pushed down on the bed next to her and she blinked her eyes open.

Lilly had walked into the room and gone straight for Miley. It wasn't like in the movies, where people yell and fall into each other's arms with much exuberance. She didn't even acknowledge her mother or Robbie Ray, just walked straight up to the bed and took Miley's outstretched hand in hers. Then she kicked off the hospital slippers and climbed up onto the bed next to her friend.

"Lilly, what are you doing?" Heather exclaimed, rushing closer. Robbie Ray walked up next to her and they exchanged looks. They'd already had to stop Lilly once from climbing into bed with Miley.

Lilly did not answer. Instead she was looking down at the face of her friend, a soft smile on her lips. She wedged herself onto the small bit of space between Miley's side and the bed's railing. Miley reached out a hand to Lilly's face, frowning as she touched the dressing on her forehead.

"Lilly."

"I'm fine, Miles. It's just a little crack. You always said I was hard-headed," Lilly joked, suddenly feeling free. She had Miley and they were out of that hell. She stared at the monitors surrounding the bed and looked back down at her friend. Reaching out, Lilly brushed some stray hairs behind Miley's ear, tucking it behind the plastic tube than ran from the brunette's nostrils to behind her ears. "You doing okay?"

Miley nodded, feeling a thousand times better just with Lilly pressed against her side. She was so sleepy now and her eyelids drooped. Lilly's hand brushed across her hair and Miley felt content. She wrapped her fingers around the hospital scrub top the blonde was wearing and held on, her way of ensuring Lilly was there.

"Just go to sleep, Miles," Lilly said softly, hand still running through the brunette hair. Miley's eyes closed and Lilly smiled. She leaned down and kissed Miley softly, before lying down on her side next to her friend, hand still playing with her hair. She had forgotten anyone else was even in the room.

Heather and Robbie watched the scene, feeling like intruders. Robbie had spent nearly an hour trying to calm Miley's anxiety and get her to sleep without luck and two minutes with Lilly and his daughter was calm and asleep. And to Heather, seeing her previously cold and distant daughter so tender and loving, it was incomprehensible. Then they saw the kiss.

They stared at each other, the looks on their faces conveying every range of emotion from shock, to anger, to fear. Neither spoke, perhaps feeling that a hospital room was not the place for questions. They did not know what to think, how to interact or talk to their own children. They did not know what happened to their daughters, but both knew it could not have been good. Robbie Ray and Heather sat heavily in the chairs against the wall and held hands while the girls slept. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

In the arms of the angel/ Fly away from here/ From this dark cold hotel room/ And the endlessness that you fear/ You are pulled from the wreckage/ Of your silent reverie/ You're in the arms of the angel/ May you find some comfort here/ - Sarah McLachlan