Author's Note: I suck. For neglecting you guys. But I hope this chapter goes a bit of the way towards making it up to you all! I should be updating more regularly, and if you haven't already, please check out my other stories whilst you undeservedly wait for my next update. Not a whole heap of physical Niley in this, but it starts to build up the basis for their relationship so I can get to the good (and bad/dramatic) bits soon! Please review and let me know what you think, I appreciate it. I read every one even if I can't (coz they're anon) or don't (because I'm trying to put together some more stuff for you) respond. THANKS SO MUCH IF YOU'RE STILL STICKING WITH READING THIS STORY!


Miley howled with laughter. She'd barely pulled up to the curb before Nick came flying around the corner, running as though an apocalypse of zombies were after him. He flung the passenger door open and launched himself into the car, screeching at Miley to floor it. Miley swung back out into the traffic, catching a glimpse of pink rounding the same corner Nick had.

"She's crazy!" panted Nick, finally straightening himself up and pulling the seatbelt across his torso. "Literally, psycho stalker kind of crazy."

Miley glanced sideways at him, smirking. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she felt immediately at ease because of his presence. She was right, this morning. She had missed him. It had been all of a few hours, and Miley had actually missed him. She felt ridiculous.

"I was in math, minding my own business… wait, actually. Rewind. I was running for the hills after I hung up from you, because Amber was in hunting dog mode and I was the fox-"

"Fox? You are actually using that as an analogy?"

Nick raised his eyebrows at her, as though her dig at him was no more than an unwelcome interruption to his story.

"Anyway, as I was saying…" Nick grinned, resisting the urge to poke his tongue out at her.

Nick watched Miley swiftly change gears, deftly moving through the lanes. She slid her hand off the stick, ready to return it to the steering wheel but Nick intercepted. He intertwined their fingers, and rested his forearm on the console between their seats. She didn't look at him, or even acknowledge his actions, but he noticed the corners of her mouth twitch.

"So you were up to the part where you were running like a girl…" prompted Miley.

"No, I was running away from a girl," corrected Nick, chuckling. "So yeah, I was doing that whole running thing. And I duck around and into the science block hallway, because the bell was about to go and I figured I could get lost in the masses. Low and behold, the sweet chime of freedom bellowed down the corridor, and door flung open and people poured out-"

"You're so dramatic," scoffed Miley, listening to his embellished story.

"Thank you," Nick returned politely, amused. "The moral of this fable is that I managed to lose her. I hung out with Joe and Demi at lunch-"

"Demi?" Miley interrupted again, her voice strained with emotions.

"That's not my part to tell. You can talk to Joe later, for now, can you please stop cutting in and ruining the flow of my tale?" Nick pretended to be annoyed.

"Jerk," muttered Miley, earning a poke in the ribs from Nick.

"I heard that," he laughed, taking her hand back in his. "So, back to the story. Joe, Demi, lunch. That's all that kind of happened there. I ran into Oliver on my way to math, he was asking how you were. He also came up with a pretty good point, about your phone. You know how you told me the cops called you?"

Miley nodded in confirmation.

"Well, if they have your number, they can probably trace it too."

A sickening feeling enveloped Miley, her stomach plummeting. It must have conveyed on her face, because Nick immediately tried to reassure her.

"Mi, its okay. I've already figured it out. If they are checking your records, then we can't do much about what's already been done. The Detective said so himself, you're not wanted. So up until now, as long as you haven't had any contact with your dad, they don't have anything on you."

Miley nodded slowly, not convinced.

"So, tonight when we go back to your place, we leave your phone there. If they try to track it, it will lead them to your house and you won't be there. You don't make any more calls to or from it, so they can't use that to try and find you. We'll get you a disposable cell which you don't give anyone except us your number for, and you can disappear off the radar again."

"It feels like I'm the one on the run," sighed Miley, pulling the car into the shopping centre car park. "But okay, let's do it."


"Speaking of on the run, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Lilly but she said she that she had some information."

Nick hopped out of the car, and walked around to the driver's side. Miley accepted Nick's hand, and stepped out onto the pavement. She kept a hold of it as they walked towards the entrance, revelling in the fact her hand fit perfectly in his.

"She mentioned that," said Miley, encouraging Nick to continue.

"This way," Nick pointed, guiding Miley towards an electronics shop. "I forgot which bit I was up to."

"Oliver, maths."

Nick tapped his finger to his mouth as he remembered.

"Right. I get to maths, start learning about calculus or something ridiculous like that. I countdown the minutes until I can escape the torture chamber. Finally, finally… the sweet metallic sound echoes through the electronic amplifiers and I am granted my freedom. As I throw myself through the door, the teacher yells some shit about homework and a pop quiz or something completely irrelevant, and I get distracted. So, because of Mrs Difference Quotient, I don't see Hurricane Amber coming for me. That's a lie, I don't just not see her, I actually walk head first into said hurricane like some kind of idiotic storm chaser!"

As Nick continued with the theatrics, they wandered past shelves displaying various technological items. To an outsider, they looked like a normal, smitten couple. Walking hand in hand, browsing through a shop. Miley threw her head back and laughed easily as Nick spoke, her dark curls cascading out from under Nick's cap. Nick's eyes danced as he watched her, squeezing her hand ever so gently just because he wanted to. He swung her around so he was now in front of her, but walking backwards. Miley grinned as he pushed on with his story.

"There were cows flying and houses 50 feet in the air!" Nick exclaimed, waving his free hand around his head. "I thought 'we're not in Kansas anymore' and I hightailed to the nearest yellow brick road. It was then I discovered the major flaw in my otherwise perfect plan… I didn't have shiny ruby slippers!"

Miley exploded into a fit of laughter.

"I tried to bid the Wicked Witch adieu, but she kept following me. I've never heard my name repeated so many times in a row, let alone in such a nasally and somewhat painful voice. So I literally took off into a sprint, partly because I needed to use the onslaught of teenage robots as cover, partly because she kind of looked deranged. So here I was, carving and weaving my way through the student body, trying to avoid teachers who I assume would be none to pleased with my blatant intention to disobey school rules, and trying to evade certain death at the hands of Hurricane Amber. Then I saw the Range Rover, like a beacon of hope. And I ran, until I thought my legs would give out and my lungs would burst free of their bony cage. She was gaining on me, but I just focussed on you and the shiny paint job on the car, and went for it. I escaped, barely with my life."

Nick ended his spiel solemnly, whilst Miley had been worked up into hysterics. She was doubled over, wheezing between giggles, trying to suck in any oxygen she could in the fleeting reprieves before she burst out laughing all over again.

"That was a contemporary tragedy, not a comedy, Miss Stewart. Your response is entirely inappropriate, and I daresay, offensive," Nick said with a grin.

Nick picked something up off a display case next to them, and ushered an uncontrollable and inconsolable Miley towards the registers. He pushed the box towards the bewildered cashier, who was unsure what to do with the sight of tears rolling down Miley's face. Just when Nick was about to hand over his credit card that was for emergencies only, Miley composed herself enough to reach into her pocket and pull out the money clip her father left her. There was still a decent wad of bills, as Miley had put most of her impromptu trip on the credit card, and other than that, she'd barely spent a cent. Handing over a few folded up notes, Miley didn't manage to stifle a few residual giggles. Nick's eyes were wide, staring as Miley shoved the remaining money back in her pocket.

"Where did you get that?" hissed Nick, eyeing the cashier suspiciously as he handed over the bag.

Nick snatched it and placed a hand on the small of Miley's back, firmly guiding her from the store.


"What the hell was that?" Miley said angrily, wrenching away from Nick's touch.

"What the hell was that?" Nick retorted, pointing to her pocket.

"That was me 1, not letting you pay for the phone and 2, thinking ahead about the part where cash is untraceable."

Nick's shoulders slumped in defeat, realising he'd overreacted. Miley irritated expression caused Nick to smile sheepishly at her.

"What, you think just because my dad is a goddamn fugitive that the money was some how illegitimate? That it couldn't have possibly been an emergency supply I got left my my own dad walked out on me!" Miley had trouble controlling the level of her yelling, spurred on by Nick's idiotic grin.

"No, I didn't think that!" Nick's raised his voice at her.

"Yeah, you did. You assumed the worst! Just because my dad is a wanted felon, crime must run in the family! What are you still doing here, Nick? If that's what you think of me, why the hell are you pretending otherwise? Just leave me alone."

Hot tears pricked in Miley's eyes, her insecurity regarding her situation bubbling to the surface, causing her furious reaction. She knew she was becoming irrational and overreacting just as Nick had a few seconds earlier. But she couldn't stop it, it felt like a bomb had finally exploded in her chest, and this last little thing had ignited a fuse that had been slowly building up.

"Are you serious right now? You've got to be kidding!" hollered Nick, ignoring the staring onlookers.

"Do you think this is something I would joke about, Nick?" seethed Miley, starting to walk away from him.

"What are you doing? Come back here!" he thundered, grabbing her wrist.

"Get away from me!" cried Miley, her eyes finally overflowing and the salty tears poured down her cheeks.

Seeing Miley cry caused Nick to stop in his tracks. His eyes softened, and whilst his anger still ebbed at the surface, he couldn't bear to see her hurting. He learnt quickly that she was not the type to get upset in front of people, so to be the cause of her anguish tore Nick apart.

"Mi, I'm sorry."

Miley hiccupped, and wiped her eyes with her free hand. Nick took a step towards her, and transformed his rough grip on her wrist to a gentle grasp of her hand.

"I don't think that. I don't," he whispered softly to her.

Miley swallowed thickly, and tried to wait for the emotional turmoil ripping through her to subside.

"I don't trust people anymore. But, I want to trust you, Nick. When you go all jackass and judgemental like that, you kind of make it hard."

"Jeez, Mi," Nick groaned in exasperation. "You flip out to 11 kinds of insane and I'm the one making it hard?"

"You're such an asshole!" Miley started to get fired up again. "If I'm too much for you, why don't you just fu-"

"Don't even finish that expletive, Miley Stewart!" warned Nick. "Let's deal with this… somewhere else. Anywhere else. We're starting to attract attention."

Miley finally noticed the prying eyes of passers by, and straightened herself up. She gave them a death glare, turned on her heel and walked off haughtily.

Nick, frustrated, mumbled a string of curses as he took off after her.


When Nick finally reached the car, he was surprised she hadn't driven off on him. Instead, a more calm and collected Miley leaned casually against the passenger door, her arms crossed defensively.

"You're a jerk," she stated, raising her eyebrows.

"You're a wench."

"A what?"

"A wench."

Nick felt the muscles in his cheeks quiver. A grin was threatening to tear across his face, but as amusing as he now found this situation, one wrong move might set Miley off again.

"You are calling me a slutty female pirate type woman, usally with a firey attitude?" Miley's mouth hung open in shock. "Which, is often a slang synonym for bitch?"

"Yep," Nick nodded, popping the 'p' at the end. "Cute reference to Urban Dictionary's definition."

"You're incorrigible."

"This is a fun game. Who needs to go to English when you get a vocabulary lesson fighting with you," Nick shrugged.

Miley shook her head, unable to stay mad at Nick any longer. He finally broke into a huge smile, and Miley couldn't help but match it. He took the keys from her outstretched hand and moved around to climb in behind the wheel. Miley slid into the passenger seat, and leaned her head against the window.

They pulled out of the lot, and the scenery started to blur as the speedometer increased. Miley peeked over at Nick, who still wore a smug grin on his face. Without turning to look at her, Nick spoke.

"You can trust me, Mi. You know that, right?"

Turning to watch the trees breeze by through the window, Miley gave an almost imperceptible nod. She did know that. She did trust him. But by trusting him, it meant Miley was given him the power to really hurt her if he was to ever break that trust. That's what Miley was having trouble with.

"I'm not going to hurt you. And I won't let anyone else do it either."

Her breath hitching in her throat, Miley averted her eyes to ensure they didn't meet Nick's. For the second time that day, he said exactly what she'd needed to hear and it was almost as unsettling as it was comforting.


"Move over," instructed Nick.

Nick and Miley were lying on the bonnet of the SUV, their heads resting against the windshield. Miley shuffled across a bit, and Nick sat up.

"I still can't believe you actually had to run away from Amber."

Miley was shaking with laughter.

"It's not funny. I literally have no idea how I can be any more disinterested in her."

"Maybe you are losing your touch. Maybe you're not so good at the jerk routine after all," Miley teased him.

"I don't know, you seemed pretty convinced before," Nick said cautiously.

"Definitely not as an impressive performance as previous displays."

"And who's fault is that?" returned Nick, sliding off the car and walking around to Miley's side.

"How is it my fault?" Miley accepted Nick's hand to help her get down.

"How do I blame thee? Let me count the ways…" recited Nick.

"You're so weird," Miley commented, amused by his reinvention of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem, let alone the fact he actually knew it.

"Speak for yourself."

They walked along in comfortable silence for a few minutes, soaking up the warmth of the sun's rays.

"You know how you said earlier 'What have you done with Nick Lucas'?"

Miley peered up at Nick who had a torn look on his face.

"You're kind of right. Well, no, you're not. What I mean is…" Nick rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand nervously.

"Are you trying to explain this?" Miley asked, holding up their entwined fingers.

"Yeah," Nick conceded. "I mean, besides our little misunderstanding before, I want to say sorry for being a jackass to you all the time when I first met you. I was angry, but you didn't deserve it."

"So you're not angry any more?"

"Oh, hell no, I'm angry. I'm still not okay with Mom taking off, or Dad moving us all across the country. I'm not okay with having to suck up to my grandparents who wanted nothing to do with us for so long."

"Then I don't understand."

"I'm not that person when I'm around you."

Miley's step faltered and she almost tripped herself over. She looked at Nick incredulously, and a previous conversation with Demi flooded her thoughts.

"You have a good heart," whispered Miley to herself.

"What?"

"Nothing, just something Demi said Joe had told her. It makes sense now, or at least, I believe it."

"So yeah, when you said that on the phone earlier, I guess what I mean is that you kind of brought Nick Lucas back. The real me…"

Miley blushed. Here, in the middle of the chaotic mess she called her life, was an incredibly good looking, kind hearted, funny and smart boy, telling her impossible things. It was like a scene out of a movie, and Miley had trouble comprehending the reality of it.

"That's one of the reasons I like you."

That statement snapped Miley's attention back to Nick.

"What?"

Her breathing became laboured and white spots invaded her vision.

"Don't pretend you didn't know," Nick said smartly, but avoiding eye contact.

Miley shook her head at him. He'd said it out loud. Nick liked her. Sure, they'd alluded to the small chance of it maybe being a potential possibility through various make out sessions, or snarky conversations, but there it was. Plain and simple. Nick liked her. Somehow, despite all the reasons he shouldn't, Nick liked her.

"I don't really know what that means though," Miley admitted.

Would it mean they were boyfriend and girlfriend? She was hiding from various authorities, but did Miley actually think she could start a new relationship at this point in time? What was going to happen when she had to leave? Or when his mom came back for him? There was too much uncertainty surrounding them, that Miley decided she couldn't risk her heart as well.

"It means whatever you want it to mean."

"Nick, I don't think-"

"Wrong!" Nick interjected, a kind smile gracing his features even as he shook his head vehemently. "You do think. You over think. Just like you've probably managed over think this in the 2.4 seconds you've had to digest what I said. You've analysed it, considered all the possibilities and come to a conclusion. "

They'd stopped walking and Nick was leaning against the railing, his back to the water. There was a harsh glare glinting off the blue ocean, framing Nick in a bright glow. Miley reached up to pull her cap down a little, protecting her eyes. As she adjusted her hat, Nick released her hand and brought his own to hold her face delicately.

"It's not the most opportune time for this, Mi. I know, okay? But I don't care what anyone thinks. I don't care if this is wrong, or stupid. I don't need labels. I don't need in depth assessments of the situation. So before you tell me your conclusion, please consider this: If you take away all the bullshit, the stuff that we can work through… together… when that's gone… what are we left with? You and me. You know how I feel, the question is… how do you?"

Miley saw an image in her head. It was Nick and her, standing in the middle of a room. Surrounding them were cops, people in suits who'd come to take Miley away, Miley's dad, her mom's grave stone, Nick's family, his faceless mom, Lilly, Demi and Oliver. Mikayla and Jake were in the corner making out. The rest were staring at the two of them, yelling and screaming at them. One wall was a skyline of New York, the opposite, a beach front mural. The scene was chaos, and a perfect representation of the current state of both their lives. But like Nick said, when she took all of that away; when slowly, one by one, each of those factors disappeared until all that was left was Nick and Miley, it all seemed so much clearer.

"I can't explain it. It makes no sense. This shouldn't be happening."

Miley was shaking her head softly as she protested, Nick allowing her room to do so but not removing his hands from her face.

"Miley Stewart. You are a pain in the ass. You're stubborn and sarcastic. You can tell teachers to go to hell, you took more abuse than any person should have to, you punch quarterbacks, and you easily put me back in my place. Don't tell me you're scared of the way you feel."

Nick's mouth turned up into a smirk, but his eyes betrayed a hint of self doubt. Miley narrowed her eyes at him.

"Seriously, Mi. When I'm not suppressing the urge to hit you over the head a little bit with the nearest solid object, all I want to do is be the reason you smile."

Miley glanced up at his adorable brown eyes, and she saw sincerity. Almost subconciously, Miley stepped closer towards Nick. The rational part of her that was screaming for her to stop, to back away and get the hell out of there. Another part was encouraging her, imploring her to kiss him. To just reach up and take a chance.

The question was, which part of her did she let win?