Sorry for this delay, again...I guess I just keep forgetting to update. I keep wondering why no one's reviewing yet and then I realize, oops ;) Better late than never, right? Enjoy!

Chapter XII

Richard sat, tapping his foot nervously as he occasionally glanced up at the stairway and the closed door atop it. The phone he held in his hand vibrated again and he knew he could no longer ignore it. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he hit the 'Answer' key and brought the phone to his ear.

"John."

"I've been trying to call you for a while now, Richard. One might think you are ignoring me."

Richard gritted his teeth, not up to playing his superior's games. "Cut to the chase, John. I've got work to do."

"Indeed you do, my friend. And you've done a piss-poor job of it as far as we can tell; Mandy's last report was…concerning, to say the least," said John, his voice not betraying the anger and worry he felt.

"What exactly would you have me do?"

"I don't know, Richard, but I was not chosen to do this job – you were. You promised us you could handle it. You know what's at stake here."

Richard scoffed, angry they had nothing to offer but empty threats and poor ideas. He was the one in the thick of things. "And I am handling it."

"I'm afraid we may have to remove you from the job, after all," said John, rustling some papers as if for emphasis.

"If you do that it will all have been for nothing," answered Richard, exasperated.

"It will all have been for nothing anyway if the girl dies. You've got two more weeks, Richard, after that it's up to the Chamber to decide."

The door atop the staircase opened and closed and Richard risked a quick glance in its direction. Susan was making her way down the stairs and he quickly turned back. "Fine. I've got to go, John."

He did not say 'goodbye' before slamming his phone shut, just in time to face Susan who stood beside him. He saw her quizzical look and shrugged it off, tucking the phone back into his pocket. "My boss. Nothing serious. How's Miley?"

Susan sighed and sat next to him on the sofa, sinking heavily into the cushions. "Not well. Her fever's rising again and her head is hurting a lot. I'm going to call Dr. Khauf."

Richard was too slow to hide the grimace on his face. "Are you sure that's wise? Are there no other doctors you could call?"

She gave him an odd look. "He's been Miley's doctor for months and with all the medications he has her on I wouldn't want someone else to mess something up. What's wrong with Dr. Khauf?"

Richard shook his head. As much as he wanted to voice his opinion on the doctor, he could not give himself away now. "I meant because he's quite far away. Perhaps there's a local doctor that could be here sooner to help Miley. I hate to see her suffering."

Susan gave his upper arm a soft squeeze. "Have I told you how glad I am I found you? I'm gonna go call Dr. Khauf."

She got up to make the call and Richard watched her go with mixed emotions. He threw another glance at the still-closed door on the second floor and leaned back with a heavy sigh. He still had no idea what to do and his time was running out.

xxx

"What's that beeping?" Lilly's eyes were narrowed and glued to the small machine sitting on the coffee table.

Dr. Khauf, a serene smile on his face, folded up his stethoscope and turned off the machine. "Nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean 'nothing to worry about'? Miley's been sick for two weeks and it hasn't gotten any better," said Lilly, barely able to conceal her disdain. Dr. Khauf had made regular visits to the Stewarts' house to check on his patient, but his lackadaisical attitude regarding Miley's health had Lilly on edge. Susan seemed to refuse to find anything wrong with the doctor, trusting his care of her daughter, though Lilly could tell Richard, too, was wary of the man, even if he said nothing.

"As I've said before, her body is merely adjusting to the medications and that, coupled with a slight bout of the flu, has got her feeling so down. She should be feeling better in a few days." Dr. Khauf removed the blood pressure cuff from around Miley's arm and stowed it in his bag. Miley, stretched out on the sofa swathed in a multitude of blankets, was hardly paying him any attention.

"Then why is her blood pressure high? She's 17, she shouldn't have high blood pressure," countered Lilly, pointing at the machine that had until a few seconds ago shown the offending numbers.

Dr. Khauf shook his head, though he would not stop smiling. It was irking Lilly to no end. "There are three people in this room; a patient, a well-trained doctor who knows what he's doing and an overprotective girlfriend with no medical knowledge. I'll give you one guess who's who."

Lilly narrowed her eyes, insulted. "I'm not overprotective."

Miley chortled at the statement, drawing her girlfriend's attention. Dr. Khauf, feeling the matter was settled, packed up his bag and squeezed Miley's shoulder as he passed by. "Goodbye Miley, I will see you in a few days."

He said nothing to Lilly as he left the room to go find Susan and she watched him go with mistrustful eyes. If she didn't know better it almost seemed as if he was unconcerned with Miley's health, but he had been her doctor for months and taken great care of her after her accident last year. Maybe Dr. Khauf was right and Lilly was merely overly worried about the flu. She looked down at Miley on the sofa, stretched out more peacefully than she'd ever seen her. There was no overexcited wriggling and antsy bouncing now and the trademark grin only showed up every once in a while, when something was funny enough to bring Miley out of the feverish stupor she appeared to spend her time in.

"Miles," said Lilly and knelt down in front of the sofa. She brushed the back of her hand across Miley's forehead. She still felt hot to the touch, but not as much as this morning. Maybe that was a good sign.

"Lils," said Miley, and though her face was turned to Lilly's, her eyes were unfocused.

Lilly bit her lip, suddenly feeling like crying. She took Miley's hand and squeezed. "I love you, Roadkill."

Miley grinned and blinked, her eyes suddenly focused on Lilly's. "I love you, too, Lils. Why are you crying?"

Lilly swiped her free hand across her cheeks and took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. "I don't know, Miles. I don't know."

"You wanna cuddle?" Miley was already tugging on her hand to pull her closer. Lilly chuckled and nodded. She stood and pulled her hand from Miley's sweaty one.

"Let me use the bathroom first, then you can have me all evening."

"Okay."

Miley had that excited sparkle in her eyes that normally made Lilly slightly apprehensive, but now it was a welcome sight. She leaned down to kiss Miley's forehead before walking out of the living room. She quickly went to the bathroom and was hurrying back to the living room, when Susan appeared from the kitchen, an odd look on her face. Lilly stopped, a heavy weight suddenly settling in her stomach. Had Dr. Khauf told Susan something he had not wanted to mention in front of Miley? She was just opening her mouth to speak, when Susan held up a folded piece of paper, a guilty look on her face.

"I'm sorry, Lilly…I wasn't meanin' to snoop. Your bag fell over and I…well…how long have you know?"

Lilly took the paper with shaking hands. She hadn't even remembered putting it in her backpack. Her fingers trailed across the paper, unfolding it carefully and she allowed herself a brief glance at the UCLA school seal at the top of the letter, before closing it again. She looked up at Susan and sighed. "I got it a few days ago. I wanted to tell Miley, but well…with her being sick I thought it'd be better to wait. I'm sorry, Mrs. Stewart, I didn't mean to make it appear like I was hiding anything from her."

Susan shook her head. "No, no, Lilly, I wasn't thinking that. I'm just…shocked is all. I am very happy for you, though. Congratulations. I know how much you wanted this."

Lilly nodded, but suddenly she didn't feel excited about her acceptance at all. She tried to swallow away the lump in her throat, but it refused to budge. "I did. I do. I don't know what I want."

"You've got some time to decide, still, don't you?" When Lilly nodded, Susan smiled at her encouragingly. "Well, whatever you decide, it will be alright, Lilly."

Lilly swallowed again, feeling like she wanted to cry again. "Whatever I decide?"

Susan put her hands on Lilly's shoulders, squeezing lightly. "Whatever you decide, hun, I know Miley will understand and she won't love you any less."

Tears pooled in Lilly's eyes again and she had to bite her tongue to keep from losing it altogether. Susan pulled her into a hug and Lilly held on for several moments, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She couldn't explain why she was suddenly so emotional, but Miley being so sick and the thought of moving away from her girlfriend were taking a toll on Lilly. She pulled back and wiped her eyes, offering Susan a weak smile.

"Thanks, Mrs. Stewart. I better get back to Miley before she gets antsy."

Susan nodded and let her pass. Lilly tucked the acceptance letter into her pocket and tried to make her face appear as neutral as possible before she walked back into the living room. And even though Miley couldn't tell anything was wrong, Lilly could not stop thinking about how she would break the news to her girlfriend. Her heart felt heavy.

xxx

"Outside."

"No."

"Momma, please."

Susan turned her head to look at her daughter curled up on the living room rug, multiple blankets piled on top of her. Miley was staring at her mother with wide, red eyes and Susan wanted nothing more than to give in. She slowly shook her head, returning her gaze to her magazine. At this point she could not trust Miley to stay inside on her own.

Miley let out a scream of frustration and kicked her legs against the coffee table. The already cold mug of tea sitting on the table was knocked over, spilling its contents onto the floor. Susan stared at her daughter, speechless and shocked. As mischievous and willful as Miley had always been, she had never thrown tantrums. Susan swallowed the lump in her throat and got up quickly to grab a rag from the kitchen to wipe the floor with. She was gone for less than thirty seconds, but when she returned to the living room Miley was already trying to unlock the sliding door onto the back porch.

"Miley!"

Miley did not react, fingers fumbling with the lock that refused to open and instead began to yank on the handle. Susan rushed over to stop her. It was a beautiful spring day outside, sunny with a few clouds and a mild breeze, but when Susan reached Miley she immediately noticed the dark storm clouds rolling in, so quickly it appeared they had formed out of thin air. Thunder growled and shook the glass pane in the door, though Miley was not perturbed, continuing her quest to open the door somehow. Susan wrapped an arm around her daughter's waist to pull her away just as Miley's hands wrapped around a heavy stone figurine on a shelf by the door.

"Miley, stop." Susan's voice shook, but her arms were steady in holding Miley back.

Miley pulled and twisted, clawing at her mother's arms to break free. Susan was almost glad the girl was sick and her strength reduced and she held on as tight as she could, not letting go until Miley started trembling in her arms. Susan maneuvered Miley onto the sofa and grabbed the blankets off the floor. Her eyes never left her daughter, but Miley did not move an inch, as if the fight had drained straight out of her. Susan covered her with the blankets, realizing how badly she was shaking herself.

She had never seen anything like this before. Miley had almost seemed possessed and her behavior had terrified Susan. She looked down at her now sleeping daughter and tried to hold back the sobs wanting to escape.

to be continued