A/N: Thanks you so much for all the reviews I got for the last chapter. I was a little upset about this story not getting best drama...but, when you think about it, it really isn't that dramatic so...thanks for nominating me anyway. IF YOU HAVE TWITTER...please follow me...it'll probably make the waiting less boring because, I upload little sneak peeks as I'm writing the chapter. My username is PiliRome...so, you can look for me or, just write the twitter address and follow it by '/PiliRome'.

CHAPTER 11

DARK NIGHT

"Lillian, make sure everything goes okay, fine?" Joe asked again as him and Lilly walked down the stairs, Taylor following them behind, sneering at their interaction of words. She knew that her pregnancy idea had taken a toll on their relationship, and she was extremely happy about it.

Lilly nodded. "Don't worry, Mr Freezer, you will only be gone a day, I doubt much can happen in that small amount of time."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Just be careful. Taylor is going to be visiting her mum but Nicholas will be here until I come back," he informed her.

"I know," she acknowledged as she proceeded to pick up the house phone and start dealing a number. "Should I Pedro to take both of you, or will you be needing two different cars?

"No, we won't," Taylor interfered. "Pedro will leave Joe in the train station on our way to the airport."

"Fantastic," Lilly spoke with an obviously fake smile.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

"I dare you too," a boy who must've been around 15 spoke to Zach.

Zach looked at Cody, who, in return, shook his head.

"Oh, come on...what is it...a little climbing and grabbing the ball," the boy spoke again.

"Stop it, Max," Cody begged. "It's illegal and you know it."

"That ball is worth a lot, it's signed by the whole Lakers team. We'll share the money," the boy answered.

"Then why don't you get it?" Zach asked, not knowing how he had reached this mess but knowing he'd never here the end of it unless he did what Max said.

"Because I dared you,"

Zach breathed in and, bending his legs, jumped on the wall.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

Lilly walked down the stairs and found Miley and Nick playing with Noah on the sofa. She thought back to that day a week or so back when she had understood wrongly that Nick was having feelings for Miley. At first, she had thought it was mental, just plain wrong, but now...looking at them together, she could almost feel all her fairies telling her that there was something special about the two of them, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, but something very special.

"There was a time you used to be like this with me," Miley told Nick with a smile as he placed Noah on his lap.

"Not really," Nick confessed.

Miley raised an eyebrow at him.

"Guys," started explaining Nick. "We're not like girls. We don't really appreciate the smile of a smaller kid until we're older...when you were this age, Joe and me were more into football and first girlfriends..."

"Oh...but that's not true..." Miley spoke with a smile.

Now it was Nick's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Can't you remember? When I was seven or eight, you were sixteen going on seventeen...Joe was always busy when mum and dad sent him to pick me up so he always sent you. You used to buy me chocolate in that small corner shop in the kissing pathway, and we used to sit down and share it, you'd tell me about school and so would I. And we'd laugh, we'd laugh a lot."

Nick smiled fondly at the memories. "True, and, after a few times, your parent gave up on asking Joe and just asked me instead. The twins would stay at the after-school football practice and we'd sit down at that bench next to the flower market and talk...man, isn't that very sad?"

Miley laughed and hit Nick playfully on the shoulder.

"Sad?" she asked in a faked hurt tone. "What better way to spend your evening than with wonderful me?"

"You know what I mean," Nick spoke. Moving his knees up and down so that Noah was bouncing as she yelled phrases like 'go, horsy!' "What would you rather? Stay home with Noah? Or go out with your friends?"

"You see, Nick," Miley stated. "The difference is that you and me were friends."

Nick laughed that kind of laugh that comes out when a kid says something naive. Noah saw Lilly and ran up the stairs to greet her,

"Hey, don't give me that," Miley said. "We both know you adored me. I was an adorable kid."

Nick laughed again. "Yeah," he confessed. "What happened to you?"

Miley let out a squeal and started hitting Nick playfully. Nick reacted and, with a laugh, held both her hands on his chest, stopping the punching.

As she looked up at her hands on his chest, the air suddenly became heavy and they could both feel their hearts beating, him from her wrist and her from his chest.

"Hey guys," Lilly suddenly interrupted the moment, making her presence known and making them both jump back.

She barely has time to say another thing before Cody came in, running through the door. He was out of breath and was looking scared.

"Zach...he's in the police office..." he simply said before sitting down on the first chair he saw, regaining his breath.

"What?" Lilly exclaimed, feeling a knot in her stomach. "What happened? Is he alright? What did he do? Oh gods...will he..."

"Lilly," Nick spoke clearly. "Calm down." He then turned to Cody. "Tell me what happened."

"Max Burrows," he stated. "It was a dare...he was caught trespassing the Lardner's house."

"Oh, god!" Miley exclaimed. "Even I'm not stupid enough to do that."

"He wasn't going to do it," Cody told them sincerely. "He started climbing the wall, but he realized it was stupid; He tried to get back down but lost his balance and the bottom of his trousers was caught by the big fence, Max run away and he pulled on the fence but MR. Lardner saw him and called the police, bloody git..."

"Cody!" Lilly reproached.

"The local police office?" Nick asked, grabbing his keys.

Cody nodded.

"I'm going with you!" Lilly exclaimed.

"No," Nick stated firmly. "Noah will get anxious...and Cody needs you."

"You shouldn't go alone," Lilly warned.

"I'll go," Miley volunteered quickly.

"No," Nick tried.

"Yes," she spoke, grabbing a jacket and walking to the door. "Come on."

Nick didn't want to waste another second arguing so he left quickly behind Miley.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

"Please, this is pathetic," Nick spoke looking at Miley's sleeping form over a pair of chairs. "We've been here for hours, the law says that any 14-year-old or younger has no right to stay in a police office for more than 6 hours. He didn't steal anything and he was just messing around, I'll pay the fine and we can all go home.

"Yes, this is pathetic," the officer spoke. "I have told you that I cannot let him go until his official tutor has signed...Just call the man..."

"He's on the other side of the coast! Anyway, he does not need to know this...I am telling you that your information is wrong, he can come home with me," he insisted.

The officer rolled his eyes. "Look, the sheriff isn't here and I'm not doing anything unless he orders it."

"And where is the sheriff?"

"He'll be here in an hour," the officer informed him.

"You're going to be sorry about this," Nick warned him, heading towards Miley.

He knew he should wake her up but he couldn't help but stare at her. Her hair was partly falling on her face, make her light blue eyes stand out against the dark brown hair, she wasn't wearing anything nice in particular, just a pair of sweatpants and a top, over her was his big black jacket, which just made him all the more confused as he looked at her and realized that he loved that it was his jacket she was wearing.

He shook his head, put a pair of fingers over the bridge of his nose and tried to concentrate. He patted Miley's back softly and she awoke.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim light and, as she remembered where she was, she stood up quickly.

Sensing that she was going to be regretting sitting up so quickly, Nick put a hand to her back and helped her up.

"Where's Zack?" she asked in a sleepy tone.

"They won't let him out, told me to come back in an hour. But you, miss, need to get to your bed as soon as possible," he told her as he leaded her to the door

Miley tried to protest. "No, but..." However, soon enough she realized she was too tired to do so, so she simply let herself be taken out and into the car.

---How?Did?I?Fall?In?Love?With?You?---

"OH god, it's cold out there," Nick mentioned as they both walked into the house. "Shall I turn on the light?" He asked her in a whisper. It was already one in the morning and everyone was obviously asleep.

"No, don't bother, I can see with the moonlight," she told him. She looked at him and had to smile, the moonlight came in through the open door and reflected on his face in a way that was truly marvellous; he looked some kind of perfect Greek god.

"Well," he suddenly said. "I need to get going, the longer your brother's in there, the more chance there is of Joe finding out and, that is definitely not what we want."

"No, I guess but..." Miley started. "Wait! Your coat!"

She started pulling the coat of herself and Nick helped her out.

"True, my coat, about to steal it where you?" Nick tried to joke, but Miley barely smiled as he took the coat of and she took both his hands in hers quietly and gently.

"Nick," she suddenly spoke in a tone that made the whole atmosphere change once again. It made the air heavy around them, just like before. "Thanks."

Nick sensed the change of atmosphere but couldn't bring himself to take his hands away. "Why?" he asked in a slightly broken voice.

Miley caressed his hand a little, subs consciously, without realizing how nervous she was making him. "Thanks...because you're so good with all of us...with me...and it really does me a lot of good."

Nick, not being able to stand her caressing anymore, let go of her hand and started speaking carelessly and quickly. "Yeah....your welcome...good...I have to go..."

"Wait..." she said.

Nick hesitantly held back.

Miley didn't really know if it was that she was feeling sleepy or if she was still dreaming but, right now she felt she could do anything and that made her feel like destiny was telling her that this was the moment she had been looking for. She felt the courage rise up through her veins.

"There's something I need to tell you, Nick," she spoke with confidence but with certain shyness too. "And it's important...a lot more important than simply saying thank you."

She saw him suddenly look worried. "Don't be scared..." she said, sensing he thought that a dark confession was coming up.

"What do you mean? How can I not be scared? We're here and you won't let me go because there's something incredibly important that you just need to tell me. What have you done, Miley?" Nick blabbered on.

"No...I haven't done anything...Well, I...," she walked closer to him and he finally realized what she was doing. He put his hands up, trying to stop her from coming nearer. "You're just...so good, and you're smart and...Just nice," she continued, going closer to him, making him step back and move his arms in front of her nervously.

"Miley," he said, knowing that they were reaching a point of no return. "Stop playing, stop messing around, I'm begging you."

Miley shook her head and gulped. They were both trembling now, and it wasn't from the cold. "I'm not playing, I...I, think I...there's something going on with you...with me." She touched his hand with her own, and for a second they both stood there, seemingly understanding what was happening. However, as soon as the moment came, it went away.

"I have to go," Nick said quickly, turning around.

"Nick, stop it!" Miley told him. "Come on, I just...I just confessed that there's something I'm feeling towards you and you just run away again."

Nick touch the bridge of his nose again and closed his eyes, opening them a second later to find Miley still looking at him expectantly.

"Miles, you're...you're confused. You just broke up with Jake...you're confused," he mumbled, not really knowing who he was trying to confused.

"Nicky, I'm not talking to you about Jake, I'm not...I'm talking about you, caring about you, not him, us. You and me. I just, you could talk to me...say something." She begged him.

That was when Nick got angry, but not at her, at him, and life, at everything. "What do you want me to say, Miley, It's craziness! Pure craziness! I don't want...to hurt you so, look...why don't you go upstairs, calm down, think things over...and you'll realize this isn't what you think it is."

Miley bit her lips and then got angry too. "Oh, I see, just tell me to go to sleep and wake up forgetting it all."

Nick wanted to protest but Miley didn't let him.

"Of course, it's always easier to ignore something than to come to terms with it, isn't it?" Miley spat angrily at him.

"Wait a second, Mile..." Nick tried, but got interrupted again.

"No, you wait; this thing, whatever it is that is happening in between us, it's not going to fly away...it's not going to disappear...it's here and it's now, so dealing with it might be the best thing to do."

"Miley," Nick spoke. "You...I...I see you like a...a ...a little sister. Yes, a little sister."

Miley couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips as she shook her head. "Sure, say that, believe that if you must...but...I...don't believe for one second."

Nick suddenly looked lost for words so Miley gulped and blinked a couple of times.

She went on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek roughly, showing her anger but also showing him that she was not going to let his rejection ruin her in any way. "Goodnight, I'm going to bed."

And with that she turned around and left, to walk up the stairs, and he looked at her leave, a palm touching his cheek and his head spinning, searching for answers and knowing that the one with all of them had been willing to give them to him a few minutes ago. With those thought in his head, he dissapeard into the starless, dark night.

A/N: Please guys do look for me on twitter (PiliRome), I really upload loads of quotes and also let you know when the episode will be posted. Hope you liked this...and once again, thank you for all the reviews I've been getting, they are great! And, please, REVIEW SOME MORE!! It really makes me :D