Every eye in the room had turned towards Jim.

"Problem?" Carey asked.

"Why is it a problem?" Hannah added. Then she gave Lola a quick glance. "I don't like problems."

Jim stood and moved towards Mikayla. "Let's talk in the other room for a second."

"Other room?" Hannah spoke again. "Why the other room?" She turned to Lola once more. "I don't like the other room."

Lola patted her friend's arm. "Relax. You're babbling."

Robbie Ray stood up and addressed Jim. "This is something you can't say in front of us?"

"I'm not trying to be rude," he answered. "But I need to speak with Mikayla first. If she wants to share the information, I'll tell you everything."

From what Robbie Ray could tell, Jim was trying to be honest with him. "Alright, go ahead."

Jim escorted Mikayla into the other room. Carey went with them while Mr. Moseby stayed with Hannah and company.

"I'm sure that whatever it is you'll all be able to work things out," the hotel manager said.

A short time later, Mikayla, Carey and Jim returned. The young singer looked troubled, Carey looked angry and Jim was trying not to look upset.

"This problem is big, isn't it?" Robbie Ray asked.

Mikayla looked to her manager. "Tell them," she said in a quiet voice.

Jim proceeded to explain about all the promotion that Mr. Tipton's company was putting behind Mikayla and her new album. A major part of the marketing would be to promote Mikayla as the 'true' positive role model for young fans. And Hannah's taped rant was going to be utilized to create a contrast between the two, painting Hannah as a villain.

"So if Mikayla publically makes peace with Hannah, the label is going to give her trouble," Jim concluded.

"Typical." Robbie Ray shook his head in disgust. In the past he'd had to deal with plenty of industry executives. He knew exactly the kind of trouble that Jim was talking about.

"Wait," Hannah said as she looked to Mikayla. "So even though I apologized, you're going to keep holding that tape over me?"

"Not me," Mikayla answered. "The record label."

"But you're going to go along with it?" The anger in Hannah's voice was clear.

"I don't want to," she replied. "But I signed a contract."

"So break it," Hannah snapped. "What's so bad? You get dropped by your label and then some other company picks you up. You're popular now. Lots of people must be looking to sign you...right?"

"I wish it were that simple," Jim said. He then explained how Mr. Tipton's company would most likely react to punish Mikayla. They wouldn't let her go since they knew she could find work elsewhere. Instead they could require her to keep working under the terms of her contract, but they could hold any recordings she did and never release them. There'd be no royalties for her but she'd still be forbidden from signing with any other record label.

As Jim finished his explanation, Carey cursed under her breath. Jim spared her a glance only to be met with an angry glare. He knew that Carey was outraged by this development, and unfortunately she was directing more than a little of her anger towards him. He wanted to explain that he'd had nothing to do with this promotion strategy and that he didn't agree with the company's policy at all…but now wasn't the time. His first priority was to protect Mikayla's interests.

"Do you really think they'd sit on her album?" Robbie Ray asked. "They wouldn't make any money doing that."

"I know," Jim answered. "But this is as much about image as money. The company wants Hannah to be shown in a bad light so that it looks like Mr. Tipton did the right thing by cancelling her clothing line."

The mention of that subject was the last straw for Hannah. "He didn't do the right thing!" she exploded. "This is so stupid!" She moved to face Jim and Mikayla. "I didn't do anything wrong except lose my temper for one moment, and now you want to destroy my life!"

"No I don't," Mikayla answered. "I swear."

"Look, I know this is hard on you," Jim said to Hannah. "But you can just wait it out. Once Mikayla's album is released, the Tipton people should be satisfied. We'll convince them to change their strategy and end the feud. We can arrange a press conference where you two make peace and say it was all a big misunderstanding."

"Wait until the album comes out?" A disbelieving Hannah turned toward her rival. "But you just got signed. You can't have started work on it yet. You expect me to wait this out for months?"

"No, it's not that long," Mikayla spoke up. "We're working on an insane deadline. It'll be released at the end of next month."

Hannah was surprised at this. That kind of schedule was very short for an entire album's worth of material to be produced. But it was still too long for her to endure having her reputation trashed in the media. And there was something else about that timetable that seemed strange to her. Her father figured it out before she did.

"The end of next month?" Robbie Ray asked. "What date exactly?"

When Jim answered the question, Hannah threw her hands in the air.

"Unbelievable!" she exclaimed as she stormed out of the room. Lola followed, trying to comfort her.

Mikayla and her companions looked to Robbie Ray with confused expressions.

"That's the same day that Hannah's new CD is being released," he said.

As Mikayla and her companions waited in an awkward silence, Robbie Ray was in the other room trying to calm down Hannah. Eventually he and Lola managed to coax Hannah back out and everyone tried to resume a reasonable discussion of the situation.

Those efforts failed spectacularly.

Mikayla understood Hannah's position. She even agreed with it for the most part. But she couldn't sabotage her own career just to save Hannah's reputation. It might not have been fair to ask Hannah to wait…but life wasn't always fair.

Hannah on the other hand was fed up. Her goal wasn't to destroy Mikayla's newfound success, but it wasn't right that she should have her entire image ruined for one simple mistake that had been blown out of proportion. The fact that their CDs would debut on the same day may have been a brilliant marketing move…but it would also ensure that the Mikayla/Hannah feud would get even more coverage than it already had. And every bit of coverage seemed to tear away more and more of Hannah's good name. A month's worth of that might do more damage than any public apology could repair.

The girls couldn't come to a middle ground. And before long, Hannah wasn't the only one that was angry.

"I told you I'm not trying to hurt you," Mikayla said loudly. "But I can't destroy my own career just to save yours!"

"Yeah, because you have to be the big star again," Hannah said with a sneer. "Couldn't be happy living a normal life when your fame started to fade."

The icy glare that Mikayla gave Hannah at that comment should have been a clear sign to change the subject. Unfortunately Hannah was too upset to heed the warning.

"You were on your way to being forgotten, but then you buddy up with London Tipton and get to buy yourself a second chance," Hannah said. "Must be nice."

"You have no idea what I went through!" Mikayla shouted. "You think your life is being ruined? My life was over! I had nothing! But yeah, I got a new start…and I'm not giving it up!"

The two teens began screaming at each other as everyone else tried to calm them. Their insults became more vicious as the volume of their voices increased. The noise might have continued for hours if not for a sudden unexpected reaction. For when Hannah let loose with an especially nasty verbal attack that was directed at both Mikayla and London…someone else in the room let out a yell so loud that it quieted everyone.

"MISS MONTANA!"

All eyes turned to the source of those words…Mr. Moseby.

There was dead silence as the hotel manager's expression turned from angry to calm. He took a moment to adjust the handkerchief in his suit pocket and then spoke in a measured voice.

"Miss Montana, I understand this is quite an upsetting situation for you. However there are certain facts you are not aware of. Your opinion of both Mikayla and London is based on false assumptions and I would suggest that you refrain from making any further disparaging remarks about them."

Hannah had no idea how to react to the man. He was being exceedingly proper yet cold, almost…threatening.

"No offense, Mr. Moseby," she replied, trying very hard to sound respectful. "But this really isn't any of you business."

Moseby continued to exhibit the same polite but frightening demeanor as he responded. "Perhaps you're right. But one thing that is my business is managing this hotel. And as the manager, I'm asking you and your party to leave. I suggest you start packing."

Hannah's eyes widened even as her father stepped forward.

"Now wait one second--" Robbie Ray began.

"I don't think anything will be resolved with your continued presence" Moseby said, cutting the man off. "Now that you've met with Mikayla and her manager I'm sure you'll be able to conduct any further discussions with them by phone or other means. In any case, I'm not going to tolerate another screaming match in this hotel."

"I should've known you'd take her side," Hannah said angrily. "You work for London's dad."

"Yes I do," he answered. "But I'm taking Mikayla's side because I know she and London are both fine young ladies." He gave her a pointed look. "Like I used to think you were."

With that, Mr. Moseby led Mikayla, Carey and Jim out of the suite.

Miley and Lily were dressed as themselves to avoid the attention that Hannah and Lola would have attracted. As a result, it was simple for them to exit the Tipton and cross the street to check into the Saint-Mark. After they'd secured a room for themselves, Miley looked to her father as they took the elevator up to their floor.

"Was I out of line?" she asked.

"You were," he answered while looking straight ahead, not meeting her eyes. "And I don't want to hear you use language like that again." Then he finally turned to her. "But you weren't the only one out of line."

She leaned against him, grateful for his understanding. "It's not fair."

"No, it's not," he agreed. "Not to you…and not to Mikayla either."

"So what are you going to do now?" Lily asked.

"Well, we could wait and make peace after the albums come out," Robbie said. "Or we could talk to the press and give our side of the story. Either way Mikayla's label is going to keep bad mouthing Hannah. It might be best if we just stayed quiet."

"I wish there were another way," Miley said.

"I do too," he said. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the business card he'd gotten from Jim Lafayette earlier, before the meeting had turned chaotic. If Robbie could figure out a way to smooth things over, at least it would be easy to get in contact with Mikayla and her manager.

It was the 'figuring out' part that was going to be trouble.

Mikayla was back in her own suite. Carey, Jim and Mr. Moseby were still with her. In addition, London, Zack and Cody had joined the group and had just been informed about the disastrous meeting with Hannah.

"I'm telling Daddy to give you a raise," London said as she looked to Moseby. "But you should have had security guards drag Hannah out into the street." She paused. "And then had her tarred and feathered!"

Zack put an arm around the heiress in an attempt to calm her. "Remind me never to make you mad."

"Seriously Mr. Moseby," Mikayla said. "Thanks for the support."

"I fear I may have overreacted just a bit," the man replied. "I hope I haven't made matters worse." He looked towards the young singer. "But rest assured that you can always count on my support."

"So there's no chance to make peace now?" Cody asked.

"Doesn't seem like it," Jim replied.

"Especially not when some people would rather have the girls at each other's throats," Carey spat out, shooting an evil look towards Jim.

"This was not my idea," he shot back in a voice that came out much angrier than he intended.

"Please," Mikayla pleaded. "No more yelling." She sighed. "I've had enough of that for one day."

"Right," Jim said. He walked over and sat down next to the girl. "I'm sorry things are getting so ugly. From now on I don't want you to think about Hannah or this feud. We're going to concentrate on getting your new album out. I know the schedule is tight…but you can do it."

"But will it be any good?" Mikayla asked. "We're going to be so rushed."

"Kid, after hearing you sing earlier, I don't think you could put out a bad record if you tried." He gave her a warm smile. "You're one of the best performers I've ever seen."

Mikayla appreciated the kind words, especially since they seemed so genuine. And she appreciated what her manager said next even more.

"Look it's been a rough morning," he said looking towards Carey and Mr. Moseby. "Why don't we let the younger generation relax while they can?" He checked his watch. "Mikayla does have to do some lounge shows later."

The three adults then left Mikayla's suite. Mr. Moseby headed towards the elevator, but Carey simply stood in the hall and asked Jim to stay and speak with her.

"You did a good job just now with Mikayla," she said somewhat hesitantly. "I might have been a little unfair with you."

"I didn't have anything to do with promoting this feud with Hannah," he replied. "That's the truth. Ms. Quigley may have picked me for this job…but I don't work for her or Mr. Tipton or anyone else in his company. I work for Mikayla…period."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you before," she said.

Jim was relieved at those words. "I…" he began but then trailed off. He grinned. "I don't know if I can accept your apology."

Carey raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I'm not in the proper apology-accepting mood," he answered. "But I think we could fix that."

Putting her hands on her hips, Carey gave him a suspicious look. "And how exactly would we do that?"

"It's a long complicated process," he replied. "We'll need to discuss it over a late lunch…and then again over dinner."

"Well, I'll give you credit for originality," she said. "I've never had someone ask me out for two dates at once."

"Hey, if it the first two work out, maybe later I'll ask you for three at once."

She shook her head and laughed. "We'll start with lunch. I'm not making any promises about dinner."

"You're a tough negotiator, Carey," he said. "I respect that."

And then the two went downstairs to seek out the proper venue for their lunch date.

To be continued...

author's note: Some have been concerned about the pace starting to drag. Personally, I could keep writing this thing for many more chapters because I love the characters so much...but I don't want to bore people. Rest assured that the end is coming soon. If I can't finish the story by chapter 30 (if not sooner) I will consider myself the greatest failure in the history of faildom. Let me know if you're still enjoying the story. (Or not.) Please review.