Chapter 22

Answers

They were in the surgery waiting room when Det. Fry found them.

"How is Frank?"

"He has a clasped lung, but he's going to be alright." Robbie answered.

"I take it that is his wife sitting over there with your group."

"Yeah. She's been though this before. She says that for Frank, this is a minor injury." Robbie said while shaking his head at the thought of what a major injury he might had have.

"How is Miley doing?"

"They have her sedated. They're going to keep her for 48 hour observation. Then they're going to let her go. So who was the stalker?"

"His name is Peter Freeman. He worked backstage at one of the concert halls. He was in the army and was a member of the special forces. Which one is classified. He was crossed trained in all areas like all special forces people are so he knew explosives. About two years ago, they kick him out of the service because of psychological problems."

"When did you guys figure it out?"

"When he made the first attempt to grab Miley. That was thanks to Frank when he got the description and the particle plate number. It was a good thing too. There was another discharged army solider we were looking at too. What threw as off for a bit was this one was trained in explosives. So like I said, Frank really got us on the right track."

"What's going to happen to Peter?"

"Well, if he ever comes out of the coma, he might stand trail. That all depends on what's left if he wakes up. As I understand it from the doctors, he already has severe brain damage."

"I just want to thank you Detective for all the work you guys did."

They shake hands and Det. Fry left. Now all he had to do is come up with a story to feed the press so he could put the Montana bombing case to bed.

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Miley woke up in the hospital. She looked over to her right and saw her dad asleep in a chair. She looked to the left and saw Frank laying in the other bed. He had bandages on his side where the knife had been. He was still asleep. As she laid there looking at Frank, a woman that she had never seen before came in and sat down by Frank.

"Oh, you're awake."

Miley just nodded. This must be Frank's wife. Miley started to cry.

"Oh honey, it's not your fault. Besides, he's had worse when he was in Iraq." She came over to Miley and wiped the tears away.

"Hi, my name's Debbie."

"hi"

"How are you feeling?"

"horrible. I'm such an idiot. If I hadn't ran away from Frank…" more tears ran down her cheeks. Debbie wiped them away.

"Now listen to me Miley, you will never have to worry about Peter Freeman again."

"Who?"

"Peter Freeman was the stalker's name."

"Was? You mean…"

"No honey, he's not die. But that blow to the head he took from that rock broke his skull. He suffered brain damage from it and is in a coma. They don't know if he well ever come out of it."

"Why? Why he do it?"

"Well, from what they found in his apartment, it looked like he as in love with you."

"Why? I never saw him before."

"Well, he actually worked at one of the venues that you performed at. You may have seen him and you may have talked to him. But I guess we'll never know now."

"Why are Frank and I in the seem room?"

"That was Frank's idea. He thought it would help you get better faster and he also said you two had some issues to work out yet."

Miley blushed very hard and turned away.

"It's okay Miley. Besides, you want to know a secret?"

"What?"

Debbie lean in close to Miley, looked both ways and whispered, "I think he's cute too."

This brought a smile to Miley's face.

"That's a beautiful smile you have there."

"He probably things I'm a love sick puppy dog." Miley said feeling sorry for herself.

"That is not what he thinks about you at all."

"It's not?"

"Miley, he has nothing but respect for you. You want to know why?"

Miley didn't feel safe to speak so she just nodded. Debbie took her hand into hers'.

"Because you could be out there in the world living the easy life of teen pop-star Hannah Montana but you don't. You chose to by Miley Stewart, ordinary teenage girl. You force people to like you as you not as Hannah Montana. That says something about your character. If our kids tried to be like Miley Stewart or Hannah Montana then they picked a very good role-model."

"I have one more question."

"Just one?"

"For now. Why didn't anyone tell me that Frank was guarding me?"

"That has to do with everyone not knowing you're Hannah Montana. You see, Hannah Montana may have had a stalker and need guarding, but why would Miley Stewart have a stalker or need a bodyguard. So everyone thought if Frank was a student, no one would be none the wiser."

"But why didn't they tell me?"

"Because you might have treat Frank differently if you knew. They wanted everyone to think he was a student." Debbie got her chair and moved it between Frank and Miley's beds and sat down and took Miley's hand again.

"Now you need to get some more rest. Go to sleep."

Miley squeezed her hand and closed her eyes.

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The first thing she noticed was that someone had said Hannah Montana. But it was not enough to wake her up fully. The next time she heard Hannah Montana, it did wake her up…

"To recap the news today, our lead story, Hannah Montana's stalker had been caught. His name is Peter Freeman. The police pursued him in a high speed chase that ended in a one car accident. When they got Peter to the hospital, he had slipped into a coma. Hospital officials have no idea when or if he will come out from his coma. In other head line news…" The tv was turned off.

"I see you're awake." Frank said, "your dad went to get something to eat. He should be back soon. How are you feeling Miley?"

She looked around the room. Debbie was not there. Frank answered her unspoken question.

"She went home to take care of the kids."

"I'm really sorry about……" She started crying again. She was doing that a lot lately.

Frank started to get up.

"You shouldn't be getting up." Miley protested.

"I've been hurt worse and it didn't stop me." Frank laughed.

As he sat up, Miley saw a fierce pattern of scares on his back.

"WHAT HAPPEN TO YOUR BACK?"

"Those scars? Just a souvenir from my tour in Iraq." Frank said dismissingly. He pushed his iv stand over to Miley's bed and sat down in the chair by her bed.

"Debbie said you two had a very nice conversation last night." He took her hand. Miley just nodded though her tears.

"She likes you." They sat there quietly for a little bit as Miley wiped at her tears.

"Crying is good for you right now."

"Why?" she snuffled.

"It lets you work out all the emotions your going through right now."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. If I had then maybe……"

"Maybe this would have happen later. You can't control everything Miley."

"Sorry, I tried to kiss you." She looked away as she blushed.

"Miley, Miley, look at me." He ordered gently. She turned back to him.

"Don't be embarrassed. You didn't know. But I also didn't want to hurt you either. Is everything okay between us now?"

"I guess." Miley said not really feeling it right now.

"Can we still be friends?"

"I like that."

"Me too."

"Frank, are you suppose to be out of bed like that?" Robbie asked as he came back into the room. "Hi bud." He kissed his daughter. She let go of Frank's hand and hugged her dad fiercely. When her dad let go of her, she had cried herself to sleep again.