RECAP (since it's been forever): Nick is back at work writing with other artists. Miley has been staying at home since the honeymoon. Miley and Nick had a fight about Miley possibly doing a music video with Jessie.

Miley's POV

I let out a sigh of happiness when I finally make it home after my meeting with my manager. It was productive, but nevertheless exhausting. Especially since I haven't really had to wake up early at all in the past few weeks.

"Babe, I'm home," I call softly. I feel bad that I didn't let Nick fix things last night and that I left this morning while he was in the shower. But he needs to realize that doing the music video is my decision, not his. Sure, I'm willing to listen to his opinions, but ultimately it's my choice.

And it's not like I want to do the video to be with Jesse. And it's not like I know he still has feelings for me. Maybe after I told him off and after I got married he realized it was just an unfulfilled crush from my Hannah days.

Besides it would be bad manners to do the song and not do the video. That will just lead to more questions about why I'm not doing it and would result in someone making up a stupid rumor. And if they happen to get it right then the media will try to play it up and make it seem like Nick and I are having problems and I just don't want to have to deal with that mess. Can't he see it's just easier for me to spend like two days doing this video?

"In the TV room," he calls back so I make my way to him. The first thing I see is the TV, which is playing Sports Center. The same one he was watching last night. Which I only know because I had to shut off the TV after he left it on. He also has a half-finished beer in his hand and his feet up on the table.

"Relaxing?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. He looks at me and takes his feet off the table. Much better. "Can we talk?"

He nods eagerly and turns off the television. He pats the spot next to him on the couch, but I opt for the other end so I can concentrate on what I want to say instead of the soft looking flannel that he's wearing.

"I don't like the way you treated me last night," I say without preamble, "As if I was some stupid girl making a bad choice. I thought about it, Nick, and refusing to do the video will only look more suspicious and lead to drama with other people involved too. I also don't like the way you tried to make me feel guilty or act like it was your choice. Just because we're married doesn't mean I can't make my own decisions. Maybe that's what you thought it meant, but it's not."

"No, Miley," he says with a pained expression, "That's not what I want. I like that you're strong enough to make your own decisions. I just want you to really think about what you're doing."

"I'm doing a music video."

He sighs, "yes, but how do you think Jesse's going to take it? He's going to think you're going back to him."

I groan in frustration. "But, Nick, I'm not. It doesn't matter what he thinks because that's not what's happening. Trust me."

"I do, but I don't trust him not to guilt you into some one on one time and then-"

I'd laugh at his little soap opera plot if he weren't so serious about it happening.

"I'm not going to let that happen. Before I didn't realize he was still harboring feelings for me, but now I do. It's not like him and I are going to spend alone time together. There's still the rest of the band plus the entire crew that's going to be on hand. You know how music video shoots are. They go fast. Jesse and I probably won't even have time for polite conversation. And if it makes you feel better, I'm only agreeing to do the video if there's no kind of implied romance for me. It's literally written into my contract."

"That does make me feel better," Nick admits, "And for the record, I know you would never do anything to hurt me with Jesse. I just... it's hard because you're so beautiful and have such a good heart. I know I can't be the only one who sees how amazing you are."

"It's okay to get jealous. I'm sure there will be times that I get jealous too," I assure him, "As long as we can talk about it and don't let it affect our professional lives."

I move over on the couch so that our thighs are touching.

"Now promise me you won't freak out at me again," I say kissing his neck softly.

"I won't," he murmurs sliding his hands to my waist.

"And promise me you'll let me make my own decisions," I continue, sucking gently on the spot I just kissed.

"I will."

I slide my tongue over the spot, "now tell me you love me."

"I love you," he groans, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me into his lap.

"I love you too," I reply before grabbing his face and crashing our lips together. I love the make up after a fight. It's like the slate is clean and the past is in the past and we can move forward into love.

"Mmm, Mi," he says, letting his hands run down my sides to cup my ass, "are you trying to seduce me?"

"What's a make up without make up sex?" I smirk, and press my lower half against his.

"So glad we're on the same page," he murmurs before yanking my shirt over my head. In the same minute, he has my bra off and tossed somewhere in the room. I follow his lead and tug his shirt off too.

"You're so hard," I whisper, dragging my hand down his chest until it's wrapped around him through his pants.

"Take them off."

I move off of him slightly to unbutton and unzipper his jeans and then pull them and his boxers off in one go.

"Yours too," he demands, tugging on the waistband of my own pants. Just to tease him, I unbutton them slowly and then pull down the zipper tooth by tooth.

"Fuck this," he growls and then flips us over so he's on top. I swear my bottoms are off before I can even hit the couch.

"C'mon, Nick," I urge him, spreading my legs slightly, "Give it to me."

That's just what he needs to hear before he's pressing into me. He goes in slow, but after the initial thrust, he's anything but.

"You're mine," he says in an intense, but somehow soft way. I reach for his hands which are on either side of my head and intertwine our fingers.

"And you're mine," I whisper back even though technically we're in our own secluded house and can be as loud as we want. Some moments are just meant to be kept quiet.

He nods and brings his lips close to my ear, "I'm yours."

"Miley, wake up."

"No," I murmur, reaching out to try and push away whoever is trying to pull me out of sleep, "I'm tired"

"We missed lunch, aren't you hungry?"

I'm about to protest, but just then my stomach betrays me and lets out a loud growl.

Nick bursts into laughter. Real, genuine, so-hard-it-hurts laughter. I open an eye so that I can see him. He's so cute when he's being carefree like this.

"We can have a late lunch/early dinner," he insists, "We can order from that sushi place you like…"

"Fine," I grumble. Even though I'm tired after our totally hot make up sex, I'm also hungry and wouldn't mind getting something to eat.

"Okay, I'll go order us the usual. You relax. I'll be right back."

Nick leaves the room and I sit up and stretch. As much as I appreciate naps, they can be a little disconcerting when you wake up in the middle of the day.

I rub my eyes and then head for the bathroom to clean myself up. After slipping on some comfy clothes, I open up my bedside table and take out my birth control pills. I usually try to take them in the morning with breakfast, but I was in a rush so I forgot this morning.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, I drop the little pill onto the floor.

"Nick!" I cry, bending over to pick it up, "You scared me. I forgot to take my birth control this morning so I'm taking it now."

I swallow the little pill with the bottle of water next to the bed.

"But we're married now. Why are you still taking it?" Nick asks me, looking confused. I shake my head. Boys can be so stupid sometimes.

"Newsflash: just because we're married doesn't mean I can't get pregnant. I'm sure you got this talk before. You should learn to pay better attention," I tease him.

"I know that," he says defensively, "I just thought now that we were married we would be trying to…"

"Have kids?" my mouth drops open in shock. I literally had no idea that Nick wanted to be trying to have kids already. "Are you serious?"

Now Nick looks offended. I know I should backtrack but I'm seriously so thrown off by him right now that I don't even know what to say.

"I thought you wanted to have kids!"

"I do… someday. But not now. Maybe in a few years, once we've settled down."

"How much more settled down could we be?" Nick asks me. I can tell he's getting frustrated just by looking at him. "We're married. We just built this big house with multiple bedrooms for children. What more do you want?"

I cross my arms, feeling annoyed with him. I thought we just discussed making decisions and how he wasn't supposed to push me into things.

"Do you even know what it would be like to have a baby Nick? Are you going to leave me here alone and pregnant while you're in the studio late at night? What if you want to tour? You just gonna leave me here with a newborn baby to take care of by myself?"

"You know I wouldn't do that. I could take time off. I could ask for fewer late hours. I could put off a new album for a few years. I'd do that for you and for our baby."

"But why should you, Nick?" I ask, exasperated, "I'm young. You're young. Women are able to have healthy babies later and later in life. Why should we give up our youth and freedom now when we have so much time together?"

"I've always wanted to be a young dad. The kind that could throw a ball around and still keep up with their kid. I don't want to be old and out of touch."

"I'm not saying we have to wait forever. I think at least definitely a year. You know that everyone has been telling us the first year of marriage is the hardest. I don't think a baby would make that any easier."

"I don't know," Nick says dubiously, "I've just always had this idea in my head that you get married and then start having kids. My parents did it and they turned out fine."

I smile at his old-fashioned thinking. It's kind of sweet, actually. Even though I don't agree with it.

"I know they did. But, it's my body and I want to wait a little, okay?"

"Okay," Nick agrees, but I can still tell he's a little disappointed. He's going to have to deal with it though.

"Besides," I say with a grin, "I was talking to my manager today about my future and I thinking about going back to work."

Nick's eyes light up.

"Really? I was just thinking today about how there's this new producer who I think you would—"

"Not in music, Nick."

"What? Are you going to try acting? I know a lot of singers try that but—"

"Nick!" I interrupt him again, "You know that my degree is in broadcast journalism. I was kind of hoping to put that to good use."

"You don't want to sing anymore?"

"You know I love writing and singing, but I love reporting too. There's a new segment they want to do on the morning news. It's supposed to be about connecting adults with teenage trends to help them understand their kids better. My manager knows I have a degree and she mentioned it to me. I want to do it, Nick. I have to at least try."

I look at Nick nervously, hoping that he'll approve. My singing career as Miley wasn't awful, but at the same time, it didn't feel quite right. I love writing and singing, but performing feels more like Hannah's job than mine. I can continue to make music on my own time even while I'm doing a new job.

Nick moves closer to me and wraps his arms around me. I relax into his touch and bring my arms around his neck.

"I just want you to be happy," he says, kissing my cheek, "And I want you to be able to do what you need to do to be happy."

"Thank you for understanding," I tell him. It's times like these when I realize how good of a team we really are. We're not boring. We have fights, we disagree, we don't always see eye-to-eye. But somehow we always manage to make it right or at least make it work out.

surprise~
I would have liked for it to be a little longer, but at the same time I wanted to end it with this moment. I know I haven't updated in forever and it's obvious that I've pretty much lost interest in this story completely, but I'm gonna really try and push to finish it while I'm on vacation this week.

I know I don't really deserve them, but a few reviews for motivation wouldn't hurt :) thank you!

... WOAH. I was about to upload this when I realized that it's been over two years since I posted the first chapter of this story. YIKES.