Billy Ray Cyrus
As Miley walked back into the house, she could see that there was still light in the tv room, which meant that her father was back from Nashville. As a former huge country star, he still spent a lot of time in this city which was known as the birthplace of country music, but also because his sister and his ex-wife were living there. She decided, contrary to her usual habits, to go in and talk to him before going to bed.
She found him half asleep and exhausted in his favorite armchair, but she knew that he wouldn't go to his room before he wasn't sure that she made it back home safely. It had become some sort of sad routine to him to stay up all night, worried and not knowing what his daughter was doing and which party she attended, or at what time and in what state she would come back home. More than once, he had to drag her up the stairs and lay her into her bed because she was too drunk to move, asking himself when things started to go so terribly wrong.
Billy Ray Cyrus became famous in the early 90's when he managed to publish a couple of country music hits, with his biggest success being Achy Breaky Heart. A couple of years after Miley was born and he realized how talented she was, he was pushing her into the showbusiness. He was forcing her career, and she became more successful than he could ever imagine. At the age of 18, Miley had already accomplished way more than Billy Ray did in his entire career. A lot of people kept criticizing him for this, but to his defense you have to say that he always only wanted the best for his little girl. Meanwhile, he started to doubt the choices he made for his daughter were the right ones, fearing that he ruined her childhood and maybe her whole life, and that it might have been better to just let her have a normal life. Since she was rebelling against her Hannah Montana image, she drove him crazy, and what hurt him the most was to see how his little girl was suffering day and night, and he had no idea how he could help her.
"Hey Dad, I'm home. You can give your old back a break and go to bed"
Billy Ray opened his eyes and looked surprised at his daughter:
"Oh, hey. I didn't expect you to be back this early. And definitely not dressed like that…where have you been?" he was asking. Billy Ray was a bit confused that his daughter came home shortly after midnight, completely sober and dressed like a normal teenage girl.
"I'm coming from a date" Miley said with a smile.
"And it's already over?"
"It is. We were cooking, took a walk on the beach, observed the sunset, had a glass of wine and did a lot of talking"
"You were cooking? And observing the sunset? Excuse me, but who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?"
Even though Billy Ray said this as a joke, it showed Miley how much she made her father suffer over the last years. She went to him, gave him a hug and a kiss and said:
"I'm really exhausted, I'm going to sleep. But I think that today, for the first time in a long while, I was able to be simply Miley, the little girl that you raised"
Deep in thoughts, Billy Ray watched his daughter go up the stairs. He had no clue what date she came from or who she even met with. But, for the first time in years, he felt a small glimpse of hope finding its way into his heart.