Author's Note: Story Characters:As promised I'm bringing in characters from High School Musical into this. If this sounds distasteful, please don't leave or skip these chapters. I highly recommend that you just pretend that they are other characters in your mind. These chapters are important to the progression of both Theo and Miley.
One more thing, please forgive if this chapter seems a bit long. Please don't be discouraged.
FBI National Academy
Behavioral Science Graduate Course Lecture Continued
Part 5
" The captor slowly seems less threatening – more an instrument for survival and protection than one of harm. The prisoner undergoes what some call an act of self delusion: In order to survive psychologically as well as physically – to lessen the unimaginable stress of the situation – the prisoner comes to truly believe that the captor is her friend, that he will not kill her, that in fact they can help each other "get out of this mess." The people on the outside trying to rescue her seem less like her allies. They are going to hurt this person who is protecting her from harm. The fact that this person is also the source of that potential harm gets buried in the process of self-delusion."
The Brass Rail 'Gentleman's Club'
Houston, Texas
Day 3 of 7 of the Ransom Time Limit
7:20 p.m. (Local Time)
There was a good reason why Theo didn't want bring Miley here. The men coming here were of the widest variety when it came to day jobs. Bikers, pimps, and low lives rubbed shoulders with titans of industry and oil tycoons. All had put aside there differences for one common belief.
Theo's POV:
Unfortunately it was the belief in an inalienable right to objectify women that had united all these characters.
Not exactly the most altruistic of ideals.
After that plane ride I was happy that Miley wasn't in the mood for conversation, because frankly, neither was I.
What I didn't tell her was now causing me some regret. Or was it.
What I didn't tell her was that the family had offered me more men who could take my place for a short period of time. I was offered some time away from Miley.
Yet I was the most vocal opponent to the idea. I argued it was for the best that Miley stay with me. After all I had brought her this far, she trusted me, and I felt that only I could help her.
Yet even with the offer of several armed men to take my place, I refused.
Said some B.S. about making it easier, victim psyche, and not causing Dad too much trouble.
I'm I thinking straight?
Oh hell, I got better things to worry about.
I look at Miley.
To protect myself and further reflect attention away from us, I came up with a pretty clever idea. We, as in the family, pretended that Miley was legally blind. We gave her a real 'white cane' plus almost opaque visor glasses, keeping Miley in the dark. Not 'blind' but like it's the dead of night for her. I also got falsified doctors certificates in case anyone asked. This was also perfect because it would explain why I always had to be for her.
I wish we didn't have to lie all the time. In fact, I kinda wish I could give a different story of why I was always at Miley's side.
It's probably because it's just been so long since I was with a woman…
Theo pulls up to the back and leads Miley to the back of the club. She grips him because he's her rock. And Theo grips her because she needs him. Or more truthfully, he needed her. By now it's no longer because Theo couldn't explain it, it was because he really he was in denial about how he felt for Miley.
"Am I in denial over how I feel?..." I asked myself.
"Denial, much more than a river in Egypt," I thought as I enter the club.
20 minutes later and three outfits later.
Miley and Theo are both in the strippers' dressing room. Theo promised Miley new clothes and he kept that promise. Yet the venue determined the kind of clothes Miley would wear. And Theo was beginning to regret the decision to come here. He knew he had no choice as safe houses didn't offer anything, and he couldn't just take Miley to Walmart.
Miley's POV
I was having a ball trying on new clothes. It's been literally days since I got to change out of my evening dress from L.A. I was so grateful to Teddy, and these clothes were surprisingly stylish and comfortable.
Yet, almost too comfortable. Why? Too comfortable.
And they just reveal too much. And all these clothes are like that.
It then hits me. This is a strip club right?
These are all stripper clothes!
And no wonder. I had already chosen three outfits: A stylish black French maid's uniform, a nurse's dress, and a nightgown.
All really skimpy.
Why didn't I see it before? Guess I was just happy to have new clothes, especially since I was able to stock up on, brand new, unopened, and unused bras and panties. And I mean the ones normal women wear every day for comfort.
Oh how good thatfeels (the fresh underwear).
As I go out to model to Teddy, I strike a pose to Teddy just like I did before for the last three outfits.
I'm wearing a Catholic school girl's uniform. The shirt only had two buttons, so I couldn't help it that my breasts were exposed and bulging out. The kilt was more like a thick belt, with my butt constantly sticking right back out from under, after I try to adjust my kilt to hide it.
How could I be so blind?
I come out and ask for the fourth time, "How do I look?"
And again, Teddy responds, "You look great" or "if you want it take it" or "you don't have to ask me."
But it's only now that I notice that I'm the source of Teddy's discomfort. His right hand resting on his temple, trying to bear me baring all (well almost all), and his Oriental eyes confused over whether to do, more strained than ever, but this time out of stress and nervousness. All of which he tries to hide, despite the fact that I caught it.
Embarrassed, I give a crooked smile along with my blushing eyes before I run back in.
I hope Teddy wasn't affected to bad. Oh well…
He's a disciplined soldier and I can't be the first girl he's seen. I'm sure he isn't affected.
So I guess there isn't anything to sorry about…right?
Theo's POV:
What the hell is this girl thinking?
This place was about boners. Or in my case, trying not to get one. Or at the very least not one that showed.
How could Miley be so damn oblivious to what she was doing to me. It was losing struggle to keep myself from showing her mine.
And it didn't help that her shy yet sneaky nature of her oblivion was only a greater turn on for any hetero guy. Especially me, since I now know her so well.
I may be a serious. I may be disciplined. But I'm still a man with needs.
Being a Marine probably worked against me in that arena.
"Oh bother," I accidentally said out loud.
I shut my mouth trying to stop the slip, but it was too late. Even worse, Miley had come out of the dressing room just in time, finished choosing all her outfits while still wearing the school uniform. She came out just in time to hear it…
"Awww, you sounded exactly like 'Winnie the Pooh' when you said that," Miley squealed with a seemingly out of character infectious giggle.
I let out a visible cringe, the type you give when dying from embarrassment, which Miley seemed to only find even more adorable.
Okay this has to end now.
"You done?" I say rather coldly.
"Yeah," Miley replied settling down to a warm smile.
Theo sighs.
"Okay, were going to the loft. Just follow my lead, wear the blind gear, and focus on getting there. Ignore all the animals and their noises."
Miley thought this was clever and cute, and felt safe because Theo was, again, looking out for her.
"Hey Ted, it's Tony. You have the keys to lover's loft in the plastic baggie…." a voice cried out from afar.
"Lover's loft," Miley asked me with an air of curiosity.
"Just a name," I assured her.
Amazingly, I had a lot more trouble convincing myself that.
As they walk out to the main room, they are greeted by loud music whose offensiveness is only surpassed by the offensiveness of the 'animals' Theo was so kind to point out. As if immaturity was surreptitiously mixed in with the cheap, yet overpriced booze, every man in that room was indeed sounding like animals and acting like 13 year old boys.
Miley's POV:
Don't make eye contact, just follow Teddy, stay in the role of a blind girl…
You performed all the time. You know how to work it, girl. You had so many outfits.
Yet I have to stop because this kilt's riding up, again.
So I stop in the middle of the room to adjust it.
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, an arm comes from behind me and wraps around my exposed waist like a snake. Before I know it, I'm pulled onto the lap of a strange, drunk, yet somehow good looking man…
"Teddy!" I yelp.
"HEY!" Teddy barked.
I soon see the man who's holding me. He's a good looking yet because he's so drunk and rude, I can't help but judge as slimy.
(A/N: Guest appearance: Zac Efron as Troy Bolton)
"Hey baby, where you going"
"Whaddaya think you're doing!" challeges Teddy.
All I see is the man and Teddy confronting each other.
"What's it look like, Jackie Chan? I'm gettin myself a jiggle from this little schoolgirl offering me her 'apple'"
Theo gets really angry at this. Yet, the first rule of kidnapping is to stay quiet, so drawing attention to himself was the last thing Theo wanted.
"Can't you see she's blind, pretty boy, she's just passin through."
This only aggravates the situation. The man speaks up…
"Now you listen to me, I gotta woman at home who's blind and she can still suck a golf ball out of a garden hose, and does it because I tell her to. I'm the law around here. So what I say, goes, and I say she's on the clock." Troy boasted.
A closer look lets me see the man more clearly. He's good looking, but in a babyish kinda way. But because of the amateurish way he styled his hair on both his head and face (like he's trying too hard), he doesn't look as mature as he does slimy. Plus the strong stench of booze's really starting to get to me. Yet, I'm not that scared anymore, just really disgusted.
The 'Teddy' effect? Direct or because of my own maturity?
The fact that the man is now beginning to feel up Miley was only getting Theo angrier.
"You're the law? Figures…" Teddy challenges.
"What the f—k that supposed to mean, Grunge s—t"
Theo gets up and snaps, posing the ultimate challenge…
"It means be advised,That I'm mean, nasty, and tired. I eat razor wire in the morning and I piss Bomb fluid at night. And I can put a round through a flea's a- at 200 metres. So why don't you just find some other piece of ass to hump on, before I push your's in…This' my girl"
Good everthing's gonna be ok.
"Not gonna be so smart when you're balls are hanging from your mouth, Jar head," Troy replied correctly assuming Theo was a Marine.
Despite the blaring music all is quiet around them. Much like the calm before the clock strikes twelve to mark the start of a Wild West style draw, all the men around them look towards the two, regardless of the varying level of sobriety of each.
"Miley, you better sit aside…"
Miley takes a seat.
"I think war's just been declared…"
The man swings at Theo, but Theo ducks his head back and Troy misses completely.
Theo delivers an underhanded right punch to the man's gut, knocking the temporarily wind out of him. This sends the man back a metre. He then gives rapid fire…
Left upper cut
Left upper cut
Left hook.
And with that last left hook, the man went stumbling down. He couldn't even get in a breath.
It amazed everyone, but especially Miley, that Theo was able to do that with his left hand, since Theo was right handed.
"Why don't you just sit there and bleed a while, before you taste some real pain"
I look around to see the men gather in amazement.
At first a few guys were crowding too close to me for comfort to watch the man go down. But then I felt them back off in fright as Teddy gave them a cold challenging stare.
I was Teddy's girl, and he made that known.
And with that Theo picks Miley up and rushes to the exit where the entrance to the loft is hidden. But before going too far, the man stumbled his way back up and took out a switch blade. Theo instantly turned back to watch it waving back at him…
"How bout first I carve me some ph-ggot wings…"
Theo, again having no choice, turned back. Still not completely sober, the man swung the broken beer bottle at Theo with a right hook.
But Theo blocked the striking arm early and without any contact with the knife.
Struck the man with a back hand punch to the face
Hit him in the gut.
Then disarmed the man in one hit to the arm that was holding the knife.
And threw the man to the ground.
By now the man was down and out.
"C'mon Miles"
By now Miley had steeled herself to what Theo had done for her. She also was surprised when Teddy had called her by a nickname that only her Dad and brother called her. This had a deep impact on what she would believe with regards to the kind of man Theo was.
Now it would be impossible for her to see Teddy the same way she did before. What that meant neither of them knew or realized.
Miley's POV
As Theo leads me up, I think about what just happened.
But I can't help but forget how Teddy looked when defending my honour. You can smell the machismo coming out of Teddy. And it wasn't like the others, it wasn't drenched in cheap strippers perfume or glitter. And he just kept walking…
"Sorry you had to be around these pathetic jokes."
I'm so surprised at what Teddy says, that I look back at the other man. He's beginning to vomit, as another guy, who rushed in after the fight help's him up. While doing so, he looks straight at me and focuses on me.
(A/N: Guest appearance: Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans)
The other men chuckle, further shaming the man.
Why this doesn't scare me anymore, I don't know. I respond defiantly by squeezing Teddy's hand and lifting it higher so that the man's friend sees it clearly.
Yet this isn't what truly surprises me. What surprises me the most is that I wasn't repulsed by Teddy at all. I actually welcomed everything he just did.
And he did it for me.
Miley walks up with Teddy.
The Brass Rail 'Gentleman's Club'
Lover's Loft
That night: 10:40 p.m. (Local Time)
Miley's POV
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
I look up at the ceiling while in bed. Tired of watching television, I just stare in bed. It was actually the only bed in the loft. A pull out couch to be exact. So obviously Teddy absolutely insisted that I have it. To him, violating the sanctity of sleeping arrangements politeness was just unacceptable to him, despite my offers to share the bed with him.
Oh dear, share the bed with him? The way he blushed after I offered that would be ingrained in my mind forever (laughs out loud). Yet, he doesn't seem to care that I know it all. And now that I think of it, that was pretty inappropriate.
I look to my side to see Teddy sleeping, leaning his head on a coffee table covered with a couch cushion.
Miley looks back up at the ceiling.
I don't believe it anymore. Teddy's just amazing. Sensitive and caring, yet fiercely protective of me. Me of all people! He doesn't care about what might or will happen to himself. He never did. Even now, after all he's been through, he would rather sleep on the floor than risk any 'indiscretions' (he said it, not me, which only made me laugh more when he did say it). All this time, trying to keep his distance, to keep things okay with us.
But I can't stop thinking about him. I'm exhausted to the point of just screaming out in frustration, yet my mind won't let me sleep without thinking about Teddy…and how's he's not like Jake.
20 minutes later Miley is suddenly someone gently shakes Miley awake.
"Wha…" I begin.
"It's okay, it's me," Teddy whispered.
"Teddy, is everything okay?" I ask really worried.
"Everything's fine, I brought you some warm milk, I mean I notice how you kept turning, like you can't sleep and all"
I'm in awe. How considerate Teddy was. Especially since I can see how tired he is.
I take it and drink up. It really does help…
Before he leaves…I just have to ask him…
"Teddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Teddy, everything you…I mean we do…it's just so violent. I mean…"
Teddy looks at me with understanding.
"…was all that really necessary?"
Teddy just looks at me, but looks away to contemplate. I know he thinks enough of me to give me a straight answer… but instead he gives me true wisdom well beyond anything I've heard before. Wisdom coming from his heart, collected by all his experience.
"Miley, there are people in this world. People of all shapes and stripes, where traditional methods, democratic methods…do not work. And that's when you have to use things like violence. It's the only solution. Fighting violence with violence, is a sad story…and that's reality.
I smile at my new found understanding, and before I turn back to sleep, before Teddy can pull away…
I without thinking give him a small kiss in gratitude On the small side of his lips.
I drift off into sleep.
Theo's POV:
That small kiss was by no means small to me…
The shock to my whole being…was enough to make my heart skip a beat.
I gasp and put a stop to the irregular breathing pattern that her kiss did cause.
So much conflicting emotion went through me.
I stare out into space to reconfigure the mess that Miley just put my brain through.
This takes a whole hour.
Day 4 of 7 of the Ransom Time Limit
1:20 p.m.
Theo's POV:
If I was Miley's therapist, I would tell her that she's almost done healing. That is if I wasn't so tired from moving furniture.
You see the fact that my contact only agreed to let me have this place if we put in the time and labour to redecorate this place, was a mixed blessing. Not being too interested in decorating, I let Miley do it. And boy did she do it.
I have the aches and pains to prove it.
Yet a look at how Miley changed had captivated me. I had taken a scared and confused girl, and through somehow throughout our whole ordeal had brought her back.
This was a new Miley. While still depending on me, she was beginning to show things like spunk and sass. Now this had to be the real Miley. And because of such, I couldn't dream of breaking her down now.
Yet, now I struggle to keep Miley under control. Not because I was becoming like Ryan, but because I still had to remain in control for this whole thing to work.
Yet I can tell that she loved being in control of something. After what Ryan and I did, I realized that the control over her life which she had surrendered, first to Ryan then to myself, had been given back to her.
And she never did look more vibrant. More alive. More beautiful than now.
Miley Stewart, that spunky, white, cowgirl from Nashville, the birthplace of country. I could imagine it. Hell I see it now.
Yet as quickly as I finish this thought, I am saddened by what my duty bound brain is telling me.
I had been warned since before this ordeal started that getting too close would spell the end of me.
I fall into the deep sadness that is reality.
Miley doesn't know that I'm holding her for ransom. She still thinks her dad hired me and I'm just holding her until payment. There is a world of difference in two ways. First, how Miley will look at me, will be absolutely heart-breaking to me if she finds out the truth. I still don't know if I can bear what'll happen when she does find out the truth from her father when this' over. And yet an even more horrifying way the second way a ransom differs in a kidnap job, was that what would happen if her father didn't pay.
Theo couldn't even bear to even entertain that reality…He'd have to end Miley. He just denied, denied, denied.
As much as this would destroy me inside…I have to make Miley understand. We've already gotten to close for comfort. I have to keep the line of captor/captive clear.
From this point on, Theo's struggle was no longer about keeping Miley 'in line'. It was to keep himself from crossing another, yet more important 'line'.
Later in the afternoon
Miley's POV:
I don't understand?
I've been spending the last 25 minutes listening to Teddy telling me about the dangers of him and I getting closer. Everything he says makes perfect sense and he says it in the most appropriate way, honest yet sincere.
But still I can't help but start to quietly sob while he's telling me this.
Sure it makes perfect sense. But tell that to my lonely heart. All it wants me to do is to get to know this man better. This man with who has done so much for me, yet I don't even know where he's from.
Yet, I know he's right. And you couldn't imagine how appreciative I was about the way Teddy was so sensitive about it.
It really did help. Yet I refuse to believe it, Teddy needs me and only time will tell…
A couple of hours later
I was right all along.
After I finish eating in the kitchen, I walk into the main room to see a very 'masculine' sight that only a girlfriend could find funny and something wrong with at the same time.
I see Teddy relaxing in front of the television digging into an open can of Beef-a-roni.
Miley walks up. Glancing at the clock she asked…
"Oh Teddy, please don't tell me that's your dinner."
Teddy looks up
"and a Snicker's bar for dessert," Teddy replied smugly, obviously amused.
I can't help but glare at him yet it takes my all not to chuckle with him.
"At least take it into the kitchen like civilized people," I ask with the unmistakable air of a housewife or a house-girlfriend.
Theo looks up…
"But Miley, the fight…"
I look at the screen.
Oh yeah, a man's man alright.
Ultimate Fighting Championship on the TV…
"Teeddddy" I whined, "please"
Teddy looks at me and sighs. He gets up and grudgingly follows me into the kitchen.
He could've just said no. After all what could I have done to him.
Now I know I was right all along. He needs a girl.
But this was wrong. This is wrong. I'm his captive, not his girl…
Yet I just can't help it (very whiny voice).
Now I know what's with me. Teddy needs me to take care of him and his needs.
The maternal instinct…so hard for women to resist. And with how far I've come with Teddy, it was just damn near impossible with him.
Nearly a full half hour has passed by as Miley and Theo talk. Miley tells Theo about her life in Malibu, before Jake. Theo was entertained by Miley's rendition of the house in Malibu. About the skater girl Lily Truscott, and the cocky Oliver 'Smokin' Oken.
And the further they talked, the more Miley was warming up to Teddy. A man who took the time to listen to her. That was truly something she had gone too long without.
And this was all over a meal that Theo openly admitted to Miley that was so much better than his can of beef-a-roni. As the remains of the pasta dish that Miley made sit there, Theo could swear that he could hear Miley's voice begin to penetrate the depths of his soul. A friendly, caring voice that he hadn't had since mom.
Oh, how he did miss her (his mom).
And deeper both went into friendship with each other, only enhanced by times that Theo would refill Miley's glass of water after every few of her sips, as well as the one time Miley brushed some tomato sauce off of Theo's check with a licked finger.
Small things meant so much now more than ever.
They were both happy they had each other to talk to.
But the conversation gets more and more serious as the night wears on…
Theo's POV:
"So wasn't there someone before Ryan?"
Miley didn't cringe as much now as when she did earlier in the conversation when Jake Ryan was mentioned
"We'll I remember, there was this one cute guy who I wanted to go out with"
"And…" continued, not knowing why I pushed on with a subject uncomfortable to me, oddly enough.
Theo was unfamiliar with the infant stages of jealousy and thus didn't stop it.
"But he didn't like me" continued Miley.
"Didn't like you?"
"We'll he liked me, but not the other side of me…"
Miley froze at almost revealing her double life. Luckily for her Theo didn't notice.
"Other side of you?"
"You know, who I was, who I liked. Let's just say I'm a huge Hannah Montana fan," Miley cleverly said.
O-kay. I guess she really was a Hannah fan. We'll that figured, with her dad and all.
"And there was this really cute guy…Lily brought him when she was dating some guy who'd turn out to be a two timer"
"And what was wrong with him?"
"He was a scare-dy cat. Jumped into my lap over a 'scary' movie" Miley finished with a tone of contempt for the guy.
As much as I tried to subdue it. I felt intense against these two guys who I never met nor ever will meet.
Jealousy.
It was a particular type of first stage jealousy that caused Theo to feel this way. No matter how much he tried to deny it.
Three glasses of water later…
It was Teddy's turn to talk…
Since most of his life was full of unpleasant things, he stuck to the stories of him and Tom back when they were teenagers, before the life of crime, and their weekends off from school. Despite being a girl, Miley was laughing with Theo and at Tom for the kind of stuff they'd pull…
Guys will be guys, there's no use trying. Yet, that's what I like about guys and especially Teddy. He's a normal guy.
"…that was nothing, compared to our most daring and stupid thing yet"
"Which was?" Miley asked with anticipation.
"Panty Raid"
"That's it? Another panty raid?" Miley asked with a little disappointment.
"No, a celebrity panty raid."
Now Miley was interested.
"Yeah, back in 2007 in a performance at the Staples Center. My brother even hacked into the mainframe to get the blueprints. Man was that a weekend to remember."
"Which celebrity?"
"Hannah Montana," I casually replied.
Miley chokes on her water with shock. Luckily Theo misinterprets it…
"I know, I know, you're a big fan. And your dad managers her and all. And I'm sorry if you're offended."
Miley's POV:
Oh, Teddy, if you only knew the half of it.
I can't help but glare at Teddy.
He thinks I'm just a sensitive fan.
Oh, nowI absolutely positively have to know…
"What happened?"
"Well we got past most…but Tom tripped and suddenly out of nowhere this big and very loud guard woman comes and gives my brother the biggest tackle I've ever seen. You could hear the contact through the whole hall"
"Roxy," I remembered with a smile, bigger because Teddy's brother got pinched.
I have to know…
"So what happened to you Teddy?" I asked very curious.
"Oh I got in her dressing room all right. But she was out onstage greeting the fans,"
"But…" I continued.
"Since the guard threw my brother out on his a-, I tried to look quickly, but before I knew it, I hear her footsteps and know she knows I'm there. So I jump out of the dressing room window and cut my losses."
It came back to Miley which night that was. Roxy told her that she had thrown Tom out because he hadn't cause much trouble, and she heard Roxy vent her disappointment in herself that she couldn't find who she now knew as her captor. She suspected a panty raid at the time, but all of her's were still there.
I look at Theo in wonderment. So it was him who escaped. I can't believe how close we were to meeting. You know before all of this.
"Leaving the Staples Center with only a deflated ego" I laughed.
"That and a separated shoulder from the longer than expected plunge out the window.," Teddy surrendered.
I burst out laughing hysterically. I couldn't help it. Those were my panties. And Teddy definitely got what was coming to him.
"Yeah, good times, although I do regret not meeting Hannah"
My ears perk up.
"Oh, and what would you have done if you did?"
"Well assuming she wouldn't get her security lady after me. I'd ask her…"
I'm more interested than ever.
"Ask her what?" I pushed on, "for her forgiveness?"
That was exactly what I wanted to hear. I wouldn't mind giving it to him. Indirectly of course.
"No, I was gonna ask her if she could give me the panties. You know with an autograph or something," Teddy replied so cockily and unrepentantly.
My face fell.
OH THAT'S IT.
That's when I dipped a few fingers into my water glass and flicked drops of water at Teddy's face defiantly.
And that's when I froze
I realized, I may have crossed the line. My whole mood fell. Was that way too much? Teddy the captor, will he rise again?
Miley starts to panic.
Theo's POV:
Okay, I'm gonna let that slide. I mean I kinda did deserve it.
Then, probably out of fright, Miley changes the subject.
"So, what did Dad say…"
"Dad wasn't home, so I pick myself up and walk to the ER. And I had to stumble with my crippled brother."
"How 'bout mom, I mean there's no way she'll let you slide with disrespecting a woman like that" Miley asks half jokingly.
My mood fell and a great sadness that characterised my life took over and overshadowed the conversation, pushing me to explain.
"Mom's dead," I say.
Miley stopped and her mood fell too.
"Oh…"
A soon to be unbearable silence fills the room.
This was a pain both Miley and Theo had lived with for most of their lives. After laughing together, it was now time to grieve together. Because for the longest time, none of Miley's friends knew what it meant to be the younger sibling in a family which had lost their mother. But Theo did. And for the longest time none of Theo's 'people' cared about anything than keeping their hold on authority and exacting revenge, instead of actually dealing with it. But Miley did.
"How'd she…?" Miley began.
But I don't think I'm ready…
"Please don't…" I ask softly.
"But it'll help"
I couldn't help but get angry at this. What does she know anyway?
Theo snaps hard at Miley.
"NO Miley. It won't help. And no you don't know how much it hurts to…"
This greatly angered Miley, because she was in as much pain as Teddy was too.
"How dare you," Miley seethed in anger, surprising me.
This had stunned me, she was angry to the point of her eyes watering.
"How dare you. I know just as much as you what's it like without a mother!"
Miley was so angry she started shaking uncontrollably. However remorseful I was for bringing up a subject that obviously caused agony, I didn't show it.'
"You're mother died?"
"Yes, she did. When I was young", Miley retorted.
We both sat quietly. Miley was cooling down but lashed out for a last time…
"My mother was killed in a car crash because of me, I was 10!" Miley shouted.
"My mother was killed in adrive by before my eyes, I was 8," I replied just as loudly.
Miley's face fell…
"Shooting?" she asked meekly.
I nodded, "meant for my Dad, instead got her. She shielded me with her body."
"I'm sorry…" Miley offered
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," I interrupted.
"But you had a dad who loved you, right?" I asked again.
"Yeah, I did…"
I got the hint…
"Miley, he still does…you don't just stop loving your own child,"
Miley then speaks up…
"But your Dad?..."
"Was never there for me. Since mom died, I became a latch key kid, and then like one of his employees, once I got old enough. Just one of his gopher's doing his dirty business. Mom was the only parent who really loved me…"
"Oh…" Miley responded.
But this time it was Miley's turn to argue. And she'd win too…
"Well let me tell you something…was it because of you,"
"What?"
"Did your mom die because of you?"
I pause and relent, "No"
"Well mine did. She died because of me,"
I didn't understand.
"Wait, how? How are you to blame, it was a car accident"
Miley begins rambling and sobbing. These were raw emotions.
"Look! I just am. She wouldn't have gotten it if I was stronger! It would've never had happened if I could've stop him."
I realized the stress on 'him'
"Stopped who,"
But Miley just tears up and shaking her head in pain…
I freeze because I realize that same type deep trauma face she had made before. The last time I saw it was…
The Rosary Incident at Gangland.
There had to be a connection. More and more pieces of this puzzle were being assembled in my mind.
I cared because I realized that this involved the Blessed Mother Mary. Or the gross misuse of her holy name. Or judging by Miley's reaction, even worse.
If it's the last thing I do, I'll get to the bottom of this.
"But what happened between you and him?" I began.
But Miley was having none of it.
I trust my better instincts not to pursue. For now.
Instead I turn on the radio and find the perfect song on the radio…
A song that sets the perfect mood for myself and Miley.
"Living in Marina Del Rey…" the radio played.
Miley liked the music's mood.
I liked it because it reminded me from home. It was one of my mothers' favourites. A song that told me everything would be okay.
But it will turn out that this is a song that both will never forget. For the rest of their lives. Both listen to it intently, its mood inexplicably seals the link between Theo and Miley.
The only thing she has left in her heart is one burning question…
"Teddy, I'm scared…"
It isn't fair at all to ask me this yet Miley speaks up anyways…
"Teddy, I'm scared…" Miley begins tearfully.
It's no surprise to me that she is. After all we were talking about how we lost our closest loved one.
"I mean (sniff), we still don't know who's responsible for all those times (she begins to crack), and I'm scared because I've never had someone try to kill me…us…and there's only so much you can do…and what if you can't…(now she's crying)"
A part of me is amazed at the fact that my heart can still break, considering the sheer number of times Miley's broken it throughout this whole ordeal. I bet you she doesn't realize how well she could play my heartstrings by now. Yet break again it does…
But I'm the man of the house. It's my job to protect and defend.
And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Tom's due to call any minute now. He said he was close yesterday.
And suddenly it hits me…
Theo gets up to comfort Miley. Before she knows it she's looking up at Theo kneeling down to her level with her tear soaked eyes.
"Miley, I promise that I will never let anything happen to you."
Yet words are cheap. Actions mean everything. Thus, since there's not much left in Theo's life, what he does have left…"
Theo takes off his dog tags. His life.
Theo puts it around Miley's neck makes Miley wear it.
"Theo?"
"My mother gave these to me on my eight birthday. With it she told me no matter what happened to me, she would always love me. And she gave me this and said that as long as I keep this I would be safe. At first I didn't know what she meant by this. But this was a mere month before her life was taken. And ever since then, I knew what she meant, because she's always been with me. Guiding me."
Theo refers to the tags that Miley's now wearing. Miley looks at it and thinks it beautiful.
"But Teddy, I can't take this from you…" Miley replied knowing just how valuable it was.
Just as I thought…
"Miley, this represents the good left in my life and soul. I never ever go without it for long. And that's why no matter where you'll go or what'll happen to you…because you'll have it, as long as were together in this ordeal, I will always be there in the end. Because as far as I'm concern in every which way those tags mean to me, you'll mean just as much, as long as we're in this together, you'll have it. And I never leave my 'soul' behind. As long as you have it, I'll be there to protect or, God forbid, have to rescue you again.
Miley just gazes up at Theo.
Miley teared up again but this time for a much different reason. Theo thought so much of her that he would essentially equate her with the only good in his life.
Symbols are powerful, and Miley knew exactly how much these tags meant.
As I get up to step outside, Miley pulls me back.
All she does is make me watch her as she slowly releases her hair from captivity as she unclasps her hair clip.
A beautiful bejewelled butterfly hair clip.
She takes me aside, and puts the clip into the palm of my hand.
I'm confused…
"Ditto…" she said smiling and sniffling.
This small word hits me like a sack of bricks.
She could've said and meant that exact same thing I did and do, and then some.
And that she did, but she managed to do that with only one word.
I pause for a moment but then instantly get what she's trying to tell me.
Apparently everything that I used to describe my tags with had exactly described what that hair clip had meant to her, down to the last meaning.
I had said it best for the both of us. And she was entrusting her mother's clip to me.
I get back up and clip it, onto the inside of my shirt and its collar, with the jewels facing in rubbing my skin.
I tapped the clip toward my heart in a beating motion to tell Miley, not that I was ashamed by it, but I wanted it closer to my heart.
"Give it back to me when this' all over. But until then…"
"Just remember, it's not all bad. There is something good in your life, Teddy," Miley said.
"Oh, yeah, like what?"
"Like meeting me," Miley said warmly
I freeze at how right she was.
I smiled back at her before I leave the loft.
Outside the back entrance: 20 minutes after Theo left.
Teddy's POV:
I take a seat on the cement blocks nearby as I think…
I had just finished talking to Tom. I finally have the answers that I need, none of which are good news.
These were hired hits.
The courier was one of the hired hit men working for the West Coast Biker gangs.
The bomb was planted by one of the other Chinese families. Which explains how they were able to get so far in without being noticed.
These attempts reeked of professionalism.
And I was right.
The same person had hired both attempts.
Someone, had gotten hold of criminal underworld contacts and…
Placed a bounty on Miley Stewart's head.
And left orders to make it excruciating and humiliating as well.
Tom tried to reassure me that it wasn't a bounty on me.
Theo's silently yelling at himself.
That's no f-king help at all!
If there was any sense left in this world, I'mthe one people should be trying to kill. I'm the type that the world doesn't need anymore. I'm the one not afraid of death. I'M THE ONE THAT DESERVES TO DIE.
I should've died abroad. Why did God keep me alive while my buddies and my commander died with honour, I'll never understand. Alive just to take Miley's life away from her. God would never forgive me for what I've done…so far he hasn't given me a hint to why He's putting me through this. The dishonour of what I'm doing.
I wouldn't hesitate for a minute if I could take Miley's place on the bounty block.
But no such luck. I'm just the guy in the way.
But what struck me were the orders that Tom had given me. Straight from Dad.
My orders were to protect Miley at all costs. That more were to come, but they'll try to prevent more assasins from coming. The ransom deal relies on her being alive.
The Chinese families will stay away and my family would be the first to know if the Skinheads did anything.
But the family promised that they would get to the bottom of who was behind this.
As I look around, while fingering the 9mm Beretta handgun in my holster, out of idleness, I realize.
My vision is fully back!
I can't believe I didn't notice it before. Now I can see clearly again.
But I realize something…
The recovery of my eyes did not let me see things like I saw before. It forced me to see life in a new light. No scratch that, I saw Miley in a new light.
My eyes were truly opened now.
Because it's now that I realize how truly beautiful Miley is.
Her flowing brown locks made me thankful that I got sprayed, else she be forced to colour it an ugly black.
Her gorgeous face hiding that sweet smile, which you had to work for, but was so worth it at the end.
Whoever the lucky bas—rd was who's gonna win her heart after this, I'll be forever envious of.
Because surely she can't ever want me.
If she were to come after me, I can't believe it to be out of love.
It'll probably be out of desperation and over appreciation or need.
However good the sex would be, it'll just hurt her at the end.
I care too much about her to use her in that way.
I'm just gonna have to do what I've always done…
Push her away and make sure that if she absolutely has to love me, she loves me like a brother, at the most.
I could definitely live with that…
But my heart would be a different story.
Miley had cared for me all this time, and it was impossible to ignore that I needed someone like her.
Yet much like almost all good things in my life, it's forbidden to me just as its available to me.
The problem was that I could see all too well Miley falling for me, the wrong man.
After all Jake did set the bar so low when it came to being a real man for Miley. I couldn't help but beat it. After all how do you not cross a proverbial bar that's so low its right next to f—king dinosaur bones.
Just as Theo finishes this he hears a car horn honk to the right of him. A car coming in almost cut off another car. Theo had ignored this, but curiously the car just halted. Theo thought it was odd and checked on it. A man came out and glanced at Theo before turning away, trying too hard to prevent Theo from looking at him.
Theo's getting worried. This was a short alleyway so they were pretty close to each other. Plenty of cars are parked around this improvised parking lot.
Suddenly an SUV came up from the opposite side of the alleyway. And it too blocked the alleyway, but only partially.
Theo went on a state of heightened alert, but was hesitant to pull out his gun, lest he bring too much attention to himself.
Two men came out of the SUV and Theo watched them rush back to retrieve things from their back seat. Two men also came out of the other car.
Theo's sense because surreal as he watched the men. Theo knew this meant trouble…He also knew that he had to move away from the loft to draw their attention away from where Miley was and toward himself. But this meant sacrificing getting more guns out of his car for the sake of Miley and more cover.
He watched one of the men, walk closer…
Then it hit Theo…
(Ryan Evans)
This was a guy from the strip club. The one that just came in as the guy went down.
But what scared Theo the most was the third and final car that pulled up.
A red firebird…
A man with sunglasses stepped out of the car with an open bottle of vodka in his hand.
It's...it's.
My eyes widen as I see who it is as he takes off his sunglasses and reveals his face…
(Troy Bolton)
The leader.
He calmly yet defiantly holds the bottle of vodka away from his body and motions to the men opposite him.
He releases the bottle of vodka.
Gravity brings the vodka down as its inevitable crash will mark the first of what will be many bullet shots in the firefight where I'm outnumbered five to one. The only advantage I'll have is that the men are cautious about bringing attention to themselves so they would all charge at once. That and I have plenty of cover.
But that's it.
As I jerk my head in time to see the man opposite the leader pull out his shotgun.
The bottle is still in midair but almost...
I tug my gun, milliseconds away from the draw...
Almost...
"Oh s—t"
Firefight...readyset...
Crash.
GO!
Start Gun Fight.
A/N: Phew, that was long and hard. Again, sorry if it seems too long. Anyways, just remember, if you're not comfortable with the High School Musical characters...just pretend there other people.
A part of me wanted to bring them in. Nothing personal.
Anyways, please review on absolutely anything and everything. Advice would be much appreciated, if you can...don't worry if you can't.
And I do not own any of the quotes that I copied from other movies. They're my favourite films and I love the quotes. Think of it as a homage. I apologize if you've seen the movies I took it from.
Please REVIEW
GFMarshall