(A/N): This chapter flips from Miley POV to Todd POV but I don't like when authors put that mid-story I just ruins my concentration so I tried to make it as obvious as possible. Thank you for reading!

To Mend A Broken Heart

Chapter 2: Hold On

Though I wanted to stop looking through the album, something pulled me to keep looking, to relive memory after memory, until finally I caught myself. 'These pictures are going from the beginning of summer to the end, in chronological order. That means…' and that is the moment I turned the page, to a very innocent kiss, it was our 1 month anniversary and Leslie had taken the picture as a joke but Justin and I loved it so much that we had kept it. I sat, thinking, wondering, dreaming, about what the picture had meant to me. 'Why had I kept it even after we had broken up? Why was I looking at it today? Why? Why? Why?', the questions running through my head at ninety to nothing, but with an all-knowing answer in the back of my mind. 'I still liked him, until I met Todd.' But I didn't like him, I couldn't have, I stopped liking him the moment his lips touched another girls. Then why weren't they thrown away? 'I forgot about them, I…I.' I decided to get the kiss, his kiss, out of my imagination and flip to the next photo…

'You did it, you did it Todd! She said 'Yes' and you are on to your wedding day.' My dreams that night fully covered every intensity, every thought I could ever want to dream of. The love of my life, Miley Cyrus, had said 'yes' and I, Todd Lewis, would be her groom. I had noticed Miley get out of bed, but I thought that she might be using the restroom so I quickly drifted back off to sleep when a memory from my past came back into the depths of my soul.

'Todd, can I talk to you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Justin Crandall and I'm here to talk about Miley."

"I've heard about you." I said, backing away.

"Well, that's nice to know. Todd, I need to let you in on a secret and if you move or try to run away, she'll die; don't ask who, because you know. You may be bigger or stronger or faster, but I know more; I know more about Miley than you ever will. I'm going to torture her Todd, I'm going to make her feel more pain then she ever has and you're going to stay here, away from her, until I tell you that you can go back. She will die, or you two will break up, either way, it works for me. What do you say Todd?"

"I don't, I don't understand. Why me? Why now?"

"Todd, you are the reason Miley's not in my life right now and if I can't have her, you shouldn't either and 'why now?', because it's the perfect opportunity for you to cheat on her."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, Todd, you heard me right, you're cheating on her, starting today. I'm setting you up with one of my friends and don't break her heart unless I tell you to."

"What if I decide not to listen?"

"Then I might just have to…"

That's when I woke up, that exact moment, every night, every night for the past 6 months, ever since Justin had been locked up. It never went past that moment and I never wanted it to. He, Justin, scarred me for life that night, I never looked at Miley the same because I couldn't, because I wasn't worthy enough to; she is too beautiful, too precious to see me this way. I couldn't show her the scars, I couldn't show her the pain he caused me the multiple, multiple times I said 'no'. The scars that ran from my upper thigh to my knee, the hundreds of scars, the scars that reminded me of the 2 years I spent hurting her, the one I loved. That's when I remembered, I jolted my head to the left, the side of the bed Miley sleeps. That's when I realized that she wasn't there, but I heard her tears so I wiped the sweat off of my forehead, and raced to the other side of the bed…

I flipped open the next picture and that's when I saw it, his hand, my hand, our hands, holding the other and that's when I felt it, when it all came back; his touch, his grasp, the pain, the torture that I hadn't felt in 6 long months. That's also when the tears began to fall. Maybe if I cried hard enough, the tears would drown out all of the memories, wash the picture away and I would never see his hand again. 'Is this why you wanted me to keep turning, God? Did you want me to see this again? Did you want to see me cry? Did you want me to feel this pain?' That's when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I thought that maybe it was a sign, someone or something telling me it would be ok, so I turned around and standing there was Todd.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?" he said, automatically sitting down, after seeing my tears. I shook my head so he continued, "What are you looking at?" he asked, grabbing for the album.

"No." I said, still crying.

"Miley…" he said, reaching again

"I can't, I can't do this." I said, throwing the album at the wall across the room.

"Miles, what's wrong?"

"Don't! Don't call me that!"

"Miley, what did you look at? What did you see?"

"Nothing…nothing." I then curled into a ball and laid down, crying into the carpet flooring beneath me.

Resting his hand on me, he continued, "Miley…we have to be honest with each other, we can't do this. You have to let me know what's wrong."

"Everything is wrong Todd, everything is wrong!"

"Miley, what are you talking about?"

"It…everything, it's all falling apart."

"How?"

"It's different now Todd, it's different."

"What's different? Miley, I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"Good, I don't want you to know."

"Babe, what was in that album?" he said, beginning to stand.

"NO! YOU CAN'T LOOK AT IT!" I said scratching, latching onto his leg, digging my nails into his skin.

"Ow, ow, what the hell Miles?" he said, collapsing to the ground from the pain.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Then let me see the album."

"You can't, you can't, please. Please don't Todd."

"Then what do you want me to do."

"I don't know Todd, I don't know."

"I feel so helpless, why is there nothing I can do to help?"

"Situations don't always have to include you Todd. You can't make everything better."

"But I can try."

"Todd, I may be your girlfriend, but you can't and won't be there every time I need you."

"Fiancée…" he mumbled under his breath.

"What?"

"Fiancée, Miley, you're my fiancée, not girlfriend and in my vows I will promise to be there for better or for worse and I plan to start that now, not the day we get married."

"I know that Todd…and I didn't mean it like that."

"Then, please give me something to do."

"Ok…this task will last you a lifetime."

"I'm ready for whatever it is Miles."

"I want you keep me in your thoughts, your prayers, your memories. I want you to love me, I want you to make mistakes, and learn from them because you're only human. I want you to cherish every moment we spend together because who knows when it will be our last. I want you to never hit me or call me names. I want you to never be the kind of man Justin always was. I want you to never give up on me and never, ever, let go."

"Is that who this is about?"

"Yeah…"

"Why didn't you just tell me Miles?"

"I…I don't know. You still haven't promised?"

"Promised what?"

"About your task."

"Ok, but Miley, next time just tell me."

"Ok ,I will."

Patting his chest, he signaled for me to lay on him, I quickly laid down on my favorite spot, his arms wrapping around my waist and my hands lying on top of his. "Ok, Miles, I promise you that I will never let go, you will always be in my thoughts, prayers and memories. There was never a time I didn't love you, I never take any moment we spend together for granted. I will never hit you or call you names, except for the ones you deserve; beautiful, lovely, gorgeous, hot, sexy, romantic, caring, generous, my future wife and most importantly, my best friend and Miley, I promise to you that I will never be Justin, I will never give up on you or what you believe in and finally, Miley, I will never let you go, in fact I'll do the furthest thing from it."

"Being what?"

"Miles, I'm going to be here for you, no matter what, but through anything just know that I'll always be there to hold on."