A/N: Hello! I'm back. Exams are over and I'm going to try and update this story as much as I can, and probably some of the others too. I feel rather inspired to write this story actually… wonder why that is? :)

Here's Chapter 26…

xx

Chapter 26 - Sunsets and Car Crashes

She let out a large shriek of a gasp as her body forced itself upwards until she was sitting. She stared around, sweat dripping from her face and soaking her clothes, tears streaming down her cheeks as her head ached with pain. She panted, unable to breathe as she looked around not recognising where she was. She was surrounded by semi darkness, panicking that she was trapped within her subconscious unable to escape it and get back to the real world where she was for once desperately needed. Her eyes flickered open and closed and she was suddenly aware of the sharp shooting pains at the right of her forehead. Out of pure natural reflex, she rose her hand to the pain, before it was stopped by a stronger hand she was suddenly aware had been wrapped around her body.

"Don't touch it…" Nick mumbled to her as he held her close, pulling her back down to the space where she had been laying before she had awoken, "It's not stopped bleeding…"

She rested her head back onto the pillow that was placed on his lap and did not stop him when he began to stroke the hair from her face and press his hand over where it hurt. It seemed to be helping.

She shook her head at him still slightly in shock and blinked away the water in her eyes, "What's happened?"

He looked down at her sadly and shook his head, "You blacked out while you were on the phone to your mom… you've cut your head and I think it needs stitches…"

She shook her head at him, "We-we're not going to the hospital… I can't…" She tried to sit up again but he shoved her back down onto his lap. It was like he knew that her head would instantly start throbbing with pain as soon as she tried to do anything but lay down. She continued to shake her head manically, however, aiding to the pain in her own little way, "I have to get to my Dad… I have to look after everyone…"

He smiled at her, and continued to stroke his palm across her forehead calmingly, "We've been driving for three hours, Miley… We're on our way to Jersey…"

Miley let the relief wash over her as her eyes closed and she suddenly relaxed in knowing that she was where she needed to be. She lifted her hand to her forehead and felt it sting with pain uncomfortably. Someone had carefully placed some medical swabbing over it and now it was obvious that Nick had got the short straw of the deal and had been put in charge of guarding the weak one's wounds while she came around from her panic attack of blacking out in the middle of a perfectly good party. He had been dragged along by what from the back looked to be her sleeping male best friend in the passenger seat and her driving, talking on the phone female best friend who was taking directions from whoever she was taking her call. She felt bad, dragging him along into something he had nothing to do with.

Feeling guilty, she wormed her fingers beneath the hand that was placed carefully over the swabbing to relieve him of his boring and probably much unwanted job. He lifted his hand and allowed her to press her hand there adding the pressure he had been attempting to apply. She was surprised however, when instead of leaving her to carry out the task on her own, he went on to replace his hand back over her hand slightly above where it had previously been. She looked up to him in shock; his face grew into a blush.

"More pressure's good for it…" he mumbled sheepishly.

She blushed back and for some reason, she felt her entire body respond to his nerves, moving more into him as she became bombarded with the overwhelming feeling of not know what was going on, where she was, or what was happening. She only knew what her mother had mentioned before she had blacked out. She knew what had happened. She could remember her mother's voice telling her that her father's tour bus had collided with something, but she couldn't remember much else of what her mother had said, what she was meant to do and where her family were without her.

"Is my Dad okay?" She muttered plainly, blankly looking straight into his dark telling eyes and begging him to tell her the truth.

She didn't flinch; she didn't even scowl or jump when his fingers slowly began to stroke over the tops of her hands, consolingly warm and comforting. In the dark of the back of the car, she saw his shoulders raise and slump back down as he gazed down at her with gentle caring eyes, "I don't know."

She took a calming breath as her eyes darted terrified around the car, attempting not to cry, and trying to be the strong young woman her father would have wanted her to be. Only she wasn't strong, and neither was he. Her childhood ideas of her father being indestructible were suddenly all slowly falling down around her as she waited impatiently to know whether he was alive or dead. Her heart stammered wildly and dangerously in her chest as she as realised all too quickly that one day, maybe even today, her father would be gone and he wouldn't be here anymore.

The sun started to rise around 6am that morning as the air got colder, the sky got greyer and slowly she felt her body shake more and more as she struggled hopelessly to try and figure out what she was meant to do. Her eyes hadn't stopped watering since she'd woken up and she hadn't fallen back asleep. She'd sat there watching Mandy and Joe swap places as they silently drove, listening to the instructions that the GPS and Mandy's father was giving them over the phone. At each swap over every hour, one of them would step out the car and change seats, turn around quickly to ask Miley how she was, taking her "fine" as a final answer and falling quickly to sleep. Nick, however, had held her head to the pillow making sure the bleeding slowly stopped, smiling at her occasionally, staying silent and watching her as she buried herself into the turmoil inside of her head, letting her fears sweat and stew.

Every so often she would sigh and ask where they were as the hours slowly drifted on. At each rest stop she would make a phone call to her mother or to Brandi, always finding their cell phones switched off or engaged, heading straight to voicemail, none of them being returned. When the sun was finally up and she was sure that Mammie would be awake, she called the house to check on them, discovering from Laura what she knew each and every couple of hours. For the first few phone calls, she knew nothing. But as the temperature decreased and the tighter her coat was tugged around her now blood stained beautiful blue dress, she began to feel something strange, something that she wasn't sure was hope or fear. She just knew it was there.

She watched Nick struggle to keep his eyes open as he looked out of the window and smiled at his reluctance not to fall asleep in case something happened while he was out. His eyes fell closed before a quickly passing car would make them flash wide open and look around to see if he'd been noticed. Miley saw every single one, counting them in her head as she faced the window, watching his reflection, knowing he couldn't see. She took in his appearance. His elbow leant on the door and she smiled watching him as his elbow continually slipped from the plastic covering. His hair fell in his eyes and she felt her fingers flex over and over again for a reason she couldn't comprehend. As the sun rose, she saw blood staining his shirt. She felt guilty as she watched the spots of blood rise and fall with the stubborn rise and fall of his chest and felt the need to apologise, not knowing the right words.

"You should get some sleep," she said as she tugged the blanket from the trunk over their legs, smoothing it out gently, "We've got a whole day of driving yet."

He looked around sleepily and smiled, "I'll sleep when I know your Dad's okay."

"I haven't had any phone service since the last time we stopped..." she said pointlessly and he checked his own cell phone. She was right. Always no service.

He nudged Mandy and Joe and reminded them it was time to swap again. Joe pulled over and stepped inside the gas station to buy more food and more supplies. The journey seemed never ending. Mandy excused herself to go to the restroom and left the two young teenagers looked down at their cell phones as though willing them to do something to entertain them.

"I should go call Mammie again..." she muttered uncomfortably, opening the door and stepping out, "I'll be right back..."

Her shoes kicked the dirt of the road as she held the phone buzzing to her ear. She waited yet again patiently for the phone to pick up, wondering what time it was and if anyone would be awake now that dark had returned and it was almost morning again.

"Hello? Mammie?"

"He's alive." Mammie instantly rushed relieved, "He's safe. He's out of danger. They just took him out of surgery, but he's got to have a lot more."

Miley held her head relieved, touching the bandage and reminding herself that Nick was waiting for this moment in order to go to sleep. She sighed and let a real smile climb onto her features, "Thank the Lord," she whispered, "I'll call you later, Mammie. If they call, tell them we're in Iowa. Love you."

"I love you too, Miley," Mammie said in her same old familiar tone, "Be safe."

She hung up and bounded quickly over to the car seeing Mandy and Joe walking back. She stopped however from yanking open the door and yelling when she noticed Nick inside the car. A deep breath entered her lungs as warmth spread throughout her at the sight of him.

He was wrapped into the blanket, his head resting gently onto the chair behind him. His hands were tucked under his face as his chest rose and fell gently with his breathing. She smiled and gently entered the car, sitting beside him. A blush crept over her as she looked over at her two best friends, checking they weren't watching, before she reached over and pulled the blanket across him, pushing her favourite curl out of his eyes.

She suddenly remembered Mammie's warning to be safe, a melancholy sigh escaping her as well as a sudden rush of hope that all too quickly made her ponder. She couldn't stop thinking that she didn't need to be safe. She had a guardian angel.

A/N: I'm gonna start working on chapter 27 asap. I also have a novel of my own that I'm working on, currently half way through and I should be working on that a lot too.

Stay tuned!

BM xo