A/N: I called this a romantic chapter... but you decide. I think it's romantic in a subconscious, they-don't-know-it-but we-do... dramatically ironic kind of way...

These next chapters, kinda remind me of Bob Dylan songs... in the way that they are all wintery and need folk songs to be listened to as you read them.

Chapter 28 – Sleep Perchance To Dream

7am

The first thing she noticed when she woke up, was that she wasn't in her own bed, but in someone else's bed in a room that was a lot colder than her own, covered in more blankets and quilts than she had on her own bed and that it was substantially smaller sized than her own bed, her body almost falling off the edge. The second thing that she realised upon waking up was that she wasn't alone, and that was probably why there wasn't much room left in the bed. In fact, there was hardly any space at all between Miley and her bed-mates body's, her back pressed up against a large muscular, hard chest, that she could hardly recognise. Whoever she was sharing this unfamiliar bed with, she was spooning them, letting their heavy arms drape around her waist and hold her tight against their front, more than likely to stop her from rolling off the edge of the bed that she was lying so closely to than anything else.

She shifted, bleary-eyed as the hand attached to the end of the arm wrapped around her waist, began to rub and flex its muscles against her stomach, bringing her in tighter. She sighed and went with the movement, pleased by the comfort and relaxed by the sensation. She closed her eyes, her hand finding its way to press a hand over the one pressed to her stomach, eyes opening at the cold feeling of the metal ring touching her skin. She opened her eyes and tried not to groan at her stupidity. She looked down and saw his hands against the t-shirt he had given her, noticed that his legs were touching hers as he wore only his boxer shorts and what appeared to be his undershirt.

She raised a hand to her face and covered her eyes, mind instantly realising that this was the first time she'd ever been in bed with Nick. Her mind rushed before she could control it, and she instantly couldn't stop herself from thinking that at one time this occurrence should have happened in much different circumstances. Miley couldn't stop her mind from thinking that perhaps she should feel a little happier about her situation and that she should try and remember it for the future, so at least she could say that she'd experienced this.

Guilt overwhelmed her when all of a sudden she felt disappointed at the fact that it wasn't happening in other circumstances; that this was all happening only because her father had nearly been killed and not because she'd forgiven him; that the world was still as messed up as ever. She chastised herself for even thinking of herself and of something as irrelevant as Nick when her father was in hospital looking sicker than ever and that she couldn't be there with him… because he didn't want her to be.

The last thing Miley was aware of upon waking up, was that it was only seven in the morning, she'd only been asleep a few hours and that it was too early to be awake. Also she realised that it was cold out and she was chilly, so to solve both her problems, she closed her eyes, pulled the blankets up around them and settled herself deeper into the arms wrapped around her. It was only then, that she could fall peacefully back to sleep.

11am

He thought he was dreaming when he woke up. Situations like the one he was currently placed in he'd shamelessly dreamt about for the past year of his life without her. His mind always played tricks on him when he was asleep, making him believe that she was right there with him. Often he dreamt that it was ten years in the future and they were married; the rings on their fingers replaced with the perfect specimens of wedding rings he'd once or twice found himself looking at without realising. Sometimes, she would smile at him, and say nothing. Sometimes she'd kiss him. Sometimes she'd laugh as their children wandered in through the door and jumped upon them. There was always four kids in his dream… and he could always hear more in the background. He wanted a big family, just like they had big families. They would one day have a big family together. He couldn't shake himself of the idea.

But he wasn't dreaming when he felt her body shift against him. Her face buried in the pillow beside her, hiding from the sun as it snuck in through the gap in the drapes. There was nothing unreal about the way that his arms were wrapped around her waist, his chin buried into the crook of her neck as though they were building blocks fitting together like perfect pieces of a puzzle. There was no trickery in the way that she was peacefully asleep next to him. She was really there… she was actually there. She was letting him hold her. She had her hands resting on the muscles of his forearms wrapped around her waist. She was subconsciously letting him in… and he couldn't ask for more.

A smile broke out upon his face as he leant up slightly to look at her. He laughed as he saw her hair covering her eyes and making her nose twitch as it tickled it in her slumber. He watched her for a few more moments, just watching her face as she slept… remembering it for the time when normality would return and he wouldn't be allowed such pleasures anymore. He smiled as he imprinted her face onto his memory, made it accessible for any moment he may want to remember it, and sighed content.

He wriggled his arm free from around her waist, careful not to wake her. He reached his fingers up to her cheek, paused tentatively before pushing her hair away from her eyes and behind her ear, letting himself have the pleasure of feeling the sensation of the cheeks he'd felt so many times before, but could barely remember. How had he let her go? How had he even been stupid enough to do all those stupid things back then? She was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Why hadn't he been able to see that?

He shook his head ashamed of himself and leant forward to kiss her on the newly visible temple. He let his lips taste her skin beneath his and smiled against her as he tasted antiseptic and the soap she'd used from the bathroom before she'd got into bed. He left his lips there, unable to let go, breathing her, tasting her skin and just letting his senses be flooded by her until he was dizzy and high with the rush. He consumed what he could, until she sighed deeply, contently, shuffling back into his body and searching for the lack of contact he'd taken away from her, leaving smile on Nick's lips. He shook his head, resettling back against her body, wrapping his arms around her body and falling asleep again, a smile blazing his face.

3:30pm

She woke up and groaned slightly at the bright white light of the winter weather outside beaming in through the drapes. She lifted a hand, running it over her eyes and remembering where she was instantly, not worrying about the fact that she was still lying in the arms of the boy she was supposed to dislike, and had adamantly expressed her hatred for on more than one occasion. Instead of caring, she tugged the blankets around them, tucking her leg back beneath the covers bringing an abrupt stop to the pendulum her leg was forming over the side of the bed.

She blinked a little, looking around the still half-unfamiliar room and took in its appearance. It was full of familiar looking objects, the usual style that the family often decorated their rooms and was covered in pictures of four younger looking brothers and their equally wonderful parents. It was so unfamiliar that at the same time it felt too familiar. It felt like she belonged there in that slightly hard, but inhumanly comfortable bed. She felt like she should be part of the decor, that her face should be imprinted onto the walls in photographs just like they were. It was a strange feeling, but it was one that she couldn't shake.

She blinked, eyes open and clearly seeing as she searched over for the clock. 3:30pm. She was still tired, still exhausted from days of travelling and the emotional butt-whooping she'd had as of late. They probably both were. Why else would he still be lying in bed with her sound asleep if he wasn't as grumpy and exhausted as she was?

She sighed, leaning back and looking at him peacefully asleep. She could imagine him being the person he used to be when he was dreaming away and not looking at her with those eyes of his, letting them remind her of everything that had happened. While he was asleep he was just Nick, just the boy that she'd once been in love with. He couldn't hurt her, couldn't look at her, couldn't make her feel pain. He could just hold her, make her feel safe and reminded of a time when everything was easy.

She turned over and looked at him, felt his arms lift in his sleep to allow her to do so before wrapping around her and pulling her in tightly against his chest, her head reaching to tuck under his neck as he did so. She paused for a moment, breath catching in her throat and a tentative worry flooding her senses for a second, before she sighed and let herself wrap her arms around his waist, and fall straight back to sleep.

8pm

He really thought she would have stormed away and out of the house by the time he woke up again, but when he woke up, found the room basked in the return of darkness, he was shoked to find her still lying beside him. Her face was illuminated with blue from the moon, features shadowed until he could see every beautiful contour of her face. Her body was pressed against him, until he could feel every shape of her body against his own, her head tucked underneath his chin. Her hand was bunched up in the fabric of his t-shirt, fingers stubbornly hanging onto the white fabric like she would never give up her grip and let go.

He sighed, looked over her shoulder at the clock that read 8pm and smiled in realisation that it had been over twelve hours since they'd returned to his home and gone to bed and she was still beside him, her proximity increasing as the hours went on. Her hair, yet again, was in her face, covering half of her features. He reluctantly pulled his arm from around her waist, sweaty from where it had rested on the skin of her back beneath her t-shirt, and pushed the hair from her face with the tip of his finger. He watched her shift and sigh and pulled his hand away to make sure she stayed asleep, slightly terrified of what would happen if she woke up.

He watched her, staying still for a few moments, before he moved his hand down to hers on his t-shirt and slowly began to prize her stubborn fingers away from the fabric. He smiled as her grip refused him, still holding on tightly giving him no way to stop her. He looked at her placid features again, finding them unmoved and gave up, stroking over her hands for his own amusement.

His fingertips grrazed over her skin, taking in the feel of each knuckle, each curve and each patch of skin. They still felt the same; that was all he could think about. Even after everything they had been through her skin was still as soft as it as always been, not at all rough and tough from the amount of hatred and pain she'd been through. She was still as soft and gentle as she'd always been, not that many people could believe it, but she was. She was delicate.

He held his breath as her hand unbunched itself from his t-shirt, released her grasp and instead grabbed hold of the fingers and palm that had been stroking it. His body stopped completely, watching her worm her fingers into his, palms pressing against each other as she sighed and shifted into him. He gulped, eyes closing reluctantly as he let the strength of her grip lull him into sleep, ease him into joining her. She was letting go... and as he fell into a dreamless sleep, so was he.

11pm

She smiled when she woke up, the first time she'd smiled upon waking in a very long time. She didn't feel confused, or lost... or out of place, she felt completely at peace, completely rested and reluctant to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open, seeing the expanse of Nick's neck as she did so, the smell of his skin flooding her senses and making her eyes flutter closed again. A sigh left her reluctantly. Her head turned around with a struggle to see that the clock now read 11pm at night. She didn't care however, her mind was more concerned by the fact that her hand was entwined into Nick's, their grips unrelenting and refusing.

An irritated relaxed sigh left her as she buried her head further into his chest, grip tightening, senses gladly becoming clouded by him as she did so. She wrapped her leg around his, holding herself to him gently, as she squeezed his hand, feeling him squeeze back, before she closed her eyes again, and prayed to God that it hadn't been her who grabbed his hand first.

A/N: How was that?

And thanks for everyone asking about my exams... I haven't actually done them yet. They finish on Friday and then I'm into full blown getting ready for uni and moving away from home for the first time mode :)
Here's an update of what happens next:
Chapter 29: Miley returns to the hospital to talk to her mom.
Chapter 30: Miley and Nick reminisce
Chapter 31: Serious retail therapy :)
Chapter 32: Someone helps Miley fall asleep
Chapter 33: Serious domestic bliss
Chapter 34: Miley makes a phone call
Chapter 35: Frank Sinatra Lovin'

R&R :) xxx