Chapter 23

A Bad Turn Of Events

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver made the rounds to the houses and ended the round trip at Miley's. On the couch, as the routine developed, were Zack, Cody and Maddie. But today was different. Around the kitchen table was Carey, Roxi, Frank and Robbie. They were going over the details for tomorrow night.

"Daddy, I'm home. Lilly and Oliver are with me too."

"We're in here Bud."

Oliver and Lilly made for the couch. Well, Lilly was going more to Zack.

"Hi Roxi. Hi Frank. What you guys talking about now?"

"Roxi just wanted to make sure all the details are covered."

"Are you guys including everybody?"

"Yeah bud. Carey, Zack, Cody, and Maddie are all coming with back stage passes."

"Oh that reminds me, Oliver is going with Jake."

"Is Oliver going to use his pass?" Roxi asked.

"Oliver?"

"What Frank?"

"Are you going to use your backstage pass tomorrow?"

"No. Jake doesn't know about Miley."

"Does Jake have backstage passes?"

"I don't know. But he is suppose to call me tonight. I'll let you know."

"Thanks."

"So guys, who won?"

"Don't know bud. We'll know before the concert though."

"Are we still planning on doing the night on the town in the winners town?" Frank asked.

"That's right."

"Roxi would still feel better if we did it here."

"Too expensive for the Foundation, Roxi."

"Well, Roxi still doesn't like it."

-

"What do you guys have planned for tonight bud?"

"Sight seeing. Don't forget you said we could use the limo too."

"I remember. Are you planning on eating here?"

"No. We were going to get something out. Why?"

"I have to fix things with your brother."

"You got that right."

"I was wondering if you could help?"

"Sure Daddy. What did you have in mind?"

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"Hello. Dr. Ryan's office."

"This is nurse Church from Children's Hospital. I'm calling with an update about Maggie Baker."

"Okay. Please hold."

April got up and walked back to the room that Dr. Ryan was seeing a patient in and knocked on the door.

"Enter."

April quickly whispered the information to Dr. Ryan.

"Excuse me. I have a phone call I have to take."

Dr. Ryan left the room and walked to her office, sat down at her desk and lifted the phone. She took a deep breath and hit the blinking line button.

"This is Dr. Ryan."

"This is nurse Church. I have an update about your patient Maggie Baker."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Her temperature is 100.5 degrees. All the other vitals are normal. She's had lunch. She completed 80 percent. Her output is 200 ml."

"Have the labs come back yet?"

"Her blood chemistry shows a thirty percent………"

Dr. Ryan took the report in. The radiation treatment was starting to show itself in her blood work. That was good. But the fever wasn't.

"How much longer on the cultures?"

"Another eight hours."

Great!

"Let's start her on a broad range antibiotic. Regular drip. And keep me posted."

This is going to be a long night.

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"Maddie, do you want to come sight seeing with us?" Miley asked.

"No, Jackson has a double date with Cooper set up." Maddie smiled.

"Speaking of double dates, are we picking up Amy?" Miley asked Oliver.

"No. I'm going to meet her at Rico's in about twenty. Then we were going to walk over here."

"So we just have to wait for Amy then." Lilly stated confirming the facts.

"That's right."

"Oh, by the way Miley, here's the first cut of the music for Maggie's song." Robbie told her as he handed a CD to her. Miley took the CD and walked over to the CD player and put the CD in. Then she hit the play button and listened to the music. As everyone listen to the music, she hummed along to it.

"That sounds great Daddy. Do you have the score around anywhere?"

"It's on the piano."

Miley hit the play button again and walked over to the piano as the music started. She took the music and leaned against the piano as everyone quieted down to listen.

"It must have been cold in my shadow………"

Miley was able to duplicate the way she sang the song the first time she sang it. And when she finished, everyone was still and quiet. You could almost feel the quiet and stillness the song produced.

"WOW! You really are Hannah Montana!" Zack exclaimed.

"We already told you that, Zack." Cody rolled his eyes.

"I know, but this is, like, real."

"Like real? What are you talking about?"

"I know you told me, but seeing and hearing Miley sing makes it real."

"You have a mind like a steal trap."

"That's a good thing. Right?" Zack asked,

"You figure it out." Cody told him.

"You need to sing that song on the base, Miley." Frank told her.

"That's not a bad idea, Frank." Robbie agreed.

"I'll do some asking and find out what we need to do."

"I've got to meet Amy. Be back in a few." Oliver told everyone as he got up to leave.

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Jackson came home to find Maddie waiting for him on the couch.

"Give me a second to clean up." He kissed her on the cheek and went upstairs to get ready.

"Hey Carey, what are you doing tonight?"

"Robbie and I are going to check on Maggie and then go out to eat and some night clubbing."

"Oooo……Carey!" Maddie smiled at her.

"Sorry, Maddie. This is more like two friends hanging out together."

"But still, Robbie Ray is a very handsome man." Maddie raised her eyebrows up and down.

"Yes he is, but neither one of us is looking for a relationship, just fun."

Maddie raised one eyebrow at this.

"Don't you have a date with someone special?"

"Special like 'I'm in love' special?" Maddie blushed.

"That's what I thought last night when you came back to the room. It just radiated off of you." Carey smiled.

"So how do you tell if this is just for the moment love or in love for a life time love?"

"When you get to the end and look back on the time you two had together, then you'll know."

"I have to wait and see?"

"If you wake up in love and go to bed in love, isn't that enough of an answer?"

"Yeah, I guess it is." Maddie got up and hugged Carey.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Come on Maddie, we have to get Cooper and Helen in a hurry if we want to make it to the restaurant on time." Jackson told Maddie as he hurried down the stairs into the living room. Maddie left Carey and went to join Jackson as he held the door open for her and then followed her out of the house.

Robbie came down stairs a few minutes after Jackson and Maddie left.

"It's your turn to decide where to eat tonight, Carey."

"In that case, I'm feeling kind of Chinese tonight."

"Well, we have some very good Chinese restaurants to choose from."

"Surprise me, then."

"That I can do, that I can do."

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Robbie and Carey got to the hospital around six. They went up to Maggie's room to check on Sara and Maggie. When they went in, Maggie was asleep and Sara was sitting by the bed in a state.

"What's wrong, Sara?" Robbie asked as they walked toward each other. Sara wrapped herself around Robbie and cried on his shoulder. Carey stood by them.

"Maggie has a fever. They don't know what's causing it yet. But the doctors started her on antibiotics."

"When was the last time you ate, Sara?" Carey asked her.

"I don't know."

"Robbie, get her out of the hospital for awhile. I'll sit with Maggie."

"Good idea. I'll take her home so she can clean up and then I'll get that Chinese and bring it back here."

"That sounds like a good idea Robbie." Turning to Sara, "Go with Robbie, I'll watch over Maggie."

Sara nodded and gathered up her stuff and went with Robbie back to the house to get cleaned up.

Stepping out of the shower, Sara had to admit that she felt better being clean. She went to her room and got some new clothes to wear. Sara and Robbie got back in the car and headed off to pick up the Chinese food he ordered while Sara was in the shower. They got back to the hospital one hour after they left. Maggie slept the whole time. Robbie and Carey set about getting the food ready as Sara checked on Maggie again.

Dinner went by and lifted Sara's spirits. Robbie and Carey decided to stay with Sara until the end of visiting hours. They ended up sitting around the table playing cards. It was the type of break that Sara needed to help her refill her spirit for the up coming battle.