Uhm. Please shoot me. Okay. Feel free to reread the entire story to refresh your memory. LMFAO.

Chapter 17.

"I only slept with you." She snapped curtly in offense to his irrational comment. "Are you implying that I slept around when you left, Nick?"

"I didn't say that!" He exclaimed in his own defense. "I just—the news caught me by surprise."

"And made you accuse me of not knowing who the father of my baby is?" She screamed.

"Calm down." Nick said hotly.

"Get out of my room," Miley seethed and sat up, moving away from him. "And don't ever come back."

"You seriously don't mean—"

"Go or I'll make my dad escort you out."

"Your dad loves me." He retorted.

"Not after he finds out that I'm having your baby at this age. He'll hate you." Her hot blue eyes pierced into Nick's angry chocolate marbles.

"God, Miley, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just . . . this is all happening too fast! How in the world can we become parents of a baby when we barely turned adults ourselves? I'm," he paused and stared down at his hands. "I'm not ready for this."

Miley's jaw slacked shut as her eyes burned to let the tears fall, but she sucked it up and tried to keep her voice even. "I guess I was a fool to expect you to stay with me."

Nick knew she was trying to be strong, but he still noticed the strained quiver in her voice. "Miley—"

"Please, just get out of my room, Nick . . ." Her voice was barely above a whisper. She yearned for him to stay with her, to support her, and to want this baby—their baby—but if he wanted to leave, she sure as hell wasn't going to stop him. When he left, she was going to have a good cry.

"I'm not leaving," he whispered lowly.

"You don't even want to be here!" She yelled, not able to hold it in much longer. Her emotions took a toll on her and she could feel her eyes watering, but all she felt was burning hot anger within her. "Tell me you want this baby."

Nick's head fell forward and he slicked his fingers into his chocolate curls. "I'm not ready to have a baby . . ."

"How long have I known you Nick?" Miley asked randomly.

"I don't know? Like 8 years?"

"Never in those 8 years would I have thought you would drop me on my ass when I needed you the most." She shook her head, wet streaks trailing over her rosy cheeks. "I'm not asking you to give up everything for me, Nick. I," she drew in a breath and wiped a hand over her face, brushing her bangs behind her ear. "I just need you, but I guess it's not enough to need you to make you stay."

"How do you expect me to make this work, Miley?" He was getting frustrated. He helplessly reached for her hands, but she distanced herself from him. Rubbing his palms into his eyes, he sighed. "Do you want me to move back to California, Miley, is that what you're asking me to do?"

"Fuck, Nick, no!" She yelled and pushed him in the chest. "I just want you to want to be with me, to be with the baby!"

"Can you please stop yelling at me?" He asked her quietly as she turned her back to him. He stood up and brushed her hands over her waist, frowning when she winced. "I do want to be with you; I'm just afraid."

"Of being tied down to me?" She asked, her throat closing up as she waited for his answer.

Nick himself felt the wind being knocked out of him as his mind whirled endlessly to find the right words to describe this feeling. "No," he answered dumbly. "I don't know," he said the second time around, which caused Miley to shift around to look at him.

"You don't know?" She asked between a harsh whisper and a gasp.

"I mean I'm not afraid, I'm just so lost. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I love you," he rambled senselessly.

"Are you sure?" Miley asked in mockery. "I mean, you don't even know what you're saying," she said scornfully and flicked his hands away from her, skimming the front of her stomach.

Nick was painfully aware of the gesture she just made and swallowed the knot at the back of his throat. "I always mean it when I say I love you." His heart tugged painfully and he reached out for her again. "I'm sorry that I'm hurting you, I don't mean to," he told her earnestly.

"I don't want to argue anymore," she surrendered into his embrace, letting her head fall against his chest. "Just stay with me."

"Okay," he answered numbly, wanting to bite his tongue for being so curt, but he was honestly at a lost of words. He kissed her forehead and led her back to her bed. Settling themselves onto her bed, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her body close to his, acting like a protective shell.

Miley's hand clutched firmly onto the front of Nick's shirt as she burrowed her head against his chest and let out a soft murmur.

"Go to sleep, Miles. I'll be here when you wake up," he reassured her and kissed the crown of her hair again. He hand was rubbing soft circles along her backside and he felt her breathing slow. "I'll always be here."

A few hours later, Nick heard someone whimpering faintly from beside him and forced his tired eyes open. "Miley?" He asked with his voice deep with sleep.

"I'm fine, go back to sleep."

He was more alert now and already reaching over to hold her, sighing contently when she was in his arms. "What's wrong?" He asked against her hair.

"I was just thinking, that's all," she said.

That was never good, Nick sighed and played with her hair. "I'm sorry about last night . . ."

Miley shrugged numbly and closed her eyes, "I guess it's no big deal. I'm going to go out with Demi later today, maybe it'll act like a detox for what's been happening these past few days."

Nick's heart clenched painfully, "I'm sure you two will have fun."

"Mhm," she answered. "There wouldn't have to be a detox if you would just tell me you want to be with me," she whispered this time under her breath.

"Can we please not start this up again . . ." he murmured quietly.

"Yeah, anything you want, Nicholas." She enclosed her arms around herself, fending of Nick's protective shell and surrounding herself in her own bubble.

Nick shook his head lightly and turned over, his back facing hers as he feigned to find sleep once again. He tossed and turned unable to find a comfortable spot or maybe it was the fact that Miley wasn't close to him anymore.

"Why do you keep moving?" Miley asked a second later when Nick rearranged his pillow once again.

He shifted restlessly and turned over, this time facing her as he jammed his hand under his pillow. His eyebrows furrowed and he let out a heavy sigh, "I just can't sleep anymore."

Frowning, Miley reached out and traced the dark circles under his eyes. "But you're tired."

"I know."

Looking down, she stared at his shirt covered chest and then back at his tired eyes. "Do you want to hold me?"

"Yes," he wanted to scream out, but didn't. "Do you want me to hold you?" He asked her instead.

Miley's stomach tightened as she felt the butterflies flutter around. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and nodded slightly. "I can't sleep either."

Nick quickly obliged and wrapped his arms around her petite waist, tucking her body against his. "You're beautiful." He murmured and lavished butterflies kisses all over her face. His lips tingled and he pulled back to look into those magnificent eyes of hers. "How does someone become so beautiful?" He asked.

Miley chuckled softly and brushed her lips against the side of his jaw as she pushed him against the arm, "you make me feel beautiful." Her hand slipped under his shirt and she skimmed over his abs before caressing his bare back.

It was Nick's turn to laugh now as he kissed her tenderly. "Someone doesn't know how to keep their hands to themselves." He whispered against her ear. Miley shuddered and retracted her hands from underneath his shirt. He instantly felt the loss of contact and enveloped his arms around her tighter before she had a chance to squirm away. "I love you."

"You should sleep, Nick," Miley whispered and closed her eyes, laying her head on his chest and feeling the rapid tattoo of his heartbeat under her cheek. She wondered if she was the one causing the erratic rhythm.

.twentyone.

"Well, this is awkward." Mikayla thought to herself the next morning when she sat face to face with Nick's father. Did she forget to mention that Nick wasn't there? His father informed her when she had came down that he had stayed the night at Miley's and then offered her some eggs. She dragged her fork across the plate, the loud scraping noises filling the quiet atmosphere of the kitchen as she finished her eggs.

"I suppose you're going over to Miley's?"

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not sure if it was the wooden stool or the thought of hanging out with both Nick and Miley. "Actually, I think I'm just going to stay here until Nick comes back over or something. I wouldn't want to intrude or anything," she explained and he nodded simply.

"Well, I'm heading over in an hour to watch the game with Billy, so if you change your mind or anything, I wouldn't mind being your escort over," he chuckled and she smiled forcibly in return.

"Thank you for breakfast," she said once more, tucking her dark mocha locks behind her ear as Paul got up and disappeared into the living room. Deciding it would kill some time, she washed the dishes and utensils she used. Glancing at the clock hanging on the painted walls, she figured Nick would be up by 11 and be back over.

Passing Paul, who was sitting in the living room watching the news, she slipped back up the stairs to the guest bedroom, but her path was directed another direction when she noticed Nick's bedroom door opened ajar. Not able to resist the temptation of taking a peek, she brushed the door open; thanking God that he didn't have a squeaky door.

"Oh wow," she whispered when she stepped in. "His room looks so boring," she mumbled as she walked around in the small space. She looked at the sports posters he had up of his favorite baseball players and rolled her eyes. That boy had an unhealthy baseball addiction. She leafed through a few books he had laid out on his desk, her fingers stopping abruptly at a framed photo of Nick and Miley from their childhood.

Her heart seem to pinch a little and she flipped the framed photo over, so that it faced the table. She sat down on his bed next, rubbing her palms into her eyes tiredly. She knew Nick loves Miley, but what she didn't get was why he hadn't asked her to be his wife yet. Was he beginning to get second thoughts? Her heart seemed to flutter at that, but she knew that was wishful thinking on her part.

She shook her head at herself and laced her fingers into her hair, combing out the numerous tangles. Nick only liked her as a friend; that she knew was concrete. But she could change that . . . if she really wanted to.

a/n: Holy cow, it's almost been a year since I updated. I seriously like gave up on Fanfiction. I'm probably going to stop writing Rumors—well, I actually already have—since I've lost inspiration. I seem to with my Nemi stories, lol, go figure. I also had a major writer's block at the end of the last chapter, so I thought I was going to stop writing this story as well. I was actually going through my word documents earlier tonight and renaming them and I happened to open up this story and I was just rereading the last few lines and remembering how I got writer's block and then I just started writing again, and BAM, I finished up a chapter. I mean, yeah, it's really short, but I think I have a plot planned out in my head now, so who knows? School ends in less than a month for me, so maybeeeee? I don't want to say I am and then disappear for 8 months because that's probably what will happen. And my laptop sorta like crashed and burned a week ago, so I need to get that fixed as well… Until next time, I love you all! Reviews?