Hannah Montana took a deep breath and opened the door to the suite. She had to go in alone, those were the conditions of the meeting. She had no choice.

Waiting in the room was Mikayla, sitting comfortably in an almost throne-like chair and flanked by her entourage: London Tipton, those twins and their mother, plus some others that Hannah didn't recognize.

None of them looked welcoming.

"I came to apologize," Hannah began. "I--"

"Silence," Mikayla declared imperiously. "You may not speak until I give you leave. Now…kneel before me."

Hannah did a double take. Since when did Mikayla talk like that? And kneeling? Was she serious?

"Big-headed rival say what?"

Mikayla's response was to snap her fingers. The twins rushed forward and grabbed Hannah's arms, forcing her to the ground. The shocked pop star struggled and cried for help.

"You don't get it, do you?" Mikayla asked, sounding a little more like her normal self. "I'm the one everyone loves now. You're nothing."

As Hannah continued to struggle, one of the twins grabbed her by the hair, not knowing that is was a wig. When it came off, a collective gasp of surprise sounded.

Oh no," the now revealed Miley Stewart cried.

The look of shock on Mikayla's face turned into anger. "You! You were Hannah?!"

Before Miley could respond, Mikayla's anger unexpectedly vanished and the girl began laughing.

"I was wrong," she said as her laughter died down. "You're not nothing. You're less than nothing." She snapped her fingers once more. "Get her out of my sight."

The humiliated Miley was hauled roughly to her feet, but instead of being dragged to the door, the twins adjusted their grip and lifted her up. Then they started running towards the window.

"What?" a disbelieving Miley yelled. "NOOO!!!"

But her terrified scream did nothing to stop her from being thrown through the window. She could barely feel the multiple cuts and gashes from the broken glass…being far more preoccupied with her twenty story free fall towards the hard unforgiving, pavement below.

"NOOOO!!!!"

"Miley! Miley! Wake up!"

When she opened her eyes, Miley saw her father and Lily at her bedside.

"Must have been some nightmare," Robbie Ray commented as he laid a reassuring hand on his daughter's shoulder. "You okay?"

Coming back to her senses, Miley's terror was replaced with embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm sorry for waking you guys up."

They were all in a suite at the Tipton. They'd arrived late and checked in quietly under a false name. No need for the press to know that Hannah Montana was now in the same building as Mikayla.

After some further talk to convince Lily and her father that she was fine, the lights were turned off and everyone tried to get back to sleep. For Miley, this was not an easy task. She kept wondering about when and how she'd meet with Mikayla…and what the outcome of that meeting would be.

Cody was still in Mikayla's suite, still on her couch, with the beautiful singer still in his arms. As he looked into her eyes his mind flashed back to the first time he'd been alone with her in this suite. As good as that night had been, this was better.

Because now there were no signs of insecurity or desperation in his girlfriend's eyes. She wasn't the same lost and hurt soul that he'd met at the beginning of the summer. Now she was truly happy. And why shouldn't she be? She was getting everything she'd ever wanted.

And at the moment, it was very clear that she wanted Cody.

"Are you sure?" he asked, part of him thinking that it was a little late to start discussing how far they planned to go, seeing as how they were both already half-naked.

"Are you?" she replied.

Cody didn't want to delay in answering and give Mikayla the wrong impression. In fact, almost every instinct he had was screaming at him to stop talking and start helping Mikayla get from a half-naked state to a fully nude one. Still, part of his mind was throwing up a few arguments. The most convincing of which was: shouldn't we put a little more thought or planning into our first time?

"I--" he began, but was interrupted by a knock on Mikayla's door.

"Oh no!" both teens gasped in unison as their eyes turned to the clock. Cody and Mikayla were not supposed to be alone in her suite this late, and both of them were apprehensive that it might be Carey on the other side of the door. As the two scrambled to get dressed, another knock sounded.

"Hide," Mikayla whispered as she headed for the door. Cody looked around in a slight panic before running to the bathroom.

As it happened, it was Carey at the door.

"What's up?" Mikayla asked, doing a horrible job of trying to sound casual.

"Sorry to bother you," Carey answered in a friendly tone. "Just stopping by to say hello." Then she gave the teen a parental look. "Is Cody here?"

"Umm…" Mikayla hesitated. She didn't like lying to Carey but she didn't see much choice. "He was. We didn't realize how late it was. He was helping me with song ideas." She went and grabbed the list she'd made earlier. "See?"

Carey took the list and looked it over for a moment. Then she turned her attention back to the girl. "So Cody left when he realized how late it was?"

"Just a little while ago," she replied.

Carey smiled. "I know you probably think I'm being too nosey, but I appreciate you and Cody sticking to the rules I put down. I know how it feels to be young and…" she trailed off as she gazed over Mikayla's shoulder. "Is that your bra on the floor?"

Mikayla looked over and saw the dropped article of clothing. Quickly she snatched it up and held it behind her back.

"I'm such a slob," she said nervously. "Boy, I'm glad Cody didn't see that when he was here. Talk about embarrassing."

Carey was silent for a while as she looked at the teen. She cared a great deal about Mikayla and did think that she and Cody made a wonderful pair. But at the same time it was sometimes still hard to accept that her sons were becoming men.

"For my own peace of mind, I'm going to believe that you're a slob," she finally said. "And that's alright since I know you have other good qualities…like being careful and responsible."

Mikayla didn't miss how Carey stressed the last three words.

"I try to be," the girl responded. "And so does Cody."

Carey then bid the girl goodnight and left. Cody came out of hiding.

"I need to get going," he said.

"I know."

The two kissed and then Cody made his exit.

The next morning, Mr. Moseby was behind the front desk and in a fairly content mood. While there were still crowds of reporters and fans outside the hotel, the lobby was quiet and peaceful. The increased security he'd hired were doing their job well.

Hopefully this will be a nice calm day with no surprises, he thought.

Of course, that was the moment that one of the elevators opened its door to reveal three people he'd seen before. It was Hannah Montana, along with her manager and her friend Lola.

"Hi Mr. Moseby," she said. "Nice to see you again."

Being so surprised, it took the man a moment to respond. "Yes, thank you. But when did you arrive?"

Hannah explained that she'd arrived the other night and checked in under an assumed name.

"Well, allow me to give you a belated welcome," he said politely. "If there's anything you require during your stay here, please let me know."

Hannah couldn't help but note that the hotel manager's demeanor was not as warm or enthusiastic as it had been in their previous encounters. He was still friendly, but he didn't seem especially pleased to see her.

"I could use your help," she explained. "I came here to see Mikayla."

"To apologize?" Moseby replied.

The pop star nodded. "I haven't been able to reach her, so we came all this way so I could do it in person." She paused. "I feel really bad about what's happened."

Mr. Moseby seemed to consider the matter for a moment before responding. "I can give Mikayla the message that you're here. I'd prefer that any meeting between the two of you take place in private. The press has been very intrusive here of late and I wouldn't want a huge spectacle to take place in my hotel."

"That's what I want too," Hannah assured him.

And so Moseby confirmed which room Hannah was in and promised that he'd inform Mikayla.

The Tipton lounge wouldn't open for Mikayla's afternoon show for a few hours yet, but it was still being put to use. Carey and James Lafayette were looking over the list of songs Mikayla had written last night. Meanwhile the young singer was getting ready to run through a couple of them.

"The girl has excellent taste in music," Lafayette commented as he read the list. "I'm surprised though. I think every song she's picked is from before she was born."

"They're all favorites of mine," Carey explained. "Before Mikayla came to the Tipton she hadn't been exposed to a great variety of music. I tried to help her with that."

"I'd say you were a very good influence then," he replied with a smile. He knew he was becoming hopelessly smitten with Carey. He just wished he could tell what kind of impression he was making on her.

"I try," she replied. "She's a great girl." Her expression became very serious. "I'm going to be straight with you. Mikayla's old manager didn't do right by her. You seem like a nice guy, but I want you to know that I'm going to be watching you. If you start to steer her wrong, you and I are going to have problems."

"I appreciate your honesty," he said. "You can trust me when I say that I'm only going to act in Mikayla's best interests. And I certainly don't want to have any problems with you." He paused. "That's absolutely the last thing I'd want."

Carey couldn't help but notice the look in his eyes. "Mr. Lafayette--"

"I thought I asked you to call me Jim," he interrupted.

"Jim, I--" But once again she was interrupted, this time by Mikayla.

"I'm ready to go whenever," the girl called out from the stage.

Carey and Jim waved for her to go ahead, and Mikayla begin to sing.

To be continued...

author's note: Hope you liked this chapter. I've been having a bit of a struggle with writer's block this week. But anyway…what happens next? Will Mikayla meet wiith Hannah? Will the press find out? What was Carey going to say to Jim? Will Mikayla lose her bra again? Who knows? But stay tuned as Zack and Cody talk about sex. (?) Please review.