Lilly went through her dresser, pulling out some t-shirts and neatly putting them in her suitcase before she turned to her closet and pulled a couple pairs of jeans and some hoodies off some hangars and putting them in on top of her t-shirts. After three days of arguing, begging, complaining, and crying, she had finally convinced her mom to let her go to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with the conditions that she would keep up with her schoolwork, not be a nuisance to the Stewarts, and call at least twice a day.

"Lillian! Come down for dinner!" her mom yelled up the stairs. The blonde sighed and checked off some items on her checklist of things to pack before going downstairs to the dining room. The table was set for five, which confused Lilly. It was just the two of them.

"Who's coming over?" she asked.

"I invited the Stewarts," her mom said, setting a basket of bread on the table and going into the kitchen. "They're going through a lot right now and I thought that it would be helpful if they didn't have to cook dinner once this week, let alone cook dinner for an extra person." She came back into the dining room with two more baskets of bread and fixed an accusing gaze on Lilly as she set them on the table.

"Mr. Stewart was begging me to come over for dinner," Lilly whined. "He said that Miley wouldn't eat without me there and she… well, she needs to eat, Mom. If there's something I can do to help her get better, than I'm going to do it."

Her mom sighed as she went back into the kitchen only to come out a few seconds later with a large bowl of spaghetti. "I just don't want you to get hurt, Lilly," she said softly, setting the bowl down on the table and wiping her hands on her pants. "Look, I know that Miley is going through a really hard time right now and that she needs you, but do you really have to be dating her when there's a chance that she might…?" She trailed off.

"Die?" Lilly asked, laughing humorlessly. "Or would you prefer 'pass away,' Mom? You have an awfully weird way of showing that you don't want me to be too close to Miley, inviting her family over for dinner and all. I love her, Mom, and nothing, nothing, is ever going to keep me from wanting to be with her. And as long as she wants me, I'm going to be right by her side every single second I possibly can. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish packing for my trip with my girlfriend."

She ran up the stairs, tears streaming down her face as she slammed her bedroom door shut behind her. The doorbell rang and she curled up in the corner of her room, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her face in her jeans as she sobbed. There was a knock on the door and she heard it open. Someone sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. Lilly looked up to see Miley sitting next to her, a pair of sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lilly said quickly, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her hoodie and blinking rapidly to try to keep from letting any more tears leak onto her face. A hurt look flickered across Miley's face.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" she asked softly. "And yes, I know that you don't want to hurt me because I might have cancer, but… Lilly, I don't want you to be hiding stuff from me. I know what my dad said about being strong for me and all, but that's not how a relationship is supposed to be. We're equal, baby, and I want it to stay like that."

"My mom…" Lilly murmured, cuddling into Miley's side and letting her tears start to flow again. Miley pulled her closer and let her cry. "She… she wants me to break up with you because she's afraid… she thinks that you're going to die and… she said that she doesn't want me to get hurt, but I know that she's just jealous because I've been spending more time with you than I have been with her and I've always spent more time with you than her."

"Should you really be coming to Texas…?"

"I'm coming," Lilly said harshly, regretting it when she saw Miley wince from the loud sound. "Sorry, but… I have to come, Miley. If something happened… I don't know if I could stand being away from you that long when there's so much potential for you to get hurt or… or…."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," Miley whispered, burying her face in Lilly's hair. "I'm going to be fine and this is all going to be okay. Now how about you come downstairs so we can start dinner. Or we could stay up here and make Jackson wait to eat. Either one will make me happy."

Lilly laughed through her tears. "I love you so much," she whispered, pulling away from Miley so she could lean forward and kiss her gently. "Come on, let's go downstairs so we don't keep your brother waiting. You know how he can be when he isn't fed when he's hungry, and I don't want to have to deal with that right now."

"Wait, Lilly, can you… just promise me one thing?" Miley asked as Lilly stood up. The blonde looked down at her, taking her by the hand and helping her to her feet and nodding in agreement to whatever Miley was going to request of her. "Promise me that you won't let me come between you and your mother. There is nothing in the world that should ever separate the two of you and it can be extremely painful to lose your mother. Promise me that."

The blonde closed her eyes and sighed. "Miley, honey, I need you to understand something," she said softly as she ran a hand through her hair. "My mother and I… we don't always get along, but one way or the other, we always make up after our fights. Sometimes we stay mad at each other longer than other times, but we always forgive and forget. And this is something that I will not give ground on. I love you, Miley, and if my mom doesn't accept that, then she's going to have to learn to deal with it. And I know that this is a sensitive topic because of what happened to your mom, but you have to understand that I am not going to give up my relationship with you simply because my mother told me to."

"If something happens to your mom…" Miley started.

"I know that you lost your mom and that you don't want that to happen to me, but please let me deal with this," Lilly whispered. "My mom and I have a… complicated relationship. Maybe I'll explain it to you sometime, but I'm just going to let things take their course. We still love each other, Miles; we just don't agree on something right now. Yes, we disagree, but we'll work it out. Now you promise me that you won't worry your pretty little head over this."

Miley looked at her warily. "You and your mom will still talk to each other?" she asked doubtfully.

"Of course we will," Lilly assured her. "Just because we got in an argument doesn't mean that we'll cut off all communication with each other. Do you want to know what we do? We usually take a mini vacation, like I'll go over to your house for a sleepover or I'll hang out with Oliver for a day and she'll go out with some of her friends, then we'll talk it out after we've calmed down. Because if we try to discuss it while one of us is still upset, then both of us will just get angrier at the other person."

There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Lilly's mother standing on the threshold. "Is everything okay up here?" she asked softly. "Jackson is getting hungry and I thought that you two would appreciate if I came up here rather than him. Is there something I can get you, Miley?"

"No, I'm fine," the brunette answered with a small smile. "Just talking to Lilly here. We'll be down in a few minutes."

"Okay, girls, try to be quick, though, because everyone is hungry," her mom whispered before leaving and shutting the door softly behind her.

"See, everything is fine," Lilly whispered, kissing her softly. "Now are you ready to go down or do you want to stay up here for a little longer? You could help me finish packing."

"Let's go down," Miley decided, reaching down and taking Lilly's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. "I don't want to make Jackson wait any longer." Lilly smiled as Miley brought her hand to her mouth and kissed it gently before they made their way downstairs.

Jackson, Mr. Stewart, and Lilly's mom were already sitting at the table and two spots right next to each other had been left open for Lilly and Miley. The girls sat down and Mr. Stewart nodded at Jackson, who immediately dished a pile of spaghetti onto his place, poured sauce over it, and took three pieces of bread. Lilly looked over at Miley to see the brunette shaking her head in embarrassment.

"So, what are the sunglasses for, Miley?" Lilly's mom asked, trying to start up a conversation. Lilly looked at her with wide eyes.

"My eyes are very sensitive to light," Miley said shortly. Lilly reached under the table and squeezed the brunette's hand reassuringly before reaching for the bowl of spaghetti and serving Miley some before she served some for herself. Miley smiled at Lilly and nodded in thanks, pouring sauce over her spaghetti. Lilly reached for the bread and grabbed herself three slices and Miley two.

"So when are you leaving for Texas?" Lilly's mom asked.

Lilly stood up, clenching her teeth angrily as she shot a glare at her mother. She didn't know how she could be so tactless. "I hate you," she muttered before running out of the room.

"Lilly!" her mom yelled, standing up and calling after her.

"Don't yell," Miley whimpered, covering her ears.

The blonde stomped up the stairs and into her room, slamming her door shut behind her. She kicked her bed savagely, taking her suitcase from her bed and throwing it to the floor. Everything scattered all over her floor and she fell to her knees when she realized what she had done, tears streaming down her face. Righting her suitcase, she quickly put everything back in as neatly as she could and finished putting everything she would need inside.

Grabbing her book bag, she stuffed all of her schoolbooks inside and swung it onto her back. Taking hold of her suitcase, she yanked her door open and dragged her suitcase downstairs. Her mother was standing at the bottom of the stairs, her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. "Lillian Anne Truscott, what do you…?"

"I'm leaving," Lilly snapped, cutting her mom off. "I'm going with the Stewarts and there's nothing you can do to stop me. The plane leaves tomorrow morning. Don't count on a goodbye."

Thank you for the reviews from TheBoredOne85, liarforthis, ScorpioP, Sophi20, and AlvinFan07. You guys are awesome. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

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