Author's Note: Wow, I'm thrilled that so many people are enjoying the story so far! Thank you for leaving your reviews, because they really do put a smile on my face when I know I'm giving people a good story. For those of you interested in just how Miley could be pregnant with Lilly's baby, I'm giving you a flashback in the first part of this chapter as to exactly when they conceived their baby; this flashback was first presented as one of Miley's special dreams in Chapter 5 of my story "As I Am, I Take Thee," if it looks familiar to some of you.
I want to thank Mephisto20100 for pointing out concerns with the timing of Miley's pregnancy. Miley and Lilly do indeed still take their studies seriously, and they've planned out the timing of the pregnancy closely. Given a typical forty week gestation time, that's ten months, not the nine that most people assume. Taking that into account, that puts Miley's due date in the second week of June, well after graduation in early May. The five-year plan is also important at this point, because it lets them carry a lighter class load in these last two semesters to lighten the burden of classwork at this point. As far as the Mrs. Truscotts are concerned, they've waited long enough to make a baby, and they're sure as heck not waiting any longer than absolutely necessary. Now, they are taking a bit of a chance in one way with the timing. If need for an early delivery arose, that would indeed throw off their last semester, so we just have to keep our fingers crossed that things go smoothly for the baby and the mommies.
RagnarWolf asks a terrific question about how Lola's wigs work when it comes to her movies. The two movies that Lola has acted in so far have indeed allowed her to wear one of her Lola wigs in her roles, so that's not as much of an issue. This upcoming movie, however, caused a bit of worry in the young Truscotts' household. The girls debated letting Lilly use her natural hair at first, but the risk of her being recognized was just too darn high. What they decided upon was to use a different wig, shorter and with darker hair, that looked quite realistic and seemed very believable for a veteran of combat. To help pull that off, Lilly had to bring along her own "assistant" to help with making sure no one messed with her "working wig" or saw her real hair. It was quite convenient that Luanne had graduated from college a year early, because that freed up Lola's assistant Anna Lee nicely! And to further make people think that Lola's wigs are her "real" hair color, Lilly and Luanne used the same color Lola wig (green) for two months of shooting, then changed it to a different Lola color (purple) for another month, and finally to a third Lola color (fire-engine red) to give the illusion that she really did dye her hair all those colors.
Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!
We Got Nerve
by Jo P.
Chapter 2: What We Make It
Life's what you make it
So let's make it right
Life's what you make it
So come on (come on)
Let's celebrate it
Join in everyone
You decide (you decide)
'Cause life ('cause life)
Is what you make it
--Hannah Montana, "Life Is What You Make It"
As Miley and Lilly rode the elevator down to the private garage level, they quietly held hands and braced for the shockwave that they knew would hit them any minute. When the elevator doors opened, they quickly walked over to Miley's electric blue Tesla Roadster where it was charging at the power station installed just for it.
"I guess we ought to leave Gumdrop here for a bit longer, huh?" Miley asked her wife, running her fingers over the slick hood of her car.
Lilly smiled wistfully as she rubbed Miley's back. "Yeah, she'll be okay. And taking her out right now probably wouldn't be too good an idea. Not after our little announcement. Everybody with a camera is gonna be looking for us, and the press knows Hannah drives this car."
Miley sighed loudly, then she looked up at her best friend. "She'll be okay," she said, as much to convince herself as it was for anyone else. "And driving Stella back home is definitely the smartest way to go."
As they walked a few parking spaces over, they looked around carefully before Miley tapped in the code on the driver's door keypad of the black Roadster, unlocking the vehicle. They quickly got into the car and closed the doors, then in less than a minute they shed their wigs, removed their Hannah and Lola outfits and put on simple t-shirts and shorts. As Miley started the car and began retracting the roof, Lilly stuffed their wigs and clothes into the simple backpack in the floorboard. "You think I ought to duck down as you pull out, so they only see one girl in the car?" Lilly asked Miley, getting a nod in reply. "Legs'll be sore for the rest of the night," she grumbled as she crouched down into the floorboard.
"What was that?" Miley said loudly as they approached the exit on the side opposite the main plaza.
However, judging by the grin on her face, Lilly suspected that Miley had heard her all too clearly. "I said, you better give me a nice, long massage when we get home!" Lilly said, and she was quite sure that was loud enough for Miley to hear.
A little over a minute after they left the private parking garage, Miley motioned for Lilly to climb back up into her seat. Lilly made a show of slowly uncoiling herself from her crouch and sliding into her seat. She buckled her seat belt as the wind began to whip through her long blonde hair. "We clear?" she asked.
"Yeah," Miley nodded. "Got one van that started to follow us, but after a few seconds they must have decided that one brunette in a convertible couldn't have anything to do with two media darlings who just exploded a ratings bomb."
"Oh snap Miles!" Lilly said, getting a funny look from Miley. "We forget to turn our cell phones back on!" She gave a worried look to Miley, who returned that worried look with interest.
"I'm driving," Miley finally said, keeping her eyes on the road. "I can't be distracted."
"You got me there," Lilly said, smiling as she pulled her cell phone out of her backpack and powered it on. After a few seconds, she said, "Wow. That was fast."
"What?"
"Seven new messages," Lilly said. "In, what, the thirty minutes that we had our phones turned off?"
"Honey," Miley said, "I betcha those seven messages came in the last five minutes, not the last thirty."
When they had first realized that Miley was pregnant, the two of them had been faced with a Gordian Knot of a dilemma: who would they tell first? That was the kind of problem that had no real good answer. No matter whom they picked, it meant that several other family members and friends would feel slighted. After a week of thinking about the situation, Miley had come up with an idea.
They had gone to a bridal boutique and ordered a pack of customized announcements, with their names and the baby's estimated due date engraved on each announcement. The announcements were sealed in individual envelopes, then the sealed envelopes were placed into slightly larger mailing envelopes, along with a note instructing the recipient to not open the inner envelope until a very specific date and time: exactly fifteen minutes before Hannah and Lola had scheduled their press conference on that very same date. That way all their family and friends would know before the big announcement, but not in time to potentially throw off the timing of the meeting with Dyseni Records or the press conference.
Right before they went into the meeting, Miley and Lilly had turned off their cell phones to put off the flood of calls they knew the announcements would trigger. But now it was time to start talking with everyone, and there would probably still be some ruffled feathers that would need soothing.
"Wow, five new text messages, too," Lilly said. She began flipping through them. "Ha! First one's from your niece Peyton. That girl's fast."
"What is it?"
"Umm, she says, 'About time.' Oh, and the next one's from Melody." There was a pause, then Lilly suddenly laughed, "HA!"
"What?" Miley asked, glancing at Lilly.
"She says that we have her permission to name the baby after her," Lilly said with a grin. "That girl is something else."
Miley and Lilly were still very close with their "nieces" Peyton and Melody Burns, now fourteen and twelve respectively. Melody had a birthday coming up in just a few weeks, and Miley and Lilly had offered to fly the girls out to Malibu to spend a week with them right before Christmas, then they'd all fly back to Misty Hollow to spend Christmas in Tennessee. That continued to be a tradition that both Lilly and Miley loved, for many reasons.
"Uh oh," Lilly said, grimacing as she began listening to the voice mail messages. She paused, then she looked over at Miley. "Mamaw."
Now Miley also grimaced. Her grandmother's reaction was the one that she was most frightened of, because her temper was well-known. "How loud is she yelling?" Miley asked, but she really didn't want to know.
Lilly didn't answer for a minute, then she snapped the phone closed. She turned to look at her best friend again and said, "Wow. She said that she'd forgive us if we called her and told her all the details as soon as we got home."
"Really?" Miley said, her voice shocked. "Heck, I was expectin' a lot worse."
"Well, she also said that if we didn't call her and give her all the details that she'd fly out her on her broken leg and make our lives a living hell until the baby was born, then she'd whip us both within an inch of our lives."
Miley nodded. "Yep, that sounds more like my Mamaw."
Once they had made it back to their house and parked the inky black Roadster in the carport, Lilly grabbed the backpack while Miley plugged the electric car into the charging station. "So are we calling your Mamaw first?" Lilly asked as they unlocked the back door and walked inside. But before Miley could answer, the ringing of the doorbell drew their attention. "Who the heck could that be?" Lilly asked. Miley shrugged her shoulders as Lilly hurried to the door. She unlocked the door and opened it to reveal her rather angry-looking parents. "Mom? Dad?" she asked, confused.
"Is this how we raised you, Lillian?" said her mother hotly. "We find out that we're going to be grandparents from a note rather than from you directly?"
Lilly stepped back, letting her parents come inside. "That isn't how we intended it to come across, Mom, really! I mean, we knew that as soon as we told somebody first, everybody else would be mad that they weren't the first ones we told! By using the invitations, everybody found out at the same time."
"But it was so impersonal!" Meredith continued. "I mean, a mother should find out news like this from—"
"Stop," said Miley quietly but firmly as she stepped in front of her wife, interposing herself between Lilly and Meredith. "Here," she said as she took Meredith's hand and gently pressed it against her stomach. She looked into her mother-in-law's eyes and said, "That's your granddaughter in there, Meredith. Does it really matter how you found out, or is it more important to just know she's there?"
Meredith looked down at Miley's abdomen, at how her daughter-in-law's hand held her own hand firmly in place, then she looked back up into bright blue eyes so much like her daughter's. She felt herself smile, then she said, "You're right, Miley." She looked over Miley's shoulder to her daughter and softly said, "I'm sorry, Lilly. Please forgive me. I was just upset when I realized you were telling us news this important through a note rather than face-to-face."
"But we couldn't tell everyone the big news face-to-face all at once," Lilly said, still a bit stung by her mother's reproach. "And we thought this was a good idea, so nobody would find out after anyone else."
"It was a good idea, Lilly," Phil said, hugging his daughter and then pulling Miley into the hug as well. "And we're both so happy that we can't see straight!"
"Okay," Miley said, extricating herself after several seconds. "Now we need to call my daddy and my Mamaw, or there's gonna be trouble for my woman and me."
Lilly grinned as she picked up the house phone. "Yeah, Mamaw Stewart is wanting a personal announcement too," she said to her parents as she dialed the number to Ruthie Stewart's house. She held the phone to her ear, and after just a second or two she said, "Mamaw? Hey, this is Lilly." She smiled, then she said, "You're going to be a great-grandmother! Please don't be too upset about the announcement, but Miley and I thought that by sending all the announcements out and having everyone open them at the same time that no one would feel like somebody else got told before they did." She listened for a minute, then she slowly turned and walked slowly across the room. "Yes, we can now see that maybe it wasn't the best idea—in fact my parents are over here right now telling us that—but we didn't mean to upset anybody. And we're telling you now." Lilly slowly turned back around, and she was smiling again. "Okay. We love you too. Can you please put Robbie Ray on the phone? I want Miley to tell him." Lilly held the phone out to Miley. "Here hon."
Miley hurried over and grabbed the phone. "Daddy?" she asked. "Hey." She swallowed, her throat suddenly tight. "I'm..." She felt Lilly rub her back, and that seemed to ease the pressure in her chest. "Lilly and me, we're gonna have a baby. You're gonna be a granddaddy!" She just listened for a bit, and she felt the tears start to build as Lilly guided her over to the couch and sat down with her. "Yep, about the second week of this comin' June, according to this last ultrasound. That way we should be through with school and have a few weeks to make sure everything's in order." Lilly leaned in and quickly kissed Miley on the cheek, putting a bigger smile on her wife's face. "Daddy, let me call you back a bit later. We've still got a few other people to call and tell personally. I love you."
"And I love him too," Lilly said, poking Miley's leg with her index finger.
"And Lilly loves you too," Miley added. She nodded at his reply, then she said, "Bye!" and hung up the phone. "He said he loves you and to tell you congratulations."
Lilly wrapped her arms around Miley and pulled her wife closer to her, nearly toppling her over as Lilly leaned back across the couch. "We're gonna have a baby, Miles," she said softly. "We really are."
"Yeah, but we've still got a ways to go, girlfriend. This little girl has to bake for about seven or eight more months!" Miley said, sitting back up. She started to dial on the phone again. "I need to tell Jackson and Kaela, then you can call Ron and Lu."
"Sounds good to me, hon," Lilly replied, giving her parents a smile. She saw that the two of them were sitting in the love seat beside the couch, their arms around each other. "I love you, Mom, Dad," she said clearly.
"We love you too, Lilly," said Meredith. She smiled and added, "All three of you."
Monday afternoon saw Miley and Lilly sitting in a room with several other women at various stages of pregnancy, flipping through magazines and newspapers.
Miley sighed as she said, "Whoever woulda thought that a baby would stir up so much attention?" She tossed down the newspaper whose headline screamed HANNAH MONTANA PREGNANT! and picked up a magazine that had thankfully come out the week before the big announcement four days ago. "Thank the Lord for somethin' different," Miley said, flipping open the magazine.
"Miley," Lilly said, her voice carrying a hint of warning. "Be nice. People are just really curious about how Hannah and Lola got pregnant." Lilly looked around the waiting room of the UCLA Advanced Fertility Center, where she and Miley had a three o'clock appointment with their fertility specialist. Ever since Hannah and Lola had begun talking four days ago about how the Advanced Fertility Center had used years of research into transformed stem cells to allow the two superstars to conceive a child together, the facility had borne the brunt of a swell of publicity. The phones hadn't stopped ringing for the twenty minutes the two of them had been there.
Miley smiled at Lilly as she softly asked, "You remember back in August when we made this little girl?"
Lilly grinned and replied, "Like it was yesterday." Miley leaned her head against Lilly, and she did the same as they both closed their eyes and thought back. What was so striking about their memory was how the experience overlapped with the dream they had shared five years ago about their daughter's conception, with them recalling both the sensation of being in the dream as well as the tingling that indicated they were sharing their experience with their earlier dreaming selves. It sometimes made it difficult to know which Miley and Lilly were in control during that shared experience, but it added a rich layer to the memory that neither of them would trade for anything.
"This table is cold," Miley grumbled. "And my butt's cold, too."
"Oh Miley, stop whining," Lilly said playfully. "You know how much we both want... this..." She looked around, trying to determine where she was. She felt Miley squeeze her hand suddenly.
"Lil?" Miley's voice said, uncertain and shaky.
"Yeah, Miles?"
"What are-- WHOA!!" she yelled as a woman in a white lab coat stood up from between her legs, prompting a shriek from Lilly as well. A peach-colored drape had hidden her until she stood.
"Oh my gosh, you scared us to death!" Lilly said, her heart racing as fast as Miley's She looked around at the sterile-looking room filled with cabinets, counters and various pieces of equipment, finally taking in the woman standing in front of them. She was a bit taller than either of them, looked to be in her late thirties, and wore a lab coat and goggles.
The older woman grinned and said, "Did you forget I was there?" She smiled gently at them and said, "It's okay, lots of couples get nervous at this point."
Lilly looked down at the drape covering Miley's waist and legs, finally realizing they were in a doctor's office, with Miley in position for a pelvic exam or procedure. "Miley, are you okay?" she asked. "Does this feel, um, like a dream to you?" she asked, winking an eye for emphasis.
Miley nodded her head. "Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. C'mere." Lilly leaned down so Miley could whisper in her ear. "Night before our wedding?" she whispered.
Lilly nodded. "Yeah. We're dreaming."
Miley smiled, then her smile instantly disappeared as a very, very cold sensation suddenly entered her vagina. "WHOA! What the heck was that?" she said loudly.
A voice came from the other side of the drape. "Miley," the doctor said, "I'm inserting the tubing into your uterus now. It's going to feel a little cold."
"Ya think?!?" Miley practically yelled as her back started to arch off the table. Lilly instantly leaned over and stroked Miley's forehead.
"Shhh," Lilly said, trying to calm her wife down. "Miles, I think I know what's going on."
Miley swung her left arm over and grabbed Lilly's shirt. "Then would ya be good enough to TELL ME?"
Rather than try to pull away, Lilly instead leaned further over until their lips were almost touching. "I think we're getting ready to make a baby," she said with a brilliant smile. She grinned until tears formed in her eyes, making them sparkle a shade of blue that reminded Miley of the blue sky she remembered from her childhood. The blue sky that stood for all the wonder of the world, a world with no limits beyond what a young girl could dream.
"Are we really?" Miley said, the cold and discomfort pushed aside as she focused on her wife's beautiful face. She released Lilly's shirt and instead ran her left hand through Lilly's hair.
"Yes, you are," came the doctor's disembodied voice again. "Mrs. Truscott?"
"Which one?" Miley and Lilly said simultaneously, followed by both of them laughing.
"Sorry," said the doctor, mirth in her voice as well. "Lilly, I meant."
"Yes," Lilly said, taking a step toward the foot of the bed but not releasing Miley.
A hand appeared holding a small cylinder with a green button on one end. "This is yours. The delivery tube is snugly in place in your wife's uterus, and the sperm delivery system is primed and ready."
Lilly gingerly took the cylinder, being careful to hold her thumb above the button without actually contacting it. She looked at Miley and whispered a bit too loudly, "Whose sperm did we use?"
The doctor's head poked above the cover of the drape. "You two really are nervous, aren't you?" she said.
"Yeah, of course we are!" Lilly said. "This IS our first baby, after all." She turned to Miley. "Isn't it?" Miley just shrugged, not offering Lilly much help.
The doctor said, "Lilly, you and Miley have been working with us for several years now. This facility is the most advanced fertility center in the world, and we've spent over a year transforming some of yours and Miley's epithelial cells into stem cells. Once that was done, then we steered a quantity of your re-engineered stem cells, Lilly, into a particular line of development that transformed them into sex cells. Spermatozoa, to be exact. And now we've matured them into a sufficient quantity of sperm to get your wife pregnant." She paused and looked up at them again. "I wanted to thank you two, again. Without your generous support over the years, it would've taken much, much longer for fertility medicine to reach this point. And now we're about to show the world that reverse-engineered stem cells from adult epithelial tissue are a scientifically equal and ethically superior option to embryonic stem cells. In a huge way." Her head once again disappeared behind the drape over Miley's legs. "Now, remember, this might not take on the first try. We have enough sperm engineered for several more tries over the next few days if need be."
Lilly looked down at Miley. "I have the oddest feeling it's going to take this try," she said with a smile on her face.
Miley looked back up at Lilly. "Me too," she said softly. Lilly leaned down and kissed Miley warmly. "Go ahead, Lilly Bear," Miley said in her sultry voice. "Knock me up."
Lilly closed her eyes and kissed Miley deeply, not holding any of her love or passion back. As she felt Miley's hands cup the back of her head and pull their mouths together even more tightly, she lost herself in the pleasure of their kiss. And she hit the green button.
Miley sighed happily as she once again silently thanked God for the opportunity to carry Lilly's baby, her real baby, not the product of someone else's body or genes. This child was a part of both of them, and that was a blessing that still seemed almost like a dream. She took Lilly's hand and held it warmly, her thumb idly caressing the back of Lilly's hand as she flipped through the gossip magazine.
"Miley and Lilly?" called out a nurse wearing pink and lavender scrubs as she opened a door at the front of the waiting area.
Miley and Lilly stood, with Miley grabbing her purse as they did so. "Hey Jessie," they each said as they passed by the young nurse, with Miley stopping at the scale just inside the door.
"This dang thing again, huh?" Miley grumbled as she kicked off her shoes and handed Lilly her purse. "We don't even keep scales in our house."
Lilly smiled at Miley's griping. "Miles, you can't even tell you're pregnant! I mean, your belly hasn't even changed yet. And your weight's been great every time they've weighted you here."
Miley cast a glance at Lilly that was meant to be intimidating, but its impact was shattered when Lilly countered by making a supremely goofy face involving sticking her fingers in her mouth and wiggling her tongue at her best friend. Miley's glower dissolved into a sputtering laugh, then she hopped off the scale and grabbed her girlfriend's hands. "Ooooh, you are so gonna get it!" she said to Lilly, who was twisting in an attempt to break free.
"Alright, you two," Jessie said, "Don't tear the office down." She smiled as she led them back to an exam room, ushering them in once they had arrived.
Lilly plopped down into a chair as Miley hopped up on the exam table, dangling her legs off the side. "So," Lilly asked Jessie as she sat on the stool and rolled over to take Miley's pulse, "you ever get to see Hannah and Lola Montana when they come here?"
Jessie shook her head, still counting the heartbeats. After a few seconds, she wrote down a number on Miley's chart, then she looked at Lilly and said, "No, I've never gotten to see them. Most of us think they come in at night after everybody's gone, with just a handful of people here to take care of them. Nobody'll admit to it, though."
"Looks like that interview with them really stirred up your business here, huh?" Miley asked pleasantly as she dangled her legs off the side of the exam table.
The nurse smiled. "Yeah, it's been pretty crazy the last few days." She moved to the door and said, "Dr. Jensen will be in here in just a minute," as she left the room.
Just a minute later, Miley's Hannah phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and hit the Receive button. "Hello?" She listened, then she said, "Hey Jen! How are things goin'?"
Lilly got up and moved to sit on the exam table beside Miley, trying to listen in on the conversation.
"You got him to set up the concert for us? Awesome!" Miley said excitedly. She turned to Lilly and said, "The guy that Daddy recommended to book and promote the concerts said he'd do it, and the choreographer from my last concert is on board, too!" Miley put the phone back to her face and said, "Jen, you're doing terrific! Any trouble with getting the equipment together?" Miley nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, already owning most of the stuff was a huge plus. We just needed some of the new lighting I was wanting. And you should already have the numbers for the road crew and band so—" Miley grinned. "You rock. So when can we sit down and let me tell 'em what I'm wantin' to do this time? This weekend maybe?"
"Remember," Lilly whispered, "we have the Halloween party not this coming Thursday but the next, on Halloween."
Miley nodded to her wife. "Okay, Jen? Everyone is gonna freak when they hear this, but I'd really like to do the first concert two weeks after Halloween." There was a pause, then Miley said, "Yeah, I know that's really close, but I already have all the songs for the new album done. I've already designed the front and back covers for the album and the CD itself, and now I just need to pick a title for the album. If I like how the printer turns them out, we can send it to press next week. Two or three weeks for pressing CDs, and we can have them in stores a week after that." Miley rolled her eyes, making Lilly giggle. "No, I'm not insane," she said patiently. "Just impatient. I want to get these concerts rolling before I get too big and pregnant to do them. We're not doing that many, just about twelve or fifteen to start with. We might do some more early in 2014, depending on how the pregnancy is going. Oh, and we need to release a single to get things rolling. I think 'Stand Up, Stand Out' would be perfect to kinda bridge between Hannah's regular stuff and the more grown-up sound. Then we could go with 'Rock Your Body' as the second single to really heat things up."
Lilly whispered into Miley's ear, "Miles, don't forget about our school, too. I know you're going to get some credit for your senior marketing project with all this, but I still have my classes and you'll probably have at least one non-marketing class, too."
Miley gave Lilly a thoughtful look, then she picked up Lilly's hand and raised to her lips, giving it a gentle kiss. "Jen? Look, I know you can get this done, and I kinda need to get back to things here. I'll call you tomorrow, 'kay? And we really appreciate everything you're doing and all your hard work. Bye!" She clicked off the phone and dropped it on the coffee table. "Ugh. It was a lot easier letting someone else do all this stuff."
A knock on the door was followed by the entrance of Dr. Jan Jensen, the obstetrician Miley and Lilly had chosen to work with. While she was in her late thirties, she looked significantly younger due to her bright eyes and ready smile. Miley and Lilly had chosen her four years ago to be their fertility specialist as soon as they had met her, and their choice had proven to be an excellent one. They hadn't immediately recognized her as the doctor in their shared dream from several years ago, mainly because her hair was much longer and a different color at their first meeting. Only later, after she had cut and redone her hair several times, did they realize she was indeed the very same doctor present when Lilly impregnated Miley.
"Hello ladies!" said Jan as she came into the room, followed by her nurse Jessie who was pushing a small equipment cart. "How are things going?"
"They're going okay," Miley said. "I've really not been that sick lately, just those two weeks and then almost none since then."
"You're lucky," Jan said as she pulled out the foot of the table, prompting Miley to lie back. She gently lifted Miley's shirt as Lilly moved to the other side of the exam table, watching with a smile as the doctor palpated her wife's abdomen, still not showing any obvious signs of the pregnancy at this early stage.
"Do we get to hear the baby's heartbeat today?" Lilly asked, obviously excited about the possibility of further proof of her daughter's existence.
"I think we can arrange that," Jan said as she picked up the bottle of ultrasound gel resting on the cart. "This is going to be cold, Miley," she said right before she squirted some of the blue gel onto Miley's stomach.
"Whoa!" Miley said, jerking as the liquid hit her skin. "I'd say, cold!"
"Suck it up, Miles," Lilly said playfully, getting a light swat on her hip from her best friend.
"Okay, let's listen to baby's heartbeat," said Jan as she touched the ultrasound wand to Miley's stomach and deftly shifted its position back and forth. It only took a few seconds before the loud, rushing sound of a fetal heart could be crisply heard in the room.
Miley closed her eyes and leaned her head back, resting it on the table as she silently gave thanks that things were going well. By contrast, Lilly's face lit up as she listened. She grabbed Miley's left hand and squeezed it tightly as she said with a reverent voice, "That's our baby, Miley. Our baby." She looked down at Miley and ran her right hand across Miley's forehead, gently moving a few stray bangs out of her friend's face. As Miley opened her eyes and met Lilly's loving gaze, Lilly said in a quiet voice, "We made her, sweetheart. Our love gave this little girl life."
Miley pulled Lilly closer, unable to suppress the shiver that suddenly raced through her body. "Thank you for giving me this amazing, absolutely wonderful gift, Lilly Bear," she said in a voice just louder than a whisper as she hugged her partner in everything.
"My pleasure, Miles," Lilly whispered back. "Thank you for letting me."
Two hours later saw Miley and Lilly return to their house, tired after the doctor's appointment and lunch but thrilled at the chance to hear the life growing inside Miley.
"When can we start to feel her kick?" Lilly asked.
Miley gave her wife a look. "Lil, she's still growin' her little legs. Be patient. You've got tons of time to teach her how to surf and skateboard."
Lilly plopped down onto the couch, sighing loudly. "Patience is not my strong point," she replied.
"That's for sure," mumbled Miley as she sat down next to Lilly, resting her head in Lilly's lap while she also grabbed the remote control and turned on the television. Lilly began to gently run her fingers through Miley's thick chestnut brown hair, carefully working strands of Miley's amazing hair into long braids.
"Mmmm, that feels so good..." Miley said, closing her eyes and relaxing into Lilly's touch.
"Good," said Lilly with a smile, "You need to relax for a bit. We've had a full week so far, and it's important for you and the baby to get your rest."
"Can't rest too much, hon," Miley said, reaching back to run her fingers through Lilly's hair. "I've got a ton of work to do if these concerts are going to happen sometime next month. I have to get the band practicing regularly to learn the new songs, I have to talk to the choreographer and set designer so they can get started with what I want to the concert's look to be, I have to set up some more interviews and some advertising—"
"No," Lilly said firmly, covering Miley's mouth with her left hand. "Your tour band is who you recorded the new songs with, Miles. All of them know what they're doing. Let them have a few days to sharpen back up, sure, but you don't need to go in just yet for that. The advertising and interviews Jen can handle. That's her job. That's what we hired her for. I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't overdo it. Plus you need to come up with a name for the album and the record company, unless you just want to leave it under Hannah's name." Lilly paused, then she sighed and removed her hand from Miley's mouth. "The choreographer and set designer, yeah, you're gonna have to talk to them. You're the only one who really knows what you want when it comes to the set design and layout." Lilly kissed the top of Miley's head. "So what are you thinking about for your concert?"
Miley grinned as she turned around to face her best friend. "I want to put on a show," she said earnestly. "I mean, something even more spectacular than usual. I want people to get there early just to see cool stuff, like maybe videos of new bands, or a booth with little carnival games, or a mini-store that sells all kinds of Hannah and Lola stuff..."
"That sounds cool, Miley!" Lilly said, and she meant it. Apparently her wife had indeed been thinking about exactly what she wanted in terms of a concert experience. "Any ideas on your opening act?"
Miley shook her head, and her grin never flickered. "No opener," she said seriously. "Just me."
Lilly smiled in return, "Well, you know I'll go for that. But won't that put you on the stage for a really long time?"
Miley shook her head. "Nope, not all at once. And that also fits into what I came up with for Hannah's younger fans." She shifted her body position so that she was in more of a sitting position, easing the pressure on her back but sliding into her best friend's lap. "I'm breaking the concert into two separate shows. The first show will start earlier, run about forty-five or fifty minutes, and cover most of Hannah's earlier songs. We have a short intermission, say fifteen or twenty minutes, give people time to go to the bathroom, check out the commons area where the booths and shops are, and we let the parents take the younger kids home. On the way out, we have a place set up for them to turn in part of their ticket, then we get their name and address so we can send them a refund of half of the ticket price. We redo the stage for the second set, which'll be the more grown-up songs and a few of Hannah's old favorites that lend themselves to a sexier treatment." Miley grinned and winked at Lilly, getting a faint blush in response.
"Like, uh, 'See You Again,' maybe?" Lilly asked with a sly smile. "Because you would so totally ooze hotness with a tight black leather miniskirt and some pumps or even boots for that song!"
Miley jerked her head back as she looked into Lilly's eyes. "Are you wantin' people to be lookin' up my skirt, woman?"
Lilly stared back with a defiant look on her face as she replied, "Well, I'd expect you'd be wearing some sensible underwear, like some shorts or something. Because you know somebody'll sneak a camera in."
"Yeah, that's true," Miley said. "And I can always take 'em off later for you," she added with a sneaky grin.
"Exactly," Lilly said, hugging her wife tightly.
As the two young women embraced, Miley shifted so she could lie in Lilly's arms and still look at the picture frame on their coffee table. It had been taken several years ago, but they had printed a new version of it just last month after their little nephew Sam, Kaela and Jackson's son who would turn four in February, had spilled his juice over the table during their visit last month. Some of the juice had seeped into the frame and ruined the previous print, but it had only taken a few minutes to print another glossy 8"x10" from the digital file stored on their computer.
In the picture a very young Miley and Lilly, both just fifteen, were asleep. Miley was lying on the couch with Lilly sitting in a chair next to the couch, her head resting on Miley's stomach. The two girls were holding hands with their left hands, with their right hands in each other's hair, holding on softly but securely. But what truly made the picture was the shared expression of happiness, of pure bliss on each girl's face, only clearly visible when they were both asleep and unable to conceal the growing attraction they had secretly felt for each other. Robbie Ray had held onto that picture for years before he finally showed it to them right before they started college; it had instantly become a favorite of both Miley and Lilly and had earned a permanent place in their house.
"You mind if I take a little nap on you, hon?" Miley asked, her eyes already closed.
Lilly grinned. "Hang on," she said as she slid out from under Miley, climbing over the back of the couch.
"Lilly!" Miley whined loudly, only to quickly be silenced by a soft fleece blanket being dropped on her head. "Mmffmth!" she yelled under the blanket, only to have it snatched off of her.
"You say something?" asked Lilly, grinning down at Miley and her now slightly fuzzed hair. "Thought I'd get us a little cover so I could lay down beside you."
Miley rolled over to look at Lilly, still standing behind the couch, then she rolled back over. "Fine," she said dramatically. "I guess you can lay down with me, then, since you were nice enough to get a blankie for us. But you're gonna burn up, like you always do when you cover up with your clothes on." As Miley felt Lilly's weight once again settle on the couch behind her, she scooted back just slightly. And then her eyes blinked open as she realized that Lilly had absolutely no clothes on whatsoever as she cuddled up behind Miley.
"Who said I was sleeping with my clothes on?" Lilly said softly into Miley's ear before she wrapped her arms around her lover.
Miley grinned as she undid the button and then the zipper on her own jeans. "Works for me," she said as she wiggled out of her pants. Her shirt followed the pants onto the floor, followed by her bra and panties, making a fairly neat pile of clothes in front of the couch.
"I like naps like this," Lilly said as Miley wiggled back against her, their bodies rapidly warming as heat raced from one to another and back again.
"Mmmm, me too," replied Miley as she moved her hair to let Lilly breathe a bit more easily as she settled into position right behind Miley's head. "Me too. Naked naps rule."
Author's Afterword: If you've read all the stories so far, you should recognize the scene in the picture and remember when Robbie Ray took it. If not, go way, way back to the very first story, "You and Me, Together," and start from the beginning. You'll find yourself there very quickly. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and I'll have the next one as soon as I can. Thanks, and I'll see you soon!
-- Jo --