Here's the next chapter. It is, once again, from Lilly's POV.

Lilly's eyes fluttered open and she found herself once again staring at the ceiling of the hospital. She could feel the needles in her left arm, but there was also someone holding her right hand. Hoping that it was her mother, she turned her head to see Miley leaning against her bed, her hand wrapped around Lilly's hand. Realizing that Miley was asleep, Lilly carefully extricated her hand from Miley's grasp and stared at the brunette, wondering what she was doing in her hospital room.

Fear tore through her as she realized that she was in a hospital room. The events of the past few hours came back to her and she sighed in relief when she remembered the doctor saying that the baby was going to be fine. As much as her baby was going to make her life difficult, Lilly still loved her. She was going to try to be the best mother she possibly could.

She once again looked down at Miley and her gaze softened as she saw the peaceful look on Miley's face, so different and so much more welcome than the upset expression she had last seen on her face. Her hair framed her face and a single strand of hair dangled in front of her nose, moving towards and away from her face as she breathed in and out. Lilly caught the hair and gently tucked it behind Miley's ear, marveling at the Tennessee girl's beauty.

It was surprising that, now that Miley had admitted that she liked Lilly, Lilly now realized that she viewed Miley as something more than a friend. When she had touched Miley before, it had been nothing more than a friendly gesture or a way to get her attention. Now when she touched Miley, like now when she was softly tracing the line of her jaw, a slight tingle ran through her whole body, making her feel more alive than she had since… since a long time.

Miley made her feel different from anyone else she had ever been friends with, even Oliver. Oliver was fun to be around, and occasionally he could have his serious moments where he would listen and give good advice, but too much seriousness could depress him. With Miley… Miley could go for days without laughing just so she could listen to you and make you feel like you were being heard. She found ways to make you laugh when you thought there was no joy left in the world. And when she walked into a room, she lit it up just by smiling.

And she was the most beautiful girl… no the most beautiful person Lilly had ever seen in her life. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing her smooth face with her brilliant sea green eyes, her perfect nose, and her lips that almost always sported a teasing half-smile. She was thin, but strong, not particularly caring about what she looked like but caring enough about her health to eat moderately healthy and to workout at least six days a week. And when she laughed…

Miley stirred and Lilly quickly closed her eyes, facing away from Miley and pretending to be asleep. She could almost feel the brunette's searching gaze and almost sighed in relief when Miley didn't say anything. Forcing her hand to go limp as Miley took it and gently rubbed the top of it, she waited until Miley put her hand down to turn her hand and feign just waking up. She opened her eyes and turned to Miley, surprised to see tears in the brunette's eyes.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why were you pretending to be asleep? Do you… do you really not want to talk to me that much? Are you disgusted with me? Did I make you angry? Should I not even be here? You know what, you're right, I should just go. I shouldn't have even come. Get better soon and I'll see you in school."

"No, Miley!" Lilly yelled, sitting up quickly and moaning as a sharp pain stabbed right at the base of her skull, running all the way down her spine. Miley turned around just as Lilly fell back on the bed, tears streaming down her face as she screamed in pain.

"Lilly, tell me what's wrong," Miley said quickly, kneeling next to the bed. "Here, take my hand, just tell me what's wrong, okay? Do you want me to go get a doctor or a nurse?"

"Don't leave me," Lilly whispered, taking tight hold of Miley's hand.

"Okay, I'm right here, I'm not going to leave," Miley said soothingly. "It's going to be okay, I promise. I'm right here."

The door burst open and a doctor walked in, Oliver following him closely, a worried look on his face. The doctor glanced at the machines and turned to Lilly. "Miss Truscott, can you hear me?" he said very clearly.

"Yes," Lilly whispered, squeezing Miley's hand tightly as another line of pain ran down her spine.

"Can you tell me what hurts?" he asked.

"My back," Lilly breathed.

"That's understandable," he said. "Remember before when I told you that you have serious bruises on your back? It's going to hurt for a couple weeks, although the pain will lessen. You need to do me, and yourself, a favor by trying to limit your movement to the bare necessities, okay? I'm going to have a nurse give you some pain medication, but I want to keep you off it as much as possible because of the baby."

"If it's going to hurt the baby then I don't want it," Lilly said through clenched teeth. "I'll just ride it out."

"Lilly, what are you talking about, take the pain medication," Miley said. "Doctor, her taking pain medication won't hurt the child this early in development, will it? She needs the medicine, she's hurting."

"No major studies have been conducted as to the effects of vicodin on a developing fetus," the doctor said carefully. "Although if taken regularly, the child will go through withdrawal when it is born. We are not aware if there may be any physical or mental defects…"

"I don't want the medication," Lilly said angrily. "Don't you dare give me medication."

"Is her mother or father…?" the doctor started, but Miley shook her head. "Does she have another legal guardian who could make this decision?"

"I will," Robby Ray said, walking into the room. "If you look at the admittance papers, it says that all legal guardianship rights have been temporarily transmitted to me due to the fact that Lillian's mother is out of town and currently unable to make it back. And I say give the choice to Lilly."

"Daddy!" Miley yelled, turning to face him without letting go of Lilly's hand. "She's hurting, Daddy!"

"Miles," Lilly whispered with tears in her eyes, and Miley turned to face her. "You said you would be by my side no matter what happened, no matter what I said, no matter what other people said, and Miley, I need you right now. I need you to support me on this because I can't get through this on my own."

She watched Miley's battle with herself play out on her face before she finally looked at Lilly reluctantly. "Okay," she said.

"Thank you," Lilly whispered, squeezing Miley's hand gently.

The doctor nodded. "Okay, then," he said. "If you change your mind, you know what to do, Lilly."

"I won't be changing my mind," Lilly said with conviction. The doctor nodded and left the room, Robby Ray following him and Oliver standing behind Miley and staring at Lilly with his mouth hanging open.

"Wait, what's this about a baby?" he asked.

Lilly and Miley looked at each other before Lilly spoke. "Oliver, I think you should sit down," she whispered, gritting her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut, and tightening her hold on Miley's hand as another line of pain ran down her spine. When it disappeared, she opened her eyes, breathing heavily, to see both Oliver and Miley looking at her in concern.

"Are you sure you don't want that medication?" Oliver asked.

"Once Lilly explains, you'll understand," Miley said quietly, smiling slightly at Lilly and squeezing her hand lightly and reassuringly.

"Thanks Miley," Lilly whispered. "Oliver, you know how me and Miley have our big sleepover the weekend of the first week of school? This year, Miley told me that she wouldn't be able to go because… because of a Hannah thing and her brother going off to college. I was really stupid and I got upset, so I went into the city and I… I was… raped."

She was quiet for a moment as she carefully watched Oliver's reaction. It quickly went from confused to surprised to sympathetic. "And you're… you're pregnant," he whispered.

"You know, you can speak normally," Lilly said. "We aren't in a library and there isn't anyone in here who can hear you other than me and Miley."

Oliver ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the ceiling as he stood up. Lilly looked anxiously at Miley who just shrugged and bit her lip nervously. The blonde smiled slightly, extracting her hand from Miley's and touching the brunette's bottom lip lightly. Miley blushed and stopped biting her lip, looking down at the floor.

"Are you guys going to stop flirting in front of me?" Oliver demanded, making both of them blush. "I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Lilly is pregnant, you don't need to go on and tell me that the two of you are together, too."

"We aren't together," Miley whispered, not looking up.

He looked at them, surprised. "Well you should get together, then," he said after a moment's pause. "I've been watching the two of you dance around each other for years and I'm getting sick of you guys breaking each other's hearts by going out with tons of guys. But anyways…"

"Wait, you can't do that to us!" Lilly exclaimed. "What do you mean that you've been watching us dance around each other for years?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing," Miley said, turning to look at Oliver who was suddenly very nervous. "And I'm wondering why you asked Lilly out if you saw us 'dancing around each other' and didn't want us breaking each other's hearts by 'going out with tons of guys.' Do you not count as one of those tons of guys or something? I'm really interested as to how you're going to get out of this one."

"I, um, you know, I really liked Lilly," he said, nervously running his hand up and down the back of his neck. "And I still do, but we didn't really work out. That's why we broke up. The reason I asked her out was because I seriously thought I had a chance, and now I see that I didn't. You guys… you're good for each other. Anyone with eyes can see that. I don't want to push the two of you into a relationship, but… but you really should go out."

The hospital room was quiet for a minute, the silence broken only by the steady whirring of the machines. "You've been reading way too many of your mom's magazines," Miley finally said. "Lilly, remind me to get him a subscription to some car magazine or something for his birthday."

"Or you could just get me a car," Oliver said brightly.

"No."

"You know what, me and Miley need to talk later when there isn't someone here telling us what we should and shouldn't do," Lilly said. "Right now… I kind of want to know your reaction to me… to me…"

"Having a baby," Miley finished for her, flashing her a smile.

Oliver sighed, sitting back down. "I just don't know," he whispered. "It's kind of hard to believe. I mean, I suppose I'll have to believe you once you actually have the baby, but… it's hard to believe that my best friend since preschool is pregnant. We never planned for this to happen. We were supposed to graduate, go to college, find someone we loved, get married, then have kids."

"Don't remind me," Lilly growled, and Oliver winced.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm gonna be here for you, Lilly, I always will be, but… it's gonna be hard seeing you go through this. I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Thanks, Ollie," Lilly said. "I was kind of scared that you would leave once you found out that I was pregnant. Now I know that it was silly of me to think that, but… I've lost a lot and I don't want to lose anymore. No offense, but I probably wouldn't have told you I was pregnant until it got around the school or until it was obvious because I would have been afraid that I would lose you as a friend."

"I don't think you could ever do anything to lose me as a friend," Oliver said, patting her leg awkwardly. Lilly winced and he quickly stopped as Miley glared at him, taking a hold of the blonde's hand and squeezing it lightly to tell her that she was there. Lilly struggled not to move as pain lanced down her spine. It finally stopped and she closed her eyes, breathing hard as she relaxed.

"Thanks Miley," she whispered.

"No problem," Miley whispered back, smiling slightly. "I'd do anything for you, you know that."

"Not to be rude, but I have to go now," Oliver said, standing up. "My parents said I could come down here and see Lilly really quick, and I'm already late for dinner, so they're going to be really mad. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer and I'll see if I can visit tomorrow. Miley, I think you're dad is outside talking to the doctor, so you can just get a ride from him. I'll see you guys later."

He left the room, gently closing the door behind him. Miley and Lilly looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything for nearly ten minutes. Their hands stayed latched together and Lilly's blue eyes stayed locked with Miley's sea green eyes.

"Do you think Oliver is right?" Lilly whispered.

"I don't know, do you want him to be right?" Miley asked cautiously.

Lilly swallowed nervously and looked away. "I think I do," she whispered. "And I think that I've liked you for a long time. I just didn't realize it until I found out that you like me. But… but I want to take it slow. One of the reasons I broke up with Oliver was because we were going way too fast and… well, you can imagine where that would have eventually led."

"Hey," Miley said, making Lilly look at her. "I don't want to force you into anything that you don't want to do. If you want to just be friends, we can just be friends. If you want to be more… more than that, then we can be more than that."

"Let's just take it slow, okay?" Lilly whispered.

"Okay," Miley whispered, kissing the back of Lilly's hand lightly.

Thank you to AshleyAlien1408 and musicisinmysoul for reviewing the last chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Maybe tomorrow if I get enough reviews. Thank you all again.

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