Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!!

Lilly's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, trying to get into a more comfortable position. There was something sticking in her back and as she wriggled around, she couldn't seem to dislodge it. Sitting up, she realized that she wasn't in a bed, but rather lying in the loft of a barn with Miley by her side, snoring softly. She stretched and looked around behind her to see that the blanket that she had been lying on had shifted so hay had been sticking up into her back.

"Miley," she whispered, placing a hand on the brunette's arm and trying to shake her awake. "Hey, Miley." The brunette just moaned, throwing an arm over her face and turning away from Lilly. "Really, Miley, wake up."

"What?" Miley moaned, squeezing her eyes shut.

"How did we get up here?" Lilly asked.

The brunette sat up and opened her eyes. "Holy crap," she whispered, throwing a blanket off them. Lilly shivered and whimpered, but Miley didn't pay any attention to her. "We shouldn't be up here. I didn't realize it was so late."

"Why can't we be up here?" Lilly asked, still shivering.

"What time is it?" Miley asked, standing up and looking around. It was dark outside and light flickered across the wall from the bonfire outside. Laughs floated up to the loft and Miley sighed in relief. "Good, it isn't too late. I really didn't think that we would fall asleep."

"I don't get it, why can't we be up here?" Lilly asked, also standing up and stretching.

"It's a hazard, according to my grandma," Miley said, moving towards the ladder leading down to the barn floor. "If the barn catches on fire, the hayloft is the first thing that will go up in flames and it'd be extremely difficult for us to get out of the barn without being seriously injured or killed. And she says that it's more likely that the barn would catch on fire when there're a whole bunch of drunk people around when it's dark out rather than in the middle of the day when everyone is either sober or still in bed because they're sleeping off their hangovers."

She started down the ladder, motioning for Lilly to follow her. At the bottom of the ladder, Miley clasped hands with her and pulled her out of the barn towards the bonfire. They stopped five feet away from it, listening to the drunken laughter and the slurred words.

"Let's go into the house, that's where everyone who isn't drunk will be," Miley whispered, leading her away from the bonfire and towards the house. The path was lit by lanterns that Ruthie had one of Miley's cousins set out so everyone who was drunk wouldn't wander off the path and get lost. Miley told Lilly that it had happened before and that her grandma didn't want to take any chances this time.

Miley and Lilly walked into the house, Lilly still shivering from the cold outside. The brunette wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close. "Do you want to go up to our room and go to sleep or do you want to stay down here with everyone else?" she whispered as she rubbed Lilly's bare arms, trying to warm her up.

"Could I get something warmer on?" the blonde asked, leaning into Miley.

"Here's a blanket," Miley said quietly, grabbing a fleece blanket from the chair in the entrance hall and wrapping it around Lilly's shoulders. "Is that better?" Lilly nodded and Miley just held her. "You're tired, we should go to bed."

"No, you should stay down here with your family," Lilly muttered, trying to keep from falling asleep on Miley's shoulder. "Don't let me keep you from seeing them. You don't get to be around them that often."

"Are you sure?" Miley asked uncertainly.

Lilly lifted her head and kissed Miley on the corner of her mouth. "Of course I'm sure," she whispered. "You have the rest of your life to spend with me. Your family isn't so lucky. Go ahead and have fun, I'll be fine, I promise."

"If you're positive…" Miley said, hesitantly.

"Go ahead," Lilly said, kissing her softly before heading towards the stairs. She climbed halfway up before she felt Miley wrap her arms around her waist, kissing her neck gently. Leaning into her touch, she closed her eyes.

"You thought you were getting away without saying goodnight, didn't you?" Miley whispered in her ear. She turned Lilly around and kissed her, making her moan. "I'll be up in a couple hours. I love you."

"I love you, too," Lilly whispered before turning back around and heading up the stairs. She opened the door to their bedroom and closed it behind her, turning just as someone stepped in front of her. A hand clapped over her mouth as another hand gripped her arm tightly.

"Don't move," a gravelly voice muttered in her ear. "Or I'm going to make this a whole lot worse."

She whimpered as the person dragged her away from the door and towards the bed, throwing her down. Opening her mouth to scream, a hand clapped down over it again and a familiar face appeared in front of her. Alex. The face morphed and suddenly she was staring up into the face of one of the men who had raped her. Then it morphed again, into the face of another of the men. And then she was staring into the face of her father. She froze up, unable to move, as tears started to leak down her face.

"Don't scream," he whispered in her ear. He slowly lifted his hand from her mouth, and when he realized that she wouldn't, he lifted it away entirely. "If you do anything that doesn't please me, I'm going to make you regret it. I could always tie you up in here and go get Miley. And I don't think she would resist when she found out that I have you up here."

"Please, don't…don't touch Miley," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'll…I'll do anything. Just…just don't hurt her."

"That's what I want to hear," Alex said approvingly, running his hands over her clothed sides. His hands stopped at the edge of her shirt, slipping underneath and sliding up her stomach towards her chest. Lilly squeezed her eyes shut, trying to imagine that it wasn't Alex doing this, but Miley.

Miley, Miley, Miley, she chanted over and over in her head. Please, I need you, Miley. Help me. Miley, Miley, Miley.

She almost didn't notice when Alex pulled her shirt off roughly, needing her flesh with his hands. But the sensation was still there, and she knew that it was someone else, someone who didn't love her. A sob escaped her mouth and a hand slapped her across the face. She was sure that there was going to be a mark there.

"I said not to make a sound," Alex growled in her ear. She nodded and struggled to hold back her whimper, reaching her hand up to wipe the tears from her face. A few minutes passed before he was satisfied that she wouldn't make another sound and then continued.

Her jeans were being unbuttoned and unzipped and then were sliding off her hips, down her legs, wrapping around her ankles, and then they were gone. Cold hair hit her skin and goose bumps broke out all the way up her legs. He was biting her skin roughly, making his way lower and lower and lower…

Then there was the sound of another zipper being undone, the sound of jeans sliding against skin, and then he was on top of her again. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, wishing it all away. Suddenly the door banged open and Lilly opened her eyes and turned her head to see Miley standing in the doorway. She started crying with relief.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"Miley yelled, stepping quickly towards the bed, an expression of anger on her face. Alex still had his t-shirt on and the brunette grabbed the collar, pulling him off Lilly and throwing him against the wall with surprising strength. "You're going to regret this!"

Lilly pulled the blankets up around herself, watching as Alex stood up on shaking legs and Miley punched his square in the face. There was a crack and blood started running out of his nose. There was a pounding of feet on stairs and suddenly the door was crowded with people, their mouths gaping open as they watched Miley punch, kick, and slap Alex as hard as she could. Finally, someone, Aislinn, stepped forward, pulling Miley away from Alex, pinning her arms to her sides and trying to calm her down. Someone else was rushing forward to help Alex.

"Let go of me!" Miley yelled, straining to get free from Aislinn. Someone else, one of Miley's cousin, stepped forward to help restrain her. "He deserves this! I want to beat him until he's dead! He hurt my Lilly! He hurt her! My…my…my Lilly…" she trailed off, starting to sob and collapsing against Aislinn. "He hurt my Lilly."

People were helping Alex to his feet, and as he passed the bed, he looked over at Lilly and smirked at her. Even when he was in bad shape, when he had almost taken Lilly, he still retained his disgusting mind. Lilly shuttered, collapsing in on herself and starting to cry, to really cry. Someone sat down on the bed next to her and she waited for the touch that was sure to come, the touch that she would shutter at, that would throw her back into her memories, but it never came.

Instead, the memories came by themselves, the faces hovering in front of her, their mouths opening as they laughed, teased her, and taunted her. She buried her head in her arms, trying to block the sound out, but it didn't go away.

Then someone's arms wrapped around her, making her feel safe, protected, and the memories disappeared. She stopped crying, but kept her eyes closed. Now she was being lifted, the blanket still wrapped around her, and carried into another room. She was being set down on another bed and the arms disappeared. There were no longer any voices, she was alone.

Lilly lifted her head, and sure enough, she was in a small room on a double bed. The door had been left slightly and she silently thanked whoever had taken her in here for considering that she might not want to be left in a small, enclosed space. But she didn't want to be by herself. Wrapping the blanket more tightly around her shoulders, she got up from the bed and walked slowly over to the door, peeking out into the hall. It was completely empty. She quietly walked down the hall, peering into each room as she passed it. Miley wasn't there. She needed Miley.

"She's in the kitchen downstairs."

The blonde turned to see Aislinn standing behind her, a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt held in her hands. "I was just coming to give these to you," she said, handing them to Lilly. "And…and I'm sorry for what happened. I should have seen this coming. He…Miley told me about what happened between the two of them and he…he holds grudges. He wouldn't hesitate to hurt her by hurting you. And trust me, he will regret what he did."

"I…I think I'm just numb right now," Lilly said honestly, quickly slipping the clothes on underneath the blanket. "And I…I don't even know how I should react right now. I mean, I know how I should be reacting, but it's like…it's like my emotions aren't there anymore. There aren't any more tears for me to cry, and I can't yell and scream out of anger. I don't think I could even smile. No, I definitely couldn't smile."

Aislinn nodded understandingly. "I know exactly how you feel," she whispered, and Lilly got the sense that this is what had happened to her when she got pregnant. She opened her mouth to ask, but thought better of it and just nodded. "If you need anyone, just tell me," Aislinn whispered, and Lilly nodded again.

She turned back towards the stairs and slowly walked down, but no one was in the entrance hall. Pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, she made her way to the kitchen, standing in the shadows just outside the door when she heard the voices inside. She recognized one of the voices as Miley's and the other as Ruthie's.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ruthie asked.

"Yeah," Miley whispered in a shaky voice, and Lilly longed to rush into the kitchen and pull her into a hug, but she held herself back. "It's just…I love her so much and…and I can't stand to see her hurting. It just…it hurts me so much. I want to find those men who raped her and just pummel them until they can't move. And her father…oh, I would love to get my hands on her dad and show him how I feel. He would regret that he even thought about her like that."

Lilly's eyes widened and she leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor and closing her eyes as she listened to what Miley was saying. It had never occurred to her that everything that had been done to her would affect Miley in this way. She didn't know that her pain was causing Miley pain.

"And it hurts me even more to think that I could have prevented this from happening," Miley said, and Lilly could tell that she was crying now. "If I had just gone up to the room with her, Alex would have never even touched her. And now…now this place…it'll give her bad memories just like every other place where she was raped. I never wanted this to happen. I don't want to hurt her, and I know that she'll try to tell me that it doesn't bother her to be in that room, but I know it will, and I…"

Her voice broke off as she started to sob and Lilly felt tears start to run down her own cheeks. She knew what Miley was talking about. To hear her girlfriend hurting so much hurt her, and she wished she could do anything to stop her beautiful brunette from crying. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and knocked on the doorframe of the kitchen, stepping in shyly. Miley looked up and Ruthie smiled knowingly.

"Hey," Lilly whispered, coming up behind Miley and wrapping her arms around her, kissing her gently on the top of the head and resting her cheek there.

"How are you feeling?" Miley asked worriedly, standing up quickly and pulling Lilly toward her. "Do you want me to get you anything? Is there something I can do?"

Lilly could tell that Miley was struggling to hold back her sobs and she pulled away from her, looking up into her eyes. "I don't think you should be the one asking that question," she whispered. "You seem a little bit more upset."

"But Alex…" Miley whispered.

"I'm sure that it will all hit me later," Lilly whispered, wiping a tear from Miley's cheek with the tip of her finger. "But right now, you're the one who needs to be comforted, not me. I don't want you to hide your emotions because you're afraid that it'll hurt me. I want you to be honest with me, Miley. Isn't that what being in a relationship like ours is all about? This is an equal relationship, and I don't to be the one to always be comforted. You deserve to have someone care for you, too."

Miley's lip quivered and then she broke down, leaning into Lilly as she started to sob. The blonde wrapped her arms around Miley, pulling her closer, running her hands through her hair comfortingly.

"It's okay," she whispered in Miley's ear. "You don't have to be the strong one all the time, honey. Let it all out. It's okay. I love you." She held Miley as she cried, her heart aching for the hurting brunette.

Ruthie stood up, giving Lilly a small smile as she left. Lilly closed her eyes and rocked Miley back and forth, continuing to stroke her hair and rubbing her back as she whispered comforting words in her ear. Eventually Miley's sobs began to subside and she just leaned on Lilly, resting her head on her shoulder. Lilly pulled back and looked into Miley's eyes.

"You don't ever have to hide anything from me," she whispered, kissing her tears away. "I don't want this to be the kind of relationship where one person is always the comforter and the other always needs to be comforted. We both need to be comforted at times and I don't want you to think that you can't be honest with me about how you feel. I love you, Miley, and I want to know how you're feeling, no matter what."

"I…I just feel like I'll hurt you…" Miley started.

"No, you'll never hurt me by being honest with me," Lilly whispered, cupping Miley's cheek gently. "It hurts me more to hear that you think that I'll be hurt by you being honest. Promise me, Miley, that from now on, you won't try to hide stuff like this from me."

Miley nodded. "I'm sorry," she whispered, biting her lip.

"It's fine," Lilly whispered. "I just don't want you to feel like you've been neglected. I love you."

"I love you, too," Miley whispered, kissing Lilly softly. "And you promise me that you'll tell me if you start to feel bad, too, okay?"

"Of course," Lilly whispered.

They just stood there and held each other.

Well, there's the chapter. I'm honestly surprised I got it written and up so fast. Thank you to everyone for reviewing: JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, CaseyBug14, AshleyAlien1408, and Hayleyy. I really appreciate you guys reviewing for me. As to everyone else…REVIEW!!! Really, I mean it. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I'll be to update. Thank you all again for reading my story. I really appreciate all the reviews and favorites I get for this.

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