Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel and It's A Laugh Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories. Original characters are owned by the author of this story.

Back to the Future

Chapter 2

Past, Present and Future

The eight women spent more than an hour and a half laughing and shooting the breeze at the restaurant. Per Lilly's edict as soon as they sat down, the name Luanne or mention of the earlier incident was forbidden. The remainder of the day was going to be spent having a good time and thinking of pleasant things. At about the hour and forty-five minute mark, the edict was violated.

"Lilly, remind me to never piss you off!" Renee said.

"I'm serious! This chick needs to be on Monday Night Raw!" Chelsea added.

Raven joined the fray with her impersonation of Lilly. "Why are you not knockin' this bitch out right now?" Raven said in her Lilly voice with the accompanying attitude, sending the whole table into hysterics.

"All right! All right! I get it. I go postal on a trick and y'all got jokes. I see how it is." Lilly said.

"We can laugh about it now that it's over." Jennifer said. "I would not have wanted to be her!"

"You WERE her THREE DAYS AGO!" Maddie exclaimed. "Lilly beat the hell out of you Monday night!"

The women at the table began laughing. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Jennifer said, coming to her own defense. "She got ONE good shot in. I blocked the rest of them with my arms!"

"If we hadn't pulled her off of you, she'd still be kickin' your ass!" Raven joked.

"That's it! I'm not gonna have my reputation ruined!" Jennifer exclaimed playfully. "Let's go Truscott! Round two!" Jennifer said as she stood up, causing the other women to howl. Lilly stood up with a huge grin on her face as she balled her fists up and assumed a defensive position.

"Wait a minute! This is wrong!" Miley exclaimed in a serious tone causing all of the women to grow eerily silent. They all looked at Miley trying to gauge her level of irritability. Miley looked disdainfully at Lilly, then Jennifer, then everybody else. "If y'all are gonna act so ridiculously stupid, the least you can do is do it wet t-shirt style!" Miley delivered her punch line, punctuating it by picking up the water pitcher and threatening to drench them both. The women exploded in laughter as Lilly dipped her fingertips into the water and flicked some into Miley's face before sitting down.

"You know they're gonna do the wet t-shirt thing tonight!" Jennifer said laughing.

"No we're not!" Lilly exclaimed. She then leaned over to whisper in Miley's ear. "Yes we are."

Miley started giggling. She then addressed the group. "Seriously though… I've been thinking about this and despite what all of you are going to say, I am going to give my cousin a second chance." Miley said. Lilly rolled her eyes, not willing to hide her contempt for Luanne. "You don't get to pick your family and like it or not, she's my family. It looked like she has something to say and I'm gonna let her say it."

"Well I wish you the best of luck with that." Raven said. "Chels and I are flying back home today so we don't have to deal with that scandalous heifer!"

"We don't either." London said. "Miley, you're a better woman than me because I'm afraid I'd have to bitchslap her."

"Chels, what was that game you renamed in college? Remember Katie-what's-her-name that got into a fight with Gina?" Raven asked.

"Oh yeah! See-A-Bitch, Smack-A-Bitch." Chelsea recalled setting the table off in another round of laughter.

"Well I tell you what, since I know a thing or two about bitchy behavior…" Jennifer started.

"You? Bitchy? Never!" Miley teased.

"Shut up!" Jennifer playfully snapped back. "I will represent your branch of friends and extend an olive branch your cousin."

"You would do that?" Miley asked.

"That's what friends are for." Jennifer said.

"I'll stick that olive branch up Luanne's ass." Lilly muttered under her breath.

"Lilly!" Miley exclaimed.

"All right! I'll behave." Lilly relented. "But let her call me a pit bull again and I'll make her wish she never slithered out of that hole she came from."

"That's the spirit, Lil." Miley said. "Remember, when we get married, she'll become your cousin-in-law."

Lilly smirked before dryly replying, "Cousin Luanne. Yippee."

The dawn of a new day brought optimism for Miley. With her friends safely back home In Massachusetts, New York and Malibu, save for Jennifer, who decided that getting away from Malibu for a little while would do her some good, Miley contemplated her next encounter with Luanne. She called her Mamaw and asked her if she could invite Luanne to dinner that night. Ruthie figured that with Luanne's father, Bobby Ray, and his wife, Luanne's stepmother Noel, in attendance, that Luanne would be civilized enough to hold an adult conversation.

A pajama-clad Miley peered out of her hotel window that overlooked downtown Nashville and sighed. It was the first time that she had set foot in Tennessee in over five years and would soon be the first time she was a resident of the Volunteer state since she was in elementary school. As thoughts of the dinner in Misty Hollow danced through her mind, a pair of terrycloth covered arms slid around her slim waist.

"Mmmm. Room service has sure gotten friendlier." Miley purred as she closed her eyes and felt Lilly's warmth envelope her.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet." Lilly growled causing Miley to turn around. Lilly's floor-length terrycloth robe was open revealing that Lilly had nothing on underneath. Miley could feel her mouth begin to water as her brain compiled a list of all the possible things she could do to her fiancée in that instant. "We were so tired yesterday; I didn't get to congratulate you properly for the press conference." Lilly purred.

"So now you want to congratulate me?" Miley asked.

"I want to congratulate the hell out of you." Lilly purred again as she stepped forward.

Miley slid her hands around Lilly's waist and flashed her trademark grin. "Aww, suki, suki now." Miley purred before leaning in and kissing the slightly shorter blonde. About a minute into their make out session, there was a knock on the door. "Go away!" Miley called out. She resumed kissing Lilly only to have the knock resume. "I said go away!"

"IF YOU AND LILLY ARE TRYING TO GET BUSY ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SAY SO!"

Miley looked at Lilly and huffed. "Cockblocker." Miley replied as Lilly shrugged her shoulders and pulled her robe closed.

"Today's the last chance for a few days. Nature is just outside the city limits." Lilly reminded Miley as she walked toward the door.

Miley trudged toward the door in defeated fashion and slowly opened the door. "Good Morning Mikayla."

"Oh, so when I interrupt your groove I'm Mikalya. Any other time I'm Jenn." Jennifer said.

"You got it Mikcockroach." Miley deadpanned.

"Mikcockroach. I forgot about that one. Nicely played Hannah Banana." Jennifer said. "I'm hungry. Let's go to breakfast."

"We're in a four-star hotel. You could have ordered room service." Lilly said.

"Really horny, huh?" Jennifer said.

"Shut up." Lilly replied.

"Get dressed. I'm craving IHOP." Jennifer said.

"Let's go to Waffle House." Miley said. "I haven't been there forever."

"Never had it." Jennifer said.

"Scattered, smothered and covered, baby." Miley said. "You'll love it."

An hour and a half later, the three women found themselves at one of the twenty-five Waffle House restaurants in the greater Nashville area.

"Man, this is good!" Mikayla said as she stuffed her face full of cheesy hash brown potatoes.

"I never thought I'd meet someone who could go plate for plate with Lilly but I think I found her." Miley said.

"Excuse me?" Jennifer said to the waitress. "Can I get another order please?"

"Scattered and covered?" The waitress asked.

"Yes, please. Thank you." Jennifer said. "So how far is Misty Hollow from here?"

"About three hours. But Mamaw drives it in two. She's a speed demon, even heading up into the mountains." Miley said.

"Is your family weird?" Jennifer asked.

"No more weird than any other family. Except for Uncle Earl, but you won't meet him. He's at the World Poker Championship in Las Vegas." Miley said.

"I didn't know he's that good!" Lilly said.

"He's not playing. He won a radio contest and they flew him out there to watch it live." Miley said.

"Well your grandmother is nice." Jennifer said.

"So's my Aunt Vickie and Aunt Dolly…" Miley started.

"You'll love her." Lilly said.

"And my Uncle Bobby Ray." Miley said.

"Bobby Ray and Robby Ray?" Jennifer asked.

"Different middle names but they're identical twins." Miley said.

"So your dad and Luanne's dad are identical brothers and you two are identical cousins?" Jennifer asked.

"My mom and Luanne's mom were identical twins." Miley said. "They said the odds were astronomical that they would produce offspring that looked just alike but we beat the odds. Technically though, we're not identical or twins. We didn't come from one egg."

"Still, it's kinda creepy knowing she's out there, isn't it?" Jennifer said.

"Luanne and I were friends when we were little." Miley said. "Then her mom died about six months before my mom. I got depressed and she got bitter. And we just… grew apart."

Knowing how the death of Miley's mother affected her, Lilly actually felt a pang of sympathy for Luanne. "Maybe… she… I can't believe I'm about to say this… Maybe I'm being too hard on her." Lilly said.

"Maybe. But she's burned us before. That's why I'm taking it slow." Miley said.

"People like her harbor a lot of pain inside. She needs to get past that pain if she wants to have any semblance of normalcy." Jennifer said.

"Spoken like a person that's had extensive psychotherapy." Miley said with a chuckle. "Thank you again for coming with us. You didn't have too." Miley said.

"Are you kidding me? Raven wasn't the only one drooling thinking about the fried chicken and mashed potatoes." Jennifer said.

"And the biscuits. Don't forget the biscuits." Lilly said.

"Fifty bucks says I can eat more food that you tonight." Jennifer challenged Lilly.

"Fifty? Make it a hundred and you're on!" Lilly said as she stuck her hand out for Jennifer to shake.

"You two are insane!" Miley said. "And I got a hundred on Lilly." Jennifer's mouth fell open in shock. "Sorry. As impressive as your display here was, Lilly's got history on her side."

"You're goin' down McGowan!" Lilly said before launching into her best Hulk Hogan impersonation. "And whacha gonna do, when the thirty-two teeth and the stomach that won't quit run wild on you!" She then began flexing as Jennifer and Miley laughed. Just then, Jennifer's second helping of hash browns hit the table. Jennifer tore into them with reckless abandon. Lilly watched in amazement as the petite Latina inhaled her plate of potatoes. "Maybe… I underestimated my competition just a little bit."

Miley was making good time as her rental car wound through the mountains of Tennessee en route to her grandmother's house. Lilly was in awe of the raw beauty of the nature that surrounded her. Jennifer, however, couldn't enjoy herself as much thanks to the gravelly dirt road that they were traveling. In the preceding fifteen minutes, Jennifer could feel every bump and bounce from her position in the back seat.

"You realize that by the time we get to your grandmother's, I'm not gonna have an ass." Jennifer said. "This road is just gonna wear it down to a nub. I'm gonna be flat as a pancake when I get out of the car. You realize that you are going to be responsible for the end of my career. My fans are gonna say, 'Mikayla used to have a nice round, firm butt until she went to Tennessee with Miley Stewart. Now, nothing. You could iron your clothes on her butt.' Is that what how you want to go down?" Jennifer complained.

"I'd like to go down…" Lilly started.

"Stop." Jennifer said. "What you're gonna say is gonna be nasty so just… don't."

"You're the one that interrupted us this morning." Lilly said.

"Do I still have a shot?" Miley asked in a whisper.

"Last time I checked." Lilly whispered. "I'll check again at Mamaw's."

"Hey guys… we're here." Miley said as they came over a curve in the road. At the bottom of the hill, down in the valley was the red brick home of Ruthie Stewart. Miley continued down the hill to the bottom, stopping about fifty yards from the entrance to the farm.

"Jeez, Miley! How big is Mamaw's farm?" Lilly asked.

"About a hundred and fifty acres." Miley said. "The house isn't super big but she's got horses and a pond, some cows, pigs…"

"Please tell me I won't have to touch any of those." Jennifer said.

"City slicker." Lilly said before being startled by a loud noise she had never heard before in person. "AAAAHHHH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Lilly screamed.

Jennifer began laughing. "City slicker!" She teased.

Lilly then peered out of her window and saw a large feathered creature beside the car. "AAAAHHHH! MILEY! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?"

Miley smiled as she unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to get a better look. "Lilly, it's a turkey!" Jennifer was laughing so hard in the backseat that she had grown silent in her laughter and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"No! That's not a turkey! Turkeys go 'Gobble, Gobble!' That thing did not go gobble gobble!" Lilly protested.

"It's a good old fashioned Tennessee mountain turkey." Miley said. "Wanna get out and say hello?"

"Hell no! The only way I'm saying hi to that thing is with a gravy boat in my hand!" Lilly exclaimed.

Miley continued laughing. "Come on. Let's go eat."

"Is your Dad here yet?" Jennifer asked as her laughing began to subside.

"He stopped at his old record label to say hi to a few old friends. He's about an hour behind us." Miley said. "Don't worry. Mamaw always keeps a plate warm for the late ones."

Several hours earlier – Opryland Records – downtown Nashville

Robby Ray stepped out of his car in the parking lot of Opryland Records, his home label for nearly fifteen years. A lot of good memories came flooding back to him as he stood gazing at the building – his first single, his first concert, his first gold album, his first and only Grammy. There was one memory that paralyzed him however. It was the one memory that was keeping him anchored where he stood. It was in the break room just off of recording studio A that he received the fateful phone call summoning him to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. His wife, Susan (everyone called her Brooke), was airlifted there after a one-car accident just outside of Townsend, not far from Misty Hollow. By the time he had reached the hospital, she was already gone. He wept bitterly and uncontrollably for close to twenty minutes until Ruthie brought in his eight-year old daughter and ten-year old son for him to break the news to.

He felt a lump in his throat that he hadn't felt in years as he contemplated getting back into his car and heading for his mother's house three hours away. He was taken away from his thoughts of flight, however, by a familiar voice.

"Robby Ray Stewart? Is that you?"

Robby Ray turned around. "Tyler Connors." Robby Ray broke into a grin. Tyler Connors was Robby Ray's label mate and best friend during his time at Opryland. "You ol' son of a gun. How are you?" Robby Ray pulled the Alabama native into a bear hug.

"Man, it's good to see you! How long's it been?" Tyler said.

"Gotta be close to twenty years now." Robby Ray said.

"I'm tellin' you Rob, everybody here's been followin' your little girl's career. We're so proud of you." Tyler said.

"I don't know how little she is. She's comin' up on thirty pretty soon." Robby Ray said.

Tyler shook his head. "Time sure flies when you get old, doesn't it?" Tyler laughed.

"You got that right." Robby Ray said with a chuckle. "How's Amber doin'?" Robby Ray asked of Tyler's wife.

"Good. It'll be thirty-five years in November!" Tyler said before catching himself. Robby Ray and Brooke got married two weeks after him. "Rob, I'm sorry. I forgot…"

"It's okay. I made my peace with her death a while ago." Robby Ray said.

"Still, you gotta be missin' her, especially after comin' back here." Tyler said.

"We had a lot of good times here. All my memories of her are good ones." Robby Ray said.

Tyler decided to lighten the mood. "Come on inside! Some of the old gang is still here. They saw the press conference and was hopin' you'd stop by." Tyler said. Robby Ray smiled as Tyler threw his arm around his shoulder and the old singing buddies walked into Opryland's headquarters together for the first time in twenty years.

Robby Ray and Tyler made the rounds reacquainting Robby Ray with colleagues that he hadn't seen since he packed up Jackson and Miley and headed to California. He was laughing and talking in the office of the Vice President of A&R, who was just a board op when Robby was there, when a voice from behind him made his insides flip.

"Andy, here are the latest numbers from…" Robby Ray's head turning stopped the gorgeous blonde in mid-sentence.

"Kylie Ann Westmoreland." Robby Ray said.

"Robby… Ray Stewart?" Kylie said incredulously as Robby Ray walked over to her and embraced her. "Wha – What are you doing here?"

"I though you told me everyone saw the press conference." Robby Ray said to Tyler as released the hug.

"Kylie locks herself up in her office crunchin' numbers and lookin' at record sales and shuts out the rest of the world." Tyler said.

"I thought you'd be long gone from here by now." Robby Ray said.

"I…uhh… decided that this… was where my home is. Here at Opryland." Kylie said, clearly taken aback by Robby Ray's presence. "So… what are you doing here in Nashville?"

"My daughter just signed with Arista across town and she and her fiancée are visiting Momma out in Misty Hollow. She's movin' here and I'm actually thinkin' about movin' back myself." Robby Ray said.

"NO SHIT!" Tyler exclaimed as he grabbed Robby Ray and bear hugged him. Robby Ray's eyes never left Kylie. "My boy is comin' back home! WHEEE DOGGIE!"

"That's great Robby Ray." Kylie said with muted enthusiasm. "That's really great." She then hesitantly turned her attention back to her boss, Andy. "Well Andy here you go. I've got a few calls to make. Good… seein' you… Robby Ray." Kylie turned to leave.

"Kylie, uhh… maybe while I'm in town we can… have dinner… or a drink or somethin', you know, catch up on the last twenty years." Robby Ray said.

Kylie hesitated for a moment. "Sure. I'd like that." She then flashed a quick smile and retreated.

"That girl still has the hots for you." Andy said.

"Come on! It's been twenty years!" Robby Ray said.

"Look here. I've been around you now for forty-five minutes and as soon as she walked in the room it was clear to me that you two still have some unfinished business." Andy said.

"It was written all over your face." Tyler said. "And hers."

"You know that you can count on one hand the number of dates she's had since you left. Not boyfriends… dates." Andy said. "You were her true love."

"But…"

"I know what you're about to say." Tyler said. "Brooke was your true love. Everybody here knows that. Hell, she knows that. But if Brooke was your true love, your number one, then this girl was number two. No one will ever replace Brooke, but it's been twenty-two years and it's clear that your second chance is at hand."

"Anybody ever tell you that you have a big mouth?" Robby Ray joked.

"Every second of every day, my friend." Tyler said. "I believe in karma and karma put you in this office at that moment for a reason. Carpe diem."

"Okay, this idiot is speakin' in Latin! I know it's time for me to get the hell out of here!" Robby Ray joked causing the other two men to laugh. "Carpe diem." He scoffed.

Several hours later as he approached Townsend, Robby Ray thought about Kylie, Brooke, his two children, what was and what could be. Robby Ray had been back to visit his mother several times since moving to California but there was one place that he had never seen – the site of Brooke's accident. Robby Ray avoided that location as best he could, going so far as to alter his driving route from the airport in Knoxville by going through Seymour and Sevierville to the east instead of taking a more direct path south from Knoxville past Rockford into Maryville then going east to Townsend. He just wanted to avoid that site.

But on this day, driving in west from Nashville, his route would take him east on I-40 to Tennessee route 321 through Maryville and past the accident site. On this day, Robby Ray decided that enough time had passed and that he was strong enough to visit the place where his beloved wife took her last breath. As he came up on the location, just past mile marker 30, he took in the surroundings. His eyes fixated on the spot where a tree once stood. It was the tree that Brooke struck after losing control of her car. Ruthie successfully petitioned the county to cut it down soon after Brooke's funeral.

Robby Ray stopped the car and put his flashers on. He stepped out of the car and walked over to the mile marker. He stared at the spot in the grassy enclave. Words came to mind but wouldn't leave his lips. So he simply stared at the spot. After a few minutes of being lost in his thoughts, his eyes fixated on an object that he should have noticed before but didn't. Shaking off his unwillingness to get any closer to the spot, he stepped forward and traveled the fifteen yards from the sign to where the object rested.

It was a small wooden cross. He knelt down to read the writing on the cross and immediately recognized the handwriting. The cross read: Susan Brooke Stewart 2/5/64 – 3/19/97, We love you Mom, Miley and Lilly.

The makeshift memorial included several irises, Brooke's favorite flower and a picture of Brooke taken several weeks before her death. Upon seeing this, Robby Ray dropped his head and cried for several minutes. When he collected himself, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet that contained another picture that was taken a few months earlier than the one on the cross. It was then that he noticed a second push pin was placed on the right side of the cross. That little girl had a feelin' I was coming here. Robby Ray thought just before affixing his picture to the cross. Placing his hand on the back of the cross, he felt a cylindrical object taped to the back. It was a black Sharpie. Robby Ray smirked at the ingenuity of his youngest child. He took the pen off the cross and wrote on the back side of the cross; I will never forget you, Love, Rob.

He then stood up and looked down at the cross. "Brooke, this is the last place you drew breath so excuse me if I don't visit the gravesite. I just… feel like part of your spirit's here." Robby Ray started. "I'm sorry I never came here before. This… was just too hard before. But I've grown up, a little, and now I think it's time. You know me. You know why I'm here. I came to you when I started datin' Kylie before. You know I saw her today and well… She was the only woman to make me feel half as good as you did and… I guess I'm askin' for your blessin' to go out with her again." Robby Ray had several tears fall. "Even in death I don't want to make you mad or disappointed in me." He paused for a moment in thought before continuing. "I wish you could come back, but you can't. Miley's grown up and getting married and Jackson's doin' his thing… Tyler told me that my second chance with Kylie is at hand and you always told me that…" Robby Ray began to softly sob. "… if anything… ever happened to you… you'd want me to be happy and love someone else and… I just want to know if Kylie is all right with you." Just then a small rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. "Are you trying to tell me she's okay or to get to Momma's before it starts rainin'?" A few droplets of rain came down into view. "All right, I'm goin'. You always did say I was long-winded." Robby Ray paused again and delivered a line that he and his wife used to share. "I will love you till the day I die and there's nothin' you can do about it… Bye baby… I'll talk to you later."

With that, Robby Ray got back into his car and continued on his journey to his mother's house just minutes before another rumble of thunder sounded and the sky opened up sending a deluge of rain down on eastern Tennessee. As he drove, he turned on the car radio and tuned in the local country station that had just begun playing Brooke's favorite song, Dolly Parton's version of I Will Always Love You. Robby Ray smiled and shook his head. "Dang flabbit, Woman…" Robby Ray said out loud to his wife. "You always have to have the last word, don't you?"

There is chapter two. I gave you a little more Robby Ray than usual. Since it's a Disney Channel show, the adults tend to be an afterthought and that's a shame because there is some untapped depth to his character. I hope you enjoyed it. Chapter three is coming. Dinner at Mamaw's! What do I have in store for you? Stay tuned. PLEASE REVIEW.