I do not own Hannah Montana. This fanfiction does not represent the actors and actresses in the television show.

When Lilly dove into the rushing water, the only thing she felt was coldness. For a split second, she panicked, feeling how strong the current was. It occurred to her just how easily she could be pulled underwater and drowned. Sure she could stay above water for a while, but she would quickly grow tired and cold.

All these thoughts left her as she saw Miley flailing in the water ahead of her. She started kicking her legs and pushing the water behind her with her arms faster. Soon she was gaining on Miley.

Miley hadn't noticed Lilly closing in on her, due to her frantic screaming and the water in her eyes. As Lilly was within reach, she flung her arms around Miley. Miley didn't know what had suddenly taken a hole around of her and she struggled, knocking Lilly awake.

Lilly was dragged under for several seconds after being swept into the side of a large protruding rock. Time was wasting, and every second took Miley further away from her. She pressed her feet against the rock and pushed off of it, propelling herself forwards. She could feel her Lola wig being swept off of her head and into the current, to be lost forever, and just hoped that she and Miley wouldn't end up the same way.

This time, as she drew nearer to Miley and wrapped her arms around her, she was determined to hold on. Miley stopped moving in alarm as she realized Lilly had jumped in after her, and was now was grasping her tightly.

Lilly maneuvered Miley on top of her to keep her above water and began desperately searching for some way for her to pull them to a sturdy part of the riverbank. Luckily, they were coming up on a tree that had fallen into the river. Liley swam towards it frantically while still trying to keep Miley above water. Much of the time, she herself was underwater and had to rely on a glimpse every few seconds.

She timed it just right, and pushed towards the trunk of the tree Miley several seconds before they were passed it. She prayed that Miley would have enough sense in her to grab hold of it, and luckily, she did.

As soon as Lilly was sure that Miley had a firm hold around the trunk, she had already been swept past the tree. Miley stared after her, terrified and helpless. Lilly gave one final burst of energy and swam against the current. She reached out a hand to grasp one of the roots that stuck out. Pulling herself onto the trunk, she gasped and sputtered, trying to catch her breath. She looked over at Miley, who was still staring at her in shock.

"D-don't just stand there," Lilly gasped, "Start climbing toward the bank!"

Miley jumped at Lilly's desperate tone, and started to climb up the trunk, until she was on the riverbank. Lilly sighed and climbed up after her. As she reached riverbank, she wanted to just collapse and fall asleep. Her muscles burned and her bones ached, and she felt like she would never catch her breath. She also felt sick from swallowing so much water.

She couldn't stand the sound of the rushing water anymore, and she could barely hear herself think, and her mind was trying to race, so it was very frustrating. Numbly, she grabbed Miley's hand and led them away from the edge of the bank.

She followed the side of a rock wall and stopped when she found a place where the wall that had a large cavity in it that went about 10 feet back. Then, the adrenaline that had been pumping through her body suddenly left her and she fell to her knees, and sat back, awkwardly.

Miley, still struggling with her perception for reaction time, stared down at Lilly, and then knelt down and panicked. "Lilly!"

"Relax, Miles. I'm okay," Lilly panted, "I'm just… exhausted,"

Miley hesitated, and then sat down inside the cavity, next to Lilly. She pulled off her Hannah wig, which was soaking wet and ruined, and started to pull the bobby pins out of her brown hair. When she had gotten them all out, she let her hair down and shook it out.

She had still failed to grasp the situation, but after several minutes of listening to Lilly's labored breathing beside her, the situation began to sink in. Tears started to pour down her cheeks.

"L-Lilly," She sniffled, "Where are we?"

Lilly several more breaths before answering. "Colorado. That's all I can tell you right now,"

Miley hugged her knees to her chest. "We have to get back to Zack and Brad, and—"

"Un-fucking-believable, Miley," Lilly exhaled angrily.

Miley's eyes widened, shocked by Lilly's tone. "Wh-what?"

"He's been trying to get in your pants since you met him! You're just his ticket to fame and recognition by the media! I don't what you to get hurt by that dickhead, and the first thing you can think of is getting back to him?!" Lilly couldn't help but shaking as she released "That jackass didn't do anything when you fell in! He just stared after you like he was some retarded chimpanzee!"

"What was he supposed to do?!" Miley cried defensively, "H-He could have gotten hurt!"

Lilly stared at Miley in disbelief, and sat back. "You… you can't be serious…" She shook her head to herself, and tried to stand, but instead, before she could lift herself to the standing position, a searing pain shot up her leg and she cried out as she fell to her knees. She sat back and pulled up her legging to reveal a deep vertical gash that started at her ankle and ran up the side of her calf, and was succeeding in bleeding profusely.

Miley's eyes rested on the gash as well. "Oh god, Lilly…" She gasped, "You're bleeding,"

Lilly winced and tried to wipe some of the blood away. She was fed up with Miley never noticing anything about how she was, and responded coldly. "No shit,"

Miley suddenly pieced together what she said with the fact that Lilly had jumped in after her; and gotten hurt in doing so. She lowered her head in shame. "L-Lil, I'm sorry," She said quietly as more tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "Y-You saved my life…" She bit down on her bottom lip in a failed attempt to stop the tears. "What… what were you thinking jumping in after me? You could have died…."

Sighing, Lilly lay back, trying to forget the pulsating pain that ran up her leg. "I didn't have to think, Miley," Her voice was sad, figuring that Miley would never understand. "I just… had to go after you,"

She laughed dryly and smiled to herself, "Besides…" she continued, "I promised your dad that there wouldn't be one second when I wasn't with you,"

Tears now poured from Miley's eyes, and she threw herself into Lilly's arms. Lilly was taken by surprise, but as she felt Miley trembling in her arms with sobs, she sighed and pulled her closer.

"I-I'm so sorry, Lilly!" She sobbed, as the realization of how poorly she had been treating Lilly came upon her, "I've been so stupid!"

Lilly rested her head on Miley's. "Hey, stop crying," She smiled, "If I didn't plan on forgiving you, I wouldn't have jumped in after you,"

Miley tightened her grip around Lilly and buried her face deeper into her arms.

Lilly held her until she had exhausted herself from crying, and fallen asleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Miley awoke, she was alone. "Lilly…?" She sat up and looked around. When she didn't see Lilly anywhere she began to panic. "Lilly?!"

"Calm down, Miley," Miley heard Lilly's voice coming through some trees, and soon, Lilly appeared carrying an armful of wood.

Miley stared at Lilly as she entered the cavity and set the wood down on the ground. "What's that for?" Miley asked.

"A fire," Lilly said simply, "You start out with smaller pieces and then build your way up. If we stay wet we'll get sick. Plus the fact that it looks like it's going to rain soon,"

Miley blinked, "How are you gonna light it?"

Lilly sighed, and pulled a Bic lighter out of the waist of her skirt, showing it to Miley. "It should be dry enough to use now,"

"Um, Lilly…?" Miley said, furrowing her brow, "Why have you been walking around with a lighter in your skirt?"

Lilly sighed and started to arrange the smaller scraps of wood in triangular fashion. "For smoking…"

Miley stared at Lilly in disbelief. "S-smoking?!" She cried, "Since when have you smoked?"

"Since, whenever I get stressed out," Lilly frowned to herself, "Which has been more recently, lately,"

"L-Lilly, don't you know how bad that is for you?" She lowered her tone when Lilly gave her a incredulous look, "…I've never smelled any smoke around you before,"

"Well," Lilly sighed, "Maybe if you had been paying attention to something else other than Zack, you would have,"

Realizing Lilly was right; Miley hugged her knees to her chest, defeated. "S-sorry,"

They both sat in silence before Lilly sighed and spoke again. "No, Miley, it's fine. I don't mean to keep bringing it up, it just really got to me. It's okay. All we need to worry about it now is getting back," She winced in pain as she leaned forward to grab a larger piece of wood, forgetting about the gash on her leg. As weight was dispersed to her injured leg, the pain shot through it and she fell forwards.

"Lilly!" Miley shot up to help her.

Lilly smiled and pulled herself up weakly, "But first, I think we should rest for the night. It's too dark to try and get anywhere now anyways,"

Miley clutched Lilly's arm tightly and nodded. Lilly steadied herself and flicked the lighter on. Holding it to the pile of twigs she made, it took much longer than she expected for the flame to take. She lowered her face to the embers and blew gently on it. After a long time of nursing the fire, a respectable flame was going.

"Go on and get close," Lilly told Miley, seeing her shiver.

Miley nodded timidly and scooted closer. After a long silence, Miley looked over at Lilly and giggled.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"You have some soot on your face," Miley smiled and brought her hand to Lilly's cheek to wipe it away.

Lilly blushed, feeling Miley's soft hand on her face. "I-it's not like I tried to…" Lilly felt a tear escape from her eye and roll down her cheek, touching Miley's fingers. Miley stopped trying to rub the soot off and hesitated.

"Lilly…?"

Lilly sniffled, and stood up, wiping the wet streak the tear had left from her cheek. "I'll be right back, Miles, I want to get more wood before it starts raining," She started walking before Miley could think of something to say.

"Dammit, Lilly, pull it together," Lilly muttered to herself as she started collecting wood, "Hold it together until you get us out of here,"

Lilly knew she had to be strong and come off as calm and collected for Miley's sake. Miley was still in a stupor from shock, and if Lilly allowed herself to fall apart, she would panic.

As Lilly bent down to pick up another piece of detached wood, she heard a low rumble, and the first drop of rain hit her arm. She grumbled, and turned to head back towards Miley and their shelter. By the time she got there, it had begun pouring down rain.

Miley looked up at her as she entered and placed the wood in a pile next to the fire to dry out. She kept one, which she added to the small flame. She sat down next to Miley and curled up, trying not to shiver.

"Lil…" she heard Miley say, "You're soaking wet,"

Lilly attempted to stifled a shiver, but Miley saw it. "I'm fine,"

Miley frowned, not wanting to start another argument. She already felt bad about how she had been treating Lilly. She hugged her knees to her chest, and tried to stop shivering as well.

Lilly glanced over at her and saw how miserable she looked. "Miles… are you still cold?"

"N-no," Miley's chattering teeth gave her away.

Sighing, Lilly sat up. "You're clothes are still wet. Take them off,"

Miley stared at Lilly, "Wh-what?"

"I won't look," Lilly said, flustered and beginning to blush. She turned away. "I'll sit in the other direction. If you don't dry your clothes, you'll freeze to death,"

Miley frowned, "Okay, there's two- no, three, things wrong with your idea,"

Lilly lowered her head, embarrassed that Miley had been offended by her suggestion.

"One, you're clothes are more wet than mine are. Two, if you sit in the other direction, you'll be the one that freezes to death. And three, how am I supposed to not freeze to death if my clothes are off?"

"I…" Lilly shifted uneasily, "I had an idea that took care of all of those, but it wouldn't work,"

Miley scooted closer to Lilly, trying to read her reaction. "Why not?"

Lilly sighed fretfully. "You know… the whole… body warmth thing," She blushed and lowered her head even more. "I-it wouldn't have been long; just until our clothes were dry… J-just forget it,"

Miley blushed and lowered her head as well. A long silence passed between them as the sound of the crackling fire and the rain pelting against the rock surrounded them. Miley glanced over at Lilly to see her shivering tremendously. She bit on her lower lip nervously and then made her decision.

"Lilly," She said boldly, "I… I'm okay with it… It will save our lives. A-and it doesn't really b-bother me. Really,"

Lilly looked up at Miley, not sure of what she had just heard. She hesitated, feeling a mixture of emotions, and finally responded. "Okay,"