Summary: Miley Stewart has been signed on to write a duet with her ex-boyfriend Nick Lucas and this puts a strain on her relationship with Jake. Can Nick manage to find a way to get things back between them to the way they were before the storm? Rated T for language and mature themes. xxNileyxx Crossover: Hannah Montana & JONAS.

Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit work of fan fiction written by smileyniley487 :) I do not own and/or associate or liaise with Disney, Miley Cyrus, JONAS or any of the JoBros or associated third parties or any parties but I do love them and their work dearly.

A/N: To Photochik: Thank you so much for reviewing! And I'll admit, I am a little sad to see so little reviews for this story but you know what? Even hearing from one person, like I have from you, makes it all worth it. So thank you :) I dedicate this chapter to you in the hopes that other people might share your views about feedback. You truly made my day

For those interested… this was probably one of my more favorite chapters to write. I love Niley fluff!

xoxo smileyniley487

Chapter Four - Writing & Memories

After Kevin and Joe had left, (and they had no choice, Nick had been furious), Miley had just sat there on Nick's bed staring down at her stained designer top. It was covered in pizza sauce. Nick felt really bad.

"Well, what a great start to the day!" Miley suggested; the cynicism was typically evident in her voice.

"Look," Nick said, "I'm really sorry about the top. I'll replace it I promise."

"I know you feel bad Nicky, but you can't expect me to go out looking like this, especially when I'm Hannah."

"Care to borrow one of my shirts?" Nick suggested, "That'll send them into a real frenzy down there."

Miley raised an eyebrow, "Thanks but I'll um… I'll just go for a shower, wait for my suitcase to get up here. That shouldn't be too much longer now."

Nick nodded, "Sure thing. I'll just be out here."

"Okay," she winked. "Oh and Nick?" she added, heading for the bathroom, "No peeking."

Flashback

Each lying with their back on the soft grass of Tennessee, two parallel beings, with their eyes closed and hands intertwined, were breathing in the fresh American air. The atmosphere was sweet and every second of the moment was as serene as the daybreak sky.

"Nick?" whispered Miley, "Can you feel that?"

The ground beneath him was gently shaking. But it wasn't an uncomfortable vibration. It sounded like…

"Bluejeans!" Miley exclaimed.

Sure enough, as they both moved into a seated position with hands still linked together, Miley's beautiful white horse was galloping gracefully towards them.

"Wanna ride?" Miley asked turning to Nick but, before he could agree, she was already up on her horse, ready to set off.

As they took to the wind with Bluejeans, Nick couldn't believe how wonderful it felt to be riding with Miley. The way she took charge, the way her hair flew behind her, the way the sun glowed on her skin - she was just so radiant. He had his arms around her and held her tightly, resting his head against her shoulder as she whispered slowly to him, "Keep hanging tightly there, my lil' cowboy…"

End Flashback.

When Miley got out of the shower she was wearing nothing but a towel.

"Your-- suitcaseishere," Nick informed almost in one breath and then turned around before she could see him go red in the face.

The next thing he knew the towel she was wearing had landed straight over his head. It was warm and wet and smelled like Miley.

"Don't you dare move that towel, Nicholas." Miley teased. Nick wouldn't have dared even if he wanted to.

Miley had always been really fast at changing her clothes - a skill she had acquired as Hannah Montana. Nick, however, had seemingly forgotten this information; he jumped when she sat as close as she possibly could to him, asking if there were any pizza left. He quickly removed the towel, preventing her getting to it first; he didn't want her to have removed it and caught him sniffing it like a helpless puppy.

"You look nice," mumbled Nick handing her some food.

"This outfit? Please! This is my Quick-Before-Nick-Sees-You-Naked Outfit. If I really wanted to look nice I would have worn my Jake-Please-Forgive-Me Outfit."

She realized what she had said almost as soon as she said it. "I'm sorry," she apologized immediately, "I shouldn't have brought him up. I know how much you hate him."

Nick sighed, "I don't hate him, Miley. I just the hate the thought of anyone treating you badly."

She shook her head, "Why is that?"

Was this an Exclusive Miley Trick Question? He didn't know. He answered honestly, "Well, we're friends right?"

She smiled sarcastically, "You see this is what I've never understood about you. You carry on all day holding this serious front, quoting 'business, business, business' to me, and then you say we're friends? How can we be friends, Nick?"

Nick was confused. What had he said wrong? "You know, I don't know what went down with you and Jake, Miley, before you came here to New York but I'm gonna give you that one. Truth is, I can be serious. It's a famous trait of mine. You always knew that about me. But am I gonna ask you this-- if we're not friends then what are we?"

"Colleagues," Miley answered, "Business Colleagues."

"Fine!" Nick said, giving up. "Then let's get to it then, shall we? But first-- do you need to put your Let's-Write-A-Song Outfit on?"

He was being serious but Miley resorted to throwing a pillow at him.

"So are we making this song up on our own or are we strictly following the record rules here too?" she asked.

"Well actually ever the intelligent writer that I am, I've sorta come up with something. Do you wanna hear it? Once you do, you'll realize why I can't write this song on my own."

Miley smiled, "You've always had that flair with writing haven't you? Go ahead Nicky."

He had his guitar ready and he gently began strumming a tune. The way she stared at him-- like he was something important. It wasn't an infatuation, it was genuine. He had never quite gotten over that feeling. But he wasn't going to admit it now. He mentally sighed inside and began:

"And I don't want to lose her… Don't wanna let her go… Flooded with all this pain, knowing that I'll never hold her, like I did, before the storm."

He had finished but Miley hadn't said anything, "That's all I got so far." Nick admitted.

Miley sighed, "Actually I really liked that. I liked the metaphors associated with storm. The word 'storm' is a perfect adjective for a breakup. And if you're using the storm metaphor, there are heaps of words I could use like, rain, thunder, lightning… All good connotations associated with the hardest parts of breakup."

She grabbed out a sparkly Hannah Montana pen and her butterfly notepad and began writing and re-writing at a furious pace. Nick had never seen Miley so serious. And the only times she had ever talked like that was when she was in writing mode…

Flashback

"Nick!!" Sandy called out, "Pick up the phone from upstairs!!"

Nick suddenly paused his XBox game, knowing exactly who it was as he glanced at the number, and reached out for the phone, "Hello Beautiful, how's it going…?" He sang into the phone.

"It's wonderful, in California. I've been missing you… it's true.'" Miley replied, singing along. "Guess who's written another song about you?"

Nick smiled; hearing her voice always gave him butterflies, "Who?" he joked, "Couldn't possibly be 'my girl, my girl', Miley? Could it?"

He heard her giggle on the other end of the line, "You wanna hear it?"

"Go ahead, Miley…"

There was a moment's pause while she put down the phone and got out her guitar. Then she picked it up again, "Okay I'm ready… just give me a sec to tune…" He heard her strum her guitar and then her sweet voice began singing. "Ask me once and I'll come, I'll come running. And when I can't be with you, dream me near, keep me in your heart, and I'll appear. All you gotta do is turn around, close your eyes, look inside. I'm right here."**

End Flashback

"Nick?" Miley asked, awakening him from his memory, "I think I've got something - you ready?"

"Sure," Nick said, "from the top." Then, handling his guitar and picking up from where he left, he started singing again, "And I don't want to lose her, don't want to let her go…"

"Standing out in the rain, need to know if it's over… cos I would leave you alone."

"Flooded with all this pain, knowing that I'll never hold her."

"Like I did before the storm…"

They both finished singing, smiling awkwardly when they were done. "Wow, Miley," Nick added, "What you just wrote that was great. It fit in so perfectly with the rest of the lyrics."

The words had come so easily to Miley. Truth be told, the lyric was what she had been thinking the whole journey here to New York. All he'd have to tell her was that it was over, definitely over, and she would leave him alone - and in the meantime it felt like she really was standing out in the rain.

"You know, Nick," whispered Miley looking down at the floor now, heart beating fast, "This isn't what I wanted. I mean I never thought it'd come this far."

Nick was going over his chords, paying no attention to the vulnerability of her words, "How so?"

Miley sighed. Was she going in too deep? Was she making herself too vulnerable? Hadn't they already discussed before they started writing that they were business colleagues and nothing more?

Flashback

"Miley, what's wrong?" Nick asked.

Of course he'd be the first to find her. He'd be the only one she'd let herself get close to when she was feeling faint and vulnerable. Nick wouldn't over exaggerate or over analyze anything. He'd simply understand.

"I don't feel so good," Miley admitted throwing her arms around him. Nick gently stroked her hair. They were getting ready for another Hannah Montana concert. The Lucas Brother's were Miley Stewart's guest stars. Miley had blown crowds away with every single performance she had done so far. And now, just as they were getting ready to go on again, Miley's head space wasn't with it.

"Miley," Nick whispered, "You can do this. You know all those people out there? All those hundreds and thousands of people out there? They all believe in you. And there's a guy stroking your hair right now who believes in you too. You can do it Miley, I know you can. Besides…" he added, "I brought you chocolate."

"Nick!" Miley smiled, "You know that gives my face pimples!"

"Miley," said Nick, "If you don't eat this chocolate- I will!"

Miley punched him lightly. She knew he was joking so she took the chocolate and generously ate some.

He glided her over to a chair and they sat down. "Don't get too overwhelmed now, Miley. They absolutely love you. Or, at the very least, love Hannah Montana. Even with all the pimples you'll have on her face tomorrow!"

Miley hit him with a cushion this time but missed. So she got up and started chasing him around her room. "Nick Lucas, I could kill you!" she laughed.

He caught her before she could hit him more playfully, "Wait!" he paused, "What's that I hear? Is that Miley Stewart laughing? I think Nick's just earned himself an award seeing how he's just made Miley feel better and all."

She sighed and then, as she hadn't yet put on her extravagantly high Hannah heels yet, stood on her tiptoes and kissed Nick gently on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know what I would do without you."

End Flashback

"Miley?" Nick asked; it was his turn to bring her back from a memory, "You were saying?"

"I was just thinking back to the start, how things were then. We just… lost it all you know?"

Nick was stunned. He wasn't sure what Miley was playing at. One minute she was determined to make it clear that she didn't want anything from him and now she was just being too damn confusing. "Miley… I--" Nick began but she cut him off.

"Yeah I know! That's great material for the song right? Just give me a sec and I'll write it all down so we can add it to our lyrics."

The sparkling Hannah Montana pen flew across her butterfly notepad again. There goes Miley. Nick thought. The second she came to opening up she'd retreat like a bunny hiding from a gunshot.

"Are you happy with him, Miley?"

He hadn't known why he said it. Truthfully, he had meant to say it in his head but it had just come out of him. She narrowed her eyebrows, "Where did that come from?"

Nick shrugged, "I don't know… you were saying that this isn't what you wanted? Something about how we lost it? What were you talking about?"

There was a pause. Miley opened her mouth and closed it several times, "Like I said," she repeated, "Just great material for the song, Nicky."

"Miley…"

"No Nick - listen to me. You don't understand. All you'd have to say is that it's over and I would, I really would, leave you alone. But I can't move on with my life 'cos… you will always be a part of it."

The situation was becoming increasingly frustrating and Nick had been in these kinds of situations before. Miley always came out the winner but he was determined not to lose this time; Nick wasn't going to let this conversation fly over.

"Look," he started, not sure how deep he'd like to go with this, "I'm standing right here but it's like you can't see me anymore. I'd give anything to change the past and just get back to the way we were before anything happened but --"

Nick paused. He wasn't as good as this as Miley. Where she knew how she felt with all her heart and wasn't afraid to hide it from him, Nick was too shy to admit any truth he may have been covering. She used his brief silence as a moment of weakness on his behalf.

"We gotta put that in the song," Miley interrupted, "All these post-breakup feelings we've got to manipulate them and use it to write a hit song. I'm confident that once we do that, once we let go and let it all out, we'll be free of each other again."

She knew what she was doing: covering up any mess that may have happened due to her vulnerable moment. She owed Jake that. If he had only heard half the things she had said and done tonight… or even merely thought about.

Nick sighed, "You're right. We just have to let it all out. You can come on as a guest on one of our tours for the album and we'll just let it go out on stage. How does that sound?"

Nick was agreeing with her? Of course he would, especially if it meant they wouldn't have to go down that road again… She wasn't sure how she felt about that. Miley didn't say anything. She was on the border of tears. If Nick wasn't going to fight for them then no one would because she couldn't anymore. She simply nodded.

**Disclaimer 2: Lyrics borrowed without permission from 'I'm Right Here' © Miley Ray Cyrus from the album 'Meet Miley Cyrus' I do not own rights to the lyrics/song and am not associated with Disney, Miley Ray nor anyone who associates with either parties. This is a nonprofit work of fan fiction :)

A/N: please, please review :)

JazzyNileyFizzle I hope you enjoyed their business meeting! xoxo smileyniley487