A/N: Thank you all for continuing to read and review my story. Things are going to start getting a little... serious... now, but hopefully that won't scare anyone anyway. They will get better, I promise :)

CHAPTER FIVE

THE APPROACHING STORM

"So what are your plans for New Year's, Smiley?" Lilly asked her best friend. It was New Year's Eve, and they were playing in the snow on the Stewart farm, enjoying their winter vacation from school. Grinning, she hurled a freshly-made snowball at Miley, who was trying to hide behind a tree nearby. Seeing the snow hurtling towards her, Miley ducked behind the tree at the last moment and the snowball splattered harmlessly against the tree's trunk.

"You missed me!" Miley called out teasingly. "I thought you were supposed to be a great athlete, Truscott!"

"Keep it up, Stewart!" Lilly shouted back, laughing. "I'm gonna nail you yet!" She shrieked as another snowball caught her square in the chest.

"Oh that's it, you're going down Stewart!" she exclaimed, trying to wipe the frigid slush from her sweater. Lilly darted forward, and before Miley could even try to get away, she tackled her best friend playfully to the ground.

"All right, all right, you got me!" Miley laughed.

"I win?" Lilly asked, smirking.

"Yeah, you win," Miley replied with a grin. "You cheated, though!"

"All's fair in love and snowball fights," Lilly quipped. Miley laughed again.

"By the way, you didn't answer my question before," Lilly reminded her.

"What question?" Miley responded, not understanding.

"I asked you what you were doing for New Year's, goofball," Lilly said with a laugh.

"Tell you what," Miley suggested with a smile. "You get off of me before the snow soaks through my clothes and we'll talk, okay?" Lilly grinned and stood up, then helped Miley stand up as well.

"Thanks," Miley said to her best friend. "Anyway, I'm just gonna stay here for New Year's. You know, watch the ball drop and have some hot cocoa. Wanna spend the night?"

"Sure," Lilly responded brightly. "I thought you'd never ask!" Miley could only laugh.

"You are one of a kind, Lilly," she said with a smile.

"You know that's why you love me," Lilly replied with a smirk.

"Yup," Miley said with a smile, playing along. "Now how about we go inside and warm up, huh?"

"You got it, Smiley," Lilly responded. "Take me to your hot cocoa!"

Inside the Stewart home, Susan Stewart was busy making the bed she and her husband Robbie Ray shared. For once, everything in their household seemed to be working the way it was supposed to, and she found herself able to relax with a few less demanding chores.

As she began tucking the sheets under one corner of the mattress, an all-too familiar wave of pain began to wash over her. Unfortunately, unlike all the previous such attacks she'd experienced, it could in no way be mistaken for a simple headache. It felt more like a bomb had gone off inside her head, and with a gasp, Susan fell to her knees. She reached out and grabbed the comforter on the bed, desperate for something to steady her, but the pain would not go away.

She'd tried to deny there was anything truly wrong with her, had hoped the headaches or whatever they were would simply go away in time. At first they'd been few and far between, and were fairly easily dealt with. Gradually though, as time passed, they'd become worse. The headaches started coming more and more frequently, and each time with far greater intensity. Though the signs were all there, still Susan Stewart had refused to acknowledge anything was truly wrong. She claimed she just didn't want to worry her family, but that was only part of the truth. Deep down, though she would never admit it to anyone, she was scared… and now, it seemed, those fears had at last been realized.

"R-Robbie… please…" Susan pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. She tried desperately to call out for help, but the words seemed to catch in her throat, stolen away by the fiery pain in her skull. Then the world seemed to collapse in on her, and darkness took her.

"We should probably ask momma if you can stay the night first," Miley said as she and Lilly walked in the back door. "You know she'll say yes, though!"

"Yeah, your mom's great," Lilly agreed with a smile.

"Momma!" Miley called out. "Can Lilly spend the night?" When there was no answer, Miley began to worry. It wasn't like her mother, at all, to not at least say something in return. Lilly in tow, she decided to go look for her mother, and on a hunch, she tried her parents' bedroom first.

"Momma, are you in here?" Miley called out again. At first, the room seemed empty. Then she noticed a familiar pair of legs lying on the ground on the other side of her parents' bed. Seized by a sudden terror, Miley crept around the bed.

"M-momma?" she whispered. She made her way slowly and carefully around the bed, heart in her throat. Then she saw her beloved mother lying unconscious on the floor, and Miley cried out.

"MOMMA!" she screamed. Lilly was at her side in a second.

"Oh my god, what happened Miley?!"

"I d-dunno, Lilly!" she managed, blinking back tears. She turned her head and shouted as loud as she could.

"DADDY, JACKSON, COME QUICK!!" Few things could truly make Robbie Ray Stewart run, but hearing his only daughter crying out in terror was most definitely one of them. He burst into the bedroom mere moments later, Jackson at his heels.

"Miley, what is it?!" Robbie Ray shouted. When he saw Miley kneeling on the ground beside her unconscious mother, his blood ran cold. He bolted into the room and knelt by her side.

"Susie, honey?" he called out to his wife, shaking her gently. "Come on baby, please wake up!"

"Please help her, daddy!!" Miley sobbed. Lilly sat beside her, her arms wrapped protectively around Miley, holding her close in a silent attempt to comfort her best friend. Robbie Ray whirled around to face his teenage son.

"Jackson, call 911!" he bellowed.

Unfortunately, Pine Ridge was too small to have a hospital of its own, so Susan Stewart had to be airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in nearby Knoxville. Robbie Ray and the rest of her family could do little but wait as the doctors ran test after test on her, searching for whatever had caused her sudden collapse.

Miley sat in the hospital waiting room, Lilly still at her side, fighting not to cry. Lilly slid her arm carefully around Miley, searching desperately for the right words to say.

"Please don't cry, Miley," she whispered. "Your mom's gonna be okay, you'll see."

"S-she's just gotta be," Miley whimpered. "I can't lose her, Lilly… I just can't…"

"You won't," Lilly whispered soothingly. "You mom knows how much you love her, Miley; she's not gonna leave you." Lilly knew there was no way she could really make such a promise, but Miley needed something to reassure her, and right now comforting her best friend was all she cared about. Miley turned and sagged into Lilly's embrace, burying her face in Lilly's shoulder.

"Thank you, Lilly," she managed. "I don't know what I'd do without a friend like you." Lilly responded by holding Miley close.

"I'll always be here when you need me, Miley," Lilly said softly. "Always." At that moment, a man in doctor's scrubs walked quietly into the waiting room.

"Mr. Stewart?" he called out softly. Robbie Ray stood, his face drawn and anxious.

"I'm Robbie Ray Stewart," he responded urgently. "Where's my wife?!"

"I think we should talk in private," the doctor said quietly. He gestured for Robbie Ray to walk with him.

"Jackson, stay here with your sister," Robbie Ray said tightly. "Lilly's mother should be here soon." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and walked over to where the doctor was waiting for him, near the admissions desk.

"All right doctor," Robbie Ray said heavily. "Tell me what's happened to my wife."

"I'm afraid there's no easy way to say this," the doctor began. "I'm very sorry Mr. Stewart, but your wife… has a brain tumor." For a long moment Robbie Ray didn't trust himself to say anything.

"Isn't there something you can do?" he asked at last. "Some kinda surgery or something?" The doctor nodded grimly.

"We're preparing her for surgery now," he replied. "I have to warn you, the tumor appears to be quite large, but we'll do everything we can." Robbie Ray swallowed and reached out to steady himself.

"Can I see her… before you take her away?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," the doctor answered. "She's awake now. Please be brief though… she needs to save her strength." Robbie Ray nodded solemnly and the doctor quietly walked away. Then, heart hammering in his chest, Robbie Ray slowly made his way back towards his waiting family, wondering what he was going to tell his children…

Sometime later, Robbie Ray sat on the edge of his wife Susan's hospital bed, holding her hand and willing the tears not to come.

"This is all my fault," he whispered sadly.

"Robbie Ray Stewart," Susan cut him off, her voice firm but weak. "You stop that right now. This is not your fault, you hear me?"

"I should've made you go see a doctor," Robbie Ray retorted. "I knew somethin' was wrong with you. I should've…"

"Since when have you ever been able to make me do anything?" Susan asked with amusement. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Robbie Ray had to laugh a little.

"Since never," he replied, smiling sadly. "You've always been a stubborn piece of work, Susan Brooke Stewart."

"You know that's why you love me," Susan responded, a hint of her old sassiness in her voice.

"Always," Robbie Ray replied, his voice hoarse. "I'll always love you, Susie." Blinking back a tear, Susan leaned towards her husband and kissed him gently.

"Just like I'll always love you, Robbie Ray," she whispered. They remained in their loving embrace for long moments, then Susan gently leaned back against her pillow.

"Robbie," she said softly. "I need to say something." She wiped away her tears and took a deep breath.

"If anything should happen to me, Robbie… I want you to promise you'll take care of Miley and Jackson." She swallowed. "Promise me you'll move on."

"Don't even talk like that, Susie!" Robbie Ray snapped. "Nothin's gonna happen to you, you hear me?!"

"You don't know that," Susan said softly. "Please, Robbie… I need to know…"

"Nothin's gonna happen to you," Robbie Ray repeated stubbornly, turning away. "It can't… I can't lose you, Susie…" Susan Stewart knew her husband well enough to know that he was crying, but didn't want her to see. She squeezed the hand still holding hers.

"I'm not plannin' on goin' anywhere, lover," she whispered to Robbie Ray, "but I need you to say it, Robbie. Please… for me." Robbie Ray knew his wife wasn't going to give up. Much as he hated even thinking about what she was saying, he also knew this wasn't an argument he could win.

"All right," he whispered, barely able to say the words. "I promise, Susie; whatever happens, I promise I'll move on… somehow."

A little while later, after Robbie Ray excused himself, Miley, Lilly and Lilly's mother Heather Truscott paid a solemn visit to Susan Stewart as well. Jackson, uncomfortable with so much emotion, had chosen to visit his mother alone a bit earlier.

Though she was still weak, Susan managed to speak as cheerfully and comfortingly as she could, hoping to ease the fears of her terrified young daughter.

"I'm gonna be all right, baby girl," Susan whispered to Miley, gently stroking her daughter's long auburn hair. "Please don't cry."

"I'm s-sorry, momma," Miley managed through her tears. "I'm j-just s-scared."

"There's nothin' to be scared about, Miley," Susan replied. "The doctors will fix me up, you'll see."

"You have to stay with us, momma," Miley pleaded with her. "Please, we need you!"

"God willing, I'm not plannin' on going anywhere, Miley," Susan replied softly. She looked up at her friend Heather Truscott. They had spoken privately a few minutes before about everything that was happening. It had not escaped either mothers' notice how close their daughters had become, especially how Lilly had remained beside Miley throughout the whole hospital ordeal.

"Heather, could you take Miley to get a drink?" Susan asked her gently. "I think she needs some air." Heather nodded, and Susan looked back at her beloved daughter.

"Miley, honey, I want you to go with Lilly's mother and get a drink, all right? I'll be right here when you get back." Miley looked like she was going to argue, but finally she just nodded. Lilly stood up to go as well, but Susan reached out and gently grasped her arm.

"Lilly, can I talk to you alone for a moment?" she asked softly. Lilly was slightly taken aback, but she nodded.

"Sure, Mrs. S; what's up?" she asked carefully. Heather Truscott looked back and smiled as she walked out of the room.

"Lilly, you've been a good friend to my daughter, and I want you to know how much I appreciate it," Susan Stewart began. "I know how much you and Miley care about each other." Lilly blushed slightly.

"Thanks, Mrs. S." she said quietly. "Miley's the best friend I've ever had."

"I know," Susan said with a smile. "That's why I need to ask you something." Drawing in a breath, she reached out and rested her hand gently on top of Lilly's.

"Lilly, if I don't make it through this surgery… if something should happen to me… I want you to promise me you'll take care of Miley for me." Lilly blinked, wondering if maybe she'd heard wrong.

"Mrs. S… I…" she stammered, struggling to find the right words. "I don't like talking about this stuff, Mrs. S; you're gonna be fine."

"I hope so," Susan replied gently, "but my family comes first. Miley's going to need you the next few days, Lilly; this has all been very hard on her. I know you'll be there for her… just like I know you'll always be." Lilly fought back tears.

"You're not gonna die, Mrs. S.," she said stubbornly. "Miley needs you."

"Promise me," Susan repeated, tears filling her own eyes now. "Please, Lilly… I need to know my little girl is going to be taken care of."

"A-all right," Lilly managed, trying hard not to cry. "I p-promise, Mrs. S… I promise I'll always take care of Miley, as long as there's a breath left in me!"

"Thank you," Susan whispered, not trusting herself to try and say anything more. She squeezed Lilly's hand gently and smiled gratefully. Impulsively, Lilly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Susan Stewart in a fierce hug. Susan smiled sadly and held Lilly in her arms for several long moments. They were still that way when Miley and Heather Truscott walked back into the room not long after.

"What's wrong?!" Miley gasped, running over to her mother and her mother best friend.

"Nothing," Susan replied softly. "Lilly just needed a hug. Come here, baby girl… you look like you could use one too." Miley nodded eagerly and quickly joined her mother and her best friend in a warm and loving embrace.