A/N: I hope everyone's still enjoying the story. I'll warn you, this chapter was even a little hard for me to write, so it may not be much easier to read :) Btw, the scene with Miley and Lilly visiting Susan Stewart in the hospital? It's based on my sister and I visiting our mother after her double bypass surgery some five years ago... so I guess you could say it hit a little close to home

CHAPTER SIX

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

Susan Stewart's surgery lasted several long, agonizing hours, as the doctors worked tirelessly to save her life. For Robbie Ray and the others, left with nothing to do but wait and pray, it was a kind of torture they'd never known.

Robbie Ray paced slowly back and forth in the dimly lit waiting room, unable to focus on anything but his beloved wife and what she was going through. Nothing brought him comfort or relief, and nothing would until he could see his wife again.

On the other side of the small room, Miley and Lilly sat together on a large chair, wrapped in each other's arms. Physically and emotionally exhausted, Miley had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, but Lilly had not been so fortunate. Worry, for the young woman she loved dearly and held in her arms, for her family, and for poor Susan Stewart herself, kept Lilly awake. So she did the only thing she could think of – she held her best friend tightly, gently stroked her hair, and prayed to whoever would listen that the fates would not be cruel enough take Miley's mother from her.

"Mr. Stewart?" a quite voice called out. Robbie Ray whirled around to seea weary man in doctor's scrubs standing nearby. "I'm Doctor Sterns."

"How is my wife?" Robbie Ray asked quickly, not bothering to be polite. The doctor sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, resting his hands on his knees.

"The surgery went well," he answered calmly. "We were able to excise most of the cancerous growth, and your wife is in recovery now." Robbie Ray squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears not to come.

"Thank you, doc," he managed.

"She's still going to require radiation therapy I'm afraid, to deal with the cancerous tissue we couldn't remove surgically, but overall I'd say your wife's changes of making a complete recovery are very good." He smiled a little. "She's a very strong woman."

"You have no idea," Robbie Ray quipped. "When… when we can see her?"

"It'll be a while before she's completely awake, but you can visit her once she's been set up in the NICU," Dr. Sterns answered. "It should only take a few minutes. Just use the intercom outside and tell them you're there to see Susan Stewart." Robbie Ray nodded.

"All right; and… thanks again doc, for everything." He extended his hand and Dr. Sterns stood and shook it.

"Best of luck to you," Dr. Sterns said warmly, and he walked away.

Nearby, Lilly smiled as she heard the doctor's words. Miley's mom still faced a long recovery, but God had been merciful. Mouthing a silent 'thank you' to the heavens, she gently shook Miley awake.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," she whispered to her best friend. Miley slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Lilly, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey back," Lilly replied, smiling. "Sleep well?" Miley nodded.

"Sure… you were with me," she said, blushing slightly. Lilly couldn't help blushing a little as well, though she wasn't entirely sure why.

"Guess what?" Lilly asked, her smile widening. "The doctor was just here. He said your mom's surgery went fine – she's gonna be okay."

"Oh thank God!" Miley gasped, pulling Lilly to her in a fierce hug. "Thank you so much, Lilly!"

"Me?" Lilly asked, not understanding. "I didn't do anything, Miley."

"Yes you did," Miley insisted with a smile. "You were here, and you stayed with me… and I know you were prayin' for momma too."

"Maybe," Lilly teased. "Now get up, lazy bones… you need to go see your mom!"

If there was one thing Miley had learned from spending so much time in a hospital, it was that she absolutely, positively did not like them. Everywhere there seemed to be sickness and suffering and sorrow, and it pained her even more to think of her mother in such a place. The small waiting room outside the Neurological Intensive Care Unit was even more somber than the one they had just left; perhaps because anyone who had business in the room was there to see someone they cared about who was gravely ill, perhaps dying. Miley immediately decided she didn't like the place at all, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. First though, she needed to see her mother.

Since hospital rules only allowed two people to visit an NICU patient at a time, Robbie Ray went first, to spend some time alone with his wife. He returned to the waiting room a little while later, looking weary and worn.

"Miley, would you like to go see your mom now?" Robbie Ray asked her softly. "She's still sleeping, but I think it'd do ya good to see that she's all right." Miley hesitated for a moment.

"I'll go with you," he said gently.

"Actually dad, would it be okay if… if Lilly went with me?" she asked quietly. She was still holding her best friend's hand, clinging to Lilly as though she was afraid to let go of the blonde girl. She didn't entirely understand why, but Miley knew she needed to be with Lilly.

"Of course she can bud," Robbie Ray said, smiling a little. He knew how close the two of them had become, and was grateful Lilly was there to comfort his little girl.

"You need me to show you how the intercom works?" he asked. Miley shook her head.

"That's all right daddy, I watched you do it," she replied solemnly.

"Okay," Robbie Ray responded. "Go ahead and see your mom then, bud. We'll be right here." The two girls stood as one and walked over to the heavy double doors leading to the NICU. Miley reached out and pressed the large black button beside the intercom speaker, then waited for one of the nurses inside to respond.

"Yes?" an older woman's voice finally answered.

"We're here to see Susan Stewart," Miley spoke into the intercom.

"Of course," the woman replied. "Come right in." There was a buzzing noise and the doors opened. Hand in hand, Miley and Lilly walked carefully inside.

In a small room just past the nurse's station, Susan Stewart lay in yet another hospital bed, looking for all the world like she was sleeping. At least, that's what she would have looked like, if not for all the machines and cables and tubes hooked up to her unconscious body.

"Oh, momma…" Miley whispered, feeling tears stinging her eyes. She felt Lilly slip a comforting arm around her.

"Don't cry, Miley," Lilly whispered to her best friend. "She's gonna be okay; she just needs those machines right now." In truth, she didn't like seeing Miley's mother in that inhuman web of machines any more than Miley did, but her best friend needed her, and that was far more important.

"I know," Miley replied softly, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.

"Come on," Lilly said, gently nudging Miley forward. Slowly, almost reverently, they walked over to Susan Stewart's bedside together. Tentatively, Miley reached out and gently rested her hand atop one of her mother's. Susan's skin was cool and dry, and Miley had to suppress a shiver. Lilly sensed it and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly.

"I'm here, momma," Miley said quietly. As if by instinct, Susan's hand opened and gently wrapped itself around her daughter's. Startled, Miley looked up at her mother, and was greeted by the familiar sight of Susan's deep brown eyes staring back at her.

"Lilly! She's awake!" Miley cried out.

"Maybe," Lilly replied carefully. "The doctor said it would be awhile before your mom would be completely awake, though."

"So she's… not really awake?" Miley asked fearfully.

"Sure she is, just not all the way, you know?" Lilly said gently. "Like when you first wake up in the morning but you're not quite all there yet." Miley seemed to consider that.

"I'm sure she knows you're here, Miley," Lilly continued. "Go ahead, talk to her." Miley nodded slowly.

"Hi, momma," she said softly to her mother. "It's me, Miley. I'm really, really happy you're gonna be okay." She swallowed back the lump forming in her throat.

"I'll be right here with you until you get better, okay?" she continued quietly. She looked over at her best friend for a moment and smiled. "Lilly too." At that, Susan Stewart managed a small smile of her own.

Not quite two months later, Susan Stewart was finally home again with her family. Though she was finally recovering from her ordeal, she was still weak, her strength returning very slowly. Her family and friends remained by her side, lending her a helping hand whenever she needed it. Miley and Lilly were by far her most loyal helpers.

"Here you go, momma!" Miley announced, as she and Lilly walked into her parents' bedroom with a tray full of breakfast. Susan couldn't help but smile.

"You girls didn't have to go to all this trouble," she said softly.

"We wanted to," Lilly answered cheerfully. "Besides, you gotta keep your strength up, Mrs. S!" Susan looked at all the food the girls had prepared for her and chuckled.

"With all this food, I don't think that's gonna be a problem," she quipped. After she and Lilly carefully placed the tray of food in front of Susan, Miley laid down beside her mother and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Go ahead and eat your breakfast, momma," she said happily. "Lilly and I will take care of the entertainment!"

"Entertainment?" Susan repeated, arching an eyebrow.

"Yup," Lilly replied, holding up a DVD copy of Disney's Enchanted. "It's movie time!"

"Really… you girls don't have to spend all your time with me…" Susan stammered.

"We want to," Miley insisted.

"Face it, you're stuck with us," Lilly added with a grin as she turned on the television and started the DVD.

"Come here," Susan whispered. Miley and Lilly both did so, and Susan enveloped them in a hug.

"I couldn't ask for better helpers than my girls," she said proudly, grateful tears sparkling in her eyes.

"We love you too, momma," Miley said softly.

After breakfast and the movie, Susan began to feel weak again, so she decided to take a nap. Miley and Lilly excused themselves so she could rest, and went to Miley's room for a while.

"So how are you holding up, Smiley?" Lilly asked her best friend.

"I'm okay," Miley replied distantly. "I'm just glad momma's getting better." Lilly looked at her best friend for a moment, noticing a flicker of emotion in her eyes.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Lilly reminded her softly. Miley smiled.

"I know," she answered. "Really, I'm okay, Lils. Just… tired is all."

"Helping take care of your mom is a full-time job," Lilly said understandingly. "I know how much it means to her to have you here with her, though."

"You too," Miley responded, her voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you for being here, Lilly."

"Hey, that's what best friends do," Lilly said cheerfully. She opened her arms and Miley slid between them, smiling as Lilly pulled her into a hug.

"I love you, Lilly," Miley whispered. "You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for."

"No fair trying to make me cry," Lilly teased her, "and I love you too, Miley."

"Aw, shoot!" she exclaimed a moment later.

"What is it, Lilly?" Miley asked her best friend.

"I forgot I promised my mom I'd go grocery shopping with her today," Lilly said, making a face.

"It's okay," Miley replied with a smile. "Go help your mom, and maybe you can come back for dinner." Lilly grinned.

"Think your dad can make those barbecue ribs of his?" she asked mischievously. Miley laughed.

"I'll see what I can do," she said with a grin. "Now you better get going; you don't want to keep your mom waiting." She and Lilly hugged again, and then the blonde tomboy hurried home.

Sometime later, Robbie Ray finished his work in the fields and headed back inside to take a shower. As he walked into the bedroom he shared with his beloved wife, he noticed she was still sleeping soundly in their bed. Smiling, he walked over to her and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'm glad to see you're feelin' better, baby," Robbie Ray said softly to her. He frowned when he noticed her skin felt cool. Carefully, he reached up to brush a few stray hairs from her face.

"Are you okay, Susie?" he asked aloud. Growing concerned, he shook her gently, trying to wake her up.

"Come on baby, wake up; you're scarin' me here," Robbie Ray pleaded with his wife. Despite his attempts though, Susan Stewart would not awaken. Reaching down, he ran his fingers along the inside of her wrist, feeling for her pulse… and found none.

"No, no, no… baby, no!" Frightened out of his mind, Robbie Ray searched for Susan's heartbeat as well, but again he found nothing. He desperately wished he knew how to perform CPR, wished could do anything to help his beloved wife, but instead he felt utterly helpless.

"Susie, please…" his voice cracked, tears beginning to blur his vision. He tried to shake her again, but it was a half-hearted effort at best. Finally fighting past his grief and panic, he bolted for the telephone on the nearby nightstand and hurriedly dialed 911.

"Come on, mom, how much food do you think we need?" Lilly complained. She was anxious to get the grocery shopping over with so she could get back to Miley's, but it felt like it was taking forever.

"Well, maybe if I didn't have a daughter with the appetite of a football player, I wouldn't have to buy so much," Heather Truscott quipped as they walked through the grocery store. Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She grabbed it out of her purse and quickly flipped it open.

"Hello? Robbie Ray, what's wrong?" Listening to her mother on the phone, Lilly frowned; she couldn't quite figure out why Miley's father might've called her mother. Then she saw her mother turn deathly pale, and she stopped walking abruptly.

"W-what?" she stammered. "N-no, that's not… that can't be…" Lilly felt her heart begin to beat faster as a sudden unreasoning fear filled her. She watched as her mother very slowly closed her cell phone and looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

"Mom, what is it?!" Lilly cried out. Heather Truscott blinked.

"Miley's mother… she…" She swallowed, and tears began to stream down her face. "Oh, Lilly, she's…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, but somehow Lilly knew anyway. Her eyes grew wide.

"Oh my god! MILEY!" Lilly took off running as fast as she could, desperate to reach her best friend before it was too late.

Lilly reached the Stewart home a few minutes later, racing through the front door so fast she barely paid any attention to the ambulance waiting outside. She found Miley standing in the entryway, beside her father and brother, frozen in place.

"Miley!" Lilly called out to her. "I'm here, Miley! Oh god, I'm so, so sorry!" Miley didn't respond. She just stood there, staring at nothing.

"Miley?" Lilly asked gently. "Miley, it's me, Lilly… I'm here…" Miley finally looked up at her best friend, and in that moment all the emotions she had been holding back finally broke free. She sagged into Lilly's arms, her entire body shaking with wrenching sobs.

"Not my momma! Please, Lilly… not my momma…!" Lilly held Miley close, her face already soaked with tears of her own.

"I know, Miley," she whispered sadly. "I know… just let it out…"