Check me out – two chapters in a row without a severe time lag! My last chapter was a hell of a lot a dialogue and I'm afraid so is this one.

Thank you to all the reviewers and people who have chosen to follow – means a lot and great to hear people are still enjoying it! I'd like to give a shout to J.S. Jamesbrooke as I'm an avid reader of your stories, so thanks dude for checking out mine!

Nickelback – When We Stand Together

The right thing to guide us
Is right here, inside us
No one can divide us
When the light is leading on
But just like a heartbeat
The drumbeat carries on.

"Grandma, I don't mean to be rude but what have you got against Lilly, you seem to despise her. She's trying to be friendly to you and you keep rebuffing her, she thinks you don't like her."

"I don't know what you mean." Ruby continued to stir her pot, Miley noticing her Grandma's grip becoming stronger and knuckles whiter.

"Grandma, please." Miley placed her hand on Ruby's upper up. "Look at me." Ruby sighed for a second before leaving her spoon and turning to Miley. "There's something seriously wrong, ever since Lilly and I came here you've treated her like an outsider and she doesn't know what she's done wrong."

"Wrong?" Grandma Ruby stated rather than questioned. "It's so wrong."

"What?"

"You and Lilly. Men and women are supposed to be together, not women and women."

Miley immediately dropped her contact and stepped back. "This is what it's all about? You don't accept us?" She shook her head with a look of distaste. "Then why did you allow us here?"

"It's just a phase; I might be able to guide you on to a better path."

"What?" Miley looked as if she had been slapped in the face.

"Miley, you know it's wrong. You've always been a good girl, why are you doing this now?" Ruby now stepped forward whilst Miley stepped away.

"No." She shook her head. "How can you say that? You just don't get it. You really don't." Miley backed away further. "I love Lilly!"

"You're 18; you don't know what love is. I'm telling you this is just a phase."

"I know what love is Grandma, everyone else has accepted our relationship, why can't you?" Miley's even voice began to rise.

"Because it's wrong!" Ruby's voice rose to match Miley's.

"Not in this age! There are same sex couples on every fucking street corner!" Miley fired back.

"Watch your language young lady! You've been in California too long; you don't know what you're saying. What would your Mother think of you?"

Her Grandma's last comment really made Miley's blood boil but instead of shouted she lowered her voice. "I know Mum would have accepted me for who I am." Miley said icily before running back up the stairs straight in to Lilly's room.

"Jesus!" Lilly jumped at the sight of Miley. "You made me jump!" She yelled as she pulled each headphone out. "What's up?"

"Miles?" Lilly watched as Miley flapped round her room. "Miley?" Lilly watched as Miley opened her window and begin to climb out of it. "What the hell are you doing?" Miley turned round, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Miley?" Lilly's voice softened considerably. "What the hell happened down there?"

She wiped her hands across her damp face. "I don't wanna stay here."

"What the fuck?" Lilly moved quickly over to her girlfriend, grabbing her wrist to stop her moving any further.

"Come with me." Miley sniffed and flicked her head towards the expanse of fields before trying heading down once more.

"Miley?"

"Just come, please."

The visible hurt on Miley's face was enough and Lilly loosened her grip and let her go. She watched as Miley quickly made her way down the side of the house. Lilly sighed and followed, carefully picking her way down. "Can you tell me what's going on please?" Miley still didn't speak, she indicated with her head once more and Lilly set off after her, walking through the long crop fields.

Lilly took the opportunity to glance back, not realising how far they had walked, she noticed that the house was no longer in sight. "Miley? Where are we going?"

"Here." She finally sat she sat in between the roots of possibly the largest tree Lilly had ever seen.

"What's going on Miley?" Lilly sat close to her, understanding that body contact was what Miley wanted the most when she was upset.

"It's Grandma." Her voice wobbled once more, the thought of being rejected by her family making more painful by the second.

"What about Ruby?" Lilly put her arm around Miley's neck.

"I asked her..." Miley took a deep breath in. "I asked her..." She couldn't finish her sentence without crying.

"What, what did you ask her?" Miley turned her body in to Lilly's, wanting to be held, what she was trying to say was physically excruciating. "Come on." Lilly wrapped her arms completely around her lover and waited for the wracking sobs to subside.

"I asked her why she was being like she was towards you." Miley finally got out.

"Oh Miley, I told you it didn't matter, why did you have to ask that?"

"Because I wanted to know!" She cried out. "It bothered me; she had no reason to be so horrible to you. You've only been here a day."

"Okay, okay." Lilly stroked Miley's auburn hair. "So what's got you in such a bother?"

"She doesn't like us."

"Us?"

"Yes, us Lilly. As in the fact we're together. She told me it was wrong and that we don't belong together. She thought it was just a phase, she could straighten me out." Miley sniffed in to Lilly's chest. Lilly said nothing, instead allowed Miley's to sob on to her favourite shirt.

"What else?" She asked. "I know it's upsetting but there has to be something else."

"She asked me what my Mum would have thought." Miley's voice broke once more at the thought.

"Ah." Lilly said as Miley sobbed even harder.

Fifteen minutes later Miley had calmed down and was able to gather her thoughts in a more organised manner. "I always knew she would be a bit funny about it. Grandma's quite ridged when it comes to her morals but I thought she might give us the chance, everyone else has." Miley picked at the grass between her legs.

"I know what she said hurt Miley but this is the first time anyone has said to our face that they think its wrong."

"But you don't expect family to do it Lilly, I could have coped but she had to throw in that final dig about my Mum. That's what really hurt; she's the connection with my Mum's side of the family. She would have known my Mum's thoughts on same sexed couples; even Daddy said Mama was cool with it." Miley smiled to herself.

"What's that smile for?" Lilly asked.

"Remember when I had trouble picking between Jesse and Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Well Mama had made a tape for me when I had relationship problems. She did it for all sorts of things that she thought I might have problems with."

"Really? I never knew that."

"No, I haven't told anyone before, Daddy hands them out when Jackson and me are having problems that he doesn't know how to deal with. No one else knows. I keep them stashed away."

"So this tape in particular..?"

"It was for relationships, Mama laughed and said we all went through it and just told me to listen to my heart. She never said which sex, but just listen to my heart and that's what I've done. But Grandma's comment just hurt."

"I know." Lilly moved to stretch her legs out in front of her. Looking up she noticed the first indigos of night beginning to streak across the sky. "It's getting late. Look." Lilly pointed to the dark smudges. "Do you think we should head back?"

"Yeah, it's not really safe to be out here in the dark without a gun. You get all sorts of creatures out here."

"Thanks, that makes me feel really safe."

"It's fine." Miley stood up and brushed herself off. "I can't face Grandma tonight, there's just too much stuff that's whirling round my head and I don't want to say anything else I'll regret."

"Okay." Lilly stood up and joined hands with Miley as they headed back towards the house. "I'm guessing we're going back through the window."

As darkness fell they reached the house, being as quite as they could they climbed back in through the window, Miley immediately going to Lilly's bed and curling up in it. "Miley?" Lilly leant over, her blonde hair tickling the side of Miley's face. "I know you want to stay here but it really wouldn't help the situation."

"It doesn't matter, what else can she do?"

"Miley, sit up and stop being such a child. You know I would love to just put my arms around you and fall asleep but you don't need to make this any worse. Please go back to your room." Lilly manoeuvred Miley in to a sitting position. "If you don't I will go and I will sleep in your room."

"Fine." As soon as Lilly let go of Miley she flopped back down.

"Okay." Lilly pulled Miley's boots off her feet and swept her girlfriends hair away from one side of her face. "I love you." Lilly whispered as she hovered millimetres away from Miley's temple before placing a longing kiss. Lilly pulled the crumpled duvet from the bottom of the bed and placed it over her.

"Night." Miley whispered as she heard Lilly disappear from the room.

"You know you and Grandma Ruby are very much alike." Robbie sat down next to his daughter who was sat quietly in the barn, strumming on the baler twine that held straw.

"I don't think so." Miley snorted.

"No you are. You're both strong minded, determined people who won't budge when you've had an argument." He allowed a few seconds for Miley to absorb that piece of information before continuing. "You wanna tell me what's going on? I tried asking Lilly but she's tighter lipped then a clam. I struggled to get out where you were hiding from her."

"No." Miley pulled out a piece of straw and threw it on the floor.

"So like your Grandma."

"I am nothing like her!" Miley screamed. "I let people be who they want to be! I don't try and change them!"

Robbie knew if he pressed long enough he'd get the reaction he wanted. The problem with his daughter was how she expressed her emotions, or rather didn't. Miley had a habit of bottling herself up until she couldn't take anymore; unfortunately her reactions were not always well timed. Robbie had noticed Miley getting more and more anxious over the past couple of months, he knew that her love life going public had put quite a large amount of strain on her and Ruby was the straw that broke the camel's back. He had guessed that Ruby wouldn't be quite so free and accepting over Miley and Lilly's relationship, he didn't expect his mother in law and daughter to have an argument over it though. "So you had an argument about what?"

Miley let out a sigh with tears in her eyes. "Me and Lilly." She finally breathed out. "She doesn't like it at all. She told me that she doesn't approve and that she thought that she may be able guide us on to the right path if she had us here."

"Mile, you have to realise that not everyone would be accepting as the rest of us have."

"I know, I realise, I've experienced that, but I didn't expect to be rejected by my own Grandma, I can deal with Aunt Helen, we've never been close; but not Grandma."

"You know that your Grandma Ruby is religious, she's old south Miley. Strict rules, men and women together, women in the kitchen, men out farming."

"I suppose, but she didn't mind Lilly and I weeding the vegetable patch."

"For vegetables for you to cook with in the kitchen, see my point?"

"Yeah." Miley finally resigned to the fact her Grandma was very traditional, she'd just never thought about it until now.

"I knew she might find this difficult, especially as she couldn't make it over when you guys announced it to us."

"I wish she more like Mamaw."

"No you don't. You love her because of the way she is."

"She's Mama's Mama. I don't wanna lose contact over this."

"You won't." Robbie stroked his daughter's head.

"How do you know? For the past three days Lilly has said that Grandma doesn't like her and I wouldn't believe it until I saw it for myself the other morning. She was just so... so..." Miley search for the correct adjective. "Horrible." She finished.

"You weren't exactly an angel Miley." Robbie raised his eyebrows as Miley looked on in horror at what she thought her Father hadn't heard. "Yeah, I heard you and I'm telling you now if you ever swear at anyone like that again I will not support you again."

Miley hung her head in shame, her cheeks tinged with pink. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out."

"It did and it's not me who you need to be apologising to."

"I can't, she doesn't want to accept me for my life choices then I can't apologise to her."

"Someone has to make the first step." Robbie patted Miley on the shoulder before getting up and leaving his daughter with her own thoughts once more.

"Hey Grandma." Miley appeared at the back door, fiddling with the ends of her belt.

"Miley." She nodded. "I've just brewed some coffee, would you like some?"

"Please." Miley walked across the kitchen and stood awkwardly by a chair next to the table.

Ruby glanced over her shoulder. "Sit down child."

Miley grimaced; she was never called that anymore unless she was in her Grandma's bad books. "Grandma, I came to say I was sorry for what I said to you."

"Are you?" Ruby said as she stirred the coffees.

"Yes." Her voice squeaked. Miley found it unnerving when Ruby said nothing else, instead she moved round the room in a ghostly manner before sitting down opposite her granddaughter.

"I'm guessing your Daddy has given you a little pep talk."

"How'd you know?"

"Because we're so stubborn, neither of us would make the first move on our own, he tried it with me too." A smile passed between the two women for a fleeting second.

"I sort of didn't get past saying sorry, that was the only bit I had worked out." Silence filled the room once more. "Can I ask you something Grandma?" Miley watched Ruby take a sip, wondering if she was dragging this out for any particular reason. "Grandma?" She tried again.

"Yes."

"Do you dislike Lilly? Please just give me the truth, nothing extra, a straight answer." Miley ground her back teeth together as she waited for Ruby's answer.

"I used to like the girl."

"Lilly, how many times, use her name, please. And what do you mean you used to like her?"

"She seemed a nice sort, active but had a good home, a good set of parents, even if they were divorced, maybe that's the cause of this problem."

Miley took in a breath, willing her anger to suppress itself; she was having a hard time controlling herself right now. "It does not stem from a problem, it's our choice."

"And then she decided to break up your relationship with that lovely young man and take up the wrong path."

"Jesse and I broke up way before anything happened between Lilly or I. I had a choice in this Grandma, are you not listening to me? I want to be with Lilly."

"At your age you don't know what you want." She snorted.

"Yes I do, I knew from as far back as I can remember that I wanted be a musician and look what happened, I did. I'm now one of the biggest selling artists in the world all because of something I wanted." She pointed her finger at her chest.

"You had music in your blood; it was obvious that you were destined for something in that field."

Miley shook her head. "You are unbelievable, not to mention unreasonable. Can't you get what I am trying to say? I want to be with Lilly, I love her, I've never said I love you to any other of my past boyfriends and yet somehow to words just pop out when I'm with her, it's so easy. There's nothing I can't do in front of Lilly, don't you get how hard that is? Lilly loved me for who I was before she knew I was Hannah, I know she loves me for who I am, not who everyone else thinks I am. I love having something that normal in my life." Miley watched as her Grandma went silent, she felt sick to the pit of her stomach, not knowing how Ruby was going to react. After what seemed an eternity she finally spoke.

"I can't say that I'll ever accept this Miley."

Miley looked down at her cup, desperately swallowing the tears that were fast approaching. "I really don't want lose you Grandma, you mean so much to me."

"But not enough to break up with that girl."

"Her name is Lilly and please don't make me chose." Miley gritted her teeth. "I understand why you don't agree with my choices, I'm not even asking you to be supportive of them; I'm just asking you to respect them. I do love Lilly I really do, Mamaw and Daddy weren't much older than me and Lilly when they met and look what happened to them." Miley watched Ruby purse her lips together, a sign that she was in deep thought.

"I can't say anymore than I have Miley because I really don't know what else you want me to say."

"I just want to know that you won't push me out because of my decisions."

"I wouldn't ever do that Miley; you're my Susan's daughter, the living, breathing image of her when she was your age. I still love you Miley; always will do, no matter what happens."

"Can we hug now?" Miley asked.