A/N: Wow, thanks so much for all the supportive comments, everyone! They mean so much to me!

The next morning, Nick watched Miley as she continued to sleep. She looked so peaceful, like an angel. Her soft brown hair was strewn all over the place. He longed to see those beautiful eyes staring up at him again, but he didn't even consider waking her. She looked too perfect sleeping.

The previous night seemed surreal to him. From Belle calling him daddy to Miley telling him that she was ready to take their relationship to the next level. It all seemed too good to be true. But what if it wasn't? What if everything was happening just the way it was meant to? He had never felt so happy, so complete, in his entire life.

Miley stirred a bit, taking him away from his thoughts. He finally tore his eyes away from her long enough to throw some clothes on. He hoped that she wouldn't wake up with any regrets. God knows he had given her enough chances to change her mind. But she didn't. And when the moment had arrived, she seemed even more ready. He was careful to be gentle with her, not knowing what to expect. But he quickly learned that she wasn't the fragile girl that he had been prepared to treat her as. She was strong, not willing to be dominated by anyone. Not anymore. He had been shown a whole new side of the woman he loved.

"Nick?"

Her voice was soft, peaceful. He turned to look at her. She was sitting up against the headboard, still mostly hidden under the comforter and the layers of blankets.

"Hey", he returned, giving her a faint smile. "How do you uh...feel?"

His fears were alleviated when a huge smile crossed her face. "Amazing. Thank you."

"For what?", he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Everything", Miley said simply. "But especially last night. I had dreamed about it for a long time, but I never imagined it would be that wonderful."

"Neither did I", Nick admitted as he gently took her hand into his. "But tell me the truth. Do you have any regrets? Just because it happened once doesn't mean that we can't wait a while before it happens again. I want this to be something you're completely comfortable with."

"Sometimes, I think you're too considerate", she said with a smile. "I have a lot of regrets in my life, but there is not one single thing that I would change about last night. I feel like we're more connected now than we've ever been, and I love it. I love you."

"I love you too. So much."

By the time they went downstairs, Belle was already cuddled up on the couch watching Scooby-Doo. One thing Nick absolutely loved about this kid was that she, unlike others in her generation, actually knew what a good cartoon looked like.

"You still want to do this?", Miley asked him quietly.

He nodded without hesitance. He was sure that Belle calling him daddy was nothing more than a slip of the tongue. But she needed to know that it was okay if she wanted to continue doing so.

"Good morning, sunshine", Miley said as she and Nick sat down on both sides of the child.

"Morning", Belle replied, her eyes not leaving the television screen.

Miley and Nick glanced at each other, neither knowing how to approach this subject with a six-year-old. Miley ultimately decided that, as the mother, it should be on her.

"How did you sleep last night?", she asked, after the show went to commercial of course.

The little girl shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Can we have waffles? I'm hungry."

"Waffles sound awesome", Nick chimed in. "But there's something that me and your mom actually need to talk to you about first."

Her eyes widened in excitement. "Are you getting married?"

He resisted a smile. He was certainly working on that. But he knew that something had to be done before he asked Miley to be his wife.

"That's not what I was talking about", Miley said. "Do you remember last night before you went to bed? You called Uncle Nick 'daddy'?"

"Uh-huh."

Neither of them were expecting that response.

"He's gonna be my daddy when you get married anyway", the child pointed out. "Because Santa said...well, I can't tell you what he said. He's watching."

"Honey, you need to let this idea of us getting married go", Miley said gently. "It might happen someday, but it isn't going to be right now."

"That's what you think", Belle said, turning to smile at Nick.

"What does that mean?", Miley asked bluntly. Nick was looking suspiciously at Belle, as if she might know something she shouldn't.

"Nothing", she said innocently.

"Miley, can we get back on topic here?", Nick asked. If Belle did know something somehow, he wasn't going to give Miley the chance to pry it out of her.

"Right. Well, I guess there's nothing really to talk about. If you want to call Nick 'daddy', then that would be fine."

"Okay."

Miley smiled, surprised by how easy that was. "Alright, then. Well, I'm going to go take a quick shower. Can I trust you two with breakfast?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, we have it under control."

After Miley had disappeared from their sight, Nick turned to Belle. "Okay, kid. What do you know?"

"Just that you're gonna ask mommy to marry you."

"How do you know that?", he wondered, thinking she probably overheard some of his big-mouth relatives talking about it.

"I saw the ring", Belle replied casually. "But I put it back, I promise."

Nick sighed. He supposed there was no blaming his relatives for his inability to find a decent hiding place.

"Don't tell your mom?", he implored hopefully.

"I won't. Pinky promise", she assured him. "When are you gonna ask her?"

He smiled, and shook his head. "Sorry, princess. You already know too much as it is."

"O-kay. You really want to be my daddy?", she asked, a hint of doubt creeping into her small voice.

Nick put his arm around the little girl. "I would love to be your daddy. If you'll have me anyway."

Belle grinned, and hugged him back.

It was now Christmas Eve, and Nick was the nervous wreck this time. Miley's family would be there any minute. And he was starting to see how she must have felt. But not only was he nervous for himself, he was nervous for her.

While he sat on the couch with Belle, Miley was pacing the floors waiting for them to arrive. She was a jumble of emotions. Excited, nervous, emotional...you name it. She couldn't believe she was about to see her family again. She just knew that she was going to cry her eyes out, and mess up every bit of her makeup. But that wouldn't matter to her when the time came.

"Miley, why don't you sit down, baby?", Nick suggested. Her pacing was only increasing his nervousness.

"I'm fine", she replied. "At least, I will be."

"I can't wait to meet grandpa and Uncle Jackson", Belle said excitedly. She had heard all kinds of funny stories about them from her mom, and she just knew they would be awesome.

The door bell rang. Miley and Nick glanced at each other, neither of them particularly wanting to be the one who answered it.

"I'll get it", Belle volunteered, hopping up. As she dashed to the door, Nick put his arm around Miley.

"It's going to be okay", he assured her. "I'll be right here with you."

Together, they walked to the front door as Belle was opening it. Tears immediately began to well up in her eyes as her dad came into view.

"Grandpa?", Belle said, looking up at him. Robbie Ray smiled, and bent down to her level.

"Hey, darlin'. It's so good to see you", he said softly.

She smiled, and leapt into his arms. Miley watched her dad hold her daughter tightly. Her eyes moved to Jackson, who was standing behind him. A little boy that looked about three or four was by his side. She began to cry as her brother rushed to hug her.

Miley held onto him tightly as tears fled down her cheeks. "I missed you", she said, her voice cracking.

"I missed you too", he said as he struggled to keep his own tears at bay.

"Baby girl?"

Miley slowly drew back from her brother's embrace, and looked at her dad. Then, she ran into his arms as if she was a little girl again. And suddenly, it was like she was a child again. She was in her daddy's arms, and everything was the way it used to be.

"I l-love you, daddy", she managed to croak.

"I love you too, Mile. So much."

Nick had to wipe away at his own tears as he watched the scene. He couldn't imagine what Miley must have been feeling. What they all must have been feeling, having been separated for so long.

"Hi, Uncle Jackson", Belle said, a bit shyly. She had never met her uncle, after all.

Jackson smiled instantly. "Well, I'll be. You turned out to be a miniature Miley, didn't you?"

"Um, well my name's Belle."

"I know. God, you've gotten so big", he said, shaking his head in awe as he gave her a hug. He turned to his little boy. "Cory, this is your cousin, Belle. You wanna tell her hi?"

"Hi", the little boy said reluctantly.

"Hi", Belle smiled.

Nick decided to take the opportunity to introduce himself to Miley's brother. "Hey, you must be Jackson. I'm Nick."

After a moment of hesitance, Jackson shook his hand. "Hey. How do you know my sister?"

"Uh, well..."

"We're together", Miley said proudly, surprising her father and brother.

Jackson looked from his sister to Nick. "Oh. Uh...okay."

Robbie Ray reluctantly shook Nick's hand, knowing that he didn't have a right to ask for details. "Be good to her. That's all I ask."

"Yes sir", he said politely. "It's good to finally meet you guys. Miley's told me so much."

"He's wonderful", Miley smiled as she went to meet her nephew. She approached the child and knelt down to his level. "And you must be Cory, huh? Do you know who I am?"

"Aunt Miley?", the child replied, looking up at Jackson for confirmation.

She nodded, smiling at the little boy that looked so similar to her brother. "That's right. I know you don't really know me, but I love you very much. Gosh, Jackson. He looks so much like you."

"Not as much as Belle looks like you. You realize she's going to be the clone of a certain teen singing sensation."

Robbie Ray glared at his son, probably with the assumption that Nick didn't know the Hannah secret.

"It's okay", Miley assured him. "He knows everything."

"You told him about Hannah?", Robbie Ray asked, surprise in his voice.

Belle's eyes lit up at the sound of her doll's name. "Mommy, can I show Hannah to grandpa and Uncle Jackson?"

Miley nodded, and the little girl raced up the staircase. "She has a doll named Hannah", she explained to them. "But yes, I did tell Nick about her. A while back."

"It was pretty shocking", he admitted. "Not every day that the girl you love tells you that she used to double as a famous singer."

"And it didn't completely freak him out", she added, smiling at him. Then, she turned back to her father and brother. "I can't believe y'all are really here. I missed you so much."

"We missed you too, darlin'", her dad said sincerely.

"And we're really sorry...about everything", Jackson added as he lifted Cory up into his arms.

"No, I'm sorry. You were only trying to look out for me. I should've listened to you. Instead, I pushed you away."

Jackson sighed. "But we let you push us away. And I think that's worse."

Nick glanced at each of them, seeing the regret on all of their faces. "Hey, you're here now", he said, putting his arm around Miley. "And that's all that matters. Right, baby?"

She nodded. "Yeah. The past is the past. But I really want my family to be a part of my life in the future."

"And we want you to be a part of ours", her father smiled, while Jackson nodded in agreement.

"He likes Scooby Doo too", Miley noted, watching Cory stare at the cartoon with interest. He and Belle were on the floor, huddled under blankets. She and Jackson were sitting on the couch with two mugs of their dad's famous hot chocolate.

"Of course he does", Jackson grinned. "You don't think I'm going to sit through today's pathetic excuse for cartoons, do you?"

She laughed. "No, I don't. I guess we got lucky that our kids like reruns of our old shows."

"Yeah. So, you said you'd been staying with Lilly? How's she doing?", he wondered.

"She's good. Well, as good as you could expect. She just had a baby a few days ago. She's actually married to Nick's brother", Miley informed him.

"Oh. Did she introduce you two?"

"Not intentionally", she replied, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "It's kind of a complicated story. But what about you? I haven't heard of a wife yet."

"And you won't be hearing of one", Jackson said firmly. "Women are way too much drama that I don't want any more of."

Miley gave him a sympathetic smile. There was probably some crazy story lurking beneath the surface of that statement, but she wasn't going to push her brother to talk about it. She certainly didn't want to talk about her past, so why should she ask him to talk about his?

"So...you don't think dad's going to scare my boyfriend away, do you?", she remarked, craning her neck in an attempt to see out onto the deck.

"Nah. You know dad. He just wants to protect you."

She nodded, but she couldn't help but wonder what was really going on between her boyfriend and her father.

Nick leaned over against the railing, briefly looking out into the distance. Robbie Ray stood beside him. The older man had been telling him stories about Miley. During her childhood, adolescence, teenage years. It was probably to let him know how important his daughter was to him. Another way of saying, "Please don't hurt her."

"She's always been something special", Robbie Ray said. "We always knew it. I can remember praying that when she grew up, she would find everything that she ever wanted. And maybe now she has."

"I like to think so", Nick replied honestly. "Mr. Stewart, I just want to make your daughter happy. More than anything."

The older man patted him on the back. "I know. I have a good feelin' about you. I see the way you look at her, and it feels so familiar to me. And I finally figured out why."

"Why?"

He smiled a bit. "That's the way I looked at my wife."

Nick wasn't sure how to respond, so he just looked down at the ground a few feet below.

"Do you believe in soulmates, Nick?"

He looked back up, noting the serious look in the other man's eyes. "Yes sir. I guess I do."

"I didn't", Robbie Ray said quietly. "Not until I met Susan. And I just knew that she was the one. And then after she died, it felt like a part of me had died with her. But I still had to keep going for my kids' sakes. They gave me that happiness that I thought I'd lost forever." He let out a deep sigh. "But I guess that's the thing about kids. They grow up. And you fight it tooth and nail because you want to protect em'. You don't want em' to ever get hurt. I guess that's where I messed up."

"Miley doesn't feel that way. She feels like she's the one who messed up."

"Maybe we both did. I don't know."

Nick gathered the courage to look the older man in the eyes. "Mr. Stewart, I want to ask Miley to marry me."

He didn't seem all that surprised to hear this. "And you want my blessing, huh?"

He nodded. "Yes sir. I know it would mean a lot to Miley. And me. Look, I realize you hardly know anything about me. But if there's one thing that I want you to know, it's that I love your daughter. More than anything in the world."

"You don't need my blessing", Robbie Ray said, shaking his head. "This is the first time I've seen my daughter in years. I don't have any right to-"

"Sir", Nick said, cutting him off. "No matter what happened, you're still her father. I know how much your approval means to her. And if she does say yes, I know that she'll want you to walk her down the aisle."

"Okay. You want my blessing? You have it. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything", he replied.

Robbie Ray sighed. "Promise me that you won't hurt her."

"I can absolutely promise you that", Nick assured him. Then, they shook hands.

He felt a bit of relief. He had the approval of Miley's father. But the harder part was still to come. He still had to ask Miley. And he would.

Tomorrow.

Ahhhh I feel bad cutting it off here. But I PROMISE he will propose in the next chapter, even if I have to make it 5,000 words long. LOL