A/N: Hey, everyone. Sorry it took me a while to update. I've been out of town, and it's just been nearly impossible to find the time to. But thank you for all your awesome reviews! They are very much appreciated!

Miley looked down at the piece of paper in her hands, her eyes wide with horror. At the top was a picture of Belle. And then it read:

You got lucky this time. Arabella lives. But the next person won't.

Then it had rows of photos printed onto the paper. Nick. Lilly. Joe. Myles. Ana. Oliver. Anthony. Jackson. Her dad. She covered her mouth with her free hand, in complete shock. Then her eyes moved to the section at the bottom.

It's best not to ignore me, Miley. Or should I say Hannah? Yes, I know all about you. More than you could possibly imagine. Do you want to stop this? Do you want to keep your family and friends safe? Not to mention...your secret? Come to 18 River Ridge Rd. exactly three weeks from today at midnight. Bring $1,000,000 in cash. No police. This will be your only chance.

"Oh my God", she whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes. She had wanted to believe that this woman would just go away if she ignored her. This was the exact opposite. And she knew everything. She knew where they lived. She knew about all of her relationships. She even knew about Hannah. Who in the world was this person?

"Belle's about ready for bed", Nick announced as he walked back into the room. "I told her she could finish that episode of Scooby Doo and then...", he trailed off, noticing the shaken look on her face. "Miley?"

Still trembling, Miley turned to him. "It's not over."

He immediately wrapped her in his arms. Though confused, he held her tightly as she cried. "Hey, baby. What is it? What isn't over?", he asked softly.

She continued to hold onto him for dear life. She didn't want to let go. This was the only place in the world that she truly felt safe. Like nothing could hurt her. But she should've known better. Nothing was ever that simple for her.

"Miley, I need you to talk to me", he said, drawing back a bit. "You got to tell me what's going on."

She handed him the letter and collapsed into the nearest chair. They had just been getting over the scare she gave them before. Things had just started to go back to normal again. Nick had convinced her that everything was fine. Belle was starting to feel safe again. They were okay. And now this happened.

"Where-Where did you get this?", Nick asked, feeling as if a knife had just been jabbed through his heart.

"The door. Somebody...rang the doorbell. They...left it", Miley said, still looking straight ahead. She felt numb. That was the only word that she could think of to describe it. Numb.

He shook his head furiously. He felt an overwhelming urge to scream. To curse. To throw something against the wall. But he couldn't do that. Not with Miley sitting here in this state. She needed him to keep it together.

"Did you see the person at all?", he asked gently as he knelt down in front of her. "Miley? Did you see who it was?"

"No", she answered with a wavering voice. Then the tears started to fall again.

Nick cupped her face in his hands. "Hey, she's not gonna hurt any of us. Look, I'm going to take this to the police station first thing in the morning. They'll figure out-"

"No!", Miley cried out. She pointed to the note in his hand. "She said no police! She's- She knows everything, Nick. And she already managed to get her hands on Belle. If she wants to hurt anybody else, we might not be able to stop her! We have to do what she says!"

"So she can keep demanding things from us any time she feels like it? Baby, we can't live that way. We may not have had enough evidence to go to the police last time, but we sure as hell do now. We have to put a stop to this."

"That's what I wanted to do last time!", she exclaimed. "You said that there was nothing we could do until Belle opened up about it, which is never gonna happen because that woman threatened her with God only knows what!"

"That was before this", he said, holding up the note. "Look, I don't want you to worry about anything. I'm going to handle this. I know it's hard, but you just have to stay calm."

"How can I stay calm when there's a psychopath out there threatening everybody I love?"

"It's a lot to ask. I know. But we just have to let the police take care of this, okay?", he implored.

"No!", she yelled. "We can't go to the police!"

"Miley, they can figure out who this is. They have resources that we don't."

"I know that", Miley said as she plucked the note from his hand. "But it says very clearly 'No police.' I really don't want to make this person angry. Plus, we would basically be telling all these people that I'm Hannah. And I don't care how professional they are. They would all be seeing dollar signs if they found out. We have to take care of this ourselves."

Nick let out a frustrated sigh. Going to the police with this was the right move. He knew it. Yes, there may be a risk of them leaking the Hannah secret, but they would never have any peace with this stalker throwing around threats. He didn't want to deal with the press and the paparazzi and all the crazed fans, but if it came to that- they would. Just like they had dealt with everything else.

"We can't let her have this power over us", he stated. "That's what we're doing if we try to deal with her on our own. We're doing exactly what she wants. Think about all of the people that she's threatening. We have to protect them."

"That's what I'm trying to do!", she cried, lifting herself up out of the chair. She looked at the fireplace as she wiped the edges of her eyes with her fingers. She felt so torn. Of course, she wanted to do the easy thing and go to the police. But there was too much at stake.

She slowly turned back to him. "We don't know anything about this woman. We don't know how seriously we should take her threats. But if we don't do what she says, somebody could end up getting seriously hurt, Nick. That's the reality of the situation. She's even threatening children! And if something happens...I wouldn't be able to live with myself. No police."

Nick loved her more than life itself. Really, he did. But her stubbornness was frustrating the hell out of him. She basically wanted them to play detective and put themselves in all kinds of danger instead of going to the people who did it for a living. And it was nearly impossible to talk Miley out of something when she had it stuck in her head.

"You know, it looks like this woman would still have plenty of money left from the last note", he muttered to himself.

The last note. Miley's eyes widened as an idea hit her.

Mikayla let out a frustrated sigh as she collapsed onto her couch. This had been such a brilliant idea. It still was a brilliant idea. But Miley being pregnant would complicate things, no doubt. She supposed she shouldn't be all that surprised. The girl obviously didn't know how to use birth control. Two kids by two guys- both out of wedlock. And everybody thought she was so perfect. Ha!

What the hell was she supposed to do with this anyway? Pretending that she hadn't heard it wasn't a possibility. But she couldn't tell Jake. She had no way of knowing how he would react to this. For all she knew, this could make him completely change his mind about being with Miley. He didn't even like the kid that he shared DNA with. There was no way in hell that he was going to want to deal with this one. And if this thing didn't end with him getting Miley back, Mikayla knew she wouldn't get what she wanted either. Damn it! What was she going to do?

She did know one thing. She did not go through all this shit for nothing. She slid the table drawer open and carefully pulled out a small black handgun.

"Wonder how easy it would be just to do this myself?", she mused. Easy. It would be too easy. But she couldn't risk it being traced back to her. Not if she ever wanted to get her son back.

She placed it back in the drawer with a sigh. She had to keep her hands clean. And as much as Jake annoyed her, she needed him. And he wasn't going to do crap for her until he and Miley were back together. There were a lot of obstacles that Mikayla could work around to make that possible. But a pregnancy? That was asking a bit much. No, the only solution to this problem was to make it disappear. She knew having a nurse for a sister was going to come in handy someday.

Mikayla picked her cell phone up off of the table and scrolled through her contacts. Then she placed it next to her ear.

"Hello?", the familiar voice answered after the third ring.

"Hey, sis", she replied in her most charming voice. "Listen, I need a favor. There's a drug that I need to get my hands on."

A few days later, Miley sat in her best friend's living room, trying to hide the fact that her mind was not on last-minute wedding details at the moment. She sipped on her glass of water while she attempted to absorb at least some of what Lilly was saying.

"-And I'm still waiting to hear back from the photographer, but it looks like everything else is set. Can you believe it? Less than three weeks to go!", Lilly said excitedly.

She nodded. "It's coming fast."

The blonde's expression turned to one of caution. "You aren't getting cold feet, are you?"

"Of course not", Miley assured her, forcing a small smile. "I'm just feeling kind of stressed. That's all. With this and the baby and my job...it's just crazy right now."

"Hmmm. So, why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?"

Wow, was she that transparent? She would really have to brush up on her acting because she couldn't let Lilly pry it out of her. She didn't want to freak her out, which was inevitable if she found out that her family was on that note. No, this was Miley's problem. She was the one that note was meant for. Lilly and everybody else were just pawns to get to her. And it worked.

"It's nothing", Miley said again.

Lilly crossed her arms, obviously not buying it. "How long have we been best friends? I can tell when you're lying."

"Fine, you're right." She took a deep breath. "I got a note from 'mystery woman.' She knows I'm Hannah."

Her friend gasped. "What? Oh my God! How?"

"I have no idea", she shrugged, hoping that Lilly wouldn't ask more questions if she knew part of it. "But it's pretty obvious she's using it to get to me. Of course, she has a price to keep it quiet."

"How much?"

"A million."

"Dollars?", Lilly said, her jaw dropping before she put her hands up. "Hold on. Didn't you say you thought she's the one that sent the ransom note to Jake when Belle was missing?"

Miley nodded. "And we all just assumed he was lying."

"Well, if you're the one that she's trying to get to, why wouldn't she have sent you the ransom note the last time?"

"Maybe she didn't know I was Hannah then", she suggested. "She was just looking for easy money. Maybe she started with Jake and then figured out my secret somehow. God, I don't know, Lilly. This whole thing's got my head screwed up."

"Yeah, I bet. So what are you gonna do?", Lilly asked bluntly.

"I don't know. Nick wants us to go to the police, but she said very clearly in the note- 'No police.' I just don't want to mess with her, you know? I don't know what she's gonna do."

She nodded. "I get it. But you can't let another person hold this over you. We have to figure out who's doing this."

"Oh, I plan on it", Miley said in a determined tone. "This is going to get taken care of one way or another. But you won't tell anyone, will you? I really don't want anybody to worry about me."

Lilly sighed. "Miley, you make it really hard for us not to worry about you. And now this crazy person knows your secret, and we don't even know who she is. I think you might be in a little over your head here. Maybe you should take your chances and go to the police. Otherwise, she could keep doing this."

"I know. But I just feel like I'll be able to reason with her once I know who she is. She's obviously crazy, but she'll know a good deal if she sees one. I just don't want anything about our lives to change, and if my secret gets leaked..."

"It will", Lilly finished for her. "But you should at least consider where Nick's coming from. If this woman did take Belle, do you really want to give her the chance to do something like that again?"

Miley understood what she was saying. And if it was only the Hannah secret on the line, she would risk it and go to the police. But the lives of her family and friends? Even her friends' children. That was something she wasn't willing to risk. She had to do what this woman told her.

"Lilly, you're just gonna have to trust me. Just say this stays between us. Please?", she implored, holding up her pinky finger.

Lilly frowned, but ultimately gave in. She linked her own pinky finger with Miley's. "This stays between us. But I really hope you know what you're doing."

Miley and Nick continued to argue about what to do with the note throughout the week. He was still insisting that the police was the right way to go. And as much as she wanted to agree, she was still refusing to put everyone they cared about in danger by defying the note's instructions.

And they were both constantly looking over their shoulders. The one thing they had agreed upon is that they needed to lay low as much as possible for the time being. Which was going to be extremely difficult considering they were always going somewhere. And some things, they just couldn't avoid. Like doctors appointments.

Miley was slightly nervous as she and Nick waited for the doctor to come into the hospital room. They were supposed to see the baby for the first time, and she was genuinely excited about it. But she was also concerned that the stress she had been under would hurt the baby somehow. She really couldn't help it though! There was only so much a person could do when they were constantly being thrown into stressful situations.

She glanced over at her fiance, who was looking a little nervous himself. "Well, at least it's not just me", she said after a moment.

He looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not the only nervous one", she elaborated. He just forced a small smile, so she continued. "I'm sorry about the past few days. I don't like fighting with you about anything."

"Me either. Look, I'm just trying to protect our family. You and Belle and this baby- you guys are everything to me. And if I lost any of you-"

"You won't", Miley said quietly, covering his hand with her own. "But it isn't just us, Nick. There are other people we have to protect too. People who are completely innocent in all this. I just hope you can understand why I feel the way I do."

"You're a good person", Nick said, giving her a bit of a smile. "And yeah, I get it. I don't agree, but I see why you want to do it this way."

"Thank you", she breathed, leaning her head on his shoulder. She allowed herself to smile as he wrapped her in his arms.

"How are we doing today, Miley?" Miley slowly pulled away at the sound of her name. She looked up to see a familiar middle-aged man wearing a white labcoat and a friendly smile.

"We're making it", she replied with a tired smile. "Dr. Ramsey, this is my fiance- Nick."

"Ah, the father-to-be. Congratulations", the doctor smiled as he shook Nick's hand.

Nick smiled back. "Thank you."

The doctor turned from him to Miley. "So, are you two ready to see your baby or what?"

A few minutes later, the equipment was set up and Miley was lying in the hospital bed staring expectantly at the screen as Nick held her hand. The doctor was moving something over her still-flat abdomen, but she barely noticed. She was too concentrated on the screen.

"Okay, there he is. Or she", the doctor informed them, pointing to a small- almost unrecognizable- figure on the screen. "Obviously it's too early to tell the gender, but the baby's heartbeat is strong and everything looks normal for this stage."

Miley grinned, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen. She could hardly keep her attention on what the doctor was telling them.

"That's really our baby", Nick breathed. He was in awe. It had never seemed so...real before. This was their son or daughter. He had never believed so strongly in love at first sight as he did at that moment.

Miley felt a tear drop from her eye. This baby was so tiny, but he or she already meant the world to her.

"Hey, sweetheart", she whispered to the figure on the screen. "I'm your mommy. And I love you so much." She turned her gaze to Nick. "Daddy does too."

"Always", he agreed. "You don't know how lucky you are, kid. You're gonna have so many people that care about you. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends-"

"The best big sister in the world", she chimed in.

"Oh, absolutely. The best mom too."

Miley smiled at him. "You're just saying that."

"I mean it", Nick said softly. "Miley, I never dreamed that I could love somebody as much as I love you. Now, we're about to get married. This beautiful baby's going to be here before we know it. And all this bad stuff that's been going on- I know we'll get through it. No matter what happens."

"We'll get through it", she repeated. And for the first time, she honestly believed it. It didn't take away the fear that she felt from everything that had been happening, but it did make her feel better to know that Nick would always be by her side. No matter what.