"Hello?" Miley said as she knocked on the door of the hospital room. "Anyone in here?" When no one replied, she decided to open the door on her own.
"Hey, I thought I clearly said that we were not to be disturbed!"
Miley entered the hospital room to find Alex Russo sitting at the foot of the hospital bed. A large wad of gauze covered her left eye, and a band of medical tape wound its way around her head to keep the makeshift eyepatch in place. Behind her stood her brother Justin, dressed in the iconic white dress uniform of the United States Navy. Miley remembered someone telling her that Justin Russo had just completed his first tour of duty as a submariner, and she could see the submarine service's "dolphins" prominent on Justin's left breast.
"My God, Alex, what happened to your eye?" Miley blurted out.
"Good morning to you too, Miley," Alex replied, a little sarcastically. "I'm doing fine, thank you. As for my eye... My head smacked the yoke hard during the crash. I lost all vision in my left eye, but the doctors say it should return in a few days. Three weeks later, and I'm still waiting too see something with that eye."
"Maybe you should try taking off that eyepatch of yours," Miley said.
"Don't you think I haven't tried that yet?" Alex replied. "All I can see out of it right now is something gray and blurry."
"At least you're alive, Alex," Justin said. "And that's what matters."
"Listen to your brother, Alex," Miley said. "Also, Justin, how is it that you're here?"
"Oh, my sub's just docked over in San Diego," Justin replied. "And we arrived just as your plane crashed. My sister's lucky to be alive."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Miley said.
"That wasn't criticism on your part, Miles, it was a compliment," Justin said. "My sister, and everyone else onboard that plane are all honestly lucky that they made it out alive. And it's all thanks to you, Miley."
"I still didn't manage to save 48 of them, though."
"Hey, Miley, don't waste any sleep on those 48 people," Alex said. "If it was their time, then it was their time."
"That's quite dark," Miley quipped. "Even for you, Alex."
Justin's cellphone rang. "It's Cory," he said as he read the message on it. "He's here."
As the three of them picked up their things and headed out for the hospital's parking lot, Miley asked Alex, "Where's the funeral going to be?"
"Some kind of Roman Catholic church over in Filipinotown," Alex replied.
"Filipinotown?" Miley repeated.
"Yeah," Alex said. "I think it's obvious why it's called that."
"No shit, Alex," Miley said. "Wait a minute, Filipinotown? A Roman Catholic church? I thought Beck was American or Canadian or at least Caucasian? He's certainly not Filipino, unless there's something he hasn't told us."
"Oh, don't lose any sleep over it, Miles," Alex said. "You know Beck, girl. He likes to do lots of charitable stuff for communities and all that."
"Well, that certainly fits Beck to a T," Miley said. "But you gotta wonder why he wanted to be buried where he wants to be buried."
"Ours not to reason why, Miley," Alex said.
Miley, Alex and Justin went into Cory's car—still the Voodoo, Miley noted with a little exasperation—and the Cash Airlines legal representative drove them over to their destination. While they drove, Cory and Justin began talking about their respective careers, with Cory boasting a little about being the richest man in Cash, second only to owner Cabu Dobson himself. Justin meanwhile talked about his tour of duty on his submarine, or at least the aspects of it that he could discuss in public. Alex tried to get Miley to talk, but the latter had become deep in thought, and Alex knew when someone didn't want to talk, so they both kept to themselves during the drive, but Alex did occasionally talk with the boys when she felt that they needed a feminine perspective.
The church in Filipinotown was small, barely large enough for a hundred people, and could probably be called a chapel without taking anything away from it. It looked recently built, because its sky blue and white paint looked like they had been applied just days ago. The community was very open and inviting to newcomers and visitors, something that Miley had noticed as soon as they had arrived. It was a very tightly-knit community, Filipinotown, but it was one that was quite open in the inclusion of new members into their group.
Miley had never really been a religious person. She knew that her family regularly went to church back when she was still young and they were still living in Tennessee. She couldn't remember exactly what kind of church they had gone to, though. Maybe it was Wesleyan, Southern Baptist, Presbyterian or even Seventh-Day Adventist, but she was certain that it was a Protestant church. Miley had never really liked going to church, seeing it as something that had to be done because her parents had told her so since she was a child. Also, when there were times that she had tried to return to the faith, all the preachers had been too preachy about sin, how it tainted everyone on Earth and how only blind obedience to the words of the Bible could free anyone who believed in God's Word from the all-pervading sin of man. That was one aspect of the faith that had kept Miley from coming back into the fold willingly.
Here among the Filipinos, it was a different story altogether. Their view of God was a forgiving God, one that would never tire of forgiving His children no matter what their sins were as long as they were truly repentant for their actions. They believed that everyone was welcome to come into the Kingdom of God, even those who were not part of His church. For them, living the virtuous life of a Christian, even if one happened to worship Allah, Buddha or even Zeus, was enough to attain the reward of eternal life.
Mass finally began at two in the afternoon. Beck's coffin lay at the foot of the altar. Family and friends of the deceased sat at the front rows of pews, followed by acquaintances in the middle. The last rows were reserved for stragglers and the curious.
Miley, Alex, Justin and Cory were seated on the third row of pews. Fellow Cash Airlines personnel (pilots and cabin and ground crews), some of them who had been onboard Flight 4892, were seated with them. Up front, in the very first row of pews, were Beck's family and closest friends. Erwin Sikowitz was with them, but Miley couldn't remember the rest of Beck's friends' names. Their names were the kind that only an idiot could forget, but as that thought ran through her mind she began remembering names like Tori, Cat, Andre and Robbie, and there was also that guy with the weird name like Schengen or Shenzhen or something like that.
But Miley surely remembered the name Jade West, and the face and person that came along with it. Jade was dressed all in black today, and she could easily be mistaken for Beck's widow. In a way, she was. Everyone—at least everyone in Cash—knew that Beck and Jade were common-law-married, which suited both of them just fine. They had plans to make their marriage official, sure, but with Beck now in a wooden box at the foot of an altar, there was little chance of that happening now. Their relationship was a one-in-a-billion thing: their love was as strong as that of a couple who had been together for fifty years. Sometimes their love had even eclipsed that comparison.
Thinking about Beck and Jade's relationship made Miley feel like a whore in church. She and Beck had knowingly engaged in adulterous activities despite both of them knowing that Beck was in common-law marriage with Jade. Miley had no idea if Jade suspected anything, but a part of her felt as if she deserved to know the truth, even though Jade's temper was legend in the halls of Cash Airlines.
The priest's homily was short and concise, unlike some other pastors that Miley remembered from her old church, whose sermons could often go on for hours and even ended up in some very sharp tangents. This priest meanwhile managed to connect Beck's life with the gospel, and he was all praises for the things that Beck had done for the community before his untimely death. It was a very far cry from the sermons from Miley's old church, whose preachers could every microscopic trace of sin on any person while ignoring every good thing that that person had done in his or her life. And while the Catholic priest did say that Beck was as sinful as every person on Earth, that part of him should not be part of the memory of the man that was Beck Oliver.
Once the Mass was over, four pallbearers, all of them friends of Beck, carried his coffin from the church to the graveyard behind it. A plot had already been excavated, prepared to receive Beck into the warm and eternal embrace of the earth. The bereaved were given one last chance to gaze upon the deceased, and then the coffin was finally lowered into the ground. The women, especially Jade, practically wailed at the sight of the coffin being lowered into the ground. Even the men couldn't help but shed some of their own tears. Out of the corners of Miley's tearful eyes, she saw Cory sniff and dab a hankerchief over his eyes.
Once the final clod of soil had been laid on the tomb, the bereaved began to file out of the cemetery by themselves or in pairs or in small groups. Miley gathered up her courage, took a deep breath, and began walking towards Jade, telling Alex, Justin and Cory that she had something to take care of before heading onward. As she drew closer, Miley could finally see why Beck had fallen absolutely in love with her. Jade's eyes were a shade of blue-green that was so alluring that even the straightest of women could feel the subtle tugs of homosexuality just by looking at them. Jade also had a way with her hair and highlights that was just so sensually appealing to both men and women. Beck had described Jade so many times during his time in Cash that Miley could recite it all verbatim, but now, seeing Jade in person, she finally understood why Jade West had singlehandedly captured Beck Oliver's heart.
"Jade West?"
"Yes?" Jade replied. "Who's asking?" she continued as she turned to face Miley.
"I'm, uh, Miley Stewart, the—"
"The captain on Beck's last flight," Jade continued. "Yeah, I know. I heard about you in the news."
"Look, Jade, I know that this probably won't be enough, but I wanted to offer my condolences to you and your family."
"It's okay. Thank you for that." Jade dabbed at the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes once again as she said that.
"Do you mind if we take a walk?" Miley asked.
Miley and Jade began walking down the path leading to the street. As they walked, Jade said, "Weren't you some kind of star or something?"
"I knew that was gonna come up sooner or later," Miley muttered. Then, to Jade, she said, "Yeah, I was a pop star some years ago. Then I left it because I had enough of that life. How about you, Jade? I heard from Beck that you were now an actress or a director or something like that."
"I'm more of a writer-slash-producer actually," Jade replied. "I was involved in a slasher film or two a few years back, and I just wrapped up my first mystery thriller film. Can't tell you anything much more than that, except that it's gonna hit the theaters sometime in January or February next year."
"Anyway, Jade, about the crash..." Miley trailed off. This was the part where she found it very difficult to speak. She never was the most truthful of people, and living a double life as Hannah Montana had affected her ability to tell the truth to other people. "There was something that Beck did the night before we took off from Sao Paulo."
"Okay," Jade muttered. They were just about to step out of the cemetery and onto the street.
"Uh, Jade, Beck and I... well, we fooled around before we took off. Listen, I didn't try to force him into it or anything. It just happened. The alcohol and the drugs may have had something to do with it."
Jade then did something that surprised Miley very much. She stopped at the gate to the cemetery and let out a laugh that sounded relieved. "I thought as much," she said.
"Wait, you suspected that Beck and I had a one-night stand?" Miley asked Jade with genuine surprise.
"Well, if you keep a tight leash on your man like I do, you expect him to let loose when he's out of your sight," Jade replied matter-of-factly. "He's a man, Miley; it's what they do. And don't look so scared that I know about it. It's not like I'm gonna kill you in your sleep later tonight." Jade said that with a laugh, but Miley couldn't help but feel a small chill travel down her spine even as she forced a laugh out of her lungs.
"Look, Miley, you and Beck had sex the day before you took off," Jade said. "Any other woman would probably be enraged by that, and I am a bit mad at both you and him for that, but I've managed to rein in my temper in the last few months. But I can't stay mad at him because I know that if he was still alive, he wouldn't have left me. He's a keeper, Beck Oliver. He's absolutely loyal to the girl he loves, and he won't leave her even if he happened to fuck some other woman while he was off in another country."
"Jade, I am so sorry for what happened between Beck and me," Miley continued. "We were drunk, we were high on coke and Mary Jane, emotions were raw following the loss in the World Cup, and things just came together like that."
"Don't worry about that, Miley," Jade said. "That's all in the past now. I've found it hard to let go of the past before, but now it has to be done. What matters is what lies ahead of us. I've already heard from the airline's lawyers, and they found the booze and drugs in your blood and his. There's already rumors that the airline has managed to get your blood junked from being evidence in court, which means only Beck can be proven to have drunk and snorted before the flight."
Jade turned and looked Miley in the eye. "I don't care what you and Beck did in Brazil, Miley," she said. "But we both know that he's a good man. If the jury sees him as some kind of alcoholic addict—and that's very likely to happen what with what your lawyers are doing—Beck's name is gonna become mud. Please, Miley, for Beck's sake, for Beck's memory, don't let him take the fall for your problems."
Jade went on out to the street, leaving Miley quite baffled and conflicted with herself.
A/N: Sorry if this took so long. Also, forgive me if some of the characters are out of character. This is AU, after all. I'm trying to stick as close to their canon personalities as possible, but there's only so much I can do within the story I've made around them.