Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone you recognize.

A/N: Yay! A one-shot. the quote "You promised you'd be back again, so I wander around this town until summer comes again." is actually from Keith Urbans 'Til Summer Comes Again. this story was actually inspired by one of Miley's tweets. yes, i'm a twitterwhore. i know -__-. haha. but yeah. i read this tweet and the idea popped into my head. I hadn't done one of these in a while, so enjoy. Happy Reading.

PS: i don't think this should be considered a songfic, since i've never actually heard it... so yeah. lol.

Going Through the Motions

"I'll be back. I promise."

Those words lingered in the air every time Miley found herself standing outside on her balcony late at night while listening to the ocean waves crashing on the shore. She held onto those words and kept them locked up inside her head, only letting them out when she was alone. In front of everyone she put up a wall and showed the world that she was holding on, but on the inside she was slowly falling apart.

Every thing was going so well for her. She was on top of her classes, Hannah Montana was putting out number one singles, and she was wrapped up in the arms of the girl of her dreams. It was so beautiful, they were so beautiful together.

But as they say, all great things must come to an end and so it did.

Her mother, Lilly's, was so closed-minded and afraid of things that weren't 'normal'. She took Lilly away from Miley.

And people thought Robby Ray was a religious, bible huggin', 'the bible says that's wrong!' type of guy. But they were wrong. Robby was the one who were supportive of them. Robby was the one who gave them his full support, and Robby was the one who made all that noise downstairs when Heather angrily burst into the Stewart's residence and demanded that her daughter get downstairs right now.

At the outburst downstairs, the two girls woke up tangled in limbs and sheets.

"GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, LILLIAN ANNE TRUSCOTT!"

Upon hearing her mother's shrilly voice, Lilly got out of bed instantly and looked around wildly in the messy room. Her clothes were scattered everywhere; her bra was hanging by a nail on the door knob to the balcony's door, her underwear was hanging by a thread on Miley's ceiling fan, her shorts were turned inside out all the way on the other side of the room, and her shirt was... missing.

"Babe! Where's my shirt?!" she whispered frantically, hopping up and down on one leg while trying to get the other in the right leg hole.

"LILLY!!"

Miley, still in bed with the sheets wrapped up around her, shrugged her shoulders before whispering, "I don't know!" She then got up in all of her naked glory and helped look around the room in a quick pace. "I told you! If you weren't so damn dramatic with the tossing and flinging of clothes, we wouldn't be searching all over my room looking for your shirt!" she whisper scolded.

"Can you please put some clothes on?!" Lilly pleadingly asked while throwing her a pointed look, "It's hard looking for something when you're walking around naked in my presence."

"Well sorry!" Miley apologized without meaning it and snatched a pair of black basketball shorts from off of the floor. "See this?" She waved the shorts in front of Lilly's face. "This is how easy it is to find something when you're not being all dramatic." She shook her head and pulled the shorts on frantically, followed by a white tank top that was sitting right next to the shorts.

"Honey!" Lilly stopped what she was doing and frowned at Miley, "We have bigger things to attend to right now. Let's find me a shirt so I can get outta here before my mom gets all Godzilla and decides to tear this house down!" With that both girls kissed in agreement and went in search of a top for Lilly.

"Here hon, just take this." Miley said, getting Lilly's attention from under the bed. When Lilly stood up and faced Miley, a purple shirt was tossed on her head. Lilly took it, flipped it around so that the front was facing her and gasped.

"No, I can't! This is your favorite shirt!" The shirt was custom made by Lilly herself. The design had abstract art of every thing important to the girls in different shades of blue screen pressed on there. She gave it to Miley on their one year anniversary.

"Just put it on!" Miley urged then stiffened up when she heard heavy, angry, urgent footsteps coming up the stairs. "Hurry! I think she's coming up!"

Lilly, also hearing the footsteps coming up the stairs, pulled the shirt on and practically sprinted all the way to the balcony door and pushed it open, Miley was hot on her heels. She already had one leg over the banister, but stopped and looked straight into Miley's eyes. "I love you." She stated seriously then leaned in and gave Miley a lingering kiss on the lips before pulling back. They parted when loud banging was coming from Miley's bedroom door.

"OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

"Calm down, Heather!"

"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!"

"I love you, too." Miley sighed, giving Lilly a peck on the cheeks.

"I'll be back. I promise." Lilly stated before throwing her other leg over the banister and falling gracefully on the wooden deck below. She was in position to take off when another thought hit her. "Oh shit! My shoes."

Miley quickly ran back into her room and found one side of Lilly's white low tops on her vanity desk and the other sitting on her printer all the way on the other side of the room. God, if the situation wasn't so crazy Miley would have been laughing like there was no tomorrow.

She ran back to the balcony and dropped the pair of shoes down below a few seconds before her bedroom door practically flew off of its hinges. "OW!" She heard a cry. If she had been looking down at where Lilly was, she would have apologized for dropping the shoes right on Lilly's head.

"Where's Lilly?!" Heather was foaming at the mouth.

"Hey, Mrs. T!" Miley tried to greet her enthusiastically.

"Don't you 'hey, Mrs. T!' me!" She growled, "I asked you a question, now where is my daughter?!" Miley flinched at the coldness of her girlfriend's mother.

Miley just shrugged, "I don't know. She's not here, that's for sure."

"She's always here!" Heather countered. "I always knew there was something going on between you two, but I doubted it because my daughter could definitely not be an abomination like you! Turns out I was wrong when I was looking through Lilly's camera and found pictures of you two kissing."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Miley tried to defend.

Heather actually growled and reached into her pocket, "Don't play dumb with me!" She demanded. When Miley just stood there and didn't come clean, Heather withdrew Lilly's Canon 750SD from her pocket and threw it at Miley's face. It hit her on her upper lip. Miley flinched on contact and a hand flew to her busted lip.

"Now wait just a darn minute!" Robby Ray finally interrupted, "If you can't talk like the adult your age says you are and throw another projectile at my baby girl, I'm gonna have to escort you out them balcony doors right there." He stated pointing out the door Lilly just went through, coming in between the two women.

"Don't you dare threaten me!" Heather snarled.

"I'm not threatenin' you," he stated calmly, "I'm informin' you."

"Well whatever." She rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to me. "I know Lilly was here!" she accused, again.

"How do you figure?" Miley asked daringly. She pointed at the edge of Miley's bed with a stiff index finger and her gaze followed Heather's point of direction. There, sitting on the edge of her bed, was Lilly's baby blue tee shirt. Huh, imagine that. The only piece of clothing that she didn't fling dramatically was sitting out in plain sight this whole time. "Oh that thing?" Miley waved her statement away with one hand, "Lilly left this here a long time ago, I was wearing it around the house today and took it off to wear my tank top instead." She lied casually. Holy guacamole, Miley had never lied so easily before, especially towards an adult.

"Don't you dare lie to me! I saw her wearing that when she left the house earlier today!" she exclaimed.

"Really? Wow. You were actually home for once? That's a huge surprise." Miley taunted, waving her hands in the air. "You're barely home! And imagine that, when you finally are she still chooses to come here instead." Miley said with a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Huh, imagine that. She won't be coming back here anytime soon!" Heather threw back.

Miley scoffed, "She's already eighteen, she doesn't have to listen to you."

"She will if she still wants to live under my roof." Heather snapped. "Plus, what's more important to her? Family or some girl that's probably going to break her heart in the future?" Heather asked smugly. "That's right. You of all people should know how important family is. Family will never be replaced."

"You? You're family... to her? We – my daddy, Jackson, and I – are more of a family to her than you ever were!" Miley cried, throwing her hands in the air. "Where were you when she broke her leg skateboarding?! Where were you when her heart was broken by some asshole who cheated on her?! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN SHE NEEDED YOU THE MOST?!" She screamed into the face of Heather's impassive face before calming down and speaking in a calm voice. "My daddy was there to carry her into his car and take her to the hospital. My brother was there to kick that assholes ass! And I was there every single time she needed someone. Every. Single. Time." By the time she was finished she was panting heavily with clenched jaws and furrowed eyebrows.

Heather didn't even do anything. She just glared at Miley, stuck her nose in the air, and turned away then walked out the door.

"Bud?" Robby Ray asked cautiously when he noticed his babygirl was still breathing irregularly. "Mile!" he exclaimed when he saw her eyes roll into the back of her head. He stepped forward and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

-

It was almost summer when Lilly was taken away from Miley, and god, how did it affect her. Her grades dropped dramatically the last semester and Hannah canceled all of her concerts, appearances, and interviews due to personal problems.

Being without Lilly was difficult especially since Miley didn't know where the hell she was. The following day at school Miley had high hopes that Lilly would show up, but she didn't. She was a no show. Miley had hopes though. Lilly and her mother were still talking things out, that's why she wasn't at school. But as the days turned into weeks her hopes were slowly dwindling down.

Even Oliver, who was almost like a son to Heather himself, didn't know where Lilly disappeared to. He checked her home, but no one opened the door for him. He even called Lilly's father in New York, but he had no idea either. It seemed as though Heather Truscott overreacted and took Lilly away from everyone who loved her permanently.

Summer turned into fall and Miley found herself starting classes at the local community college rather than the university she hoped, prayed, and eventually got accepted to. She wasn't going anywhere far from home, just in case Lilly did come back miraculously and out of the blue. Thanksgiving rolled around and Miley wished with every irrational thought in her body that Lilly would barge right in through her front door, claim a seat at the table right next to Miley, and chomp down merrily on a huge turkey leg, but not before thanking the heavens and higher for having such great people and food in her life. It was really wishful thinking on Miley's part.

Fall turned into winter and Miley would be seen wearing Lilly's favorite Seaview cotton hoodie that Lilly made her wear at the end of the year festival for Seniors and snuggling with the shirt Lilly left behind. Both smelled like Lilly, though it was fading since Miley wore and snuggled with it every cold winter night. She didn't dare wash it, afraid that if she did she'd lose the smell of Lilly forever, and she didn't want that. By the time Christmas rolled around, the scent of her love was almost non-existent and she would beat herself up for getting greedy. She was in for a surprise though when she opened the random gift from Jackson and found the same type of perfume Lilly used in the small box. Miley cried tears of joy though both men thought he did something wrong. Robby Ray was about to give him an earful of something, but was surprised when his baby girl lunged at her oldest and dearest brother and tackled him to the ground and hugged him viciously saying her thank yous in a raspy voice. She cried again that night, in the safety of her own room, but these were sad tears. The scent only made her miss Lilly even more and it wasn't the same as when Lilly sprayed it on and Miley would catch a whiff of it.

Winter turned into spring and Miley found herself standing on a stage in Cancun, Mexico as Hannah Montana. Somehow her father, brother, and the half of her best friend that wasn't ripped away from her, convinced her that she needed time out of the house and in the spotlight. What better way than to perform at a place where there were drunken idiots all over the place thinking they had a chance with Hannah? Hell, even Miley thought it would be a good idea. She thought since it was Spring Break and Hannah was going to have a concert in Cancun then Lilly would hear, and she'd try her best to get out there. Too bad Miley forgot that Heather Truscott knew about Hannah really being a secret international popstar also known as Miley Ray Stewart. It was the first time Miley gave into drinking and took out her frustrations on her father, it was also the last time. After that concert, she told her father no more. It hurt too much without Lola Luftnagle watching and dancing giddily in the wings.

Spring turned into summer and Miley found herself standing on her balcony wrapped up in a large blanket. The pain eased a little, but was still there. She sighed as the cool breezy summer night air blew gently and tousled her hair in her face. She moved those locks of hair from her eyes and inhaled deeply while staring out at the ocean. She missed doing this as the seasons flew by since it was too cold to be out this late at night. She missed the way the moon reflected in the ocean, casting a beautiful glow as it did so. She exhaled and took one more look at the beautiful glowing of the ocean before turning around and heading into her room. As she inhaled one more time, a familiar and comforting scent was pulled into her lungs and she found herself holding her breath and closing her eyes, letting the scent linger for as long as possible. She exhaled slowly and turned against the breeze all the while keeping her eyes shut. She didn't want to open them just yet, just in case this was all a bad dream, but as she inhaled the smell got stronger and she felt warmth near her. A second later a warm hand cupped her right cheek and Miley's eyes fluttered open at the touch she memorized and knew so well.

"Lilly?" Miley asked breathlessly, hoping and praying that she wasn't dreaming this. It was too good to be true, but the touch and the smell was too real to be a dream. All on its own, her right hand flew up and her fingertips grazed the features the beautiful blond was graced with before finding themselves tangled in said hair.

"Oh, Miley." Lilly said quietly, wiping the tear the seemed to find its way out of Miley's eyes and down her cheeks. "Miley." she said again, as if she hadn't said it so long and just wanted to.

"Lilly." Miley said one last time before slipping her right hand down to the back of the blonds neck and pulling her flush into her. The hand that was cupping Miley's cheek slid around her shoulders and the other found its way around her back. They both clung on to each other, not letting up the vicious grip they had on one another. "I've missed you so much." Miley cried, burying her face in Lilly's hair.

Lilly only hugged harder. "I've missed you, too, honey." Lilly followed Miley's actions and nuzzled her nose in the crook of her neck.

They stayed like that for minutes, probably even an hour, before pulling away from each other. They shared huge, wet smiles, as they wiped away the remaining tears from each other's faces while studying and reacquainting themselves with the others looks.

"You're just as beautiful as I remembered." Miley said. Lilly smiled bashfully and rubbed the back of her neck. "When did you become so bashful?" Miley barked out with a laughter. The sound and feel was gruff against her throat since she hadn't laughed that laugh in so long. It felt strange, but she accepted it right away.

Lilly smiled and just held Miley close, giving her Eskimo kisses. "Since I was taken away from the girl I love," was her sad reply.

Miley's demeanor changed and she hung her head sadly, "I'm sorry." she apologized. She didn't know for what, but it felt like the right thing to say.

"Sorry for what? Me loving you? You loving me? Don't be." Lilly said sternly. The tone in her voice made Miley look up and she shivered when she saw the love and adoration in the eyes that she missed so much.

"I.. just..." Miley drug on, not knowing that to say.

"Don't worry about it." Lilly smiled at Miley's broken words. "We won't have to go through that again." She assured the southerner who looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Wh-what happened Lilly? Where did you go? Why didn't anyone know where you went?" Miley finally asked the questions that were building up in her head. She fired questions one after the other until Lilly had to stop her rambling the best way she could, by kissing her.

The electricity and fireworks could be felt and seen by both girls as their lips were finally touching after so long. Both girls moaned and groaned at the contact. The brunettes knees buckled underneath her as she felt the blonds tongue trace her bottom lip, when she gave her access to her mouth, her knees gave out below her and she was expecting an impact with the ground but was surprised when Lilly's strong arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her feet off the floor. Taking the hint, Miley brought her legs up and wrapped them around Lilly's hips, locking them at her ankles.

Lilly slammed her gently against the wall next to the balcony doors and ground their centers together. They both groaned at the contact. Lilly broke the kiss off and buried her face in Miley's shoulder as she kept up with the penetrations and gyrating motions. Miley's fingers found their way to Lilly's blond locks and held her close while she moved her hips and met Lilly's thrust with her own hard ones. They panted, moaned, groaned, and whimpered as they met as one with each thrust of the hips until Miley came first and clutched Lilly's toned body to hers as she rode out her climax. Lilly soon followed with one last hard thrust and pinned Miley's body against hers and the wall as she cried out in ecstasy.

Somehow they both ended up laying on the balcony's floor in each other's arms. The blanket that was forgotten for a short amount of time as they did their thing was now covering the both of them. "I love you so much, Lilly." Miley's raspy voice said as she stroked Lilly's cheek.

Lilly looked at her through glazed eyes and smiled sleepily. "I love you, too, Miley. So so much." she croaked out, returning the gesture and stroking Miley's cheek tenderly. Miley smiled back, but there was so many questions, and none of them were answered. "Later, Miles." Lilly sighed sleepily. "Let's just go to sleep now. I'll tell you everything in the morning, k?" Miley smiled widely, nodded her head in agreement, and snuggled into Lilly's chest until her head was tucked underneath Lilly's chin. They fell asleep on that position, on the cold concrete floor, but both of them had never felt more comfortable than they had before without the others arm wrapped around them.

-

That morning was a mayhem, in a good way... if that's possible. When the girls walked downstairs hand in hand, Robby Ray greeted both of the girls casually as he was making breakfast and did a double take when he realized that Lilly was standing right there with a huge smile on her face. He dropped his spatula, as he was making his famous pancakes, and engulfed Lilly in one of his comforting big old bear hugs. He was practically smothering Lilly with his parental love, but she didn't mind one bit, she welcomed, cherished, and loved it all the while returned it just as loving.

They only broke apart when Jackson came running down the stairs and exclaimed that the food was burning, before it actually did, and yelled at his father to let Lilly go so he can flip the pancakes before it burned. Jackson, too, did a double take and engulfed Lilly the same way his father did after he let her go to tend to the food.

As the three Stewart's were seated around the table enjoying their breakfast and the atmosphere that was missing when Lilly was gone, said girl slipped away and snuck upstairs. She searched for Miley's phone and found it sitting on her nightstand. She flipped it open and smiled at the wallpaper as it was her and Miley at the beach sharing a kiss about a week before they were ripped apart. Not wanting her girlfriend to go into panic mode, the way she woke up when she thought it was all a dream, Lilly sent an "urgent" text to Oliver and told him to come to the Stewart's residence as soon as possible before heading back down to the kitchen and joining in on the stuffing of the face.

Just as Lilly had thought, Oliver got to the Stewart's household in a little over five minutes. He had barged through the front door, panting and gasping for air, as he looked around wildly. There was no such robbery scene as the text said there was. Then his eyes locked on the foursome sitting at the table staring at him like crazy, well except for that blond haired chick that looked exactly like his best friend with blond hair, blue eyes, and same skin complexion. When Lilly joyfully greeted him he pointed at her, did a great impression of a fish, and passed out right just like he did when Miley revealed that she was really Hannah Montana.

When he finally recovered and realized that his best friend was really there, and the trio was reunited, he, along with the three Stewart's, fired question after question at the blond. She told them to calm down and when they did, she told them the whole story from the beginning.

It turns out that her mother had known about the girls being together for a while before she actually did something. Heather thought that it was just a phase her daughter was going through, and that it'll pass by eventually. When it didn't, that's when she took action.

After storming out of the Stewart's residence, Heather stalked all the way back to her home only to find her daughter sitting on the couch watching TV as if she was there all along. At least that was what Lilly claimed. Heather got angry and actually slapped her daughter before sending her upstairs and told her to pack up her belongings.

She wouldn't tell the younger blond where they were going until they were well on their way across California and kept traveling north in her mothers blue Jetta. They ended up going and staying at Heather's mother's sister's daughter's house in the rural and rundown part in a city on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington. To say that her mother's mother's sister's daughter was shocked would have been an understatement; she was appalled at Heather's reasons, but kept it to herself. She was just as gay as Lilly was, and even had a partner until she was murdered. Well, that's what the lady told Lilly, but Lilly seriously thought there was something going on in that head of hers.

Even though she didn't have much of her own she took the two blonds in, ignoring Heather's chastisements about how unkempt her house was, and told them to feel at home. Throughout the year Heather's mother's sister's daughter collected and saved enough money for Lilly to get a plane ticket. No matter how many times Lilly refused and declined the ticket, she still offered the money to her. It wasn't until she presented the blond with the real ticket that she actually accepted it. Lilly felt bad since this woman she barely even knew treated her better than her own mom did, but took it and embraced the woman with a huge hug as her thanks.

Lilly left that same day and walked on foot, from the airport all the way to Miley's, until she got there last night.

When she was done with the story not an eye was dry. They all shed tears at the horrors Lilly had to go through and thanked the Lord up above that she was with them now.

She admitted that she didn't have anywhere else to go and shyly, nervously, asked the man of the house if she could possibly stay with them. She even offered to get a job to pay for the rent and bills, but Robby Ray cut her off saying that he wasn't going to have any of that.

Lilly froze, thinking that he rejected her, but was surprised when she felt him throw a strong arm around her shoulders and held her close to him in a one armed hug. He told her that she was always welcome to their home and didn't have to think about all that nonsense with the job and all. She didn't know how else to thank him so she buried her face in his shoulders and hugged him the best she could.

"Thank you so much." she said into his ear.

He patted her back, pulled away from the embrace, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "It's no problem darlin', I wouldn't want you anywhere else but home."

A/N: how'd you like that last scene? Would it have been better with dialogue, or was it okay the way it is? If you don't like it, tell me. I'll write it out in dialogue form instead xD oh and, should the rating stay as T, or should i bump it up to an M? anyway, hope you liked. Review, please? K, thanks!