[Oh, you are soooo bad, Truscott,] Lola giggled as Lilly stormed away from Miley's bedroom door. [I thought for a moment there you really were going to kiss her on the lips.]

"Yeah, well…so did I," Lilly chuckled before remembering that she was angry with her alter. "Don't try to change the subject! How could you! Just for a taste of cotton candy you push me out of the way! And then you start coming on to Miley!" She stormed through the patio door, talking to herself loud enough that Robbie Ray's and Lori's eyes widened in shock from their seats on the sofa, but she paid them no mind as she tromped up the stairs to her bedroom. "How could you! And you kissed her!"

[No, if you remember correctly you'd taken over again by then. It was you that kissed her first,] Lola giggled, [I just laid the groundwork.]

"Groundwork my sweet patootie!" Lilly huffed in annoyance. "You were practically screwing her in the middle of the sidewalk!"

[Oh, believe me, that was nothing but screwing with her head. First off, when I eventually get that little vixen in my bed I will not be 'screwing' her. I'll be making sweet, tender love to that blue-eyed angel. Not that I wouldn't mind fucking her on occasion, or having her fuck me, but the first time is for emotions, not hormones. Secondly, you should be thanking me! I've got her all primed and at least considering the possibility of being with us. After that decision you made this morning I figured I had nothing left to lose. If you were going to give up to that jackass Jake without even fighting for her I figured I'd roll the dice and take my chances. What's the worst thing that could happen?]

"What's the worst thing? How about losing her friendship…forever!" Lilly screamed.

[Weren't you going to do that anyway? You were talking about leaving her and heading off somewhere else for college so that you could 'rip the bandage off in one quick swipe' rather than having to feel the lingering pain of staying with her. I saw my chance and I took it. I don't regret a damn thing!]

"But…but…if Jake makes her happy…" Lilly said tearfully.

[Do you honestly believe that that asshole is going to make her happy? You know for a fact he's eventually going to cheat on her again. If you go away who's going to be there for her to help her pick up the pieces again? Who's going to stand beside her and help her mend her broken heart? Her father? Sure, he'll do what he can, but he's not you! She'll feel all alone and you know it. What happens then?]

Lilly sighed, unable to maintain her anger in the face of the truths being thrust at her. Lola was right. Jake would cheat again and break Miley's heart. And if she wasn't there for her she didn't know what Miley would do. Sure, she'd get over it eventually, but only after how many weeks, months, or even years of pain and heartbreak. She might even quit being Hannah which would kill her. She'd pulled through the last time it had happened, but only because Lilly had been there for her. If she had to go through that all alone…

"Still," Lilly sighed, "you really shouldn't have pushed me out of the way."

[You're right, and I'm sorry about that,] Lola apologized softly, [however,] she grinned, [you have to admit that it was fun. Did you hear Miley moan when I played with her tongue and lips? She even said 'Miiiley liiike.'] she imitated the taller girl almost perfectly which got Lilly giggling.

"She did seem to be enjoying it quite a bit," Lilly grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't out there having to change her panties," she laughed. "Speaking of which," she blushed as she got off the bed and began rummaging in a drawer for a clean pair for herself. Lola hadn't been entirely immune herself to the lustful feelings she was arousing in the brunette.

[Oh, that was just soooo hot!] Lola giggled. [From the sound of her voice I'll bet she was just about ready to…]

"Enough wench," Lilly laughed as she unzipped her jean shorts and pulled them off. Sure enough she'd soaked through her own panties at Lola's seductive actions. "Look who's talking! Hmm, maybe a shower first," she chuckled, turning away from the dresser and going to the closet to grab her robe.

Feeling refreshed after her long – and very satisfying thanks to Lola – shower and putting on a clean set of clothes, Lilly skipped down the stairs in a much better mood than the last time she'd come down them earlier that morning. And just like this morning Miley was there waiting for her in the great room with the television turned on and the sound down low. The blue-eyed songstress was slumped on the couch with her feet stretched out in front of her, a position that she rarely used when she was happy, so Lilly figured something was wrong.

[Maybe we were a bit too obvious earlier and she can't handle it,] Lola said contritely and in a worried voice.

"Don't jump to conclusions quite yet," Lilly murmured. "It could just be that something happened." Lilly looked into the kitchen where Robbie Ray and Lori were sitting at the table, their eyes focused first on Miley, then on Lilly, then on Miley again, and then back to Lilly. The blonde shrugged her shoulders and nodded to where Miley sat. Both adults shook their heads to indicate they didn't know anything. 'You OK' Robbie mouthed to her and she nodded her head but then shrugged her shoulders again, not really sure just how okay she was going to be in the next few minutes. She took the last two steps down the stairs and walked slowly into the great room to stand behind her best friend. She took a deep breath and then plunged on ahead, hoping her spontaneity would keep her safe for just one more day.

She knelt down behind the sofa and put her arms around Miley's shoulders, clutching her wrist in her hand to keep herself from chickening out. Then she felt Miley stiffen, and not from surprise, and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. The words, when they came, were soft. Such painful words should never feel so soft.

"I've given it some thought, Lilly. My life is complicated enough as it is. The last thing I need right now is more drama."

Miley felt the arms around her loosen. The wrist slipped from the grasp of those slender fingers and the arms fell away. A loud 'thunk' shook the floor followed by the crash of shattering glass.

"Lilly!" Lori screamed as she jumped from her chair so quickly that it hit and slid along the floor behind her.

"Lils?" Robbie yelled as he followed the faster nurse to where Lilly had fallen, hitting her head on the leg of one of the tables and knocking over a vase to shatter on the floor.

Miley leapt up from her seat on the couch and spun to see her best friend splayed out on the floor like a rag doll or a marionette that has had its strings cut. Her normally sparkling green eyes were closed and it looked as if she was barely breathing. "LILLY!" she screamed in shock and guilt.

Lilly's eyes snapped open at Miley's voice and her head slowly arose to look straight into Miley's eyes. The look on that sweet, beautiful, normally love-filled face could have killed her where she stood. Before Lilly could say a word Lori was there and lifting her to sit with her back against the nurse's chest while her experienced fingers felt along the base of her skull.

"Shit! Fuck! That hurts!" Lilly yelled when Lori hit a sensitive spot on the back of her head.

"You've got a nasty bump forming there, certainly a minor concussion, but no break in the skin," Lori sighed with relief. "You'll have an extremely powerful headache in just a bit. Robbie," she said, turning to the slumping man behind her. "Can you get some ibuprofen for her and a glass of water?"

"I think we've got a bigger problem," Robbie said, his face paling as he saw fear strike Lilly's eyes.

"Oh, shit," Lilly whispered. "Lilly? Lilly sweetie? Can you hear me love?" she spoke as if to a small child. "Stop crying baby. It'll be okay, I promise. I swear it will be okay," she turned and glared at Miley again. "This is all your fault!" she spat before going back to trying to coax a totally destroyed Lilly Truscott from wherever it was that she was hiding.

"Lola?" Robbie asked quietly.

"Yeah," Lola spat out again, "but introductions can wait," then she melted into a puddle of fear. "I can't find Lilly, Mr. S!" she said in a quavering voice. "She's hiding from me. I can hear her crying, but I can't find her."

Lori briefly froze in shock and stared at the girl in her arms. In searching that desperate face she saw traces of the girl she knew as Lilly, but the vast majority of the expressions were almost foreign to her. It was only then that she realized what Robbie had already deduced. She looked into those tear-filled eyes and asked, "Lola, honey, what happened?"

Lola looked back at a completely confused and frightened Miley. "Ask her!" she said angrily. "Little miss 'I don't need this kind of drama' whose life is so damned 'complicated' that she can't give even one little bit of consideration to the girl whose been in love with her for years!"

"Years?!" Miley squeaked.

"Yes, years you selfish bitch," Lola said quietly but with enough venom to have the brunette shrinking from her. "Lilly might not remember exactly when I was born, but I certainly do. It was on the morning of her fifteenth birthday and a certain someone gave her a gold, heart-shaped locket." She reached into the neck of her t-shirt and pulled the necklace out for everyone to see. She opened the locket to look upon the smiling faces pictured there. "It was the morning that she realized that she was in love with one Miley Ray Stewart. It was also the morning that she denied that truth so vehemently, afraid of how Miley would feel about that love, that a separate entity, one that wasn't afraid of that forbidden love, came into being. That morning Lola Luftnagle was born and Lilly Truscott began to die."

"Die!?" Robbie and Lori exclaimed simultaneously.

"Not literally," Lola shrugged, "she wasn't physically ill. But spiritually? Emotionally? Yes, she started dying. I'm part of Lilly's soul…the part that isn't afraid of loving another girl. The part that isn't afraid to say that she loves Miley," she said, turning back to look at the girl of her dreams once again. Instead of anger, this time all she felt was pain and regret. "I'd finally gotten her around to being willing to accept it herself…and even start to show it publically," her eyes turned into twin dark green agates the same color as a violent, storm-tossed sea, "until someone decided that she didn't have time for her anymore…didn't care enough about her anymore. Rejected her. It broke her," she said more softly, more gently, looking back at the concerned eyes of the two adults. "And now she's hiding and I can't find her. If I can't find her and bring her back…" The rest of that statement didn't need to be spoken out loud. If Lola couldn't find her and bring her back, Lilly Truscott, the girl they'd known and loved for so long, would die for real, leaving only Lola.

Kneeling down beside her, Robbie Ray asked, "What can we do Lola?" with such tenderness and concern she couldn't help it when the tears started forming. "You know how much we love her…love both of you," he smiled at the now crying teen. "How can we help bring her back to us?"

"Hell if I know," Lola replied quietly as the tears continued to fall from the corners of her eyes.

"Can she hear us?" Lori asked.

"She should be able to. I always could. I could see what Lilly saw and hear what she heard. I could even focus on different things than she was looking at or listening to. We had kind of an agreement. Neither of us would push the other out of the way when one was in control. The one in control would have to willingly give up her place and allow the other to take over." She sniffed loudly. "I kind of broke the rule this morning," she told them while looking up again at a still somewhat cowering Miley. "I wanted some cotton candy. Then I couldn't help but take the opportunity to flirt with the girl I loved."

"That was you!?" Miley gasped.

"Who else darling?" Lola laughed sadly. "I'm the only one willing to really put it out there for you to see. Lilly was willing to let you go. This morning, before she came back from her run, she'd talked herself into going away to a different college next year just so that you could have the space you needed to find someone that would love you the way you should be loved; someone better than that Jake-ass who will only treat you like his temporary plaything and then throw you away when he gets tired of you or finds someone else that just happens to be convenient."

"So she was going to leave me?" Miley asked fearfully.

"Yes, until I did what I did on our 'date'," she smirked. She held up the locket again for them to see. "She hasn't taken this off for three years…not until this morning after she decided to leave. But after our date I talked her into putting it back on and giving it one more chance. Guess that wasn't such a hot idea," she fumed angrily as fire arose in her eyes.

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" Miley wailed.

"Oh, you knew. You knew just how she felt about you, but you were too scared to admit that you might be in love with her as well! You were too frightened to accept the love that was being so freely offered to you. I was right all along! Anything that's really worth having, truly precious, like someone's love, needs to be worked for, fought for, not handed to you on a silver platter. Lilly freely handed you her heart and you crushed it!"

"I WAS SCARED!" Miley sobbed, tears of her own finally flowing uncontrolled down her cheeks. "What would happen if someone found out? What would happen if people found out Hannah was queer?! My career would be over!"

"So Hannah was more important than your best friend? More important than the girl that loved you? More important than being happy with the one you know for a fact that you love but are too afraid to accept?"

"NO! I mean yes, I mean…Oh, I don't know what I want! I just know I don't want to lose Lilly! I can't live without her!" she cried out.

"Then tell her that," Lola whispered. "Tell her you love her. Tell her that you are in love with her and want her to be by your side for all eternity. Tell her that there's nothing and no one more important to you than she is…because that's the way she feels about you Miley Stewart. That's how much she loves you."

Miley cried. She sobbed. She wept. She railed against her fear. And the three others in the room watched her do it.

Robbie's heart went out to his little baby, but he too was afraid. Not that she was gay. Not that she might have to live with the prejudice and pain others might cause her just because she happened to love someone of the same gender, although that was there too. No, he was afraid that she'd have to go through life without the one she truly loved.

He knew what it was like to lose forever the one that meant the most to him. Susan had been his life, the other half of his soul, and when he lost her there was only one thing that kept him going: his love for the children that she had given him. He could have given in to the depths of despair that blanketed him every night he went to a cold and lonely bed, but he knew that she wouldn't accept that from him. He knew that she expected him to go on with his life…not for her, but for the little ones they'd brought into this world. They needed him to be strong for them. She needed him to be strong for them. And so he'd pulled himself up from those depths and done what was necessary to ensure that her love would forever live in the hearts of her children.

And now he was afraid for a little girl who cried in total darkness without the warmth of those that loved her and cared for her. He was afraid for a young woman that had come to mean as much to him as either of his own children. He was afraid that he would end up losing a child just as he'd lost his own wife. Once again he had to be strong, not for himself, but for his baby and for the girl she loved.

"Call to her Miley," he whispered. "She's lost and alone. She thinks she's lost the one thing in her life that meant anything to her. Your love and friendship. Has she? Has she lost the one person that means more to her than her own life?"

"NO!" Miley screamed. She'd been so scared to admit to herself the feelings that were flowing through her. She'd been so scared about potentially losing her ability to be Hannah. But neither of those things was as frightening, as soul wrenching, as the thought of losing Lilly. "LILLIAN TRUSCOTT…I LOVE YOU!" Miley screamed as loud as she could. "I love you," she said more quietly as she jumped over the back of the sofa to land in front of Lola. She grabbed the blonde's hands and looked into those green eyes, not for the girl that looked out at her now, but for the one that she so desperately wanted to see.

"Call to her," Lola begged her.

"I love you, Lilly," Miley cried. "Please, don't leave me. Please don't leave me alone! I couldn't live without you," she cried softly. "I'm sorry that I'm so weak. I never should have said those things. I didn't mean them. I was just scared. I love you, Lilly. I love you. Please come back to me. Please Lilly. Please!" she sobbed.

Lola's lips formed a grin and her eyes sparkled for a moment, then those went away to be replaced by a sudden onslaught of more tears. Fear filled those eyes and those lips trembled heavily before they slowly opened.

"D-do y-you m-mean th-that?" Lilly asked, almost too afraid of the answer she expected to hear despite the words that had drawn her back from the darkness. "D-do you r-really mean that?"

"I really, really mean it Lilly," Miley wept, looking up and seeing those eyes that she cared so much about. "I love you. I love you so much it frightens me, but it frightens me more that you might leave me."

The eyes changed again briefly. "Prove it," Lola told her softly before disappearing once again.

"P-prove it?" Lilly squeaked. "How?"

But Miley knew what Lola meant. Miley knew what Lola wanted her to do. Luckily it was something she was more than willing to give. So as Lilly's eyes widened in surprise, and with her father and his girlfriend looking on, she leaned forward and pressed her lips tenderly against those of the girl she had finally realized she loved more than anything and anyone else in the world.

Lilly's lips were just as soft as she'd imagined them to be. Her hands somehow found their way behind Lilly's neck and into her hair. She pulled the girl closer, deepening the kiss that Lilly finally, after her initial shock, started to return just as passionately. Miley felt Lilly's arms wrap around her waist and she smiled into the kiss as the other girl pulled her close. Lilly's lips weren't hard and demanding the way Jesse's or Jake's were. No, Lilly's kiss was like a cool glass of water on a hot summer day. It was refreshing and giving. So unlike a boy's. And her hands weren't running everywhere trying to go places they shouldn't. Instead they were gentle; caressing her rather than pawing at her. Lilly's kiss was like night and day, heaven and hell, when compared to all the kisses from boys that she'd ever experienced. The only way to describe it was pure bliss.

It was almost a full minute before they broke apart, laying their foreheads against each other as they sucked in air.

"Th-that was…" Lilly stammered.

"Perfect," Miley grinned. "Now I finally know what they mean about fireworks."

"Y-yeah," Lilly smiled.

"None of the kisses I've shared with Jake or Jesse were as good…or felt as right."

"I thought you 'might be in love' with Jake," Lilly said worriedly but felt Miley's head shake.

"No. Not anymore. Not now that I know what real love feels like. I might have had a crush on him, or even maybe lusted a little after him…"

"Eeep?"

Miley chuckled. "But nowhere near as much as I'm currently wanting one Lillian Truscott," she smirked. "Or, if she'll do what she did earlier," she giggled, "maybe Lola."

"That was hot as hell, wasn't it?" Lilly laughed softly. "I think I'll get her to teach me that little trick."

"Oh, please!" Miley laughed, finally leaning back to look into those deep green eyes to see the sparkling mirth that she hadn't seen in so long. "Let's have lots and lots of practice," she smirked.

A very masculine cough interrupted the two of them along with a feminine chuckle.

"While I'm extremely happy that Lilly's back, I think maybe you two had better slow that horse down from a gallop to a walk," Robbie said sternly in his 'father' voice, but his eyes were laughing.

"Ah, Robbie, at least let them trot," Lori laughed.

"Yeah, what she said," Miley pouted and used her best puppy dog eyes. When Lilly turned to him with the same expression and said, "Pleeaassee?" he knew he was lost.

"Fine, a trot," he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "but with a lead line!" he growled.

Lilly's eyes widened and then a snarky smile graced her lips. "Oohh, kinky Mr. S," Lola chuckled lowly. "How about a foursome?"

"W-wait! That wasn't what I meant!" he exclaimed.

The only response he received was their laughter.

Epilogue

It had been an awfully long two days and both Miley and Lilly quickly fell asleep in each other's arms on the great room couch. Lori and Robbie stood over them, arms around each other's waist as they happily watched their two girls sleeping.

That is until Lilly's eyes popped open and a grin suffused her lips.

"Lola?" Robbie asked the spark in those green eyes.

"Seems like it," Lola snickered. "I honestly thought I'd disappear when Lilly and Miley finally admitted their love for each other. Guess I was wrong."

"From what I've seen and heard, I think you are a pretty durn important person to Lilly yourself," he smiled at her. "Can't say I'm sorry neither."

"That's a double negative," Lola smirked, "but I'm happy to hear it anyway."

"You're not going to cause them any trouble, are you?" Lori asked worriedly, but Lola just smiled.

"Nah. Didn't I tell you? I love Miley just as much as Lilly does. And I'm kind of partial to Lilly as well," she grinned. "She's a feisty one she is. We get along just fine."

"I'm glad to hear that," Lori sighed.

"I may not be around as much…maybe mostly when Hannah's on tour. Now that's one hot chick!" She grinned again. "Besides, I can't wait to meet Avis."

"Avis?" Robbie and Lori both exclaimed in surprise.

Lola just laughed.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the story. As always, your reviews/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Take care,

CX