Note: This is the final chapter in this story. I'm sad for it to be over, as I know many of you are, but also very relieved. I have a lot of ideas for stories right now, and I'm not a multi-tasker who can write more than one story at once, so I'm glad for the opportunity to explore other stories that I want to tell. I hope you'll stay with me and continue to read and comment on my writing!

20

The pilot who had dropped in on their lives so suddenly was a fur buyer, mapping Cree trapping camps for future buying runs. When Lilly had inadvertently turned on the emergency transmitter and left it going, the pilot heard the signal and had come to investigate. The Cree, one of the largest groups of First Nations - Native Americans - located in Canada, move into the camps for fall and winter to trap for fur and the buyers fly from camp to camp on a regular route.

When the pilot rescued Lilly and Miley, they had been living on the lake for fifty-six days, although it seemed like an entirely separate lifetime to Lilly. During that time she had lost seventeen percent of her body weight, Miley a little more, which had wreaked havoc on their bodies. She later gained back about six percent, but she had virtually little body fat – their bodies had consumed all extra weight and they would both remain lean and wiry for several years, something that Robbie Ray was always working to change with large homemade meals every night and plenty of bacon and chocolate chip pancakes in the mornings.

Many of the changes that affected the two girls while living in the forest would prove to be permanent. Their life in the wilderness had shaped them and influenced their lives drastically, something they hadn't noticed in each other but their friends and family had picked up on the subtle and not so subtle changes. Lilly and Miley's ability to observe what was happening and react to it had increased immensely; it was a skill that would last them the rest of their lives. They had become more thoughtful as well, and from that time on Lilly would think slowly about something before speaking, and Miley had refused to return to the exorbitant celebrity lifestyle of Hannah Montana.

Food, all types and kinds, even food that Lilly had not liked before, never lost its wonder for her. For years after their rescue she would find herself stopping in grocery stores just to stare at the aisles upon aisles of food ready for consumption, marveling at the quantity and variety and ease of acquisition. If she had been obsessed with food and eating before, it was nothing compared to how she viewed food after the rescue. She wouldn't ever take it for granted again.

And of course, there were the dreams. After they were rescued, Lilly would dream about the lake and the trees, and Miley sitting next to her by the fire in their shelter. The Canadian government sent a team to recover the body of the pilot and they took reporters, who naturally took pictures and film of the whole campsite – the shelter, their food storage, the fish pen – all of it. For a short while, the press went crazy over the two of them, and they were repeatedly interviewed by news networks and magazines, everyone wanting to hear the sensational story of how the two of them had survived. Miley was much better at handling the press than Lilly, and she was grateful when the furor died down after a couple of months, not used to and not liking being in the spotlight. A writer had even showed up, wanting to do a book on the "complete adventure" and their "unusual relationship" with each other but he turned out to be a dreamer and it all came to nothing but talk. Still, they were given copies of the pictures and tape, and looking at them seemed to trigger Lilly's dreams. They weren't frightening dreams, nothing like a nightmare, but she would often awaken after having them. In the middle of the night she would find herself brought out of sleep after the dream, and would lie there thinking about the lake, the forest, their warm fire, and the beautiful bird songs. With thoughts of the fish jumping and the sunset over the ridge, she would curl up against Miley, needing to feel something that had been part of her experience. Often she would step outside and sit by the fire pit, watching the flames dancing and imagining she was back in the forest, that her dream had been real. They were never bad thoughts, and would never be what nightmares are made of, but they often left her with a hollowness in her chest, something only being with Miley could cure.

When they were rescued and first brought back to civilization, it had been a tearful and overwhelming experience. Everyone had flown in to be there – her mom and dad, Oliver, Mr. Stewart and Jackson, even Aunt Dolly, Mamaw Stewart, and Grandma Ruby were there. They were all shocked and thrilled the girls were alive, something they had given up hope on when the search and rescue had been called off only a few weeks after the crash. Robbie Ray had wanted to tell the world Miley's secret, hoping Hannah Montana's disappearance would increase the search efforts to find his only daughter and her best friend whom he had come to think of as his second daughter, but he had decided that he couldn't give up hope on his baby girl just yet. He couldn't bear the thought of losing Miley, of both the women in his life leaving him, and had been the only one besides Aunt Dolly who had continued to believe that both Lilly and Miley were still alive out there.

There had been many tears and hugs, surprise and happiness, and for a week Lilly thought her parents might even get back together. Then she had been informed that her mother had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia for a job – there had been nothing keeping her in California and she had wanted a fresh start in a new city that didn't remind her of her missing daughter. The job was a good opportunity for her, with great benefits and wonderful opportunities for advancement, but the idea of leaving Miley and moving over two thousand miles away had terrified both girls and a different solution was quickly brought to the table. Mr. Stewart had just moved into a large ranch house with Jackson and there was plenty of room for Lilly, and after a short discussion it was decided that they would turn the barn adjacent to the house into a private room for the two of them. They both had their own separate bed but had yet to sleep a night without each other, spooned together like they had slept in the shelter back at the ridge. It was as much a comfort thing as it was a desire to be with each other intimately.

Lilly had been slightly apprehensive about disclosing the change in her relationship with Miley, but Miley had no such reservations. After the first question they received about their unusual closeness, Miley had declared on national television that she was in love with her best friend. Lilly had blushed but confirmed Miley's statement, and surprisingly nobody gave them any grief. Perhaps it was because everyone was just happy they were alive, or that they knew all along there was something between the two girls. Regardless, most people accepted their relationship and had instead focused on the details of their everyday life at the lake and how they had managed to survive.

Lilly herself had many questions about everything that they had seen and encountered, and she spent countless hours researching with Miley when they got home, identifying the animals and berries. The nasty cherries that had made her sick were termed choke cherries, and they apparently made good jelly. The nut brush where the foolish birds hid were hazelnut bushes. The rabbits were snowshoes and cottontails; the birds were ruffled grouse – which were often called fool hens by trappers because of their stupidity; the fish were bluegills, sunfish, and perch; the turtle eggs were laid by a snapping turtle like she had thought; the wolves were timber wolves, which have not been known to attack humans; the moose was just a moose, with an attitude problem; and the skunk was just a smelly skunk. And apparently it was an uncommon occurrence for tornados to touch down in the region they were stranded.

She also found that had they not been rescued when they were, had they been forced to live through the fall and into the winter, it would have been very difficult to survive. When the lake froze over they would have lost the fish, and when the snow got deep they would have had trouble moving at all. When the leaves fell off the brush in the fall, hunting game would have become much easier, but in the winter it would have become scarce and most likely nonexistent. Predators such as fox, lynx, wolf, owls, weasels, fisher, martin and northern coyote would sweep through the area and wipe out all the food. Lilly was amazed to read and find out what a single owl could do to a local population of ruffled grouse and rabbits in just a few months. They had been lucky to have been rescued when they were.

After the initial surprise and happiness from everyone at them being alive, things rapidly went back to normal. Lilly's father returned to his job in Alaska, where Lilly eventually visited him a year later (Miley of course by her side), and her mother flew back to Georgia to her new life and job, with the request that Lilly call her at least once a week and to not give Mr. Stewart any trouble. They moved into their room at the ranch house and the large property offered the perfect amount of solitude, as neither girl had much tolerance for crowds and other people.

Lilly often sat and wondered what her life would be like without Miley, if she would have survived the whole ordeal without her best friend by her side, but in the end chose not to ponder on the what-ifs and to focus on her life now with her beautiful girlfriend instead. She knew Miley was hers forever, that they shared a deep connection and understanding of each other that strengthened their friendship and love for one another. Miley would always be by her side, and she would never have to face anything in life alone.

The End.

Questions, comments, or concerns? Remember to look for the alternate chapter for 19. It will be rated M, so don't read it if you don't like that kind of stuff. And someday, I would like to continue this story with a sequel, following Brian's Winter – basically what would have happened had Miley and Lilly not been rescued after all and they must survive the Canadian winter. Or maybe Brian's Return, which looks at their return to society and how they deal…or perhaps I'll write both. Just don't expect anything soon. Right now I'd just like to focus on my own original stories.