An-Sooo, I'm back! Already? Yeah, I know but this new story has been bugging my muse for the last couple of days and I figured screw it, I might aswell come back. Niley, always.

Prologue: Desperate

'You want a reason, to keep believing, that someday you're going to see the light...-'

I take a sharp intake of breath as the hostess announces that we're finally landing. I hate flying. Always did, aways will. The thousand miles above the ground thing and that possibility that you might bump into something tottaly out of the ordinary and crash into the oblivion and then there's the landing part; it scares the freaking shit out of me and I forcefully bite my lip to keep myself from screaming.

Demi's hand intertwines with mine and I grasp onto it with all my might, looking over at her gratefully for a split second although a piece of me is bubbling with jealousy. She's so calm and collected and fearless and a part of me wishes I could be like that, a part of me wishes I could go back to that but I haven't been myself in the longest time.

"It's over." Demi whispers soothingly and I open one eye cautiously to see the sight of thousands of people crowding around trying to get their stuff. I wince slightly, feeling a cold chill run through me. Too many people.

"Thanks." I mumble to Demi sincerely, as she rubs my arm.

She dismisses it, just like she always does whenever I thank her for everything she has ever done for me. She's so amazing, so kind-hearted, such a beautiful person with a beautiful heart and I appreciate having her in my life. She's my best friend. She's my constant. She's been my strength through it all.

"Let's get the hell out of here i'm starving." Demi muses aloud, handing me my suitcases and I roll my eyes.

"Your always hungry." I comment, still a little dazed . That girl has got one of the most voracious appetites I have ever seen in my life. Seriously.

Demi shrugs nonchalantly. "I've got to feed my butt somehow. Besides, your looking a little easy on the bones."

She eyes me accusingly and I sigh. Busted.

"I tried." I admit, defeated.

Demi wraps her arms around me and I fall into her embrace. " I know you did and we'll work on that. I'm proud of you, you know?"

"You shouldn't be. "

Demi frowns. "Well I am and there's nothing you can say or do that will stop me. Baby steps but your still on your way there, just standing here being on this plane is a huge step for you and that shows major process. I still think it's too soon by the way."

"I can't run forever, Dem." I taunt her with her own words.

She rolls her eyes. "Not forever, just until everything gets better."

"Which is never."

Demi frowns. "Miley."

"It's the truth, okay? And i'm pretty sure somewhere around that thick skull, you've thought the same thing and I'm okay with that. This shit is never going to get better, the doubt is always going to be there, that paranoia is always going to stick with me, that night is all I'm ever going to see! I've learned to live in darkness, Dem, so why don't you take a few pages from my book?"

"Because you're better then that. Because you deserve better then that." Demi responds softly. "You're a warrior and you don't even know it. You're so strong and filled with so much and I know that you were meant to live this life for a purpose. A good purpose. Why can't you see that?"

"I don't want to." I snap bitterly, ending that part of the conversation. I know she's just looking out for me and trying to make me feel better but I can't just succumb to hope, I won't allow myself to. Hope is what lead me here. Hope is what destroyed me.

Demi sighs." Are you sure you're ready for this? There's no looking back, Mi. The minute we step foot out of this airport, we're back into our old lives, we're back home. No more hiding."

"I know and I'm glad." Demi looks at me, surprised. "I mean it. I'm tired of hiding, Dem. I just want to feel alive again."

"This is the right place to do it." Demi cracks a smile, looking out into the window. I follow her actions, feeling that rippling sensation that I hadn't thought I could feel for a long time. I see sun and beaches and happiness; everything that makes this place so great, everything about this place that I've missed.

"I'm sure, Dem." I laugh, knowing she was about to corner me into another lecture. "I'm sure."

"Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"I won't have to." I shoot back. " Besides, who's going to pick a fight with me looking like this?"

Demi's face falls and her expression turns cross.

"Don't." She snaps. "Don't joke about it."

"Sometimes, it's all I can do." I murmur quietly.

"I know." Demi sighs, grabbing our passports and leading me towards the big burly men known as security. "Doesn't mean I like it."

I fish my hands into my pocket, drowning into silence as the world passes on without me. I'm like that sometimes, I dream. I dream of a better place and a better world and a better future for myself. I never expected this outcome, then again all my expectations hasn't exactly worked out in the way I've planned for a while.

Demi nudges me with her elbow, grabbing my attention. I hadn't even known we've finished secuirty that quick.

"Joe's on his way."

I nod stiffly.

"We don't have to, you know? We can find a place, you and me. Just like before..."

"Dem." I cut her off. "I'm fine, seriously."

"I just, I can't help it. I don't, I don't want this to go wrong. I don't want everything to fuck up. We were doing so good."

"And this is testing the waters." Demi gives me a long glance. "I'll admit. I'm scared. Freaked out of my mind, actually but, I want to. I need to. I can't go back there, not after that. Here's the only place where I feel safe."

"It's not going to be easy."

"I'm not alone." I whisper, looking Demi square in the eyes and Demi wraps her arm around me, pulling me into her comforting embrace.

"Always." She sniffles, pulling back from our embrace teary-eyed.

"I hope you can squeeze me in that always too." I hear, and it's smooth and masculine and so not as boyish and mischevious as its always been but I recognize it all the same. I feel the nerves start to swirl around in my stomach.

Demi swirls around to greet him and she sounds giddy and excited and happy that I flush a little with guilt. She could've had her happiness, she could've fulfilled her happily ever after but I prevented her from that, I took her away from all things good and piled my shit on her plate. Sometimes, I think she should've taken my advice and left me.

"Miley?" Demi whispers, bringing me back to earth and its then do I remember that I've had my back turned for a while now. I brace myself, feeling that swirling sentiment build up. I didn't think this would be so hard. Tantalizingly, I turn around, before exposing myself and taking off my hoodie.

I wait for his slackjawed expression. His hair is shorter, he's a lot taller and there's a damn stubble on his chin. He's old. He's happy and I lower my eyes just waiting for it. I wait for his eyes to go all sympathetic and his nose to twitch in sadness and that look to come on his face. I'm ugly, I know it. I've accepted it. It's who I am now. That look never comes.

"Miles..." Joe murmurs speechlessly before stepping forward. I nod cautiously, falling into him as he pulls me into his arms. I blink rapidly in order to keep myself from crying. It's been so long that it's actually overwhelming. I've missed him, I missed us and a part of me wishes I never left all this behind. A part of me wishes I've stayed connected to my 'big brother' .

He pulls back to get a good look at me, his finger rising slightly as it grazes the whole of my face. I wince slightly at the new sense of touch. I haven't let anyone get this close to me since Demi.

"It looks worse then it feels. " I remark lightly.

Joe snaps his eyes closed and I can tell then that it's hard for him to see me like this.

"I should've called." He finally whispers, after there's an echoe of silence.

"Joe..."

"No, Demi." Joe cuts her off. "I should've. I should've never let you get away."

"You couldn't of stopped it, Joe." I whisper, avoiding his eyes. The subject was becoming a little too heavy.

Joe shakes his head, at loss.

"You're here now, Joe. That's all that matters." Demi insists, and I crack a smile in her direction. She's so good at this stuff. At getting people to deal, and handling unexpected situations. She'd make a great mom some day and I'm so not going through that road again.

"For good." He smiles lazily over to me. "Now let's get out of here and treat you ladies to mcdonald's before you guys meet my trash of a place. I still can't cook."

My lip twitches. He's never been good at the whole cooking thing especially when he was younger. Burnt dishes were a specialty. But then again, who am I to talk? I'm not exactly chef extraordinare myself. Demi handles all that stuff.

He loops his arm around my shoulder pressing a kiss to the side of my temple before steering me out of the airport and I instinctively raise my hood, covering myself from the rest of the world.

I inhale the sweet smell of honey and that distinct something that I could never quite define and take in everything around me.

I'm home.

"You call this trash?" Demi exclaims in awe twenty minutes later, sweeping her eyes over the whole of the house. I'm captivated aswell. I've never expected a house of Joe's to be like this.

"I might've had a great few fortunes in the past couple years." He shrugs off dismissively.

"It's huge." Demi is quick to respond. "It's nice."

"It's tidy." I answer. I think that's the part that shocks me the most. Joe doesn't have a clean bone in his body, it's like he was prone to it.

"It really has been five years." Joe murmurs thickly, and I sigh as Demi looks away a little uncomfortable. All my fault.

I fish down my last pair of french fries ( Demi insisted I finish them all.) before taking a seat on the black leather couches. I smile a little, that's so kick ass. Not everything has changed about him.

I listen attentively as he tells us about the changes around here. Papa G and Mama G are still growing strong and grossing them out, Kevin's gotten married to some chick named Danielle & he's quick to show us pictures once inquired ( she's pretty, exactly his type.), Frankie's 15 & dating and I kind of blur out from then.

Because i'm ashamed. I'm ashamed of the fact that I've kept myself away from these people for so long and I'm ashamed of the person I've become that they're forced to keep up with. I'm ashamed of not having had tried harder. It wasn't their screw up, it was ours & I pushed away the people I loved and admired when I needed them the most. I drove him away.

Feeling my heart crackle into pieces at the reminder of our fallout. I feel a lump form in my throat.

"How is he?"

Joe's expression changes and I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing. "He's married." He finally announces.

I gape, feeling the air knock out of me and the remaining bits of my heart split. He's married. The words are still taunting me, haunting me, circling through my mind and my cheek is burning as though I've just been whipped in the face. I've expected him to forget, I expected him to move on, hell I was okay with the fact of him possibly dating when we first landed. I just never expected this.

He's married... and it's not to me. I shouldn't be surprised.

"Oh."

"Miley.."

I shake my head, stopping him from talking. "It's okay. Better late then never, right?"

"We all wished it was you." Joe admits. I crack a watery smile at that. He's always been a Niley supporter.

Demi switches the subject thankfully and Joe follows her lead, both putting me at ease, or atleast attempting to. I can't wrap my head around it. He's married. He's happy and that fucking kills me. I'm not the one that puts that smile on his face anymore.

I don't notice anything as I numbly stare out the window. I don't notice time ticking faster, the door creaking open and that horrible expression on Joe's face. I don't notice at all... until he speaks.

"Yo, Joe!"

My heart beats at a rapid pace. My fingers sweat in anticipation, excitement, fear, hurt. Sensations I had long since forgotten I could feel pump through me and that feeling, that feeling only he has managed to evoke from within me gravitates it's way to the surface. I swerve my head instantly.

"Miley?" He gasps and for a minute, I base it on the shock and the disbelief of my arrival. I doubt he knew about it. I specifically asked Joe not to tell anyone. I knew he wouldn't have betrayed me, even to his own brother.

But it's his eyes. I've always been able to read him, I've always been able to recognize his thoughts. His eyes tell everything, his eyes expose him and his eyes are currently bubbling with shock, disbelief yes , but also confusion and anger and hurt. And then I recognize why.

My hoodie fell.

Fuck.

I've been exposed.

AN- Soo umm, first chapter! I hope it was good enough. I've really tried to hold a little suspense/ mystery there instead of giving everything away. I hope you liked the Demi/Miley, I looove their friendship- if you hadn't already known that from my first story- & I couldn't resist penciling in Miley/Joe * if Nick/Miley weren't so loveable, I'd so want her with Joe* ... What happened between Miley and Nick will be revealed sooner or later, but what happened to Miley is going to be revealed most likely next chapter. I hope you liked it... Hopefully it attracted your attention as much as The baby assignment , review, review for the second chapter.

Much love,

Nicki M.

I'm baaaaack.