Happy?

Lily approached Jackson as he was closing up Rico's for the night.

"Hey"

"Hey, Lily."

"I'm supposed to be meeting Miley and Oliver at your house for movie night, do you mind if I walk home with you?" She asked

"No, of course not, it'll be nice to have some company."

As they walked they talked about school, about how Lily and Oliver were dating now and about Hannah's upcoming country-wide tour. They were halfway to Miley's when a man holding a large knife approached them, Jackson immediately stood in front of Lily.

"Just take our stuff and please leave us alone." Said Jackson as he took off his watch and got his wallet from his pants pocket. Lily did the same and handed over her wallet and the necklace Oliver had given her two months ago when they had been together six months.

"That's all very well but I want the girl." Said the assailant and grinned threateningly at Lily

"You can't have her." Said Jackson defiantly, he barely had time to blink before the assailant stabbed the knife deep into his abdomen, so deep in fact that Lily saw the tip of the blade sticking out of Jackson's back. When he realized what he'd done the assailant pulled out the knife, turned and ran. Lily immediately dropped to her knees by Jackson and called for an ambulance. Once she had she pulled Jackson to her and noticed his blood was everywhere.

"Jackson, hold on, the ambulance is coming."

Once they had got to the hospital Jackson was rushed into emergency surgery and Lily was checked over. Once she was given the all clear she sat and waited for Jackson to come out of surgery. While she was waiting Robbie Ray, Miley and Oliver arrived.

"Lily, are you ok?" said Oliver as he hugged her tight

"I'm ok, but Jackson's still in surgery."

"Well, we're glad your ok." Said Miley as she hugged Lily. Mid hug Lily stood up.

"That's the doctor." Said Lily as a female doctor in her forties approached

"Are you the family of Jackson Stewart?" She asked

"Yes, I'm his father." Said Robbie Ray as he stepped forward

"Hi, I'm Dr Rogers, I operated on your son, he made it through the surgery ok, but there was quite a bit of damage to his stomach, pancreas, large intestine and left kidney, unfortunately we were unable to save his kidney but we managed to repair the tears in his stomach, pancreas and large intestine. He should make a full recovery."

"Thank God, can we see him now?"

"He isn't awake yet but as soon as he is a nurse will come and fetch you."

"Ok, thank you doctor." Said Robbie Ray as he shook her hand.

While they waited for Jackson to come around Lily gave her statement to the police who arrived a few minutes after they had spoken to Dr Rogers. The Lily told the policemen that she remembered the assailant had a tattoo, a spider web on his neck. Ten minutes after the policemen left they were allowed to see Jackson, Robbie Ray and Miley went in first. Then ten minutes later Lily went in.

"Hey"

"Hey Lily" Lily hung her head, when she lifted again Jackson could see she was crying

"Hey, I'm ok, why are you crying?"

"I saw the knife come out your back, you were covered in blood, you lost consciousness, I thought you were going to die, I'm so relieved your ok."

"Hey, come here" Lily got up and gently hugged him, then sat back down

"You're such an idiot, putting your life on the line for me like that."

"What?"

"You could have died Jackson, you very nearly did."

"I know and I'm sorry I scared everyone but I couldn't let anything happen to you."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you." Realising how that sounded he added "you're my friend, and besides you and I both know Miley would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

"Yeah, true." She said having a small laugh

"Anyway, I should let you rest." She said

"You should rest too; we both had quite a night."

"Yeah, I will, I'll come and visit tomorrow, ok?"

"Yes, I'd like that."

"Ok, see you tomorrow, oh and Jackson?"

"Yeah?" he said as she stood up, then she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek

"Thank you for protecting me."

"Your welcome."

Jackson was in hospital for seven days. Lily visited him everyday; she brought him magazines and stuck him in sweets and fast food. Two days before Jackson got out of the hospital Lily and Oliver had a serious talk about their relationship.

"You wanted to talk Lily."

"Yeah, look Oliver, with everything that's happened I don't feel I can give everything to this relationship, I feel I need some space, some time on my own just to get my stuff together, I think we should take a break." She watched Oliver as he processed this information

"You want to break up?"

"Temporarily, just for a little while, just until I feel I'm in the right space to be in a relationship, I don't want you to be in this completely, when I can only give it half the attention I should."

"I understand, ok, we're on a break."

"Thank you for be so understanding."

When Jackson was discharged for the hospital he was told to take it very easy and so spent most of his time on the couch. Lily also spent time with him when he got out, she would go over most days. She would play video games with him and they would talk for hours, they became quite close in the weeks following the attack.

One day, two weeks after the attack, Jackson wanted to go for a walk, to get out of the house and Lily offered to go with him. As they walked they talked, when they got to the beach they sat.

"I've missed this, the sea air, the sound of the waves; I just want to jump in."

"Maybe in a few days you'll be up to it."

"Here's hoping; so you and Oliver have been on a break for just over week now right?"

"Yup, why?"

"I was just wondering how you've been doing with it all."

"Honestly? I haven't thought about me and Oliver since I asked for the break." She said looking guilty

"Its ok you know."

"What is?"

"Not having thought about it, you're on a break so you don't have to think about it."

"Yeah, but what does it say about me that I haven't thought about it once since the break and that afterwards I felt like a weight had been lifted?"

"I think that says something about the relationship, not you, were you happy? I mean before the attack."

"You know if you'd asked me then I would have said yes."

"But now?"

"Looking back, I was ok, I wasn't unhappy."

"But you weren't happy either."

"No" at this point Oliver saw the pair; he began to walk over but stopped when Jackson spoke

"I think what you need to decide is whether being with Oliver makes you happy, if it's what you really want."

"It doesn't make me unhappy…"

"That's not good enough, Lily you're wonderful person, you deserve to be really happy, to be with someone that makes you really happy."

"So, not Oliver?"

"That's up to you; ask yourself, does Oliver really make me happy."

"Thanks Jackson, it's nice to talk to someone removed from the situation."

"You can't talk to Miley?"

"We're her best friends, she's a little biased; anyway we should head back, your dad will be wondering where we are, I'll just go to the bathroom first."

"Ok."

When they got back to Jackson's Lily went to the kitchen to get them both a drink.

"You were very quiet on the walk home, everything ok?" She asked

"No."

"What's up?" as she asked Miley and Oliver walked in from the deck and began to listen

"Oliver heard part of our conversation at the beach and when you went to the bathroom he…"

"He what?" she asked as she brought two glasses of Coke to the couch and handed him one

"I shouldn't, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"No tell me, what did he do?"

"Well, he went off at me."

"Oh my god, what did he say?"

"Basically, he accused me of trying to break you two up?"

"I can't believe him, I'm sorry; I'll have a word with him."

"No, don't it's fine, really."

"No it's not, he had no right to go off at you, all you were doing was being a friend and listening to me and offering me advice."

"Please, don't worry about it, sticks and stones and all of that." At this point Oliver walked in

"Don't apologise for me, I meant what I said, and in future if you want to talk about us, talk to me."

"Excuse me?" said Lily shocked

"If you need to talk about us come to me, ok?"

"Are you high, since when do you have a say in who I talk to and what I talk to them about."

"Since you became my girlfriend."

"That has never and will never give you the right to dictate my life, I can't believe you." Said Lily and she began to walk away

"Where are you going?" Oliver called after her

"Away from you." Said Lily angrily and walked on to the patio and down to the beach

Two days after the argument Lily was sitting on the beach and Jackson joined her after he closed Rico's for the night.

"Hey, you like sitting on the beach at around this time, don't you?" he asked

"Sitting on a beautiful beach watching the sun going down, don't you?" As she said this Miley and Oliver came within earshot of the conversation. They had come to the beach to find Lily; she was fifteen minutes late for movie night at Miley's.

"Yeah, it is beautiful. So you talked to Oliver yet?"

"No, not yet, still stunned about what he said."

"Yeah, it was pretty uncharacteristic; I've heard love can do that."

"Where'd you get that from?"

"Chick flicks." He said going red

"You watch chick flicks?"

"Only when Miley gets to choose the movie."

"Ok, if you're so know so much about love…"

"I don't know that much." He interrupted

"Ok…based on what you do know about love, if you were me, what you do?"

"You mean about Oliver?"

"Yes."

"Honestly, you want my absolute honest answer?"

"Yes, what do you think I should do?" she said and he paused for awhile

"Be with me." He said so quietly she couldn't hear

"What?"

"Don't go back to Oliver, be with me."

"What?" she asked not because she couldn't hear but because she couldn't believe what she had heard.

"I'm in love with you Lily, be with me." He said then kissed her; even though she was surprised she kissed him back. Once they had stopped he realised what he had done.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, you have enough on your plate."

"It's ok."

"No, I shouldn't have."

"It's ok really; I'm just going to need more time to think." Se got up and when she turned to leave she saw Miley and Oliver both looking surprised.

"Oliver." She said surprised to see him.

"Lily, I'm guessing you need more time." He said biting back his anger

"Yes and I'd appreciate it if you'd give to me without us starting another fight."

"Fine," he then turned to Miley "Sorry but I don't feel like movie night anymore, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, sure." Said Miley

"I'm sorry about all of this Miley…" began Lily

"Its ok, are you still up for movie night?" seeing Lily's hesitant expression she added "you could use the distraction."

"Yeah, you're right, let's go."

Lily couldn't focus on the movie; she kept replaying the kiss in her head. Even though she hadn't admitted it she knew that what she felt when Jackson kissed her she had never felt with Oliver, with anyone. They had become so close since the attack and even before no one made her laugh the way he did. She could talk to him about anything and if she was being honest with herself whenever she needed to talk she always thought of him first. She would always ignore it and go talk to Miley or Oliver. He made her feel safe like no one else could. Whenever she was sad she always wanted to go to him and have him hold her and tell everything was going to be ok. Whenever she went to Miley's she would hope he would be there. He was the only one who understood what it was like to get left behind by Hannah Montana. He was the one who kept her company when Miley was off being Hannah. The more she thought about it she began to realise she was in love with him too. She finally realised that from the moment she and Oliver went on a break she was never going to go back.

The next day she went over to Miley's to talk to Jackson, what she didn't know when Jackson let her in was Miley and Oliver were sitting on the porch talking and stopped as soon as she entered.

"Hey."

"Hey, so, I've been doing a lot of thinking."

"You've made a decision." Said Jackson sounding disappointed

"Yeah, it all became clear when you kissed me last night."

"Oh." Said Jackson clearly not expecting this to go in his favour

"What I felt when we kissed, the electricity, I've never felt that with anyone, it made me realise something."

"What?" said Jackson still processing everything.

"That I'm in love with you."

"Really?" he said smiling

"Yes, really."

"I love you Lily"

"I love you too." She said then they kissed. Seconds later Miley and Oliver came in surprising Lily and Jackson

"So that's its? After all we had, we're over for good and you're with him, just like that?"

"I'm so sorry Oliver, I didn't mean for you to find out like this, I went to your house but you weren't there."

"Well, at least now I know where I stand." He said and walked out

"Miley, are you ok with this, us?"

"Yeah, of course, Lily, whatever makes you happy."