Title: Hold Tight
Rating: K
Spoilers: Only if you haven't seen Double Date yet.
Characters/Pairings: Joe/Stella
Summary: Pure Horace Mantis Challenge #8. Joe is the only one Stella can count on now.
Disclaimer: Still don't own the show or anything like that. If I did, I'd be happy and rich. In theory perhaps…
Author's Notes: Just a short little piece. Kinda sad, but I thought it fit the lyric.
"There's nothing here to hold on to. Could I hold on to you?"
Joe and Stella were still getting used to being a couple when it had happened. Their first tragedy.
Since childhood they had been there for each other and helped and supported each other through good times and bad.
Stella's first ballet recital at seven. Joe's tonsillectomy at ten. Stella's grandpa's bout with cancer when she was ten. Mrs. Lucas' pregnancy with Frankie when Joe was eleven. His broken wrist when he was thirteen. Her parents' brief separation when she was fourteen. Nick's diagnosis with diabetes when Joe was fifteen.
But this was the first time one of them had faced the death of a family member.
Stella's grandma Malone had died in her sleep unexpectedly the night before.
Joe watched as his girlfriend cried over her loss. She had been close to her grandmother. The woman had taught Stella how to sew when the girl had discovered a passion for fashion at eleven years old.
He knew Stella had relied on her grandmother a lot over the years, especially during the hard times her parents had gone through years before. The woman had been her rock, besides Joe.
Now Joe was the only one Stella felt she could truly count on as she threw herself into his arms.
"She's gone," she whimpered. "She's really gone."
Joe just held her tighter as she cried.