Chapter 3-Dead

As Nick walked into his house after Demi had dropped him off, he ran up to Joe's room and ripped it apart trying to find anything to make Joe look worse than he already did. "Damn it," he cursed, "where do you hide your dope!" Searching under the bed, he found the shoebox and opened it up to find pictures. He didn't look through the pictures though, he just threw the box off to the side and groaned in aggravation.

"What the hell," Joe exclaimed confused when walking into his torn through bedroom. Everything was everywhere, it looked like a tornado had ripped through the large room. Seeing Nick, he sighed and fell onto his bed, "I don't care if you hate me, just to let you know."

"Oh no," he chuckled shaking his head, "hating you is an understatement. You're dead to me-dead. And I promise you, once I find your drugs, I will hand them into the cops and you will go to jail for possession. Demi wants nothing to do with you and nor do I. You're a bastard. How could you do that to me," he asked still feeling betrayed, "you were my best friend, my brother, the person I could come t- well," he sighed shaking his head, "it doesn't matter now, at least Miley loved me more than she loved you."

"Well, I mean, if she really loved you, would she have cheated on you," Joe asked rhetorically, "just a little thing to think about," he smirked rolling his eyes.

Demi laid curled in a ball sobbing on her large king sized bed, "I miss you, sissy," she whispered her heart breaking into millions of pieces by the second. Grabbing her cell phone, she held it up to her ear pressing speed dial number 2.

"Hey," the peppy girl's voicemail message started, "this is Milerz, if it's Nicky, come over, if it's one of my besties, come over, if it's mommy or daddy, don't worry, I'm probably behaving, and if it's anyone else, peace out. Here comes the beep, use it," she laughed. Beep.

"Miles," she cried into the receiver, "I don't know where you are or who you're with and if you're with God, could you wait at the gates for me? I'll be there shortly. I can't be here anymore, on Earth. Joe just confessed to the cops that you guys had a thing and well, now everyone knows and it's causing all this chaos and I just," she sighed shaking her head, "if you were here, you'd be able to use our sixth sense of twin crap or whatever and be able to feel what I'm feeling; grief, confusion, heartbreak, betrayal, guilt, and anger. I love you, Miley Ray," and with that, she pushed the red end button with her finger and threw her Blackberry at the wall.

As the person listened to Demi's voicemail, they sighed, "I'm sorry that Miley's gone," they admitted shaking their head, "it's for the best though."

The Next Day

Shutting the door of his truck, Nick walked up the large marble steps of the Stewart house, Nick didn't bother to ring the doorbell, since he practically lived there. Looking around the house, he heard laughing from the living room, he walked in and saw Tish sitting there watching home movies, Miley was on the screen laughing and cheering at a football game last year, Demi was right next to her- as for usual. It seemed as if they were together almost 24/7. Tish was sobbing silently holding onto a pillow for dear life.

"Mom," Nick sighed turning off the TV and sitting next to her before hugging her tightly, "you can't keep doing this to yourself," he sighed rubbing her back.

Hugging him back, she pulled away after a few moments, before quickly rubbing her eyes, "sorry, I just umm…I have something in my ey-"

"No you don't," he said shaking his head, "trust me," he chuckled, "you don't know how many times I've looked at pictures or videos of Miley and everyone. It makes you feel like she's there," he slightly grinned, "but then," he sighed, his eyes watering, "the movie ends and you're sitting alone and you realize that-" his voice cracked as a few tears slipped down his eyes that he quickly wiped away, "that she's never coming back. That she's gone and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it."

"Sometimes, I wonder if she really is dead. I mean, there was no body," she cried, "what if she's alive and somebody has my baby and is hurting her or raping her or torturing her or-"

Nick shook his head, "mom," he groaned, "you can't think like that. It'll drive you mad. Trust me, I've wondered the same, but we have to face the fact that Miley's….dead," he said almost silently.

"Nick," Demi muttered at the end of the staircase, her eyes were puffy, it was obvious she hadn't slept at all last night, her hair was messy and her outfit consisted of black sweatpants and a grey sweatshirt; Demi before Joe, gothic-like and depressed.

"Hey," he greeted walking over to her, "it'll get better," he persuaded, even if he didn't believe it.

"Could you stop saying that to me," she pleaded, "you told me that last week and now, things are worse than they were before. I can't do it, Nick. I can't," she shrugged shaking her head tears freely falling from her brown orbs. It was odd to everyone, how Miley had baby blue eyes and Demi had brown.

"Well," Nick started, "I can't do this without you," he whispered embracing her again in his strong arms, "you're like a sister to me, Demi. Miley, she'd want you to be happy. She'd want me to protect you. You can't do anything to hurt yourself, please," he begged with pleading eyes, "if you die, that's on my conscience too, just like your sister's."

"You didn't hurt my sister," she said.

"If she hadn't come over-"

Demi smiled before laughing loudly, "you can't blame yourself for that, Nick, she was always at your house or you were always over here. That's just how things were."

"Hey, guys? What is this," Tish asked watching the news in the other room.

"What," Nick and Demi questioned walking into the room. Looking at the television, they saw Detective Martinez talking Paige Nelson, the local newswoman.

"So, you're saying that the main suspect in the case so far is Joseph Lucas? Quarterback and captain of California University's football team? Based on what means," she asked confused holding the microphone up for the aging man.

"The suspect had an affair with the victim for a year and a half," he exclaimed, "that's all I can say," he ended before walking away.

"Well, there you have it folks," Paige said looking into the camera, "that's all for now, here on 9 J.E.R.L," she smiled and the credits played before commercials started and Tish muted it.

Nick and Demi held their heads down low heartbroken.

Attempting to ease the awkward tension, Nick decided that he should explain, "yeah," he nodded his voice slick with pain, "they umm…" he rubbed his neck trying to comfort himself enough to be able to finish a sentence, "they had an affair. It ended when Miley and I- when we had our three year anniversary."

"When you and Miley lost your virginities to each other," Tish inquired curiously. She ran her skinny hands through her long blonde hair.

Nick was shocked and his anxiety increased, "yeah," he nodded, "but how did you know," he asked.

"Well for one, Miley told me. For two, I'm not deaf, I may be sleeping, but I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night," she laughed quietly, "and for three, why wouldn't you guys not make love. You two- I don't know," she shrugged looking into Nick's eyes, "you two had a love that's rare."

"Selena, you have to make sure Demi doesn't kill herself," the serious voice said into the phone.

Selena nodded looking into her mirror trying on a outfit she'd bought earlier that day, "don't worry, I have everything under control. Nothing bad will happen, I'm sticking to the plan. How are you though," she asked.

"Stressed," the voice replied letting out a brief chuckle, "they're piecing Miley's disappearance together too quickly.

"I think you mean Miley's death," she corrected, "we tried hard to make her go away, don't forget that."

The voice sighed, "you're right. They can't know the truth, Selena. Nick was never supposed to know that she was pregnant. No one was ever supposed to know that Joe and Miley had an affair. Does anyone besides you, me, Joe, and Miley know that they had sex," the voice wondered.

"No, he didn't mention that in the questioning. Probably for the reason of he had just found out Miley had been pregnant. Was there anyway that the baby wasn't Nick's?"

The unknown stranger shrugged, "who knows. Miley made a lot of mistakes in her life, one being cheating on Nick. You would've been a better girlfriend to him than she was."

"Never," she shook her head, "Miley loved Nick more than anything. She just…she couldn't say no to Joe because she felt guilty."

The voice scoffed, "what are you talking about. You hated Miley. Miley hated you. We got rid of her."

Selena shook her head, "we'll never get rid of her, she'll always be on our minds. We made her go away."

"For forever. Selena, I'm serious, if you tell anyone anything, you'll regret it," she threatened before hanging up.

Joe looked at Emily high out of his mind, "you're gorgeous, did you know that," he chuckled before kissing her cheek tenderly.

"Stop," she blushed, "you're high right now. You don't know what you're doing."

"I wasn't high last night when we were doing the nasty, now was I," he chuckled playing with the now empty plastic baggy, "I should get more," he noted to himself, "I should get more," he said standing up and grabbing his phone out of his pocket, pressing speed dial six, he held the Blackberry up to his ear, "back lot, ten minutes, two thousand. Three? What, you're upping the price again," he groaned throwing his head back. "Fine," he shook his head while rolling his eyes, "just be there."

"No way in hell, Joseph," Emily sneered, "you're high. You can NOT drive. You're the main suspect in a murder case. Do you honestly want to go out there, get in an accident, go to the police station and be charged for driving high, possession, and still the head suspect of a murder? I don't think so. You should stay here," she smirked kissing his neck. Although she wasn't in the mood, she'd rather have sex with him than have him get into deeper trouble than he was now.

"You make me so hot," he groaned kissing her roughly while pushing her onto the bed.

Nick looked at Tish and Demi, two disheveled women. Knowing that Billy Ray wasn't going to be home for a few weeks, so he said. Nick knew the truth though, he wasn't coming back.

"I'm going to go and pick Noah and Frankie up from sports practice and take Noah off of your guys hands for the night, okay?"

"No," Tish shook her head, "it's okay, I can pick her up."

The curly haired man chuckled before putting his strong hands on Tish's shoulder and pushed her back to sitting on the white plush couch gently, "I insist. I bet she misses her big brother too," he chuckled before kissing them both on the cheek and leaving.

Driving to the school, he went to the fifth grade basket ball practice to pick up Frankie, "hey, Bonus Jonas," he chuckled, "ready to go?"

"Hey, Nick," Frankie waved, "ready to go," he nodded running to the black and blue Mustang.

"Alright, we gotta pick up Noah now," he said helping his ten year old brother put his bags in the trunk.

"Noah," Frankie cheered excitedly before playing it cool trying not to blush too much.

Nick just chuckled, "so, I'm not the only one who's got a thing for a Stewart girl?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he blushed, "and Joe's got the hots for a Stewart too."

"Truth," Nick nodded not putting his little brother in the drama of he and Joe.

"I miss her," Frankie whispered to himself of his older sister, Miley.

Little did he know, Nick had heard it, "so do I, little guy, so do I." Driving to cheer practice, Frankie and he got out of the car before walking to the football field.

"NICK," she squealed causing Frankie to cringe in jealousy before she darted over them hugging Nick around the waist tightly, "I MISSED YOU!"

He chuckled winking at his brother, "I missed you too," he chuckled kissing the top of her head. Her thin brown hair was in a messy pony tail and her blue cheer uniform was tightly wrapped around her body.

"Hey, bud," Noah smiled before kissing Frankie's cheek, "let's go," she smiled before skipping to the car with a now-blushing Frankie.

"Skimmer's for Ice cream," Nick asked looking at the kids in the back seat.

Silence.

Had their entire thought processes been wrapped around Miley, Nick asked himself.

"The last time we went to Skimmer's-" Noah muttered under her breath trying to hold in the tears. She knew Miley would want her to be strong for everyone- well, that's what she thought at least. Miley had come to her in her dreams and told her that she was her strong baby sister and she was proud of Noah. The sixth grader never wanted to disappoint her loved ones- especially her sister.

Awkward silence.

Nick scratched the back of his neck before sighing and pulling out of the parking lot. He hated it. No matter how much he wanted to hate Miley for cheating on him, he couldn't because the truth was, he didn't think he could ever hate Miley. Especially now that she was dead. She was dead, right, he wondered for what seemed like the trillionth time. Closure, he wished he could have closure, the type you see in the movies or on a crime show where the boyfriend goes to the morgue and sees his girl for the last time. That was Nick's one wish, well, if she couldn't come back, he wished he could see her body, say goodbye, and have it be finalized that she was dead. But, then again, murder shouldn't be anywhere in Miley's file. Death of Seventeen Year Old Varsity Cheer Captain shouldn't have been the headline in the news paper on May 26 either, but it was.

He shook his head before focusing back on the road. Pulling into the large driveway of the Lucas estate, he put a smile on his face knowing that Miley would want him to be strong for everyone.

Night Time

Hearing sobs coming from the guest room, Nick knocked on the door before opening it slowly and entering the dark room. He winced in pain hearing the little girl's weeping. Lying down next to her, he sat up putting his back on the chestnut-wood brown backboard of the king sized bed.

"Shhh," he whispered stroking her hair attempting to comfort the brokenhearted girl. Feeling her rest her head in his lap, he smiled knowing that he could comfort her in a sense that she felt secure in his arms. Nick wasn't even going to ask what was wrong because obviously, he knew. In fact, the eighteen-year-old, high-school-senior had cried himself to sleep about it over and over and over again. "Do you want to talk about it," he asked.

"You won't understand," she cried, her body shaking. Again, he winced. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to always be that lively girl he picked up from cheerleading practice. The one who skipped to the car full of life. The only time she was supposed to cry was when she fell off her bike and scraped her knee or had a bad dream while she was sleeping. A bad dream while she was sleeping, she wasn't supposed to be living one. Not her, not them, not their families, not their town. It was if all of the happiness in Camden Beach had been sucked out and everyone was at the end of their ropes. Did Miley really bring light to that many people?

"Oh," he chuckled, "trust me, I think I'll understand more than you think, but you know," he stated, "it'd still be good to get everything off of your chest."

The tears only increased, "she's gone," she whispered, "she's gone and she's never coming back and I have to be strong for everyone because everyone always compares me to Miley telling me how much I look like her, I talk like her, I act like her, how we share the same full of life spirit, how we both love cheerleading and acting and music and I have so much to deal with and mommy and Demi need me and daddy's not coming home, even though mommy thinks so, I don't think he is and Miley's not coming home and Alex…he hasn't come home since any of this started." It was true, they had an older brother, he was away at college in Massachusetts though, and he had shut them out ever since he heard about Miley. They had been so close, Alex and Miley. Nick and Alex had been best friends, but he'd been ignoring everyone's texts and calls since May 26. That date haunted him every second of every minute of every day of every week of every month and he hated it.

A/N: I'm sorry! I know this chapter kind of jumps around, but I really wanted to focus on some of the extra scandals and secrets in it. Family was really important in this chapter as well as the relationships between Noah and Frankie, and Nick and Noah. Especially Nick and Noah. Their relationship is going to be key in this story. Thank you so much for reading! Review please and answer this question: Are you a gleek? And if so… Finni and Quinn or Rachael and Finn?