A/N: Here it is! Chapter 3. What do you guys think? Please review let me know! Have a great day. xxHeartBrokenxx

Stella's POV

I sit in the house me and Joe were supposed to share together after we were married. We were going to come here after our reception, and then leave for our honeymoon the next morning. We had already moved some things in for that night.

Joe's funeral had been two days ago, and now I sit in this almost completely empty house, mourning the loss of a dearly loved one. The sky cries with me as I sit on the living room floor. This is pretty much all I've been doing since the wedding.

Concussion, almost together, this close to happiness, the words echo in my head. He had fallen and hit his head just a few minutes before the wedding, and then when he collapsed he died almost immediately. All because he slipped and hit his head.

I've given up trying to convince myself it was nightmare. But I still hope that at any minute, I'll wake up to find none of it has ever happened. There's a knock on the door, and I turn my head to look at it. I don't have the strength to get up and open it.

The door opens, and Nick walks in. His hair, wet from the rain, sticks to his face. I put my face in my hands and begin to sob. I hear the door shut, and he picks me up. He sits down on the couch, and leaves me on his lap.

I put my arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder. He puts his left arm around my waist, and strokes my hair with his right hand. "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay," he whispers in my ear.

Nick's POV

"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay," I whisper in Stella's ear as I stroke her hair.

"No Nick, it's not," she sobs into my shoulder. "Joe's gone, and he's never coming back!" Her voice cracks.

I don't know what to tell her. Joe is gone. And he isn't ever coming back. I let a few tears fall from my eyes. My brother, her almost husband, gone forever. "We'll get through this together," I say quietly.

I feel her nod, as we both cry silently. I kiss her on the cheek, and feel the wetness from her tears. She and Joe would have had such a happy life together, it's a shame they never got it. His life didn't even last long enough for them to be joined husband and wife.

But I think it would have been harder on her, had they been married, then his life end. We are all going to miss him terribly; there is no one in the world who can replace Joe.

She sniffs a few times and is done crying for the moment. "Stella," I say. "I know this is really hard on you, it is on all of us. I just want you to know that I am so sorry."

"I'm sorry too. He was your brother, Nick. Someone should be here comforting you," she says. My fingers brush across her shoulder as I move her hair back.

"We're here to comfort each other," I say. She wraps her arms around me tightly, as she begins to cry again. I do the same. We sit there for what starts as minutes, and then morphs into hours. And that's how we stay until Kevin and Macy show up.

She stands as the door opens, and Macy comes over and hugs her. She meets my eyes behind Macy's back and starts crying harder.

"How are you holding up?" I ask Kevin quietly, hoping my face isn't too tear stained.

"Not well," he says as his eyes starts to tear over. "How about you?"

"Only thing I can say is that I'm still alive," I say (A/N: Not like he would commit suicide, like the pain hasn't killed him), putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He looks away from me as he starts crying. I pat his back, pick up the things they brought in to cook for dinner, and walk into the kitchen.

After a few minutes Kevin comes in and starts helping me, eyes still wet, not saying a word.

"I'll be along after a while," I tell Kevin later as him and Macy are leaving.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" Macy asks Stella.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Stella says weakly. Macy nods and walks out the door.

"Nick," Stella says as the door shuts. "do you think Joe would want me to be like this? Shutting everyone out?"

I walked over to her and moved her hair out of her face. "He would hate to see you sad, Stella. He loved you, and wouldn't want you to block out the rest of the world just because he can't be here."

This starts her off crying again, harder than before. I pull her into a hug, and she lays her head on my chest.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" I ask her after she's done crying. She looks at me and nods.

"Thank you."

When it's time to go to bed she brings few covers and pillows downstairs for me. I make a bed on the couch, and she stands and watches me.

"Goodnight," I say, walking over to her and kissing her on the forehead.

She nods, as if telling me the same, and then walks upstairs.