The two had gone and got groceries and now Justin was staring at her, as she stared out the front of the truck that was parked by the local cemetery.

"Um, you can just stay here. There's no sense in getting all cold. I'll just be a few minutes." She grabbed the flowers that were lying beside her and opened her door. It slammed shut and Justin watched as she walked in the thick snow towards the tombstones.

She stopped in the middle of the large cemetery and stayed standing for a few minutes.

Justin could do nothing but stare at her.

Alex stared down at her brother's tombstone. She let her eyes glaze over the frozen inscripted words.

"Beloved son, brother, and friend. We will miss you Andrew. And you will always be in our hearts. Andrew Nathan Smith 1975-1991"

She stared down and her hands began to trembled, as it seemed to get colder. "Hey." She whispered.

"It's Al." She sighed and her glassy and icy eyes looked up to the sky for a moment and then back to the gray marble. "I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry I didn't come by last time I was home. I know it was the first time that I didn't visit during Christmas, but I...I'm tired of this Andrew. I'm so tired of having to miss you. I want you here. And it's just not fair that you aren't. It's not fair at all. I thought it would get easier coming here, but for some reason it gets harder and harder." She sobbed and let her tears fall and melt the snow below her before freezing themselves.

"It's not FAIR, dammit! I need you Andrew. I need you..." With those three words she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. The flowers dropped by her side and she cried, hard.

"God, why did you have to do this. I just don't understand. You never did ANYTHING to deserve this. Why.... oh God...." She whispered and crawled up to the tombstone and ran her fingers over his name.

"Look at me getting upset over selfish stuff! It's always about me, isn't it!!" She chuckled through her tears and sat there, sitting on her brother's grave and staring at his tombstone.

She was quiet. She just listened to the wind and the crackle of ice on the few big trees in the cemetery.

After a few minutes she whispered. "I've been so lonely without you Andrew. I've been so lonely. But...I've, I've met someone. And for the first time in about 10 years, I'm not a lone anymore."

Justin stared at her. When he saw her drop to her knees he thought about running out there to see if she was ok. But this was her time. Her time with her brother and the last thing he wanted to do was intrude.

But it had been a lot longer than he expected and for a good few minutes she had not moved one muscle. He figured he could check on her, and go back if she asked him.

The snow crunched underneath his thick hiking boots as he trekked to where she was crouched in front of a large marble tombstone. He stood a few yards behind her. And even though her voice was quiet whispers, he could still make out every word she was saying.

"...so, he's in this group. They sing and dance and all that good stuff. Even though I really don't like their music, because of his brother Jon. Ya know? The kid I baby-sit, but he has a really good voice. I wish you could meet him, because I know how much you liked to sing. He...he's my world right now." She stopped and looked up over the small town the cemetery looked over.

"Andrew, I've never felt this way about anyone and it scares me. You know me, and you know that ever since I was born I think my way through situations, I wonder and I worry and I make a big deal out of nothing. I'm my own person and I'm..I'm just weird." She laughed and looked back down at his name.

"But, I'm not like that anymore. I mean, I'm still my own person and I'm just as weird if not more so. But I just...When I'm with Justin, the rest of the world fades away, I have not a care in the world. I don't worry, I don't think about every little thing and what it means and...and I don't know if that's good or not, but...I've changed. I'm a hell of a lot happier than I have been in a long time. I've fallen in love A. I just wish you could be here to give me advice."

Justin fought back his own tears at her words. He tried not to let how her voice cracked effected him. But soon enough, he was tired of clamping his mouth shut and tried to drying his eyes.

"I mean, mom is obsessed with him. I'm just glad she's happily married. Dad is...dad. He is nice and indifferent about the situation, but I think he is a little wary. But that's just dad. And then there is Scott. Oh lord, Scott is like you. I mean in that he will listen to me blab on, but he is never serious. He is always joking and being sarcastic. So I have no one to go to for advice. I mean, I have this friend Jen, but...I don't know, I need a guy's opinion, ya know? And...Gosh, I just wish you were here to talk to me about things." She sighed and just remained quiet for a while.

"Lexia..."

She stopped her motions and looked over at Justin. She petted the snow beside her and he slowly walked over and took a seat beside her. "That's Justin. See how good he is. He knows exactly when I need someone to come and just sit and hold me."

And with that, Justin pulled Alexandria over into his lap and held her. A few minutes later, she whispered. "I miss him so much Justin."

He didn't even know she had been crying as he held her, but the sound of her voice confirmed it. "It's ok, Lexia."

She sniffed and situated herself so that her arms were around his neck and her face was snugly fitted under his chin. "I want him back. I just want to take him back."

Justin rubbed up and down her back and stared down at Andrew's tombstone. He didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. "Sing for him, Justin. I told him you were a singer. Andrew loved to sing."

"What do you want me to sing to him?"

"Anything you want."

"Well how bout I sing to you, but he can still hear me?"

She lifted her head to look into his eyes. She was shocked when she was a trail of wetness down one of his cheeks. "Whatever..." She smiled.

"When you're weary
feeling small
when tears are in your eyes
I'll dry them all
I'm on your side, ohhh
when times get rough
and friends just can't be found
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay thee down
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay thee down...."

Justin's soft smooth voice echoed through Alex ears, as she cuddled up to him. She sat there, eyes closed, smelling in his cologne and letting him sing to her and hold her. Tears fell from her eyes.

But for the first time that morning her tears weren't in sadness or anger. They were tears of love.

For her brother, and the man singing away all her pain.

---------------

"You two have fun?" Alex's mom asked as she sat by the kitchen table, eating lunch. Justin sat the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter

"Yeah, mom." Alex smiled and hugged her mother from behind.

"Did you do ok at the grave?" Her mom asked concerned as her forehead pressed on her daughters.

"Yeah, I was...ok." She smiled sheepishly.

Her mom nodded and turned back to her food. "Did you get what I needed from Courts?"

"Yup. I'm going to go show Justin the studio since I didn't get a chance this morning."

"All right. Just watch out for the waterfall painting that's in the corner, I was working on it this morning. It's still a little bit wet."

"K." She held her hand out for Justin and dragged him out of the house on to the porch and through the back yard.

"You keep draggin me around everywhere." He chuckled.

"Sorry." She slowly her pace and walked beside him to a tiny side house that was in the back corner of their back yard. Woods surrounded it. Justin noticed all the bird feeders and windchimes that were frozen around the small hut. Alex stepped up on the big stone step that led to the house.

"It's a little slippery, so be careful." she opened the door and walked in. Painting, paints, paintbrushes, charcoals, pastels, canvases, stools, water, easels, everything an artist would need was tucked away in this small little one room house.

"I wish I could paint. Mom just has a knack for it. I've tried. I like stick figures." She giggled. There was an old timey burning stove was working and heat was radiating from it.

"Wow, this is really cool." Justin admired the place.

"Yeah, usually mom finishes a piece and takes it into town. There is a gallery there that has her stuff and a few other local artists' pieces there.

"Wow, she's good." Justin admired a painting on canvas of a snowcapped mountain and the base with a lake and flowers.

"Yeah, she likes canvas and watercolors the best. Sometimes she'll use oil base. And then the pastels and charcoal are just for textures. But she doesn't use them much."

"Wow, so is this what she does most of the day."

"Yeah, once Dad goes to work and Scott goes to school she spends all her time out here. She loves it. She likes to think and reflect and all that liberal artsy stuff." Alex chuckled. "Yeah, that's where I get my thinking gene. But mom doesn't worry, she has a very intellectual mind and she..I don't know. YA kinda have to get to know her. She's not just the sexy-men-enthralled woman that she shows you she is."

Justin rolled his eyes and laughed. "I don't see her like that."

"Oh really?" Alex maneuvered her way through painting and easels back over to where he was.

"Yes, really. I see her as this amazing woman who can paint beautiful pictures, and who thinks I'm hot." Alex hit him as her arms circled around his waist.

"I'm kidding. She is an awesome painter. And she brought you into this world, so she's got to be a great mom."

"She is a great mom. A little much at times, but she's cool." Alex pressed her cheek into his shoulder and rocked back and forth with him. "Thanks for going with me this morning."

"Well it was either go with my sexy girlfriend or be molested by her mother."

"Stop it!" Alex pushed him away and giggled as she opened the door and went back outside in the snow.

She was walking away from him when he called out. "Hey Lexia, baby?"

"What?" She turned with her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows at him.

In that same moment she got hit square in the chest with a snowball. She looked down at the front of her snow-plastered coat and then back up at her laughing boyfriend. He was laughing so hard and bent over to contain himself. She licked her dry lips and let an evil smile creep on her face.