Authors Note: Yep, another OVW fic! LOL I hope everyone enjoys this. It really just all flowed, you know? It's different from everything else I've written, so let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own no one

I found out about what happened at 7:28 this morning. Aaron called me and told me since he was in the car with him when it happened. Somehow Aaron walked out of it with just a couple of scrapes here and there. But I didn't believe him when he told me. I didn't believe the police man when he told me. And I didn't believe the paramedic when he told me either. So I didn't let the tears fall. I thought it was all some big, cruel joke that they were playing on me. But for some reason I refused to believe Aaron even though he was practically sobbing when he called me.

I didn't believe them so I went down there to see for myself. And they showed me the car that he was driving. It was completely totaled. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and nothing that I ever want to see again. Aaron came over to me and told me that everything was going to be ok, that he and the rest of the boys would take care of me and that we would get through this together. But I didn't let the tears fall then either.

By the time I got back home, to the house that we shared together, practically everyone had heard about what happened. I shut my phone off because I refused to believe it. He can't be dead, he was just here this morning. He told me that he loved me and that he had a surprise for me later tonight. He was going to take me out to some fancy restaurant. I wasn't letting the tears come crashing down.

Before I knew it Beth came over. She's always been my best friend down here and she was the one that hooked us up. She was in hysterics. I told her that he was in a better place now. Beth told me that I was the only one who could possibly understand what she was going through. She was probably right. She had to go pick their family up at the airport and she invited me to come. Beth told me that they all loved me like I was already a member of their family. I told her I didn't want to go, I said I'd see them all later. Beth understood and said that she'd stop by later. I wasn't crying then either.

I still didn't believe that it happened. I didn't believe it when it came on the news, and I didn't believe it when Matt came over to check up on me. But then everything changed for me.

I had just gotten out of the shower. I always take a shower when my emotions are running wild, and to say they were running wild at this point is a severe understatement. I went into our room and went rummaging through our dresser and I found his favorite shirt. The one he always wore when he was just hanging around the house with nothing else to do, or when he was going out with the boys, he even wore it on our first date. I pressed it up to my nose and it stilled smelled like him. I pulled it on over my head and just as I was about to close the drawer something caught my eye.

I looked down and saw a small velvet box. I pulled it out from the drawer and saw a piece of paper folded up underneath that so I grabbed that too. I opened the box and saw a gorgeous diamond ring. It looked just like the one I pointed out to him a couple of months ago from the shop in New York. In fact, it is that ring I pointed out to him in New York. I stared at the ring in awe for a few moments before I remembered the piece of paper I still had in my hands. I opened it up and began to read what was scrawled inside.

Shelly, the first time I met you I knew my life would never been the same again. I never knew that you would end up changing my life like this though. You're on my mind all the time, no matter where I am or what I am doing. I love the way you brush your hair, I love the way you grab my hand, I love the way you look at me, I love how you don't care what anyone says about you, I love the way you look at yourself in the mirror right before we leave the house, but most of all I love you with all my heart and soul. I couldn't even begin to imagine my life without you.

You make me the man that I am. Will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Brent Albright and marry me?

For the first time since 7:28 this morning I broke down. I let the tears flow and there was no end in sight. I want him to walk through that door and tell me that everything is alright. I want him to take me in his arms and just hold me. I want to hear him tell me that he loves me one last time.

I'll never be the same again. When I found out that he was gone, part of me left too. Brent was the only man that I ever loved. He was the only man that took his time with me. He was the only one who told me that he loved me and meant it every time he said it.

There was a knock at the door and I knew it was Beth again. I took the ring out of the velvet box and slipped it on my finger. It fit perfectly, just like it belonged there all along. I wiped my eyes and closed the dresser drawer. Beth told me that I was probably the only one who understood what she was going through. I may understand what Beth is going through, but no one will understand what I am going through.