Everything had been going perfectly. Any and Dennis were incredibly happy, and Stella and Laurie were just as in love as they had been before, of not more.

It was two weeks after the picnic that Laurie brought up something that Stella only dreamed of him saying. And the dreams were nightmares.

"Ellie? Can I talk to you for a second?" Laurie knocked on the door, Stella calling for him to come in. It was always a bad sign when it started with that. Stella looked up, her heart missing a beat.

She wanted everything to stay the same forever. But for Stella and Laurie— things didn't stay the same for very long before everything would change again.

"What is it?" She asked, a look of fear on her face.

"You know the wedding?" He whispered, his voice trembling slightly.

"Yeah? Wait do you want to-"

"I can't. I can't do it." He put his head in his hands and began to cry. Stella wrapped her arms around him. She hated seeing him like that.

"Why not?" She whispered, blinking away her tears.

"I'm not ready for that yet, we're young and we're still figuring everything out. I'm so desperately in love with you, Elle, but I don't know if I'm ready." Stella nodded. "I don't know if-" Then Stella broke. She stood up, leaving Laurie cold and empty.

Her face became coated in tears and she stood with her face in her hands for a moment, before throwing her hands up in the air, then letting them flop to her side.

"After everything? After the letters, the plans, the scheming, the fact that we literally destroyed my family's relationship with the woman who was supplying the money that we needed to live? You're just going to throw that all away?" Stella cried. "You're just going to throw us away?"

She roughly wiped her tears away, inhaling shakily.

"I'm sorry!" Teddy exclaimed, as she turned towards the door. She willed her hands to stop shaking, telling herself to just open the door and leave. But she couldn't.

So when her hand finally touched the cool metal of the door, Stella's head was pressed against the door and she fell slowly to the ground. When Teddy looked up from his hands, she was sitting on the ground, head in her hands, to cover her embarrassment.

He leapt off the bed and immediately scooped her into his arms, cradling the smaller of the two, kissing her head.

"I love you so much, Ellie. I am so in love with you it hurts. I just don't know if this is the right thing to do. For the sake of us. Look at us, we're a mess. Don't you think we should figure everything out before we make another move?" He was careful with his wording, so he wouldn't make the love of his life even worse.

"I don't. You know why? Because the only think that I truly care about, aside from my family, most of which are in another continent, the only thing that I want is you. You solve all of my problems, Teddy. You're the only thing I need."

It was at that moment, Stella realised how truly dependant she was on her family and Teddy. Her entire life she'd trusted her life in other peoples hands, and she knew it was time to do something to change that.

In that moment, Teddy realised that although he had always been incredibly independent— he was terrified of being alone. Or, more specifically, being without Stella. His Stella.

But in the moment after she had been desperately clutching Laurie's shirt, she stood up briskly, and mumbled something about how she needed to speak to Amy.

Then she left.

Stella wanted to turn around and go back to her Laurie, but her Laurie seemed glued to the floor, and as much as he wanted to go after Stella, he couldn't will himself to no be at all.

And neither of them knew what to do. Neither of them knew who they were without the other. And they didn't want to have to find out.