"Thank you for taking me to see the Keep today." Noelle said. It had been a wonderful morning. After breakfast Leonardo took Noelle to see the Keep while Edward and Mia took off. Leonardo couldn't stop thinking about how it may be going for Edward. Right now he still had Noelle's hand in his as he approached her door.

"I hope I didn't impose on your work by wanting to take you to see it. It's just that it only looks that way in winter." Leonardo said.

"No, not at all. I never start working on Sundays before 1:00." Noelle said. She lied. It was probably the first lie she had ever told in her life. Noelle always worked all day on Sunday but she would put it all off if it meant being with Leonardo a little longer. But now here they were at her doorstep…now what!? He couldn't just let her walk through that door without saying anything! He could kiss her, if that wasn't an obvious way of saying I adore you nothing was. No, no, no, no, no, nooooooo that's not an option!

"Noelle…how….horribly inappropriate…would it be…if I asked you to go with me to a wine tasting later this week? I saw it in the paper this morning. Um…like, you know…" Leonardo stopped for a minute. Say it, say it, say it, say it…. "…like as a date." Leonardo could feel that cold nervous feeling overtake him again. Right now it was taking everything in Noelle's power to hide the zeal that overtook her. But Mia was right, she kept her cook amazingly well.

"It wouldn't be at all inappropriate…because I would say that I would love to go." Why did her smile have to light up the whole world!? "And I should probably also tell you…" she was getting ready to say the gutsiest thing she had ever said. She would have never said it had she not heard what she had from Micaiah "…that…I…purposely didn't finish your jacket on time." It was true that Noelle didn't have it done on the Wednesday of the week as promised which was highly unlike her to miss a deadline. "When you came to pick it up…I just wanted an excuse to see you again. I'm sorry to have misled you like that." Leonardo watched as Noelle fidgeted with her fingers. That was the greatest thing he had ever heard in his life; except now he was so floored by this confession that he had no idea what to say. He probably should have pulled an Edward right here and acted on impulse and wrapped his arms around her; but no. This was Leonardo, he just had to use rational logic!

"You can…see me whenever you want." He smiled at her even though that was probably not the best answer. At any rate, it would have to work for now.

"So, when is this wine tasting?" she asked.

"Thursday." He answered her.

"Alright. Come by for dinner first. What do you like?" Noelle asked. Leonardo was speechless. Great, missed opportunity number two to just confront that he was bonkers over her and she obviously wasn't resisting him and get past this walking on broken glass! Right now Leonardo's mind was completely blank…he had no idea what he liked. What did she even ask? It was something about coming by for dinner but that was all he heard.

"Leonardo, what do you want me to fix?" she asked again. He just shook his head.

"I don't care…anything." he said helplessly.

"I'll surprise you then. I'll um…I'll see you Thursday." She said.

"Yeah…yeah…I'll see you then." Oh, Leonardo snap out of your daze!

"Bye." Noelle closed the door behind her. She had to get to work…well almost had to get to work. Once inside, she threw her coat on the couch, grabbed a piece of paper and her pen. She started to write: Dear Mia…

Edward and Mia were at their last stop of the day. The time was slipping away before Mia would return to Crimea.

"Are you cold Mia because we could go inside somewhere and warm up." Edward asked her.

"No, I'm fine actually. We've been so busy that I haven't even noticed being cold. We've done so much today, I can't believe how well you know this city." Mia said. Edward felt his heart start to race a little. He tensed up.

"You start to memorize things after a while." Edward said.

"I like it here. This is a nice place. I'd like to see more of you in the future Edward." Mia's voice was serious as she looked at the ground. This was your chance Edward, right here…

"I'd like to see more of you too," was all Edward said. And now we have yet another missed opportunity. They walked along the river banks for quite a distance. Part of the river was frozen from the assault of winter. The land looked different in peace time than it did in war time. Edward thought about the way things used to be. He didn't want to go back to those times. Things were so much better now. As far as Edward was concerned his life was perfect right now. The only thing that he could add to it was Mia. But here he was stalling and if he didn't get his act together she was going to leave for Crimea and who knew when he would see her again!

"What's that big building over there?" Mia asked pointing across the river.

"It's some kind of government building. I'm not sure what's in it but I know that it has government offices inside." Edward said.

"It's a lovely building." Mia said. They walked farther down the river bank. They were getting farther away, which would mean a longer trip for Mia, which would mean they would have to turn around sooner, which meant that Edward was running out of time!

"Thanks for taking me to the dinner with you. It was a lot of fun. I don't usually get to go to things like that. It's all work at home, you know?" Mia said.

"Yeah, it was a good night at the dinner. I just wish you could stay longer. It's too bad you have to go home this soon. There's so many more things I could show you! I could take you across the countryside to the wheat fields!" Edward paused. "Or to the coast…it's amazing there." Edward said thinking about what Leonardo had said about the coast. As predicted, it was time to turn around and head back so Mia would have less of a trip. Edward had said he was going to do this…and he hadn't yet. If they got back to the edge of Nevassa he would be too late, if he waited too much longer the sun would dip below the horizon. He was starting to panic. What if she said no!? Oh my god, what if she said no!?!? Edward hadn't thought about that….but he was thinking about it now!!! What if she said no and things got really awkward!? What if she didn't give him an answer at all!? What if she thought he was an awful guy for asking her such a thing in the limited amount of time Edward had known Mia!? Or worst….what if she wanted to challenge him to a duel and THEN give him an answer….oooooh he just knew he'd lose for sure! She was so delicate and she was so much fun and right now completely impossible to talk to….something they had in common with each other! Neither of them would shut up any other time!! Oooooh no….what if she said yes and….he kissed her goodbye!? Was that even allowed!? Oh crap….where was Leonardo when Edward needed him!!! What if she said yes and….and…well he didn't know! Just what if she said yes and something bad happened!? Edward could feel his palms become clammy with sweat even though it was so cold outside.

"Freaking out, freaking out, freaking out, freaking out, freaking ouuuuuuuuut!" Edward said to himself in his head at least fifty times. What if…what if all this happened exactly the way he saw it happening in his mind? If it did, then there was no reason to be flipping out right now. If everything happened exactly the way Edward wanted it to happen…then there was nothing to worry about! Edward stepped in front of Mia and put his hands on her shoulders. She stopped walking.

"Mia…" Edward began. He swallowed hard spite the fact that his mouth felt like cotton right now. She looked at him with inquisitive dark eyes. Edward sighed, his hands were trembling.

"Edward your hands are shaking." Mia said sweetly. She stepped in toward him and put her hands over his.

"Mia…" Edward said again. This time he was freaking out because now her coat was touching his. "You can do this, Edward…don't cave in…" Edward coached himself. He thought his heart might pound out of his chest. He took a deep breath and locked his eyes on hers. "Mia…I really like you…I really really like you…you're so pretty and so fun and so fun to be with…that was kind of the same thing but…" Stop getting sidetracked!! "…will you be my girlfriend?" Edward's hands were still shaking. Now, there was silence. The only sounds to be heard was the crows calling in the distance. A look of disbelief was spread across Mia's face. She still hadn't said anything. At least thirty minutes had to have passed by now, right? No, the reality was that about four seconds had passed.

"Yes..." Mia said still in disbelief. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Mia said beaming all over. Edward smiled, in fact he laughed. He mouthed 'Mia' but no sound came out. And of course, Edward, the king of acting on impulse did exactly that. Right there, on the banks of the river that poured into Nevassa; Edward had his first kiss with Mia.

I hope that you will join me for the sequel story! We still have a lot of unfinished business to cover. The title of the sequel is: Thanks Leonardo