Lex sat in the car waiting for her mother to come out of her childhood home. Her parents were going to accompany her to Mike's funeral. Her hands were in her lap, she kept wringing them together. Her dull blue eyes scanned over her black dress, she began picking at lint that wasn't really there just to have something to do. The shutting of a door caused her to look up. Her mother moved slowly down the seven cement back steps. With each step she took the lump in Lex's throat grew larger. By the time her mother placed her hand on the door handle Lex felt like she was chocking.

Just a mere five days before Mike had been alive and laughing with her on the phone. Why had she not hung out with him when he had asked? If she had only known, she would have. But she hadn't known- she hadn't a clue. Her mother opened the car door. As if she had been stung Lex launched herself out of her seat.

"Mommy, I can't do this." She cried. "I just can't." Diana's heart ached for her only daughter. The young woman was currently bent over trying to catch her breath. She went over and led her daughter to the cement steps. She helped her sit and then took the spot next to her.

"You don't have to go Lex." Her mother reasoned. "Nobody would blame you if you do not go."

"I can't go there and look at him in that casket." Her head fell into her hands. "I just cannot do it. I am sorry I know I am being a coward."

"You are not a coward Alexia. You just lost one of your closest friends." Diana wrapped her arms around her shaking daughter's frame.

"Mike would have been brave enough to go to my funeral."

"We all grieve in different ways Baby." she rested her head on Lex's shoulder. "It's ok if you feel you cannot go to the funeral. Nobody would blame you if you didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Lex. Maybe instead of going to the funeral you could go inside and change your clothes and remember Mike in a different way."

"Yea maybe." Lex sighed as she sat up. "Maybe you are right. Just because I cannot go to his funeral and see him doesn't mean I cannot remember him." She stood slowly and began climbing the stairs.

"Alexia." Lex turned around to look at her mother. "For what it is worth I am very proud of how you are handling this all. I think Michael would be too." Lex tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace.

"Thanks." she said but she took no comfort in the words. She passed her father on her way back inside. She heard him ask her mother where she was going but closed the door before she could hear her mother's reply. She shrugged out of her stiff black dress and changed into her most favorite pair of sweat pants and a black Dio T-shirt that she had stolen from Mike years before. She figured he would appreciate that if he was looking down on her.

She had a seat in her father's over sized recliner in her living room. She brought her knees up and hugged them close to her body. She rested her head against the back of her knees and closed her eyes. She wanted to cry but she simply had no more tears to shed. She ran her fingers along the stitching on the arm of the chair. She had been through the first three stages of grief. She had done the denial and then the anger. Of course bargaining came next, she could not tell how many hours she spent on her knees by her bed pleading with the lord to make Mike still be with them. She tried everything she could think of the convince the powers that be to return Mike. She was currently in the fourth stage which was of course depression.

There was a knock on her front door. She decided to get up and see who it was. Although she was not a in a social mood by any means, she could not bring herself to be rude either. She answered the door and raised a brow as she stared at the delivery man on the other side.

"Hi." she said opening the door.

"Hello, I have a delivery for a Miss Alexia Marren." the man smiled at Lex while holding out the box that was in his hands. Lex could easily read the 1800 Florist logo on the box. Who would be sending her flowers?

"I am Alexia." she confirmed.

"Great sign here." he handed her an electronic pad and she signed her name. Then he handed her the box which he had put down on the porch.

Frowning she shut the front door and took the steps slowly. Soon enough she was in the kitchen. She grabbed a knife from the flatware drawer and sliced at the tape holding the box shut. Inside was the most beautiful bouquet to wildflowers. Lex looked at the arrangement for some time before going to get a vase filled with water. Once the flowers were safely in the water she pulled out the card. It read.

Well since you won't let me be there I hope this lets you know I am thinking about you.

-Phil

Although she was still very upset about Mike she couldn't help but smile. The thought that Phil was somewhere in the world thinking about her mad her feel a little warmer inside. But the warm feeling was fleeting when she remembered that Mike was the one who had set the events in motion that led her to meet Phil. She wondered if he knew that or not. She went to her laptop then, once she was sitting at her old desk she turned the computer on and logged onto Facebook. It where there she wrote a long post of how much Mike meant to her and how knowing him changed her life. She could honestly say she felt so much better getting everything out. And just like that she was onto the fifth and final stage of grief. Acceptance.