"I know what I think, but I thought I should talk to you first." Edward said to Mia. Her suitcases were packed and resting at the door. The zipper was pulled so taunt on one of the suitcases it looked as if it might explode apart any minute. Mia shook her head.

"I feel so badly for her. We can't go. It just wouldn't be right." Mia said. After learning of Winston Bradford's passing Leonardo told Edward that he and Mia could decide whether or not they wanted to go on the trip alone or cancel it. Edward knew that he had to be here for Leonardo more than ever before. There was no way he and Mia could go to the mountains without Leonardo and Noelle.

"The funeral is tomorrow. I guess Noelle's going to stay with Leonardo for a while. He doesn't think it's a good idea for her to be in her house alone. Not because she wouldn't be safe, but because he's afraid that Noelle's not ready to clean out her father's room upstairs. And she was really eager to stay with him. She packed up a lot of her stuff, and notified all her clients she wouldn't be working for a while. I think she knows it will be easier on her if she's out of her house." Edward explained.

"What should we do, Edward? I mean, really what can we do? Words are only words and…" Mia was interrupted by her suitcase splitting open and her clothes spilling out all over the floor. She sighed and shook her head. Just then Edward got an idea.

"Hey…we were going to go on our trip…why don't you stay here for a few days. It'll be fun…I mean, as fun as it can be with the situation and all. And look you're already unpacked!" Edward said jokingly. Mia laughed.

"Yeah, yeah okay. I'll stay." Mia said pleased with this.

"I have an idea. The best thing we can do for Noelle is to remind her that….that we're here for her. That she actually has friends that care about what she's going through. Let's make her and Leonardo a casserole and take it over there. I'm sure neither of them want to bother with cooking right now. Then after that, let's you and I go out for dinner." Edward said.

"That sounds like a great idea. So, what kind of casserole should we make?" Mia wondered. Edward thought a moment.

"We should make macaroni and cheese, it's not a casserole but I know that Leonardo loves macaroni and cheese. Come on! You can grate the cheese!" Edward said hopping up from the couch. Oh, this would be fun stuff. The thing Edward worried about was how he would find Leonardo when they showed up later. He knew Leonardo had dealt with death before but that had been several years ago and this time was different because there was also Noelle, whom Leonardo loved more than life itself. Edward feared that Leonardo wouldn't recover until Noelle did.

Meanwhile, across town Noelle worked in silence on the wedding gown that she had begun so many months ago in January. It had to be done next month and something about pulling the needle in and out of the fabric was soothing. Even though she had told all her clients she wouldn't be sewing for a while, she wanted and needed to work on this wedding gown. Leonardo was outside speaking with the coroner who had come with an official report and he needed a signature on the death certificate. He didn't feel like Noelle should deal with this right now.

"We're going to be okay, Max." she said to her cat who watched her closely as she worked. He seemed to listen to her every word. "Don't you worry Max…everything's going to be alright. We need to think about all the happy times father had before his passing. Dad wouldn't want me to be so sad, Max. He would say Noelle, there's no use crying over spilt perfume! He said that a lot when he could talk." Noelle actually smiled, she actually had the courage to smile. Max meowed at her. "Yes, that's right Max…there's no use crying over spilt perfume…or maybe in your case milk!" Max meowed again and walked over to the middle of the floor where Noelle was working. He rubbed his fuzzy tail up against her and purred. That actually brought a faint laugh. It really was going to be okay…life was going to go on and it was just like Noelle's father said…this was the spilt perfume and no matter how many tears were shed nothing was going to bring Winston Bradford back. Max had forced Noelle to put the needle down because he was in the middle of her lap. Just then the door opened.

"Hey…do you care to sign this? The coroner says I can't because I'm not related to you or your father." Leonardo said bringing the piece of paper over to Noelle along with a pen. Noelle could feel her smile fade away because the reality had hit her again. This was her father's death certificate and she was about to put her signature on it. She read it over…CAUSE OF DEATH: HEART FAILURE was all it said. There was no elaboration, of course the doctor nor was the coroner geniuses! How would they ever know for sure!? She seemed frozen as she stared at that horrible piece of paper. Noelle shook her head.

"Are you okay?" Leonardo got on the floor beside her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Max seemed a bit jealous of this.

"Dad's heart did'nt fail…his body failed…his heart continues to beat…" she paused and looked at Leonardo. "…right here." She patted her hand on her chest. She wasted no more time in slapping her signature on the certificate. Leonardo put a hand in her hair.

"You're…you're healing already aren't you?" Leonardo asked her a bit surprised by her reaction. She put her hand on his arm.

"There's no use crying over spilt perfume…I'll have my weak times I'm sure. Especially when the night comes…but all the tears in the world will never bring my father back. He had a happy life for a long time…it's time to start thinking about that." Noelle said seriously. Leonardo kissed her.

"I love you." His voice was serious and sincere.

"I love you too…now give that to the coroner and tell me I never, ever want to see him again." Noelle said looking down at a pouty Max. Leonardo rubbed her back before returning to the door to send the coroner along his way. It made him so happy to see Noelle with dry eyes. In fact, she had done well throughout the day today. She was amazingly resilient.

Back at Edward's he and Mia were just waiting to take their macaroni and cheese out of the stone oven.

"They will love this! I'm going to go take a shower before we leave; I'm covered in butter anyway." Mia said wiping her buttery fingers on the towel in front of her.

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea actually. I'll clean up that cheese we knocked on the floor and take one after you.

"Or you could just join me." Mia said smiling all over. It wasn't like they hadn't done this before. Edward stared at her a moment.

"Yeah….yeah okay…I could probably work that out." Edward answered her. What kind of answer was that!? Mia laughed and disappeared. Edward had to take a minute and gather his composure before getting up from the couch and leaving the room to join her. Now the real challenge was hoping that macaroni didn't burn.