It was a Sunday afternoon a few weeks later, the Leftorium was closed that day and Marge was sitting alone in the living room reading a good book after getting some cleaning done around the house. Bart had gone to be with Milhouse until later that evening and Lisa was busy doing homework. Marge did not mind the quietness though; she was happy to get caught up in her reading and not have to worry too much about dinner. Lisa and Maggie were both happy to just have a small salad; they had a nice big sandwich for lunch anyway.

Marge continued to stare into her book until she felt something touch her leg. Marge let out a surprised gasp and looked down to see Santa's Little Helper sitting at her feet and holding his leash and collar. It was rare for him to do such a thing, perhaps with the family being so quiet lately; he was confused and not sure what to do with himself.

"You want to go for a walk?" asked Marge.

Santa's Little Helper gave out a happy bark before running into the other room and returning with a tennis ball which he promptly put at Marge's feet.

"Fetch too?" she said.

Marge looked out the window, it would be another two hours before it got too dark and it looked like the day was still nice and inviting. She looked back down at Santa's Little Helper who gave another whine. Marge let out a sigh and decided that a nice walk would be a nice change of pace.

Quickly she picked up Maggie and put on her shoes while the dog paced back and forth between them, excited as he ever was to finally go out and run. Marge then put on her shoes before hooking the chain to the dog who then let out a happy bark. Marge asked Lisa if she wanted to join them but Lisa politely declined since she wanted to get her homework done sooner rather than later.

Marge then made her way down the sidewalk, Maggie in her stroller and her arm hooked to Santa's Little Helper's leash. It was easily said than done since Marge had one hand on the handle bar of Maggie's stroller. Marge tried her hardest to make the dog heal but he was very persistent, as if the field was going to disappear soon. Suddenly before she even knew it, Santa's Little Helper tugged forward quite heavily causing Marge to fall forward while still trying to hang on to the chain.

Marge landed on the hard pavement and let out a groan of pain before sitting up to assess the damages. Her hands were now stinging from scraping on the hard pavement; they were a little raw but nothing too serious. Her knees were also a little scraped but she was not going to act like a little kid and cry about it, there was no sense in that.

"You stupid dog!" said Marge as she got up while Santa's Little Helper sat nearby, his tongue hanging loose and his face forming a smile as if he did it on purpose.

"Santy Funny!" Maggie said as she clapped her hands.

Marge only groaned before continuing her way down the sidewalk but did not go far before Ned came running out of his house.

"Marge I saw you take a nasty spill down there, you okay?" he asked as he looked her up and down.

"I'm fine Ned, just some scraped palms and knees, I should be okay," said Marge as she showed Ned the damage done.

Ned inspected her hands and knee for a moment before responding to her. "Yup just a few little scrapes, you should be right as rain once I help you with the piqued pooch," said Ned as he quickly took Santa's Little Helper's leash and tugged at it a little bit. Santa's Little Helper moved closer as Ned pulled at him lightly before he was finally by Ned's side and not trying to run away.

"Did you ever own a dog?" asked Marge amazed at Ned's ability to get the dog to behave.

"No, I just watch the Dog Whisperer," said Ned with a grin.

Marge lifted her eyebrow as she gave her neighbor a surprised look; she didn't realize that Ned would actually watch a show like that. "Well thank you," she finally said after a long awkward pause.

"No trouble at all, now would you like an escort for your walkarooney?" asked Ned in his usual delighted attitude.

Marge looked down at Maggie and then at Santa's Little Helper, pulling a stroller and trying to hang onto a hyperactive dog would be difficult. "Why not, it's nice to talk to someone your age while walking. Maggie usually has nothing interesting to say," said Marge with a small giggle at the thought of Maggie in an adult conversation.

"Fan-diddly-astic!" said Ned as Marge began her way down the sidewalk. Ned was close behind, keeping a tight reign on the dog's leash.

"I think Santa's Little Helper just wants some attention right now, he hasn't gotten much in a while," said Marge.

"That tends to happen when there are problems in the house, you remember Solomon our cat don't you?" asked Ned.

"Yeah I remember we watched him when you and Maude had to go to that Christian thing in Capitol City," said Marge.

"Yup I remember that incident, that was such a fun weekend, but any way when Solomon was two years old, Maude's father was having really bad problems with his hip after he fell. We were in and out of the house a lot and poor Solomon never got enough attention, we always remembered to feed him but that was all we really did. So after everything calmed down, I remember one afternoon just sitting there reading a book and Solomon came over to lie beside me. I gave him a pat but he wasn't too happy about it and almost bit my finger off," said Ned.

"Oh my!" said Marge.

"Yeah it made me feel like a Christian stuck in Rome with an angry lion, had to get a few stitches for it but it taught me that sometimes cats need attention too. He did forgive me a few weeks later," said Ned.

"Whatever happened to him, I remember our first cat used to jump the fence to hang around with him," said Marge.

"Oh he had bad kidneys as he got older, he was fourteen though so he had a good life," said Ned.

Marge said nothing as they continued on their way, they were almost to the park any way and both could sense that Santa's Little Helper was getting anxious. He started to pull more, and the more Ned tried to get him to behave, the more he kept pulling.

They finally reached the park and Ned decided that it was safe to let the dog off the leash, sure enough Santa's Little Helper made a dash through the field before stopping half way and coming back to watch Marge put Maggie on the swings.

Santa's Little Helper watched as Maggie squealed with delight as she went higher up on the swings. After a while he started jumping up and down nearly getting hit by the swing and making Maggie laugh even more.

"Santy want a ride," said Maggie.

"No Santa can't ride with you, Ned can you throw the ball for him?" asked Marge as she passed the ball to Ned.

"Indeedy," said Ned who then brought Santa's Little Helper out to the field and was now getting excited at the fact that he was now going for a few quick runs.

Ned threw the ball as far as he could while Santa's Little Helper made a dash toward it. Of course Ned was not the greatest of throwers so by the time Santa's Little Helper became far away, the ball would land right beside him. It would bounce high in the air before Santa's Little Helper leapt up and caught it before it landed back on the grass. Santa's Little Helper would then run back and drop the ball at Ned's feet waiting for more.

While Ned threw the ball, Marge continued to swing Maggie who soon gave signs that she was getting bored.

"Can I slide now Mommy?" asked Maggie.

"Sure you can," said Marge as she slowed down the swings and let Maggie get off.

Maggie then ran toward the jungle gym and started to climb up, going over the bridge and heading toward the biggest slide that was there. Maggie loved the big slide, it was her favorite, Marge knew it was because it was big and that she could spend longer times on it.

Marge waited at the end as Maggie slid down, screaming at the top of her lungs before Marge grabbed her at the bottom.

"Uh oh looks like the evil slide monster got you," said Marge as she started to tickle Maggie.

"Mommy stop!" giggled Maggie as she tried to get out of her mothers grasp.

"Oh I'm not your mommy, I'm the slide monster," said Marge.

Maggie screamed before Marge finally set her down and let her go back up the slide. When Maggie reached the top, she looked down at Marge with a very annoyed look,

"The slide monster should go away now, I want to play by myself," said Maggie.

"Oh you don't want to be caught again?" asked Marge thinking that Maggie was just being silly.

"No, I want the slide monster to leave me alone," said Maggie in a matter of fact voice like most toddlers do when they want to play by themselves.

Marge knew that message well, Maggie liked being by herself from time to time and if she did not get her way, she would get a little grumpy. Marge decided that it was best to go ahead and check on Ned and the dog.

When she arrived she found that Santa's Little Helper was still as hyper as ever but he was slowing down a little.

"Having fun yet?" asked Marge.

"Oh yes, I love playing fetch with dogs, its fun to see how long it takes before they get all tuckered out," said Ned while he kept his eyes on the field and throwing the ball where he wanted it.

Marge watched as Santa's Little Helper made a leap for the ball and caught it without jumping too high before running back, tail wagging and ready for more. When he returned, he put the ball down at Marge's feet, wagging his tail and waiting for her to pick it up and throw it.

"I can't throw as far as Ned," said Marge.

"Don't worry about it, he's happy no matter what," said Ned.

Marge then threw it the best she could, it didn't go far and Santa's Little Helper did not expect that. Instead he went out to where Ned usually threw it and looked around trying to figure out where the big yellow ball was.

"It's over here boy," Marge yelled as she decided to make her way over to the ball to get the dog to see it. Santa's Little Helper soon realized where it was and went straight at it before bringing back to Marge and laying it at her feet again.

Marge picked it up and tossed it back and forth on he hands, trying to figure out if she could throw it far enough for him. Finally she got a fun little idea and threw the ball back to Ned.

"Monkey in the middle!" she said happily.

Ned quickly understood what Marge wanted and quickly tossed it back to her as Santa's Little Helper barked and jumped up and down. He then ran back to Marge as she threw it back to Ned, and then went after Ned as he threw it back to Marge. He did it several times with his tongue hanging out and with an excited whine. Both Ned and Marge laughed at the dog's antics and both truly enjoyed themselves for the first time in a very long time. It was a blessing to have the dog wanting attention. The game lasted for quite a while before Ned ended up holding the ball too long, and as he was just about to throw the ball, Santa's Little Helper leaped up onto Ned knocking him down onto the grass.

"Oh my gosh, Ned are you alright?" asked Marge once she realized that Ned was now on his back and the dog was on top of him licking his face.

"Right as rain Marge, I was just too slow for the little scamp," said Ned as he tried to push Santa's Little Helper's head away from his face so he could get up.

Marge quickly grabbed the dog by the collar, pushing him out of the way before helping Ned up. Once Ned was back on solid ground, he looked back at Marge and both began to giggle at their little game.

Up on a nearby ridge, Bart and Milhouse were hiding behind some bushes watching the scene unfold.

"Look at him, trying to win my moms affection," said Bart as he continued to glare.

"I don't know Bart, I think they are just trying to have fun," said Milhouse.

"Yeah, but did you see them look at each other a minute ago," said Bart.

"I did but we are pretty far up and we are probably seeing the wrong things," said Milhouse.

"Then give me your glasses, they work better long distance with me any way," said Bart as he grabbed Milhouse's glasses right off his nose.

Bart peered through the spectacles; he had used them many times before, spying on Lisa and other kids in the neighborhood. He watched as they made there way back to the playground where Maggie was playing. Both were laughing at Santa's Little Helper as he started digging near the edge of the playground and got his nose full of dirt.

But their laughter quickly turned to panic when they noticed that Maggie was not playing anywhere on the playground, in fact she was nowhere to be seen.

Bart could hear his mother call out to Maggie in a frantic voice. Hopefully she hadn't gotten far. Bart looked around as he still held onto Milhouse's glasses, hoping to see her from his vantage point. It didn't take him long to find her, she had actually made her way over to an area where wild flowers grew and now she was skipping her way along through the little field without much worry.

Bart then threw Milhouse's glasses back to him and ran down the hill to help his mom out.

"She's at that field over there Mom!" Bart yelled once he was in earshot and then made his way to Maggie. Marge and Ned were right behind him, glad that Bart was around to see what was going on.

They quickly found Maggie with a handful of flowers in her hand and singing to herself as if nothing was going on. Marge ran forward and grabbed Maggie in her arms. Maggie of course showed no concern but continued to arrange the flowers in her hand.

"You should never run off like that Maggie, you worried us," said Marge once she calmed down a bit. Maggie looked up at Marge with a sheepish smile, she had only planned on running away for a few minutes but of course a minute to a toddler could be much longer than that.

"Sorry Mommy but I saw the flowers from the top of the slide and I thought that Daddy would like some," said Maggie as she showed off the pretty flowers in her hand.

Marge's eyes turned all misty at what Maggie had said, she didn't realize that going to the cemetery every other weekend to add flowers to Homer's grave would cause Maggie to want to get him some.

"And they are beautiful honey," said Marge as she hugged Maggie while a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Can we go now and give them to him?" asked Maggie.

Marge looked over at Ned and then at Bart who gave his mother a concerned smile, they had never been to the cemetery this late in the day, perhaps it would be a nice change of pace.

"Barty can help me," said Maggie hoping that she was convincing enough.

"Yes Barty can help you thanks to him hanging out here with Milhouse," said Marge who gave her son a satisfied look. Bart only smiled back while Milhouse suddenly appeared looking quite winded from trying to catch up to his very fast friend.

"Let's head back, I can drive you there," said Ned as he put his arm around her shoulder. Bart gave him an icy stare that Ned failed to notice, but Milhouse did and he gave his friend a concerned look.

"He's just being nice," said Milhouse.

"Whatever, I've seen your mothers boyfriends do that to her," said Bart as they walked farther behind Ned and Marge.

"But that's because my mom wanted a boyfriend, I think this is just friendship," said Milhouse hoping that Bart would understand.

"Sure its friendship now but watch, soon it will turn to love and then Mom will forget Dad ever existed like with your Dad," said Bart.

"But that's because Mom didn't like him any more and he's still alive," said Milhouse who now sounded very frustrated with Bart.

Bart only rolled his eyes and ran ahead to catch up with Ned and Marge, Milhouse knew that Bart was still holding his emotions in and he could sense that Bart did not want to get into any more of that discussion at the moment. That was fine with him though, he knew that Bart would figure out friendship one day. As Bart caught up, he found Maggie sitting in her stroller arranging the flowers in a way that she saw fit; it was so easy for her to deal with all the emotions that were going on. It almost made him wish he was still a baby. Bart then turned to Santa's Little Helper; he was now walking slowly, tongue hanging out, the run really made him tired.

They arrived home at just the right time to find that Lisa had finished her homework and was sitting in the living room waiting for them. Marge asked Maggie to go in and persuade Lisa to come and without a second thought, Maggie ran into the house and ran toward Lisa, the handful of flowers still clutched in her hand.

"Lisa! Lisa! Aren't these flowers pretty!" she yelled as she ran toward her big sister.

Lisa stared at the little bouquet of purples, yellows, and reds along with a few clovers that seemed to accent it well.

"Awww they're beautiful Maggie, are they for me?" asked Lisa as she was about to take them from Maggie but Maggie quickly pulled them away.

"No, they're for Daddy, you want to come help me bring them to him?" asked Maggie.

Lisa looked back at Maggie, and just like Marge, she was surprised that Maggie wanted to do such a thing; she then gave Maggie a warm smile.

"I would love to," she finally said.

Ned then drove the family to the cemetery where Maggie was the first to get out, dragging Bart along with her. Bart of course was in no hurry to go near the grave but he knew that Maggie was still young and she still did not understand death properly.

When they reached the tombstone, Maggie stopped in front of it and looked around for a good place to set the flowers. She stood there for a moment pondering the idea before turning back to Bart with a frustrated face.

"They can't stand up," she said.

"Sure they can, these flowers right here would like to have some new friends," said Bart as he pushed some of the flowers they bought a week ago aside a little so the new flowers could fit in the little stand and could be seen by others.

Maggie then looked up at Bart before giving him a big hug. "So when will Daddy pick them up?" asked Maggie.

Bart stared back at Maggie, unable to answer such a difficult question. Lisa arrived just in time to hear the question too and knew she had to explain it to Maggie in the best way she could to a little three year old. Quietly she bent down to her sister's level ready to explain until Maggie had to ask another question once she noticed the sadness in Lisa and Bart's face.

"Why did Daddy leave, he made you all sad, didn't he know you would be sad?" asked Maggie

Lisa looked away from Maggie's eyes for a moment trying not to cry in front of her, not yet any way.

"Yes he did know that Maggie, but you remember how sick he was right?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah, he was in bed a lot," said Maggie as she looked down at the ground in a dejected voice.

"Well he left because he was sick," said Lisa.

"Is he ever coming back?" asked Maggie.

Lisa looked up at Bart and then turned to Marge who had her hand clutched to her chest while Ned put his arm around her shoulder just in case Marge needed a shoulder to cry on.

"Will I ever see him again?" asked Maggie who was now looking very confused and distraught.

"You'll see him again Maggie, but not for a very long time," said Lisa.

"Will it be when I turn five?" asked Maggie as she held up her hand, then stared at it for a moment when she noticed that there were only four fingers on her hand. She then lifted one more finger on her other hand to complete the number.

There was a long pause; Lisa was unsure how to explain it to a three year old, death was hard to interpret especially to someone who was too young to understand.

"Longer than that," said Lisa.

"Oh," said Maggie as she looked down at the ground and then at the lonely tombstone.

"So when I see him again, will this be the spot?" asked Maggie.

"Perhaps," said Lisa deciding that it would be best to humor her with that answer.

"Where did he go any way?" asked Maggie.

Lisa knew this question would come up and bite her sooner or later and truthfully it was a lot better than answering what had exactly happened to him. But how could she explain it?

"He went to a place called Heaven," Ned suddenly said as he bent down beside Lisa hoping to help her out.

"Oh like in All Dogs Go to Heaven? …But Daddy's not a doggy," said Maggie in a confused voice after thinking about it for a moment.

Lisa had to chuckle at that statement. "Yes Dad is not a doggy but we can go to heaven too, it's just in a different part that is reserved for us," said Lisa.

"So why couldn't we go to Heaven with Daddy?" asked Maggie.

Lisa let out a sigh as she tried to come up with the best excuse for her to understand, Ned watched her knowing that she needed to learn how to talk to her sister.

"Because you don't choose to go to Heaven, you see when a doctor can't fix you when you are sick, you go there and get better," said Lisa.

"Oh so I don't go there unless I am sick?" asked Maggie.

"Unless you are very sick," said Lisa.

"Can't we visit him?" asked Maggie.

"It would be nice Maggie but it's very hard to get there no matter how hard you try," said Lisa.

Maggie then let out a sigh, Marge could tell that she was still a little frustrated with what they had been telling her but sooner or later she would get it, just not right away.

"We can talk more if you like in the car, the sun is setting and it's getting dark out here," said Marge as she stood back up.

"Okay," said Maggie who then grabbed her mothers hand and followed her to the car. Bart and Lisa stayed where they stood watching them go.

"I'm glad you came Lis, I wouldn't have known what to tell her," said Bart.

"Yeah it was hard though, but one day she will get it, you just have to be patient and answer all the questions she has," said Lisa.

Bart nodded and followed Lisa back to the car where they headed back home, away from the dreary and lonely cemetery.


A/N: Okay yeah uhhh, the part with Maggie came to me at the last minute, I felt I needed to show how she was thinking about the whole thing, I actually enjoyed writing it, I apologize to anyone who has had enough of the sadness for right now. But don't worry the next few chapters are not sad. They're a little more fun. But any way in case you are all wondering about Ned mentioning Solomon his cat, I actually came up with him in a story that has since been on hiatus for a very long time, its called I Had a Cat Named Snowball and Solomon is in it as the first Snowball's little friend. So if any of you are interested, feel free to check it out, its not the best story in the world, that's why it hasn't been updated in a while, I just got bored with it.

Also some important news and no this is not an April Fools joke, it's been about two months now since I updated my Tales From Beyond the Pridelands story over at the Lion King section and I promised my loyal readers over there that I would update every two months. So I will be missing from here for a few weeks, I do have some papers for classes that I need to deal with as well so it might be a few weeks before the next chapter is up. I apologize for this but I promise I will return with more in due time. You are all welcome to hang out at the Lion King section; there are some great stories over there. Any way sorry for rambling and sorry for the upcoming delay. Hope you all have a nice few weeks and please review whenever you can.