Claire sat stirring her coffee, her tears falling down her face, curving around her chin and down onto the tabletop below her. She took a deep breathe before looking up at Joe.
She met him when she moved to Glasgow last year, and instantly they became best friends. Joe had been here much longer than Claire however, who had just recently moved from Boston where she had completed her university degree and moved to Scotland to do her residency.
"Claire.." She pursed her lips at that, he never called her by her name. "We tried everything we could to save him but.." She waved her hand at him, shaking her head. "It's quite alright, Joe. You really don't need to explain to me." Fresh tears sprung to her eyes as Joe enveloped her into his arms, allowing her to sob uncontrollably and lose herself.

Claire knew how bad the accident had been when she was being wheeled into the hospital herself with less urgency, and when Frank had been wheeled past her, surrounded by paramedics and doctors almost instantly.
She adjusted herself on the bed, to allow room for Joe to sit next to her, pulling her into his chest. Her leg heavy with the cast that now sat upon her broken bones in an effort to heal her physical pain.. not her emotional pain however, no.., That would take longer and much more effort to fix.

She was only 24 years old and now, she was a widow. If you had told Claire in the beautiful morning light that by nightfall she'd be mourning her Husband and her lost future, She'd have laughed, even in Deaths face.
Now, Death laughed in hers.

Frank had suggested that for their second anniversary, they would go to Inverness for the weekend and celebrate seeing as they couldn't afford to go abroad in an effort to save for their first proper home together.
Claire had to stop the strained laugh from leaving her lips, it seemed almost cruel that God would do this to her. She'd lost her parents at a young age in a car accident, and was left to the care of her Uncle with whom she traveled the world. When she met Frank in Boston at 18, little did she think her Uncle would soon pass away from illness and leave her with him as her only family. With no real family left, She had clung to the man her Uncle had called his Brother, who was 10 years her senior. But she didn't care about that; Frank had saved her, and loved her until his dying breath.

They had been on the road only 10 minutes when it happened. They were on a country road, driving fast with their music blaring from their windows, a car coming the opposite way.. Frank had seen that, but he failed to see the car that overtook it, smashing almost head first into them and causing them to veer off the road and into a ditch below. Claire's legs had been crushed but only one massively damaged, the other merely scratched and bruised, like the rest of her.
Frank however, he was found a few feet along from the car, mangled almost as he was thrown from the car. She remembered vaguely seeing him, while she hung upside down inside the car before blacking out from the pain.

She came back to herself eventually, Joe saying his goodbyes and his solemn face as he shut the curtains.

The days flew by in a blur, nurses and doctors coming in to do their rounds; some just to give her their condolences, hoping she'd be back to work soon and they'd see her then.
Whenever Claire had a loss in her life, She threw herself into her work and deep down, she couldn't wait to get back to the hospital to help people and not being the patient herself.

Two weeks after the accident, they cleared her to go home. Claire sat in the chair beside the bed, watching as Joe packed her things. What's the point? She thought. She had no home now that Frank was gone. Nothing but an empty flat in the Southside of Glasgow waited for her return. For the first time in weeks, she allowed herself to wallow in sadness, and the tears began flowing freely for the first time since that dreadful day. "Oh LJ, Please don't cry.." He crouched down in front of her, handing Claire a tissue. She gave a small smile to Joe before taking the tissue and blowing her nose. When the tears finally subsided, she put her head into her hands and sighed heavily. "What ever am I going to do?" Joe sat for a moment before moving her face up to look at him. "The same thing you always do, LJ. You Live"

Claire watched as the world flew by her, Joe kindly offered to take her home and even had his wife at her flat making things a bit more .. Homely.
"You really didn't have to do this, I could have just gotten a taxi home"
Joe chuckled a bit before giving her a quick look. "It's no bother, Gail wanted to see you and I wanted to make sure you didn't fall getting out the car, you know?" Claire gave a wry smile before turning back to look out the window. She watched as they passed the buzzing, happy people running around doing their daily things, moving forward while Claire felt stuck in place.
"Now, The boss told me to say you could take as much time off as needed. Obviously you need a few weeks for your leg anyway but even after that, she says to take at least a few weeks off, or try to anyway. We all know what you're like.. " Joe smiled as he put his foot on the brake, putting the car into neutral. Claire opened her door and look at the building before her and sighed. "Well, thank god I don't live in tenements, otherwise i'd be dragging myself up the stairs.." Claire sighed to herself before letting Joe help her out the car, resting most of her weight against him as he shut the door.

"Yeah, thank god for elevators, am I right?!" Joe chuckled before leading her inside. Her and Franks flat was 21 floors up, overlooking Pollok country park. The view was the reason they bought the place as their first little home. As Gail opened the door and embraced her, she could smell her short lived Husband all around her.
"I need to sell." She stood looking out the window while Joe sat on the couch watching football, or as he called it "soccer".
Joe and Gail both turned to look at each other as Claire turned to face them. "I can smell him everywhere, I can't live here anymore. and as she said it,She looked up to the living room door and she swore she saw Frank stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the frame smiling at her.