Um, I think this is a pretty original idea. At least, I haven't seen anything like it on here. I hope you guys like it. I can continue, or this could just be a little one-shot. I dunno. Please review and let me know. (:

Clare Edwards pulls her shawl tighter around her slender shoulders and shivers against the cool wind. Her snow white curls ruffle in the wind and she runs a soft hand, wrinkled with age over her head to smooth them. Fall leaves swirl around her feet and dance down the street in front of her. She smiles to herself. Fall. It was her favorite season. A time when nature was forced to change, but it wasn't haughty or incompliant about it. It took the change with a smile and made it as beautiful as possible before winter swooped in and covered everything in a fine layer of snow and ice. She hummed happily to herself and shifted slightly on the hard bench she was sitting on.

"Ms. Clare, wouldn't you like to come inside? It's pretty chilly out here." A voice asked a few feet behind her. Clare glanced over her shoulder and shook her head gently.

"No thank you, Lilly. I like the chill; it's too hot in that damned building. I'm old, not dead. I still have some form of body heat." She patted the empty space on the bench, motioning for the younger woman to join her. "Take a break; you spend too much time worrying about all of us."

The nurse, a chubby brunette in her mid-thirties with a kind face and an even kinder heart, did as she was told and took her place beside Clare. She smiled softly at the story she knew was coming. She knew it by heart by now, but she never tired of hearing it anyway. Clare was a brilliant storyteller and no matter how many times Lilly heard the story of Eli and Clare each time seemed to touch her differently somehow. She folded her hands in her lap and waited patiently for the quiet woman to begin the saga she knew for a fact she was aching to tell.

"The fall reminds me of him, you know?" Clare whispers, her voice so faint it's nearly carried away by the wind, but Lilly was expecting that line.

"Who, Ms. Clare?" She asks, but they both know she's only humoring her by asking because she already knows.

"Elijah Goldsworthy. He was so handsome, so smug, so broken. Like fall in a way. Beautiful in a way only something that knows it's not perfect can be." She sighs and a small smile plays on her lips, accentuating the lines surrounding her eyes. "He was the worst thing to ever happen to me and the best all at once. It's hard to explain exactly." She pauses again and takes the brooch from her shawl, leaning over to pin it on Lilly's scrub jacket.

"Ms. Clare, I can't accept this."

"Oh, pish posh, Lilly. You can and you will." Lilly allows her to pin the tiny golden bird with sapphire eyes on to her top and smiles down at the delicate thing. It's gorgeous, but not in a flashy way. It's subtle in its beauty; much like Lilly imagines Clare was when she was younger.

"Thank you." Lilly says quietly.

"You're welcome. Did I ever tell you how we met? Fool ran over my glasses! Can you believe that?" Clare exclaimed with a disapproving shake of her head. "Of course I barely noticed the poor things I was so taken with him." Lilly laughs along with her as she chuckles at the memory. "You have pretty eyes. That was one of the first things he ever said to me. From that moment I was his, and he'll never admit to it, but he was mine. No matter what happened from then on out I knew that. Even if we did do our best to convince ourselves and each other otherwise." Lilly placed a warm hand on Clare's shoulder and smiled down at her as she stood up.

"Let's go get you some tea and you can tell me the rest." She promised.

"Alright," Clare agrees with a grin. "As long as I can get some of those cinnamon cookies."