I went to the funeral of a fellow church member today... and it along with mg-bsl381 mentioned in her lovely review of 2015/03/07/the-journey-of-one-midwife-part-five/ that she loved the fact that the suitcase was now a memory box... and this idea came tumbling out... So this is dedicated to mg-bsl381 for giving me the idea and for always being a faithful reviewer of my fanfic on tumblr!

The Suitcase

It was an ordinary looking suitcase- quite old, made of leather and quite dusty for it hadn't been opened in quite some time...Its latches were made of silver that had tarnished due to not being cleaned properly for some time. It was nothing to look at... but it held a treasure trove of memories for the daughter of the owner of the suitcase.

Angela was now grown- a young lady of twenty five- at ease with with the world around her. It was now 1984, and she had just buried her mother. Her mum- Shelagh Turner- to the rest of the world- had lived exactly five years after the death of her husband. She had lived to see Timothy- now a doctor- take over his father's practice. She had seen him happily married to one of the nurses that had come in the days since Trixie, Patsy and Barbara had retired. She had been helped in her grief by her dear friend Sister Julienne only to turn around and be the nurse she needed during her brief illness before her death two years ago. It was only after she had stopped caring for the others that she had realized that the tuberculosis that had she had once beaten had returned and this time, it would beat her.

A little over a week after the funeral, Angela had found herself at the flat that she had called home for so long. 24 Bermondsey Lane. It had been the home that she was brought into after she was adopted. She learned to walk and talk and thrived here. It was where she had brought home childhood friends, and much to her father's chagrin, boyfriends. None so far had met the high expectations of finding someone like her father, so she had remained single.

Angela walked slowly into the master bedroom. In a rather brief discussion, due to Timothy's busyness at the clinic, Timothy had told her to go ahead and go through the flat and find anything she wanted- the only thing he knew for sure he wanted was the piano. It had surprised her-she thought he had majorly disliked it, but he said it was for the memories surrounding his time playing it... and his wife, Laura, was a piano player. If and when they had kids, they wanted them to learn- and what better way than on the same piece that their had learned. Angela was pretty sure she didn't want any furniture- her flat was smaller than this one and she tended to live a simple lifestyle. If anything, she wanted something that had sentimental attachment with it for her. Once she had the time to stop and think, she knew what she wanted.

Walking up to the wardrobe, Angela carefully pried the doors open. Standing on tiptoe, she carefully pulled down the old suitcase. Yes, this battered object was what she wanted. Carefully carrying it over to the bed, Angela carefully popped it open. Once she did, the clothing, objects and items inside made her smile at the stories they told.

She carefully picked up the nightdress. She smiled at the memory of her mom telling her the story of how it had been made, given away but then returned to her- all by Sister Julienne. She also spotted the green and white knitted tea cozy- it had been given to her parents as a wedding present by the eccentric Sister Monica Joan. The old, slightly rumpled jumper- it was her dads. Angela picked it up and rubbed her cheek against it, much as she had seen her mom do following her dad's death. The tie that had been in there was now long gone- her mother had insisted her father be buried in it. Angela remembered Timothy asking why and her mother replied that it was the tie he was wearing when she knew she had fallen in love with him. Other pieces of clothing had made it in there as well, some of it Angela's and a piece of two was Timothy's... but none held the memories of her mother as those clothing pieces.

Angela sniffed and replaced the objects. Noticing the pocket on the top of the suitcase, she reached inside and pulled out a packet of letters. She smiled as she remembered her mom telling her if she wanted to read love letters from a master, she should read these. There was also the letter announcing they had been approved for adoption.

Reaching deeper into the pocket Angela pulled out several smaller pieces of paper. The initial x-ray announcing her tuberculosis diagnosis, tickets to "Sound of Music" which Angela remembered had quickly become her parents favorites. Each time the show revived in London, they would make the trip for one of the shows. They had loved the movie version as well, and one of their favorite records was the soundtrack... which Angela had caught them quite often dancing or singing along with especially "Something Good" and "My Favorite Things". There was a scrap of paper which her mother had admitted was a childish moment after she had returned to Poplar... after her father had found her on that foggy road. The proposal was there as well, slightly worn, but still there.

Angela smiled at the thought of creating a shadowbox and placing these smaller items in them to keep them safe... but what to do about the suitcase? It had seen better days, and she knew it still had life left in it. She then decided it was best to transfer the bigger items to the trunk in her flat, and get it restored. It would be the one piece that she knew she would treasure.

"Memories Restored" was the name of the shop Angela had decided on- after talking to several colleagues, they had recommended it highly. She walked into the store and was immediately struck by the warm wood and soft light. Items- much like she remembered seeing growing up- were beautifully restored and displayed. A man, with thick dark black hair, stood near the cash register.

"Hi.. I'm Angela... I spoke to a Mr. James earlier about restoring my mother's old suitcase..." Angela said as she carefully placed it on the counter.

"I'm Mr. James- James Lawrence to be precise... and yes, I should be able to get this back to you as good as new.." He said with a twinkle in his eye...

Angela caught herself looking for a wedding ring and didn't notice one... and a conversation was struck up between the two. By the time the anniversary of her parents death, she and James were an item. Little did she know, in little less than a month, he was planning on proposing to her with a ring containing the same diamond from her mother's band, one from his mother's band and the last- slightly bigger- from his grandmother.

Nope, not going to have a sequel... just a sentimental one shot based off the idea of Angela rediscovering the suitcase after her parents death...