A/N: Here we are then readers - a brand new story from yours truly :) I've been out of the loop because I've been working on it. I am aware that I have been laaaame with other stories but, really, this one now takes precedence. I hope you enjoy it. The poem that the story is based on, by the way, is called 'Deaths of Flowers' and it's by Edith Joy Scovell. It was one of those moments where I read the poem and had to write around it. Liley of course.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Deaths of Flowers

Chapter 1 – Hand in Hand

I would if I could choose
Age and die outwards as a tulip does;
Not as this iris drawing in, in-coiling
Its complex strange taut inflorescence, willing
Itself a bud again – though all achieved is
No more than a clenched sadness,
The tears of gum not flowing...

The room smelled of old people, mixed with daisies and the scent of summer that floated in on a light breeze from the window. Beyond the pane of glass was a moving picture of children on slides in the playground opposite and mothers with pushchairs. Lovers held hands on the park benches and a dog was chasing a ball. The noises were distant, almost as if they were not real, and that reality existed only in the cool room where two women were together.

Lilly sat and cradled the other's soft hand, as she watched over her beloved grandmother in the bed. The old lady had long passed the age of eighty and the last years of her life had been crueller rather than kind. Lilly tilted her head to one side as she contemplated the way death had chosen to take her Granny by stretching out the end of her life with a stroke.

Seven years ago her body had suffered when her left side fell limp and she had slumped down, against her bedroom radiator to the floor. The crackling laugh had died on the old woman's lips as her mind settled into a fog and the fires of some alien disease spread through her brain. That was where Lilly's mother had found her; precisely twenty-six minutes later, and twenty-six minutes too late. The damage was done and Lilly's Granny would never be the same again.

Until the evening when her grandmother's brain had fractured and deceived the unsuspecting woman, Lilly knew of no woman that she loved more, apart from her own mother.

Heather Truscott said her mother had died that night.

Lilly sighed and turned her gaze away from the window and back to her weary grandmother's face. The old lady's eyes were closed as she had given in to sleep once more. It was a lazy summer's afternoon, and Granny was napping just like she had done during the previous years when the heat soothed her and chased the need to think away. Yet this time it was different, and Lilly could sense that the end was coming.

Granny's head moved to the side and the light flowed over her crinkled skin as her mouth pursed and she came to herself once more. Lilly stayed still and allowed her Granny to adjust to the effort it would take to pull herself conscious again, but that was fine. Lilly had all afternoon to wait. She was soft and quiet, ever patient whilst filled with a secret eagerness to see if her Granny would speak, just to hear her crackling voice which had become so silent as of late.

Eyes flickered underneath lids the texture of rose petals, and ever so delicate. The papery skin on Granny's face crumpled into to life as her eyebrows rose and fell, lips parted and eyelashes fluttered when the old lady ascended from her dreams into life once more.

Sky-like eyes awoke and brought light streaming back into the old woman's cloudy eyes and she turned to face her granddaughter, who was smiling serenely, but watching her with the same blue irises.

Rosemary understood why Lilly was here. Rosemary had been confused and forgetful since the day she had lost herself in April those seven years ago, but sometimes she had clearer moments.

"Hello my little love." Rosemary's voice was breathy and strained, yet it still reached out to her granddaughter whom she had loved for nineteen years.

Lilly's entire body perked up as she heard the familiar greeting, "Granny, you're awake." Lilly replied gently, whilst her heart ground painfully in her chest at the feelings of nostalgia.

"What day is it Lilly?" Rosemary asked, her eyes closing once more as if the effort of keeping them open was too much.

"It's Saturday."

"That's why you're not at school." Rosemary stated slowly, her eyes still closed and her tone sleepy.

Lilly laughed gently, "No Granny, I'm not at school because it's summer vacation. And I'm at college now." Lilly reminded the dozing woman.

Rosemary frowned and her eyes opened so that she could stare blankly up at her ceiling, "College?"

"Yes," Lilly prompted, as she always did, "I'm studying history and living with my best friend Miley from school."

"I remember Miley." Rosemary murmured fondly.

Lilly smiled, "It's difficult to forget her."

Rosemary drew in a deep breath, "How is Heather?"

"Mum? Oh, she's fine."

"You must remind her to feed Tigger whilst I'm away."

Lilly cringed; Tigger the cat had ceased to exist before she had even been born, but often her grandmother's mind would stray from reality and take a look into the past.

"Of course I'll tell her."

Granny took in another breath and her chest shuddered weakly, and Lilly's eyes found interest in her converse clad feet, feeling frail in herself as she watched her Granny slip away.

"How did you get here Lilly? Did Heather bring you?"

Lilly shook her head, "No, I drove myself here."

"Oh." Granny's voice was getting fainter as she fought off sleep, "You can drive?"

"Yes, I passed my test three years ago." Lilly replied simply, promising herself not to be hurt by her grandmother's forgetfulness.

Granny turned her head and forced her eyes open again, though it was clear to her granddaughter that they were getting heavier. Lilly looked into the clouded skies of her Granny's eyes and smiled as she saw the warmth which had always resided in them; it was duller now, but still shining. Granny squeezed Lilly's hand with the remaining strength that she possessed and Lilly pressed back gently with her own fingers.

Same fingers, same palms, same hands…

"I hope you drive carefully." Rosemary's voice croaked through their silence.

"I always do." Lilly answered, and there was a wobble in her voice.

Rosemary's eyes closed and Lilly watched as her grandmother's body relaxed for sleep. Small legs laid out straight underneath the light, woollen blankets that the nurses had wrapped around Rosemary to ensure that she was comfortable. Pillows cushioned her head where the white curls of her hair closed loosely around her cheeks and over her forehead.

Lilly squeezed her grandmother's soft hand and got slowly to her feet, "Goodbye Granny." She whispered, whilst carefully uncurling her fingers and resting Rosemary's hand back onto the bed.

She pressed her palm onto the back of her grandmother's wrist when finally Rosemary opened her eyes, and smiled, "Goodbye Lilly."