"Remember that not all words are meant to be spoken. Forever is a promise and love is the key."

It was the smell of fresh baked bread and the faintest whiff of daisies in the chill soft breeze, and it was the soft spring sunlight dancing across his weathered palms that made Arthur Kirkland set aside his morning cup of earl grey and slip off into thought. The cloying whisper of the plants in his garden swaying against one another created a cocoon of sound about his now small frame as it huddled into itself against the wind. Faded clover eyes drifted shut as thinning silver hair flitted across his brow. He was an old man now, given to flights of fancy when thoughts of the past reared their wizened heads. The tiniest of remembrances threatening to send him back to his youth with only the slightest warning.

Back to when the only ache in his body came from chasing down his grade three class of rather unruly children. And despite the rather extensive amount of energy he had to put into making them behave long enough for him to teach them their multiplication tables he had found it to be a rewarding job, one that had him shuffling home to his tidy bachelor's apartment with a satisfied and slightly lazy smile decorating his face. Of course, this was only until the day he heard that he was to have a student teacher working under him for the entirety of the coming school year. Apparently the bloke had been having such a terrible time of it over the past year that his professors were down to their last, desperate option.

To make him teach children.

The old man chuckled now to think of the horror it had brought him then. That his profession would be considered a last resort for an obviously inept student. What a headstrong young fool he'd been, exasperated at the mere mention of trouble on the horizon! Granted, that first horror was nothing in comparison to the fear that had lodged itself his chest when the exuberant man tripped into his classroom with a sloppy grin and an over-full mug of coffee.

From that little introduction alone he should have known that his world would never be the same. At the time the only reaction he could manage was a deep sigh as he glanced up from the freshly printed lesson plans on his desk. He remembered with a surprising clarity how the man's face seemed to crumple just before he dropped his gaze to floor and dragged his feet the rest of the way to the small desk Arthur had thoughtfully set up next to his own.

A decision he was already beginning to regret.

Arthur found himself sighing in that self analytic way of the elderly as he wrapped his frail fingers about the china cup he had previously set aside as the memories continued to wash over him bit by bit. He could smell that too strong coffee now, could hear the excited buzz of children in the hallway in the final minutes before the first bell rang. And he could see Alfred Jones as clearly as he could see the empty chair on the opposite side of the table.

He took a sip of his now lukewarm tea and he gave himself over to the past completely.

"It's Jones, isn't it?" After taking a moment to regain his composure Arthur trusted himself to speak without sounding too much like a blithering idiot. When the man responded only with a quirked eyebrow and a subtle sloping of his rather wide shoulders he took this as the only affirmation he was likely to get. He bit his lip to stop himself from making a snap comment about manners and introductions, settling instead for "I'll introduce you to the students after the morning announcements, then I'd like for you to observe how I run the class. When the day is done I'd like to hear your thoughts."

A long slurping sound as the man downed what had to be a majority of his bitter smelling coffee was the only answer he received. It was no small wonder that he'd had trouble with his other attempts as a student teacher with a deplorable attitude like that. And yet, for some strange reason Arthur was feeling awkward under the steady blue eyes that were planted upon his every move.

His shoulders stiffened as he tried desperately to divert his attention to the day's lesson plans. It was difficult to not check the watch about his wrist for the time. To count the last few minutes before the bell and the slow steady hours before the end of the school day after that. He just didn't see why the man wouldn't try and make things easier for himself, but making friends didn't seem to be any part of Mr. Jones' agenda.

It was going to be a very long year indeed.

As if on ironic cue, the first bell rang and a throng of energetic children began spilling through the door. His heart lightened a bit in his chest as he took in their new and unfamiliar, if very eager faces, he had what was supposed to be a very good bunch on his hands this year. Only a couple pranksters scattered throughout the class and their antics were only a sliver compared to the delinquents that he'd come in contact with in the past. There was always something so rewarding about this job though, especially with the more troubled cases.

For Arthur it was always a wonderful feeling to be needed, to have some sort of impact on a person's life, and nothing was more changeable than the emotions of children. Regardless of what some men might claim, he firmly believed that the foundation of every adult's life was built on their childhood experiences. For as much as things change with age it was an essential part of human nature to look back to the past for guidance or reassurance.

This was why he had chosen this profession above all others, it didn't matter that the pay was less than desirable, it was the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. And no matter how cliche it sounded, Arthur held nothing closer to his heart.

The final bell clanged, the children quit their conversations and slid into their seats and attention (mostly) focused towards the front of the room and upon the unfamiliar face behind the unfamiliar desk. Their curiosity was a palpable thing, wriggling and full of static. Arthur resisted the urge to grin as the PA crackled and the morning announcements began, it was the usual list of things, like what was being served for lunch and a reminder that running in the halls, although useful in discovering future track talents, was highly frowned upon. It was not any of these particular things that had him wanting to smile so broadly though; it was that his previously stoic student teacher who was now quite obviously nervous at being introduced to the youths so eagerly staring at him.

Life could be supremely amusing at times like these.

As the Principle's fuzzy voice wound down the list of required material Arthur decided that it was silly to hold back a grin all for the sake of a nervous newcomer. It took too much effort to do otherwise, and he couldn't really bring himself to care what the man might think of him. Whoever was scared by children was really no one to overly concern himself with anyways.

There was a pleasant click as the PA system was shut off for the morning, followed by the concise sound of Arthur clearing his throat to bring the children's back to the front of the room, it having been diverted by more interesting things while the announcements were running. For a moment his eyes flickered to the obviously uncomfortable man at the desk next to his own as he began to speak.

"Good morning class, today I'd like to introduce you to a special person who will be working with us for the entirety of this school year. Mr. Jones here will be helping me design your assignments and special activities, and if he's lucky I might even teach him how to play heads up seven up for rainy days, now how does that sound to you?" His voice had warmly drifted out as he stood from his desk to move towards the chalk board.

As was expected, a general ruckus of exuberant good will rang back out at him and made Alfred Jones squirm in his seat.

"Try your best to make him feel welcome, he seems to be the shy type, but no great worries, we'll have him joining in our fun won't we?" In a seemingly contradictory move he wrote the words "Multiplication Tables" on the board as the kids moved from laughing to groaning at the site of such a menacing subject at the start of their day. There was nothing quite so awful as long division when at that age, a true terror to behold, but at the very least Arthur had managed to bring it about in a not so menacing way.

It was just a quick overview for the first day, so as not to scare the youngsters too quickly.

From behind his strange new desk Alfred Jones watched this exchange between student and teacher with a rapt sort of fascination, at least, since the attention on him had seemed to cool down a decent bit. He hadn't really seen such an easy exchange in a classroom in what felt like forever, if his college professors had been this cheery with their students, then maybe he wouldn't have found himself here in the first place.

But even all this was beginning to not look so terrible now.

From what he had heard, the man who was now calmly going over the rudimentary basics of Multiplication was supposed to be some sort of genius that Alfred's teachers figured could help anyone. That he had found himself being lumped in with a bunch of elementary school children had offended him at first, he wasn't exactly stupid, he just couldn't work with the jerks that were high school teachers. Of course, he didn't know what this guy had been told about him yet, so he didn't want to get too excited, though he couldn't help feeling slightly optimistic about this entire endeavor.

His attention reverted itself back towards the board, a small smile starting at the corner of his mouth. He wouldn't let on that he wasn't quite so uncomfortable about all this as he was when he stumbled through the door only twenty minutes before, just on the off chance "Mr. Kirkland" wasn't so kind towards older students. He somehow doubted that was the case though, he seemed to be a genuinely decent person, and as many times as his parents told him it wasn't wise to make generalizations of a person's character based on a first meeting alone, he didn't have it in himself to do otherwise. He simply liked to believe in the best of people. It was his greatest strength.

It was also his greatest weakness.