From the Same Place as You

Gavin stared at her, mouth open.

The dress looked as though it had been made for her. Its light, soft fabric followed the curve of her neck and shoulders, drew in at the waist to show just the right hint of slenderness, then opened slightly at the hem like a flower bud.

Sunlight fell across her from the side. Through the thin skirt, he could faintly make out the long lines of her legs. She was like a little tree carefully tended on a windowsill all spring, finally spreading every branch and leaf in early summer.

The skin below her collarbones, once so pale it had been almost translucent, now had a healthy glow.

The loose folds of her Hospital Gown were gone, replaced by a fitted waist. The lines that had spent so long hidden beneath baggy striped fabric in the corridors of St. Mungo's now filled out every curve of the dress just as they should.

The station announcement sounded again. Pigeons fluttered past overhead from the iron rafters, and people wheeling suitcases flowed around them.

He stood there with his mouth open, his vocabulary evaporating at several words a second.

"Pretty." In the end, that was all he could find.

Cordelia tilted her head. The ends of her silver-blond hair slipped off her shoulder, tracing a short arc in the sunlight.

"Really pretty," Gavin added, as if his first adjective had not been enough.

The corners of Cordelia's mouth lifted a little.

She smiled, pleased and unabashed, with the delight of someone who had just learned to use a new weapon and hit the bull's-eye on her first try.

She lightly smoothed the hem of her floral dress, took a step forward, and stood beside him near the stone pillar.

Gavin's gaze dropped a little from her