The first thing I have to say is that I am not a native speaker, so there might be a few mistakes… But I love the English language so much and I think that it has its own magic that I want to write in English.
I know that there will be a few mistakes in this story but if you would be so kind as to write me a message to tell me of them, I will immediately correct them :)
Well, I hope you like my story.
Disclaimer: All figures belong to Nintendo and I don't earn my money with these stories.
A forgotten Thank You
It was a rainy afternoon when Professor Layton looked out of the window and down into the street. He had been reading something in order to solve a new case but couldn't concentrate. He had been this inattentive for the last couple of days – and he new perfectly well why, although he didn't want to accept it. It was because of Katia, Mr Anderson's daughter, who he had first seen in Dropstone five days ago. When she had gotten into the Molentary Express she had peered at him in such a special way he had never been able to forget. With her big blue eyes and her beautiful hair she had looked like she had been on a very important mission, as if her life had depended on it. One would assume she would have looked frightened or nervous but there had been nothing like that. On the contrary she had looked very strong and brave – that had impressed Professor Layton very much. He had thought her a young, pretty and mature woman. And that had never changed since then.
He had been really surprised to see Katia in Folsense and then her behaviour… As though she had a secret. It had seemed she had not been very successful on her mission but when Professor Layton just had wanted to offer their help she had vanished… This woman had gotten more and more mysterious.
And then in Herzen Castle she had happened to be there, too. Out of nowhere she had been standing in the corridor. Professor Layton had wanted to talk with her but she had been confident that they had to disappear first, so he had trusted her and had run after her. However, they had not been able to reach the door and go out of the castle, for Anton suddenly had appeared to stop them. He had thought Katia to be her grandmother Sophia. Katia had been so timid that she had taken shelter from her own grandfather by standing behind Professor Layton himself and grabbing fearfully his arm. In this moment the Professor had noticed that his heart suddenly had been beating faster than usual and that he had really enjoyed Katia's touch. But he had been not able to think about this any further for then he had to duel with Anton in a sword fight. And after that the whole castle had collapsed and Katia had been able to tell her grandfather the whole story. There had been so much to explain and so much to understand that there had been no possibility for Professor Layton to speak privately with Katia – currently he wasn't even sure if and what he would have said to her – and he and Luke had driven home with the Molentary Express. He had winked her until she had been out of sight…
And now he stood in his office looking out of the window into the rain thinking about no one else but Katia… He hadn't told a soul about his feelings and had instead send Luke home for a free week. The Professor thought that Luke would need some time to come to terms with their last adventure. He was after all still a kid. Like Katia…
No!, the Professor tried to convince himself. Katia might be young but she is no kid any more! She is even of age! But then he turned sad, thinking: Who do I want to fool? I am too old for her… That's settled…
While he was standing at the window arguing with himself he suddenly saw a female figure on the street. The woman had no umbrella, just a hood to hold up the rain. She also seemed to search something. Once in a while she scanned her surroundings and then looked again on a piece of paper she had in her hand.
That's odd, the Professor thought. What does she search in this awful rain?
But then the strange woman took off her hood and looked directly to the window where Layton stood, and he recognized her. "Katia?" he mumbled stunned to himself. But only a few seconds later he ran downstairs and into the rain. "Katia!" he called her when he saw her.
Katia who was already at the next house turned. Her hair was wet and some wisps of hair adhered to her forehead.
The moment Professor Layton stood before her she blurted: "Oh, Professor Layton, I am so sorry!"
"For what?" he asked confused. "Katia, what happened?"
"I forgot to say Thank You!" she answered, started to cry and hugged the Professor with intensity. "I've been looking for your house for over two hours but the address had become wet so I couldn't read it anymore. I'm so glad you found me!"
First he didn't know what to do. What a strange situation! The woman he had been thinking of for the last days was now crying in his arms. But how to handle such a situation? Ironic, Hershel, isn't it?, the Professor thought to himself. You can nearly solve every puzzle but don't know how to comfort a woman… But then he shook his head and said nervously: "Why don't we go inside and you explain me everything there, all right?"
She looked at him and smiled. "All right" she said.
The gentleman he was Professor Layton escorted Katia to his house, took her coat off, gave her a towel to dry her hair and served her some tea in the living room.
After they both had slipped a little swallow of the very tasty but still too hot tea, silence emerged.
The Professor waited for Katia to speak but when she just looked around the room he finally said: "So, Katia. Why do you feel sorry?"
She stared at him with a very sad expression. "I forgot to thank you and Luke for your help in Folsense. There had been just so much to do and to tell – I mean, I just had met my grandfather and so – that I simply forgot to thank you…"
When Professor Layton didn't respond she went on: "That's why I came. I wanted to say Thank You. And I've even got a few puzzles with me, as compensation. So, please forgive me for my great impoliteness. I am really, really sorry." She seemed to be near tears again.
"So" the Professor started, "you came the long way from Folsense only to say Thank You to me?"
"Well, rather from Dropstone because I took grandfather with me and we live their now together, but yes, that's right." She looked as if she was suffering.
Professor Layton still remained silent only starring at the woman in front of him. He just couldn't understand why she troubled herself to come to him for only one little unimportant Thank You.
"Oh, please, Professor, don't torture me. Please, say something" Katia suddenly said.
Then Professor Layton had to smile. "Apology accepted" he said.
"So I am forgiven?" Katia asked carefully.
"Of course you are" Layton answered friendly.
A big smile appeared on her face and she rushed up to hug him again. "Oh, thank you, Professor! Thank you so much!"
Professor Layton still had sat in his armchair when Katia came to hug him. But this time he wasn't as startled as on the street. He hugged her back and said: "Of course you are forgiven. Did you really think I wouldn't forgive you?"
She loosened the hug, again starring at him with this fearful gaze. "I thought you might be mad at me…" she said sadly.
He couldn't resist admiring her beautiful blue eyes but still managed to say: "But it was only a forgotten Thank You. I could never be mad at you given the circumstances." And even without them, he finished the sentence in his mind. "As you already said you had just met your grandfather. There were so many things to explain and to understand. I never thought you impolite for forgetting to say Thank You."
"But I felt so awful these last days! When I saw you winking Goodbye at me I immediately knew that I had forgotten to thank you. I wanted to come after you right the next day but I first had to look after my grandfather and Folsense – or at least what's left of it. I finished that yesterday, so here I am now." She smiled again.
"You saw me winking at you?" was everything that Layton could say for he knew that he had only winked at her when he had thought that she had already turned her back on him.
"I looked at you until the train vanished into the great tunnel" she admitted and turned a bit red.
An uncomfortable pause arose.
"Oh, I forgot I've got something for you" Katia suddenly said excited and got a little notebook from the bag she had brought with her. "Here" she gave it to Professor Layton, "I invented some puzzles so that you can solve them." She sat on the couch again.
The Professor skimmed through it and was stunned. "But… but…" he stuttered, "these are over 50 puzzles! And you created them all by yourself?"
"Yep" Katia answered proudly. "Well, you know, I worked on them very hard for the last days because they were supposed to be my compensation." She shrugged her shoulders.
"You really felt sorry, didn't you?" Layton asked still overwhelmed by all the puzzles.
"Yeah, I think so" she laughed, now relieved because of his forgiveness. "I knew you like to solve puzzles so I thought this to be perfect. Do you like them?"
"Yes, very much" he smiled. "Thank you."
She grinned back at him. "Your welcome."
"Would it be very impolite if I just solved one or two puzzles right now?" he asked with concern.
Katia noticed that he had worry lines on his forehead. "No, of course not" she laughed. "I would be honoured if you solved them at once. I'm really excited what you think of them. A few are very difficult I think."
"Perfect", he said, getting more excited himself.
"Come and sit next to me on the couch" Katia said. "Then I can see which puzzle you're solving and if you're doing it right." She thumbed on the seat next to her, smiling innocently at the Professor.
With his heart pounding very quickly he sat next to her.
"You have a very interesting house, you know?" Katia said lightly. "If I didn't know you were an archaeologist, I think all the ancient things in the glass cabinets would scare me, but because I do know I really like them." She beamed at him and he couldn't help but smiling right back at her.
They spent the whole afternoon solving puzzles together. Katia was very impressed by his intelligence for he solved even some very difficult puzzles quite quickly, and Professor Layton was highly impressed by the finesse she had used to create all these puzzles. They went on solving puzzle after puzzle. When he had no idea she gave him a little hint until he solved it. Once in a while they started laughing because either of a hint she gave – for they sometimes were no hints at all – or because of a false answer he gave – for they sometimes couldn't be possible. It was for both of them a very interesting afternoon.
"Professor!" Katia suddenly exclaimed. "What time is it?!"
The Professor looked at the old clock on the wall. "Almost six" he answered worried.
"Oh, no!" she cried. "Oh, no!"
"What is it?" he wanted to know and automatically took her hands.
That calmed her down immediately. "My train left over half an hour ago" she just said starring shortly at his hands grabbing hers and then back into his face.
He suddenly noticed what he was doing and loosed her hands. Not knowing what else to do with his hands he drank one swallow of the meanwhile cold tea.
"What am I going to do?" Katia said to herself desperately. "Where do I sleep tonight? I don't know anyone in London!"
"You know me" Layton said friendly but without looking at her. "You could stay here for the night." One little glimpse to her face and then back to his tea cup. "I mean only if you want…"
"Really?" Katia asked with a mixture of mistrust and joy in her face.
"A true gentleman never lets a woman stay the night alone in a foreign city" he just said.
Only one moment later Katia was hugging him again. "Oh, thank you so much! What would I do without you?"
"Not being here in the first place?" he suggested not knowing what else to say. He shortly wondered why she didn't seem so sad and severe any more but came to the conclusion that she was relieved that her mission in Folsense had finished in a good way.
She laughed and let go of him again. Then she saw that some tea was brimmed over because of her blustery hug. "Oh, no!" she cried. "I am so, so sorry. What ever I do, doesn't work… I really didn't mean to."
"It's nothing" the Professor said calmly for he would rather have showered with tea than having no hug by Katia – but of course he didn't say that. "It's really nothing. Look, it's only one tiny spot on my knee. And the tea was even cold, so nothing to worry about."
"Okay" Katia said but still looked concerned.
"Why don't we solve the next puzzle together?" Professor Layton suggested to distract the beautiful woman beside him from her worried thoughts.
A bit to his surprise it even worked. "I'd love to" Katia answered smiling brightly.
Like in the hours before they went on and on, solving one puzzle after the other, until the sun had vanished behind the horizon leaving only complete darkness.
"Do you want to eat something?" the Professor asked when he got up to turn on some more lights.
"Yes, please" Katia answered and followed him into the kitchen.
While having dinner they both talked about different things.
"May I ask you how you are getting along recently with your father?" the Professor wanted to know after a while.
"Well" Katia said. "It's been better than before. He finally understood why I had to leave Dropstone for a while and that I was old enough to do it alone, but he's still confused about the things that happened in Folsense. Of course I told him everything but I think he doesn't quite believe me… He doesn't want to understand that Anton is my grandfather…"
"But you have to admit that for any person who wasn't involved, the outcomes in Folsense must seem very strange, don't you think?" Layton tried to comfort her.
She sighed. "I know but it's making things complicated…"
"Who would have thought that the answer was hallucinatory gas…?"
"Yes" Katia agreed. "After I found that out I really feared that everything I saw and every person I had spoken with wasn't real after all… It is a really creepy thought, isn't?"
"Oh, yes" now the Professor agreed. "To know that all the conversations only happened in our imagination…"
"You know what frightened me the most?" Katia asked and looked at him very intensely.
"What?"
"That you might not be real." Her cheeks turned red again.
The Professor didn't know how to answer so he remained silent only starring at the woman in front of him.
"I know it's a foolish thought" she finally said looking down to her hands which were playing nervously with each other in front of her.
"No, it's not" he then said taking her hands again. "I had feared the same."
She smiled lightly turning redder.
"And in the end everything turned out fine, didn't it?" Layton tried to sheer her up. "You met your grandfather, everyone learned about the truth, we all could go back to normal."
"Yes, you're right" she said. "Although it's very sad for Anton and Sophia. They had always loved each other, for over 50 years. He even sent her a message and she answered it. But in the end she had already died when he found out…" A single tear dropped from her cheek. "I saw pictures of them. They were such a wonderful couple. My grandmother used to be so beautiful when she was young."
"Just like her granddaughter" Professor Layton whispered.
Katia starred at him. She blinked a few times very rapidly and avoided to look into his face.
Knowing that she felt uncomfortable he sadly released her hands and stood up. "I am doing now the dishes. You can already go to bed, it's very late" he told her and his voice sounded so weak that Katia appalled.
"No!" she exclaimed.
He looked at her confused.
"I help you" she offered smiling.
He simply nodded and gave her a towel so she could dry the dishes.
After the washing up they went to bed.
"Goodnight, Katia" the Professor said when they stood in front of the guest room in which she would stay the night. He still thought of the uneasy look on her face when he had admired her beauty. She felt sorry for this, he could see how worried she was – but that didn't make it very better. He just had made himself ridiculous…
"Goodnight, Professor" Katia said in that same sad tone.
"Sleep well" he then said and went into his own room.
Katia could only sigh when he had disappeared and returned to her room shutting the door behind her…
When Katia awoke in the night she couldn't fall back into sleep again for she had a nightmare about Professor Layton which was puzzling her… She had dreamt that she had been in a maze in which she had needed to search for the Professor to escape it ever again. When she had finally reached the centre of the maze she had seen something terrible: The Professor had been fencing against her grandfather again. It had exactly been like in the Castle, her grandfather had been young again. But although the Professor had been fencing outstandingly well, her grandfather had been able to kill him with his rapier. He had just inserted it into the Professor's heart when she, Katia, had come around the corner. While his grandfather had laughed evilly and blood had spread about the Professor's dying body, she had cried – and finally awoke. Now she was still crying…
After calming herself down she had a sudden urgency to see if everything was all right with the Professor. But I just can't go into his bedroom!, she bared in mind. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she won't fall into sleep again without looking after the Professor. I will only glimpse into his bedroom and then go back at once, she planned.
Barefooted and tiptoed she sneaked out of the guest room, across the corridor and to the door of his bedroom. With a very loud pounding heart she slowly opened the door and peered with only her face into the dark room. She needed a while to figure out something but then she saw him. Moonlight from an open window shined on his face, and with relief Katia saw that he was all right. She already wanted to go back into her room when she noticed something strange. Trying not to laugh she thought: Really? He's sleeping with his hat on?! Suddenly her pressed laughter stopped and curiosity took over. Why was he sleeping with his hat on? She knew that he never took off his hat – but even in the night while sleeping?! This was a puzzle that had to be solved!
More than quiet she entered the room and tiptoed to his bed. When she stood in front of him she studied his peaceful face and realized that she liked it a lot – and the owner… She wanted to take off the hat only a little bit that she could look under it but not wake him. However, when her hand reached out for the hat it landed finally on his cheek, stroking it very gentle. Katia smiled while dreaming with open eyes…
But suddenly there was someone else with open eyes.
When Katia saw that she startled. Her hand fell off his cheek and she starred at him horrified. Then she fled out of the room, tears dropping off her cheek. She didn't know where to hide so she ran back into her room just standing in the centre of it. What was she thinking?! Now he would think her impertinent! Of course he had taken her hands twice yesterday and had said something about that she was as beautiful as her grandmother – but this was different! She had misapplied his trust.
In this moment she heard that he had entered the room and turned crying: "I am so sorry, I really didn't mean to intr-"
She couldn't say one more word for Professor Layton had quickly come to her and stopped her verbiage with a kiss. It was neither a deep one nor a long one but it made her open her eyes wildly and completely forgot to cry.
"It seems" Professor Layton said when he saw her shocked face, "you are not the only one who has to apologize sometimes."
She could only stare at him with surprise.
"I am sorry, Katia" he said turning sad suddenly. "I didn't mean to kiss you right away. I don't know what has gotten into me… I kept thinking of you, you know. Every single day since we first met at the train station in Dropstone. But it shouldn't take up my mind. I am sorry. I promise it will never happen again." After one last glance at Katia the Professor turned to leave the room.
She first needed to blink a few times to realize what had just happened. But when the Professor wanted to shut the door from the outside to let her have some privacy, she quickly went to him. "Wait!"
Professor Layton looked at her irritated.
"I just wanted to tell you that I kept thinking of you, too" she blurted out, got on tiptoe and gave him a very little kiss on the cheek. After that she only looked at him, waiting for his response and getting redder and redder…
The Professor needed a while to form syllables with his mouth. Finally he managed to ask: "Why?"
Katia didn't need to think about the answer for she suddenly knew why. "You are my hero" she said and smiled.
He frowned.
"Well" she went on. "Every time I saw, even at our first meeting on that train station, you looked as if you wanted to help me. I know I never took that chance but I always knew that there was at least someone you would help me if I would need the help. And then, in Herzen Castle, I could hide behind your back when grandfather scared me because he thought I was Sophia. And at last you fought for me without questioning it, without thinking about it. I know you only fenced because Anton challenged you to a duel and you thought you had no other opportunity – but you had. You could have said that we simply weren't together – because that was the accusation of grandfather – or just let him have me."
The Professor agitated at the thought of it.
"You see! You are so kind that you are just not capable of doing something like that. You are always helpful and nice and friendly and intelligent and… and…" She started to cry again. "Do I have to go on? I don't want to humiliate myself…"
"I was the one who humiliated himself by kissing you" he mumbled.
There she had to laugh.
He offered her a hug and she accepted at once.
She didn't know if to cry or to laugh for she felt both emotions at the same time – together with love, of course.
He stroked over her hair until she was calmed.
"What now?" she asked after a while and looked at him frightened.
"We will see" he said smiling lightly. "For now let us go back to sleep. Everything looks brighter in the morning. I could make you breakfast and then accompany you back to Dropstone, if you like."
"I'd love to" she beamed. "You can tell me then why you are such an excellent fencer! I never thought you had it in you."
"I will" he promised. "Good night, my dear." He placed a small kiss on her forehead and left for his room. "Just one more thing" he said before entering his room.
"Yes?"
"Why did you come into my room in the first place?"
Katia laughed. "I had a nightmare and had to check if everything's all right with you. But then I saw that you were sleeping with your hat on and curious as I am I wanted to see what's under it… I'm sorry…"
"Really?" the Professor couldn't believe it. "And… do you still want to see it?"
"What? I mean, of course. But I thought that's a secret!"
"Well, a true gentleman never lets his dame curious about his hat."
"You made that up" she laughed.
"Maybe but it sound very sophisticated, doesn't it?" the Professor answered chuckling.
"Maybe" she said.
And then Professor Layton took off his hat.
Katia eyes became bigger and bigger in disbelief.
"I'll explain you tomorrow" he just said and took his hat on again. "Sleep well, Katia."
"Goodnight, Hershel" she replied smiling brightly and went into the guest room shutting the door behind her.
He smiled, whispering "Goodnight" and returned to his room as well.
And everything only because of a forgotten Thank You…
THE END.