Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Professor Layton series. The rights belong to Level 5 games and not me.

Amending ball.

The not-so-famed Mystery room was less hectic than normal as the occupants of the room were both chilling lazily on that warm day of Summer, the two people who worked in this special yet under appreciated room hadn't been working many cases as of late despite the fact that it was a sweltering time of year and many people had the day off so criminal activity should have increased.

Alfendi Layton, son of the famed Professor Hershel Layton, was simply reading one of the multiple newspapers that were stuffed into his coat pockets as he leaned back in his recliner. He let out the occasional groan of acknowledgement as his eyes skimmed every single word of every single article in the newspaper he had been lost to.

Detective constable Lucy Baker, his assistant, sat at the desk while doing various activities that could very well be a means as to pass the time. Her eyes explored several small files on petty criminals that she had arrested in the past but, unbeknownst to her, her friend/superior/mentor was reading up on a very special criminal indeed.

L'gent was an assassin whom targeted all of noble and wealthy status, his identity was unknown and he somehow always managed to worm out of the police's clasp. He had been scarily elusive and, according to the very few records found in the archives of this murderer, he was very interested in finance and had a reputation of grabbing the fortune from his deceased victims.

It was like Keelan Makepeace and the jig-saw killings all over again.

Alfendi let out a bored sigh as he reclined in his chair with his weight tipping the leather chair backwards. He softly held the newspaper in his hands with his slim fingers gently resting against the thinned pages. He felt yellow eyes widened as a certain article in his newspaper had arrested his attention. He jerked forwards and literally stuck his pointy nose into the news about said criminal as he exclaimed abruptly and inadvertently startling Lucy "L-Lucy! Have a listen to this!"

Lucy was shocked to hear the prof suddenly say something so hastily and pretty much collapsed to the floor out of pure shock. She let out a shriek of surprise and pain as she thumped to the ground and her whole body took the impact hard.

Al's eyes sparkled, he appeared to have suddenly been acting like a child on Christmas morning. He didn't seem to notice his assistant's tumble and he didn't even let the poor woman respond before he cleared his throat and read the article aloud.

"Ahem! 'During the night the mysterious mass murderer, L'gent, has appeared to have struck again as he has slaughtered a wealthy young woman whom remains anonymous at this point. He remains at large and Scotland Yard is positively stumped by this case'."

Alfendi closed his newspaper and rolled it up with a somewhat enthused grin tugging at his lips, his placid purple mop of hair bristling a bit when he became excited about this case. He hadn't had the pleasure of solving something like this in quite sometime and he wanted to get his mind away from the heat and dive right into this oh-so exciting case that he wanted to solve as quick as possible.

He looked over to the desk where the plucky detective constable was supposedly seated "Isn't this exciting, Lucy!?"

But then he noticed that Lucy nowhere to be seen and he blinked at this. Where had she gone? She had been there a few seconds ago and she seemed to have been pretty preoccupied with the files and paperwork that were stacked upon her mahogany desk. Alfendi frowned and stood up from his seat, had a hunch of what had happened started to walk up to the big piece of furniture and he curiously peaked around the desk.

What he saw made him really worry.

Lucy was laying on the ground. Al's excitement melted away and was replaced by concern as he darted to the young lady at record speed. Upon reaching her fallen form, Al knelt beside his assistant and peered worriedly over her in order to gain a visual examination "Goodness, are you alright?"

Lucy rubbed her swelling temple tenderly as she cracked her eyes open. It was obvious that beside hitting her head on the ground, she hadn't hurt herself too severely as she had simply seemed to tumble due to shock. Her cap had even become dislodged from her head and she reached around for it, her hand hovering about to try and grab her precious orange headgear. She was a tad disoriented as she searched around for her hat.

Lucy hissed softly "Urrrrggghhh...nowt to worry 'bout me, in fine fettle I am."

Alfendi couldn't help but be amused by his assistant's sarcastic reply. A small grin curled at his lips as he bent down and offered his hand out to his poor plucky assistant, he felt his grin expand when she took his hand and held it tighter than anything and she promptly risen to her feet with the assistance of the slightly older inspector.

The pair looked at each other in an awkward few moments, each of their cheeks flaring up with this red glow. Neither of them could avert their eyes from the other and they even felt strangely content with each other in some odd way. They kind of didn't want this moment to end —not that either of them would admit it— and you could just imagine the dismay they felt when an abrupt knocking on the door had broke the duo from their silence.

Lucy's Ruby eyes lit up as she exclaimed "A-Ah, must be t'door!"

She didn't waste much time in hastening to the door of the Mystery room. Her footsteps waded against the carpet floors, the soles of her plimsoles tapping softly against the featherlight-soft material with several items scattered and strewn untidily across it.

Lucy's eyes were solely focused on the door she headed towards and even reached her hand out to touch the doorknob just within inches of it. Her hand promptly gripped on the round golden object that was attached to the tall mahogany piece of wood and proceeded to pull it towards her, yanking it open.

Upon opening the door a crack, Lucy's eyes widened in response to seeing a familiar gentleman standing outside.

This man was quite tall in stature. He wore a brown velvet coat with a tall collar and he also wore matching trousers that complimented his jacket. Beneath the coat, he wore a rather baggy orange jumper that had a rather wrinkled neck hole to where his rectangular-shaped head poked out from. The one noticeable thing about this man, though, was his brown top hat that was perched proudly atop his head. The older gentleman's hazel brown hair had small strips of silver streaked the odd strand and he had very small age lines beneath his eyes to signify that he was getting on in his years.

Professor Hershel Layton —highly esteemed father of Alfendi Layton— stood patiently outside the door of the Mystery room as he rocked a little on the balls of his feet. His endearing little dot-like eyes were bright with chivalry and he even smiled a bit.

"O-Oh! Papa prof, what a shock!" Lucy exclaimed when she came face-to-face with the Professor.

Alfendi was equally shocked when he saw his father standing in the doorway, looking just as proper and gentlemanly as ever. Al's eyes were wide and his mouth was gaping open with shock but he also stiffened quite visibly and his shoulders were bunched and bulging from his lab coat; he was becoming anxious.

Lucy was unaware of Al's sudden change of mood and hardly hesitated on opening the door all the way to invite Professor Layton into the Mystery room and the Professor hesitated for a few moments before stepping into the untidy room with wonder evident in his dot-like eyes, he tipped his hat to Lucy gratefully and made his way over to Alfendi.

While he was passing through the door, the Professor smiled at Lucy "Nice to see you, Miss Baker."

Lucy smiled cheerily back at him. The two had met not too long ago when Lucy had received Professor Layton's post by mistake and he had invited her over as a token of gratitude. While she were over there, the older Prof explained how he had adopted Alfendi when he had found him as a delicate little infant. That just so happened to have been the same day where she and Al went to track down "Marianna Etista" and went out of the Mystery room.

But Al didn't appear to take so warmly to him as Lucy did.

Alfendi's golden/yellow eyes narrowed and he set his jaw as if to look menacing. His back and shoulders were hunched and his hair turned from its placid purple to its angry wild dishevelled Crimson colour, signalling his sudden shift in personality; he hardly moved from his spot as his glaring eyes never left the puzzle-loving Professor of archeology.

A very long few moments had passed through the room and Lucy read the uncomfortable silence and took her cue to leave for a little while so father and son could get properly reacquainted with each other.

"Well...uhhhh...I'll b-be sorting th-these files out, prof!"

Lucy grinned nervously as she hastily gathered a stack of files and proceeded to run out the door. She was out faster then a rabbit with a rocket strapped to its back as she carried the files out, not evening caring that some of the files she was holding had fallen from her arms and on to the collective clutter on the ground. She even slammed the door behind her.

This left both father and son alone in the room.

Neither dared to speak a word to each other for a long time, they just stood in complete silence.

After a few more moments, the Professor spoke up in an attempt to lift the tension. "...Well...your assistant seems nice,"

Al didn't speak for several more moments before he begrudgingly replied "...Yes, she's a polite and plucky young lady, but she has a habit of jumping to conclusions."

Professor Layton smirked wryly and furrowed a brow "Just like you used to?"

That remark might have struck a nerve since another long silence of awkwardness flowed through the room like a stream.

The two Layton's soaked in the completely awkward quiet that swam between them both and the one-sided hostility was enough to dampen the sweltering hot temperatures. The Professor was very cautious when it came to his son, regarding his temper and his split personality that had assisted in causing a rift between them both.

"Since when have you become aquatinted with my assistant anyways?"

The Professor responded to this question with a small smile, trying his best to choose his words carefully and not agitate Alfendi as this would be very unwise. He answered this question honestly and made an effort to keep his polite tone even. While he replied he scratched his chin thoughtfully whence he thought back to that morning where he met the Yorkshire-accented Detective Constable.

"Apparently my mail fell into her hands by mistake and she delivered it to me."

He kept his response short and his son even seemed satisfied with that answer.

Finally Professor Layton steeled himself when he decided to get to the point of his visit. This had been going on long enough and he didn't want to keep distancing himself from Al because he was sick and tired of just being a coward and it was his job to be there for him, something at which he felt he had failed at.

Before he had the chance to open his mouth, though, Alfendi spoke first and he beat him to the punch.

"What brings you here anyway?" He asked with his faux voice dark in tone.

The Professor swallowed hard and adjusted his top hat by twisting the rim of his headwear. He didn't know how he could answer this question without being so anxious, despite the fact that he was rarely anxious to begin with and he had never felt like this especially in front of his own son. He exhaled a deep sigh, closing his eyes and it took a long few moments before he let the words come out.

"...I...I was wondering if I could take you out somewhere, Alfendi."

Al furrowed a surprised brow at his father, looking aghast for a few moments.

"P-Pardon?"

The Professor smiled rather anxiously and clarified himself. "There's going to be a gathering at Buckingham palace and I was wondering if you would like to come with me?"

Alfendi just couldn't believe his ears. His father, did he just ask him to go to Buckingham palace...? To meet her royal highness!? If the younger man wasn't so hostile then he would have been screaming like a little girl from joy and his eyes even sparkled like those of a child on Christmas morning. But he maintained his composure and just asked his father calmly "You want me to come with you to a party at the queen's palace?"

The Professor nodded while looking at his son pleadingly, obviously hoping that his answer would be "yes".

Al really didn't fancy going outside at all but, despite how he had been feeling, he just didn't want to see his father disappointed. Not only that but going to Buckingham palace was an exquisite opportunity and he knew he wouldn't be of sane mind to pass this chance up. His mind also lit up with an idea when he realised something else.

The serial murderer L'gent was assassinating all people of nobility and wealth. There was a high chance that he would be present for this, as well, and he would be ripe for the picking. The benefits of this were outweighing the negatives here but there were two things that made him worry: His "heritage" and his Split personality disorder.

Whenever he would go out into public places people would compare him with his father and criticise how unlike his father is and how ungentlemanly is. Not only that but he was pretty fearful that people would be afraid and intimidated of him because of how he would abruptly switch personas without warning.

It would seem that he was going to have to get over these worries, however.

Alfendi sighed, fiddling with the little curl atop his head while he thought hard and he looked down to the floor with golden/yellow eyes overflowing with anxiety.

Thankfully the Professor read his son's face like a book and turned around to walk out the door of the Mystery room. Alfendi took notice of how his father's feet were noticeably heavy upon landing on the ground, he seemed to limp a bit and he seemed to have been trying his hardest to hide it from him.

As the Professor walked out the door, he looked over his shoulder and said "I'll give you some time to think about it, I'll hopefully see you tonight."

With that the gentleman archeologist closed the door behind him and left the inspector to dwell in his own thoughts; Tonight. This special event at the Queen's palace was tonight.

He did want to go but how could he like this? He looked down at his lab coat stuffed with newspapers and pulled the sides of the coat apart to reveal his blue and red-stripped turtleneck and he looked down at his current attire with slight repulse. His eyes were firm with determination and a frown was fixed on his lips.

Thankfully it was then that Lucy reentered the room.

"So, Prof?" She started "Wot did your pop want to chat about?"

He didn't answer her.

Lucy just stood there with a look of perplexity plastered upon her face, the Prof was silent for several moments as his back was turned against her. Her ruby red irises flashed with pure confusion and shock as Al slowly turned to face her with a glance cast a serious look at her with his hair turned all Crimson and untamed.

A very heavy silence had been exchanged between the two and neither of them spoke a word to each other for what felt like decades. It was then that a somewhat devilish smirk pulled at his lips as he told her with a mischievous edge in his voice.

It was such a surprising request that if Lucy were drinking water at the time she would have spat it out.

"Lucy, please go out and get me a presentable formal outfit..."

A/N: Hi, everyone! This is going to be a father/son fic between the Professor and Alfendi and I hope you guys enjoy it. I honestly can't wait to do this one because I already have some things in mind for later and I love the Layton brother games and I think that the idea of Al is intriguing.

I also like Lucy's character, too.

If they ever make a sequel then I hope we see our favourite gentleman puzzle-solver.

Btw, if you want to see the story of when Lucy and Professor Layton meet (in my version) then just look at "Memoirs of the heart" fanfic.

Please review and fave.

-Chloemcg