Notes: Written for a kinkmeme prompt that's so specific if I write what it is here then it'd spoil the point of the fic. Set sometime Post-PL3, with some minor spoilers for the third game.

"Unhand me right now, you brute!"

"Is that really the best you can come up with? I've heard you make better insults than that plenty of times before," Don Paolo dismissed, as he tried very hard to tie a knot in the rope he was using to keep his hostage in place. It was quite difficult to manage, when said hostage was wriggling about with the intention of not letting him tie her up.

"A lady does not partake in handing out insults when they can be avoided," Flora retorted, before adding, "And if you'd stop kidnapping me so often then you wouldn't have to listen to them at all."

"The only other option I had in that area is Luke, before he left, and believe me when I say that he's more annoying when you try to hold him captive than you are. Also, you're easier to grab," replied Don Paolo.

"How dare you!" Flora raged, "Well, we both know that you're wasting your time anyway. The Professor will be here soon enough and he'll beat you, just like he does every time, and then rescue me."

"This time it'll be different!" Don Paolo retorted.

"I suppose you tell yourself that a lot," Flora mocked, "Do you sit in your… cave, or whatever hole you live in, and tell yourself that this next genius plan is going to be the one to stump the Professor once and for all?"

Don Paolo shot back, "One day I will make a plan that works! And for your information, I do not live in a cave!" He lived in an abandoned shack on the edge of London, but that was beside the point.

"If you're so sure, then why don't you tell me what today's plan is?" Flora sighed, "Since you're always so keen on bragging about them."

"I do not brag," Don Paolo informed her. Honestly, half of the time he wondered why he didn't just gag her to shut her up. But, in truth, Flora did contribute towards pretty much the only human conversation Don Paolo had these days. Even if he did have to kidnap her to make conversation and most of that conversation was about how Layton was going to defeat him. But since she asked he told her, "If you must know, my plan today is one that'll even impress you."

He turned away, rummaging through his bag, before pulling out a rubber mask and placing it over his face. He looked like the perfect double of Layton. Or at least, his face did. Which was a little jarring, when attached to Don Paolo's body.

Flora was unimpressed; "You already tried that one."

"Ah, but the last time I dressed up as Layton I was working with him to fool that oaf Dimitri and help my beloved Claire," he informed her, "Today I will be tricking all of Layton's little tagalongs, so that they can't tell me apart from the real deal!"

Flora shook her head, commenting, "You were much nicer when you were working with the Professor to help people. I don't see why you keep up this charade when you could just as easily make friends with him and be better off."

"I could never be friends with a fiend like Layton!" roared Don Paolo, as he pulled the rest of the costume out of his trunk, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready to confront my guest."

He left the room, leaving Flora to stew in her annoyance at the situation. She hated that she was always the one who got kidnapped and that the others always had to come save her. With each and every new adventure, she always promised herself that she'd try harder to be useful, only to find that, once again, she'd be kidnapped. It wasn't always by Don Paolo, since the kindly Professor had made many other enemies over the years, but he was the most frequent offender. And over time she'd stopped being scared of him, as Flora knew, without a doubt, that Layton would come to save her in the end. So instead she just got angry at her own incompetence.

Looking around, Flora tried to determine exactly where she was, without much luck. It was a dusty and bare room, with most of the remaining furniture covered by yellowing sheets. From that, she guessed this was probably one of the many unoccupied houses that dominated the outskirts of London – too expensive for the average person too afford, but not impressive enough for someone of the upper classes to consider buying. Often, she wondered if Don Paolo had memorised all of the unoccupied buildings in the city, because he never seemed to have trouble finding somewhere to hide her whenever he took her hostage.

As she listened carefully, she heard the creaking of floorboards and presumed it was Don Paolo walking around in one of the other rooms. Since he was apparently distracted, she started trying to force her arms free of the bindings, without much luck. Oh well, she'd just have to wait here until the others came to save her…

For a moment, Flora allowed herself to drift into the fantasy of what might happen if she did manage to get out of this on her own. Surely, if she could just untie herself, then she could find something amongst the scattered junk in this room that she could use as a weapon. Not with the intention of causing any real damage, however, because that wasn't what a lady did, but just enough to knock Don Paolo out, so that when the Professor arrived he would be most impressed by how well she could look after herself. Maybe if Inspector Chelmey was there, then he could finally arrest Don Paolo and Flora might get a medal for her good wor-

…There was a yell from down the stairs.

Leaning forward, Flora tried hard to listen to what was going on. Though she couldn't hear what was being said, there were raised voices and what sounded like a scuffle. She rather fancied that Don Paolo's disguise wasn't fooling anyone.

Then she heard sharp and heavy thumps on the staircase. It sounded like two people were running up them and towards the room that she was in.

Now that she could hear the voices, Flora recognised the unmistakable tone of the Professor yelling; "Come back here and tell me what you're done with Flora, Paul!"

The other figure seemed to be running silently and didn't reply.

After a moment, she heard the first voice say, "If you've laid a finger to harm her then I'm afraid that I cannot forgive you!"

Then the door was flung open.

There stood Don Paolo, dressed in a very convincing Layton outfit, eyes widening at the sight of her.

"Flora! Thank goodness you're all right…"

He moved across the room to where she was tied up.

"Don't you dare come near me!" Flora shrieked, "Fool me once, Don Paolo! Just you wait until the real Professor bursts through that door and sorts you out!"

"My dear, I think you're confused," he soothed, kneeling down to untie her.

"Don't touch me!"

On reflex, she kicked out, her foot connecting with his face. Perhaps in his haste, Don Paolo had forgotten to securely bind her legs, but whatever the reason, she was now taking full advantage of her limited freedom to stop this man from causing anymore harm to her.

"Hah!" she cried, triumphantly, as Don Paolo recoiled, clutching his face.

Her victory was short-lived, however, when it became apparent that the other Layton, the one who had been chasing the first Layton and proclaiming he was going to save her, was now standing at the doorway, laughing in a most vile manner.

"This is too rich!" he proclaimed, "There's no way I could have planned for this!"

"Paul, that's quite uncalled for…" muttered the Layton on the floor, the one she had just kicked. He sat up, revealing that one of his eyes was now blackening quite rapidly. The effect this had on his face was profound, making him look like one of his eyes was now much larger than the other.

"Oh…" Flora gasped, as realisation hit her.

"You will release Flora this instant," said the real Layton, the one who was currently getting up off the floor.

"Don't you worry about that," Don Paolo laughed, now not bothering to imitate Layton's voice, despite still wearing the outfit, "I've had more than enough revenge on you for one day, Layton."

"You… you wicked man!" Flora cried, finding that her eyes were now bubbling with tears at her own incompetence.

"Flora, my dear, don't let him upset you," Layton said, soothingly. He walked over to untie her and this time she allowed him to, "You were just trying to defend yourself."

"Just a shame you hit the wrong target," Don Paolo mocked.

"Not another word out of you!" scolded Flora, surprising Layton by pushing past him the moment she was untied and striding over to Don Paolo, "I've a good mind to… to…"

She didn't know what she had a good mind to do that could be expressed in a ladylike manner, but she did know that she very definitely wanted to hit this revolting man and raised her arm to do so.

Slap!

Flora found herself staring in disbelief as Don Paolo smacked his hand against her own outstretched palm. Had he just… given her a high five?

"Great work, kid, I could see us making wonderful partners in crime, if you ever got bored of tagging along after Layton," he laughed.

Then, just like that, he was out the door and running down the stairs.

Flora regained her composure enough to yell after him, "I would never abandon the Professor for someone like you!"

She took satisfaction in that he probably heard her, but that was the last she saw of him that day. Good riddance, as far as she was concerned!

Turning around, she allowed the wave of emotions to hit her and ran over to Layton, burying her head in his chest and sobbing loudly.

"Professor… I'm so, so sorry…"

"Don't be, my dear, you made a simple mistake and otherwise did a good job of defending yourself," he assured her.

Looking up at him, eyes brimming with tears, she mumbled, "But I didn't… All he did was mock me…"

"Ah, but you proved that you have the… the raw skill to defend yourself," replied Layton, trying not to wince at the thought of his own black eye, "All you need to do is learn to hone your skills."

"Do you think so? Do you really think that I could learn to defend myself? To be… useful?" Flora asked, brightening up.

"You've always been useful, my dear girl, don't ever doubt yourself about that," Layton replied, smiling down at his daughter, "But if you did ever want to practise defending yourself, then I'm sure I could arrange to help teach you."

"Thank you, Professor!" she cheered.

"Now then, shall we go?" he offered, quietly hoping that he could find an ice-pack to cover his eye with sometime soon.

"Very well," agreed Flora, releasing him from her hug and taking his hand instead, so that the two of them could walk together.

Perhaps there had been… bumps in the road, and most notably a bump on the Professor's face, in regards to her progress in becoming an independent person who could defend herself, but Flora felt that today she had definitely made some progress.

And, despite what Don Paolo might feel, Layton would agree with her about that.