MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE Y'ALL!
Ok, confession time: I meant to post this story 3 Christmas's ago, but I never finished it the first time and the next 2 years I had stopped enjoying the festive season and didn't bother.
BUT THIS YEAR I FEEL REALLY CHRISTMASSY
So, with a rewrite and new characters since it was planned, please enjoy this very late story!
Christmas with the Layton's
"Deck the 'alls with sommit' holly..." Detective Constable Lucy Baker muttered to herself, unsure of the real lyrics to the carol. Her song was accompanied only by the hum of the central heating system, and the tapping of her shoes as they met the polished marble hallways of Scotland Yard Headquarters. The Yard was always bustling with activity, but today it was eerily quiet, with only a few other individuals in the entire building. The absence of the familiar chaos gave the workplace a ghostly and spine chilling atmosphere, that not even the Christmas trees and tinsel could lift. Lucy shuddered and pressed on; of course, she hadn't expected many people to be in, not on Christmas Eve, she wasn't intending to stay herself; she'd come to make last minute plans for the next day.
Every Christmas she was fussed over and spoiled by her parents, caught up in the tradition that Christmas was for family alone, and being an only child she found herself short of anyone her age to talk to. But this year she had decided it was time to be independent, and to spend Christmas Day in London with friends. The problem was, she had left organising anything a bit late, so she had come to the Yard to see if, just maybe, anyone was free. Besides, nearly everybody working there were oddballs, someone was bound to be unoccupied.
The endeavour, however, was not fruitful. Hilda was spending the season in Australia and had been gone for some time, Dustin was in some unheard of tropical country helping his brother with archaeological digs, while Florence was being cared for by her cousin, the cold having given her a bad flu. Even Sniffer, once found going through a box of unused Christmas decorations, turned out to be busy; he had decided to work over the holidays (Lucy wondered if anything could tear him from his investigations).
Lucy trudged back along the corridors with a sigh; it looked like Christmas Day was going to be a little bleak this year. Hands in pockets, she skipped across the stone tiles; she could always try to find a train to Yorkshire to see her parents, but she had been determined to do something different this year! Lucy stopped in her tracks, and reversed two paces. She was stood outside a door, with the words "London's New Scotland Yard Serious Crime Division Classified Investigation Agency Headquarters" written on a placard that was screwed into the wood. Lucy smiled to herself; if anyone was going to be free on Christmas Day, it was the man behind this door.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS PROF!" Lucy shouted, throwing the door of the Mystery Room open. Inspector Alfendi Layton was sat at his usual spot, at the desk sorting through files. He was dressed as usual, in his signature red and blue jumper under a white lab coat, the pockets of which were stuffed with newspapers and magazines. His floppy, dusty purple hair was tied back in a loose ponytail that rested on his shoulder. At Lucy's entry, Alfendi jumped out of his skin, scattering paper everywhere that covered the carpet like snow. The man had thrown himself backwards in shock, and was now sprawled on the floor, entangled with the office chair. Lucy dived forward to help him, but Alfendi had already scrambled to his feet, his hair scarlet and draped across his face.
"LUCY!" He screamed, anger radiating off him like heat. "What the Hell was that for! Look what you've done!" He pointed at the avalanche of unorganised paperwork with open palms. Lucy looked at the mess sheepishly, her face bright red.
"Ur..." She mumbled. "An' a 'appy new year?"
Lucy returned to the Mystery Room door with two cups of tea. She was scarlet with embarrassment, wondering how on Earth she was going to convince the Prof to spend Christmas with her now. She took a deep breath, then pushed the door open with her shoulder. Inside, Alfendi had cleared up the paper and was slotting it inside a folder. His hair had returned to dusty purple, but Lucy barely ever used this as an indicator of which personality was in control; She was with the Prof so often these days that she could instantly tell whether 'Potty Prof' or 'Placid Prof' was making an appearance from the tiniest details: from the way he talked, to his posture. Lucy was never alarmed by the change in personality, as she had been when she first experienced it. Besides, they were quite frequent now that Alfendi was more open about his disorder, and while Placid was there most often, Potty made appearance's daily, often to complain about the quality of the corner shop's sandwiches, or to back-chat an annoying client once they had left the room.
Alfendi looked up at Lucy, his cheeks a little flushed, but not with the anger that had been there a few minutes ago; he too was embarrassed.
Lucy stepped cautiously into the room and handed him the cup of tea. "Ah… Sorry 'bout that." Lucy stammered nervously. "I was just… Ur… I din' mean ta'."
"It's fine, Lucy." Alfendi said quietly, taking the tea with an anxious smile. He cleared his throat, avoiding her gaze. "I should be the one apologizing, really. You have to put up with a lot, working with me, and I never really-"
"Ah, don't worry yourself none." Lucy smiled. "You think I'd still be 'ere if I couldn' deal with it?" Alfendi smiled back at her graciously, and Lucy half expected him to say something else, like 'Thank you' or 'for that I'm grateful' or even just 'Well, that's ok then', but, in true Alfendi Layton style, he placed his tea on the desk and sat down at the computer, leaving the conversation irritatingly unfinished. Lucy tried to hide her disappointment. She remembered her mission; she didn't want to straight out ask him to come over to her flat for Christmas, that might make her sound clingy. No, she would have to find a way to subtly slip the subject into a conversation.
Alfendi tapped away at the keyboard, updating this, proof reading that, getting the boring stuff out of the way. Lucy leaned on the computer screen, so that her forearms and head were just visible above the glaring, digital documents. Alfendi glanced at her for a moment before returning to his work. "So…" She started, coolly. "What'd ya think of the decorations?" He stopped typing for a moment to look around the room at the glittery, rather sad bits of tinsel that littered every surface.
"It… Leaves room for improvement for next year." He concluded. "But next time, please ask me before decorating, it throws off my concentration when I'm calculating the possibility that a murderer is a dog owner."
"Aww, come off it Prof!" Lucy exclaimed. "It's Christmas! Ya gotta decorate at Christmas!"
"Do you? Well, I for one can't stand Christmas. Shop's are too busy to breath in and annoying and repetitive songs are everywhere. Still," He chuckled a little. "Plenty of murders happen at Christmas." Lucy decided to ignore this, and began to stroke the tinsel that was sellotaped around the computer screen.
"Well, if you 'ate it that much, I guess you won't be busy tomorra'!" She said excitedly. "It's just that, I was planning a bit of a get together with some of the gang, and if ya wanted to come…" Alfendi looked up at her briefly with a slight scowl, before returning to computer.
"Sorry, Lucy, but I already have plans." He said matter-of-factly.
"Oh…" Lucy felt like a little piece of her broke at his reply. So that was it, then? Everyone, even the Prof, had plans, and she would be alone on Christmas.
Alfendi had not yet looked up at her disheartened expression, and continued talking. "You'll have to give my apologies to the other guests." He stopped dead in his typing, causing silence to fill the room. He stared up at Lucy, his face overcome with sudden realisation. "Because there are going to be other guests." He said sternly, using statements rather than questions. "Because you invited other people, didn't you Lucy?" Lucy chewed her lip, her cheeks once again flushing with embarrassment.
"Eh…" She started. "Well… Invite, yes. However, like you, everyone's already doing sommit'. She stood upright and gave a feeble smile. "But, never mind, heh? I'm sure I'll think of sommit' to do." She rubbed her hands together sadly, not wanting to look Alfendi in the eye. He didn't stop staring, as if he were trying to work something out.
"... Are you sure?"
"Positive." She replied shortly. There was a short silence, then Alfendi gave a little cough.
"Well… If you did want some company…" He mumbled. "I mean, when I say I have plans… It's not exactly invitation only… But if." He shook himself. "No, no… Never mind. Bad idea, you wouldn't enjoy it anyway-"
"Wouldn't enjoy what?!" Lucy leaned forward eagerly. Alfendi knotted his fingers, undecided as to whether he should go through with the offer.
"Well…" He explained. "Every year, my family… We have reunion of sorts… And if you wanted to pop along…" He cringed with every word. "... Well I don't think anyone would object…" Lucy's grin broadened.
"Y-ya'd really let come an' meet ya family?" She could barely believe what she was hearing; Alfendi Layton, who frowned whenever someone compared him to his father, who snapped when compared to his sister or at the mention of his brother, was suggesting that she, Lucy, should spend Christmas day with him and his almost unheard of family.
"Of course." He continued "You don't have to come, you wouldn't know anyone and would probably get bored- OUF!"
"PROF!" Lucy cried, having dashed around the desk to hug him. "THANK YOU! I'D LOVE TO COME!"
See y'all tomorrow!