Christmas

Summary: Clive and the Layton crew spend some time together during the holidays. Fluff ensues.

It was December, and Clive was sitting quietly on his bed looking out the window, watching the snow fall lightly onto the ground. It was not exactly a wonderful time of year for Clive, as it was a constant reminder of his prison experience, as shortly after his attempt at destroying London, December came around, and he was put in prison. Christmas was just around the corner, and he wasn't exactly excited. Christmas was one of his favorite holidays as a child, but he hated it as an adult, as he had nobody to celebrate with. He did receive small presents from Grosky during his time in prison, but it wasn't the same. He missed his childhood life and wished for it to be back. He curled up and threw the blanket he was wearing over his head and wrapped it around himself, sighing. He pulled the sheets that were near him over the blanket he was wearing and curled up as tightly as he could. The heating had broken down earlier that morning, and was being repaired as he was sitting there, which meant that he would have to find a way to stay warm until they could fix it. Everyone had opted to use the fireplace and huddle up by that, but Clive would prefer to be alone on a day like this. He was used to the cold, unforgiving silence of being alone, and preferred to keep it that way when he was shaken with memories of his past. He glanced down at the picture frame by his bed, which held a small photo of him with his parents when he was little. He buried his face in the blankets, trying to stop himself from feeling guilty and vengeful again.

There was a small knock on the door, then the creaking noise of it opening, followed by the shuffling of feet. He shifted his weight a bit, turning himself so he was facing away from the door, without moving from his position. A small thump followed by someone or something laying on top of him made him look up. He slowly turned, spotting Luke lying on top of him. "Oh, hello Luke." He kept his tone low in an attempt to hide his breaking voice. Luke unraveled the set of blankets he had been wearing when he walked in, threw them on top of Clive's, and then darted underneath the heap, popping his head out so he could see. "Hi Clive! Why aren't you downstairs? It's a lot warmer down there." Clive sank into the blankets, tucking his face into them slightly. "I don't know... I'm just in the mood to be alone right now, but I'm fine with a little bit of company, as long as you don't get rowdy." Luke became concerned, looking at Clive with a twinge of worry in his eyes. "Are you ok? You can tell me whats wrong if you'd like. I won't tell another soul." Clive sighed, glancing at Luke.

"I just miss my parents... I think about them every time winter rolls around, mainly because I lost them close to when winter came around. It's also the time when I wind up all depressed due to old memories resurfacing again. It's just a common thing for me now, since I've been dealing with it for years." Luke frowned, staring at the floor. "That seems... really hard for you. But, you have family now don't you?" Clive scoffed, shifting positions so he was more comfortable. "Everyone I loved was either killed, thinks I'm still in prison, or has presumed me to be dead. I have nobody left." Luke shook his head, leaning onto Clive. "That's not true! You have me, and Emmy, and the professor! Sure, you have no biological family left, but you do have us, and I'd say you're family to us!" Clive gave a weak smile, then turned to look out the window. "Sure, I guess, but I still can't really consider myself family to all of you. I did such terrible things to you all. I kidnapped Flora, I killed so many people, I faked being your future self just to gain your trust, and I betrayed you all..." He wiped his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying. Luke immediately hugged him, positioning himself so he was directly underneath Clive. "Don't cry. You've redeemed yourself, and you've been forgiven. Yes, you did do some bad things back then, but you can't change that! There's no point in crying over something you can't change, right?" Clive took a wavering set of deep breaths, composing himself as best he could. "I guess you're right..."

There was a sudden metallic bang, which made Luke and Clive shriek, followed by a blast of warm air that quickly filled the room. An excited shouting came from downstairs, which sounded like someone Clive knew, but didn't recognize at first. He threw the blankets off and ran downstairs, Luke at his heels, and found Don Paolo standing near the wall panel that held the heater. Clive backed up, bumping into Luke. He hadn't seen Don in forever. Last he knew of, Don had helped Layton destroy his Mobile Fortress by giving the Laytonmobile a set of wings, which safely carried him to the ground once it was all over. He hoped that he wouldn't have to encounter anyone he had known then, since they probably still thought of him as an enemy, and promptly attempted to back away silently, but failed as Luke decided to get his attention.

"Don! You fixed it!" Don turned around to face the boy, noticing Clive, and was taken aback. "Clive?! I thought you were jailed!" Clive wholeheartedly expected Don to whip out some kind of mechanical weapon and point it at him, but was absolutely relieved when he didn't. "W-well, I was, b-but Layton bailed me out a-and I'm now in his custody." Don looked surprised. He walked over to Clive and held out a gloved hand. "Well, seeing as you've changed since I last saw you, why don't we start on a different note? I never got to meet you properly, and Layton says you're a good kid, and that man never lies. So, how about it?" Clive sheepishly nodded, shaking his hand. "Yeah, I think it'd be nice to start fresh with everyone I haven't already been forgiven by." Don motioned to his bags, which were neatly situated against the wall. "Layton told me about a certain Christmas party that's going to happen here, and out of luck, I got called to fix the heating system, and I'm going to be staying for that party." Clive whipped around to look at Layton. "Wait, nobody told me about this! Is anyone else going to be at the party?!" Layton nodded, a sly smirk on his face. "Yes, others will be there. However, I have promised not to speak of the people who will be there, so you'll have to wait and see."

Clive shrugged, adjusting his cap a bit. "Alright then, I'll wait right here on the couch." He walked to the couch and flopped down. Sighing quietly, he pulled his hat down over his eyes, attempting to fall asleep to pass the time. He almost managed to, but was interrupted by Luke scrambling to get on top of him. Clive groaned, slightly moving his hat so he could see Luke, who was perched on top of his legs, then moved it back over his eyes. "Luke... I'm trying to sleep..." Luke scooted farther forwards, positioning himself so he was directly on top of Clive's stomach. "You've been asleep all day!" Clive rolled his eyes and scoffed. "And what makes you think that? For all you know, I could've been working on machinery." Luke crossed his arms and shook his head. "I know you've been sleeping all day because I came to check on you every hour. There's a science project I have and I need to check it hourly, so whenever I needed to check that, I checked on you." Clive was genuinely surprised by hearing this. He sighed and attempted to turn onto his side, but was unable to due to Luke not getting up from his spot. He groaned again and reached to push Luke off of him, and was met with someone grabbing his hand. "Clive, you have been sleeping for an awfully long time. Why don't you help us with the Christmas decorations? We still need assistance with those." Clive moved his hat with his free hand and saw Layton carefully holding his hand away from Luke. He sighed and sat up, getting off the couch and fixing his hat. "Well, what do you need me to do?" Layton showed him to a stack of boxes, all of which were filled with Christmas themed decor. "You could help all of us with getting these decorations up around the house." Clive shrugged and opened up one of the boxes, taking out a handful of decorations and running off to put them somewhere.

There was a small knock on the door, followed by the opening of the lock and the door. Don Paolo's voice echoed through the room, though to Clive it just sounded like excited, muffled yelling. He set up the last of the wreaths in his hands and trotted over to the door, stopping the moment he saw a familiar face. Flora was standing in the doorway, dressed in a lovely coat and dress, holding a small purse, and wearing a small scarf. Her hair was down and draped around her neck rather than being pulled back into a ponytail, and a red bow was neatly tied on the back of her head. Clive almost bolted out of the room in fear, but found his legs had glued him to where he was standing. He stared at Flora, who didn't notice the fact that he was standing there, and made a meek attempt at leaving the room, causing Flora to spot him. She smiled and dashed over to him, enveloping him in a slightly chilly hug. "Clive! It's been forever since I last saw you! How have you been?" Clive looked absolutely dumbfounded. He shifted his weight and backed up a bit, making Flora release him. "I-I-I... Uh... W-well, I've b-been fine lately... Uh..." He tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Why in the w-world are you being s-so nice to me?" He averted his eyes from her, staring at his shoes. "The last time I saw you, I kidnapped you and tried to destroy London... There's no reason you should be this nice to me." He mumbled quietly. Flora booped Clive's nose, a joyful smile on her face. "Luke told me all about how much you've changed! He said you're super nice and fun to be around, and you aren't as rude as you used to be!" She motioned to Layton, who was standing on a step-stool, attempting to get Christmas lights up onto the fireplace. "The professor gave me an invitation to the party he's holding here, and when I caught wind that you'd be there too, I promised him I'd come! From what I heard, some other people are coming too. I think they were D-"

"Flora! Don't spoil it for him! I said it'd be a surprise!" Luke was leaning into the room, a set of wreaths draped over his head. Clive snorted, covering his mouth in an attempt to hide his laughter. Flora hid her smile behind her scarf, but it was clear she found Luke's appearance hilarious. "Luke, you realize that you have 4 Christmas wreaths on your head, right?" Clive snickered, pulling his hat over his face to hide his enjoyment. Luke stormed over and politely tipped his hat to Flora before poking at Clive's sides, causing him to squeak and leap backwards. "No! We're not doing that today! Not happening!" Luke inched closer, going into a position to pounce. Clive began backing up rather quickly until he bumped into Don, who grabbed his arms and locked them behind his back. "Don! Don't do this! Please!" Don smirked, tightening his hold on Clive's arms. "Sorry Clive, but I think you deserve it." Clive struggled and bucked against Don's grip. "Don please! I beg you! Don't let me die here!" He flopped back onto Don, making it look as dramatic as possible. Don merely shrugged and pushed him towards Luke. Clive shrieked and pushed against him, trying to fall backwards to escape the arm lock and flee. Flora was almost on the floor from laughing at the display.

Luke pounced, digging his fingers into Clive's sides, forcing a very high pitched scream to burst out of him before he broke into laughter. Layton looked over and sighed, getting down from the step stool. "Luke, Don, please don't wear Clive out. I'd appreciate him not taking another nap." Luke gave a quick thumbs up. "Sure thing Professor!" He motioned for Don to let Clive go, and watched as Clive fell backwards in an exhausted heap. Don lifted him up and laid him on the couch. "I didn't know you could wear him out that easily!" Luke shrugged. "I only do that to him when he's rude to someone. It's the perfect punishment for being rude!" Clive pushed himself up, angrily glaring at Luke. "You just do that for the sake of making me squeak, you... tiny blue thing!" Luke laughed, shrugging. "So? It's fun to watch you squeak. It doesn't seem like you at all." Clive felt his face growing red with embarrassment. Luke held back a snicker, watching as Clive curled up into an angry ball and flopped onto his side like a child. Flora sat down next to him and patted his head, looking at Luke with puppy eyes. "Come one, Luke. Don't be mean to him on Christmas! Hurry up and apologise to him." Luke sighed in defeat, knowing that arguing with Flora about this would only make it worse. "Sorry..." Flora smiled happily. "Much better. Now, why don't we all get the Christmas presents we all have and put them under the tree?" Clive sat up and dashed upstairs, Luke hot on his heels, and Don Paolo close behind. Flora pulled out a few small, poorly wrapped gifts out of her coat pocket and set them under the tree.

Moments later, Clive came running down with a pile of presents in his arms that had completely obscured his head from view. Luke came behind him and was holding around 17 bags of presents, all of which were very neatly wrapped. Don Paolo came walking down holding one gigantic box of smaller boxes, and set it down under the tree with a loud clank, most likely from the smaller boxes. Flora looked absolutely dumbfounded and just stared in awe at the mass of presents that were sitting beneath the tree. Layton glanced over and just sort of stared for a second or two before he went back to putting Christmas decorations up. The doorbell rang for a moment, and then rang again. Luke dashed to the door and opened it, then screamed for just a moment. Flora and Clive both panicked and made a move to get to the door, but stopped once a cloaked figure walked in, carefully holding Luke in his arms. Layton got walked over and tipped his hat to the figure. "Good to see you again Descole. I'm glad you could make it." Descole nodded, setting Luke down and shutting the door, being careful to not get his cloak stuck in it. "Likewise. How has everyone been? I overheard a certain person named Clive was here with you? I'd like to meet him, seeing as Flora already knows me." Layton motioned to Clive, who looked like he was ready to leap off the couch and make a mad dash for the door. He quickly get down and brushed himself off, playing it off like nothing had happened. Descole held out his hand and smirked. "The names Jean Descole. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Clive shook his hand. "I'm Clive Dove. It's nice to meet you!"

Descole turned to Layton and smiled. "It's been ages since I last saw you Hershel. How have you been? I assume the little boy has been good?" Luke angrily stamped his foot. "I'm not a little boy! I'm 14!" Descole laughed, patting Luke's head. "You may be a teenager, but you're still just a short as you were when I last saw you." Luke pouted and stood on his tiptoes, stretching himself as tall as he could. "I'm not as short as I used to be!" Clive shook his head, comparing his own height to Luke's. "No, you're still pretty short. But, being short is pretty cool. You can fit in small spaces, and you're more agile than tall people like me." Luke sighed and pulled Descole's cloak over his body, curling up in it for warmth. Descole looked down at him. "You're cold, aren't you?" Luke shakily nodded. Flora came rushing into the cloak and huddled up against Luke. Descole just stood silently and shifted his cloak so the two could fit better. Clive glanced over at the fireplace and frowned. "No wonder those two are cold. The fire's almost dead." He walked over to the firewood and tossed more in, fanning it so it would light the fire quicker. He sat down by it and held his hands out in an attempt to warm them. Descole walked over and carefully removed his cloak and pulled it over Clive's head. Luke and Flora immediately dashed underneath and curled up against Clive, pulling themselves through the opening in the cloak. Clive carefully situated himself and shifted the cloak so it was wrapped around the three. Layton looked over at the pile of blankets that sat nearby, then grabbed one and threw it over himself. "I recommend that you all grab a blanket and hold onto it for the time being. I wouldn't want anyone to be cold."

Don and Descole grabbed one and neatly made it into a sort of cloak, then bolted onto the couch and curled up against each other for warmth. Layton sat down beside them and let himself sink into the warmth of the blanket. Emmy came walking in with a small tray of snacks and was greeted with the sight of everyone curled up in blankets and Descole's cloak. She set the tray down and walked over to Layton, leaning over the back of the couch. "You all look like you're freezing. I brought some snacks so you all could have something to eat while I finish up cooking dinner." She headed back into the kitchen just as quickly as she came in. Clive picked up Luke and Flora, carrying them over to the snack tray. He sat back down and set the two on the ground so they could get to the snacks. The six sat and chatted while they ate until Emmy came back in with oven mitts on. "Hey! Dinners ready if any of you want some! The dining room is surprisingly warm too!" She watched as Clive almost dropped Luke and Flora in an attempt to grab them and run to the dining room. Layton and Descole followed closely behind, and Don Paolo walked with Emmy.

Sitting on the table was a variety of food, ranging from pies and pastries to turkey and olives. Clive and Luke were staring wide eyed at the food in front of them, practically drooling over it. Flora looked at them with concern. "Both of you, please save food for the rest of us." They both nodded, not taking their eyes off the table. Descole walked up behind Clive and pulled his cloak off him, then carefully placed it back on himself. Layton took the blankets and folded them before placing them off to the side, then went to seat himself at the table, motioning for the others to follow. Don sat down next to Layton, with Descole taking up the other seat beside Layton. Emmy sat herself next to Luke and Descole, Luke sat next to Clive, and Clive sat next to Flora, and Flora sat next to Don. They all quickly grabbed food, Luke and Clive taking around their own weight in food, while everyone else took enough to fill them up. Flora glanced suspiciously at Clive. "Um, Clive? Since when did you eat like Luke? The last time I was with you and Layton, you were as picky as ever." Clive shrugged, smiling. "See, I had to pull off the facade that I was a much more mature, older version of Luke, which meant I had to make it seem as though he had grown out of his voracious eating style. Truth is, I'm just as big of an eater as him. Remember how many times I asked to go get tea? Those tea breaks were my only chance to eat close to what I normally ate, as I used to devour all the biscuits that came with to compensate." Flora nodded in slight awe. "Huh. I thought you were a picky person. I never knew you were like that." Clive laughed, taking a bite of chicken. "It was much harder to cover up my natural demeanor than I originally thought. I struggled to hide it multiple times during our adventure, but somehow I managed." He took another bite of chicken and glanced at Luke. "So Luke, would you happen to possibly... spill the beans on the present you got me?" Luke almost choked on his food, coughing for a moment before regaining his composure. "Absolutely not! It's a surprise, and it's going to stay that way!" Clive snickered, popping an olive into his mouth. "And who says I haven't already found out?" Luke angrily glared at him. "That's cheating! You can't do that!" Flora rolled her eyes and jabbed her fingers into Clive's side, causing him to squeak and whip around to face her. "Hey! What was that for?!" Flora sighed and pointed to Emmy and Layton, who were giving him and Luke a look of disapproval. The two quickly went back to eating, shamefully glancing at each other.

Don pointed his fork at Clive and smiled. "Come on, a little fun never hurt anybody, right? Why not enjoy ourselves. I personally don't mind them having little fun arguments. It lightens the mood a bit." Descole nodded, moving his cloak out of the way. "I do enjoy them as well. Let them have their fun, Hershel. Them bickering a tad bit isn't all bad." Emmy and Layton looked at each other in defeat. "Alright, a little fun wouldn't hurt." Clive smirked and silently flicked Luke's hat off and hid it in his suit. Luke patted his head in confusion, then glanced over at Clive, who was calmly eating his food. He glanced at Luke, then back at his food and continued eating. Flora giggled, pointing to Clive's suit in an attempt to show Luke where his hat went. Luke stared blankly at her before realizing what she was trying to say. He attempted to grab Clive's suit and pull the hat out, but wound up almost falling out of his chair and nearly sending his plate off the table and onto the floor. Clive caught him and set his hat back where it belonged, then helped him back up. Luke fixed his hat and gave Clive a light shove. "Why do you always pick on me? Why not Emmy or Flora?" Clive shrugged and took a bite of corn. "Because you're the shortest one out of all of us." He snickered at the comment, watching Luke pout at him angrily. "I told you, I'm not short!" Flora laughed, pointing at Descole and then back at Luke. "Actually, you are the shortest. Descole said so."

Layton cleared his throat rather loudly, gaining everyone's attention. "It seems we are all finished eating. Why don't we gather by the tree and open the gifts we got for each other?" Luke, Clive, and Flora all excitedly ran to the tree and situated themselves around it. Descole and Don Paolo sat down on the couch, Emmy sat down in a small wooden chair she had pulled up from the dining room, and Layton sat in the large armrest chair. Clive and Luke both helped pass out gifts, placing them by their respective recipient in neatly made towers, starting from the largest gift as the base and then putting smaller ones on top until there were no more gifts to hand out. Each person had one gift from everyone in the room, making a total of 6 gifts per person. Emmy picked up her first gift and set it in her lap. "Alright. To make this a much smoother process, we'll have each person open all their gifts and then move in clockwise fashion to the next until we all have opened our gifts. I'll start, then the professor will go, then Flora, Clive, Luke, Descole, and ending with Don Paolo. Sound fair?" Everyone nodded.

They each tore open their gifts one by one until everyone had opened their respective gifts. Emmy had gotten some exercise bandages, a box of cookies, an inflatable training dummy, a new set of clothes, a small mechanical wristwatch that would track how long one had been training for, and a pair of steel toed boots. Layton got a new suitcase (his old one was tattered and torn from all the wear and tear it had been through), a brand new tea set to replace the old one they got in Dropstone, a handmade book of puzzles, a box of old trinkets and antiques from the Reinhold Manor, a fencing sword decorated with intricate Azran symbols, and a small music box made to resemble the Elysian Box. Flora got a mix of seeds for gardening, a massive book on recipes, a new set of pots, a small wooden sculpture of Big Ben carved using a pocket knife, a new dress with a corset, and a small robotic dog that resembled the one Luke and Layton got in St. Mystere. Clive got a mix of mechanical parts that came from his Mobile Fortress (he never found out how or where they were found), a set of clothes that a journalist would wear, a box of gear shaped cookies, a box of puzzles, a satchel bag, and a mix of old mechanical parts that seemingly came from the robots of St. Mystere. Luke got a teddy bear, a veterinary training kit, a small bag of candy from Misthallery, the first 3 books from his favorite dragon based book series, a new blue sweater to replace his old one, and a box of magic tricks from Monte D'or. Descole got a set of Azran artefacts, a book on the tales of the Azran, a pendant that almost matched Aurora's, a set of wine glasses decorated with intricate patterns, a mini Bostonius that could fly around like a drone, and an ancient Azran sword excavated from the Azran Sanctuary in Froenborg. Don Paolo got old prototype robots from St. Mystere, a box of coffee beans from Folsense, a box of 100-300 piece floor puzzles, a new coat, a toolbox, and a homemade cake.

Clive watched quietly as everyone excitedly showed off their gifts, hugging everyone, and all around enjoying themselves. He noticed that his gifts were in much smaller in quantity than everyone else's, not that he cared, but it still bothered him. He saw Layton turn to Emmy and whisper something to her, and then saw as whatever got whispered get passed down the line. Layton nodded to Luke and Flora, pointing towards Clive, but not directly at him, attempting to be discrete about the action. Flora and Luke both leapt on top of Clive, covering his eyes with his hat. Clive frantically tried to push them off of him, but wound up getting stuck underneath the two. Footsteps clicked and clacked around him. He made an attempt to push his hat out of his face, but quickly found his arms were pinned to his sides and being held there by Luke. "Come on you two! This isn't funny!" He bears boxes suddenly clattering to the floor, then the chattering of voices. Both Luke and Flora shot off of him and pushed him up. Clive frantically shoved his hat up and out of the way before staring at the mass of wrapped up presents in front of him. "What's with all this?! These... these aren't all for me, are they?" Emmy nodded, grabbing one and handing it to him. "The professor and Luke had the idea that you should get something special this year, you know, with those years in prison and all the years of trauma you had to deal with." Clive hesitantly took the present from Emmy and quietly opened it, revealing a clear box of trinkets that Clive immediately recognized.

"How... How did you get all these?! They were lost in the explosion!" Don pointed to himself, a proud smirk on his face. "Turns out not everything was lost! Grosky and Chelmey let me scope out the area surrounding the house and I found a couple things that somehow survived. I cleaned them up a bit, and then handed them over to Luke, who had the grand idea to give them to you as a Christmas present." Clive opened the box and looked at every single trinket like it was an ancient artefact that would break if he wasn't careful. "Old action figure pieces, tiny machines, torn books, wait- is that my old journal?!" He carefully removed it from the box and opened it up, gently sweeping the ashes off the pages. Scrawled along the burnt and crisp pages were rows and rows of messy cursive, as well as tiny doodles along the edges of the pages, although most of them were either burnt up or too smudged to make out. A few old photos were taped in the journal, many of them burnt and singed, but one in particular looked as though it had survived. It was pale and brown, burnt along the edges and covered in ashes. He carefully blew the ashes off and stared at the picture. It was of him when he was young, playing around near Gressenheller, his parents close by. A small note was written next to it, smudged and smeared along the page. Clive squinted at it, his face practically against the page. "My mommy, daddy, and me. Age 9, June 10th." He couldn't make out the year, but that didn't matter to him. He gently closed the journal and hugged it, then set it down and hugged Don. Don gave him a pat on the back, glancing over at Layton.

"Ok, Clive, could you please get off of me? You have more presents to open." Clive hastily let go and sat back down, grabbing another present. He opened them quickly and stacked them around himself, creating a fortress of gifts. He had been given multiple boxes of items salvaged from Future London and the remains of his childhood home, trinkets from Future London that were taken from the wreckage, pictures taken during the events of what had been nicknamed 'Unwound Future' by Layton, old pieces of the massive clock in the Midland Road clock shop, the letter he had sent to Luke and Layton about how he was the supposed 'Future Luke', a huge box of prototype gadgets Don Paolo had made and stopped using, multiple types of sweets and pastries made by Flora, a tiny box containing an egg from the same parrot that Luke and Clive had befriended, a bag of hint coins and other small items taken from around London and Future London, and a box of stuffed animals in ranging sizes. Clive looked at Layton for some kind of explanation, gesturing to the gifts and then to him in a confused fashion. Layton smiled and pointed to Luke and Flora, who were practically beaming with pride.

"Did you two plan this?" He picked up one of the stuffed animals and sat it in his lap, staring intently at the two. Flora nodded, hugging Luke. "To be perfectly honest, it was Luke's idea. He told me all about how sad you got around this time, and how many depression naps he saw you were taking, and decided that we should give you something to make you feel better. This was the result of a couple weeks worth of planning." Clive straightened up a bit, realizing what Flora had said. Small, joyful tears swelled up in his eyes, clouding his vision. He bolted up and hugged Luke and Flora, quietly sniffling. "You guys are the best. I don't know what I'd do without you." They hugged him back, curling up against him. Layton got up and motioned towards the stairs. "Well, it's quite late. Why don't we all go and get some rest. I'm sure we're all very tired." Descole pulled his legs in and tucked himself into his cloak. "If you don't mind, I can just as easily sleep here. Someone else can use my guest bed." Don wrapped himself up in multiple blankets and leaned back into the couch cushions. "I can sleep down here as well. I usually sleep on my couch at home anyways." Layton nodded and tipped his hat politely. "Well alright then. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." He went upstairs quietly. Flora hurried after him, holding her dress up so she didn't trip on the way up the stairs. Emmy stretched and flopped down in one of the chairs. "I think I'll just sleep down here. I'm too tired to go upstairs." Luke and Clive both tipped their hats and bolted upstairs to their room. Luke set his hat on his nightstand and started for the door. "I'll be right back. I need to grab my teddy. I won't take long." Clive nodded silently as Luke left and set his hat down on top of the box of trinkets he had set on his nightstand.

He glanced out the window, and for a split second, he could've sworn he saw his parents staring in at him. He shot up and began frantically looking out the window, searching for any sign that he wasn't hallucinating. After a few moments, he gave up and turned to go sit back on the bed and wait for Luke. The moment he turned around, he saw his mom and dad standing before him. He could feel tears trickling down his face as he reached out for them. "Mom...? Dad...? Is that... really you?" They smiled at him and in the blink of an eye, they were gone. Clive fell back onto the bed, hugging himself tightly. Luke opened the door and peered in, seeing Clive on his bed. "Clive? Are you ok?" Clive looked over at Luke with tearful eyes, a bright, happy smile on his face. "Yeah. I'm just fine." Luke stepped inside and closed the door. "Why are you crying?" Clive wiped the tears off his face, staring out the window. "I just saw something that made me happier than I could've ever imagined." Luke jumped onto his bed and tilted his head, confused. "What do you mean?" Clive laughed, glancing at the box of trinkets, which had been opened, and his hat, which was placed on top of portrait of his family. "It was just... something important to me. Something very, very important, but it's nothing you should concern yourself with." He glanced back out the window and smiled with teary eyes, watching as two faint silhouettes faded away into the moonlight, waving.