Hilda stopped by the window after she finished going over the scene for the fifth time. It shouldn't be so sunny out today. It didn't match the mood. Her heart felt heavy, like the world was crashing around her. This is the twenty second victim…
She sighed at the sound of footsteps approaching the door to the scene. They had taken too long again and they didn't even have the scene alone anymore. The day couldn't get any worse could it?
Hilda took a deep breath and braced herself for the forensics team to come in.
They were going to come in and break her concentration. Not that it was their fault. They were just doing their jobs after all…
The door opened and she was met with the familiar sight of Constable Hague walking in.
"Good afternoon, Constable." She greeted professionally and turned back to the window.
"Afternoon, Agent P!" Sniffer responded in his usual perky tone.
She and Justin should leave. She didn't want everyone looking at her again. Wondering why she hadn't figured it out yet–
"Come on, Mr. Layton! Gotta get a move on if we don't want Florence to lob off our heads!"
"I know, I know I'm comin' alright?" Another set of footsteps entered the room.
Hilda whirled at the familiar voice. Sure enough, Alfendi Layton stepped into the room, a standard issue forensics camera hanging around his neck. She couldn't hold back a smile seeing him step into the crime scene. He looked uncomfortable in an almost cute way. Clearly, the man had never been on a scene from this point of view before and the fact that he felt very out of place was written all over his face.
Alfendi didn't appear to see her as he was half tagging along after Sniffer. It was amusing to watch. Alfendi was nearly twice Sniffer's height, yet he kept glancing around the apartment and scratching the back of his neck like a lost puppy. She walked over to the odd looking pair, unable to resist.
"Welcome aboard, Mr. Layton." Both boys turned to look at her when she spoke. "I didn't think you'd be sent out in the field on your first day."
"Ca–"
"You know Florence." Sniffer cut off Alfendi before the taller man could speak. "She throws everyone right out there. You remember what happened for my first day of work. I got sent out with Justin and it was the case with the roses–"
"I've heard the story, Constable." Hilda cut him off, knowing full well the last time Sniffer had told this story it had taken him at least her entire lunch break to tell. "I merely stopped over to wish Mr. Layton good luck on his first day."
"Can you guys just call me Alfendi?!" The photographer seemed to have gathered his thoughts.
"Sure thing!" Sniffer patted him on the back, repositioning his glasses.
"No." Hilda answered, turning to go back to the middle of the scene.
To her surprise, the photographer stepped in front of her, pleading. "But we're coworkers now, Agent."
"All the more reason to keep it professional." Hilda didn't address any of her coworkers by their first names. There were a few exceptions of course, but Hilda tried to keep her job professional.
"Mr. Layton sounds weird." Alfendi whined. "Sounds like something my pops would be called."
Hilda could relate to parental problems. If that reminded him off his dad she shouldn't call him that. "Layton then." She decided, walking past him to the center of the room.
"I–" He seemed less than satisfied, but Hilda didn't really care. "–sure. I have pictures to take."
A few days after Alfendi began working at Scotland Yard, he came up to Hilda's office. The agent couldn't say that she wasn't surprised when the temporary forensic photographer came by her office, but she hid it well.
"Agent Pertinax?" He was scratching at his neck again. Hilda found herself worried that the old wound would reopen if he kept up the habit. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Oh, of course!" Hilda motioned for him to come in. "Did Florence have another report she wanted me to see?"
"Uh, no. Not that." He sat down, appearing somewhat nervous. His eyes kept flicking over to the door, like most of her suspects did in the interrogation room.
"…You're not here to confess to a crime, are you?" she felt compelled to ask, just in case.
"What?! No!" Alfendi's cheeks picked up a pink tinge in his alarm. "Why would you–? Nevermind." He took a deep breath and restarted. "I'm here for personal reasons."
"Personal?" What personal reason could he possibly have for visiting? Was he unhappy working here? She hoped it wasn't a family thing. She wasn't very good at dealing with those…
"Yeah. Well." He looked down at his hands, which he was wringing nervously. "I was just wondering…"
"…Yes, Layton?" Hilda found herself urging. Despite the fact that she really didn't have time for this now, the agent found herself intrigued by the red head sitting across from her.
He looked up, determination in his eyes. "Do you want to get coffee?"
"Oh." Well, what a nice offer. "I already have some here, though." She answered, holding up her cup.
The man seemed to be gauging her reaction, as if unable to tell if she was serious. Foolish, really, since she had presented the aforementioned coffee cup.
"No… What I mean is…" He had a look of disbelief on his face for a moment, before chuckling nervously. "Would you like to go out sometime? You know, together."
"…What fo–"
Oh.
The realization hit her a moment late. Hilda felt her face growing warm.
Oh.
"Like…" she felt the need to clarify. God forbid she misunderstood. "Do you mean…?"
"A date, yeah." He had started scratching his neck again nervously. "I mean if you don't want to it's fine. I should probably go… have lots of work to do, you weren't kidding about Florence being intimidating–"
"Yes."
To be honest, she felt as surprised as Alfendi looked when the word left her mouth. But… the reporter was sitting there looking so shy and out of place in that cute way of his, and this was honestly all so flattering.
She had never stopped and realized how charming he was.
"S-Sorry, did you just…?" Now he was the one clarifying, those golden eyes of his searching her for any signs of misunderstanding.
"Yes." She said again, more firmly this time. "I would love to."
Now that she had acknowledged it she couldn't seem to unsee how sweet the photographer was. The man across from her opened and closed a few times, a large smile forming on his face.
"Yeah? Okay, great!" He replied enthusiastically. "I know a great place we can go, it's not that busy so it won't be very loud or anythin'. I mean, unless you like loud places, which is totally fine. It's not like I'm completely set on this one place or–"
"That sounds lovely." Hilda reassured the reporter before he could ramble on any further.
"Okay!" Alfendi stood up now, still with the dopey grin on his face. "I'll call you tomorr–"
Crash.
Hilda rose from her chair in alarm. "Good heavens, are you alright?" It was not her most composed moment, but then, it wasn't every day she saw somebody trip backwards and flip over a chair.
"Yep!" He pulled himself to his feet and dusted off his jacket. "I'll call you!"
With that, the wiry redhead made his way back to her door. Hilda felt a twist of anticipation stir in her stomach. It wasn't every day she realized she had a crush on someone as they were asking her out.
A/N:
No I have not forgotten about this place. I post more regularly on tumblr with my username bignini9. Sorry for the delay ya'll and I hope you're enjoying it!
