HAPPY NEW YEAR! So this is my incredibly late Christmas one shot, and though it's probably total crap I hope you enjoy it anyway =)
Disclaimer: I don't own Professor Layton or any of the other characters or components of the games that you will see in this story.
Claire's Point of View (In the third person)
Christmas was in the air.
Claire had always loved Christmas. She loved seeing all the decorations and the lights. She loved the feeling of joy in the air and seeing all the children playing in the snow thoroughly enjoying themselves. Christmas was extra special this year, as it was the first Christmas she would be spending with Hershel, Luke and Flora.
Another thing she always enjoyed, though she always had trouble with it, was purchasing gifts for the people.
She walked down the street, looking down at the windows of different shops wondering what she would get for Hershel.
Luke and Flora had been simple. For Luke she had gotten a couple of books that were filled with puzzles to solve as you read them. And for Flora she had gotten a matching sketchbook and journal set in a lovely coral colour.
But she didn't have a sweet clue as to what she would get Hershel. She had spent hours in looking in numerous different shops and racking her brains trying to figure out the answer to this puzzle. But no matter how hard she tried the answer always eluded her.
Eventually she sat down on a nearby bench so she could think for a while. Luke and Flora had been simple because she got them stuff that they would definitely love and use, and she now knew them like they were her own kids.
Hershel on the other hand was a different story. This gift, she wanted to come from her heart. She didn't want it to be a gift that anyone could give him; she wanted it to be special. And this meant that it couldn't have anything to do with puzzles, or tea for that matter.
Although she had a sneaking suspicion that once Luke had read the books he would be borrowing them.
She heaved a sigh, it was nearly the end of the day and she had nothing for Hershel. Looking around she spotted a small curio stand, she shrugged and got up to walk over there and take a look.
The first thing she noticed when she got there was that every single item was unique, and that you couldn't find anything like these elsewhere. She also noticed that if you wished you can have an item engraved, she figured this may be a good idea of something to get for Hershel if she found an item that worked.
After looking around at what the stand had for a while though she started to get frustrated. Nothing there was right; none of it was what she was looking for. She was about to give up and walk away from the stand when a particular item caught her eye.
It was a simple little wooden doll, much like the ones that she had played with as a small child. But this one was special; it was wearing a top hat, much like the one that Hershel wore. She picked it up and took it to the man running the stand.
"Would I be able to engrave a message on the back of this doll?" She asked him.
"Of course," He replied. "What do you want written on it?" He asked her.
She paused to think about this, once again the message she chose had to be perfect. She racked her brains trying to figure out what she would write on this doll. After a few moments she had come up with the perfect message. Smiling she told it to the man and he engraved it on the back of the doll. She paid for the doll and smiling she headed home.
Claire woke up Christmas morning to Flora coming into her room and jumping on her bed.
"Claire, Claire, Claire! Get up, get up, get up!" Flora cried, shaking her. Claire decided to play with her by rolling over and pulling the blanket over her head.
"Oh, come on Claire," Flora said. "It's Christmas morning." At this point Claire suddenly sprung up, tackled Flora and started to tickle her.
"Alright, alright, I surrender," Flora gasped out.
Claire grinned. She got up, pulling Flora up with her. "Well then, let's head downstairs. I suppose Luke is getting Hershel up?" She asked.
"Of course," Flora chimed, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her downstairs. When they got there the Professor and Luke were already there, evidently the Professor had come quietly.
"About time," Luke said, grinning.
"Well sorry, Claire decided to pretend to continue sleeping and then suddenly she attacked me," Flora told him. Luke roared with laughter.
"Is this true?" The professor asked.
"Yep, and I will say, it was incredibly fun." She replied. Flora stuck her tongue out her and she just laughed.
"Well at least I came quietly, apparently unlike you," He grinned in reply.
"Oh hush up," She said. "Now who wants to open presents?" She asked, putting on an excited tone.
"Yeah!" Luke and Flora cried in unison and raced to sit by the tree. Claire and Hershel chuckled and linking hands, walked over to join them.
Hershel reached under the tree first and pulled out two gifts, which he then preceded to hand to Luke and Flora. They tore them open. For Flora he had gotten a lovely set of pencils and coloured pencils that she could use to draw and sketch. And for Luke he had gotten a set of puzzle books with a special pencil that attached to the books that he could use to work on them with.
"Our turn," Luke said, glancing at Flora. He got up and walked over to the tree, he bent down and picked up a gift which he turned and handed to Hershel. He opened it and Claire had to stifle a laugh. So much for him borrowing the books from Luke, he and Flora had pooled their money to buy him the same two books. Hershel looked at them with excitement.
"Okay," Claire said. "Now it's my turn." She went up to the tree and picked up her gifts for Luke and Flora, she then handed them to them. They tore them open and started to laugh.
"Did you co-ordinate with the Professor for my gift?" Flora asked, when she came to a long enough pause in her laughter.
"Believe it, or not, no we didn't," Claire said, while also trying to stifle her laughter.
"And I'm going to guess that you didn't co-ordinate with Luke at all, because otherwise we wouldn't of gotten the same gift," Hershel said also laughing.
"That would be correct," Claire said. "But enough of that I have one more gift to give." With that she got up and picked up the gift for Hershel and handed it to him. "A notebook set for Flora, puzzle books for Luke, and..." She trailed off, motioning for Hershel to open his present.
He opened it, and inspected the doll, turning it over he saw the inscription on the back. "A doll with a top hat for my perfect English gentleman, I love you." He read out loud. He looked up at Claire, "I love you too," He said to her. He then leaned over and kissed her.
"Oh come on, gross," They heard Luke and Flora groan. They pulled apart from each other and looked over at them to see them covering their eyes. Laughing they told them that it was safe to uncover their eyes.
"Now that we're past this silliness," Hershel said; a mischievous look in his eye as he glanced at Luke and Flora who laughed. "There is one more gift we have to give." He got up and walked over to the tree and pulled out a small box. "This is from all three of us," He said as he handed it to Claire.
She opened it to reveal a small jewellery box. She opened it to reveal a golden heart shaped locket. "It's beautiful," She told them.
"Well open it," Hershel told her.
She did as he told her to, and discovered that there was a picture of the three of them with an inscription on the other side. "It is not flesh and blood but the heart that makes us family." She looked up at the others, "It's perfect, thank you." She got up and hugged the others, who all hugged her back.
After this everyone thank each other and then sat down with their new gifts. Flora had taken out her new pencils and was drawing in her new sketchbook, and Luke was already reading one of his new books. Meanwhile Hershel walked up to Claire, and picked up the locket which he then placed around her neck. She smiled up at him and he placed a kiss on her forehead. After that he picked up the doll she had given him and placed it on the mantel above the fire place, she smiled at him. Smiling back he sat down with one of the books and began to read.
Claire fingered her new locket as she thought about the events that had taken place. She was glad that the others loved the gifts that she had bought them, and she loved the locket they had gotten her.
This first Christmas with her family had been perfect, and she couldn't be gladder about that.
Wow, this chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I originally expected, but I'm quite pleased with it. And by the way the quote is based on one by Johann Schiller. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed that but I won't know unless you review ;). And once again to One Decision readers, I only have one scene left to write in the latest chapter but I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to write it, so I don't know when it will be updated, sorry!