So who out there doesn't hate me? *Hears crickets and sighs* That's what I thought. I am honestly so beyond sorry, I know I haven't updated in about 18 months and I have a feeling most people don't care what my excuse is. To be honest, my life is beyond insane. I'm pretty sure most of my teachers take pleasure in torturing us with as much work as they possibly can, and I'm fairly sure a couple of them are certifiably insane... And if that's not enough, a lot of familial issues came up which further distracted me. But overall I'm sorry, I didn't want it to be this long before I updated and I sure don't want this much time to elapse again but I can't guarantee that. I promise to do my best though!

And if you hadn't noticed I have changed my penname: I was formerly CullenGirl1918, now I'm .Night

Anyway, on with the chapter I have prepared for you. I was inspired by the fact that we actually have snow outside and decided to have our favourite Professor and his family participate in a snowball fight. As for the LukexFlora relationship, I'd say it's established at this point, but it may be able to be read the other way if you so desire. Enjoy!

Oh! And Happy New Year everyone!

Disclaimer: I own a copy of all 5 games and the Eternal Diva, but sadly the characters belong to Level5

Hershel Layton's POV

It was early when I awoke, early enough that Claire wasn't up yet. I got up carefully as to not wake her, and then went down to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. When I had made the tea, I went to sit in the chair by the window to drink it. I opened the curtains to quite the surprise.

Snow. It must have snowed quite a bit overnight as everything was completely white. And it was still snowing. I sighed, realizing that this meant there would be quite a bit of shoveling to be done. But that would have to wait until the others were up. I got up and went to make breakfast for everyone. They would be up soon enough and I knew that Luke would be impatient wanting to go outside and play in the snow.

Sure enough, as I turned off the last jet on the stove and moved everything over to the table I heard feet pounding on the stairs.

"3... 2... 1..." I said to myself, and right on cue Luke came flying into the kitchen.

"Professor! Professor! It's snowing, Professor! Can we go outside and play? Please, please, please?"

I chuckled, snow always made Luke act like a little kid. "Of course you can, but in a while. We need to wait for Claire and Flora to get up and for everyone to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. The shoveling also needs to be done before play time as well."

"Okay," Luke looked subdued for a moment, but perked right back up. "Can I go get Flora and Claire up then?" He looked so eager I couldn't say no.

"Alright, but gently, like a gentleman would."

"Aye Professor!" And with that he was off like a rocket to get the others up. I shook my head, chuckling and then went back to my tea waiting for everyone to come to the table.

A moment later Claire came down, rubbing her eyes obviously still half-asleep. "What on Earth has gotten into Luke?" She asked sitting down and yawning.

I laughed again and pulled her into my arms. "It's snowing outside love, and Luke loves snow. I hope he wasn't too rough waking you up."

"Don't worry," She said pulling back. "He was a perfect gentleman. He sure was nicer about waking me up than you were when we were in college and it started snowing." A sly smile stretched across her face.

I felt myself blush, "Yes, well, I-uh, hmm." I looked down at my tea, slightly embarrassed. Claire laughed again and patted my arm.

At that moment Luke and Flora walked into the kitchen; Flora looking quite like Claire had when she first came down and Luke still bouncing off walls. The two sat down at their normal chairs and we all helped ourselves to breakfast. It was quiet then for a while, or at least it was until Luke finished eating.

"Can we go outside yet? Please everyone?" Luke begged, complete with puppy-dog eyes. It took all my strength to not do the ungentlemanly thing and roll my eyes again since I now was in the presence of others.

"Now Luke, everyone else still needs to finish eating then we all need to go and dress warmly so that no one catches a cold." Claire smiled over at Luke; I could tell she was highly amused by Luke's reaction to snow.

"Alright then," Luke said, slumping back in his chair. We all laughed at his antics.

"Finally!" Luke cried. "We get to go outside!"

"Yes Luke, but you can't play right away. We need to shovel the drive and pavement first." I told him, pulling on my gloves and scarf.

"Okay, that's no problem. I just can't wait to go outside!" He ran out the door, leaving us laughing at his exuberance. We quickly followed him out.

"Alright everyone," Claire said. "Grab a shovel and get to work." We all followed her lead and grabbed a shovel.

With all of us working together, the shoveling was done quickly. I was just finishing off the last bit of snow when I felt something cold and wet hit the back of my neck. I reached back and touched my neck and my fingers came back covered in snow. A snowball, but who had thrown it? I looked around; Luke and Flora were too far away and busy in a conversation, but Claire appeared to be shoveling invisible snow whistling innocently.

I grabbed a handful of snow and fashioned it into a ball. So what if it wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do? I've never been one to pass up a good snowball fight, just ask Clark for conformation about that. Snowball formed, I turned around and aimed for Claire. I quickly released it and turned around to continue my shoveling.

I heard her shriek as the snowball hit her, presumably on the back of her head or neck like she did to me. I finished my shoveling and turned around to look at her. Sure enough, I could see snow in her hair as she glared at me. I tried my best not to laugh, but didn't exactly succeed. Luke and Flora came over to see what the matter was.

"Oh you are so on Hershel. You're not going to know what hit you, oh no you are not." She was playful yet quite angry at the same time. I will admit that it scared me a bit. "Luke you're coming with me, each team has fifteen minutes to build a fort starting now." She grabbed Luke's arm and dragged him off to go build their fort.

Flora looked at me. "We're about to get destroyed, aren't we?"

"Oh no we're not Flora, at least not if I have anything to say about it. Now come on, we only have fifteen minutes to build a fort that can last a few dozen snowballs." I grabbed her arm and led her over to a spot about twenty feet away from where Claire and Luke were building their fort, and then knelt down and started to build with Flora following my lead.

Approximately fifteen minutes, a fort, and a pile of snowballs later, Flora and I were ready for Claire and Luke's attack. Flora and I huddled together right up against the fort where snowballs would not be able to hit us to wait for the first ambush.

"So what do we do now?" Flora asked me, adjusting her hat so that it was fully covering her ears.

"Now we wait. And once the attacks start, we return them full force." She nodded, and started to make more snowballs. I followed her lead because the more we made now, the less we have to make while in battle.

It wasn't soon after that the first snowballs came flying over the wall.

"Quick Flora!" We started throwing snowballs towards Claire and Luke's fort as fast as we could. Unfortunately they were quicker. Soon Flora and I were huddled up against the wall of our fort again, watching as the snowballs flew over our heads.

"How long do you think it will take them to realize that we aren't throwing anything back?" Flora asked breathlessly. At that moment the snowballs stopped flying. "Well that answers that. What are we going to do now? We've only hit them a few times and I've lost track of how many times they've hit us."

"I think we need to ambush them from behind Flora." I was done playing nice, even if playing nice was the gentleman's thing to do.

"Really? How are we supposed to do that?" Flora looked up at me confused. I smiled and then leant down to whisper my plan to her. She smiled. "I love it."

Flora and I had managed to quietly make our way to the other side of the yard, using the trees as cover so that Claire and Luke wouldn't see us. Once behind them we hid behind a bush in order to spy on them and figure out the best possible moment to ambush them.

"Alright Luke, we very obviously have the upper hand. If we just keep up the speed at which we've been throwing the snowballs it shouldn't be long before the enemy gives up." Claire shot a glare over at mine and Flora's fort. Wow, she was really mad about that snowball I threw at her, I don't understand exactly why; she threw one at me first.

"But Claire," Luke whined. "My arms feel like they're about to fall off. And wait. Enemy? Are you okay?" Now Luke was confused and looked a bit concerned.

"All is fair in love and war Luke." Luke looked as though he had more questions to ask, but smartly decided to leave it at that. "Okay, now!" They started to throw snowballs again at alarming speeds.

I turned to Flora. "Okay, now!" I said to her and we ran towards Claire and Luke. Flora tackled Luke, American Football style and sent them both flying into the snow Luke shrieking in surprise. Claire looked over to them and made to go help Luke except I grabbed her around the waist and lifted her clean off her feet.

"Hershel put me down!" She shrieked at me, kicking and struggling to get down and out of my arms.

I smirked. "Alright."

She recognized the look in my eyes. "Hershel, I swear to God. If you- Ahhhhh!" She screamed as I tossed her into the fort, jumping after her so that I was on top of her. "Hershel you are such a..." She paused, trying to find the right word as she squirmed beneath me.

I chuckled. "Well sweetheart, I believe Flora and I have won." I looked over at Luke and Flora who were both lying in the snow laughing their heads off, and then back to Claire who had ceased her squirming.

"Yes, I believe you have. Though I have to admit; if this is what losing is like, I'll have to lose more often." She lifted her head off the ground and kissed me gently. I smiled down at her and we heard gagging noises.

We looked over to Luke and Flora to see them looking around innocently. I looked back to Claire and gave her my 'are you thinking what I'm thinking?' look, she nodded. We discreetly made a couple of snowballs and threw them at Luke and Flora, landing on their faces. They sat up quickly and wiped the snow off of their faces.

"What was that for?" Luke asked us, Flora just glared.

"Next time think before you gag, alright?" I answered, giving him a look. He looked back down at the snowy ground.

"Alright everyone, I think it's about time we all went inside to warm up. How does a cup of tea sound to everyone?"

"Sounds perfect my dear," I said getting up then offering a hand to Claire to help her up.

"Of course it sounds perfect to you," She said. "You addict." Luke and Flora laughed and Claire wrapped an arm around me as we walked back inside. "Don't worry; you may be an addict, but you're my addict and that's all that matters."

So what did everyone think? Loved it? Hated it? Hate me for not updating sooner? Let me know how you feel... That sounds WAY too much like something a psychiatrist would say. How about leave me a review? Yes, that sounds better.

And I will not be forgetting my promise! Hopefully you'll get another chapter out of me before another 18 months elapses :)

Best wishes for everyone for 2013!