Chapter 7 – Arrival

"Are you sure he'll be alright?" Brenda asked worriedly, for the umpteenth time.

"Positive," Clark said, yet again. "Luke is a very mature young man, and I'm sure he'll be able to get himself on the bus from Heathrow to Hershel and Emmy's place without a hitch. Just trust him. He'll be fine."

"But what if at the airport he gets on the wrong plane? Or if he gets lost and misses his flight?"

"Then he'll call us and we'll go and get him and book another for tomorrow. He'll have the sense to do that, and we can afford to book another, that is, if we even need to. And Luke knows full well how to ask at a reception desk, Brenda."

"I know," Brenda said worriedly. "But he's my baby boy; you know I can't help but worry."

Clark smiled, pulling his wife into a hug. "I know. And that's what makes you a good mother. But remember – every young bird must spread its wings and take flight one day. And that's exactly what Luke is doing. He'll be absolutely fine. I know it."

"Where am I going?" Luke thought, confused, as people rushed around all around him, some bumping into him, some brushing past him, all going in different directions. He looked around, on tiptoes, trying to look over the heads of the crowd of people around him and see the sign which read where the Cork to Heathrow flight was going to take off from. But the seven-foot tall Russian standing in his way was making that extremely difficult.

Luke sighed heavily, lost and confused, wondering what to do. He looked around again and spotted a porter wheeling a trolley of luggage. He ran over and called out to him.

"Sir! Excuse me, sir! Sir! Hey! You with all the suitcases!"

The man turned around to see Luke running towards him.

"Can I help you, young sir?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yeah! I'm terribly sorry to disturb, but could you point me in the direction of where the Cork to Heathrow flight will be taking off?"

"Er..." the porter, who was quite tall himself, jumped up and caught a glimpse of the sign. "Station ten. Straight down that way and turn left and there are numbers over the stations, so you can't miss it."

"Thanks sir!" Luke smiled.

"You're very welcome!" he beamed. "Have a nice day!"

Luke ran down the direction that the porter pointed him to, and found himself at the entrance of the airport once again.

"Huh? But I thought..."

Luke sighed. He'd been had.

"What an assh—"he quickly stopped himself. He knew that even thinking it would still be ungentlemanly, even if no one else could hear it. He decided to try to reason out any truth from what the porter had said.

"Straight down that way and turn left, and there are numbers over the stations, so you can't miss it..."

"So if I go this way..." Luke ran back the way he came. "... and turn right..." He spotted a number of reception desks all in a line, leading to brass door. "Yes!" and that wasn't all he spotted. He spotted the porter, waving cheerily at him from one of the desks. Luke hurried over to him, annoyed.

"How come you pointed me the wrong way?" he asked.

"Because, judging by the way you spoke to me, you obviously didn't remember me," he huffed.

That was when Luke noticed something. The man's own bag was full of little trinkets and other random small objects. Luke then recognised him immediately.

"I remember now! You're—"

"Indeed! Now, I lead you here because over there, underneath that dustbin, is a curio! Now, I believe you have ten minutes before your flight takes off, so why not have a look?!"

Luke smiled widely. "Don't mind if I do!"

Bronev walked up the professor's drive with his younger self and Little Emmy in tow, and knocked loudly on the door. They waited as they heard the sound of someone scurrying towards the door. "I'm coming!" they heard a familiar voice call.

Emmy opened the door and beamed at her uncle. "Hello, Uncle Leon!" She held out her arms for a hug. Bronev smiled and took her in his arms, stepping aside to let Little Emmy and Leon in. Leon smiled at the two, taking Little Emmy's hand and beckoning for her to come in.

"How are you this morning, my dear?" Bronev asked.

"I'm fine," Emmy replied.

They let go of each other and smiled.

"Hershel and I did a pregnancy test last night."

"And?" Bronev asked.

"It came out purple."

Bronev frowned. "Purple?"

"Yeah. What does that mean?"

"Well, it's either pink or blue, but not both mixed together. How odd."

Emmy nodded. "How odd indeed."

She took Bronev's hand and went inside.

"So, where is Layton this morning?" Bronev asked.

Emmy frowned at his sullen expression. Well, if you mean our Hershel, he's gone off to work, but if you mean future Layton, he's in the kitchen. And there's no need to take that tone when you talk about him, Uncle Leon. He's your son."

"Speaking of sons, have you been in touch with the other one about this?" Bronev asked.

"What, Desmond? No, not yet."

"Don't you think he'll want to know about becoming an uncle? And Aurora about becoming a cousin?"

"Er... I suppose so."

"And have you been in to see your father yet?"

"No. I went once, that's enough," Emmy said stubbornly.

Bronev smiled. "Don't you think he'll want to know about his first grandchild?"

"No," Emmy said shortly.

They entered the living room, where Little Emmy and Leon had sat down. Leon nodded at Bronev when Emmy had entered.

"Right you are," Bronev said, tapping Little Emmy on the shoulder. "Why don't you go and talk to Alfendi for a bit? Try to improve you English."

"Eh... okay." She got up and left.

Emmy turned to Bronev with a questioning look on her face.

"My younger self has a few questions that I think you ought to answer for him. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." He left.

Emmy sat down on the armchair opposite to Leon and sighed. "Er... if this is bout Targent, then—"

"No, it's not," Leon cut in. "This is about you."

Emmy looked up. "What about me?"

"Do you... know... about..." he trailed off and looked at her sadly.

"You mean... the fire?"

Leon nodded.

"Yes, I know the truth. Why do you ask?"

"When did you find out?"

"About a year ago."

"Who told you?"

Emmy sighed. "My boyfriend found out, and he told me. Professor Layton."

"And Aleksander...?"

"He knows too. I know everything; what my father did to Rachel and how he kidnapped you both and everything. I know that you only did what you did so that dad could know what he had really done to you."

Leon nodded. "I'm sorry..."

Emmy shook her head. "You were unwell at the time. And... I think it was better all along that my mother never found out about Targent. And Daniel... well... he was better off without a father like that."

"And you?"

"Well... you came and got me in the end. You made me better and stronger. That's all that matters to me." Emmy smiled and took his hand.

Leon smiled back. "I'm so glad that my Emmeline is going to turn out like you. Thank you for forgiving me. It makes me feel so much better." He leaned over and kissed Emmy on the cheek.

"I'm glad that you understand that I forgive you," Emmy sighed. "But I just wish that my Uncle Leon would understand that."

Luke smiled. He had managed to get the flight over to London without too much fuss and now he had managed to get the right bus too. He had proven to his parents that he was alright to do it on his own, and therefore was able to visit the professor, Emmy and Flora a lot more often without having to wait for his father to get time off work. He hadn't seen them since they left Cork after the whole grounds of rebirth incident, and wondered if Emmy was really alright after her ordeal. Sure, he had talked to her on the phone and she said that she was fine, but Luke couldn't help but worry. Luke knew that people could come back very different from the grounds of rebirth, and wondered if Emmy was really the same. She had sounded normal on the phone, but Luke was still afraid for her.

"Snap out of it, Luke," he thought to himself. "You're starting to sound like mum."

The bus stopped outside Gressenheller and Luke got off hurriedly and walked quickly up the road to the estate on which the professor lived. He went quickly, as he was dying to see the professor and Emmy. And he was starving.

He quickly ran up the drive to the professor's house and knocked sharply on the door.

"Hang on!" he heard Emmy cry as she approached.

Luke smiled. "She sounds fine to me," he thought happily.

The door opened and he saw Emmy beaming at him.

"Luke!" she cried, holding her arms out for a hug.

Luke ran forward and threw his arms around her neck. Emmy laughed and held him close to her.

"I've really missed you Emmy! And the professor! Is he here?"

"No, sorry Luke, he's at a lecture at the minute and Flora's at school. But we have a bit of a mystery going on here, though."

"A mystery?" Luke said, sounding intrigued. "What kind of mystery? A murder? A theft?"

"You'll see now when we get inside," Emmy smiled, leading the way in. "Though, I have to warn you; you may be in for a bit of a shock."

They entered the kitchen. Luke stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of what to make of his surroundings, or rather, the people in it.

"Hi Luke!" Emmeline beamed. "Oh, bless, looked at him, I still can't believe he was so small!"

"Wha— who are you?! You're not..." Luke trailed off, in shock. He looked over at Layton, who was smiling at him. He turned back to Emmy. "Is this that mystery that you were going on about?"

Emmy beamed. "Yep. I told you that you were in for a bit of a shock."

Luke sat down and stared at Emmeline, amazed. "So, I'm guessing that you're Emmy from the future, right?"

Emmeline nodded. "That's right. Call me Emmeline, it's easier."

"So, what's your story? How did you get here?"

Emmeline sighed. "It's a really long story... where to begin...?"