This is just a lot of build-up for something pretty lame. Like a reimagine.

When she had received the call, it was as though time stood still.

The case that was in her hands was no longer of importance to her, just the words coming from Justin's mouth were. Three words that brought her out of a stupor she had been in for months, covering up with an almost impenetrable exterior.

He was alive.

Rather, awake.

Lucy had stayed by the Mystery Room, solving cases as time went by, but it wasn't the same without Al by her side. His little anecdotes, the things he said, and how he would constantly piss her off- it was an old feeling that she missed. He was all bark and no bite, which only really amused her than offended her. She was sure she even had gotten through to him, to make him...a little kinder, dare she say. Nonetheless, to hear that he had awaken, her heart beat faster than any case had ever made her feel. She rushed her way over, possibly breaking several different speed limits, but she reached to the hospital in a nick of time.

"Alfendi Layton, where is he?" She slammed onto the desk of the lovely woman who looked him up with ease.

"Room 403." A short nod of acknowledgement, then Lucy zipped up through the stairs and up to the floor rather than waiting for a lift. Rushing through different nurses and doctors, she made her way to 403 where Justin was with Al. Seeing her, he motioned for her to come but bit his lip, as though he worried for her reaction.

All of the adrenaline that had coursed through her veins was now still. She slowly made her way to the bed, finding herself staring at someone she wasn't even sure was the man she recalled before his coma. His hair was free from it's typical low ponytail, hair that seemed to lighten in a strange manner that she was sure was more than just the light playing with her. He had a smile that wasn't menacing, but rather kind and content. His eyes had a sense of softness to them that weren't as darting as they were before. Even the way he just looked at her, it was completely different. Almost, dare she say, it was sweeter.

"Hey, Luce. He just woke up." Justin greeted, "Al, you remember Lucy Baker, right?" Al's brows furrowed in confusion, the cogs in his mind working before he made a final realization.

"Err...no. I don't believe we've been acquainted. Do I know you? Justin told me that I may forget some people." Her mouth opened, then closed as she didn't really have anything to say. He didn't remember her. He didn't remember her. It took her a moment for her mind to send signals to her body to start working again.

"Oh. Really? Aye...Well, I'm...Lucy. It's nice to meet you." Justin held onto her hand as she did all she could to prevent from crying as she extended her other hand for Alfendi to shake. The man she once worked with, completely forgetting her. He took her hand with a smile.

"Alfendi Layton. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lucy. I hope we can work together, even though my memories may be shot out." He smiled at her with cheer. Lucy glanced to Justin, who looked remorseful in response. By all means, she should be happy that she hadn't lost him in life, but by his reaction, it all felt the same.

Pleased to make...your acquaintance, she thought.

When he got discharged from the hospital, she, along with Justin, had to explain that she was his assistant, which was a much better response than 'intern,' which was his original assumption. She avoided any topics that would result in too much thinking on his part and just tried to laugh it all away, as if it didn't hurt to see the man she once knew become a whole different one. After a couple of hours of conversation, she realized that he wasn't the man she remembered, the man she had grown to be used to.

There was no longer any callousness in him, but rather a gregarious personality with a lack of animosity. Not that it was unwelcome, of course, but it was a change she didn't expect. Justin had explained that the only piece that he didn't remember was her and other small key details that had occurred, as she had became his assistant just a few cases before he was shot unexpectedly. Apparently, that short amount of time just wasn't enough for him to grasp and she was left in the dust. Nonetheless, she didn't care he didn't remember her the way he did. If anything, she was glad that he didn't find her repulsive and didn't want her to leave. He liked her enough to keep her and that was good enough for her, even if it felt like life was turned on its head.

Time continued on, after his hospital visit. After he forgot it all.

It was quite the paradigm shift.

Lucy noted the deterioration of all the other past friendships and relationships Al had.

Hilda was also no longer a variable in his life. Specifically, she wasn't seen, in his eyes, as a romantic prospect. If anything, it became just a short friendship that didn't seem to work all so well anymore, as Hilda already knew Al wasn't the man she remembered either. Hilda had a type and she didn't seem to have the patience to continue on with him, even if their history said otherwise. Lucy supposed that she, in the end, had no right to pry Hilda's thoughts and ideas. So she didn't bother.

Justin still stood by, but he kept his distance, as he knew that Lucy was the variable he had forgotten and would need constant reinforcement from her. Justin chose to be more on the side, popping in every once in awhile to check in. Sniffer and Dustin were all interested by how Al changed and welcomed it, as this Al didn't tell them to get out and threaten them while they worked in the same space. When Florence came in, she was only aware of what he was now, so there wasn't much to explain to her except that that the man now was Alfendi Layton. For Lucy herself, he no longer addressed her by her last name, but her first. There was no more insulting when she got something incorrect, just a light chide and telling her to deduce again. An odd feeling, but a welcome one, she supposed.

Cases continued on as if they were nothing, but with less snarky remarks to Lucy and more gentlemanly conversation topics as each case was solved. Even a few people considered them to be dating, which was an amusing notion had it been the original. Their old suspects never asked such a thing—maybe because they were always throwing insults at each other. Only one claimed that they were angrily having sex in the background or perhaps flirting to some degree, but even then, Alfendi had only sworn them off and they both pretended that suspect never said anything.

"Do enlighten me. You and the girl aren't a thing? Not even a bit of romantic tension?" One suspect asked during a chilly winter, "What an interesting thought."

"I beg your pardon?" The Prof asked, an eyebrow raised. Lucy blushed profusely and the suspect smirked, eying her reaction.

"Oh, never mind. For a man of your stature and distinguished mind, you're quite the prude. A woman, ever so present by your side and yet you don't deflower her? What a shame—"

"Mr. Flores, if you would resume back to the case and not to make derogatory comments towards my Detective Constable, that would be wonderful." The Prof snapped and the man raised his hands, as if he meant no harm whatsoever.

"My apologies, Detective Layton. My sincerest apologies."

Lucy felt like he was deserving of a different name, so she opted for the Prof. Even after his original dislike because of his father, he allowed her to continue to call him that despite the previous's annoyance over Hershel. He would have probably told her to piss off and frown at the idea of being called anything similar to his father. A few more things were also easier for Lucy now too, in comparison to before. Before, it was a challenge to even get the Prof to eat, but now he welcomed any food Lucy brought to his mouth. Before, Lucy couldn't be close with Al, as he always seemed to put her to an arms reach away, perhaps even several. Nowadays, if anything, he brought her closer.

"Lucy, what do you think the word is for this one?" The Prof asked Lucy as she placed a cuppa in front of him. He took her hand, placing her closer to him more so than what could be considered business-like to most—she was almost practically on his lap—though it didn't look like he noticed. With a twist, she got out of the strange situation without making it look awkward. Rather, she opted to stand behind his chair, her chest against the chair as her arms rested on his shoulder and chest. "I'm afraid this crossword has me stumped. They've been adding more and more telly references and I've only been lucky to know the few through you."

"I'm guessing you don't watch much telly, Prof? 'Sci-fi hero emerging from 1963.' Oh Prof, that one's so easy." She chided her mentor, seeing that he had filled out the rest of the crossword except for that last word. The letters "r", "d", and "w" were already there, but he clearly had no idea, judging by the amount of eraser shavings that were on his lap.

"Watching telly is a drainer of time—I could be solving cases." He responded, as though it was below his station to watch telly.

"But you're also doing crosswords." She pointed out to him.

"That's because we're waiting for the suspect. Idle hands give me too much time to think in an unproductive manner." She giggled, rolling her eyes.

"It's Doctor Who. That Timelord from space that the BBC made up?" The sound of surprise noted that he probably knew the show, just wasn't sure today. She grabbed the pen from his hand, leaning forward a little more to write in the Timelord's name.

It was welcoming.

Almost nice.

Almost enough to make her feel more at home, more so than she had when he was rude and frustrating to work with.

It was as though she was lulled into a false sense of security after a few cases. There was a hint of her old boss that she felt from one of their cases. It was brief, the way he snapped at the suspect, but it was nonetheless, her Alfendi Layton that she remembered. She almost believed that it was just her brain hearing things, but seeing the fear in the suspect's eyes, she knew it was him. The man she worked with before. The man she had mourned when he was no longer then man she recalled. The man who practically rewrote himself in shock and became a whole new man with the same name.

"Don't you know when to give up?" She asked Dr. Sterling, their most recent suspect, "We have the answer and you cornered!"

"And I have mine! It was on her that she chose such means, can you not tell that he killed himself in his dismay? His marriage was falling apart!" Dr. Sterling responded in confidence.

"My dear Baker, we seem to have a feisty one." Lucy raised her eyebrow at the odd callout to her last name, glancing up to her mentor that had suddenly done a 180 with his personality. "This was first degree murder, by all means! An intense desire to see blood spill from one's body, to watch them burn! You surgeons are incredibly lucky to touch the human body in that aspect...perhaps I chose the wrong profession."

"Just because I'm a surgeon doesn't mean I like seeing people suffer! I fight to save people's lives! Even if I knew the victim, I'm not as careless to make such mistakes as those!" The suspect defended, "Your aptness for such things, Detective, is quite unsettling."

"Your first mistake: you fell in love with a married woman, who luckily was out with her husband that night. You knew you were on call. Second mistake: you used yourself as a tool to create a car accident. Third mistake: you were the surgeon called in and forgot autopsies, even for such simple cases as those, exist. Everyone makes mistakes, even senior surgeons!" The Prof, who wasn't seeming to be like the Prof, proclaimed. "An inspired choice, doctor, I'm not sure many would choose to be so violent—to be instruments to their own murder...many should takes notes from you!"

"That's not true!" But the more that Dr. Sterling denied, the more his case was starting to look less credible.

"Shut it, before I cut your tongue for lying to me! Admit it, Doctor Sterling. You wanted to see him bleed with the cuts from your scalpel for taking your love away! An inspired choice, right Baker?"

She looked to the suspect, who was trembling in his shoes, almost at the moment to burst. By all means, it was one to see a suspect admit to such crimes by having the truth come to them in responses, but to practically break down a man? It was something his old persona would do, had he still remained.

"There's nothing inspiring about choosing to kill someone in that manner! Let alone in death at all! What has gotten into you, Prof?" She barked and the Prof only laughed at her righteous behavior.

"Oh Baker, you enjoyed my mannerisms before! Do you not want me anymore?"

And oddly enough, she didn't have an answer to that question.

Did she want him to stay? To come back from his slumber and turn back to what he once was?

Lucy pondered if it was selfish, to desire to keep the status quo as is. She didn't want the old past, she liked the present that she was given by complete accident. Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was stupid—she didn't know. As each case evolved, she found herself staring at a man that was fighting against himself. Two distinct versions of Alfendi Layton, battling in his brain for control.

Yet, when she solved the case of Forbodium and found herself staring at the fact that the Prof she grew to learn from, adore, and care for was something else, something artificial, it was a surprise. The Prof that was birthed from the mess—Placid, she named him—was a fake. It wasn't him changing heart to become someone new or had forgotten how to be himself, it was him, a whole new personality trapped in a body that already had one. Potty, the one that was much more abrasive as the one she remembered of before the accident...was real. Just to cover up Justin's mess.

When the Prof returned from talking with Justin, she was looking at the case again. Looking at four year old scribbles from Al. Four years, nobody had touched it. Now that she did, it was solved. The Prof had a stable state of mind. She watched as he stalked to the desk and she stood up.

"Prof, how'd it go with Justin?" His face was already enough for her to determine it was awful. She prepared for some sort of angry response, wincing ahead of time.

"Terrible. Awful. Absolutely disastrous." Personality switch, Potty came aboard, "If they ever let him out, I'll kill him!" Now that sounded more like her old boss. "He brainwashed me, read this as I was in my coma. That psychotic maniac, he did that to me in a sick effort to shut me up. In the result, that other side of me, the one you've been with for some time...he was created." He threw the book down onto the desk. She looked and it was a shoddy looking one revolving around the idea of brainwashing.

"That's the book?" She picked the worn tome up and scoffed, "Well, it worked."

"Granted, my whole mental faculties were shot dead. I suppose it wouldn't be too challenging to change everything about me." He glared between the book and then to her.

"At least we solved it and exonerated you of all charges. The important part is that you received answers. We all got them." Lucy assured. Potty shook his head and his eyes glanced away from her and to the window.

"Yes, I suppose that was helpful. But that doesn't matter." He muttered. Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? What do you mean, Prof?" She frowned, unsure of what he meant. "I thought this was really important to you. It did rewrite everything about you."

"Well, it is, but what I mean, Lucy, it doesn't compare to the answer I need from you." Potty leaned a bit forward and Lucy leaned a slight bit back. His eyes darted around her face, then settled to her eyes. He was like a predator seeking his prey. Now this was the Al she remembered.

"Which is...?" She trailed off, hoping he'd finish.

"After all of this, which one of us, do you like? You are one of the few people that had the lucky chance to know both of us, in great detail. Luckily enough, you are the one we care for the most, without an exception. You're the only one who hasn't betrayed us and by all means, your opinion matters." The Prof tapped his fingers on the mahogany wood. "Do you prefer me, the original? The one who took you on as an assistant and showed you everything there is to detective work?" Personality switch, "Or me, the Placid one? The one who has been here for the latter portion of your time here, who has helped you solve cases without insult?"

Lucy was practically sweating bullets. She was controlling the end result of what was a long feud of the Prof's past and honestly, she wasn't sure what to say. Does she go for the original she had been working with for a couple of cases, who was honestly just a bunch of bark and no bite? Does she go for the docile Placid, who has treated her with nothing but kindness, yet was born out of a shoddy brainwashing book?

This whole endeavor had her in twists when it came to her emotions, but after a moment of pondering, she decided.

"Is there an option to choose both?" She finally asked and it was the Prof's turn to have his eyebrows raised, then furrowed.

"An option...an option to choose both?" Placid asked.

"We didn't think about that." Potty murmured, "We were certain-"

"98.7% certain—" Placid added,

"You would choose someone rather than both. Why in blazes would you want to work with both of us? We're a walking disaster, Baker don't you know?" Potty seemed more angered at this than Placid.

"Aye, well, sometimes your certainties can be off. I like you both." Lucy shrugged, "I care for Alfendi Layton. As far as I'm concerned, that's both of you."

"But that doesn't—" Potty prepared to raise an objection. Lucy shook her head.

"Did you think I was going to choose one over the other? At this point, you are both the same person to me. Just because a personality changes doesn't mean you're no different. You're still Alfendi Layton to me and I'm sure to everyone else too." She paused, "Unless there's a problem, pain or otherwise."

He scratched the back of his head, as if he was debating the thought in his head.

"Not exactly," Placid responded, "We've been able to coexist and talk sentence after sentence while switching between after some getting used to. There isn't really pain, it's more of just a dull feeling. Pain only comes when we are tugging at a rope for control. But Lucy—" Lucy shook her head yet again.

"If my opinion is what you wanted Prof, that's what it is. You're the same man I've been with since I became a Detective Constable. I love you both." Her eyes then widened at the slip of her tongue, shifting away. She attempted to play it off, "That's all."

"What did you say, Baker?"

"I said that I wanted both of you here. That's all." She grabbed ahold of the case they ended up putting on hold due to Forbodium. Potty wrenched it away from her hands forcefully, as if they were back to square one, with Potty being rude to her on her first day at the station.

"What did you say, Baker?" He repeated, his face just inches away from hers. She could practically smell his aftershave, clean and crisp. It was faint, but the fact that she could smell him was enough to indicate that he was way too close to be considered office mates now.

"I love you." She whispered, "Both of you." Her eyes scanned throughout the Prof's, in hopes there was some sort of agreement. It all felt very trite and out of place to admit such feelings, as if she was attempting to take the best of both worlds, but could anyone blame her?

"This is quite the paradigm shift, Lucy." Placid finally said, exhaling deeply. "I had hoped to make it easier for you, but in the end, you've exceeded all of my expectations."

"Why is that?" She wondered aloud, her heart quickening at the sight of him seeming to come even closer.

"Because I find myself loving you too." Placid sighed, cupping her cheek with a hand.

"And I as well." Potty added on, the other idle hand cupping her other cheek.

Neither of them could say who kissed first. Surely, it felt trivial when one considered what had been confessed in the span of ten minutes. For the fumbling and strangeness of what had transpired between their working relationship, it all felt too easy, as though they fit with each other so well. Her soft lips parting for his chapped ones, conveying a sense of comfort that she attempted with her words.

Before they could get to the point of kissing in a way that was, by all means, unacceptable if someone was to walk in, she let go.

"It was getting better, Baker." Potty growled and Lucy chuckled, pecking his cheek as she turned back to the case she was working on.

"Maybe another time, Prof." She said, as though it was an afterthought.

"Are you saying there's another time?" Placid asked with curiosity, but Lucy graced him with no response, just a mere smirk as continued reading the case with ease. Though, later, after hours, Alfendi would understand what she meant.