Okay. This is a response to The Firm's prompt 'Laugh.' Make of it what you will. But please, do tell me.

Halloween had always been a little strange in the Rider household. It wasn't a holiday Ian tended to buy into. And then Jack came along. She'd been horrified her first October in her new home to find the house completely devoid of anything remotely spooky.

Since then, Halloween had become quite the extravagant, indulgent occasion. The traditional festival boiled down to Jack's unstoppable enthusiasm, Ian's indulgent humouring of his more than capable housekeeper and Alex's happiness to embark on a twenty four hour long sugar binge with his gleeful, red haired playmate.

On Jack's checklist for a perfect Halloween were three items. Enough sugar to send a two hundred pound man into a glucose induced coma. Enough black and orange streamers, glow in the dark skeletons, rubber spiders, spray on candy web, stuffed witches hanging from the ceiling, Gothic candles, old school horror movies and spooky tinsel to decorate Buckingham Palace. And, of course, the most bizarre home made costumes that Jack's deviously practical mind could invent.

There were no questions asked. It simply was. A sure fire constant of every single year.

The entire mid term break though, Alex had been like a cat on a hot tin roof. It was the first Halloween without Ian. Did tradition still stand? Would Jack go through with what had become such an enshrined piece of familial sanctity in Alex's mind? She'd given no sign either way the entire week; almost as if she was going to pretend that it was just another Saturday.

And when the day finally came, Alex woke up a little disappointed. His bedroom looked bare and uninhabited. There were no skeletons strung up in his closet, Ian's outlet for his quiet, dry sense of humour in the wake of Jack's abrasively endearing, in-your-face in a good way jokes.

When he showered, there were no witches tacked to the back of the bathroom door or synthetic cob webs stuck to the mirror. He ate his bowl of cereal, subdued, in a kitchen devoid of black and orange tinsel and bunting.

Finally, he padded into the living room, shaking the dribbles from his dripping wet hair to the carpet with one slow flick of his head.

"Jack?" He called quietly, seeing his guardian snuggled into one corner of the sofa, complete oblivious to his entrance, entirely absorbed in the photo album resting on her lap.

She looked up, eyes dancing, and sprang to her feet clumsily, whirling across the room to wrap him into a big, warm, bear hug. She released him, holding him back by the elbows to study with a faintly proud grin.

"I thought I ought to wait for you to get up before I got stuck into the decorating. I got some new stuff; the plastic skeletons were so last year. The new ones are in bags behind the couch. Could you go grab them while I haul the rest of the stuff down from the attic?" She gushed, gesturing every which way randomly before darting out of the room, trailing her plans over her shoulder while she began to climb the stairs.

Alex felt his lips twitch a little as he stooped to pick up the photo album that had been knocked carelessly onto the floor by Jack in her forgetful enthusiasm. He tried not to look at the beaming images of him and Ian, snapping it shut quickly and replacing it on the sofa cushion, away from harm.

Ten hours later it was like a Halloween bomb had exploded in the middle of their home, corrupting every single surface with some sign of Jack's devotion to her second favourite holiday. It was like the house had shrugged on its own Halloween costume. Nothing escaped unscathed.

Least of all Alex.

Could he be blamed for feeling just the slightest bit angsty? Jack had managed, somehow, to find a way to make from scratch a bumble bee costume perfectly tailored to her teenage ward's size. It had a stinger for God's sake. For a woman who claimed to be woefully under prepared, Jack had pre-planned an awful lot.

She herself was a Charlie Chaplin tramp, complete with bendy cane and a fake moustache. Of course, the nigh constant stream of trick-or-treaters loved that. The Rider house was a must see stop on the trick or treating route of the area, an annual pilgrimage for some. It was a common fact that Jack bought in enough sweets (or 'candy', as she insisted upon calling it) to feed a sizeable army, was generous and specialized in strange, non-mainstream treats that were absolutely delicious.

She had a smile for everybody, summoning Alex to the door and calling him her 'lovely assistant'. Pinching his cheek and ruffling his hair, sending the children into fits of hysterical laughter. They'd never seen an adult like Jack, never conversed with a grown child which such a stupendous stock of charm and humour.

"Alex." Jack began, at a rare moment when the front step was empty and she wasn't stocking up on 'candy' that had run out. "I just wanted to say thank you. For going along with this. It means a lot to mean that we can still do things like this even though..."

"It's no problem." Alex replied awkwardly, shifting slightly onto the balls of his feet.

"I just wanted to let you know that... We're still a family. Me and you." She trailed off emotionally. The doorbell rang impatiently and she turned to leave the room. Alex lifted off the sofa, ready to follow, unsure of what to say. He felt like he was choking all of a sudden because...

He'd never really got a chance to grieve the loss of his only real sense of family. It had been eclipsed by Stormbreaker and MI6's manipulation. He'd buried it somewhere in the base part of his mind, unable, maybe just unwilling, to allow himself the opportunity to come to terms with the fact that his past, his entire identity had been thrown into chaos and ruin with the discovery of Ian's occupation.

He'd never allowed himself to question who he truly was when the unshakable, unquestionable, definite and final order of his childhood had been compromised, no, destroyed, in one fell swoop by Jones and Blunt.

"Oh, and you're also the most adorable fourteen year old bumble bee that I've ever seen." Jack chittered back over her shoulder as she opened the door with a gleeful coo.

Sometimes, you just didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

What was your best ever home-made Halloween costume?