Luke and the Professor usually got along like champions. They both liked puzzles, and Luke loved his godfather dearly, even trying to be a 'true gentleman' like him.

Unfortunately, even those two got into little tiffs from time to time. Although I suppose 'little' was putting it too mildly.

You know how the nicest people are the most frightening when they are angry? Well, that was especially true for when the Professor and Luke got into fights- when they truly fought, which was really not that often, they pretty much blew up at each other (in the case of Luke) and sometimes would even give one another the cold shoulder for at least the next few days, in the worst of them.

Luke often didn't remember his fights with his parents if he ever had them, but he remembered every single one of his fights with the Professor almost perfectly- perhaps because they had so few.

Some were very short and quick- the Professor thought Luke's behavior had been completely out of control and Luke didn't think so, Luke one time accidentally had some wine and the Professor was upset because he thought he'd done it on purpose. Those had lasted a few hours, or a day at most.

One of the worst ones, now that Luke thought about it was when Luke was still about thirteen, before their last official 'adventure' together, and he was helping the Professor with a puzzle. However, he'd been in a bad mood that day. He still remembered why- his father had refused to let him go off to the fair with his school, for some reason or another.

"If you have two coins that total thirty-five cents and one of the coins is not a dime, what is it? ... Luke? My boy, are you alright? You're looking positively-"

Luke was trying his best to be patient, but he'd been glaring down at the puzzles for an hour and barely been able to fume his way through them, so he now put his fists down on the table. He did it a bit harder than he'd been intending to, and he knew an ugly glare was on his face, but at the moment he was in such a bad mood that he found he did not care terribly much.

"Yes! I'm fine, Professor!" he snapped, even though he really wasn't.

The Professor couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face, which then turned into a more stern one. "Luke, a true gentleman-"

Luke couldn't take it anymore.

All day he'd been holding his frustration, resentment, and anger in, and now he took it all out on the poor Professor. "A true gentleman what?! What doesn't a true gentleman do?! I've heard those four words all too much lately! 'Luke, a true gentleman does this!' 'Luke, a true gentleman does that'! Honestly do I really do so little correct that you have to correct me every bloody minute?!"

The Professor looked surprised, and then a look of disappointment came over his face. "Luke, my boy..."

Luke was sure he sounded petulant, childish, and rude, but at that particular moment he couldn't have given a damn. "Don't call me that!"

"Luke, calm down. A tr-" The Professor stopped what he was saying in time, and corrected himself, "Luke, please calm down. You're looking positively-"

"Don't you

DARE make an excuse for this!" Luke shouted. "I don't think I can take it anymore!"

"Luke," and now the Professor was standing, his dark eyes gleaming dangerously, "I hate to say it, my boy, but at the moment you are sounding absolutely childish."

Luke stamped his foot against the floor so hard that for the briefest of moments he was positive that his foot would go right through the boards. "Who the bloody hell cares?!" he shouted. "Sometimes I just wish- I just wish-!"

He couldn't even speak, he was so angry, and after a moment of trying to grasp words out of thin air he turned on his heel and stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him so hard he was positive that the door would splinter into a thousand pieces. Then he bolted to his room.

Luke couldn't even SIT DOWN, he was so incensed, so instead he paced his floor, so repetitively that for a few minutes he was pretty sure he was going to wear holes in his carpet.

For the first day of their fight, he went about feeling as though he could punch something, with the Professor avoiding his gaze- and in fact, him. He didn't care very much, although he did feel slightly worried when Flora skirted around both of them, looking as though if she didn't act gingerly she'd set off a nuclear bomb.

The second day, Luke was feeling significantly calmer- enough to even crack open one of his puzzle books, and to try to solve the riddle the Professor had given him a few days ago. A slight twinge of guilt was tugging at him now, but he tried to forget it- and how he'd slammed the door in the Professor's face.

The third day, Luke had solved the puzzle and was feeling almost back to his old self. Even though he'd solved the puzzle, it seemed strangely... empty, without the Professor to smile at him over a cup of tea (even though Luke had to have the sweetest tea and sweeten it with two cubes of sugar as well) and smiling his congratulations.

By the fourth day, Luke was literally drenched with guilt, and he felt as though he were drowning in it. He was an idiot. He was stupid, he was a jerk, and he'd never be a true gentleman no matter how much the Professor would try to help him.

On the fifth day, Luke managed to work up the courage to knock on the Professor's study door. "Come in," the Professor said, and Luke eked the door open and stepped into the room, twiddling his thumbs nervously. "Um, P-Professor...?"

The Professor looked up at him in surprise, but Luke bit his lip and forged on, "I-I figured out that puzzle you set me, the other day."

For a moment, there was this bone chilling silence, until the Professor asked, sounding very calm, "And what was the answer?"

"A dime and a quarter. They said one of the coins is not a dime, so the other one is," Luke responded, his nails pretty much digging into his flesh, so painfully that if he did it any deeper he would start bleeding.

The Professor was silent for a moment, before chuckling. "Good job, my boy."

And those four words made a huge wave of relief surge into Luke, replacing his anxiety from only a moment ago with that sweet, uplifting feeling.

But that wasn't the end of the fighting, oh no. There were long intervals between the fights- sometimes YEARS would go by between them, especially when he'd moved back to London from America, but that wasn't the end of it. No, they'd had another one when Luke had asked his godfather for his permission to date Flora, and another one when Flora had come home crying (from a complete misunderstanding, not for that reason at all).

But the worst... oh, the worst came when Luke had his own children, and they were going to visit the Professor for the day.

Only the day before Luke had had to reprimand his child for some petty stealing- an apple from a classmate, but Luke had scolded her so severely that his child, who he'd named Claire in honor of the Professor's sweetheart, was still crying.

The Professor was a doting grandfather, and he had not been terribly pleased when Claire had been sniffling pitifully, and had requested Luke come into his office.

Luke couldn't remember what they actually said. He just remembered what had happened.

At first it had started out relatively calm, with the two of them sitting in their chairs. But Luke had always had a very fiery temper and then the two of them started raising their voices and then soon the two of them were shouting at each other, because even though the Professor was a gentleman even he lost his temper from time to time.

At one point Luke was pretty sure he'd shouted something, and the Professor hit him, a backhand that sent Luke stumbling several feet back.

He stared at the Professor, rage and disbelief surely written all over his expression, and the Professor was standing there with his frozen look on his face, though from shock or rage Luke was not sure. And perhaps he never would be sure, because shortly after he'd left the house, bringing his confused and innocent children and a confused and worried Flora with him. And even as he drove away, the Professor watched them with this frozen look on his face, standing in the doorway.

That had been three years ago.

Luke had long given up on asking the Professor for forgiveness. From what he'd done he was sure the Professor wouldn't have accepted it, seeing as he'd angered the Professor enough to make him hit him. He was invited often to family outings, but he always made an excuse and went off to help the animals at the veterinary clinic. He hadn't even seen the Professor for three whole years.

But this time there was no getting out of it. No, Flora had told him that if he didn't come this time, there would be some incredibly bad consequences.

Luke took a deep breath as he prepared to get into the car.

No matter how the Professor reacted, Luke was prepared for anything.

Truthfully though, if he could go back in time and do it again, Luke would've tried to keep his temper at least.

And, if Luke were to be truly honest with himself, deep down he really, really missed the Professor, no matter what he tried to tell himself otherwise.

A/N: This is the incredibly long first part of a three-chapter oneshot which idea just popped into my head randomly today. Anyway, I hope you like it!

x.X. A.L. X.x