Ruby Redfort: try not to scream

Chapter 41- Forms of Love

Laid on the guest bed was a note. Ruby smiled and picked it up. It read:

My Dearest Ruby-loo,

By the time you read this, I will be on my way back home. I just had to leave this note to tell you how much I enjoyed my time in Twinford. I have never left England before so coming out here and meeting all of you was practically a dream. I've never been to parties like the ones you brought me too nor have I ever met people quite like you, Hitch and Clancy. My time spent with the three of you was most definitely the best month of my life. I've learnt how to do parkour, how to fight and I made some great memories. I promise to come back at Halloween and/or Thanksgiving. I swear, Redfort, if you do not call me I will personally hire Victor Von Leyden to bring you to me in London. You will never be rid of me. *Insert evil laughter here.* Now, I've been informed that you hate your birthday but as a present I decided to give you this. It's a transmitter that connects to my MI6 watch meaning we don't have to spend all the money we earn from being agents on long distance calls. Please take care of yourself and, for goodness sake, stop falling off rooftops.

Best regards,
Your Dannie.

Ruby reached further inside the envelope to find something that looked like a lens. When she looked closer she realised that it was a little attachment to her watch. She grinned. LB, she thought. She slipped it onto her watch and began to type.

Dan suddenly felt a sharp buzz on his wrist.
Message received. See you at Halloween :) - R
Dan chuckled slightly.
"You really care for that Redfort girl, don't you?" asked M. Dan smiled.
"She's one of a kind,"
"I admit she's a talent. It's almost a shame we didn't recruit her first," M sighed.
"Hey, I'm sure she'd be happy to help out anytime she's in London,"
"I hope so. Her and that dashing partner of hers,"
"Hitch?" Dan grinned cheekily.
"Get back to work, child," M looked embarrassed.
"Yes ma'am,"

Ruby spent her last week of being sixteen with her friends. Of course there were questions but, as soon as Ruby told her friends she didn't want to talk about it, they stopped talking about it. In their minds, Ruby had been through a traumatic experience and it was too hard to talk about. They spent most of their time at the diner and the others cringed over what Elliot liked to call 'Cluby'. Ruby and Hitch were given the week off of work to avoid any further suspicion from the people of Twinford. So, for the first time in four years, Ruby was almost like a normal kid again. She wasn't sorry to admit that she hated being normal. In fact, to keep herself from turning into, what she referred to as, 'full on insane psycho chic' she would call Dan every night and sit in Hitch's apartment, talking with him about the case.

Ruby Redfort woke on June 22nd, tired and, as her T-shirt put it, 'bummed out'. It was very early in the morning and she decided to leave before anyone woke up. She slipped into Spectrum and went into the Red Room. As she plopped down into her chair, she noticed a note on her desk.
Welcome back Redfort. Your first assignment is to bring me coffee - L
Ruby was slightly shocked to see the B missed off. Did that mean LB was finally accepting her? Ruby ran down to the Spectrum cantine and picked up an order of two jelly donuts, a large iced latte with chocolate mocha syrup and an iced latte, five shots of espresso, large, with breve, five pumps of vanilla, seven pumps of caramel, four packets of Splenda, poured, not shaken. Jeez, LB is complicated, she thought. Although LB had not specified what coffee she wanted, Ruby had heard her tell the coffee boy her order so many times. It seemed that Hitch had rubbed off on Ruby. She did indeed enjoy the odd coffee every now and again and considering it was five am, she needed the energy. Ruby knocked on the large white door and heard the gravelly voice of LB.
"Redfort?" she asked.
"I think so," called Ruby, sarcastically.
"Yes, it's definitely you. Come in,"
Ruby walked into the fully white room and placed the bag of donuts and the coffee's on the desk. LB eyed the beverage, cautiously.
"What? I didn't poison it,"
"I just want to make sure you got the order right," said LB.
"Have a sip and find out,"
LB took a sip through the straw, hesitated for a moment and then smiled.
"Congratulations, you, a highly qualified Spectrum agent, managed to get my coffee right,"
"It may take a full mafia to get that order right," laughed Ruby.
Ruby took a sip of her drink and looked over at her boss.
"So what's the deal?" she asked. "You know who didn't bust out of the glasshouse did he?"
LB laughed at Ruby's concern.
"First of all, no he is still in jail. And second, glasshouse?"
"Jail. Well, kind of. It's a word Del and I use to refer to Juvie. Ya know, she doesn't wanna end up in the glasshouse and neither do I,"
"Why on earth would you end up in jail?" LB asked, chuckling.
"I da'know. Although I seem to keep bumping into some dodgy folks recently. I swear there was more to that British dude than met the eye and I have a sneaking suspicion that my butler isn't a butler. They're either cops or villains and if they're the bad guys I may have pushed the wrong dude off a roof,"
LB raised her eyebrows in a theatrical way and Ruby smiled.
"I noticed you missed the B off your name on the note," she said.
"Yes well, Loveday is my name. As long as we leave the U off, I'll be fine,"
"Cool. Bradley would laugh at that, wouldn't he?"
"Yes. Yes he would," smiled LB. "He would laugh hysterically and uncontrollably for ages,"
Ruby suddenly remembered what she had found in the guest bedroom earlier that week.
"I was cleaning the guest room with Mrs Digby and I found this,"
From her backpack, Ruby produced a notebook.
"I don't know how I didn't find it sooner. It seems good old Bradley kept a diary," Ruby flicked through the pages to an entry and began to read to LB.
"For some reason, I had to believe the girl and now I'm so glad I did. In a little cafe, I met two people. A man named Hitch and a beautiful woman named Loveday. She seems to prefer to be called LB by everyone except me. Although I do not remember my own name, somehow, I know this woman. There is something about the way she looks at me that makes me remember. It was when Hitch and Miss Ruby Redfort had left that she told me something. Something I am so grateful for. Loveday Byrd is my fiance. Well, she's Bradley Baker's fiance but it seems I am him and he is me. It seems so strange to me that, because of one curious, intelligent and quite cheeky teenager, I am finally able to remember. There are only three faces I recognise now. (The memory recall is going well.) I remember Loveday or rather I remember how much I love her. I remember Hitch, the man who is like a brother to me. But it is the other that worries me. I remember a man Ruby refers to as The Count. He's the villain in my history. All I know is that he will not hurt any of the people I love. Especially not my Loveday,"
LB smiled, more shocked than anything else.
"Bearing in mind that this is four days into his memory recall help. Now I don't use the word perfect very often LB but you and Baker were just that. The greatest love I've ever known,"
Ruby placed the diary on the desk and headed to the door. Just as he hand touched the handle, LB sighed.
"Happy birthday, Redfort," she smiled.
"Thanks," nodded Ruby, leaving the room.

LB looked down at the book in front of her and smiled.
"That's some kid,"