Buried Within (Lockwood & Co Fanfic)

Searching

Massie didn't sound sure of herself.

That, Lucy, was sure of as she watched the other girl, her lips pushed together, yet she couldn't blame the girl for having the self-doubts she did, given she'd already seen the way Massie's mother acted. She wasn't sure if the tea managed to calm her down either.

And—

Massie's head nodded slightly over the tea, making Lucy frown. "Nightmares?"

"Uh, yeah," the girl muttered. "Don't know if I'll get a good night's sleep to go out and look for the place."

"Don't worry. We're sharing a room," Lucy said. "So you won't be alone tonight."

Massie stared at her tea. "I guess."

"Not like you were when you were taking a nap," Lucy thought, wanting to say more yet not wanting to set the other girl off. "If I'd realized it would be an issue, I wouldn't have left you alone up there." Lockwood gave her a look to remind her that many of their cases were at night and that she wouldn't always be there. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, almost as if he knew bringing that up would have been an issue at that particular moment, that they could come to it when the time came, such as when they went to take care of the body in the wall.

"If, of course, we can find the house."

Which, in the morning, they would be doing.

During the night, everything seemed uneventful, yet Lucy was unsure whether Massie managed to sleep well until she asked in the morning. "How did you sleep?"

"Better," Massie said. "It's better not to be alone." She looked down at the food on the table. "It's also nice to actually have a warm meal."

"I'm sure when the two of you move into your home, once we get all of this straightened out, you'll be able to have a warm meal again," Lucy said, digging into her breakfast.

"Only if I make it for myself," Massie said. "As you can see, my mum isn't up yet. This is pretty normal, but she was only up early while we were sleeping in the car because she had to keep moving the car. I'm not sure the exact reason."

"So the police wouldn't grow suspicious?" Lockwood offered.

"Well, there is that," Massie frowned, reminding Lucy of how the other girl's mother didn't want the father involved, whereas she would have loved for her father to have been a part of her life, that maybe things would have turned out differently otherwise.

"I could, you know, teach you how to make something for breakfast," George said, working with the food.

"Sure. Maybe once we get back?" Massie said, frowning as she did so. "I mean, it's kind of, I don't know."

"Yes. We've got a long day," Lucy said.

"Got it," George said. "And lunches are packed."

"Thanks, George," Lucy said, smiling at the teen as he pushed up his glasses, not looking at anyone, obviously wanting the strangers out of their home, yet the circumstances they were under were what they were.

Lockwood sat there, eating his breakfast. "Can you tell us anything to help us narrow it down? Outside of, you know, your mother believes it is a nice neighborhood with a good school."

"What constitutes a good school these days?" George asked, frowning, pushing up his eyeglasses. "If it's not private, I mean."

"Well, there is that," Lockwood said, knowing how the public schools dived into The Problem as there was some expectation for any child with any sign of being sensitive in the public system to be funneled into being taught at agencies with certain parents wanting the money a child who was a sensitive could bring in. Lucy swallowed.