Lucy yawned at her desk, struggling to stay awake. Last night's case had taken a lot out of her, and she hadn't gotten much sleep. However, since no one else was awake, and she had received a call that DEPRAC needed a report of last night's case for some stupid reason, she had to draft it up.
"Ugh... I don't get why George enjoys this stuff..." she muttered darkly. She was just finishing the last sentence when Lockwood came into the room. He wore dark pajamas, messy hair, and as always, a charming smile.
"Good morning, Luce. Lovely day, isn't it?"
"Lockwood, it's raining out," Lucy yawned.
"I've always thought there's a subtle, monochrome beauty to the rain... oh, is that the report? Lovely job, Luce. Good initiative, doing it this early."
"I did it because I had to..." Lucy frowned, but handed the report to Lockwood and got up from her desk. She was at the stairs that lead from the basement to the kitchen when Lockwood spoke.
"Um... Lucy, what's this?"
"Muh? What's what?"
Lockwood moved over to Lucy and showed her the report she had just written. "So...?" She couldn't see anything wrong with it.
"Look at the company name," Lockwood laughed.
Lucy kicked herself mentally. In her sleepy stupor, she had written "Lickwood and Co." as the name of their company. She looked back at Lockwood, and felt a heat rise in her cheeks. He had one eyebrow raised elegantly, but he looked as if he was also suppressing a fit of giggles.
"Let me just fix that," Lucy made a grab for the paper, but Lockwood held it just out of her reach.
"Really, Lucy? Lickwood?" he smirked.
"Oh, shut it. I was tired. And at least it's not as bad as Big A."
Lockwood looked around the basement suddenly, as if checking for people listening in. "We don't talk about Big A," he murmered. "If anyone ever... what's wrong Luce?"
Lucy, who had been red-faced with embarrassment, was wincing slightly. "Ow," she said, putting her hand inside her mouth, as if something pained her in there. "Ugh, I'm bleeding."
"What? Let me see." Lucy complied, opening her mouth. In the back, near the gums, there was a small trickle of blood. "Hmm, wonder what that's about? Let's get you upstairs and wash it out."
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Later that day, after the report had been fixed, Lucy went to the dentist to have them look at her teeth. When she came home later, she disgustedly told Lockwood, George, and Holly that she had to get all of her wisdom teeth taken out. In fact, one of them had already poked through, which was why it was bleeding earlier.
"Don't worry, Lucy, it'll be fine. They'll put you under anesthetics; you won't feel a thing," Holly said soothingly.
"It's not that I'm worried about the operation itself; I've been through things more painful than that. It's just that I won't be able to move that good afterwards, and therefore I won't be able to go on cases."
"Don't worry about that either, Luce. We'll take a few days off and take care of you," Lockwood smiled at her.
Lucy just gave him a nasty look. "I can take care of myself just fine, thanks."
"Too bad you won't be able to eat much for a few days. I know I'd go insane if I couldn't eat cookies and doughnuts. You won't be able to drink tea," George said sadly.
"Is that all you think about George? Food?" Holly asked. "Lucy's clearly nervous about her operation-"
"Am not."
"-and we need to be there to support her."
"I think Lucy will do just fine," Lockwood beamed. "And we can handle a few cases on our own. Don't worry, Luce."
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The day of the operation had arrived. After a quick taxi ride to the oral surgery place, they got out and checked in. In a few minutes, the receptionist called "Lucy Carlyle." She went back with the surgeon, leaving Lockwood and George sitting in the waiting room. Lockwood was reading a gossip magazine, and George (much to the receptionist's horror) was eating a doughnut. Holly wasn't there because she was visiting a friend, but she promised she'd be over later to help with Lucy.
"So George, is everything in place for later?" Lockwood asked quietly.
"Yup," George said through a mouthful if doughnut. "Operation Prank Lucy 2017 is a solid go."
"Perfect," Lockwood grinned. Now remember, you can't call me Lockwood. You need to call me-"
"Yes, yes, I know. I'm not sure if she'll buy it though. Even when in an anaesthetic state, I'm pretty sure she could still murder us, you know," George snorted.
"But you'll follow the plan?"
"Of course. What kind of person would I be to turn down pranking? I've got the hidden cameras ready and everything. Wait, does Holly know about this?"
"No, I figured we'd be done by the time she arrived. Anyways, I'm not sure if she'd be able to keep in character. It's gonna be hard enough for me," Lockwood said.
A few minutes later, "Family of Carlyle" was called and Lockwood and George went to help her to the cab. Lucy certainly had looked better in her days. Supported by a nurse, her head lolled onto her shoulder; her eyes had a foggy, dreamy look to them. Her cheeks bulged with the gauze that was in there; her steps were shaky and unsteady. At once, Lockwood rushed to help the nurse. He put his arm gently around her waist and told the nurse where their cab was.
"Of course," George snorted to himself. "He'd take any opportunity to do that."
"What'd you say George?" Lockwood called over his shoulder.
"Nothing," George said slightly sarcastically.
Once in the cab, Lucy was a babbling mess. It was kind of hard to understand her through all of the gauze.
"My fas is num," she giggled.
"Your face is numb?" Lockwood asked.
"Yah. Who you?" she asked Lockwood.
George shifted in his seat excitedly. Operation Prank Lucy 2017 was about to begin.
"I? Well, I'm your boss, Lickwood," he winked at George.
"No you not," Lucy said muffledly. As she spoke, you could see the bloody gauze in the back of her mouth. "Isn't your nam Lockwod?"
"Lockwood? It most certainly is not. Where on earth did you get that idea?" Lockwood kept his voice even, but he barely contained his grin. George looked at the tiny camera on the cab dash and winked at it like they did on sitcoms.
Lucy looked out of her window, her face screwed up in confusion. Well, at least part of her face. The bottom part was lax as it was totally numb. "Holy it, I don know."
"Yeah, Luce, why would you think that? His name's Lickwood," George asked, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm.
"Shut it, George." She glared at him. It was all George could do from laughing; it was hard to take her seriously when, unbeknownst to her, drool was coming out the side of her mouth.
After a few minutes, Lucy fell asleep. Her head fell onto Lockwood's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind the drool that came out of her mouth onto his coat, although the tips of his ears were a bit pink. George, who took any and every opportunity to embarrass his friends, grinned at him and raised his eyebrows. Lockwood, the master of of remaining calm, just stared back at him until George finally stopped smiling.
"So, Lockwood, about the-" George started.
"Shh," Lockwood warned in a whisper. "She might not be asleep. She might be able to hear us."
"Well, if what you're saying is true, what you just said was awfully suspicious."
Lockwood rolled his eyes. "No, it wasn't."
"Yes it was."
"Wasn't."
"Was."
"Wasn-"
Lockwood stopped talking. Lucy had just shifted her position on his shoulder. Then, she mumbled in her sleep, "You'd stuggle to pour wata out a a boot if de instuctions were itten on da heel."
"You'd struggle to pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel? Dang, I'll have to remember that one. Does Lucy normally mutter insults in her sleep?" George asked.
Lockwood smiled down at Lucy. "That sounds like something she'd do... Oh look, George, we're home. Get ready for the plan."
Lockwood gently shook Lucy awake, and with much grumbling, managed to get her out of the cab. While Lucy was still muttering dark thoughts, George got the hidden camera out of the cab under the pretext of paying the driver. Once he returned to Lucy's side, he nodded to Lockwood to indicate that the real fun was about to begin.
"Lickwood, look at the window!" he said, though admittedly without convincing shock. Lucy didn't really notice George's bad acting, as her face was numb and George didn't really have emotions in the first place (at least to her).
Lockwood, however, was a much better actor. "Woah... that looks like a ghost! How'd it get in there?!" Indeed, a greenish light was shining through one of the windows George's special visitor effects. Which, interestingly, consisted of a lightbulb with a green sheet over it.
Lucy, however, didn't really care much about the ghost. She grumbled, "Can't we ust go insid alweady?"
"No, Luce, there's a Visitor in there," Lockwood explained gently.
"Well, git it out."
"Excellent idea. George, why don't you go and deal with it? Lucy and I can wait outside," Lockwood stated, giving George a quick wink.
"Sure. And if I don't come back, please come look for me, okay?" George said, already walking to the front door.
"Of course, George," Lockwood sighed.
"Thanks Lickwood!" George called over his shoulder.
"Geowge needs to hurray his butt bak. I'm cowd," Lucy shivered.
"It's okay. He'll be back soon. Here, we can sit on the bench. You said you're cold? Want my jacket?" Lockwood asked.
"Nah, I'm touf," Lucy said as she sat down. "My fae is starting to hurt dough."
"Well, when we get inside you can have some Tylenol and go to bed. How's that?"
"Great."
They sat on the bench in silence for a while. Lockwood was waiting a few minutes before he could suggest to Lucy to go inside. Lucy started to nod off again, so Lockwood knew it was time to go in. Plus, she was shivering. Lockwood couldn't leave her out in this cold.
"Luce, wake up. C'mon Luce, you need to get up. There you go. See? That wasn't so hard," he said gently, propping her up a little with his arm while she grumbled. "Now, not to alarm you or anything, but George hasn't come back yet."
"Ugh, stoopid Georfe."
"Yes, I don't quite understand what's keeping him. We'd better look for him, just in case anything's happened."
"Okay. I'll just sleef here, you look for him," Lucy slurred.
"No, Luce. You have to go too. We can't have you getting attacked by a ghost out here, can we?"
"Fine, Lickwood," Lucy mumbled as she begrudgingly got up. The pair walked to the front door and went inside. The house was dark, but Lockwood didn't turn on the lights.
"Let's grab our rapiers, Luce, just in case. Then we'll head upstairs. I think I heard footsteps up there," Lockwood suggested.
Lucy muttered darkly, "You da boss."
Lockwood helped Lucy up the stairs to the landing next to his bedroom, where he knew George waited.
"Now, which room could they be in? Hmm... Ah-hah! I'll use my special powers."
Lucy was confused. She wondered if he was talking about his Sight.
Then, Lockwood did it.
He licked the wall.
"Um... Lickwood, did you jus-"
"Lick the wall? Yeah, why do you ask?"
"It's... weird."
"I use it to sense ghosts, remember?"
"No... but ok."
"It's why I'm named Lickwood."
"Oh... dat makes sense."
"My powers tell me that the ghost's in my room."
"Cool."
"Alright, I'm going in, Luce. I think George is in here. If I don't come back in three minutes, please come looking. Don't fall asleep," Lockwood said as he turned the doorknob.
"Okay," Lucy said to Lockwood's disappearing back. She really just wanted to sleep, but she knew she couldn't for Lockwood's sake. Deep down, she was worried for the two boys, but she was also on a little too much medicine to fully care. She just wanted to sleep, and maybe eat ice cream. Mostly sleep, though.
Lucy looked down at her watch. Three minutes had passed. She sighed, and knew she must go in. If Lockwood and George weren't okay, then she didn't know how she was supposed to defeat this sudden ghost either. Oh well, if she got ghost-touched then she could justify sleeping.
Meanwhile, it was all Lockwood and George could do to keep from giggling as Lucy came into the room. They hid in Lockwood's closet together, albeit a little squished. They had set up a fog machine in the room for Lucy as well as that green light thing George had made. Their master plan was to ask Lucy some funny questions that they'd hope she'd answer because she was all funny in the head on that medicine. Everything would be recorded... for blackmail purposes, of course.
Lucy looked around the room, then took her gauze out. "Hello? Lockwood, George? You here? Oh wow, I can talk better with that stupid gauze out, yay."
George cleared his throat and started speaking in what he thought was clearly an impressive voice. "Welcome, young one. If you hope to see your friends again, then you must answer all of these questions truthfully." Lockwood rolled his eyes at George's not-very-deep-voice.
Lucy sighed. "Fine, but let's do it quick. I'm tired."
"Excellent, excellent. Firstly: WHAT... is your name?"
"Uh, Lucy Carlyle."
"WHAT... is your quest?"
"To find my friends and go to sleep."
"WHAT... is your favorite color?"
"I dunno. Blue, I guess? Wait, aren't those the questions in-"
"Control questions, my dear," George cackled. "Now, on to the real stuff. Tell me... what does the skull in the jar say about your colleagues at Lockwood and Co.?"
"Uh... well, it insults George a lot. Calls him fat and the like. It tells me to kill Holly in a variety of weird ways, like with an egg whisk. It also says to leave Lickwood and start an agency with it. He wants it called... Carlyle and Skull or something like that. Oh, and he says that it takes Lickwood 2 hours to do his hair in the morning."
In the closet, George looked at Lockwood. "Is that true?" he whispered. Lockwood didn't reply, but instead pretended to be really interested in the hanger above his head. George smirked to himself, then continued. "Alright, alright... Lucy, who is the best looking person at Lickwood and Co?"
"Holly," Lucy said simply.
George looked at Lockwood with his eyebrows raised. "Really? I thought that you'd say... well, let me put it a different way. Lucy, do you have a crush on anyone?"
"Is it really necessary?" Lucy asked wearily. "I just want to sleep..."
"It is absolutely necessary if you want to see your friends again."
"Fine... well, yes." George looked at Lockwood excitedly. Lockwood, however, shook his head. He didn't want George to ask what he knew was inevitable. George, however, just grinned unapologetically and plowed on.
"Who is it?"
"Well... if you really must know... I-I like-"
"Lockwood!" The three heard someone shout downstairs. "George! Lucy! Where are you?!"
"Oh no..." George and Lockwood said together.
"Up here!" croaked Lucy.
Holly burst into the room. "Lucy! What on Earth is happening?!"
"Weird ghost. Wants to know who I have a crush on," Lucy told her.
"Wait, that's a fog machine... alright, boys, the fun's over. Come out, now." Holly demanded.
Lockwood and George slunk out of the closet looking guilty. Lucy looked enraged at the two of them, but she didn't look nearly as mad as Holly did. "I can't believe you two! Playing pranks on Lucy when she just needs her rest!"
"Hallelujah, someone finally says it."
"Lucy, let's get you upstairs. I'll deal with you two-" she glared at Lockwood and George. "-later. Let's go, Lucy." Holly and Lucy left the room, with Holly looking furious and Lucy muttering darkly.
George turned to Lockwood. "We're definitely in trouble. Did you think it was worth it?"
"Definitely," Lockwood grinned. "You should have seen the look on Lucy's face when I licked the wall."
George roared with laughter. "I bet that was great!"
"I wish we could have figured out who she has a crush on. Although I'm kinda glad we didn't... for privacy reasons, you know," Lockwood finished lamely.
"Oh, I already know who she likes," George said smugly.
"You do?! Did she tell you?!" Lockwood exclaimed.
"No, but it's pretty easy to guess," George smirked.
"Do I know them?"
"Looked in the mirror lately?" George laughed.
"Wha-? Oh." Lockwood's ears turned slightly pink.
"So? What do you have to... uh oh. Here comes Holly the Destroyer," George said warningly.
"Did you seriously make Lucy call you Lickwood?!"
George had to say, Lockwood had too much of a smile on his face for someone who was being scolded by Holly.
Yay, I finally updated something! What can I say, I've been pretty busy with tennis. Hope you guys liked this! It turbed out to be a lot longer than I thought it would, oh well. And I had to type all of it on my phone :( Anyways, remember to tell me what you thought!
-Agent Eepster
