Waking up with a boy sprawled out across you is never a good thing especially when he's your boss and your other male co-worker is pounding on your door. Unfortunately for Lucy this is exactly what she woke up to.
"Luce! Where's Lockwood?" George asked for the second time.
"Crushing me," Lucy muttered trying her hardest to move out from underneath him. "Check his room. I don't know." Lucy lied. After she heard George leave she shook Lockwood.
"Wake up idiot." Lucy whispered. "Get off of me." Lockwood rolled off of her with a groan. Lucy stood and straightened her nightgown, she spotted Lockwood's stuffed bear laying on the ground halfway under her bed. Picking it up she could feel how worn and old it was, it's blue button eyes falling off.
"You must really love this little guy." Lucy set it down in front of Lockwood, grabbed clean clothes and went to take a shower.
Lockwood rolled off the edge of the bed, landing with a loud thud. Rubbing his now bruised arm he sat up, the sound of rushing water and humming in the distance reminded him of the previous night. Closing his eyes he could see it as it had happened.
First the suicidal Lucy walking out into the water. Then that desperate loneliness he'd felt waking up, and the feeling of vulnerability when he'd knocked on Lucy's door tears streaming down his face. He remembered the warmth of Lucy, her soft hair brushing against his cheek as he slept, so close they had been.
Sitting alone on Lucy's floor Lockwood found himself yearning for that closeness, for that warmth, for Lucy. Despite this he ran out of her room and down to the kitchen as fast as he could, he had now cried in front of both his co-workers, he had let his guard down and become vulnerable.
When he was young he had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't let anyone in so they'd never have to bear his pain, so that those around him could live happy lives, and so that if he were to die during a case no one would feel the pain he felt when his family had died. So he took a deep breath and pushed back the memory of what happened the night before, not the fear and depression of the nightmare but instead the memory of Lucy's touch. Her warmth and comfort, and with it, he pushed back the desire to feel it again then made his way into the kitchen for a late breakfast.
Lucy made her way downstairs, already her face was flushed with embarrassment, she also had been going over the events of the night before. She remembered the bad parts, the worry, and confusion upon seeing a crying Lockwood, but she also remembered the other parts. She remembered the weight of Lockwood leaning on her, the heat of his breath upon her neck.
It reminded her of when he had helped her practice fighting, but then it had only been minutes of such intimacy, last night it had been hours, and she had been in her nightgown and him in his pajamas. The whole situation seemed fine at three in the morning when Lucy was too tired to think, but looking back at it she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
Lockwood & Co. sat through an awkwardly silent breakfast with a red-faced Lucy, a dead-eyed Lockwood, and a suspicious George. Putting away the dishes George reminded Lockwood they had a client coming soon and reminded Lucy she wasn't allowed to be a part of the case.
After Lucy finished eating she decided if she couldn't go out on cases she'd do what George normally did, she gathered the boys work belts and checked and restocked their equipment. Then she grabbed their rapiers and polished them, by that time their new client had arrived and Lucy was told she couldn't come upstairs.
It had stung to hear George say that, it was like he and Lockwood were ashamed of her and didn't want their client to see her. She went over to her desk and sat in her dusty chair. Opening the bottom drawer she pulled out a hand mirror, normally she only used mirrors out in cases when she needed to watch her back while in tight spaces, but she wasn't allowed to go on cases anymore. She wiped off the glass and stared at her reflection, there was a deep scar running along her cheek. Starting under her eye going down diagonally across her cheek, she remembered when she got it. She had kneed her captor in his weak spot, he cut her in rage.
Lucy glanced down at herself, she knew she'd be home alone while George and Lockwood were of on cases so she wore her favorite skirt and a t-shirt, the skirt to cheer her up and the top so she could do housework without having baggy clothes getting in the way. She had scars of all different types, most of them were small painful nicks that were fading. Some of the scars she didn't even remember getting.
That pubescent little bastard loved slicing up her skirt, down her chest and along her legs. She had many scars along her chest, her abdominal area, and her legs. He loved her legs, some days he would skip torture just to stare at and touch her legs, that was a different form of torture though, Lucy shuddered. She hated thinking about all the things he could have done to her while she was passed out. Lucy put away her mirror and closed her eyes, she felt dizzy, she always felt dizzy now. She laid her head back and tried to relax.
"Where should I start? Your pretty lil' face, or those lovely shoulders?."
Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder, Lucy flinched.
"I'm going to enjoy the few days that I own you, we are going to have lots and lots of fun together."
"No!" Lucy shouted falling backward out of her chair, bashing her head against the floor.
"Jesus Lucy." George knelt down by her and helped her sit up.
"Nightmare?" Lockwood called from the other room.
"What else would it be." George answered as Lockwood walked in, Lucy rubbed her head. Lockwood and George were both wearing their work belts. Lockwood helped Lucy to her feet and took a look at her head.
"Are you okay? You bruised your head pretty bad, you have to stop banging into things like that."
"I'm fine, George just startled me." Lockwood and George glanced at each other.
"Well Lockwood and I are going to the Archives then to our client's house, we should be home early. I'm pretty sure this will be a quick case."
Lockwood looked Lucy over, making sure she was okay. He involuntarily gasped when he saw what she was wearing, she was even shoeless like she was in the dream. Lockwood pulled off his sweater and pulled it over Lucy.
"Put some real clothes on Luce, you'll freeze if you wear that. I want you to put on some thick leggings or better yet some sweatpants, you shouldn't have your legs so exposed with how cold the weather is getting." Lockwood couldn't look at her, he feared if her face held the expression of misery it held in his nightmare then his nightmare would come true.
Lucy stayed silent and still for a few moments, just staring at Lockwood. She didn't speak until her eyes were filled with tears.
"Are my scars that bad that you can't even look at me. First, you wouldn't let your client see me, now you can't even look at me."
"That's not what I meant Luce, I just."
"Don't bother trying to hide it you twit!" Lucy whipped his sweater at his face and ran off before Lockwood even had a chance to explain. She stormed into the sitting room slammed the door shut and sat down next to it, she hugged her legs to her chest and cursed Lockwood's name as tears rolled down her face.
"I'll go talk to her, you get ready to leave." George patted Lockwood on the shoulder. He prepared a little speech as he walked up to the stairs, he figured it would either make Lucy feel better or she'd slap him in the face, he didn't much care either way as long as Lucy knew Lockwood didn't hate her scars.
"Why do you always sit in such weird spots?" He asked sitting next to Lucy.
"You don't care."
"Hey, I resent that. Listen, Lockwood and I care about you a lot. Lockwood nearly lost his mind, and almost shut down the agency when we lost you. And I, I couldn't eat a damn thing for days I lost eight pounds. I really did miss you and we were both so worried about you." George put his hand on Lucy's knee, again she flinched so he took it off.
"You're a pretty girl Lucy, Lockwood and I both think so, and though I don't like you like that I can agree you are pretty and no amount of scars could ever change that." Lucy brought down her legs.
"You mean it?"
"Of course I do, Lockwood didn't want you to cover up your scars he just wanted to make sure you stayed warm or something like that. I think there's something going on with him though that made him freak out, maybe you should ask before jumping to wild conclusions like that."
"You should probably be going, you have a case to go on."
"Don't start with that." George stood. "It's for your own good, you nearly cracked your head open from just me waking you up. Trust me it's best this way. Now we're leaving, I think you and Lockwood owe each other apologies when we get back." George stood and left, there was a bit of conversation in the other room before the boys left.
With no one home and nothing to do Lucy went to her room, she ended up putting on leggings as Lockwood wanted then she picked up his stuffed bear, it's button eyes dangling. Grabbing two black buttons and a needle and thread Lucy sat down on her bed, she cut off the old buttons and sew in her new ones.
She grabbed some stuffing from the hole in her old pillow and put it into a hole in the bear. She made sure he was nice and huggable before sewing up the few holes in him. She smiled at her work, it had been a long time since she had done something like it, she used to fix patches in her clothes when she was younger.
She carried it down to Lockwood's room and placed it on his bed. Then she began cleaning around the house, she cleaned until there was nothing left to clean. By the time she finished, it was time for her dinner, she ate a small sandwich and a few cookies, she knew the boys would eat the same when they got home so she made them both their favorites and put them in the fridge. Lucy laid on the couch in the sitting room drawing while she waited for Lockwood and George, it wasn't long before she fell asleep.