Shot At Combe Carey Hall

An Unfortunate Mistake

"Show me then." Fairfax smiled as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Sure." Lucy said with such sudden compliance and confidence that it caused Lockwood great concern. She smirked as she reached around the back of her neck and removed the loop of cord. She held the case in one hand as she opened it.

"Hey, that's sliver-glass." Percy Grebe said suddenly. "What's the locket doing in there?"

But just as Lucy swung the lid open and tipped the necklace into her open palm Grebe caught on. He had begun to raise his gun and aim it at Lucy as the ghost of Annie Ward appeared. A gust of violent air knocked him to the ground and from his position on the floor he haphazardly shot at Lucy. Lucy gasped in pain before crumpling to the floor along side the locket.

Whatever happened next Lucy could only speculate in retrospect while she lay in a hospital bed hours after the incident. Fairfax had been ghost touched and Grebe arrested but the finer details of how this occured were lost between the shrieks of pain and torrents of blood oozing from a wound on her leg somewhere under her leggings.

What she did remember clearly from the hours following her unfortunate mistake was George and Lockwood both kneeling on the floor beside her. Lockwood applied pressure to the wound and George held her hand, they were trying to comfort her but whatever they had said she couldn't hear over the pain and adrenaline.

Very quickly DEPRAC officers and Fittes agents filled the home conducting their buisness but Lucy didn't care who they were or ask why they were there. A few Fittes medics hoisted her onto a gurney bed and rushed her to the nearest hospital.

Barnes had been reluctant to let Lockwood and George join her in the ambulance but nothing he could have said or done would have stopped them. He could have tied the two to the railings of the staircase with the strongest iron chains available and it still wouldn't have kept them from being with Lucy so instead Barnes sent a DEPRAC officer with them to question them along the way.

If Lucy had felt dazed and confused at the house it was nothing compared to her first day in the hospital, cold industrial lights and the intoxicating stench of sterile chemicals were enough to make her head swim but coupled with sedatives more intense than any Malaise she'd ever felt was enough for her mind to temporarily check out completely from the world around her.

It wasn't until late that first night in the hospital that she was able to keep her eyes open and her mind alert enough for a small and sweet conversation with Lockwood.

"Hey. How do you feel?" Lockwood whispered gently as though he thought if his words were too loud or the syllables too sharp it would further hurt Lucy. He painstakingly stood from his chair and moved it closer so he could sit right next to Lucy's bed.

Lockwood himself looked no better than he did hours before when Lucy had found him laying still on his side covered in ash on the floor after the explosion in the well room. He was still covered in ash but it wasn't nearly as thick, he had tried to wipe it off his face but trails of somewhat clean skin running down his cheeks outlined the dirt and grime that still coated his skin.

If Lucy could look in a mirror she was sure her face would have similar trails, she had cried a bit until given sedatives to ease the pain. Or at least she would have had similar trails if it weren't for the nurses who must have bathed her. Touching her face she felt it was clean and smooth, her hands and arms too were clean.

George was there too, sat in a chair up against the wall he slept with his head laid back and angled toward Lucy. He like Lockwood was still disgusting with dirt and ash, spider webs and ectoplasm, and after closer inspection blood staining the knees of his pants. For some reason he was clutching a fire poker tight in his hands, it laid across his lap. He let out the occasional snore but apart from him and the faint ticking of a clock the hospital was silent.

"Sore and stupid." Lucy dare not sit any further up than the nurses had already proped her in her stiff uncomfortable bed so she simply moved her head and eyes to meet Lockwood's gaze. Her throat was dry as dust and she'd honestly prefered to go back to sleep but since he was still awake and obviously worried about her Lucy thought she could manage a few words for Lockwood.

"Oh don't say that, you were brilliant back there. Every second was brilliant, you'll be glad to know your friend Annie Ward got her revenge, and Grebe is in custody. Though it took a few officers and agents to hold George back so they could safely escort him out the door. I don't know if you were quite conscious for that, you were a bit in and out of it." Lockwood gave a half hearted smile, despite everything they'd been through he was still as full of charm and humor as ever.

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"I'm sorry I put you in that situation in the first place." His smile fell flat and he suddenly couldn't bare to look at Lucy, he gazed out the iron bar gated window of the hospital room with a heavy sigh.

Lucy studied him for a moment unable to think of a response, she reached out a hand to grasp his but found the gloves he still wore from earlier were crusted with a dark flaky substance.

"Is that my blood?" She asked unable to hide her disgust, Lockwood hastily took off his gloves and tossed them to the floor, with his clean uncovered hands he held Lucy's hand.

"Yes. Bit heavy handed of a metaphor isn't it?" Lockwood smiled once again and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze but that distinct gleam in his eyes that he had when he was truly happy was gone, this was an awkward smile meant to mask his true emotions.

Lucy nodded, she was surprised by how cold his hands were. Her hands, she guessed weren't much better they shook a little with each pang of pain that vibrated from her leg throughout her body. She glanced down at her leg, hidden under an itchy quilt she could feel gauze wrapped around her left leg, it was a bit itchy.

"Is it bad?"

"No. Well yes, but it could be worse. Thankfully that Grebe is a horrible shot, missed anything vital. As long as it's treated properly it should heal within 10 days at the very least. The pain may last a bit longer than that though."

"How are you? How's George?" Lucy yawned and blinked slowly, she rolled her head back to it's original position and struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I'm unimportant and George, well he's furious. Barnes popped in for a chat about an hour ago, we can't go public with the truth about Fairfax but as a sort of bribe to keep us silent Barnes agreed to have DEPRAC pay for all your medical bills which is a major relief and we get to keep the money from Fairfax."

Lucy nodded and the conversation began to dwindle, soon she and Lockwood fell asleep.

In the morning a nurse explained the injury to Lucy and how to take care of it at home and so Lucy was discharged and made the long journey home to 35 Portland Row with Lockwood and George at her side.