The True Story of Emily Lockwood / g. karim

𝔼𝕏𝕋ℝ𝔸: 𝕖𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖 𝕥𝕨𝕠

I present: the second installment of the 'extra' series! Short(1.5k word) chapters in which I follow your requests! Today's edition is an angsty George and Emily... which I've never written really before so, we shall see how it goes! Criticism is very welcome! 

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So, they'd nearly died. 

Much to Emily's dismay, her first actual physical fight with someone - unsurprisingly - did not go over very well. Little did she know, the coming days held multiple chances for her to prioritize this talent, and fine-tune her skills. 

What scared her most, more than her brush with literally getting murdered, was losing yet another person she loved - liked - because of her mistakes. She'd vowed, the second she saw the neck on George's throat, that she would not let this person take him from her. 

George, unfortunately, was rather unhappy she did so. 

In comparison with how he'd treated her with such tenderness earlier, this was a side of George she had yet to see - directed at herself, that is. She'd seen it directed at her brother many, many times. 

Emily Lockwood did not anticipate how much fighting with George would hurt her to the very soul, leaving her feeling sick and detached. 

Normally, she would have expected someone to say "oh, thank you so much for saving my life" but no. Of course he wouldn't see it that way. He was in a rather self-destructive mood. 

They were sitting in the library - Anthony and Emily - while a fire burned merrily in the fireplace, warding off the chill of Autumnal London. Emily winced as he dabbed her cut on her side with alcohol, to clean it. 

"You're lucky," he said absentmindedly, prodding the angry red area around it - Emily cursing all the while. "a bit harder of a throw, and we'd be sewing you back together." His tone was light, airy even, but Emily knew he was worried about her possibly dying - not that he'd show her that. 

"That would've been too bad," she muttered, as he dressed her wound "none of you lot would remember to water my plants." Ant chuckled, tidying up the rest of her cuts. George walked into the room, hovering by the doorway. 

"Lockwood, do you mind?" he said, not really asking - more like he was telling her brother to leave. Arching a dark eyebrow, he didn't put up a fight. 

"I'll just go check on Luce," Anthony told them, and ducked out of the room. Emily heard the door shut behind him, the clicking unfamiliar. The library's doors were always open - no matter the time of day or business held within. 

"You're okay?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and sitting up fully with a grimace, pulling the hem of her shirt back down. George didn't look at her. 

"That was stupid," he said matter-of-factly, and Emily's face scrunched up into confusion "what you did."

"You'll have to be more specific," she drawled, narrowing her eyes at his back - since his face was turned away from her. 

"You let them ransack the place, Emily," he said, and what alarmed her most was the fact that his voice sounded like he was listing facts. Frankly, she would have been happier if he'd chosen to yell or curse at her. 

At least then, she could justify doing it back to him. Instead, she held her tongue - drawing on the happy memories to keep the sharpness at bay. 

"Well, it was either that, or they killed you," Emily deadpanned. George sighed angrily. 

"That's the problem!" he turned around to face her, cheeks flushed. She could feel how upset he was - every bit of his anger directed at her. Wonderful. 

"I'm sorry, I fail to see how that is a problem," she exclaimed, getting defensive. "because you being alive is a lot more appealing to me than attending your funeral." He scoffed. He actually scoffed at her. 

"That prick-" he ground out "could have taken anything they wanted! As if we need more trouble!" Emily stood up, crossing her arms. 

"As if we need our researcher - and friend - dead." She retorted. 

"Don't you get it?" He asked her, and Emily realized she was on his bad side. Instead of showing her hurt, however, she schooled her face into a blank look of boredom. 

"Not really, no."

"You risked yourself - and Lockwood and Co - to save me," he explained harshly. Internally, Emily winced. "can't you see the problem?" Emily's face dropped into a frown. 

"There isn't a Lockwood and Co., without you," she said quietly, letting her gaze fall to George's socks. They were bright yellow, and that absurd detail wanted to make her laugh. If, perhaps, she wasn't already drowning. 

"Oh, that's rich, Emily," he scoffed sadly "of course there is. It could be you three against the world." Emily was fairly certain her jaw hit the floor. 

"You actually want to do this right now?" she snapped, letting her surprise get the better of her. "After I nearly lost you?" George shook his head and sat down heavily, slumping into his favorite armchair, placing his head in his hands. 

"I'm not mad at you," he sighed deeply, and Emily's head was a mass of confusion - all bright colors and flashes from what he felt. Torture, it was. "I'm mad that someone broke into our house, and I did nothing to stop them.

"They had you tied up, George! There was nothing you could do!" She remarked hastily. 

"And then you had to save me!" So, that was what this was about. 

"You don't understand," she said lowly, mind tracing its way back to the night she made the biggest mistake of her life. "I can't lose anyone else. Especially not you."

"Of course I understand!" he argued "My family doesn't care about me!" Emily couldn't stop the scoff that escaped from her lips. 

"Your family is alive," she managed to grind out from clenched teeth. "Mine isn't. I cannot have someone else die because of me, George. So, no. You don't get it - at all."

She felt a shift in his attitude, but she had a feeling this was far from over. 

"They wouldn't have killed me," he fired back.

"You don't know that!" She retorted, voice rising. "They held a knife to your throat. If I did nothing, your body would be cold. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not! I also don't want to have to be saved all the time," Emily massaged her temples, willing herself to regain her composure. 

"If you didn't want to be saved, George," she managed quietly, turning away from him so he couldn't see how much she was hurting. "you shouldn't have kissed me. You should have left me alone, to wait until everything I felt for you faded."

She heard him draw in a deep breath. 

"That's not what I wanted," he said gently, and she recoiled away from his touch. 

"Next time I save your life, then," she said, staring at the wall, "say thank you and get over it." 

Before he could reply, she walked briskly out of the room and up into the attic, ignoring Lucy's questions. Instead, she turned out the light, and let herself ruminate in the darkness - not sleeping once. 

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A/n: okay so as you can tell... it was very hard for her to let him in, trauma and whatnot. and now I'm imagining she's going to have a very hard time warming back up to him. Tough love, but I thoroughly enjoy the drama. 

I think this is really nice, to set up future chapters between them - the story's plot and Emily's story in general.