After a long night working a wraith haunting over in Chelsea, Lockwood, George, and Lucy returned to 35 Portland Row around 4:00 AM. George, in his usual fashion, plopped down in his chair after grabbing a disturbingly large portion of pound cake from the fridge. Lockwood, mildly bruised and battered, sat down on the couch and rested his eyes before doing a final check to make sure that George and Lucy were alright.
"Lockwood, we're fine, honestly," Lucy said, hoping he would stop worrying.
"We really are," George added in his usual nonchalant tone, which reminded Lucy of an old grandpa who couldn't care less.
Lockwood accepted their responses and bid them goodnight before heading to his room. As he walked further down the hall, Lucy noticed his slight limp and bloodied face more clearly. Yet he still had that dark gleam in his eyes that reassured her in even the most absurd situations.
About ten minutes after Lockwood went to bed, George and Lucy retired as well. She stumbled up the stairs and onto the landing, where she said goodnight to George and continued on to her room. Reaching her bedroom, she collapsed on the bed, only then fully realizing how exhausted she was as her body hit the sheets. She quickly drifted off to sleep.
Lucy woke up at a quarter past seven, got out of bed, and groggily got dressed, only after putting the designated handkerchief over the skull. She went downstairs to find fresh tea cakes on the table and Lockwood sitting down, reading the papers. George was in the sitting room with Holly, telling her about last night's case.
"Morning," Lucy greeted Lockwood, her hair still messy and dark bags under her eyes.
"Morning, Luce. How did you sleep? Well, I hope," Lockwood replied with a smile. His upbeat, perky attitude was already fully restored after one night's sleep.
Lucy perked up slightly and replied, "I slept well enough. I was exhausted after last night."
Lockwood's smile dropped slightly. "Yes, sorry about that. We may have slightly underestimated that pesky wraith." Then, he regained his smirk and returned to reading the paper.
Lucy helped herself to the tea cakes and was just about to head back upstairs when the doorbell rang.
"Holly, do we have any clients this morning?" George asked.
"No, not any that are scheduled, anyhow. Well, quick, tidy up the couch and get everyone in here," Holly responded in her usual authoritative manner, leaving no room for argument.
Lockwood set his magazine down and headed to the sitting room, where George was already waiting. Holly went to the door and invited in an elderly-looking lady. Lucy had just made her way to the couch when the woman gave Holly a sad smile and entered.
"Hello, ma'am. How may we help you?" Lockwood asked in his most charming and charismatic voice.
"Oh dear, I don't normally ask for help, but I'm in dire need of agents," the older woman said, her voice carrying a slight croak.
"Well, you're in luck; we're the best agents in London, and you have our full attention." Lockwood gave her another smile, his gaze warm and reassuring.
"Oh, well," the woman began, "I recently acquired an old 19th-century house. It gave me no issues until two of my contractors stayed the night—with all the safety precautions, of course—but one of them...he—he killed himself. And the other survived but is in the hospital after getting ghost-touched. I don't understand what happened, but the DEPRAC investigators told me I needed agents."
"Interesting. Did the surviving man give any clues as to why his companion killed himself?" George asked, his tone now curious.
The woman nodded and explained that the surviving contractor hadn't seen anything (due to his age) but had felt "a cold and unforgiving presence." After gathering more details, they accepted the case. It was curious that such a sudden violent haunting had occurred with no prior indication that violence had taken place in the house. However, that was George's job to uncover, and off he went to the archives. Lockwood and Lucy headed out to get more iron filings and salt bombs after the previous night's fiasco, while Holly stayed behind to add the case to their schedule.
Authors note: hey this is only my third time ever writing fan fiction so please be nice! I hope you like it!
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The House of Sorrows
Fanfiction(This is a fanfic dedicated to locklyle) *After the events of The Empty Grave* After the downfall of both the Rottwell and Fittes agencies, Lockwood and co. went back to "normal" life. In the following months after Penelope/Marissa was killed, and t...
