[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XXIII - Not the Time

"This letter from DEPRAC is unbelievable." Lockwood huffed as himself and George walked into the kitchen, Daniel and Lucy already sat at the table. Daniel had a mug cake and tea and Lucy was scribbling down on the thinking cloth, simply keeping Daniel company. 

"It's better than it could be." George countered. Lockwood took the paper from him, looking it over for himself. 

"They're covering everything up. Saying Fairfax died of natural causes." Lockwood huffed, dropping the paper in front of Daniel as he passed. He crossed his arms to his chest, leaning back on the counter while George took a seat with Daniel and Lucy.

"Well, they're trying to protect his name. But why? Whatever he was up to, killing Annabel Ward was clearly just the tip of the iceberg." George paused for a second before smiling. "Still, at least we're getting paid." 

"The whole seventy grand?" Lucy looked up at George who slowly nodded at her. 

"Well, who cares?" Lockwood frowned. "We can't talk about it." He pushed off the counter, coming over to lean on the back of Daniel's chair. "Combe Carey Hall should be putting our name on the front page of The Times. And now, it's like it never even happened." 

"Your name, you mean." George corrected. Daniel turned slightly, holding up her fork toward Lockwood as if asking if he wanted any. He shook his head with a small, forced smile. "Lockwood this is great. The oversight's been lifted. We're debt-free!" 

"We're client-free, we're reputation-free, and we've got a lot more debts than just that sixty grand fine." Daniel rolled her eyes at Lockwood's pessimism, going back to eating her mug cake. George huffed slightly, pulling the goggle device that he'd stolen from Fairfax's corpse up and a magnifying glass so he could look at the goggles. Lockwood paused for a moment before turning to look at him. "George. That's evidence you stole from the crime scene. It needs to be kept in the safe."

"I just wanna know what it is." George shot back, not faltering slightly in his movements. "Why would this insignia be on those crates and these goggles? It's fascinating. Whatever these are, they were useless against that vicious ghost." 

Daniel scoffed a laugh. "Of course they were. . .They're goggles." 

Lucy looked between the two, dumbfounded. "She was brutally murdered. What do you expect? And yeah, she was scary in the end, but I really felt like I knew her. Like she was. . .still alive."

Daniel pipped in, trying to lift the solemn tone Lucy'd switched to. "She sure did know how to constrict my windpipes." Lockwood chuckled slightly, shaking his head at her remark. 

George kept his attention on Lucy though, a serious tone to his voice. "Watch out. Listening can screw you up. And if you're not careful, it can be a slippery slo-"

"George." Lockwood interrupted, his voice hard and controlled. It dropped back down to calm and soothing in an instant. "You can forget about all of that now, Luce. Well, it worked out fine in the end." 

Lucy grabbed the goggles, standing up to avoid the conversation. "I'll stash these for you." She held them up slightly before turning and heading toward the basement stairs. 

"Oh, since you're going down there, could you pop this in secure storage?" Lockwood pushed off the back of Daniel's chair, grabbing a manilla folder and walking around to Lucy. He opened it up, handing her a parchment paper certificate. It was Lucy's official certificate for her fourth grade. 

Lucy smiled slightly, looking up at Lockwood. "You signed it. Is that allowed?" 

"Well, judging by the face Barnes made in the van, not even he knows what the rules are. So why not? Plus, it's my agency. You belong here." Lockwood smiled at her. Lucy nodded softly, taking the certificate and the goggles downstairs and leaving the other three members of her team in the kitchen. 

Lockwood sat down in the seat beside Daniel with a slight sigh, taking her fork and eating a bite of her mug cake. She scowled slightly, rolling her eyes and grumbling. "I knew you'd want some." He gave her a slow smile before turning to look at George and giving Daniel her fork back.

"You shouldn't have said that." Lockwood dropped his voice to a whisper. "About what listening can do."

"Well, someone has to. She got way too close to Annabel, and. . .listeners can burn out. We need to look after her." 

Daniel nodded, dropping her fork into her empty mug and picking up her tea. "We do. But she's stronger than we think." 

"She's good." George agreed. "And she's finally starting to get me." George chuckled.

"She's a lot tougher than we think." Lockwood nodded. There was a bang from downstairs and Daniel dropped her tea. 

"Shit-" She seethed. She'd never been more thankful that her tea had cooled down slightly. It was still hot, but not nearly as hot as when it came off the stove. Lockwood was quick to grab the mug, stopping it from spilling out anymore tea.  

"Uh-" George looked at Daniel for a moment before turning back toward the basement door. "Everything okay down there?" 

"Dani?" Lockwood looked her over. 

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

George got no response from Lucy downstairs and Lockwood turned his head that way. "Luce?" The three looked at each other, slowly coming to a stand before they made their way downstairs. "Luce? Lucy! Everything okay?" Lockwood called once they got to the bottom of the steps. They turned into the storage area of the main room and found Lucy unconscious on the floor. 

"Fucking hell-" 

"Dani!" Lockwood scolded, as him and George rushed to Lucy's side. 

"This is not the time for lessons on my language, Locks." She muttered, quickly making way to the rest of her team. 

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Word Count - 978

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Published - August 20, 2023

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{Author's Note}

Hello! 

Those of you who commented/saw the Author's Note part a few days ago and commented all wanted me to draw Daniel + Lockwood as a thank you for 5k reads! 

So, if anyone has any ideas on the scenario you'd like for me to draw them in, please let me know. And if I get no responses, I'll just pick a situation that I think fits with the two of them.

Thank you so very much for 5k reads on Glow, I'm so happy that you're all enjoying the story so far. I appreciate every read, vote, comment and save and it truly makes my day to get notifications on this story.

I hope you're having a wonderful day, evening or night!

<3 - Ghosty