Can you Remember the Church Bells Ringing

Chapter 1

Lucy opened her eyes to the dimly lit room, though it was daytime no-one had opened the thick blackout curtains, keeping the room dark and dingy. She moved one leg, the tell-tale clink of tequila and whiskey alerting her to why she suddenly felt like there was a balloon inflating behind her eyes. She squinted, dry mouth sticky thick with saliva and moaned before retreating under the duvet; closing her eyes once more.

For the first time in months Lucy hadn't woken up with the intense need to murder her alarm clock, her awakening coming natural from a good nights sleep... if you ignore the vice gripping her skull. The room was still silent - apart from the faint humming of the air conditioning unit overhead, a noise equivalent to a drill repeatedly chiseling into her cerebral cortex.

She couldn't help but moan and lower herself deeper into the duvet, waves of nausea adding to her misery. Her burner phone pinged with message after message, each signalling that it was Nyla and Angela; "Do Not Disturb" now void on the phone.

Her brain felt like it would swell beyond the capacity of her skull and now her dehydration was too obvious to ignore. She would have to crawl into the bathroom to grab some water, anything to dampen the fuzzy feeling in her mouth. Her stomach lurched and gurgled a the thought of movement; the only inspiration to move being the welcome relief her painkiller would bring.

Lucy raised her heavy eyelids half way only for them to fall shut once more. How much had she drank last night?

She attempted to open them again, her intense headache screaming at her to sop being so stupid and keep her eyes firmly shut. So she idd. She lay brain functioning where her eyes wouldn't and began to piece the previous night together.

Yesterday she was at the station. Angela and Nyla needed Tim and her for an U.C operation. She would be Sava which meant that she was Juicy and Tim would be Dim. They had to meet at an aircraft hangar and boarded a plane.

Las Vegas

They took her to Las Vegas and on the plane they told her (well Jake and Sava) that Rosalind Dyer had escaped. Tim took her for "Mile High Club" where she engaged in a conversation with him before making out with him to make it seem like they were hooking up. Lots of other blurry details happened and they went out for the evening after they both had showered. They had Thai food for dinner accompanied with tequila (per her choice) and whiskey for Tim.

Yes! They had gotten drunk. Horrendously, unacceptably drunk; the one shot slyly turned into a bottle and then well you know how it goes. They were meant to be alert, they were meant to be Dim and Juicy but they seemed to think karaokeing to 'Can't Help Falling in Love with You' at the top of their lungs were more important at that moment.

Oh my God! They sang 'Can't Help Falling in Love with You' in public, in a random bar! she felt the groan build in her throat. It was one thing for her to sing but at least she could hold a tune; Tim however ... well she doubted what he did could be classed as singing. It was more like a cat having its tail pulled: loud and deafening. Last time he'd attempt to out-karaoke her.

Okay ... time to revisit what she knew:

1) She and Tim had a U.C mission as Dim and Juicy in Las Vegas

2) They ate Thai food

3) They drank and attempted to song karaoke (Tim attempted she was a good singer) 

4) And now she was in a bed which ultimately had to be their hotel room still unable to remember how she got there

A stirring movement brought her attention back to the here and now, to the very slow process of building their Las Vegas jigsaw puzzle.