Locklyle Reimagined [A Lockwood and Lucy Fanfic]

Thank God For You, Luce (Lockwood)

"Do you remember when we were finishing up with that Solomon Guppy case?" I asked her. Feeling the iron circle tighten around me, I scooted over, closer to her. All of a sudden, the circle seemed big enough. Physics. Magic. All the same.

"Yeah, why?" She turned to me. Drops of sweat trickled down the side of her face.

"I was..." Diversion served best when dealing with cases of Type Twos, like what we're doing now. It had just turned into night. George suggested the team should split up into two. George and Holly took the second floor of the house haunted by a Specter. A ghost of the late owner is said to be angry with the renovations that were previously made.

"Why couldn't he just get a grip, and move on? That's the most pathetic reason for haunting." According to George. He isn't exactly wrong. But somehow, this ghost had a burning rage, and I'm quite sure it's not just because of the renovations. Going back, Lucy and I had just finished doing readings through all of the first-floor rooms. There wasn't anything suspicious yet. No temperature drops. No telling signs. It was still so early. We huddled up inside the iron chain, anticipating any manifestations of the said ghost. Ms. Granger, the new owner, said that the ghost was strong, and had drawn them out in the middle of the night. We weren't taking any chances here.

"I actually thought of asking you to come back," I said, and with that she was astonished. She's stopped picking on her nails. I just needed take her away from the edginess of the hour. "But I thought better, so I didn't follow it through, and pretended that I wanted a bar of chocolate."

"Why?" She asked, grabbing my arm.

"Honestly, Luce, can't you guess?" I rolled my eyes at her. She can be totally oblivious at times. "Well, I respect you, and your wishes. I didn't want to cross the line just because..." Just because I wanted you back so badly. That I almost took that opportunity.

"Because?" She tilts her head.

"Because I was desperate to have you back." There I said it. Times like these really gets you to do things you usually don't. Not that I'm complaining, it's rather just a stupid excuse, I'm afraid. I could see her tense up. "You know, I've thought about you all throughout that winter."

"Why didn't you reach out right away?" There was a hint of sadness in her tone.

"I knew you would turn me away." I returned a sad smile, too.

"Well, you're not exactly wrong," She sighed. "I actually wanted you to chase after me. If we're being honest here, I'd just like you to know that."

"You really wished that?" Maybe I was wrong about Lucy. Maybe she didn't always spoke her mind. Maybe she's hiding, too. I know one or more thing about that. Hiding had been my thing since then. And here was Lucy, turns out we're not too different from each other.

"Yeah, and I waited," She replied, her arms brought up to hug her knee. "like really waited. Each day I would look forward to seeing you in the streets. That we'd cross paths and you would..." She gave out a light chuckled. Her face was all pink, and her eyes were smiling. Shining. Beautiful. This makes me laugh too. I'm laughing because if I didn't, I would've broken into tears. There was nothing else better to do.

"And I would what?" I asked.

"Beg. Beg for me," At this she hid her face behind her hands. 

"I would have. I really wish I did." I admitted. "You are always worth the trouble, Luce. So much as you are worth the chase. Apart from respecting your decision, I got really scared."

"Scared of me?" She'd fallen her gaze once more at me in disbelief.

"In a way, but it was more on I was scared you'd reject me," And now I feel my cheeks turn red.