It's Christmas in Germany already, so to all my fellow Germans: Merry Christmas! 🎄
Part 2/3 let's go! (they're a little connected, see this as playing after the last one)
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Lucy's POV:
After last night's cold we all stayed in bed for a little longer.
It was the morning of the 24th of December that my Christmas spirit would have a little break.
"Morning." George mumbled as I entered the kitchen for breakfast.
"Good morning, Lucy!" Holly sang, she was in a very good mood.
I smiled and poured myself a cup of tea from the kettle in the middle of the table, "Lockwood still asleep?"
Holly shrugged, "He hasn't come down yet."
"Probably went to bed late after his loud rapier practice last night." George rolled his eyes.
"Muesli is empty I'm afraid." Holly made an apologetic face, "I didn't go grocery shopping yesterday."
I put the empty cardboard box back and sighed, "Toast it is."
George raised a brow, "Only one piece of toast left. Lockwood will be pissed."
"Well then he should get up earlier instead of poking poor Esmeralda to death in the middle of the night." I fished out the white bread.
"I am up. Now put that toast back and walk away slowly, then nobody gets hurt."
I turned around, Lockwood stood there in his morning gown, brow cooly raised at me. Two years ago I would have put that toast back, but everyone in this kitchen was aware of the fact that I could crush him without his rapier.
"Go get it." I smiled and bit in it.
He focused me a second, then he smirked and shook his head, "Jesus, throw me an apple, Holly, would you?"
I grinned, picked up my tea and wanted to walk past him, when Holly let out a triumphing shriek.
I nearly spilled my tea, "What the fu- Holly?!"
She giggled like an evil gnome, "I've got ya! Hahahaaaa, mistletoe bitches!"
I needed a second to understand then looked up. A branch hung above the doorframe, nicely decorated with a red ribbon.
I looked at Lockwood. Lockwood looked at me. We both looked at Holly.
She shrugged, grinning," You have to kiss."
I shook myself free from the shock of her scream, "Yeah right. No, definitely not."
Holly raised her brows, "Brings bad luck."
Lockwood rolled his eyes, "Oh please, as if. What a lot of bullsh-"
Holly put up her hands in protection, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
I shook my head, "Hmm hmm. I'm in the library if anyone needs some reality."
The rest of the morning went pretty uneventful. It wasn't until 11am that the problem began. I got up from the sofa to pour myself a fresh cup of tea since my old one had cooled down while I was reading the newspaper.
I got up and somehow my foot got caught in the side table so that I greeted the floor with my face. That not being enough, the cold tea got knocked off the table and splashed on the carpet and me.
"Oh come on!" I cursed and slowly got up, my ankle pounding. Stupid table, had always been shakey.
I quickly picked up the cup and tiptoed to the kitchen, trying to not get everything wet with my socks. I put the cup in the sink and reached for the paper towels. I grabbed one, but I must have pulled it wrong, because the whole roll came loose so that a mass of paper spread over the kitchen floor.
I sighed, rolled a little back up and stuffed the rest in the cupboard. What a start for a day. Armed with paper towels I went back to the library and started drying up the carpet. Holly would kill me, the carpet was new!
When I was done, the damage was probably worse, so I decided to leave the scene before someone could strangle me. Maybe the air would dry it without staining.
We didn't have a case today, since on Christmas eve no one wanted agents to destroy the mood. Also because Holly had planned a late Christmas dinner for when George returned from his family. "To strengthen the group."
I had decided to go draw a little in my room and enjoy the peace. It was 12 am now, so I went up the stairs.
On the landing I noticed something off: the door to Jessica's room was open, Lockwood sat in it on a chair smiling.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked, not coming closer.
"Ah, just looking through a few old photos. Here, that's Jessica and me on Christmas morning." he held up a picture.
I dared to approach him now, careful not to look too curious. I took the picture and examined it. It showed a little boy with dark hair and a huge smile in his pjs and a little older girl with the same dark hair holding a cat.
"You had a cat?" I smiled.
Lockwood chuckled quietly, "Yeah, her name was Rosie and she was a bitch, but I loved her. She died when I was eleven."
"Wow, I didn't know you were a cat person! Always thought you would own a weird gecko thingy with anti ectoplasmic powers or something."
He raised his brows, "Aren't you confusing me with George there? Look at this one, it's me in the choir before we went to dinner with friends of my parents."
He gave me a picture showing a bunch of kids in little suits, all holding black folders.
"There, in the middle!" he tapped on the photo.
I looked at it, then at him. He probably hadn't seen those pictures for years, his smile was so far off and dreaming. He was coping for once.
"You were a cute kid." I handed it back, "In a choir? I didn't know you could sing!"
He shrugged, "I was pretty good, actually. But I became an full time agent soon after Jessica's death, there was no time for singing then."
I smiled at him, "Maybe you should take the time to do again. Especially on Christmas, Holly would be delighted."
He laughed, "Don't you dare tell Holly that! She won't leave me alone after! But maybe you're right, I should give it a try."
He stood up, nearly knocking over a vase of lavender on the desk. We both shared a quick look. Lockwood never knocked stuff over. Brings bad luck. No no, that was rubbish.
"I'll go wrap some presents." he announced, "How about you?"
Story time was over. I would have loved to see a few more photos, but I knew not to push him. That was what he had decided to show me and it was way more than I had ever dreamed a year ago.
"I'm going to get another present!" I said. It was true, there was one more thing to get now.
I did get it, but it was already 5pm when I got home. The present itself took several hours to, also I needed to get a lot of additional stuff.
And except that I missed three undergrounds, had to wait in line for an hour because I forgot to buy a certain thing and also I lost my gloves. On the way home I slipped on the icy street twice, before I could finally find a taxi that didn't splash me with snow-mud, but actually took me in.
With a big sigh I finally rang the bell to Portland Row 35.
Holly opened, "Jesus Lucy, where have you been?"
"I got another present for Lockwood."
She frowned, "You're early. That's a huge box you got there, what is it?"
I smiled and opened the box.
Holly made a inhuman sound, "Oh my God, what, why?"
I grinned, "He told me about it." I put the box on the hall floor, "I'll take it in my room, he won't be allowed in there til tomorrow morning."
She nodded, "Do that. I'll get a few more cookies for later from Arif's. He's only open for twenty more minutes."
She was already wearing her jacket and boots and closed the door behind her. I grabbed my huge box and brought it to my room and prepared everything else for tomorrow. While doing that I managed to get mud all over my carpet. This whole bad luck thing was really getting weird.
As I went downstairs, I suddenly heard a loud noise from the rapier room accompanied by creative cursing. Quickly I checked in and found Lockwood sitting on the floor, rubbing his head. Esmeralda laid draped all over him.
As he saw me, he sighed, "Lucy, we have to kiss."
After I had helped him up we went to kitchen, where I put bandages over all the cuts on his arms and shoulders. He usually never cut himself while practicing.
"So, kiss, huh?" I tried to suppress the blush.
He nodded, "I don't know about you, but earlier I fell down the stairs and now I've had enough."
I shrugged, "Maybe coincidence?"
He scowled, "I don't fall down stairs."
"Okay... You know, no one said what kind of kiss. A little peck should do it." I avoided his eyes.
We walked over to the Mistletoe over the doorframe, slowly and awkwardly.
I looked up to him, "Okay?"
"Yeah."
There was an awkward silence, then I decided that he wouldn't do it. I had to. I stood on my toes, his face was pretty high up. I closed my eyes and gave him the quickest kiss in world history. My heart still made a little jump when my lips touched his. Also that was probably because of the decrease of pressure when I went back to ground level.
I haven't yet arrived there, when he bent down, grabbed my chin and kissed me again. Oh. Okay. He wrapped a hand around my waist and pulled me closer to him. His kiss definitely lasted longer, long enough to find his lips extremely soft and warm. I had closed my eyes again and couldn't help but run my hand through his hair. This goddamn hair.
Although he still smelled of sweat and rapier room, I could detect a little cologne, also the closer he pulled me, the more I tasted chewing gum. Especially on his tongue. Yes, his tongue, don't judge me.
Okay, so this kiss definitely lasted longer than mine. Like, a minute or so now. And I really didn't mind at all. Did my neck start to hurt? Yes. Would I stop kissing because of that? Fuck no.
His fingers were just slipping under my shirt, when a voice ripped me back to reality, "Get a room!"
I jumped, so did Lockwood, both blushing we separated in a bolt. George stood there, Holly behind him. They grinned like idiots.
I turned around and did things in the sink, while Lockwood ran his hand through his hair. That goddamn hair.
"We... Uh... The bad luck, so we thought..." he stammered.
Holly nodded with a wise face, "Ah yes. Finally."
I turned around, demonstratively casual, "So how was your family, George?"
"Loud." he rolled his eyes and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of lemonade "My little brother is an idiot. Why is it that little siblings are always such annoying brats?"
"Hey!" that was me and Lockwood in unisono.
Holly shrugged, leaning in the door frame, "Both is terrible. It's always the middle child that doesn't cause problems." she theatrically flipped her hair.
George opened his bottle with the opener lying in the shelf next to the door and pointed it at Holly standing in front of him, "I'm the oldest of three, both of my little siblings are arseholes."
I grinned at Lockwood, he smiled back. We both saw it.
"Hey Holly" I smirked.
"What?"
Lockwood pointed above her and George, "Mistletoe."
