This is a gift for theamazinglucycarlyle on tumblr for the lockwood and co secret santa! I hope you like it!
"I found it! I found the source!"
"Good job George! Now just stop yelling and hurry up and neutralize it! And Lockwood, I still think splitting up was a bad idea!"
"Come on Luce you have to admit, it was effective. Once George and I neutralize the source we can head on back and enjoy the rest of our Christmas Eve in peace."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's watching the ghost."
"Well the Limbless isn't doing anything to you, is it?"
"No, but the sight of it is putting me off my tea. Ugh, forget about Christmas Eve dinner after this. I just lost my appetite."
"It doesn't look that bad. It's just missing a few body parts."
"A few?! The thing looks like it literally got its eyeballs ripped out. The hole in its midsection isn't really helping much."
"I got it!" George said before Lockwood could reply to Lucy's latest complaint.
Lucy sighed with relief. The ghost had disappeared. "It's finally gone."
"And sooner than we thought too. It's only 11:00. We should be able to make it back before it's officially Christmas."
"It's about time. I bet Holly has eaten all the Choco Leibniz by now. And all of chocolate cake." George mused.
"So it was you and Holly!" Lockwood said, sounding slightly annoyed. "I knew it!"
George just looked over at Lockwood, who still looked annoyed about his stolen goods, and shrugged. "So are we going to leave now?"
Lucy walked across the room toward the front door. She tried to pull the seemingly unlocked door open. It wouldn't budge. Her eyes drifted to the orange note that was taped on it. "Guys," Lucy called out. "You might want to see this."
The note said, in very pretty printing:
Dear Lockwood and Co agents,
I'm very sorry to have to do this to you, but I need to have this problem solved. You see, I've already hired three different agencies to get rid of this ghost and they've all walked out on me. I don't know why, but what I do know is that my family is visiting tomorrow and I can't put them at risk of getting ghost-touched. I've locked all the doors in this house. They don't open from the inside, so you're stuck here until tomorrow at nine. Sorry about wrecking your Christmas Eve. If you've found this note, it's because you've finished the job and are ready to leave, or because you're trying to escape. Either way I'll see you tomorrow.
~ Mr. Minkus
"Are you kidding me?! A guy wrote that!" George exclaimed. Lucy turned and glared at George as he finished processing the information."And to think I was worried about all the food disappearing before."
"Who cares about the food!" Lucy said. "We're trapped in here till nine! That's almost 11 more hours!"
"Lucy, George," Lockwood said. They both turned to him. "Calm down. I know we'll be trapped here all night but we have to make the best of it. Yes, George, we can roast Mr. Minkus when he gets back and demand higher pay, but until then we need to find a way to pass the time."
George closed his mouth and then he opened it again, adding, "Hopefully Holly won't get too worried."
"I doubt it," Lucy said. "We did tell her that we might not get back till way late so she wouldn't stay up waiting for us."
"Come on," George said, "let's go find something to do around here."
The three began to walk to the kitchen when Lucy heard a voice coming from her bag. "Oh this is brilliant! Stuck at a client's house on Christmas Eve. You know, I've seen a lot of things in the time of my existence, but I've never seen anything as priceless as this."
"Oh shut up." Lucy replied. Lockwood put down the fork he was inspecting and raised an eyebrow at Lucy.
"The skull was just mocking us," Lucy explained.
"Hey, I think I found a bedroom." George said. "And I could use a nap...yeah, actually I really could. No use spending all these extra hours awake. I'm going to try to get some sleep."
"In someone's house?!" Lucy exclaimed in disbelief.
George shrugged, as shameless as ever. "I don't see why not." He then turned and closed the door to the bedroom. "Wake up when Mr. Minkus comes back."
Lucy just turned to Lockwood. "Can you believe him. Sleeping in a client's house." She just shook her head.
"While I do believe George has the right idea, I don't think it's the smartest thing to do." Lockwood replied.
"I don't know about you, but I don't plan on sleeping in here."
"Why, are you scared?" The skull said in it's mocking voice.
"I'm not scared, I just don't like treating a client's house like a hotel." Lucy turned to Lockwood. "That was to the skull, not you."
Lockwood just raised an eyebrow before replying. "I see. Well, I'm going to find somewhere to sit and have some tea. As it so happens, we only have about ten more hours here. It's almost eleven thirty."
"Well, maybe it won't be so bad. I'll join you." Lucy took of her bag and took the skull out. "And you can stay right here by the door. If you hear Mr. Minkus open the door you can yell at us to come back."
"Great," the skull said sarcastically. "Because I totally want to help you and Lockwood and the fat one."
Lucy just glared at the skull for a few seconds before turning and joining Lockwood in the kitchen.
"So Lockwood," Lucy began as she sat down. "Is this how you expected to be spending the rest of your Christmas Eve."
"If I have to be honest, no. I've never heard of a client pulling this sort of thing before. It's definitely an interesting situation."
"Interesting isn't the only word I'd use, smiley. It's humiliating! They don't trust you guys at all!" The skull said from the room next door. Lucy just ignored it. It would have to shut up eventually.
"It's definitely an interesting situation, but trust me, it's a lot better than Christmas Eve at my mom's place." Lucy just shuddered at the memory.
"Well, before I met you and George, my Christmas Eve's were pretty lonely. I mean without my…" Lockwood just trailed off, but Lucy understood what was unspoken. Without her family, her Christmas Eve would be pretty lonely as well. Despite her best effort to escape them, their unwanted company beat no company any day...well it did on some days and Christmas was one of those days.
"Well you have us now. That's what matters," Lucy replied. Lockwood opened his mouth to reply when a loud crashing sound came from the other side of the kitchen. They turned to see George, with three cookies stuffed in his mouth, standing above some broken glass.
"Good job! I know you couldn't resist eating. I mean, what's a few more pounds going to do you! Nothing more than they already have!" The skull called out to try to taunt George. Lucy looked in it's direction and glared at it.
"Seriously," she said, responding to skull while addressing George at the same time.
"I pwhanhted phome fffoohkies wiff mhilfk," George said without taking the cookies out of his mouth.
"I don't know what you just said, but I'm hoping you plan on cleaning on that up." Lockwood responded as calmly as always.
George took the cookies out of his mouth. "Well I guess I'll throw the broken glass away. I'll just drink from the milk carton instead and put it back in the fridge when I'm done." George opened the carton and took a drink from it. "On second thought, I'll just put the milk back now."
Both Lockwood and Lucy stood there. After George had put the carton back and sweeped up all the glass, Lockwood said, "I hope you don't do that with anything in our fridge." George just smiled before throwing away the shards and exiting the room.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Lucy said, pretending to barf for effect. Lockwood just stared her with a slightly disapproving look on his face. She might've imagined it, but it looked like Lockwood was smiling as he turned to face George's retreating figure.
While Lockwood had her back turned to her, Lucy looked back at clock. It was 11:56.
"Looks like time flies when you're watching George mess up a client's house," Lucy commented as she puck up her glass of tea.
It was almost as if Lockwood knew what was coming as he turned around and did the same. He had this...this air to him that Lucy just couldn't describe. Whatever it was, it made her want to smile.
"Well, despite our current situation, I'd say we had a pretty good day. And as far as Christmas's go, this has definitely been one to remember. We have had quite a few unique experiences," Lucy said.
"It almost beat being back at 35 Portland Row," Lockwood said. Lucy turned to him, her confusion written all over her face. "Oh, don't worry. Mr. Minkus will get his tomorrow." Lockwood lifted his glass. "To another Christmas."
Lucy touched her glass to his. "To another year," she echoed. She took a sip of tea and put her cup down.
Before she lost her nerve, she stepped forward and hugged Lockwood. He was unresponsive for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her.
"Merry Christmas Lockwood," she said.
"Merry Christmas Luce," he said softly. And as she stood there in Lockwood's arms, Lucy knew that maybe being trapped in this house wasn't such a bad thing. Oh, Mr. Minkus would pay for his mistakes later. Right now, she had gotten a unique opportunity to celebrate Christmas in a unique way, so she decided to embrace it. They weren't going anywhere for a while.