Chapter 20: Not Quite Desperate Measures

[Lance's POV:]

I spent the next four days confined to the small couch in my office. I ate only when Gerard insisted on it, and only rose on occasion to use the restroom. Never before in my entire life had I felt so pathetic and worthless, and part of me wished I could just vanish into the couch and never be seen again. Had I fallen in love with Jeanette Harker already? It was a possibility that hurt me, given how angry she had gotten with me, and that made me feel even more pathetic. To fall in love with a woman I barely knew!

I had received a phone call from the family manor once in those four days, and was unsurprised it was from my younger sister. Apparently she had been taken to Arkham Asylum, only to escape the next night, with some other inmates in tow. And now they were all at our family manor, and possibly using their new found illegal freedom to wreak some havoc. Guen had pressed the issue, as though hoping to illicit some harsh reaction from me, and I half-wondered if Gerard had called her first and put her up to this. I told her I did not care what she did and that I wanted to die, then hung up. She called back a few times in the days following, but I never answered. I could not.

Because I could not get Jeanette Harker out of my mind.

The fifth day dawned, and Gerard was furious.

"Mr. Pendragon, I must insist that you cease this effortless pining and return to work! Nothing will be done at this point, and you're going to waste away, with the direction you're going!"

"You've been doing all the work, Gerard." I murmured, turning away from him to face the couch pillows. "Don't act like you dislike having all that work thrown on you. You're practically married to it. And besides, I wouldn't mind wasting away into dust on the wind."

"That is not the point, Mr. Pendragon! It's the principle of the thing!" He protested, and I felt a jerking tug on my long hair. "You must get on your feet again and stop wasting away like this! You have a life, you know!"

"What good is a life when I have no livelihood?" I replied, burying my face against a pillow. "My life is boring, stuffy parties where I must strike up business deals, filing paperwork, and hoping that my coffee isn't scalding when it finally gets to me."

"Your life—," Gerard snapped, giving another yank on my hair, "Is running the business empire that your father left behind and living up to his legacy as you are expected to."

"And what good will that do anyone if I do not have someone to share it with? Gerard, Miss Harker brightens up my day and keeps life interesting."

"The woman is crazy. I daresay if she shows any more signs of insanity, we shall have to call her in and have her admitted to Arkham."

"It would still be a way of keeping life interesting."

The hold on my hair released and I heard a slap of flesh against flesh. "Mr. Pendragon, you are impossible sometimes!"

I raised my head and looked behind me, not surprised to see Gerard's hand covering most of his face. "Lycanthropy probably has something to do with a person's stubbornness." I sighed.

I had been expecting him to react as he typically did, to protest and say that I was not allowed to use my 'condition' as an excuse to for any of my more irksome behavior. But to my surprise, his eyes popped open wide, and he slowly turned a look at me, one I wasn't quite able to read accurately.

"You know something Mr. Pendragon, on second thought, just stay right there."

I was only too happy to comply. A moment later, he had left the room, a determined air to his stride, and I began to drift off, wishing I could fall asleep and never wake up again. Miss Harker's face filled my thoughts as I tried to dream, and my heart began to ache. Had I bothered to focus on anything other than how I was feeling, perhaps I would have paid attention to my senses and detected what exactly my head servant was up to.

As it was, I didn't, and close to half an hour later, two sharp scents reached my nose.

The thick, musky scent of another werewolf and the stale, grave-dirt odor of a vampire.

The door to the office slammed open and I rolled over on the couch in surprise. Eva and Robert both stormed inside, looking alternately angry and exasperated. I eased myself up on my elbows, half-laying and half-sitting on the couch, raising my eyebrows. If Gerard had called these two in on my behalf, he was getting desperate. I was about ready to say so, when Robert practically bounced and settled his backside down on my legs, and Eva seated herself on the coffee table, both of them glaring at me.

"I take it this isn't a social visit." I remarked after a moment. They exchanged a look.

"Is he trying to be funny?" Eva asked.

"I hope so," Robert answered, "I've been trying to train him to have a sense of humor for years now! My mission will be a success if that's what he's doing."

"What do you two want?" I sighed, leaning back and crossing my arms. I already knew why they were there, at least where Gerard's hand in the matter was concerned, but I still wanted them to tell me why in their own words. Without warning, Eva's hand shot out and she gave my ear a sharp pinch with nails that were longer than they had a right to be. I yelped before I could stop myself and she gave me a rough shake.

"What the hell is going on with you, Lance?" She demanded. "Do I have to give you lessons on how to be a proper lycan?"

"Possibly." I whimpered, trying not to let tears leak from my eyes. Damn, her nails hurt!

"You idiot!" She groaned loudly, releasing my ear none-too-gently, and I bounced against the cushions from her force. "Why are you doing this, you big baby?"

"He's got the hots, and he's getting rejected." Robert answered for her, nodding his head and crossing his arms in a way he probably assumed made him look rather knowledgeable. "I know what you're going through, bro. Been there a ton of times before. What you need is scotch."

"No, what he needs is to man up!" Eva snapped. "For God's sake, man, you're a werewolf! Act like one! Don't just go off and mope yourself to death with your tail between your legs!"

"That's a mental image." Robert muttered.

"How in the world am I supposed to take this?" I asked, spreading my arms helplessly. "Jeanette hates me, and chances are likely any attempts made on my part to talk to her again will simply be shot down."

"I don't think that's the case, Lance." Eva responded, a little swiftly and confidently. "I think she'll give you another chance. She's had some time to cool down now."

"How are you so sure?" I muttered, and she gave my ear another sharp pinch.

"Quit questioning this crap and stop it with this pathetic moping, you overgrown pup!" She snarled. "You're a man! And you're not just a man, you're a freaking werewolf man!"

Robert made a noise that sounded unerringly like a stifled snicker.

"And," Eva continued, nostrils flaring in a way that was utterly intimidating, "Jeanette Harker is your woman! Neither of you wants to admit that, but it's the truth! Now! Get off your whiny ass, march over to that phone, and you call her!"

Between her and Robert, they heaved me up and off the couch faster than I would have thought possible, and I only barely managed to right myself as I flew through the air, clumsily trying to dance until I found my balance. I turned and looked at them both, feeling more than a little defeated.

"But what am I even going to say?"

"Tell her you love her, man!" Robert answered.

"Tell her you're sorry!" Eva snapped.

"Woo her with your dead poet lingo."

"Just ask her out on a date to make up for all the craziness."

"Ask her out in dead poet lingo so she swoons."

"Don't chicken out on this, just tell her you were wrong to keep secrets."

"Dead poet lingo, bro!"

Eva turned and gave him a golden-eyed glare, then fixed her stare on me. "You're not going to mope and play oh-woe-is-me the rest of your life, Pendragon. Get on the phone, apologize, ask her out, and keep working at it until you two wind up getting married and having pups."

I felt my face flush with heat. "Miss Eva!" I squawked, scandalized.

"I want nieces and nephews. Sue me." She said with a lazy shrug.

"I second that." Robert threw in. I watched them both for a moment, then sighed, turning away so they wouldn't see my weak smile.

"Thank you two." I murmured, reaching for the phone on the wall.