Lucy kicked the door to her father's office open. A woman stood next to her father's desk, the both of them seeming to be looking at some document. Well, had been. Now they were both looking up startled as Lucy struggled to drag Jacob into the office.
He slid off her shoulder, and she watched him as he fell as if he was in slow motion. She looked back up at the adults, who still hadn't moved. "Um, help?" Lucy asked. They looked even more startled that she had spoken to them, but the woman took a look at Jacob on the ground and walked over purposefully, exclaiming "Jacob!"
Lucy rolled her eyes. Her father stood a good distance away from the drama, and Lucy walked over to tell him what was about to happen when Jacob woke up. It was best for her to be ahead in this case.
"Father, I have something to tell you—"
"Lucy, are you okay?" He sounded serious, so Lucy paused long enough to nod.
"Yes, I'm fine, but listen. Jacob has gravely misunderstood a situation I'm in, and it's partly my fault, but—"
"She's a traitor, Mr. Heartfilia!" Jacob rocketed up from the floor, eyes crazed. He didn't seem to be fully awake. Lucy watched her father's eyebrows draw in confusion. Lucy sighed in exasperation; and the game begins.
"How do you mean, son? Lucy isn't a trait—"
"She was with that damned Salamander!" Jacob pointed an accusatory finger at Lucy, who put a hand to her eyes to quell an oncoming headache. She was praying her father would believe her lie, lest everything she and Capricorn had done for months would be ruined.
Jude turned to Lucy slowly, his eyes warring between betrayal, hurt, disbelief, and anger. His mouth moved, but nothing came out. But Lucy knew better than to speak first. "Lucy, is this true?"
Lucy blew out a breath, like she had to explain a child's ramblings. Which she did. "The traitor part, no, Father. But he did see me with—" Lucy choked on the words, remembering the choked, hurt sound Natsu had made when she'd said it. "—Him, in a very compromising situation. But if you would give me a chance—"
"You went running back to that boy as soon as he was out? After all I've done?" Jude roared, and Lucy took a step back. And she'd almost thought she'd never feel threatened by him again. She swallowed her fear, though, and met his furious gaze coolly.
"Father, if you would just listen I would explain how what I did was for the—"
"I have video footage! I was recording it the whole time!" Lucy's heart plunged. Sure enough, Jacob was drunkenly waving around a small camera, a strap dangling it from its back. The woman, whom Lucy had forgotten all about, took it calmly and went to plug it in to her father's computer. Lucy's heart was pounding: her whole future depended on when Jacob had started recording.
Jude turned to walk to his desk. "Your chance to explain yourself depends on this tape, my Lucky Lucy."
Stomping down her nerves, Lucy straightened and followed him calmly. "Then I hope this tape isn't long; I'd like to explain myself then continue my work." She brushed past him, praying that Jacob's camera could back her words.
By the grace of God, the tape was started when he had been in that alley, right around the time Lucy had spotted him. Natsu ran by with Lucy in his arms, Lucy screamed for Jacob, they stopped and talked. Lucy was glad she put space between her and Natsu; it looked like she wanted nothing to do with him.
Then he'd teased Natsu, and when Natsu sent him flying the camera got moved. 'Where even was this thing?' Lucy wondered, the angle giving her no cues. It looked like it was facing behind Jacob, though, from what she could tell. The conversation went on, then you could tell that Lucy had taken Jacob on her side to pull him home. She started dragging him forward, and Natsu's face came into view.
'No, please, don't make me—' The word "Salamander" floated out of the computer's speakers, and Lucy watched as Natsu's face broke. His whole body flinched back, his mouth opened and that strangled gasp came out. She saw him take a step back, his arm reaching out for her. Then, his face blanked and he vanished completely. He'd run away.
As everyone else watched through to where Lucy walked through the manor's doors, she thought back to Natsu's face. She remembered how peaceful he'd looked that afternoon, the feeling of his chest rising and falling underneath her as it rumbled with his voice. His fingers in her hair, feeling so comfortable that she fell asleep. She'd never seen someone break like that. 'I have to go back, tonight, to apologize—'
"Lucy." She looked up, startled out of her self-loathing. Her father was looking at her pityingly, but she knew it wasn't for what she was thinking. "I should apologize for my assumptions, I should have trusted you more."
"Yes, you should have, but it's like you said, Father: I will always be thought less of as a woman. You prepared me for this." She could hardly keep the bite out of her voice. "But, as for why I was with him, Jacob called the police on the pub while I was there. Everyone fled through doors, but it had been such a long time since I'd been there that I'd forgotten where to go. The next thing I know I was being carried through the streets and I saw Jacob."
Jude nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that makes sense. I see now—"
"But why were you there in the first place, Ms. Heartfilia?" The mystery woman's severe voice cut into her father's sentence, and Lucy's jaw clenched. She knew it wouldn't be that easy, but she'd wished her father had asked her. Lucy met her angry stare, wishing that her black eyes belonged to someone else.
"I was there working on the account that Jacob has gotten absolutely nowhere on," Lucy answered, surprised when this woman looked offended at her observation. She opened her mouth quickly and took a step forward, but Lucy's father interjected before she could speak.
"Now, now, Alyssa, Lucy meant no offense, I'm sure." Jude gave Lucy a pointed look, but her mind was spinning. "Alyssa"; this was Alyssa Cobeson, Jacob's mother and her father's snake of a partner. Capricorn had a whole binder on her, and Natsu said that whenever she met with Don, he'd had to get involved with the guard Alyssa had brought. Lucy had only heard her on the phone calls she intercepted.
And here she was, right in front of her.
Lucy realized that she was supposed to say something. An apology? Yes. "I'm sorry, that came out blunt. But my father gave Jacob that file months ago and it still wasn't secured, so I figured I would drop by and see what the hold up was."
Her father's eyes looked incredibly hopeful, while Alyssa remained angry and baffled looking. "How did it go?" Jude asked, eyes practically shining. Lucy noted this as odd, and saved it to ask him later.
Jacob groaned on the ground, drawing everyone's attention. Well, everyone's but Alyssa's. Lucy changed the topic. "Can I fill you in later? I think he needs some serious help; from what I remember he packs quite a punch—"
"Alyssa, surely you can take him upstairs. I'm sure you want to make certain he's okay." The two had a small stare-off before Alyssa answered with a soft "of course" and helped walk her son outside. Father and daughter waited in silence before Jude hurried them over to a corner of the office.
Lucy had alarm bells ringing all over her head. Something was wrong. "Lucy, honey, what did Don say? Did he yield? Is he going to give me access to his contacts?" Her father sounded desperate, needy. Lucy didn't like the look in his eyes.
"Father? I didn't get to talk to him before Jacob called the cops. But…" She said to his crestfallen look. "Why do you need one of his contacts? You and Mrs. Cobeson have plenty of—"
"No! Lucy, that's the problem. They're our contacts now." Jude Heartfilia put his head in his hands. "I need to be free of her Lucy. Before she brings everything crumbling down."