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As Lucy sat down in the chair next to Lockwood's bed, she felt relieved that he was grinning at her and not showing the same hostility that George has thrown her way. "Hi Luce" Lockwood crocked as he held out his hand towards her, frowning slightly at how weak and frog like his voice sounded. "Holly said that you were really upset earlier. Are you okay now?" As he asked Lucy he gently took hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand to try and offer her some comfort. At the mention of this Lucy could feel her bottom lip start to tremble and her eyes start to feel with tears again. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of Lockwood and here she was nearly doing just that. In an attempt to stop herself, Lucy bit down on her lip hard and looked down at their interlocked hands.
How was she supposed to answer that? She had always worried about Lockwood getting hurt. Now her worry had become a reality, as he was lying in a hospital bed in front of her. Holly had been in earlier to see him and had brought what Lucy liked to call his 'posh pyjamas' with her. so at least he looked a bit more normal wearing those and not a hospital gown.
At the sight of Lucy looking down at their hands and biting her lip, Lockwood's grin started to fall and he had a horrible feeling that he had nearly made her cry again. He hated when he made her sad, he hated seeing her cry even more. He Gently squeezed her hand to try and get a response out of her "Hey, it's okay Luce. I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere. okay?" Lucy squeezed his hand in acknowledgement and unintenitally let out a sob. Here she was in a place where she was supposed to be providing comfort and reassurance to Lockwood, and yet again the roles had been reversed and he was trying to comfort her.
Lucy tried to pull her hand away from Lockwood's, but Lockwood had anticipated this move and he gripped her hand tighter. "Hey. Come on Luce. Please don't cry. I can't reach over to hug you. Please don't shut away from me." Lockwood practically wined. Lucy nodded her head and looked up at him. Lockwood's deep brown eyes looked slightly glazed which Lucy guessed was from the pain medicine that they had given him, they were also full of concern for her. Lucy tried to bring the right side of her mouth up in an attempt to smile at him and nodded her head again. Wiping the stray tear away that had rolled down her cheek. Whilst her to her hand clung onto Lockwood's.
As Lucy opened her mouth to speak a nurse suddenly came into Lockwood's room stating that she needed to check Lockwood's observations and blood pressure. Lockwood gently let go of Lucy's hand and sat up a bit more so that the nurse could do what she needed to do. Whilst having sneaky glances at Lucy to check that she wasn't going to up and leave. He knew that Hospital's freaked her out as she could hear more than she let on. At this thought he noticed that Lucy had put her hand slightly over her right ear as if trying to block something out. Lockwood was about to check Lucy was okay as the nurse shoved the thermometer into his mouth. Lockwood turned to look at Lucy and winked at her in an attempt to make her laugh. it worked and Lucy snorted at the ridiculous image of Lockwood winking at her with a thermometer hanging out of his mouth. As always Lucy's laugh started him off and Lockwood ended up grinning and trying his best not to laugh with the thing still in his mouth. The nurse slightly rolled her eyes at both Lockwood and Lucy's exchange "Thinks he's an absolute charmer this one. Doesn't he?" Lucy Laughed even more in response and Lockwood Pulled a mock hurt expression at the nurses statement "Although he does seem a lot happier when you're around." Lucy Jumped slightly as Lockwood's hand slid gently under hers again as she was listening to the nurse and a small "oh" escaped her lips as she realised he was holding her hand again "That's nice to know. I hope he hasn't been causing you too much trouble?" The nurse smiled at this and made her exit about needing to see other patients and walked out of the room leaving Lockwood having a slight blush on his cheeks about what she had just said to Lucy about him.
"Luce, I'm serious though, are you okay?" Lucy took a deep breath. She knew he was going to ask again so she thought that it would be best to be honest with him. "Yea I think so, I Just......I just don't like seeing you hurt or in a hospital bed. But I'm okay now." Lockwood kept hold of Lucy's hand as she explained and squeezed her hand. "You do know that you can talk to me if your not Luce? I'm not expecting you to be the strong one all of the time." Lucy sniffed and felt the butterflies in her stomach start to take flight again.
"Honestly Lockwood I'm okay. I was upset when Holly told me that you were hurt and when I saw Geroge............I thought the worst. But I'm okay now that I've seen you." Lockwood started to do small comforting circles over the top of Lucy's hand as she spoke. It helped to calm her down slightly. Lockwood always seemed to know the right thing to say or do to help her. "Take no notice of George Luce. He took you leaving very hard and he doesn't cope well in these situations, that's all. He'll come around. You'll see." Lucy wasn't so sure that George would come round as Lockwood had put it. Even if Lockwood did speak to him about it. At the mention of her leaving Lucy bowed her head and focused on the hem of her skirt. She felt so guilty for leaving. As the whole point of her leaving was to protect Lockwood in the hope that he would not hurt himself or worse - which was not worth thinking about.
Lockwood watched as Lucy looked down and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. “Luce, come here” he gently patted the side of the bed that his body wasn’t occupying. Lucy looked up and sadly shock her head. “No Lockwood, I don’t want to hurt you and plus the nurses will kill me if they see me sat on your bed”. Lockwood perked the right side of his mouth up in an attempt to smile “Lucy, look at me.” He patted the bed again “I’m okay, honestly. I will be out of here in a couple of days and I’m not in pain. Unless I stretch over to you. Which is why I’m telling you to come here.”
Lucy seemed satisfied with his answer and slowly got up and perched on the edge of the bed facing Lockwood. Lockwood pulled a soft smile and took both of her hands. “Now Lucy Carlisle, come here.” He gently pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms round her. At the shock of the movement Lucy suddenly stiffened then flopped down on to Lockwood. Momentarily forgetting that he was injured. With the sound of an "umph" coming from Lockwood as she collided with his chest. Lucy shot back up "I'm fine Luce, Just a shock that's all. Come here."
As Lockwood wrapped his arms back around her and lifted one to gently stroke her head. Lucy listened to the steady thump of his heart beat and could feel her bottom lip begin to tremble again. With a double breath she let out the sob that had been plaguing her body since she had found out that Lockwood had been admitted to hospital. "Hey, ssshhhhhh, just let it all out Luce.......It's okay, I've got you."