Work Text:
Anthony J Lockwood was many things. He was a champion swordsman, a masterful tactician, a generous employer and Lucy Carlyle's boyfriend of two years. And, short of him producing a brilliant explanation from thin air, he was about to die.
Lucy put the silver-glass case down on the kitchen table as firmly as she dared, eyes locked onto her boyfriend. He looked up from his toast, the fleeting guilty expression quickly replaced with an innocent mask of confusion.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked.
Lockwood glanced toward George, leaning up against the kitchen counter top. Then he reached out and picked up the container. He turned it slowly.
"It's a ring," he observed.
It was a ring. A beautiful ring in Lucy’s opinion. It was handcrafted in silver, studded with three sapphires. It was the sort of ring that would have meant the world to any girl, come with the memory of the one she loved sliding it onto her finger as they talked about having a future together.
"And you promised no more running off to hunt ghosts solo," Lucy said. "So how come this source ended up in our high security storage vault without me knowing about it?"
Lucy knew her boyfriend very well indeed. She could see he was scrambling for some plan, some excuse.
Had he really thought she wouldn't notice an unexplained source appearing on the shelves? Hoped he might be able to hide it in plain sight while he waited for the perfect opportunity to slip it to DEPRAC so it could be destroyed.
"Sorry," George said, stepping forward. "It was me."
"What was you?" Lucy questioned.
"The source is mine."
Lucy arched an eyebrow. Not in a million years would she think George would have gone out hunting ghosts alone. She put it to him.
"I didn't," George said.
"Been stealing sources again?" Lockwood asked.
George hummed his agreement. He gestured toward the ring.
"It's just so strange. You don't normally get sources made of silver."
Lucy’s brow furrowed. She had to agree with George. In fact, she thought she had read somewhere that silver items couldn't become sources at all. It was why so many people were falling back on silver engagement rings and wedding rings. After all, such emotionally charged objects needed all the visitor proofing they could get.
"Well, tell us next time you go out stealing sources," Lucy said. "Even if we can't help you steal it, it's good to know these things in case DEPRAC comes knocking."
She slid the silver-glass case across the table toward George and then made her way from the room. The boys waited in silence until they heard her footsteps disappearing upstairs.
George turned to Lockwood.
"You're proposing to Lucy, aren't you?"
Lockwood slid open the silver-glass box, picking out the ring inside. He wasn’t at all concerned about the prospect of ghosts coming from the ring. He had had it newly crafted, finished just two days before hand. Lucy Carlyle would be the only one to ever wear it if all went to plan.
"Yes. But I was worried I would lose it in my room and thought it might stand out anywhere else. Hiding it in plain sight made sense. I just didn’t think she had a running inventory the sources in our storage room."
"Well you'd better propose quick or else I'm going to have to start experimenting on that ring to stop her from getting suspicious."