picture of your face in an invisible locket

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/47808025.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud
Relationship: Lucy Carlyle/Anthony Lockwood
Characters: Lucy Carlyle, Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins | George Karim
Additional Tags: major spoilers for all books, mostly fluff but a teeeeeeny bit of veryyy
light angst, Locklyle, POV Third Person Mostly Limited, Some small
omniscient jumps, this is pretty much just a self indulgence fic, please
send help i cant stop thinking about 5+1 fics, Grammarly is my beta
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-06-11 Completed: 2023-06-14 Words: 4,014 Chapters:
6/6
 picture of your face in an invisible locket
by oceanwave_blues

Summary

5 times Lockwood gives Lucy a necklace and 1 time it’s more than just a necklace.

Notes

WARNING THIS HAS SPOILERS FOR *ALL* LNCO BOOKS!!!!! read with CAUTION

Title from Dancing with our Hands Ties by Taylor Swift

I didn’t let Ziva beta this one cause she still hasn’t read all the books ZIVA U BETTER NOT
READ THIS
 1-
Chapter Notes

i couldnt get the idea of lockwood giving lucy necklaces as a sort of love language out
of my head, so here you go :))

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The first time Lockwood gives her a necklace, he almost doesn’t. Part of him is afraid he’ll
lose even more of his sister, and part of him is afraid Lucy won’t take it.

Part of him is afraid she’ll take it and then leave, and he’ll have lost her and one of his last
ties to Jessica.

On top of that, he’s a teenage boy with a crush he thinks is unrequited (he’s not even fully
ready to admit it’s a crush) and he’s terrified he will scare her off. Push her away when she’s
just started to come closer.

When he found the box, slightly crushed under a stack of old books and pictures on top of
Jessica’s untouched nightstand, he tried to ignore it. He went about his business, finishing
replacing the Lavender bundles stationed around her room and double checking all the silver
charms were in place. It’s been years, but he’s still cautious.

In the end, though, he grabs it and slips it into his pocket at the last second while he's ducking
out onto the landing.

He’s not very certain as to why he took it, and he’s not very certain it’s a smart thing to do as
he trudges up the attic stairs and grips the chain tightly.

But, as he stands across from Lucy in his old bedroom that she has made her own, as he
watches her mouth spread into a timid smile, as he sees it glinting under the flashing lights
while salt sprays on them from whirling sprinklers, he knows he made the right choice.

Chapter End Notes

please let me know what u think!!! comments and kudos are always appreciated, and u
should come say hi on my tumblr (@ocean-wave-blues) <33
 2-
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

The second time Lockwood gives Lucy a necklace, George almost sits on it. There’s a raging
fire and a bedazzled tree, and Lockwood is meticulously cutting out a square of wrapping
paper, trying to get it to the perfect size.

He places the box that holds a charm shaped like a rapier with a blue crystal in the hilt on the
empty seat next to him and tries not to tear the red and gold paper.

George comes in, back from the Archives (Lockwood is surprised they’re still open, seeing as
it’s Christmas Eve, but he supposes ghosts don’t take holiday breaks).

His puffy orange jacket is dusted with snow, and his glasses are extremely foggy.

Perhaps this is why he doesn’t see that his chair is occupied, or perhaps he has bad eyesight
anyways, but Lockwood is just lucky enough to grab the box with a quick hand before
George squashes it with his bottom.

The next day, when Lockwood hands Lucy the perfectly wrapped box and she gasps,
carefully clasping it around her neck, George has to fight very very hard not to roll his eyes.

When Lucy grabs Lockwood by the shoulders and hugs him, and Lockwood’s face turns a
startling shade of scarlet, George has to try even harder.

He does not succeed.

Chapter End Notes

as always, please let me know what you think!! I wanted to throw in some George,
because lets face it, no Locklyle fic of mine is truly complete without a tired George
appearance
 3-
Chapter Notes

all of the dialogue here is directly from the empty grave, i did not write any of it!!!!! all
credit to the amazing Jonathan Stroud for the dialogue and the characters (ofc)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The third time Lockwood gives Lucy a necklace, it takes two tries.

Lockwood and Co make their living dealing with the dead, but that doesn’t mean they don’t
have to deal with the flesh and bone as well. And when they do, it’s usually nasty, awful
hunks of flesh and bone.

Lockwood has had his fair share of the Winkman family, but just because he’s very ready to
tap out doesn't mean the universe is quite done yet, which is becoming ever more clear as
everyone rushes around 35 Portland Row, in a push to protect their home.

This isn’t to mention Sir Rupert Gale, whose pungent aftershave and the urge to stab all of
Lockwood’s friends have earned him a very bad page in Lockwood’s book.

The chaos and the uncertainty make things much more interesting to Lockwood usually, but
today he feels the same sense of dread that has settled over everyone.

Throughout their preparations, Lockwood has watched Lucy, always paying attention to
where she is, whether subconsciously or not. And when she slips out into the garden, he
knows it’s probably the last chance for him to say something to her, to try and let her see a
fraction of how much he cares for her.

He’s already experienced the pain of living without her once, and he doesn’t ever want to
experience it again, but just in case something happens to either of them tonight, he needs her
to know.

So he grabs the crumpled box he’s kept in his drawer since he found it three years ago in
Jessica’s room, and follows her outside.

At first, when he had hopped down the steps and approached her, he thought she was about to
burst into tears. He wasn’t sure why, and he hoped it wasn’t because of him, but there was no
mistaking that look in her eyes.

He wants to run to her, pull her into a hug, and tell her everything will work out just fine.
But he knows he can't, not right now. So he tries to keep his voice light as they talk, trying to
squash Lucy’s uncertainty.

Once she looks slightly less like she’s going to cry, he pulls the battered box out of his coat
pocket and passes it over.

“I came to show you this. I found it in the chest of drawers in Jessica’s room. Don’t worry,
it’s not a Source or anything.”

“If it was, we’d have chucked it in that circle,” Lucy says, with a small laugh entirely devoid
of humor.

And then she opens the box, and the blue sapphire is catching in the light, and her eyes are
growing wide, he hears a surprised gasp escape her throat, and he has to try very hard to keep
talking.

He tells her about how his parents got it, only a fraction of his past, but he can see her eyes
softening slowly.

“My dad gave it to her soon after they met. It was a symbol of his undying devotion.”

She hands it back, saying, “It couldn't be anything else,” and she still doesn’t get what he’s
trying to say.

“No, exactly. Anyway, Luce…”

He has to clear his throat here because suddenly the air feels very thick and his throat feels
very scratchy.

“I was going to ask if you–”

And then Kipps is whistling at them, shouting the Winkmans are coming, and the moment is
broken, leaving so much unsaid.

I was going to ask if you wanted this necklace. I was going to ask if you wanted my undying
devotion. I was going to ask if you wanted… wanted what?

If you wanted me.

But, alas, the Winkmans were coming, and if Lockwood wants to save his home, he better
move his ass. Another time, then.

After that, everything happens in a whirl. The siege of Portland Row, the trip to the Other
Side, the battle at Fittes, Lucy uncovering the start of the problem, Marissa blowing
everything to bits, and DEPRAC storming in afterward to try and clean everything up. This
leaves everyone and everything with very little time to think of anything else but staying
alive.
 But eventually, things calm down, and Lockwood has time to think about the things he wants
to think about. His friends– no family .

Lucy.

He lays the necklace over a stack of papers and delivers it to her attic bedroom, telling her to
make sure she looks at the papers before they go out for a walk.

Yes, it might be the easy way out, but the message is still there. And she still gets it, because
when Lucy flies down the stairs and grabs her coat, rushing to the front door to catch up with
him, there's a glint of blue against her sweater and a huge smile on her face.

And her smile is enough, enough to convince him that everything is going to work out.
Enough to convince him that he can tell her how much he cares.

That he will tell her how much he cares.

In words this time, not just jewelry and unspoken vows.

Chapter End Notes

this is a bit longer than the last two, this one just turned out to need more words :))

i hope u enjoyed it, and thank you so much to all the comments and kudos, theyve kept
me going!!!
 4-
Chapter Notes

yeah i have no idea what this is it just sort of. happened. enjoy!!!

warning: big sad

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The fourth time Lockwood gives Lucy a necklace, she kisses him.

It’s raining early that morning, and Lockwood is sifting through the chest of drawers that
used to sit in Jessica’s room but has moved into his bedroom since.

He’s surrounded by stacks of papers, documents and letters all in his mother's studious scrawl
and his father’s near cursive. Albums and folders filled with pictures are piled next to him, a
book of baby photos of Jessica and Lockwood propped open on his lap.

Little figurines and trinkets, pieces of ribbon and baby shoes and stuffed animals, mementos
and dried flowers. Everything that used to be a part of his past, everything Lockwood has
been desperate to avoid. And he’s thrown himself right into the thick of it.

Truth be told, Lockwood has been avoiding cleaning out this drawer forever, but it's been
blocking off a portion of his room, and he needs to sort everything out. At least find a better
place for everything, rather than crammed into a chest, hidden away behind a locked door.

At the bottom of the whole thing is an intricately carved wooden box, one that used to sit on
his mother’s vanity table until he couldn’t bear the sight of it and moved it to Jessica’s old
room.

Slowly, he lifts the top and stares at the assortment of jewelry inside, silk ribbons and delicate
chains. Beads from all around the world, crystals and glass and everything in between.

On the very top, sitting on a thread of silver is a porcelain locket that sat around Celia
Lockwood’s neck in every memory he has of her. Lockwood can feel tears pricking at his
eyes, but he ignores them and slides his hand down the side, finding the little latch that clicks
open.

Inside are two pictures, both faded and black and white. In one, the young face of Jessica
Lockwood peers up at the camera, arms wrapped tightly around a sleeping baby who
Lockwood can only assume is himself. Her smile is wide, so like the smile he’d seen her
flash a million times, even though here she must only be six years old.
The other picture is much older, and this is the one that does make the tears spill from his
eyes.

Celia and Donald Lockwood stare up at their son, in front of a thick jungle that must be in
some exotic faraway place.

His mother is mid-laugh, eyes crinkling as his father whispers in her ear. They look so happy,
so at ease, and Lockwood can picture them in his mind, just like that.

Curled up on the sofa by the fire, Jessica and Anthony at their feet, telling wild tales of
pirates and bandits and dragons to their children.

He can still hear his mother’s voice, chiding him. He wonders what she would think of him
now, sitting on the floor of her old room, crying over a photo of her.

She’d probably sit down next to him, amidst the clutter, and wrap her arms around him.
Smooth his hair down and wipe his eyes with the edge of her sleeve.

A few hours later, Lucy finds him like that, among the clutter, clutching the locket and staring
at the photos.

She lowers herself next to him, wraps her arms around him, and lets him cry. Lets him feel
everything he needs to feel.

Once he’s able to talk again, he begins to show her the photos, sharing his past with her more
than he’s ever been able to. Watching her eyes crinkle as she laughs at his stories and
embarrassing baby pictures.

He knows that his parents would have loved Lucy, especially his mother. He wishes with his
whole heart she could’ve met the girl he’d fallen in love with.

The next day, Lockwood carefully slips the pictures of Jessica and his parents out of the
necklace, placing them neatly on his bedside table.

He finds a picture, one he took with his father’s old camera, everyone squished into frame.
George’s crooked grin, Kipps’ ever-present scowl, Holly’s neat smile. There’s a faint green
glow on their faces, from where a glowering skull sits just out of sight. And in the middle
Lucy grins at the camera, Lockwood’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.

The other frame he leaves empty, to let her fill however she wants, and he goes to find her in
the library where she’s drawing.

When he hands it to her, he watches her face as she registers what it is, remembers the
pictures he showed her the night before.

At first, Lucy doesn’t say anything, doesn't move, doesn’t react.

 Slowly, very slowly, she moves to clasp it around her neck and Lockwood lets out a breath of
relief. They exchange small smiles, and Lockwood turns to go.

Then, suddenly, all at once Lucy is standing up, moving towards him, and grabbing his wrist
before he can walk away.

And then she’s pulling him closer, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him, as if she’s wanted
to forever. So he kisses her back, just like he has wanted to since the beginning. Just like he’s
wanted to every single day since she walked into his living room and she introduced herself.

Somewhere, on the Other Side, content and happy, he knows there is a couple watching him
with smiles on their faces as their son finally kisses the girl he loves.

Chapter End Notes

she 😌
lucy really is out here collecting lockwood family heirloom necklaces like stamps isnt
good for her, good for her.
 5-
Chapter Summary

tysm again for all of the kind words and kudos and interaction!!! this has been so fun to
write and im glad you guys have enjoyed it all so far, thank you so so so so much for
reading it makes my day <333

Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

The fifth time Lockwood gives Lucy a necklace is when he realises she’s the one.

It’s been eight months since they discovered the truth about Marissa Fittes and she nearly
blew them to pieces, and things are finally starting to calm down.

Cases are slowing down, ghost locked patients are showing signs of waking up, and
DEPRAC is close to finishing their removal of the gates on The Other Side.

The revival of England will take a while, there’s still so much to do, and so many things to
fix.

But Lockwood and Co are happy, the cases have slowed just as George starts to lose his
talent. George says he doesn’t mind, since it leaves him more time to research and help
DEPRAC uncover the solution to the Problem, and Lockwood has a feeling he’s telling the
truth. Despite George’s talent fading being a sign of his ageing, he looks younger, more
vigorous and less exhausted.

Holly’s talent has faded long ago, it was ready dwindling when she joined L&co, and now the
rest of them are the age she was when it started.

To Lockwood, 18 feels so old, yet so young. He can't believe it was two years ago that Lucy
walked into his life, something that feels both like yesterday and twenty years ago.

Lockwood and Lucy have had very little peace in their lives, but now, as they sit in the
garden and watch the clouds drift by, they feel something very close to it.

Lockwood plays with the wild daisies that have taken over their overgrown yard and watches
Lucy, who sketches in her notepad.

The sun breaks through the branches of the old tree they sit under and bathes Lucy in golden
light. The rays hit her hair perfectly, making the brown strands glow, and her eyes twinkle in
the light. To Lockwood, she looks ethereal.
 His eyes drift back to his hands, where he’s started to weave together a bunch of daisies into
a daisy chain, the way he’d seen his sister do so many times.

When they were younger, maybe five and eleven, Jessica would sit outside in the garden with
him and teach him how to loop the daisies around each other to form a chain. Sometimes they
were crowns, sometimes they were necklaces, sometimes garlands their mother hung in the
house until they wilted and died.

Jessica's hands were quick, seamlessly twining the flowers together, and it took years for
Lockwood to do it just like her.

At first, the main problem was he would just try to stick the flowers in his mouth and eat
them, and then the problem was he would get distracted by a funny shaped cloud or a bird.
Then, it was because his hands were too clumsy and uncoordinated, and he could never wind
them around each other tight enough.

Despite his troubles though, Jessica took him outside every day and coached him, guiding his
hands over the stems. Sometimes, his mother or father would join them in the grass and take
a few flowers themselves. Mostly, they just brought them glasses of lemonade and
occasionally watched them from a window.

By age six, Lockwood was proud to say he had mastered the daisy chain.

Pulling himself back from his memory, Lockwood finishes the chain of daisies he is making,
looping each stem around the last, and then ties it off with a thick stalk of grass.

Then, careful not to interrupt her drawing, he leans over and drapes it around Lucy’s neck.
She looks up, slightly startled, and then she catches his eye and her expression softens. She
leans forward to press a kiss to his cheek, and when she pulls back and gives him a lopsided
grin, it hits him.

He already knew he loved her, and he already knew he never wanted to lose her, but for the
first time, in actual formulated thoughts, he realises:

However sick and twisted the world is, the universe must’ve known exactly what it was
doing when it shoved Lucy Carlyle into his life.

She is, undoubtedly, the person he was meant to be with.

Forever.

Chapter End Notes

i wanted to write a less sad memory of his past, so i hope this is somewhat happy!!
thank you again for reading, comments and kudos are always appreciated :))
 +1
Chapter Notes

soooo yeah this happened?? im not sure what happened when i was writing this, but i
hope its good!!

this is the last chapter, please enjoy!!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It has been four years since the problem ended. Four years since DEPRAC closed the final
gate. Four years since Lockwood and Co’s last case.

It had been an easy one, thankfully, and they had walked from the house unscathed. A small
porcelain cat sat in a silver glass box, carried by George who headed off to the furnaces.

Lockwood and Lucy were left alone to catch a taxi back home, but Lockwood stopped the
driver outside Arif’s Corner Store, telling the driver to wait for a second, and pulled Lucy out
of the cab after him.

They stood under the light of a ghost lamp, Lucy’s face drawn into a confused expression.

“Care to explain what’s going on, Anthony?” Lucy says, fiddling with the chain around her
neck which holds a familiar blue sapphire. She had taken to calling him Anthony, and
whenever she was especially tired it slipped out more often, but Lockwood didn’t really
mind. He loved the way it sounded as she said it, the cadence of her voice.

“Do you remember the first time you wore that necklace, Luce?” Lockwood asked. His hand
fiddled with something in his coat pocket, but he held her gaze as she stared at him.

“Of course I do Lockwood, we went on a walk. Tell me, is this really important, because I’d
really like a hot shower just about now and-” Lockwood chuckled at that, and looked up at
Arif’s storefront, which is dark and empty right now.

“We went inside Arif’s remember? And while you were grabbing orange juice for George-”

“You told me that the necklace held the same meaning for you as it did for your dad, yes I
remember Anthony.”

“Good. C’mon,” he said, and then he was dragging her towards the door and pulling a key
out from his pocket.

“Lockwood, are we breaking into Arif’s store right now with a key you stole?”
“No of course not, I borrowed it. Well, George borrowed it for me. Arif likes him the best.”

They were inside now, and he took her hand, guiding her through the dark store to the drink
section in the back, stopping in front of the orange juice.

He cleared his throat, watching her in the faint glow of the refrigerator light, and pulled a box
from his pocket.

Slowly, he extended his arm, dropping the box into her open hand.

She looked very confused now, but she took the box without question and flipped the top
open, and pulled the necklace out. It was a simple necklace this time, one that looked like it
was just a piece of string and a charm.

Wait, no, not a charm. A ring.

“Lockwood, what is-” Lucy began, but then she saw what Lockwood was doing, and the
words died in her throat.

Lockwood wasn’t standing in front of Lucy anymore, instead, he was kneeling.

“Luce, I-” he began, but she didn't listen, couldn't listen, and instead she pulled him up by the
collar of his coat and kissed him, whispering yes you idiot, of course, yes.

The world could have been falling apart, and in that moment Lucy wouldn’t have given a
damn.

Well, the world isn’t really falling apart, but England is in shambles, understandably. There
are millions of traumatised kids, families left without a source of income, awful
infrastructure, scandals regarding the corruption in the system, a black market full of useless
sources, practically no education system, and huge companies that were once central to
Britain’s economy going bankrupt.

There is so much to do, but at the same time, no one knows what to do.

Most people feel lost, unsure, and scared. Kids have no idea what they should do with their
lives, now that what once made them special is no longer useful.

DEPRAC quickly shifted gears, becoming The Department of Psychical Rehabilitation and
Correction, Lockwood and Co working side by side with them (much to Lockwood and
Inspector Barnes’s annoyance, but they would survive).

Kipps joined the Department of Youth Recovery, which focused on caring for the endless
stream of ex agents, scarred physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Holly went to work for International and Public Relations, which surprised no one, and she
was said to be single handedly responsible for getting huge financial aid from America.
 George was appointed head of Education Reconstruction, and he worked to rebuild schools
and universities. He eventually became a professor, teaching The Problem’s History in
universities, and publishing his research.

Lockwood starts out similarly to Kipps, working to help children recover from trauma and
find hobbies and joys in life, but eventually he’s promoted over and over again, becoming
one of the top leaders of DEPRAC and taking over Barnes’s position as Head of DEPRAC
after he retires to spend time with his kids.

Lucy is the only member of Lockwood and Co who doesn’t join DEPRAC, instead, she went
back to school after her education was cut off and became an art teacher at London’s first
Secondary School.

Despite heading down different paths, though, they will all still be a family.

Every Saturday night, they gather at 35 Portland Row for dinner, George cooks and Holly
bakes. Sometimes Barnes will stop by with his kids, who’ve grown up a bit, and sometimes
Flo pops in.

Now the Thinking Cloth is covered with lecture dates, shopping lists, doodles that range from
the advanced (Lucy) to the indecipherable (Daisy Lockwood – and sometimes Uncle
George), and reminders for vet appointments or student-teacher conferences.

Daisy Celia Lockwood turned three two weeks ago, and Aunt Holly baked a giant chocolate
cake. Uncle George bought her a black kitten named Skull, and Uncle Kipps scared Lucy half
to death when he showed up on their doorstep with a miniature throwing axe and promised to
teach her the “important artistry of aiming.”

As for Lockwood and Lucy, they have never been more content. Every day, the world seems
to heal a little more, every day Lockwood and Lucy seem to heal a little more. For both of
them, the reason they are alive is becoming more clear by the minute.

To dance in the kitchen at three am, to watch the stars on quiet nights, to listen to the birds
every morning, to sit in the garden with Daisy. To sing and read bedtime stories and laugh.

To live.

For the first time in over fifty years, all is well inside 35 Portland Row.

Chapter End Notes

so guys (/gn). here we are, at the end of a (relatively short) fic.

this is only the second piece of work ive ever posted, and its the first solo piece of
writing ive shared with others, and every single person has been so incredibly lovely and
supportive and it has made this the best experience ever. i just wanted to say thank you
so so so so much to every single person who has opened this fic and read it. whether you
gave comments and kudos or simply read it, you have encouraged me to keep going
through this whole fic and made me feel so supported and loved.

with all of the love in my heart, thank you <3

Please drop by the Archive and comment to let the creator know if you enjoyed their work!