#holmward

~~~

Uncle Jack had lipstick on his collar. 

As he and Lu ate lunch together, she observed this fact with mild curiosity. It was quite a bright shade of red, a hue that many young ladies' fathers would outright ban (if she chose to wear a color like that, her own dad would say nothing, but he would make that nervous hum he always made when he was uncomfortable with something she did). But she and Uncle Jack were talking about other things, and so she didn't ask about it.

Tensions had been high in the household this week; some of their spies had picked up evidence of vampire activity in Surrey, and although Lu wasn't privy to all the details, Uncle Jack had told her that the situation had nearly gotten out of hand, and was not yet fully contained. Her dad had been running around trying to keep control of the situation, and was fraying at the edges.

When they had nearly finished their sandwiches, her dad burst into the room, hand full of telegrams. He gave her and Uncle Jack brief smiles, but no kisses, which showed just how distracted he was. He sat down across from Uncle Jack, trying to butter a roll  in between frowning at the telegrams.

Just as Lu took the last bite of her sandwich, she saw her dad's head snap up. He was staring at Uncle Jack.

"What is that?" he snapped.

Lu and Uncle Jack both looked up in surprise; his voice was sharp as ice, and he was pointing with the butter knife at Uncle Jack's lipstick-stained collar.

For a moment, Lu felt a sudden, nagging doubt. She had never seen her dad jealous over his husband, but she didn't know how else to interpret his angry reaction. For one moment, she wondered if there were something going on between them, something personal, that had been adding to the tension of the past week.

Uncle Jack signed back in puzzlement, "What are you talking about?"

"What is that on your collar?" His voice was still sharp. Lu glanced back and forth between them, feeling as if a rug were about to be pulled out from under her.

Uncle Jack followed the line of the pointed knife, scrunching his neck so he could look down at himself, pulling his collar away from his face to look at the lipstick.

"It's lipstick," he signed.

Her dad let out a huge sigh of relief. He resumed buttering the roll. "Oh, thank God."

Uncle Jack raised an eyebrow. "What did you think it was?"

"It looks like blood."

Lu snorted, and Uncle Jack laughed softly. But after a few more moments of eating, Lu felt that uncertainty return. "Uncle Jack, why do you have lipstick on your collar?"

"I don't know," he signed, thought for a moment, then got a look of dawning realization. "I do, actually. I was questioning a witness this morning and she ended up sobbing on my shoulder. Poor thing."

"Better get it laundered," her dad said, passing a few of the telegrams to him.

For a moment Lu watched the two of them, sitting across from each other, sorting through telegrams in between bites of food, working together as a seamless team. 

Relief washed through her, and she giggled. 

Without looking up from his work, her dad asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Lu said. She stood to leave, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek on her way out. "Nothing at all."