Hey guys! I'm back for TFP. I promise I am still working on the next chapter for Living in the Present. Real life is getting weighed down with college visits, summer work, SAT practice, and sports practice. Ugh. But I found time to create this little thing. And I got it done relatively quickly! I'm pretty proud of that. I hope you enjoy this little story. All mistakes are my own. Please read and review!
Update: I updated this because I was going back and saw some spelling errors that would probably bug me forever until I fixed them. Hopefully I got all of them, but if I didn't feel free to let me know.
What are you supposed to say to the woman you love when you may never see her again?
Wyatt Logan has no clue.
Confess his love again, even though she never said it back from all those years ago? Draw her in for one more hug, sink into her warmth and try to memorize her embrace? Press his lips to hers because he may never get another chance? Tell her some hollow form of good luck when he's choking down bile at the prospect of life without her? Stare into her eyes, hoping that he can convey everything he could never say aloud? Grip her hand tightly until she has to pull herself away? Beg her to stay because he's almost certain that he can't survive in a world without her in it?
Instead, he stands there motionless as Lucy goes over the flight sequence with Jiya one more time, standing in front of the Lifeboat. What could very well be Lucy's resting place.
Lucy's about to take her first solo trip in the Lifeboat. Jiya has been training both Lucy and Wyatt, the ultimate goal is doubling back on their own timeline to restore Rufus back to the world of the living, to their timeline now. Jiya and Mason have been developing the means to achieve their goal, to break the one sacred rule of time travel none of them have dared to test: you can't travel back to anytime that you already exsist. Jiya already has the mission planned out in her head, even if it might be years away. She decided that if they were to save Rufus, she didn't want to go on the trip. She didn't want to remember what it felt like to lose the man she loves. Which means that Lucy and Wyatt are really the only viable options (no one is trusting Flynn to pilot the Lifeboat or to save Rufus. And no, Wyatt still doesn't fully trust the man after years of them working together). The idea of Lucy going alone makes Wyatt nauseous, but he knows why they're doing it.
If Lucy fails and doesn't come home, they still have Wyatt to pilot the Lifeboat and potentially save Rufus. Although if Lucy fails, the lack of a Lifeboat will be much larger problem than the lack of a pilot. And if Lucy can't pull this off, what makes them think that Wyatt could? Ignoring the simple fact that the loss of Lucy would devastate him beyond repair.
It's almost time. Jiya draws Lucy into a tight embrace, murmuring assurances and well wishes against Lucy's smooth, pale skin. Then Denise wraps her arms around Lucy. The woman has basically adopted Lucy as her surrogate daughter and with everything Lucy accomplishes, pride shines bright in the Homeland Security Agent's eyes. Mason is next, and their hug is more brief. The way he grips Lucy is one of desperation with how much is riding on Lucy's test flight. This is a gigantic step in the process of getting Rufus back, something that has consumed Mason for the past few years. If not for Jiya, Mason would be a madman by now. Lucy pulls away from Mason and then throws her arms around Flynn. As much as Wyatt still doesn't like the man, he's become something of a big brother to Lucy throughout the years. He's largely inaccessible to everyone but their resident historian. Just about anything she asks, he'll do. Wyatt understands that at least. Then Lucy's untangling herself from Flynn and it's his turn.
Wyatt is standing apart from the rest of the group, restraining himself from grabbing Lucy and running away somewhere safe where the uncertainty of the time vortex can't take her away from him. Every step she takes brings her closer to him and Wyatt swears that the air gets easier to breathe just because she's there.
When she halts in front of him, the choice should be easy. Everyone else hugged Lucy, absorbing Lucy's warmth for perhaps the last time. But Lucy and Wyatt are not everyone else and they've never been simple.
Time hasn't healed all wounds, not when it comes to them. Instead, it's left them both littered with scars; both visible and invisible.
In the last few years, Wyatt taught Lucy how to fight. She's transformed from a quick-thinking history genius to being able to hold her own in a battle of wits and body. Some sort of warrior goddess. She looks the part now, her gun slung over her back with the thick strap crossing her light tank top. Her heavy ammo belt holds up her cargo pants and a long-forgotten part of Wyatt aches for the young woman she used to be. The one who never had to level a gun at another human and end their life. No matter how much the person on the other end of the gun deserved it. No matter if it's a certain red-haired she-devil that Wyatt's been itching to put a bullet into for years.
They've evolved from the broken versions of themselves that slumped against the old bunker wall after losing their best friend and pilot. They never placed a label on what they are now, but it's some messy, crisscrossing circuit board of friends, confidants, partners, teammates, and the ever-lingering possibilities. One more thing: Lucy Preston will always hold the title of the woman that Wyatt Logan unconditionally loves.
He never verbalized the words again. He knows that uttering those words dropped a heavy weight on her shoulders, possessing the love of the man who shattered her heart. The next time he said them, he wanted to be sure that Lucy felt the same, that she would be ready to hear them. So, he put the words into his every action for the past few years. Into every cup of coffee he made her, every defensive move he showed her, every late night she shook him awake when she couldn't sleep because a fraction of her heart was missing somewhere with Rufus in the afterlife, checking on her to ensure that she was settling into their new bunker as well as could be expected (they couldn't stay at the old bunker after it turned out that Jessica was Rittenhouse. Their living space, as crappy as it was, was another causality of the mess Wyatt Logan was making out of everyone's lives).
She never said it back. But Wyatt felt her gaze drift to him when she thought he was unaware, the way she melted into his embrace, how she sought him out on the nights she felt unable to glue herself back together, her breath catching when she managed to pin him when they were sparring.
Wyatt has spent years trying to repair not just himself or Lucy, but some fractured version of what they had before Wyatt screwed everything up. And now he's supposed to say goodbye? How? The mission is for Lucy to touch down in 1926 and then come back to the present. But Wyatt doesn't trust the closed time-like curve—or whatever the hell the science of time travel is—to bring Lucy back to him.
So there they are, just standing in front of each other. Not touching, not making any move toward each other. It's some sort of cosmic joke. Wyatt speaks first, croaking out a semblance of words despite the tightness of his throat. "I don't know what to say. I've always been really bad at goodbyes."
Lucy's mouth ticks up into a small smile. Her face was made for smiling, for happiness. "Yeah. Me too." She whispers, voice just as wrecked as Wyatt's. Then she clears her throat, "So, let's not say goodbye. I'm coming back after all." It's hard not to believe her when she says it with such confidence, standing tall and sure in front of him. Her stomach might be turning and turning, doubt might be drilling itself through her head but in that moment, she looks like a woman ready to defy death for another day. It's a strange sort of comfort to see her like this. He's proud. "I'm coming back." She repeats one more time, more assured than the last.
She's gone the next second, disappearing into the Lifeboat.
No last embrace, no last touch. Nothing. She needs to come back. He needs to feel her silky skin under his fingertips again. He needs to have his ribs crushed in one of her bruising hugs again. If he can't have that, he must at least see her again.
"Wyatt, step back!" Christopher shouts at him from where the rest of their ragtag team has retreated to their updated computer system. Her commanding voice is a dull buzz in the back of his mind. All his attention is locked on the Lifeboat, holding his heart inside its metal bowels. "Wyatt!" Denise yells. Wyatt stays right where he is, not willing to take one step away from Lucy.
The metal rings start spinning. Slow at first, then faster and faster and faster and faster and faster. His heart picks up pace with every rotation of those rings. Whoosh. The Lifeboat and Lucy blink out of their time and the force of the dispelled energy knocks Wyatt onto his ass.
Not that he cares.
With Lucy gone, Wyatt picks himself up and dashes to the computer that Jiya is bent over, watching Lucy's progress. He sticks to the one thing he can cling to: a dirty computer screen that's going to tell him if he's going to have trouble breathing for the rest of his life, if he'll always be missing the vital, pulsing organ currently absent from his chest.
The clacking of keys fills the bunker and Wyatt swears that the world has stopped spinning on its axis. Although that might just be his world. "Jiya?" Christopher asks. Her voice doesn't hold her normally composed, in-command tone. Slight tremors shake with the pronunciation of that single name. They are all terrified. If Lucy dies, they don't just experience setbacks in their get-Rufus-back plan. Lucy dies. Compassionate, intelligent, selfless Lucy. They'll never see her pearly skin again, her blazing amber sunset eyes, her twisting dark locks. Never hear her voice or almost be knocked over by her disarming hugs. If Lucy doesn't make it… time will have stolen both Rufus and Lucy from him.
It's worse than when Flynn kidnapped Lucy in 1780 and when Lucy was missing for six weeks. He had people to blame then. Flynn and Rittenhouse. But if Lucy dies now… he'll only have himself to blame for letting her go.
For letting her go alone.
"She landed!" Jiya cries, her voice bursting with relief and tears. Shouts go up all around them. Christopher is beaming with unshed tears in her eyes. Jiya is laughing and crying at the same time and throws her arms around Mason. Flynn hardly moves but Wyatt can sense the satisfaction radiating off the taller man. Wyatt breathes. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath. He gulps in stale oxygen, the knowledge that she's alive freeing his lungs and chest.
"Okay, people. Let's calm down, that's only half the journey." Christopher says after a few seconds. Wyatt's chest tightens right back up. She made it to 1926 but she still needs to land back in the present. Wyatt catches sight of Jiya wiping her tears and turning back to her computer.
She doesn't need to.
Another second and the Lifeboat is in front of them, its metal rings slowing down.
Wyatt's heart starts beating again. Suddenly, he's moving. He grabs the steps and pushes them to the entrance of the Lifeboat. Right as he positions them, the door opens and Lucy steps out, a smile gracing her face. She looks so beautiful, radiating hope and her chest puffed with pride.
Wyatt swears that Lucy's never looked so breathtaking. Not when he was urging her into his arms in 1893 at the Chicago's World Fair. Not when their arms were locked together in 1918 and he was drinking in the sight of her face after six weeks. Not when she was draped in sparkling gold and white with her lips a vibrant red as she outshone every Hollywood star that 1941 had to offer. Not even when she was laying on the bed in Hedy Lamarr's guest house, hair mussed and looking thoroughly loved by him.
No, this is Lucy Preston at her height. Accomplished and satisfied, her short wavy hair framing her face and her clothes creased with the endless grime of the outdated bunker. One thing that this bunker and the old had in common.
Wyatt stands there, marveling at Lucy with his arms gripping each rail of the stairs. Lucy's scan over everyone else first, before dropping to him. There's something in her eyes. Something behind those endless layers of caramel that wasn't there when she left.
Wyatt is just about to rush up the steps to discover what's clouded her eyes when he feels himself get shoved aside. Jiya is stumbling up the steps to throw her arms wildly around Lucy as happy tears streak down her face. Wyatt backs away, letting Jiya burrow herself into Lucy. He can't imagine how Jiya feels, living without the man she loves for all these years. Slaving to get Rufus back, daring to let herself hope when the disappointment of failure is hanging by a fraying thread ready to crush her. Mason and Christopher approach the bottom of the steps, Flynn hanging behind.
Wyatt is in ruin, his emotions, heart, and soul having been put warped and twisted with Lucy's journey. His bones are heavy, exhaustion from worrying taking its toll. Backing up, Wyatt turns down the hallway to their rooms —the new bunker is big enough that everyone can have their own rooms. Although the rooms themselves are quite small— letting everyone else welcome Lucy home. He'll have her all to himself later when they spar.
"Wyatt!" his name echoes down the hallway and he has to close his eyes briefly to savor the sound of his voice falling from her lips. He hasn't heard it nearly enough in these past few years. He hears a clattering sound and is turning around when Lucy slams into him, her arms constricting around his body. Unprepared, Wyatt stumbles back with her weight and glances his shoulder off the wall. He catches a glimpse of the gun usually slung around her back discarded on the floor. That must have been the clattering sound he heard.
Despite his shock at Lucy's surprise embrace, Wyatt's arms go around her automatically. It's a response ingrained in the very deepest part of himself— holding Lucy. Her breaths are warm against his neck, her wiry muscles and gentle curves are smashed up against Wyatt's hard body. Wyatt cherishes every moment she's against him, never wanting to let go. All too soon, Lucy is pulling away.
She doesn't withdraw completely. Or much. At all. She's so close that her body brushes against his, so close that her head is tilted up at an acute angle to look into his eyes. Her hand flutters up to his face and she presses it to his cheek, dragging it down through his thick scruff that grows closer to a beard every day. Wyatt's eyes close, attempting to draw in a grounding breath. Whatever's happening with Lucy, it probably won't last. Wyatt's life doesn't work that way.
"I came back." Lucy whispers, her breath washing over his face and Wyatt can't help but inhale her words. "I said I would. But… there were a few seconds inside the Lifeboat that I—" Lucy cuts off, tears spring to life in her eyes as she swallows heavily. But she doesn't break eye contact. "No one should ever travel alone. The Lifeboat has two pilot seats, and two passenger seats. No one should ever be alone in there." Lucy is still speaking softly, picking up speed and an almost desperate edge creeping into her voice. "I don't want to be alone again. I know that Jiya and Mason are terrified of losing the means to get Rufus back, but they don't need to be. It's you and me and we are going to get Rufus back together. And it wouldn't be worth it either." Now Lucy is shaking her head, droplets tracing their way down her cheeks. Wyatt seems helpless to do anything but delicately brush her tears away. "It wouldn't be worth getting Rufus back if I lost you. We either get all the team back or none of it. Together, Wyatt. That's what I want." Lucy's eyes are filled with certainty but Wyatt's not quite sure if he grasps what she's saying. He searches her gaze, getting lost in her endless eyes. "So… I propose a new rule." Her voice is hardly audible anymore.
"Rule?" Wyatt breathes. Lucy nods, both palms coming up to cup his face.
"We never leave each other's side anymore." She proposes.
Wyatt gets no time to answer or react or process what he's just heard. He gets no time because Lucy is leaning forward and brushing her lips against his, just the tiniest bit. It's feather light and quick but everything inside Wyatt sparks to life with the touch of her lips to his. It's the most alive he's felt in years. With her kiss, Lucy gives Wyatt something back. Something he didn't even know he'd lost somewhere along the way.
She gives him hope.
When her lips retreat, Lucy's arms snake their way back around his neck and pull him in close. His find her waist, twining around her slender body. Lucy's head is resting on his shoulder, turned in to his neck so he can feel every exhale. "We never leave each other's side anymore." She whispers. The words sink down into his skin, tattooing themselves on his heart.
"We never leave each other's side anymore." Wyatt repeats against her.
The title and the quote actually comes from another lovely OTP, but I thought it also really suited Lucy and Wyatt. The couple the quote originated from is Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons from Agents of Shield. Fitz: "We have a rule." Simmons: "We never leave each other's side anymore". I give them the credit for that.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are life giving! And keep fighting for our amazing show!