Note: This is mostly a Lyatt story. But there is one timeline where she ends up with Flynn. It's the third section so if that bothers you then please just skip it. I'm not a Garcy shipper (at least not yet) but I felt like that particular storyline fit the plot best. Again, no ship war hate. I was actually kinda surprised at how much I enjoyed writing that section. Maybe I do ship it just a little? The fourth section is rated M for sexual content.
Lucy paused outside of the crowded bar in Sao Paulo. She took a deep breath and fought back tears. This was it. It was the way that she could get her family back. She knew this was the only way. But it was hard, so hard, to give up this book. She checked her purse for the thousandth time to make sure that the volume was still with her. It was. Lying right above a compact and her gun. She glanced around her. Rittenhouse was probably following her. It was hard to go into that bar and find the guy who was hurting so badly and give up her book. It was her journal that she had poured out all her grief over her family's deaths. She had written it to make sure that he would understand and help her. And in the process help him.
She found Garcia Flynn in the corner of the bar. He looked awful. Bloodshot, grief-stricken and already drunk. Lucy could remember the bottles of vodka she had consumed after…after everything. It had hurt so badly. It still did. She walked rapidly through the crowd and sat next to him. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked. It was a rhetorical question but he only grunted and ignored her.
"I think you've had enough." Lucy pushed the drink aside and as he stared at her in indignation Lucy stared back. She wasn't going to let him intimidate her. She knew he needed her. Needed her to provide the missing pieces to bring down Rittenhouse. But she also needed him. She needed him to do the things in the journal. So that someday her life would be changed.
"What's your problem, lady?" he asked. Lucy shrugged.
"I came here to talk to you, Garcia Flynn. I'm Lucy Preston." She held out her hand but he didn't take it.
"I don't care if you're fucking Mother Theresa. Go away." He replied.
"I know what happened to your family. I know you didn't kill them. I know Rittenhouse did. And I know how to stop them." Lucy said. His eyes widened as he stared at her again. She could see his mind working. Wondering if he could trust her. Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out the journal. "Here I have it all written down. The steps you have to take. To save your family."
"I can't save them. They're dead," he said hoarsely.
"You can. You've heard of time travel?" Lucy said.
He laughed. "You're full of shit you know?"
"I know why you think that. But it's true. Connor Mason has just invented a time machine and Rittenhouse has control of it." Lucy pointed to a section of the journal. "See?"
He read a few lines and then looked up, "So if what your saying is true. Which I don't believe in. Why are you helping me?"
"Because I too lost my family. I lost my husband and son to Rittenhouse. They were murdered because of me. Because I didn't do what Rittenhouse wanted. And I know exactly how you're feeling right now." Lucy flipped a few pages and pointed to a picture of Wyatt. "That's my husband. That… was my husband. I came home one night to find him dead. With my son. They were poisoned. The police called it a murder-suicide. But I knew better." Lucy blinked back the moisture in her eyes as she stared down at that picture of Wyatt. "I wrote this thing to cope with their deaths. But also to give you a roadmap. So that we work together to take down Rittenhouse. I believe we can get our families back."
"Do I know you? In the future… I mean?" he was listening to her closely.
"A little. You were assigned to the team. You," Lucy paused and went on, "Were chosen to take Wyatt's place on the team. I'm not pretending that didn't hurt like hell. But it was nice having someone who understood."
"What…" he began but Lucy shook her head.
"I can't tell you any more. It's not good to know the future. I'm just leaving this with you." Lucy gave the journal a little pat. "Good Luck, Flynn. You'll need it."
"Wait…" he began. Lucy turned around and walked out of the bar. She headed for the Lifeboat. Rufus was waiting for her. She gave him a hug.
"I dropped it off. I just hope it worked." Lucy blinked back tears. "It was hard. Giving that thing up."
"We'll get him back, Lucy. He and Henry. We just have to be strong." Rufus gave her arm a squeeze. Lucy gave him a faint smile.
Lucy watched her past self through the window. She saw herself pick up the picture and the shock and pain on her face as she saw Amy was erased from the timeline. Lucy hadn't known that by giving Flynn the journal she would also ensure her sister was erased from history. She regretted that move more than anything. Lucy felt tears gather in her eyes as she remembered the shock and pain she had experienced. That first mission had been incredible. It had taken so much from her. She hadn't suspected that it would erase her sister. She hadn't realized that Flynn would spend nearly two years trying to kill her. And Rufus. And Wyatt.
Rittenhouse had succeeded in killing Wyatt. Her face hardened. Earlier that day she had gone by Wyatt's apartment. She sat waiting in the shadows for him to come out. It was beyond creepy to stare at him. She was a stranger from the future. He didn't know her. Wouldn't want to know this her. She remembered memorizing the lines in his face and drank in every single second like she was starving and he was food. She wanted to get out of the shadows and run and throw herself in his arms. Feel safe again. There was no other place she felt safer. But she couldn't. He didn't know her yet. He'd meet her in just a couple of hours in an empty waiting room of Mason Industries. In a few hours, he'd open up his eyes and smirk at her and call her ma'am. In a couple of hours, they'd meet and the beginning of a gorgeous love affair would start. One that ended in tragedy.
As she stared at her past self she sighed. It hurt to see how innocent she looked. As if life wouldn't kick her six ways to Sunday. She turned around and found Rufus waiting for her. He gave her a small smile. "You ready?" he whispered.
Lucy gave him a nod. "Yeah, I'm ready. I just had to see if…she looked the same."
They had made the steps to try to save Wyatt. In the mission to raid Rittenhouse headquarters, Lucy had carefully shot at the guard who aimed his weapon at Wyatt's face. Her weapon went off at the same time as Wyatt's he looked shocked at the sound of another weapon firing. But he must have assumed his shot was the one who killed the guard and that the sound came from another guard's gun. Lucy lurked in the shadows until he came out. He was safe. She started sobbing as she realized that she had saved him.
Now, as she stood with Rufus she said, "Thank you."
"Well, at least we saved him. Let's go back." Rufus smiled. "Jiya might have another update for me. She keeps swearing the baby is moving but I can't feel it."
Lucy laughed, "You'll feel it eventually. I haven't been able to feel it either. I can't believe it."
"I can't either. I'm so scared it's not even funny. What if I mess this up?" Rufus prepared the Lifeboat.
"You won't. You and Jiya will be the best parents ever." Lucy assured him.
Jessica came back right after their glorious night in Hollywoodland. Lucy had known from the moment he called her right before she went to Salem that he was gone. She pushed aside the pain and focused on the mission. She pushed aside the pain and focused on getting Jessica to stay. For his sake. She smiled her fake smile and drank way too much vodka and pretended that her heart wasn't breaking in a million pieces. It hurt. So badly that she stopped trying to stop the pain. She just wished it would go.
Lucy started spending more and more time with Flynn. He understood her pain and the way that Rittenhouse had stolen literally everything from her. She didn't forget she was supposed to be angry with him. He had hurt her too. But somehow the pain was less intense. Except for Amy, and he had apologized for that.
Three weeks after Jessica arrived in the bunker she announced she was pregnant and Wyatt left with her. Lucy smiled through her pain and congratulated them. She bought them a gift card and signed a card. Her hands shook as she wrote her name. It hurt so goddamn much. She drank more, recklessly stopped caring about her own life and watched as Emma killed her mother. She truly had lost everyone. Amy, her mother and now Wyatt. He had promised she hadn't lost him. But in less than two months she had.
She knew Wyatt was conflicted and it made it one hundred times worse. If she was able to convince herself he was truly happy then the whole thing wouldn't make her feel like her heart had just been ripped from her body. Slowly, though, she stopped caring. He hadn't worried about her happiness, had he?
She and Flynn were growing closer and she had a pretty good idea of where things were headed and she didn't care. So what if she fell for another angry widower with a dead family and a list of problems a mile high? She had insulated her heart anyway. She felt nothing but bitterness. Perhaps another version of Lucy and Flynn might not have been so sad, so lost, and so lonely but this version had spent too much time in love with ghosts. She just drifted along. It was nice to be admired. To be loved even if it was by someone who tried to kill her. And she was starting to understand the whole traveling through space and time to kick shit up thing.
She met Wyatt more than a year later in the parking lot of the grocery store. He seemed taken aback by her changed appearance. What would he do with the short hair, the muscles and most of all the "take no prisoners" attitude? Lucy wondered if he had ever dreamed that she had that side to her. Or if he had romanticized her as much as Jessica?
"So how's Jessica and the baby?" she asked. She forced a smile.
"Abby is great. She's nearly three months old." Wyatt showed her a picture of a beautiful baby with his bright blue eyes. Lucy bit her lip to keep the tears from falling. "Jessica and I are separated. We're planning to wait awhile to finalize the papers for Abby's sake."
So all of that for nothing? All her fighting for a marriage that was already over? Some miracle. Lucy had ceased to think of love as a miracle. She nodded her head and murmured some platitude before turning to go.
"Wait," he called out.
"Why? I have things to do Wyatt. Dredging up the past won't help." Lucy didn't turn around. Didn't see the pain in his eyes.
"I know it's too late. I've screwed things up beyond repair. I just…miss you." His voice revealed the pain and Lucy balled her hands into fists. It would be so easy to give in. But she couldn't. She had enough self-respect left to know that he just wanted her as a stand-in for Jessica. That nothing had changed. Jessica was still the love of his life and she was still that former co-worker he had a one-night relationship with.
"You don't get to do this. You don't get to screw up your marriage, have a child with your soon to be ex and then come back to me expecting me to wait around and welcome you back with open arms. It's too late. It's over." Lucy shook her head as she stared at him.
"I know," he said. There was a world of sadness in his tone.
"I've moved on," she said. It was kind of a lie and kind of a truth. Technically she had moved on into that strange nebulous relationship with Flynn where nothing was set in stone. But her heart still ached and she doubted it would stop anytime soon.
"Well, see you around…" he didn't add "babydoll". Part of her wished he had. Maybe she would have run back and thrown herself in his arms. But she just shook her head and said goodbye.
It was the last time she saw him. There were more missions. There were more moments where she clung to sanity by a thread. Where she collapsed in a heap of pain and anger. She grew hardened and angry thinking of all the wrongs Rittenhouse had done. She had lost everything and she was too afraid of losing more to get attached to people. She kept everyone at arm's length.
Rittenhouse was on their last stand. Lucy fired the final shot of the "war". She saw Emma go down. She had expected to feel jubilation. Instead, all she felt was the pain. She turned to Rufus and Flynn. "It's over," she said hollowly.
They hadn't gotten Amy, Lorena or Iris back. Goodness knows they had tried. But each time they came back to a world where Amy was missing and Lorena and Iris were still dead. Sometimes in different ways or days but always still dead. The team was disbanded. Rufus and Jiya got married and a year later Jiya was expecting. Lucy didn't go to the shower. She heard Wyatt went bringing along his four-year-old daughter. She pushed aside the pain and pasted another smile on her face. The only person who saw through her was the person standing beside her. He knew she still hadn't gotten over the pain just like he still wore his wedding ring from his still dead wife.
There was one last mission. It was the mission to go back into the past and give Flynn the journal. They stood outside the crowded bar and Lucy turned to him. "Is it wrong to hope things change this time?"
She hoped he wasn't hurt. Just like he hoped she wasn't hurt by the fact that he still hadn't gotten over Lorena or Iris. "No," he said quietly.
She walked into the bar and sat down beside him. He looked strangely unchanged except that now he had grey at the temples and a few more lines. She explained Rittenhouse. She kept the personal out of it. Trying to explain she was a future girlfriend would get awkward. She had internationally left the journal ambiguous. Better that he know less rather than more.
"So where do you want to go?" Settle he meant. Where do two incredibly broken, angry and lost individuals settle?
Lucy shrugged, "I don't know. Somewhere quiet?"
That's how they ended up in a remote corner of Croatia where he ran a bookstore and she wrote relatively popular young adult fantasy novels. If there was a bright-eyed boy with a laugh and an obsession with cars that won the heroine's heart only to break it again then neither of them mentioned it. He also never succeeded in "getting the girl" much to the fans disgust and critics praise. She wrote, he sold books and somehow they survived.
Tomorrow they were traveling back on their timeline to save Rufus. Lucy looked around her at the remote jungle location they had chased Emma through to get ahold of the Lifeboat. The new and improved Lifeboat they had worked on for years. They had been using their old original Lifeboat for missions ever since she had stolen it. But now they had the new one and they were prepared to take this trip through time and bring Rufus back. It had been a tough battle. Emma hadn't given up her property without a fight. But they had won and despite the fact that they were covered in dirt and sweat and looked like a mess they had the Lifeboat. It was a hike to get there, which they'd have to do but that would be easy. Lucy smiled. In just a few hours she would be able to see Rufus again. Hear his terrible jokes and laugh and know that her best friend was finally ok. Erase those five years without him.
She looked around the campfire at her family. Her new family. Jiya was smiling broadly because she knew that if all went well Rufus would be back with them. Denise, looking older and more careworn, but still just as strong was going over plans with Jiya and Connor and Wyatt. Flynn was smiling too. He knew that if this mission worked they'd be able to go back and save his family. Lucy had promised they would do anything in their power to bring Lorena and Iris back. After the Jessica fiasco, it would be a really risky move but Lucy knew that Flynn's ultimate salvation lay in his family's hands. Not in hers. Even he had come to admit that. There was too much negative history between them, even if she hadn't fallen for someone else.
Then there was Wyatt. Lucy glanced at him and felt herself getting more serious. The only thing that worried her was going back on their timeline and hurting their relationship. She remembered exactly how she felt at the moment they were planning to come back on. She remembered how shocked she had been at his abrupt expression of love and how angry she had been. It had seemed too little, too late. Rufus was dead and while Lucy hadn't blamed him for Rufus's death she couldn't help but think that his confession had more to do with his promise to Rufus than his feelings for her. It would have been so easy to make another choice. She could keep insulating her heart from further hurt and pain by shutting him out. It had nearly been the choice she had made. Their mutual grief had brought them together. His acknowledgment of all the ways he had failed had done a lot in helping her trust him. It had taken a year for them to get their old friendship back and another one before she was ready to say those three words to him. But once she had their relationship had taken off.
They hadn't married. Lucy wasn't too hot on the idea of marriage. She had seen too many bad ones. She could tell it bothered Wyatt but he never said anything. He hadn't asked her to marry him. Lucy said they had to wait until they got Rufus back. He had to be at the wedding. Lucy resolved that if this was successful and if they got back to their time together and alive she'd make sure they married. But then again she didn't have control of the timeline.
It was getting late but Lucy knew she wouldn't get much sleep. The first reason was she was too nervous. The second reason was a lot more self-indulgent. She knew this was their last night together as "them". After they returned to their timeline and brought Rufus back they'd go back to a timeline that wasn't theirs. And it terrified her that she might lose him. That he might be lost to space, time, distance or their own choices and she wouldn't even know it. She had stopped believing very much in fate. And choice seemed equally as scary. She didn't trust herself or him to make the right choice. What if she came back and they were no longer together and the worst of it was they wouldn't even know that they had ever had this moment?
She needed him. So badly there was a physical ache all over her body. It reminded her of all the times they had been together over the years. Most of their relationship had been composed of stolen snatches of happiness in between times of grief, pain, and distress. When they had the time, energy and ability to be together they never wasted it. The danger and fear made each time feel like the first time. Desperate and tender all at the same time.
Her mind flashed over all those moments and inspire of herself she flushed. Not much could embarrass or unsettle her anymore but she realized that recently they had gotten a lot more open about their displays of affection. Somehow both of them were realizing that they could die or this mission could fail and the idea of losing each other sent them into a tails spin of trying to hold on to the few precious seconds they had.
"We better go to bed. Up early tomorrow," she said rising and picking up the plans. Jiya gave a significant smile and muttered something about her "not sleeping much." Lucy only grinned back. Jiya understood. She knew what it was like to lose the man she loved.
The second that they were thoroughly alone in the tent they had set up Lucy threw herself at him. She couldn't wait another second. There was no time. Nowhere near enough time to be near him. This might be their last night together and she couldn't wait. Her mouth found his in a desperate kiss. She wasn't overly fond of the beard but he had lost his razor somewhere on their journey and in the remote part of the Amazon they were in it wasn't like he could buy one. He pulled her closer and his hands started tracing her body through her clothes. He used his teeth to nip lightly at her tongue tearing a moan from deep in her throat. He knew what that trick did to her. She buried her own hands in his hair, tugging lightly at the longer strands. His lips traced the curve of her neck in bruising kisses she knew might leave a mark. She didn't dare give away their relationship like that to their past selves. She pulled away just long enough to whisper, "You can't leave a mark."
"No, ma'am I won't. At least not where anyone can see." She saw the devilish twinkle in his eyes as he tugged at her cotton tank top. She smirked back and replied, "Hmm… what makes you so confident? Maybe I don't want to be marked?"
"If no one sees it it's not marking." He whispered back running his fingers up and down her stomach. This moment wasn't about pride or proving one's self or pretending. It was about connection. It was about letting down those barriers they put up and being themselves. She sucked in a breath as his hands crept closer to her chest. Her stomach was tighter than it had been ten years ago. For someone nearly forty there was an impressive amount of definition. But that only reminded her of the desperate struggles they were under. She impatiently clawed at his own shirt finally managing to pull it off of him. He too looked impressively built but that wasn't really surprising. He had been that way since she had first met him. His torso was coved in scars and marks, as was hers. They would always wear those scars both inwardly and outwardly. Lucy's hands were no longer soft and gentle. She could shoot and kill as well as he could. Her hands were calloused and sturdy. His were just as rough as hers.
She pushed him towards the makeshift cot they set up in the corner. It was really just a sleeping bag on the floor with some leaves and branches as a rough mattress. Both of them would be sore in the morning. Lucy was always reminded that she wasn't getting any younger after sleeping on these types of beds. They collapsed in a heap of tangled limbs and muttered curses in the middle. She hadn't exactly pushed him over but he had pulled her down pretty roughly. His concentration was just as shot as hers. She panted out his name as she ran her fingers down his arms and back up to his face. Her body was buzzing with desire and she let out a breathy sigh when he managed to pull up her bra and toss it to the side. She grinned at him and said cheekily, "You always want to get my bra? Have a fetish?"
"For yours? Yes, but I prefer you without the bra." He cupped her breasts in his hands and used his thumb to draw circles around the taut peaks. His lips found hers in a messy kiss. She let out a low moan at the sensation.
She pulled away long enough to mutter, "Pig." They both laughed because she was the one who usually took his clothes off first. He had let her make most of the big moves in their relationship. Always it had been her to take the plunge and accept the hand he held out. She enjoyed being in control. Enjoyed knowing how to make him coming apart and keeping this little secret close. No one else would have guessed that sweet and normal Lucy Preston was so bossy in bed. Or that Wyatt Logan, king of bravado liked it. But sometimes she enjoyed taking a step back and surrendering. This give and take gave a balance to their relationship. This time though she knew she needed the security of control. She needed to remind herself of the choice she had made so when she got back into the crippling sorrow of that bunker she'd be prepared.
She scrambled back long enough to remove her boots and tug off her pants and underwear. A few years ago she had been so self-conscious over her appearance. Her breasts were too small, her frame too petite, stomach too big, hips too wide. Now she had ceased to care. And she was proud of the strength in her frame. Wyatt was pulling off his clothes too. They rarely wore the fancy period clothes since most of their missions recently had been in the present day. She had grown as used to these plain, practical and often dirty clothes as her most glamorous outfits.
He surprised her by drawing her close and kissing her long and slowly. It was as uncertain as their first kiss so many years ago in front of Bonnie and Clyde. "Lu, what would I do without you?" The implication, what if I have to?
"What would I do without you?" she whispered back. The passion had cooled just long enough to let the tidal wave of emotion come. Tomorrow would not be easy. Not just because of the technical difficulties of going back on their timeline, meeting their past selves and saving Rufus.
"You'd be fine. You don't need a rough around the edges soldier." He smiled at her sadly.
"What if I do? What if I'm just as rough?" she ran her fingers along the sides of his face. "Don't let tomorrow convince you that you're not worthy of loving."
"I hurt you so badly." His face was shadowed with a guilt that would never go away. She hoped that having Rufus not be dead would go a long way to lightening his burden. But the pain he had inflicted on her he would never forgive himself for. She had ceased to try to reason with him. He was usually able to put it aside.
"I've forgiven you. I've been hurt many times by many people. At least you didn't try to hurt me. And you've helped me so much. I don't know how I'd have survived the last few years without you." Lucy pressed her lips to his cheek. "I need you, Wyatt. I need you."
In so many different ways. She needed her teammate who stuck by her in thick and thin and who supported her fight against Rittenhouse just as she did his. She needed her friend who listened to her and soothed her anxieties. She needed her lover who had won her back by trying so hard to redeem himself and who had taken a bullet to save her life. Now, though what she really needed was his touch to remind her of their connection and give her something to hold onto tomorrow.
"I need you, too," he answered. It was hard for both of them to need each other. Hard to admit that they did even to themselves.. But they did need each other. Survival would have been hard without the other one. She pushed him back until he was lying down again. She crawled on top and kissed him again. Talking would have to wait.
The buzzing sensation flared back to life as she started pressing kisses all over his shoulder. She avoided any part of his body that might show. Lucy smiled a little wickedly as she considered what effect a few marks would have on their past selves. But as fun, as it would be to give them both a shock it wasn't worth the risk. He was running his hands up and down her body sending shockwaves through her system. When he ran them along with her inner thigh in a tickling, teasing gesture she let out another sigh and gasped out, "So are you going to keep me waiting?" She hated being teased. Except she liked it. And he knew that.
"Mon amour, of course not." He replied. His mangled French would normally make her laugh but he knew that she loved hearing words like that fall from his lips especially in a foreign language. She dropped her head and tried focusing on every sensation, memorizing the feel of him in the dark in case she never experienced this again. His thumb found her clit while he slid three fingers inside of her. Lucy found her body reacting, trembling as she let herself feel. Sometimes she got stuck in her head. Tonight she got stuck in her body. Emptied her mind of everything but the building sensation inside. He was taking his time about it all. Normally they had to make their encounters quick. There was rarely time or energy. But tonight they had all the time in the world. Her release came slowly but nonetheless intense as she whispered his name in his ear.
"Je t'aime. We have tonight at least." She pulled back long enough to position herself and sink down on him. They both let out collective sighs. She could tell by the shining in those blue eyes that her words had simultaneously touched and turned him on. She set an even pace smiling as she pressed a kiss to his lips. The smile disappeared as she felt the scratch of his beard against the sensitive skin of her breasts and then the soothing swipe of his tongue. Her pace faltered as she bit back a curse. She could tell he was getting close too and she felt his hand slip between their bodies to touch her. She forced her eyes open as she felt her body tighten around him. Lucy watched the blue in his eyes all but disappear as he groaned. She loved the unguarded expression that crossed his face. He gave her a clumsy kiss as he let go. She memorized every sound that passed his lips and stored it away in her head. She needed to remember this moment as long as she had it.
She was suddenly extremely tired. It had been a long day. They had fought nearly all day and forced Emma into retreat. They weren't getting any younger either. She rested her head against his shoulder and smiled. "I needed that. My anxieties started to get away from me."
She saw him smile back as she settled down beside him and he wrapped his arms around her. "Good to know that the way to cure your anxiety is to give you an orgasm."
She rolled her eyes. "You know that won't work. It's just…this time is different."
He nodded gravely. "I'm more scared than you are. Because at least I was sure. At that moment."
Lucy winced as she realized that her past self had been unsure. She hadn't known how she felt as he told her he loved her. She had to believe, for her own sanity, that somehow, someway she'd find herself back here. She knew the sex had momentarily helped but it didn't cure the terror that they'd be separated.
"We have to believe it will work out. If you make the same decisions as you did before you're sure to win me over. Besides, if anything seeing us will give them hope." Lucy smiled gently. "You know I never could stay angry at you long."
"No, but that's just because you're a saint," he replied. But that was a joke. He knew she wasn't a saint. He didn't want a saint. He knew that sometimes she was hard to love just like sometimes he was hard to love. He knew that was life. Their present was far from perfect. They were broken and bent out of shape. They had hang-ups and problems and never would be normal. But they were together. They faced every single thing as a team.
"If we come back and things are ok," he paused and hesitated. "Would you marry me? It's not about a piece of paper or anything. I just…want to belong to someone. To you."
Lucy blinked back tears and smiled, "Of course. I want to belong to you too."
It was a long trek to the Lifeboat. The whole team followed them through the jungle. By the time they reached the Lifeboat they were drenched in sweat and dirt and looked horrible. "You're going to freak them all out," Jiya said.
"Well, at least we look different," Lucy commented. She knew her past self would be terrified of this new, disheveled and "badass" version of herself.
"When we see you again Rufus will be with us." Jiya smiled. She gave them both hugs and then stepped back. Denise gave them a hug and told them to be careful. It was a warning she knew would fall on deaf ears.
Flynn surprised them both by giving Wyatt a hug, something he had never done, and then hugging her. "You'll do fine. Remember I've seen you not die by traveling in your timeline."
"I'm not so worried about dying," Lucy muttered. He understood her fear. He knew exactly how fragile the situation in the past was. Did some part of him wish things had been different? Perhaps but he didn't say anything. He just stepped back as they climbed inside of the Lifeboat.
Lucy sat down and let Wyatt buckle her seatbelt. She had long ago learned how to manage it and she was piloting the damn boat but it reminded her of simpler times. She felt him lean over and kiss her. "I love you. I just had to say that before we go back."
"I love you too," she replied. Those words were important. They reminded her of who they had been five years ago.
The Lifeboat settled down in the bunker. Lucy flipped the switch opening the hatch. She shut off the control panel as Wyatt stepped out. She glanced down at the rest lined up in a messy huddle below her. Denise and Connor looked flabbergasted and alarmed. Probably they thought were Rittenhouse. Jiya looked shocked but glanced at Flynn as if she suspected he knew something. Flynn looked surprised but not as surprised as everyone else. Then she looked at her past self. She mentally winced at the bruises and cuts on her face and the grief in her eyes. The look of shock and fear grew as Lucy stepped out. She could feel her past self studying her. She could see the woman's eyes slid past her to see Wyatt. To take in the confidence, true confidence, not bravado. Lucy then glanced at past Wyatt. He was staring first at his future self with a startled expression and then his gaze turned to her. His eyes glanced at her with sudden and open admiration. She read the love in his eyes even if his Lucy didn't recognize it. They'd grow up and become them. The future was safe in their hands.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Her Wyatt said. His tone was confident and almost cocky. Lucy nearly broke her character to grin at him. She was invigorated by seeing the hope they had brought to everyone and no longer afraid.
"Do you guys want to bring Rufus back or what?" She questioned feeling her own confidence rise. She enjoyed the look of shock everyone had at her changed appearance.
They stepped off the Lifeboat in 2023 to find the clearing was nearly deserted. Where were the others? Had Rittenhouse attacked? Then they heard voices and footsteps. The first person to come in sight was Rufus. He had a grin on his face and a simultaneous look of nerves. "How's Jiya?" Lucy asked.
"About ready to pop." Rufus grinned. "She's still complaining but as long as I make sure she has a lifetime supply of chocolate she's ok."
"Hey, don't complain. You don't have to get pregnant." Lucy chided.
"I know." Rufus started leading them towards the camp. "Sorry I couldn't go. Didn't want to leave Jiya."
"Of course you couldn't," Lucy replied.
"Still have trouble with the idea that you're such a good pilot," Rufus muttered. "You can't even buckle your own seatbelt."
"I can," Lucy whispered. "I just let him think I can't. Gotta be useful for something."
She and Rufus shared a laugh. Wyatt, who had stopped to retie his boots, caught up with them. "Hey, what's so funny?"
"The fact that I'm a pilot. Would you have ever expected that clumsy professor to turn out to be able to do that?"
"No, but I'd not have expected a lot of stuff," Wyatt replied as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
Rufus and Jiya had actually decided to have a child. Despite the danger imposed by Rittenhouse. Jiya hadn't wanted to live her life controlled by Rittenhouse. And Rufus had agreed. Rittenhouse was making their last desperate stands. The world they lived was far from easy. And the danger was great. But neither Rufus nor Jiya had ever stood down from a fight. Lucy admired their courage. She didn't have the ability to handle it though. She was far too afraid to have a child. Wyatt was even more scared after what happened with Jessica.
Jiya was sitting by the trees working on a long string of codes. She looked uncomfortable but Lucy was certain she intended to work until about five minutes before delivery. She wasn't due for nearly two months, which gave them time to get to a city so the baby could be born near a hospital. "So Lucy, when are you going to have one of your own?" Jiya was rolling her eyes as she said the words with air quotes. Jiya knew how annoyed Lucy got when people said things like that.
"I don't know. Maybe sometime?" Lucy said.
"I think we need a shower," Wyatt replied pulling her arm gently towards the stream.
"You mean a dip in a stinky river." Jiya corrected.
"Well, whatever. It's water." He replied.
"Just don't dump Lucy in again like you did at the wedding." Rufus shook his head. "It's a good thing Lucy's a saint because if I did that to Jiya she'd have killed me."
Lucy and Wyatt exchanged glances. They both started laughing as they remembered that moment. Lucy turned to Wyatt and said, "Ok well I'm so hot right now that even a stinky stream sounds great."
The rest of the team could wait. They needed each other right now and some attention to personal hygiene as well.
A year later Henry Preston-Logan was born in a hospital in Palo Alto. Lucy had decided the moment Leah Carlin was born that she was ready. She wanted a baby. Wyatt agreed. Living in past fears wasn't necessary. Rittenhouse was almost gone. As she looked into her baby's face she felt as if she had seen him before. Had he been born in every conceivable timeline?
Author's Notes: I'll admit I was thinking of writing the fourth scene first because I kept imagining how hard it must have been for Future!Lyatt to end up going back to a place where things had been so rough. Facing the idea that their relationship could fall apart once they disturbed the timeline must have been scary. Then the writers released that deleted scene of Future!Lucy from the pilot and I decided to write all the various incarnations of Future!Lucy we saw. First, there was the timeline 0 where she gave Flynn the journal. The next one was the one where she stares at herself through the window and also saves Wyatt (again it gives he a slight creeper vibe I find interesting). The third timeline is the Garcy one in which Jessica comes back but isn't Rittenhouse. (We know the journal is different than the season 1 journal because Flynn didn't travel with the team so his memories of the journal include Jessica being alive). This timeline is one of the sadder ones. I don't think Lucy and Flynn are ever really able to recover from everything they went through and their relationship is rocky but I think in some ways it holds them together. As I said before I'm not really a shipper but for that section it just made sense.
The fourth section has the M rated content. I'm not a very good writer of smut and honestly hate writing it. I just thought it made sense in that scene because the stakes are super high and the emotions are flying. They are so scared of losing each other. I hope it isn't too cringy. That was probably my favorite scene in the whole piece because it really shows how comfortable Lyatt is together and how much they love each other. Finally, the last scene is them returning to the future where Rufus is alive. Some changes occurred in that timeline they don't realize but the reader does. They are married in this timeline and Jiya is expecting. I liked to keep up with the idea of fixed points. Also, you might notice we circle about to timeline 0 with the birth of Henry. I'm not a huge fan of ending stories with kids but I liked that tie in.