A/N: Original Lucy backstory angst and season two Timeless #wucy/#lyatt fluff dreaming with Team Emilodie. One Noah scene inspired by deleted scene footage. Some original characters, others from the Episode 1 script. End of season 1 SPOILERS! Beware!
Sixteen-year-old Lucy Preston's heart pounded. Roger had held her hand after lunch. He told her: "Meet me behind the bleachers at the baseball diamond when classes get out." She scuffed the hard-packed dirt of the ball field with the toe of her shoe, waiting for him. She looked at her watch. Where is he?
It had been during Math class that she'd realized she had a crush on Roger. He was popular. He sassed the teachers and got a laugh out of the class at least once a day. Their English teacher, Miss Parker took it in stride when he made his jokes. She played along, and the kids ate it up. Their repartee made the day go faster. But Mr. Walters, their Geometry teacher, would have no part of it. A chill came over everyone when the two of them got into it. Mr. Walters had sent Roger to the principle three times already this semester by this particular day. He made it a fourth with a nasty set down of Roger, sending the class into fearful quiet. But as he sauntered out of the class, Roger winked at Lucy. She blushed, feeling encouraged and warmed. It was all over for her.
Waiting behind the school, Lucy heard the sound of voices and saw several people run out onto the field carrying gloves, bat and ball. Her friend Giselle was among them, her dark, tightly curled hair pulled back beneath her hat. Lucy waved and Giselle beamed a huge smile her way. She's so beautiful. Lucy looked down at her own gangly limbs and tugged at her long, tangled dark braid.
Still no Roger. Starting to feel self conscious, Lucy thought about leaving. Then she saw him heading toward her.
He was sweating a bit in the heat of this unseasonably warm, early September day. His reddish bronze hair was tousled, and she saw the mischievous look in his grey eyes.
"Hey Lucy-Lu," he said. Lucy felt her cheeks grow warm.
"H-hi. How's it going?"
He moved close to her and smiled. She noticed the freckles on his cheek. Could smell the mint of the stick of gum he was chewing. She stepped back and found herself with her back against the supports of the bleachers. Roger reached an arm up on a strut above her head and leaned close. "It's good," he said. "You look cute in that braid."
Lucy's eyes went round. Is this happening? Roger was leaning close to her face. She felt the warmth of his breath, then felt his lips meet hers. Firm but soft, she thought. He put his other hand on her hip. Her hands came up awkwardly and sat on his shoulders. She tried to imagine what she should be doing with her lips but before she could come up with something it was over. He stepped back slightly and took her hands in his. Her head was spinning.
"You bring your books?" he asked. Lucy's mind was racing. She blinked and nodded, unable to answer. "Maybe we could study together," he went on. He lead her over to a shady tree behind the dugout. She could see the practice game going on in the diamond. She followed, numb and a bit in shock. He kissed me! This is amazing. Her pulse went rapid fire, but there was a twist of tension in her stomach that she tried to ignore.
They sat beneath the tree and took out their books. They were in three classes together, English, History and Math. Lucy looked over an essay for English he was having some trouble with. She talked about some research she was doing for her term paper in History on Teddy Roosevelt and the environmental movement. He nodded but didn't seem very interested. He asked her about their recent Geometry homework.
"Lucy, you know how I got kicked out of class the other day?"
"Yeah. I don't get why. If you said that to Mrs. Parker, she would have just made a joke."
"Mr. Walters has a stick up you-know-where." Lucy laughed, and he smiled at her. "I'm getting behind in my homework in that class..."
"Oh, would you like help catching up? I'd be happy to help you." A beautiful image of them at her house studying, laughing, talking...and kissing more entered Lucy's head.
"That would be great, Lucy. I was wondering actually, if I could maybe see some of what you've done, so I can see if I'm on the right track?"
The twist of stress in Lucy's stomach turned into a hard knot of fear. She looked at his eyes. He's asking me to cheat, isn't he?
"You want me to give you the answers?"
Roger shook his head vigorously, shaking his hands, but also looking closely at Lucy. His head shaking grew slower, then he sidled close to her again. "Not really, I just thought maybe we could share. I mean, if you're my girlfriend, you can help me out, right?" He put his hand on her crossed knee. Lucy stared at it. She grew cold with anger. She stood up, still holding the book and papers he had given her to look at.
"Roger, is that what this is all about?" She tossed his paper at him. He scrambled to get to his feet.
"Hey, Lucy, don't be like that. I like you. Don't you like me?" He tried to put his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away.
"Do you like me, or my good grades?" She tossed his pencil at him. Some of the kids playing ball started looking at them. One of them pointed.
Roger got quiet and serious. "Lucy, stop this right now. You're making a fool of yourself." Several kids ran towards them, including Giselle.
"No, Roger. I think you already did that." She handed his book back to him, shaking her head. The ball players made a loose circle around them.
Roger's face grew crimson. He glanced around and said angrily, "That's what I get for asking nerd-loser Preston out. See if I give you another chance braniac." Lucy looked at the ground. She wished it would swallow her up. She felt a soft hand on her arm, she looked at it and saw Giselle standing next to her.
"Roger, you leave Lucy alone!" said Giselle. The other members of the base ball team gave their fellow player back-up. Roger gathered up his books clumsily and walked away, grumbling insults.
Giselle looked to Lucy, "You all right?" Lucy nodded, but she could feel herself shaking. "Th-thanks." She looked at the other teens and said, "Thank you all."
Later that evening, Lucy sat on her porch listening to the katydids humming and buzzing in the velvety twilit air. Her parents had made supper for her and Amy. Dad asked her why she was so mopey, but she just said she wasn't feeling well. Maybe she'd tell Amy later, but she was just feeling so humiliated by Roger's deception that she didn't want to talk about it yet.
She saw the light go on at the porch two doors down from hers. She watched the familiar figure of Giselle struggle through the doorway, dragging a large garbage can behind her, thumping down the steps to the street. Lucy waved unenthusiastically. After finishing her chore, Giselle came over and plopped down on the step next to Lucy. Giselle and Lucy had been friends since Giselle had moved into the neighborhood their freshman year. Working towards her twin goals of playing sports and working towards a medical career, Giselle was one of Lucy's private heros as well as (she hoped) one of her best friends.
"Hey!" Giselle said cheerfully.
"Hey," Lucy returned sullenly.
They listened to the thrum of the insects. Lucy thought they sounded like a thousand jack-hammers tearing holes in the night. She heard Giselle hum half a song. She couldn't summon up the strength to be curious what it was but she thought, Such a lovely voice.
"Hey, Lucy. You doing okay?" Giselle asked her friend.
Lucy shook her head. Her shoulders slumped.
"Thought so. You want to talk about what happened with Roger?"
"Nothing."
"What?!" Giselle exclaimed. "That didn't seem like nothing."
Lucy looked down. She mumbled something.
"What?"
She looked directly at Giselle now, angry and upset. "I feel ashamed! He totally used me. And.." Lucy's face crumpled. Giselle's dark eyes were full of compassion. "And that was my first kiss!" Lucy spat out. She started crying.
"Lucy..." she saw Giselle's slim, dark hand on her own pale arm. Lucy started crying harder. "Come here, girl." Lucy crumpled into Giselle's arms, sobbing. Giselle smoothed Lucy's hair with her hand. "It's all right..."
After a while, Lucy regained her calm. She snuffled and wiped her nose. "I'm so sorry."
Giselle gave her a disbelieving look. "You don't have to apologize. It's okay. Of course you are upset. I'm your friend. I get it." Giselle put her arm around Lucy's shoulder. Lucy let her head rest on the taller girl's shoulder. Lucy looked up at her, felt a warmth in her stomach. Giselle looked down at Lucy, her hand grew tighter around her friend's shoulder. Lucy put her arm around Giselle's waist. Her lips are so beautiful.
Lucy felt her own lips part. She licked them, and saw Giselle's eyes flicker to focus on her mouth. Lucy lifted her face towards Giselle's. She mouthed silently, "May I?"
Giselle nodded. Lucy touched her lips to Giselle's. They were warm and clung to hers. She tasted of peaches. Lip gloss. Lucy opened her mouth and hesitantly touched Giselle's tongue with hers. Giselle responded in kind, putting her hand to Lucy's cheek. Their mouths broke apart. Lucy looked up at her friend shyly realizing that her own arms were wrapped around the other girl. She felt the curves of Giselle's chest pressed close to her own. She saw the care and affection on Giselle's face.
Lucy said, "Can I count that as my first real kiss?"
Giselle nodded, "Can I count you as my first real girlfriend?"
Lucy nodded and went in for another kiss.
Lucy closed the door on the rhythmic sound of her mother's oxygen assisted breath. She leaned against it, gathering herself. Amy walked into the living room.
"Hey, you okay?"
Lucy put a smile on her face and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah!" She moved closer to Amy and gave her red-headed younger sister a sideways hug. "Thank you, Amy, for doing so much of the work to take care of Mom. I couldn't do this without you."
Amy shrugged. "Well, right now you're supporting us all. I'm trying to help out how I can." She glanced toward their Mother's room. "It's so hard seeing her like this. She was so vibrant."
They sat at the kitchen table. Amy pulled out a take-out menu. "What do you want tonight, sis?"
"Nothing for me." Lucy felt a sense of awkwardness come over her. "Um. I've..got a date."
Amy dropped the menu and stared at her sister. "What!? You've got a date, and this is the first I hear of it?"
Lucy put out her hands. "Don't get over excited about this! It's kind of weird. It's Jonas."
"Wait a minute. Isn't that your Department Chair? He's your boss, right?" Lucy nodded. Amy went on, "And, didn't you say just the other night that he was kind of a weasel?"
"Worm."
"What?"
"I said he was kind of a worm. It's the wrong metaphor really. He seems to switch his opinion depending on what way the winds are blowing. Lately, he's gotten down on me for my "unconventional" teaching style."
"What, you mean how you motivate your students, and make history come alive? Yeah, given how dead boring history usually is and how bad most teachers are at getting their students engaged, I guess you could say that is 'unconventional.'"
Lucy gave her sister a playful punch to the shoulder. "Come on. We're not all that bad."
Amy shook her head and gave her sister a disbelieving stare. "As a newly graduated student, I think I am amply qualified to state that a history professors as a whole pretty much stink."
Lucy shook her finger at her sister. "No. No! You cannot condemn all my colleagues like that. I had a ton of inspiring professors when I was studying. And what about Professor Richards, you loved him!"
Amy rolled her eyes. "Okay. Richards was great. I'll give you that. But he had our class do a game where we pretended to be members of this family, and we followed them from era to era. See—innovation and connection, that is what students crave. If you're giving it to yours, where does this Jonas Lyger guy come off making you feel bad about it."
Lucy mumbled something. Her sister caught, "..reputation." Amy exploded.
"Reputation! Our mother built this department from the ground up. If it has any reputation it's because of her! How can they say that you're damaging that! And wait a minute." Amy's eyes grew narrow, calculating. "You're going out with him, despite that kind of attitude." Lucy studiously looked at the ground. "Lucy, don't do this to yourself."
Lucy looked up at Amy with steel in her eyes. "Do what? Accept a gracious offer from a colleague to go out to dinner? Yes, he critiques my style of teaching, but that's not a crime." Amy folded her arms and shook her head. Lucy went on, "Look, he's attractive, he's my age, he's available—remember that adjunct who asked me out last year?"
Amy snorted. "You mean the one who turned out to be married?"
"Exactly!" Lucy answered. "She said she was separated, but when her husband came to visit I realized that he didn't see it that way."
"Whatever happened to your girlfriend in high school? She was amazing. And that guitar player you dated during college."
"You mean Giselle? She got married last fall. I gave her and her wife a hand-blown glass vase. And if by that "guitar player" you mean the one in my band, he's still on the road as far as I know. That is water under the bridge, so to speak."
Amy frowned, "Don't joke like that. I know why you left the band."
"If I can't make a joke about my near death-experience, what can I do? Amy, you've got to understand. So many of the people I meet now are older, or they are already married. It wouldn't hurt to find someone close to home. And.."
"And?"
"If he's influential in the department, that doesn't hurt." Amy took a deep breath to interject. Lucy held out her hand to ward off her comments. "I'm not going to prostitute myself here. I'm just going to see if there's a spark." Amy exhaled, looking deflated. Lucy went on, "Okay? I'm just going to give this a chance."
Amy looked at her sister somberly for a long moment. "Lucy, you are selling yourself short. You are intelligent, you are talented, you are beautiful."
Lucy scoffed. "You're the beautiful one in this family. "
Amy said, "No seriously. I know you still feel like you've had a hard time shaking off that gangly teenager image. But those days are long gone. You are gorgeous, and anybody would be lucky to have you in their life. If you aren't getting good offers, it's because you're not out there in the world enough. The right person is out there, you just have to let them find you."
Lucy said, "That's right! He might be the one. I have to try." Amy was shaking her head.
"You're not listening to me! You have to get out there, experience the world! Don't just settle for the first egghead shmoe who asks you out. I mean if you really liked this guy, you would have been talking about his eyes or something to me, right? Or what jokes he told you. Not calling him a worm!"
"I regret saying that. It was uncalled for."
"Lucy! It was entirely called for! You're letting yourself down if you don't listen to your heart and believe yourself."
"Hey squirt, I'm grateful for your lecture, and I'll be on the lookout for a handsome, intelligent person who makes me laugh and sweeps me off my feet. In the meantime, I'll be here in reality, going out on a date with my colleague. I'm going to see what happens. My hopes are modest: hang onto my job, find a partner and try to keep it together for you and Mom. That okay by you?" Amy looked disconsolate. Lucy came over to her and put her arms around her sister.
"It's okay, squirt." Amy hugged her sister hard.
"I want you to be happy, Lucy. I am going to get on my feet. You can't just shut yourself away from everything for Mom."
Lucy gave her sister a kiss on the side of her head. "I'm not. Really. I'm living my life, and I'm happy doing it. I love you, I love Mom, and I love my work. Jonas may or may not be the guy for me, but at least he wants to try. Be happy for me." Amy shrugged, then nodded.
"Okay, sis, I'm rooting for him to turn out to be a knight in disguise, not a dragon or a worm after all. Good luck with it."
"Thanks. It's been so long since I've been on a date, I feel like I need it."
Several hours later, Lucy was sitting across the table from Jonas at Sons & Daughters in the Mission District. The waiter brought out the second of their seven fixed courses, after first obliterating all trace of their first. Round white dishes framed brightly colored dollops of vegetables.
Lucy dipped her fork into the avocado delectation and smiled across at Jonas. Her expression was a bit forced. The evening had started out fine. They'd met at the University and he drove them across town to the restaurant. He was friendly and inquisitive about how her semester was going. But now that they'd moved past the usual work chit-chat Lucy was feeling a bit less confident about them hitting it off.
"So this place has a Michelin rating, you said?"
He smiled knowingly, "Just one star, but that alone is so much more than the best of restaurants without any. You can see the exacting detail they take with their sauces. And just wait until the t-bone stake comes out." His smile sweetened. "I know you've been going through a lot. I wanted to take you somewhere special. How is Carol doing?"
Lucy smiled gratefully, with full sincerity this time. "She's much the same. The treatments take so much out of her." Jonas nodded but focused on his food. Lucy dithered wondering if he really wanted to hear or not.
Jonas spoke again, "She did so much for the department. I'm sorry I never got to work with her, but she's legendary, of course." Lucy nodded, having heard this all many times before.
"It was her passion," said Lucy, picking at her tiny rounds of food. Despite the prospect of seven of these courses, she was already fantasizing about getting a pizza on her way home. She shook off the thought. You might get lucky here. Focus, woman. "Jonas, how did you get into history?"
He looked up brightly and launched into a story of how he had begun school at Princeton, decided to become a lawyer and almost transferred out since Princeton had no law school.
"You could always just become a Supreme Court Judge and then they might give you one. I hear that worked out for Justice Sotomayor," Lucy joked. He took this very seriously.
"You know, I had great ambitions. My grandfather was federal judge in the Fourth Circuit. It would have been a fantastic irony if I had gone on and done that." He laughed with Lucy, but she had the feeling they were laughing a different things. "You must understand, coming from a family with such ambitions as your mother had, has," he corrected himself. Lucy winced, but nodded. I make that mistake myself these days.
Lucy said, "I do get it. And I feel like I've made my own mark." Jonas frowned involuntarily for a moment, then the expression was gone. "But I always feel so much tension between trying to live up to my Mother's legacy, and being able to find my own way."
"You're going to hit your stride. You're still young." He gave her an admiring look. Lucy smiled, but somehow the compliment made her feel a bit cold, rather than warm inside.
As they ended the evening, Jonas brought Lucy back to her car. They sat in his car, making that awkward negotiation to determine which of them (if either) wanted the night to continue, and who would say so first, if so.
"So you live with your sister and mother?"
"That's right. Amy's been helping me with Carol's care." Lucy thought, Okay, here's an opening. "Not the best for romance, but it's been great to have the support."
Jonas smiled and leaned towards her. He put an arm on her seat, behind her head. "I'm all alone at my place. If you'd like a night off, we could take this there..."
Lucy leaned in. She felt his arm come down around her shoulders, her lips touched his. She tasted the chocolate of their dessert. She thought about how kind he'd been about Carol. She waited for something else, any other feeling. She felt that knot in her stomach again. Oh no, is this Roger all over again?
After a few moments of contact and some questing tongue, she eased back. He was breathing quickly, his eyes seemed unfocused. "Lucy, you're so beautiful."
She cringed inside. "Jonas, I've had a lovely time tonight." His face changed, his eyes focused on her.
"But..?"
"But, I think we'd better call it a night."
"Okay. That's fine. We can do this another time." Lucy nodded. She got out of the car. Before he drove away, though, she stopped him. She leaned into the open window.
"Jonas...I don't think this is a good idea."
"What?"
"Let's keep it professional. I just can't..." Anger flashed across his face.
"You tell me after I spend $500 dollars on an evening. Fine, Lucy, fine. I'll see you on Monday."
"Jonas!" She jumped back as he revved his engine and waved tautly to her.
Amy was watching a horror movie when Lucy came in. She took one look at her sister and ran over to give her a hug.
"No sparks?"
"Fizzle. And even worse. I think I just made my position in the department weaker."
Amy shook her head. "If that's the case, I'm 100% glad nothing happened. What a loser."
Lucy half-smiled. "A worm. What a worm."
Lucy leaned against the wall of the shower at Mason Industries and let the water wash Lincoln's blood off of her. She tried to let the heat of the water sink into her but she felt an unseasonal cold that seemed to have leached deep into her bones. Her head was spinning.
Mom is alive and healthy. But Amy is gone and my career, too. And I don't know who my real father is. Time travel is real and I get to experience history first hand. But my life is in danger all the time and...and I have to make things like Lincoln's death happen. She broke into tears that melded with the water.
Lucy put her clothes back on slowly. She looked at her grey sweater dazedly, trying to makes sense of the events that had transpired since she had put it on. Was that just two days ago? Or 151 years ago? Do I get to count that? She pushed open the door of the locker room and headed back to her car in the parking lot. Most everyone had gone home now. Just a few techs shutting things down. And...Wyatt?
He was leaning against a light post near the door. His eyes were closed and she saw a strained look on his face. He held a hand to his side. The bullet. Lucy bit back an exclamation of sympathy. She hesitated on whether to approach him, remembering their bitter fight about fate and his wife, but also remembering the warm strength of his hand holding hers on the way home. He's in pain. She made a decision and walked over to him.
"Wyatt?" His eyes snapped open. His whole body tensed, then seemed to relax at the sight of her. Lucy noticed that he wore the grey shirt and dark green jacket he had come into Mason Industries wearing, but he was now wearing the trousers from his Union soldier uniform, suspenders looped down around his legs. Lucy would have smiled if she wasn't cringing inside at the wince he gave when he straightened up to talk with her.
"You need a ride?" she said. He frowned for a moment, then just shook his head.
"No, I've got a car coming."
"You sure?"
He nodded, then gave a rueful grin. "Plus, you must be exhausted after everything. I've already risked my life enough today."
In spite of all she was feeling, Lucy smiled. How does he do that? She gestured awkwardly and said, "Well, good night then."
As she walked away, he said, "Good night, Ma'am."
Lucy had a harrowing drive home. She ran a red light and half-dozed on the freeway. Wyatt was actually right, I should have called for a car, too.
She mused on Wyatt, Rufus and all the others she'd met at Mason Industries. What Jiya had uncovered for her was baffling and disturbing, but she felt touched that this woman had done that for her, a stranger. Wyatt standing up for her against Agent Christopher, Rufus' empathy even when he was so angry about her decisions to let the assassination of Lincoln happen. She had lost her best friend. Amy! But regained her mother. And all these strange new people might be friends someday, too.
She braced herself to see her mother, thinking about what to say about Amy and where she had been. Cannot wait to crawl into bed.
She pulled into the driveway, grateful to have made it there safely. A lot of cars on the street tonight. Is someone having a party?
She pushed open the door and realized too late she was correct. She heard the sounds of voices in the living room. The room was full of people, some of whom she recognized, many of whom she did not. Several of them standing beneath the "Happy Engagement" sign hung on the wall saw she had arrived raised a glass and congratulated her. A few clapped as she stood there, wide-eyed and shocked as the reality came home. Her mother came through the room towards her, tall, vivid and beautiful as ever in her red and white dress. Lucy was struck again by the miracle of that even as she dreaded what her mother was about to say.
"Wait, wait. Me, first. Well, you're late to your own engagement party."
Lucy nodded several times and gave a wry smile. "My engagement party." Of course. The way this day is going.
"The way you ran out yesterday and now this, and I'm not supposed to worry?" Her mother was exasperated.
Lucy blinked back tears, "I'm sorry it's just been a little, hectic." I'm about to collapse here from overwhelm.
"I see," Carol wasn't convinced but seemed to recognize Lucy was over-extended. She asked kindly, "So, did you help out your friend, Amy?"
"I'm still working on it." Lucy swallowed, feeling the pain hit her again. If Amy was here, she would have got me laughing and stolen me away from all these people to talk and figure things out, engagement party or no. Lucy felt bereft and alone.
"Well," said Carol, all business again, "please go freshen up and find your engagement ring." She directed Lucy toward her room, but Lucy wasn't finished.
"Mom, I need to talk to you about something, about Dad. What are you not telling me?"
"What—Are you serious right now? You bring this up on today of all days?" Carol said angrily but quietly. "I need a drink." Lucy watched her mother pick up a flute of champagne and storm off.
Lucy stood still, stunned and wondering what to make of her mother's reaction, when she felt someone walk up behind her and she heard an attractive male voice say in her ear, "Hello, Beautiful."
Her eyes widened in alarm and surprise. She spun around to face him, and saw a tall, dark man looking at her adoringly. His light blue eyes were set in a face like a male model. His chin was covered with a light beard and mustache that set off perfectly formed lips. Is this guy for real? thought Lucy.
The strangers' hands alighted on her waist for a moment. Lucy froze. "I've missed you," he said, then clasped his hands affectionately around her face, smoothing down her hair. He leaned in. Lucy realized he was about to kiss her and opened her lips to say something, anything at all, but nothing came. She watched his eyes close in anticipation and felt his mouth move forcefully against hers, his tongue seeking to find hers. Lucy initially tried to purse her lips as would be expected, but with the touch of his tongue she closed her mouth and moved away as swiftly as she could. To cover for herself she tried to smile brightly at him.
"Hello."
The sound of jazz drifted across the room from the victrola. Sitting next to Wyatt, Lucy leaned forward to listen to Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow tell them the story of how the two outlaws had met and fallen in love. She was taken with the reality of them. Such charismatic (dangerous she reminded herself) people. And so obviously and deeply in love and devoted to one another. She remembered how her mother had looked at her father when she was young, but she'd never seen any two people so smitten. A small voice deep inside her asked, Could this happen for me?
Bonnie narrated their first meeting from her place perched on Clyde's lap, "...this was back when people could barely afford a sack of rice. You should have seen him. Eighteen, three-piece suit, gold money clip filled with dough and driving a brand new Fleetwood he had hotwired that morning." Lucy was enthralled. The passion between them was electric. She thought she saw Wyatt look at her from the corner of her eye.
"The moment I looked at her, I knew. It was meant to be," Clyde said, putting his arms around Bonnie's waist. Lucy felt a sympathetic thrill run down her, but her skeptical mind said, How did he know?
Bonnie said, "He said, 'Girl, you're the prettiest little thing I ever seen.' And then I said—"
Clyde interjected in a high-pitched voice: "My Momma don't like me talking to no strange boys." Lucy laughed quietly.
"And then he said, 'Well, that's too bad, 'cause—"
Clyde jumped in again, in his own voice, "I'm never gonna leave your side." He placed an empassioned kiss on her cheek bringing a huge smile to Bonnie's face. Lucy's heart skipped a beat.
"And that I'll be his," Bonnie went on, leaning so she could look up into his eyes as he held her, "forever." Clyde tapped another quick kiss on her cheek.
"It's even better than I read about," whispered Lucy, looking down at her hands. She felt that deep longing she rarely admitted to herself. She wished for love and companionship, but this glimpse into all-consuming passion set some deep part of herself on fire with a despairing hope. She lost herself in unfamiliar musing.
Wyatt, whose face was shuttered and withdrawn gave Lucy a hard look. His regard brought her back to herself, but she didn't realize she had made a slip until Clyde said, "Like in the papers?"
"Yeah, in the papers," said Lucy, hoping she had covered sufficiently for her lapse.
Bonnie fanned herself, looking to the other woman and said, "Well, stop the presses here I am going on and on, how'd he do it with you?"
"Do what?" said Lucy.
"Propose silly. I mean, look at that ring." Lucy and Wyatt stared at the piece of jewelry with dawning realization.
Lucy whispered, "I forgot."
"You telling me you don't remember something like that?" Clyde gave a narrow look to Lucy. Bonnie also leveled her even gaze on the historian.
Lucy smiled to gather her confidence and said, "Of course I remember." She began trying to send a convincingly impish glance to Wyatt, "I, it was, uh—" then broke off when Wyatt began to speak. Her head snapped around and she watched him in disbelief.
He downed the last of his drink and put it down solidly on the table. He looked down as he talked. "I took her up to the top of this hill in west Texas. View of the valley. Sun getting ready to set..." Lucy watched him, not sure where to put her eyes, her expression unsettled. "There was a tree on top. A big old oak. I kissed her for the first time under that tree."
Bonnie said, "Oh god, that must have been something." Lucy gave Bonnie a small smile, as she listened to Wyatt go on. He is talking about Jessica.
"I got down on one knee, and I pulled the ring box out..." Lucy was riveted, watching Wyatt as he spoke. His real smile that flashed as he told how he nearly lost the ring in the grass. The deep love apparent on his face as he described her kneeling down to help him find it, and then saying simply, "yes." The feeling in his voice when he said how her kiss had affected him. "...a kiss that I will never forget."
And then, he was completing the story. "...we look for the ring together and we find it."
By now, Lucy had heard many intimate stories from Wyatt. His first confession in the jail cell about his guilt about Jessica's death. His heart breaking Western Union telegram pleading with Jessica to get in the car with him that fateful night. And at the Alamo the story of his mission in Syria, how he was chosen by dumb luck or fate to survive leaving so many good men behind. She had gotten a clear picture of what weighed on the slim frame of this young soldier. But at these times there had been some emotional distance. Hearing this story from a near stranger, overhearing his words from a distance. She had room to appreciate and unpack the words and feelings. They even slingshotted her at the Alamo to be able to write the letter that saved them all and corrected the course of history.
But here, and now. There was no space, no room. The thin walls of the cabin seemed to disappear. Even the looming threat and magnetic presence of Bonnie and Clyde receded, until all she saw and heard were the words of her friend. This strong, confident man who had saved the lives of Rufus, herself and many other people countless times. He was subject to a massive undertow of emotion.
This moment was like his other admission in Texas. When he begged her to let him remain behind, to make the sacrifice others had made on his behalf. To allow him to do that for his team and the people of the Alamo. In that moment she had thrown herself willingly into the gap. With bombs and shells firing around her, she had risked herself to find him. She had to summon him back from the land of the dead into the fire of living. And he had followed her. She still spared a prayer for the miracle that let him hear her that day and let go of his despair.
And now he was clearly asking to kiss her.
She had stumbled through her affirmation of remembering the ring, the kiss, the hill. Wyatt had fulfilled his part, dredging himself up from the sweetness and pain of that memory to connect the story to the outlaw duo "Wyatt and Lucy" and their supposed passion. She saw Bonnie relax back, satisified. Clyde was still watching, eyes awaiting the confirmation of the story with the necessary action. A kiss. But Wyatt was not giving a kiss on the cheek like Clyde had given Bonnie. Instead, this was a full blown kiss to show the love between these supposed outlaws. A part of her mind said, That's out of period, but she shushed it.
Lucy threw herself into the gap once more.
Wyatt reached for Lucy's cheek, staring intently at her lips, signalling his intent. Lucy felt her heart swell, already buoyed on emotions triggered by hearing the passionate story of Bonnie and Clyde's amour fou. And perhaps something else. Seeing his mouth slightly pursed, she closed her eyes and opened her lips to receive him. Banishing her historical concerns, no more thoughts entered her mind. No doubts, no worries even.
And then his lips were against hers. A flame lit in her chest and raced down to her belly. She felt herself relax against the warmth of his hand on her cheek and neck. Her own hand came up to touch him. The rim of beard that edged his chin was strangely soft against her hand and chin. That's what it feels like. Unbidden, her lips moved against his and they seemed to hang together forever. Then, reluctantly, she moved her face slightly away. Wyatt pulled back after she had claimed some space and she stared, dazzled, at his lips. When her eyes were able to move up to look at him directly, his deep blue eyes were on her face, searching. His brows were slightly furrowed. He hung there with some emotion in his eyes and a question she could not answer. Her hand moved against his cheek. The rhythmic stroke the only answer she could give. I felt it, too. She had no idea what emotions her face must be showing at this moment, but the calm silent space of the kiss was followed by a tidal wave of thoughts and feelings for and about this man.
Clyde said, "Well, hot damn," he raised his glass to them. "True love, huh?"
Lucy, still dazed, saw Wyatt wipe all the confusion off his face and turn back to the outlaw lovers. He picked up his glass, raised it in return. His face now held a hint of the half-smirk she knew so well. His trademark confidence re-asserting itself. Not put on a show, huh? Lucy picked up her own glass, grateful there was some of the hooch still there. She swigged it focusing on the burn it sent down her throat. Anything to calm the storm happening in her heart and mind. She looked over at Wyatt askance. Was I wrong? Was that kiss really just an act for him?
Later, Lucy and Wyatt lay in bed, undressed down to their underthings, listening to the proof of Clyde and Bonnie's passion. Lucy was acutely aware of where Wyatt's elbow and broad shoulder touched hers, their hips lightly in contact due to the width of the bed. She still burned where his hands had touched her when their masquerade prompted him to drape her over his lap.
She grasped for something to say to distract herself. She exclaimed about Bonnie and Clyde to Wyatt, scoffing at the idea that out of the couple billion people on the planet, those two were meant for each other.
She said, "What are the odds?"
Wyatt looked at her, wryly amused, "Oh, what? You're all about fate and destiny, except when it comes to love?"
She kept staring steadfastly at the ceiling, refusing to think about what she had felt while kissing Wyatt just a while before, "I don't know. I've seen attraction and chemistry, but," she sighed, "no lightning bolt from the heavens. Nothing like that."
She heard Wyatt speak. His voice was changed, quiet and intense. Looking at him she saw his eyes focus away into the distance. "I've seen it. It happened to me."
Lucy responded quietly, with a gentle tone to her voice, "The engagement story you told, that was how you proposed to Jessica."
Wyatt half-nodded and shifted his hand to sit beneath his head on the pillow, but he remained silent. She saw a grimace tug the end of his lips down. Lucy felt that flame kindle again in her chest. She turned her whole head toward his now, where his head rested on the very same pillow that supported her head. Words erupted in her mind and she found herself speaking them, not knowing where they might lead her.
"If there's only one person for you in the whole world, and you lose them, does that mean that you have to live the rest of your life without anyone else?" He swallowed, still looking into the distance. She saw his lip twitch, his chin bob slightly: not saying yes, not saying no.
Lucy looked at him squarely and barrelled on saying, "I think you, we, anyone has to be open to possibilities."
Wyatt blinked, and his eyes came away from the middle distance, looking down in her direction. His head fractionally moving. Then another blink, and he was looking at her, his head swiveled on the pillow turning his attention and gaze her way. She saw for a moment a look of vulnerability in his eyes. His head moved slightly down, towards her? Lucy's eyes swept down to take in his pink lips, she felt the warmth of his shoulder so tantalizingly near her chin. Without any conscious choice, her head dipped and she moved minutely towards him. His eyes just angled down (Was he looking at my lips?) when she heard a snore from beyond. Wyatt's eyes snapped up. Lucy looked in the direction of Bonnie and Clyde, listening.
"They're asleep," she said.
Immediately, Wyatt was bolt upright in bed and getting dressed moments later. Lucy lay there a moment more. She closed her eyes and swallowed, feeling those emotions that had come to the surface sour and begin to turn bitter. What was I thinking? She followed Wyatt's lead, dressed and in minutes they were united with Rufus, locked in deadly negotiations over who could be trusted: them or the outlaws' compatriot Henry. And then embroiled in a gunfight with the marshalls that would culminate in the death of Bonnie and Clyde. Only saved by Rufus' quick thinking with the recorder.
Throughout it, Wyatt was back to normal, acting to control the situation and protecting them, protecting her with his voice to take Henry, and later Clyde's attention, then with his body between her and the outlaws as he demanded the key. He helped her flee, and later even helped her down from the Lifeboat. My rock.
Back in Mason Industries, Lucy held the pink dress, back in her own clothes again. She smoothed the soft fabric, thinking how much she had experienced in it. Running into Wyatt coming out of the changing room with his own costume in hand, she felt awkward and unsure. It came as no surprise that she heard Wyatt begin apologizing for the kiss. The sour feeling in her stomach returned and she looked down and away, shrugging and nodding.
"...I had to make it look real," he said.
"No of course, that's smart..." She went on reassuring him that she understood, their working relationship was unmarred.
"Just playing a role."
"I know, it was." Her heart hurt.
A few more awkward looks and smiles later, they surrendered their clothes and he was saying: "See you later, babydoll."
"See you around, Sweetheart," she returned. They smiled at one another and walked in opposite directions.
Lucy's face fell as she stepped quietly away from him.
Nothing. That was nothing. It's fine. It's fine. She kept telling herself that as she drove home to her mother's house.
Just a few hours after their return from 1934, Lucy went to the door and opened it thinking, Amy, I need you. Noah stepped through into the front hallway of Carol's house.
"Well, you called. Here I am." She looked at him, thinking hard about why she had called him, what to say. For him their "date" had been a day ago, for her, it felt like weeks.
"Okay, thank you so much for coming over." She walked past him to sit on the a stair step. "I am really sorry that I've been asking you all these random questions. But I need you to humor me." Noah leaned against the wall far from her, with a skeptical look on his face.
She took a breath and dove in. "Tell me about the first time you saw me. The very, very first time, when I was a stranger."
Noah spoke. "I passed you jogging on the Golden Gate Bridge," he paused.
"And?" Lucy asked.
"And I turned around and I chased you down."
Lucy continued, "Then what?"
Noah dropped his head, mumbling, "Oh come on, Lucy, you know all this."
She whispered, "Please, please, Noah. Just—" She half-smiled and gave a shrug.
"Okay, well, I'm pretty sure you thought I was a serial killer because you just took off. You're actually shockingly fast. I was surprised." Lucy gave a quiet laugh and smiled at him, throwing her hair back. Noah said, "I couldn't keep up, I pretty much collapsed. But you came back around and you asked if I was okay."
She looked at him, shaking her head slightly. I have to know. "And what made you decide that I was...the one?"
"Honestly?"
"Yeah."
"Well, from the beginning I didn't think you were." Lucy's hands moved agitatedly and she looked off into space. No lightning, she thought. He went on hurriedly, "I mean you did these little things, that just, they just mystified me. I mean, like these little annoying things. Like how at a restaurant, you'd take something off my plate without asking."
Lucy said defensively, "I'm hungry."
"Or crank John Denver songs with like, no warning."
"John Denver is amazing," Lucy said steadfastly.
Noah laughed slightly, now walking towards her. "And there was that conference you did in Beijing, you remember that?" He stopped in front of her. "I think you were gone, like, two weeks. And one morning I found myself humming 'Rocky Mountain High.'" Lucy reached out and took his hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb.
He went on, "So you weren't there to make me laugh, eat food off my plate." He reached up and put his hand on her cheek. Lucy held it and leaned into his palm, closing her eyes. He loves me. Me. She ran her hand up his arm. "I just wanted you to come back," he said shakily.
Noah kneeled before Lucy where she sat on the stair. He breathed heavily and said to her with feeling, "I want you back." This time Lucy was prepared, as his lips came close to hers, she closed her eyes and kissed him, putting her hands beside his face. They kissed passionately. She pulled him close with her arm. Noah kissed her ear, her neck.
He broke apart from their kiss, momentarily. "This feels, uh, different."
Lucy held him close, her blood pumping, the erotic excitement from hours ago surging through her again. "Oh, you have no idea." Noah pulled away in confusion. Lucy went for his lips again, he responded. She closed her eyes, feeling the strength in his arms, running her hand through his hair. Too short. She felt his lips on her throat, his beard scraping her. Too rough. She put her mouth to his and tasted his tongue, she expected the shock of alcohol. Her eyes snapped open, instead of deep blue eyes framed by chocolate brown brows, she saw Noah's pale blue eyes and his black eyebrows like crow's wings. Oh my god. I'm using him.
Noah looked at her passionately. He said, "Lucy, let's go home." He reached close and nibbled her ear, breathed quietly, "Come home to me, I want you so much..."
Lucy closed her eyes in horrified realization. She said quietly, "Noah." He reached for her again, his hands on her waist, reaching higher—"Noah!"
"What, what?" he looked at her in confusion, "Oh, not here, let's go, Lucy." He tugged on her hands to help her up. She resisted, letting her hands drop from his, then standing under her own power. She looked up at him, and put her arms around his chest. He dropped his arms around her, holding tight.
She spoke, as clearly and firmly as she could. "Noah, I'm so grateful you came over. Thank you for your honesty, and...and for your love." His arms gripped her close. She waited until they loosened and then pushed herself away. He looked towards the door, but she stood still.
"But I'm sorry. I can't go with you. I.." Should I chicken out? "I need more time." His face fell. He's been honest with me. "And I have to tell you. I don't know if I am going to come back. I don't know if I can come back."
"What is it, what is going on, Lucy?" his voice began worried, began to rise into anger.
She shook her head. She said in a small voice. "I don't know, Noah. I just don't know what is going on. But I know I can't be with you right now. Please. Please give me more time."
He looked at her, his face dark with anger now. "I'll wait for you, Lucy. But don't make me wait too long." He backed up towards the front door. "You love me. I know you do." He actually looked uncertain. "But you're losing a lot if you give this up for...who knows what. I hope you figure that out soon." He pulled open the door, slammed it behind him, and was gone.
Lucy sat back down on the stairs and wept. She heard a door from upstairs. Her mother must have heard. She wiped her eyes and straightened up.
Get it together, girl. Nobody broke your heart tonight but you.
The Time Team had ridden hard all day to catch up with Emma and her crew as they crossed the mountains. She was heading toward Promontory, Utah, bent on creating chaos at the historic joining of the east and west lines of the Transcontinental Railway. Wyatt set a fast pace to try to keep up, but it was tough going. Lucy and Rufus had made it a habit of comparing saddle sore notes at each break. Wyatt steadfastly stayed out of their arguments about who was more wounded in the nether parts, and nursed his injuries in typical stoic privacy.
It was only weeks since Lucy's Mom had dropped her bombshell. Lucy had learned she was Rittenhouse stock and Emma had made off with the Mothership. The events had put the Time Team through a breakneck series of jumps and tense conferences at the—even more than usual—heavily protected and bug-swept Mason Industries. Catching cat naps when they could had become the norm. Worry and mission speculation took up all their brain space.
Lucy still wondered what would have come of Wyatt's talk of "possibilities" if all hell had not broken loose, but she wasn't sure when she might ever get a chance to find out now. She'd known since she tried to kiss Noah that he was out of the picture for her. And after brushing him off when he cared for Rufus at her panicked request, she thought he would be done with her now, too. She was free, but was Wyatt?
When Wyatt quoted her words back to her that day, she started to dream a little. Maybe his unsuccessful attempt to save Jess had given him much needed closure. Perhaps now, they could see together what might lie between them? But the resurgence of the threat of Rittenhouse had destroyed that fragile hope. And aside from a passionate defense of her innocence in the wake of Carol's revelation about the Preston family's place in Rittenhouse, he had simply been quiet and driven since that day. Was he by her side more now? He had always been attentive. She might be imagining it.
Late in the day a storm rolled in. The sky grew dark, the clouds blotting out the westering light still in the sky. The team knew they had to take shelter. Lucy urging her stubborn mount to catch up with the others, said, "Surely Emma will need to take a break, too."
"I don't care, just get me off this horse," said Rufus.
They saw a lonesome barn and took a chance of intruding. Just in time. As Lucy pulled the doors closed behind them the trees shook with wind. The lightning strobed through the barn: now shedding light through cracks and the transom window above the door, now leaving them in the pitch dark. Rain hit the roof like a gunshot, startling the horses. Wyatt held the reins of his skittish animal and put himself between the horse's hooves and Lucy. Her heart beat with fear at the near miss from the mare's iron-shod feet.
"Whoa, there!" Rufus called, trying to keep his own horse calm. Lucy watched Wyatt bring his animal into line, talking calmly to it, patting its nose and neck. Her sedate gelding who had taken repeated prodding to keep plodding away on the road, now contentedly started munching hay. It was unfazed by the light, sound or even the other panicking horses.
"Dumb as a Rock, you do have some good points, don't you." Lucy patted her animal. It whickered at her. Her heart calmed, but she looked at Wyatt. Again. Another day, another time Wyatt Logan saves my life.
"There are horse stalls back here, all empty," Rufus called out in the darkness. They settled the animals in the barn. Taking stock of their rations, and making some calculations about the distance, they estimated they'd reach the town tomorrow. Well ahead of time for the golden spike to be hammered in, connecting the now complete Transcontinental Railway. If not, they were going to need to hunt or go hungry. And they would risk letting Emma take her shot at changing world events.
"We could have stopped at Logan, Utah. You might have had some relatives there," said Rufus. In the dark, no one could see Wyatt roll his eyes, or Lucy smother a laugh with her hand.
"We'd all better get some rest," said Wyatt. "You two go ahead. I'll brush the horses down."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Yawning, Rufus climbed up the narrow ladder to the hay loft. "'Night all." Lucy saw flashes of his progress. Then he disappeared and she heard the sound of his footsteps on planks and the rustle of hay as he found a place to sleep.
She sighed, "'Night, Wyatt," turned to the ladder to follow Rufus, then stopped in place. This was a precious moment of peace. It felt like years since she and Wyatt had talked and laughed at Mason Industries. She'd had only a few moments to even ponder what he might have been hinting at. Much less what she might want it to mean. Why did I say that to him in 1934? What possibilities do I want to explore? Is this the time to find out?
She peered back into the yawning blackness of the barn. Towards where she could hear the shuffle of horse feet, the rhythmic chewing of hay. Just faintly she heard the scratch of a brush, against the backdrop of the rain clattering on the roof. She wavered forward with her hands out to anticipate obstacles in the gloom.
"Wyatt?" Lucy said quietly. He answered with their refrain, "Lucy?"
She heard the brushing stop and vaguely heard his step head her way. They stumbled into one another. His hands found her waist, helping keep her balance as he had so many times before. But instead of pulling them away as soon as she was steady, one long moment turned into another and she realized he was letting his hands linger there.
Lightning. Her eyes locked on his as the flash lit them up, her breath caught in her throat. The thought crossed her mind, If we wait for the right time to give ourselves a chance at those possibilities, it will never come. Her hands crept up to his chest, she leaned closer until she could smell the leather of his coat, the whiskey on his breath. She felt the warmth of his chest and a wash of safety and love come over her. But she wondered what he was thinking, his expression invisible again in the dark.
He spoke again, strangely hoarse, "Lucy..."
A series of lightning bolts struck, startling Lucy. She clutched at Wyatt for a moment, but in that time she finally saw his face fully...and caught a look of naked longing. After being revealed by the sudden illumination, the darkness veiled him again. Lucy wanted to see more. She involuntarily placed her hand on his cheek. She felt him lean his cheek into her touch, nuzzling it slightly. Her heart started pounding.
"Lucy," he whispered, "I don't want to wonder any more. I need to know."
Trying to take in his words, she was surprised yet again, this time by his sudden action. He took her by the arms and shifted to place her back against the horse stall. His hands left her, and she lost him in the night. She shivered without him, standing in suspense. Hoping she was not misunderstanding what was happening. She heard a match, and saw he'd found a lantern. He lit it, hung it from a peg on the barn wall, then returned to her side.
Putting his hands on her shoulders, he looked in her eyes. In the warm lamp light, she could now see details on his face. The line of grime from their ride crossing his cheeks. The bruise from a fight with a garden variety bandit who tried to rob them on the road. She looked into his blue eyes and saw questioning there.
He really doesn't know how I feel, she thought.
Wyatt, looked down at Lucy in the flickering light. He said, "You look tired." She nodded. The road had been long. She tried to be game about the riding, but it was exhausting. Unthinking she put a hand to her hip and grimaced. A half-smile quirked across Wyatt's face.
Lucy saw the smile on his face and shifted back to her usual bantering tone. "What's so funny, Logan?"
He looked at her with his patented gentle smile. She remembered the moment he adjusted her tie in Germany. His face was even closer to hers now.
"Well if I told you I was thinking about what's in your pants would you hit me or just not believe me?"
Lucy was mid-smart reply when she saw that he was looking at her lips, with a look on his face she'd seen before, but this time there was no one to show off for, no one to fool. He put his hands back on her arms and pulled her close. Just as she had with Bonnie and Clyde, her eyes closed automatically, and she relaxed her mouth, moving towards him expectantly...
And she felt it again. The taste of Wyatt. The warmth of the liquor they'd drunk on the trail to raise their spirits and warm their bones. So right. The texture of his lips, strangely familiar. The soft feel of his beard against her cheek. The feeling of his lips moving on hers overlaid with that memory from Arkansas she'd played over and over in her mind. She had never even been able to tell anyone that it happened.
And now it was happening again. She could barely believe it.
Her hands rested loosely on his chest. The spark in her chest flamed into life again, began consuming her. She found her fingers twining themselves into the edges of the calf-skin jacket he wore, pulling him closer, as she pressed her lips into his, opened her mouth with a sigh and invited his tongue to touch hers. Kiss deepening, one of his hands finding its way into her hair, Lucy's low moan urged him on. She was hungry for more. His mouth wandering down her neck, she let back her head to give him full access. She relaxed back against the stall snaking one of her legs around his calf to pull his body closer. Her body quivered. Then, she hesitated, pulling away, loosening her grip.
Is he being carried away with the moment? Will he regret this tomorrow? Am I setting myself up for more heartache? She saw Wyatt's face shift from desire to understanding. He spoke.
"I've been wanting to do that for a while..."
"You have? But..Jessica..."
A prayer flitted through Lucy's mind that she dismissed as quickly as it appears. How can I hope he has let go of her? She looked at him afraid this was just a dream. She needed to know now if it was going to turn into a nightmare later. She realized she had missed what he was saying. Of all the times to wander...
"...is part of my past and will always be a part of my heart for the rest of my life...I think it's time for me to look up to the future. And I don't see that future without you in it, Lucy."
Wyatt leaned forward gently placing his forehead against hers. Lucy let go of a deep breath. They clung together, both reveling in the feelings flooding them. Profound relief, with all thought and fears of enemies or the road banished from their minds. Of lightness and warmth, as though shedding the weight of unknowing and anxiety that not knowing the other's feelings had mired them in.
Lucy felt a growing bouancy and delight, a delicious sense of freedom and at the same time a feeling of belonging and possessiveness. Opening her eyes and moving apart slightly, she looked into his eyes and smiled, seeing the same feelings glow there.
Wyatt held up the lantern while Lucy climbed up to settle herself in the hay loft. She saw his eyes linger on her. His smile said he was glad to finally not have to look away or hide his gaze any more. She shook her head in disbelief.
Rufus lay snoring lightly in an adjoining bay full of hay. They spoke quietly to avoid waking him.
"Are you okay up there, Lucy?" "I'm good, Wyatt." He blew out the lantern and carefully hung it from a peg where it was secure and could cool down free and clear. Having helped rescue animals from more than one barn fire in West Texas, he would take no chances bringing it near the crisp hay.
The light gone, Wyatt was blinded by the darkness. The lightning had passed now, leaving the steady drum of rain on the roof, and just the occasional tumble of distant thunder. Taking his heavy leather duster off and scrambled up the ladder. At its top, he took a tentative step towards her. "I'm here," she whispered. He felt a hand hook his knee and Lucy guided him down into her waiting embrace.
He covered them both with his coat, and turned toward her, wrapping Lucy up in his arms, her head snuggled on his shoulder. He felt the warmth of her breath and sighed deeply in contentment. She turned her head slightly and pressed a string of light kisses to his neck. The soldier growled in pleasure. She broke off, causing him to groan in disappointment, and he felt her shifting, trying to get comfortable despite the constrictive clothing she was forced to wear in this era.
Wyatt had caught glimpses of Jiya helping Lucy on with these garments, even been pressed into service along with Rufus in clasping a gown now and then. Always having to crack a joke or rush through hurriedly to keep the tension from entering his voice.
But now, helping Lucy detach the layers and going through the long process of unknotting and releasing the taut strands of the corset laces, he murmed to her of yet another level of respect for the courage and level-headedness that Lucy brought to their missions. A rush of love flowed through her.
Her body relaxed as he loosened the corset, and reached down to place his lips at the nape of her neck. A shiver shook her frame. He helped her raise the corset up over her head, and set it gently aside. She went to turn toward him, but he stopped her, first laying warm kisses along her shoulders and back where he could still feel the indents of the boning. Then he pulled her to him, spooning her body into his, resting her legs on his and pillowing her body. He breathed more kisses into her neck and upper shoulders. She tensed once when he breathed out which tickled her, so he tried to keep his contact close and warm. He was rewarded by feeling the tension melt out of her body.
He lifted his hands and ran them softly down from her shoulders to her hips, eliciting sudden sighs from her as his hands coasted across her breasts.
"Wyatt..." "Shhhh...Lucy...rest. I just want you to know, to feel how much I've wanted you." She cuddled deeper into him, sleepily nodding. "You cut through my defenses. You always have." She lifted her head in the darkness and planted another kiss on his mouth, then tucked herself in against him again.
"Wyatt, I'm so glad to have finally had a real kiss with you. That time in Arkansas, I felt it but you..."
He squeezed her and kissed the back of her neck. Spoke close to her, she could feel his breath. "That was real, Lucy. I fought it, but it was real for me, too. I just..this is the first time I've gotten to kiss you for me. Not because of anyone else—" She interrupted him with a passionate kiss of gratitude and longing. When she broke away, he held her close and put his forehead against hers once more.
"Good night, dear Lucy."
"Goodnight, my Wyatt."
A few hours later Lucy woke again in Wyatt's embrace. The storm had moved off, full dark reigned. Wyatt's jacket had shifted, exposing her to the cold of damp night air. She huddled into the warmth of Wyatt lying against her. In his sleep, Wyatt put his arm around her waist and pulled him to her closer still. Lucy thought about their day ahead, the threat of Emma. It all seemed less terrifying now.
Getting back to Mason Industries, Jiya rushed to support Rufus when she saw he'd been injured. The were all worse for wear from the explosions caused by Emma and her henchmen. Lucy had become embroiled in trying to ensure the payment of the Chinese and Irish laborers to allow the ceremony to go on. Wyatt and Rufus had tracked Emma and her crew to their true object: destroying the juncture of the raillway, potentially setting back trust and investment in transcontinental travel for decades. They struggled with the possible lessening of the impact of industrialization on indigenous tribes in the west, but their hands were forced by the casualties Emma deemed necessary to make her point. Their main blast foiled, Emma had set Karl to kill the Time Team by collapsing a building on them. They were saved by Rufus' wise assessment of the building's structural integrity and the loyalty Lucy had earned by working with the railway laborers.
Agent Christopher took briefings from Wyatt and Lucy. They reported to the infirmary afterwards, to see how Rufus was doing, as well as to receive care for their own lesser wounds. They had kept their distance in the briefing, but after a shared look, Wyatt put his arm around Lucy and they leaned on one another as they made their way down the hall. Jiya at Rufus' bedside saw them come in this way. Lucy saw her Jiya's eyes widen. Oh here we go.
"You see, I told you," said Rufus. He had a knowing grin on his face, but grimaced as the nurse pulled the bandages around his ribs tight. "Hey, careful there."
Lucy smiled at her friends, and went to Jiya, giving her a tired hug, only a fraction of the strength of a normal Lucy hug.
Jiya said, "This was a close one wasn't it?" Lucy nodded. Her eyes swung to Wyatt where he pulled up his sleeve for the attendant to clean his wounds. "Did something happen, Lucy?" said Jiya. Lucy nodded. "Finally!" Jiya gave her friend an enthusiastic hug and Lucy squeaked from pain.
"Lucy, are you all right?" Wyatt asked, worriedly.
"She's fine, Romeo," said Jiya. Lucy hissed "Jiya!" Rufus laughed and Wyatt actually looked abashed. Lucy threw him a loving look and he reverted to his usual confident smirk. Jiya whispered to Lucy, "You are okay, right?" Lucy laughed.
Lucy's injuries were minor. She waited with Wyatt as he received his care, holding his hand when the nurse would let her. Together, they saw Rufus and Jiya off when Rufus was released. Jiya apologized for not staying to help Lucy with her complicated costume, but Lucy urged the younger girl to get Rufus home. She had an idea of who could help her anyway.
They walked back up to the locker rooms. Most of Mason Industries was abandoned for the time being. Agent Christopher and Mason had left for home some time before. A few techs worked on the Lifeboat. Security and maintenance staff went about their lonely jobs. At the door to the men's locker room, Wyatt pressed a kiss to Lucy's head and made for the door.
She cleared her throat. He stopped in his tracks. "What's up?"
Despite her intentions, she blushed as she said. "I think I need some help." Light dawned in his face, and he gave her a grin. She went on, "You've got the hang of it, I think?"
"It'll be my pleasure, ma'am."
This was different than the darkness of the barn. The harsh LED lights made their 19th century attire look grubby and threadbare. As always when she picked up her own clothes after a mission, putting on the contemporary clothing felt like play acting. The impressions of the cold, fear and pounding adrenaline made their trip to the past seem more real than the comfortable and calm present.
This time even more had changed. Lucy gave a bashful smile to Wyatt. His eyes were on her and he flashed her a glowing smile. She saw that look in his eyes again. Love and desire, can this be? Amy, you were right.
He gestured her closer. She moved towards him and entranced by his look she half-closed her eyes for a kiss, but he had something else in mind. "Turn around." She found herself perched on one of the benches with Wyatt's hands methodically undoing the long line of buttons of her dress once again.
Wyat was slowed by the bandages on his left hand. She whispered, "I should have had Jiya do this."
He kissed her neck, and said into her ear, "And make me wait to be this close to you? No, thank you." He finished the last button and held the dress as Lucy pulled her arms from the sleeves and stepped out of it. She stood in her underskirts and corset looking up at him. She shivered.
He put his arms around her shoulders. "Are you cold?"
She looked him in the eye. "Not a chance." The world disappeared as he kissed her. Touching him gently, trying to be aware of his cut ear, his bruised hand, Lucy responded with spontaneous passion. Her hands were at the buttons on his shirt. Kissing his chest as she went. He quickly shed his jacket and his hands worked at the complicated knot in the cloth at his neck. Then they were back together again, Lucy luxuriating in the freedom she had to feel his skin, Wyatt catching Lucy's ear with his lips and teeth, making her shudder in his arms. She wanted to devour him.
Suddently the corset seemed an unbearable barrier to Lucy. She scrabbled at the laces. Wyatt turned her and pulled loose the ties. She stepped out of the garment, clad now only in skirts, Lucy felt oddly exposed, but for just a moment as Wyatt drank her in with his eyes. He knelt in front of her and she lost all thought of anything else as he pressed kissed to her belly, her ribs, working his way up her chest. He maneuvered them so that she was against a flat surface and she felt cool wood behind her.
She melted under his touch. He talked to her as he moved across her body, "...you know Lucy, you look gorgeous in all that historical get up, (kisses) but when I dream about you, because I do (more kisses) I always see you in normal clothes. You are never sexier in my eyes than in a t-shirt..."
Lucy pulled him to her, her legs wrapped around his and she pulled his hands to touch her everwhere. He complied enthusiastically. She whispered in his ear, "I have had so many dreams about you..." and she commenced to show him what her dreams had been.
When suddenly someone was pushing against what turned out to be the door that they were leaning against.
"Hold it!" "Occupied!" they cried out in unison. Lucy leapt towards her pile of clothes, frantically trying to find her shirt. Wyatt held his hand against the door, trying to keep pressure to hold the intruder at bay.
"Oh! I thought everyone went home," came a voice from the other side of the door. "Just let me know when you're heading out and I'll come back and clean up." Lucy saw Wyatt relax as the pressure on the door disappeared. He leaned against it, clad only in his 19th century trousers. She looked down at herself, wearing a Beyoncé t-shirt and battered linen underskirts. They both busted out laughing.
Lucy felt a huge smile stretch across her face. She raised her hands and did a twirl. "Well, here's your t-shirt." He put his arms out and she went to him. A thousands worries left her as his arms closed around her.
She turned her face up to his, and kept her eyes open to see his deep blue eyes close, his mouth open and descend on her lips. Real, real, this is so real. He kissed her tenderly. Blessing each of her eyes with his lips. Whispering soft words of love and desire in her ears. She pulled his mouth back to hers, unable to get enough.
"I think," she said between kisses, "that you may be sexier without anything..." She playfully ran her fingernails across his chest and rolled her own eyes back in pleasure as she heard him gasp. She wrapped her leg around his, hungry for contact. She heard him make deep a throated groan as she moved against him, and closed her eyes returning his kiss.
"Lucy," he said, his voice as gravelly as she had ever heard it. "I think we'd best get out of here." He pulled her chin up to look straight in her eyes. "I'd really, really like to take this somewhere more private."
She released her leg, stood on her toes and kissed him ever so lightly on the lips, then said, "Lead the way. Where you go, I go."
"Yes, ma'am."