September 9, 2018
"Yooo hooo? Anybody home?" Flynn's voice echoed in the empty space. No one sat in the kitchen planning their next mission. Or on the couches watching old movies, the only ones they had that would play on the old VHS in the bunker. He looked at his grandfather's watch, Agent Christopher should be at her desk about now, but their fearless leader appeared absent from today's non-festivities. Fitting.
He looked to where the Lifeboat should occupy space. He'd been left behind. On his birthday. To be fair, he mentioned it to exactly no one, but he really thought they'd been making headway in the friendship department. And they'd taken off on a mission without even a by your leave.
Flynn offered a shrug no one witnessed and opened the fridge, pulling out a beer and then the milk for a bowl of cereal. A completely random combination, but whatever, it was his birthday and he'd cry into his cereal if he wanted to. He chuckled and walked over to the tv, ejecting African Queen and pushing in his favorite movie. With no one here, no one could laugh at him for loving Roman Holiday. He propped his feet up on the coffee table and settled in to indulge in a simpler time.
Unbeknownst to him, Lucy returned and found him so lost in the movie he didn't notice her presence. So she stood, observing him, relaxed and unaware. She'd never seen him so peaceful, worry free. She crept around the tables, sneaking up on him.
"So you have a thing for Audrey Hepburn?" She whispered in his ear. Flynn startled and spilled his beer, Lucy frozen, mesmerized as the drops slid down his black turtleneck. Focus, Lucy. She chuckled, "Get up. We got a mission."
He reached for the remote and flipped off the movie. "Is that where everybody is?"
"Yeah, all hands on deck, I just came back from raiding the theater." She raised her hand. "Gotcha a suit. Rufus is out running last minute errands and the rest of the crew went ahead to get us situated."
"Even Agent Christopher?" Lucy nodded. "She went on her first trip? Wish I'd been there for that. I bet her reaction was almost as priceless as Mason's." He laughed, remembering. Moving around the couch, he took the suit from her, asking, "What's all this foofaraw about?" indicating the black three piece suit with its sleek long coat and maroon cravat.
Lucy lifted her rose colored dress with maroon piping and inspected it. "We're crashing the Republican National Convention of 1860. We think Rittenhouse is going after Lincoln before he's nominated."
He knew something about 1860, didn't he? Nothing came readily to mind, but something important happened, he was sure of it. Instead of questioning her further, he let it go for now. "Didn't we already do Lincoln? Isn't that a bit boring? I expected better of the time team," Flynn joked as he started towards the hallway.
She joined him. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Mr. Jokerpants." Bumping his shoulder, she nudged him towards his room. "Jiya and Rufus should both be back soon. Stop wasting time."
"Let me know if you need help with your hoops," he teased. "I'll be changed before you've tied the first one around yourself." She blushed and his heart fluttered.
"Errrr, um…" Adorably flustered, she tried to find a direction to flail in and ended up tripping over the edge of the long skirts, toppling into him. H er right hand splayed across his chest. For a second all she could do was enjoy the feel of him and then he righted her. "Thank you," she sputtered out. "I'm just gonna go change. M'kay? M'kay. Yeah." Spinning on her heel, she hurried away and left him with a bemused smile.
xxxxx
When Lucy walked into the kitchen, skirts swirling around her ankles, Flynn's mind went blank. From the curls gathered around her neck, just above her shoulders, to the way the color of her dress complimented her...well, her everything. Stunning.
She held out a gloved hand. "Well, I do declare, Mr. Flynn. You certainly clean up nicely."
"One might say the same of you, Miss Preston," he wrapped his fingers around hers, bringing her hand into the crook of his arm. "Do, please call me Garcia."
Lucy resisted the urge to trace the little crinkles around his eyes when he smiled at her. She thought of it as her smile since he reserved its warmth for her alone. She knew, she'd catalogued most of his smiles over the last year. Her eyes dropped to his lips for a brief moment before skittering away.
"Well, then, Garcia," She gestured to the open door of the Lifeboat, "shall we go save the President?" She winked at him. "Again?"
He released her hand with regret, "After you." They settled into the seats, Flynn helping her buckle up around the voluminous skirts. "So, give me the details. What do we know so far?"
Lucy attempted to school her features, playing coy, "We'll explain when we get there." She turned away, avoiding his probing gaze. "Rufus, ready to go?"
"Yup, yup, yup." He punched in the last of the coordinates.
Jiya practically squirmed in her seat. Flynn glanced over them. "What's this all about?"
But no one had the chance to answer as time folded around them. Once the universe calmed and they regained their equilibrium, Rufus opened the door and swiveled in his seat, nodding at Lucy and then looking right at Flynn. "Give us a minute."
He studied Lucy's face as he helped her free. Mischief danced in her eyes. "What did you do?"
"You'll see," she replied like the cat that ate the canary. "Just wait."
He dutifully kept his eyes away from the door. "Do I get a hint?"
Lucy stared down at her lap, afraid of the simple confession. Not like she could hide it much longer anyway. "I wanted to do something nice for you." She looked up at him, tentative, vulnerable, and his face wore a look of shock. But not just shock, a little boy's hopeful heart peeked back at her. "I know it can be difficult living all together in the bunker. And I know a lot of the time that you don't really feel like you're part of the team." She leaned forward, touching his hand. "But you are."
His covered hers. "Lucy, I know. You don't need to-"
"But I want to, Flynn." She needed him to understand. "If you'd have told me two years ago that you'd become one of my favorite people, I wouldn't have believed it. But there it is. Garcia Flynn, you are one of my favorite people and I wanted to make you happy. Is that okay?"
She'd gotten so close to him that her lips were inches away. "Yes, moja duša. That is enough." With great restraint, he closed the distance and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."
Her fingers replaced his lips when he retreated. "You don't even know what I planned."
"Doesn't matter," he smirked, "it'll be nerdy and perfectly you." His smile turned into hers again. "Because of that fact alone, I will absolutely love it."
She gave him the go-ahead. "Well, then, guess there's no reason to make you wait any longer."
He stuck his head out the door and the rest of the team greeted him, cake in arms, in the middle of an open field dotted with tables. "Happy birthday!"
"You threw me a picnic?" He beamed down at Lucy.
"It was actually Jiya's idea. My present comes later." He couldn't hide his disbelief. "Don't look so surprised, of course I got you a present. Silly man."
He bit his tongue and pulled Jiya into a bear hug instead. Mason and Denise placed the cake on the center table and beckoned him over.
"Get over here and make your wish." Mason dragged him to the candles.
He only had one wish.
xxxxx
Even Wyatt appeared to be having fun. They spent the afternoon eating sandwiches and cake and drinking wine in the middle of nowhere. Filled the valley with laughter and forgot all their troubles for awhile.
"When and where are we anyway?" Flynn looked to Lucy. She still hadn't revealed her present, as if spending the day in a field with her wasn't enough. But he found himself excited to see which historical event she'd chosen for him. What happened in 1860, the question kept pricking at his brain, but he couldn't pinpoint the source of the answer. Without civilization, surrounded only by trees and late summer wildflowers, he had no way to whittle down the event. He bet that was part of her plan. To keep him from guessing the surprise.
Lucy looked over the assembled group. "Alright, it's about time to head to town, don't you all think so?"
Mason and Agent Christopher began gathering up the accoutrements of the party. "We'll just pack everything up and meet you guys there." She waved them away when Jiya started to argue. "No, you kids go celebrate. Have fun. You deserve it."
They gave in and tromped through the woods until they found the dirt road that would take them into the town proper. For once they weren't rushing to save history from the clutches of evil. No, the Time Team walked like any other group of friends, enjoying the setting sun and bubbling with unspent energy. It'd been so long since they'd all just had fun together.
Lucy stopped them at the edge of town; some sort of fair lay out before them. "April 3, 1860." She waved her arms in front of them.. "Happy birthday," she whispered as she leaned against him.
Holy crap! That's right! "You brought me to the first run of the Pony Express?" Flynn's face lit up. He swept her up and Lucy found herself in his arms again, twirling around a brightly lit main street of St. Joseph, Missouri. She didn't even think to argue. She liked it there. Sliding down his body, she wanted to kiss him and it shocked her. "You are amazing, Lucy Preston."
She tugged him through the crowds and the bands and the general merrymaking. "Just wait, there's more."
More, he mouthed, questioning his good fortune. Weaving in an out of the couples and groups of rampaging children, music tumbled out of open doorways as often as drunken cowboys. Despite the sun just dropping below the horizon, a celebration was a celebration.
They had a some time before they actually met up with Denise and Mason. She couldn't wait to see Flynn's face, but this day was all about making him smile. She really did like his smile. It snuggled up against her, reassuring and honest. While the others wandered off to explore, Lucy tugged him to the bar of an old saloon.
"Two whiskeys, sir." The barkeep gave her dress a once over, shrugged and grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind him. Pouring one for each of them, she tilted her glass in Flynn's direction. "To you."
He raised his as well. "No, Lucy, to you. I don't know where I'd be without you."
"You always had good intentions, just went about it the wrong way." They threw back the shots, grimacing at the burn as it slid down. "I just wish I'd seen the good in you sooner. I feel like we wasted so much time." She wanted to say more, but she held back. Her feelings about the man standing in front of her had changed so much in the last year and she spent more time than she'd like to admit trying to figure out exactly how.
The plink of the old piano slowed and transformed into a waltz. "Dance with me?" Lucy asked, hesitant. Her fingers twisted around each other, worried he'd turn her down.
Thinking she was about to withdraw the question, he waggled his eyebrows and winked at her, "It is my birthday after all."
"You're incorrigible, you know that, right?" She quipped as she slipped her hand into his outstretched one.
When he pulled her against his chest, she forgot to breathe. The man could dance. Even in between the tables scattered at random around the room, he moved like a dream she never wanted to wake up from. Laying her head on his chest, she gave in, to the feeling of safety, the feeling that he would literally put his body in harm's way for her. He'd never let anyone hurt her. And he'd rather walk through flames than hurt her himself. She remembered his face when he saved her from the pilgrim, from the sleeper at the Gunter Hotel, and snuggled a bit closer.
The song ended far too soon and he stepped away, sucking in a deep breath. Standing that close to her was a master class in resistance. Her smaller frame tucked into his much larger one, nothing ever felt so right. They'd grown closer since the night she came to his room holding a bottle of vodka, but he was afraid to take the next step, to frighten her off. But by all that's holy, he wanted to kiss her. He adjusted his tie and avoided looking at her lips.
"Thank you, Lucy." His words failed him beyond that. Everything that wanted to tumble out after-from I love you to marry me-withheld. He cleared his throat. "This has been the best birthday in a long time."
"It's not over, come on. I still need to give you your present."
Flynn followed her back into the street. "You know it isn't necessary, right?" He stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. He swallowed, scared of admitting too much. "Being you," he struggled to contain it all. "it's more than I could ask for."
"You didn't ask," she smiled up at him, "I wanted to give this to you."
They continued on, walking like any normal couple out to enjoy the festivities. They weren't time travelers, just Lucy and Flynn walking down a lamplit street. She reminded herself they weren't actually a couple, but she felt like an ordinary girl on a first date. She blushed, wondering if he felt the same.
He did, though he didn't want to ruin the moment in case she was simply being her sweet Lucy self on his birthday. Who knew what tomorrow would bring, but today, he just revelled in holding her hand.
They approached a gathering crowd and she pulled him off to the left, just outside of the mass of people. Agent Christopher stood off to the side holding a gorgeous mottled tan Percheron.
"What is this?" Flynn gazed down at her. The rest of the team joined the group, their excitement evident. Even Wyatt looked grudgingly happy, which was more than he expected.
"I thought you might like to take the first ride of the Pony Express." She gestured to the other riders assembled.
"Oh Lucy, it's perfect." He released her hand and crossed to get to know the beautiful animal. It sniffed at his proffered fingers, and when the horse bumped its nose against his hand, he reached up, petting the huge, gorgeous horse.
"Unfortunately, we could only get one. Didn't want to spend all night collecting animals from the surrounding farms." Denise handed Flynn the reins. "And you know, the farmers might need them."
He turned back to Lucy and asked without thinking, "Ride with me?" Her eyes lit up and excitement rippled through him. Then he remembered the hoop skirt. "Oh, um…" He looked away, failing to hide his disappointment.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Lucy grab Jiya and jog behind a tree further off. When she returned, she'd ditched the cumbersome item. After mounting, he leaned down, extending his hand to assist her in climbing on behind him. Once seated, she wrapped her arms around him, her cheek pressed against his back.
"Happy birthday, Garcia," she said as he spurred the horse into motion.
A dozen horses thundered around them, shaking the ground as they flew behind the very first rider of the Pony Express. As they gained speed and the wind whipped through her hair, she felt Flynn's body flexing with every stride of the horse propelling them through the night. They were free of their past and future, there was only the present and her fingers slipping beneath his long coat, pressing into his stomach.
The sky unfolded above them, full of stars and possibility. A hundred, thousand pinpoints of light, a million lifetimes tumbling together to this moment. With this woman. Under this sky. He felt the wind and the play of her fingers. A fire sparked into life with every press of her touch. With every breath she took, her body closer and then receding, leaving his bereft. They flew beneath the Milky Way and he memorized the feel of their bodies moving to the rhythm of the ride. When an apple orchard came into view, he slowed the horse, turning off the path and in between the rows.
Lucy leaned back in the saddle. "Why are we stopping?"
"Do you mind?" He dismounted and raised his hands to help her down. "I just thought we might enjoy the night." He hesitated, arms drooping. "Is that okay?"
She swung her leg around, sliding down so Flynn had to catch her. "I've never walked through an orchard before."
She linked their arms and pulled him in as they stepped down the lane, together, but finally, truly alone for the first time. On a mission, even when they split off from the team, someone always accompanied them; was expected back any minute. But surrounded by the bare, gnarled branches reaching for the sliver of the moon, no one within miles to interrupt, Lucy's heart raced as possibilities shuffled through her mind.
She'd stopped pretending Flynn didn't draw her in, but assumed it to be a flight of drunken fancy, a side effect of the vodka. Thinking this too shall pass. Walking next to him, the silence of the night laid bare the truth, she'd fallen for Garcia Flynn. Without thinking she stopped, lost in the idea that she really wanted to kiss him. Now and probably for the foreseeable future. She broke away and paced over to lean against the trunk of the closest tree, rubbing her face in her hands.
What in the nine levels of hell was she gonna do? She couldn't be in love with Flynn. Why not? the angel on her shoulder whispered. Because, Flynn! her rational side argued. But he's changed, one side disputed. The other countered, he could change back. Her mind too busy arguing with itself, Lucy didn't notice that he'd stepped in front of her.
He peeled her fingers away from her face. "Hey, what's going on?" She blinked up at him in blind panic and confused wonder. "Talk to me." He knew freak out Lucy when she stood in front of him and he worried he'd done something wrong.
"Kiss me," came her simple response.
That was not at all what he expected. "I'm sorry, what?" He held his breath, uncertain, but hope bloomed in his chest.
"I need you to kiss me. Like a science experiment," she said, a manic edge to her words.
Flynn burst out laughing. "You want me to kiss you like a science experiment?"
"Well, no, I mean, yes. I mean-gah!" She shoved off the tree trunk in frustration. "Why not? I know you want to."
She stepped forward, he stepped back. "Because Lucy, I do want to kiss you. But it's not an experiment to me. It's a bone-deep myth written into my blood and I would follow you to the ends of the earth. But you are, most definitely, not an experiment."
Lucy collapsed back into the tree. "But I need to know how I feel about you," She said, her voice small.
"I think you know how you feel about me." He closed the distance, stopping within easy reach. "And I think you're afraid." The words hung there. Flynn refused to move and it took every ounce of his willpower. But this needed to be her decision. Her choice.
"I hated you for so long. I didn't understand how you could kill so many people with so little thought." He nodded, but stayed silent, offering no excuse. His burden weighed on him and would until the day he died. "But then, after my mother, after Rufus, I wanted Emma dead. And I wanted to be the one to kill her."
"Lucy, you were grieving." It killed him not to fold her into his arms.
She held a hand up, just shy of his chest. "I pulled the trigger that day and in that dingy alley, I finally saw you clearly." She finished reaching for him, laying her palm flat against his chest, his pounding heart echoing the rapid staccato of hers. "You picked me up and just held me. The man I'd hated, loved me at my darkest hour. It broke me. But while I cried, I realized I didn't want anyone else to comfort me. I wanted you. At my lowest point, stripped of everything, I wanted you." She fell silent for several very long seconds. "I think that's when I fell in love with you."
Flynn couldn't fight it anymore and he crushed her against his body, bending down to capture her mouth, releasing years of desire. He confessed without words, with every slip of his tongue tracing her lips, nibbling, drawing her hidden passion until her skin burned.
She gasped as he found the sensitive spot just behind her ear, tangling his fingers in her windblown curls. "Oh, why did I wait so long?" Dragging his lips back to hers, she made up for lost time. "Why didn't you kiss me sooner?"
He chuckled, his fingers drifting down the nape of her neck. "I was waiting for you to catch up." He leaned down and kissed her nose.
"But we could've been making out for months now." She threaded her fingers through his as they moved back towards the horse, stopping him as he moved to collect the reins. "Just in case it needs saying, I love you, Garcia Flynn."
Cradling her face, "Moja duša," his words a whisper brushing her lips before he closed the distance, his kiss full of promise.
"What does that mean? You said it earlier tonight too."
"My soul." He mounted the horse and offered her his hand. "Because you brought light back into my life and saved me."
He lifted her with ease and she snuggled into him, safe, protected, and ready to burn down the world for him. "Did you like your birthday?"
"For the first time in my life, I got exactly what I wished for." He felt her body melt into his, trusting and happy, which made him smile.
Lucy didn't need to see it to know it was hers.