Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or this world. I just like to be a part of it sometimes.
Summary: The Time Team travels back to the summer of 1977 in New York City, which puts them right in the crosshairs of one of America's most notorious killers.
Author's Notes: This is my first foray into the Timeless fanficdom, so hopefully I was able to properly capture the voices of these amazing characters. Also, NBC, I hate you, and have deleted all of your programming off my DVR. Just FYI on that. This has not been beta'd, so all mistakes found are my own.
I'm taking a couple of liberties with this one. 1. This takes place between 2.03 and 2.04, which means that Wyatt never got the text message from Jessica upon returning from 1941. 2. I'm fully writing this as if the Time Team changed history while on this particular mission, so our timeline reflects the major event written, but theirs didn't.
S.O.S. – Chapter One
Every morning in that damn bunker, she was awoken by a full body shiver. The temperature never seemed to be able to stay consistent, and mornings always felt particularly cold and damp. As a result, no matter how many blankets she had on her during the night, she would invariably have not enough by morning, and the cold underground room would eventually be too much for her thin body, making her shiver until she could grope around for another blanket to huddle under.
This morning however, was different. Sure, she still woke up because of a fully body shiver, but this time, she didn't have to flail around for an extra blanket. No, this time, she was pulled into the warm body of none other than Wyatt Logan, and had further warmth spread through her as his hand snuck under her shirt, and his fingers splayed across her stomach. Sure, the sheets weren't as luxurious, and the sad excuse for a mattress definitely didn't live up to the quality of Hedy Lamarr's guest house, but this was the third morning in a row she was able to wake up in Wyatt's arms, and dammit, if this was the way she would be warmed up from a shiver in the mornings, she wouldn't mind staying in this damn bunker for the rest of her life.
After snuggling back closer to his broad chest, Lucy sighed in contentment, but was definitely awake. The conversation she had with Jiya the night before still weighed heavily on her mind. All evening after returning from 1941, she and Wyatt had naturally stuck close to one another. She hovered around him as he made dinner in the kitchen, and when they all gathered to watch a movie later that evening, she had curled up beside him on the couch, laying her head on his shoulder, and he had draped an arm around hers, pulling her even closer.
But the whole time, Lucy had sensed that Jiya was watching them closely, and not in the "excited for her friends" kind of way, but more in the "what are they doing" kind of way. She was starting to feel really self-conscious and was tempted to get up to talk to Jiya, but right at that moment, Jiya had nudged Rufus' arm, whispered something in his ear, and after they had both stolen quick glances at Lucy and Wyatt on the couch, the two got up and disappeared towards the back of the bunker, presumably into one of their rooms.
When they returned almost an hour later, the way Jiya had looked at her had changed, and Lucy knew something was up, so took the opportunity to grill her when they had a few moments alone as they were getting ready for bed. That was when Jiya dropped the bomb that had Lucy's heart constricting. In this timeline, Wyatt's deceased wife Jessica was very much alive, and technically they were still married. They had been estranged for years, but no divorce papers had ever been signed. Jiya then rushed on to say that Rufus had explained everything to her about the Time Team's timeline, and what had happened in Hollywood, and that she wasn't judging at all because of that. It had just seemed odd to her to see Wyatt hanging all over Lucy when to her, when they had left, he had still been communicating with Jessica.
Lucy knew she should tell Wyatt this new information, but she also knew with absolute certainty that the moment she did, Wyatt would run off to Jessica. And as good of a person as Lucy felt she was, she selfishly wanted to just hold off on that certainty for at least a little bit longer. So as such, when he crept into her and Jiya's room later that night, and slipped behind her on the cot, she didn't say a word, and even now, as she laid awake, watching the sunlight slant through the room, signaling the day was about to start, she knew she didn't want to say anything. She just wanted to hold onto this bliss just a few seconds longer.
However, all fears that were swirling about Jessica and Wyatt were quickly displaced with new fears when the alarm bell signaling that the Mothership had jumped rang through the bunker. Both Wyatt and Jiya groaned in unison about being woken up by the blaring sound, and Lucy couldn't help but smirk when Jiya rolled onto her back and flopped an arm over her eyes.
"That is definitely worse than a clock alarm."
After getting squeezed into Wyatt once more, Lucy crawled out from under the sheets towards Jiya's bed, and stood over her as she rubbed her eyes. "At least once we leave, you can eat and then take a nap. God knows when I'll get either of those."
Jiya rolled her head towards Lucy's voice, and shifted her arm away from her eyes, cracking only one eye open to look at Lucy. Her gaze shifted to Wyatt who was also rolling out of Lucy's bed before shifting back to Lucy. "You're right. Still sucks though." With one more groan, Jiya forced herself to sit upright, letting out a huge yawn. "When you guys see Emma this time, can you at least ask her to only jump after 8am? I feel that's a reasonable ask."
Lucy snorted, and glanced at Wyatt as he snuck around her to get to the door, his fingers trailing from her hip and across her lower back, eliciting a wide grin from Lucy. Every time he touched her, butterflies exploded in her stomach in the most intoxicating feeling. But with Wyatt heading out the door, Lucy returned her gaze to Jiya, and held a hand out to her friend. "Come on. Let's see where Emma is off to this time."
Jiya took Lucy's hand to haul herself out of bed, and reached for one of Rufus' hoodies that were slung at the base of her bed, shoving it over her head to ward off the cold. As she followed Lucy out of the room, she tilted her head back towards Lucy's bed. "So, you two are officially happening, huh?"
Lucy could feel her face flame, and dipped her eyes to the floor to avoid eye contact. "Well, for now."
"You didn't tell him, did you."
At that, Lucy couldn't help but look up at Jiya. "No. Not yet. Does that make me a horrible person?"
Jiya shook her head. "Of course not. But you know, he's going to find out sooner or later."
Sighing, Lucy nodded. "I know."
The two remained silent until they reached the briefing area, where the rest of the team was already gathered, and already bustling with activity. Jiya moved towards her usual seat, checking on the information scrolling across her screen, while Lucy fit herself right behind Wyatt, ever so slightly brushing his body with hers, making him turn to her with a quick smirk.
"Alright, so where did the Mothership jump to this time?" Mason's question was directed to Jiya, who was frantically typing something into her computer.
"Uh, looks to be July 12, 1977, New York City."
Lucy quickly started running through the major historical events of that time in her mind, her eyes darting back and forth as if she was reading notes that weren't there as she went. "The closest major event I can think of was the apprehension of David Berkowitz, but that wasn't until August, so I'm not sure why Emma would go back in July."
Wyatt furrowed his brow. "David Berkowitz?"
Flynn leaned back against a railing and crossed his arms. "You've never heard of Son of Sam?"
"Oooo, that was a great movie." Jiya looked up from her station, but then quickly ducked her head down again when everyone looked at her, mumbling something that sounded like, "well, it was."
"Wait a minute. You're telling me that we have to deal with another of America's worst serial killers? What's with you people?" Rufus directed his question to Flynn, who merely held his hands up in defense.
"Hey, I never would have taken you to Son of Sam." He shrugged his shoulders then as he shoved his hands in his front pockets, and spoke again. "Mostly because I couldn't since I was a small boy then, but none the less."
At his words, Lucy began quickly doing the math on everyone's ages and realized that the rest of them were within the safe zone of travelling. Too bad where they were going would be anything but safe.
As if he could sense her thoughts, Wyatt looked down at Lucy and merely nodded before turning back to the rest of them. "Well, alright then. So we go to New York City, find Emma, and avoid anyone named David apparently. Easy enough. But, why would Emma go there?"
Lucy could only shrug. "I have no idea. New York City was in the midst of a major financial crisis during that time, and most of the city was in fear of the Son of Sam. But, nothing earthshattering happened that I can think of that she would want to go back to change. Maybe one of his victims was Rittenhouse and she wants to stop it?"
Wyatt started moving towards the Lifeboat. "Well, I guess we'll just have to figure it out when we get there." He turned to Rufus. "You ready?"
"To become an unwitting part in a Spike Lee joint? No." At Wyatt's glare, Rufus sighed. "At least let me go put on some normal clothes before we leave." With that, Rufus shuffled out of the briefing area and back towards his room, with Jiya closely in tow.
Lucy looked down at her own clothes and realized she too would like to put on some normal clothes. She was kind of partial to these pajamas, and since they never were able to retrieve the clothes they left the bunker with after stealing era-appropriate ones, she wanted to put on something she wouldn't mind never getting back. "Me too. Be right back."
In less than five minutes, the team was strapping themselves into the Lifeboat, and Lucy clenched her teeth in preparation for the waves of nausea that were about to hit. Travelling on an empty stomach usually did her in, and since she hadn't eaten since last night, she wasn't looking forward to this jump at all. The only thing that had her opening her eyes was the feel of Wyatt's fingers dancing across her chest as he strapped her in. When she looked up at him, she could instantly feel herself drowning in those blue eyes of his, and when his dipped down to drop a soft kiss on her lips, a soft sigh escaped her.
"Ok you two. No making out in the Lifeboat. There's a rule."
Lucy tilted her head back and let loose a laugh as Wyatt told Rufus to just shut up and drive. Her fear was very quickly forgotten, and as they jumped, there were only slight ripples of nausea.
Even so, as the rings outside began to slow their spin upon their arrival to 1977, Lucy unbuckled herself and took a moment to try to swallow down anything that was threatening to come up, but she was completely unprepared for what happened next. The door to the Lifeboat opened, and the wave of heat and humidity that flooded the small space had her gagging. She had read about the oppressive heat of that summer, but reading about it and experiencing it were two completely different things. Suddenly she wished she had grabbed her only pair of shorts, because god knows she'd be stealing another pair anyways.
"Oh my god."
Lucy looked toward Rufus and could already see his forehead beading with sweat. Completely understanding his discomfort, she very quickly realized she no longer had any desire to eat. Instead, all she wanted was to peel out of these clothes and get on something as loose as humanly possible, because everything was already sweating. "This summer was definitely a hot one for New York." Lucy climbed out of her seat and following Wyatt, made her way to the door, hoping for some kind of relief outside of the giant metal ball, but none was there. The air was so thick that it was difficult to breathe, and she swore her eyes were going blurry. At least, that's what she blamed slipping down and out the Lifeboat on. Her poor elbow took the biggest hit, and she knew she would have a bruise for weeks.
After brushing herself off, and making sure she wasn't bleeding, Lucy followed the guys on their way into the city, fully intent on swiping the first sundress she found, all the while trying to figure out just why Emma would choose to come here and now.
If only she could have foreseen what the next 48 hours would bring.