A/N: So, the finale of Timeless... it didn't really do it for me. I liked it, it was fine, but it wasn't how I would've done it (and I never really expected it to be, given what I ship). Now, I don't really mind if nobody reads or likes this as I wrote it, almost entirely, for myself, but if it pleases you to give it a look and you like enough to leave me a review, that'd be pretty cool ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Timeless belongs to Shawn Ryan, Eric Kripke, and other folks who aren't me.

To Save Time

When they heard the noise, nobody knew what to think. They rushed towards the parked-up Lifeboat, unsure what they expected to see. The shock was palpable in the room as a second version of the same time machine appeared as if from nowhere beside the first, knocking into it slightly and pushing it askew.

Lucy's eyes moved back and forth between their own battered Lifeboat and the second one which seemed pristine by comparison. Those same eyes then grew wide with shock as the door to the new Lifeboat opened and Lucy saw the familiar figure stumbling out.

"Flynn!" she cried, pushing the stairs closer and rushing up them without pause. "Oh my God!"

"What the hell is going on?" asked Connor from below, though Lucy didn't notice if anyone tried to reply.

All her attention was on Flynn as he struggled to stay on his feet in front of her.

"Lucy?" he said, blinking hard, hands gripping her shoulders as he stared at her. "You're okay."

"Of course, I'm okay," she confirmed. "What happened to you?"

He shook his head slightly then looked past her to the gathered crowd below. Agent Christopher, Connor, Wyatt, Jiya, and...

"Rufus," he said with a sudden grin. "Thank God."

"Really? Thank God for me?" Rufus echoed, looking at his girlfriend with surprise. "That's weird, right?"

Jiya shrugged helplessly, equally as confused as anyone by what was happening here.

"It all worked out." Flynn smiled, trying to move down the steps but losing his footing as he did so.

Lucy grabbed at him to help but missed. It was Wyatt who moved fast and took the hit of his team-mate's weight, the two of them almost collapsing onto the concrete together.

"I'm alright," Flynn insisted. "At least, I'm pretty sure. It'll pass."

"What will pass?" asked Lucy, running down the steps behind him. "You're not telling us anything. Where did you go? When did you go?"

"It's a long story," said Flynn, smiling fondly at her. "The point is, it worked."

"Which is great," Agent Christopher noted, "but I personally would like some answers to Lucy's questions, as well as a few more of my own."

When Flynn turned to look at her, he also noticed Rufus, Connor, and Jiya all checking out the upgraded Lifeboat. Through his headache, he recalled that they had actually never seen it before. Future Lucy and Wyatt had never needed to come back and talk to them, not in this version of the timeline. He realised too late that he was laughing at their confused expressions, probably coming off like a madman. Well, they had believed he was one once upon a time. For a while, he had even believed it himself.

"You look terrible," Lucy noted, staring at him then. "Wyatt, help me get him to his room."

Flynn didn't argue. He actually did feel pretty bad, having underestimated what travelling into his own timeline would really do. He knew there would be side-effects, Connor had said as much when it was discussed before, in the timeline that now no longer existed. Still, Flynn had gone ahead and thought he was strong enough. Hopefully, in the end, it would prove true, but if not, at least Lucy had everyone she loved around her. It was with this comforting thought in mind that he finally let the darkness take him.

The moment Flynn opened his eyes, Lucy leapt up from the chair. She crossed to the bed and sat down on the edge, assuring him in soft tones that he was okay.

"You're back in the bunker, everything is fine," she promised.

"Yes, I know," Flynn said, smiling slightly, nodding as much as he dare.

Though the headache was gone, along with the generally seasick feeling he had been fighting since the multiple time jumps, he still felt strangely delicate and light-headed. Honestly, it was worth it all just to have Lucy fuss over him so.

"You really scared me for a while there," she admitted, smiling fondly at him, one hand reaching out as if to fix his hair, though she stopped short of actually doing it and looked awkward about the fact she had even considered it. "Are you ready to tell me what happened now?"

"What happened... well, it depends what you remember," he considered, pulling himself up until he was sitting with his back against the wall. "I guess we have to start with Chinatown."

"We rescued Jiya," said Lucy immediately. "Didn't we?"

"We did." Flynn nodded slightly, swallowing hard before he went on. "But in the timeline that I remember, there was a price to be paid."

He didn't want to tell her, but he also knew he must. Lucy would never be satisfied until she knew all the facts, and though he feared hurting her with the truth, at least the story had a happy ending this time around.

"When we went back to rescue Jiya," he said, glancing away, "things did not go so well. Emma was waiting for us to leave the building and, the moment we did, she opened fire. I was shot in the shoulder. Rufus took a bullet to the chest. He died, Lucy."

Her eyes went so wide, it seemed as if they might roll clean out of her head. It was a lot to take in, Flynn knew, and even though her friend was alive and well right down the hall, Lucy was probably feeling the same pain and grief as if he were really gone, as he had been once, in a time and place she no longer recalled.

"He... he died?" she checked.

"Yes, there was nothing we could do, at least, not then. We had to leave, the rest of us, so we came back here, to the present time. It was a few hours later that the second Lifeboat showed up... from the future. You remember I told you once how you came back in time to give me your journal? Well, after Rufus... you and Wyatt came back to do the same thing again."

Lucy stared in wonder as Flynn produced the very journal he spoke of from inside his jacket and placed it in her hands. That one book seemed to exist in so many places and times all at once, and still she had no idea how it came to be written, when and how she might yet pencil those words onto the pages of that precious tome.

"I don't understand," she said, shaking her head. "I never understood how I came back to give it to you the first time. Connor said it was impossible..."

"Not impossible, but dangerous," Flynn explained. "To go back into your own timeline, it has side-effects. Headaches, seizures. I don't understand all the science of it, but if you stay too long, the damage can be permanent. Fatal," he confirmed. "It's why any leap back into your own timeline must be brief."

He watched Lucy then as the cogs in her head spun faster and faster. She was a smart woman, one of the most intelligent he had ever met in his life, but Flynn also knew this was a lot for any person to digest. He waited a few moments, let her get her bearings, see how much she could figure out for herself before he gave any further explanation.

"You went back," she said at last, meeting his eyes. "It's why you were so weak. The headache and the stumbling around."

"I didn't expect it to hit me quite so hard," Flynn admitted, smirking a little. "I had hoped I was tougher than that."

"You went back. When?" asked Lucy, her journal grasped in her hands unopened.

"1881," he admitted. "To Chinatown again. After your future-self came back, we barely had time to figure out what we were supposed to do about Rufus before the Mothership jumped again. We followed, Agent Christopher's orders, to California at the time of the Gold Rush. It was there that Wyatt came up with a theory that the terrible chain of events that included Rufus' death all began with Jessica's return. He talked about going back to the night she originally died and... and stopping her, but you wouldn't hear of it."

Lucy stood up from the bed and turned away. It was too much, hearing what had clearly happened, and yet she had no memory of it. For her, these things never were and now never would be, because of Flynn. It was a lot for a person to handle, even one who understood time travel as well as she did.

"You do believe me, Lucy?" said Flynn behind her, eyes full of concern when she glanced back. "I'm telling you the truth."

"I believe you," she promised, nodding her head. "Go on," she urged him then.

Flynn sighed and did as he was asked. "You didn't want Wyatt to take that risk, to potentially make such a sacrifice, even though we knew for sure by then that Jessica had never been pregnant and had played her doting husband from the start. You were sure if he went back into his own timeline the worst would happen. You didn't want Rufus back if it meant losing Wyatt instead."

Flynn winced when he said it, though he hadn't meant to exactly. He only wanted Lucy to be happy, even if it couldn't be with him. She needed Rufus and Wyatt, so he ensured that she had them both. His part in her life could never be as he wished, at least, not for long.

"So, you went back, instead of Wyatt," said Lucy, shaking her head, "but not to when Jessica should've died. You went back to Chinatown."

"It seemed easier somehow. It was so fresh in my mind, how it happened. I knew the exact moment, the exact place I needed to be. I waited for Emma and Jessica to run out of the building, while you and I and everyone else were still inside. From a hiding place, I shot them both dead before they could get away."

It wasn't something he enjoyed telling her. It would have suited Flynn just fine not to have had to kill anyone else in order to stop Rittenhouse and end this war, but there were necessary evils in the world, and he should know, he had made himself one of them too many times already.

"All I wanted, in that moment, was... was for you to be happy, Lucy," he told her back since she seemed unwilling or unable to look at him again now. "You needed both of them, they are the family you built for yourself, I understand that, so I did what I could to bring back Rufus and keep Wyatt from doing something dangerous. I... I did it for you."

"How can you say that?" she asked, head whipping around so suddenly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You... you risked your own life!"

Flynn shrugged his broad shoulders. "I am expendable."

"No." Lucy shook her head definitely, dislodging further tears that she was failing to fight. "You are really not," she insisted, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed again, eyes boring into his own. "Don't you understand? You're right, I don't want to lose Rufus or Wyatt or anyone on this team, but you... I don't know how to make it any clearer unless..."

It was the last thing Flynn was expecting but he certainly wasn't going to argue, not for a moment, as Lucy crashed her lips against his own. He had dreamt of a moment exactly like this, lived it vicariously through the pages of her journal, a piece of a future that he hardly dare believe might ever come to him. Of course, the perfect moment was tarnished by knowing what all this sudden affection was really for.

"Lucy," he said breathlessly, painfully, as his hands gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her back to arms' length. "I don't want your gratitude."

"That's not what this is," she promised him, "or okay, yeah, some of it. I am grateful for what you did for me, for all that you risked and... I couldn't be more thankful, but gratitude is not all that I'm trying to give you," she promised him, a smile curving her lips as she reached out a tentative hand to his cheek. "Garcia..."

His eyes closed at the sound of his name from her lips and when she kissed him again, he knew it was different, that something had changed. Maybe, if he had made the jump back further in time as Wyatt had suggested, Flynn would have had to wonder what alterations had occurred to make Lucy feel this way, but he made one change, just yesterday, that was all. It meant this had to be real. So, beautifully, heart-stoppingly real.

Getting lost in the moment, his hands moved down her back and pulled her closer, the heat of their passion increasing with every kiss and touch. She was practically on top of him when the door opened, though neither really noticed the intrusion until Agent Christopher loudly cleared her throat.

Lucy leapt up, gasping for air, her face flushed. Flynn had trouble keeping the grin off his face as he moved to get up too.

"Denise," he greeted her with a single nod. "Can we help you?"

"I do have one or two questions for you," she admitted, smirking as she glanced between Flynn and Lucy. "If you're not too busy."

"Not at all," he assured her, biting his lip as he glanced back at Lucy.

"Oh my God," she gasped the moment Agent Christopher set off back down the corridor, presumably expecting them to follow. "I feel like my mom just walked in on me with a boy."

"Well, I highly doubt the questions she wants me to answer are about my intentions," Flynn considered, more amused by the whole situation than anything. "At least, I hope not."

Lucy swatted at his arm and giggled like the school girl she felt she might just be in that moment. Then she looked up and met Flynn's eyes and the humour all faded away.

"You have to tell them what you told me," she realised aloud, "no matter how tough it is for them to hear."

Flynn nodded his agreement. "Is that all you want to tell them?" he checked, immediately regretting the question when he realised what the answer was most likely going to be.

His eyes were trained on a spot on the floor when Lucy shifted closer, and then he watched her hand clasp his own, fingers intertwining, a perfect fit.

"No, not the only thing," she admitted as they looked at each other and shared a secret smile. "If I didn't know before how I felt about you, realising I could've lost you..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "This is what I want. I'm so sure about it."

In the back of his mind, Flynn re-read the pages in the journal Lucy had abandoned when they had been busy with other things. The relationship they had in that timeline, it had been doomed from the start. Her heart belonged to Wyatt, he had been nothing but a placeholder, in so many ways, albeit willingly. Now, history had changed, no matter how small the alteration, and it might just have reset the future.

A man could live in hope, Flynn supposed, but somehow when he looked into Lucy's eyes then, he knew that wasn't how it was going to be. He didn't have to wonder or dream, wishing for a happy future with the woman he loved most in the world. He saw in her eyes that he had it within his grasp. He was going to grab it with both hands and never let go this time.

It was the strangest feeling, going back in time to see her husband as he had been almost ten years before, sad and broken, mourning the loss of his first family. The Flynn of 2014 was so far removed from the man Lucy had left behind in 2023, the one who adored their twin daughters and spent hours devoted to making them happy. The same man who, on hearing his wife got tenure, picked her up in his arms and spun her around until she was dizzy, telling her he could never be more proud of her. Her Garcia and this one, they barely seemed like the same man at all, but when she sat down on the barstool and met his soulful eyes, she knew there was no mistake. She knew she had to get this right, or his future happiness, as well as her own, could be lost forever. She told him she knew who he was, about Lorena and Iris, about time travel. She promised him that one day they were going to be friends, unsure if she should really tell him any more than that.

"You were right about everything, more than you will ever know. You are going to have to sacrifice everything for a cause that almost no one will believe in. The world will think that you're a terrorist and a traitor, even I'm going to think that at first, but you aren't any of those things. You're going to think that you lost your humanity, but you didn't, and you never will. You're a good man with a good heart, and just because you get lost along the way, doesn't mean you can't find your way home. You're going to have a family again someday, Garcia, and you're going to be a great hero, I promise."

She gave him the journal and swore that he was going to save history before the journey was over. With the precious book held firmly in his hands, Flynn still looked so lost and broken, yet Lucy had faith. Leaning in she planted a single soft kiss on his lips and quickly withdrew, her heart breaking for the past shadow of a man she now loved so dearly. Her head was already starting to pound and she had to go.

Wyatt helped her back into the Lifeboat and Rufus checked she was okay.

"I will be," she promised, smiling at her old team. "Just as soon as we get back to when we belong."

They agreed without a moment's pause, each strapping themselves in and bracing accordingly for the flight back to 2023. It was a mercifully quick trip, and then the world was as it should be again. They were home, to stay this time around.

Lucy watched as Rufus ran down the steps and into Jiya's waiting arms. Wyatt followed, high-fiving Connor and getting a pat on the back from Agent Christopher too. Only then did Lucy make her way down, accepting a hug and a kiss from her proud husband.

"I had a tough time convincing Amy and Irena to go to sleep without seeing Mommy first," he told her, "but in the end, I bored them with enough stories that they just passed out."

"That sounds right," she said, laughing lightly. "I am so happy to be home," she said then, sighing happily, her arms up around his neck. "I know technically I was with you tonight but..."

"But I was hardly the same man that I am today," he noted, shifting his gaze away from her own.

"No," Lucy told him, getting his full attention back in a second with her hand at his cheek. "I told you back then and I'll tell you again now. You were always a good man with a good heart, you just got lost along the way."

"Well, eventually I found my way home," he said, gently pushing lose strands of hair back behind her ear.

"And so did I," she replied, reaching up to kiss him. "Merry Christmas, Garcia," she whispered, right before their lips met one more time.

The End

A/N2: Apparently, this is my 400th fic on this website, so that's a fun fact :)