(a/n) So first of all… you guys are THE BEST. Seriously. I haven't written fanfiction in many years, but the welcome and encouragement from this fandom has totally blown me away so THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has read, reviewed, fangirled or just said hi :)) I'm enjoying it all immensely, I forgot how much fun fanfiction can be. And you're all ace. Oh the feels!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is just for fun.
Plot: "Dude, what's with you? You've been acting weird since 1934." Rufus and Wyatt discuss the events of 1x9. (Set between 1x9 and 1x10)

Denial

It had been less than 24 hours since they'd journeyed to 1934 and back, and here they were again, being summoned to Mason Industries. Flynn, it seemed, had gone for a super-quick turnaround, this time heading to July 1780. He'd been gone for 30 minutes already by the time Lucy and Wyatt arrived; Rufus was already on hand in the building working on an ongoing project concerning potentially hacking into Flynn's mainframe (he just had to find it first).

Rufus was waiting for the rest of his team in a glass paneled conference room with Agent Christopher and Jiya when he spotted them downstairs about to ascend the staircase together. They'd obviously arrived separately, and Rufus wouldn't have spared them another glance until they'd arrived in the room and he could greet them properly but… was it him, or were they acting odd?

He watched as Lucy, clearly lost in thought, almost jumped out of her skin as Wyatt greeted her, unaware he'd arrived at the foot of the staircase at the same time as her. Wyatt, Rufus observed, wasn't faring much better himself by the looks of things, hands shoved in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. From where Rufus was sitting they looked like they were exchanging pleasantries, but somehow didn't seem as relaxed with each other as usual… well, as relaxed as time travelers could be in the face of chasing a crazed murderer through history.

Wyatt held out his arm, motioning for Lucy to go first up the stairs (and Rufus could almost hear him intoning ladies first in his head). On any other day, Lucy would have obliged, talking over her shoulder to Wyatt as he followed her but today… Rufus leaned over the side of his chair a little to see them better: Lucy stood for a beat too long blinking up at Wyatt, before he cocked his head to the side slightly and she jumped back into life, rushing a little hastily to start her ascent. Wyatt visibly exhaled and followed her in silence, both of them exchanging jerky, awkward eye contact as they reached the top and walked down the corridor to where Rufus and the team were waiting for them.

"Rufus? You ok?" Jiya queried, raising her eyes from the document she'd been studying next to him.

"Yeah… I'm sure it's nothing." He replied brightly, a smile lighting up his face to diffuse her frown and reaching over to grasp her hand.

Wyatt's gentlemanly behavior was nothing new to any of them. When the team had first been assembled and he'd addressed Lucy as 'ma'am' for at least the first 2 hours, Rufus had chuckled to himself, not truly believing men like him still existed in the 21st century (though Rufus later found out that Wyatt had kept on calling Lucy ma'am to get a rise out of her when he realized it annoyed her). Buckling Lucy into the Lifeboat, always offering her a steady hand, his thumb stroking over her knuckles as he held her hand to comfort her - if Rufus didn't know any better, he would have suspected his friend was nursing a little crush, but as time went on he assumed maybe that's just how Wyatt was with members of the opposite sex (he certainly never buckled Rufus into the Lifeboat).

Which is why when Lucy and Wyatt reached the closed boardroom door and he awkwardly jerked it open, Lucy pausing and blinking up at him again for a beat too long before offering a quick smile and bolting into the room, Rufus knew something was definitely up. Wyatt holding a door open for Lucy was second nature - something he'd done a hundred times and nothing she'd ever been surprised about before. It was usually followed by a gentle hand somewhere on her back ushering her along, but today it was a little different. Wyatt was still being his usual chivalrous self but it wasn't coming as naturally as it usually would, both of them seeming hyper-aware of each other and Wyatt in particular a little jittery. And, Rufus pondered, they were always exchanging seemingly innocent touches, but today they were most definitely keeping their hands to themselves, making their non-contact seem even more obvious… at least to Rufus. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed his friends' odd behavior but Lucy was greeting Jiya from the other side of the table and Wyatt had thrown himself wearily in to the chair next to Rufus without another word to Lucy.

"Hey, man," Wyatt greeted Rufus tiredly.

"Hey," Rufus replied slowly, a small look of confusion passing over his face. "Everything ok?"

"Never better," Wyatt muttered unconvincingly as he scrubbed at his face, just as Agent Christopher called them to attention.

She stood sternly at the head of the table, silencing them all with her firm tone. "I'm sorry you're back here so soon after your last mission. The fact is, we don't know what Flynn's up to or why he's willing to jump so soon after 1934, but it must be important. Lucy, any thoughts? Could this be linked to the Rittenhouse key?"

"1780 is when Benedict Arnold planned to surrender West Point, but that wasn't until September. I've no idea why he'd go back to July. Maybe to convince him not to? Or help him prepare earlier?" Lucy shrugged.

Agent Christopher pondered her answer before rounding on Rufus. "What about taking the Mothership out so soon? What kind of impact could that have?"

"Hard to say. The Mothership is running on some serious juice now, they could probably jump twenty times in as many hours before they'd need to cool it." Rufus frowned. "It's only a theory. Anthony thought it could be done, but until Flynn actually tries it…"

"Hmm. Could this be a ruse? Something to test the three of you so soon after returning from the field?" Denise turned pensively to Wyatt.

Wyatt however, was seemingly lost in thought, his eyes boring into Lucy. Rufus turned to see him snap out of his reverie, and sit up quick as a flash to answer his superior. "Flynn's a grade A dick, so I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to drag us out again so soon for the hell of it. Or he could be doing some recon before he makes his big move. I wouldn't put anything past him."

Agent Christopher continued running down the few facts they had already had, and potential things to look out for when they were on their way. Rufus was only half listening, watching Wyatt out of the corner of his eye. Something was definitely amiss. Wyatt had pulled his act together when Denise had called on him, but not quick enough. Rufus had seen the way his eyes were raking over Lucy, having some kind of internal mental battle with himself. It wasn't like Wyatt to not totally have his head in the game; he always hung off Agent Christopher's every word in case something she said would save their lives when they were out there zig-zagging through history. Wyatt was making a point of paying attention to Agent Christopher now, but when Rufus slid his gaze over to Lucy to see if she'd picked up on Wyatt's strange conduct he raised his eyebrows in surprise. Though her body was turned towards the elder woman, her head was inclined ever so slightly towards Wyatt, her eyes flicking over him intently.

Rufus leaned back in his chair, looking between the two of them. What the hell…?

"Alright, that's it. Get yourselves down to Wardrobe and we'll get this show on the road." Agent Christopher concluded, throwing her files down on the table, making Lucy jump. Now Lucy wasn't listening?

"What is happening…?" Rufus muttered under his breath in a sing-song voice, eyes widened as he watched Lucy pull herself together.

"Rufus?" Denise questioned, her arms folded.

"Nothing. Wardrobe. Got it." Rufus said brightly, his eyes snapping away from whatever was happening with his friends.

Lucy seemed to have regained some of her composure, at least enough to start chatting to Jiya. Wyatt, however, was still distracted, his eyes flitting between the large screen summarizing their mission and Lucy.

"Wyatt? Wyatt." Rufus nudged him a little when he was unresponsive.

"Yeah?" Wyatt's head turned to his friend.

"Seriously, man. You sure you're ok? You seem a little out of it." Rufus enquired.

"I'm fine," Wyatt replied, clearing his throat. Rufus remained quizzically unconvinced.

"Chop chop, people, we haven't got all day!" Denise chastised them with a clap of her hands.

They all stood, as a tech rushed into the room looking flustered. "False alarm. Flynn's back."

"Already? How is that possible?" Denise asked incredulously.

"We've tripled checked, but he's definitely back. Mr Mason is assessing the data now." The tech replied nervously, fidgeting in the doorway.

Denise huffed out a sigh. "Ok, people. Keep alert in case we have to call you back. I guess we're done here. For now."

"So… that's it?" Lucy asked.

"Unless you want to wait around for God knows how long until Flynn takes the Mothership out again, you're free to go. We'll be in touch." Agent Christopher replied pointedly, gathering up her files and exiting through the door after the retreating tech.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Jiya snorted, turning to the rest of the team with a smirk. "Sorry you guys got dragged in for nothing."

"It can't be nothing, Flynn's up to something…" Lucy muttered, a frown creasing her forehead.

"He's always up to something, what else is new?" Rufus scoffed. "Guess I'll head back down to work on the mainframe project," he added to Jiya. She'd been working on it with him, but they had yet to make much headway.

"Uh uh, no way. You've been working on that for seven straight hours, right after a jump, and Flynn could be heading out again any second. Take. A. Break." Jiya said firmly, punctuating her last words with a few jabs to his chest.

"What about you?" Rufus smiled down at her fondly.

"Well, I've actually slept and eaten today, so I think I've got this. I'll call you if I come up with anything. Go."

"Ok, fine." Rufus chuckled. He turned to Lucy and Wyatt, to enquire after their evening plans now their time-travelling excursions had been cancelled, catching the tail-end their conversation.

"Are you sure you're ok? You seem a little... jumpy." Lucy was looking concernedly at Wyatt, who was looking more than a little tense with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, I'm good." He assured her tightly, looking anything but.

Lucy didn't look convinced. "Is this… is this about yesterday?" she asked quietly.

"No." Wyatt was quick to assure her, his eyes snapping up to hers, softening slightly at her worried expression. "No." He offered her a half-smile of encouragement, which did little to alleviate her uneasiness from where Rufus was standing.

"Do you guys wanna get a drink since we're on standby?" Rufus asked, distracting his friends from whatever weirdness was happening.

"I'd love to, but I promised Stanford I'd proof some online seminars before they went live, and I've done precisely zilch. You have enough fun for me too, ok?" Lucy grinned.

"Aren't you on sabbatical or something?" Jiya asked, frowning.

"Sort of, but apparently I can't say no." Lucy shrugged.

Jiya and Lucy bid the boys adieu, Wyatt's eyes watching after Lucy as she turned with a wave and one last concerned look over her shoulder at Wyatt, wandering down the hall towards the lower floor with Jiya. Rufus, now more determined than ever to get the bottom of Wyatt's mysterious behavior, turned to his friend. Wyatt was usually the coolest of customers and yet today he seemed more than a little skittish.

"What do you say, man? Drink?" Rufus asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," Wyatt sighed. "Sounds good."

Twenty minutes later, Rufus and Wyatt were situated at the bar of what had become their regular watering hole, awaiting their drinks to be poured. Rufus surveyed his friend's profile, still creased with lingering tension.

"Dude, what's with you? You've been acting weird since 1934." Rufus asked bluntly, at the very moment the bartender returned with their order. He looked between them confusedly as he placed their drinks in front of them. "Uh, it's an expression." Rufus assured him with a false grin, handing over some bills. "Keep the change."

"Smooth," Wyatt grinned as the bartender departed.

"Don't try and get out of this one. Seriously, what's going on? Did you and Lucy have a fight or something?"

Wyatt scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. "No. Why would you think we had a fight?"

"I don't know." Rufus shrugged. "You guys were kind of weird with each other today. Like something happened, and you're both pretending everything's fine."

"Everything is fine…"

"Then what gives?"

Wyatt sighed, avoiding Rufus' gaze and turning his own to the glass of scotch in front of him. He swirled the amber liquid a few times before taking a slow sip. He faced Rufus again, regarding him silently and considering his answer carefully. "Back in '34, when we were trying to get the key from Bonnie and Clyde… we…" He faltered, knocking back another gulp of his drink before huffing in frustration. "We pretended to be a couple so they'd relax, but they got suspicious and I… I did something kind of stupid…"

"Let me get this straight. While I was off defending the good name of Wesley Snipes to local law enforcement, you and Lucy were living it up with Bonnie and Clyde?" Rufus dead-panned, one eyebrow raised.

"It wasn't like that! I half expected them to pull a gun on us if they didn't buy it so I… I, uh…"

"What exactly happened?" Rufus asked slowly.

Wyatt ran a hand tensely through his hair. He sighed shortly and closed his eyes, muttering something so quietly that Rufus missed it completely. Wyatt looked up sheepishly and was met with a blank expression from Rufus. "I'm sorry, I left my hearing aid in my other time machine. You're going to have to say that again."

Wyatt sighed again, looking Rufus dead in the eye and speaking clearly this time. "I kissed Lucy."

Rufus, who had been mid-sip of beer, almost choked. "I'm sorry, you what?" he spluttered.

"They could have killed us right there and then, so it seemed like a good idea at the time…" Wyatt shrugged uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I bet it did." Rufus scoffed. Wyatt glared at him. "So, what, she's mad at you?"

"No… We talked about it later, and I apologized to her. We both agreed that it was to sell it and that it didn't mean anything… what?" Wyatt trailed off, as Rufus grinned and shook his head.

"Nothing. You're such a goddamn gentleman, that's all." Rufus chuckled, taking another swig of beer as Wyatt rolled his eyes. He paused, his tone turning more serious. "Dude, let me ask you something… if it didn't mean anything, why are you freaking out?"

"I'm not freaking out." Wyatt immediately shot back, scrunching up his face in defiance.

"Yeah. You are." Rufus rebuffed him flatly. Wyatt responded by knocking back the last of his liquor in one swift move. "You know… if you did have a thing for Lucy, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I mean, rule number one is obviously no making out in the Lifeboat, but she's great so-"

"Rufus." Wyatt cut him off with a glare. "I know Lucy's great. But I don't have a thing for her."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"And when you kissed her, you felt absolutely zip?"

Wyatt opened his mouth to protest Rufus' insinuations regarding his feelings for Lucy, but found himself faltering. He cleared his throat, his eyes returning to his empty glass and avoiding Rufus uneasily.

"There is it…" Rufus muttered triumphantly as he reached for the bowl of nuts in front of him.

"It just… it surprised me, ok? It was just supposed to be an act, to throw Bonnie and Clyde off, but-" he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I don't know… It was a hell of a kiss." He muttered, more to himself than to Rufus, his eyes slightly widened in shock. He looked up to find Rufus grinning at him knowingly.

"So… you want to kiss her again? Is that it?" Rufus smirked. He had a feeling Wyatt's inner conflict went deeper than the physical, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to poke fun at Wyatt just a little.

"No!" Wyatt answered defiantly, a little too quickly, scrambling for an answer. "No- I- Lucy and I are just friends, that's all… I mean, it wasn't exactly rough kissing her… but…" He trailed off, blinking a few times to shake himself out of his reverie. Rufus had a feeling Wyatt was replaying his liplock with Lucy in his mind.

Rufus popped a bar nut into his mouth, ready to lay some home truths on his friend. "Dude. Kinda sounds like you want to kiss Lucy again. Just sayin'."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Look, Lucy is a smart, beautiful woman. I'm not an idiot. Maybe I felt… something… I'm not dead. But that doesn't mean anything. Right?" Rufus' intention had been to mock Wyatt a little more, but when he caught sight of the worry in his friend's eyes he paused. Wyatt seemed genuinely terrified of feeling something for Lucy.

"I don't know, man." Rufus said gently. "Would it be so bad if it did mean something? You could do a lot worse than Lucy."

"Yeah, and she could do a lot better than me." He retaliated quietly. He paused for a beat, before continuing, "It doesn't matter. Lucy isn't an option… She's too good for me for one thing, and for another, we have a freaking time machine. I can fix things with Jess… things can go back to the way they should be…"

Rufus regarded the desperation in Wyatt's eyes sadly. "I know, man. I know. But if that doesn't work out, just… don't forget about Lucy, ok? There could be something there."

"Lucy shouldn't be anyone's second choice." Wyatt said firmly.

"I'm not saying that." Rufus assured him. "I'm just saying, I don't know, maybe you should…" he trailed off, searching for the right words.

"Be open to the possibilities?" Wyatt finished for him, smiling for some reason.

"Yeah," Rufus agreed, his eyes lighting up. "Exactly. That's good."

Wyatt chuckled, shaking his head and replied with a hint of sarcasm, "Sure. I'll think about it."

"Wyatt." Rufus addressed him imploringly, catching his eye. "You should. Seriously." The smile faded from Wyatt's face as he took in the significance of Rufus' words.

Rufus knew his friend might not be ready for anything just yet, caught somewhere between mourning for his wife and hopefulness at the possibility, however unlikely, of changing her fate. Wyatt had accepted his tragic lot in life of self-loathing and blame, depriving himself of any happiness. He was obviously curious about the unexpected spark between him and Lucy, yet at the same time conflicted for even considering the possibility of exploring what that might lead to. And, Rufus was willing to bet, guilty for kissing Lucy in the first place without a second thought (and probably thinking a whole lot about it afterwards too). But if a spark of something with Lucy was there, there might be hope for him yet. Wyatt was clearly in denial and freaked out by feeling anything other than friendship for her, but Rufus could see something potentially romantic was stirring. He'd suspected as much ever since their little trip to 1944 when Wyatt had become sullen over Ian Fleming's fawning all over Lucy (it didn't matter how many times he denied it to Rufus: Wyatt was jealous).

Wyatt sighed and signaled the bartender over to order another round. "You do realize if you repeat any of this to anyone, I will have to kill you right?" Wyatt joked.

Rufus made a motion of zipping his lips and throwing away an imaginary key. "Your secret's safe with me, Romeo."

Wyatt rolled his eyes again as he paid the bartender. As they received their drinks, Rufus being careful this time not to make any accidental time-travel quips, a thought crossed his mind.

He frowned, mulling over a notion that had suddenly come to him. "Wait a minute. When you kissed Lucy…"

"Yeah?" Wyatt asked apprehensively, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Did she kiss you back?" Rufus asked curiously.

Wyatt cleared his throat, but Rufus didn't miss the small fleeting bashful smile on his friend's face. "Uh, yeah. Just for a minute there. It happened pretty fast, so…"

"But you caught her off-guard, and she didn't freeze up or anything?"

"Uh, no…"

"Huh." Rufus mused. "Interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." Rufus grinned. "Just… she told me that when we came back from the first jump to '37, and she walked in on her twilight-zone engagement party, Noah planted one on her out of nowhere and it was the most awkward thing ever." He paused, smirking wickedly. "It's just interesting that she doesn't seem to have that problem with you. From what I can tell, you were both pretty enthusiastic about it…"

Wyatt didn't reply immediately, clearing his throat again and looking away sheepishly. "Yeah, well… It was in the moment and all…"

"Sure, man. Whatever you say." Rufus chuckled, sounding entirely unconvinced. "I'm just saying, Lucy's a terrible liar. I can't imagine her acting skills are much better so if she didn't want to kiss you, she wouldn't have. Something to think about."

Wyatt blinked slowly a few times, lost in thought as Rufus smirked into his beer. Wyatt could walk around in a fog of denial all he liked. Rufus could see there was definitely something brewing. He'd bide his time until they both came to their senses, and when they did, he'd make sure to remind them about the first rule being no making out in the Lifeboat.

FIN

(a/n) This entire thing was built around the lines about Wyatt acting weird since 1934 and the bartender being like whaaaat? Haaaa. I rewatched 1x9 and thought Lucy and Wyatt's little bit of awkwardness at the end needed to be expanded upon, because they were both fine again in 1x10. And I haven't written much Rufus even though I love him so thought he could help Wyatt talk things out. It's not super long as I didn't see them going too deep into feelings-talk, but this was just about enough to satisfy my own ponderings. And also, Rufus is repping all of us here I feel. I hope you enjoyed, and as always, I love hearing your thoughts if you'd be so kind as to leave me a review :))