Disclaimer: I don't own Timeless.

They rode in silence for a few minutes on their way to Port Royal. Lucy was lost in her head. She was glad to finally have a tiny bit of peace away from Wyatt, to try to get her head straight. And to avoid taking a swipe at him with a horse whip. Flynn was riding ahead and she knew he was giving her time to think. It was uncanny how he always knew what she needed. It used to infuriate her, but now it was, well, convenient, at the very least. Comforting to be understood without words if she was being more honest.

She really shouldn't have been so surprised that Wyatt was willing to desert them all. (Her. He was willing to desert her.) Over Jessica. Over just the suggestion that they should be more careful with her. From the beginning, he'd been so obsessed with fixing it, fixing her death, of course it wouldn't even matter to him how her return had happened. Or for what purpose. Still, she'd thought she'd meant more to him than that. After all, he'd been walking around like SHE had dumped HIM, the least he could do was give half a shit that his friends were in danger because he'd been so careless. Wyatt certainly still wanted a say in HER life, but apparently, she wasn't allowed to have even a half-baked opinion about his.

A baby. A baby. Like he hadn't already gotten everything he wanted. And he was still unsatisfied. The knife in her heart apparently needed to be twisted that much more. Wyatt had said he still cared about her. Well, his actions said he didn't a lot louder than words ever could. Lucy needed to get over him. She was trying, dammit, and it would be nice if he'd freaking LET HER.

Lucy breathed the fresh air deeply. It was so good to feel the sunshine again. Even as it reminded her that maybe things had always sucked, shit had always happened, that oddly that made her feel better somehow. There was some sort of continuity in that, at least, even if it was depressing as hell. At least she wasn't the only one to experience it. If you took the whole time-travel aspect out of it.

Flynn dismounted as they neared a creek, and Lucy followed to let the horses drink and rest for a minute. She joined him as he sat on a fallen tree and he handed her the canteen. He was watching her, carefully looking away when she looked in his direction, and she sighed. Screw it, she wasn't holding it in anymore. As little as she ever wanted to talk about any of the things plaguing her, she had to admit that she always felt better, lighter, after telling him. Flynn was that perfect combination of attentive, responsive listener, asking the right questions, commiserating when it was called for, and never judging her, ever. It was like he took some of the load on himself. That could be from the journal, maybe he already did know her better than she wanted to admit, but she didn't think so. If this version of Flynn had come to her at the Hindenburg, he would have had much better luck convincing her to join him. Well, so she thinks. Maybe not. The woman she had been was almost as much a stranger to her now as her mother was.

"You might as well ask whatever you're wondering."

He blinked at being caught. "I…don't know how to ask without it upsetting you. And you already seem unsettled enough."

She couldn't help but smirk and couldn't help but tease him a bit. "So you're careful about what you say to me? Now?"

A blush rose in his cheeks at that and Lucy's heart rose in her chest at the sight in a way that she wasn't ready to examine. He shrugged slightly. "Yes, well. I know now that I didn't handle things with you the right way. I suppose I'm trying to remedy that."

"Just ask, Flynn."

He nodded and looked away. "I was going to ask you to please tell me that Wyatt hasn't been this unpleasant the entire time you've been on the same team. I can't imagine that you would have, well…"

Lucy chuckled humorlessly. "Unpleasant is a much nicer word than I thought you would use. No. No, he wasn't. We didn't get along at first, but that was more about how to handle the missions. He just wanted to shoot you and then go home without worrying about preserving any of the history. He wasn't like this until after Jessica came back. I mean, we argued sometimes, but not like it is now."

"I know my presence doesn't help. He resents our—our friendship. If you want, I can—"

"No! Please don't. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you there. Especially now." He smiled at her in that way he only did around her—genuine and soft—before tilting his head in agreement.

Flynn watched her closely as she stared down at the grass. "He's probably just worried about his impending fatherhood," she ground out, just saying the words made her feel ill. Her partner went completely still at that, and when she dared to glance up, he was looking back at her with a look of absolute horror. Lucy had expected anger or disgust or bitterness that Wyatt got a child while he couldn't save his own, but she was completely taken aback by what she saw. He'd gone pale and he sputtered at her before leaping to his feet and towering over her as he paced.

"You shouldn't…you shouldn't be here, Lucy! I'll get you back to the lifeboat, or anywhere, somewhere safe, and…God, the time travel, that can't be healthy, and the…oh, the vodka. I should have stopped you, not joined you, and…" he continued to rant as Lucy realized what he thought. She hopped to her own feet.

"Flynn. Flynn," she tried to stop him, but he didn't hear her until she stepped into his path. He looked down at her in concern and he lifted his hands, hesitating before putting them on her shoulders.

"It will be okay, Lucy."

She couldn't help but laugh at that a little. "Yes, it will. Because it's not me."

"Not-? Oh." Flynn sank back down on the tree in relief. "Honestly, Lucy, if Rittenhouse doesn't kill me, it'll be you giving me a heart attack."

She sat down as well. "I never thought you'd think that. I'm sorry."

"No, Lucy. I'm sorry. Are you okay?" The gentleness in his voice brought tears to her eyes. Flynn awkwardly reached his arm around her to squeeze her shoulder, trying to keep them from falling off their perch at the same time.

"I just keep thinking that at some point I'll have time to adjust. That the last hit will be the last and I'll be able to get okay. It's time to accept that isn't going to happen." She wiped her eyes. "Speaking of time, we need to go."

"Okay," he said, and he gathered the horses, though she could tell he wasn't sure she was ready.

After he brought her mount to her, she looked up at it and then at him. "Do you mind?" She asked, gesturing.

"Not at all. I didn't think you wanted help." Lucy's stomach swooped a little as he lifted her onto the saddle, and she tried to dismiss it as the change in height rather than his hands on her waist.

"I didn't want Wyatt to touch me. I'm not a horsewoman though. The first time I ever rode was when we went after Jesse James and you."

The horses nudged into a trot as he clicked his tongue and she watched him grimace. "I'm sorry about that, by the way."

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, one of these days, we just need to sit down and get out all of our apologies at once. We can each make a list. Then we won't have to worry about it anymore. If you'll do that, I promise to try not to cry."

Flynn snorted. "Well, I'm not even going to make that promise. I am sorry though, Lucy." Regret filled his eyes as he looked at her and she smiled sadly.

"I know. But not now. Not while we're on a mission."

"Right," he cleared his throat. "So, how was your first time on a horse, then?"

She laughed at the memory. "When I tried to mount, I finally got up, but then I kind of just…kept going. I fell off the other side. You would have loved it."

He laughed heartily at the thought, and she enjoyed watching him. It was so rare to see him laugh, carefree, and she felt proud of herself whenever she caused it.

"I would have."

About half an hour later, she spoke up. "I think we're nearing the camp."

"Yes, I see smoke past those trees. I think we've gone about three and a half miles since the creek, so that's about right."

Lucy had spent the past ten minutes or so brooding about what to do if Jessica was in fact Rittenhouse. Or why they'd bother bringing her back if she weren't. She didn't think hurting her or screwing with the team was quite enough reason, but they did seem to enjoy breaking her heart over and over, so…

"Lucy?" Flynn cut into her thoughts as he looked back at her from a few steps ahead. "I know there's something else. You can tell me, whatever it is."

She blew out through her nose. "It's kind of freakish how you do that. Seriously."

His pointed stare continued. "Like how I know you're trying to change the subject? Listen, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

Lucy blinked her eyes slowly in defeat. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. I was ordered not to."

He pulled up his horse until she caught fully up to him and he looked at her, worried now. "Why?"

"Uh…because of your penchant to shoot first and ask questions later, I think," she hesitated for a moment before deciding to hell with it. "Listen, if I tell you, you have to promise not to shoot…" she cut her eyes to him suspiciously and he raised his eyebrows at her. She added "or to KILL anyone. You can't let on that you know."

Flynn smirked at her as he held up his right hand to swear an oath. "I promise to not attack anyone unless they attack first, and to use non-lethal force if at all possible if they do. Is that sufficient? And thank you for realizing that I don't need a gun."

Lucy started to smile at his dramatics, but the seriousness of the situation caught up to her and her face fell. She gulped, trying to choke down the feeling that she might be betraying the team. But honestly? It felt to an extent like they were betraying her, by going along with whatever Wyatt dictated, no matter how foolhardy and selfish he was being. And saying the words out loud, maybe it would be a way to pull the dark thing that was growing inside of her out and into the light, and it would stop feeling like a cancer that was slowly killing her.

"Those hard drives that Mason was working on?"

"Yeah. He found something?"

"Yes," she heaved a sigh and looked at him. "Pictures of Jessica, going back all the way to her childhood."

He froze and the horse stopped, feeling his tension.

"Rittenhouse brought her back?"

"We don't know. But…yeah, I think they did. We all do. Wyatt just refuses to believe it."

Flynn pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not sure I can wholly blame him for that without being a hypocrite. He should have been more careful about it, though. Didn't DHS look into her?"

"Yeah, and they didn't find anything. But if they changed the past…if it was Rittenhouse…"

"They wouldn't."

He looked to her in concern before urging the horse to continue slowly.

"The thing is, Flynn…Wyatt threw a fit this morning when Christopher told us about it. She was going to ask Jessica to leave the bunker under protective custody, but Wyatt said he would leave if she was kicked out, and then he dropped the whole pregnancy bomb on us. And she just gave in."

Flynn growled at that.

"And with the timing of the whole pregnancy thing, I just…"

"You think she's faking. Or that she got pregnant on purpose."

Lucy sucked in a breath. "Well, I thought faking. But now that you mention it…I could see her getting pregnant on purpose. I could see them planning that to manipulate Wyatt, to divide his loyalties. I hate that I feel this way, because I know if I say anything, I just sound like a jealous ex-whatever. But I don't trust her."

"Well, I could say a lot of things about how things are handled on this team, but that won't help anything now. But, Lucy…" he stopped and made sure she was looking back at him. "Please, until we know and she's gone or she's cleared, stay with me."

Lucy's pulse kicked into high gear at that. "Stay with you?"

He blushed bright red and bit his lip as he realized how that sounded. "I mean, um, I'll take the chair, you can have the cot."

"Are you sure? How will you get any sleep?"

"I'll be fine. I'll smuggle a second cot in if it helps. I'll be a lot better rested knowing you're safe than thinking you're sleeping in the common area unprotected. I hate that anyway, but now…now there's no way I can leave you out there."

Lucy bit her lip at the thought of staying in his room. She knew what the others would think, but…she wasn't sure she cared anymore. She felt better already at the thought of not being at the mercy of whatever was going to happen. Flynn was fast becoming her safe port in the storm already, anyway, and it wouldn't be any kind of chore to share a room with him. He also had managed to make it sound like she'd be doing him a favor, helping her find a way to run to him but still maintain her dignity, and there was no way she could refuse that. She looked up and realized he was still watching her intently, brow wrinkled as he waited for a response.

"Okay."

"Okay, you'll stay with me?"

"Yes," she said, and this time she blushed.

Flynn visibly relaxed and Lucy almost chuckled as his horse sighed in relief. Green eyes flicked up to hers and she was surprised as he simply said a fervent "Thank you."

They trotted into the camp a few minutes later, continued the mission, and later went home to the bunker. Lucy stayed in the cot as he watched over her from the chair. Amidst all the turmoil of that morning, the theft of the lifeboat, kidnapping of Jiya, and Wyatt's heartbreaking revelation, there was a lot of regret to go around. Not once did she consider adding disobeying a gag order to the list.