TFP #10. Bonus Crack Prompt: Characters discover fanfiction about themselves.

So….I have no idea how this happened. I was hoping someone would fill this prompt, and then when I didn't see anything posted, I decided to fill it myself. How what was supposed to be a silly fill of a crack-prompt grew to over 10 000 words in length….I seriously have no idea. It's a one-shot, really, but I've divided into chapters just to make reading easier.

Fair warning, this thing is very self-indulgent, and it's *very* Lyatt!

A special shout-out to OnceUponAWhim who encouraged me to actually post this thing...and a shout-out to all the amazing Timeless fanfic writers whose work inspired this tale. I wasn't 100% specific about stories, as I was afraid I might miss out on giving proper credit to everyone...but if you think you might recognize your own story in here...you're probably right!

The Story Prompt

Bunker B was cold in the mornings. Much like it's predecessor, though at least the east-facing window bank in the kitchen and dining area let some rays of sunshine break through the dreariness. 'Bunker B' was what Flynn had christened it, that day they had been hurriedly shuttled here by Agent Christopher. Bunker B-like Plan B-since their Plan A had gone to hell in a handbasket because of a certain blonde Rittenhouse agent. Luckily, unlike many Plan Bs, Bunker B had some benefits that the first bunker had been lacking. Not just the morning rays of sunshine, but furniture from the present century that actually had some give to it when you sat on it, and even a small outdoor area-an exercise courtyard Agent Christopher called it; the saddest neighborhood park ever, according to Rufus. But there was some grass, and if you positioned yourself just right, you could see blue sky and clouds, or night sky and stars….if you looked between the slanted metal roofing planks that were arranged about a foot from each other across the top of the enclosure.

But it was still cold in the morning. Lucy absently pulled at the thick slouchy socks she'd taken to wearing to combat said morning chill as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She hadn't made the coffee, it had been fresh and ready for her when she had pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. The magical ready-made coffee had been a mainstay in her life since they entered Bunker B. But it really hadn't been a mystery in weeks-she knew it was Wyatt who put the coffee on just for her, before he went to the gym area for a morning training session.

She'd been late getting out of bed this morning-not that there was any need to wake earlier, there was nothing she could be late for or miss-but she'd taken to making sure she was up early enough to get her coffee before Wyatt returned to the kitchen for his breakfast. She knew he wouldn't care, not really, if she slept late and missed her fresh coffee, but something about not taking advantage of his generosity seemed ungrateful, so that had become her-their-new routine. But she had been later than usual today, and as she heard the pipes above her head groan and sputter, she realized he had already entered the bunker's shower, his morning workout routine complete.

Lucy set her coffee mug on the counter, running her hands through her hair. They were in a good place now, the two of them. Rufus had been saved, Jessica and Emma were on the run after a series of missions the reunited Time Team had scuttled….and Jessica's pregnancy had been shown to be a lie, just another part of her attempt to manipulate Wyatt. And after all that? Well, she and Wyatt were friends again, and were kicking ass and saving the world again, together. It was good. She took another sip of coffee. Of course his 'I love you', of that night Rufus had been killed still hung in the air between them. She hadn't responded. After all, he told her not to….and she didn't know what her feelings were on the topic anyway. Liar, a quiet voice whispered in her brain. Because she supposed she did know her feelings about him-they'd never really changed, not even with the whole Jessica episode. But, the practical part of her brain chided her for those feelings, reminding her that nothing good could come of acting on them-not when things were good now, not when she was finally able to spend time with him, talk with him, just be with him, without feeling that horrible pain of rejection that she had previously thought might never leave her after Jessica's return. And one important thing the Jessica experience had taught her? Her world without Wyatt as a part of it? She now knew for certain she had absolutely no interest in that.

So they were friends, good friends….and she wasn't going to upset the apple cart, wasn't going to tempt fate….not right now. Besides, who knew if he even felt the same way anymore? She shushed the quiet voice in her brain before it had a chance to call her out on that one. Because, if she were totally honest with herself, she knew his feelings hadn't changed. The coffee, the way he made her whatever she felt like when it was his turn to cook….and there were a multitude of other subtle signs in their daily lives. And she also didn't miss the less-subtle longing way he would look at her from across the living room during bunker movie nights. Of course, she was pretty sure he'd caught her looking at him in just the same way on several occasions.

The pipes moaned and clanked again, as the water in the shower had apparently been turned off. An image of Wyatt stepping out of said shower and reaching for a towel flipped through her mind unbidden. She felt her cheeks flush and bit her lower lip. Suddenly not wanting to be in the kitchen when he arrived, she picked up her mug again and walked the long hall from the kitchen into the main living area. It was quiet-perhaps she and Wyatt were the only ones awake. She sat on the couch for a moment, when she heard hushed voices from the Lifeboat dock. That seemed….unusual, at this hour. Curious, she got up and moved toward the sound.

She paused at the doorway to docking area, Wyatt's lessons about caution in entering rooms now kicking in as second nature to her, but she sighed in relief as she realized it was just Rufus and Jiya, huddled over several different screens, talking animatedly about something. Well, there was nothing unusual about the two of them huddling over screens….but it did seem awfully early in the morning for the two of them-who were both notorious late risers, particularly since the new bunker had more individual bedrooms, allowing for a rearrangement of sleeping accommodations so that the two were able to share.

She entered the docking area propper, coming up behind her teammates. "What's got you guys so focused this early in the morning? What are you reading?"

"Yeah," a voice came from behind her, she turned to see Wyatt enter, already a half-eaten piece of toast in his hand, "What are you doing up so early? I didn't think you guys knew that seven o'clock came twice a day."

Lucy smiled at him in greeting and raised her mug in silent thanks for the coffee. He smirked back.

Rufus turned to face them, "We're not up early, 'cause technically, we haven't been to bed yet. And we're still doing the same thing that's kept us up all night."

"What?" Wyatt asked.

"Haven't been to bed yet my ass," Jiya broke in, joining the conversation, "You were out like a light on the couch for hours."

Rufus nodded slightly, "Well, sure, but that was a couch, and therefore I did not technically go 'to bed'." He turned back toward Lucy and Wyatt, "But Jiya was up all night. And after I dozed for a bit, I woke up and came right back here to start reading again."

Lucy ran her fingers through her morning-tangled curls and stepped closer to the pair, squinting at the monitors, "Bringing me back to my original question….what are you reading?"

Rufus and Jiya exchanged a wordless look, Jiya motioning toward her boyfriend.

Rufus ran his hand across his face and sighed. "Actually….it's good you're both up-you guys should see this too, Look."

Lucy walked cautiously toward the monitors, stepping up onto the raised platform where the computers sat, and maneuvering in between Jiya and Rufus. She leaned in, reading the text on the screen. After a few sentences, she drew back, looking back and forth between Rufus and Jiya.

"Wha….what is this?"

Rufus and Jiya exchanged another wordless glance, but before either had a chance to respond, Wyatt stepped up behind Lucy, leaning over her shoulder to read the text as well. His nearness affected her more than it should have, given their status as friends and teammates, and she inhaled sharply to suppress the shiver that raced through her having nothing to do with the morning chill.

Wyatt spoke, his voice bringing her mind back to the mystery at hand. "Yeah….what is….." he placed his hand on her shoulder leaning closer, "It looks like….wait, is this about us?"

Jiya nodded, then seemed to find her voice again. "Sure seems that way."

Wyatt and Lucy turned together to look back at her.

"Where'd you find this….stuff?" Wyatt asked.

Jiya shrugged, "Just….online. I happened across the first one accidentally….then after that, finding the others was easy."

"And you've been up all night?" asked Lucy.

"How much of this stuff is there?" Wyatt finished her thought.

Jiya looked uncomfortable. "A lot….like…..a lot a lot"

"Wait, you're telling me there's stuff written about us online? A lot of stuff?"

"But how," Lucy turned back to the monitor as Wyatt picked up a tablet that had more writing on its screen, "I mean, where does this come from?"

Wyatt continued reading, shaking his head. "Is it accurate? How does anyone even know about this….?"

"Well wait," Lucy broke in, pointing at Jiya's screen, "This one here isn't accurate."

"As far as we can tell," Jiya began, sitting on a stool and pulling herself toward another monitor, "Some of it's accurate, some of it isn't…..some….well, could be accurate, maybe…..but we don't really know yet."

Lucy turned from her screen to look again at her friend.

Wyatt turned too, "What does that even mean, Jiya?"

She sighed, bringing up multiple windows with multiple writings. "They're….well they're not like mission reports or anything….they're stories, but about us. About some of the things we've done, and then other things we haven't done, or haven't done yet…."

Lucy fought against the early stages of unease rising in her chest. "But look, this one," she pointed at the monitor, "This one is talking about the moon shot mission, so it means the writer must have seen the mission report….they must have had access. Maybe someone connected to Agent Christopher?"

Rufus glanced at her screen, but then pointed at his. "Nope….because there's lots of stuff in here that's not in the mission reports."

Wyatt leaned back, looking at his friends screen. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that Fleming was totally hitting on Lucy when we were in World War II, or like Robert Todd Lincoln hitting on Lucy, or Houdini asking her to be his assistant, or Hemingway asking her to marry him."

"What?" Wyatt looked shocked.

"Oh yeah, guess you missed that one buddy." He pointed at the screen, "But I do know that Lucy breaking hearts through history has never been a part of our mission reports."

Lucy felt heat rise in her cheeks again, and she glanced at Wyatt, who didn't look happy. Time for this conversation to stop. "Okay, it's never been like that, like the way you make it sound-you know that Rufus."

He grinned at her, "Then what has it been like?"

"Seriously," Wyatt interrupted. "Enough….but, how do they know stuff like that?" He swung his head to look at Jiya and Lucy, then zeroed in on Lucy, a slight pleading look in his eyes-as though he had faith that she would have the answer.

She shook her head, "Don't look at me, I've got nothing."

Wyatt shook his head. "Okay, so we've got what, a few dozen of stories here?"

Jiya sighed again, ducking her head. "There's hundreds of….these things….like multiple hundreds….maybe even a thousand….here."

"All containing knowledge of the government's time travel secret," he said, "Great."

"Well," Lucy looked at her team, "There's got to be an explanation. We better get reading, I guess, so we can figure this out."

Without another word, Wyatt slid a stool over for Lucy to sit in front of one of the monitors, and he perched on the edge of the desk beside her. Jiya handed him one of the available tablets, while she and Rufus returned to their initial places in front of the screens.

"Click on the link at the top," instructed Jiya, "They're all listed there….each story, titles are alphabetical."

"Which ones have you already read?" asked Wyatt.

"I….we kinda jumped all over the place," she shrugged.

Wyatt raised his eyebrows at her.

"We didn't know we were going to be part of a forensic investigation, Wyatt," she rolled her eyes.

He nodded. "Okay, Rufus take 'A' through 'F', Jiya 'G' through 'L', I'll take, 'M' through 'R', Lucy 'S' onward."

She quirked her eyebrow at him. "That sounds fair."

He shrugged, "You read faster."

She kept staring.

"The math didn't work out even, sue me. Besides, you get 'X'...that barely counts."

He gave such an endearing look then she couldn't help herself. She chuckled, patting his knee, then pulling her hand back when she noticed the fleeting and slightly pained expression that crossed his features. She contemplated apologising, but the moment had seemingly passed, and he smiled at her again, lightly. "Okay then," she said, "What are we looking for?"

Wyatt shrugged, "Anything that can help us figure out who these people are, where they're getting their information….and why they're writing."

"Sure," nodded Rufus, "No big deal."

Jiya held up a pad of paper, "I've been taking notes all night on things that might be important."

"Good," said Wyatt-ripping pages from the pad and distributing them to his friends, "We should all do the same."

Lucy chewed at her lip as that sense of unease continued to grow as she clicked on the first story.

The group read in near silence for close to an hour. Finally it was Lucy herself who broke the spell, pushing back from her monitor.

"Okay, I just read a rollicking adventure tale about a WWI mission we never went on, a careful examination of our effort to get back to the present from the French and Indian War, and a story where Wyatt did something stupidly brave and ended up in the hospital."

"Actually, he seems to do that a lot in these stories," Jiya commented. "I've read at least a half dozen since last night where you need some kind of medical care."

"Seriously?" asked Wyatt.

Jiya nodded, knowingly.

"Well," Rufus stood and stretched. "I'm just gonna say it-I am super happy that the new timelines we've returned to haven't been as crazy as some of these," he pointed to the computer. Sitting back on his stool, he continued, "I mean-some of these stories have us returning to timelines where one of us doesn't exist, or where one of us has a kid…. Returning to a timeline that had changed that much would be disturbing, is all I'm saying. I'm just glad we haven't had to experience it."

"Speak for yourself," said Wyatt. "I returned to a timeline where my wife was back from the dead and second-in-command of the nefarious shadow agency that we're working to stop. That was plenty strange enough for me, thanks."

Rufus nodded, quietly.

Jiya walked toward Wyatt, handing him her tablet. "And on that note….well, I'm just gonna say it. These people," she indicated the tablet, "These writers….they seemed to recognize Jessica as the lying manipulative Rittenhouse bitch she is a long time before you did."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause you knew all along, right? I mean, you binge-watched TV with her!"

Jiya shrugged. "Okay, so these people seemed to have her figured out a long time before any of us did."

Lucy pushed back from the screen, rubbing at her eyes. "So….what is this all about. I mean, how do these people know about Jessica, or about Rittenhouse….or about any of this?"

Rufus shook his head, "I'm more interested in why, why would they write….any of this?"

Wyatt stood, and then began to pace in front of the stools. "Maybe….maybe they're trying to tell the world about these missions….like one of these groups that tries to 'out' secret government information or something?"

"Still, someone must be providing the information," said Lucy, "If it's not coming from the government directly….who's the leak?"

Rufus jumped up, snapping his fingers. "Karl, gotta be Karl, right? I never trusted that guy."

"Because he was trying to kill us." shrugged Lucy.

"Think we gotta think bigger than Karl," said Wyatt, expanding his pacing to circle the whole computer bank. The next time his pacing pattern passed her, Lucy put a hand on his elbow to still him.

"But, what about the stuff that isn't true?"

Wyatt paused in his motions, meeting her eyes for a fleeting moment, then turning more toward Rufus and Jiya. "Is it as simple as whoever is feeding them the information….wherever they're getting it from….that the source is wrong sometimes?"

Jiya quirked an eyebrow at him. "I don't know….some of it….it's not like it's bad information….it seems more like they're writing about what could happen….or maybe what should happen."

"Which is why this whole thing is beyond crazy," nodded Rufus.

Jiya flashed him a look that was inscrutable to Lucy. "Maybe."

Wyatt leaned back against the countertop, narrowing his eyes, "What are you thinking, Jiya?"

She sighed, looking from one team member to the next. "Okay….this is gonna sound maybe a little bit crazy…."

Lucy smiled thinly, "Crazy is what we do….out with it."

Jiya bit at her lower lip, then spoke, "Do you guys know about 'maktub'?"

"Maktub?" asked Wyatt, "It is written."

Rufus scoffed, "What?"

Wyatt continued, "Arabic, for 'it is written', the idea that fate is already determined, can't be changed….it is written."

Lucy absently pulled her hair back from her face. "Interesting….but I highly doubt that when they talk about 'it is written' they mean 'it is written', for real….on the internet."

Jiya shrugged, "Like I said, crazy."

Wyatt rubbed his hand over his face. "Besides, we already know that can't be true. Because…."

"We've changed stuff." said Lucy.

Jiya shrugged, "Unless these stories are somehow encompassing all possible timelines."

Rufus gave her a quick smile, "You get deep when you're sleep-deprived, you know."

She shrugged, "I'm always deep."

Wyatt grabbed a tablet, skimming through more pages. "So-your theory is that's why some of the info in these stories isn't what we remember-because it's describing other timelines?"

Lucy inclined her head toward the screen behind her. "So, in another timeline, we all met in high school?"

Wyatt held up his tablet, "Or we're in the entertainment industry?"

"Any other ideas?" challenged Jiya.

"Okay," said Rufus, "Even if we go with the idea of this is describing all possible timelines….it still doesn't explain where the information comes from….I mean, unless you're talking' like a higher power or something?" asked Rufus.

Jiya shrugged. "Just one idea. But if these stories are giving us a window to other timelines….there could be other explanations about where the information comes from."

Rufus tipped his head to the side, "Could be there's more than just the two time machines, out there bouncing between timelines."

"That's disturbing," said Wyatt.

"That's worse than disturbing," corrected Lucy.

"Okay, let's hold off on worry about extra time machines panic for a bit, okay?" said Rufus. "Let's just concentrate on the ones Connor invented."

"Speaking of him," said Jiya, "Where is everybody? It's gotta be mid-morning by now."

"Connor's in New York," said Rufus, "That big tech conference thing."

Jiay nodded, "Right, I forgot. And Flynn and Agent Christopher?"

"Agent Christopher and Flynn were going to some meeting today….trying to get that indemnity deal worked out."

"And they didn't say goodbye?" groused Rufus.

"I'm sure he was happy enough to get out of here that he didn't think twice about coming to the docking bay."

"Okay then," interrupted Wyatt. "Enough about Flynn. Let's get back to it….figure this out."

"Aye aye, Captain." Jiya mock-saluted him.

To be continued...

A/N: Giving reviews spreads joy-and we all like to spread joy, right?