A/N: this came from a prompt by 93MANIAC: season 2 where Lucy has to save a heavily pregnant woman from Carol and Emma on her own because Wyatt is injured and Rufus has to guard the lifeboat
This is my first prompt, and I'm so used to writing and thinking about Lyatt that I had to include it. So I'd say this is about half mission, half Lyatt. My first attempt at writing any kind of mission fic, so hopefully I did the show and it's spectacular characters justice.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: If they were mine, we'd have all the seasons and not have to poke and prod NBC for 3
This shouldn't be happening. The entire mission had broken down, and it all happened in a split second. One minute they're hiding behind a tree, and the next Wyatt is crumpling to the ground with a Rittenhouse goon threatening both of their lives.
It was just minutes after leaving the lifeboat in the field that they stumbled upon a small town that wasn't on the maps they had looked at before departing. The word 'town' may have even been generous, as it was about two blocks worth of storefronts with a smattering of cabins in the immediate surroundings.
Wyatt was unsure how to proceed. "Lucy?"
"I guess this town was too small to really be worth putting on a map back then."
Rufus chimed in, "Do you think this is where Emma came? Could she have known about this place somehow?"
"I don't know. It wouldn't take long to look around and ask if anyone has seen her, so we might as well get going." Just as she finished talking, they caught a flash of red hair ducking into a carriage. "Over there!" Lucy took off, following the carriage with Wyatt and Rufus hot on her heels.
"Lucy that thing has wheels, we can't keep up with it." Wyatt tugged on her arm until she came to a stop and turned to face him. "Besides it would be better if we weren't so damn obvious. Look, this place is so small. She can only go so far. Let's stick to the sidewalks, find some clothes, and try to blend in. It won't take us long to find her again." He didn't release her, but he loosened his grip and slid his hand down to her elbow. Lately, he couldn't restrain himself from the small touches. They may have agreed to accept the fact that he was happy with Jessica, but he was struggling to convince himself of the validity of that statement. He knew he was being cruel to Lucy, if her flinches every time he touched her without the job as an excuse were any indication. But he couldn't help himself. He's been noticing that he prefers the casual touches with Lucy over really anything with his wife. Damn, he really need to talk to Jess and end things before he screws up any more than he already has.
Lucy finally pulled her arm from his grasp and took a step back without meeting his eyes. Instead, she looked at Rufus. "Okay, that's a good plan."
Wyatt needed to talk to her, and maybe this blending in was exactly what he needed to get his thoughts across to her. He gave Rufus a significant look, hoping he would understand. "Rufus. Since we're still so close to the lifeboat, you think it might be a good idea for you to stick close to it? Just in case this ends up being a ploy to draw us away like in 1754."
Rufus glanced between his two friends, completely aware of what Wyatt was doing. "Uhh, Lucy?"
Lucy gave him a resigned smile. She knew some conversations were inevitable. "It's fine, Rufus. Wyatt does make a good point." Rufus reluctantly turned away and walked back in the direction they came from with a quick glance over his shoulder at Lucy.
"Alright, Professor, let's get you out of those pants." They both froze. Damnit, that's not how I wanted to start this conversation. "That's not—"
"It's fine, Wyatt. I know what you meant." That wall that she's been putting up? Yeah, he definitely just ran smack into it, and it didn't seem to be moving as she walked into the closest store. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and followed her into the store, where she was already flipping through different dresses.
Lucy could see him enter the store out of the corner of her eye, but she was resolute in her decision to not look at him. Not after that comment had brought her back to Hedy Lamarr's guest house and left her cheeks a shade pinker. She only looked up when she saw him start to wander around the section containing men's clothes. And suddenly she was back in the wardrobe bay of Mason Industries, holding up a dress for his opinion, with the weight of another man's engagement ring on her finger.
How simple those days were, hours before the spark of his lips on hers, seven years before the glide of his fingertips along her spine, the press of his chest into hers, and the burn of stubble along her neck. If she could go back to the days from before where she could casually talk about anything with him and easily suppress her growing affection, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
These feelings and memories were going to drown her, and she'd know that experience better than most.
This time, she selected a dress without his input and left for the bathroom while the shop owner was distracted. She didn't even spare him a glance as he watched her retreating form.
When she emerged from the bathroom after successfully changing into the constricting dress and balling up her modern clothes to stash in a corner somewhere, a fully-dressed Wyatt was waiting for her with a nervous look on his face. She ignored it in favor of getting the mission over with. "Ready to head out?"
"Just about. Here." He placed an object in her hand, and it took her a moment to fully process what it was.
"A ring?" Her face was carefully blank, afraid that he could hear the pounding of her pulse because she swore it was thundering in her ears.
"Yeah, look I have a ring, so it would be weird to see an unmarried woman walking around with a married man, right?" He didn't miss the way she flinched when he referred to himself as married. God, he had a lot of work to do.
"You could just take your ring off." If she wanted to say forever instead of for the mission, well that was just her traitorous heart doing something totally uncalled for. But Wyatt's face said that he heard her unvoiced thoughts anyway.
Luckily, he chose to make a joke instead, "And leave a modern wedding ring to stay in the past? Who knows what kind of technological advances could come from this type of metal." She rolled her eyes at the jab, but his smirk dropped away and he continued, "Besides, the only way I'll be taking this off is if, when we get back, the talk I plan to have with Jessica goes the way I think it will."
Lucy's brows furrowed as she looked into his eyes, the blue pleading for her to catch his implication. She dropped eye contact, but slipped the ring on her ringer anyway. She couldn't find anything to say, but she figured the gesture would say enough. The newlyweds then walked out of the store and started scanning the streets for any sign of Emma or the carriage.
"While we're just wandering the streets, could we talk? I have some things I need to say."
Lucy glanced at him briefly, but otherwise maintained her forward progress, "I guess."
"I miss you."
"Wyatt, we live and work together."
"I know, but it's not the same. You may be around, but you've been avoiding me and you've completely closed yourself off."
"Hey—"
"Can you please just let me talk for once? You're constantly telling me what's going to make me happy, and what I should and shouldn't do in this situation with Jessica. But I think it's about time I actually speak my mind without you interrupting and pushing me away. Can I do that?" Lucy just nodded her head. "Thank you. I know I'm supposed to be happy with Jess, and I am sometimes. But it's not the same happiness I feel with you. I would rather touch your arm than kiss my wife. And I feel terrible for letting the guilt I felt over her death decide how I was going to handle the situation. And I hate how I hurt you in the process. And yes, I miss you even though you are physically present. Because I am not the same man that married Jess. Because there is this whole side of you that is fierce and dangerous, but clumsy and starstruck over historical figures. You have this selflessness and you are truth and good in a world that has done nothing but tear you down. And when you close off that side of yourself to me, you may be present but you aren't actually here. So yes, I miss you."
"Wyatt." Her voice didn't reveal any kind of emotion, but she was looking off into the distance. He didn't notice that they had made it to the outskirts of the town where the little houses were until he finally took stock of their surroundings. That's when he noticed Emma and Carol in front of a house, speaking to a woman who was very pregnant.
He shot Lucy a sheepish expression, "To be continued?"
She just smiled and nodded.
As they began making their approach, the interaction between Emma and the woman began escalating, and their conversation traveled. "No! I refuse. I told you, I like my life here. I have a family, and I won't leave them for your mission."
Emma looked pissed, "You were trained for this mission solely because of your hard and fast loyalty. Don't you dare back out now!"
"I was barely a kid when Rittenhouse dropped me off here. It has been over a decade. My loyalties have changed, and I can't go through with it."
Emma seemed to have enough of the talking, because she pulled out her gun and tapped the barrel against the woman's protruding stomach. "If your loyalties have changed so much, then stay loyal to this kid. Keep him alive by coming with us to complete your mission." She cocked the gun and watched the dread fill the woman's eyes. "Or don't."
Wyatt and Lucy picked up the pace as Emma started to usher the woman in front of her in the direction of the carriage. "Emma!"
She lifted her gun and shot a round in their direction as Wyatt pulled Lucy behind a tree for cover. He didn't see the Rittenhouse goon sneak up on his other side with a rock. Wyatt had no time to react before he was seeing stars and crumpling to the ground, nearly blacking out.
"Wyatt!" Lucy's scream was blood-curdling, and she immediately charged the man.
But his reaction was quick. He grabbed her throat and shoved her up against the tree. "I wouldn't, Princess. Not unless you want your precious soldier to get another head wound. Besides, we both know you can't beat me. You can't beat Rittenhouse." With that, he dropped her to the ground and walked back to Emma.
Lucy immediately crouched down to a barely-conscious Wyatt, and took his face in her hands. "Wyatt? Hey, come on. You can't close your eyes. Stay awake for me."
He blinked slowly and let out a deep sigh, "M'fine." He started to try getting up, "Let's g'save'er."
"Oh no. Hell no." Lucy kept him on the ground, leaning up against the tree. "You can barely speak, you are absolutely not going to try and fight Rittenhouse. I'll go."
He may have been severely concussed, but he still shook his head vehemently. "Luce—can't take'em. Can't lose you."
She softens, "And I can't lose you, okay? That's why I need you to stay here. Because if you go out there, I will for sure lose you, and that's not an option. At least I have a fighting chance. My mom is with them, and she can never follow through with trying to kill me. I'll be fine. I promise I will be right back." Despite the strength in her voice, she wasn't so convinced that her statement held true. That's why she gave in a pressed a kiss to Wyatt's cheek before getting up and running in the direction of the carriage.
She should have known the carriage would lose her tail. Frankly, she was lucky to have stumbled upon it in the woods not far from the next big town. It seemed the horses were in need of water, and the pregnant woman was taking a bathroom break. Lucy took a moment to hide behind a tree, and assess the situation. She may be in love with a reckless hothead, but she has always found strength in her brain.
From what she could tell, Emma, Carol, and the goon were all out behind the carriage, probably discussing plans while the horses were drinking out of some buckets. That meant the pregnant woman was the only one inside the carriage. She thought that if she moved quickly and quietly enough, she might be able to commandeer the carriage and get them out of there.
Looking down at her behemoth of a dress, she realized it would not keep her quiet or allow her to move quickly. So she shed as many layers as she could, leaving her in a bland, shapeless, length of fabric that claimed to be the bottommost layer of her dress.
With that completely, she began slowly inching her way around the trees until she was more head on with the horses and out of sight of the group behind the carriage. As she approached the carriage, she stole glances underneath, and counted feet to make sure she hadn't been seen.
Unfortunately, she couldn't stay in front of the horses forever. Climbing inside meant risking revealing herself to the enemy.
What would Wyatt do?
Lucy spied the now-empty buckets sitting in front of the horses and picked one up. It seemed pretty sturdy, so she got a good grip and slid against the outside of the carriage. When she passed the passenger opening and the woman spotted her, she motioned to be quiet and waited for a nod of acceptance. She continued on until she caught a glimpse of red hair around the corner. She reared back and hit Emma as hard as possible in the back of the head, then she reacted faster than any other moment in her life and grabbed her mother, positioning her between the goon with a gun and herself.
"I know you said I can't take you, but I know for sure that my mother could never physically harm me herself. And you wouldn't kill her because of her importance to the cause."
The goon sneered but cocked the gun anyway.
"You really want to take that risk? I've barely got any body parts showing right now. The chances that you'd actually hit me and not her are pretty slim. How would Nicholas Keynes react if he found out you were so sloppy?" He slowly lowered the gun, but didn't relax his stance. "That's what I thought. Now. I am going to walk backwards slowly and when I get to the carriage, you can have my mother back. I've figured out by now that she has no interest in being on the right side of history." She started walking slowly with Carol still acting as a human shield. "Oh. And when Emma wakes up from her nap, tell her that was much more satisfying than the lunch tray."
As Lucy approached the carriage, she shoved her mother at the goon and jumped in. She grabbed the reins and got the horses moving quickly. Bullets from the goon ricocheted off the frame, but Lucy was undeterred, steering until they were out of sight.
A few minutes later, when they were far enough away, the pregnant woman leaned forward. "Not that I'm not thankful, but who are you? And why did you call that woman your mother?"
"Well, it's pretty complicated. But the short version is that I am Rittenhouse royalty, but was never told anything about them until I was recruited to stop a terrorist hellbent on destroying them. And now we work together because Rittenhouse is basically trying to control the world."
"Wait, you're Lucy Preston? Wow. I had heard of you but I never saw a picture. They always talked about you like some monster who had to be stopped. And now you've saved my baby's life. Thank you. How can I repay you?"
Lucy smiled back at her as she slowed the horses upon her approach to the tree where she left Wyatt. "Well for starters, you can help me get my friend up in the carriage with us. He's pretty badly concussed, so I don't know how much help he'll be to himself. The woman nodded. "You stay here, and I'll bring him around so you don't have to get out."
Lucy rounded the tree and touched Wyatt on the shoulder, hoping that he was conscious enough to wake at that. "You're back." His smile was wobbly and his face was scrunched in pain. His eyes seemed marginally clearer, though, so Lucy felt encouraged that she could help him up without too much difficulty.
"Hey Master Sergeant," she couldn't help but brush her fingers along his stubble when he looked at her like that. When she caught sight of the ring on her finger, she immediately backed away, remembering the woman he was actually married to. "We are going to get you in that carriage there and take you back to the lifeboat so you can get home and rest. I need you to try standing up for me."
"Mkay." She put one hand under his elbow and the other on his back, shifting so that his arm draped along her shoulders when they were both upright. She tried valiantly to not think about the placement of his arm and how eerily similar it was to its location in a 1955 trunk. She couldn't think about how his breath was now on her face just like in so many instances where she felt him crawling into her heart and taking up residence.
Come on, Lucy. Focus on getting got the carriage without dropping him. Don't get distracted. By repeating this in her head, she managed to get Wyatt to the opening. And with the woman's help, she pushed him up onto one of the seats.
"Wyatt, this is—wow, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to ask for your name."
"Margaret."
"Margaret, this is Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan. Wyatt, this is Margaret. She was the sleeper, but refused to go through with the mission. We are taking her back home. And in return, she will be moving away with her family and changing her name so Rittenhouse can't find her again."
"Nice to meet you, Margaret."
"You as well, Master Sergeant."
"Wyatt's fine."
Lucy climbed into her seat and got control of the reins, turning them into the direction of Margaret's house just visible on the horizon. When they reached the front, Lucy went to help Margaret out of the carriage, but Wyatt was already standing. "Wyatt, damnit sit down. I can handle this. You should rest."
He sent a sheepish expression over his shoulder at her and complied, "Yes, ma'am."
He sat back down and Lucy helped Margaret down from the carriage and into her house. "Would you like to change into some real clothes? I actually still have the yoga pants and sweatshirt they dropped me off in. I like to wear them around to relax in. I get kind of nostalgic about my teenage years, some 100 years from now. I told my husband everything when we got married, so he's gotten used to it."
"Are you sure? I can probably just find another dress to steal. I don't want to completely sever your connection to our time."
Margaret smiled softly. "It's fine. Staying connected to the present means staying connected to Rittenhouse, and I just want a clean break."
"Then I would appreciate that very much." She followed Margaret into her room, where she dug out said clothes and handed them off to Lucy before leaving the room to give her some privacy.
She spoke louder to make sure Lucy heard her. "Besides, the intensity with which Wyatt was staring at you in that sad excuse for a dress was probably not good for his head." She smirked. "Maybe you'll get a chance at a fresh start with him after all of this is over."
Lucy paused while pulling the sweatshirt over her head, but then continued and replied, "It's a little more complicated than that." She stared at the ring on her finger for a moment before shaking her head and leaving Margaret's room. The two women walked to the front door together.
"it always is, isn't it?"
As Lucy walked out of the door, she turned and said a quick farewell, "Thank you, and please go have an amazing life with your family."
Margaret placed her hand on her belly and smiled, "Thank you, we will. Now go home and figure out those complications. I don't get any romantic comedies in this time, so I need to know there's a happy ending here."
Lucy let out a surprised laugh and looked fondly back at Wyatt in the carriage, who returned the affectionate glance. Turning back to Margaret, she confessed quietly, "I think there just might be."