A/N: The first half of this was posted as a drabble in my "Things You Said Through Time" collection but I got a few comments and reviews asking for a continuation which has now become a multichip lol. I have chapter two finished already and normally I would wait till I'd at least finished Chapter 3 but I'm going to be out of town a lot in the coming few weeks so I ran a poll on twitter to see what everyone preferred and posting this story tonight won by a landslide.

Enjoy!

angellwings

Habit of You

By angellwings

Chapter One: The Set Up

Wyatt was not a fan of weddings and not just because they reminded him of his own failed marriage. Sure, that was a factor, but there was much more to it. When you're single at a wedding someone in the bridal party always anticipates introducing you to other single people. Like the happiness of the newlyweds was a guarantee that other people could find love too. And maybe they were right, but Wyatt wasn't looking for anyone. He'd had his shot at wedded bliss as far as he was concerned and he blew it. He doubted what he had with Jess could happen twice in his lifetime. Jessica was much too good for him anyway. Everyone told him so, his whole life.

And he'd proved them right.

He'd sat in the back during the ceremony and then raced out of there as soon as it was over. He was one of the first guests to arrive at the reception. He knew he couldn't leave the reception until he'd at least talked to the bride and groom. One of his Delta Force buddies, Bam-Bam, had married a musician. A drummer, Wyatt was pretty sure. He'd only met Celia a handful of times, but she seemed nice enough and Dave was certainly crazy about her.

He remembered Dave telling him that Celia's band was playing the music for the wedding. It was what they did, after all. They were a professional cover band for weddings, parties, and corporate events.

When he entered the tents that housed the reception he heard the band doing their sound check. Which meant he was extremely early. He found his seat which was apparently at the same table as Celia's band, judging by the handbags and coats spread across the chairs. A bright laugh sounded from the stage and he felt a jolt deep in his chest. His eyes sought out the source of the laugh that caused the strange thrill he felt somewhere inside of him and he found it.

The brunette standing in front of the microphone in a fitted lemon yellow dress laughed again at something the lead guitarist said and he felt the same jolt again. He loved that laugh. He'd never heard it before but he wanted to hear it again. Her eyes sparkled and her smile was wide. His eyes raked over her and he prayed she didn't notice him staring. He grinned when his eyes landed on her bare feet. The shoes were discarded next to the microphone stand.

She was beautiful and he was instantly drawn to her. He gulped and inwardly cursed. He stood from the table and headed for fresh air. This wasn't going to happen. He did not want to meet anyone. It was better to be alone. Jess couldn't take his career and Jess was the sweetest and most patient woman he'd ever met. If she couldn't handle it then who could? No one.

He took a deep breath when he reached the open night sky and sat down in the grass. Open space was just what he needed. He sat in quiet peace for an indeterminable amount of minutes. A few other guests had started to trickle in and he could see even more cars trying to park in the distance. So he guessed he'd been sitting in the grass for fifteen to twenty minutes.

"Well, you look comfortable," a female voice said from behind him. "Mind if I join you?"

He knew exactly who he would see when he turned around. The voice matched the laugh. "Help yourself," he said with a small grin as he turned to face the brunette from Celia's band. "You might want to be careful with your dress, though, can't have the wedding singer ruining her outfit."

She laughed and he let out a soft hiss at the now familiar jolt in his chest.

He saw her carefully lay a shawl on the ground beside of him before she sat with her legs extended out in front of her. She leaned on her left hand and held her right out toward him.

"I'm Lucy," she said as he accepted her hand. "You are?"

"Wyatt," he said as they shook hands.

"Ah," she said with a smile. "Dave's friend. He's mentioned you once or twice."

"And you're in Celia's band," he told her. It was all he knew about her. Dave had never mentioned her.

"And former room mate," Lucy said with a chuckle. "She kicked me out to make room for Dave. Now I live with this girl who, while perfectly nice, has Star Trek posters covering every wall in her living room. But an affordable room is an affordable room."

"Star Trek's not so bad," Wyatt offered. "Used to love the original as a kid."

"Never really been a scifi fan myself," she told him. "I'm more of a history nerd. I could binge History Channel all day long, though I'd probably spend half of it yelling at them for being wrong."

He chuckled at her and turned to really look at her for the first time. God, she was even prettier up close. Her hair framed her face in long soft waves and her eyes were a very warm and inviting shade of brown. He had to remind himself to breathe before he could manage to speak.

"You were one of those nerdy over achievers in school, weren't you?"

"My mother is a history professor. It would have been considered a personal slight against her if I wasn't the absolute perfect student," Lucy said with a chuckle. But there was a dark edge to it that told him there was more to that story. She gave him a long once over and, maybe he'd imagined it, but she seemed to linger on his eyes longer than necessary. "Let me guess, you were one of those athletic under achievers who snuck beer onto the football field after practice?"

His brow furrowed and he smirked at her. "That was oddly specific."

"But accurate, right?" She asked with her own smirk.

"Unfortunately," he admitted with a self deprecating grin.

"I'm sure you enjoyed high school more than I did," Lucy told him with a kind smile. "I don't think I broke a single rule during all four years of high school."

"I'm pretty sure I broke every rule at least once," he told her with a chuckle.

"So, what you're saying is that we would not have been friends?" She asked with a teasing smile.

"Highly doubtful, ma'am."

"Ma'am?" She asked with a slightly offended expression. "Do I look like a ma'am to you? Cause I'm pretty sure we're basically the same age."

He gave her a crooked smirk and took in the attitude in her expression. He already liked this woman. Probably too much. "Delta Force. You see, when you're in the special forces, they teach you to be polite."

She lifted a brow and smiled slowly. "And does that line normally work for you, soldier?"

He shrugged as he chuckled. "Sometimes." More like always.

"Probably more than sometimes given those baby blues of yours," Lucy said as she threw a flirtatious grin at him.

"You been looking at my baby blues, have you?" He asked her with a teasing smirk.

She blushed and ducked her head. "Sort of hard to ignore them."

He scratched the back of his neck nervously before tossing her a bashful smile. "Kinda like your laugh, I guess."

Their eyes met and her blush deepened. Their gazes and smiles lingered on each other for a long moment. Neither of them were really sure where to go from here.

"No! You've already met!" A voice yelled in a dismayed tone.

They both jumped slightly and looked up to find Celia and Dave striding toward them. Celia was the one who'd yelled. Dave laughed as they came to a stop in front of them.

"She wanted to be the one to introduce you," Dave explained. "She was convinced sparks would fly."

Lucy bit her bottom lip nervously and gave Wyatt a secretive glance. Even having just met her he knew what she was trying to say. Celia definitely wasn't wrong. They'd felt quite a few sparks. Despite himself, he wanted to feel more of them. He knew he didn't deserve to but damn it if Lucy wasn't already addictive.

They settled for moving past the awkward moment and focusing on the bride and groom instead. Lucy almost immediately started a hushed one on one conversation with Celia and Wyatt, sensing it was something private had turned his back on the pair to talk to Dave.

"Congratulations, man," Wyatt said as she patted his friend on the back. "Never thought I'd see the day with the amount of women you used to pick up," he said with a teasing smirk.

"Hey, you know, it's honestly astonishing that Celia came back into my life at all so I wasn't going to waste it," Dave said with a soft grin.

Wyatt nodded. Celia and Dave had grown up together, sweethearts from age 13 until high school graduation. But they'd broken up and gone their separate ways over a fight about Celia going to school in California. They grew apart until one day right after Dave moved to San Francisco he'd run into Celia at the grocery store. It was the first time they'd seen each other in years and yet it all still felt the same, he'd said. Dave wasted no time moving the relationship along. They'd only been back together about three months when Dave proposed. It seemed sudden to everyone who knew him now, but he knew for him and Celia this felt like it was a long time coming.

Wyatt was a bit jealous of their story. His was similar only it didn't have so happy of an ending. He'd married his childhood sweetheart when he was very young, probably too young, and they'd grown apart instead of together. Where as Dave and Celia separated and had time to figure out who they were before coming back together. Maybe if he and Jess had done that they'd still be together. He'd never know and he shouldn't dwell on it, but sometimes…

Well, he didn't like to fail. It wasn't so much that he was still in love with Jessica. He would always love her in some way, but he knew he wasn't in love with her. But the fact that he failed at making her happy made him question whether he could make anyone happy. So, yeah, every now and then he studied his failure and wondered how he could improve. What could he do differently? Although, he'd only met one person recently who made him want to put his thoughts on that subject into practice. He glanced over at Lucy from the corner of his eye and wondered what she'd say if he asked her to dinner or out for a drink. She seemed interested. The attraction was certainly mutual. He could tell.

He heard Dave laugh and he turned to look at him when he realized neither of them had said anything for several minutes.

"Man, Celia is not going to let me forget this," Dave told him with a grin. "She said you'd like Lucy and I said I didn't think you were in a place to really like anyone right now. She was right. I was wrong."

"I'm not sure I understand why I like her, though," Wyatt admitted sheepishly. "All she did was laugh once and it was like I couldn't see anything else. I don't know anything about her except she was a nerd in high school, her mom's a professor," he paused and then smirked before he continued. "And she doesn't like to be called ma'am."

"Which I'm sure means you plan to call her that for the rest of the night. I know you, Logan," Dave said with a chuckle.

"Can't blame me if her irritated expression was pretty damn attractive," Wyatt said with a grin.

"If you like her," Dave told him with an encouraging expression. "Then don't talk yourself out of it, man. You deserve to be happy. I know you think otherwise given how things ended with Jess, but you do deserve it. So, just...enjoy it, okay?"

"Yeah," Wyatt said with a sigh. "I think I'm starting to see that."

Okay, so she'd talked to the extremely handsome blue eyed stranger and maybe even flirted a little but now she wished she hadn't because Celia looked like the cat that ate the canary and that was never a good thing. Besides, Lucy was already seeing someone...sort of. Maybe. If she could get passed the blind rage that filled her every time she thought about his stupid stubbly face. But that was an issue for another time.

"What are you doing?" Lucy hissed at Celia in a harsh whisper.

"I believe I just got married," Celia said with a teasing smirk as she motioned down the length of her wedding dress.

"Celia, seriously," Lucy said as she lifted an accusing brow at her.

"Oh, come on," Celia said with an eye roll as she pushed a fly away strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. "Wyatt's great. Just what you need."

"You remember that I'm seeing Noah, right?" Lucy asked with a small grin. "Doctor with a stupid stubbly face who always brings us an expensive bottle of wine when he comes over and actually calls when he tells me he will-"

"And lies to you about being besties with your super controlling mother."

Ouch. Yeah, okay, that was the truth but did she have to throw it at her like that? "He didn't really lie," Lucy said lamely.

Celia scoffed. "Yeah, okay. That's bullshit. Did he know about you and your mom?"

She sighed and tried to shove down the anger boiling in her gut. "Yes."

"Then there's no excuse," Celia said with a shrug.

"You never liked him anyway," Lucy said with a small grin.

"Nope, but this has nothing to do with that. As your friend, I know you deserve better."

"Better than an attractive and successful doctor?" Lucy asked in amusement.

"Better than a liar and a phony," Celia told her with a grim expression. Lucy sighed and shook her head just as Celia's serious expression faded away and she turned a gentle smile on Lucy. "But Wyatt? Wyatt is legit. The real deal. Trust me. I mean, you're not speaking to Noah right now anyway, right?"

Lucy nodded and gave her a skeptical glance.

"And you definitely felt something with Wyatt, didn't you?"

Lucy smiled slowly at Celia and begrudgingly admitted, "Yes."

"Then give it a shot, for me at least," Celia asked her.

"Fine," Lucy agreed with a shake of her head. "But only because you're the bride."

"Hell, yes I am," Celia said with a beaming smile. "But really, Lucy, are you not pissed at Noah? I would be."

"I'm totally pissed," Lucy declared as her lips set in a firm line and she clenched her hands into fists. A second later her hands relaxed and she let out a calming exhale. "I'm just...trying to understand. I mean he's still Noah. Knowing my mother doesn't automatically make him just like her, does it?"

"He lied to you, Luce," Celia reminded her. "And didn't you say he kept trying to get you to set up dinner or a brunch or something with her? Like begging you to meet her so you two could patch things up?"

"Yeah," she said with a furrowed brow. "But maybe he was just being a concerned friend?"

"Or maybe he was doing your mother a favor," Celia said in a wary tone. She already knew that thought had crossed Lucy's mind.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know. I mean, my mother is a piece of work but would she really send some guy to spy on me?"

"I'm just saying, something to think about. Either way, this whole situation is weird and I don't trust him," Celia said with a shrug and worried glance. "Besides, before all this drama you told me you didn't even think you liked him that much."

"I said I wasn't sure that I liked him as much as he likes me, and I'm still not sure about that. But I feel like I should like him. I mean, he's nice and has a steady job. He's attractive, not afraid of commitment, and stable. Do you know how rare of a find that is around here?" Lucy paused and then chuckled as she gave Celia's bridal gown a once over. "Of course you don't. You have Dave."

"Are you kidding? Not even Dave checks all of those boxes," Celia said with a soft laugh. "He's never going to be 'stable' not with his job. Even now when he's on a stateside mission I never know when he's going to be working or at home. I mean, he's on call right now. I'm not kidding. He has his phone in his jacket pocket and if he gets a call he's gone. Whatever this mission is, it's non stop. I can't make any plans that involve him ever. We're not even going on a honeymoon. We have to wait until this mission is over. Whenever the hell that will be."

Lucy shook her head at her friend in admiration and wonder. "How do you deal with that?"

"Easy, I love him. I'd rather be here when he comes home, whenever that is, that be somewhere else without him. I want whatever time he can give me as long as I get him back between missions. That's all I need. I'd put up with anything just to be the one who's there for him every moment of every day. To be the person who sees all of him. Imperfections and all," she said with warm eyes and a soft affectionate smile. "I just want to love him. That's all."

"I have no idea what that feels like," Lucy admitted glumly.

"Yet another reason to forget Noah for a while and find out what might happen with Wyatt," Celia told her brightly. "You've been dating Noah for a month. You'd know by now if you could potentially feel that way about him."

Celia was right. Celia was usually always right. She didn't feel any of that for Noah, but then Lucy had always chalked that destined kind of love up to fairy tales and daydreams. It didn't actually happen. At least not to her.