Title: The Journal

Summary: Lucy decides to do something good with the journal from her mom. Doing it will break her heart but it will make Wyatt happy and that's more important.

Timeline: Set after Lucy gets the journal in 1x14 but before Wyatt escapes/ Lucy learns of him escaping. Sort of.

A/N: Worried they're going to cancel my new favorite and wanted to write something fun and time-tavel-y! It might have gotten too fluffy at the end but Wyatt and Lucy would have the cutest baby ever (I mean how could they not, they're both so totally gorgeous) and it just kind of came out this way. I kind of had an idea of doing it all from Jess' POV but I don't really know enough about Jess to spend too much time in her head.

The Journal

1948

"Will you do it?" Lucy asked woman. "Sometime after June 18th 2002 will you take this to Jessica Henrick?"

"If I live that long," the woman said. "I will. And if I don't I'll make sure one of my girls deliver it."

"Thank you." Lucy hugged her and turned to hurry back across the street to the bar where Rufus and their new 'bodyguard' was waiting.

Once they got back to the present everything would be different. She hoped it would be at least. Wyatt would probably never have been involved with the time machine, and if he had he would have had no reason to go back in time. He wouldn't be stashed away in a black site.

The journal would explain it all to Jessica. And she would be alive. It would change everything. Wyatt would be happy...

...and Lucy would be devastated.

2002

Jessica couldn't believe how happy she was. Just two days ago she'd been so worried Wyatt would join the army and forget all about her. That she'd get left behind again. Just like her mom and older sister had left their little Texas town and her and never come back.

But Wyatt had proposed. Up on their special hill.

He was still joining the army to get away from his mean dad and to be like his grandpa. But Wyatt would be back for her or once he got stationed she could go to him. It would be hard at first, they hadn't really been apart. Not since junior high when he'd first asked her on a date and they had their first kiss under the tree. But they would make it work.

Some of her friends thought she was being crazy. That she, they, were too young. But they didn't understand how amazing Wyatt was. So what if the diamond wasn't very big. Their wedding would be small. It would be perfect because she was marrying the best sweetest guy in the world. Her Wyatt.

"Careful Jess," said Carl, her boss at the dinner. She'd almost bumped into him because she was so busy thinking about it all. Her new life as Mrs. Jessica Logan.

"Sorry Carl," she said and go the orders for him and headed back out into the restaurant. The place had the normal smattering of regulars and a couple of people passing through.

One of the strangers, a old woman with a long white braid, was watching Jessica intently. She wasn't sure why because she was just an old woman, but Jessica felt almost frightened of the lady. Like she was going to change everything.

After all the other customers had gone, the old woman was still there. Swallowing back her ridiculous nerves she walked over to the woman with the coffee pot, intent on offering her a re-fill and asking if she wanted to pay.

"Thank you my dear," the old woman said. "You're Jessica Henrick am I right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jessica said, biting her lip. How did this old woman know her name? Her first name was on her tag but her last?

"Good." the old woman said, her hand going into her bag. " I have something for you."

In her wrinkly old hands she held out a leather bound journal with the initials LP at the bottom.

"Ma'ma?" Jessica said, in confusion.

"Please take it," the old woman said. "I've waited a long time to give it to you."

Jessica took the journal with shaky hands. It felt expensive. Not that she really knew much about expensive things, but she figured with the soft leather and the special initials on it, it had to be.

The old woman left a ten dollar bill on the table while Jessica put the coffee pot down and open the journal. It smelt old. Her name caught her attention making her draw a surprised breath.

Dear Jessica,

When you get this journal it's probably going to seem very old. But it's not. In fact I haven't written it yet. I haven't met your husband yet either. I know this must sound very strange but please give me a chance to explain. It will save your life.

LP

2013

Jessica wanted to strangle Wyatt. He was the most frustrating, annoying, domineering asshole-ish husband in the world. She wished the journal would have told her that. That being a military wife wasn't all it was cracked up to be. That it plain old sucked. It wasn't that she didn't love Wyatt but part of her was just so tired of all the moving and worrying.

But she supposed LP wouldn't know about that. She hadn't - wouldn't?- know Jessica. Only Wyatt. Or maybe in the timeline she came from Jessica hadn't been this person. Maybe the journal and Jessica knowing her life came with an expiration date had changed her.

Except all she had to do was stay in the car. She wasn't going to die.

LP had said that was all she had to do to be fine. That Jessica would be safe. With Wyatt. And Wyatt would never meet LP, never go back in time to try to save Jessica, never get arrested and shipped off to a black site. That was LP's plan. To save Wyatt. And make him happy.

Jessica knew LP had feelings for her husband, it was clear in the way she wrote about him. It was also clear to Jessica that even several years after her death Wyatt was still be mourning her. Trying to fix things. With the time machine. It was super crazy but somehow made perfect sense. That was just who Wyatt was. He was like a dog with a bone. She loved -and hated- that about him.

Tonight was the night she was supposed to die. The night of the big fight in the bar that they had continued in the car. In LP's timeline it would lead to Jessica getting out in the middle of nowhere. Then she'd be abducted and killed.

So of course she stayed in the car.

Even though she wanted to strangle her husband, badly, she stayed.

"You can't just-"

"You're my wife-"

"Yeah I'm your wife but that doesn't mean that I can't have a little fun-"

"Fine you want some biker groping you-"

"He wasn't a biker and he wasn't groping. It's called dancing," she cried.

"That wasn't just dancing," Wyatt bit out.

"Let's just go home okay," she said, forcing herself to be calm. "I think I'm getting a migraine."

"It's called a hangover," he said, grinding his teeth. "Which is why you shouldn't drink-"

"Now I'm not just a slut but a drunk slut?"

"I didn't say that. Look. I'm sorry," he said, smiling over at her, fahsing her those adorable dimples. But there was a weariness in his eyes.

"I'm sorry too," she said giving him a smile too. Her eyes, she was sure, were weary too. They were fighting too much. She wasn't sure why. They just were. If it was her, him or them she didn't know. She was afraid it was her.

Because even after all these years - even when she wanted to strangle him - Wyatt was still great. Good enough that a woman he would meet in the future would care enough about his happiness to put her own aside. LP had saved Jessica's life tonight...at least if she believed the journal. And she'd done it to make Wyatt happy.

But Jessica was worried LP had done the wrong thing. She wasn't sure she was Wyatt's happy ending.

2017

Lucy felt faint as she got out of the time machine. She couldn't believe she'd done it. Couldn't believe she'd changed history. For Wyatt. It was insane. But the look on his face when they'd take him away, his desperate 'she's alive' had been so terrible. Not being allowed to see him to make sure he was okay was worse.

But now she'd fixed it. She just hoped she hadn't done irreparable damage to the world, to history. But Wyatt's wife was one woman. They'd killed so many by accident. Surely saving one person would be okay. She knew she was just kidding herself. The people on the Hindenburg living had cost Lucy her sister. What if she'd doomed some other girl to die on that road instead of Jessica?

What if Jessica hadn't headed the journal's warnings and everything was just the same?

"Where is Wyatt?" she demanded as soon as she was down on the platform.

"Still recovering in the infirmary. Why?"

It had worked. At least kind of. Wyatt wasn't locked up somewhere.

Ignoring the fact that she was still in her 1940s clothes she rushed towards medical. She had to see him, to know that Jessica was okay. That she had done the right thing. That he was...happy.

2018

"It's so cute," Lucy said, pouting. "And we need it."

"But we already have one," Wyatt countered.

"Nuh huh," she said, leaning close to him. "This Moses basket. What we have is a crib."

"And you think we need both?" he said, putting his arms around her, resting them on her small bump.

"Yes," she said, nodding, "Besides historically Moses baskets are-"

While he would love to know the whole history behind Moses basket, not because he cared all that much, but found it adorable that she did, he wanted to kiss her more.

So he did.

Thoroughly.

"Does that mean we should get it?" she asked, a little breathlessly once he pulled back.

If she thought they needed a Moses basket who was he to argue. He was just a little bit worried the baby would have more stuff than they did if she didn't slow down with the shopping. Just the baby's bookshelf was pretty impressive. At least for someone who wasn't going to be born for another three months. "Sure. Why not!"

"Wyatt?" a familiar voice said behind them. It was the voice Wyatt though he probably wouldn't hear again, much less in the middle of a baby store. Last they talked, after the divorce the divorce three years ago she'd been heading back to Texas.

Lucy's attention moved from him and the mosses basket to take in Jessica. A very pregnant Jessica and a tall blonde man. Wyatt saw it took Lucy only a few seconds to place Jessica from his old pictures and realize who she was.

He felt her try to move a way slightly from him, he held on to her tightly.

"Well this is totally random," Jessica said with a smile that looked genuinely happy. Like the smiles from back when they were kids. Her boyfriend? husband?, looked less pleased. "I can't believe it."

"Hello Jessica," Wyatt said, managing a smile too. "Good to see you. This is Lucy."

"Lucy," Jessica said, her eyes flashing with some sort of odd recognition. "Your last name doesn't start with a P does it?"

"It does," Lucy said, offering her hand to Jessica. "Lucy Preston, well, Preston-Logan. I'm going to hyphenate."

"I bet he just loves that," Jessica said, smiling even wider.

Wyatt wasn't sure what was going on. But it seemed like his ex-wife and Lucy knew each other.

And Jessica was right the whole hyphenate thing didn't really sit all that well with him. Especially since she wanted to saddle their kid with two last names (and four middle names). It annoyed him a little Jessica still knew him so well, but they had been together for almost half his life so it made sense.

"Have you two met?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

"You never told him, huh?" Jessica said.

Lucy shook her head

Now Wyatt was real confused. "What didn't you tell me Lucy?"

"Later, okay?" she said, giving him a meaningful look. It clearly had something to do with time travel and not something to be discussed in front of people.

So it wasn't until a good five minutes of Lucy and Jessica talking baby stuff and them deciding to meet up for lunch he finally got Lucy alone. He was desperate to know just what she'd done. The fact that she'd done something was shocking enough - this was Lucy, protector of history.

"What did you do?" he asked, maybe a little more heat in his voice than he meant. She'd pulled him over to a sheltered section of the store where they sold fabrics for the nursery.

"It's nothing bad. Not really," she said. Her voice was a little quaky and he hoped it really wasn't anything bad. Not that he really thought she could do something bad… and even if she did he'd forgive her just about anything.

"Just tell me," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "The suspense is killing me."

"Well remember how you said if I didn't like the future Flynn had planned for me?" Lucy said looking up at him, a bit of nervousness on her pretty face. He nodded, he remembered that pretty clearly. "When my mom gave me a journal, the journal, I decided to do something good with it instead."

"Something good?"

"Yeah, you see." She looked down. "I'm not-my timeline was-is different from yours. In my version Jessica was dead. And you loved her so much. Enough that you stole the lifeboat and went after her." Wyatt could only blink and try to comprehend that. Jess dead? That would have been pretty devastating. But from where he was standing the only person he'd ever risk screwing up history and his life for was Lucy.

"You were so sad and I wanted to give her back to you," she said quietly.

"When?" he asked, trying to think back. He realized there was only one possibility. The trip when he'd been inured and they'd had to take a replacement because Flynn had jumped.

"The-"

"That was after I took you on our first date," he said, his head spinning a little. "I was already in love with you. And you seemed to be in love with me."

"I was," she admitted, her big brown eyes shimmering. "But in my time you loved Jessica. I swear I didn't mean for things to turn out like they did. I was so surprised to hear you'd divorced her. I didn't even know if you'd remember me-"

He pulled her close, hugging her and feeling an odd paralyzing fear at the thought of not having her. Of what his life might have been in this alternate time where she claimed he loved Jess. Of Lucy giving up him, even just them as friend, so that he could have the person she thought he loved back.

"You wanted me to be happy so much you was willing to go to a alternate timeline I might not even remember you? Even though you had feelings for me? This other me?" He asked gently, wiping an escaped tear from her cheek. "You risked changing history for me?"

She nodded.

He had no words, no way of responding, no way of ever paying her back, thanking her for the life she'd given them, given him... so instead he kissed her.