A/N - So, I wrote a thing based on the dialogue prompt (above) that I received in my weekend writers' group. No beta used – I gave it a cursory edit myself, but that's it. The ladies and I ended up spending most of our time discussing the show once we realized we all watch it, so I guess that's why my prompt turned into a fan fic piece. I have an idea for a companion piece I might try to write next week, and I may try to use some of my other writing prompts to write similar pieces for fun, and in an effort to help build the fandom because this show deserves multiple seasons.
I studied taekwondo in middle and high school and also did judo, kickboxing, and various unarmed self-defense courses over the years. I drew from that as inspiration for this piece. All defensive moves described in the story are based on ones I've learned.
Also, each time I post anything for this fandom, I'm going to try to rec a fan video – Lyatt or team based. The one I've watched about 30x this week is Waves by Ahmidala on YouTube. Seriously, go watch it. It's really beautiful.
You can find me on Twitter and Tumblr, same username as here. If you're reading, thanks :)
"I can't believe you talked me into this."
Lucy shifted awkwardly on the large blue mat as she practiced the stance Wyatt had just shown her. She threw a few experimental punches before sweeping her leg out in a semi-circle, unsurprised when she felt her center of gravity shift. She teetered forward and then backward, windmilling for a moment before recovering.
Wyatt looked like he wanted to laugh but thought better of it as he walked over to correct her stance. "You're leaning forward too much. That's why you're losing your balance. Then you overcorrect, which is the equivalent of hitting the brakes when you skid out on a wet road. That momentum will just keep carrying you."
"You know, sports were never my thing. In case you haven't noticed I'm not the most coordinated person."
"Really? Because I never would have guessed that after watching you fall through a window and slide off a horse."
She glanced up at him – he was definitely laughing at her. She wanted to hang onto her irritation but it was difficult when he was standing so close, his blue eyes regarding her with a combination of amusement and affection.
"Let's try something different," he said. "I want to teach you a few moves you can use if someone tries to grab you."
"What about Rufus? Since both of my parents are Rittenhouse, I doubt Emma and her goon squad would actually try to kill me, but I worry about Rufus." And you, she thought. Though Wyatt was more than capable of handling himself, he'd been hurt a few times while rushing to her or Rufus' defense.
"They may not try to kill you, but kidnapping is a concern. And Emma's goons aren't the only people we need to worry about. History isn't exactly the safest place for women."
The grim tone of his voice suggested he was thinking of specific events, like the time Flynn took her and her horrifying encounter with Holmes. He grabbed a thin towel off the nearby bench. "As for Rufus, he and I have been working out together for a few weeks now."
Rufus hadn't mentioned that.
Wyatt beckoned her forward with a raised brow, as though he suspected she was just stalling now. She was – not because she didn't think it was important that she learn a few basics. It was more that she just wasn't very good at it.
With the towel wrapped around her throat from behind, he asked, "Okay, first instinct?"
Lucy leaned away from him but immediately sensed the danger in that move as the towel put pressure on her windpipe. She tried stepping sideways next, to no avail.
"Better," he said. "You never want to lean away from your attacker in this situation because you'll end up choking yourself. You had the right idea by moving to the side, but you need to twist your body when you do it."
Placing his hands on her hips, he showed her what he was talking about. They went through the motions a few times and she was surprised when she actually got it. Turning her body put the pressure of the towel against the side of her neck and allowed her to start defending herself.
"Now you need to go for the head. Use your hand to hit the side of the head, like the ear or the side of the nose. If you can reach the eyes, even better. And once you start hitting, don't stop until they let go – your biggest advantage is that they won't expect a woman your size to fight back."
They tried it a few times, and she gradually grew more confident as it became instinct to move the way Wyatt taught her to. When he tried pulling her along by the arm much like Flynn did, she was able to break his hold on her and make a run for it which, as he reminded her, was always her best option the second she was free.
Then he moved behind her again, and she waited for him to grab her throat. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bear hug style. Suddenly the room was hotter, the air she was breathing somehow denser.
"First instinct?" he asked in a low voice.
His lips brushed against the shell of her ear; she swore she could feel something ripple straight down her spine, like liquid lightning. The yoga pants and soft cotton t-shirt she wore seemed insubstantial with his body pressed along the lines of her back and hips.
The trouble with her attraction to Wyatt was that it often crept up on her when she didn't expect it. Their talk of possibilities almost felt like a different timeline – a more hopeful world before her mother revealed her Rittenhouse ties and Emma stole the mothership. Chasing her through history had been a full time job that left little room for anything else.
A small, nagging voice in her head pointed out that Rufus and Jiya managed to balance their relationship against his frequent time traveling. Shouldn't it be easier for her and Wyatt since they'd be together? Or would the strain of constant time changes and life-threatening situations eventually break them?
"Lucy?"
She shook her head. "Sorry."
After taking a few moments to consider the position in which he held her, she dropped her weight down and tried reaching back to his face. Her fingers brushed against the hair that dipped over his forehead, and she couldn't resist smoothing it down.
"Are you going to pet your attacker?" he asked dryly. "Interesting tactical approach." His voice dropped a little with the last words.
Lucy felt her face flame. "Of course not. I just wanted to see how far back I could reach." The angle was so awkward that hitting anything vital behind her was virtually impossible, even when she managed to loosen his hold. She couldn't kick back either.
"I'm gonna lift you up and show you something, okay?"
She nodded, and he tightened his hold as he lifted her and began walking backward with her.
"Try to hook your right leg around mine."
She did as he asked and he stumbled. Surprised, she pressed her advantage by slamming her head back into his face. She spun around when he released her, triumphant until she saw him holding his nose.
"Oh God, Wyatt. I'm sorry," she said as she rushed to his side. "Are you okay?"
He nodded and dropped his hands back down to his sides. "You surprised me, is all. Self-defense is a contact activity, Lucy, so you can't be afraid to hit me."
"I don't want to hurt you."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "I have over a decade of combat training. Trust me – you're not going to hurt me. Don't be afraid to make contact."
Unbidden, a memory of Amy surfaced. She'd loved eighties pop tunes as a kid, forcing Lucy to dance around the living room with her. One song in particular, about love being a contact sport, had become a private joke between them.
Amy sipped her drink and nodded at a guy across the bar. "I'd make contact with that. But seriously, if one of us needs contact it's you."
"I don't have time for… contact, Amy."
"The fact that you say that with a straight face is the reason I drag you out once a week."
"Hey."
Lucy looked up to meet Wyatt's concerned gaze. Instinctively, she reached for her locket only to remember she had taken it off before they started.
"Where'd you go?" His eyes followed the movement of her hand, and she saw the moment he understood.
"It's nothing," she said. "Again?"
She practiced the leg hook a few more times until she was confident she could do it whether her attacker was standing still or moving.
"Okay, last one for today," Wyatt said. "Go stand against that wall."
Lucy did as he asked. He stood before her, so close that when her heart rate sped up she could feel it everywhere, the staccato rhythm echoed in the tightening muscles of her pelvis. She thought she was the only one affected until she saw his eyes, pupils blown and something more than affection reflected there.
His hands ghosted up her arms until they rested against the sides of her neck. She felt the fingers of one hand drift lightly across the nape of her neck, threading through the silky hair there. For one wild moment she wondered if he was going to kiss her.
"First instinct?" His voice was soft.
She couldn't possibly be misreading his silent cues and double meanings, both of which he must have taken a master class in. But his hands had finally settled into position, forming a loose hold around her neck.
Taking a breath, she said, "Hands to the face?" She reached up and made clawing motions.
He nodded. "Good. What else?"
"Uhm… knee to the groin?" She brought her knee up but the angle wasn't quite right.
"Use the wall for leverage – push back with your shoulders and raise your hips."
She practiced clawing at his face and bringing her knee up to his groin simultaneously.
He pulled her forward, away from the wall. "Again."
Lucy attempted the same moves they'd been practicing, only to find herself flat on her back, Wyatt on his knees leaning over her.
Surprised, she said, "That wasn't how I expected that to go."
The corner of his mouth tilted up as he looked down at her. "I'll bet. Any idea why it went sideways?"
"The wall?" she guessed.
"A knee to the groin is risky if you don't have some kind of leverage. If you can grab your attacker and pull him closer, it will probably work. But you don't ever want to end up on the ground because getting away is a lot harder then."
"There must be something I could do in this position." Wow, that sounded different out loud than it did in her head. A flush crept up her neck and into her cheeks, but she didn't look away from him.
He grinned and leaned down next to her ear. "One step at a time."
A throat clearing across the room startled them both, and she glanced towards the door to see Rufus and Jiya standing there.
With a sigh, Wyatt stood and extended a hand to help her up. "Hey guys."
"Hey. How's this going?" Rufus asked – a loaded question, really. He winced when Jiya elbowed him in the ribs.
"Better than I expected," Lucy told him. Rufus raised his brows at that, but she ignored him as she turned back to Wyatt.
"All right, last time." They got back into position. "You know the knee doesn't work as well in this position, so now what?"
Suddenly, she remembered a class Amy had taught off campus. It was self-defense geared towards college girls and the dangers they were likely to encounter on campus or out with their friends. There had been something similar to the hold Wyatt had on her, and her brow furrowed as she tried to remember the countermoves.
She brought her right leg up and dragged the side of her sneaker down his shin and stepped on the top of his foot, just enough to show what she could do.
"Not bad," he said with an approving nod. "Hands?"
When she reached up between his arms, she knew he expected her to go for his face. Instead she angled her elbows out, bringing them down sharply on the inside of his elbows and then used her weight to break his hold on her.
She could tell she had surprised him, and she smiled because she knew Amy would be proud of her for that.
"Where did you learn that?" Wyatt asked.
"Amy had a black belt in karate. Has," she corrected herself. "She sometimes taught self-defense classes for college girls at the community center. She's the brave one in our family."
Wyatt's expression was serious as he said, "Hey. You know that you're one of the most heroic people I've ever met, right? From the very beginning you've pushed yourself to get the mission done, no matter what, in spite of fear and not having the skills to physically fight. All of this – me teaching you to defend yourself – it's just to keep you safe. It'll give you more confidence in yourself when we're in the field, but it doesn't mean that you weren't already pretty damn brave in my book. I never met your sister, but I know she'd think so too, Lucy."
Smiling, she shook her head. "Okay, I guess I'm glad I let you talk me into this."
"To be continued then. We should practice a couple of times a week, at least."
She tried to squash the little thrill those words produced. The irony didn't escape her given that she'd put him off as long as possible before finally agreeing to today's lesson.
"To be continued," she agreed.
She walked over to the bench where Rufus and Jiya sat and grabbed her water bottle.
"Interesting moves you're learning there," Rufus said with a grin.
And double meanings abounded today, it seemed. "Wyatt said that you two have also been working out."
"Not like that, we don't," he said under his breath, prompting another elbow jab from Jiya. "Ow."
"Ignore him," Jiya said, pushing him off the bench. She waited until he'd joined Wyatt on the mat before turning to Lucy with a curious expression.
"What?"
Jiya smirked and shrugged. "Nothing. We're all going for dinner and drinks after Rufus' lesson. You're coming, right?"
"I need a shower first," Lucy said.
"After watching you and Wyatt work out?" She used air quotes for the last words. "So do I."
"You're terrible," she said, laughing. She felt a pang of nostalgia as she realized that in some ways, Jiya reminded her of Amy.
"I get why you're moving slowly, I guess," Jiya said, this time serious. "But don't doubt for a second how much he cares about you. The way he looks at you is the real deal."
On some level Lucy knew that. Knowing just didn't necessarily make it easier to figure out a way forward.
"At least think about it."
Lucy nodded, thinking about how Wyatt had been today – lighter somehow, shifting between high key flirting and self-defense moves with ease. She wondered if that had been more his personality before tragedy struck his life. Before Jessica. The fact that he was starting to show that side of himself more was encouraging, at least.
She definitely had a lot to think about.