Wow guys thank you for all the reviews and support! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. So this chapter had me going in a lot of different directions and I originally had a whole new scenario planned which would have made this a multiple angsty fic. I decided to keep it the fluffy slightly angsty two-shot but I am planning on an epilogue because my Wyatt won't shut up until I do a specific scene lol. Enjoy and let me know what y'all think!
As Wyatt opened the door to his apartment, Lucy could feel herself relaxing for the first time since she had turned around and saw Noah standing behind her. Wyatt locked the deadbolt and move to the fridge, "You need to put some ice on your wrist."
Lucy nodded letting out a long sigh of relief. While she knew it was technically his apartment and eventually Denise would find her own secure place, she felt at home in the small space. At home and safe which was a feeling that was becoming more fleeting every day.
She collapsed on the couch with a groan, her wrist was killing her and she could feel a migraine building behind her eyes. "I am sorry about tonight."
"Here," Wyatt handed her the ice pack, his gaze lingering on her darkening wrist, "Lucy it wasn't your fault."
"I know. I just feel bad, we had been looking forward to hanging out with Rufus and Jiya for drinks."
"There will be another night," Wyatt assured her sitting down beside her.
Lucy scoffed, "really? You think so… between Rittenhouse and crazy missions we are gone in the past more than we are home. I have a psychotic mother who wants me to join her weird cult or kill me. And if that isn't enough, I apparently had an abusive boyfriend!" She was shrieking by the end of her rant; pressing her palms tightly into her eyes, her head was pounding.
"Hey, hey," Wyatt pulled her hands down from face, forcing her to look at him, "Noah was never your fiancé or your boyfriend. He was just- "He stopped unsure how to finish that sentence.
"That's the thing," Lucy sniffled, "He was my something. I was wearing his ring and we were engaged. When we got back from Lincoln, all my stuff was in his apartment. My books, clothes, even my ratty old teddy bear. He still has it actually." For some reason, the idea of Mr. Berry still being in Noah's apartment on the bed made her burst into fresh sobs.
Wyatt held her close, "Please don't cry, Luce."
"My da-dad got him for me." Lucy told him between tears, "When Amy was born. My real dad, I mean."
He closed his eyes, feeling his heart breaking for her. She had lost too much already and there wasn't anything he could about it. He couldn't wipe Rittenhouse out of her life completely with her mother so embedded into it. No matter how tempting the idea of putting a bullet between Carol Preston's eyes for all the pain she had caused Lucy, he didn't want to be the one to do it. He couldn't be the reason she lost another person in her life.
"Okay Lucy, listen to me." Wyatt waited while she took a shuddering breath, her eyes flicking up to his, "I don't know what your alternate relationship with Noah looked like but I can't believe that any version of you would be in abusive relationship. I think Noah reacted that way tonight because he is a stuck-up asshole. Someone who believes he is the prize. The guy every girl would want and couldn't believe you would reject him. He was probably thought you were going to come crawling back and when you didn't especially after he saw you tonight, he couldn't handle it."
Lucy stared at him internally debating with herself on how much more she should reveal. Despite his outward calm, she knew his anger was being held back by a very thin strand. "This wasn't the first time he reacted that way."
Wyatt stared at her, his jaw twitching tightly, Lucy braced herself, "What do you mean," He asked slowly, "this wasn't the first time?"
"It's why a lot of my stuff is still at his apartment." Lucy paused collecting herself, "When I went over there to give him back the ring and get my stuff, he freaked out on me."
He just sat there. His hand was still softly rubbing her arm encouragingly but inside he was seething. If he found out Noah had ever put his hand on Lucy beyond tonight, he better start praying that NSA reached him first because after he got through with him, there wouldn't be enough of a body left for the birds to pick apart.
"You okay?" Lucy asked cautiously.
"I don't know. It entirely depends on what you are about to tell me. Right now, it's a toss-up on eerily calm or outrageously homicidal." Wyatt told her dryly. "Both of which will end up in his murder but will just depend on how I commit it."
She laughed weakly, "I don't have bail money for murder, Wyatt."
"Lucy, stop ducking and tell me."
She took a deep breath at his soft command, "So, it was right after we go back from Bonnie and Clyde. I knew then you were right. I couldn't keep leading him on or pretend to care about him. I mean, I didn't even know him."
"I remember. You said you guys had a disastrous date."
"It was more watching Bonnie and Clyde together. They were insane but were deeply in love. They knew every little thing about each other, what made her giggle, what made him protective… It was amazing." Wyatt heard the catch in her voice but didn't say anything, "and I realized how deeply I wanted that. To have someone look at me the way Clyde looked at Bonnie. Like she was the most beautiful girl in the whole world."
Lucy looked over at him with a sad smile, "Noah didn't look at me that way. He treated me like a companion. Someone who fit his lifestyle on paper, the history professor and doctor. There was no passion or chemistry so I went over to the apartment to tell him I couldn't marry him."
Wyatt grabbed her hand, "What happened?"
"Noah thought I came over to tell him I was moving back in. He had set up dinner, light candles, turned the bed down-the whole thing. He even had an outfit laying on the bed for me…"
"An outfit?" He questioned darkly.
Lucy blushed, "apparently in this relationship, he had very specific lingerie demands for me."
"Son-of-a bitch." Wyatt growled pushing himself of the couch, no longer able to sit still. The blood was pumping heavily through his veins, his vision clouded by an angry mist. The urge to throw his fist into the wall was strong but he didn't want to scare Lucy.
"Wyatt?"
"I'm going to ask you a question and I need you to be straight with me," Wyatt told her, his blue eyes darkening in rage and his hands shaking slightly, "Did he try to force himself on you?"
Lucy shook her head, "No but I-"
"But what?"
"But I can't say he wouldn't be capable of it."
He walked back to her kneeling in front of her. "It's okay Wyatt," Lucy assured him, "I promise. He didn't go there." Wyatt exhaled bringing his forehead to hers, "Lucy…"
"I know," Lucy whispered running her finger through his hair softly.
Wyatt squeezed her neck, "Okay, so what did he do?"
"I told him the truth. That I couldn't marry him, I had realized we wouldn't make each other happy and we had made a relationship based off facts not love. Noah laughed at first. He thought I was being an overdramatic child." She grimaced, "I have a feeling he said that a lot to the other version of me. I told him, I was not being overdramatic and I was here to give him back the ring. He tried to kiss me, tried to remind me of what we had. It felt so wrong to have his lips on mine especially when I knew what he had planned for the evening so I pushed him off."
"How did he react to that?"
"Noah didn't say anything at first. He let me grab a few things but once he saw me take the ring off, he blew up. He started yelling terrible things at me. About how I was a- " She paused suddenly shy.
"A what?" Wyatt demanded quietly although he had a pretty good idea what she was going to say.
"A slut for sleeping with you. I told him we were just co-workers and friends but he didn't believe me" Lucy hastened to tell him, "Noah overturned the table in a rage. At that point, I knew I needed to get out of there but he stood in front of the door and refused to let me leave. He said I wasn't going anywhere until we talked about this, how I couldn't just end an engagement." Lucy stopped noticing that Wyatt's face was becoming more purple. "Wyatt, you do need to breathe at some point."
He let out dramatic breath, pleased to see her give him a soft smile, "How did you get out of there?"
"I uh, dropped your name," Lucy said sheepishly, "I told him if he didn't let me go, I was going to call you to come pick me up. And he would not like it once you got there."
Wyatt curled around her protectively, "I would have castrated him."
Lucy laughed wiping her cheeks, "well it must have worked because he moved and I ran like hell. I blocked him on my phone but I guess he got frustrated by it and decided to confront me."
Wyatt rubbed her legs soothingly, "Anything else?"
She shook her head, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I honestly forgot about it until tonight. You know with my Mom and Rittenhouse, it never occurred to me that I should be looking over my shoulder for Noah too."
Wyatt hugged her to his chest "I think he got the message tonight that you're off limits but I will only be too happy to remind him if he ever tries to contact you again."
Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist, "You have to be so sick of this."
Wyatt frowned, "What are you talking about?"
"This. Me." Lucy told him sadly, "I am sorry about being such a high maintenance team member lately. I can't imagine how exhausting it is to have constantly keep an eye on me and never being able to let your guard down. I promise as soon Agent Christopher is able to arrange it, I will get out of your hair." She gave him a final squeeze before stepping back, "I'm going to go change and get out of these clothes." Lucy looked down at her outfit wrinkling her nose, "I told Jiya I wouldn't be able to do this dress justice." Without waiting for a reply, she turned to go down the hall.
Wyatt stared after shocked. She thought he was doing all this out of obligation because she was a teammate. That he was protecting her because it was his job not because she was the reason he got up in the morning. The reason that whiskey and dark thoughts were no longer his nighttime companions.
Wyatt rubbed his face angrily, of course she thought that, dumbass, he berated himself. You made one vague comment about possibilities months ago and never brought it up again. You decided she need more time to heal from her life unraveling around her.
Wyatt stormed his way into the kitchen to make her some tea. He knew he couldn't put it off any longer. It was time to tell Lucy how he felt. What good was it doing either one of them waiting to say it?
Wyatt saw it in her eyes when she apologized, she honestly believed he only thought of her as teammate or friend. She didn't see how desperately wanted to correct her when she was talking about wanting someone to look at her like she was beautiful. How it was a daily effort not to openly stare when she was sitting on the couch drinking her morning coffee. That getting to see her in a sleepy wake-up state that no one else saw with her in oversized pajamas, messy hair and grumpy expression made his pulse quicken.
Then her dress tonight had almost made him walk into a wall and the urge to punch every guy in the bar who was also actively drooling. Except Lucy didn't even notice, she never thought of herself that way, Wyatt's eyes widening remembering her last statement about not doing it justice. He shook his head, "You're a freakin idiot, Logan."
"Hey, that's my best friend you're talking about," Lucy teased suddenly from behind him. Wyatt turned with a smirk but the words got lodged in his throat. She had put on her old flannel pants with mismatched socks. Her hair was up in a loose bun but she had thrown on his old Texas Longhorn sweatshirt. It was hanging loosely off her shoulder rendering him speechless. She was smiling at him so genuinely and before he could even register that he had moved, Wyatt was standing in front of her.
"Hey are you okay- "Lucy trailed off as Wyatt cupped her face and pressed his body into hers. He could to see the brown specks of her eyes turning copper as his lips claimed hers. She instantly melted into him causing him to smile against her lips. He trailed one hand onto her waist pulling her closer, his other hand still cupping her face. Lucy gripped his t-shirt to keep herself from falling, her brain turning to goo and her limbs felt like Jell-O.
Wyatt took his time, cataloging every sigh and soft moan. She tasted like warm honey and categorically Lucy. Her sweet sent enveloped his senses until he felt lightheaded. Wyatt was pretty sure he would be content for the rest of his life just doing this, holding her and kissing her until they couldn't breathe. He pulled back slightly, his lips still grazing hers, "I love you Lucy Preston."
Lucy starred at him in shock, "Uh Wyatt, I admit my brain is not working at full capacity right now and I am pretty sure if you were to let go, I would just crumble into a melted puddle onto the floor but did you just say you love me?"
Wyatt laughed, "Yes ma'am, I did."
"Oh." She blinked at him for a few seconds, "since when?"
"Since you told me off for calling you ma'am. Since I watched Ian Fleming flirt with you and I wanted to rip his head off. By the way I can never watch the movie where you and Bond sleep together again. I snapped the DVD in half."
Lucy laughed, "too bad. I had been looking forward to watching it."
Wyatt grinned at her before turning back serious, "since you saved my life at the Alamo and every day from the moment we met. Since I kissed you in that Arkansas cabin and have not been able to stop thinking about it. Since I had to watch Flynn kidnap you and I couldn't reach you in time. Since I left you in 1954 and thought my soul was being ripped out. I love you Lucy and I should have told you a long time ago."
"Wyatt- "
"I'm not saying this because of what happened tonight," Wyatt interrupted knowing what she was about to say, "or because I feel bad or sorry for you because your life has gone to hell in a handbasket. I am saying this because it's true and it always will be true. Even if you don't feel that way about me and just want to be friends. It won't change the fact that I still love you."
"Can I speak now?" Lucy asked wryly.
He nodded nervously. She kissed his palm before smiling at up at him tears glistening in her eyes, "I love you too."
Wyatt buried his face into her hair relief spilling out from him, "I have loved you from the very time you asked me who was going to see my bra." Lucy whispered into his neck, "When we were with Bonnie and Clyde, I knew the only person who could make me feel that beautiful and special was sitting next to me. That's why I ended things with Noah. Because he wasn't you."
Wyatt reclaimed her lips, tears and happiness leaking into each caress. Without breaking the kiss, he bent down picking her up into his arms. She squealed happily against him, her arms tightening around his neck. "I better not be sleeping alone again tonight,"
"No ma'am," Wyatt growled low, "Although I don't think sleeping is going to be high on our agenda list."
Lucy smiled at him as he carried her into the bedroom. They would worry about Rittenhouse and her mother tomorrow. They had eighty four years to make up for tonight and Wyatt didn't plan on wasting another moment.
Epilogue will be up soon!
