A/N: So I have decided that this story is going to be an ongoing series of moments. Some small, some big, some short, some long. But all of them important. Different ways Wyatt would begin to regain his ground and remind Lucy why she fell in love with him to begin with it. I'm not sure how frequently these will come to me but I imagine the more pain the show inflicts the more I will want to write about a Wyatt who is completely focused on making Lucy Preston happy.

Happy reading!

Angellwings


(2/?)

The letter from Carol Preston had been mailed to Agent Christopher's office. The one she was rarely in. But she was in it enough to check her mail. Before it even touched Lucy's hands Christopher had it thoroughly investigated and tested for any contaminants. Anything that might be a trap or a threat. They found nothing.

So a week after Carol Preston saved them all, Lucy finally got to read the letter.

He expected her to hide. Maybe read it in her and Jiya's room. But she didn't. She stayed out in the open living space. Wyatt kept an eye on her as the rest of them started a game of Monopoly. She picked one of the arm chairs and spread across it. Her legs were slung over the side of one arm and her back rested against the other.

Her brow was furrowed and she was biting down on her lip, sure signs of concentration. But he didn't see any tears yet. He supposed that was good.

One of Lucy's hands released the neatly folded pages and absently rubbed her lips. Her hands always went to her face when she was trying not to be emotional.

He checked to make sure it wasn't his turn before he got up and headed to the kitchen. He didn't want to draw attention to her. She wouldn't want that. So he casually grabbed the box of tissues off kitchen table top and then placed them in her lap. He didn't look at her or say a word. He just left them for her and then went back to the kitchen.

He put a kettle of water on the stove and then came back to the game while it boiled. He only risked a glance at her once he was seated and he found her giving him a grateful watery smile. He returned the smile and nodded at her in acknowledgement. After his next turn the water began to boil and he excused himself to make two mugs of tea.

He placed one on the end table next to Lucy's chair and kept one for himself. He didn't really like tea but making some for himself diminished any attention she might have received. His sat untouched but he was relieved to see her set the letter aside for a moment to cradle the mug and sip from it.

"Who's winning?" Lucy asked.

"Jiya," Rufus said as he gave his girlfriend a suspicious glare. "But she's playing dirty."

"You say dirty, I say smart," Jiya said with a smirk and a shrug.

"No," Wyatt said with a chuckle. "You straight up play dirty."

"I'm still following all the rules. You're just being babies cause I'm smoking you."

Lucy grinned at them and chuckled. "You realize, this game is going to take forever, don't you?"

"What else are we gonna do?" Rufus asked. "We're trapped down here and the Mothership hasn't jumped in over a week."

"Thank God," Wyatt said said in relief. "I'm starting to hate that eyeball."

"Starting to?" Rufus asked. "It's taken you this long to hate it?"

"Hey, it brought all of us together so I was trying to give it the benefit of the doubt," Wyatt said with a smirk.

"Honestly, that's probably the best thing to come from inventing a time machine," Rufus agreed with a smile and a nod. "Even if I'm stuck in this bunker for who knows how long. That makes it worth it."

Lucy smiled softly at the three of them but didn't voice her agreement. He couldn't blame her. She'd lost so much since meeting them. He wasn't sure he'd consider it worth it either were he in her shoes. After a moment she shrugged and grinned. "If nothing else, meeting exceptional people through history has been pretty thrilling."

"You would find that thrilling," Jiya said with a teasing grin. "Nerd."

"Says the engineer who regularly mourns the loss of some furball Star Trek thing," Lucy said with a smirk.

"Tribble, it's called a Tribble and I got it at Comic Con and now it's gone.I should never have taken it to work," Jiya replied with a mournful shake of her head.

Rufus chuckled at her and then rubbed her back soothingly. "Honestly, we're all nerds here."

"Not Wyatt," Jiya said as she narrowed her eyes on him. "Not that I know of at least."

Lucy and Rufus exchanged knowing looks before they both laughed. Wyatt shook his head at them and sighed. They were about to tell Jiya just how wrong she was and he was going to pretend to hate it, but really he couldn't hate it. Lucy was smiling and laughing and looked more relaxed than she had in days. They could make fun of him all day if they wanted as long as she kept laughing.

"Oh Jiya," Lucy said with a chuckle. "You have no idea how wrong you are."

Rufus nodded his agreement. "We've seen him go fanboy exactly twice and it was hilarious both times."

Jiya chuckled. "Well, I can guess one was NASCAR considering the way he talked before the jump to 1955 but what was the other one?"

"Ian Fleming," Lucy answered as she tossed a teasing grin at Wyatt. "Wyatt is a big James Bond fan."

"Okay, but who doesn't love those movies?" Jiya asked with a shrug and a smile.

"Oh no," Lucy corrected her as she continued to grin at Wyatt. "There's books too and Wyatt has read them all. Multiple times."

"A good book is a good book," Wyatt said with a sheepish smile. "You know that better than any of us, Professor. I mean you've written three of them."

Lucy's grin fell for a brief moment before it widened into a curious smile. She tilted her head and gave him a questioning look. It was at that moment that he realized he'd unintentionally given himself away. Lucy had only ever told them about her book on Lincoln.

"Three?" Rufus asked in surprise. "Seriously? I thought you just wrote that one book on Lincoln?'

Her eyes never left Wyatt's as she answered Rufus. She looked surprised and flattered.

She smiled warmly as she spoke. "One on Lincoln, one on LBJ, and one on Washington. It was a series. Now, I'm just curious, Wyatt, how did you know about that? I've never mentioned it."

He grinned at her and then lifted one shoulder in attempt to look casual. "I may have googled you a couple of times, and...read all three of your books."

It was how he kept his sanity while she was missing. Her words brought her back to him, if only for a little while. He'd read those books over and over during those six awful weeks. He inadvertently memorized whole paragraphs, that's how much he read them. Maybe he should read them again while there was still so much distance between them. Was there a chance it could help him now too?

Lucy's eyebrows rose and she smiled brightly at him. It was a smile that reached her eyes and lately those were rare. "You read them?"

He nodded and decided to admit the truth. "Multiple times," he said as he intentionally repeated her words from earlier.

"Really?" She asked him as her cheeks began to color very slightly. The smile was still on her face and he could feel his heart beating faster as she focused her full attention on him.

"Really," he answered with a firm nod. "They're very good books, Lucy. Kinda made me wish I had a chance to watch you teach. Not that you don't teach Rufus and I something new every day," he added with a soft chuckle. "Just...I don't know, I'd like to watch you in your element with a group of students. Bet it's a sight to see."

She flashed her teeth at him in a brilliant smile before she shook her head with a self deprecating scoff. "Not enough of a sight to earn tenure, apparently."

"Yeah, well, what do a bunch of stuffed shirts know anyway?" Wyatt asked her. "Their loss."

This - this felt like how they used to be. Before he screwed it up. He missed how easy it used to be to talk to her. The fact that they were talking like this now gave him hope that they could get back to having that all the time eventually. It was possible.

"Stanford's loss was our gain," Rufus added with a nod. "Not sure what they were thinking, but I'm glad it freed you up for this job."

Lucy's smile dimmed slightly and she let out a hollow chuckle. "Yeah, I don't think I got this job on my merit, Rufus." She pointed to the letter and shook her head. "I suspected Ben Cahill pulled a few strings before but according to that it wasn't just him. It was all of the powers that be at Rittenhouse. Homeland Security didn't choose me because I was 'world class.' Maybe Christopher thought they did, but it's becoming clearer and clearer that my accomplishments had little to do with my getting this job."

"That doesn't mean your accomplishments mean any less," Wyatt reminded her.

"Right and screw Rittenhouse," Rufus told her with a shake of his head. "The bottom line is, no one would have signed off on hiring you, Rittenhouse or not, if you weren't qualified. If Christopher or her boss had thought you weren't up for the job they would have questioned it. No one did. Well," Rufus said as he pointed at Lucy. "You did. But they didn't."

"You're brilliant, Lucy," Wyatt told her. "You impressed me from day one and I can't imagine anyone else doing this job as well as you."

Lucy glanced between both Rufus and Wyatt for a moment before her smile returned and her eyes misted over. He could tell the tears in her eyes were grateful as she spoke. "Thanks, guys."

"You are all so cute," Jiya said as she watched them with a wide smile. "I love watching best friends be best friends. Precious."

The three of them turned to Jiya with amused smirks.

"Glad we could keep you entertained," Rufus said as he pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. "Even if you cheat at Monopoly."

"It's not cheating if you follow all the rules, which I am, thank you," Jiya said as she turned back to the game.

They went back to the game and Lucy went back to her letter, but he noticed her mood seemed much improved as she read. He hated watching her doubt herself. She didn't see what he saw. She didn't see the brilliant and brave woman that took on shadowy organizations and her own complicated family every day. She didn't see the fire and steel that he saw when they faced off against Keynes. She didn't know how truly important she was to everyone around her.

It was high time someone pointed that out to her and reminded her how irreplaceable she was. He was more than willing to be that someone anytime she needed it.