(4/6)

Lucy remembered running for her life. Bonnet gone, hair flying around her face as she ran. She remembered literal torches and pitchforks chasing them into the woods. They'd freed the "witches" or some of them, including herself and Rufus. They were the ultimate evil at this point. She worried that all they'd done was make this situation worse. She was afraid when she looked up this moment in history when she got home, she'd find many more lives lost.

But she couldn't let those women die. They were innocent. Wyatt wouldn't have let those people die.

That seemed to be her philosophy for this entire mission. What would Wyatt do? She'd been reckless and quick tempered and found herself accused of being a witch. Of course.

She'd fallen behind in the running due to the weight of her skirts. She could see Rufus and Flynn in front of her. The Lifeboat was also now in her field of vision. Just a little further and they'd be home free. They all joked about the bunker being a hellhole, but she'd give anything for that hellhole right now. Absolutely anything.

She was with in a few feet of the Lifeboat when it happened. She felt the shot more than she heard it. She felt it like an explosive in her arm. As if she were being pulled apart from the inside out. She cried out and instinctively brought her other hand to her arm. She'd stumbled from the force of the shot but a split second later, Flynn was there. He helped her to her feet and into the Lifeboat.

"What the hell happened?" Rufus asked.

"Shut the damn door!" Flynn shouted in response.

As soon as the hatch closed Flynn turned to look at her wound.

"She's been shot," he told Rufus before he shook his head at Lucy. "I should have kept you in front of me," Flynn muttered before he pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of his duster. "Move your hand."

"What are you going to do?" Lucy asked with a suspicious glance. She may be in pain but she was still wary of him.

"Move. Your. Hand."

His voice was angry and harsh. Not at all like Wyatt. God, she missed him. When she didn't move her hand Flynn wrenched it away from her arm. Tears sprang to her eyes at the jolt of pain and she let out a startled shout.

Rufus turned from where he was preparing the controls to glare at Flynn. "What are you doing?"

"Be the pilot, Rufus. Mind your business."

"Man, she's my friend and I don't care how many people you've killed if you hurt her—"

"I am trying to help her! If you'd both shut the hell up and do as I say!"

Rufus gave Lucy a questioning glance. He'd been doing that a lot this jump. He trusted her, not Flynn. She gave him a small nod.

"It's okay, Rufus. Get the Lifeboat started," Lucy told him with a gulp and a hiss.

She sat quietly after that and let Flynn examine her arm.

"Bullet's still in your arm," he told her. "But it didn't hit anything vital. You'll live." He tied the handkerchief around her wound tightly. Too tightly, she thought. She moved to loosen it but he grabbed her hand. "The pressure will slow the bleeding."

He tossed her hand aside when he was certain she wouldn't untie the handkerchief and then angrily buckled her into her seat. She wanted to stop him. She wanted to do it herself. It wasn't right for Flynn to buckle her in. She only let Wyatt do that. But when she moved to do it Flynn pinned her good arm to her side.

"You'll aggravate the wound. Stop."

She hated this. She hated him. She had no real reason to. He'd been helpful. He'd saved their lives. But he wasn't Wyatt.

Flynn sat down in Wyatt's seat and buckled himself in as the Lifeboat roared into action. One slow moment of seasickness later and they stopped. The hatch opened and Rufus ran out the door first. She heard him tell Christopher they needed a medic. The adrenaline of running through the woods in 1692 was fading now and she felt sick. She felt lightheaded and off balance. She reached for her seatbelt just as Flynn did and he once again pinned her good arm down.

"Be still," he ordered. But the order didn't sound angry as his other's had. It sounded sympathetic. "Let me help you."

Despite the voice in her head telling her not to, the voice that sounded a lot like Wyatt, she nodded and relaxed in the seat. She was too exhausted to move anyway.

He wordlessly helped her up and out of her seat and the Lifeboat. As they reached the top of the stairs, she tensed. Because there, at the bottom, waiting for her was Wyatt.

She looked away quickly. She didn't want to look at him. She was afraid of what he would think or feel. She was afraid of what he'd found while he'd been gone.

The more the rush and adrenaline from the mission faded the less awareness she had. Her vision went a bit fuzzy around the edges but somehow she'd been passed from Flynn to Wyatt and then led to a chair. Wyatt was talking to her and she was answering him. But it was all automatic. She wasn't able to really think through her answers. She was half conscious and weak. Most of it she didn't really process but she heard one thing loud and clear.

"Anything that affects you and your safety is my problem. You know how this works, ma'am."

Did she know how this worked? She knew how this used to work. Was he telling her nothing had changed? She replied something about him needing more time. She wasn't sure of her words. Then he was gone. She'd lost track of him as two medics and Agent Christopher crowded around her.

She found him again when there was a commotion and Agent Christopher moved out of the way.

He was in Flynn's face with rage contouring his every feature.

"How did you let this happen? All the missions I've been on with her and she's never once been shot!"

"Then maybe, Wyatt, the question isn't how did I let this happen," Flynn asked. The smile on his face told her that Flynn's next words would not be kind. "But how did you?"

If she wasn't already in pain, that would have done it. If she were more alert, she would have gotten in Flynn's face herself. How dare he put that on Wyatt. She felt her chest tighten at the look of anger and pain and guilt that flashed across Wyatt's blue eyes all in a span of seconds. Flynn struck a nerve. They all knew it.

Wyatt jerked forward as if he were going to lunge for Flynn but Rufus stopped him. She couldn't quite hear what was being said. The next moment, Wyatt turned to meet her eyes and she wanted to sob. He looked so wounded. She wished she could blame Flynn and his harsh words, but she'd done that to him. Not Flynn.

He told her to call him. He wanted to be with them. She'd taken that choice away from him. How would he ever forgive her for that?

She'd been drugged up and stitched up and sent to bed in the hours that followed. So begging for Wyatt's forgiveness had to wait. But she planned to. She planned to make it clear that the only person at fault here was her.

When she finally woke up and Jiya allowed her to leave their room, she found Wyatt sitting on the floor by the door. He was slumped against the wall, dozing soundly somehow. The floor couldn't have been comfortable...or clean. And his head had dropped at an odd angle. She knelt next to him, careful not to jostle her sling, and brought her good hand to his face.

Whether he'd found Jessica or not, she missed him. She hated jumping without him. She softly caressed his stubbly cheek and then ran that same hand through his hair.

"He's been there all night," Jiya told her from the open doorway. "I told him to sleep in his own bed or the couch but…"

Lucy smiled warmly at Wyatt and then nodded at Jiya. "He wouldn't. I'm not surprised."

"I don't know what's happening with Jessica," Jiya said with a small sigh. "But I do know, he loves you. God, Lucy he was a holy terror during those six weeks you were missing and then yesterday when he came back to find the Lifeboat gone—When it comes to you he's like a tiger in a cage. He wants to spring into action but there's always something in his way. Rittenhouse, himself, a not so dead wife—"

"Me," Lucy agreed. "I get in his way sometimes. Yesterday, for example."

"Yeah, he mentioned something about giving you a number to reach him," Jiya said as she gave Lucy a scolding stare.

She nodded. "He did. I threw it out. It was stupid. Awful. Hurtful, even. But...how can I ask him to be a part of my life when he finally has his own back? How can I risk being this close to him when I'm highly likely to lose him? Sometimes it feels like he's all I have left." Her eyes were watering now as she stared at his exhausted face. She was surprised they hadn't woken him. He was usually a light sleeper.

"Hey," Jiya said in a tone louder than the soft whisper they'd been speaking in. She obviously wanted Lucy's attention. Lucy looked up at her curiously. "He's not all you have left. You have me. You have Rufus. We're here for you too."

"I know," Lucy told her with a warm smile.

"Do you? Because I worry sometimes that maybe you don't."

Lucy stood from where she had crouched next to Wyatt and then hugged Jiya with her good arm. "I know."

"Good," Jiya said as she carefully returned the hug. "It was awful being the only woman here for 6 weeks and if we lost you again I think I might be forced kill Wyatt and Mason. They drove me crazy."

Lucy laughed lightly as they pulled out of their hug. "Well, we couldn't have that. Could we?"


A/N: the "what would wyatt do" thought here that Lucy has totally acme form a discussion with Iambeck. It was so good that I had to borrow it. Happy reading!