Lucy woke the next morning to find Wyatt beside her. His head was buried in the pillow but his arm was tucked snugly around her waist. Pleasant memories drifted through her mind. She stroked her fingers along his arm, tracing his muscles, and luxuriated in the feel of his skin against hers. She found herself praying that Emma's break would last a bit longer. She could almost feel the fracture to her spirit begin to heal. Shredded pieces of her life started to make sense in the warmth and confidence of the man laying along side of her.

When she could delay no more, she got up and used the bathroom. Appalled at her own lack of planning in not bringing any clothes but her evening wear, she grabbed Wyatt's dress shirt and tugged it over her arms, buttoning it slowly. The tail of the shirt dangled low on her, and the scent of..can I say my man?...blossomed in her nostrils. Swishing water around in her mouth a few moments later, she already found herself making a list of things to keep there. Toothbrush, hair brush, change of clothes, workout things... She chuckled at her own presumption, but some of the things Wyatt had whispered in her ear in the wee hours of the morning made her think that her plans would be welcome.

She tip-toed back into the room, trying not to wake Wyatt. The quiet and the coziness were too precious. He had shifted while she was gone. She peered through the dim light after closing the door, picking her way around their piled clothing. She shifted the sheet slowly, pulling it from beneath his arm. After considering dropping Wyatt's shirt again, a combination of shyness and sentimentality made her keep it on. She snuggled against his shoulder, and was surprised to see him open his eyes calmly, placing his arm proprietarily around her. His hand spanned half her waist and with it he tugged her hips and waist into close contact with his body once more.

"You're awake?" said Lucy, snugging into the curves of his body.

Wyatt nodded. "Yup. I pretty much always wake up when you or Rufus get up in the night on missions, and then you're not even in the same bed with me. I'm a light sleeper on deployment."

"And at home, it seems." Lucy ran her fingers through his hair. "Sorry to ruin your beauty sleep."

He kissed her temple. "Wouldn't change it. It's my job to protect you and anything can go wrong, even in the middle of the night. This morning when you left the bed, I missed you," he whispered. His other hand came around her and began exploring her hair. Turning all the way towards her, he kissed her lips thoroughly but slowly, then worked his way down her neck. Lucy quivered. When he reached the shirt, he chuckled and said, "I like your tailor."

Breathlessly, Lucy tried to stir herself to an answering quip. All she should come up with was, "You should see the other guy..."

Laying her on her back, he smoothed the shirt open so that it lay along her sides. He worshiped her with his eyes, then ran his hands across her chest, warming her skin. She felt tension in her body ease, even as the charge of attraction she felt increased with each touch of his hands on her sensitive skin.

She looked down at him with languid eyes in the lightening room. "You are so good."

The half grin turned on full, and his dimples made an appearance. "Oh, just you wait."

Later, after holding each other in the aftermath of their passion, Lucy asked Wyatt, "So that thing you did. Where on earth did you learn it?"

Holding her against him, stroking her hair tenderly, he grinned and said, "Which thing?" She rolled her eyes and batted ineffectually at his shoulder. "Oh my god, that thing you did with your hand, just before..."

"Oh, that thing." He grinned wider and kissed the top of her head.

"You are insufferable. Here I am praising you, and all you can do is gloat smugly."

"Well, it does sound like you had a good time."

"Come on, Wyatt. We were both there. I think we both about died and went to heaven."

"No arguments here."

"Okay, so," she shifted so she could look into his eyes, wondering why he was avoiding answering, "so give. What's your secret oh Don Juan?"

A serious expression came over his face and he said quietly, "This might not be the right time to talk about it."

Lucy laughed and said, "Well when exactly?" Then her face became serious, too. "Jess? It was Jessica, wasn't it."

His arms tightened around her. He didn't say anything, only nodded.

Lucy lay against him, thinking and feeling about her reaction to that knowledge. She toyed with letting the moment pass, then realized this was just the beginning of many years, a lifetime hopefully, of moments like this. Would she close each door? Hope the darkness would pass?

Instead she said, "Tell me."

"What?" Wyatt had drifted off slightly. His body warmed and calmed by the feel of Lucy in his arms. He shook off the languor and asked, "Are you sure?"

She looked up into his eyes again and nodded. "I want to know it all."

His lips took hers, looking for comfort and confirmation. He seemed to find it for when their lips broke apart again, he began, "Did I tell you that Jessica fought for women's rights, particularly about abortion and family planning?"

Lucy's eyes opened wide, "In Texas?" He nodded. "What strength of conviction..."

Wyatt closed his eyes in memory. "Yes. That is the word exactly. She had such strength. And such a little thing. But a lion, not a mouse, ever." He looked in Lucy's eyes to measure how his words were affecting her. He shifted his body so hers fit more exactly within the bend of his arm, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder. She smiled and he went on.

"So, well, she took the whole thing seriously. Women controlling their bodies. Women knowing their bodies. Women..."

Unexpectedly, Lucy felt like she was going to laugh. "Women taking control of their own pleasure?"

Wyatt gulped and nodded. Lucy could see the embarrassment on his face. She wanted to relent, but it seemed right somehow for him to be off balance telling her this. Made the playing field more even somehow, as she faced the shade of his dead wife. Lucy leaned in.

"So," she started chuckling, "wait, you mean you went to a sexual surrogate?"

"What?" Wyatt huffed out, "No! That's when you go to somebody who, I mean, when you have..with..? No we definitely didn't do that." He was a distinct shade of pink now.

Lucy decided to gentle her attack. She said soothingly, "So, what, then?"

"It was classes," Wyatt clarified.

"Like at a college?"

He scrunched up his face, remembering. "You know one of them was on a college campus. I did not care for that one. It was all kind of spiritual-ly? They talked about tantra and energy going up our spines or something. In a huge room full of couples. It seemed pretty flaky to me. And super embarrassing."

Lucy held her hand over her mouth, suppressing a laugh. Wyatt felt her shake and peered at her suspiciously. He poked her lightly in the side and she burst out, "I'm just imagining you trying to 'wake the serpent'.." she collapsed into giggles.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes at her, then said, "Hey, that sounds a lot like you've been to one of those classes, too." Lucy nodded, wiping her eyes. "Of course. I was an undergrad once. I found it pretty fun, but I wasn't dragged there by a partner, I was just, you know, exploring my own sexual identity."

"Sounds like you and Jess would have gotten along fine," he hugged Lucy, feeling the sadness again for a moment. Then it passed and he went on. "The one that worked for me was with a therapist. It was one on one, with the two of us."

Lucy kissed his arm where it lay by her neck, and corrected him pertly, "I believe that would be one on two." She had seen the expression in his eye when he said Jessica's name again and wanted to inject some lightness back into the mood.

He grinned, "Thanks for keeping me honest, ma'am. 'One on two,' then. She walked us through some issues we'd been having, and helped us open up more and experiment together. And..." he struggled to weed through the memories, some of which he'd not thought of for years, lost in the burden of pain and loss. "And we both learned something. I'm definitely grateful. Never would have done that on my own."

"Never?"

"No way, not ever."

"I thought you were the one who said, 'never say never, again?'" Lucy smiled broadly and gave his shoulder a playful nip.

He turned to her, holding her more fully in his arms again, shifting gears to the moment at hand, leaving the past behind, "Well, I must stand to correct you, now, ma'am. Since it was Mr. Ian Fleming who said the first part. Are you mixing me up with James Bond, by any chance?" His hands started exploring her curves once more.

Lucy grinned, responding to his touch and returning his explorations with some of her own, "Now, aside from the obvious godlike body, being handy with a weapon, and having all the girls go gaga over you, I don't know how I could ever confuse you two."

He took a break from spreading open mouthed kisses down her wrist to say, "You think the girls all go gaga over me?"

"That's what you focus on there?" Lucy retorted.

"Well, you're not gonna argue that I'm not handy with a weapon. I do think godlike body is maybe pushing it a bit. And, I mean, gaga?"

"It's not just guys who look at you like you're a piece of meat."

"Any complaints from you?"

"Not so long as I'm the one who gets to unwrap you."

"I don't think I like where this metaphor is going!"

Lucy kissed him deeply then said, "Boring conversation anyway." And they didn't talk again for quite a while.

Later that morning, they did actually get out of bed. Lucy borrowed the draw-string sweat pants she'd worn to play basketball, and a t-shirt with the US Army logo. The shirt was form-fitting on Wyatt but on Lucy the length had her already scoping it out to keep as a night shirt. They ate cereal together in the living room, exchanging silly glances and scooting close together on the couch as they watched cartoons. After finishing her bowl, Lucy curled up against Wyatt, practically purring.

"This is the best sleepover party ever."

Wyatt, slurping his milk, trying to finish up so he could cuddle Lucy properly said, "Well, its a bit of an x-rated one." He put the bowl down and shifted his arms around Lucy. She reached up to kiss him and they were distracted from the show for some minutes.

"That," she said as they came up for air, "is what makes it the best ever. I mean, when me and my girl friends got together, all we did was talk about the cuties we had crushes on. If I could go back and tell Virginia about this, she'd be so jealous it's not even funny."

Rubbing his hand down her back, Wyatt said contentedly, "Well, I'm happy to be your trophy. Whatever it takes. Dodging bullets, jumping through time, crushing little girls' spirits. I'm here for you, Professor." He gave her a kiss on the nose, then tucked her head under his chin.

Lucy watched the show with little attention. She saw a brightly colored super hero team take on a squad of villains in black and green. Her focus drifted and she started thinking about Emma, when their next jump might be and some research leads she wanted to follow up with Agent Christopher about. Then another though occurred to her.

"Wyatt?"

He gave a kiss to the the crown of her head. "Yes?"

"So are we going to tell everyone?"

A commercial came on, a happy family climbed on to a sailboat as crawling text gave warning of life changing side effects from taking the advertised drug. "You mean about us? I don't think we have to worry to much about that."

She looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"Well, between Jiya and Rufus being pretty much in on it all, to Chuck and our security detail having a detailed itinerary of our date night, I suspect we may be hearing back intellingence reports about our night with tidbits we don't know about yet."

Lucy covered her face with her hand. "You're not serious, I hope?"

Wyatt chuckled, "Totally serious." As she continued to crouch against him, he got worried, paused the television and said, "Lucy, what's up?"

She sat up, leaning on her hands and looking down. "This opens up a whole new can of worms." She paused and then faced, Wyatt, resting her hand on his shoulder to borrow some strength. "Okay, so it will be a little embarrassing to have folks making faces at us and congratulating us, but Jiya and Rufus seem to be doing okay with all that." He nodded encouragingly at her and she went on. "But what about the fact that we are going on these missions together. How will we handle making jumps, and worrying about each other? Or..." her expression washed over with panic, "what if they make us jump separately?" She felt a constricting feeling in her chest. Her stomach started making flip flops. Her hand on his shoulder tightened.

Wyatt was right there with his response, "Not gonna happen." He put his hands on her shoulders and looked right in her eyes. "That's not an option."

"What do you mean?" Lucy looked at him out of dazed eyes, she was reliving the realization of losing Amy. Imagining that happening with Wyatt. Or worse... She froze, turning inward.

"Lucy? Are you with me?" Wyatt pulled her to him and swore under his breath. He rubbed her back, chaffing her suddenly cold hands. Lucy finally nodded her head against his chest.

"Yeah..." She pushed her self away slightly, looked in his eyes. "I can't face losing you. Not after everything." She touched his face.

A dark cloud of anger suffused Wyatt's face. She looked scared and he closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm not angry at you." When his eyes opened, she saw a look in them she'd seen once before, when he returned to them after escaping the black ops detention site. "I swear to god I am going to end Rittenhouse for what it's done to you. If it's the last thing I do."

Now Lucy closed her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes glittered with moisture. She reached up and touched his face again. His expression gentled in the face of her sadness.

"Wyatt, we've all lost so much. I don't want you to swear vengeance. I don't want our lives to become a vendetta. I just want to know that we're not going to take the chance that we might go into the Lifeboat someday and come back out not knowing one another. Or maybe have you never been born." Tears leaked down Lucy's face. Wyatt kissed her tenderly. He wiped the tears away.

"Okay," he said gently. "I know what that means for me."

Lucy looked at him curiously, "What?"

He put his arms around her. "I don't know how Rufus and Jiya are handling the uncertainty, but since you and I jump together, I find it no longer an option to jump separately." His arms tightened around her, and Lucy felt a deep knot of anxiety in her stomach start to loosen once more.

After they came back from the gym, Lucy steered them down to the apartment complex office. They sat with the sales representative for twenty minutes, going over floor plans. The young, red-headed woman who waited on them was professional and friendly. Lucy was quite certain she caught the girl checking out her left hand for signs of a ring. Lucy smiled to herself and tried to derail the train of thought that that brought to her mind.

Wyatt asked detailed questions about where the available larger apartments were located. Lucy noticed that he kept the information on multiple apartments and she asked him about that as they walked back to the room.

"You thinking we need more than one place?"

"Just thinking about Jiya."

"Oh! You know, if she moved in here, we would certainly see more of Rufus, too. It would be like the safe house slumber party all the time here."

Wyatt gave her a sly look as they reached the door, "I hear you're a fan of those."

She stepped close to him as he unlocked the door and reached up to kiss beneath his ear. She whispered, "Really, only when you're involved."

As soon as they came through the door, Wyatt swept her into his arms and captured her lips with his. "I'm glad to hear that," he muttered into her neck as he lavished kisses down its length. "Because, I'm not a fan of sleep-overs or slumber parties." He picked her up bodily in his arms again, "But I do happen to be a fan of you." He marched them back to the bedroom, and Lucy went, with no arguments.

Over lunch, they talked about plans for the future. They had spread condiments and deli meats out on the small kitchen table. Lucy shared her morning thoughts about what to bring over. Wyatt confirmed her suspicions. She could bring over all her stuff and the kitchen sink tomorrow, as far as he was concerned.

"You don't seem to be worried about this?" Lucy said.

"Nope." Wyatt's lip curled just slightly.

"How come?"

"Honestly? With the amount of time I spend feeling worried about you being safe, where you are... Well, the closer you are to me the sounder I'll sleep."

Lucy's heart fluttered, but she said sarcastically, "Really? I thought all Rufus and I did was wake you up at night?"

"I'd rather wake up ten times a night and see you there, safe and sound, than wake up once in the morning alone, wondering if you're okay."

Wyatt gave Lucy a ride back to Jiya's that evening. Margot tailed them, and Wyatt made a mental note to shake her down for what was circulating about them in the gossip grape vine.

Lucy had struggled with what to wear. Do the walk of shame shuffle with the worse for wear black evening gown? Or put up with the mother of all ribbings for heading home clothed in Wyatt's clothes from head to toe.A quick trip to a local super store saved her either agony. Also added a neat little tooth brush, apple-scented shampoo bottle and an extra pair of Lucy-size slippers to Wyatt's household.

Wyatt could barely stop grinning at Lucy on the way home and she had to insist that red lights did not mean kisses every time. But she did miss it once he heeded her instructions. Their kiss good night in the car was long, lingering, and could easily have turned into an extended make-out session if Wyatt hadn't been very conscious of both pairs of security officer eyes on them at the parking lot by the apartment building.

Wyatt walked her to the third floor apartment's door. He carried her bag, taking the stair by twos as she jogged up each step, quizzing her about arrangements they'd made over the course of the day.

"Don't forget to give Jiya the info about the apartment."

"Got it in my bag."

"We're going out for pool tomorrow night, right?"

"Time travel pending, yes. Jiya said Rufus was down."

"And you know I love you more than life itself, right?"

Lucy opened her mouth to respond, took in what he had said, and melted. They were at the landing leading to the apartment door. Lucy turned to Wyatt where he stood, with a crooked grin on his face and his heart on his sleeve. She put her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. His arms came around her in a bear hug, and he pressed a series of kisses to the crown of her head.

She heard him go on quietly, "You're feeling good about getting a three bedroom place with me right?"

Lucy nodded, pulling her face up to look in his eyes. "Yes. I'm so ready. I can't believe I actually have to walk away from you right now, honestly.." His mouth descended on hers. She closed her eyes, enjoying that sweet taste of Wyatt that she'd become addicted to in such a short time. When the kiss ended, Lucy took in Wyatt's dilated eyes and smiled to realize if they were back at his place, this moment would end very differently indeed.

Instead, Lucy said, "See you around, sweetheart," and somehow broke the magnetic pull that held her arms around him.

He resisted for a moment, then let go as well, handing the new overnight bag to Lucy and taking a reluctant step back. He returned, "See you later, babydoll."

Lucy took a deep breath and gave him a little wave goodbye. Wyatt nodded and stepped towards the stairs, slowly moving away from her.

Lucy turned towards the door and thought about what she would say to Jiya. She decided to start by asking about the amazingly romantic night the pair of engineers had shared, to give herself time to figure out how to talk about herself and Wyatt. Then it hit her that Wyatt was going and she would have to wait many long hours before she saw him again.

She dropped her bag at the door and scampered down the stairs after him. Catching him on a mid-level landing, she flew into his arms. He received a patented Lucy Preston hug with an "oof" and laughed as she showered him with kisses.

"Lucy, is everything all right?"

She nodded, snuggling in his arms for a few more precious moments. "I'm with you. You know it is."

A/N: And so closes part three of my first fanfic. Thank you to everyone who has come along this ride and cheered on Wucy to find each other. The Single Date was a bit more adventuresome than they (or I!) had planned, but that's writing for ya. It's awesome to contemplate getting to see season 2 in very close to one month from now. Great time to tie up this musing on what the Time Team's fight with Emma would look like and get to see for real. Thank you for all kudos, reviews and comments over these many months on all three stories: Perspective, Talk to Me and The Single Date. You make my day and I am so grateful for folks how take the time to let me know if the story made them happy, too. Thank you!