Wyatt's brain stuttered and froze. A ringing in his ears. Cold sweat crawled along his skin. Someone called his name. He couldn't breathe to respond. Lucy's voice frantic, he just knelt there on the ground, stones digging into his knees, staring. Emma killed Jess in the aborted timeline. The image of Jess, drunk and clawing for her life seared itself into his memory.

Flynn's face came into view. He punched it.

Lucy cried out and Flynn held up a hand as he shook off the hit. "You back with us?"

Lucy crouched down. "You okay, Wyatt?" Pain flooded his hand, clearing the haze.

Wyatt blinked and nodded, in shock and grasping for a handhold in reality. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm here." He stood and brushed himself off, all the raging emotions inside him partitioned away for later. Soldier first. "It's been Rittenhouse the whole time. How many changes have they made that we don't know about? How long have they been able to scuttle the signature we were using to track them?" Wyatt looked to Jiya. "Any idea?"

She pulled herself together. "None whatsoever. Unfortunately, we only know about this mission because our future selves told us about it. There's so much we don't understand about this. But then, they have the resources of Rittenhouse and we're working out of an underground bunker in the middle of nowhere."

"I think we have to assume they've meddled in all our pasts." Lucy tried to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. "I think...I think they've been working behind the scenes to undermine what we've accomplished together already, focusing on our personal pasts as the key to controlling the future. Think about it. The hit on Agent Christopher. Bringing Jess back. Abducting Jiya so we couldn't follow."

Jiya focused on the Jess portion of the equation. "Yeah, Jess. Here's the thing with that...why did they go back to San Diego in the first place? If Emma killed Jess, there was no reason to go back to San Diego to stop Jess' killer."

Flynn considered what he knew about the redhead. "Emma got recruited by Rittenhouse young and spent ten years in the wilderness, giving her ample time to concoct any number of schemes upon plans upon machinations. Now that we know she's been connected to Lucy's father from the beginning, we have to adjust. Assume Emma's playing a long game none of us even suspected. "

"So who else would Emma have reason to visit-" Lucy's heart sank when she realized the truth. "My father. She could pave the way for him to recruit her in the first place."

Wyatt unraveled it. "With a time machine, Emma could manipulate Cahill in the past to control our future. She must've used Jess being alive to cover for her meeting." His anger bubbled up. "She was nothing but a pawn. They killed her so that when they brought her back, I'd be so desperate I'd bring her straight to the bunker. They rewrote her entire life to secure her loyalty. Once they've gotten that, they just don't have to kill her. Why would they? She's on their side."

"I think we have to work from the belief that every one of the events in our past have been orchestrated by Emma and directed by Rittenhouse." Lucy looked at Flynn, guilt for her family's part in all of this wrapping around her heart. She corrected, "By my father."

A weight settled over the team. No one spoke as they trudged back to the Lifeboat, their footsteps the only accompaniment to their individual thoughts. Lucy's tumbled around in circles. So much of this was caused by her family. What did that mean about her? Everything kept swirling around her. Her journal. Her parents. Her family going back generations.

They got buckled into the Lifeboat and Flynn reached out and took her hand. "What do we do now? Do we continue on with the plan as it stands?"

"Yes. We already expected Rittenhouse's interference in your past. I think we go ahead and then regroup in the bunker while the Lifeboat recharges." Lucy ran her thumb over his fingers.

Jiya brought up the coordinates for Flynn's past. Once again the universe resisted as she tried to guide the time machine into their direct timeline. The tension released and they catapulted through the last barrier.


August 24, 2014

First thing, they stole a car. Flynn needed to lay low, considering his past self was running around somewhere, so Lucy stayed with him while Jiya and Wyatt grabbed some takeout. They'd get everything set up at the Millers. The sun wouldn't set for a few hours, but they specifically arrived early to keep an eye on the neighborhood.

If Emma showed her face, Lucy would finish what she started in San Francisco.

She and Flynn cleared the top of the bookshelf under the window, giving them a clear view of his house; taking care to remember exactly where the books and knick knacks should be replaced when they finished here. Set out a couple pairs of binoculars and leaned a rifle against the window sill. They prepared for every possibility. Flynn focused on the task at hand, lost in a past he couldn't change. Lorena and Iris. They'd be home right now. He could simply walk in the house and see them again. He sucked in a breath, blinking back the flash of blood.

Lucy stepped up to stand in front of him."Hey, hey. Come back to me." Her thumbs traced over his brow, rubbing away the past.

Warm brown eyes stared up at him in concern. "To have them so close again, knowing that they're going to die tonight." He pulled her close. "I never thought to live through this night again. And to be twice as helpless the second time around."

Lucy took a breath and steeled herself. "I think it's pretty obvious who gave the order to kill your family."

"No, Lucy. No." He cradled her face in his hands. "I couldn't do that to you."

Strong. She needed to be strong when she just wanted to keep him to herself. Maybe she could atone for the sins of her family. "You could get your family back."

"By depriving you of your father. I can't. I won't."

She pulled away from him, didn't dare to hope. Couldn't be selfish now if Flynn could get his wife and daughter back. She'd let him go and wish only the best for him.

"For as long as I've known you, you've wanted to get your family back. I won't stand in the way of that," her heart broke as she said the words and she knew then that she loved this man. It was new, but heartbreakingly real and vulnerable. She turned away, hiding the tears that fell.

"Lucy...Luc, please look at me." She scrubbed at her cheeks and faced him. "In the beginning, I thought of nothing but my family, it's true. But now, you've changed me and I can't go back. Returning to them, I'd have to live a life without you. My family would wake up one day with a different father and husband than the one they had the day before. One who's in love with another woman. When I told you I loved you, Lucy, I made my decision. I stopped looking backwards and started seeing a future. With you."

"Are you sure?" Hope crept over her, tentative at first. "I just want you to be happy."

"You make me happy, Lucy Preston. I'm all yours, if you'll have me."

She stifled a sob. "Oh, thank god, I don't know where I'd find the strength to let you go."

"If I have my way, you'll never have to." Flynn drew closer to her again. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, but I didn't want you to feel rushed. If this is serious for you though, I have something I'd like you to hold for me."

She nodded up at him. "Anything, Garcia."

The joy on his face mirrored hers. He lifted his hands and slid his wedding ring from his finger. "I was wondering, since you're the historian, if you would hold onto this piece of my past."

She reached up and unclasped the locket. Taking the ring into her care, she slipped it onto the necklace. "I'll keep them safe." Those they had lost kept close to her heart.

He wrapped his arms around her, basking in the safety a bit longer. There was something still bothering her though, he could tell. "Talk to me."

Lucy hesitated, not wanting to disrupt this small bit of peace. In the end, she gave in. "My parents, my grandparents, my entire family, if we never existed, none of this would've happened. You're going to have to relive your family's murder because of mine. I could've stopped this, should have when I had the chance. If I'd taken out the Mothership, none of this would've happened."

"Hey, none of this - none of it - is your fault." He froze in place, outstretched hand reaching for her. "Take out the Mothership?"

She'd forgotten that she never told Flynn about that. "After we took down Rittenhouse, they retaliated by blowing up Mason Industries. You know that. But, while my mom was busy trying to indoctrinate me, I made a different plan."

"You were going to sacrifice yourself." Too many emotions rippled across his features. Grief. Anger. Relief. Terror. He didn't wait for her defense. Flynn crushed her body to his and silenced her excuses with a kiss. Lucy welcomed the pressure of his body, her back against the wall. His lips demanded her surrender and she willingly gave it. His hazel eyes begged her not to leave him. Not like that. His voice rough, "Promise me you will never do that again."

She exhaled all her pent up breath. "I promise. Never again."

Pinning her arms above her head, he kissed her senseless. His lips trailed down her neck, fingers skimming over her breasts, her breath coming in tiny gasps with every glancing touch.

A tinny echo of squealing tires and a bright flash of yellow assaulted Lucy's senses. Flynn clutched a phantom cell phone and felt his body surge to the right despite the being held utterly motionless by the dizzying streak of yellow.

Lucy found her voice first. "Flynn, it's happening again."


"So, you wanna explain these forbidden colors you mentioned?" Wyatt raised an eyebrow at Jiya as they waited for their food. "No, I didn't miss that part."

"There's another Lifeboat pilot who came back from a mission with visions. I made Mason take me to meet him. He didn't go crazy so much as lose himself in his mind. In a more lucid moment he helped me figure out how to understand what I was seeing; to peel away the layers of a vision. Before he retreated into his brain again, he asked me if I'd seen the forbidden colors yet. I had no idea what he meant until today."

Wyatt rubbed at his eyes, already tired. They needed food and a nap. "I imagine they're forbidden because we're breaking some unwritten rule of the universe by traipsing about in our past. You think that about sums it up?"

Jiya shrugged. "Could also be history we aren't meant to meddle with, who knows. Either makes about as much sense as anything."

Wyatt released a sharp bark of laughter. "Sure, of course, forbidden colors, we'll just add that to our to do list. Why not? Eat a burger, nap, solve the universe's existential crisis. No problem."

"Hey, are you okay? I kinda feel like Mr. I have a pep talk for every occasion just took a vacation." She didn't want to imagine what happened when Wyatt gave up.

He absently grabbed the sugar caddy in front of him, organizing the colored packets. "Every time we think we're close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we realize that light is just a train barreling right for us."

"So what do we do then?" Jiya worried, The universe kept piling on top of all of them. And the fate of the future rested on their success. No pressure.

Wyatt pushed the caddy away from him as the food arrived. "The same thing we do every time. Get out of the way of the train and then figure out how to stop it." Grabbing their take-out, he looked right at Jiya. "Save Rufus, save the world."

She finished her soda and followed behind him, clambering into the tan SUV and shutting the door. Wyatt pulled out into the street and the silence grew between them. Jiya tried to observe him without him noticing, but he was Wyatt, so that didn't work.

"I...Can I? Um, that is-" Her words stumbled over themselves.

He gave her a crooked smile. "Stop staring and just ask me whatever it is."

"I wanna be sensitive here, cuz, we're friends, remember. And, please, don't bite my head off, but it seems like for so long you wanted to save your wife. It's been your mission from day one. You even got court martialed." She quieted her voice, "Then you fell for Lucy and it was very promising. Just when things are getting started between the two of you, Jess comes back."

Wyatt's fingers tightened around the steering wheel instead of flipping on the stereo. "Get to the point please, Jiya."

Turning towards him, she propped an elbow up on the back of the seat. "As much as I think you liked Lucy, maybe were even falling in love with her, I always got the feeling you weren't 'all in,' you know? Like you loved Jess so much you couldn't let go of her, but you knew you should. Because she was dead." She paused, giving him time to stop her.

When he didn't, she continued, "But Jess isn't dead, Wyatt. Sure, she's Rittenhouse, so there's bound to be some issues there. But, after everything you went through trying to save her, it doesn't make sense to stop just because of a little thing like she's the enemy."

He kept his eyes firmly planted on the road ahead. "I never meant to hurt Lucy, you have to know that."

"Of course not, Wyatt. I could never think that about you." Jiya felt for him. "I can't imagine how hard it's been for you." .

"I should've done better. Lucy tried to tell me to get my head out of my ass. I didn't listen." That epiphany happened far too late. "But being Lucy, of course she believes the best of everyone. She thinks that Jess could still be swayed to fight on the right side of history too. I'd like to believe her." He loosened his grip on the wheel. "If Flynn can change, anyone can."

Jiya tucked her legs up under her. In for a penny, in for a pound. "How are you doing about the whole Flynn thing anyway?"

He affected an air of bafflement. "What do you mean? Him helping with missions? He's come in handy on occasion."

Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed Jiya's squirming. "Oh, um, never mind. I shouldn't-Frak!-Totally stuck my foot in my mouth there, huh?"

He burst out laughing, couldn't help it. "Jiya, it's okay," he tried to pull himself together. Definitely need food and a nap. "Lucy and I talked. We're good. I'm not gonna start some macho fist fight with him or anything."

"Um, remember when that actually happened? And Lucy got hurt?" She loved that girl like a sister and didn't want her caught in the middle of another fight. "You can see why I'm concerned, right? You haven't exactly handled Flynn/Lucy interactions well in the past."

Wyatt sobered. Thinking about Rufus. "I haven't told you this because we're all just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other at this point. But when Jess took you, Rufus let me know in no uncertain terms that he blamed me for it. That if we didn't save you, he didn't think he could forgive me." He couldn't look at her, thinking of how angry Rufus had been, rightfully so. "Now I don't think I can forgive myself if we don't save him. I was self-centered and stupid and everybody else around me suffered for it."

He left the vehicle down the road from the house, grabbed the food, and got out. Jiya joined him as they walked through the wooded area that covered their tracks as they headed back to Lucy and Flynn.

"Rufus couldn't hold a grudge to save his life," Jiya said, a wry, sad smile playing across her face. "But there's enough blame to go around. We all need to stop obsessing over the past and-" Whatever she was going to say next got lost in a haze of yellow.

The vision took her down to her knees.


Lucy clung to Flynn's arm. "Why is this happening now, I don't understand? You said it happened late at night, right? This was just supposed to be surveillance."

"I did. Is Emma here? Did we miss her?" They moved as one to the window, Lucy bending down and grabbing one set of binoculars for herself, while handing the other to Flynn. She slipped to the left side of the curtain and peered out at the windows of his house, giving her a clear view of almost every room. Flynn took a lookout in the center so he remained unseen but had an unobstructed view of the street in both directions.

"Luc, please, I beg you."

Flynn's voice frantic, but too quiet. "What'd you say?" Lucy asked as she focused on looking for his wife and daughter.

"Huh? I didn't say anything." A black sedan screamed around the corner several houses down.

"I could've sworn you-"

"Hold on, there's a car headed this direction, in a hurry. What do you see in the house?" He grabbed the rifle propped against the sill. He blinked. "Hold on, it's hazy, like with Emma-"

Lucy stilled. "Flynn…"

"I'll keep you safe, I promise," She heard his voice again. The pieces tumbled into place and shook her entire world. Instead of Flynn's wife and daughter, she saw herself. A ghost of a life she didn't remember, slipping in and out of existence.

"What?" He glanced at her, and she looked stunned he was almost afraid to ask. "Can you see Lorena or Iris?"

"Flynn, who's driving that car?" She reached in her shirt and withdrew the locket, never taking her focus off an alternate version of herself as she placed a necklace gently in a blue backpack. Lucy sharpened the view through the lenses. A flash of St. Christopher.

Slashes of orange disoriented Flynn, but he gathered his wits as the scene clarified and he watched as a ghostly version of himself jumped out of the car, clutching a cell phone.

"I am." He turned his attention to the house. He reached over and grabbed Lucy's hand as they watched as the rooms flickered between the reality Flynn knew and one where they were together. Ready to fight for each other. Ready to run.

This time they both heard Lucy's voice whispering, faraway, unreachable. "I love you, Garcia. Forever."

A furious bolt of red shattered the scene.