May 16, 2018

Lucy lay sleeping, beautiful in the morning light, dull, filtered through the opaque windows. Her brunette hair messy on her shoulders, he ran his fingers through its length, allowing himself this fragile peace. Too soon she'd wake and they'd face off against Emma. Let her remain blissful until history demanded their attention.

She let him believe that she was still asleep, enjoying the absent play of his fingers against her skin. With her eyes closed, she could pretend they were an ordinary couple. They'd get up and he'd make pancakes. Maybe they'd stay in bed past noon. Spend the afternoon wandering through the market. In the evening, they'd open a bottle of wine and eat sitting on the living room floor. Utterly normal.

It hit her that she'd been imagining their stolen life, felt it in her bones. The pictures hazy, but the emotion clear as day. A wave of grief rippled through her and she snuggled into Flynn, comforted by his presence.

He leaned down and kissed just behind her ear. "Lucy?"

"Time to save the world?" she asked, her voice fuzzy. Blinking away the sleep, she stretched in his arms, her body distracting him.

"I mean, we could run away and let it all burn down. I'm not completely against that idea," his desire flaming into existence.

If not for Rufus, she'd probably let the world burn. The thought of Flynn, his gaze searing her as their bodies came together, a heady temptation. "One day, very soon, we're going to spend all day in bed." She nibbled her way up his chest.

"That is no way to get me out of bed," his hands roamed her waist, thumbs tracing circles over her hips, down the line to the crease of her thigh, fingers so close.

A moan escaped her lips. "Do you think we could be quick?"

"Woman," he almost growled at her, pressing her into the mattress, pinning her arms above her. Drinking in the sight of her, hair splayed across the pillow, she caught her breath as he began to move, a languorous rhythm. "We don't have near enough time for all the things I want to do to you right now."

Shifting mere inches, she aligned their bodies, the hard length of him poised at her center. "If you could pick one thing..."

Lucy gazed up at him, passion spilling from her expression. Her body coaxed his, moving to bring the tip of him into her, only to withdraw. It was too much. He slipped inside her and the universe fell into place. Their coupling quiet, at odds with the furious pace their bodies demanded. Since learning about their alternate life, they felt like they were racing time. As if, at any moment, what they'd found might be ripped away again.

~*~*~*~
May 13, 2018

Emma punched in the coordinates. "So, now that we have the ability to travel into our own timelines we can finally go after Lucy before Agent Christopher and the Time Team got their hooks into her. "

"Yes," Carol leaned forward. "The night of her accident. To this day she doesn't remember who saved her. We rescue her and take her back to Rittenhouse. If we show her the possibilities young, we can control her future. She can be here, by my side where she should be."

"Good, then we get there, we send in Jimmy and Doug to pull Lucy out, get her to the Rittenhouse facility in Stanford."

"Where I have people in place. Once they know my daughter is there, they'll contact me in the past. They'll assume she already knows about the organization since bringing her there indicates that knowledge. Lucy, once she gets hold of a mystery, won't let go until she solves it. I'll have no choice, but to tell her everything."

She'd give Carol this one last chance to bring Lucy into the fold, but if it didn't work, Emma'd shoot her first chance she got. With the new tech, all bets were off. She could go anywhere she needed. Of course, she left that unsaid, didn't want the arguments, the hemming and hawing over killing Lucy. Never mind that Carol swayed Nicholas to her side, she'd win him back. And if not, she'd take care of him and Lucy's mom. She didn't really need them. He was hot and useful for baser needs, but all the bullshit about legacies and bloodlines grated on her.

Rebuilding might take time, but loyalty paid dividends in the end. Look what they'd accomplished with Jessica. She glanced at the blond to her right, fidgeting in her seat. Sending her undercover, had that been a mistake? Maybe she'd underestimated her attachment to Wyatt.

"Jess, you good?" The situation required a gentle touch. Wouldn't take much to push her right back into her husband's arms.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get this over with." If there'd been a window, she would've stared out of it, but as it stood, Jess studied the clean white lines of the Mothership.

Emma reached over. "Hey, seriously, if you need time, we can spare you." Carol and Nicholas shared a dangerous look that irritated her. The redhead liked Jess far more than either of the other two.

"No, I'm in." She straightened her shoulders. "Let's get this show on the road."

There's the fierce woman underneath the deceptive packaging she needed. Pretty, blond, bartender. Easily dismissed. "We'll go somewhere fun after. Promise. Hey, didn't you say you were a big Madonna fan?"

"I did," Jess laughed.

Emma grinned as she punched in the last of the calculations. "How about we hit up her Virgin tour in '85? Give this timeline tech a real run for its money."

Nicholas scoffed. "If it doesn't scramble our brains."

"You know none of the team of scientists finishing Anthony's research would dare risk your life." Carol relaxed in her seat, buckling in for the time jump. "Your vision is far too important."

"Besides, it's not like you're about to let anyone else in on this inaugural mission and you want to be in on San Francisco afterwards when we face off against them." Emma arched an eyebrow he couldn't see. "I'm just glad the scientists finally finished. When this works, we'll have that many more options open to us."

"If I end up drooling on myself, I will be quite unhappy." Nicholas fastened all his belts and acted aggrieved that he'd been so importuned despite insisting on tagging along.

"You won't." She looked around at the assembled group, strapped in, anxious and expectant.

~*~*~*~
May 15, 2018

They sat around the picnic tables outside, needing to feel the sun. They'd seen so much darkness in the last few days. Five sets of eyes watched her, waiting. Patient. She had to stop tiptoeing around her accident. They needed details.

Lucy took a deep breath, steeling herself. "2003. March 31. I had an anthropology class that ended at nine and we'd spent the class discussing Pontiac's Rebellion during the French and Indian war. It wasn't the atrocities committed that horrified me, though they were awful enough. It was the Paxton Boys. This vigilante group that went in and slaughtered the remaining survivors of the Susquehannock tribe who had nothing to do with the Rebellion. I'll spare you the blood and the burning of villages. Suffice it to say, I was done. I didn't want to live in the past."

Jiya closed her fingers around her's. "We're right here. Don't worry, you aren't alone."

"Thanks, Ji." She felt Flynn's steady presence, leaning on a tree at her back, it gave her the strength to confront the night of the accident. "I loved singing and it made me happy in a way that history just didn't. Amy always encouraged me and I made my decision driving to my mom's that night. No more slaughter of the innocents, I'd sing in smoky bars if I had to, but I was going to live my best life. Amy would approve. Maybe we'd move to San Fran and rent a flat in Haight-Ashbury." She closed her eyes against the night and its assault on her long-buried fear. A single thought... Houdini's words came back to her. Safe, she was safe.

"Where were you?" Jiya brought her back.

"Driving through the Stanford Golf Club. Worked up rehearsing what I'd say to my mother. There's a bridge over the San Francisquito river. I came around the curve and hit the oil slick. Crashed down the right side and into the water. The winter'd been especially bad in the mountains and the river ran deeper than usual." She shuddered. "It was so cold and rushing around me. "

Flynn stepped up behind her, laying his hand on the back of her neck. "Do you remember what time it was?"

She thought back. "9:42. I remember the bright red clock display like it was yesterday."

Jiya crossed to the platform to bring up a topographical map on the computers. "Found the area you indicated. Come check it out."

Lucy joined her and studied the area. "I mean, I can't be sure, but it looks like it."

"Hold on, let me bring up a satellite photo. That might help." She typed out a series of commands. "There we go."

Ice shot through Lucy's body. She'd never gone back to the scene of the accident, but she'd remember that bridge forever. "That's it." Turning, she walked straight back down the stairs.

"Alright," Jiya studied the area on the screen, "Give me a few minutes to really hone this one down. I'm trying to figure out how accurate I can be. I'm getting the feeling there's not a lot of room for error here. We have to be as close to the scene as possible in case we need to retreat."

"You heard her." Agent Christopher stood, dismissing them. "Check the supplies, eat a sandwich, use the bathroom, and change into some sensible shoes. Meet back here in thirty."

~*~*~*~
March 31, 2003

"Mom. I'm done with school. I'm done with history. I'm done spending my time with dead people. I need to spread my wings-no, not that. Too cliche." What would Adam say? He'd been her best friend since he'd dragged her out to her first open mic. Said a voice like hers needed to be heard. How many days had they spent singing together before finally convincing her? She couldn't wait to call and tell him they were finally gonna get that little apartment in Haight-Ashbury. First, she had to deal with her mother.

"Mom, Adam and I are starting a band and I don't care if you kick me out. I don't care if you disown me. This is what makes me happy." Her mother, of course, would explain that careers had little to do with happiness. People like them had a responsibility. She'd insist Lucy move back home. Obviously, she was still too immature to handle being on her own.

Didn't matter. For once, she was going to follow her heart, not her mother's plan. Christina Aguilera came on the radio and Lucy turned it up, singing along and pressing the gas pedal down a little farther.

I am beautiful
No matter what they say
Words can't bring me down

"Nope, I'm taking hold of my future now. No matter what she says. I'll forge my own path. And even if I make a hundred beautiful mistakes, it won't matter cuz it'll be my choice. They're my mistakes to make." She could hear her mother's voice, " Even if you end up destitute and starving on the streets of some strange town? "

The moonlight flickered, hidden and revealed by the passing clouds as she drove through the scrub brush of the golf course. No one ever took this route at night, except the night guard, and he was on a cart. What could he do about it? Lucy enjoyed the speed and the song and the freedom she felt with the chill wind drying her tears in streaks down her cheeks.

Tonight, she said goodbye to Lucy the historian. Tomorrow, the new Lucy embraced whatever the world offered.

The car soared around the bend in the road, and too busy claiming her future, she missed the large black oil slick waiting at the end of the curve. Lucy over adjusted the wheel in the opposite direction and the back tires swerved. Thick waxy leaves of the stunted trees swarmed into her vision and she swerved again trying to get back on the road before it was too late. Dirt spun out behind her and the car hit a rock outcropping launching the vehicle. For what felt like hours she hung suspended until the river raced up at her and the car plummeted into its icy waters.

~*~*~*~
May 16, 2018

"Adam," Lucy breathed out. "Wait, no. That's not right."

Confusion skittered through Flynn, an icy warning left in its wake. "Adam? Who's Adam?"

Lucy scrunched up her face. "I don't know-I mean, I do. My best friend in college. But that's not right. Amy's always been my best friend. I never knew an Adam." Fear ran through her and she wrapped herself in his arms. Safe. Flynn would always keep her safe "I think it's starting. Whatever it is. We need to go now."

He bent down and claimed her mouth right there in the hallway, uncaring of who saw. Terror raged through him at what lay before them. He let it go and lost himself in her insistent lips, her fingers scraping against the nape of his neck. He loved this woman and he'd do anything to keep her from harm even if it mean following her straight into the fire. So he kissed her like their lives depended on it and she gave him everything in return.

When they parted, too soon, he looked down at her, letting her see his fear and his love both. "Ready?"

She answered by slipping her much smaller hand in his. "Together. We'll face whatever it is together."

He had no doubt Emma'd throw everything she could at them. Since this trip happened before San Francisco, they had to consider that everyone on that mission would be on this one. Would she expect them? He hoped not, surprise might be their only chance. Emma knew they had the knowledge to travel back into their own timelines, but did she know that they also had the ability to do so?

The rejoined the rest of the group gathered around the platform. "It's time. Where are we, Jiya?" Lucy looked to her friend hunched over the computers.

"Just finishing up." Jiya turned to her, her eyes wide. "You can tell it's starting, can't you?"

Lucy nodded. "The past is getting mixed up. Like it's changing, but I'm walking the line between both. I can't forget Amy. I just can't."

Agent Christopher reached out for her free hand. "You won't."

Wyatt glanced over the motley crew. "Everybody good to go? Any last thoughts?"

"Just that we should be prepared for the possibility that Emma knows we're coming." Flynn gave a small squeeze of Lucy's hand and shared a look with Wyatt. "And that we should expect the full Rittenhouse retinue."

Wyatt picked up the thread. "Yes, agreed. Lucy, you should prepare yourself to face your mother."

Her mouth set a thin line, determined. "Denise warned me that might happen. I'll be okay. I can't stop thinking her one big regret was not indoctrinating me earlier. Makes it easier. I'd never join Rittenhouse. Plus, Jess'll probably be there too."

"You'll all have your demons to face." Agent Christopher gathered all their focus, they had no time for emotional distractions. "You know what you're doing. There's no reason to put this off any longer."

Jiya climbed down the stairs. "She's right. I've had two visions in the last ten minutes and Lucy's memory is going sideways. We need to go. Now. Coordinates are set. I should be able to get us within twenty feet of the accident."

Denise pulled them all into one big, ridiculous, hug. "You heard the woman. Get your butts in the Lifeboat and go save Rufus. And all of you come back in one piece. Remember, I promised you ice cream."

She watched them go with trepidation. No matter how many times she sent them on these missions, she never worried any less.

Mason stopped Jiya before she got too far away. "Please, bring him home to us. I'm putting all my trust in you."

"I won't let you down," wrapping her arms around him, she kissed his cheek, "I promise."

The Jiya one retrieved the packets of information. Haste imperative. A schism on the horizon, undefined. The destination required absolute accuracy. Numerous time strands. No room for error. Lines Intersect. A shattering. Destruction.

Jiya kept her breathing even. Kept Rufus in her mind. Imagined him next to her, offering encouragement, asking her What Would the Doctor Do? A challenge and a support. Keep it loose, be prepared to improvise, and breathe. Always remember to breathe.

"Everybody buckled in?" Jiya scanned the group, mumbled, nodded assents met her. "Alright then, let's do this."

Lucy leaned up and touched her shoulder. "Save Rufus, save the world."

Mason and Denise stood sentinel as the Lifeboat revved up, preparing for the jump. The weight in the pit of her stomach terrified her, but she'd learned to set that aside decades ago.

Mason slid an arm over her shoulder. "I'll get the whiskey, you get the yarn?"