Chapter Summary: They go on another mission to stop Rittenhouse and Lucy starts asking questions.
"Where did she go?" Rufus asked as they made their way back into the common area.
"September 5, 1912, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin," Jiya announced.
Lucy frowned as she stood there thinking. Finally, she pulled up the internet and said, " Charles Dawes's son Rufus, he was the vice president under Coolidge and Nobel Prize winner, drowned in Lake Geneva. But what would Rittenhouse have to do with that? Dawes is important. But why would they target his son?"
"Unless they save his son. And in exchange, they get him to join them." Flynn said. "The Dawes's were prime Rittenhouse material. An old family that dates back to the founding of this country. If any family in this country was Rittenhouse they'd be a good one."
"So you think the Dawes's were Rittenhouse but maybe Charles wasn't good enough and so they want to make him grateful by saving his son?" Rufus commented. "I mean the kid has my name so he has to be superior."
"He was just 21 and his death had a profound impact on Charles. Charles was very important in both politics and business. The Dawes Plan was definitely not the best plan in terms of repayment with Germany but it had a tremendous impact on history. Changing that could have a crazy ripple effect. If he was more closely involved with Rittenhouse who knows what they would do? It could go either way. But definitely, it would change history." Lucy's voice had reverted to its professorial tones. It made him smile despite the seriousness of the situation. She sounded constantly so excited by history.
It was a rough mission from the outset. He and Flynn got arrested for being anarchists. (Admittedly Flynn looked exactly like an anarchist and a dubiously moral Eastern European guy with a gun is probably actually threatening to the small town sheriff.) They managed to escape but not before Lucy and Rufus nearly got themselves killed by the sleeper agent.
They managed to get inside the not very heavily guarded house that Charles Dawes stayed during the summer months and stood right outside the study door. They could hear Lucy speaking. Wyatt crept closer fighting the instantaneous fear that she would say or do something dangerous. He loved Lucy, really he did, but she could be a bit bad with the cover stories. So could he. They all needed Amy Preston in their lives to get their acting straight.
"Miss. Cather, I'm afraid that it's too late. They have threatened my son. I have no choice but to go along with their requests." The man speaking had to be Charles Dawes himself.
"At least delay a bit. Please," Lucy paused and went on, "That woman, I mean Miss Whitmore, is a very dangerous person. She is attempting to destroy our country. Nothing is worth that."
"I see you don't have a family, Miss Cather. You'd feel differently if you did." He answered.
"I have a sister I adore. I would do nearly anything for her." Lucy spoke with conviction. "That's why I am saying that if you just delay their request for a few days then it will be resolved. We hope to catch this woman and put her in jail. She and her friends are extremely dangerous."
"I will do as you ask, Miss Cather. But if anything happens to my son as a result of your interference I may warn you that I will hold you morally responsible."
Wyatt felt a little sick. The boy would die, of natural causes, in just a few hours time. And even though they would be long gone for Charles the pain would be just begun. "I would advise you to make sure your son doesn't go boating or on the lake for a few days. Rittenhouse is looking for an opportunity to arrange an accident." Lucy's voice was gentle and soothing.
"That would be advisable. He went out today. It's such nice weather. But I will tell him when he gets back." Charles's voice was growing calmer under the influence of Lucy's personality.
"Yes, that would be a good idea." Lucy's voice had grown even quieter. "Thank you for your time, sir."
"Good Luck, Miss Cather." They could hear Lucy get up and presumably walk out the door.
A few minutes later she and Rufus met them in the woods surrounding the lake where they hid the Lifeboat. Both of them looked sober.
"Well?" asked Flynn. "What did you find out?"
As if he hadn't overheard every single word. Lucy sighed, "He's holding off giving into Emma's demands. But his son is already on the water. I don't think we can save him."
"We can try," Rufus said hopefully.
"We can't change history like that," Lucy said.
"To hell with it. If we can save that boy's life we should." Rufus replied.
The old Lucy, the one that lost her sister, would probably have agreed. But this Lucy was still stubbornly sticking to the whole not changing history part. Finally, Wyatt said, "It can't hurt to at least steal a boat and go looking for him. We might be too late anyway."
The sun was just setting as they made their rounds of the lake. There was no sign of the boy or the boat. Wyatt had a sinking feeling that the Dawes boy was already gone. Fate had intervened again. Finally, even Rufus gave up. Wyatt knew it was more than the fact that the boy and he shared the same name. It was about how Rufus was terrified that Jiya's vision would someday come true. Also because underneath it all Rufus was just a compassionate, good person.
Lucy was silent as she fumbled with her seatbelt. Wyatt leaned over to help her. Finally, she said, "I know that you all think I'm horrible. Maybe I am? But I mean, changing the past could be disastrous. It could affect a whole lot more people than just one person. History is supposed to be fixed. Over. Done with. You can't change it. That's what I was taught. But now…it's not fixed. It's not done with."
Flynn laughed, "Believe me. We've all done much worse. You're the only one of us who hasn't killed someone."
The moment the Lifeboat landed in the present Lucy was stumbling down the stairs. "Did the boy die?" she asked.
"Yes," Connor replied. " September 5, 1912. Died in a boating accident where he fell in the water and got tangled in some fishnets and drowned."
Lucy's face underwent a change. Finally, she said, "I guess you were wrong. I did kill a person."
"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked. "You weren't responsible for that."
" I told Charles that his son would be fine. There was probably time to stop him. I tried convincing him that he shouldn't join Rittenhouse because his son would be fine. Rittenhouse knew he would die and that's why they threatened him. I thought, that maybe he would get angry at them and refuse." Lucy shook her head, "Did he join Rittenhouse?"
Connor looked troubled, "I'm not certain as to your timeline versus ours but he was heavily involved in politics. And a few Dawes family members were part of Rittenhouse."
"We can't be certain that they weren't already part of Rittenhouse," Wyatt assured her. "I mean looking at his Wikipedia profile it looks pretty much unchanged."
Lucy shrugged and said, "Excuse me. I'd like to take off this dress."
It was hard remembering this Lucy was so much less accustomed to violence and bloodshed than the one he knew. This woman was much closer to the woman who had implied that Jessica's death was fate. She'd learn, already had perhaps, but it saddened him to see her go through this transformation.
A few hours later he tapped on the door she shared with Amy. Amy opened it and smiled at him, "So can you please convince my sister she isn't evil and horrible?"
"I shouldn't have done that. Now I just made things worse. I don't belong in this job. I should be teaching." Lucy looked up at him.
"Listen, this is your second mission. And believe me that you are still better than you were on your tenth mission in the other timeline. Plus you've always been good. There is no good way to deal with this. I mean, maybe that kid was fated to die. Or maybe it was Rittenhouse. There wasn't anything else you could do." Wyatt wanted to reach out and take her hand. But he couldn't. Lucy had only known him for a few days in her timeline.
"I'm going to make some milkshakes. What kind do you want? Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?" Amy stood up and went towards the door. "Don't you dare say you don't want one, Lucy. I'll stuff it down your throat myself."
"I'll have a strawberry one," Lucy said. "Thank you, Amy."
"I'm the best sister ever." Amy gave him a decided wink as she left the room and pointed obliquely to Lucy. Well, clearly her dislike of him had disappeared. Had Lucy told her that he had saved her life? She must have.
"I just…I'm just still trying to wrap my head around my other timeline self," Lucy confessed. She opened her mouth and started to speak. Then she closed her mouth again and shook her head. "Nevermind."
"What?" Wyatt asked.
"It's just, Emma implied some weird stuff. I didn't understand what she was saying. I mean I know we were probably friends in that other timeline but were we..uh..dating? I know you mentioned that in that timeline your wife was dead." Lucy looked down, seemingly embarrassed. This was like Noah all over again. Except, in this case, he was Noah. He almost felt sorry for the guy except that he had abused Lucy.
How could he possibly explain it? Technically they had a twenty-four-hour relationship. But it had been going on much longer than that. They had played with "possibilities" for months. Describing their odd relationship in terms of dating seemed weird. Especially since they hadn't been on a standard date. He hadn't taken her to dinner, she hadn't dragged him to a museum and they hadn't posted sappy pictures on Facebook. The closest thing to a date had been Hedy Lemarr's guest house. That had been a pretty epic date even if it had technically been work.
"Uh…" Wyatt took a deep breath racking his brain for an explanation that didn't completely freak her out. It was way too soon to explain the intricacies of their relationship.
"So I managed to find some chocolate syrup but your weird roommate, that guy who talks like Lucy is some sort of character in his self-insert fan fiction, was all pissy over me using it." Amy came into the room balancing three glasses on a tray. Wyatt stood up to help her with it. Amy was clearly experienced in handling trays. She was probably a waitress. Jessica had been amazing at balancing dishes without dropping a single one. Well, technically, she still was. Probably knee deep in plans for her bar and grill.
"You mean Flynn?" Lucy asked as she excepted the glass. For the first time, Wyatt was actually glad of being interrupted. It was way too complicated to explain so soon.
"Yeah, I guess. I mean I do see the appeal. Even though I'm gay as hell. But honestly, he seems like bad news. Dead wife problems…And the whole killing people thing. And apparently according to Rufus he got him shot." Amy shook her head and grinned, "I mean if I wanted to find a murderous female I guess Emma is available."
"Please, no…" Lucy shook her head. "She tried to kill me."
"I know. But I'm just saying if this was a heterosexual story everyone would be shipping us." Amy laughed at Wyatt's frown of disgust. "Hey don't be homophobic. We'd look cute together."
"Ugh…" Lucy rolled her eyes and said, "What about that girl you met online? She seemed nice."
Amy sighed, "She was nice and we're still friends. But she's moving to Paris and we decided to break up. So I'm single again. That's ok though. It'd be hard to explain why I'm living in an underground bunker and then she might end up being an evil Rittenhouse spy or something."
Wyatt left after a few minutes. He was actually somewhat relieved Amy had interrupted them. He had to think of some sort of explanation for his timeline before Lucy questioned him. She was sure to do so. Lucy had been distracted by all the crazy things going on but that didn't mean she didn't remember. She had a phenomenal memory.
He found Jiya watching a cooking show while Rufus snoozed beside her. Wyatt wasn't exactly a chef but he did know how to cook. Living alone for nearly six years had made him learn how to make basic foods. He was still better than Lucy or Connor. Jiya liked watching cooking shows but had never made a single thing. Her cooking skills mostly extended to spaghetti and smoothies.
"So how is Lucy settling in here?" Jiya flipped off the TV and turned to him.
Wyatt shrugged. It was hard to tell. He thought she was managing pretty well but Lucy had always been good at pretending. It was impossible to tell behind that smile if she was really ok.
"At least she has her sister," Jiya commented. "Rufus told me in the other timeline she was gone."
"Yeah, I mean it's kinda weird. Somehow we saved Amy. We didn't even try to." Wyatt still hadn't figured out what they had changed in the mission to not only mean Lucy never ended up on the team but that Amy would live.
"So how're things with her and you?" Jiya smiled impishly.
"Fine." He replied. Jiya rolled her eyes.
"Come on. I know about Hollywoodland and Hedy Lemarr. Rufus told me." Wyatt resisted the impulse to wake Rufus up and tell him exactly what he thought of his gossip. It made sense that no one would have talked about it before. Jessica had been back then and everyone in the bunker would have been horrified if they had found out. Afterward, Lucy was just a stranger to everyone except him and Rufus and Flynn.
"You know things have changed." He whispered back. Jiya sighed.
"Yeah, well how much? I mean you managed to win her over with your incredibly bad flirting skills and angsty sadness. I can tell she already thinks you're hot. So… what's wrong with trying?" Jiya smiled and said, "As long as your feelings haven't changed. I mean with…"
Wyatt shook his head. "I don't know. But how do I explain it? Emma basically tipped her hand and now she's starting to ask questions. You know Lucy. The minute she is suspicious she's like a dog with a bone."
Jiya frowned, "I mean just tell her the truth. What else can you do?"
"Yeah," he said.
Eventually, he left the room. Rufus was still out and Jiya simply curled up on the couch next to him and was asleep in a few minutes. They were ridiculously cute together in that annoying way that actually restored his belief in happy relationships. He was strangely lonely in a crowded bunker. There was nothing more lonely than being alone among a crowd.
Author's Note: So I may have been a trifle self-indulgent in this mission. I'm actually very distantly related to the Dawes family and they were actually very important people. They seem like the type of family that would be Rittenhouse. Obviously, I made up the whole interchange between Lucy and Charles. I wanted to bring up the whole fate vs. choice thing again. You can see that Lucy is basically the same person but she hasn't been through the same experiences that the other Lucy did. So she's still a bit green. Amy still cracks me up. She's got everyone in the bunker's number. If only she'd met Wyatt before when he too had "dead wife problems". I adore her so much. I also love the Jiya/Wyatt conversation. Jiya is really very wise and smart and unlike Rufus, she's willing to call Wyatt out on his BS. Rufus tends to back down. I think of Jiya as Wyatt's very sweet but tough as nails little sis.
This fic won't be too much longer. We know from the writers that Lucy fell for Wyatt really early on and since he's already in love with her there isn't need for a ton of further conflict. But who knows what will happen with the timelines?