Disclaimer: I don't own Timeless.

Author's Note: So...I lied. Two chapters and an epilogue left to go, counting this one.

The next couple of weeks passed by in a blur. The first few days especially, when Lucy looked back, she could hardly remember, aside from a few moments that stood out. Explaining to Amy about Cahill and their mother, crying as Amy reassured her that it didn't change anything. Iris panicking the first night Lucy went back home to be with Amy. Garcia had admitted later that he hadn't been much better and had been glad to have Iris climb in his bed. He had finally broken down and given her a stripped-down smartphone so she could talk to Lucy when she needed to, after getting a complete security lockdown by Jiya who made sure he had full control.

Things hadn't been a picnic for Lucy, either. After two nights at the Flynn house she had made herself go home. She didn't want to be away from them anymore than they wanted her to be, but she was afraid of the situation creating a false sense of intimacy between the three of them. There was true intimacy there, but she didn't want to ever question whether the seriousness of their relationships had been forced by circumstance rather than choice.

A grand jury had quickly been formed and had chosen to indict Jake Neville, Benjamin Cahill and Emma Whitmore. They were all expected to plead out to avoid the death penalty, which was likely a foregone conclusion with the heaps of federal charges, including but not limited to conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and human trafficking. Lucy would sleep easier once that had been said and done and they were securely behind bars for life.

Jessica Logan had pled down to lesser charges. During her interrogation it had come out that she had been passing Emma information on the Delta Force whereabouts on and off for over a year before leaving her bartending job. She couldn't seem to explain why she had done it, didn't seem to know herself, aside from saying that once she had Kate, she had wanted to be more than a mom and a bartender. To Lucy's mind, there were a lot of options in between bartender and indentured servant to an international crime ring, so it was hard to have any sympathy for her. She was expected to serve at least three years of her ten-year sentence in exchange for her cooperation with the investigation. Fortunately, Wyatt hadn't been implicated in her confession—she had simply known his routines, and even after they had separated, known when he was or wasn't deployed due to the need to pass Kate back and forth. The one good thing to come out of that had been Wyatt getting the divorce finalized and being awarded full custody. He was still reeling, which was easy to understand. An unknown father being a criminal mastermind was one thing—the mother of your child, your spouse? It was too awful to imagine.

Lucy smiled as she pulled into the driveway and saw Iris, Olivia and Mark playing with Katie in the front yard. The whole group was assembling at the Christopher home for a cookout, ostensibly to celebrate the successful closure of their case, but she had a feeling it was Denise's way of sneaking in a debrief for everyone who had participated in the case. Stiv and Karl had begged off, but everyone else, including Jiya and Rufus, had been invited and confirmed.

As she got out of the car, Iris ran to her and attached herself to Lucy like an octopus. "Hi, honey. How are you? Are you ready for tomorrow?"

It was Saturday afternoon and Iris and Olivia were heading off to a two-week long sleepaway camp the next day. Iris had declared a week ago that she still wanted to go, and Garcia had been struggling with it. He had poured out his concerns to Lucy, who agreed with him that it would be healthy for Iris to see that she would be okay away from him, but she understood. Whenever she pictured that gun pointing at Iris's head, anxiety settled in her stomach like a rock, and it must have been a hundred times worse for him.

"I'm all packed. Dad got the camp director to let me have my cell phone the whole time, so I can call whenever I need to."

Lucy's shoulders eased at that. "That's great. But I bet you'll be so busy having fun you won't even have time to worry about us. How's your dad doing?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "He's pretending he's fine. But he keeps double-checking different routes on Google maps for how long it takes to get to camp from our house when he thinks I'm not looking."

"It's not easy for him, either. He wants you to have fun and be safe."

Iris tugged Lucy's hand as she wound through the house and pulled her into the backyard. "You'll take care of him while I'm gone, right?"

"Of course," she laughed as Mark and Olivia bumped into her from behind, toting Katie who smelled like she needed her dad. Wyatt was chatting with Jiya and Dave in the corner of the yard. Lucy was relieved to see that he was smiling.

Iris took off to rejoin the other kids and Lucy strode to where Garcia was talking to Michelle and Amy and slipped her arms around his waist to hug him from the side. He curled his free arm around her and bent to kiss her hello.

"Hey," he pulled away grinning at her. Michelle and Amy exchanged a gleeful look before moving to join Dave and the others.

"Hey. How are you doing?"

He bit his lip. "Trying to hold it together until she goes. I know it's better for her to go but letting her out of my sight right now is excruciating."

"I know," she whispered. "Could you use a distraction when she leaves?"

Garcia raised his eyebrows, "Are you offering to come stay with me?"

"Do you want me to?"

His answer was in his twinkling eyes and smirk before he spoke. "More than just about anything. I've missed you."

She hummed in agreement as she kissed him by way of response. They hadn't had much time together, at least not alone, in the past two weeks. There had been a few hasty, stolen moments here or there, but that was it. Amy and Iris had both needed her presence so badly, and she couldn't blame either of them or say no. But Lucy needed him.

"Ahem," a throat clearing interrupted them and Lucy pulled back, but Garcia kept his hands in place on her hips as he glowered at Denise. She smiled at him, unruffled by his look.

"Hi, Lucy. How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," she smiled uncertainly back at Denise. She was relieved to find Jiya suddenly at her side. "Oh, Denise, this is my friend Jiya." Jiya and Denise moved to shake hands and when they touched, Denise froze, staring off into space. The other three looked at each other in alarm, but then she came back to herself with a gasp.

"What the hell?" she whispered. It dawned on Lucy what was happening.

"Did you see something?" Lucy asked and she saw Jiya's look of alarm settle into knowing. Denise moved to sit in one of the patio chairs and the three of them followed.

"Yes. The two of you." She gestured between Jiya and Lucy. "You were talking me out of my engagement."

"To Michelle?" Garcia cut in.

"No. In 1981, I nearly agreed to an arranged marriage. I had a dream where two women came and they told me about Michelle and our children, and I…I assumed it was just my subconscious telling me not to give in. I forgot about it until now. But it was the two of you." She stared at them in wonder for a long moment before waving her hands in the air. "Listen to me, I sound crazy. Just forget it."

"You're not crazy, Denise. It's happened to us, too," Lucy assured her.

"Him too?" Jiya lowly asked Lucy and she nodded. They all looked at each other warily, and Michelle chose that moment to announce dinner was ready.

Lucy was nervous the rest of the evening waiting for the subject of the visions to come up, but no one brought it up again. Instead, they talked about the kids, about Rufus and Jiya's upcoming wedding in October, about Amy's podcast and plans to move in with Dave in a month (Lucy still wasn't sure what she was going to do with that, so she was choosing to be happy for the two of them for now). By some unspoken agreement, they only talked of cheerful, uncomplicated things, and for the first time in the last two weeks, Lucy felt like she could breathe free. She could relax against Garcia without having to grip him until her knuckles were white to make sure he wouldn't disappear. Kiss him gently and quickly instead of like it might be the last time. Enjoy the feel of his eyes watching her from across the room as she, Rufus and Michelle laughed together and not feel like he would disappear as soon as she couldn't feel his eyes on her anymore.

Iris came to find Lucy in the kitchen as she was helping Denise with the dishes. She was mostly over her annoyance at the woman. She found her maternal in a way her mother never had been, and it was endearing.

"Lucy," Iris ventured, licking her lips just like her father did when he was nervous. "Would you stay with us tonight? And come take me to camp in the morning?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to say yes, but she made herself pause. "Um, let me double-check with your dad first, alright? I'll be there as soon as I finish these last couple glasses."

Iris sighed "He said you'd say that," as she turned to leave.

Denise was watching her, and Lucy was trying not to blush. "You won't mess it up."

"What?" Lucy turned to look at the other woman who was looking at her with a knowing smile.

"You're not going to mess up your relationship with them. Your fear is written all over your face. Garcia is one of those people—once he makes a decision, he's set."

Lucy sighed. "I'm always afraid of ruining things. It's…I just hear my mom in my head, telling me I'm going to go too fast, that I'm not thinking it through. I'm trying to get past it."

Denise nodded and hummed in response. "I get that. It's hard when your parents want a different life for you than the one you want or need. I—what I was talking about before—my mother, she didn't take it well when I came out, and that's putting it lightly. She wanted me to bury it, to marry a man regardless of how I felt, to be the perfect stay-at-home Indian bride. I had to choose to make my own life anyway."

"What happened with your mom afterward?"

"Oh, she was upset for a long time. She eventually came around, very slowly. Especially once we had Mark. Kids have a way of building a bridge." She grabbed the last glass from Lucy as she finished washing it and paused before drying it, looking Lucy in the face. "I'm sorry that you won't get a chance for that with your mom. But I'm also glad that you're stepping out and making your own life for yourself."

"Me too. I have to figure out a way to quiet that voice in my head. Or at least stop listening to it."

"I think you'll get there."

"It helps that they're so easy to…"

"Easy to love?" Denise laughed at Lucy's blush. "If it helps, it's clear they both feel the same way about you." Denise grinned at something over Lucy's shoulder and Lucy closed her eyes in pleasure as Garcia's arms wrapped around her from behind. When Lucy opened her eyes, Denise was looking at her with a smirk that clearly said 'yeah, you're a goner', and she could only huff sheepishly in agreement. "I'm going to go find my wife. You two behave," she called as she left them alone.

"I hear you have something to ask me," Garcia's whispered into her ear and she leaned back into him and rubbed his arms.

"Iris wants me to come home with you and to drop her off tomorrow. Is that okay?"

He gently moved her to face him and bent so she could see him well. "Lucy, do you truly not realize by now that the answer is always yes?" She smiled into his kiss.

"Good thing I have an overnight bag in the car, then." His grin at that was so delighted that she kissed him again and grabbed both hands to pull him along behind her. "Let's go get Iris."

Lucy rode the two hours to the camp in the back seat with Iris, playing a card game, talking about all her plans for camp.

"I never got to go to sleepaway camp. My mom wouldn't let me," Lucy admitted wistfully after Iris asked her.

"Why not?"

"Oh, I was only allowed to pursue activities that would help me academically. Well, allowed is too strong word. Encouraged. If I had insisted, Dad would have let me." Lucy deflated a bit at that and she felt a smaller hand cover her own.

"I'm sorry about your dad, Lucy. I would be so upset if I found out Dad wasn't really my dad." She looked ready to cry at the thought, and Lucy squeezed her hand tight.

"It's okay. I'm sad about it too. But, even if we didn't share blood, my dad was still my dad and he loved me just the same." She and Amy had spent a good amount of the past two weeks conferring on that point. Amy had finally dragged out some of their old home videos and made Lucy pay attention to how Henry had talked to her, how he had looked at her when he was on camera. There was no difference between how he acted toward her and Amy. His love was in every word and look and touch and Lucy had bawled in relief. "Your dad wouldn't feel any different about you either. But those beautiful green eyes don't lie." She touched Iris on the nose and Iris grinned back at her.

"Are you going to meet him?" Garcia sucked in a breath and Lucy leaned forward to soothe him, brushing her hand down his arm. Cahill had repeatedly asked throughout the negotiating process. Fortunately, Garcia had been on leave the week following the abduction and hadn't been in the building. They would have been hard pressed to keep him from strangling the man.

"Never," she answered firmly.

"Because he had Ms. Whitmore take me?" Lucy squeezed her eyes shut at the picture of that woman pointing a gun at the girl in front of her and gulped.

"I don't want to know a person who could have someone take any kid, father or not. It makes it a million times worse that it was you." Lucy blew out a long, shaky breath. They had talked before about the abduction, but Iris's questions had been more of the "Am I safe? Are you safe? Are they definitely staying in jail?" variety. She hoped talking this way wasn't going to walk Iris into a panic attack, but she seemed okay for the moment. Garcia's eyes caught hers in the rearview mirror and he nodded at her in encouragement. "I was thinking, though…I might want to meet my brother one day."

Denise had been the one to take point with Benjamin Cahill's family. His poor wife had been completely blindsided and his son had wanted to kill him. They had apparently not had the closest of relationships to begin with, though he had never suspected anything near as bad as the truth. Divorce papers had immediately been drawn up, including a name change for each of them back to her maiden name. Denise had encouraged her that it was okay to use the Cahill family money, none of which came from crime, as the previous generations were clean as far as they could tell. She reluctantly agreed, but refused all other money from her husband, not wanting any dirty money to support her. As much as Lucy had been knocked for a loop, she knew it was much worse for them, and she felt a bit of pride that they at least seemed to be decent people.

"You have a little brother?"

"Yeah. His name is Ethan."

"Hmm. I'd like to have a little brother. When you marry dad, you should have one." Lucy's head flew back like that had given her whiplash.

"Iris! That's…that's one of those…" Lucy didn't dare meet Garcia's eyes as he looked in the rearview mirror to scold Iris. She could practically hear him blushing. "Lucy and I will decide those things together when…if and when we decide the time is right. That's not something that's up for discussion. Got it?"

Iris rolled her eyes and nodded. Lucy looked out the window, not daring to look at either of them as she bit back a relentless smile. The thought of being married to Garcia, having a little boy with dark curls and his eyes…she wanted it. She could almost taste it, and she let herself wash in that feeling for a few minutes before breaking into the awkward silence.

"So, I never went to camp, but I've seen a lot of camp movies, and it sounds like you'd better have a solid junk food stash. What've you got?"

"Pop-tarts, obviously."

"Obviously."

"Uh…Peanut M&Ms, Doritos, Sweetarts," Lucy looked up and saw that Garcia was hiding a smile in the front seat and she did the same as she looked back to Iris.

After the drive, Lucy had hoped that drop-off might not be too hard, but it was painful. Iris held up bravely as they took her bag and checked out her cabin, met her counselor and took a quick tour of the main campus. However, when they went to load back in the car and say goodbye, the tears started, and she clung to Garcia. Lucy could see his own fear kicking in as he looked at her helplessly over Iris's head as he hugged his daughter close and worked his jaw. Her own stomach was in knots, but she needed to be the strong one for a minute.

Lucy put her hand on Iris's shoulder and squeezed. Cupping the back of Garcia's head, she leaned up to whisper, "It's okay. Whatever you decide, it's okay." When she stepped back, his eyes had relaxed some and he leaned down, softly speaking Croatian in Iris's ear. Finally, Iris nodded and her sobs tapered off as she calmed. Lucy was entranced as she watched them, Garcia holding Iris's face in his hands and helping her to take courage.

"I have something for you in the car," he moved to the passenger side and Iris came over to hug Lucy goodbye.

"Please be careful, Lucy," Iris's voice was shaky and raw and Lucy felt a lump grow in her own throat.

"I will. Your dad doesn't know that I know, but he had campus security upgrade the system in the history building and increase their patrols there."

Iris chuckled weakly. "Can you look out for him, too?"

"Yeah. We'll both be okay, and you can call us whenever you need to, okay?"

"Okay." Garcia came back and handed Iris a jeweler's box. She opened it to find a gold necklace with a tiny I initial charm on it.

"Oh, Dad, I love it. Look, Lucy." She turned so he could put it on her.

"I'm glad you like it. It's okay to wear in the lake and the shower, so you don't have to worry about taking it off and losing it, okay?"

Lucy pursed her lips, as it partially confirmed her suspicion. The necklace did the trick, though, and Iris's counselor and one of her fellow bunkmates came over to help her settle in. After another round of hugs goodbye, she walked off and they watched her go.

Once Iris got a decent distance away, Garcia groaned and let himself slump. Lucy pulled him into a hug. "I'm proud of you."

"I almost couldn't do it. I need to get in the car right now so I don't change my mind."

Lucy smiled as they climbed in and he backed out. Once they'd navigated their way out of the growing crowd of arrivals and back onto the highway, she turned to him and narrowed her eyes. "So. Tracking chip in the necklace, huh? Very sneaky."

Garcia determinedly kept his gaze straight ahead. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about how I overheard you and Denise talking about the NSA refusing to chip her because she's a minor and doesn't work for them. Something about it being illegal…?"

He broke. "Okay, but this isn't invasive. It's pretty, right?" Lucy nodded. "It's not the NSA, so the government doesn't get the information. I'm the one who can track it. And…it…matches one I got for you." Garcia grimaced as she glared at him. She had been amused but mildly irritated when it was Iris, but to sneak one on Lucy was too far.

"Were you going to tell me? Or just give it to me like you did Iris?"

"Yes, I was going to tell you! I didn't tell Iris because she's a child, and she doesn't need to know. You've seen how scared she is of getting taken again, I don't want her to think I'm preparing because it's definitely going to happen."

The fight that followed wasn't pretty. The stress of the kidnapping and its aftermath the past couple weeks, the lack of time together, the emotional ringer of dropping Iris off at camp, all of it swarmed together and neither of them was as careful with their words as they should have been. They finally settled into a stony silence and Lucy stared out the window at the scenery as it passed.

It was nighttime, in the forest. Her voice shook as she stood in front of the boy and stared at Flynn as he paced and turned back, aiming the gun at her. When he saw her he immediately moved the gun and begged her to move with tears in his eyes. They battled back and forth, her begging him to follow his conscience, him begging her to let him end Rittenhouse. She should have been scared, and she was, but not for herself. For whatever reason, killing or even hurting her seemed to be the one line he wouldn't cross, and she was going to use that if she had to. Although, this was really a line he hadn't crossed, either, to kill a child, and she couldn't stand by and let that happen. Not for John, and not for Flynn.

As much as he wanted to play the ruthless villain, he wasn't. It had been there in his voice, with Lincoln, at Castle Varlar. He didn't want any of this, and even if she wanted to deny it, she felt a bit responsible. Her words had caused him to become this. She had caused this, even if indirectly, through her journal, and maybe she could also cause him to change for the better.

Lucy begged him to not cross the line, so that he could still be a husband and a father. She wasn't lying, she truly did see that in him. Misguided as his actions were, they were done out of love for his family. But she had miscalculated with that, reminded him of the reason he should do it, and suddenly he was pulling her through the woods, as she yelled for Wyatt and Rufus.

She gasped hard as she came to and Garcia braked and jerked to look at her in response. He took the next exit, which was a rest area, and he parked where there were no other cars around them.

"Are you okay?" Garcia looked at her in concern and Lucy wasn't sure how to answer. Her annoyance was fading as she knew they both had overreacted, but her emotions felt raw. Then the vision…

"Just…a vision. It was bad."

"What was it?"

"We were in the woods, dressed like it was the late 18th century, probably, and I was trying to stop you from…"

"From?"

"Killing a twelve-year-old kid. You didn't do it!" She added hastily as he recoiled. "You didn't want to, but you were talking about bringing back your family and how he was all that was left of…of Rittenhouse, whatever that is. And you um…you got mad that I wouldn't move aside, so you kind of…took me with you."

Garcia laid his forehead on the wheel. "These things just keep getting better and better. I…should I apologize? I don't…I'm sorry. I had some while you were taken. It made my reaction worse than it might have been otherwise, and I've been having nightmares ever since. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be overbearing or controlling. But I saw Lorena and Iris murdered…and ever since, I can't get it out of my head, and I can't…I can't let anything like that happen to Iris or to you."

Lucy got out of the car and went over to the driver's side, opened his door and climbed onto his lap, wrapping her arms around him tight.

"I'm sorry. I overreacted. Mine was…I was kidnapped. I mean, yes, in real life, but in the vision, too. My mom was part of it and they were trying to brainwash me, to control me. I think that's why I reacted so strongly to the tracking chip thing—I don't want to feel controlled. I thought everyone was dead, Jiya, Rufus, and Wyatt, and you were in jail. It was somehow my fault that you were, and I was thinking how you wouldn't come, they were going to kill you. It was Emma, Garcia. And I had another one where she killed Rufus and then I went after her. It was in Chinatown, and I tried to shoot her, but the gun was empty."

"She was strangling and beating you, and I ran in."

"And you scared her off and then held me while I cried."

Lucy pulled back to meet Garcia's eyes and he looked as weirded out as she felt. Then he picked her up, and stood up, holding her bridal style, and walked halfway down the grassy hill below the parking lot.

"What are we doing?"

"We're going to sit here, in the grass. We're going to hold each other and we are going to not freak out."

"Okay."

Lucy sat in between his legs on the grass, twisting so that she could wrap her arms around him and laid the side of her head against his chest. A few minutes passed as Lucy let the feel and smell of Garcia and the sound of his heartbeat crowd out all her thoughts. Finally, she felt calm enough to pull back and look at him.

"What do you want to do, Lucy?"

"I think…I think I want us to not let these visions or memories mess up our lives. At the very least, we can be grateful that that's not what our lives are, right?"

"Right."

"If they help us somehow, then fine, but if they're bad…I don't want to know more. I don't want to figure them out. If I lived it in some past life, or some alternate universe version of us lived it, I don't want to know."

Garcia took that in and bobbed his head, looking relieved. "I agree. I think we should treat them just like any other fear or nightmare. What do you mean, if they help us? Have they helped you?"

"They helped me with Emma a little. I knew she wasn't going to have any sympathy for us, I knew she hated me—I still don't get why—and so I got her talking and distracted. But I also didn't hesitate to attack her, because I knew she would be ruthless."

"You were amazing. If the visions helped you, then I suppose they're worth it. I think you could have done it anyway, though."

"Well, and…in a way, they brought me you, so. Definitely worth it."

Garcia stood up and pulled Lucy to her feet, kissing the top of her head. "Completely."

They climbed back in the car. "Are we okay then? Fight over?"

"Fight over," he replied, kissing the back of her hand as he started the car. He smirked to himself for a minute.

"What?"

"Oh, just thinking. Wondering if having our first real fight means we also get to have our first real make-up."

Lucy flushed, suddenly wishing there wasn't an hour of driving left. "Depends. Do I get my rain check?"

He squinted at her after he'd merged onto the road. "Rain check?"

"After we went to Isabella's? The wall?"

She giggled as he growled at her. "You love doing this to me, don't you?"

"Hi pot, I'm kettle."

Garcia grinned at that and hit the gas.

Flynn was lying on his back when he woke. He tried to sweep away the mental cobwebs and grimaced as he recognized the drug-induced blurriness. Lifting his left hand to rub his eyes, he felt a burn in his side and he remembered as he quickly let his hand drop. The Rittenhouse agent, the glint of a blade, the stabbing pain before the agent had slumped from his shot. Lucy's terrified eyes meeting his from across the room as she saw the blood spreading across his shirt.

The blanket covering his chest lifted and he realized that Lucy was awake beside him. She moved to look at the dressing and sucked in a breath at the sight. Lying back down, she hid her face against his chest and he stroked her hair.

"How bad?" she asked.

"Not too bad. The doctor said no organ damage, but I lost a decent amount of blood. Twelve stitches. Had a transfusion, a truckload of antibiotics and a few painkillers. I'll be fine."

Flynn swallowed the lump in his throat as he felt her quaking against him. She was such a treasure. So caring, so lovable. He knew he didn't deserve her, but he was incapable of turning her away, even if he knew he should for her sake. Being with him by default couldn't be the best thing for her, but the way she glowed when they were alone…he couldn't bring himself to be another person who made the smile fall from her face. Of course, she wasn't smiling now.

"Don't," she hoarsely whispered. "Don't you dare die on me. Promise."

He cringed at that. "You know I can't promise that." It killed him to deny her, but he couldn't make that promise, not when it could easily be broken. No one could, especially not anyone currently living in a government black site to hide from the evil shadow organization that wanted to kill them.

Lucy pulled back to press the heels of her hands hard against her eyes as she sat back on her knees. He ached to help her, but he refused to make promises that would only make it worse for her if he couldn't keep them.

"Just…just, please. You have to be careful, okay? Please be okay."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you don't want to lose anyone else. I'm not trying to get killed, honestly. But you can't ask me that."

"Why not?"

"I'm not going to lie to you, Lucy! I'm going to do whatever it takes to take down Rittenhouse and protect you, and if that means I get injured, or even killed, then so be it!"

"Well, don't! Don't do 'whatever it takes'. Not dying."

"Why not, Lucy? I don't understand. You know this. You know this is how it is."

Her head snapped up and her eyes sparked as she snapped. "Because I love you, you dumbass!"

The naked truth of it was in her eyes and his breath left him in a rush. "You…you do?" he croaked out dumbly.

"Yes," she replied, exasperated, though he could see the fight draining out of her as her eyes filled. "And I thought you…I thought maybe you…"

"I do," he burst out, grabbing her hand. "God, yes, I love you, Lucy. I've loved you for so long. I thought you knew that." Nearly a year of wanting her before he stopped hating himself for it and stopped trying to scare her away to force himself to accept the impossibility of her wanting him back. Another half year of being fully in love with her before admitting it to himself, and one more additional month of out-and-out pining before she kissed him. He still felt dizzy with joy just remembering the look of determination on her face when she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled his mouth to hers. Three months since then that they had been in a relationship, if that's what they were. And yes, he had counted.

"I thought you did, but you never said, and…" Flynn kissed her head as she trailed off and laid back down on him.

"I didn't want to put that on you. I didn't think you could love me back, and you, this, what we have is too special to risk losing it just to get that off my chest."

"Well, I do love you, so obviously I CAN. And for future reference, it would be nice to be able to make advances in our relationship without someone having to die or almost die first. So, you have to promise that you will at least TRY to avoid that."

"Okay, I promise to do my best. As long as you do, too," he nudged her head up with his shoulder, grunting at the movement. She met his eyes and nodded solemnly.

So. They WERE in a relationship. Lucy LOVED him. Him. He smiled before realizing his eyelids were heavy as lead. He felt the blood loss and painkillers pulling him toward sleep, so he quickly added, "Hey. I love you," and she kissed him gently.

"I love you, too," and she curled up next to him as he fell back to sleep.

Garcia woke first in the Monday morning light. He rolled onto his side to look at Lucy, who had been moving quite a bit in her sleep, and at some point she had rolled onto her own back. Normally she slept on her side, curled into a ball, unless she was tangled up with him. His lips twitched at the sound of her light snoring, which was probably from her position and her mouth gaping open. Her hands were still curled inside the sleeves of his sweater.

"Hmm, you're staring again," she muttered dreamily before stretching like a cat and rolling to face him. "What time is it?"

He craned his neck to check. "Twelve after six."

"Good. Plenty of time," she answered, making her intentions clear as her hand smoothed down his bare chest. He caught her hand as she tried to move lower and she looked at him in surprise. "Are you stopping me?"

"Have I ever stopped you?" Garcia looked at her pointedly and she tried and failed to keep herself from looking smug, clearly remembering the previous evening. "I'm not starting now. Just…first." His heart picked up speed and he deflected as he tried to gather his courage. "Do you need to head to the bathroom?"

He jerked out of the way as she tried to tweak his nipple. "Hey!"

"Jerk," she said fondly and he smiled at her and bit his lip.

"There's something I want to say. I know it hasn't been that long, but I suppose we aren't following a normal course, and that's fine by me, I don't care about that as long as you're happy with it, too. I don't want to scare you off, but you probably know anyway, and the whole time you were missing I was so angry at myself for not telling you—"

"Garcia," she put her hand on his cheek. "What is it?"

"I love you," he blurted out. Lucy's eyes widened, but she didn't look upset, so he continued. "I'm so in love with you, Lucy. I don't expect anything, you absolutely do not have to say anything back, but I just needed to tell you," he blew out shakily and closed his eyes. There. He had done it. At least she knew. He didn't want to be like other-him, leaving her so unsure of his feelings that she finally exploded from fear and frustration and yelled it at him first.

Her leg swung over his hips as she climbed on top of him and his breath caught. He smiled, eyes still closed, as he caressed the length of her legs. She leaned down until their noses touched and he finally opened his eyes to see her staring back with her heart in her eyes. Perhaps he was in love with an actual sunbeam, because she was beaming, shining, as she smiled back at him and it warmed him to the core.

"I don't scare that easily, silly man. I already knew. I love you too." Lucy's mouth pressed against his and she swallowed his sigh of joy and relief before pulling back. "Can we un-pause now?"

He flipped her back onto the pillows and smirked down at her. "Anything you say, love."