Nothing peaceful was meant to last when you lived in a rusted tin can and traveled through time for a living. Things were good for too long. Wyatt made progress with Lucy. The war against Emma was seeing far more victories than losses, though they were still fighting defensively. They were always a step behind even when they won. Wyatt settled for the satisfaction of not having any curve balls lobbed their way. They always had at least one or two. For once there had been none.
When he voiced this to Lucy over their mutual workspace, he should have knocked on wood. He knew better. The minute either one of them stated something with confidence the Universe decided to test it.
Lucy was highlighting and circling on printed copies of her mother's letter while Wyatt was catching up on mission reports. They had papers spread across one of the tables in the Bunker Mess with a mutual pot of coffee between them. They both had their feet propped up on the same third chair. Lucy's were in the seat and Wyatt's rested on the arm. The silence was comfortable and the little conversation they managed was casual. It may seem like an average occurrence but, until recently, it hadn't been. In the early days of sharing the bunker with Lucy, this had been the norm. But then Jessica came along and it was shattered just like everything else. Shared space was a pipe dream for Wyatt up until last week.
Now, it was his reality again as long as he could avoid screwing it all up a second—or was it third?—time.
"This is nice," he told her as he closed one report and reached for another.
She glanced up from the letter for a moment give him a crooked smirk. "What's nice about it?" She asked. "We're not doing anything."
He nodded. "Exactly. It's nice. Just sitting here with you in the quiet. You know? Just existing together. No alarms going off, no strategy meetings to fight Emma's latest curveball. Just...us."
She chuckled as her smirk turned into an affectionate grin. "You're such a softie, Wyatt Logan."
He blushed and looked away from her with a modest shrug. "Just don't spread that around, huh? I got a reputation to worry about."
She rolled her eyes at him with a chuffing laugh. "I hate to break it to you, Sweetheart, but everyone already knows."
His brow furrowed at her. "What? How?"
She looked up at him and motioned to his eyes. "It's those baby blues. They give you away."
"Yeah, to you, Babydoll," he said with a lopsided grin. "Not to everyone."
"Sure, you keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel more masculine," Lucy told him with a teasing quirk of her brow.
"Trust me, I have no worries about my masculinity, ma'am," Wyatt replied with a wink. "Especially after 1941."
It was a risk to bring up that starry night that felt like so long ago, but it paid off. Her eyes brightened and her cheeks flushed.
"Oh my god," she said with a loud guffaw. "You did not. Wow, that was shameless."
"Wasn't ashamed of it then, and I'm certainly not ashamed of it now," he told her with a slow smirk.
He saw the mirth in her eyes and waited for her to fire back at him. He knew there was some sort of snarky banter on the tip of her tongue.
But he never got a chance to find out what it was. Agent Christopher chose that moment to storm into the room. Her face formed a pensive stare that was focused on Lucy as she closed in on their table.
"Something interesting just happened," Christopher told her with a purposefully blank face.
"Interesting, how?" Wyatt asked. "On a scale of one to ten? One being John Wilkes Booth had a famous brother and ten being Emma taking out all the Department's security and stealing the Mothership."
Denise sighed tiredly but obliged him. "A weak seven."
Lucy's eyebrows lifted in intrigue. "What happened?"
"Noah called up our San Francisco office and confessed to being Rittenhouse."
Lucy merely blinked at Agent Christopher for several seconds. "I—wha—Noah?"
Wyatt scoffed and shook his head. "I always knew there was something off about that guy."
"Yes," Agent Christopher told him with a knowing glance. Her tone was dry as she spoke. "That's why you never liked him, sure. It had nothing to do with the engagement ring on Lucy's finger." She didn't wait for his response as she breezed right through to the heart of the matter. "There's a problem with Noah, though."
"What problem?" Lucy asked. "He confessed. That should be it, right? You just go and get him."
Wyatt shook his head. "The Doc ran, didn't he?"
"He left a location for a meet but he said he won't speak with me or any of my agents," Denise told them with a nod.
Lucy rolled her eyes and huffed. "No, don't tell me. Let me guess. He'll only meet with me, right?"
An answer wasn't needed. Wyatt could see the answer in the grim resignation on Denise's face. Well, shit.
"No," Wyatt answered immediately. "Absolutely not."
Lucy turned a quirked brow and a stern frown in his direction. "I'm sorry, what was that? That sounded like you were answering a question for me."
He winced and then gave her an apologetic glance. "No, that's not what I meant. I...I meant you shouldn't do it. It's up to you but that's my professional opinion."
"But if he has knowledge we could use then we have to question him and if he's contributed to any of what they've done he should be in custody," Lucy told him adamantly.
"Yeah, and he will be. But the right decision would be to let Agent Christopher and DHS track him down. He can't be that good at living off the grid. He's not Flynn," Wyatt argued. He was trying his best to remain calm and to patiently explain to Lucy why this was too risky.
"I'm sorry, but why would I ask her to waste the manpower when I can draw him out right now?" Lucy asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. She looked sure, confident - determined.
That was almost the limit for his cool because there was no talking her out of something when she got like this. Her determination and confidence was why he was now stuck sharing a bunker with Garcia Flynn indefinitely. She really thought this was the best option? She had to know that he wouldn't want her to do this.
"You can't actually believe you need to—Lucy, this is clearly a trap," Wyatt told her with a brow furrowed in concern. "It's a trap set for you. You may not have known Noah long but you and I both know you thought about exploring that connection. You see the good in him. You don't think Rittenhouse knows that? They're using him to get to you."
"There's a chance it isn't a trap," she told him. "There's a chance he wants to help us but doesn't trust Homeland Security. He knows me, Wyatt. Of course he would want to talk to me."
Wyatt looked between Lucy and Agent Christopher in disbelief before he scoffed at them and banged a tense fist against the table. "Yeah, and there's also a chance they could take you again. Hell, they may not even bother with that this time. They might do something much worse. Emma still has a price on your head, remember?"
Lucy's hand appeared on top of his fist and squeezed gently. Wyatt opened his hand and Lucy laced her fingers through his. "Then you should go with Christopher's agents. You know they're not going to send me in there without eyes on me. Be those eyes, Wyatt. There's no one better at having my back than you."
"Or you could listen to me for once," Wyatt suggested weakly. He knew they were well passed that.
"Is this because of the danger or is this because it's Noah?" Lucy asked him with a tired sigh.
"Both," he answered honestly as he slumped back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He was pouting and he knew it but this situation was high on risk and low on reward. He didn't want to do it but it wasn't his choice. "I don't like Noah. Never have. For multiple reasons. I had a bad vibe about him before I even met him. I especially don't like him now that we know he's Rittenhouse. That affiliation opens up a whole different can of worms. Why is he contacting Homeland now? Where has he been since Rittenhouse was outed? Has he been helping Emma all this time and we didn't know it? Could he be helping her now? I don't know the answers to any of these questions, Lucy, and that makes me nervous. No one can protect you without at least some of this information."
"Okay, but that leaves us at an impasse then because according to Agent Christopher we're not going to get any of that information unless I meet with him," Lucy told him with a quirked brow.
She had a point. He hated that she had a point.
He nodded with an impassive expression. He was pissed. Not at Lucy but at the entire situation. There were too many unpredictable variables. He didn't like it. But he didn't want Lucy to see any of that and misunderstand. He was on thin ice as it was. He glanced up at Agent Christopher with a sigh.
"And she has to go in alone?" He asked.
"He won't show otherwise," Denise answered.
"Have you checked out the location he sent us?" Wyatt asked.
"It's a diner. Typically a very busy one," she answered again. "We can have eyes and ears set up in the booth before he arrives. We'll know exactly what's happening at all times. But, she's right, if you're worried come with us. You can wait in the surveillance van with me."
Wyatt shook his head at her. "No. I'll wait in the diner."
"Wyatt, he knows your face," Lucy said with a sigh. "And he's not very fond of it."
"It's mutual," he replied with a smirk. "I'll sit out of sight. In the back. If he makes a move I don't like then I'm close by. Sitting helpless in a van is too far away."
Christopher nodded. She must have known there was no use arguing with him.
Lucy's jaw tightened and her arms crossed over her chest. "Fine. But you stay hidden unless he actually tries something stupid. Okay? Let me handle him otherwise."
He nodded solemnly. He would take her request as serious as a direct order. "Yes, ma'am."
He was still trying to gain her trust back even if there was a little more intimacy these days. She needed to see that he could respect her space and trust her instincts. If he did this right he could help their relationship instead of hurt it.
"I follow your lead, Lucy."
Her stern frown tilted upward by a fraction and her eyes softened.
"As if you had any other option, Soldier," she said with a teasing glare.
He chuckled at her as she stood from her chair to go get ready. "Yeah, well, that's the only way to keep the peace with a bossy know it all around."
"I'm pretty sure you have that the wrong way around," she told him with a smirk.
He met her eyes with a soft smile and nodded his agreement. "I'm pretty sure you're right."
She blushed and gifted him with a full soft smile like he had only seen once before. It filled his chest with hope and left him feeling like those three little words weren't too far out of reach.
A/N: quick update before my vacation actually starts! I plan to focus on this story once I'm back from vacation so that I can finish it now that Habit is complete. So look for more updates on All In in the future! Hope you liked it! Let me know in the review box! I'd love to talk to you about it!
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