This chapter continues 2x10 (to be concluded in the next chapter).

Sorry for the delay in writing this - I spent a lot of last week focusing on the #SaveTimeless campaign and writing to/Tweeting at various networks and streaming services but evidently the campaign hasn't worked...I don't have high expectations for NBC to grant us a wrap-up movie, but I'd like to think there is still hope!

The room was dark when Wyatt emerged tentatively in the doorway. He had spent the last hour alone in his and Jessica's room – half the time crying, the other half throwing all his wife's belongings and punching the wall while yelling out. No had come to check on him, or to stop him damaging the room. After all, why would they?

But now Wyatt was here, finally calmed down as he watched Rufus sat on the bed, at a complete loss with what to say. He knocked on the door as he slowly entered, and Rufus hastily wiped away his tears, but refused to look at him. Wyatt didn't blame him.

'Rufus, I'm so sorry,' Wyatt murmured, his voice slightly strained from his sobbing and angry shouting earlier.

'I don't wanna hear "sorry",' Rufus said, frowning up at him. 'I wanna hear you fix this.'

Wyatt's eyes flickered down; he hated to see Rufus give him such a look of hatred. 'I will,' he promised.

Rufus then got up from his bed and walked up to Wyatt, looking furious. 'You are so worried about your stupid Lucy-Jessica soap opera that you forgot that there are other people here,' he said in a tremoring voice, and his words cut Wyatt deeper than a knife. 'Who matter to each other. Who love each other.'

Wyatt could do nothing more than stare back at Rufus. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what he could do at all. He had never felt more helpless.

'If anything happens to her, Wyatt,' Rufus said, trying desperately not to cry, 'I don't think I can ever forgive you.'

And with that he walked away. Wyatt listened to his footsteps disappear down the corridor, stunned and hurt, and full of self-loathing. Rufus was right. Wyatt had turned his messy love life into a soap opera, and he had made everyone's lives here in the bunker revolve around it. And now because of that he had broken Lucy and Rufus, the two people closest to him in this world, and put Jiya's life at risk.

As Wyatt left Rufus's room, his hand brushed against the grey, miserable wall…and in doing so he caught his wedding band against it. Wyatt closed his eyes for a moment before stopping and holding his hand out so he could look at the simple silver ring that had once meant so much to him. He could vividly remember how he had felt when he'd put it back on, after all those years of grief and guilt. But now it was tainted, forever. The Jessica he had been devoting everything to these past few weeks, the Jessica he had sacrificed his happiness with Lucy for, the Jessica he'd thought had loved him…she was different to the Jessica he had married. He knew it would be a struggle for him to accept that, for him to fully separate the two versions of his wife…but he also knew it to be true. His Jessica had died. This Jessica, the one in this new, convoluted timeline…she had emotionally manipulated Wyatt in the worst way possible, and taken advantage of his devotion and his loyalty. He had lost himself in her and she had cost him everything. And that was something he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for.

Slowly, Wyatt reached for the ring. His eyes welling up, he grasped the wedding band and slid it off his finger. He let it drop to the corridor floor with a tiny clatter and walked away, without a backwards glance.

Wyatt found Lucy in one of the other rooms just down the corridor; she was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, still in her dressing gown and still with a glazed, heartbroken look in her eyes. He swallowed before tentatively knocking on the open door.

'Lucy, about before,' he began gently, 'I'm so sorry-'

'Wyatt, I could really do with some space right now,' Lucy interrupted in a slightly shaking voice, not taking her eyes off the ceiling.

'I get that, but I honestly didn't mean to hit you-' Wyatt said earnestly, but Lucy cut over him again, this time with a hint of impatience in her voice.

'I know that, Wyatt,' she said, sitting up on the bed to frown at him. 'I understand. But I still need you to leave me alone right now.'

Wyatt felt his anger from before beginning to creep back up on him again at her words. He was tired of this. He was tired of this feeling of fury and agony that seemed to have become a constant state for him recently. He was tired of the mixed signals he and Lucy kept giving each other. He was tired of Lucy always trying to distance herself from him. He was tired of the pressing fact that everything that had gone wrong between them was his fault. He was tired of hating himself.

'Lucy, God damn it, it's me,' Wyatt said in frustration, moving into the room, and Lucy eyed him in surprise. 'Why do you keep doing this, why do you keep pushing me away? After all we've been through together…'

His arms reaching out, he made to sit down beside her on the bed, clearly to take her in his arms and hold her comfortingly just like he had done that day Lucy had first arrived at the bunker…but Lucy was having none of it. At his touch, she immediately moved away and got up off the bed.

'Don't do that. Don't act like it should be like it was before,' Lucy said, shaking her head as she turned to face him. 'You chose Jessica. You made it very clear. But now she's part of some evil, tyrannical organisation, so…what, you crawl back to me? Your consolation prize?'

Wyatt's lips parted at her hard-hitting words, the words that broke them both to hear. He looked so pitiful sat there on the bed, gazing imploringly up at her. If Lucy wasn't so angry at him for Jiya, she might almost have felt sorry for him.

'You aren't…you could never be a consolation prize,' Wyatt murmured, dismayed, as he looked down at his feet.

'What else am I, Wyatt?' Lucy said challengingly, glaring at him. 'I am clearly your back-up. Y'know – your second choice, the runner-up. And I don't want to be that. I'm better than that. I deserve more, from someone who hasn't broken my heart more times than I thought possible. So please leave me alone.'

Wyatt closed his eyes, unable to hear anymore. 'Lucy, that's not what I'm here for. You're right, you are better than that, and I'm the jerk who hurt you and put you through this bullshit, so I don't deserve you one bit,' he said, his voice breaking. 'I would never expect anything between us to happen, not after what I've done…'

'Oh really?' Lucy said sceptically. 'So why you've taken off your wedding ring?'

Wyatt faltered. 'I…'

Lucy felt her lips begin to tremble. She had noticed the absence of his ring the moment he had entered the room, because, for some reason, that ring was always the first place she had looked whenever they'd been alone together for the past few weeks. It had served as a reminder to her, of what he had done, and of her place now in his life. It had deterred her from doing what she'd most yearned to do. Lucy had once selfishly had a dream about Wyatt approaching her without his wedding ring, and it had brought her such joy, to know that he had chosen her after all. But now…to see it in real life…it made her feel nothing. She once might have been happy, perhaps. But circumstances had changed, Jiya was missing, and everything they had been fighting for had been put at stake because of Wyatt's carelessness and selfishness. And Lucy couldn't bear it.

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. 'What, you think now because you've done that, that means this is all okay, you can hold me again and talk about what you and I have been through together like nothing went wrong? That's a quick turnaround, Wyatt, my God.'

'I didn't mean…I didn't take my ring off as some…grand gesture to you,' Wyatt said in a low voice. 'I did it because…because she's not the woman I was married to. She's not my…original wife. She's not my Jessica.'

My Jessica. Even now, the words pierced the broken hole in her heart.

'How can you only just be realising that, Wyatt?' Lucy asked, gazing at him in disbelief. 'You had all these clues and suspicions, and, hell, the main fact that Rittenhouse brought her back in the first place, and yet…'

But then she trailed off as she saw the new visitor hovering in the doorway; Flynn had emerged, looking a little worse for wear, and wearing a concerned expression. He glanced awkwardly between Lucy and Wyatt, the latter of whom was glaring up at him from the bed with pure loathing in his eyes.

'I just wanted to check you were, uh, okay after our little scrap back there,' Flynn muttered, watching Lucy worriedly. 'Sorry about that, again.'

'She's fine,' Wyatt said firmly, and he got up off the bed. 'C'mon, Lucy wants to be alone for now-'

'Wyatt, I can speak for myself, thank you,' Lucy said shortly, and her voice became much softer when she turned back to her other visitor. 'Flynn, it's okay. Come in.'

Wyatt was outraged. 'Really? The psycho murdering terrorist who tried to kill us multiple times?' he said loudly, rounding accusatively at Lucy. 'You'll take his company over mine?'

'Right now, Wyatt, yes. Because I am so done with this,' Lucy retorted, livid. 'I am tired of this bullshit and you being such a selfish jackass-!'

'A selfish jackass?! She's my wife – w-well, I thought she was – can you imagine what this is like for me?' Wyatt demanded, looking on the verge of tears. 'I feel as shocked and betrayed as you do – hell, way more! It's Jessica, I had to trust her, I had to try and make it work, I had no other choice-'

Lucy cut over him with hysterical laughter. 'Oh I know, you have made it very clear there was no other choice! And you did it so easily as well!' she snapped, and Flynn backed away awkwardly from the two of them, not knowing what to do.

'I was going to leave her.'

The words came out before Wyatt even had time to consider them. He hadn't wanted to tell Lucy this way. He knew it was too late. He knew it would make no difference now. And yet still she had to know. Even if it meant Flynn was there to hear it too.

Lucy looked stunned; so stunned in fact that her temper seemed to have calmed down. 'What?' she asked breathlessly, her expression blank.

'I…I was being dishonest to Jessica, I…it wasn't real anymore. I was just doing what I thought was right, because…I care about her and she means so much to me and…she was brought back from the dead,' Wyatt explained, his eyes wet with tears. 'But Lucy, you mean more than I-'

'Stop talking,' Lucy said, almost pleadingly, not knowing what to think or what to feel, and suddenly regretting letting Flynn into her room to witness this. 'I…I can't hear this, not now, not after…wait, are you saying you just assumed I would automatically take you back?'

Wyatt smiled sadly. 'No. I never assumed anything,' he said quietly. 'I know I've-'

'Funny how you say all this now, when we know Jessica's part of a murdering cult,' Flynn interrupted drily from the doorway, 'and yet before when Jessica was all sweet and pure and innocent, you gave no hint of wanting to leave your happy marriage.'

Lucy closed her eyes, wishing these two men could act their age and not be so confrontational whenever they were around each other…but it was a hopeless cause, she knew that. She tilted her head at Flynn disapprovingly.

'Get out now, Flynn, or I swear to God I will beat you till you're unconscious,' Wyatt said warningly. 'I won't hold back this time.'

Lucy sighed. 'No, Wyatt. You're the one I've been asking repeatedly to get out,' she said, an almost sad tone to her voice.

Wyatt stared at her for a moment, then nodded. 'Well that's what I'll do then,' he said, his head bent low.

'Thank you,' Lucy said quietly, unable to take her eyes off Wyatt as he walked past her and Flynn. 'And enough with the fighting, both of you. Please.'

Wyatt hesitated before leaving. 'I'm sorry, Lucy,' he murmured, still looking down at the floor.

'Me too,' Lucy said in a small voice, and with that he left and shut the door on Lucy and Flynn.

Over the next few hours, the bunker group reconvened to discuss how to move forward after the tragic kidnapping of Jiya – it transpired that Jiya had managed to escape from Rittenhouse but failed to land the Lifeboat in the bunker, for an unknown reason. Lucy watched Wyatt warily as Connor Mason and Agent Christopher tried to convince the team that Jiya was still probably alive somewhere in the past, and would be trying to communicate to them through history, in the form of newspapers, advertisements, large public events, books or games. After their brief, tense meeting, everyone then split up to try and narrow the search by looking through Jiya's belongings and any items in the bunker that Jiya might be able to leave a clue with.

Wyatt rummaged through the dining and living area but to no avail; he then headed over to Jiya and Rufus's room but found that Lucy was already there, flicking through endless piles of Jiya's books and magazines.

'Can I help?' he offered. 'Or is it best if I just stay out of your way?'

Lucy looked up at him. She didn't need to answer.

Wyatt nodded, smiling grimly. 'Got it.'

He turned to leave but then Lucy closed her eyes, the ache in her heart taking over, and called after him.

'Wait. Wyatt,' she said softly; he turned around in surprise, and she gazed at him. 'I am sorry. About Jessica. I wish you'd told us about her brother, I wish…but I'm sorry. You don't deserve this. You were so happy she was back.'

Wyatt looked at her for a minute; her stunning face, her wavy hair, her eyes that looked like she was staring into his soul. He was relieved that her chin hadn't bruised where he had accidentally hit her. He couldn't have coped with the sight of that.

He sighed. 'Actually, I can't remember the last time I was genuinely happy,' he said heavily, giving her a sad smile.

Well, he could. It had been in the bunker quite a few weeks ago, playing a game of checkers with Lucy, talking about their amazing night together in Hollywood, giggling about living together…but he couldn't say that to her now.

Lucy's face fell as she watched him, and she couldn't help wondering if he was thinking back to those blissful couple of days before Jessica's return, when they had confessed their feelings, when they were more or less together…It seemed so long ago now. Almost like a dream.

'Sorry, I'll…I'll get out of your hair,' Wyatt murmured, but he paused before leaving. 'We've gotta find Jiya, Lucy. If we don't, I…'

'We will,' Lucy said quietly, and his evident pain was too much for her; she reached out and touched his arm. 'We'll get her back.'

Wyatt's lips parted. Those were the exact words Jiya had said to him a few months ago, back when Lucy had been her mother's captive and the team hadn't been sure whether Lucy was alive or dead. Jiya had walked in on Wyatt silently crying in his room, and put a comforting arm around him… 'There's still a chance she's alive out there somewhere, Wyatt…we'll find her soon…she knows how much she means to you…we'll get her back. I promise.' Those six weeks had been beyond torture for Wyatt. That whole time he had thought he'd lost Lucy for good. How could he have willingly risked losing her again for the sake of fixing his broken marriage, which he knew now to be fake anyway? How could he have tossed her aside like that? How could his actions have led to two dear members of his team being broken-hearted, and the other kidnapped by a tyrannical cult?

After a great deal of searching, Lucy ended up discovering a photograph of Jiya in San Francisco's Chinatown, dated 1888. Jiya's message in Klingon provided the Lifeboat's location and an exhortation not to come for her – nevertheless, the team were determined to get her anyway, so they found and repaired the old Lifeboat and Lucy, Wyatt, Rufus, and Flynn travelled to 1888. After searching for a few hours in Chinatown, the four of them eventually came across the photography studio where Jiya's picture had been taken, and found out to their horror that the picture of Jiya that Lucy had found in the book had been taken three years ago.

A distraction then arrived in the form of Carol, Emma, Nicholas and Jessica, who had been waiting, concealed, in the photography studio for them – Carol managed to prevent Emma from shooting Lucy, but at the cost of her own life. Wyatt and Flynn ran off after Emma and Jessica, who escaped the studio round the back, while Lucy was left to deal with Carol and Nicholas's dying bodies. With Carol's last few breaths, she told Lucy how she regretted taking Amy from her and how she hadn't raised Lucy to believe in Rittenhouse right from the start. Lucy felt her heart sink as the woman she had once been proud to call her mother died before her very eyes, and suddenly she felt an overwhelming need to feel Wyatt's strong, comforting arms around her. But he had run off to stop Jessica. Of course he had.

The daughter of the photographer, Fei, then told Lucy and Rufus that she knew Jiya, and she happened to be working at the Bison Horn saloon. Lucy decided to stay behind at the studio to wait for Wyatt and Flynn and grieve for her mother, while Rufus headed over to the saloon with Fei. It was somewhat a relief to finally be alone; the photographer led her into the back office and she simply sat on a chair there, staring blankly into space as she silently mourned and tried not to dwell on Wyatt's whereabouts or worry about what manipulative suggestions Jessica could be whispering to him right now if he had managed to catch up with her.

Lucy didn't know how long she had been sat there – it could have been minutes, it could have been hours – but then suddenly the door to the back office opened and Flynn quietly walked in. Lucy realised then that the lighting in the room had darkened, and the sky outside was almost black: it was night.

A surge of relief flooded through Lucy at the sight of Flynn, but then as Flynn closed the door behind him with his head bent low, the worry began to seep in again.

'Where's Wyatt?' she asked at once, her voice low and quiet.

Flynn tried not to appear too annoyed as he kept an eye on the door; why was Wyatt always the first thing on her mind? 'We split up,' he replied, and he rolled his eyes at the silence that followed, at the anxious look in her eyes. 'Relax, even I couldn't kill Wyatt if I wanted to, and I want to.'

His voice tremored with anger slightly, but Lucy couldn't be bothered to retort back now. She felt too exhausted. She just wanted Wyatt back so that she knew he was safe, and then they could go and fetch Jiya and get the hell out of this place. Flynn sighed heavily as he drew the curtain back over the door and slowly walked over to her.

'Your mom?' he asked.

'She's dead,' Lucy replied, her tone empty of all emotion as she resumed staring into space.

Flynn was silent for a moment, horrified for her. 'I'm sorry, Lucy,' he whispered.

'You know what her one great regret was?' Lucy murmured, her eyes welling up. 'That she didn't…indoctrinate me earlier into her evil cult. You were right – I should've seen her for who she was sooner. My whole life, I was blind.'

'Well, you want someone to blame, you should blame Wyatt,' Flynn said sourly, making Lucy's nostrils flare, and she was surprised by the apparent pain in his voice. 'He's the idiot who brought a Rittenhouse spy into the bunker-'

'And what would you have done?' Lucy interrupted, challenging him with a pitiful gaze as she immediately rose to defend the man she just couldn't get out of her head. 'If Rittenhouse had brought your wife and child back from the dead, would you look for the hidden catch or would you just be so grateful that they were back in your arms and in your life? You can blame Wyatt if you want-'

'I don't give a damn about Wyatt,' Flynn said softly, an unusually gentle expression on his face as he knelt down so that he was on her eye level and smiled at her. 'That's not why I'm here.'

Lucy gazed back at him, stunned. His face was close to hers, his eyes burning with intensity, his face gentle rather than that of the murdering monster she had once known, and there was something very different in the way he was looking at her right now. Something meaningful in what he had just said. And it shook Lucy.

'Why are you here?' she asked him quietly, confused.

Flynn's lips parted slightly as he gazed back at her. For the first time in his life, he was lost for words. Lucy tilted her head at him slightly, her eyes searching desperately for whatever it was he was hiding, her heart rate increasing anxiously as she realised what his silence meant. Flynn eventually opened his mouth to speak…but then looked down regretfully as the office door clicked and swung open.

Flustered, Lucy looked up and was overwhelmingly relieved to see Wyatt stood there in the doorway…but then she saw the look on his face, and an awkward silence fell between the three of them. Wyatt frowned as he took in the sight before him; Flynn knelt down opposite Lucy, his eyes level with hers, his expression soft and tender, their faces close. He glanced between the two of them suspiciously, hurt. Both Flynn and Lucy look a little annoyed at the interruption; Flynn leaned away from Lucy and straightened his tie irritably as he got back up to his feet.

'Where's Rufus?' Wyatt asked in a quiet, broken voice, trying not to let the jealousy rage through him once more.

'We found Jiya,' Lucy replied, glad for a distraction, and she leapt to her feet. 'Come on.'

Her cheeks rather flushed, Lucy led the way determinedly out of the studio office door; Wyatt and Flynn exchanged a dark, suspicious glare before turning to follow her.

Flynn trailed a little behind Lucy and Wyatt as the three hurried over to the saloon where Jiya and Rufus were. Wyatt didn't know what to think. He was still reeling from his heated, heart-breaking conversation with Jessica the Traitor not long ago. And now this? Lucy and Flynn? He wasn't sure what he had walked in on…and even though he didn't know whether he wanted to know…he knew he must.

Wyatt cleared his throat awkwardly as he walked alongside Lucy. 'So, uh, back there…what was going on?'

'What do you mean?' Lucy asked sharply, keeping her eyes fixed firmly ahead.

'Well clearly I interrupted something,' Wyatt said, a little more bitterly than he intended.

Lucy rolled her eyes as they walked on. 'And clearly you've forgotten that it's none of your business,' she said shortly, and she sighed. 'But you wanna know? Honestly?'

Frowning slightly, Lucy glanced over her shoulder at Flynn, trudging along behind them with his eyes on the ground. She turned back to look ahead in front of them, utterly bemused.

'I have no idea,' Lucy answered Wyatt honestly, sounding rather dazed.

Wyatt stopped walking for a moment as Lucy strode on, desperate to get to Jiya and Rufus. He was shocked. He had expected her to deny it, to tell him that he was being ridiculous…but maybe he had a reason to be worried after all. Something had been going on between her and Flynn. If he'd entered the studio just a minute later…

But then suddenly, as he watched Lucy march ahead in her impressive dress, Wyatt realised that he had more important things to dwell on. They still needed to find Rufus and Jiya. And Lucy clearly had other more pressing matters on her mind.

'Wait…Lucy, your mom,' Wyatt said worriedly, catching up with her. 'What happened?'

'She bled out,' Lucy replied, her tone a little harsh.

Wyatt stared at her and then grabbed hold of her arm; they both stopped walking. 'She…your mom's dead?' he whispered, astonished.

Lucy couldn't look at him. 'Yeah.'

Flynn eyed them both warily and stopped walking too, staying further away. He didn't want to leave Lucy alone with Wyatt – God knows that was the last thing he wanted – but he knew they needed some privacy. He could see in the way the two of them were looking at each other, so desperate they were to find comfort and solace in each other's arms…but seemingly unable to.

'Lucy, oh God, I…' Wyatt tilted his head at her sympathetically. 'I'm so sorry, I don't know what to say-'

'There's nothing to say,' Lucy cut over him bluntly. 'She wasn't the woman I thought she was. That doesn't mean I'm glad she's dead. But…I don't know how to grieve properly, like a normal daughter should, after everything she's done.'

She hated herself for appearing so vulnerable in front of him like this, for opening up when she had been determinedly staying angry at him. But his hand was on her arm, and he was gazing at her in that way that told her he was there for her, always. Lucy realised then that he'd never really stopped being there for her, despite everything that had transpired between them since Jessica's return. She had just been pushing him away.

Wyatt smiled sadly at Lucy as he rubbed her arm. 'We'll help you figure it out,' he promised.

And, for the first time since before Jiya's kidnapping, Lucy smiled.