Altering Lives

Summary: Whether by choice or by fate, Lucy and Wyatt always find each other, no matter the timeline.

Disclaimer: I don't own Timeless or any other original work (TV, film, book or other) referenced or quoted in these one shots.

Pairing: Wyatt/Lucy, some Jiya/Rufus

Rated: M

Warnings: This is still AU to the episode "Stranded", and a continuation to the last chapter.

A/N:

Chapter 11: The Talk

He was doing it again. Staring at her, following her with his eyes. She had half a mind to got tell Wyatt and let him make good on his threat to Roger. She knew he would. The problem was, so would everyone else, and they really couldn't afford another scandal. Even now there were some suspicious glances thrown her way by matrons and men. Only a few, but enough that some families had taken her kids out of school, and right when Lucy had only just convinced the small village that boys and girls should at least be able to read the Bible. At that argument, the preacher had even offered his own church as a place of study for the youth twice a week, and Lucy had finally found something useful to do in the past. It even paid a little. Very little, but in this time any income was welcome.

Thankfully, as the weeks and months after the incident passed, and the gossip faded, lessons had almost returned to normal. Yet as she bid her students goodbye, and looked after them as they ran home, she saw him a ways down the road toward her own home. Lucy grit her teeth, but tried to remain calm. The community was busy that day as a peddler hat arrived early that morning and was selling his wares all day. Lucy herself had decided to take a look in case anything useful were to be on offer as the man seemed to have brought everything from wool to produce to stitching needles. So she didn't think Roger would try anything in a crowd, but still he made her feel uneasy as she passed him.

She tried to put him off her mind as she gazed at the wares. Besides wool and fabric, the man had also brought gourds of oil and vinegar, which was interesting. She also looked at some of the fabric, but it was too expensive to buy both, so she was weighing up the options of buying one over the other when Roger's voice made her stiffen.

"I could buy you that and more expensive fabric," he boasted.

"Oh, have you stopped drinking to excess?" Lucy muttered in return, trying desperately to stay calm. Between anger and fear clawing up her throat, she didn't know which would lead her to a worse reaction. She couldn't risk making a scene. Her comment did draw a small chuckle from the other women looking at the wares. Lucy might have breathed a sigh of relief, except that she could imagine it would only make Roger angrier.

"How dare you mock me, trollop," he gritted out, stepping closer and grabbing her arm. "Your husband can scarcely afford to feed you, let alone anyone else."

"We manage just fine," Lucy bit back at him, wrenching her arm away from Roger. It was true that they were poor. Poorer than most probably, especially that first winter when they'd lived off the land and the kindness of their new neighbors. It had been awful, and it was only thanks to Wyatt's survival skills that they had made it through at all, harvesting what edible plants would grow in the wild to stock up at least some food and scavenging day to day in addition. He'd often eaten less to give Rufus and her more, and it had nearly broken her heart to see him waste away to the brink, but they had made it, and they were doing better. He was looking healthier again, too

"Oh, is that why you're still all alone? Can't afford a family? Or is Logan not man enough? Can't he even mount you properly?"

"He's ten times the man you'll ever be."

He just smirked at her, and Lucy felt like vomiting.

"He's not even half the man I am. I'd have had you quick with our second child by now," Roger leered at her, stepping forward and pressing his hand against her flat belly as if he meant to grip her womb itself.

As Lucy pushed Roger's hand away none too gently, she thought briefly on how different he was to Wyatt. Roger was so callous, she wondered sometimes if he did it on purpose to get attention. Could any man be so awful? On the other hand, even when Wyatt was angry with her, he didn't treat her like she was beneath him. He was respectful. Though he, too, had a bit of a temper sometimes and was as lethal a soldier as ever could be found in history, Wyatt was usually calm and gentle. He was a protector rather than just a cold-blooded killer and he helped people. He was loyal to his friends, and gave all of himself to his tasks and relationships. He would be a good father.

"I hope no woman will ever have to dirty her womb with your seed," Lucy replied scathingly. She heard the rounds of breaths sucked in, and there were more than she had expected. Apparently, their confrontation had drawn a crowd, but she didn't care. Nor did she care about the anger that shone in his eyes. "I'll be sure to convey your concerns to my husband, but do not worry yourself for us overmuch, Roger. Wyatt and I will have children when and if we decide it, and he will be as good a father as he is a husband."

Without another look back, she placed a few coins in the stunned peddler's hands, grabbed oil and vinegar and marched off. She wouldn't be able look at any fabric without feeling queasy right now. She marched straight home, careful to stay alert in case he followed her. She checked underneath the blanket in the basket she had brought to school to reassure herself her assurance was still there. The gleaming metal calmed her nerves somewhat, though it did little to slow her racing heart. When their little garden and shack came into view, the palpitations only got stronger.

She spotted Wyatt with Rufus next to the hut, pottering about with something. They had talked about extending the garden a little more. They were almost limited to eating what they could grow themselves, so they had sown some crops this spring and were also attempting to cultivate some of the wild plants of the region. Lucy wasn't sure what more Wyatt and Rufus wanted to grow, but they seemed hard at work over something. Lucy quickened her steps to reach them, her confrontation with Roger still spinning about her mind, driving her to purpose. The men noticed her when she dropped the basket and the gourds rattled a little. As they turned around Lucy closed the last distance.

"Hey there, Lucy-"

Wyatt didn't get any further with his greeting, because the next second she had jumped up into his arms and kissed him full on the mouth. It didn't take him long to get over the shock and respond enthusiastically. After a moment, and Rufus' clearing his throat, he drew back from her a little in wonderment.

"I want to have your babies."

She was pretty sure both of the men's eyes bulged at her declaration, and Lucy realized she probably should have eased into that a little more.

"Uhm, what? How? What?"

"I think you broke him," Rufus joked with growing mirth. "Honestly, man, she can't have to explain how it works. I've been an ear-witness too often for you to claim innocence. That hut is poorly soundproofed if you know what I mean. Not to mention-"

"Don't mention it, Rufus," Wyatt growled. He'd rather not think about… any of that, or discuss with Rufus what he and Lucy had or hadn't been doing in the last few months. "Seriously though, Lucy, what's going on?"

"Roger pointed out-"

"Roger? We taking advice from him now?" Rufus wondered.

"What was that bastard even doing near you?!" Wyatt thundered at the name. His arms tightened around her protectively, and Lucy only felt her thoughts confirmed.

"He confronted me at the peddler's stand about why I'm not pregnant yet and how you can't be much of a man since I'm not. Don't worry, I set him straight, but it made me think."

"About babies?" Rufus supplied.

"About what I want from life," she replied calmly. "It doesn't look like we're going home, and I… I don't want to spend my whole life waiting. I don't want to waste it hoping until it's too late to… I don't know, make it happy."

She kissed him again.

"Hope is never wasted," Wyatt told her softly. "But I get what you mean. You want to make the most of life while it's happening, whether we do or do not get home. I do too."

"Yeah?" Her eyes brightened.

"Yeah." He pressed their foreheads together. "Not sure I ever saw myself as a father before, though. My childhood… was not exactly stellar. I'm not sure I can…"

She raised her right hand to his cheek and brushed her thumb over his stubble in reassurance.

"I am." That was all she said, but her simple faith was a balm for his battered heart. This time he kissed her, long and deep and thorough.

"Okay, if you're gonna make the babies right here, Imma go… look for mushrooms again or something."

They both chuckled as Rufus retreated. Wyatt set Lucy back on the ground, but she would not be parted from him, standing up on her tip toes to keep kissing him. Her hands roamed over his torso, searching all the paths she knew across his skin that would set him aflame. Wyatt quickly trapped her wandering hands against his chest and finally broke their kiss.

"As much as I enjoy your attentions, I'm not making love to you for the first time in the dirt or against the wall of the house. Not when we have something resembling a bed indoors."

Lucy beamed.

"Besides, I think we should talk about this in more detail first."

"And here I thought I was pretty clear, soldier," Lucy teased him, drawing him into another kiss. His lips parted easily under her advances and they let themselves be carried away by the deep, languid kiss they shared. Finally, it was Wyatt who pulled away again. To take in some much needed oxygen and to clear his head before they did something rash. Smiling at her passion, he kissed her temple and tucked her under his chin, but if he thought she couldn't do any more damage there, he was soon corrected when she forced a groan from his body with quick, sharp nips to his throat and the soothing tongue that followed.

"Stop that, professor," he chided half-heartedly, making her smirk against his skin. "You're driving me mad."

"That's the idea." She looked up at him with mischief in her eyes as one hand wandered to caress his stubbled cheek.

"But we do need to talk about this, Lucy," Wyatt replied seriously even as he leaned into her palm. With a sigh, she removed her hand and took a step back. She let him lead her by the hand to the bench they'd built and placed next to the entrance of their hut. They sat down facing each other, and Wyatt covered the hand he held with his other one, rubbing over it while he tried to figure out how to broach this subject.

"Wyatt, if you really don't want-" Lucy began, but then faltered. She looked vulnerable, unsure how to go on.

"It's not that," he assured her quickly. "I stand by what I said. I don't exactly have the best role model, and I'm not sure I should… or could be a father."

Lucy's heart hurt for him. The thought that Wyatt - loyal, caring, strong and gentle Wyatt - could think so poorly of himself that he thought he didn't deserve children even if he wanted them, made her bleed inside.

"But you want- I mean, do you… would you want… with me? O-or in general, other things aside…"

Wyatt had to smile at her nervous ramble.

"I've never let myself think about it before, because of… what I said, but I know you'd be a fantastic mother and there is no one else I'd…" He swallowed hard before continuing. "…I'd want to have children with. I think, together, we can do anything. We are surviving here, together, so I think we could… that I could, maybe."

Now who was rambling.

"But there's something else?" Lucy prodded. She could see it in the shadow across his eyes. Something else was gnawing at him, beyond his fear of himself and his past.

"It's just that, pregnancy, childbirth, a-and miscarriage, and child mortality - there are still risks even in our time, but here…" He swept his gaze around. Trees and fields, smoke from distant huts and the sounds of nature. It looked idyllic at a first glance, but medically they might as well be in the dark ages. Or so he thought; Lucy would probably know more about the medical advancements of the 18th century, but still, even the lack of penicillin, doctors and nurses worth those titles and general hygiene filled him with dread. "I don't want to lose you. I don't want to risk… Is that selfish?"

"No," Lucy told him gently, pressing herself into his arms which closed automatically around her. "I… I mean I hadn't thought about this aspect earlier-"

"No kidding," he muttered, thinking back to how shell-shocked he had been at her bold declaration.

"But I know. It scares me, too, a little, but… but women have given birth in these conditions and worse for thousands of years and while many suffered o-or died, many more lived or we'd have died out by now. And with our knowledge we could make it safer for us… for me, and maybe for the other women here too."

There she went thinking of other people again.

"I'm not interested in the village women right now. I'm worried about you," Wyatt huffed, though he saw her point and admired her kind heart. He pulled back from her to look at her face. "Are you sure? Is this what you want?"

Lucy opened her mouth to answer, but Wyatt placed his hand over her lips to make her pause.

"Don't answer now, please. I now you know your own mind, but… think about it some more please. For me," he pleaded, and when she saw the warmth and concern in his eyes she nodded in agreement.

"You're right. There's no need to rush this."

Wyatt breathed a sigh.

"Thank you."

"Hmm," she hummed gently in acknowledgement. "But Wyatt, if I decide that I want to-" A grin began to spread across her face again as she left him to finish the sentence.

"Have my babies?" The soldier huffed out a laugh, before he bent down to kiss her. "I want them with you."

End of chapter!

A/N: Sorry for the hiatus. I kind of forgot about writing for quite some time.