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 rated M for a reason. It's AU to the episode "Stranded", in the sense that Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus have had to make a life in the 18th century. This starts some time into their life there. They've found a small settlement to attach themselves to, and Wyatt and Lucy are pretending to be married, because, really, brother and sister… do me a favor! It contains mentions of attempted rape, though it doesn't get far. There's also some action for Lucy and Wyatt, nothing extremely explicit, but still. Fair warning.

A/N: Read the warnings for this one, please.

Chapter 10: A Scandal in Pennsylvania

A loud crack reverberated in the room before an unearthly silence fell on the group. Everyone's shocked eyes rested on Lucy, even Wyatt's and Rufus'. She stood in the middle between the two opposing sides, her whole body vibrating with righteous fury. Her hands were still clenched at her sides, one of which had recently suffered the impact it had made on the scruffy face of the predatory misogynist prick that had brought the local preacher and village council to their tiny home. The man who'd gone down at her right hook straightened himself again, and was about to curse at her, when the expression on her face must have made Roger hesitate.

"Mr Logan, contain your wife," the preacher warned, shocked at her behavior.

"I'd really rather not, considering I want to hit him myself. He's lucky Lucy got there before I did," Wyatt deadpanned.

"Mr Logan, we realize this must come as a… shock to you, but the allegations are quite serious. We have a duty to investigate-" Old Man Josiah said. The man owned the largest farm in the vicinity, which made him something of a local authority. Money bought influence in every time period, apparently. He didn't get any further as Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus snorted in unison. As the man leveled a withering glare on Rufus, Wyatt spoke up again.

"Allegations… Based on what? His wishful thinking?"

"I assure you, I was as shocked as you," Roger said, putting on a faux contrite face that the soldier didn't believe for a second. "I least of all expected Mistress Logan to try to seduce m-"

"Seduce you? You?!" Lucy interrupted, seething and derisive, turning her body halfway toward Wyatt, even as her gaze stayed focused on the bastard in front of her. At her tone, Wyatt realized that as angry as he felt at the assholes' transgression, he couldn't match Lucy's deep-seated fury. No doubt, her anger at the man himself was only the tip of the iceberg. The last straw that broke the camel's back after a lifetime of having to repeatedly suffer patronizing idiots and more than a year of having to live among little else. The people in their little community were kind and honest, but they were products of their time. A time hardest to bear for Rufus and Lucy. She soon continued, her tone getting more condescending by the second as she pointed back at Wyatt. "Why would I ever even look at you when Wyatt treats me with more respect, kindness and caring than you are capable of harboring in your shriveled heart? He is all the man I will ever need!"

Though stunned for a moment by the powerful declaration, Wyatt recognized his cue when it came. He gave himself a mental shake not to misinterpret what Lucy said in her own defense, but he couldn't fully prevent the flutter of his heart. A year of pretending to be her husband had taken its toll on his defenses. Quickly, he stepped forward, and dutifully placed his arm around her waist, partially to present a united front, and partially to prevent Lucy from damaging her hand further. He had a feeling she was ready to deck Roger again if the next words out of his mouth weren't an apology. Before he could speak, however, the preacher cleared his throat, but he spoke to Wyatt rather than to Lucy.

"These accusations are certainly unpleasant, but if they are true… Logan, you must understand-"

"Nothing," he interrupted. "I don't have to understand anything about why you brought this filth into our home after he repeatedly accosted my wife, and now tries to shift his guilt onto her."

The man's eyes widened. Wyatt knew it.

"Oh, yes, I know. Lucy told me what you did and that she didn't feel safe going out alone. It was my error not to heed her words," Wyatt continued, feeling more than hearing Lucy's surprise, because, of course, she hadn't told him a thing and they would talk about that. Then he heard her sigh of relief because he was shouldering much of the responsibility. "I thought she must have misinterpreted. I thought you couldn't possibly sink so low. I will not make that mistake again. Now take that… scoundrel out of our home."

Roger frowned deeply, and clearly wanted to say something to the way the tables had been turned on his accusations of adultery, but now it was not just Lucy, Wyatt, and Rufus who looked at him with disdain. At the word of the man of the house, even their other visitors regarded the man with newfound suspicion.

"Our apologies for the interruption, Mr Logan," Old Man Josiah offered as something of a community leader. When Wyatt inclined his head toward Lucy, he drew his hat to her. "Mistress Logan, I'm sorry for the distress we caused."

Lucy only just managed to prevent herself from huffing, but she couldn't trust her voice so she gave a curt nod of acknowledgment. One by one the men filed from their tiny cabin, finally leaving her room to breathe again. Before Roger could vacate their threshold, Wyatt grabbed him by the arm and held him firmly in place, long enough for a whispered word of warning.

"If I see you so much as look at Lucy again in a way she doesn't like, I will break every single bone in your body… Twice," he threatened darkly. Wyatt held the man's gaze just long enough to be sure he understood how serious the soldier was. He watched Roger swallow and nod ever so slightly before he let him go join the others, then closed the door to all of them.

"And I retain my power of invisibility. Yay!" Rufus falsely cheered, perhaps hoping to cheer them up?

Now that the immediate danger had passed, though, Wyatt's furious gaze fell on Lucy herself. He knew he should not be angry at her, especially after what she had just been through. He had no idea what happened to adulterous women in the 18th century. He could only hope The Scarlet Letter wasn't an accurate representation of punishment for adultery, but damn it, she should have told him!

"Why didn't you tell me?! What if this would have gone terribly wrong? I can't protect you if you don't keep me in the loop, Lucy. I thought we were over this!" Not long into their life sentence in this period drama, Wyatt had come to realize there was no point in distrusting either her or Rufus for something that would happen more than two hundred years into the future and had no further bearing on their lives. Especially while their ability to work together was essential for their survival in this hostile time period. So, they had pulled themselves together. Or so Wyatt had thought.

"And clearly now I'm invisible even to you two, which is just as well. I don't want to be privy to your marital spat, so I'll go outside and… gather mushrooms or farm or something… Call me for dinner?" When neither of them said anything, Rufus threw his hands in the air and left. "Great!"

"I know this situation is not ideal, Lucy," Wyatt tried again for a calmer approach. "But you have to trust me-"

"I do trust you," she insisted, then glared when he snorted. "I do."

"Sure doesn't look that way," he muttered. "If you trusted me, you would have told me."

"No, I couldn't!" She insisted. "You're already stuck here with us - with me! Stuck in a life and a marriage you don't want. I…I didn't want to burden you further."

At her admission of concern for him and his desires, his heart missed a beat. It had been doing that for a while now, when she gifted him with a smile or a kind word or a compliment at his cooking and what a great housewife he made. The longer they stayed here, the harder it became to fight. And Wyatt tried to fight it. Every day he reminded himself of Jess and of his plan to save her with the time machine. A broken time machine buried in the forest, though God only knew how long they could trust the woods to protect their secret. Then he told himself that they were colleagues, and tentative friends again. They worked together, and you didn't fraternize with your buddies in the fox hole. Lucy was way out of his league anyway. Successful, well-educated, published, for Christ's sake; she deserved her sophisticated doctor. A life saver, not a broken soldier she could never want.

He told himself all that, but the longer they lived together in this tiny shack they called home, pressed into close proximity by the conventions of the time as much as necessity, the more all his reasons began to ring untrue and slip through his fingers like sand. And every little moment they shared, every time he thought he saw something like longing in her eyes when she looked at him, reinforced the truth. The truth was he was afraid. They both were.

He stepped closer to her again. His hands moved to her shoulders to give her reassurance. Not her waist where he had put them as her husband, nor her face where he would like to put them. The soft, flushed skin beckoned to him, but Wyatt only moved his hands to rub over her forearms to give her some warmth and comfort.

"I know this is difficult, but I'm here for you. We are responsible for one another - you, and me, and Rufus. We need each other, and I need you to tell me when stuff like this happens…. I wish you had told me sooner. I could have protected you."

"How? By preemptively breaking all his bones? Twice… Yeah, I heard. Wyatt, you won't always be there to protect me, and what people think you might do to them afterward may not actually deter them from hurting me," she pointed out.

"Then I best teach you to defend yourself."

Her eyes brightened at the idea. Of course, she would like that, but he couldn't just let her get away with the worry she'd caused him today. He'd almost had a heart attack when he realized those men wanted to drag her off with them to face that bastard's charges. Publicly, so she would be utterly ruined. Who knew what they would have done to her. His heart beat faster in worry and anger as he recalled how their knock had practically thrown down their door. One hand came up to her cheek after all as he contemplated how he might have lost her. Then his heartbeat redoubled as he thought of how she had bravely defended herself.

"I could have lost you," he murmured. He seemed to realize his mistake when she gasped. "I mean- not just me… I, we-"

Now Lucy's hands came up to cradle his face, making him shut his mouth at the heat and feel of them on his skin.

"But you didn't. I'm here."

She looked at him intently, her meaning clear in her eyes. She didn't say more, only held her breath and waited for how he would react. She gave him a way out. A chance to back away from their confessions. He could take her words as reassurance and step away, or he could take them as an invitation and press forward. Wyatt was so tired of backing out, so instead, he stepped forward to close the last bit of distance between him and Lucy. The whole lengths of their bodies were practically pressed together, their faces so close, he couldn't properly see her anymore, but he felt her sweet breath drift across his lips, and that was even better. Her breathing sped up. His lips were dry, his throat parched, but what he could see of her gaze was still focused firmly on him as if she were waiting for an invitation.

"The only man you will ever need, huh?" He chuckled darkly.

"Don't let it get to your head, soldier," she teased back, her eyes gleaming. "Far as I'm concerned you and Rufus are the only real men here, and he's taken so I guess I'll have to settle for you."

"Well, if that's how you see it-" As he began to move away, she grabbed his arm and he let her pull him back roughly. Perhaps a little more roughly than she had intended, because when he slammed back into her body, she almost lost her balance. Wyatt quickly wrapped his arms around her to steady her.

"You stay right here, soldier," she ordered, her hands wandering over his chest and fisting in his jacket.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lucy smacked him on the arm lightly. Then her gaze turned softer.

"You know I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry, ma'am, I know you aren't settling for anything," he taunted her to a roll of her pretty eyes. "I'll prove it to you."

And before Lucy could comment, Wyatt had closed his lips over her mouth. The historian didn't miss a beat, though, and quickly ran her tongue across his lips until he granted her entrance. As their tongues danced and battled, he walked her back against the nearest wall, feeling her push his jacket over his shoulders and pulling his shirt out of his britches. When her hands went to leave trails on the skin of his chest, he left her mouth to explore further. He kissed and licked along the curve or her delicate throat, relishing in the salty taste of her skin and the ministrations of her hands as they pulled lightly on his hair. When the solider reached her bosom, he kissed what skin was available while bringing up his hands to undo the offending strings.

Clumsy with want, it took him long enough to work out how to unwrap her that Lucy decided to interfere. A gentle hand on his chest pushed him back. He eyes flew up to her face. Her heated gaze seemed to burn him with want, and his eyes never left hers as she undid her clothes, except to shrug his own shirt over his head. Strings undone, she moved to pull everything off, but Wyatt wasn't willing to wait that long. He stepped closer again, and helped her only to pull the offending garments aside before he bent over her chest to latch onto a nipple.

Lucy moaned loudly at that first contact of his hot mouth on her sensitive breast. Her hands rose to his head again. She held him to her forcefully, nails scratching the nape of his neck. Wyatt didn't need to be asked twice as he continued to lick and bite at her breast, soothing the sting of his teeth with his tongue. His hand moved to take the place of his mouth as he switched his focus to her other breast, paying it the same attention as the first. With a last nip at her skin he moved his head away a little to survey his work. Breathing heavily with her exposed chest covered in bite marks, Lucy was the very picture of a woman ravished.

Yet something was still frustratingly missing in his masterpiece. It took him a moment to realize that what bothered him was that every one of his marks would be covered by her conservative clothes. They would remain hidden. No one to see them and know that she was his. As if sensing his darkening thoughts, Lucy bared her throat to him in invitation. Wyatt wasted no time in latching onto her skin again. Before, he had been careful only to let his lips linger there too long or worry the skin too much, but now he grazed along her tender skin with his teeth until he found her pulse and bit down to a choked whisper of his name.

She pulled his head level with hers again, one hand caressing his cheek while the other trailed over his chest. He pulled it up and around his shoulder, though not before laying a kiss on her palm. Lucy looked at him in wonder, but let him pick her up and carry her, kissing, to a chair. Wyatt set her down in it gently, and moved to kneel between her legs. A hand rose slowly between her breasts to her throat and down again to cover her left breast. He carefully weighed it in his hand, his thumb brushing over her pebbled peak. He leaned over and kissed her again, moving his hands along her neck and over her chest until he reached the top of her skirts. Meanwhile his other hand caressed her ankle, gently dragging his fingers up to her right knee. As he clasped it in the palm of his hand, he felt her stiffen in his arms. He stopped immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she murmured, but she wouldn't look at him. His only hint was the way her hands fisted in her skirts.

"That's not nothing, Lucy. What happened? You can tell me." He kissed her forehead gently. "What did he do to you?"

Lucy looked at him, then. Shy, ashamed, reluctant - three things he never wanted to see on her face.

"Lucy, did that bastard Roger… did he…" He couldn't even say it. Just the thought that that worm might have raped her was enough to send his heart plummeting with despair and burn with rage at the same time. "God, Lucy, why would you let me- If you'd just been… hurt, how can you stand to be near-"

"No!" Lucy cried. "He didn't… didn't- no, thankfully."

He kissed her. He couldn't help it, he was so relieved for her.

"He'd always been a little… He always creeped me out."

Wyatt sat back on his haunches, not touching her, but close enough that she would know he was there for her. To support her. To hold onto. Whatever she needed, he would give it to her. Currently, she really needed to get this off her chest.

"How?"

"He kept following me with his eyes. I didn't think much of it, at first. We were new, so almost everyone watched us. But even when the novelty settled, he was still doing it. He even followed me around a few times, brushed against me…"

God, why hadn't she told him?!

"So, I confronted him. It was stupid, a stupid 21st-century thing to do, but I led him away from everyone and told him off. Being alone with him, it was stupid."

She took a deep breath.

"He kissed me. Just like that, he pushed me against the house and- and I pushed him away. He stank of drink. When he came at me again, I think I broke his nose."

"That's my girl," Wyatt couldn't help but say.

"I think it just angered him more. I ran that day, after. I thought it was just the alcohol, because for a while everything quietened down. Then, the other day-"

Wyatt clasped his hands over both of hers when she began to fiddle nervously with them. Lucy bit her lip, but looked up at him with a grateful smile. She turned her hands in his grasp and laced their fingers together. Maybe it was because they had fought their mutual attraction and lived in a celibate marriage for more than a year, but they were clearly starved for touch, because they felt their pulses quicken even at this simple, innocent connection.

"What happened the other day?" Wyatt croaked, keeping them on track with some difficulty.

"He was waiting for me on my way back home."

Wyatt groaned softly. Some of the houses were farther apart than in their modern era. If Roger had waited for her in the right spot, neither Wyatt nor their neighbors would have seen or heard anything. They didn't, in fact. Lucy had been left alone, unprotected, with her assailant. He leaned forward to bring both her hands to press against his lips. She was never going out alone again. Never.

"I didn't expect anyone and wasn't paying attention," she admitted, a soft tremor in her voice as she leaned forward to be closer to him. "He had grabbed me before I realized what was going on. He… he p-pulled me to the ground, a-and p-put his hand over my mouth."

She was shaking now, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"He pulled at my c-clothes, and pushed… and h-his hand up my sk-"

She took a deep breath, but couldn't seem to finish. She looked at him a little desperately, and Wyatt tried to give her an encouraging smile as he waited patiently for her to finish in her own time. She breathed heavily for several minutes, and Wyatt was worried she might hyperventilate, before she calmed down.

"He put his hand… there. It was… It was disgusting. I felt so… used. So dirty."

"You aren't. Lucy, this isn't anybody's fault but his," Wyatt reminded her. "Okay?"

Another deep breath.

"I know, but it still feels… I feel… him."

"How did you get away?"

"I… uh… kneed him in the groin. Then I ran, again. I ran home."

"I..." Wyatt began, but then realized he didn't know what to say. "What can I do? Or say? I don't know how to help you."

The admission was shameful, for him. Here he was, a well trained Delta Force operative, but against her memories and emotions he was powerless. He couldn't protect her from her own mind. Now he didn't know what to do. Should he move closer? Or farther away? He wasn't Roger, but he was a man - how could she stand to be near him right now? How could he have been so callous as to forget why those men had been here in the first place? Wyatt felt his heart clench at how he had taken advantage of her anger and confusion.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy," he told her, unable to look at her. He let go of her and moved to stand. "I shouldn't have… I'm so, so sorry."

He felt her hand clasp his again. Reluctantly, he stayed in place, but he still couldn't look at her.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Wyatt. You didn't do anything wrong," she assured him. He almost choked on her words of comfort. He was supposed to be there for her now, not the other way around.

"I shouldn't have taken advantage of you."

"You didn't. If anything I took advantage of you. I-" Lucy cleared her throat, unsure how to proceed. Then she figured honesty was the only course left for them and continued. "I have wanted you for… so long, and you… and I wanted your touch to make me forget the feel of him. I used you. So I'm sorry. That was… awful of me."

He took a deep breath at that admission. He hadn't expected her to be so open, even given the circumstances.

"I have wanted you too," Wyatt admitted, finally looking at her again. He knelt back down in front of her, touching his forehead to hers. "I still want you, and I want to wipe that bastard's touch clear from your memory until all you feel is me…"

She pressed forward to kiss him again, passion reignited, but Wyatt was still reluctant. He couldn't help kiss her back for a moment, but managed to pull himself away. He had returned his hands firmly onto the arm rests of the chair, unwilling to cause her further distress, but his resolve began to crumble under her wanton, desperate stare and under the fire of her hands as they caressed across his shoulders.

"Lucy, if we continue this…" He warned her, barely containing himself. "Are you sure you want this? We don't have to-"

As if in response, she kissed him again. Chaste but intense was the pressure against his lips.

"Are you sure?" He asked again, his voice strained with the effort of holding himself at bay. She moved forward to kiss him again, but he placed one hand on her shoulder and held her back. "Say it. I need to hear you say it. Are you sure? Because if you aren't, tell me now."

Lucy looked at him, sensing he was not done.

"Tell me you don't want this, and I will leave."

The thought of him leaving her in the middle of this made her heart plummet. She shook her head quietly, her hands gripping his shoulders so tight she was sure to pierce his skin and draw blood. She didn't care. There was no way she would let him leave her embrace now. The thought gave her a dark pleasure as she waited for his final words. He lifted one hand to her covered knee, carefully watching her reaction when he placed it there.

"Tell me you want this, me, now, and I will devour you."

Lucy's breath hitched. How had they gone from accusations of adultery, to passion, to revealing her assault and back to this? The intensity of his gaze made her warm all over, her insides clenching at his dark promise. She knew he wouldn't accept anything other than voiced consent, and if she didn't speak up soon he'd do the gentlemanly thing and walk out, but that didn't mean she couldn't reinforce her answer with actions. So she gripped her skirts and pulled them up to her knees, and splayed her legs wider in invitation.

"I want you," she confessed, swallowing hard. "You might have to be patient with me, but I want you."

Wyatt's hand lifted off her knee, and she mourned the loss, thinking she had misspoken until it gripped the hem of her skirts and pushed them further up over her thigh. He waited a moment, his eyes never leaving hers. When she didn't protest, he did the same with the other side and laid both hands on her calves, drawing them up and down until she fully relaxed. He drew his hands up over her knees then, eliciting a gasp at his touch on the outside of her thighs. She pushed herself closer to him, but he moved his hands back down the full length of he legs.

Lucy whimpered at his retreat, but only until she felt him take hold of her left leg and, pushing it a little further outward, plant a kiss on the side of her knee. Her whole body jerked forward in anticipation. Wyatt calmly grazed the skin of her calf with his scruff, occasionally giving the supple flesh a kiss or a nip, and finally a lick that brought him halfway up the inside of her thigh. Rather than press forward, he turned this same attention to her other leg, and when this time his tongue reached almost the apex of her thighs Lucy felt her insides clench. She throbbed in delicious agony, waiting for him to finally lavish his attention on that part of her where she wanted him.

"Wyatt," she whimpered impatiently.

"No moans?" He complained teasingly. "Maybe I'm not doing this right. I should go back to the start and give it another try."

"No," Lucy whined in desperation. When he turned his lips into her skin to kiss it again, she could feel his smirk. "Bastard."

He pouted in mock offence.

"Here I am, worshipping you and all you offer me are insults-"

"If all you're going to do is pay me lip service, you could at least do it right."

Wyatt's smirk widened at her boldness.

"Yes, ma'am."

Everything after that happened rather fast. Before Lucy could comment, Wyatt had placed both her legs over the arm rests and began to put his mouth to better use. He groaned against her when he took in first her scent and then her taste, and she actually keened at the touch of his tongue against her core. Had he complained about the lack of vocal acclamation before, he was now repaid tenfold. Lucy couldn't seem to stop the sounds falling from her lips, nor the movement of her hips as she tried to get closer to his ministrations. His arms came around to steady her, and he cast a glance at her at that. Rather than feel trapped though, she couldn't remember when she'd last felt so cherished and safe.

She felt safe with Wyatt. Even as he continued to drive her physically to the point of madness, she felt her passion mingle with the warmth and care and respect she felt in their deepening bond. More than his touch, it was this connection that warmed her heart and soothed all her hurts. She gazed down at him tenderly, a hand brushing through his unruly hair and drawing his attention. As he looked at her his gaze softened from his dark passion to the tender care and attention she was familiar with, and something else that always lurked in his gaze recently. Unnamed but openly on display now, making her heart beat even faster. His gaze kept her in his thrall and him in hers, so much so that a noise that should have alerted them to the door opening did not.

"Oh God, God, make me blind!"

The End

A/N: Whew, I wasn't sure I would ever finish this. It changed on me so often that this barely resembles the first idea I had, which involved their marriage and consummation. Since watching a consummation was really more a royalty thing and I've never really written dub-con before, I changed the plot, but I definitely wanted to write something for Stranded.