The first thing she encountered was not what she used to encountering first thing in the morning – which was her pillow. This morning, it was the hard plane of Garcia Flynn's shoulder. And for the first time in over a year, she woke up with some hope. Some future. With the real Garcia Flynn next to her, instead of some dream fragment that left her alone and frustrated.

She shook him. No response. She shook him again and she saw him try to hide his smile. She glared at him and threw her legs over his waist, so she straddled his laying form.

"I like this wake up call."

"Shut up. I'm hungry. I demand breakfast."

He cracked an eye open. "Demand?"

She shook her head. "Demand. We worked up an appetite last night and I want breakfast. And coffee. Lots of coffee."

"Goes without saying."

She moved off of him, grabbing the last of her clean clothes out of the bag. "And then maybe some laundry facilities."

She looked back and saw him watching her, propped up on his elbows, sheets pooling at his waist. She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You. You stop that."

"What?"

She glared at him. "You know exactly what. Knock it off. I want food. I'm going to brush my teeth. I expected you to be decent when I get back."

"Yes dear" he replied as she closed the bathroom door.

000

The smell of a full array of breakfast choices hit Lucy's nose as they walked in the back door of the house.

"That's almost obscene" she said, taking in the spread of food.

"Right?" Rufus said, walking in from the dining room. "Who knew Connor likes to cook American breakfast so much."

Lucy grabbed a plate and started loading it up as Flynn went off in search of coffee. Jiya pounced the moment he left the kitchen.

"One question" she whispered as she slid up next to Lucy.

"What's that?" Lucy said, not taking her eyes off the pancakes.

"Sex with Flynn. Hot or fucking hot?" Lucy about dropped her plate as she looked at her friend, with a shit eating grin on her face.

Jiya held up her hand. "And don't try to deny it. Please. First, you look more relaxed than you have since I showed up at your apartment. Second, you have sex hair. You should go find a brush before you go out there. Third, if you didn't immediately hit that, I would wonder if you had lost your mind. So, hot or fucking hot?"

Lucy shook her head slightly at her friend. "I may have blacked out a couple of times good. Fucking hot isn't expressive enough. Happy?"

Jiya popped a strawberry in her mouth. "Good for you."

Lucy moved into the dining room and set her plate down when she heard the front door open. A huge smile spilt her face as Wyatt walked in holding a baby girl on his hip, Jessica trailing behind him. Jessica caught her eye and ran over, throwing her arms around Lucy.

"Thank you" she said, voice laced with tears. "Thank you for believing and not leaving me alone." Jessica pulled back, resting her hands on Lucy's shoulders. "Lucy, I'm sorry isn't enough. It will never be enough. You saved our little girl."

Lucy rested her hands on top of Jessica's. "Being angry gets us no where. We are all here. Healthy. Alive. Together. That's what matters. I'm glad she's ok. What's her name?"

"Caroline." They both looked over at Wyatt holding the little girl in his arms. "He's going to be an amazing dad" Lucy said. Jessica nodded, turning back to her. "Come on" Lucy said, "there is enough food for an army in the kitchen. Go get some food."

Soon, they were all sitting around the table, eating and laughing. Lucy watched as everyone stared at Flynn in awe when he talked about how he had financed this operation. "I mean, it's not like Rittenhouse can file a complaint with the IRS and FBI" he said, taking a bite of his bacon. Denise started to laugh and soon they were all joining in.

"So what happens to this house now?" Denise asked when they had all calmed down.

"There's a group home in town that is in desperate need of a new facility. They help kids who can't go home. The crew comes tomorrow to cut an actual drive way in off the road and I'm going to sell it to them for a dollar."

Lucy smiled at him, wondering how, when they first met, she didn't see the man that was beneath the anger and hurt and rage.

Lucy watched the last car with Denise, Connor, Rufus and Jiya pull away from the house. Flynn wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest.

"Now what?" She asked.

"Now, we live. Tomorrow, you and I leave this house behind, go drop the keys off to the director of the group home and we live. Where do you want to go?"

Lucy shrugged. For a year she had no choice. She had stopped thinking about what was next. "I honestly have no idea."

"Do you want to go back to your job?"

"NO!" She said, vehemently.

"Do you need to go back for anything? I wouldn't mind scaring that creepy boss of yours a little bit." She laughed. Not that she wouldn't enjoy watching Flynn make that asshole pee his pants a little bit, but she had no desire to revisit any part of the last year.

She turned in his arms, resting her hands on his chest. "Thank you." He smiled down at her. "For what?" He asked.

"For saving me. For saving all of us. You could have just freed yourself and disappeared. No one would have blamed you."

"I could have never done that, Lucy?"

"Why? Why did you do all of this? Why are you here?" That question that she had asked all that time ago, but never got an answer to.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm here for you, Lucy. I always have been and I always will be. I love you. That's why I'm here. And why I was there. It's because of love." She pulled him down, kissing him softly for just a moment.

"So, tomorrow we head out. What ever will we do until then?" She smiled, slipping out of his arms and walking back into the house. He stopped in the doorway, watching her move slowly toward the steps that led upstairs. She paused on the first step and turned, locking on his gaze. She slowly removed her shirt and her bra, throwing them away from her. He pushed himself off the door jam, ripping his shirt off his body and picking her up off the step, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist. She sighed loudly as their skin met.

"Which room?" He asked, moving slowly up the steps.

"Surprise me" she replied. "I plan to get to all of them before we leave tomorrow." He laughed louder than she had ever heard him laugh as he turned down the hallway.

6 months later

"You ready for this?" Wyatt asked as she took his arm. She nodded and they took the first step.

She smiled as they all came into view, this small but important rag-tag family that had come together over the impossible. She found the eyes she had been most looking for, the eyes she hadn't been allowed to see since yesterday morning. "It's bad luck!" Jiya yelled at her as they pulled Lucy out their front door. He just smiled and waved and Lucy got into the front seat of Jiya's car.

And there he was, white shirt and linen pants, the ocean as their back drop, standing next to Connor, who had jumped at the chance to get ordained online, just for them.

"About time" he said as she got in front of him. "That new?" He asked, waving his hand in front of her white dress.

"Shut up" she said, rolling her eyes. "I haven't eaten yet today, so how about we get this show on the road."

"Romantic" he replied.

"If you two are quite done…" Connor said, glancing between them. They both nodded at him. "Friends, we are here today to celebrate, as Jiya would say, these two FINALLY getting married. Since nothing about any of us is traditional, I thought why start now. Garcia?"

Lucy looked up at him. He glanced around quickly before turning his attention back to her. "Lucy. The truth is, I always thought my life would end early. After Lorena and Iris died, I came here before I ran. I wasn't sure if I would ever see this place again. Part of me wondered if I would die here, surrounded by the dunes and the water. But then… you. In the light of the Hindenburg… you. Not the you in the journal, but the real you. The fiery, passionate, amazing you. And then one day I realized, my life was in the form of a brilliant, short historian…" she rolled her eyes at him, mostly to keep the tears from falling… "and I knew that… well, that sometimes what you think is destiny or canon or whatever you want to call it… doesn't have to be. So I chose to live. And that led us here, to this place, to us."

"Damn Flynn!" Jiya yelled from behind them.

Lucy nodded in agreement. "I can't top that. Just know that I love you. I have loved you for a long time. Our life will be crazy and unique and I cannot wait to see what it holds."

"Rings?" Denise produced them, handing one to Flynn and one to Lucy.

Flynn grabbed her hand. "So you ready to be my wife?"

"Hell yeah" she replied as he slipped the band on to her hand. He held up his left hand to her. "You ready to be my husband?"

"I can't imagine wanting anything more, Lucy". She put the ring on his finger, smiling brightly as she did.

"You two" Connor muttered. "Well, with the power vested in me by the World Wide Web, I give you the Flynns! You may kiss… oh why do I even bother?" Flynn had grabbed her the moment she slipped the ring on his finger, kissing her hard.

"To the Flynns!" Jessica yelled and they all applauded.