It was around noon when Connor began insisting they question Jenna some more. Lucy protested that they weren't going to get anywhere by forcing her, but Wyatt knew Mason wouldn't believe that until he saw it himself. He wasn't comfortable interrogating what in his eyes was still a kid, but they had to keep trying. Lucy was overruled.
The girl was still perched in her spot, staring off into space when the team entered the room. Lucy took a seat close to her.
"How was 1876?" Jenna asked.
Lucy shook her head. "Honestly, pretty boring compared to our other trips," she said.
Lucy then made eye contact with Denise and cleared her throat. They couldn't openly discuss Rittenhouse here; especially not where Connor could hear them.
"Flynn seems to think we should know who you are," she finally said. Jenna remained silent but she turned her gaze to Connor Mason.
After a few moments, he became uncomfortable under her stare. "What?" he snapped. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Jenna didn't miss a beat. "Because I don't trust you."
Connor was at a loss for words. None of them said anything in his defense, either, which made it all the more awkward as it was now clear no one in the room trusted him.
To his credit, Connor handled the calling-out gracefully. After a pause, he said politely, "Would you be more comfortable if I left the room?"
Jenna didn't verbally respond, but it was obvious the answer was yes. Connor exited quietly.
Lucy looked to Rufus, silently asking if the recorder was on; if she could ask about Rittenhouse. He subtly shook his head 'no.' Rittenhouse had eyes and ears everywhere; it wasn't far-fetched to assume they would have recording devices throughout the Mason Industries warehouse.
"Listen, we really want to help you get back to where ever - or whenever - you came from, but we can't do that if you don't tell us something about who you are," Denise said.
Jenna sat forward. "Okay, look. I wish I could make this easy for all of you, believe me, I do. But there are rules that really shouldn't be broken when it comes to this stuff and, frankly, I don't know who is safe to talk to around here."
"What do you mean about 'rules when it comes to this stuff'?" Rufus asked.
The girl made a face like she didn't mean to say that out loud and bit her lip. Lucy placed a hand on her shoe that hung over the side of the table.
"Everyone in this room right now, you can trust," she said sincerely. "I promise."
Jenna sighed and waited a few moments before responding. "I'm not from the past, I'm from the future. I couldn't tell you how far because I don't know what year this is-"
"It's 2016," Wyatt interjected. Jenna looked at him and then off into the corner of her eye like she was calculating.
She shook her head. "Alright, well, it doesn't matter what exact amount. The thing is, in my time there are no time machines - at least, not that anyone knows about - they were all destroyed. I can't tell you who I am because we still don't know how much knowing your future can affect the timeline and its outcomes. There are some things - events, timings of things - that can be changed, but there are others that will find a way to happen no matter the timeline or circumstances," Jenna explained.
"So, like... fate?" Lucy asked.
The girl shrugged. "Maybe."
"So what kinds of things happen no matter what?" Wyatt asked, intrigued.
She shrugged again. "It's impossible to tell unless you experience it yourself, traveling through time, changing history."
Wyatt thought about the things that happened despite the changes they and Flynn had made during their travels; Lincoln dying anyway, the Hindenburg, the reporter who resembled his wife dying anyway...
The room was silent as they let all of this new information sink in.
"So it's too risky to know about your own future?" Rufus asked and Jenna nodded.
"Do you know us in the future? Is that why you can't tell us who you are - because you're part of one of our futures?" Lucy asked.
Jenna looked down and started picking at her fingernails again. "I'm sorry, I just don't think I can tell you too much."
They were quiet again, trying to contemplate a way around this rule.
"But I will try to help you the best that I can otherwise," Jenna added. "I want to go home."
"Then is everything you've told us so far true?" Agent Christopher questioned.
Jenna nodded, "I haven't lied to you."
"What should we do now?" Rufus asked after a pause.
Agent Christopher thought for a moment. "I guess we have to wait until Flynn makes some kind of contact again. We can't risk sending you to the future where some or all of you might already exist." She looked to Jenna to confirm.
"Yes, I believe only Flynn, or someone who's not alive in my time, can take me back. And I'm guessing you don't have spare time travelers that I would know," Jenna said.
They didn't. They were a unique, elite team; few people even knew time travel was possible, and Rufus was their only pilot. They couldn't risk sending him somewhere that he might run into himself. His mind was far too valuable. They couldn't send Jenna back alone - someone had to bring the lifeboat back or else they'd be screwed with finding and capturing Flynn.
"Alright team, go home. I'll call you when there's any update," Denise ordered.
"Does Lucy ever come over here?" Jenna asked. She and Wyatt were sitting watching TV later that afternoon in his living room.
"Uh, no," he answered. "She's never been to my house."
"Oh," she said. Wyatt thought about asking more; like 'does Lucy come over here a lot in the future?' but he knew she wouldn't be able to answer him. Still, this girl didn't seem to be very good at keeping secrets, and his curiosity got the better of him as he realized there were some things he could infer from her small clues.
"You seem to like Lucy, huh?" Wyatt asked. "I'm guessing you know her in the future."
The girl didn't answer, but she didn't need to.
They returned to silence and Wyatt close his eyes, hoping to get some respite from this ever confusing world he found himself in.
What seemed like only seconds later, he woke up to his phone ringing. He knew who it was - Mason Industries. He checked the time and saw that it was nearly ten o'clock at night.
"We have... some news," Agent Christopher said tersely. "Come in as soon as you can."