A/N: So Lucy is a bit of a kidnapping magnet isn't she? :D Third time's the charm! This one is a bit different than the other times though...

A/N 2: Did you OMG as hard as me over the sneak peek they released? How did we go from the I'm preggers to that! Can't wait for Sunday! It's going to be awesome and yet terrible because we don't know if we'll get a season 3, so it might be the last episode ever. (But if NBC cancelles Timeless they're seriously stupid!)

CHAPTER FIVE - Bad To Worse

*Wyatt*

Wyatt was pretty sure it was Flynn's bullet that took the last robber out. But there were so many of them flying, he couldn't be sure. What he was sure of was that he was actually starting to appreciate having Flynn on the team.

That didn't necessarily mean he liked the guy. But if it meant making his job of protecting the two people he cared most about, he could work with him.

Silence fell over the area. No more bullets. No more screaming.

The battle - for it sure felt like one - was over.

"We got em boys," the sheriff suddenly called out, breaking the spell.

The sheriff's men and the few civilians that had come to assist them all broke from cover and cheerful pleased yelling filled the air. Hurt people begun to cry for assistance.

Wyatt turned and took a step back towards the alley he'd left Lucy. He was glad she hadn't come running out - just in case it hadn't been all clear - but was surprised he couldn't even see her.

Had she ducked further back down the alley?

"Wyatt," Flynn called, and the tone of his voice made Wyatt turn away from the place he'd last seen Lucy.

"What?" He hurried over to where Flynn was standing.

Only to find an unconscious Rufus, with a blonde older woman pressing cloth against a bleeding gunshot in his side.

Rufus had been shot. Just like he'd predicted.

Fate or choices didn't matter. They needed to get Rufus back to the Lifeboat and back to the present ASAP.

"Where is Lucy?" Flynn asked as Wyatt threw himself down next to Rufus on the opposite side from the woman.

"In the alley," he called, gently moving the woman's hands so he could take a look at Rufus's wound. Not good, possibly something major, judging from the amount of blood coming out of the wound.

"I'll go get her," Flynn said, holstering the gun he'd had at the ready until now. "And find us a cart or something to get him back to the Lifeboat. Some smelling salts too since we'll need Rufus conscious to get home."

"Ma'am, what's your name?" he asked the older woman.

She told him it was Selma and that Rufus had been shot trying to help her and her daughter escape. And she offered Flynn the use of her husband's wagon.

The two of them hurried away together.

"Come on Rufus," Wyatt said, pressing against his friend's wound while trying to get him to wake up. "You're not dying here. You hear me?"

Where was Lucy?

She should have come running their way by now. She should be here, right next to him, trying to get Rufus to wake up.

The fear that had gripped him since he saw Rufus's bleeding out doubled...tripled as he realized not only should she be here - unless something was very wrong - she would have been.

"Lucy!" He turned to look around, back towards the alley he'd last seen her. He called her name again with rising panic, "Lucy!"

*Flynn*

"Flynn!" Wyatt screamed to him from down the street. "Where is Lucy?"

Flynn glanced towards Selma, who was leading the horse and wagon towards where Wyatt and Rufus were. Then over to the alley closest to where he'd seen Lucy a few minutes earlier (throwing her arms around Wyatt).

She wasn't there.

He scanned around the street, surveying the chaos and dead bodies. He wondered if any of them were Rittenhouse and where Emma was in all of this. It wasn't like her to sit out a fight. It was one of the things he liked most about her.

Hurrying over to the alley he found no trace of Lucy. Nothing. Except for the drag marks in the dirt.

"Fuck," he swore and drew his gun and hurried forward. But when he got to the other end of the alley all he found was a disturbed circle of earth.

A time machine had been here - and gone - and the drag marks indicated Lucy had been on it!

He swore again and ran back towards the main street. He was not looking forward to telling Wyatt Lucy was gone. That once again she'd been taken by Rittenhouse.

But at least they'd taken her rather than just kill her. That had to mean there was a chance. A chance to get her back. He and Wyatt might both failed to protect her, but together they might just be able to get her back...

Thanks for reading and reviewing! This isn't going to be a super long story, we're probably about halfway through,