Threading the Timelines

Chapter Eleven

March 31, 2003

The upgraded Lifeboat replaced the original. Jiya put the machine into stand-by and looked to Lucy, her eyes straight forward, heartbreak etched into her features even five years on. Flynn's death ripped a hole in her that remained unhealed.

"You don't have to go out there. I can go with Wyatt if you want." Jiya worried for her friend.

Lucy attempted a smile. "No, I need to do this. I never wanted to leave him, I should be the one to bring him home."

Jiya checked the radar and opened the door as Wyatt and Lucy unbuckled. "The storm appears to have passed. We're the only ones invading the timeline now."

Wyatt peaked his head out, a perfectly cloudless night and a sky full of stars greeted him. "We're good here. Ready, Lucy?"

She nodded and stepped out the door going straight to where she'd left Flynn five years before. Gazing down at the love of her life, his face serene, that awful night assailed her memories and she gasped for air.

Wyatt stayed behind Lucy, allowing her this grief. Once upon a time he'd thought himself in love with her. Now, he loved her fiercely, but stood as a friend rather than a lover. It had only been the three of them for so long now, there'd been little choice but to fuse into an unbreakable family or fall apart.

What would happen when they got back from this mission? A lump of guilt sat heavy in his gut for all the deaths he couldn't prevent. He hoped that by stopping Jess they changed the future, but they wouldn't know until they returned.

"I promised I'd come back for you." Lucy bent her forehead to his and tears rolled down her cheeks onto Flynn's. "I'm so sorry. If I'd have known, I would've done everything differently."

She unclasped the locket from her neck, removed his ring, and slipped it back onto his finger. "I'm taking you home." She leaned down to kiss him this final goodbye, "I love you, Garcia."

~*~*~*~
May 16, 2018

Lucy forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. Down the stairs. Into the heart of the bunker. Numb. Weightless. Floating through space untethered. The lines of the world blurred, the light haloed as she walked through shards of rainbow. She refused to fall.

Rufus came bounding down from the platform. "What the heck, guys? I go out for Chocodiles and you leave me behind?"

Wyatt and Lucy froze in place. Jiya flew across the distance and flung herself into his arms. "You're alive. Oh god, you're alive." Pulling his face down, she kissed him, his lips gentle, questioning, hers insistent, grateful. All the fear, the pain, the loss, hope, relief, grief, terror, all of it poured out of her.

"Of course, I'm alive," he said when Jiya let him up for air, keeping him in a bear hug. Wyatt and Lucy joined in, crushing him in the middle of the three of them. "Hey, guys, seriously. This is getting a bit creepy now."

"I can't believe we actually saved you," Jiya breathed out. "How'd you get back here? I thought for sure we'd have to go and get you from San Francisco."

"What do you mean? San Francisco? I've been here the whole time. After Harriet Tubman, I went out for snacks and when I came back, you guys left on a mission. With Flynn instead of me, might I add. Where is he anyway? Did you guys leave him behind again?"

Lucy stilled, her patched together heart ripping wide open. Gathering herself, she raised her tear-filled eyes to Rufus. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you're alive. I really am, but I just can't, I'm sorry." She kissed him on the cheek and walked away before she fell apart in front of them.