I hereby crown myself Queen of impeccable timing. Not. Turns out going away to a place with patchy to no internet connection and no laptop followed by busy times in RL is not ideal for writing fic... Who would have guessed ;)

We're stepping back in time a bit from the end of chapter 2 and everything is not in chronological order – What's a little time jumping between Timeless friends & fans?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the show.

Wyatt glances out the window. (Admitting he's the one who should have remembered to draw the blinds as the owner of the blinds was burning up with a fever.) The next day is barely a gray tinge in the dark skies.

He's almost asleep when he feels the soft whisper of her fingers running through his hair and down his face and come to a rest against his cheek. For a few moments he feels lighter, it's easier to breathe. He wonders if this is how some people live their lives. With no darkness running through it.

This is when he should rise from the bed and tuck her in. Who is this person who is grateful Lucy is too sick to see through his transparent excuse - "You might need something" - as if she couldn't get herself a glass of water? Who pretends to be asleep to keep her hand against his face.

He knows the person who doesn't hesitate to help people who are throwing up. A dead-beat father who drank and R&R with his army buddies saw to that. But the rest, not so much.

Maybe he shouldn't have had all that coffee after the briefing he thinks when Lucy has burrowed into his side and is fast asleep again. But he was going for "I'm just going to have some coffee before I leave and it's not because I'm waiting around to check on Lucy."

He tries for look of nonchalance where he is waiting outside the women's locker room when Jiya walks by for a second time. Is that a friendly smile or a look of amusement on Jiya's face when she disappears down the corridor? Should he return to the breakroom for more coffee or get some more flu & cold stuff from the infirmary?

The absurd feeling of being back in a high school disappears when his watch confirms he's been waiting in the corridor for Lucy to appear for over twenty minutes. "Come on, you've been trained to enter rooms without knowing exactly what to expect," he tells himself when his knock on the door is answered with something unintelligible.

Lucy must be sicker than he thought. She doesn't move when Wyatt walks into the locker room. He breathes a sigh of relief when she stands up with his help. He almost smiles to himself when he wonders what her reaction would have been if he'd had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her out like that.

He doesn't dwell on the fact that he unbuttoned her exact same shirt the second time they slept together. At least not more than a few seconds. But he can't help wondering if she is keeping count too. No, she is not that sentimental he decides and next he has to stop himself from kissing a red mark she tells him is from corset. He is not a person who kisses things to make them better.

It's strange how helping someone change into a pair of pajamas can be such a minefield.

The minefield-, the walking on eggshells-, the whatever feeling continues the next day. Oh, who is he trying to kid, it's been there since they ended up on his couch.

Or maybe it has been longer than that. Rufus, Lucy and he all prefer to sleep in their 21st century beds but time travel isn't a nine to five job and the hours of the day don't align. But no matter how lumpy their beds (if they're lucky enough to find beds for the night) or cramped the conditions he has one favorite part when they have to stay over in the past. The unguarded face Lucy wears when she wakes up in the morning. She often smiles at him then. He feels his face mirror hers, unable to stop it even if he wanted to. Sometimes it goes on long enough for Rufus to clear his throat or say something like "Whenever you're ready." Most times it's just a fleeting moment. But he carries her smile with him. It must show when he remembers because Rufus will tease him.

"What are you grinning at? You drunk again?"

"Excuse me for not expecting Homeland to knock on my door and ask me to travel back in time. Should have seen that one coming."

Okay, so he wasn't exactly sober that first time they stepped into the Lifeboat. Rufus and Lucy never tire of reminding him of it. He recognizes it for what it is, banter between friends. Their team set-up is light years away from his old unit and so is what they do, but somewhere along the way he began thinking of Lucy and Rufus as his new unit. Admittedly he never felt about any other team members they way he feels about Lucy. The thought makes him falter and he can feel his smile fade.

Suddenly he wants nothing more than to tell Rufus, ask him what he should do. How does he fix this mess? Is he crazy?

He imagines telling Rufus "I slept with Lucy. Several times," and how Rufus would react by saying "I'm happy for you" or "It happened!" and he, Wyatt, would have to say "No, it's not like that. We're not together." And that would make him sound like a first class dick. But how could he explain it? That he hasn't got a clue to what they are doing. That he can't help himself. That he's afraid that if he says it has to stop, this falling into bed together without anything resolved between them, he'd lose her. He'll take what he can get.

Soldiers like him don't end up with university professors like her.

And where did that come from? The same place the thought so forbidden he barely dares think it? What would Jess have thought about Lucy? Would she have liked her? Yes, he is crazy.

He ignores the voice in his head that asks what he thinks he is doing when he slips into bed next to Lucy at night instead of going back to his own place. If she didn't want him here she wouldn't turn to him, put her head in the hollow between his shoulder and chin, yawn and mumble something he can't make out, right?

He realizes he has become familiar with the brands and type of food she favors when he pushes the shopping cart down the aisles. They, Lucy he corrects himself, is out of milk and automatically he reaches for the kind she uses in her coffee. As he makes his way down the aisle with toiletries he picks up toothpaste and thinks it's good that she doesn't need any Tampax as it would be a bit weird for him to be buying that for her, right? But then he registers it's a little weird that he knows the contents of her bathroom cabinets (even if it's because he was looking for a toothbrush for himself.)

He hesitates by the bread. Is the kind she had something she buys regularly? Should he call her? He shakes his head as he picks a loaf. Calling her to ask "I'm at the grocery store what bread should I get?" He can almost hear the echo of honey at the end of that question. It would be too... Would she think that he... He shuts down that line of thought and almost marches to the checkout.

As bad as he feels for her when he returns from grocery shopping, to find her pale with red spots on her cheeks, lank hair and coughing in her kitchen he is oddly relieved in a way. She is too sick to go shopping herself, she needs his help.

He makes Lucy grandpa Sherwin's omelet and chooses to ignore any thoughts of what his grandfather would have said had he seen how Wyatt switches off the TV and gently lifts Lucy up and carries to bed to tuck her in instead of waking her when he finds her asleep on the couch after lunch.

His place takes on a new kind of emptiness when Lucy is not there. He almost goes as far as wishing he would have picked up that cold from her just so she would be around.

He tells himself he is pathetic when he almost feels happy when Rufus has to stay on at work before joining them for a drink after their latest jump. "It's not a date you moron," he reminds himself. "It's not a date," he repeats when they arrive at the bar and he helps Lucy with her coat and when she sits down next to him instead of opposite him in the booth. They are two colleagues having a drink waiting for their third colleague.

And then they are not waiting for Rufus and can he blame a few sips of alcohol for his brain not letting go of the d-word? Everywhere he looks there seem to be people on a date, couples. Is that what Lucy and he look like to the people around them?

Maybe it's a little like a date because suddenly Lucy rushes from the table as if he has said something to upset her. That's the kind of thing that is more likely to happen on a date than at an after work drink, right? But he's hardly said anything. Neither has she.

When did he become able to read her when she doesn't speak? At least well enough to know something is wrong.

After a sip, followed by checking his cell phone for messages and another sip he admits it's time to advance from hanging around outside women's locker rooms to hanging around outside women's restrooms. Great, he's turning into sleazy pervert.

His brief relief at seeing Lucy outside the restroom quickly melts away when she won't even meet his eyes. He knows that stunt, he pulled it himself outside Mason's wardrobe area not that long ago.

One small step and she would be in his arms. They used to hug, hold each other even, before this craziness started. He settles for a hand at the small of her back on their way back to the table and helping her with her coat.

"Keep your mouth shut," he keeps telling himself on the way back to her place. "You might end up saying something she's not ready to hear. Something like "Can I hold your hand?"" How twisted is that, that he knows the shape of the birthmark on the inside of her left thigh and the sounds she makes in bed but he has never walked down the street holding her hand? (When she thinks he's asleep he allows himself questions like that. He blames her fingertips tracing the planes of his face and her lips so soft against his temples he's almost sure he's dreaming it.)

"What do you want me to do?" he keeps asking her in his head. Her face doesn't give him a clue, no matter how often he sneaks a look at her.

Outside her door he shoulders the heaviness of all the things he hasn't told her and tries to smile. At a loss of what to do he almost shakes her hand when they part. Pathetic.

What's next, a pity party? Not that he'd ever admit it (he's been been trained to withstand interview techniques with a side of torture) but he knows the next stage involves ice-cream, films with big feelings and and talking to friends. Or is that only for women? He's a big boy from Texas, bourbon will work too if B&J Phish Food is frowned upon.

Sometimes he can't keep apart "this is what women do" vs "this is what men do" from "this is what people in the service do" vs "this is what civilians do." Does it matter?

Wyatt spends the next day (and the sleepless night before) giving Lucy space and not calling her. It's exhausting. Could she bear the weight of his love if he offered it or would it be to heavy for her to carry?

The day after he goes to Mason's. Is he becoming paranoid from lack of sleep or was the staff at his gym giving him knowing looks of "Here again a second time today, just eager to work out or problems in the romance department?" yesterday. Never mind, Mason's has work out facilities too.

Two hours in the gym don't make a difference.

Enough is enough he decides. Prepared to make a complete fool of himself and risk being transfered (If this backfires they can't work together and he's under no illusion who they'd replace.) he takes out and puts back his cell phone. This you do face to face.

Suddenly she is standing in front of him.

She holds up a hand to stop him while she catches her breath.

"I only ever do this when you're asleep," she says in response to the question on his face and runs her fingers down his cheek. "And you can bring me bagels every morning if you want to."

Her fingers are just as soft against his face as when he pretends to be asleep. He feels his muscles pull into a smile at her words.

It feels like he's in one of the films he watched the day before yesterday. (Yes, he went all out and had ice cream too.) He was afraid that if he had bourbon he do something stupid like calling Rufus. Or her.

He doesn't even take the time to pull on his jacket. He just grabs it and and leaves Mason's with it in his hand and her hand in the other.

Now that he knows what it is like to walk down the street with her hand in his he decides to be brave in response to Lucy's admission. He kisses her on a busy street corner for anyone to see. No stage play, not a different decade, no musty vintage clothes. Just them in the present time.

His thumb strokes her palm when Lucy hesitates when they walk up to Rufus and Jiya's table.

"It'll be fine, they're our friends."

"You're dead if you leave me alone with them."

Jiya won't stop talking about how obvious Lucy and Wyatt have been. On one level Jiya's perceptiveness is impressive. On another level it's kind of embarrassing how clueless they both have been.

Wyatt rolls his eyes when he hears about the bagel as a giveaway. Another thing Lucy and Rufus can tease him about in addition to his non-sober first time jump.

It gets even more embarrassing when Jiya happily announces "You could even tell that you were sleeping together."

Rufus almost chokes on his beer. "Boundaries, Jiya, we talked about this," he manages.

"You talked about us?!" Wyatt cuts in.

"But how?" Lucy splutters. "We were so careful..."

"Let's keep the details to ourselves people," Rufus implores.

"But how?" Lucy can't help asking again.

Jiya smiles knowingly. "The hand on the back."

"The what?" Wyatt frowns.

"Your hand on Lucy's back. It moved to way too low for someone who's just a friend," Jiya smiles looking very pleased with herself.

"It's a thing, dude," Rufus shrugs when Wyatt turns to him with a "Really?!"-expression.

But mostly he turns to Lucy. He can't help kissing her when they all get up to leave and he can't help smiling when Rufus grumbles "You are so not doing that when we're in another century or decade."

"We already did," Lucy tells him. "But is was strictly work-related and it was over eight decades ago."

"New rule then. And there's absolutely no kissing allowed in the Lifeboat. I'll leave you both behind in the 1700s if you do."

Lucy stops Wyatt with a hand on his arm when Rufus and Jiya have stepped out into the street ahead of them.

"At least that's what I told myself. That it was just and act, I mean."

Wyatt stills at her serious tone and reaches out to loosen some strands of hair that have caught under her scarf

"I know what you mean. I did too. Didn't manage to convince myself though."

Rufus opens the door to the bar. "Sorry to interrupt your moment, but Agent Christopher just called. Time to go to work."

Wyatt smiles, leans into Lucy and whispers "We should check that our smallpox vaccinations are up-to-date, just to be safe. I can't guarantee that I won't slip and if Rufus catches us we'll be stuck in history."

FIN

Thank you for reading and thank you for the reviews on chapters 1 & 2. As anyone writing will tell you, it makes all the difference. A special thank you to the guest/anonymous reviewers, your comments are just as appreciated even if I can't respond to you directly.