(a/n): Set in 1x16 after Lucy and Wyatt visit Ethan in the nursing home, but before they go to his Rittenhouse storage room.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, just for fun.
Plot: When he realizes he's fallen for her, it hits him like a ton of bricks.

Realization

They'd been trawling though Ethan's Rittenhouse files for two days straight now. Honestly, neither of them could quite believe how much Lucy's grandfather managed to accumulate over the years. Some of it helpful (George Berken: Grassy Knoll, November 22nd 1963, no witnesses, resurfaced in Ohio 1971), some of it curious (Layla Jones: RED. ERROR.), and some of it actually kind of funny (Mark Rowlinson: pineapple on pizza, suspicious). Ethan had saved every small detail, every piece of the puzzle, in the hope that it would help Lucy. And it was taking a hell of a time to go through it all. Even with Mason on board, imputing the data as quickly as they could into his super-computer, Lucy still insisted on handling a large amount of evidence herself, needing to see it all with her own eyes. And Wyatt insisted on shadowing Lucy wherever she went.

This meant she'd only been home very briefly to collect a change of clothes, resulting in a full-blown argument with her mother. Lucy had remained as calm as she could through the whole exchange, whilst her mom yelled about her priorities (or lack thereof).

Lucy had quietly let herself in the front door of the home she shared with her mother, Wyatt following close at her heels. He'd insisted on not waiting out in the car in case Rittenhouse operatives were waiting to swoop in, which Lucy argued was pointless as Rittenhouse didn't even know they had the upper hand yet. Wyatt wouldn't take no for an answer however, so here he was.

"I told my mom I was on an assignment so I'd be gone for a while, but she's already suspicious about where I disappear to, so just try and be quiet and we'll get in and out as quickly as possible." Lucy told Wyatt in hushed tones as they began climbing the stairs.

"Lucy?" Carol called from the kitchen in a sharp voice. She sounded angry, and Lucy winced as she and Wyatt froze on the staircase. Carol came into view as she walked down the hallway, a nearly empty glass of wine in her hand. Her eyes narrowed at Wyatt before slowly sliding over to her daughter. "Nice of you to finally make an appearance."

"Hi, mom." Lucy said gently, painting a false smile on her face. "This is Wyatt, a friend from work. He's helping me with some research. The project is taking a little longer than we thought, but we're almost done now. I promise."

"Good evening, ma'am." Wyatt smiled with a nod, ever the gentleman.

Carol ignored him. "Research? In your bedroom? My my, you must be quite the team." She scoffed, throwing back the last dregs of her wine.

Lucy winced again, visibly hurt by her mother's tone. She took a calming breath, before starting quietly, "Mom, you know I can't talk about what I do-"

"Is this why you called off your engagement, Lucy? For a pretty face? I just don't understand! How could you do this? How?" Carol had slammed her glass on the side, her voice steadily rising.

Lucy held her mother's gaze, trying to formulate a careful reply. Her voice was firm as she replied, "This has nothing to do with Noah. Sometimes… things just don't work out."

Carol laughed cruelly, throwing her hands in the air. "You show up here after going missing for days, with a strange man, and you expect me to believe that? What happened Lucy? What changed?"

Wyatt could see the inner struggle Lucy was fighting with, being unable to tell her mother that actually, she wasn't the one who had changed – history had changed. Carol wasn't the same, the world wasn't the same. He took another step closer to her on the stairs, hoping his nearness would be enough of a comfort as she battled it out with her mother. She took another steady breath and closed her eyes before replying as calmly as she could. "I told you, I had to work. But this is something I have to do. And Noah isn't a part of that… I know you're disappointed-"

"Disappointed? Disappointed? How dare you-!"

"Could you give us a minute?" Lucy turned her head and murmured pleadingly to Wyatt as her mother continued to yell, her eyes silently apologising to him. "First bedroom on the left," she added quietly, motioning her head upwards as he took a step down. His eyebrows raised in surprise, assuming she'd prefer it if he waited outside, but did as she asked. He squeezed her arm in moral support as he passed on her the stairs, pausing and glancing back when he reached the top. Lucy gave him a weak smile whilst Carol still had fire in her eyes. He stood motionless, jaw clenched wanting to stay with her, but she nodded ever so slightly, assuring him she was ok.

When he reached her bedroom, he was surprised to find it sparse. It looked more like a guest bedroom than how he would have imagined her room to look, but then he remembered that in this altered version of reality she had supposedly been living with Noah rather than in this house. She had told him only a few weeks ago she had no idea where half her things were in this timeline – things she'd lent to Amy, books that were supposed to be lining these walls, clothes she'd had for years. All lost, just like her sister. He perched on the edge of her bed, twisting the book on her nightstand around to see what she was reading up on. Of course there was some kind of history book here, no matter what version of the present they were occupying. She was using a polaroid as a bookmark (she'd almost had a heart attack last month when she found a well-worn copy of Moonraker on his coffee table with the corner page folded down marking his place). He flipped the book open, and chuckled to see his own face grinning back up at him, squashed in next to Lucy and Rufus in their 1969 get-ups. They'd gotten into the habit of documenting their outfits before missions, initially for official purposes, but as time had gone on they'd become sillier, more posed. In this particular one, Lucy had her arms flung around both Wyatt's and Rufus' shoulders as they grinned back at the camera.

Lucy and Carol were still going at it downstairs, and it was all Wyatt could do not to go down there and march Lucy right out of the house and drive her far away. He knew she could hold her own, but when it came to her mom, he had a feeling she wouldn't put up as much of a fight as she usually would. Thinking he could speed things along a little, he wandered over to her closet and found an overnight bag at the bottom of it. He started pulling open drawers and emptying half their contents, hoping Lucy wouldn't mind his invasion of her privacy in the name of making a quick exit.

"Lucy, for God's sake, you are marrying Noah and this is the last I want to hear about it-!" Carol's voice suddenly rose to alarming decibels and Wyatt decided it was time to go. He didn't care how much Lucy protested, he'd spend the next month apologizing to her if she was mad at him. He couldn't wait around and listen to her getting verbally stomped on, whether it was her mother doing the shouting or not.

"Time to go," he muttered to himself, zipping Lucy's bag and throwing it over his shoulder. He reappeared on the landing and began silently walking back down the stairs. Lucy was taking it all, one hand on her hip, pinching the bridge of her nose, as her mother continued her verbal assault. Wyatt knew Lucy had a hard time saying no to her mother, or even defending herself, especially since she had come back and found her restored to health. He could see in her rigid posture she was restraining herself from yelling right back at her.

The stair creaked and both women looked up to see him descending. "You ok?" he murmured, his hand on her back and his thumb stroking her shoulder.

She nodded gratefully, smiling tightly. "Yeah." They began to descend the stairs together as Carol followed them with her eyes, looking like she was about to spit fire.

"Where do you think you're going Lucy? We haven't finished our discussion."

Lucy turned with a forced smile. "I have to go, mom. There are some things I need to take care of."

"With him?" Carol sneered. "A soldier, over a doctor? Really Lucy? I never thought your head would be turned by brawn over brains."

Lucy exhaled forcibly. Wyatt was too polite to defend himself to someone so important to Lucy no matter how rude she was being, and this wasn't his battle, but Lucy had clearly had enough. "For your information, Wyatt is ten times the man Noah could ever be. I'm sure he's a great guy, but I'm not marrying him, ok? The conversation is over." Wyatt's eyebrows almost shot into his hairline at Lucy's abruptness, as she turned on her heel and slammed the door after them as soon as they were outside. Her mother was still yelling after her, but they were hightailing it back down the path to his car, and were soon on their way. They drove in silence for a few moments, Wyatt allowing Lucy to decompress as she took a few shaky breaths. She usually let her mother get her way, but not today.

"I'm sorry, Wyatt," she said quietly.

"Hey, stop that. You've got nothing to be sorry for." He said gently, glancing between her and the road as she hung her head sadly.

"That's… that's not what my mom is usually like. She's not a bad person. She's so angry with me…"

"She'll get over it. So you're not marrying a guy she took a shine to, so what? Your happiness is what she really cares about. Deep down." he added, though based on Carol's performance he wasn't totally convinced (not that he'd ever tell Lucy that).

"But she was so awful to you. That's not ok." Lucy replied miserably, as if she hadn't heard him.

"Eh, not the first time a girl's parents haven't liked me. I'll live." He grinned over at her, and was pleased to hear a small chuckle of a laugh escape her.

They pulled up outside his apartment building and her brow crinkled in confusion. "Why are we here? What about the address Ethan gave us?"

He turned off the ignition and turned to her soberly. "We've been through hell in the last- I'm not going to say 24 hours because I've honestly lost track. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Let's call it a night, and check it out in the morning, ok?"

"But-"

"Ethan's hideout had been there for sixty years without Rittenhouse finding it. It can wait one more night. You need some rest."

She sighed, relenting. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to get some sleep. But we're going first thing in the morning."

"At the crack of dawn." He joked, a half-smile tugging at his lips as he hopped out of the car and grabbed her bag from where he'd slung it on the back seat. He was at her passenger side door holding it open for her before she'd barely undone her seatbelt.

"I didn't get a change of clothes," she sighed, looking down at herself as Wyatt fumbled with the locks when they were stood outside his apartment.

"I've got you covered," he told her, finally unlocking the door and throwing her bag down on the couch. "I wasn't sure what you'd need so I just kind of threw everything in…"

She looked at the bag, her fingers brushing over it, and when her eyes returned to him he was dismayed to find them swimming in unshed tears. He took a few steps towards her, opening his mouth to say something comforting, but she beat him to it and threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she choked out, as his words died in his throat. He wrapped his arms around her, closing his own eyes. She'd been through so much lately, held it all together, that one simple thoughtful gesture on Wyatt's part had thrown her toppling over the emotional edge. Her shoulders shook slightly as a few tears streaked down her cheeks whilst he held her, rubbing one hand slowly up and down her back.

"No problem, ma'am," he smiled into her hair, and he could feel the small chuckle vibrating through her as he held her to him.

"I'll get out of your hair soon, there's a hotel around the corner right? You must be tired too-"

"Wait, what?" he interrupted her confusedly, refusing to relinquish her from his arms but holding her back slightly so he could see her face. "Lucy, if you think I'm leaving you alone in a hotel, you must be crazy."

She blinked up at him, swiping at her cheeks to dry them. "I don't want to be an imposition. Honestly Wyatt, it's no problem…"

"Lucy." He squeezed her arms, forcing her to meet his eyes. "You can't go back to your mom's right now, and you're sure as hell not going to any hotel. You're staying here, where I can keep you safe. Ok?" He'd almost echoed his earlier words about not being able to lose her again, but he stopped himself. He wanted to keep her right where he could see her, where no one could get to her and cause her any distress – at least for one night.

"Ok." she said with a small smile. If she was being honest with herself, she was secretly pleased Wyatt had insisted she stay. She didn't want to be alone right now in light of the task that was ahead of them concerning everything Ethan had gathered on Rittenhouse, let alone in the aftermath of one of the worst arguments she'd ever had with her mom.

"Well, alright then," he smiled down at her, making a dimple appear in his cheek. He rubbed her arms comfortingly once more before releasing her and allowing her to go through the bag of things he'd thrown together for her.

"Wow. You really thought of everything." She said, impressed. He'd even thrown in the book that had been on her nightstand, though she wasn't in the mood for bedtime reading today.

Wyatt shrugged, pouring himself a glass of scotch in the kitchen and reaching for a wine glass for Lucy. He didn't even drink wine, but kept some on hand these days in case she stopped by. He figured they could both use a drink tonight. She was halfway through the glass and feeling a little more relaxed when she plucked at her t-shirt, deciding enough was enough and she definitely needed a shower. She knew where everything was, having been in Wyatt's apartment a number of times (…though usually with Rufus and Jiya. The whole sleepover thing was definitely new.).

As he heard the shower turn on behind the closed bathroom door, his thoughts turned to sleeping arrangements. He'd been so insistent on Lucy staying that he hadn't exactly thought everything through, but concluded that the chivalrous thing to do would be to insist Lucy take the bed and he'd take the couch. He busied himself with finding spare pillows and blankets, returning as she emerged from the bathroom, all soft and clean. Her slightly damp hair is piled on her head and she's wearing mismatched pajamas and fuzzy socks, but a pang of something hits him so hard in the gut that he almost drops everything he's carrying.

He's seen her in a whole host of extravagant time travelling ensembles but seeing her now, all sleepy and freshly showered takes him by surprise. He's not blind – he knows she's an attractive woman. And as he's gotten to know her, his initial annoyance with her has grown from acceptance, to friendship, to some other feelings that have been escalating post-1934 that he hasn't been examining too closely for fear of what they could be. He very almost hadn't gone back to '83 after telling Lucy about his and Rufus' plans, and when he'd come back and Jess still wasn't there he had finally begun to accept that he needed to start coming to terms with her loss once and for all. Flash forward to being reunited with Lucy, some rib-shattering hugs and a few life-or-death situations later, and those lingering feelings from 1934 were starting to bloom in full-force.

He realizes he's staring at her like a slack-jawed idiot, when she notices him standing there and a smile breaks out on her face. "Are those for me?" she asked, nodding to the blanket bundle in his arms.

"Uh, no, they're for me," he smiles down at her, leading her back to her still half-full glass of wine. He tucks the blankets out of the way on the floor, not ready to go to sleep just yet. He retrieves his own glass, and sees her frowning at him over the rim of hers. "What?"

"Wyatt, I'm not going to turf you out of your own bedroom. I can sleep on the couch. We've slept in worse places." She insists, as camping out in 1754 comes to mind.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I made you sleep on the couch? I was raised better than that, ma'am." He grins at her as he takes a sip of his drink, and she can't help but smile back, her stern façade melting a little but her resolve holding strong.

"I'm sure you were. But I'll still take the couch."

"Lucy-"

"Wyatt, I'm not arguing with you. You've already done enough."

"You know I can stay awake longer than you, right? So this is kind of a moot point." He challenges her, quirking one of his eyebrows. He can already see her eyelids getting heavy as she's getting further down her glass of wine, and he's been trained to survive on minimal sleep, so he's fairly confident he'll win this one.

"We'll see," she states simply, convinced she knows better and he'll give in. She snuggled further back down the couch, already thinking this is where she'll be for the night. Wyatt lets her go on thinking that and they spend the next hour chatting about everything that's happened so far, what their plan is for the morning, wondering how Jiya is. She lasts longer than he thought she would, but when her head finally slumps to the side and makes contact with his shoulder he knows she's beaten. She's drifted off to sleep, her wine glass long empty and forgotten.

Wyatt chuckles to himself as he gazes down at her. He pauses for a beat, making sure she is well and truly in dreamland (and unable to argue to with him) before sitting her back up carefully and pushing her hair out of her face. "Come on slugger, time for bed." He murmurs, draping her arm around his neck snaking his underneath her legs and back. He stands, cradling her to him, and walks the short distance to his bedroom. He can feel her breath against his neck and she stirs slightly in his arms as he tries to gently lay her down on the bed.

"Hey, shh, it's just me. I've got you." He whispers, untangling his arms from underneath her legs, and gently snaking his arm from beneath her neck, crouching down next to her.

"Mmm." she hums, eyes still closed, as she snuggles into the pillow. He's smiling again as he pulls the sheet up around her and tucks her in securely. He can't stop himself from brushing away her hair again and holding his palm against her cheek. Her hand absentmindedly creeps out from under the sheet to hold it in place there.

And there it is again, another pang of something that hits in the gut but this time it almost winds it. It hits him like a ton of bricks. The color drains from his face and the smile slowly slips from his lips as realization smacks him upside the head. He gently removes his hand from her sleepy grip and takes a few steps back, his eyes raking over her in disbelief.

He'd fallen for her, hadn't he? That's what this was.

He'd suspected escalating feelings for her ever since that kiss in 1934. He'd written it off as a surprise, he'd only felt something because he knew Lucy – any other woman he'd kissed since Jessica's death had been through poor judgement and over consumption of hard liquor. Of course he'd felt something for Lucy – she wasn't a stranger and he was sober. That's all that was, right? Those questions had lingered for weeks afterwards, and he'd seriously questioned whether he should go through with his plan to steal the Lifeboat and journey to 1983 because of it. When he'd been unsuccessful and the Rittenhouse shit had really started hitting the fan, the sheer relief he felt every time he saw she was safe upon their reunion was palpable. He gathered her into his arms every single time and had trouble letting go, wanting to keep her in sight at all times. When she'd told him to leave her behind with Flynn in '54, he'd just about died. It took every ounce of willpower he had to walk away and trust that she was doing the right thing.

And now here they were, Lucy asleep in his bed under perfectly innocent circumstances, and he'd finally realized what had been staring him the face all this time.

"Huh. Well I'll be damned." He smirked to himself and shook his head, running a hand over his jaw, unable to peel his eyes away from Lucy. He'd fallen for her. He really had, and hadn't even realized it was happening.

He watched her fondly for a few minutes, unable to stop the warm sensation of affection buzzing through him, before he belatedly realized that now he was aware of his feelings he probably shouldn't be watching her sleep at all. At least, not until he'd told her how he felt and she was possibly ok with him watching her sleep. And then maybe she'd be in his bed for less perfectly innocent reasons…

Shit. He'd actually have to tell her, wouldn't he?

"Wyatt?" Lucy mumbled, her eyes fluttering open ever so slightly.

"I'm here," he whispered, immediately at her side.

"This doesn't feel like the couch." She stated flatly, though he could tell she wasn't really upset with him.

A half smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You caught me. Sorry about that."

"You're impossible." She yawned through a smile, trying to blink herself back into consciousness.

"Shh, get some sleep Lucy. You can reprimand me tomorrow." He grinned at her sleepy-frowny face, unable to stop himself from brushing the hair from her face for a third time that evening. Damn it soldier, get a hold of yourself. His thumb stroked over her cheek one last time and he rose, making a motion to leave when she stopped him.

Her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, her eyes fully open now and searching his. "Would it be weird if… if you stayed? It's just… it's been a crazy few days and… and…"

"Sure thing, ma'am. I'll stay as long as you need me too." He smiled gently down at her as she scooted over and held the sheet back for him. He climbed in and, honest to God, he'd planned to be a perfect gentleman (at least until he'd taken her out on an actual date), but she went in for a hug to thank him for comforting her. Due to their horizontal position, he ended up simply holding her close to him, his strong arms wrapped around her. Neither of them seemed to take issue with this, and as he began to drift into sleep himself, a vague thought crossed his mind that friends didn't do this so maybe there was hope for him after all.

In the morning they'd go to the address Ethan had given them and sort out this Rittenhouse mess once and for all. Then he'd start thinking about how he'd tell Lucy that he didn't want to say goodbye just yet.

One thing at a time.

FIN

(a/n): This was born out of me still wondering where Lucy got all her extra clothes from in 1x16 haha. I think it fits in with Lucy and Wyatt getting the address from Ethan at the nursing home in one set of clothes, but then actually going there a different day in different clothes. Also I wondered why Carol was so relieved to see Lucy when she goes home at the end, so an argument beforehand hopefully fits too. I hope you enjoyed, and reviews make me joyful if you would be so kind as to leave one :))