#yes i am a garcy shipper

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

Like I’ve said multiple times, I almost never like the main characters in stories. I either just don’t really care about them or hate them. But there are those really rare ones that I don’t just like, but actually love. So, inspired by how incredible of a main character Maura Franklin is and how perfectly she was written and performed, and how I believe she would’ve been written and performed to the very end of whatever her journey was supposed to be, because I trust Bo and Jantje, I have to give a moment of silence and remembrance to other two lead female characters that I loved. They were so damn good, but they were terribly destroyed and butchered by the writers of the shows they carried and that is really fucking sad.

So, I’d like to pay my respects to Juliana Crain and Lucy Preston. You were amazing, I am so really sorry it didn’t end that way.

- A character that was described with “I got to know a woman who would bet on the best in us, who bet on people, no matter what the world said about who they were, who they should be..........You were the only chance any of us had.” All this referring to her humanity, to her hope in humanity in a world where such a thing barely existed. How she was the same in every alternate universe there was and how she always, no matter what world she lived in, fought for something better and never gave up on people. Guess what? All of this was burned in a dumpster fire that the writers set this show to become. She went full 180, started killing people at every step, forgot about everything she used to be. While before she was loyal to her boyfriend in spite of having feelings for another man, they made her hook up with everything male on two legs and then as a cherry on top, kill the man she loved, who saved her life multiple times before and she his. What happened to her in the final season, I don’t know, because that much of horseshit I could not take and never watched it (though, I have heard from people who did that Alexa did not even make an effort to act and that she was reduced to a side character, so thank you Alexa, you are the queen). But, in this show I loved to death, every single character was butchered, so I will forever cry about it all and never in a thousand lifetimes will I be over them.

- And then we have a woman who started insecure, doubting herself in everything she did in life, imagined herself always in her mother’s shadow. Slowly realizing she was wrong and starting to gain her confidence because she found herself in a situation where the fate of so many people and things depended on her and she carried so many things on her shoulders. They showed her and her strongest and at her weakest, all of it at once. She wasn’t some girlboss feminist, she was strong and she was weak, she was all at once, like a real proper character should be. A woman for other women to admire. The beloved historian. Guess what? They made her end up with a douche who treated her like shit, never chose her first, got their best friend killed because of his douche actions, boasted about having sex with another woman in front of her, and acted like a world class asshole when she turned to another man, who respected her even when he was her enemy, admired her and actually payed attention and was there for her when no one else was, The worst part, they tried to paint her as a feminist icon after this, with some cheesy men-hating lines. You deserved better Lucy. But in this house we like to pretend that idiotic two hour finale never existed. Thank you very much. 

[mcmaraudonald]

Okay I finally finally decided to watch the last two „episodes“ of Timeless. I am now 4 minutes in, future!lucy just gave fucking Wyatt THE fucking JOURNAL and Future!Wyatt held his little „Jessica is unredeemable“ speech. And i Fucking hate this. What happen to the really GOOD story writing? Like season 2 was a really good season. How did this cluster fuck happen? And I am only 4 DAMN MINUTES IN!!!!!!!!!!

Okay okay I now i can probably not tell from only watching 4 minutes but jeigpaöfjsiwkgb

[bookybookington]

TIMELESS RANT!!

I need to get all my feels out! Memes aren't cutting it! Sorry if there's poor grammar. I wrote this in a rush.

Anyone else out here who just doesn't get the deal with Lyatt. Ok I have to admit at the start of season 1 Wyatt and Lucy together was...fine I could tell where the writers were going with this ship. I found it cute, if not a little predictable and well...boring. Their scenes didn’t make me go “oh wow. Their chemistry you guys! They’re clearly MEANT to be.” I knew that Jessica would be back at some point. And I could see that when she’d return it would be at the most inconvenient time for Lucy and Wyatt, immediately after they sleep with each other. OFC! You know, just to add the extra soap opera dramatics to the second season. Jessica never had a hope in hell being anything other than an obstacle to Lyatt. Predictable enough, it’s a tv trope that has been in nearly all of the shows i’ve watched. To think that Jessica will get a happy ending in the finale is a little naive. I feel bad for her. There’s so much potential for character growth and development. I’d love to see her extract herself from the clutches of Rittenhouse. Especially now that she’s pregnant. I mean Timeless wouldn’t kill off a pregnant woman would they so Lyatt could be endgame???

When Jessica did come back from the dead, Wyatt had a choice. He could either go back to his dead wife whom he loved or he could continue his developing relationship with Lucy. He chose Jessica. And basically dumped Lucy over the phone. Not cool dude. At least have the decency to do it to her face. He then brought his wife to live with them at the bunker. Where Lucy literally can’t avoid her. Awkward as fuck guys. Well next thing you know Jessica’s pregnant so it’s clear they've been sleeping with each other...with Lucy right down the hall. All the while it seems like Wyatt’s flip flopping between Jessica and Lucy. Which isn't fair on either of them. 

Enter Flynn whose pretty much been there for Lucy for the entire season. He practically becomes part of the team. He see’s Lucy’s hurt and he’s there for her in whatever capacity she needs him to be, to be her protector if needs be. Because in this situation Flynn, still being a little bit of an outsider to the group, and Lucy, recently left heartbroken by Wyatt, are both isolated. And it’s through their initial loneliness that they start to come together. Whether it's just to sit and watch old movies, or drink Vodka together in Flynn's room so neither of them have to be alone. Their scenes are golden! and yes the chemistry is so bloody obvious that even Wyatt warns Flynn about spending time with Lucy. Apparently if he can’t have Lucy then no one can. Flynn tells him Lucy can make her own decisions and proceeds to help Lucy get back into the swing of things. Encouraging her to “defend” her historical territory, to help her focus on what she's brillaint at. HELPING HER HEAL. And you can’t convince me otherwise that even if Jessica wasn’t a RH agent Wyatt still would’ve chosen her over everything. He was happy with her before he found out. Wyatt even tells Jessica they're family in Chinatown...then minutes later tells Lucy he loves her with the worst timing ever. *facepalm*

It confuses me to no end why the writers made Wyatt a complete dick in season 2 if they always intended for Lyatt to be endgame.🤔

And if they do end up killing off my main man, the most complex and fascinating character, the one, the only Mr Garcia Flynn so Lyatt can be endgame I'll be miffed. 😄

If a guy did to me what Wyatt did to Lucy he'd be out in his ass so fast.🤣

Not to mention the character assassination of Lucy if Lyatt becomes endgame. She spent most of season 2 sad, isolated and heartbroken at what transpired between her and Wyatt. His actions were a pretty big source of her misery in Season 2. She was angry with him too and rightly so. If after ALL that pain she's been through, to then suddenly get back together with the very person who made her miserable for the majority of the season is just astounding. It's just so out of character I can't even! 🤣

How people label Lyatt as romantic...*confused face*

I'm sincerely hoping that ships don't take centre stage at all in the movie. A little nod here and there would be fine. The journal has to be addressed and Flynn's feelings towards Lucy too. Otherwise it would go completely against what the writers have built up throughout show (concerning the journal) and ignoring the Garcy development we got in season 2. If Flynn does snuff it and Lucy does absolutely nothing to try and save him in some way. Then I'm calling bullshit. 😁 It's just poor writing.

As a redeemed bad guy (who wasn't bad at all. Just misguided) to end his story with a heroic sacrifice is like a punch in the face. The writer would almost be saying that to be considered a hero he HAS to sacrifice himself. That because he was a "bad guy" *rolls eyes* to begin with he doesn't deserve to have a happy ending. His story isn't allowed to continue to grow into becoming a fully fledged hero (which btw to me he totally is. Well...anti-hero😉)

Screw that!

Irregardless of ships you have to agree that Garcia Flynn deserves better.

I've never felt this concerned over a characters fate in a tv show before.🤣

and in no way am I saying that Flynn deserves Lucy what I'm saying is that Lucy deserves a whole lot better than Wyatt

Phew. Anyway. I feel so much lighter now. 🤣🤣 These are just my opinions.

Rant over. I need a drink!!

[qqueenofhades]

Hi! I started watching Timeless on Netflix and I finished it to today and I have some thoughts I'd like to share with someone and you are also a Garcy shipper, who seems nice. If you'd like to discuss the show with me, if you are interested?

Ahaha. I mean, sure, you’re certainly welcome to, though if you’re referring to the so-called “movie”/Christmas special Thing (known by all and sundry around here as the Abomination) then you can find my thoughts/reactions covered extensively in my “timeless salt” and “timeless critical” tags. Since you’re also a Garcy shipper, I suspect that your own thoughts may well be similar, but yes, I have Said Many Things about.... all that. Happily, we’re all now on to refusing to acknowledge that it is canon or that it ever happened, and it’s great.

I must therefore note that @timeless-season-four, of which I am the chief writer and showrunner, has fixed all that, and indeed has written two full TV seasons to complete the story properly. Season 3 picks up right where 2x10 left off, has 13 released episodes (available here) and Season 4 is about to resume in ONE WEEK, after releasing 4x01 last October. So I am in the middle of coordinating and preparing all that with the various members of the S4 team, and we’re all very excited. So if you’re interested in that, it exists! Huzzah.

[twilight-deviant]

So I never saw the Timeless movie but enjoyed your feedback on the show while it was in progress and agreed with you much of the time-- is the movie worth watching ? I'm scared it's going to be rushed, sloppy, and ly@tt garbage

First of all, thank you for valuing my opinion enough to ask. I haven’t rambled about Timeless in awhile, but I’m flattered you enjoyed and remembered my feedback when I did. ♥

Sadly, I have to report that Timeless finale is a movie disliked by Garcy fans, Riya fans, and gen fans alike. Pretty much the only way to like it is if you’re the target audience: Lucy/Wyatt shippers. Or maybe if you’re a very, very casual fan.

Full disclosure: I have not actually watched the Timeless movie. Like you, I feared it would abandon everything Timeless stood for, everything we loved, to waste its last moments on Lucy/Wyatt fan service. Aaaaaand I was right. Good call me on not watching it live. It might have broken my heart. I got the information later through friends and research. And tbh, hearing everything second-hand was actually hilarious. Yes, it was upsetting, but the writing is SO BAD, I actually laughed. Out loud. I may have cried laughing. It’s just… so bad. XD

I spent months dreading a worst case scenario for the movie, and when the time came, it was every bit that. (And then some? Somehow?) But when it got here, all of my fears turned to hilarity. I was RELIEVED. After months of being afraid, I finally felt free. I thought “This is what I was afraid of?” Because toxic shippers in the fandom got everything they wanted, just the way they wanted, but it is HORRIBLE! Because what they wanted was BAD. It watches just like the badly written fanfiction they demanded. Which is ALL this movie is: badly written fanfiction.

To quote Claudia Doumit when she read the script: “It feels like a fan wrote the movie.” Perhaps she means that in a positive way, but if a professional is writing “like a fan,” spoiler alert, it’s never a positive thing. It’s a “basic” thing.

Timeless movie is SO BAD that it is the least rewatched episode of all Timeless. Delayed returns on it are borderline embarrassing. Few people except Lucy/Wyatt shippers wanted to subject themselves to it a second time. Not to mention that support for Timeless and a third renewal fell into steep decline after the premiere. It seems not many people want more if this is the “more” we might have to look forward to.

imo, Future television writers should study this movie for direct examples of what NOT to do. It’s every worst case scenario, presented to you at breakneck speed. You barely have time to get over one absurdity before the next one hits. Not gonna lie. I’ll give kudos where due. I am legitimately IMPRESSED that writing managed to get every single thing wrong. Do you know how statistically impossible that is?!?!

Timeless movie really sort of took all the negatives, low points, disproportionate focus on romance, and bad writing of S2 and ran with them. That’s what it is. Concentrated S2, minus any good parts.

Basically, if you are a fan of Flynn, Lucy, Rufus, Jiya, Jessica, Emma, Connor, Denise, good writing, feminism, no plotholes, Riya, Garcy, or TIMELESS, please do not watch the Timeless movie. Save yourself. If your first (only?) priority is Wyatt and Lucy/Wyatt, go right ahead. It was made just (only?) for you.

Though obviously, I can’t/won’t stop you from watching. You may still want to form your own opinion, and if so, you have my full support. I hope that you find something appealing to make it worth your time. I especially hope that if you don’t, it doesn’t ruin Timeless for you, as it has other people. I still may watch it myself one day. I may. But not for entertainment purposes. Really just to mock it from a more informed standpoint. I’ve considered live-blogging the event. lol.

As is though, I basically know the entire movie through aforementioned friends and research. And I will summarize below the cut on the ways this movie failed Timeless and its fans. (PS: This is by no means everything. There’s just SO MUCH and I got tiiiired thinking about this monstrosity! Anyone is free to add on whatever I didn’t cover.)

[Spoilers]

Future Lucy gives the journal to Wyatt, the writer’s attempt to take something that has always been Flynn/Lucy’s thing and make it a L/W thing. (Somehow, we’re supposed to ignore that this Lucy already would have given her journal to Flynn in 2014. Conveniently, illogically, she has it again. So she can give it to Wyatt.)

Future Wyatt announces that Jessica was lying about being pregnant. Right out the gate. Great. Now, they get to kill her. Don’t worry, writing will strip away her entire character first so we don’t feel guilty when an “evil Rittenhouse agent” dies. It’s fine to kill a woman who was brainwashed from childhood, but let’s not kill a baby. We’ll just erase it instead. That’s different because reasons.

Writing introduces a new stipulation that people can coexist with time travel, but staying too long will kill them. This will come in handy later.

Also the new, updated Lifeboat will conveniently be able to do whatever the plot needs. Coexist? Sure. Autopilot? Suuuuure. Able to jump multiple times on one charge as if it had a nuclear core like the Mothership? Why not?!

If you thought Rittenhouse wasn’t scary anymore in S2, well hold onto this writer’s beer. Gone is any intimidation or purpose they once stood for. Now that Emma is running things, all that matters is stealing art and money from the past. Caution: Never go full two-dimensional evil.

Wyatt decides Jessica has to die and he’s the one who has to do it. But after half an argument from the team, he gives in and agrees not to. FLYNN will clean up Wyatt’s mess instead! Because suddenly, all that matters is he loves Lucy. Not his family. Not stopping Rittenhouse. No, he has to do this so that Lucy can be with Wyatt and Rufus can be alive.

Flynn tells Lucy that the journal can be unreliable. Despite this, he goes to 2012 and dooms himself because he believes, without a doubt, that Lucy’s heart will always belong to Wyatt, something he, ya know, got from the journal. And that neeeeeever changes. I mean, some guy said it was unreliable, but his name escapes me right now.

When 1x06 first aired and we heard the story of how Jessica died and how it was very much Wyatt’s fault, painting him in a negative light, I thought to myself (almost three years ago), “Wow. If we ever get a flashback of that night, writing is going to retcon all of that so hard so that it doesn’t look like Wyatt’s fault.” And lo! It’s Jessica’s fault now. She made Wyatt get jealous on purpose. She made him drink too much. She MADE HIM let her out of the car, per text orders of Rittenhouse agent. Poor Wyatt, what a victim. (Periodic reminder that Timeless hates women.)

Writing in the scene with Jessica’s death is so bad that we’re actually left with no alternative BUT to believe Wyatt was the original killer that night. Rittenhouse agent tells Jessica to get out of the car. This saves her life. No other person is seen on this road (save Flynn later) that could be the killer. And what’s the other course (the original timeline)? Without instruction, Jessica would have stayed in the car. And died. Wow, I can’t believe Wyatt killed Jessica in a drunken, jealous rage, but also I can. Also also writing just told us he did. If Rittenhouse wanted to make sure she was okay, they would tell her to stay in the car with her soldier husband, no matter what. That would save her. But what do they do instead? Hmmmm…….

Flynn kills Jessica and hurries to the Lifeboat, feeling the effects of coexistence taking affect. Set course for any time but this one, am I right? Wrong. Nah, better just die. Flynn sends the Lifeboat back to 1848 for the team and stays in 2012 so he can see his family one last time and then die. Because true character development is letting your five-year-old die violently two weeks before Christmas when you still have the life and power to prevent it.

Why does all of our correspondence end the same? Reply, reply, and then *crickets* Notice me, senpai. TToTT

For some reason (I mean, I know the reason. It’s bad writing by an idiot), dead Flynn’s fingerprints do not pull up when police find a John Doe on the beach. Despite the fact that he worked with the NSA and his prints would be on file.

I can’t with this woman:

Anywaaaaaaay, Rufus returns in a way that breaks all time travel rules thus far established in the show. Even though the team was traveling in 1848 with Flynn, suddenly it’s reset so that Rufus was there the entire time. Which, even if writing wants to claim that’s SOMEHOW possible, is still illogical because to overwrite that timeline, the characters’ memories would have also been overwritten. However, they remain perfectly intact with everyone remembering Rufus died. (Except Rufus, of course.)

Flynn dies because he stayed in the past too long. The writer would then go on twitter and pretend the matter was out of her hands, even though she’s the one who set the condition. She WROTE the rule that killed him, SO she could kill him. (This was previously not going to be a condition on coexisting time travel. Source: Interviews in which it was suggested that had Timeless been renewed for S3, Future Lucy and Wyatt may have stuck around for a few episodes.)

Arika would also say on twitter that, in her opinion, Flynn didn’t deserve a happy ending, to the uproar of many.

Writing tries to claim that Flynn was always the person who killed Jessica in 2012. Deer lord at the plotholes.

And the holes keep comin and they don’t stop comin. ♫

It’s Christmas now. For some reason. When the team returns to the bunker, there are Christmas decorations everywhere and we’re told that it’s Christmas in present day. Even though it was May yesterday.

There are more than a dozen ways to save Flynn at this point, but Arika doesn’t like him and just wants Lucy/Wyatt to bang. So you can bet none of them will be used. Also because she’s an idiot, the woman claimed on twitter that Flynn can’t possibly be brought back because he died while time traveling. Uh-huh. First off, what? He absolutely can be saved. Secondly, tell me how Rufus died again?

The characters acknowledge Flynn for a minute (in a toast give by WYATT, of all people) before promptly forgetting he ever existed until the end of the movie. When they need him again.

When Rufus wants to get intimate, Jiya tells him that she suffered some form of abuse while stranded in the past. That’s it. We will never talk about this again. Forget it ever happened. They brought it up just to scar Jiya even further and then ignore it. Anyone who tells you Timeless loves women is lying. Timeless wants to torture and torment women. FOR NO REASON!

Emma is the only person who cares Jessica is now dead. Because it sure as shirt wasn’t going to be her husband who like two days ago was desperately trying to get her to come home to her “family.” (Remember kids, women are just baby makers. If there’s not a baby in there, she’s garbage, and a minute spent mourning is a minute you’re not banging the next lady.) Emma plots revenge on the team, and honestly, by this point, I say let her do it. They’re horrible people.

Lucy boldly says she won’t be Wyatt’s second choice. So she can forget she said it in 10 minutes, when she’s suddenly fine with it.

Rufus is alive again, but all of his memories after 2x03 are conveniently erased. In his timeline, Lucy/Wyatt have been together this whole time, and he’s their biggest fan. He actually, canonically, verbally says that he’s “Team L/yatt.” That’s great because otherwise we’re left with a Rufus whose last words on the subject are:

“You are so worried about your stupid Lucy-Jessica soap opera that you forgot that there are other people here. Who matter to each other. Who love each other. If anything happens to her, Wyatt… I don’t think I can ever forgive you.”

Yeah, we can’t use that in the Lucy/Wyatt movie. Better erase the black man’s memory since he’s no longer serving his purpose: head cheerleader of the white couple!

Because Rufus’s memories are gone, all S2 development in the Riya relationship is gone with it. Damaging them even more after Jiya spent 3 years in the past (becoming hardened and almost a different person) and then watched him die. Don’t worry, writing will address none of this.

Rufus compares Lucy/Wyatt to Aragorn/Arwen. As a Tolkien nerd, I’ll throw down over this alone. IN WHAT WAY?!

There’s a pregnant woman in labor because leave no cliche unturned. Wyatt delivers the baby because what did I just say about cliches.

Lucy’s hormones go all a-twitter when she sees Wyatt holding said baby. Outside? In weather they admitted earlier is deathly freezing? (I mean, the mother might want to hold her own baby, but no. She has to get in line. Lucy absolutely HAS to have an epiphany that she needs Wyatt’s babies.)

Lucy decides that since Wyatt’s mistreatment of her was technically from another timeline, she can let go off all self-respect and tell herself he didn’t mean it. Also almost everyone else is dead or has their memories erased, so only they will know. Now Lucy can be with Wyatt and no one will judge her? Yay?

Despite Emma’s big speech in 2x10 about abandoning the pillars of “old Rittenhouse” and striking out on her own, she still backs down immediately when Denise makes Benjamin Cahill tell her to knock it off and surrender.

Emma dies at the hands of some deus ex machina random sniper. Letting us know the writer could no longer pretend she cared about any of this and just wanted to make Lucy/Wyatt bang. Are they banging yet? Bang now! Will this convenient and corny mistletoe move things along? Are they banging yet?

So Denise saves the day. In the most anti-climatic way. Meaning Rufus was never actually necessary and could have stayed dead. Actually, none of the team was necessary. Nothing in these episodes was necessary. All it took to end Rittenhouse was Denise and Ben. Roll credits.

Lucy decides NOT to save her sister Amy. Even though it’s what she has been fighting for since episode 2. Her reasoning? She says that trying to save the people they love has negative effects. (Let’s get one last jab at dead Flynn by saying, “Look at all the awful things that Flynn did in the name of saving his family.”) This is said in spite of the fact that Amy is SUPPOSED to be alive, and leaving her erased IS an alternate timeline, carrying the potential of being more catastrophic than SAVING HER and setting the events right.

PS: While in the past, Lucy JUST SAID, “What’s the point of saving history if we don’t save the people in it?” And then saved a stranger that was supposed to die. Writing for this movie does not care about consistency, only what’s relevant in the moment. And clearly the writer wanted Amy to stay dead.

Leaving Amy dead creates this lovely paradox:

Writer is too ignorant in time travel to understand that current timeline is erased, Lucy is now with Noah, and that is our endgame. Movie proceeds with Lucy/Wyatt ending.

The Mothership is dismantled for no reason. So now the team is stuck with ONE time machine for any future situations. Remind me again. Remind me. Why… did we have the Lifeboat in the first place? Oh yeah, Connor kept it in case the crew of the Mothership was ever stranded. And it came in handy after the Mothership was stolen. Right, who needs two time machines? Scrap her, boys!

In a flashforward to 2023, we see that Lucy is teaching at Stanford again. And she just got tenure! Which is a throwback to the Pilot, but completely ignores that it is not what Lucy wanted for herself, only what Carol influenced her into doing. Lucy’s dream job was to teach at a small college in Ohio. (Source: 1x14 conversation with Lindbergh.) But who CARES WHAT LUCY WANTS?! Certainly not a writer who barely knows the show upon which she is the showrunner.

Lucy is a thoroughly horrible fake feminist now. At her job, she teaches a general history class, but only talks about women in history. When a male student brings this up, Lucy says, “I meant to get to the men, but we just didn’t have time.Maybe in the spring, okay?” So he gets to sound sexist for valuing his education. Oh, wow, thanks. Feminism isn’t about ignoring men and acting like they’re not important. It’s about EQUALITY! Label your class as “Women’s History” if that’s all you’re going to teach. Also what if they don’t HAVE YOU next semester, Lucy?! They’re going on to their next classes completely unprepared. Remind me again how this woman got tenure? Because she didn’t get it in the Pilot due to her unconventional teaching methods. Somehow not adhering to your own course description is the secret to success?

Lucy and Wyatt have two twin girls named Flynn and Amy. There are so many bad fanfiction cliches I want to cry. TToTT Why are you making me cry? Never. name. the. second. generation. after. characters. that. died. It’s. THE. corniest. thing. Petition. to. stop!

Jiya and Rufus started “Riya Industries.” That’s right! They squeezed not one, BUT TWO fandom ship names into this nightmare. If you needed further proof no one was taking this movie seriously, here ya go.

2023 Lucy does take the journal to 2014 Flynn in the bar in Sao Paulo, but everything about it is wrong. Not only do Rufus and Wyatt accompany her, but the conversation leads to Lucy telling a man who just lost his family that he can change the past but will never save his family. Also he’ll die. And he should just accept all of that but still do what she says and sacrifice himself to save a world that hates him. And the entire conversation takes place in about a minute. I mean, people had a hard time believing Flynn would buy into Lucy’s story and do what she said after 2x08 premiered. Now? NO EFFING WAY!

A clip (deleted scene from Pilot) of 2016 Flynn at the end shows him about to raid Mason Industries and start us over again. In other words, he is stuck in Hell loop for eternity. His family will die in 2014, he will do horrible things he hates to save them and the world from Rittenhouse, and he will die unnecessarily to save the world. Then Lucy will go back in time, give him the journal, and start him on this quest all over again, knowing full well that he is a good man and this will destroy his soul. But she doesn’t care (actually smiles as she approaches him) because he “did bad things” and the writer thinks he deserves this. Even though Lucy is the one who set him on this path and one can EASILY argue it is all her doing and Flynn was nothing but her tool. Don’t worry, she gets her happy ending.

The movie closes on a young girl designing specs for her own time machine. Motives unknown, other than general interest, same as Connor in the beginning. The writer thinks this is an AMAZING open ending, leaving plenty of groundwork for more Timeless when fans get it renewed for a third time. (It is not. No one cares. You killed Timeless and flew all its plots into the ground.)

In conclusion, yes, worst case scenario on every single plot point. Timeless does nothing to prove or even suggest it deserves a third chance. I personally am left wishing it had never been renewed after the initial cancellation following S1. Let it stay dead now. Forever. It has done nothing to deserve yet another chance.

RIP Timemess.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

We have found out in you (flogan! The first mainly flogan fic I read!), the temples are falling (characterization and hope!), and this is a theater department not a circus (because u can relate to a lot of that- we theater people really are Quite A Group!) these are my top 3 but anything, something is amazing as well. Top four!

Oh MAN, that’s a throwback! We Have Found Our End in You was inspired by the fact that before the airing of 2x10, @captainofthefallen and I were convinced that Wyatt, filled with guilt, would be the one to stay behind in Chinatown as the others (presumably with at least one injured party) took the Lifeboat to safety, leading to a rescue Wyatt mission at the beginning of season three either returning to Chinatown or getting him back from Rittenhouse (maybe he was captured and would spend his time turning Jess…). I enjoyed how that fic turned out but I didn’t think many people read it so it fills me with joy to know that you love it so much!

The Temples are Falling, oh man, THANK you! That’s a bittersweet little fic but I love it so and I’m glad that you like it so much! I really love giving a big event to characters and then writing how they deal with it, in this case nuclear fallout.

HAHAHAHA YESSSS MY COLLEGE THEATRE AU oh that was SUCH a fun fic to write. I was surprised in the best way by how many people left me comments saying “this was my exact theatre experience,” since I based a lot of things on actual events at my college (milkshakes as currency/apologies, chatting during group songs, camping out to wait for the cast list to be put up). It was so fun to realize how universal certain experiences are for college theatre kids, and I’m sure there are similar things in other college departments like English or Art or whatnot. So that was a lovely bonus. And of course, since it includes so many real-life experiences that I lived, it’s really in a way my love letter to being a college theatre major, that beautiful insane four-year period that’s really unlike any other.

Ohh man, Anything, Something is a hell of a fic. It was my first for the fandom, and I’m pleased, looking back, at how many aspects of characterization and personality I nailed. It’s also hilarious though because I CLEARLY overestimated Wyatt’s ability to be a decent human being, given that the entire thing was posted pre-2x05 and half of it was posted pre-2x04. It’s also an odd time capsule fic because if you go by the comments, you get a perfect timeline of the fandom going absolutely apeshit, lol. At the beginning I was getting comments from Lyatt fans, Garcy fans, general fans, etc. But then as the ship wars got ugly, I stopped getting those comments as no Lyatt shipper wanted to admit they read a fic with Flynn in it and no Garcy shipper wanted to admit they read a fic with Wyatt in it.

Of course, I had no clue what was going on in the fandom–I never do, since I only follow like three people and only talk to about five, so I always end up hearing about everything after the fact. But I do find it amusing. It’s still one of my most popular fics by sheer statistics, because it was written right before everything went nuts and people started picking sides.

I’m so glad that you like that fic, of course, because all hilarious fandom drama anecdotes aside, it started my massive i carry you in my heart series, I stand by the characterization, and it gives us a way to develop the OT3 and use their romance for television drama in a way that doesn’t involve ship wars, love triangles, lying, secret keeping, or cheating.

(Am I throwing shade at television show writers why yes, yes I am.)

ANYWAY this is a FAR longer answer than you probably bargained for my dear but suffice to say thank you so much, I love all of those stories and I’m so glad you love them too!

[lunellafandoms]

Y’all for the sake of differentiation, when I’m referring to my precious lyatt fans, I’ll call them Lyatt fans, but when I’m referring to the toxic ones, i’ll be calling them Ly@ fans. To me there is a huge difference.

I understand this is what many Garcy Shippers use to refer to Lyatt without pointing it out, but for all of the garcy fans following me, thats how you know I’m talking about the separate fans.

To be fair, if you are going to be toxic, i will not consider you a Lyatt fan if you are going to trash any characters or ships.

A lot of Garcy fans (im kind of in there, but because i lean towards Lyatt, I don’t want to consider myself a full on Garcy fan) are on defense right now, and thats understandable, but please make sure to recognize that not every Lyatt fan is toxic. Same goes to you Ly@ fan.

Yes, I understand that there is a bigger percentage of Toxic Lyatt fans than there is GarC (das my name for the toxic garcy fans(i just made it up lol)) fans. Im all for call-out culture but don’t take it too far yeesh

SO if you agree with any of what I am saying, Whether Garcy or Lyatt, PLEASE reblog this so that I can follow you knowing that there will be peace, and no ship wars on your blog

[shipsrulemylife]

Timeless 2x06 Reaction

THIS WAS A GOOD ONE.

“but I really... have to... pee.” Rufus sounds so sad omg 😂 ((also yes, I’m starting off this installment of reactions on such a great note cuz I’m classy 👌🏻))

“And that, my love, is how you upgrade a time machine” RIYA IS THE TRUE OTP I LOVE THEM SO MUCH THEY ARE SO CUTE

“Today, Connor Mason is officially a nobody” that is so sad 😢 he needs a hug

“If you’re not here to provide intelligence, what are you here for?” YASSS GIVE ME MORE WYATT SASS AT FLYNN ((also some Flynn sassing him back))

CAN WE TAKE A TIME OUT REAL QUICK AND APPRECIATE LUCY’S OUTFIT?! IT’S AMAZING

drunk Connor is my favorite Connor

“OH” Flynn is so excited about that gun omg 😂

“How’d you like to take out Rittenhouse for good?” Ooooooh

“You’re going solo” UH OH

“And BOOM goes the dynamite” I LOVE FLYNN

“Get some clothes, steal a car” welp. got that down to a science by now I guess.

“I’m Taylor Swift, this is Agent Timberlake” AMAZING

“I’m Lando Calrissian” ALSO AMAZING

I LOVE THIS TEAM

Wyatt plz be careful I don’t have a good feeling about this

YEP I KNEW IT

I love Connor Mason. That is all. Thank you.

“I’m sorry... are we talking about this like it actually happened?” RUFUS

ROBERT YOU CANT WALK AWAY FROM YOUR GUITAR

“I’m way more fun on these missions than Wyatt, right?” OKAY I FRICKIN LOVE FLYNN

WYATT AND FLYNN ARE LIKE ANTAGONISTIC SIBLINGS TO EACH OTHER AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH

“Sometimes I feel like I know you better than you know yourself”

“Well I guess we’re having our own awkward moment right now” Flynn please 😂

Connor Mason is such a fanboy OH MY GOSH I LOVE HIM

“I thought you said you had this”

“The drinks are on me” WITH WHAT MONEY CONNOR?

THE GIRLFRIEND IS A SLEEPER?! WHAT!!!!!

I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!

Flynn. Is. Humming. Just when I think I can’t love him more.

And he brings up his wife MY HEART 😭

“You should know the Lucy in that journal. She’s very, VERY, impressive” I love their friendship. I’m not really on board with shipping them yet, but I LOVE their friendship.

“As soon as we get back [I’m leaving]” NOOOOOO

“Wyatt’s tough but he’s not Chuck Norris”

“You know what else ruins everything? Wyatt DYING.” YES I AGREE WITH JIYA GIVE THE POOR MAN SOME BACKUP.

Nicholas Keynes and his bombs is SO EXTRA

NICHOLAS. YOU CAN’T SHOOT HIM. I WON’T ALLOW IT.

WHAT I THOUGHT FLYNN SHOT HER omgomgomg

“Fanboys don’t save the world” Connor it’s like you’ve never watched Timeless on NBC Sunday nights 10/9c 🤔🤔🤔

Also I am SO HERE for the Rufus and Mason mentorship

All the relationships on this show are amazing, platonic or otherwise, props to the writers - I love them with all my heart

Can I hire Connor Mason to follow me around and give me pep talks???

“YEAH!” Mason you nerd

Flynn bobbing his head and Lucy smiling at him I LOVE SEEING THEM HAPPY

“Whatever’s going on with you and Lucy, you need to figure it out and deal with it” 👀👀👀

THEY’RE ALL LAUGHING AND HAPPY WHEN THEY RETURN I’M SO GLAD

ALL I WANT IS FOR EVERYONE TO BE HAPPY ON THIS SHOW

Lucy stop pushing him awayyyy 😢

“That was MY ‘yeah’!” THE YEAH MADE IT IN *sighs* Connor is such a cinnamon roll I love him

‘Lando Calrissian’ OMG

Lucy and Flynn are drinking buddies now 👀

JIYA STOP, RUFUS CAN’T DIE I WON’T LET HIM

ooooooooohhhh I can’t wait for next week

SO 2 characters I liked before this episode: Mason and Flynn. 2 characters I love exponentially more after this episode: Mason and Flynn.

Connor Mason was given such an incredible story arc from season one and I love the writers for it. He started out as a pompous billionaire and now he’s just such a cinnamon roll and I love him with all of my heart??? A+ character development. 10/10.

GARCIA FREAKING FLYNN. This dude. Seriously. When I first started watching this show I figured he would just be the antagonist the whole time BUT BOY WAS I WRONG. He 👏🏻 Has 👏🏻 Grown 👏🏻 So 👏🏻 Much 👏🏻 I loved the development he had in this episode. I love how we learned a little more about his wife and I love how the writers developed his bond with Lucy. I’ve said it before, I’m fully on board the SS Lyatt, but Flynn and Lucy are just so??? I don’t even know. Their dynamic is FASCINATING and I want more of it. I may not be a Garcy shipper but I’m starting to see the appeal??? ALSO FLYNN WAS SO SOFT AND HAPPY THIS EPISODE. CAN I GET MORE OF THAT??? I LOVE THAT.

Thank you for listening to me ramble.

[the-suriel-deserved-better]

Genuine Thoughts On Timeless Season 2 So Far

Since Timeless is on a two-week hiatus (how will I cope) I’ve decided to do a genuine review of the series, looking at everything with as open a mind as possible.

Character Arcs and Developments:

Rufus is really a character who has grown so much since the pilot. When we first met him, he was scared shitless. 

He didn’t want to travel back to any time period for obvious reasons. And yet now we see him trying to help Wyatt in fights. He captains the Lifeboat with a renewed confidence. He’s adapted and become a better version of himself who is better able to handle the situations of the past without freaking out and yet still keeping his loveable, charming, witty personality. (10/10)

Wyatt is developing into a character with a more intricate backstory. He’s slowly letting his walls come down around the team and building bonds with those around him. We see that despite an abusive father, a dark past and a morally grey personality, he is still an understandable, likeable character. As we learn more about him, and his morally grey outlook we see a character that resembles people we know in real life.

His emotional growth is also well worth noting. He has a deeper compassion for his teammates and is striving to remain a rock for them. We can see him trying to adapt this his situation, and despite his temper tantrums in 201 about getting Lucy back (and willing to risk everything to do so), I can’t fault him for very much. (8/10.)

Lucy has clearly developed as well. I still want to know what happened to her during those six weeks with her mother, because whatever went down has impacted her character and I hope the writers bring it up. (Maybe in 206 when Wyatt helps Mama Christopher infiltrate a suspected Rittenhouse base, we’ll learn more and get some Lyatt comfort when he goes to her about it.) Back to Lucy. She’s become more ruthless in hunting down Rittenhouse and after 203 I’ve a feeling she’s going to take more risks, become a little bit more ruthless with Flynn in the bunker who – I doubt – will stop her from taking down every member of Rittenhouse. A certain moral greyness has also entered her characteristics which I’m finding intriguing, especially after she shot that man and later admitted that she didn’t have to, she chose to, for a cause she didn’t even believe in and a loyalty she didn’t have to an organisation she despised. (9/10)

Flynn, oh boy is this going to be interesting. Since we haven’t seen much of his character at this point I’ve little to say except that I think he’s going to cause tensions to rise, be unafraid to point out the obvious and call people out on their bullshit while living with them in the bunker. (?/10)

I’m also starting to feel sympathy for Mason after 202 and yet, like Mama Christopher, I’m annoyed with him for risking everybody’s safety by attending that talk thing. We get to learn more about his character and the writers have managed to make me feel compassion for him after he lost everything. It’s been an impressive feat and because of this, I’m enjoying watching his character grow and develop. (8/10)

Jiya is a character I’m concerned about, but I’ve a feeling she’ll become a stronger plot device in the upcoming episodes. I think she’s become more fleshed out and still managed to remain her own character and not be seen purely as a love interest for Rufus which is always a risk within shows like these. (8/10)

Relationships Between Characters:

Let’s start with the obvious thing. Lyatt. I am a shipper of this ship and I love it. Yes, there are aspects I’m not okay with it. Mainly how fast they moved from being cockblocked and not having shared a kiss beside 109, to now having sex only to be put into rough waters with the return of Jessica.

I think the writers know what they’re doing but I hate love triangles. I find them childish and simply an easy route to creating tension and angst between a ship without having to put too much thought into how to do so. I would much prefer if Jessica had been left alone forever, but I won’t comment too much until I learn more about the who, what, where, why and how of her character.

One main point I have to make is that I think the writers will have to be careful about the amount of Lyatt they put in. A lot of viewers are here for the history stuff first and the romance second if at all. I personally enjoy learning about every nook and cranny in our history, Lyatt, Riya and any further ships are just an added bonus.

Of course, I understand that unlike in season one the writers only have 10 episodes and not 16 which means they’re trying to get as much done as soon as possible. I appreciate it but what happens if we get a season 3?  (8/10)

Speaking of Riya. I’ve no worries that they’ll be okay and it’s honestly a relief to have them so concrete. I almost wish Lyatt was done in a similar fashion, with them simply having small, quiet moments like that forehead kiss in 203 which don’t distract from or take over the main plot and just add to it. I.e. more of how it was done in season one. I don’t think Jiya’s visions are only going to bring the two of them closer together and not drive them apart. As it is at this moment, I think Riya is here to stay and I am here for that. (10/10)

As for platonic relationships, and other ones, Flynn plays a big role in all of them.

I am not a Garcy shipper and based on what I’ve heard, I don’t think I have reasons to start getting involved in that boat. However, I am living for them to form a friendship. I think they’ll bring out different sides of each other. I.e. a more ruthless side to Lucy and possibly a more understanding side to Flynn. (?/10)

Flynn and Rufus will be interesting simply because Flynn almost killed Rufus and Rufus isn’t about to forget that. (?/10)

And, of course, Flynn and Wyatt. These two will clash heads (and maybe fists) this season. As far as I’m aware, Goran has confirmed they have a very uneasy relationship which could lead to a physical fight, but don’t quote me on this. As mentioned above, I think Flynn will call out a lot of bullshit, and I think he’ll do this the most with Wyatt after the whole Jessica thing and Lucy being left heartbroken. This, without a shadow of a doubt, is something I most excited to see. (10/10 regardless of what happens)

Plot and Plot Devices:

I am enjoying the sleeper agents idea, but I think it needs to made into something more serious very soon before it gets boring. The idea that some of them don’t want to leave the past is something I’m noting and has left me wondering how big a part it will play in the season finale. (7.5/10)

Lucy’s Diary isn’t as prevalent a theme as I feel it should be, but knowing our questions will be answered about it and how exactly Lucy gave it to him has me relived and unworried – for now. (7.5/10)

Emma. This is a big thing my mind is mulling over. I’m not sure which team she is playing for. Rittenhouse, herself or something else entirely. My eyes are focused on her because there is no way in hell her character arc is as simple as being a Rittenhouse villain. (9/10)

Overall though, I’m worried about the strength of the plot. It is still good, and it is still engaging but I think we’ve all been focused a bit too much on the Lucy and Wyatt of it all and it’s not a bad thing, but Timeless isn’t a love show, it’s a historical show and if Lyatt keeps taking priority in people’s minds, season two won’t succeed the way season one did. (8/10)

Will It Get Renewed?

If I was basing this answer simply on live views and nothing else but how many people watched… I’d say no. I’d say that the live views are decreasing every episode and that, unless they surge upwards again during 204, we should prepare for the worst.

But I’m not basing it off that, and I don’t think NBC is either (and if they are, the shouldn’t). Timeless has been getting excellent critical acclaim. It still has the potential it had in season one. It is engaging, and it is something for everyone.

Also, the +3 day viewings are really impacting on the show. It is almost doubling, if not doubling, the live views. And the +7 day viewings, regardless of it they’re being counted or not, are even better, bringing the views to over 5 and a half million people. And as far as I’m aware, this isn’t including international views.

And let’s not forget that it trends, without fail, for hours after every episode.

I don’t want to be hopeful and I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up, but I think with a bit of willpower, a bit of work and a pinch of luck, we might get a season 3, and after that, who knows.

My Overall Thoughts:

Season two is better than season one. It still needs work in some areas, and having it only being 10 episodes long is truly impacting on it’s pacing. But I’m not giving up on it after everything we’ve been through as a fandom.

Lyatt could do with taking a leaf out of Riya’s book and be made more low key but with more focus given to small, intimate moments like a certain forehead kiss.The plot needs to be made ever so slightly more critical and “life” altering but for a show that was cancelled, brought back, given a slightly tighter budget, fewer episodes, a dreadful time slot and still working off Nilsen viewings (whatever in God’s name they are) it’s not doing too bad for itself.

There’s always going to be things fans will want to change, but, now is not the time to abandon the show to the wolves. Now is a time to come together as the fandom we once were, put aside any differences, and get Timeless renewed for a season three because there are thousands upon thousands of stories history has waiting for us to here.

[qqueenofhades]

hey, just want to say thanks to you and everyone else working on timeless s3. i was aware of it before the multiple character assassination that was the finale but hadn't read it. now i've marathoned it the way i did the first season on netflix and honestly it's the continuation of s2 i was looking for. anyways merry christmas, thanks for doing god's work :)

You're very welcome. That project was (and still is) a labor of love for me, and it's a huge undertaking to write, coordinate, and virtually produce 13 professional-level TV scripts and run a team of artists, reviewers, researchers, recappers, social media people, etc, but I am so glad I decided to stick with it even after the movie was announced. We've had tons of people arrive at the blog the last few days, so yes. We will take you refugees in. It is safe here.

And like... one look at my blog and posts will tell you that I'm a diehard Garcy shipper, but I have not written this season as fanservice for them and have been determined to focus on everyone and all characters and dynamics throughout. If I, a humble fanfic writer, can do that, it's even more infuriating that a professional TV writer cannot. I am really grateful to everyone who has helped me do that project, as it's now providing solace for a lot of us who just want an honest continuation to the story and to honour where s2 left off. It's definitely not just me alone. So thanks very much for the message and I hope you are excited for our return in January. :)

[qqueenofhades]

I was (?) a Lyatt shipper who loved Flynn since S1 bc I love a good bad boy. I've been sympathetic to him since the 70s (ha!) when we found out about his wife and kid being murdered. So I found your blog and was loving all the Flynn stuff but I wasn't into Garcy. Thought "ew"--isn't he more like cool young uncle material for her? Fast forward to today and I have read every Garcy ff you have written and have fallen completely into the trash can. I know you prob hear this a lot lately...(1)

(2) but I wanted to thank you so much for writing The Tangled Web of Fate. What a masterpiece! You make the storyline in the same tone as canon somehow. You really have Flynn’s emotions and voice down pat. So good. Makes me believe in Garcy. In fact, makes me want Jessica and Logan to figure out their crap and that way everyone can be happy bc at this point I don’t want Jessica to be unhappy or go away either. Anyway, I went from Garcy sounds gross to GIVE ME MORE. So thanks?

(3) sorry. I feel panicked that we are running out of time (unoriginal pun) and might only get 5 more episodes and Flynn won’t get the full character development and happy ending he deserves. If it were up to you, would you give him a redemption arc and a happy ending or would you keep him as garbage boss? Also, dude is a full head taller than the industrial fridge in the bunker and they need to find a couch he can be comfy in. He looks like a giant living in a tiny house. My poor baby.

Ahaha. This delights me to no end, ngl. My powers are groooowing. And you have given me a lot to talk about here, so thanks. :)

Honestly, the people insisting on reading Garcy as familial/platonic/theorizing that Flynn is somehow Lucy’s son/they’re otherwise related are… very confusing to me? To say the least. Though to be totally frank, it’s often clearly by people who have an agenda in discrediting Garcy as a viable alternative to Lyatt (which they… probably don’t need to do, I mean for better or worse, the writers have made their preference/narrative direction clear. Alas). I obviously have no problem with people shipping whatever they want in whatever way they do, but… yeah, Garcy’s vibe ain’t platonic or familial (and if for some wild reason they DID end up Magically Related, like Flynn was somehow Lucy’s long-lost brother from an alternate universe or whatever, I wouldn’t stop shipping it, or even writing smut for it. I’d be like, “well writers, you got yourself into this with this far-fetched and illogical forced plot twist that does not fit with anything that has been written or acted beforehand, so I’m going to just go for Time Traveling Flowers in the Attic. Ooops?”) I’ve had plenty of posts with the way Flynn looks at/acts around Lucy (just saying, if my uncle looked at me like that, I would make sure never to be alone with him at family events) and the way she’s started to look back at him. And Goran Visnjic has straight up said that Flynn is “infatuated” with Lucy and we’ve had a lot of teasing about “does Flynn have a thing for Lucy” re: 2x06 that makes me wonder if we’re going to get some kind of more explicit confirmation of the way he feels about her. Goran has also encouraged us to read between the lines, so people can want it to be just a friendship (because they prefer another romantic partner for Lucy, and again, that’s fine, whatever) but he’s consciously acting it as a pretty romantic fascination. So yes. We aren’t just making that up.

Also, just saying, we KNOW who Flynn’s mom is, she’s a named and identified character, she appeared in an episode, Rittenhouse was originally sending Rufus, Lucy, and Assassin Goon to kill her in 1x15 with the aim of erasing Flynn from history. So “Flynn is Lucy’s son” is just… did you guys not notice Maria Thompkins? Who was awesome and I love her? Besides, if Flynn was Lucy’s son, she wouldn’t NEED time travel to meet him, and we know the journal is connected to new time tech (traveling on your own timeline). He couldn’t be anything less than her grandson and that would still be ludicrously complicated, as it would require Lucy to have Maria at some point while traveling in the past, then… straight up abandon her, then go back to her own timeline, then wait for Flynn to grow up, then travel back to meet him…. etc. It’s a mess. We know Flynn’s parents’ names (Asher Flynn and Maria Thompkins); hell, we know more about his family than we do about Wyatt’s. Why is no one theorizing that Wyatt is secretly Flynn and Lucy’s son? (I kid, I kid. But still. It makes about as much sense, if not more, which is to say it doesn’t.)

Anyway yes, I always felt like that was a pretty transparent attempt to make Garcy a non-romantic option in order to remove it as a shipper threat, but that doesn’t mean people can’t ship it as a friendship/brotp. I’m just saying, however, that it has been (at least certainly on Flynn/Goran’s end) played as a romantic thing, even if latent and unspoken and complicated. (Also, he went really quickly for the “honey…” and “what my wife failed to mention” lines in 1x11 and 2x04, so even if Flynn won’t admit it, he instinctively sees Lucy in some way as his wife.) So yes. Making them related would be a COMPLETELY illogical stretch, but… if they did that, yeah, I’d probably still ship it. (Shrug emoji.) Because I would recognize that the council had made a decision, but given as it was a stupid-ass decision, would elect to ignore it. (Insert Nick Fury gif here.)

Next, I am obviously glad that you are enjoying my fic and it has converted you to one of us. I started writing the Wyatt/Jessica stuff before she arrived back on the show and am rather pleased with how nicely it fits. Wyatt in canon needs a serious reality check, which I am hoping he gets. I obviously forgave Flynn for being a total fuckup and hurting everyone, I am absolutely willing to do the same for Wyatt, but he needs to have the “well shit I’ve been a selfish ass and am going to substantively make up for it” moment first. I hope the big finale moment is him finally owning up to his dickish behavior and putting everyone else first and otherwise reversing course. Because yeah. I’m judging.

Lastly, I WORRY ALL THE TIME ABOUT US GETTING CANCELLED AFTER THIS SEASON BECAUSE IT WOULD BE A TRAVESTY. A TRAVESTY. The short season has always hurt us narratively, though of course it’s great to get it, but then to cut it off there with no more space at all… god. It gives me the shudders just to think about. And one of the reasons is yes, give me my full redeemed-antihero Garcia Flynn redemption arc. Goran has talked a lot about how we’re seeing more of his real nature this season, and just yes. We saw throughout season 1 that Flynn hated to do a lot of what he was doing, but he did it anyway in the larger purpose of bringing down Rittenhouse (and nobody has yet acknowledged that he was right all along about them…we need more conversations/authentic character moments, guys, NOT SOAPY RELATIONSHIP DRAMA. JUST SAYING). He never really WANTED to be a garbage disaster, but he loved his wife and daughter more, and he was dedicated to taking Rittenhouse down to the point that he thought he couldn’t return to them even if he did save them. So no, he was not a character who was just out there burning shit down for the fun of it (though he does enjoy it in some ways, because… he’s a disaster). But Flynn’s character file in canon has him fighting in a lot of small-scale liberation wars (Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc) against occupying/oppressive regimes, and that’s basically what he’s doing with Rittenhouse. He is a good man with a very strong moral code, but also a very grey one. He has correctly identified the overall enemy and is dedicated to destroying them, but he won’t be the hero wringing his hands over it because “it’s not right” to use violence. Which the Time Team is leaning on themselves (they basically left Flynn in 1934 to be a hitman, so… no more judgey remarks about “he’s a killer” would be nice, guys. You know he is and you’re using that because you need it.)

So yes. Flynn doesn’t WANT to be a garbage disaster, so it would be cruel to keep him as one. He is sassy as hell, but he also seems happier working with the team than he ever really did alone (as Goran has also discussed). Again: MORE CONVERSATIONS!!! Did Flynn just see it as business in trying to take out the team before, since they were trying to stop him from taking down Rittenhouse, and now that they agree on who the threat is, he’s happy to work with them? Is Garcia “why do I even delegate” Flynn really trusting them (at least aside from Lucy, who he clearly does) to do what’s needed, or does he essentially think he still has to do it himself? DEVELOPMENT PLEASE!

I wanted Flynn to permanently join the team ever since 1x10 (as that episode threw me down the dumpster in SO many ways) so obviously, I want that to keep up. The 2x07 pic of him and Rufus clasping hands made me hella emotional (also: we still haven’t had a Flogan scene since Flynn arrived in 2x03 and Wyatt stormed out in a hissy fit…still judging for skipping the Messy Boys Trip in 2x05). I want him to be developed and integrated more into the team and made a part of them, because I’m a hopeless sucker for villain becomes weird family member and redeemed antihero and found family and enemies-to-lovers/enemies-to-friends. So yes. Please don’t screw it up, guys.

(Also yes. Yes, I noticed him being taller than the god damn fridge at the end of 2x05. He’s HUGE and it’s ridiculous.)

[qqueenofhades]

Ok you did it, Hillary. AFTER ALL THESE WEEKS OF GARCY POST and I’m here excited for Lucy and Wyatt but after that last episode I’m convinced—THE WAY SHE WAS LOOKING AT HIM WHEN SHE WAS OUTSIDE THE DOOR AND SHES GIGGLING AND SMILING AND HAPPY AND GARBAGE FLYNN IS THERE BEING A GODDAMN GARBAGE GENTLEMAN i can’t and I’m here for it

Ahaahaha.

(Jack Sparrow voice: IT’S JUST SUCH A PRETTY BOAT... SHIP.)

Look, if nothing else, I am extremely good at suckering people down into the various dumpsters where I reside, and I have apparently honed my skills to a considerable degree with Garcy. They’re just so goddamn perfect and I made so many ugly noises watching yesterday’s episode. Like. They’re everything I love in a ship and it’s so good.

And you can still 100% be excited for Lucy and Wyatt, you know. You don’t have to turn in your shipper card for one ship, just because you like another too. Multiship. It’s the Boobs. (Yes, @lucys-preston, that was for you.)

Anyway. Yes. Enjoy your stay. This is your home now. You will never leave.

(I mean what.)

[qqueenofhades]

twilight-deviant replied to your post “Two Garcy questions, one, do you think they're endgame? Two, do you...”

Obviously we're all sympathetic to what Lucy's going through. And I don't think anyone expects her to coddle Flynn. But making her act as if he wronged her horribly between finale and now lacks any explanation of why in between. It's incompatible with her last emotions towards him. And trauma can't be scapegoated when she's acting more or less the same with others. WHY take it out on Flynn? I think it's a fair assessment if someone wants to call it bad, ooc writing.

I don't expect her to prioritize a man's feelings either (heaven forbid), but I do expect consistent characterizations from the writers. And the past two episodes have reset Flynn and Lucy's relationship to what it looked like prior to 1.10. All of that development in between definitely feels lost. That's what people are upset about.

Sure sure, @twilight-deviant. That is altogether fair, and I am always for people thoughtfully critiquing things, even things they otherwise like. I agree Lucy has seemed a bit unevenly written at points this season (again the question of do they just not have enough time, or is this what they wanted to do, etc) so I can understand if people feel there have been points where notes have been missed. As do I, for that matter.

I am just still not entirely sure that I see it as Lucy acting as if Flynn has wronged her. She HAS been the one constantly insisting they go to him, trust him, wants to know who hurt him, who got him out of prison (lbr, no one else was suggesting that). If their relationship was where it was at prior to 1x10, none of that would have happened. And yes, they had a breakthrough in that episode, but then he immediately undid it by kidnapping her in 1x11, they didn’t really see each other again until 1x14, in 1x15 he was ordering Rufus shot, and then they did have the lovely moment of “what if God led you to me” and him coming over to their side in 1x16. But I still don’t entirely see how Lucy should be acting TERRIBLY differently toward him than she is (again, just imho).

Their first conversation was in 2x02 after she got back from the WWI trip and the whole confrontation with her mom, etc, and Flynn is being his usual snarky-ass self; it’s not like I really fault her for not being terribly in the mood for it. I do think they could have gotten Flynn out in 2x02, but that’s more of a pacing/character thing than to do with Lucy specifically. She’s not really lashing out at him or blaming him, she wants him to work with them, but she’s also angry and she’s not here to play and she isn’t really in the emotional space to be MORE vulnerable with him (yet). I do think that is coming, especially post Salem, and I do obviously want more of it because I am a shipper with Needs, even if I understand how things are set up. But they’ve always been slow burn, they’ve always been complicated, they’ve always been back and forth, they’ve always been very blunt with each other, they’ve always had both the attraction and the anger and the push-pull, so... honestly, I have felt that her reactions are about where they should be. I did side-eye the “I’m not happy about Flynn being here either” line, but I feel like that was an awkward/clunky writing choice to get Lucy to change the subject back to her and Wyatt’s relationship, so he could then get the text and storm out. A more of “forget about other things for a moment let’s talk about us” thing, and then, yeah, it blows up.

Anyway, yes, I do see where people are coming from on this, but I still personally feel that Lucy’s writing has mostly worked for me (and like I said in my other answer, Flynn clearly digs it because he’s full Hearteyes Gone Baby Gone in love with her this season, and the people said amen). I do want to see how it shapes up going forward, but that is where I am presently.

[qqueenofhades]

JUST CALL ME EMOTIONAL ANON AT THIS RATE YOULL HAVE A SOBBING ANON IN YOUR INBOX EVERY WEEK SMH. Anyway, since I am STARVED for content that I need BC OF YOU I would be flattered if you could give me your top3 garcy eps and the moment you started shipping them? :))) (sidenote: i know most of these anons are like angry yelling, but I'm honored to have had the privilege of reading something written as an author as amazing as yourself. The fandom is lucky to have you :) )

Ahahaha well. Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying it.

As noted, I started watching Timeless when I think 8 eps were already out, so I binge-watched it in about two nights and then had to slow down and watch it every week like a peasant. Then 1x10 super ruined my life, and things only went downhill from there. But my top 3 Garcy eps are:

1x10, aka this will always be my favorite for reasons. There is just so Much. The looks exchanged, the “Where’s the real Austin Roe/Dead in a ditch/You’re a bastard” bit, the Lucy Is Not Subtle At Checkin Flynn Out While He Waters The Horses, the conversation about what kind of father or husband could he be (my shipper ass screams at Lucy: YOURS!!!! …. in about five years after extensive therapy) the whole confrontation with Rittenhouse and her stopping him over trying to kill John Jr and the whole ending where Garcia Flynn makes the Wrongest ™ decisions and justtttttttttttttt.

/excuses self, screams into pillow

1x16 is my other favorite for blindingly obvious reasons, aka “what if he [God] led me to you” reasons and casual volunteering to go with Flynn in the mothership reasons and SO MUCH EYE SEX AND LIP LICKING reasons and “I think you want me to stop you” reasons and The Ending Which We Speaketh Not Of BUT FLYNN’S GONNA JOIN THE TEAM NEXT YEAR IT WILL BE GR9 AND ALSO PROBABLY A COMPLETE DISASTER reasons and ye he he hesss.

Runner-up episodes because I will cheat and not pick just one are 1x04, aka just sneak around Castle Varlar and have more Eyesex while snappily arguing, 1x11 for the Garbage Date and Flynn being several thousand megatons of heart eyes over Lucy fangirling over Houdini before he remembers that he is Terrible, and 1x14, aka Lucy sees Flynn for the first time since said Garbage Date and is 0% impressed with him and ordering him around and he’s like yes wifey whatever u say wifey i brought u a dead mouse are you happy

(oh Flynn you super romantic)

[twilight-deviant]

Crazy lady again! Lol ☺ (Maybe I should just give myself a username...) Anyway, I think the Garcy shippers were wearing our Garcia and Flynn tinted glasses and more than one of us thought the were going to kiss in the finale. (I was sitting there, blinded, obviously, saying "Just do it!" Oh wait... This is canon...) But here is a prompt: What if they HAD kiss? Perhaps impulse of the moment? How would it have changed the episode? (A lot obviously...😝)

AO3 Link

The plan I first had for this prompt was more low-impact in the beginning and culminated with their final scene. But then I reread that it’s asking how it would affect the episode. So affect the episode I did.

Finale AU!

Lucy stared out the window, observing people pass in vintage clothes and classic cars. Her hands crossed in front of her, presenting a patient, dignified stance. She waited. Lucy knew it was not coincidence or bad luck that she and Wyatt were targeted by McCarthy’s men.

The door to her conference room cell opened without warning or knock. Flynn closed the door back behind him. They were free to speak in private, as they so often did.

Lucy began the mission to 1954 with reservations against stopping Flynn. Over the past weeks, the concept nagged at her more and more, growing in size and inescapability as it snowballed. She knew he was right, but even now, she could not support his methods.

Flynn announced his plan to destroy Rittenhouse that night. He exercised enough courtesy and compassion to let Lucy know her grandfather would be there. He warned of potential fallout and consequence in her life. He was guilty. He could not look her in the eye.

“Why are you telling me this?” Lucy questioned, and she turned to look at him with more than peripheral vision. She stared at him as he stared shamefully at the floorboards.

Giving every respect he held for her— since before they even met— Flynn said, “I thought you deserved the truth.” He attempted a smile that faltered and fell. The reassurance it attempted was a self-aware fallacy.

“So you told me.” Lucy did not know what reaction he expected. In all Flynn did, she gave him understanding. She could not afford support. “What do you want from me, my blessing?”

“I don’t want anything from you,” he quickly dismissed with a scoff, deriding the assertion as if it were absurd and unprecedented.

“You don’t want anything from me?” Lucy retorted. Flynn always asked for so much. He always wanted from her. They knew it was a lie even now. His eyes were big and scared. His insecurities were exposed before her. “Because I think you do. I think deep down there’s some part— some human part of you— that wants me to stop you.” She saw too much. Flynn did not interrupt. He did not contradict. “God,” Lucy said, “I swear this game that we keep playing— nobody wins, nobody loses, people keep dying. What’s the body count so far?” If Flynn had an exact number in his head, he did not say it. “And for what?”

“Okay,” he objected, cutting her off, knowing her opinion, “now’s the time where you tell me what a monster I am?” Flynn put words in both their mouths. It was an opinion he assumed on Lucy’s part but arrived at all on his own. He was wrong.

“I don’t think you’re a monster anymore.” She shook her head. “I used to.” Again, Flynn could not look at her. He only had confidence against Lucy when he was right and she was wrong. “But now, I just think that you’re sad,” such a simple three-letter word consumed and defined that strong man, “and you’re lonely.” He had no one. Flynn lost his family. He killed or alienated his allies. “I think you’re a broken person.” Flynn glanced at Lucy but slowly dropped his eyes to the floor, weighed down by the burden of her hard-hitting words. “Who misses the people that they love, just like me, just like Wyatt.”

Flynn could suffer any emotion but empathy. His loss, as he considered it, was greater than all others, greater than Lucy’s, greater than Wyatt’s. “Don’t talk about my family like you know them,” he commanded.

“You want to stop Rittenhouse,” Lucy said, “we’ll help you, but not like this.” Lucy was utterly, desperately sincere. She shared Flynn’s beliefs that something must be done. She could not ignore that truth, but she could not permit mass murder.

Flynn came upon her with great stalking steps. His shoulders came up as his back arched down. He towered over Lucy. She did not shy away. She did not show cowardice and uncertainty against intimidation, not even when Flynn asked a question she could not answer: “How?” His smile was wrong. There was no happiness. Flynn felt no happiness. He took what pleasures and reassurance he could find in life, like watching Lucy fumble for an alternative. If she could think of nothing, then there was truly nothing. Flynn earnestly waited for her suggestion. He waited until Lucy dropped eye contact in defeat. “You don’t know,” he presumed. Lucy tried to speak in her defense but had nothing to offer. Flynn was right. “Because there is no other way.”

Nothing more was said. They both knew, regrettably, that was the last word of a conversation neither wanted to end. Lucy did not want Flynn to leave and prepare for the unthinkable. Flynn did not want to say goodbye to Lucy.

Green and brown eyes stared into each other, delaying the inevitable. Flynn’s expression softened. His rage faded. He never could keep it going very long with her. The half-life of his resentment was always a fleeting thing, youthful and snuffed in its crib.

Flynn licked his lips, as he was wont to do. He glanced at Lucy’s, as he never did.

If it was to be their end, there was no reason to watch it wither with regrets and “what-ifs?”

Flynn leaned further down and closer in. He hesitated.

He hesitated.

He kissed Lucy.

There was little pressure and no force. Flynn gave her the right and the ability to back out at any time. The kiss met his want, his desire, but he understood if she did not share it.

Lucy was too stunned to react immediately. Flynn’s slow approach benefited no time for thought, not when she wasted those long, dragging seconds convinced she misread his intent— even when it was alarmingly obvious. For an equally long, and equally short, gap of time, Lucy stood there completely frozen.

Flynn kissed a still statue. He was the fruitless Pygmalion, and his desperation increased as his confidence waned. He misinterpreted what was between them, and he realized that.

Lucy wanted to grip his face or clutch his tie and demand from where such brazenness came. She did not. She experienced what she felt instead of acting on first impulse. Flynn was kissing her, and that meant something. It meant— as could not, and would never, be denied— he had feelings for her. The kiss he gave— the kiss he stole— was not platonic. He wanted more than that. Lucy wondered what would happen if she gave it to him.

Just when Flynn’s nerve finally failed and he pulled away, Lucy stepped forward. She kissed him back, and with his height, it was a difficult thing to chase. She leaned closer in her high heels and stood further on her toes.

Reversing roles, now Flynn was surprised. His shock was much more brief. He overcame it much more quickly. His head came back down, and Lucy’s feet touched the ground.

Strong hands hesitated and hovered in the air, not daring to touch. Lucy made the first move. She pressed her hands against his chest and moved them with a gentle, calming stroke. Flynn considered it permission given. His hands cradled her jaw, outlining her face, keeping her there, confirming her presence. Thumbs caressed Lucy’s cheek, and fingers grazed the nape of her neck. Flynn took such special care to not mess her hair. There was an unavoidable end to their dalliance, and they would need to look presentable when that happened. But it was an act neither of them wanted to end. Lucy did not want Flynn to leave and prepare for the unthinkable. Flynn did not want to say goodbye to Lucy. She complicated his choice further.

Lucy moved her hand inward. She grabbed Flynn’s tie and pulled him forward as she moved back, forcing him to follow. He did not break up their kiss. He continued it, changing the angle, spurred on by her initiative. The backs of Lucy’s legs knocked against the solid wood of the conference table. With barely any hesitation, Flynn picked her up and sat her on it. He leaned over her, across legs modestly bound together by a long pencil skirt.

Flynn’s hands rested on the tabletop, and he put his weight on them, surrounding Lucy on both sides with his arms, pressing against her knees with his body. An end could no longer be anticipated or predicted. It was decided for them.

The sole of a hard shoe walked over wooden boards in the hall. The person did not enter, did not disturb them, but simply the act of passing by frightened Flynn and Lucy back into their senses. They pulled away from each other.

Flynn looked ashamedly at the floor. He licked his lips and then wiped them with the back of his hand. Lucy stared at her lap before sliding off the table. Her skirt was perfectly in order, but she smoothed it out regardless. She touched her hair and stood up straight. Lucy found composure quicker than Flynn.

“What was that?” she asked, retaining an authoritative persona when he could not. After all, they were not led by her impulse.

Flynn did not know. He was not sure and could not answer. “We may… not see each other again,” he lamented. “I wanted to…” There was no end to his sentence. He could not confidently explain the irrational.

“You wanted to.” Lucy helped him realize motive was unnecessary. She finished the statement where he left it hanging. That was all there was to it.

“Yes,” Flynn confirmed. He wanted to kiss Lucy, so he did. “Yes.” His voice was gruff. He cleared his throat and took a step back. He situated the tie Lucy had mussed, laying it back down the middle of his shirt and securing it with the metal tie clip. His hands crossed behind his back, maintaining a modest figure as he stood up straight and to his full height. Flynn looked perfectly presentable, ready to step out into the hall and attract no stares, no suspicions.

“Don’t leave,” Lucy asked.

Flynn was finally able to look her in the eye again. “If you think this changes anything—”

“It doesn’t.” Lucy was not foolish. Flynn was a master of detaching himself from his emotions. He sacrificed his soul for his mission. He could easily forsake a relationship before its start. It was a comparably simple obstacle. “Take me with you.”

“No.” He was rightfully worried over what interference she could manufacture.

“I’m alone,” Lucy said. “Just me. I’m unarmed.” She was physically weaker as well but did not comment on the obvious. “I can’t stop you, Flynn.”

“You saved General Grant,” he stated. “You let John Rittenhouse go. You forget, Lucy, I’m the one person who will… never… underestimate you. I’ve learned my lesson from the times I did.”

“Take me with you,” she asked again. “It’s not a trick.” Not even she could tell if that were a lie. “Take me with you and we can think of an alternative. We can carry out your plan if there isn’t one.” Lucy came closer to him. She touched his arm and pulled until he let it go from behind his back. She held his large hand in hers. “Let me save my grandfather. Let me keep him from the meeting.”

“He’s a leader,” Flynn argued, “invited to the summit for a reason. They all have to go, Lucy.” He was apologetic. He did not take back his hand and, instead, let it rest in hers like comfort and physical proof.

“He can’t rebuild Rittenhouse on his own.”

“It started with one man before,” Flynn reminded her. “It can happen again.”

“No, you don’t know that,” Lucy insisted. “Maybe he’ll give up. Maybe he…” She did not know the man and could not predict him. She used logic. “He can’t repair Rittenhouse to the state it’s in now. He can’t… redo two hundred years of progress in just sixty. It won’t be as operational in the present. Rittenhouse won’t be able to spare men to take out you and your family.”

Flynn gently took his hand away. “You’re asking a lot,” he murmured.

“You’re asking to risk my life,” Lucy replied.

“Your father’s already born,” Flynn told her, “a child.”

“But growing up without his father can change anything,” Lucy said, “everything.”

“That’s the plan.”

“What if he doesn’t meet my mother?” She was asking Flynn to spare her life. “Regimes can- can fall quickly, but they need time to gain power. One man,” she asserted, “can’t do it all. After I’m born…” It was a cold sentiment, but Lucy did not care what happened to her father. She did not care what happened to her grandfather. “You’re right,” she said. He was. “Rittenhouse needs to be stopped. But it can be done another way. It can be done without dozens of people dying, without me being a casualty.”

“It can be done one way,” Flynn maintained. He had a plan and he was convinced it was the only one. “But maybe we can…” It troubled him to concede, to leave anything to chance. “Maybe we can, uh, spare your grandfather.”

Lucy smiled at him, and it took all of Flynn’s resolve not to smile back. She headed for the door. “We have to get Wyatt.”

Flynn stepped between her and the exit. “No,” he refused. He could allow Lucy to tag along, but Wyatt was a gun and hand-to-hand combat. He was a kill order who could only be warded off through bribery of information. Flynn had none for him at the moment. “Wyatt can handle himself.”

“He can help,” Lucy insisted.

“He can,” Flynn agreed, “but I think we both know he won’t.” Wyatt despised Flynn. Mere hours ago, he talked about putting him down, taking him out, as had always been his mission. He was less willing to compromise. “You come with me— alone,” Flynn said, “or you stay here… in custody.” She had two options, no more, no less.

“Okay.” Lucy nodded her head. “All right.” She did not want to let Flynn out of her sight. She grabbed her coat, gloves, and purse. “Let’s go.” Wyatt could handle himself. If not, Lucy would come back for him. She would come back when it was all over.

“One more thing,” Flynn interrupted, stopping her from leaving.

“What?”

With greatly acted nonchalance, Flynn bent down and kissed Lucy one more time. It was quick and chaste, as if all he did was experiment— experiment if that prior spark remained or was a fluke. It was there. Lucy felt it. Then it was gone. Flynn opened the door. “That’s all.” Lucy walked through and Flynn closed it behind him. “We’ll take the stairs down the hall,” he said, “go out the backdoor. Strictly speaking, this is a jailbreak.” He grinned, finding humor in the fact that he made Lucy a prisoner and now a fugitive.

She followed Flynn closely and together, they avoided detection. He had a car parked down the street, and Lucy climbed into the passenger seat. They were alone.

“Where are your men?” she asked. It was not a rarity for Flynn to work alone, but a mission so important was best suited to have all hands on deck. “The one who’s always following you around,” she said, remembering his name was, “Karl, where is he?”

“Not here.” He gave Lucy no better answer.

“What else are you planning?” If Flynn was delegating tasks, spreading resources across a grand plot, Lucy felt she had a right to know.

“Lucy,” Flynn said in a stern voice, warning her against pursuing the subject, “drop it.”

She did, knowing he could kick her out and abandon their delicate partnership at any time.

“My grandfather,” Lucy said, “my mother told me that she met him once, that he was a White House aide.” She knew where to find him, where to abduct him.

“I know,” Flynn said. Of course he did. He hunkered over in the seat and grabbed insulated tubing that wrapped around exposed wires. He twisted two wires together and struck another two together. The car sparked to life.

“You’re pretty good at that,” Lucy remarked, and she was impressed.

“Pretty good,” he agreed. Flynn sat upright and put the car in gear.

The sun set early in February. Already, it hid behind tall buildings and cast long shadows. The work day would end soon.

Flynn drove right to her grandfather’s car as if he planned the route. They passed a sign that reserved parking for Ethan Cahill. The red convertible in the space was empty, so Flynn found the first vacant parking spot for them to wait in and watch from. He let the engine idle a moment before reaching down to untwist two wires. The car died. He waited and then twisted them back together, ready to go at short notice.

“Really good at that,” Lucy amended. Flynn certainly knew what he was doing.

He sat back in the seat. They watched the sun set, taking with it any warmth of daylight. A soft snow began to flutter down, catching in trees and on cars. It accumulated on their windshield but was not substantial enough to obscure the view.

Snowfall always brought dead quiet, even in a city. When Flynn spoke, it startled Lucy, despite its gentle volume. “You cold?”

“Uh,” she stammered, surprised by the considerate inquiry, “no.” She had gloves, sleeves, and layers. Only her exposed calves were a little chilly. “No, not really.”

Flynn nodded his head and resumed the silence. There was a discussion they needed to have, but it was clear neither of them wanted to address what happened in the conference room. There were more important matters at hand.

They waited for Ethan to leave work, but apparently he was devoted. Time slipped by. Flynn became anxious, and Lucy knew he was counting every minute he lost in the window to act against Rittenhouse. She said nothing, fully aware Flynn did not want assurances for a concern she did not share. Lucy busied her hands to fill time and ease tension.

Flynn stared at the parking lot. His focus seemed intense, but he betrayed that it was split. “What’s that?” he asked.

“What?” Lucy glanced out the windshield and saw nothing, no new development.

“In your hand,” Flynn clarified.

“It’s…” Lucy reached behind her neck and unfastened the small clasp. She handed the locket to Flynn, and he held it in the scant light coming in from a streetlamp. “It’s my sister,” she told him, “Amy. I always keep it on me because now I never know… I never know what will disappear, what I’ll lose.” Flynn did not dismiss Lucy’s sorrow. He did not hastily study and discard the pictures in the locket. “Is she in the journal?” Lucy had to ask.

“Yes,” Flynn confirmed, but he did not go into detail. He shut the locket with a click and returned it to her. “I’m more concerned with the fact you have this.”

Lucy fastened the locket back around her neck and let it slip beneath her blouse to stay hidden. “I don’t understand it either,” she admitted. “Connor Mason said that… because it existed outside time, outside of the… damn time change, that it was unaffected, even after Amy disappeared.”

Flynn let the information turn over in his brain. He was a very smart man, capable of connecting related and unrelated threads of intelligence. “Then you’re not at risk,” he concluded. “You exist outside of time, Lucy, and you were, uh, conveniently quiet about it.” He was very displeased with her over the revelation but was becoming acclimated Lucy’s duplicity. He leaned down to grab the hanging wires under the dash and jolt the car to life.

“Wait, wait.” Lucy put her hand over his, and he stopped. “It’s still a risk,” she said. “I’m not a locket, Flynn. We don’t… know what will happen.” He sighed and looked up at her. “Even if I survive, I might— I don’t know— not have a- a life to go back to.”

“I know people,” was all he said. It was enough to represent seedy relationships with individuals who could forge a new identity and paper trail spanning Lucy’s entire life. Flynn flicked her hand away and resumed striking the wires against each other.

“Please.”

He stopped again. One pitiful, pleading word and he stopped. He would trust Lucy. He would help his partner. With a long, frustrated growl, Flynn sat upright.

“Thank you,” Lucy said.

“Shut up.” He did not want to hear her gratitude. It was nothing but evidence towards increasing weakness. He let his left hand rest on the steering wheel, holding it with a lax grip, as if they casually drove down a long stretch of road. “We save your grandfather,” he permitted. “But I will take care of the rest of Rittenhouse.” It was their standing agreement.

Lucy did not repeat her acquiescence. She still had not come up with a better idea, and Flynn’s plot remained the best chance at taking down Rittenhouse. It was the most violent.

His right hand was a tight fist on the seat between them. When Lucy grazed it with a soft touch, he first flinched and then relaxed. She opened his hand up and held it. Flynn reciprocated, wrapping long fingers around her. Lucy turned in the seat, bringing her knee up and over as far as her skirt would allow. She gripped his hand in both of hers, holding the rough skin between the fabric of her gloves. Flynn watched Lucy raise it to her lips and place a tender kiss on the back, on his fingers, on each knuckle in between. He was so malleable, so hopeful, so delicate before her.

“I know that you’re not a bad man,” she said. He was a good one who lost his way. “I know that you’re hurting.” She pitied him. Her heart hurt for him. “I know you don’t want to kill all those people.”

Flynn sniffed. He moved his hand in Lucy’s, not pulling it away but not letting it rest deathly still in her grip. Their hands swayed back and forth like a slow pendulum. They watched only that hypnotic motion. “I don’t want to kill them,” he confessed. Lucy knew that. He simply confirmed. “I have to kill them, to put my wife and child back on this earth.”

Lucy doubted it would work, but she held her criticism until the last minute, when Flynn could not easily get rid of her.

She looked out at the soft, snowy night and saw, “That’s him.” Flynn pulled his hand away and reached for the door handle. Lucy grabbed him. “Not now,” she stated.

“Why not grab him now?” Flynn huffed.

“Someone might see,” Lucy said, “someone who could call the police.” It was dangerous to act while still in the city. The seclusion of the Rittenhouse summit was a much safer target area. “We know where he’s going. We’ll follow him to the meeting and grab him before he goes in.”

Flynn made an exaggerated gesture of turning his wrist over to check the time. His watch lit the cabin with a blue glow. “I have to prepare for the summit,” he said. “If you think you can run the clock down by leading us around Washington—”

“No,” Lucy interrupted. “That’s not it.” She knew Flynn would not tolerate or forgive such a ruse. “The car,” she prompted, “hurry.”

Flynn leaned down and set to starting the car. It took him a few tries, and Lucy kept an eye on which direction Ethan went.

They drove in quiet, tailing her grandfather down intersections, long roads, then twists and turns.

“This is not the way to the summit,” Flynn said. He had an address and, knowing him, had already memorized the route to get there.

“Maybe he knows a back way,” Lucy proposed, “a shortcut.”

“Or maybe,” he said, “he knows we’re following him.”

“You’re being…” Lucy did not finish her statement. She knew how Flynn detested being called paranoid, crazy. “Don’t you think,” she reasoned, “McCarthy could have been lying to you?” Flynn did not answer. He could not confidently contradict it. “I’m assuming he told you the information under duress.”

“I’ll give it another ten minutes,” Flynn granted. “Then I’m turning around. If your grandfather wants to drive across the city all night, he’ll save himself and we won’t have to.”

It did not take the full ten minutes. Ethan pulled up to an old, ornate building. It was not the address Flynn was given. He was beyond frustrated, and Lucy could tell. Either McCarthy lied to him or they were wasting time.

With a angered snort of air through his nose, Flynn turned off the car. His temper was a liability.

“Wait,” Lucy cried.

“What?” barked Flynn.

Lucy kissed him. She leaned across the wide seat of their stolen car, grabbed him by the sleeve, and kissed him. Flynn was immediately responsive. “Don’t kill him,” Lucy whispered against his lips.

“No,” he agreed around a quiet smacking sound. “No.” Killing Ethan Cahill risked Lucy’s life in one way or another, and she was convincing Flynn against taking that chance. He did not want to take it. Suddenly, he pulled away and shoved Lucy back across the seat. “He’s getting away.” Flynn got out of the car and slammed the door.

His moods were so wildly unpredictable, Lucy was obligated to follow. Flynn stopped at the corner of the building. Lucy kept going, but he grabbed her around the arm and squeezed.

“Too late,” he said. “I’m afraid your grandfather’s already inside.” He was sympathetic to Lucy’s plight for existence, but, “We can’t exactly walk in the front door.”

Lucy pulled her arm away and Flynn let go. “Why not?” she said. “Can’t look them in the eye before you murder them?”

As if to make a point and prove his determination, Flynn reconsidered an entrance. “Lady’s first,” he said.

“We’ll get him away from the group,” Lucy suggested. “Tell him there’s an emergency, a phone call.” Flynn grunted in reply. The lead was hers. Every foolish plan was hers— until he had to intervene.

They walked through the front door, and Lucy was prompted by a man to check her coat. She looked at Flynn, knowing he would not appreciate anything that delayed a hasty exit. He moved behind Lucy and helped her out of her coat. “We’ll leave it,” he whispered in her ear, sharing her thoughts and already accepting the worst outcome. Flynn left the coat with the attendant.

Soothing jazz whispered through the door and into the entryway. Flynn and Lucy stepped between curtains and observed the gathering. Lucy was anxious. Flynn was tense. He was on edge, calculating how long it would take to pull his gun. From the corner of her eye, Lucy watched him slowly undo the button of his jacket and make his weapon accessible. She put her hand over his to calm him.

The room before them was full of men who greeted Ethan warmly and rather affectionately. They whispered closely in each other’s ears and came away blushing. It was not the atmosphere of a manipulative terrorist organization.

“This isn’t Rittenhouse,” Flynn said, voicing the realization they arrived at simultaneously.

“No,” Lucy haltingly agreed, “I think this might be a gay bar.”

Flynn relaxed, but Lucy saw him compulsively check his watch. “It would appear,” Flynn remarked with a somewhat amused tone, “I’m only the second-most powerful threat to your having been born.”

“I exist,” Lucy said. She watched her grandfather order a drink and begin a conversation with a man at the bar. It all happened without their interference. It always happened.

“Which means,” Flynn reasoned, “Ethan is very, very covert with his, uh, extramarital affairs.”

“It’s 1954,” Lucy explained. “You could be arrested for being gay.”

“Excellent,” Flynn said, and it was not the response she expected. However, it preceded his next plan. “Then we’ll have no trouble getting him to come with us.” He buttoned his jacket. A gun would not be necessary.

“Don’t…” Lucy whispered before breaking off in a sigh. She yielded. “Don’t blackmail him too badly.”

“Oh, that depends entirely on him,” Flynn insisted.

Lucy reconsidered again. “Let me do the talking.”

Flynn deferred authority to her. “Whatever gets him in the car quickest.” It was no new development that Flynn cared more about the end result than the method imployed getting there. They waited to get Ethan alone and watched him have a superficial conversation at the bar. Flynn kept vigilance despite the unhostile environment. “Well,” he commented as he gauged the room, “I’m certainly getting a lot of looks.”

Lucy saw a young man a few yards away gander up and down his tall physique with a suggestive eye. Flynn nodded politely in response, and Lucy experienced an odd sense of jealousy. “I get the feeling it’s not every day someone like you walks in,” she said. It made Flynn grin, and surprisingly, she liked the ease with which they could now subtly compliment each other. Lucy went a step further and spoke outright. “You… are… attractive,” she admitted. It felt like coming clean about a lie, though she never said anything to the contrary.

“And you’re beautiful,” Flynn said with much less difficulty.

Lucy barely kept herself from blushing, and she was grateful that fortune gave her an out because she had no idea what to say next. “He’s alone.” The man at the bar walked away and Ethan watched him leave with an admiring gaze and a grin. He turned back to his drink. “Let me do the talking,” Lucy said once more, making certain Flynn remembered. He stayed an obedient distance behind her and tried to copy Lucy’s casualness when she walked up and rested her arm on the bar. “Excuse me,” she said. “Are you Ethan, Ethan Cahill?”

Ethan had a very pleasant smile when he lied to them. “No,” he answered, “sorry. You’re mistaken.”

Lucy did not have to look back to guess Flynn was frowning. “No,” she assured Ethan, “we’re not cops.”

That concerned him almost as greatly. He came closer and spoke to her in a subdued whisper. “I don’t know what you think you saw here,” he said, trying to maintain some authority, “but I have a wife and son to get back to, so—”

“We know,” Lucy interrupted before he left— before Flynn stepped in. “His name is Ben.”

“How do you know that?” Ethan asked. Lucy could not think of a good answer. She looked at Flynn for suggestions, but he refused to contribute unless asked outright. It was Lucy’s discussion, as she insisted. Ethan looked between them. He reached into his jacket pocket. “Okay,” he said, ready to bargain, “how much do you want? I’ve got about $50.”

“We don’t want your money,” Lucy said. She wanted compliance to his own kidnapping, but there was no tactful way to ask for it.

“Mr. Cahill,” Flynn butted in. He stepped around Lucy and stood at her side. “We believe it would be in your best interest if you follow us outside, sir.”

Ethan swallowed with fear, but they held every card and he could not disobey. He nodded and followed them to the entryway. Flynn helped Lucy back into her coat and they left the private establishment.

“Keep walking to your car,” Flynn instructed, and he may as well have aimed his gun for all the weight his presence carried. He was intimidating.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Lucy promised.

“No, actually it’s quite the opposite,” Flynn said. “We’re keeping you from attending the Rittenhouse summit.”

“Ritten…” Ethan was shocked at their knowledge of Rittenhouse but did not insult them by denying its existence, not like so many members before him. “How do you know about—”

“Give me your keys,” Flynn ordered. Ethan did not dare defy him. He handed them over. “Get in the front seat.” Flynn passed on the keys. “Lucy, you drive.” He climbed into the back with a gun in his hand, watching for any sign of treachery from Ethan, waiting for an excuse. There came none. Ethan was an obedient hostage. He was too confused and too nervous to act any other way.

They left the city completely and drove into a dark night with no stars. A waning crescent moon flitted in and out of clouds and lit the fallen snow, making it glow. Lucy drove where Flynn instructed. She took the turns he said.

A name was one thing. Knowledge of the summit was another. Exact directions to the summit let Ethan know they were perfectly aware of what evil they fought. He took them seriously, which meant that for a long while he said nothing.

Lucy peeked at Ethan while she drove. She was curious about him and got away with that peeping curiosity for several minutes. He glanced back at her, and Lucy quickly put her eyes on the road.

“You look familiar to me,” he said.

“My father is in Rittenhouse,” Lucy replied, and it was only a temporal lie. “Maybe you’ve met him before.”

“What do you want with them,” Ethan asked, “with Rittenhouse?”

“Does it matter?” Flynn spoke up from the backseat. “You won’t be participating in tonight’s event.”

“He’s going to kill them all,” Lucy said. She looked in her mirror at Flynn. He licked his lips nervously and looked at the floorboards ashamedly. “Everyone except for you.”

“Why me?” Ethan asked. He looked at Flynn and then at Lucy, feeling he had better chances getting an answer from her. “Why are you singling me out? What makes me special?”

“Lucy insisted on it,” Flynn said. “She thinks you’re worth saving. Personally,” he leaned forward and rested his gun on the back of their seat, “I’m waiting for you to prove her wrong.” Nothing would comfort Flynn more than complete eradication.

“You want to kill everyone in Rittenhouse?” Ethan questioned.

“Yes,” he confirmed.

“Why?”

Flynn would not say, so Lucy answered on his behalf. “Rittenhouse murdered his family.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Ethan said, “truly. I mean it.”

“You work for them,” Flynn laughed. His tone was condescending. He did not care for Ethan, a man who benefited from the organization.

“I didn’t want to,” Ethan swore. “I’ve never… wanted to. I don’t want to.” He looked ahead at the dark road lit by headlights. “If Rittenhouse finds out the truth about me—”

“What, they’ll kick you out?” Flynn presumed.

“No, they’ll kill me, too,” he said. Lucy felt such sadness and offense for him. Ethan’s face contorted with despair. He sobbed without crying. His voice broke. “I love my wife,” he insisted. “I love my son. It’s just— It’s a bad habit. It’s a sick habit. I keep trying to stop. I- I tried the shock therapy. It’s just- it- you know…”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Ethan,” Lucy said in a calm, comforting voice, but it was difficult to instill progressive thinking in the past. “Nothing.” Ethan wanted to believe her. His desperation for that modicum of understanding was pitiful.

Behind them, Flynn added in, saying, “She’s right, you know.” He shook his head. “Well, insomuch as, uh, attraction is concerned.” Allegiances were another matter.

“Who are you people?” Ethan demanded. There were so different than any standard acquaintance in the 50s.

“We’re the people saving your life,” Flynn said.

“By not killing me,” Ethan remarked, separating the suspicious mercy from altruistic heroism.

“We’re people you can trust,” Lucy promised.

And Ethan believed her. Somehow, he believed her. He looked at Lucy with such soulful eyes, eyes that glistened with unshed tears. He nodded his head along and looked forward. “When I was eighteen,” he said, “my father caught me with a… friend.” He raised his eyebrows emphatically, implying something more, knowing they would catch onto what exactly. “And after he spent the better part of an hour whipping me with his belt, he sat me down and told me all about Rittenhouse.” Ethan paused and licked his lips. The truth troubled him to that very day. “At the time,” he told them, “I thought I’d rather he beat me all over again than be part of something like that.” Ethan’s timidity slipped away. His pervading emotions were a burning resentment and hatred. “If the two of you do destroy Rittenhouse,” he concluded, “I just might thank you.” Lucy watched Ethan and gauged his sincerity. He seemed completely honest in all he said, and she knew even Flynn had trouble doubting it. Ethan wanted them to succeed.

Lucy drove the car another half-mile and pulled over as soon as there was space on the side of the road. The brakes squeaked. She left the car running but put it in park. “I need to talk with you,” she said to Flynn, “outside.”

Flynn looked back and forth between Lucy and her grandfather. Whatever she had to say was important and secret. “If you get out of this car,” he warned Ethan, “if you try to run, if you… open the door for a little fresh air, I’ll shoot you.” He said the threat— the promise— so seriously it could not be disputed. “Do you understand?”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll stay here. I’ll stay right… I’ll stay here.”

“Good man.”

Lucy exited the car and folded the seat forward so Flynn could climb out. He closed the door behind them. Snow crunched under their feet as they walked a few yards past the car. Frigid air whipped through bare trees and bit at their exposed faces. Lucy’s coat protected her arms and body, but cold scratched her legs. She did not want to be outside any longer than necessary.

“What?” Flynn demanded. The closer they got to the meeting, the more impatient he became. He guessed the time had come for Lucy’s ineffective plan.

“Please,” she asked before he could start. “I don’t want to fight.”

“And yet you’re going to suggest something for us to fight over,” he assumed. “I told you, Lucy. I told you what I was going to do. I never lied. I never downplayed it. They’re all going to be in one place, and I’m going to end this, once and for all.”

“What if it doesn’t have to be that way?” Lucy said. Flynn scoffed and paced away from her, turned his back to her. “What you’re planning,” she told him, “it won’t work.”

Flynn rounded on Lucy and yelled in her face. “You don’t know that,” he claimed against her, pleaded with her, “and I know you’d do the same!” He took a deep breath and lowered voice. Warm air puffed out of mouth as visible vapor when he spoke. There were tears in his eyes. “You would do the same,” he said again, “for Amy.” Flynn thought it was a moral victory over Lucy. He thought she was no better than him.

“You’re right,” she admitted, saying exactly what he wanted to hear. “You’re right,” she repeated, saying exactly what he did not want to hear. “I would.” She was no better than him. It was what the trips were teaching her. Lucy was learning how far she would go. She moved her own boundary at every turn, pushing it farther and farther back. She knew that, in time, one day, she would easily catch up with Flynn. And that was why they had to stop. “We are all so caught up in our grief,” she said, “in our past, in our pain, and we can’t let go, so we just continue to hurt more people.” Her words hit Flynn and affected him greatly. It was their reality, their selfish reality.

“I prayed to God,” Flynn whispered, “for answers.” His lip quivered as he doubted his own conviction. He looked down the road and Lucy followed his gaze. There, almost a mile away, sat a mansion upon a hill, lit from ground to roof in a way that denoted a large gathering. Without asking, Lucy knew he looked at the Rittenhouse summit. It was so close to him. “And He led me here, to this.” He took a deep breath through his nose, and it stuttered like a sob when it fell from his trembling lips in a white cloud.

Lucy came closer to him, so close. She could almost feel his body heat. With utmost sincerity, with honest consideration, she said, “What if He led you to me?” It was not the response Flynn expected. It was not a response he might ever have expected. His head twitched in an erratic nod as he tried to process it. He was listening. He was willing to hear her. He would hear someone who thought they were meant to find each other and be together. He was listening. Lucy felt an overwhelming responsibility not to let him down. “I know a way that we can really take out Rittenhouse,” she said. She had a plan that finalized itself as she spoke. “We have to stop trying to fix the past and focus on the present. Please,” she begged, and Flynn was so desperate for an alternative, he kept listening. “I know what to do now. Please, before it’s too late.” Flynn sniffed. It was loud in the winter night, where the only other sound within a mile was the car’s engine. Flynn wanted to believe her. He waited to believe her. “The journal,” Lucy said, citing his guide, using his most trusted source of information, “didn’t it say that we were going to work together?” It was the goal he wanted third in life, behind the resurrection of his family, behind the dismantlement of Rittenhouse. He wanted their partnership. He needed her. “Today’s that day,” she asserted. “Look how far we got, Flynn, together. We did it.” He looked over her shoulder at the mansion on the hill. Lucy dragged his attention back to her. “You helped me today… Flynn,” she said. “You spared my grandfather for me. So please,” she asked, “please… let me help you.” She wanted to save Rittenhouse from death. She wanted to remove them from power. She wanted what was best for Flynn. She had no other motive, and from her, he had nothing to fear. “Do you trust me?”

Flynn looked at her with big, pleading eyes. He wanted to trust her. “What?” His voice was weak and broken. He cleared his throat and tried again. “What is it you have in mind?”

“We use Ethan,” Lucy told him. She explained it very generally because there were still finer details she had yet to iron out. “It can work.” A cold wind blew and Lucy shivered. Flynn stepped between her and it. He shielded her from the worst of the gust.

“I can’t,” he apologized. Her plan was too uncertain.

“You can,” Lucy stated. “And you want to.” She knew him well by now. “You don’t want to kill those people. Please.” Lucy had begged Flynn to forgo murder before, when she stood between him and John Rittenhouse. He denied her then. “Please.” Lucy’s hand was warm in her glove. She could not feel Flynn’s skin, but she imagined it was chilled when she took his hand in hers. “Please. I don’t want you to do this.” She wanted to save Flynn from himself. She wanted to preserve what was left of his soul. He was too reckless with the precious thing, and she took responsibility of its care. He wanted to trust her. He did. Lucy gave him a backup guarantee that would satisfy all doubt. “This isn’t the only meeting,” she said, “right? If this doesn’t work, we can- we can go back further.”

“We?” He put such fearful optimism in that two-letter word.

“We,” Lucy confirmed. She would go with Flynn, accompany him to however many eras and however many summits it took. She was all the guarantee he needed.

Flynn touched her face. His hand was cold, as Lucy knew it would be. She did not care. She rested her cheek against his gentle palm. Flynn leaned down and kissed her. His mouth was warm. “Okay,” he surrendered. “Okay, Lucy.” She won. He let her win. It was the victory they both wanted. It was a plan they agreed on together.

Lucy drew back. “Ethan could be watching.”

“Let him watch.” It changed nothing. Flynn was unashamed. He was excited to kiss Lucy and proud to show off their burgeoning relationship, even with her grandfather watching. He had all the enthusiasm and negligence of a teenager. He wanted to celebrate.

Flynn’s arms wrapped around her, and he was such a warm, comforting presence. He was so strong, and it felt good to be held by that strength instead of assaulted by it, dragged around by it. They moved back and forth in a languid sway.

When they pulled away, white vapor exited both their mouths before mingling, disappearing, and being immediately replaced. Lucy ducked her head down and rested it on his chest. Flynn’s gravely voice rumbled against her ear.

“You trust him that much,” he asked of Ethan, “a man you just met?” Flynn stroked her neck and fingered the short, stray hairs at her nape.

“I do,” Lucy said. She would not suggest using him otherwise. “Do you trust me?”

“I do.” If it were anyone else, he would never take the chance. Flynn left nothing to chance, and he did not consider Lucy’s ingenuity as such. “You stopped me too many times for it to be dumb luck.” Lucy pulled back from him and saw a smile. “Kiss me again.”

“It’s cold.” Lucy wanted to get back in the car.

“Kiss me.”

It was the least he deserved. She pushed her lips against his. She opened and closed them with audible little smacks. They tilted their heads to get closer. The tip of Flynn’s sharp nose pressed into her cheek. His hands rested tamely on her back, rubbing with gentle pressure. Lucy put her gloved fingers on his neck and on his face. She wanted to take off the ridiculous things. She wanted to feel him. But it was cold. Lucy broke the kiss.

“You’re pretty good at that,” she panted, trying and failing to not sound worn out from such a simple exertion.

Flynn shrugged with a smirk. “You’re not so bad yourself, Lucy.” As with most things (talking, acting, planning), they were very good together, naturally compatible. Flynn looked at the car and chuckled. “He’s probably thinking the worst about his situation.”

“Come on.” Lucy took his hand and led them back to the warm car. “We have to go to the Lifeboat,” she said.

“Why?” Flynn did not think Lucy escorted him to a trap, but neither was he willing to take a chance on her team.

“Because Ethan needs to know how it works,” she said. “He needs to see it work. Wyatt should be back there already. That’s the plan if we ever get separated.” She hoped Wyatt returned to the Lifeboat and was not out scouring the city for her. She hoped Rufus was not doing the same thing, especially with his gunshot wound. “I’ll go with you, Flynn,” Lucy promised, “in the Mothership. I’ll leave with you so I can’t… change anything after you’re gone.” She would not leave his side. “But we have to do this first.”

“All right,” he agreed. It made sense and he could not object.

They got back in the car. Flynn kept his gun tucked away. He had decided to trust the man, Lucy’s grandfather, her family.

“Well?” Ethan prompted, drowning in curiosity and concern.

Lucy put the car in drive and made a sharp turn to take them back the way they came. “Not today,” she said. Rittenhouse received a sixty-year pardon.

“Not to… When?” He was anxious for an end to it all. He would have to wait.

“I can’t explain yet,” Lucy told him. “But soon.”

“Don’t worry,” Flynn cheerily said. “You’re still not dispensable.” Ethan was safe.

By the time they neared the city, it was early morning. When they made it to the warehouse where the Lifeboat was stored, the sun was coming up. Lucy was so tired. She was three days without sleep and running on empty. But it was not yet the time to rest.

Ethan was more surprised by their reception than Wyatt and Rufus were to see Flynn. It was a hostile arrival. Wyatt pulled his gun as soon as he saw Flynn get out of the car. Lucy stood between them with her back right up against Flynn, leaving no separated space between them, no opening for a shot.

“Lucy!” Wyatt exclaimed.

“It’s okay,” she promised. “He’s not here to hurt anyone.”

“He had Al Capone shoot me!” Rufus yelled.

“He kidnapped you again,” Wyatt stated.

“I went with him,” Lucy said, proving freewill. “I asked him to take me. And when I asked him not to kill all of Rittenhouse, he listened. He didn’t do it. Please, it’s all right.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Rufus said. “We gotta get Jiya back home. She’s in the Lifeboat. Something happened to her.”

“What?” Lucy questioned. “What are you talking about?”

“Probably has to do with carrying too many people,” Wyatt said. They obviously spent the night talking about it, worrying about it.

“We gotta get her back,” Rufus insisted. He did not care about the showdown going on. “Now.” He looked between Wyatt and Lucy, urging them to drop it.

Begrudgingly, Wyatt put away his gun. He kept a heavy glare on Flynn. It was a safe enough assault that Lucy could step away. She went forward and explained time travel to Ethan. He met them with understandable disbelief.

Not needing more added onto the overwhelming moment, Lucy was grateful Flynn did not make a spectacle of them in front of the team. He kept a professional distance and did nothing so obscene as kiss her or lean in too close, whisper in her ear. He was an exhibitionist in front of Ethan. With Wyatt and Rufus, he knew better. He knew what could hurt them. He knew who could change Lucy’s mind, talk sense into her. So he stayed away. He acted decently civil towards Wyatt and Rufus. He spoke when spoken to, and he did not approach until the Lifeboat was gone.

Ethan believed in time travel.

When Lucy told him she was his granddaughter, his immediate response was to remark on how she looked like his mother, her great-grandmother. Following that, while still processing, his eyes drifted to Flynn with obvious thoughts. He saw them together on the road. He could not have missed it. What he ignored before with strangers carried a different weight once Lucy was related to him. If he felt a familial, gentlemanly obligation to object, he subdued it and said nothing, unsure of his place in her life.

Lucy kept them focused on what really mattered. She told him her plan, the plan to stop Rittenhouse, the plan that depended on him. Lucy made the decision— for them— to trust Ethan. Flynn trusted her. Together, they convinced him.

“You know how Rittenhouse operates,” Flynn said. “You know the consequences. You know how they make examples of failures, deserters, traitors.” Flynn knew more about Rittenhouse than Lucy. Ethan knew more than Flynn. “I want you to understand…” He came closer to Ethan, penetrating his personal space. “Understand that I am… I’m learning… their cruelty. Understand what they’ve done to me.” He inhaled deeply. “My daughter was five,” he stated. “Your son is two. But I think we can both agree, Ethan, that tragedy is not a numbers game.” Lucy did not think Flynn could kill a child. She had watched him struggle with it before. But there was also no telling what he would do when pushed to the brink. “Do you understand that, Ethan?” Flynn encroached even further upon the man. He dipped his head and stared into his eyes. “Do you understand?”

Ethan nodded but could not form words. He was terrified. Lucy intervened.

“Stop,” she said. “Please, just- just stop.” She pushed on Flynn’s arm until he allowed himself to be moved out of the way. She stood in front of her grandfather. “Ethan,” she said, “we don’t want to threaten you. We know you hate Rittenhouse, and we know you want to see them taken down just as bad as us. We can do that, but we need your help.”

“Yes,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll try.” They could depend on him. He would work within his capabilities.

Flynn walked to the driver’s side of the car but only to climb into the backseat once more. “You can drive,” he said, giving Ethan permission like he had final say. “Lucy?” His request was clear. Lucy got in the back with him.

As they drove, Lucy went over the finest details of her plan. Flynn was quiet, but she knew if he had anything to add, he would. He was satisfied with her explanation. He held her hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of it in a gentle caress. When her words ran out of momentum and the car went silent, Flynn moved his arm behind Lucy’s shoulders. His hand curled closed and he stroked her right cheek with the backs of his fingers. It was a very tender, sweet touch. It was very visible in the rearview mirror.

“You guys are, uh,” Ethan cleared his throat, “you’re married?” Flynn wore a ring, but if Lucy had a matching one, her glove covered it. He assumed. “You know, in the… future?”

“We’re…” Lucy sighed. There was no good explanation for it, not even by the looser standards of the 21st century. “We’ve known each other a few months now.” It was the best she could offer.

“I assure you, sir,” Flynn said, a noble statement almost undone by his smirking lips, “I have only the, uh, best intentions with your granddaughter.”

They kept his secret and did not judge. Ethan was obligated to return the favor. “Okay,” he said, “all right.”

Lucy knew Flynn wanted to kiss her again and make some sort of point. He forewent the uncomfortable display. Ethan knew about them— Ethan, and no one else. He was the only person they could carry on around. That Flynn did not take advantage of it told Lucy they were done for now. They would be done until they were alone again, and there was no telling how long that would be. They were mature enough to keep themselves off each other. But Flynn did keep a hand on her at all times, touching Lucy, taking advantage of the privilege.

“You’re tired.” He could tell.

Lucy did not bother lying. “Yeah,” she murmured. They would be done soon.

Flynn pulled on her shoulder, drawing her in until she rested against his side and laid her head on him. Lucy closed her eyes and dozed but did not sleep. She listened to Flynn give the occasional direction that led Ethan to the Mothership. It was a short drive.

Unintentionally, Lucy thought of when she was a child and pretended to be asleep in the car so her father would carry her to the house. That did not happen now, of course. Flynn patted her on the arm. “We’re here.” He let Lucy rouse herself and sit up before he moved.

They said goodbye to Ethan and let him return to his family after being gone all night. He insisted on staying to watch another time machine take off. It was an understandable fascination.

Flynn ignored all questions and comments from Emma. They left. When they jumped to Flynn’s hideout and disembarked, he stared at Emma until she took the hint and walked away. With such a demand for privacy, Lucy assumed he had something important to say or do. Flynn made no actions to verify that.

“Wish me luck,” Lucy said, starting the farewell conversation herself before she left to meet with her grandfather for his first time in sixty years.

“No,” Flynn refused, “I have… too much depending on this to rely on luck.” He had difficulty relying on anything other than his own two hands. “But I’ll count on you.” He tried to smile, but he was too anxious over the whole situation to keep it going. “You always find a way, Lucy. I’m putting my trust in your, uh, proven… effectiveness.”

Lucy felt every ounce of the burden Flynn gave her to come through for him. “I won’t let you down,” she promised. He nodded and said nothing. He waited for Lucy to do something. He waited for her to kiss him again— instead of the other way around. Flynn wanted a voluntary goodbye kiss. Lucy swallowed. She looked around the wide, open warehouse. Emma was nowhere in sight. They were alone. “Can you, umm… Can you lean down for a girl?” she asked with a nervous chuckle. Flynn smiled and obliged.

He no longer cared if he messed up her hair.

The goodbye after that was slower and less awkward. A possibility hung in the air, something to come back to besides business. Lucy found she liked it that way.

When she got to the city, Lucy called Wyatt’s phone. Rufus had taken Jiya to a hospital, risking detection for her when he would not even do it for his own gunshot wound. Lucy asked for company when she went to visit her grandfather.

Ethan was different, of course, very different after so many years, but he was the same around the eyes. He looked at Lucy, then Wyatt. “Where’s Flynn?”

“On the lam,” Wyatt answered before Lucy could, “like always.” He did not miss Ethan’s reaction. “But I’m guessing he probably forgot to mention he’s a terrorist.”

Ethan recovered quickly. “I know who Garcia Flynn is,” he said. “All of Rittenhouse does.” He looked at Lucy and confirmed for her, “I know he didn’t kill his wife and daughter.”

“I know.” Lucy lost her doubt long ago.

“I know who did,” he said.

Ethan gave them everything they needed to take down Rittenhouse. He recorded every name in the party responsible for the attack on Flynn’s family. Lucy was so grateful to him. She was glad to have the information for which Flynn depended on her.

Flynn was nervous when they met again, though Lucy felt a stranger would not pick up on it. She saw. She gave him the flash drive she promised. Flynn stared at it a moment then tucked it away in his pocket.

“I think maybe I’m owed the truth now,” he said. He did not need anything else from Lucy. She did not need anything from him. They could speak freely and jeopardize nothing. “Was any of it how you really felt?” A day apart gave him ample hours within which to second-guess and overanalyze everything.

Reluctantly, painfully, Lucy confessed, “It wasn’t.” She played along with Flynn, hoping to win his cooperation. It worked. “But then it was.” She fell prey to her own plot. Kissing Flynn opened two doors of opportunity. One was a strategy. The other was something else, something much more traditional. That thought concerned Lucy. It had since the moment she realized she enjoyed it, enjoyed him.

“Thank you,” Flynn expressed, “for telling… me… the truth.” Lucy knew it meant a lot to him. She wanted him to trust her. “I’ll be gone a few days,” he said. He planned on being thorough. One last trip and he would be done— forever. “When I get back, I might…” Flynn dropped his gaze down, down onto the concrete. “I might, uh, ask… you.. on a date.” He smiled at the ground. “Maybe do things the right way, get to… know each other… the right way, not in a journal or a, uh, classified file.”

He made himself so vulnerable and exposed. Lucy wanted nothing more than to take pity and say yes. She had to be more responsible than that, for both their sakes. “I think maybe,” she said, “you need to come back first, see your family, see what you…” She inhaled and blew it out in a tired sigh. “See what you still feel for your wife.” Again, Lucy felt jealous. Flynn picked up his head, ready to object. “Ask me again, Flynn,” Lucy interrupted, and she meant it. “Ask me again when you get back.” She would trust his proposal then.

“All right.” It was a mature, rational concession. Flynn read between the lines of her denial. All that was pending was the question, not the answer, and he had no worries on his end. How could he not smile over that?

Unfortunately, by the end of the next minute, Flynn would never trust Lucy again.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I know how much you love your trash OT3 but you also love Garcy so much, do you ever felt like writing it?

Hello nonny! That is a great question, and is going to earn you a long winded answer because I am incapable of shutting up ever.

(…wait was this for the yes/no thing? TOO LATE I ALREADY COMPOSED MY ANSWER)

I do love Garcy and if anyone prompted me for them, I would be happy to write that prompt (given that the prompt itself is something I want to write, I’ve gotten some… ah… distasteful prompts, let’s put it that way, which I have had to ignore or decline). When I’m in a Garcy mood I tend to write smut between just the two of them and stick it into Like a Dumpster on Fire (my smut collection).

However, I tend to write Garcyatt for three reasons:

1. Most of my Garcyatt story ideas that you see me publish I actually wrote the idea down for months and months ago back when season two first started, before Wyatt cocked up royally and we met Jess. I’ve now grown far too attached to those stories and so even though they’re being published much later, now that we know Jess and the mess that Wyatt made of that whole thing, I thought them up back when Wyatt was only half a mess and I love the ideas too much to let them go.

Because I’m stupid and stubborn that way.

And I think after that my brain kind of got hardwired to see stories through a Garcyatt lens and it just got stuck that way.

2. If I wrote Garcy I’d have to write Jessica and Wyatt together romantically and as much as I love watching them together and I’m rooting for them for some reason I can’t seem to write them romantically to save my life. So that’s a stumbling block.

(I tend to write Wyatt, and his interactions with Lucy and Flynn, as how Wyatt could be. The person I know that he can be. Which has strangely gotten me salt from both Garcy shippers who hate Wyatt to the point of being unfair AS WELL AS salt from Lyatt shippers who think Wyatt is Pure and can Do No Wrong.

This has been overall very confusing but I suppose that I can rejoice in the fact that I’m talented enough to anger TWO sides of a ship war?)

3. *deep breath* Okay so. I am. An idiot. I SUCK at writing plots and I struggle with Flynn’s point of view a lot of the time because he’s sassy and witty and I am neither. Well, I mean, I’m sarcastic and salty so we do have that in common at least. And I just kind of… end up bowing to other writers like @qqueenofhades (who is ohmygod just the QUEEN of Garcy don’t let anyone tell you any different) who write Garcy so so so well. So I mean, prompts yeah sure I can do that (and definitely smut) but the big plot-oriented fics? Ahhh… I just… kind of… mentally freak out and I honestly don’t think I could write their dynamic (or get into Flynn’s head) in a way that would do justice to them.

So anyway. 

tl;dr: Most of my Garcyatt stories were planned well in advance before Wyatt pissed us all off and now I’m invested, I can’t write Jess/Wyatt for some reason, and I’m scared I can’t do Garcy justice so there ya go.

But again: if you would like to prompt me something short, or some smut, then by all means please do so!