Timeless: Through Time - Garcy

Mrs Sherlock Holmes (1)

Rufus

She said you hurt her so
She almost lost her mind
But now she said she knows
You're not the hurting kind

She says she loves you
And you know that can't be bad
Yes, she loves you
And you know you should be glad

- The Beatles, She Loves You

Rufus observed Lucy across the sofa like she was some kind of zoo attraction, keeping his distance from the frazzled unwashed hair that fell over her eyes. She'd gnawed on the tough lid of her pen until it looked like mush and had read the same pages of a dull looking Titanic book over and over again, occasionally sighing aggressively whenever she realised she'd missed something and went back a page. It was a deeply disturbing sight - like a tiny fluffy gerbil gone feral.

Rufus cleared his throat.
"So, are we going to talk about it, or..?"
Lucy looked up and crankily swept her mane clear of her face.

"Talk about what?"

"Why you've beaten that pen to a pulp," he responded pointedly.
Lucy lowered it slowly from her mouth and looked dully surprised to see it there.

"Sorry. I study when I'm stressed."
Rufus only gave her a pitiful look and it eventually dawned on her how sad that sentence sounded. She opened her mouth to rectify it, getting out "Emma-" but a clamour of noise cut her off. Speak of the devil.
The alarm - another jump.
He sighed heavily.
"At least work will keep your mind off it."

She didn't bother to mark the page when she stood up, a clear sign something something was amiss in Lucy land. He didn't exactly have time to ask about it, though, because the computers violenty flashed the same one date.

"New York, 1919, March 4th," he read animatedly. "What happened?"

Lucy shook her head, clearing all the fog gathered up there. "Um, that was Woodrow Wilsons last day in the United States before traveling to Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles."

Flynn materialised behind her, and Rufus noted the smile that barely flickered over both of their faces before returning to a frown.
It was like they thought he didn't even notice them jump apart as soon as he entered the room.
"You think they're gonna kill Woodrow Wilson to stop this treaty?"

"That treaty basically reorganized the world. Borders redrawn, colonies gained freedom..."

"Sweet," Rufus nodded, "Rittenhouse wants to make Germany great again."

It didn't get many laughs.

---
nyoom smooth scene cut

Reporters swarmed the hotel lobby, all atwitter thanks to whoever had been shot upstairs. If Lucy had been frazzled before, it was nothing compared to how she was now - her hair might be neatly scraped under a sensible black hat, but her hands still shook and picked nervously at her skirts. If it turned out President Wilson had been shot, 'fucked' couldnt do justice to the mess they would be in. No treaty of Versailles? No League of Nations? No nineteenth amendment? No thanks.

"I'm gonna find out what's going on," Flynn said, scanning over everyone's heads. Wyatt bristled and stopped him in his tracks.

"I got it."

"No, I don't mind-"

"I said I got it!"

Rufus and Lucy performed a synchronised eye roll, and she barged ahead of the both of them.

"Excuse me," she called out, jogging over to a police officer, "excuse me, Officer, was President Wilson shot?

He didn't even glance at her.