Timeless: Through Time - Garcy

The Stonewall Rebellion (2)

All of a sudden, Flynn was reminded that Wyatt was... Young. He had aged decades in some ways, but was so stunted and vulnerable in others. Flynn felt a strange urge to protect him, similar to the way he felt for Jiya... Of course, he wouldn't be telling him that.
"I can relate to the crappy father, at least."

Flynn barely remembered his father now. From what was still there, he knew that was a small blessing.
Wyatt held up his glass and clinked it to his. "To crappy fathers."

Flynn laughed dryly. "To crappy fathers."

Wyatt watched the bar life, rowdy and full of laughter with a soldier's eyes; perfectly still, calculating.
"You know what it's like in the army. I thought it'd scare me straight, but really, trying to immerse myself in it just made me feel worse."

"It doesn't just go away like that," he agreed. They'd found, if not a common ground, then at least one that wasn't a battlefield. It occurred to Flynn that the reason they may have been so hateful of eachother was the very fact they were similar.

"I know that now. I'm coming to accept it, thanks to people like this, and like Agent Christopher. It's all... A journey."

Flynn could only nod, still slightly stunned that Wyatt was being vulnerable - with him. "Hey, thank you for trusting me with this."

"I didn't have much of a choice, did I?"

"I suppose not," he chuckled with ease.

Wyatt took another sip, quietly thoughtful. "You said something to me once. The first time we spoke. You said... We were two grunts in the same war. I should've believed you."

"No, I-"

"Let me say this, alright? I know I was against you from the get go. But it wasn't... Really about you. It was about them. I think I was so caught up on protecting Lucy and Rufus from you because... My whole life, I searched for that family I never had when I was little. I proposed to Jessica when I was nineteen, and I had a family with my squad, and they both died. That's what made me the way I am today, really, not my dad. So when I met Lucy and Rufus, I wasn't gonna let them go."

"I understand."

"It was a bit about you, though. You were a massive dick."

Flynn laughed - actually laughed - along with Wyatt. "Fair enough."

"But you know what it's like to be a widow. What it's like to lose your wife, your partner in life, and in everything... I shut down. I did anything that was dangerous, that might..." Kill me. "I know you understand that, because you did too."

Flynn sighed heavily. "It's what we were taught."

"But then I met Lucy, and Rufus. And life seemed a little brighter, and then a little more, until after years of being alone, I suddenly had people who I would consider family. Which is why if you're playing her, or if you hurt her, I swear I won't even hesitate."

Flynn reminded himself not to default to fighting with him. "When Jessica died, how long did it take for you to even look at another person?"

He looked down at the table. Looked up. "I didn't."

"So you think I'd, what did you say, play Lucy like that? So casually? She's everything."

Wyatt jerked his head in a menacing nod, as if he hadn't lost nearly every confrontation he'd ever gotten himself into with Flynn. "Alright."

"And hey, if we're being nice to eachother-"

"One night only."

"For one night only, then I'm going to thank you."