#timeless fic

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” Denise announced, already grabbing her coat off the back of the chair. The lifeboat had taken off and you were sitting at the control panel, playing games on your phone to pass the time as you waited for the jump back to present day. You weren’t a pilot and you didn’t go on missions, meaning you were grounded while Rufus, Wyatt, Lucy, and Jiya, inevitably, went back in time. 

Denise leaving the bunker to spend time with her family marked the normal progression of present day time. She left and you stayed with Connor and, recently, Garcia, while everyone else was gone. 

With yourself as primary company, you left the control panel, grabbing a blanket from your room before taking up residence on the couch. It gave you an optimal view of the lifeboat’s operating area in case anything needed immediate assistance but it was more comfortable than spinning around in a desk chair. Connor had been fairly inconsolable lately and preferred to be left alone, which was perfectly alright with you. 

You went through your usual routine, setting your water bottle beside the leg of the couch, stretching out across the cushions on your back, knees bent and feet planted firmly on the seat. 

“Would you be opposed to company?” A voice sounded behind you, the familiar Eastern European accent lighting your ears as you turned your head to look at Garcia, even taller from this angle. 

“No,” you began to sit up and he shook his head, coming around the couch to sit down between your feet and the arm. 

“There’s plenty of room.” He insisted, “what’re we watching?” 

“It’s some mystery series on Hallmark…I don’t have to think too much and nothing too traumatizing happens.” You replied. 

The quiet that settled over you as the movie began, as if you and Garcia always sat together like this, was accompanied by the feeling of his arm brushing your leg every so often. You considered offering to move, figuring that he was just being polite, though Wyatt swore he was incapable of human etiquette or emotion, but you were comfortable and really couldn’t be bothered. 

And it seemed, just like that, you fell into an entirely new routine. One where Garcia joined you for movies or to marathon a show while you waited for the lifeboat to come back. Occasionally you chatted with each other about something from your past lives, before time travel and bunkers and crazy conspiracies ruled your days. Yours was a much quieter life than his had been, a fairly routine childhood and a pipeline of success that lead to Mason Industries by chance. 

“What about family? Are you still close with yours?” Garcia asked one afternoon. He’d taken up spending his ‘in limbo’ time, as you referred to it, sitting with you. Today, it was a puzzle that was occupying your time. In fact, the 3000-piece jigsaw that you’d convinced Denise to bring you had been taking much of your free time and Garcia’s.  

“No...my family was very conservative growing up. They weren’t really thrilled with my interest in tech. It was a major disappointment for them that I didn’t wanna just...get married and have kids.” You shrugged. “It’s been years that I’ve even really talked to them, now they probably think I'm dead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied, his focus on the bottom edge of the puzzle, fitting in pieces to the border. You watched as he rooted through the box careful, turning over various pieces until he found the one he wanted and fit it into place. In the months that you’d been locked down here, your feelings toward Garcia had changed significantly. Wary at first, swayed by Wyatt’s words and percieved knowledge of wrongdoing, you considered Garcia now to be one of your closest friends. Companions? You weren’t sure what you wanted the word to be.  

Sometimes you thought you knew how you would like to define your relationship with him but then you heard Garcia talk about his wife and you felt guilty. When you’d mentioned the feelings to Lucy she’d only compared it to her own difficulty with Wyatt and his back-from-the-dead wife but you didn’t think it was the same at all. It wasn’t guilt that had Garcia still grieving but love, a sort of love that you considered admirable. But it was something you envied too, something that made you stop in your tracks everytime you wanted to imagine a scenario where Garcia and you meant something more to each other than just this. Entertainment when everyone else was gone.

“I shouldn’t say it’s okay but...I mind being down here less than I thought I would. Although, I’ve never been,” you looked to the empty space where the lifeboat usually sat, “out there. Maybe I’d hate being cooped up if I had. What do you think?”  

Garcia was the foremost authority on the past, in your mind at least. Even more so sometimes than Lucy. “I don’t mind this. If I didn’t have your company perhaps,” he replied, letting the end of his sentence linger.  

Two weeks later, whille you were fixing a control panel inside the lifeboat, Denise announced to the room that Garcia would be going on the next trip. You knew she’d been considering it for a while now, with Jiya’s continuing sickness and it seemed like the perfect opportunity presented itself. You leaned out of the lifeboat, watching as Wyatt cursed up a storm over the decision, droning on about the ability to trust the people you’re teamed up with. Lucy looked like she wanted to agree with him but she also looked like she wanted Garcia to join them. He was, after all, an assesst that they should have been using all along.  

While they argued, you sat on the ledge of the lifeboat and pretended to tinker with the door controls. Rufus said they’d been sticking and he’d been so worried over Jiya that he hadn’t taken the time to make any alterations.  

“You look good up there,” Garcia said, leaning against the rolling stairs as he looked up at you. The rest of the party continued on talking, ignorant to the two of you.  

“You’re only saying that so I’ll side with you,” you replied, nodding your head to the arguing parties.  

He shook his head, a frown appearing and then disappearing, “I’m saying it because it’s true. You should consider going sometime.”

“Rufus is irreplaceable,” you pointed out, “I’ll miss you while you’re gone though...I’ll have to work on the puzzle myself.”  

“I’ll be back before you know it.”  

When Denise called him back over to the group he patted the railing like he might’ve your arm and walked off to go over the details of the trip. You liked to imagine a lingering stare, a moment of hesitation, reluctance maybe, as he left your side. As if he wanted to go but didn’t want to leave you. It was all hopeful thinking, you told yourself, and he’d be back before you realized he was gone, just like he said.  

Except that wasn’t true at all. It felt like weeks that he was gone. Days dragging into each other and for the first time since he’d sat down with you on the couch to watch a movie, you felt restless. You couldn’t focus on the puzzle, on your yoga, on anything that the tv had to offer. You tried to sit through a movie with Jiya but felt yourself constantly glancing to the empty space where the lifeboat was supposed to be. Denise came in every morning and then left again in the evening, four times before they finally came back. The rush of wind felt more welcoming then ever and you watched eagerly as Rufus, Lucy, Wyatt, and finally Garcia, came out of the lifeboat.

Jiya had been just as restless as you, though she had reason to be, and she practically launched herself into Rufus’ arms once he was down the stairs. As Lucy insisted that she needed a shower and a nap, Wyatt walked straight to the kitchen and Garcia hung back, lingering by the control panel.  

“No heartfelt hello?” He teased, and you looked up at him still dressed in his 1950’s suit. Usually it was Lucy who detailed the mission to you, over coffee late in the evening once she’d relaxed, though you were itching to ask Garcia what had happened instead. Any excuse to spend time with him.  

“Should I have thrown myself at you?” You asked, laughing when he seemed to consider it for a moment. “I am glad you’re back, I felt like I was going a little crazy without your company.”

“I’m flattered.” He took a seat at Jiya’s usual spot, the rolling chair moving back slightly against the metal floor. “Anything happen while we were gone?” He asked.

“Nothing ever happens,” you laughed, “what about you...Lucy’s told me stories, so I know things always happen when you’re away.”  

You listened intently while Garcia recounted their latest mission. The suit he was wearing had been stolen off a clothes line in the backyard of a nice suburban household. It felt stiff and itchy on his skin and he’d been dying to get back to the bunker just to shower and change but now he was sitting there talking to you, not thinking about anything but keeping the smile on your face.  

Lucy did her usual quick change out of her clothes, folding them neatly on the bed across from yours and tying her hair back, dying for a cup of tea and possibly some time to unwind. She usually sought you out during those times, stealing you from your spot on the couch with Garcia to relive the excitement she’d experienced just minutes earlier. She always ignored the way you seemed so comfortable and content sitting next to the man who’d once been their enemy. She couldn’t ignore it now, stopping at the kitchenette and looking over to the computers, realizing that Garcia was still in that atrocious suit, sitting in Jiya’s chair, talking to you. His face lit up when you smiled and when you leaned forward to place a hand over his, she voiced her observation to Rufus, who was getting some ramen.  

“How long have they?” She started to say, unsure how she wanted to describe what she was watching.

Awhile,” Rufus replied, not even bothering to look, “if you ask they act like they’ve never even met each other though. I think both of them are kinda...unsure.”  

About what?”

“Our reactions? The future?” Rufus shrugged, “Wyatt’s wife came back...what if Garcia’s does? What if we go on a mission and all this disappears? There are a million what ifs Lucy...come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t thought about that with Wyatt?”  

“I have.” She replied, eyes straying from the scene in front of her when the teapot whirred, “but...Garcia?”  

Rufus shrugged again, finally tossing paper top from his ramen cup as he stirred the noodles with a fork, “there’s someone for everyone?” He offered, more like a question than a statement.  

Out of earshot, Garcia’s recollection of the days had wound down and you smiled almost fondly, “you should go and get comfortable, I’m keeping you.”

“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t want to be.” Garcia promised, laying his hand over yours on his arm.

“Well, I'm not going anywhere,” you promised, “change and we’ll work on the puzzle. I can make some coffee if you don’t mind caffeine in the evening.”