oKAY. SO. HERE’S THE THING ABOUT LUCY AND WYATT. WE’RE STARTING AT THE VERY BEGINNING BECAUSE I CANNOT SHUT UP. Wyatt is an asshole at first. There’s literally no way to spin that. It’s not hard to sympathize with him, though, because he lost his wife. Wyatt is a tricky character because it’s a pretty predictable plotline and it also sucks that Lucy is left to deal with that, but Lucy does, and that’s what finally gets through to him. It’s so clear how much he loves his wife, even if he romanticizes her. He was probably distant and the typical male struggling with emotions because toxic masculinity, at least from what Jessica has said, but he loved her so much. She really was his world. It doesn’t mean he had a healthy relationship with Jessica, it just meant it was his everything. It’s a common experience. So imagine losing that like he has. Plus, like he said to Rufus and Lucy later, he thinks of himself as someone meant to protect the ones he cares about. Again, typical, but nonetheless real, so the anger and frustration at losing Jessica would’ve overwhelmed him. Plus we don’t know much about his parents but we know he didn’t have a great childhood so Jess likely was the entirety of his family. So he’s hurting a ton and acts like an asshole to everyone because he’s so miserable he doesn’t care. Then he meets Lucy. At first the only thing they’ve got is chemistry because they literally don’t know each other, but you feel it the first time they look each other in the eye. It’s like she wakes him up, gets him to open his eyes and smile, because she’s finally speaking to him as a human being with actual standards who will stick up for herself even with the little things, like being called “ma’am” (which of course becomes endearing later). His anger is probably something that isolated him and also got him what he wanted in the past, but Lucy has the strength to stand up to it (and it’s all the more charming to Wyatt that at first, she doesn’t know she has that strength). Lucy softens him. He sees that she needs him to open up and in the end is willing to give her what she needs, and she, in turn, opens up to him. They start to bond naturally. Obviously their circumstances intensify this, but there’s still something there. She grabs his face and says she needs him, they trust each other exclusively, they fall into a rhythm and have developed this bond neither of them feel with anyone else; they become each other’s family after feeling like they’ve lost everything that meant the most to them (especially Lucy in 2x01). It’s a pretty slow-burn falling in love compared to the pace of the show. It’s natural. And sweet. He begins opening up about Jessica and we see the pain with which he speaks about her and how much he doesn’t like talking about her, but he’s willing to talk to Lucy about her. He grows until he’s willing to accept her saying that he should be open to possibilities; he starts to change his way of thinking because of Lucy, and she changes hers because of him. They are interdependent and they grow together. They conflict but they work it out, make up, and ultimately become stronger because of it, because they know a conflict can’t erase what they have. (Also this would be a whole other novel but I love Lucy. She’s so patient, so strong, so forgiving, in the season two finale she was the first to defend Wyatt, Agent Christopher, etc. when people started to fight with each other because she was able to see all sides.) Wyatt has been carrying guilt and there is no doubt in my mind that admitting to falling in love with Lucy would feel like a betrayal to him, a loss of his values, because what does that make Jessica? Is it okay to move on when just before meeting Lucy, he was ready to give up? And what was Lucy feeling? She may suspect he loves her, but has no way of knowing, reminds herself that he’s in love with Jessica and probably convinces herself it’s better this way since the more you care about, the more you have to lose. But then they both finally go for it. They’ve both lost so much, they’re both afraid to risk caring again because of how much there is to lose, but they can’t help it. Wyatt says that she saved him, but doesn’t do it in a manipulative way, doesn’t say “you are the only reason I’m alive and you have to stay with me because otherwise I’ll die,” he’s honest about how he was feeling. How numb he was. How she changed that fact, helped him remember how to feel again, by simply being there. She was soft and patient with him, pushing him in ways he needed but persisting in her efforts to know him because she cared, that is who Lucy is. There was no romantic goal for either of them at first, they just grew together as friends (albeit friends that thought the other was hot). And then when they finally had their night… she wakes up and he smiles and says “good morning” and she says it back and both of them have the BIGGEST smiles on their faces (brb crying rn). And she asks if it was okay and he says yes, they both think it was amazing, for the first time there’s hope, because “we have each other.” They are so natural and so happy to be with each other, you can tell how much of a dream it is. And then Rufus comes in and at the end, Wyatt turns to kiss her again. THINK ABOUT THAT. They just laugh that it wasn’t a secret and Wyatt turns back to kiss her, both of them so happy and content and probably a little incredulous that this was not a dream, acting like the sweetest couple who just love each other so much, they went from 0 to 60 overnight and it’s amazing, I mean, “be careful,” did you HEAR how soft that was???? I cry. And then Jessica happens and Lucy is heartbroken but trying not to be, and Wyatt is presumptuous in what he meant to her (even though he’s right) and eventually she lashes out at him (thank GOD). They fight it out because it needed to happen, they needed to confront the emotions that were happening. Wyatt not being able to leave his wife because he’s loyal and he does love her, probably always will. Lucy wanting Wyatt to be happy and truly believing that she is not what will make him happy and trying to deal with that while simultaneously dealing with the fact that Wyatt was her person, the one that comforted her and held her and reminded her that she had him when she lost everything. Before they fell in love, they became friends, he became her confidante and the person she talked to about the hardest parts of her life, the one she wanted to talk to. He tells her that he had no regrets because he knows it’s hard for her and he hates hurting her and he knew she needed him to confirm that, but it’s also an amazing bit of progress in his character because his wife is back. The one he’s been pining for, the one he was determined to never move on from, his one person, but he has no regrets because his feelings were genuine. They’re the first to rush to each other’s arms whenever they’re separated (note Wyatt’s super gentle hand on her neck when they didn’t know if she’d be okay), they hug each other so tight, he trusts her and she trusts him even when they don’t agree. And Wyatt’s lost a little of Lucy’s trust this season, but she is also the first to believe in him. The first to defend him. She is as betrayed as everyone else that Wyatt had doubts and didn’t tell them, but does she attack him like everyone else? No. She defends him. She supports him even after everything falls apart. And then there’s all the stuff happening with Flynn… Flynn came in at her most vulnerable, when she had opened herself up again, fallen into this safety with Wyatt, and then lost it. Losing the romance would be hard, but Wyatt was her confidante, he was more than just someone she had feelings for. She loved him more deeply than that. And up until that point, Flynn hadn’t shown any interest in Lucy while at the bunker. He was too busy isolating himself from the group, and before that, being rude and manipulative in prison. He offers her a beer and sits with her and gets closer to her while still isolating himself from everyone else, knows that she’s hurting and offers her someone to talk to but (especially since he was probably going to say he’s there because of her) his actions aren’t motivated solely by his caring for her. He knows she’s hurting and needs someone and takes that opportunity to work himself in. Rittenhouse used Jessica because that was the way to exploit not only Lucy’s feelings for Wyatt, but Flynn’s feelings for Lucy. Flynn becomes the person she relies on because she feels she has nobody and he’s there for her, but it’s not a strong romantic foundation. It isn’t something that has grown naturally, Lucy started in a very hurt place and it’s so easy to misattribute that attraction as well as what it could mean. He also has read a lot of things about her, and it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t be a little infatuated with someone who came from the future (especially someone as beautiful as Lucy let’s be real). Flynn and Lucy are what Wyatt and Lucy were when they almost kissed in 2x01, it wouldn’t have been right because there were other things going on; it isn’t about the two of them. I’m not anti-Flynn, but his storyline seems to have been abandoned. We don’t see much more of what he’s doing, what he wants, the season one storyline has been somewhat dropped. He isn’t developing as a character outside of his relationship with Lucy. Lucy is his obsession in many ways (especially since last season that obsession was Rittenhouse). Wyatt wasn’t obsessed with Lucy; he pushed her away from the beginning, he didn’t want to be vulnerable, didn’t want to feel anything, he wanted to be reckless. But Wyatt finally let go of this confusion, guilt, idea of betrayal in regard to Jessica. He told Lucy he loved her because he couldn’t deny it anymore. He tried so hard to love Jessica because that’s who he is, and it hurt Lucy, but she knew that was who he was and wanted nothing but happiness for him. I know it’s been pointed out that he struck her, and I know it’s not okay, but what’s happened is being misconstrued. He hurt her, yes, but it’s not like they were arguing and then he went to strike her. He and Flynn were fighting, and in the moment, he wasn’t thinking, he was FIGHTING. It wasn’t calculated or dispassionate. He was heated and didn’t think about who was trying to intervene and reacted in a way people often do when they’re grabbed. But there was INSTANT regret because Lucy is his weakness, just as Jessica was (but with a less unhealthy reason behind it). His voice immediately softened and everything with Flynn was forgotten because all that mattered was Lucy. He has been betrayed and hurt and it’s taken this, a second loss of Jessica perhaps even worse than the first, for him to fully accept the illusion of love he was clinging to because he considered moving on to be a failure on his part, a failure to be the loving, loyal husband he promised. When he felt like the death was his fault, when he had doubts about how he could be for Lucy (like he expressed at the Alamo). He needed to go back to Jessica. He never would’ve known how deep his love for Lucy was without it, he never would’ve come to the realization that it’s okay that he moved on, and Lucy wouldn’t have trusted his love either; she’s too smart for that. She would’ve had doubts in the back of her mind if he had chosen her over Jessica, especially given how huge Jessica was to him in season one. It would’ve undermined his loyalty to Lucy because he was so loyal to Jess but didn’t take the chance to be with her. Lucy has been soft, and forgiving, and loving toward him; fiercely loyal. And he’s finally ready to do the same. It’s not fair that she had to be so strong and feel so alone, but she loves him and she had that strength; Wyatt just wasn’t there yet, and as much as that sucks, as much as the timing hurt, it wouldn’t have been fair to Lucy or Wyatt if they had entered a relationship with doubts. But now. Now he KNOWS and can admit it to himself and feel happy about it. He can let go of a love for Jessica while also understanding that it doesn’t make it less special or real, it just means that it’s not part of his life anymore. He loves Lucy. And he’s going to be as fiercely loyal to her as he was to Jessica, even more so. She came into his life and saw him as a person, treated him with empathy, stood up for herself when she needed to but also was gentle and kind so he could heal. His loyalty to Jessica is admirable and it would’ve been out of character for him to drop that for Lucy. But that also means that now that he’s admitted it, Lucy is the one who will experience his undying loyalty and love. She had it before, but this way she knows it. And Lucy Preston deserves that.
