Time Warp: What Could Have Been - tags Lucy

[Sawyer Lynn]

May 7th 2025

Eleven years was long enough for Sawyer to have gotten to a good place in her life where she could distance herself from the old her. The mere caricature of her. She wasn't fully developed yet, for sure. She wouldn't be Sawyer if she were.

And life had been so great to her. She had a steady paying job, an amazing studio apartment she occasionally shared with her blast from the past and she still had her patchwork bunch of Hammel friends (read: family) she still hung out with till this day. She had no complaints.

Except one.

It wasn't so much a complaint as it was a disappointment. Lately, she had been trying for a child. She had planned everything out perfectly but each time, it was a bust. Rowan had gone to get himself checked and after a week of waiting, they found out Rowan was perfectly fine. This time, it was Sawyer's turn. She didn't want the doctor to call her so she went to the clinic herself.

Rowan asked if he should come with her but one look from the voice mimic said it all. The wait was unbearable and though she was dressed impeccably in a sharp three piece, Sawyer's leg could not stop bouncing. Her hand fidgeted as she was tempted to call her best friend. Her name was already on the screen. All Sawyer needed was to pressed the green call button.

She didn't get the chance to when her name got called. Dumping her phone in her bag, she walked into the room and the look on the doctor's face could not have made things any clearer.

After the appointment, Sawyer sat at the coffee shop she now regulated. She rubbed her thumb against the lip of the mug and waited for Lucy to appear.

Hey Cy. Got news for you. Meet me at Frays?

...

Okay. Just your sexy self, all right?

She had tried to sound casual but Lucy had a way of finding out when casual did not mean casual at all.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It'd been a fair while since Lucy's last good (read: kickass) trip overseas for work. When connected to the Chevalier's and their artwork distribution company, she had little to worry about by way of a lack of work. A thirty-year-old Lucy Serrano was every bit as obnoxiously rude and abhorrent as she always was, though more defined with age.

She'd spent the morning tattooing butterflies and tribal swirls and other mediocre shit, spend a good half an hour laughing about it with Ivy before she went with every intention of spending her afternoon in the studio. She told Penny she'd be home at five. Maybe six at the latest.

Then she got a phone call.

"Yeah, okay." Lucy'd replied. That sounded casual, right? "I'll... Be there soon."

Once finished, the Australian shifted about the overtly messy interior of her studio, sliding her phone into her pocket and finding her keys amidst a myriad of opened, half used pots of paint. She didn't bother to change; she didn't feel she had the time. She got there quick enough - probably too quick, if someone mathed out the time it'd usually take to drive from where she worked.

Lucy all but ran in the door, stopping after her first step to not look like such a crazy person. She knew something was wrong, she just didn't know what. Tugging on the sleeve of her flannel over shirt, the Australian studied the various paint splatters she'd adorned it with. Ah, fuck it. Sawyer wouldn't care.

"Bring me some fucking coffee." She ordered at the counter, breezing past beyond that and sitting settling in a seat across from Sawyer.

She smiled, in a typically amused way. "Aren't we a bit old to be sneaking around? If you love me, just fucking tell me already. You know you're always gonna be my number one."

[Sawyer Lynn]

Though the wait had not been long at all, considering, Sawyer got lost into what had happened in the doctor's office.

How are you Miss Lynn?

Peckish. Might try the Shawarma place that just opened two blocks from here.

*sympathetic smile*

I've got your test results back.

Brilliant. Bring it on.

I'm afraid-

Nah...don't continue that. I...thanks doctor.

But I'm not-

Nope. No use sugarcoating it. I kinda knew it even before my partner got his test results back. I don't even know why-

She had left without finishing her sentence and there she was now, boring a hole in the coffee table.

Blinking up at Lucy's appearance, a smile immediately appeared on the voice mimic's face, one that didn't quite reach her sunken eyes.

"You know I love you, baby. It goes without saying." She shook her head before leaning forward and pecking Lucy's cheek a little longer than usual. She found that she just wanted to fall and not get up but forcing herself to sit back on her chair, Sawyer picked up her mug and started to sip, just for want of something to do.

"You gonna get something to eat?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Yeah well," Lucy sighed, leaning into the contact for the usual allotted time before trying to pull away. But it seemed different - it almost irked her train of thought; "Maybe one day you'll have the balls to leave your dancing fairy boyfriend and be my wife forever, like we planned."

Idly, the Australian was already glancing around the place for her order. Whatever it was going to turn out to be. She wasn't exactly specific.

"Nah," Lucy replied, "There's this chick at my place who likes to cook. I can't take that away from her." The eldest Serrano leaned back in her chair, laughing with what energy she had that wasn't contained by her nervousness. "I'm pretty sure she knows I'm not really working late."

She'd play for however long Sawyer wanted her to. The shift in conversation was up to her. When she was ready.

[Sawyer Lynn]

It took her awhile to laugh at Lucy's suggestion, and when she did, it sounded a little out of place. "My dancing fairy boyfriend would die if I did that. Although, we could always all just live in a compound like the Amish."

The mention of Penelope made Sawyer smile. Mostly due to the look the ink manipulator seemed to always have whenever the Brit was mentioned. Briefly, she thanked whoever was listening for giving them both lives they don't actually deserve but exactly what they needed.

"So um...you know Ezra McKickass Lynn Hyphen Booker? Yeah...she's not happening." Sawyer shook her head, her voice breaking at the end but surprisingly no tears came.

She scratched the bridge of her nose and laughed. She didn't know what else to say and she already made this impromptu reunion awkward.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"I reckon I could handle more than one wife." Lucy interjected. Yes, in this analogy, even Rowan would be her wife.

Lucy let her own laughter die down in time. She folded her arms, and when it was all gone, the remnants of her amusement remained in a smile. How she got here - with these people bothering to remain in her life - was beyond her. But she was happy with them. Happy to have them.

When Sawyer finally spoke, concern coloured Lucy's dark eyes. She immediately felt confused. Lucy leaned forward, folding her arms on the table instead.

True to form, she was bounding to conclusions.

"What the fuck did he do?"

That was it. In the next second she'd procured her phone from her back pocket. She was so angry she could barely focus on the spelling errors and potential grammatical fail she'd usually eradicate.

[DeWitt: IM GONA FUCKIN KILL YU]

[Sawyer Lynn]

Sawyer, for a brief moment, entertained the idea that everything was absolutely fine and she hadn't just gotten home from the clinic. She laughed at Lucy's joke, also thinking that Rowan was definitely the wife in this context and particular dynamic. She reckoned he wouldn't mind it that much either.

But the transition, though smooth, did not leave things unscathed. Sawyer forgot Lucy's tendency to jump to ridiculous conclusions. Although when the phone was whipped out, Sawyer's lips parted. She wanted to snatch the phone away from the ink manipulator, knowing almost down to the T what she was doing with the phone.

"No, no don't threaten to kill him, bubba. It's not his fault. Stop~" Sawyer slapped the table in a vain attempt to grab at the phone. By then, she knew her futile attempts had not stopped the message from going through. "Oh God, you silly bint. Rowan's done nothing wrong." She paused to breathe. "It's me. Rowan's fine." Sawyer took out her tablet and searched for the PDF she was sent by the doctor explaining why she couldn't have any children.

Hostile environment...low egg count...sterile.

Those were all she needed to know. "Probably from all the sleeping around I did in Hammel, right?" She tried to make light of it, even though her throat thickened with every passing syllable.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Nah, fuck him." Lucy interjected, not so quietly as someone finally came over to give her some fucking coffee. What it was, she still didn't know. She didn't look. Her eyes were on her phone.

At the news that Rowan did not in fact deserve to die, Lucy raised her head and stared across the table towards her. "Oh."

She went back to her phone.

[DeWitt: False alarm.]

Lucy knew that Sawyer wasn't about to lie to her when it came to Rowan's position in whatever the hell was going on. The prospect hadn't really dawned on her yet, so when she tentatively slid the device into her back pocket, she felt her mind reeling.

No.

"Don't." Lucy waved her hand at the device.

She wasn't an idiot. She could figure it out. IT wasn't that she didn't want to. It was that she couldn't. "Fuck." The word fell from her mouth. "No. God no. Fuck no. Fuck them, this is just-" What was the most irritating thing about it was that she didn't know what to say. What was the protocol for friends talking about this?

"Fuck the coffee." Lucy denoted finally, standing up and searching her pocket for whatever cash she was readily carrying. She tossed a very cinkled twenty dollar note at her untouched beverage. "We need a bar."

[Sawyer Lynn]

Sawyer shook her head in amusement, giving her best friend an affectionate look of consternation. She rolled her eyes at Lucy as she scratched the back of her head, letting Lucy go through her thought process.

The voice mimic was quietly grateful that of all things Lucy was saying right now, "Sorry" was not one of them. Sawyer wouldn't be able to handle an "I'm sorry". Not from anybody, especially not from Lucy. She always thought it was an empty gesture.

"Best thing I've heard today." Sawyer forced a laughter as she grabbed her belongings and followed Lucy out the door.

She so wanted to say something...anything to make the situation less quiet but everything seemed rather pointless. She felt selfish, if she asked Lucy about anything good happening in her life. She didn't want to feel like Lucy didn't deserve anything she got. That was all kinds of fucked up.

"Plus side though...I get to take the promotion they're offering me." It was a cruel thing to say or think but she needed to say something.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Truthfully, an apology crossed Lucy's mind very briefly. It was the thing people said to people in situations like these. It was the first sentiment Penny probably would have offered. But it didn't work for Lucy and Sawyer. And if the Australian ever tried, she'd hope to be slapped in the face for being such a thoughtless idiot.

"Good." She replied simply, offering the most mindless grunt to the wait staff who said the standard goodbye to them as they walked out.

Lucy stayed quiet as she walked, her eyes transfixed on the familiar surroundings. Slowly but surely the sun was descending, but the street was still coloured with the tangerine glow of the afternoon light. It was a short walk to a place she knew well, and she was still grateful she didn't have to bother fishing out her ID.

She secured a stool at the bar, doing her best to ignore the middle-aged man jamming out an acoustic set in the corner of the room. Primarily, it fell on deaf ears. "Tequila." The Australian ordered, knocking against the bar twice. If they were going to get drunk, it was going to be like adults who drank shots like teenagers.

"You don't need to take that promotion shit unless you want to." Lucy replied finally. "Do you want to?"

[Sawyer Lynn]

Dumping her bag on the floor by her feet, Sawyer took off her jacket and hung it behind her, revealing the rather tight-fitting light blue shirt that hugged her in the right places. It caused a few men to look her way. It was just too bad that was the last thing on her mind.

"Bring the whole damn bottle." Sawyer rasped out, undoing the top three buttons of her shirt to breathe. Lucy's question got Sawyer frowning. "Why wouldn't I want to? Four oh one kay, Luce." She chuckled mirthlessly. "The position's open...nothing's tying me down..."

Part of her realised that had she gotten better news from the doctor, she wouldn't be saying any of this. But Lucy didn't have to know. Although, given Lucy's ability to know Sawyer better than she did, the Australian probably already figured that out.

"Where the hell are those drinks, barkeep?" The voice mimic boomed.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy rested her arms on the bar and leaned forward, her eyes wandering when Sawyer decided it was the choice time to take off her jacket. And let loose on a few buttons. The Australian mentally shrugged off the fact that she felt a number of eyes on her friend.

"Yeeaaah I still don't really know what a four-oh-one-kay is. I barely handle money." She waved her hand at the thought. She'd get a decent explanation later. "But I'll take your word on its importance."

How she managed to live this long was no one's guess.

She wanted to tell her that it wasn't the end of the world. But it almost seemed to harsh. But two glasses were settled before them and the defining liquid poured. Before the barkeep could leave, Lucy managed to procure the bottle from his hand, setting it down between them.

"Yeah, okay. But that's not what I asked." Lucy started again, stopping momentarily to down the drink in front of her. "You're gonna go for this thing for four-hundred K?" Lucy asked, smirking at her own forced misinterpretation. She was already pouring seconds. "Do you want to work more?"

Was that what it meant for her? That she'd be gone more?

[Sawyer Lynn]

Sawyer rolled her eyes at Lucy's blatant disregard of anything to do with adulthood. She very briefly felt jealous of the fact that Lucy was well taken care of in pretty much all aspects of her life. Which isn't to say she hasn't had any struggles, but Lucy hadn't had to grow up at the same pace Sawyer did. Some people just had better luck in life.

"What's important is that I'm officially the youngest female junior associate to get this promotion." She pointed out, a little proud of herself for making it this far. She was pretty proud of both of them for making it this far in life. And still hang out together. Who would have thought twelve years ago, this friendship would be what it is now?

Grabbing the shot glass, Sawyer threw back her head and slammed the empty glass lip down on the counter top and hissed as the burning liquid travelled down her throat. She almost didn't hear Lucy's question but laughed at the misinterpretation. "It'll distract me from things sure." She shook her head lightly. "I don't know Lu. I know it's not the end all be all but I'd actually wanted this kid." She expressed before pouring her second drink into a new tumbler. A bigger one. She downed that in a few seconds and looked at Lucy.

"You think Row would hate me if I did that?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"So it's a title?" Lucy asked, furrowing her eyebrows in mild confusion. That still wasn't an answer to her question. A lack of a legitimate answer seemed to trouble her for the time being.

Truthfully, it surprised Lucy to know that Sawyer wanted a child. It wasn't something that readily came up in conversation with her. In fact, Lucy couldn't remember the last time they'd joked about her future baby's lengthy name. "Shit." The word fell from her mouth in her surprise. Who would have thought.

When Rowan's name appeared again, Lucy thoughtfully nodded. If someone wanted to know about his reaction, who better to ask?

"What I do know from winning the absolute shittest communicator award multiple times," Lucy idly poked at the glass in front of her, wondering how much pressure would make it fall. "Is that if you don't talk to him first you'll never know what's happening." Her thumb idly ran along the back of the ring on her finger as she looked back to Sawyer again; "You don't get to make big calls on your own any more."

Second drink down. She poured a third round for both of them.

[Sawyer Lynn]

Sawyer shook her head with an amused grin. She felt a bit like a douche though but it was kind of cute that Lucy was still figuring these things out. She needed to talk to Dom about letting her in on the business end of her deal. "The four-oh-one-kay itself is a yearly sum of money I'll be making if I take this promotion. And it can only grow from there. The position that follows is what I'm interested in." She admitted.

"Can you imagine though? My name on the official billing envelopes, the building's front office..." she was glad for this distraction. Talking about work made her forget what had just happened a few hours ago. This is also what Sawyer was interested in with this promotion.

Lucy's exclamation made her laugh. "Indeed." She responded as she twirled the tumbler on the countertop.

Leaning forward on the counter, Sawyer reached one hand behind her head and pulled at the hairband that had kept her now long hair in place. She listened to Lucy's advice and sighed. "That's what I'm trying to avoid. The talk." She accepted the drink and downed it in one gulp.

"I guess he'll be glad to know it's not his swimmers that's the problem." Sawyer pointed out with a wry smile. "Maybe I should ask him to leave. Nothing's keeping him with me." She dug one thumb into the corner of her eye and kept it there for a while. That talk would definitely be difficult. She'd actually grown to appreciate Rowan being around. She missed him when he went on his dance tours, she relished the time they spent together in and out of bed...it would be difficult to let that go.

Sawyer grabbed the bottle and poured herself one more glass. She was feeling a little light-headed already but she needed to numb her brain.