Wyatt took Lucy's arm into the crook of his elbow as they made their way out of Jiya's apartment. Her warm fingers fit perfectly beneath his. With practiced ease he loaned her his balance as they walked down the stairs. He felt her hip rub against his and savored the anticipation of so much more.

Lucy sighed with contentment, walking next to Wyatt. She smiled and glanced at his face in profile beneath the brim of his hat. What is with his period getup? What an incredibly adorable dork. When they reached the door, she idly scanned the parking lot for his Jeep, but did not see it.

"Did you call for a car?"

"Nope." He replied, unhelpfully.

"So, we're going to walk? You should have warned me and I wouldn't have worn these." Lucy flashed her calf, showing a high-but-not-quite-teetering heeled black strappy sandle. Laces and buckles wrapped around her ankle. Wyatt felt the urge to follow the maze of the the straps and free that delicate foot. Plant a kiss on the sole. Let his hand follow the turn of the calf higher... Later. Hold your horses fella. It's all about the journey.

"Would I do that to you?" he asked in an offended voice.

"I do seem to recall a lecture you gave us in 1754 about how we had to be prepared to walk long distances at any time, and how important foot wear is to any real mission."

Giving an embarrassed laugh, Wyatt led a quizzical Lucy near to a shiny plum-colored electric car. "Yeah. I was kind of an ass on that mission, wasn't I?"

"Kinda." She leaned over and breathed into his ear. "You do kinda turn up the attractive level to 11 when you're angry though." His arm came around her waist. He looked into her eyes, so close now. She went on, "Especially when you're worried about me." He claimed her lips tenderly, overcome with a wash of affection. Her eyes closed.

After the kiss, he kept holding her against him and rumbled into her cheek, "I'm always worried about you."

Her eyes rolled open slowly as a grin crossed her face, "Well, right now, all I'm worried about is our ride. What's your plan, Master Sargeant?"

"Voila!" He stepped back and gestured broadly to the car. "Your chariot, Fräulein. A Mason Industries 2017 Azur Q. With moon roof, heated seats, in-flight computer, self-parking features, mini-espresso bar and all your basic comforts of home."

"What?!" She grasped his arm and looked at him in disbelief. "You didn't just buy this did you? I mean Mason is generous, but this must be..."

"Yeah, 6 figures. Easily. No. Military pay even augmented by Mason's generous consulting fees wouldn't get me this anytime soon. But," he pulled a set of keys with a Mason Industries brass toggle on them, "I was able to wangle a borrow of the car from the man himself for the night." Wyatt pressed a button on the key setting the lights off briefly and the car let out a tuneful chirrup as the doors unlocked. As he helped Lucy over the curb, opened the door and helped her in, he went on, "And apparently any scratches come out of my hide not my pay, so let's go easy tonight." He leaned against the frame of the door, a half smile on his face.

"Easy. Absolutely." Lucy's breath caught in her chest arrested by his beauty. His blue eyes caught the light of the setting sun. He leaned forward and her mouth loosened, her lips trembling slightly ready for a kiss, when he paused and said, "May I?" Baffled she just nodded.

He leaned across, his shoulder brushing her breasts lightly, and grasped the sash safety belt above her shoulder and pulling it down to click it snugly in place. He hung there, leaning over her, suspended by his hand on the door frame. This time when her lips opened for him, his were there too, seeking her warmth. His hand tickled her ear, sending a jolt of electricity through her. Her arm came up around his neck, grasping him possessively to her.

Eventually, they separated. Lucy felt the blood rise in her cheeks. "I've wanted to do that for so long," Wyatt said. Her forehead wrinkled with an unspoken question. "Kiss you after buckling you in..." he trailed off, looking bashful suddenly. "Not the time or place in the Lifeboat, of course."

Lucy grasped his face and brought his lips back into full contact with hers again. Teasing his tongue into her mouth, nipping lightly at his lips and spreading small kisses down his jaw until she reached his ear and whispered, "As far as I'm concerned, any time or place with you is the right one, Sweetheart."

Wyatt closed his eyes slowly, feeling her touch. Since she had first told him he needed him in her life, just two days ago, the trickle of desire he'd felt for months to feel her skin against his had flooded his system. He held back the tide now with an act of will. He merely opened his eyes and shifted to give Lucy a look of desire and longing that shook her to the core.

"Soon," he told himself and her. Then he was closing the door, and finding his way to the driver's seat.

Lucy settled back into the soft leather of the seat, her pulse calming ever so slightly. That look. She felt warmth bloom between her legs and surge up her body. To distract herself, she looked around. From the space age lines of the car exterior, she'd expected the dash board to look like a cockpit. Instead it had a soothing, retro look with dials and knobs. A central computer screen glowed softly with time, temp, air pressure, weather and local features readout.

Wyatt got in the driver's seat and took her hand. He leaned over and kissed her lightly again, his hand caressing her cheek. She saw great affection written on his face with a lingering echo of that deep longing. Then he sat back up and spoke to the car.

"Wygand, navigate to..." he looked expectantly to Lucy. She rattled off an address. He pressed the button to turn on the engine and began winding his way out of the labyrinthine complex to the road. A black Ford started its engine and Wyatt gave a wave to Chuck, the security guard on duty for Wyatt that evening, who followed them out of the lot. Lucy leaned back languidly, gazing at Wyatt, savoring the moment. He glanced at her briefly and looked back to the road, smiling.

She shook herself out of her revery. Sitting forward she took in more of the interior, inlaid walnut on the dash, ingeneous extendable nozzles for coffee and steam with a row of delicate porcelain cups stacked and stowed. The cups were a shade suspiciously similar to the color of the car itself. Looking closely at them she realized that the apparently abstract pattern of gold on the cups was a repeating "MI" looped and entangled.

"This car..."

"Yeah?" Wyatt glanced at her as he took a turn. A dash light flashed telling him a car had stopped suddenly in front of him. He hit the brakes, pressing an arm to Lucy's middle.

"Whoa," she said in surprise as Wyatt and the seatbelt caught her. But she finished her thought, "...is a little bit much, don't you think?"

"Are you okay, Lucy?" She nodded, squeezing his arm affectionately before her released her. Then he drove on, responding to her question, "Oh, too much, huh?" He sounded deflated.

Lucy realized how her question must have sounded. She put her hand on his arm as he drove. "No! Not that you got one for us tonight. I mean, like all of it." She gestured around the cabin. Her eye caught on the traffic information scroll chugging its way across the bottom of the rear view window. "I mean, are you supposed to just drive around in this thing or move in?"

"Just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet." Wyatt flipped a switch and the moon roof slid open silently. He flipped a toggle and ambient sounds of waves lapping the ocean started up. Lucy felt the seat underneath her start to warm up. Then, she actually thought she smelled sandalwood.

"Now I feel like I am back in my college dorm room!"

"Yeah. Rufus told me about all this. I did not believe him. Mind if I tilt your seat back?"

"What?"

"Trust me."

She nodded and relaxed as he pushed a button and her chair back tilted low. She felt the seat move slightly forward, and the arms on the chair adjust giving her the perfect spot to relax into. She could look out and just see the occasional star, dim but present in the city glow. The sound of the waves lulled her. The oddly comforting sandalwood sent her thoughts drifting.

Wyatt's hand grazed across Lucy's bare arm every time he shifted gears. From the corner of his eye, he saw her breath deeper and settle into the chair. His eyes drifted lower, taking in the soft swell of her hips, her trim rounded thigh, the flash of white skin as she crossed her ankles beneath the folds of black satin.

"How you doing?" he asked at a red light.

"Hmm?" She rolled her head in his direction, peeping at him thru heavy half-lidded eyes.

"Am I losing you again, Professor?" he said softly. Wyatt put a hand out and captured hers, stroking it tenderly. "This too late for a week night?"

"Pshaw, mister." She roused herself and pulled his hand to her mouth, kissing it. The light turned green and he pulled it away with a slight squeeze.

"Good thing," he said. "This night is just starting and we have a lot in store."

"Yeah, about that," said Lucy. "I've been meaning to ask you about your period outfit. Did I miss a memo?" Groping around the edge of the chair, she found the controls and randomly jabbed at one of the buttons. Her head started descending further as the chair back dropped further.

He gave a quick glance her way, "Nope."

"Well that's mysterious..." she said, exasperation creeping into her voice. Lucy stabbed at another button. This one raised the whole seat up several inches before she reversed direction. She tried to land it at the level it had been when she sat down, but overshot, took it back up again, back down too far, and then just abandoned the effort somewhere.

"Um. Um, Lucy. Are you okay there?" Wyatt was clearly holding back laughter.

Lucy pulled her right hand out of the bowels of the car and whipped around to point her index finger at him. "You! Don't make me come up there and set you straight."

"I would never dream of it." he was laughing now.

"Oh, just wait until I figure out how to drive this seat, Mr. Logan. You'll rue the day you teased a Preston." She punched at the remaining button and began her ascent. "See!?" She lifted her hand to shake her finger at him again, realized she'd stopped moving the chair, then swapped hands so she could raise the chair back and tsk-tsk him at the same time.

"I'm shaking in my boots." Wyatt tried to stop laughing but failed.

"No respect!" She glared at him, her eyes nearly on level with him as she righted the seat at last.

"Okay, okay." Wyatt's face finally took on a more sober expression. "You have one mean Professor's look. I am scared for your students."

"They respect me." She crossed her arms haughtily and leveled another glare his way. Her arms framed her breasts and cleavage, and Wyatt tore his eyes away from the bewitching sight she made just in time to avoid a car entering his lane in traffic. More lights flashed on the dash, and the car dinged at him echoing Lucy's tsk-tsk.

"Watch the road!" Lucy called out.

Wyatt tugged at the collar of his shirt, flushing slightly. "I think I'm realizing how dangerous it is to flirt and drive." He kept his eyes on the road now, but said in a more serious tone of voice. "Lucy, I haven't messed this all up already, have I?"

She shook her head, then realized he was studiously not looking at her. "No, no. I'm just fooling around, Wyatt. But...you could make it up to me by telling me what you've got planned."

He pursed his lips, then shook his head. "It's...I probably shouldn't build it up but I just want it to be a surprise, Lucy."

"Fine," she said in clipped tones.

"Fine? Really?"

"Fine," she said in a soothing voice. "But..turnabout is fair play. I'm not telling you where I've headed us."

"You let the guards know, right?" asked Wyatt.

"Of course!"

"And you told them but you won't tell me?"

"I could say the same to you, Soldier!"

"Well, I think that's okay because we are almost there."

"No fair!"

"Hey, it's not my fault there was less traffic tonight." Wyatt pulled the car into a parking garage beneath a hotel and drove over to the Valet parking section. Drivers neatly dressed in maroon and white politely took the keys. One helped Lucy out of the car before Wyatt could reach the door, but he quickly claimed her arm.

"You all do realize I have been walking and opening doors for over 30 years, right?" She said to Wyatt once they broke away from the attendants.

"We're just being neighborly, ma'am."

Lucy rolled her eyes, then did a double take as they walked into a well-lit chamber to wait for the elevator alone. It was the first time she'd seen him in full light this evening. "Wyatt! What happened to you?" He had left his hat in the car and the edge of the yellow-purple bruise on his temple was visible. She pulled back the line of his hair, un-selfconsciously scrutinizing him. "You didn't have this last night!"

He pulled down her hands and kissed them both as he led her through the open elevator doors. "It's nothing. I got it sparring this morning."

"Oh!"

He looked at her conspiratorially. "But shhh...don't tell anyone. I was distracted. Thinking about a girl."

Her face broke into a grin. "Really? Just any girl?"

"Well, no. A pretty special girl. I think she's my girlfriend, if you have to know."

She put her arms around his neck, breathily saying "Yes, I do want to know..." But the elevator arrived and they broke apart again, sheepishly, as the door opened upon a crowd. They were separated by a group of tourists who pushed inside. Wyatt struggled his way out first and reach in to guide Lucy and her heels over the gap. They came out on a busy San Francisco street, with rows of restaurants and shops marching in a row each direction away from the tall hotel behind them. A buzzing from his phone alerted Wyatt to a message from Chuck saying he would be up from the garage shortly.

"Where to now, ma'am?" Wyatt eyed several of the establishments nearby trying to guess which restaurant they were headed to.

Lucy shook her head gently. She looked up and then pointed skyward. "We're heading up there. Right to the top."


A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope that post buckle kiss hit the spot. Can see that being a little ritual for Wucy once they got together. Reviews are very welcome!