This chapters covers the first half of 2x02 :)

'How's she doing?'

Jiya looked up from the workstation to see Wyatt hovering anxiously by her computer, watching her with a concerned frown on his face.

'Same as she was when you asked me yesterday,' Jiya replied wearily. 'If anything, I'd say you'd have more of an idea, you spend the most time with her out of any of us, you're practically glued to her.'

'I'm not the one sharing a room with her at night,' Wyatt noted.

'Hmm, believe me, I know,' Jiya said, a hint of bitterness to her tone as she raised her eyebrows. 'The sooner you two just get on with it, then we can change the sleeping arrangements round so the couples can be together.'

Wyatt sighed exasperatedly, but didn't even blush; he and Jiya had got too close over the past few weeks for him to get embarrassed about her mentioning his and Lucy's plainly obvious attraction to each other.

'We don't want to rush into…actually no, I don't have to explain that to you,' he said irritably. 'But, I am sorry you and Rufus are…missing out on some…quality night time together.'

'"Quality night time"?' Jiya said, smirking, and Wyatt pulled a face.

'Okay, just…y'know, just forget it, I…'

But Jiya was laughing. 'Wyatt, it's okay,' she reassured him, and he gave a heavy sigh.

'I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep interrogating you, I just…I'm worried Lucy's hiding stuff. It's been two weeks and she still hasn't really told us what happened,' he said anxiously. 'She's not in a good place right now.'

'I know. She's…very different since she got back,' Jiya murmured.

'Is she still not sleeping?' Wyatt asked.

'Nope. I don't think so, anyway. Still staring at the ceiling a lot,' Jiya replied uneasily.

Wyatt exhaled deeply as he rested against her desk. 'I don't know what we can do to help her.'

'We can be there for her. That's all we can do at the minute, until she's ready to talk about it,' Jiya said softly, and she gave him a sympathetic smile. 'Try not to worry, Wyatt. She knows how much you care. She'll be all right soon enough.'

Wyatt smiled gratefully back at her and then leaned off the desk. 'I'm gonna go take a shower.'

'I'm happy for you.'

Wyatt rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, I don't know why I told you that,' he muttered, and he walked away towards the bathroom, leaving Jiya sniggering to herself.

After his shower, Wyatt quickly wrapped his towel around himself and as he headed over to the mirror to brush his teeth, he glanced down at the broken tile that he had punched away from the wall. He had been so distraught back then. And yet, despite having Lucy back now, he hadn't relaxed as much as he'd thought he would have done. It troubled him deeply to see her so clearly far away from her usual self…so distant and numb. He wanted nothing more than to comfort her and talk her through the trauma of the past six weeks…but every time he made an effort to, Lucy either quickly changed the subject or found some excuse to leave the room. She couldn't face reliving it just yet.

Just then, he heard the bathroom door creak open, and Wyatt sighed irritably; why did he always forget about that? He turned around to see Lucy, stood in some scruffy clothes and carrying her toiletries back, and she blushed furiously.

'Oh. I'm sorry, Wyatt,' she murmured, backing away.

But Wyatt held his hand up, chuckling softly. 'My bad. I forgot to put the chair in front of the door again.'

'I hear you've got a really bad habit of that,' Lucy said, raising her eyebrows in amusement as she leaned against the doorway. 'I think everyone in this bunker has walked in on you naked in here at least once.'

'Everyone except you, so far,' Wyatt said jokingly, indicating the towel covering his lower half, and he grimaced at the stunned, wide-eyed look on Lucy's face. 'That was weird, sorry.'

Lucy began to laugh – something Wyatt had not seen her do since their first initial reunion in that tent in 1918 – but then her smile faded when she caught sight of his bare back.

'Wyatt, what…what's that?'

Wyatt frowned at her tone. 'What's what?'

'Those marks on your back,' Lucy said in a small voice, walking slowly over to him.

'Oh, it's nothing. It's just…y'know, from the bomb at Mason Industries,' Wyatt replied airily, wishing he had a towel big enough that could cover up those hideous, bloody gashes.

Lucy clasped a hand to her mouth as she stepped over to him. 'Oh my God. You never said you got injured in the explosion,' she murmured in horror, unable to take her eyes off his back.

'It wasn't a big deal, Lucy, don't worry-'

'It looks a big deal. Those scars are really deep. Are you…are you in pain? Does it hurt?' she asked, concerned.

Wyatt hesitated. 'Not anymore,' he admitted.

Lucy was close to him now, her hand reaching tentatively out. 'May I…?'

'Hm-hm…' was all Wyatt could reply, for his heart was racing so, his nervous breathing coming out deep and shaky as Lucy's hand made contact with his skin.

At her gentle touch, he closed his eyes and sighed in content as Lucy softly stroked one of the gashes on his back, and he realised he didn't have to be ashamed or hide his scars from her. She was there for him, just as he was there for her. He realised then that this had been their most intimate exchange since the day Lucy had returned and they had almost kissed in her and Jiya's room. Slowly, Wyatt turned around to face her; her hand trailed off his back and hovered unsurely as she looked up to meet his gaze, completely unperturbed by his bare chest right in front of her.

'Lucy…' Wyatt began gently, but then he smiled, for she had said, 'Wyatt' at exactly the same time.

They both paused and gazed into each other's eyes, their proximity overwhelming Lucy and almost making her forget all her woes that had been pressing on her mind, and Wyatt reached his hand out to slowly intertwine his fingers with hers…

'Hey!'

Lucy and Wyatt jerked apart and spun round to see Connor Mason stood in the bathroom doorway, looking outraged. Sighing irritably, Wyatt clasped a hand to his forehead, while Lucy simply glared defiantly back at Mason.

'Is there a problem?' she asked coolly.

'Err – yes, there is!' Mason snapped, infuriated. 'In case you'd forgotten, this is the only bathroom in this God-forsaken place. There are other people who need to use it. Save your…canoodling for elsewhere.'

'Oh my God, you did not just say that,' Wyatt muttered.

Lucy's lips twitched, amused. 'Sorry, Connor. You can have my turn.'

'W-well…I'd prefer it if I were alone,' Mason said quietly, casting Wyatt's toned torso an uneasy glance.

'I'll be out of here in a minute, jeez,' Wyatt reassured him, rolling his eyes.

'Good. We need to get on with going over Keynes' notes again. I've got the files uploaded to a few of the computers now, so we can all spend some time individually studying its contents,' Mason said enthusiastically.

'Can't wait,' Lucy replied, wiggling her eyebrows at Wyatt before leaving the bathroom, her heart rate slowly returning to its normal pace.

The scanned documents Mason was referring to were the notes from the captain's cell phone back in 1918 that Wyatt and Rufus had encountered. Everyone in the bunker had briefly looked over the files already, to see that they had been written in 1910, and contained ideas for what Rittenhouse could do with a time machine. Even back then, Rittenhouse had wanted to change history, and correct past mistakes to make a present more favourable to them – one where they would be in charge. With this notion in mind, they wouldn't have to take over the world, as they would already own it.

The documents on the cell phone had identified that Rittenhouse aimed to target what they called 'pressure points' – key moments in history to change the present – and, from fixing the quantum gravity equation on the system, Mason had revealed that the Mothership had visited ten different destinations in the past two months, which Carol had not told Lucy about. History could have changed, and they wouldn't even have known it. Wyatt deduced that Rittenhouse had planted sleeper cell agents throughout these various pressure points in history – just like the 1918 captain, who had worked his way up through the ranks, and Emma, who had been in the late 1800s for ten years. They were playing the long game, biding their time and leading regular lives, just waiting to be activated.

To make matters worse, they had also discovered that the manifestos and documents on the cell phone had been written by Nicholas Keynes…the man Carol and Emma had saved in 1918 and brought back to the present day. Lucy had been worrying constantly about what her mother could possibly be doing with this man and his terrible ideas, and so it came as no surprise to Wyatt when he later found Lucy lying on a couch in the lounge space of the bunker, pouring over the files once more on a laptop.

'A little light reading, huh?' Wyatt said, and Lucy looked over her shoulder.

'Oh, just Rittenhouse's creepy cult manifesto,' she replied in a tired voice, turning back to the laptop.

Wyatt frowned; she had changed back to her empty self. The Lucy he had encountered briefly in the bathroom earlier had hidden herself away. And it was all because of Rittenhouse. Carol, Emma, Nicholas Keynes…the fear, the trauma, the anguish was making Lucy withdraw further into herself. And Wyatt was worried that, sooner or later, there would be nothing of the real Lucy left.

'That stuff's crazy,' he muttered, walking over to join her.

'Crazy my mother believes in,' Lucy said shortly, shutting the laptop firmly closed.

Wyatt sighed heavily as he sat down on the armchair next to her, and hesitated, thinking long and hard about whether to approach this subject again. 'Can I ask you something?' he said in a gentle voice, and as Lucy sat up, encouraging him to continue, he leaned forward. 'What'd they do to you in there?'

Lucy stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. 'Nothing to talk about,' she replied.

She hated herself for saying it. She knew Wyatt was only trying to help, and as someone who had endured war and PTSD himself, he was the best person to talk to. He would understand. He would help her find a way to recover. But Lucy just couldn't bring herself to talk to him about it yet. She didn't want him to see her as more of a vulnerable victim than he already did. And she didn't want to voice aloud what her mother had done. Only then would it make it more real…and therefore more painful.

Despite the effort it took her to keep a straight face blank of all emotion, she knew from the tilt of his head that she wasn't fooling Wyatt.

'Which is why you're staring at the ceiling all night every night?' Wyatt went on softly, raising his eyebrows at her, and he gave her a sympathetic smile. 'Your roommate Jiya sold you out.'

'So she's spying on me?'

'She's worried about you,' Wyatt said gently, and he looked down briefly before gazing back up at her. 'We all are.'

Lucy looked down at her lap. 'I appreciate everyone's concern, but…I'm fine,' she murmured, forcing a smile at him, and before he had a chance to say anything else, she got up from the couch and walked away.

Wyatt let her go, even though he knew she was lying. He didn't want to push her. He knew she needed space. Besides…it soon transpired that there were more urgent matters to worry about for time being; the moment Lucy had left the lounge, the bunker alarms started blaring, announcing that the Mothership had travelled to South Caroline, 1955. Lucy couldn't figure out why this particular year, as nothing famous or historical had taken place in that area as far as she could recall, but then suggested that there was someone else who might be able to help them figure it out. Wyatt knew instantly who she was talking about – after all, their minds were pretty much on the same wavelength now – but no matter much he tried to dissuade her from visiting Flynn where he was locked up in jail, she wouldn't listen. Even in her numb, traumatised state, she was still just as stubborn.

'You know you can't trust him, right?' Wyatt said to Lucy urgently as he followed her and Agent Christopher towards the bunker exit.

'I know his past actions go against him, but something changed with Flynn when we last saw him. Remember? He chose not to blow up Rittenhouse at that summit in 1954. He listened to what I said,' Lucy said desperately, fixing Wyatt with an imploring gaze as Agent Christopher unlocked the front door. 'So there has to be a part of him that's good…and I think he's the only shot we've got if we want any idea of why Rittenhouse are targeting South Carolina.'

Wyatt sighed. 'I hope you're right. Hey. Just…be careful,' he said, touching her arm briefly. 'Agent Christopher-'

'I get it, Wyatt, if something happens to Lucy, you'll kill me,' Agent Christopher said, unconcerned, and Lucy and Wyatt exchanged smiles. 'We'll be back here in about an hour.'

Although it was torturous for Wyatt waiting around, wondering why on earth he had let Lucy leave the bunker and be separated from him, he didn't have to wait for very long – Lucy and Agent Christopher returned within the hour, as promised, and more surprisingly with helpful information from Flynn. It turned out that Flynn could remember a South Carolina address from a Rittenhouse agent he had once killed. The house in question was in Darlington, and was owned by famous NASCAR driver Ryan Millerson, who it quickly became apparent was one of Wyatt's idols. This was surprising, as Lucy had no idea who he was, and so it was extremely amusing to see Wyatt get so excited.

It almost felt like they were back in their old job working for Homeland Security at Mason Industries as the team got back in the Lifeboat and headed to 1955 – after all, their motive to stop someone evil from changing the timeline was just the same. Once they had arrived, they headed to Flynn's recommended address and met Ryan Millerson's heavily pregnant wife, where they posed as reporters. They soon find out that Millerson was racing at the Darlington 500 later on today and was strongly tipped to win…but his wife also revealed that other 'reporters' had visited earlier, including a woman with red hair and freckles – Emma.

So, Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus headed to the Darlington International Raceway track, where there were crowds of people, endless cars, reporters, police, and cameras, and Wyatt grew positively giddy with excitement as he admired all the parked cars. Once Lucy and Rufus had finished teasing him for being such a nerd, they proceeded to look for Ryan in the hope that they would find him before Emma did…but then they were distracted by the sight of Wendell Scott, a black racing driver, pushing someone out of a garage with an infuriated look on his face. Wyatt's face lit up in pleasant surprise, and Lucy could tell just from his reaction that this Wendell Scott person was clearly more of a big deal to Wyatt than even Ian Fleming had been. So, it came as no surprise when they saw a crowd of men angrily follow Scott back into the garage that Wyatt saw fit to go after them.

'No, no, not toward the fighting!' Lucy muttered anxiously as she and Rufus hurried after Wyatt, but it was too late – Wyatt had already charged in there.

Posing as police officers, Wyatt and the others managed to convince the aggressive men to leave the garage, and as soon as they did, Wyatt took the opportunity to introduce himself to his hero.

'Wyatt Logan,' he said, shaking Wendell's hand and smiling warmly. 'Big fan of yours.'

Wendell raised his eyebrows at him sceptically. 'Makes you one lonely fella,' he said, and Wyatt chuckled.

'We're actually looking for a man named Ryan Millerson-' Lucy began, but Wyatt distracted them as he drew his attention on the dusty red car parked beside them in the garage.

'Is this Old Rusty? Car that made the Fall Creek Run,' Wyatt said, awed, as he looked around the car; Lucy turned to Rufus and shook her head in despair.

'How do you know about that?' Wendell asked curiously.

'My dad's a driver. Not a racer, but he taught me some moves,' Wyatt explained, peering through the windows at the interior of the car, a dazed look on his face.

'So, Wendell, you could really help us out if-' But Lucy broke off again with an irritated expression as Wyatt continued talking, oblivious and having completely forgotten the pressing issue of the mission.

'Is it true you were running moonshine, and when you saw the police road blocks, you threw it into reverse, took a hairpin turn backwards at 70 miles an hour?' Wyatt asked Wendell, beaming away, inspired.

Wendell laughed. 'By the time the police got to my garage, I had my engine out the car and on the chain, no charges filed,' he said.

Wyatt turned eagerly to Lucy and whispered, 'Wow!', and although Lucy forced an enthusiastic smile back at him, her face turned serious the moment he looked away. She felt like a wife being irritated by her husband.

Wendell then opened the back hood of the car to reveal the small trunk…and then with a clank, he revealed a secret compartment inside it. Lucy and Rufus opened their mouths in shock as they took in the sight of the bottles and containers hidden in the container.

'Is that moonshine?' Rufus asked, astonished.

'Just to show appreciation for what you did for me,' Wendell said with a smile, and he passed over one of the bottles to Wyatt.

Wyatt took it keenly. 'Thank you,' he said, and Lucy darted forward as she watched him begin to open the bottle lid.

'Oh, I'll take that,' she said pointedly, seizing the bottle from his arms.

Rufus smirked. They were definitely like a married couple.

'We actually, um, don't want any moonshine, we just wanna know if you know who Ryan Millerson is,' Lucy said to Wendell, her patience running out.

This time, Wyatt didn't interrupt her; instead, he flashed her a guilty, apologetic glance, having realised that he had been interfering with the job at hand, and soon enough Wendell had reassured them that he would be able to introduce them to Ryan Millerson, who was in a garage not too far from the one they were currently in.

'So what's the deal with this Wendell Scott dude? He runs moonshine and he's a racer?' Rufus asked, once Wendell was out of earshot.

Wyatt opened his mouth to answer, but Lucy beat him to it.

'Well, that's how stock car racing started,' she replied, and Wyatt turned to face her with a dazed, tender look in his eyes. 'They were driving fast to get away from the cops, and it turned into driving fast on the dirt tracks.'

Aware of Wyatt's eyes on her, she turned to face him. He looked like he could kiss her right there and then. Lucy smirked.

'I know sports history too,' she said casually, shrugging, and Wyatt grinned at her.

Wendell soon led them outside and as they strolled along the racing track towards Millerson's garage, Lucy and Rufus listened closely as Wyatt and Wendell talked.

'How'd you know about Fall Creek Run? You a bootlegger before you became a cop?' Wendell asked.

'I was,' Wyatt admitted, and Lucy raised her eyebrows. 'Misspent youth.'

'Not a bad way to make ends meet, is it?' Wendell said, chuckling. 'Until I start winning the big races, anyway.'

'Well, I'm sure you're gonna,' Wyatt said, beaming away at him.

'Let me see if I can get y'all an introduction,' Wendell then said.

'All right.'

'Yep, that's you. Wyatt Logan, notorious bootlegger,' Rufus said in a mockingly dramatic voice, the moment Wendell had walked away.

Lucy laughed softly at Rufus's little joke. Wyatt glanced from her to Rufus, wondering whether he should lie. But then he realised no – he had to be honest around them both, particularly Lucy. After all, he'd told himself earlier in the bunker today: he had no reason to be ashamed in front of her now.

'I was,' Wyatt said simply, and Rufus chuckled. 'No, seriously. I used to run stuff across the Texas border.'

'Oh, what, like you ran moonshine?' Lucy said sceptically, her eyebrows raised.

'Let's just say it was a little stronger than that,' Wyatt replied heavily, and Lucy's smile faded slightly as she realised he was being serious. 'A little more illegal.'

'How old were you?' she asked, surprised.

'About 15,' Wyatt replied, and when he took in her flabbergasted expression, he gave an innocent shrug. 'You guys never asked.'

Lucy didn't mind about what Wyatt had just revealed; on the contrary, she found herself even more attracted to that dangerous, rebellious side of him. It fascinated her, though, to see him be so different to who he had been as a teenager, particularly with that adoring smile as they then bid their thanks and farewell to Wendell, who had managed to secure them a meeting with Ryan Millerson.

'See you later,' Wyatt called after Wendell, who had long walked away, and with a roll of her eyes Lucy grabbed his arm and urged him forward.

'Come on, fan boy,' she said fondly, an endearing smile on her face as they walked along the track to meet Millerson, Wyatt still beaming away.

Unfortunately, Wyatt's giddy mood didn't last long – after asking Ryan Millerson if he had seen Emma, and then discovering a trigger install for a bomb inside his car, it came as a horrific shock for the three of them to discover that Millerson, who had suddenly pointed a gun at them, was actually the Rittenhouse sleeper agent. Emma then entered, making Lucy quake with fear as the sight of her reminded her vividly of those terrible weeks alone with her in Rittenhouse headquarters…but just as Emma ordered her fellow Rittenhouse agent to kill them, Wendell Scott turned up and stopped them with a fire extinguisher grenade.

Rescuing Lucy and the others, Wendell shoved them into his car and drove them away to safety. Lucy and Wyatt were squashed up in the backseat of the car, their heads ducked down and Wyatt lying across Lucy to hide her from view in case any more Rittenhouse agents were to see them through the car windows. He held her hand firmly until Wendell announced that the coast was clear, after which the two of them slowly sat up, rather flustered, and still pressed up rather closely together.

It turned out that some of Wendell's rivals had messed with his car's engine again, so they headed over to his garage just out of town. While Wendell worked on fixing the engine inside his garage, Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus went about debating what Ryan Millerson could possibly be planning to do with the bomb in his car. They realised that Rittenhouse must have taken him from 2018 and dropped him off in 1946, where he had lived his life and become a racing legend, which meant that Rittenhouse had already changed history – all Wyatt's memories of him were new because they had planted him in the past. As if that alone wasn't troubling enough, it was no surprising fact that the Darlington 500 was the biggest race of the year, where all the car companies' CEOs and top engineers would be attending. Cars were the most valuable industry in the world right now, and if anything disastrous happened at this race, it could cripple the companies, and Rittenhouse would take control of all of them. They were left with no choice but to try and find a way back to the race track to stop Millerson.

While Lucy led Rufus away to tend to his arm, which he had burned when attempting to help Wendell fix his car engine, Wyatt stayed behind to talk to Wendell and try to persuade him to believe them when they said everyone at the race today was in danger. This was harder said than done, and, reluctantly, Wyatt realised he needed to open up more about his past than he had bargained for in order to gain Wendell's trust.

'Dad taught you how to drive and wrench?' Wendell was saying, impressed, as Wyatt helped him fix his car engine. 'Sounds like a good man.'

Wyatt hesitated. 'He didn't do it out of love,' he admitted, and he sighed. 'When I'd mouth off he'd hit me, and, uh…throw me in the back of his precious old Chevy, rip around the backwoods at night with the lights off, just to scare the crap out of me. He'd run the car till something broke…he'd tell me I wasn't allowed to come home until I fixed it. He'd just sit there with his beer and his cigarettes, laughing at me.'

Wendell slowly looked up from his engine to face Wyatt, horrified. 'And I thought my daddy was a son of a bitch,' he mumbled. 'Give me a hand with this. This don't work…your daddy's beatings won't hold a candle to what I'm gonna do to you.'

Wyatt chuckled as they worked together on fixing the fuel filter in the engine. 'What'd your dad do?' he asked, interested.

'He wasn't mean…he just liked to gamble too much. One day, Mom told him to choose between his family and his racketing. Never saw him again,' Wendell replied simply.

'Shoot, I'd use to pray my dad would run off. When I turned 15 and realized he wouldn't…I did,' Wyatt said, an almost proud tone to his voice. 'I took his car.'

Wendell looked astonished. 'You stole his car?'

'Yeah. Figured he owed me at least that much,' Wyatt said, and they both laughed. 'Ran it till the pistons blew and I drove the damn thing straight into a lake.'

Wendell chuckled, but then stopped as he looked over Wyatt's shoulder; Wyatt followed his gaze to see Lucy and Rufus stood there near the garage entrance, watching them both with innocent expressions, Rufus's arm bandaged up. Lucy gave Wyatt a tentative wave, and that was all Wyatt needed to see to confirm his fear – they had heard every word he'd just said to Wendell about his father. Wyatt's smile faded and his eyes flickered to the ground, embarrassed, as Wendell went around to the front of the car to try the ignition.

Lucy barely paid attention as the engine of Wendell's car successfully grinded to life; she was too busy gazing over at Wyatt, whose head was bent down.

He ran away from home when he was 15. His dad hit and scared him as a boy. No wonder he'd turned to bootlegging.

Lucy was in wonder that Wyatt had managed to turn out into the amazing man she knew and loved now. She was completely in awe of him. She just wished Wyatt could see that, and stop worrying about her judging him, which he was obviously doing now. Nothing he could say or do would stop her from feeling the way she did about him.

'All right,' Wendell said with a resigned grin. 'I'll sneak y'all back into the track.'

'Really?' Lucy asked, laughing softly, and then she cleared her throat. 'Thank you…so much, um…just one question – how are we gonna get back in? Because…I think they're gonna be looking for us.'

'Yeah, Rufus will ride up front with me. And you two are getting in another way,' Wendell said, a mischievous glint in his eye as he smiled slyly at Lucy and Wyatt.

Something in his playful tone made Lucy glance nervously at Wyatt; he looked back at her and gave an airy shrug. It shortly became evident, as Wendell then proceeded to open his car trunk and remove the bottles of moonshine from the secret compartment, where exactly he intended Lucy and Wyatt to go on their ride back to the Darlington race track.

Lucy swallowed loudly. 'Um…wait, do you expect us to go in there?' she said sceptically, as Wendell hid the moonshine bottles away under some compartments in the garage, chuckling away. 'I don't think one full-grown adult can fit inside, let alone two.'

'Well let's just try it,' Wyatt said in a breezy tone, and at the stunned look on Lucy's face, he laughed. 'C'mon, it's our best shot. We can squeeze, it's fine.'

'Oh,' Lucy said in a small voice, stepping tentatively forward. 'O-oh, okay.'

'Have fun, you guys,' Rufus said, flashing them a cheeky wink before getting into the passenger seat at the front.

Wendell stood by the trunk hood and gestured with his arm for them to get in. 'Ladies first,' he said.

Lucy stared at the small trunk before her. It was so narrow, so tiny. It would be so dark inside. Shaking slightly, she took a few nervous steps backwards.

'A-actually, I'm not sure this is a good idea, I-'

Wendell frowned, confused. 'Why, what's the problem?'

'Lucy's not a fan of cars,' Wyatt replied calmly, and he turned to Lucy and put his hands on both her shoulders, his expression gentle. 'Hey, it's okay. I'll go in first, I'll make sure there's enough space for you. Everything will be fine – you've got a world-class racer driving us, there won't be a problem. And I'll be right next to you. Okay?'

Lucy considered him for a moment. I'll be right next to you. She gave a rather shaky nod, and smiled. He smiled fondly back at her, and then, taking off his red jacket, he scrambled into the trunk and lay down. Pressing himself right against the edge of the secret moonshine compartment, he then lay the jacket down in the narrow space beside him for her to lie on. Trembling, Lucy crawled inside the truck after him

'Okay…wow, this is really small,' she whispered, manoeuvring herself awkwardly into the moonshine compartment. 'Hi.'

'Hi,' Wyatt murmured, chuckling softly as she lay down on top of his jacket beside him.

'Y'all good?' Wendell asked.

'Yeah, we just about fit,' Lucy replied, her voice shaking with nerves.

'Let's get on with this then – watch out!' Wendell said, and Lucy leaned into Wyatt briefly as Wendell slid down the hood to the secret compartment, shutting them in and enveloping them in darkness.

'Oh, God,' Lucy whispered fearfully, breathing deeply.

'It's okay, it's okay. Try not to worry. I'm here,' Wyatt murmured softly to her, and she tried to concentrate on the comforting warmth radiating from his skin and breath as she listened to Wendell shut the trunk and move round to the front to start the engine.

The two of them remained in silence, lying side by side, pressed against each other in the tight, enclosed space, as the engine rumbled to life beneath them, making the car vibrate and Lucy shake. They jolted into each other slightly as the car set off onto the main road, but then settled down into a comfortable position. Lucy tried to concentrate on breathing and remaining calm, but it was hard when she was shut inside a miniscule secret compartment of a car trunk beside the man she had fallen hopelessly in love with. If they had felt squashed in the backseat before, it was nothing compared to how they felt now in this tiny trunk.

Wyatt seemed to be thinking along the same lines. 'Well…this is cosy,' he murmured playfully.

There was a short pause, and then Lucy slowly started to laugh, and Wyatt laughed along with her, both of them blushing. Lucy could remember Wyatt saying something similar to her last year when they had shared the spare bed at Bonnie and Clyde's cabin, only instead of 'cosy' he had said, 'well…this is awkward'. How times had changed.

As they drove along, Wendell stuck the radio on, and as the rock and roll music played through the front speaker, he called back to his two guests in the trunk.

'You two a'ight back there?'

'Yeah, we're fine,' Wyatt replied, resting his head on his elbow as he lay on his side, watching Lucy carefully, concerned by her petrified expression as she stared up at the roof. 'Right?'

Lucy gave him a sideways glance. 'So far so good,' she called back to Wendell, a slight tremor in her voice.

While Rufus and Wendell chatted in the front, Lucy tried once more to concentrate on her breathing. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't scared, not after the last time she had been trapped in a car. And it didn't help that the man lying next to her was making her unbelievably nervous. She exhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she told herself internally to stop freaking out, and she noticed Wyatt gaze at her.

She sighed, embarrassed. 'I'm sorry,' she murmured. 'I'm so…'

'Wildly claustrophobic?' Wyatt finished for her, a sly grin on his face.

Lucy smirked back at him. 'Not helping,' she said sternly.

'Sorry…'

And then with a huge thump, the car jolted roughly as they drove over a bump in the road, and Lucy felt her heart drop to her stomach.

'Ooh!' she gasped, wishing she would just be able to lie still. 'Oh, God.'

'Here. Why don't you just hang-hang on to me,' Wyatt said, shuffling awkwardly beside her, and he moved his arm under her to support her back and shoulder, drawing her closer to him.

Heart racing, Lucy moved right up against his chest, and moved her arm up to hold onto his shoulder. It was almost as if they were hugging, only lying side-by-side. And, as strange as it was for them to comprehend, it didn't feel new or nerve-wracking. It felt almost like it was normal for them to hold each other like this, for them to cuddle in a secret compartment in the trunk of a car, and Lucy had never been more grateful for the comfort and solace of Wyatt's arms. In the instant he had wrapped his arms protectively around her and pulled her close to him, Lucy found that she no longer had to consciously remember to take deep breaths. She wasn't afraid anymore.

'Is all that stuff you said about your dad true?' Lucy asked quietly after a minutes' peaceful silence, her hand on his neck.

Wyatt didn't answer. He just managed a small smile, aware of how intimately close they were, how her face was merely inches away from his, his nose almost touching her cheek. It felt so nice to hold her like this.

'Hmm. I don't know how you do that. Just…call him a bastard one second, and the next be laughing about it,' Lucy murmured, glancing up at him, and once again being awestruck at how handsome he was.

'Maybe…it's 'cause I drove his car into a lake,' Wyatt said, and they both laughed softly. 'I just sort of let it go after that.'

His hand had come to rest on the nape of her neck, his fingers gently caressing loose strands of her hair that had escaped her ponytail, and the warm gaze in his eyes, the irresistible smile…it was more than enough to distract Lucy from her phobia and their frightening situation. All she could focus on was Wyatt.

'Hmm. You're lucky you never admired him,' she said quietly, and she didn't even tremble as the car rattled beneath them, jolting them both slightly.

'Of course I admired him, he was my dad. For years I thought that every terrible thing he did was my fault,' Wyatt said heavily, a slight bitterness to his tone, and Lucy watched him sadly.

'I revered my mother. I thought she was…Superwoman. Come to find out that she's just…terrible,' Lucy whispered, her mind still haunted by the vivid images of Carol backing away from her own daughter towards Emma and the Mothership.

'Maybe it's a good thing,' Wyatt murmured.

Lucy glanced up at him curiously. She still could hardly believe that they were holding onto each other like this, that their faces were so close.

'What do you mean?' she asked softly, tilting her head more towards him.

'Well…now you know. You know for sure, you can move on. Nothing ahead but the open road,' Wyatt said gently, a hopeful tone to his voice.

They gazed at each other for a minute, and then as Wyatt's face broke out into a warm smile, they both began to laugh softly, and simultaneously tightened their hold of each other. They could then hear the sound of loud cheering from nearby crowds from outside; they had arrived at the race track. Soon they would park up in a garage, and Lucy and Wyatt would be forced to let go of each other and remove themselves from this conveniently confined space. It was strange; Lucy had been dreading going in this trunk, but it hadn't turned out so bad after all. And all she could think about now was what Wyatt had said…and how the open road seemed to only spell out the two of them, together at last…or so she could hope, anyway.

It was only when the car rolled to an unexpected stop that Lucy's attention was diverted from Wyatt's warm chest and arms enveloping her, and remembered the potential danger they were in.

'Paid the race fees this morning, Carl,' they heard Wendell saying from the front.

'Looking for some unfamiliars. White couple and a Negro. Took a run at Millerson,' a security guard answered from outside.

As the guard questioned who Rufus was, Lucy's fingers tightened against Wyatt's shirt collar and she held onto him fearfully. She leaned her head into his shoulder, and he gave her arm a reassuring squeeze, his other hand moving further along her waist to hold her more protectively. They had known the risk, they had known this could well happen – after all, why else had they hidden here in the trunk? – but still, Wyatt wasn't sure he liked the tone in the security guard's voice.

'Anyway, gotta search your trunk,' the guard said, and Wyatt's shoulders tensed.

'Wyatt,' Lucy mouthed anxiously, too scared to even whisper, but Wyatt pressed his finger to her lips and held her cheek, briefly and gently, before moving his hand to stroke her arm, trying to reassure her.

'Look, man, I'm in a rush, but, uh, give you ten bucks, you let us skate on by and get to racing,' Wendell said.

'Many thanks. Now open your trunk,' the guard ordered, firmly and angrily.

Lucy swallowed loudly and tightened her hold around Wyatt's neck; he was breathing deeply, trying not to appear too nervous for her sake. They listened as Wendell reluctantly got out of the drivers' seat and slowly trudged around to the back of the car, the sound of the guards' heavy footsteps getting closer. As they listened, Lucy's hand moved slowly from Wyatt's neck down to his chest, where she could feel his heart beating incredibly fast.

What if they found the moonshine compartment? What were they going to do?

Wendell hesitated as he stood uncomfortably by the trunk. 'This really necessary-?' he protested.

But the security guard cut over him sharply. 'Now.'

And, as Lucy and Wyatt waited with baited breath in each others' arms for the trunk to be opened, they gazed into each other's eyes desperately, Wyatt's fingers softly stroking her bare arm. Closing her eyes, Lucy leaned her face against his so that her cheek was touching his forehead, and it was a blissful oblivion, because even if they were discovered…whatever happened…at least they had each other.