"Just relax."

Lucy bristled as she huffed out a frustrated breath. Wyatt had been telling her to "just relax" for the better part of an hour and still there was no sign of Rufus. Casting an angry glare towards him before she turned her attention back to the large wooden gate of Fort Duquesne, Lucy muttered angrily, "I told you I should have gone in there with him…he doesn't speak French…"

Wyatt rolled his eyes, "He was just going to go in, look around for the forge and come back out. He wasn't going to talk to anybody."

"Well, that was almost an hour ago, Wyatt." Lucy argued as she brushed her damp hair away from her face, "And now, they've closed the gate. Where is he?"

"I don't know…maybe he's trying to find it. Maybe he got lost. Maybe…"

"Maybe he's been captured." Lucy finished for him anxiously as she gathered up her soaked skirts and made to move out of their hiding place, just beyond the edge of the woods, "I'm going to look for him."

"The hell you are." Wyatt hissed at her as he tugged on her arm and made her sit down again. "What are you going to do, walk over there and knock on the damn door? Just relax." Wyatt repeated in a voice dripping with exasperation, 'He'll be here."

"How can you be so sure?" Lucy countered angrily, "Anything could have happened to him in there…we have no way of knowing…not unless one of us goes in there to look for him…and since you don't speak French…"

"We talked about this," Wyatt gritted out, "it's too dangerous for you to go in there on your own."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't have been on my own," she snapped back, "I would've had Rufus."

Wyatt visibly flinched as he quietly scoffed, "Yeah…you have no problem with him helping you out, right?" He glared meaningfully at Lucy as she flushed, "Just me."

Lucy swallowed hard as she looked from Wyatt back to the closed gate of the fort, wishing Rufus would reappear not just to ease her own concerns, but also to help ease the tension that seemed to be ever growing between her and Wyatt. She had spent the entire morning rebuffing his attempts at assistance, knowing full-well that it was driving him crazy, but it was something she needed to do, particularly since he was treating her with so much care and concern.

She didn't need to find herself foolishly hoping for something that would never happen.

So yes, she did have a problem with Wyatt helping her…which is exactly why things went from bad to worse when they made their way down from that rocky summit….and exactly why both she and Wyatt were now at each other's throats.

Earlier that day…

Though the trek down the hill was not nearly as difficult as the climb up, it still wasn't without its dangers. Wyatt led the way, waiting at the bottom of steep drops to make sure neither Rufus nor Lucy came to any trouble…something Rufus was grateful for, but Lucy…not so much. Every time Wyatt would hold out his arms to help her, she would look at him uncomfortably and shake her head, maintaining stubbornly, "I can do it."

Wyatt didn't blame her for maintaining her independent spirit…not at first, anyway, particularly since he remembered how she had told him her near fatal accident had made her always seek out situations in which she could control. These missions had challenged her in that respect and this one…well, this one had basically thrown all control out of the damn window. If she was constantly relying on others for help, she was giving that up…so if this is what she needed to do to feel like she still had some say so over her own life, he figured, then so be it.

He was just going to be just as determined to make sure she didn't kill herself in the process.

Lucy struggled…and Wyatt, of course, noticed…and he wasn't about to let her hurt herself. Yes, she was stubborn…but it wouldn't benefit any of them if she broke her neck. Despite her protestations, therefore, he waited patiently for her at the foot of every precarious drop, on the other side of every obstacle and even offered to hold her shoes again when he saw her struggle to shimmy herself down a fallen log rather than make an attempt at the mud slick path next to it. Yet time and time again, she completely refused any assistance from him, but instead, relied on Rufus to steady her as she made her way down hills, held onto Rufus' hand when she needed support, and even allowed Rufus to lift her up and over a series of jutting rocks that blocked their path.

While it bothered Wyatt that she seemed to be doing everything in her power to avoid his help, he was doing his damndest not to take it personally. She was stubborn, she was proud…and to accept his help would therefore, require a lot of pride-swallowing on her part. Still, seeing her cling to Rufus instead of him filled him with something…and while he didn't want to dwell on what that something was he was pretty damn sure that if Rufus happened to trip and fall, rendering him incapable of helping Lucy any further, he wouldn't have cared in the least.

When they got to McKee's Rocks, Rufus and Wyatt easily made their way across the river, but for Lucy, encumbered as she was by her skirts, it was a little more difficult. She hadn't even moved from the boulder where she had last fallen before Wyatt turned around and saw her hesitating. Determined to be the one to see her safely across the river, Wyatt leapt easily from the safety of the shore to the boulder Lucy was preparing to jump to, causing her to look back at him in indignation, 'What are you doing?"

"I'm making sure you don't fall again." Wyatt said simply as he held out his arms. "C'mon, jump…I'll catch you."

Screwing her face up in determination, Lucy made ready to take a flying leap off of the boulder, but memories of Wyatt's strong hands around her waist made her falter, "I… I can't jump while you're standing there."

"There's plenty of room," Wyatt shrugged, "C'mon Lucy…you can do it…just pretend I'm not here."

Lucy let out an incredulous laugh at that. Even as she steeled herself for the jump, she knew full-well that there was no way she could pretend Wyatt was not there…especially not now that he had shucked off his coat and was now standing before her in just his white shirt and vest. Shaking her head, she cast her eyes down at the swirling water between them, wondering vaguely how deep and how cold it might be. Biting her lip, she looked from Wyatt to the water, inwardly berating herself for being so silly.

So she had a crush on Wyatt…she was an adult, not some dewy-eyed teenager…she could master her emotions. She could…"Wh…what are you doing?" Lucy asked with a gasp as Wyatt began unbuttoning his vest.

"Water doesn't look too deep here," Wyatt shrugged as he began taking off his shoes, "I'll just carry you across."

"No." Lucy said with a shake of her head, "It's okay…you don't have to…" but Wyatt was already easing himself off the rock and into the icy river.

Gulping as he slowly waded his way towards her, Lucy watched as he inched every closer, the water rippling just at his chest. More now than ever, Lucy was resolved to not allow him to help her. Looking towards the boulder he had just vacated, Lucy was all but prepared to make a jump for it when suddenly he was there, tapping at her shoes, urging her to leave the safety of her boulder and clamber into his arms. "C'mon Lucy…it's not that cold."

"No…I can do it, Wyatt." Lucy said with a determined shake of her head, "just…just give me a second."

"Lucy," he sighed in exasperation, "come on. You won't even get that wet. Just let me carry you so you won't hurt yourself again." he insisted.

"I didn't hurt myself." Lucy argued as he tugged on her foot…not realizing that at that moment she was preparing to jump. With Wyatt's hand on her shoe, Lucy's leap turned into a stumble and before either one of them knew what was happening, she tumbled head first into the icy water.

She could barely hear the warbled sound of Wyatt's shouts over the rushing water thundering in her ears as she clawed her way to the surface, the weight of her dress and the rush of the river hindering her efforts considerably. She emerged from the water with a gasping breath, desperately attempting to gain her footing while the heavy fabric pulled her further down river. She had just managed to stand when the current sent her careening backwards into the water once more.

Suddenly, Wyatt was there, his arms wrapped around her as he half dragged, half-carried her through the water to the shore where a concerned Rufus was waiting. Coughing and spluttering, Lucy clung to Wyatt's shoulders, as he pulled her onto the safety of solid ground, both of them breathless, panting…and soaking wet.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Wyatt asked roughly in between breaths.

"Me?" Lucy protested as she sat up and shook her wet hair out of her face, "What about you? I told you I could do it" she spat out angrily, "and I could have, if you hadn't tripped me."

"Tripped you?" Wyatt asked incredulously, "Why the hell did you jump? I told you I would carry you across."

And I told you I didn't need any help." Lucy said with a huff, absolutely hating everything about her 18th century attire now. Soaked with water, her already heavy dress felt like it weighed 75 pounds as she unsteadily got to her feet. Her stockinged feet sloshed in her shoes, the panniers felt like sodden bricks at her side and her corset…well, she was now even more anxious to take the damn thing off.

Storming past a chuckling Rufus, Lucy worked to wring out the excess water in her gown, feeling that the effort was somewhat futile with all the layers she was contending with while Wyatt went leaping back over the boulders to retrieve his jacket, vest, and shoes amid Rufus' jeers that he had done a "great job of getting Lucy across the river safely."

Once she had managed to wring out as much of her dress as she possibly could, Lucy went to work on her stockings. Her aching feet were peppered with blisters, but she hardly cared as she twisted and squeezed as much water as she could from her thick, knee-length socks. She grumbled as she slid them back on her legs, which she noticed with a grimace, were stubbled with hair.

When Wyatt came back his vest was haphazardly thrown on over his wet shirt and while he looked somewhat embarrassed about what had happened, his anger and frustration seemed to outweigh any feelings of shame he felt at essentially knocking Lucy head-first into an icy river. He didn't say a word to her…or for Rufus, for that matter, but when he saw her shivering slightly, he tossed his jacket down beside her and stalked away, muttering angrily under his breath about her "damned stubbornness."

Lucy was doing her utmost to have patience with Wyatt. She knew he was just trying to keep them safe…and while he had also assisted Rufus, she could tell that his attention was almost wholly on her when they made their way down that hillside. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her every move…all because of that stupid fall she had had on those rocks. Wyatt was already protective…but that one slip had pushed him into overdrive…so much so that he crawled into waist deep water just so she wouldn't risk falling again. What he didn't understand and what he could never know was that his attention…while not totally unwelcomed…was hazardous to her heart. Every touch, every whisper of concern, every offer of assistance only served to firmly plant him where he did not belong…knowing as she did that Jessica was and always would be the only woman he could ever love.

Dripping wet, angry and with more than a little tension between them, Lucy and Wyatt marched into the forest in silence, leaving Rufus to make awkward observations as they trudged along in the direction of the fort. Neither Lucy nor Wyatt said a word, both of them too upset to even hear what Rufus was saying…and so this continued, until they reached an area where the trees began to thin considerably. Motioning for Lucy and Rufus to follow him, Wyatt found an old log in the midst of some heavy underbrush. Lying down on his stomach, he was almost completely shielded from view as he peered out over the log at the fort beyond. "We'll stake the fort out here while you go in." he said with a nod to Rufus. "There's enough cover here that should keep us pretty well hidden."

Lucy, seeing the small area next to Wyatt…knowing it was designated for her, cleared her throat nervously, "Maybe…maybe I should go with him. Just in case." she added quickly as Wyatt gaped at her in complete indignation, "If someone speaks to him…he won't understand…he can't respond…"

"Are you crazy?" Wyatt spat out, "They'd recognize you…and even if they didn't, you're…you're," he motioned to her awkwardly before finally spitting out, "you know…a woman."

"I realize that Wyatt." Lucy said cooly, "it's never stopped me before."

"You weren't stuck in 1754 before." Wyatt hissed angrily, "Do I need to spell it out for you? These are soldiers…out in the literal middle of nowhere…what the hell do you think is going to happen when you walk into that fort?"

"There are other women here, Wyatt." Lucy snapped back before conceding, "Not many…but it's not like I'm the only woman around here."

"And you think they aren't going to notice you?" Wyatt said incredulously, "You're soaking wet…"

"Yeah? And whose fault is that?" she replied angrily.

Rufus, looking like he would rather face a firing squad of French soldiers than spend one more minute listening to Lucy and Wyatt bicker, interrupted before Wyatt could respond, "I…uh…can't believe I'm saying this, but I uh…think it's best if I do this alone." He rubbed his neck awkwardly as Lucy gaped at him in surprise, "I know I gave you all a hard time about it before, but ya know…now that we're down here, it doesn't seem as scary." He nodded as if trying to convince himself of that fact, "I mean, I'm practically invisible, right? They won't even know I'm there."

And before Lucy or Wyatt could say anything in support or to the contrary, Rufus slipped out from behind the cover of the trees, made his way resolutely towards the bustling gate of the fort, easily getting lost in the crowd of men and horses just outside of the gate and slipping inside. But after an hour or more now of waiting and the sun now sinking lower in the sky and Wyatt's continued admonitions that she just needed to "relax", Lucy wasn't banking on that assurance anymore. Something was wrong. It had to be. Why else would it be taking this long?

Spurred on by her increasing anxiety…and her desire to get away from Wyatt, Lucy scrambled to her feet, this time dodging Wyatt's arm as he tried to ease her back to the ground, "I can't wait anymore." she hissed, "Something is not right. He should be here by now."

"Lucy!" Wyatt whispered harshly after her as she lifted her dank, wet skirts and stumbled over the log. "Get back here!." She, however, continued her relentless march to the closed gate as Wyatt trailed stealthily behind her, cursing as he did so, "Dammit Lucy, you're gonna get yourself killed." She was almost near the gate now, her head thrown back in haughty indignation as she stepped over the various ropes and pulleys left strewn on the ground by the gate workmen they saw earlier in the day, still refusing to even glance behind her to acknowledge Wyatt's protests…and now he was getting desperate. "Lucy, don't you dare go in there." he called after her as loudly as he dared, "dammit, Lucy, I mean it!". Jogging to reach her, he finally offered, "Fine. I'll go…I'll go in and find Rufus, okay?"

She turned to argue with him, righteous indignation etched all across her face when her foot accidentally knocked over a large hammer that was propped up against the outer wall of the fort. As it landed on a collection of pick axes and shovels similarly placed, a tumult of metal on metal sounded through the darkening sky, immediately drawing the attention of the French soldiers positioned on the balustrades, their shouts of surprise and alarm mixed now with the dying echoes of the hammer.

Horrified by what she had done, Lucy froze, not daring to move or even breathe as a beam of light appeared somewhere above her, the French obviously peering into the dusky evening with the aid of a torch. Wyatt, however, was already lunging for her, whipping her against the wooden battlements as French voices murmured above them. Positioning himself defensively in front of her, Wyatt raised a finger to his lips as he watched the gate with bated breath.

When the light from above disappeared, Wyatt let out a breath of relief, turning to Lucy with a smirk only to tense up once more as the creak and moan of the opening gate sounded in the darkness. As light from the now open gate flooded the ground in front of them, Wyatt took Lucy by the hand, and raced around the corner of the outer wall in an effort to hide, realizing with a pang of dread that they were pretty well screwed. The moon was full and shining brightly, making it nearly impossible to rely on the cover of darkness for concealment. They were also too far from the forest make a break for it and seek out some sort of cover. They were going to be banking on the hope that the French soldiers would do a half-ass job of searching for whomever or whatever caused them to wander out of the warmth and security of the fort and into the cool, moon-lit night of the Pennsylvania wilderness.

His heart pounded against his chest, his adrenaline skyrocketing as he began to mentally asses how many French soldiers he could take out with his firearm before he and Lucy were inevitably killed. Maybe, he thought, he could take out enough men, create enough of a diversion, to at least get Lucy to safety. Even if they didn't remember them from the French encampment, their very presence outside of the French fort, after dark, would certainly draw suspicion. Wyatt thought back to his own experience in hostile regions and the characters they would have to look out for around the perimeters of their operating bases; there were almost always persons of interest (POI's) hanging around that they would have to keep an eye on; the tricky part was determining which POIs were friendly's and which were actually insurgents trying to gather intel. They would use all sorts of methods…sometimes they would pretend to be lost, other times they were masquerading as tourists…one time they even had a couple who…

Wyatt turned suddenly to Lucy, his eyes widening in realization as he recalled how they could hide in plain sight. He could hear a host of French soldiers chattering animatedly, their voices getting louder, the sound of their footsteps getting nearer…any moment they would be coming around that corner. Without so much as a warning, Wyatt wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist and back, spinning her around until her back was flush against the wall of the fort. "Wyatt…what are you…?" she breathed out in a panic, but Wyatt silenced her with a finger to his lips.

"Trust me." he whispered, with a meaningful nod before slowly leaning in, his face dangerously close to hers.

Realizing now what Wyatt was planning, Lucy's heart skipped a beat as he inched ever closer, torn between absolutely wanting this and absolutely not…because to know what it would be like to kiss Wyatt Logan - while at the same time understanding that it would never happen again - was a little more than she thought she could handle.

Still…what could she do? He literally had her pinned against a wall and she couldn't escape this even if she wanted to.

Because of the French…obviously.

As his hand drifted away from her waist and cupped her cheek, Lucy closed her eyes, trembling slightly as she felt his breath against her cheek hardly believing that this was actually going to happen…

Except that it didn't happen.

She stood there waiting in anxious anticipation, his lips a hair's breadth away from her own and yet…nothing. Confused, she opened one eye only to find that Wyatt, though leaning towards her as before, had his eyes trained on the French soldiers searching the perimeter just inside the scope of his peripheral vision.

At the sight of Wyatt's focus and attention so obviously turned away from her, Lucy inwardly cursed herself for once again, being so stupid. Of course…of course he would only offer up the illusion of some romantic encounter…why on Earth would he actually kiss her? She wasn't Jessica. She was only his co-worker, his team mate…and really, she wasn't even sure if he even actually liked her. Before this mission, he had pretty much made it clear he didn't like her and nothing had really happened to change that…had it?

Feeling oh so stupid and more than a little embarrassed that for the second time in one day she foolishly believed she was going to be kissed by Wyatt Logan, Lucy tilted her head back to move her chin out of his gentle grasp, feeling the awkwardness of their position even more now that once again, she had been carried away by his mere proximity. That action, however, turned Wyatt's attention from the soldiers back to her, his eyes narrowed in confusion at the way she flinched and dropped her gaze downward, the way she trembled and tensed in his arms and while he though the latter could be attributed to the fact that she was still in her wet clothes on a chilly night, the others, he supposed, stemmed from their current predicament. "Hey," he whispered as he caressed her cheek with his thumb, "just relax, it's going to be okay."

She lifted her eyes to him in annoyance, hardly daring to believe he had the nerve to tell her to relax when he had been doing that for better part of an hour and…well, here they were…wrapped in an awkward embrace just moments from being captured. Wyatt, however, completely oblivious to any other discomfort on her part besides the obvious, gave her a reassuring smirk and Lucy, despite her frustration, couldn't help but let out a relenting sigh and smirk back.

Seeing that slight smile, Wyatt's own tension began to melt away and he suddenly became very aware of her…of them…and the fact that if he wanted to, he could close this last bit of distance between them and discover what it would be like to kiss Lucy Preston. He swallowed hard as his gaze turned suddenly serious, drifting from her doe-like eyes to her slighted parted lips and he found that he was now the one who was unexpectedly trembling.

Oh shit. He was standing too damn close to her.

Waking up in each other's arms because it was cold was one thing, but this? This was his lips brushing against her cheek, her breath on the shell of his ear, her body pinned between him and an unforgiving wall…and well, somehow in all his concern about hiding in plain sight, he hadn't factored in…that.

This.

Despite his sudden self-consciousness, however, he bring himself to pull away from her, to restore some distance between them. Obviously, he couldn't…

Because of the French.

Still, he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that the sounds of the soldiers' voices had faded away and while that should have given him more than enough reason to take a step back and clear his head and reassess their situation…he didn't. Instead, he leaned forward…just an inch or two more until his lips were ghosting over hers in intoxicating anticipation.

"Wyatt? Lucy?" Rufus' hushed and frantic voice startled them both to attention. Quickly dropping his hand from her face, Wyatt nearly jumped backwards away from Lucy stumbling towards the sound of Rufus' voice. He was wandering around the edge of the woods, laden with a crate and looking extremely anxious, "Where are you gu…oh." he stopped abruptly when he turned to see them both making their way towards them; Wyatt, nearly jogging to meet him while Lucy was slowly bringing up the rear. "What the hell were you two doing over there?"

"Nothing." Wyatt blurted out defensively, "We were…uh…just ya know…worried about you." He paced nervously in front of Rufus, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as he explained, "The soldiers heard us when we were uh…trying to figure out how to get inside and we…had to…um…hide."

"Uh-huh…" Rufus said as he raised his eyebrows in suspicion, watching as Wyatt looked and acted like someone who had just been caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar, "…and what exactly were you doing while you were hiding?"

If Rufus had any suspicions that "nothing" meant "something" they were confirmed by the panicked look in Wyatt's eye as Lucy approached them. She, however, looked completely at ease as she wrapped him in a hug and muttered, "I'm so glad you're okay…I was so worried."

"Well…I guess…I should thank you," he said with a shrug, "whatever the hell you guys did caused enough of a distraction so I could get away."

"What happened?"

"I was just asking Wyatt the same thing." Rufus said with a smirk, noticing that Wyatt was absolutely refusing to look at either of them. "You two must have done something to scare those French soldiers away."

Lucy, however, cast one quick look in Wyatt's direction and shrugged, "I accidentally knocked over some tools and we had to hide. As far as I know, they didn't even see us. What about you?" she said with real concern, "What took you so long?"

Rufus shrugged, "Well, I went in to try to find that forge, just like you said…and well, turns out that forge is in the actual fort…not out here in this main section" he said as motioned towards the wall, "So…I tried to sneak in…"

Wyatt stopped pacing and stared at Rufus, "You, what?"

"I tried to sneak in…" Rufus admitted sheepishly, "turns out they didn't like that."

"You think?" Wyatt sighed out in exasperation, "Jesus, Rufus I told you just to go in, look around and come back out."

"Well, I'm sorry…but you also told me to look for the damn forge, so that is what I was trying to do." He sighed, "It's okay though, I guess a lot of the workmen don't speak French so I just acted like I was lost…but then when I was leaving the fort I ran into that dude from the campsite."

"Louis Coulon?" Lucy asked nervously.

"Yeah…I don't know if he recognized me…but he looked at me funny…like maybe he did." He gave an apologetic shrug, "I skirted out of there as fast as I could but then the next thing I knew, they were closing the gates to the whole damn place."

"Wait a minute, Louis Coulon ordered the gates to be closed after seeing you?" Lucy breathed out anxiously.

"I don't know who ordered it." Rufus said with a shrug, "But nothing happened…I was just sort of stuck. I figured it would look too suspicious if I tried to leave then, so I hung around the place…and picked up a few things while I was at it." he said as he lifted the crate in his arms.

"You did good, Rufus." Wyatt said with a solemn nod, "That was right thing to do."

"Except that Louis Coulon recognized him" Lucy hissed out in panic.

"You don't know that." Wyatt countered a little too roughly, "It could be a total coincidence. I mean, if he did recognize Rufus, wouldn't he have ordered his men to arrest him right then and there?

"How am I supposed to know what he would've done? The fact remains, he ordered those gates to be closed after he saw Rufus…which means…"

"Nothing." Wyatt said with a resolute shake of his head.

"Which means," Lucy said a little more forcefully, "he was suspicious."

Wyatt shrugged in exasperation, "So let him be suspicious. Rufus is here, he's fine...aren't you?".

"I don't know about fine." Rufus said tentatively, clearly uncomfortable by the way he kept shooting awkward glances between Lucy and Wyatt, "but I'm alive, if that's what you're asking."

Satisfied with that answer, Wyatt nodded at Lucy triumphantly, who flushed with anger and rolled her eyes as she pushed past the two of them. "I see you two are still fighting like an old married couple…" Rufus muttered quietly to Wyatt as they watched Lucy huff away.

"What the hell do you mean by that" Wyatt snapped, his face flushing.

"Whoa…easy. It's just an expression." Rufus assured, "I just mean that you two have been at each other's throats all damn day…I just thought by now you'd…ya know…be over it."

Wyatt scowled. "Be over it" Be over what? It was Lucy who had been so damn infuriating all day, refusing his help, arguing with him over every little thing, being so damn stubborn she nearly drowned herself trying to prove a damn point.

He had only been trying to keep her safe…

Hell, that was his job…and she was keeping him from doing his job….making his job a hell of a lot harder in the process. If she would have just listened to him, instead of storming off towards that fort, they would've never had to hide from the French soldiers to begin with. Of course, Rufus did say that Lucy's clumsiness had been the distraction he needed to escape that damn place…so, he supposed, that had worked out to their mutual advantage. Or frustration…he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about everything that had happened back there at the fort…he just knew there was no way in hell he was ever going to let Rufus know.

"I gotta be honest, though," Rufus said with a sigh as they caught up to Lucy, "I am so relieved that it was just you two making all that racket out here. When those French soldiers came back in they were all "animu, animu" and so I half expected to run into a bear or something."

Lucy furrowed her brow in confusion, "Animu? What's animu?" she asked.

Shrugging, Rufus frowned, "I don't know, aren't you the one who speaks French?"

"Yes, but…" Lucy bit her lip in thought. The French word for animal was animal, but maybe Rufus heard them wrong. "Oh well, " she shrugged, "I guess being where we are, it's probably a good idea to look out for bears and things anyway…this is Appalachia after all."

"Yeah well, I'd like to know what the hell they saw out there." Rufus said nervously, "I'd feel a hell of a lot safer walking back to camp without being worried about bears or mountain lions…"

"Rufus," Lucy consoled, "Wyatt and I were out here the whole time and we didn't see any…"she trailed off thinking about what had passed from the moment the French soldiers had come out of the gate. If they were looking for whatever had made that sound and caught sight of them…"Wait," Lucy said suddenly, "did…did they say animal or…amoureux?"

"Yeah…that's it…animu." Rufus said with a nod, "So…what? That doesn't mean animal?"

Lucy pursed her lips and cast a wary glance towards Wyatt, who refused to meet her eye. "No." she said simply. "It…uh…it doesn't mean animal."

"Well what does it…" Rufus began, but Wyatt suddenly erupted into a loud coughing fit, "You okay, man?" Rufus asked in concern.

Wyatt, however, didn't answer. Instead he quickened his pace to put as much distance between himself and Lucy and Rufus as possible. He didn't need to speak French to guess what "amoureux" meant…and one glance at the flush on Lucy's cheek told him that he was going to have to talk to her…privately…far away from Rufus…about what had happened. Right now, he just needed to stay the hell away from her.

"What's the matter with him?"

Lucy shrugged, though she believed she had a pretty good idea of just exactly what was the matter with Wyatt.

It must have been hard for him, she figured, to be linked to her romantically –even if it was just for show - when he was still so in love with his wife. With the guilt that he carried over her death and his unrelenting hope to save her, was it any wonder why even the tiniest implications that he was unfaithful to her and her memory would bother him? Though she had to admit that there, right before Rufus had interrupted, there was a moment when she almost believed he had wanted to kiss her…which was exactly why, right now, she was angry; angry at herself for being so stupid as to fall for the ruse not once, not twice…but now three times.

Three times. Three times in one day, Lucy had foolishly believed Wyatt was going to kiss her. She cursed herself for being so unbelievably pathetic. Sure, it had been a while since she had been in a relationship…well, if you didn't count Noah (and she absolutely did not count Noah)…but she normally had more self-control than this. After Michael Garrison stood her up for the prom she swore to herself that she would never get mixed up in a one-sided romantic anything ever again. It had been absolutely humiliating, to say the least, being stood up for her own prom, forcing her to play it off in front of her friends by attending a debate tournament at the last minute instead. No matter how many forced smiles she plastered on her face, however, she knew they knew the real reason she hadn't set foot in the high school gymnasium that night.

Just the memory of it made her cheeks flush.

So, no. She was not about to do this again. She had to get her emotions under control and fast or she knew she would end up making a complete fool of herself and…only break her heart in the process.

They hadn't walked much farther when a scream of horses had the three of them wheeling around in panic and diving for cover in the underbrush around the trees, "Something's happening." she breathed out as Wyatt frantically pulled the spyglass from his belt, "there's um…three, four, five…six…six soldiers on horses heading out of the gates." She looked to Wyatt with concern as he put the lens to his eye, grateful that the brightness of the moon would allow him to better monitor their movements, but realizing with concern, that it would allow the French to see theirs.

"That's the French commander from the camp." Wyatt murmured, "Oh boy…He does not look happy."

Lucy bit back the temptation to mutter an "I told you so" but one look from Wyatt told her he knew she was thinking it.

"What are the chances they aren't searching for us?" Rufus asked nervously.

Wyatt chuckled grimly, "I wouldn't put money on it. They've been expecting us to show up with those other French soldiers….and if he did recognize you…"

"That means he knows we've escaped…" Lucy murmured.

"...and that we're close." Rufus added. "So…what do we do?"

Wyatt bit his lip thoughtfully. He wanted to put a geographic barrier between themselves and the French, but there was no way in hell he was going to try to cross the river again, at night…especially not with Lucy.

"Do you think they're headed back to that camp? Where they last saw us?" Lucy asked nervously.

"I imagine they'll get there eventually." Wyatt said grimly, knowing that they were going to come upon that encampment finding nothing but a few dead soldiers and some missing supplies."

"Uh-huh." Rufus observed nervously, "How pissed do you think that Coulon guy's gonna be when he sees we killed his men?"

"Pretty pissed." Wyatt said with a curt nod, "And if he already suspects that you were at Fort Duquense…he's going to have his men scour every inch of this place looking for us."

"But our camp….the supplies." Lucy gasped, "Wyatt, we just left them there…if they find them…oh my God, the Lifeboat…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Wyatt breathed out, "one thing at a time, okay? Look," he pointed towards the retreating horses, "They're following the road….the LifeBoat isn't anywhere near that road…we could follow behind them and do what we can to hide the Lifeboat."

"And just how do you suggest we do that?" Rufus asked. "I can't exactly park it someplace else and we sure as hell can't move it."

"No…but we could camouflage it." Wyatt stated as he bit his lip in thought. "I don't know what musket fire could do to that thing and well, we're already far enough up shit creek without a paddle, I don't think we need to risk anything else happening to it while we're out here."

"Agreed." Lucy breathed out nervously. "But Rufus is right, how are we going to hide something that big?

Wyatt rubbed a rough hand across his face as he wracked his brain for ideas. In the military, they used camouflaged netting for stuff like this in the field, but out here? What the hell could they use? His eyes scanned the forest floor, thick with underbrush that snaked up the large trees surrounding them, almost completely covering the bark with their thick, green foliage. Wyatt turned to Lucy and shrugged, "We let nature do the job for us." he said with a nod towards the trees. "C'mon…let's move."

Notes:

I don't know that I have anything to say in my notes except that things are heating up between Wyatt and Lucy and will continue to do so : ). Originally this chapter was going to have her out of her corset (in what way I will not divulge) but it became TOO long...and while I know some of you don't mind long chapters...they give me fits...so this is where we are for now...and hopefully I'll have the next chapter all ready for you soon.

I've been working on a special surprise for Torrent readers, so expect something this weekend...that's all I'm going to say...you'll just have to see what lies in store!