Two hours later, Luke was sitting on the floor, Charlie was leaning against the far wall and both of them were jumpier than a couple of paranoid schizophrenics. And bored out of their minds, to boot.

"You wanna play a game?" Luke burst out after another twenty minutes of silence so taut with nerves, he could feel it.

Charlie looked up from the bug she'd been watching crawl along the floor. "What kinda game?"

"Well normally I'd say a drinking game, but we got no booze. So, twenty questions?" Charlie relaxed a little, thinking he'd had something else in mind.

"Sounds fine to me. You want to go first?"

"Alright. Where were you born?"

"Brunsville, Alabama. Same question."

"Downstairs in the living room."

"What? No shit." Luke nodded, happy to see her loosening up.

"Been here ever since."

"Wow."

"Okay, what'd you go to college for, if it wasn't auto technology?"

"Oh, it's kinda embarrassing."

"Honey, I barely graduated high school and had to fight tooth and nail to get into the Marines. Ain't no reason to be ashamed of any college education." Charlie shrugged.

"If you say so. Medieval history."

"Now just how is that embarrassing?"

"Who in the hell is gonna wanna know about that kinda stuff down here?"

"Maybe not go to a class on it, but I sure wouldn't mind hearin' about it." Charlie shook her head in amazement.

"How on earth did you get to be like this?"

"Like what?" Luke asked, amused by her bewilderment.

"You race and build cars, you help your uncle run this farm, you helped raise both your cousins, you were in the Marines, have never lived anywhere but this very farmhouse, and you're interested in stuff that has long been passed over by most other people." Like me, she found herself thinking.

"All the better for me. Guess all those other people just don't know what they're missin'," Luke replied with a half-smile, eyes sparking at her, causing Charlie's voice to catch in her throat.

"I…I meant the history stuff," she managed to choke out in a half-whisper. But Luke's eyes never wavered from her face.

"Course you did," he replied in a steady tone. Charlie couldn't tear her emerald eyes away from his blue ones and almost didn't notice him come closer until he was sitting directly in front of her. Her eyes widened, realizing what he was about to do.

Luke, seeing this, leaned back so he wasn't in her face and gently took her hand in his. With the other, he slowly reached up and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"Why is it that I get the impression you don't think you're worth anything?" Luke murmured, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. Embarrassed to be found out, Charlie reddened and dropped her eyes to the floor. But the man before her grasped her chin and pulled it up so she was looking straight into his eyes. "I don't ever want you to feel worthless or stupid around me. Okay? Not ever. You are one of the most astonishing, quick-witted and talented people I know. So don't you let anyone try to make you feel ashamed or otherwise. Cuz they're not worth the mud on your boots."

A single tear ran down Charlie's face and landed right on Luke's outstretched hand. Half a second later, he was right there beside her, arms around her, keeping her safe; gently stroking her hair and whispering soft reassurances in her ear as she shook with all the effort it had taken to keep her tears back for so long.

Luke held Charlie like that for the next few minutes as she was wracked with silent, heart-wrenching sobs. When the shaking stopped, he still held her, ready to let go if at any minute she decided she wasn't comfortable. Fortunately, that moment never came, and eventually Charlie was dry-eyed and still leaning her head into Luke's chest, subconsciously grasping for comfort and safety, something he more than willingly gave.

The oldest Duke boy was shouting with joy inside that he finally had this incredible woman in his arms. On the outside though, he only allowed himself a half-grin, as not to upset Charlie.

"You feel a little better?" he asked. Charlie nodded slightly, suddenly worn out. Luke kissed her temple fondly, eliciting a giggle from her.

"That tickles," she murmured, the smile apparent on her face.

"Yeah? Well I tell you what. You're too beat for any tickle fights right now, so how's about I owe you one. Sound good?"

"Uh-huh," Charlie managed to utter, before falling fast asleep.

Luke checked to make sure she wasn't going to wake up, then lifted her body off the floor and went to the door. He tapped it with his bare foot, heard some rustling and then the door swung open to reveal three expectant Duke faces.

"Y'all are the biggest bunch of schemers I've ever seen," he whispered, not really mad.

"How long have you known we were out here?" Daisy asked.

"I didn't," Luke deadpanned, and turned away to carry the sleeping woman in his arms to her bed.

Luke had every intention of just laying Charlie down under the covers and then leaving the room. But after tucking her in, he sat down to watch her sleep, just for a few minutes, he told himself. Those few minutes turned into five, then ten, then twenty and before he knew it, he'd been watching Charlie sleep for over an hour.

He was about to wrench himself from the room, when she began tossing and turning, appearing to be in the throes of a nightmare. Luke hurried to her side and after stroking her hair and murmuring wordlessly to her for a matter of moments, she slept on peacefully.

Then Luke forced himself out of the room, with one last look at her before closing the door.

Luke walked outside to find Bo under the hood of Uncle Jesse's truck, probably trying to tune it up more towards his liking. Luke walked over silently and banged his hand against the side of the truck, causing Bo to jump and hit his head on the hood.

He glanced over at Luke with a scowl on his face. "Very funny," he growled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, kinda like that little stunt y'all pulled with the bathroom door, huh?" Luke replied. Bo had the decency to at least get sheepish, which is more than Luke would've said for Jesse and Daisy. His uncle had merely smiled at him, while Daisy wouldn't wipe the smug look off her face.

"They put you up to it?" Luke relented, reading Bo's expression correctly.

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly try to stop it," his cousin replied, still feeling like he'd betrayed his best friend. Luke shook it off.

"Nah, don't worry about it. At least you let us have some clothes. Woulda been a hell of a lot worse if we'd been naked. Took her two hours to calm down as it was."

"She's real jumpy, huh?" Luke shrugged. "Why do you think that is?"

"Not real sure. But if she ever told me, I wouldn't be telling you, that's her business."

"Okay, okay. So what happened?" Luke rolled his eyes, knowing this had been coming.

"Nothing. We talked, she got upset, I gave her a hug and she fell asleep. End of story."

"Uh-huh. And all the guys are after Daisy cuz of her amazing ability with a socket wrench." Luke grinned, but still refused to tell Bo anything more.

"Sorry cuz, it was kind of a personal conversation."

"Alright, I know when to quit." Luke raised a brow in doubt, but kept his mouth shut. "Here, c'mere and help me with this camshaft, she's stuck." And with that, life was back to normal on the Duke farm.