Three weeks later Jack couldn't remember what it had been like not to have Sam in his life. It was so damned shockingly easy, effortless, like breathing. Like flying.

She'd told him that she'd just broken off an engagement and from the sounds of it – the few things she had said about the nature of the relationship – Jack didn't blame her a bit. It would be better for everyone involved if Jack never ran into a certain Captain Hanson. Jack had no doubt that Sam could take care of herself, but it would be best if their paths never crossed.

He had been to her house a few times, not to stay but to pick her up. They had gone hiking a few times and to the museum at Peterson just because neither of them had ever been there. But now Jack kind of wanted her to come back to his place.

So he planned something he hoped she'd find special.

He picked her up at 7 and found Sam waiting on her front porch, wearing jeans and a grey sweater and carrying her jacket. She jumped up as he pulled up to the curb and walked eagerly to the truck, opening the door and jumping inside.

"Dressed casual with a jacket, just like you said," she said, buckling her seatbelt. When she looked up, she smiled at him and he wondered if that would ever stop making his chest hurt a little. "Where are we going?"

"I also said it was a surprise. Do you trust me?" He put the truck in gear and pulled away from the curb.

"I wouldn't be in the truck if I didn't," she said.

"Then relax, Captain. If you must know we're going back to my place. But you won't even have to come inside and if it isn't any fun all you have to say is no."

He kept his eyes on the road but he felt her looking at him steadily. She had threat-assessed him ages ago. So he wasn't worried.

On the way to her house he called and ordered two large pizzas, one meat lovers and one with all the things Sam liked. The timing was perfect. The pizza guy was pulling into the driveway just as they arrived.

Jack paid him and gave him a generous tip for being there just at the right time, which couldn't possibly have been planned but still…. Then he got a bottle of Chianti out of the back seat.

"Ready?"

Sam was looking slightly bemused. "Pizza and Chianti at your place is the surprise?"

"No, that's dinner," Jack said, "The surprise is around this way. Come on, I'll show you."

Sam followed him to the wooden staircase on the other side of the garage. He stepped back, balancing the pizza boxes in one hand and holding the Chianti in the other and invited her to go up ahead of him with a nod of his head and a smile.

Cautiously Sam climbed the stairs until she got to the top and he heard an audible gasp.

"Oh my god," she said, "You have a deck on your roof with a telescope!"

"Yep," Jack said, slightly pleased with himself. That wasn't all that was there at the moment. He'd purchased a bistro set at the Ace Hardware when he was there getting a new fitting for the leaky pipe under the sink. The set was now sitting on the deck with the table set for two. There was a candle in the middle waiting to be lit and a small vase with a handful of wild daisies. He'd gone down to the creek behind his house and picked them right before going to get her. He'd turned the plates and wine glasses over to keep them clean but he was hoping that didn't spoil the effect.

It said a lot about why he was attracted to her that she had noticed the telescope first.

He gave her a slight nudge in the back with the pizza box and she finished walking up onto the deck. The view was spectacular.

Jack put the pizza boxes down on the bench he kept up on the deck and started opening the chianti.

"I thought we'd eat and then watch the Perseids," he said, lightly, not willing to admit even to himself how much he wanted her to want this. "Neptune and Jupiter are visible tonight too; and Saturn if you're into all those really cool rings."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, Saturn's rings are cool. You wouldn't believe how long it's been since I just enjoyed looking at them."

She went to the table and regarded it for a moment before turning the wine glasses and plates over and sitting down. "This is cool too," she said.

Jack breathed an inward sigh of relief and poured the wine. Then he pulled the bench over so they could reach the pizza and sat down across from her. Sam lifted her wine glass and smiled at him over it. "Thank you. It's a nice surprise."

They ate and talked. Jack shared a few stories from his time in the first Gulf War and she shared a few stories from her time in the second. The sun quietly set as they ate and drank wine and talked. When they were winding down, Jack leaned forward, resting his arms on the table after pushing his plate out of the way.

"Listen," he said, "My son is going to visit next month. I get a week with him before the start of school."

"Okay," she said, cautiously, "Is this your way of telling me you won't be around as much?"

"Umm, no actually. It's my way of asking if you won't mind hanging around with a ten year old boy."

Sam sat back and blinked. "Really?"

Jack took a breath and blew it out. "Yeah. I kind of want to take him camping. I was hoping you'd go with us."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Sam appeared to give it considerable thought and then said, "I don't know much about kids."

Jack shrugged, "Charlie's pretty easy going. I should probably tell you what happened though."

"You don't have to," she said, quickly.

"Charlie," He paused and swallowed. He hadn't meant to do this and wasn't going to, except now he already was because Sam needed to know and he wanted to tell her. "Shot himself with a gun I kept loaded in the house."

"Oh, god, Jack," Sam whispered.

"He's okay now. There was no permanent damage except for some scars. But he was in the hospital for a long time, rehab after that. His mother took him to another state for some of the treatment. She wanted to be closer to her family and I didn't fight it." Five sentences but it was more than he had said to anyone in all the time since it had happened. He hadn't had the strength to fight it, not considering what had almost happened. Sarah had never forgiven him for what had almost happened.

"And you've been alone since then," Sam concluded.

Jack looked up, surprised. She was gazing at him frankly but without any pity. She didn't say That's terrible or Oh, I'm so sorry the way some people might. Everything that Jack had felt had all been in those five sentences and Sam got it right away. She got it the way someone in the military would get it. He stared at her, his whole body leaning towards her in longing. What he wanted to say was How can you possibly be here with me?

What he said was, "Yeah."

Sam shivered and rubbed her arms suddenly. Jack got up right away and got her jacket.

"It gets windy up here," he apologized, "even in the summer."

Sam smiled and slipped into it. Then she pointed and said, "There's Venus. The rest of the stars should be visible soon."

They cleaned up and then took up positions at the telescope. Jack gave her the stool and stood behind her. He watched her adjusting and moving and focusing. He listened to her happily chattering about the planets and advancements in space technology.

This had gotten more complicated than he had originally thought. But then again he wasn't sure exactly what he had originally thought.

Then he realized he'd lost the thread of the conversation, too busy staring at her in wonder and letting her voice drift into his ear and wind around his brain.

"Jack?" She said. Her eyes were wide, as if she was finishing the question in silence, and Jack wanted to answer. But he didn't know what the question was or what to say and a feeling so extreme that it was almost numbing was spreading up his body and down his legs, and he couldn't speak.

The strangest thing was that he could feel Sam reading the words he couldn't even form, reading the longing in his heart.

"Sam," he said, finally, leaning towards her blindly, terrified and hungry.

She found his mouth by the sound of his voice. Her lips touched his. They both froze, on the barest brush of breath, startled and wanting. Then Sam moaned, low and pleading, and leaned in just a little more. Offering, not pushing. Begging, not taking.

His hand came up to cradle her head, her hair a silken tease through his fingers. He kissed her and it was like an explosion of tiny stars between them, as though he had touched the night sky. Shivery sweetness expanded from the touch of their lips, the soft probing of tongues and filled both of them.

When they parted Jack was left transfixed, looking into her eyes and thinking that he had just fallen in love and knowing he couldn't say it. Not yet.

But he had known her all of his life. He had needed her all of his life.

Sam saved him from having to say anything by brushing her cheek against his, nuzzling a little. She laughed then in a way that sounded pleased and relieved and he immediately knew why. They'd passed the 'first kiss' hurdle and it had been awesome. Jack laughed with her. He'd laughed more in the past month with Sam than he had in years. She delighted him; and aroused him. Everything about her aroused him. He knew this was happening way faster than it was supposed to, and every time he started to examine that he stopped, because there was just nothing that felt wrong about this.

"So," she said, softly, "You ever going to show me the inside of this house?"

"Sure," he said, still lightly touching her face with his. "I got a coffee maker, or hot chocolate. We can make some and come back up to watch the Perseids."

Sam sighed, light and wine-flavored in the dark. "That sounds perfect," she said.

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