They had kissed before, but this time they had kissed like longtime lovers – holding back from an instinctive passionate response because of the picnic swirling around them. Then she had invited him back to her house with absolutely no gray area about what she wanted them to do.
She had been sending him the same message for a couple of weeks, but Jack was still hesitant. For one thing, it had been a long long time since he'd—
"It's um," he began, gripping the steering wheel, "been kind of a long time for…for me. Since, I, you know—"
"It's okay," Sam said. "I kind of figured. We'll be fine, Jack."
He cleared his throat. There wasn't really any more he needed to say, but for some reason he could tell Sam anything and often found himself blurting out things he'd never said to anyone. Ever.
"Sara and I were going through a rocky stage a few months before Charlie's accident, and that didn't make it any better. But I was always faithful to her. Then, after the whole…mess, I was diagnosed as clinically depressed." He stopped and glanced at her, gauging her reaction.
It was the damnedest thing; she never seemed to meet any of his stories with anything but open acceptance.
"That okay with you?" he asked, hesitantly.
Sam blinked in surprise. "With you being clinically depressed? No! It's not okay that you had to go through that. But your reaction is hardly surprising. Of course you were depressed! You didn't need a shrink to tell you that."
"No, I didn't," Jack said. "But the reason I'm telling you this is so you know there's nothing to worry about. Faithful to my wife for nine years and no one since then." No one like you, no one I've wanted at all.
Sam nodded. "Okay. Yeah, we should talk about that I guess. After I broke it off with Jonas I had myself tested because it occurred to me that he was maybe not as exclusive as I was. Tested clean. No one since then. I, um, went back on birth control after I talked to you that first night."
It was his turn to blink in surprise. "You did?" When he looked at her she was blushing. A soft pink sunset stained her cheeks.
"Um, when I saw you that night at O'Malley's I had to talk to you. The Stargate was a really convenient excuse, but it wasn't the reason. I've never reacted to anyone like that. But I couldn't let you walk out without talking to you, spending time with you."
"Yeah," Jack said, softly. "I wanted to talk to you too, but I couldn't figure out how, and thought maybe it wasn't a good idea. I wasn't even sure…I'm still not sure."
"I am," Sam said.
"Oh you are?" he said, lightly, with a lopsided smile.
He looked over just in time to see her beautiful gaze slide over him with deep appreciation. "Yes, I'm sure," she said, in a low voice that couldn't be mistaken for anything but seduction. "Jack."
It was the same reaction he'd had when she'd said his name in the coffee shop the night they had met.
"Jeezus," Jack muttered as all the blood in his body did a swan dive into his crotch. "Honey, I'm trying to drive here." His heart was pounding in response. He felt lightheaded. She was literally breathtaking.
Sam chuckled lightly and stretched as if she was quite pleased with herself. She gave him a smug smile. "I think we're going to be just fine."
