Saturday dawned quiet and still. Bands of sunlight stretched the width of the room across the bed, the two figures in it wrapped around each other, fast asleep. The tempered, shrill ring of a cellphone shattered the silence, demanding attention. Regretfully, Sam gently disentangled himself from Kate's embrace and grabbed the phone from his suit before it could yell again. He snapped the phone open, casting a glance towards the bed to make sure that she hadn't woken up.

"Seaborn"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Good morning to you, too, Leo. I'm at my townhouse. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I highly suggest you get your ass down here, Spanky. You've done it again."

"CJ? What're you doing there?"

"Never mind that, Sam. Just get yourself down here now. Is that girl with you?"

He winced at the inflection Leo used and covered his eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed. They knew. He didn't know how, but they knew.

"Yes, Leo. She's here. Why?"

"Bring her with you. The two of you can explain this to the rest of Senior Staff and the President together."

He ran a hand through his hair as he looked out the window. "We'll be there in an hour. Although, Leo, I might suggest that you talk to the President and the First Lady about this."

Leo's tone on the other end was sharp. "Excuse me, Sam? You're suggesting I talk to the President and First Lady on this? What would they know about another one of your indiscretions? I swear, if you even think that..."

Sam cut him off. "Indiscretion?! This isn't an indiscretion. I talked to both of them last night after we got here. We'll be there in about an hour."

He snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the nightstand. He sat on the bed next to a still sleeping Kate. She looked so content lying there, so relaxed. Her face was still swollen from her tears; their paths visible on her cheeks. He hated the thought of having to wake her for such a petty issue. She deserved the chance to sleep, to heal.

As he went to wake her, she moved and her eyes began to flutter open. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Sam?"

"I'm right here, china doll. Did you sleep well?"

She made an odd face as she stretched and sat up. "Yeah. Had an embarrassing dream, though."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"It's really embarrassing." Her face began to show the beginnings of a blush.

"Try me."

"Well...," she was almost afraid to say anything. Remembering what they'd talked about last night, she just decided to come out and say it.

"You kissed me."

He took her hand in his and looked at her with a kind expression. Touching the side of her face lightly, he said, "You weren't dreaming."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, china doll. You weren't dreaming. I did kiss you last night."

"During the storm?"

"Yeah."

"Oh...wow." Now she was confused. Why had he kissed her? The time in Minneapolis was one thing, but now...

"Why me?"

He chuckled softly. Why her? She would ask that question. He took her face in his hands as he answered.

"Why you? Because you're sweet and gentle. Even after everything you've gone through, your faith and love still shine through as bright as when we met. I'm sorry if I was too forward, but I couldn't hold back any longer. I needed to kiss you, to remember the way you tasted, the way it felt we touched. I also wanted to give you something, something you didn't have to ask for or go without because you were afraid. I just...wanted to show you that you're beautiful."

He leaned in slowly and just barely brushed her lips with his. "Please, Katie, let me in. You don't have to fight the world alone. There's no reason for you to hide. Not anymore." His plea continued as he looked into her eyes.

She looked away. "I'm afraid to."

"Why?"

"I don't want to hurt you. There's so much about me and my past that you don't know, and I don't know if these are things you'd want to."

"I don't care."

"But..."

He touched her lips gently to silence her.

"I don't care, Kate. You forget, I can see right through you. I don't care what happened in your past, I never have."

"Sam..."

He held up his hand to stop her again. "Listen, Leo wants both of us over there in an hour. Let's go take care of that, and then we can come back and talk more. I don't want either of us to say anything that we'd regret."

She nodded in agreement and hopped out of bed. "Well, we don't want to disappoint him, do we?" She winked at him and left to get changed. Sam smiled to himself and shook his head. No matter what happened between them, it was definitely going to be interesting.