Kate walked upstairs to change as Sam put his laptop in the office. When he came back out, the house was quiet. After locking the door, he pulled a blanket from one of the couches and went upstairs to find her asleep in the guest room.

She looked tiny in the oversized sweats she had on, almost like a swaddled infant. He gingerly climbed onto the bed beside her, pulling the blanket over them as he lay down. He snuggled up tight behind her, draping one arm over her side and slipping the other under her neck. One hand came to rest on her stomach, and he could feel her gentle breathing as it laid there. Nuzzling the back of her neck, he could feel the sunshine warmth of her hair and smell the soft lemon of her perfume. It felt like he'd been transported back to his childhood, and he closed his eyes in contentment as he lay there with Kate in his arms.

She'd felt him come onto the bed and pull the blanket over them. The sensation of his hand coming in contact with her abdomen caused her to jump imperceptibly, but the warm, slight weight there was comforting. Combined with the fact that she could feel his heartbeat resonate within her body, she felt herself succumbing to sleep at unbelievable speed. The last thing she remembered was a light kiss on the back of her neck and Sam's gentle voice.

"Sleep now, my little one, sleep. I love you."

He could watch her sleep for hours. He wanted to give her this; comfort, security, affection. Things that she'd had the misfortune to learn how to live without, but would now receive on a regular basis. He couldn't shake the heartbroken, pleading look that he'd seen in her eyes far too often, but promised himself that he would do whatever possible to make her feel loved and cherished for the rest of her life. He lay back to try and think of something he could do to help her feel better about that morning's meeting and the statement they'd been forced to write only hours before. He felt her snuggle in closer and he smiled as he closed his eyes and gave in to sleep.

He woke with a slight start a few hours later, and felt a pang of emptiness when he realized that he was alone. Suddenly, he remembered his dream and a horrible sense of guilt overwhelmed him. He'd figured out a way to make her feel better all right, but that didn't stop the guilt he felt.

He wanted to make love to her.

He couldn't help it. He wanted to erase all of her doubts and misgivings about how beautiful she truly was, both outside and inside, and prove to Kate that he wanted all of her. No matter what had happened in her past, he wanted her to know that none of it would ever matter to him; that she was too precious to him for him to ever lose.

But he also knew that getting her to that point would take a very long time. Even though they'd known each other for a while, he remembered how she'd jumped once when he'd traced the side of her neck and how skittish and frightened she looked for the rest of the night. She was becoming more and more comfortable with physical contact and would only shy away if she was truly scared or in pain. She didn't jump whenever he touched her now; in fact, she was more inclined to reciprocate or lean into it than anything else. Would she do the same as their relationship became more intimate? There was really only one way to find out.

He found her downstairs reading in the living room and smiled slightly as she jumped up when he walked towards her. He hugged her tight before they sat back down on the couch.

"Nice to see you're finally awake, sleepy."

"I was more worried about you. You look so much better than this morning. How're you feeling?"

"Better. I'm still upset at Uncle Leo, though. Why does he have to act like that toward me? I haven't done anything wrong."

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration when he heard this.

"No, sweetie, you haven't. Your only crime was becoming an adult."

"What do you mean, Sam? I don't understand."

He could only hope that she wouldn't get upset with him, but he knew that hearing about his problems with Leo when he tried to date Mallory could help her feel better.

"Leo got upset with me about a year or so ago when I tried to date his daughter. He'd either hand me work when he knew that she and I had a date or funnel my opposition prep papers to her whenever they opposed one of her pet causes like school vouchers. She actually made an appointment with me to argue about the damned paper, and then proceeded to ask Leo if we could go out for lunch because, as she put it, she always 'asked her father's permission before she went out to lunch with fascists'. She's an adult, and Leo still feels the need to protect her from every guy on the face of the earth. Mal's a reasonable enough person, I guess, but all we ever did was fight about issues like that. As pretty and nice as she is, I can't live in a relationship like that. The only real memory I have about our entire time was that I was constantly on guard with her."

He didn't notice Kate getting upset as he spoke.

"That's why I love being with you. You don't expect me to be anything but what I already am. You're one of the few people that I truly feel that I can be myself with."

He looked down at her hands and noticed that her knuckles were white from how tight she'd been squeezing her hands. He laid one of his hands over hers and touched her cheek with his fingertips.

"What's wrong, little sprite? Did I say something to upset you?"