A/N: For disclaimers please see chapter 1. Also, this part is rated R so please, if you are not comfortable reading that, stop reading and move onto the next chapter now. Thanks, Zk.

Chapter III – Rhythm & Harmony

The dance floor was alive with the slow swaying of bodies pressed together, moving smartly on the river of melody and harmony; the tall couple danced in the flow, the sound of the blues stripping their souls down before one another; they spoke through their eyes. A dance was something Simon rarely enjoyed. He had never been so affected by the touch of his partner: he had never felt the music strike so deep inside. Their conversation, back on their sofa was quiet and intimate; they were free-falling into each other's world.

Simon told her of Ferdinand Miles: how they met at West Point, how they served together in the Army as Rangers, left together for Chicago and now how the Miles' were his only family. The short tales of their lives together endeared Ferdinand to her; immediately it was clear how the men were so close. They had fought side by side for almost ten years; until Simon had joined the Secret Service, the two hadn't been apart in work or play for over twenty years. It was also apparent that Simon didn't let many people in. CJ let her guard down, and spoke about her parents and family: about how scared she was that her Dad was dying. The revelation was shocking for Simon – he felt humbled and chocked at the same time, it was a mark of her trust, and possibly the first time, he thought that she'd spoken to someone about it. Even though his job had been to be her protector, he thought by her resistance that it would never extend to her inner core; her real concerns about her life. Being strong was what his mother had taught him, bringing him up alone. When he held her hands, she felt that strength and the need to shed a tear left her; he was her comfort, and with that, she felt love.

Three rounds of cocktails, a dance, and much talking left them ready to leave come 1am, even though life at the Blue Lagoon ran on far into the morning. The night was cool, the air was different, and it smelled of the big city. As they walked, Simon hugged her shoulder and she clung to his waist.

As they neared the hotel, Simon steered them over the street to the small park. At the centre of the open ground, there was a beautifully lit fountain; he guided her there and they stood marvelling at it, the Press Secretary with her Special Agent wrapped around her back.

"It's beautiful Simon."

"I know." He squeezed her tighter, their fingers intertwined over her chest. They relished in seeing the beauty of their feelings reflected in the flowing water, life felt like the light bursting up through the splashes from the submerged lamps.

"It's picture perfect, I never thought it was possible to find somewhere this quiet in New York." CJ commented.

"Speaking of which…" Simon rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his camera phone. "I want to show Anthony this!" CJ chuckled to herself; Simon's dedication to the boy was so admirable. He took a picture, not unwrapping himself from her. In a moment of inspiration, he flipped the phone in his hand and snapped a candid shot of the both of them, smiling against the fuzzy light of the street behind. CJ had her cheek nuzzled against him; she looked content, leaning back into his embrace as his smiling lips grazed her skin. Perhaps a few hours back she may have been bothered about where that picture might end up, but now? Now she just relished the attention.

"Shall we head in, you look cold?" He enquired, despite having cocooned her in his warmth.

"I'm not cold, but we could anyway." Simon chuckled to himself, of course she wasn't cold, the goose flesh on her arms was just for decoration. It was amazing how stubbornly independent she could be.

"It's ok if you're cold, you know – you are only wearing a…" She cut in:

"I'm not cold, Mister Agent over-protective!" CJ freed herself of his arms in mock protest, her thin coat flapping in the breeze. "And my dress, my very expensive dress is very warm thank you!"

"Easy there, Ms Cregg – I'm not trying to be overprotective!"

"So, Agent Sunshine, you admit that you're just no fun then?" Her tone was sly, her grin deviously enticing.

"If you call being cold fun then yeah…" He grinned like a fox, rising to the tease: "getting warm on the other hand… now that's what I call real fun!"

The hotel was warm and cosy. The red carpets were thick on the floor of the corridors, they emitted warmth into the space, but they could have been anywhere and felt the same luxury. It was the luxury of touch; of walking next to someone who ignites something inside you that you never knew was even there.

CJ's room was an adjoining double; an internal door connected the two. It should have been the base for her Secret Service protection. The agents' personal rooms were on the next floor up. Their slow march came to a stop outside her door. She leant against the wall, suddenly feeling the alcohol having its effect on her empty stomach. She looked sheepishly at her former bodyguard. Suddenly they were nervous again, knowing full well what lay behind the closed door. He shifted on his feet, but the words were said through the hugest grin:

"I had a really great night tonight."

"Me too, I'm glad you knew a bar!"

"Yeah, Miles took me there a couple of times." The butterflies were back: he needed another Milky Way; it was like taking your date home after the high school prom. Not knowing what to say, or how far to try and take things. He had also just killed the conversation. In the second that it took him to resign and look at the floor, CJ softly took his lapels in her hands and pulled him to her. Bracing himself on the wall with one arm, he let his lips be brought gently to hers. There it was again, the most delicate of caresses, the same passion-filled softness.

They didn't hear the footsteps or the voices of her colleagues as the group rounded the corner from the lift. Toby stopped in his tracks, Sam, Donna and Josh followed suit. Toby suddenly found anything but that in front of him very interesting, Donna grinned wildly and covered her mouth in a "puppy-dog cute" moment. The two younger men looked at one another knowingly before Josh let out a loud whistle and the pair began clapping.

Simon broke the kiss softly but quickly at the sound of the whistling. He hadn't even known they were there. That was why it could have never happened while he was protecting her; this woman completely consumed his senses. They both blushed deeply, looking at the other adults ten feet from them. Before Simon had a chance to stiffen up and step away in a most professional manner – CJ had buried her blushing face in his chest. She wasn't shying away from him in the presence of her friends and colleagues. It took a few long seconds for it to sink in: she was more than content being seen with him. Simon marvelled at that revelation and simultaneously wondered how could he feel so happy about being totally caught off guard.

Agent Donovan wrapped his strong arms round the Press Secretary at his chest, smiling uncontrollably. The group advanced towards them, heading for Josh's room.

"Hey I have problems with those key cards too!" Josh winked as he was ushered by the others into his room. CJ shot him a half-hearted evil scowl that quickly liquidated into a small fit of throaty laughter. Feeling her laugh into his chest, Simon felt her voice go straight to his heart. He was still stunned; it was a shock feeling this insanely vulnerable. He thought he had felt something like this before, he had labelled it love, but now? Now it seemed a crime to call that skin-deep folly love. This was it, and it was more real than anything.

Getting over her laughter, CJ realised that she didn't want him to leave her alone now. She was dizzy with something crazy: it wasn't that familiar fuzz that alcohol gave. She unlocked the door and took a step in before turning to Simon, her eyes asked the question she dared not utter and beckoned him in. He read it well, but fear hit him in the chest like a steam train and he stopped in her doorway.

"Are you sure you want to…?" Simon trailed off. He wanted more than anything to spend the night with CJ, to make love to her – hell, it didn't matter if that happened, as long as he didn't part with her tonight.

"Only if you want… I just thought maybe…" Her voice shook slightly with unease. Suddenly she panicked, what if he didn't want to stay, after all it was only their first date. 'Oh God, I must be coming across so strong!' – the thoughts ran thick and fast through her head and her stomach went into free fall and she couldn't look at his eyes. Simon blushed when she began fidgeting, tucking her hair behind her ear. He'd never asked a woman whether she wanted him to stay, usually he'd have just gone ahead without abandon; it had never seemed like it would be worth the wait. He inhaled deeply but softly, drawing her attention back to his eyes, realising the rejection he had unintentionally just dealt out.

"Oh CJ. Of course I do, I mean I really do." There was nothing but sincerity in his face as he continued, his voice only just audible: "I just thought maybe, if you thought it was too soon… well, I'd be happy to wait…" Simon studied her face, anxious for a response.

'He'd be happy to wait?' – she ran the words over in her head one at a time: He'd be happy to wait! Almost as suddenly as her fear had stiffened her body, she was immediately able to breathe. She took his hands in hers and looking into his eyes confessed sweetly:

"Simon, not one single man has ever told me that."

"Then not one single man has felt this way about you CJ: I'd wait all my life for this chance with you." He had not wasted a beat in giving his reply; her face changed. He had said too much and he knew it. In the small amount of time he'd spent watching this divine creature, he learned that she was that kind of person who was turned away by words like that. Promising to wait was a contract for the future, and an encroachment on her fiercely independent life. Even though he was sure she felt the same, he hung his head before raising his eyes back to meet hers. She looked at him; his words were soft and resigned.

"I… I just want to do this right…"

Her lips silenced his botched attempt at trying to take back his beautiful words: she was not being chicken tonight. Her hands on his lapels pulled him gently into the room. The door shut silently behind them.

As they drifted further into the room, refusing to break their kiss, almost afraid to let go. The agent's jacket fell to the floor. As CJ embraced his shirt-clad torso, her hands met the leather of his gun holster: it was a reminder of his job, of how they had become so close. She ran her hands around the holster, up to his shoulders. As her fingers slipped under the straps, he drew his lips away from hers. Simon looked down then back to her face. He gave her the slightest of nods and closed his eyes as she gently slipped the leather from him. It was as if she lifted the yoke of the service – the yoke that bound his life to the whimsical cycle of hate, justice and revenge. The magnum felt heavy in her hands as she brought the gun between them. She drew one of Simon's hands to it and wrapped his fingers around it; CJ saw his chest fill out with a deep breath. Their foreheads came to rest together and Simon sighed with relief as he realised that for the first time in years, he didn't feel naked without it. Carefully, he lowered it to the floor by their feet.

Their clothing was shed with ease. The bed sheets pulled back with care, warm skin against cool cotton was savoured. As their passion intensified, Simon was suddenly standing on the brink of the most beautiful thing he could imagine: his conscience interrupted:

"I should get a…" he looked down at himself, then back up at her, he looked bashful; he looked terrified that he'd just spoilt the moment, or worse put doubt into her mind about it. Looking into his eyes, she just shook her head and caressed his face. CJ was safely on the pill, and perhaps selfishly, she decided that she wanted to experience all of him. Simon felt a lump in his throat, realising how fully she was giving herself to him as she brought him back to her, as she brought him into her.

He pressed into her gently. In response, a sharp gasp escaped her lips and her body stiffened; her eyes squeezed shut as she fought the urge to tense. Simon felt her telling him it had been a long time.

"Oh God, Simon." She breathed.

"Are you okay? CJ, am I hurting you?" His tone was tender; his voice was not much more than a soft whisper. His fingers ran over her face gently.

"No, oh God. It's been a while and – oh – you're so… uh…" a groan of pain mixed with pleasure swallowed the words as she pulled him in a little more, "You make me feel, oh God, Simon – so alive."

If only she knew how dead he had been for so long, how the sound of gunfire didn't faze him and regard for his own life had ceased to matter. But most of all: how he spent his adult life dreaming of feeling this way and how grateful he was to her for making it real.

She stretched to accommodate him; she felt every inch of him slowly become a part of her; he reached in closer to her heart than any other man, yet it was more than just erotic. Wrapped in hot velvet, Simon thought he might lose it, the sheet bunched in his fists, her hands gripped his muscular shoulders as he fit himself to her. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and paused.

"CJ?" She opened her eyes and stared into the pools of raw blue emotion above her.

"Yes." It was a simple reply, but oh how it meant so much. He kissed her and she wrapped her long, slender legs around his taught body, gently starting to rock their forms into a slow and sensual rhythm.

There was no rush, there was passion but lust was left at the door. CJ whimpered into his lips and into his shoulder, Simon's breathing was ragged; words formed on his lips, telling her he wanted his body to caress her very soul. She melted into his being; she had found the one person for whom there was no antidote. It might have scared her if it were not for his soft touch and his loving presence deep inside of her; somehow for that time, she was fearless and utterly at peace.

He worked their bodies hard; they were both fit for their age, his intensely controlled strokes moved them slowly but firmly and it drove them to the most excruciatingly fantastic end. Every part of her clung desperately to him as she whimpered his name: at the sound of her voice, he knew it was not a dream and hot tears escaped his eyes.

Simon rolled them over, so that CJ's spent body covered his own. The feeling of her skin pressing against his as they lay, still intertwined, made bathing in the most glorious afterglow so perfectly real. CJ looked down on his face and tenderly wiped the tears from his cheeks as he smiled, gazing at her in awe. She softly mocked him and he loved her for it. They shifted and as he held her draped over his side, nothing could harm them. The barman had got it right, they felt like they owned the world; nothing else mattered. Simon closed his eyes to relish in her warmth, silently thanking the heavens for this blessing.

The gentle feeling of her lips on his unshaven chin brought him back to the beautiful reality they had created. He opened his eyes and they shared a soul-connecting gaze before he met her mouth with a series of lazy kisses.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"That was fun." Simon squeezed her close and kissed her nose as they shared the comment with giggles. As they relaxed, he looked at her face resting on his shoulder; he cupped her cheek in his big hand and ran his thumb down her nose, pressing it gently on the end. CJ smiled, amused, but before she could ask, he explained in a deep tone she hadn't heard before:

"Mom used to do that every night, she said once that my nose reminded her of Dad." He rolled his head away to stare at the ceiling, sighing: "I don't know why I just did that." CJ felt oddly touched that he'd shared that with her. She ran a hand over his chest and with a soft finger brought his face back to hers. She smiled and secured a place in his heart by returning the gesture and sealing it with a tender kiss.

CJ slept with her head on her Sunshine's chest, one hand under his over his thumping heart. He held her silky form to his, sleeping easy for the first time in years.

-TBC-