She'd been quiet for the last half hour or so as they approached the lake. Quiet, but nervy, taking her sunglasses on and off and jumping when he'd had to brake suddenly. He hoped she wasn't regretting it. Nothing had actually been said about what would happen when they got there, alone. Maybe all they would do would be to fish, or rather, try to fish.

To tell the truth, he was getting nervous himself. It was all very well daydreaming about this sort of thing. In daydreams he had the time to work out exactly what he was going to say, exactly what moves he would make. And in daydreams she would find him irresistible and sexy, and fall in with his plans readily. Somehow he couldn't imagine the real Carter being quite so easy to predict. He'd certainly got it wrong over the past year or two.

So two very nervous people pulled up to the little secluded cabin by the lake that hot summer afternoon. She got out, staring round at the country around her. It was peaceful, and green, and very alive, with a cool breeze sweeping across the lake, stirring the leaves above her head. All she could hear were frogs in the reeds, and the soft susurration of the trees.

"It's beautiful." She told him, sincerely. He grinned.

"It's okay." He said, breezily, but she knew he was touched by her appreciation. She reached over to her bags, but Jack stopped her.

"I'll take those. Host's privilege, Carter." He insisted, before she could argue. He took them up to the cabin as he walked towards the lake.

He wasn't sure where to put them, and ended up leaving them in the hallway rather risk assigning her a bedroom before she chose for herself. He watched her out of the window for a moment, as she stood there staring out across the lake, turning her sunglasses over and over in her hand. He'd thought he'd never see her here, with him, and he wanted to fix the memory firmly in his mind.

Then he took a deep breath.

"Last chance, O'Neill." He murmured to himself. "Don't screw this up."

He came out of the house carrying two bottles of beer.

"Drink, Carter?" he called, approaching her. She took it, saying,

"I think you can call me Sam again, Sir."

"Again?"

"You used to." she said, wistfully.

"Alright then…Sam." He said, raising his bottle to her, then drinking. She raised her bottle too, but didn't drink. Instead she placed it carefully on the ground.

She stood staring out at the lake, but didn't really see it. She was too intensely aware of the man standing behind her. The knowledge that she loved him had come slowly and agonisingly to her, and the knowledge that he loved her had gone long ago. She was painfully aware that she had come so very close to losing him, and now was unsure that she could ever get him back again. It was only when she'd seen him with Kerry that she knew how far he'd slipped away from her, and the fact burnt her.

Still, she was here, at the lake, fishing, and it was going to be now or never. She span suddenly, stretched up on her toes, and kissed him.

He was taken by surprise, and didn't have time to get rid of his beer and wrap his arms round her. She'd misjudged the distance, and had ended up kissing the corner of his mouth. She was clutching the front of his jacket, off-balance and afraid she'd fall. All in all, she thought, it wasn't the world's most successful kiss.

But finally, she had kissed him. And there was nothing wrong with the spark of electricity that leapt down her spine, or the warmth of his skin on hers, or the way his hand in the small of her back felt exactly right.

She stepped back, panting.

"Sorry." She said. "That went a little wrong. I'd imagined it all being a lot easier…" she trailed off. There was a look in his eyes she hadn't seen before, and it scared her. She was suddenly terrified she'd done the wrong thing.

"That wasn't right." He said, putting down his own beer. 'Oh god' she thought 'I have lost him, I've been so stupid' and the world fell away from under her feet.

"First kisses," he said, moving in closer to her, until she felt her whole body tingle with the nearness of him "are supposed to go like this." He put his hand under her chin, and lifted her face to his. Achingly slowly, he bent down, and kissed her gently, on the lips, as his other hand reached round behind her to pull her in as close as he could get her. She reached her arms up around his neck, and pulled him. The kiss deepened, as she opened her mouth and felt his tongue slip gently into her mouth.

And this time the kiss was perfect, and they did not stop kissing for hours.