Author's Note: As a writer (in the loosest sense of the word here) i enjoy incorporating personal experiences into my stories. See if you can guess what happened to me that i have incorporated into my creation!

Chapter 3: Learning Curve

Sam stepped out the shower. It was 6:30, Thursday. She was nervous, so horribly nervous. She had an hour before Jack was going to pick her up.

She dried herself and delicately started to apply some make-up, being a geek meant she had limited experience when it came to make-up. She smoothed a miniscule amount of pale blue eye shadow on; then hastily applied some lip gloss. There, she felt pleased.

Clothes, oh Holy Hannah! She eyed her wardrobe; nothing caught her eye. No couldn't, well it was her first ever real date. She would have wanted her to look good. Sam went to the spare room and opened the closet. She scanned through her mother outfits. Perfect, she thought when she saw the skirt and top.

When her mother died, her dad had kept her favourite clothes. Sam had then been given them when she moved to Colorado Springs to do the 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry' as she'd told her dad.

Hmm, underwear was all she had to choose now. Just go with the lucky stuff, it was comfy and it did look nice on her. She slipped on the blue satin panties; reminding herself it was only a first date and that she really shouldn't be embarrassed about the entire 'never had a proper boyfriend' situation, while doing up the clasps to the matching bra.

She has just finished doing up the zip when the doorbell rang. Her stomach involuntarily clenched.

Jack waited on Sam's porch. The single white lily gently grasped in his hands. Sam opened the door. Wow she looked amazing! With that dark navy shirt that accentuated her curves and a figure hugging black velvet skirt that stopped just at the knee. Blood rushed to places it hadn't circulated to for months. He quickly shifted his weight onto his other leg.

"Um, this is for you" he said softly, holding out the single lily.

"How did you …"

"Lucky guess." there was no was he was going to admit it had taken hours of research to find out what her favourite flowers were.

She took it gently from him; twirled it in her hand, then quickly turned round to place it on her dresser next to her front door. "So where are we going?" she asked as she picked up her glasses from the dresser where she had just placed the lily.

"Well, it's a sorta surprise. You see, I noticed how nervous you are in the commissary an thought that maybe it was 'cause of all the other people." She nodded bashfully, so he continued. "An well, I had an idea." she eyed him curiously. "How about no restaurant?"

"Uh, that's a great idea." she smiled back at him.

Sam sat on Jack's balcony waiting for him to bring her dessert (another surprise). He'd cooked for her, steak, and they'd eaten outside on the balcony; he'd later told her he spent his evenings stargazing there. They'd talked, he'd told her about his son, how he'd died and his ex-wife. She'd felt so sorry for him; then she'd told him about her mum. It had shocked her how easy it had been for her to tell Jack. She couldn't even talk to her dad about it comfortably. So it had surprised her how easy it felt telling him.

She nearly screamed when Jack pushed her glasses back up again for the umpteenth time that evening, she had been so engrossed in her thoughts.

"I didn't know they cleared up your head as well as your sight!" he mocked her and she giggled.

"Jell-O?"

"Yep, an it's blue" he replied.

She ate hers while he watched; she finished and looked at him, watching her. She saw the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to reveal some of his scars. Her glance went further down to see the long legs covered in black denim.

"Wana watch the stars?"

"I've never done that before." wasn't the only thing she'd never done before either. Stop it brain!

"It's Easy, sit here." He got up, offering her his chair. Turning to retrieve his telescope. She went and sat in the warm chair. He placed the uncapped telescope on it's stand next to her, pushing the table back. He crouched down in front of her, his head level with her chest. She could feel his warm breathe across the base of her neck as he lent in.

"Just look in the eye piece." He pointed towards it for emphasis.

She lent in to look through; the view was breath taking. Not to mention that she was tingling all over because his head was right next to hers.

Jack held his breath; he really wanted to kiss her. This close he could smell her hair, vanilla, delicious.

She turned to face him, looking at right at him. "It's b-" she didn't finish her sentence as he'd pressed his lips softly against hers. Dammit, now he was going to have to perfect the whole 'think before you act' thing as well.

Oh my God, oh my God! Was all that ran through her head as his lips pressed softly against hers. Okay I can cope with this. Okay maybe not she thought as Jack opened his mouth slightly and let his tongue tickle her lips, turning her stomach to goo. Unsure what to do she opened her mouth. His tongue entered, startling her so she shut her mouth tightly, at the same time biting his tongue. They jumped apart.

"Ouch. You've never done that before have you?" his slightly rasped question making her blush guiltily.

"I'm really sorry, an no, I haven't"

"Hey, don't worry about it. Look, I won't force you into anything you don't want to do. I promise" he looked at her intently before he quickly lent in to kiss her cheek. "Especially not when your gonna hurt me." he joked, making her giggle. He pressed another light kiss to her cheek. Only stopping when she turned her head to meet his lips. She gently pressed her tongue against his lips, her mind screaming 'Go for it, be impulsive Sam!' He quickly opened his mouth, excitement gripped her as she let her tongue explore his mouth. Then delicately licked his tongue where she's bitten him, effectively kissing it better. Poor Jack.

She removed her tongue and whispered against his lips "You won't be forcing me into anything if you kiss me back." returning to press her lips and tongue against his lips. He opened his mouth and relished in the feel of their tongues playing around together. Still thinking, what the hell? She's a nervous scientist, when did she become this confident? Not that I don't like it or anything.

Suddenly realising how tight his jeans had become around his crotch, he gently broke the kiss off. "Wana go inside before it gets cold? My knees are shot as it is anyway and this isn't helping." He said warmly. The taste of her still in his mouth, raspberry, nice.

"Oh God, I'm sorry about your knees. I guess I could come in for coffee" she replied.

They sat on the sofa in Jacks lounge; Jack had his arm around Sam's shoulders and was playing with the short blonde hair next to her ear. Sam was sat with her legs curled up underneath her right next to Jack.

Jack then removed her glasses, placing them carefully on the coffee table in front of them before moving back to begin lightly kissing Sam's cheek, he then moved onto her lips.