Chapter 12

Sam's limbs felt heavy as she sank even deeper into Jack's arms. She didn't feel tired, but a quiet stupor had stolen through her limbs. She was sated, fulfilled and brimming with a profound sense of wonder. Holly Hannah! If she'd known making love with Jack O'Neill would be this good, she'd have gone civilian years ago!

Jack was dreamily tracing patterns along Sam's arm and back. She was curled into his side, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder, one leg flung over his. He was still riding the high of their completion. She felt incredible resting in his arms and he could not stop softly caressing her skin.

Slowly, the euphoria ebbed and Jack's mind began to again form coherent thoughts. Sam. He'd just made unbelievable love to Sam. Just the thought made his body begin to stir again, but Jack let the feeling recede. He needed to be sure she was okay with them. Okay with this sudden change in their relationship. He hadn't intended to make love to her. He had honestly intended to just talk, but he'd been overcome after their kiss. Jack smiled softly to himself, remembering - if Sam's response had been any indication, she'd been overcome too.

Jack shifted gently, glancing down at her. Sam felt his movement and glanced up. Her smile lit his world. He couldn't help himself, he smirked, "Good?"

Sam's smile became even more broad. "Good? You can honestly ask? That was the most incredible experience I've ever had." Her honesty stroked his ego. They both knew it. Sam felt suddenly shy and burrowed deeper into his arms, ducking her head against his shoulder. They both relaxed again for a time.

"Sam?"

A soft breath teased across Jack's chest, "Hmmm?"

"I love you." He'd said it. Finally! He'd said it. Jack's heart began to pound a fast tattoo against his ribs as he waited for her response. He needed her to know, really know.

Sam slowly lifted her head and turned to face him, her eyes shining, bright with tears. Jack began to panic, tears were bad . . . bad. He'd screwed up. He shouldn't have told her yet . . . panic was growing by leaps and bounds and his heart was hammering. "Shit! Too fast, O'Neill."

"Shhhhh, Jack. Jack!" Sam reached out to force him to make eye contact with her. "You're not moving too fast." But Jack wasn't listening. He seemed lost in horror and panic. "Jack!"

Finally, Jack's eyes focused on her. Sam smiled at him. "You're not moving too fast, you just took me by surprise." Sam lowered her voice to intimate tones and looked him straight in the eye. "I love you too."

"Really?" Jack's heart rate was making an unhurried return to more a more normal speed. He took a deep, gulping breath to steady himself. "Really?"

"Really, Jack." Sam stroked his cheek. "I've loved you for a long time, O'Neill. I spent a lot of years trying to deny it, but no more."

"Are you sure, Sam? You could do so much better than me. I . . ." Jack had been about to tell her of his failures, of Charlie and Sara, but Sam quieted him again.

"Jack, have you ever felt something was so right that it resonated in your soul? Like a tuning fork resonates with the correct note? The vibration can be felt in your tissue and nerves - bone deep? Have you ever felt anything that right?"

Jack nodded slowly, remembering the first time he'd held Charlie in his arms. The small infant had gazed with unfocused eyes straight into Jack's soul. Jack had been hopelessly in love with his son from that moment.

"Yes. I've felt like that twice in my life." Jack looked at Sam, his expression serious and solemn. He took a breath and opened a crack to the room in his heart that held all his feelings for his son - love and guilt and everything between. Jack had never spoken of them with anyone since the bullet had taken Charlie's life and reduced Jack's spirit to crumbling rubble. "The first time I held Charlie in my arms, and now."

Sam was awed that Jack would trust her with this glimpse of his feelings about Charlie. She knew Charlie was a topic never open to discussion, with anyone. The pain held closest to Jack's heart.

Sam met his gaze steadily. "I love you and I know what we have now and what I feel are right. I know it to the depth of my soul. I have never in my life felt anything as deeply true as the love I have for you."

Relief cut a fast and deep channel through Jack. He took another deep breath, closed his eyes and held Sam to him. She returned the embrace, griping Jack tightly and trying to impart her love through the strength with which she held him.

Jack's breath was quick in Sam's ear, his heart pounding, his voice rough with deep emotion. "Don't ever leave me, Sam. I couldn't live through losing you again. Once was almost more than I could bear."

"Never." Sam's voice was low, and intense. "Never. I was stupid, but my heart knew the truth. I have always been yours Jack, now and always, yours."

Slowly they both relaxed their tight hold, allowing themselves to melt together. They felt their souls sinking and melding together in a profound sharing of spirit. They passed without conscious thought into deep, dreamless sleep, secure in each other's arms.

Late in the night, they sought each other and made slow, sleepy love, giving over again to dreams as dawn began to break the horizon.

Jack was the first to wake. He was on his side, pressed firmly to the toned backside of Sam Carter. Jack's arm tightened across her chest drawing her more firmly into his embrace and his eyes flew open. She was real! Memory of the previous night flooded Jack's mind and a broad smile spread across his sleep mussed features. He glanced down at her and inhaled deeply. Her scent and the musky aroma of their passion assaulted his senses. Oh, yes, she was real!

Jack couldn't help feeling a smug bastard. He had made love with Sam Carter, twice. And she loved him. He was now certain in the knowledge. She'd assured him with the truth of her words and body and he trusted Sam Carter with his life. He would trust her with his heart, as well.

Joy poured through every molecule of Jack's being. He buried his nose into her shoulder and inhaled deeply again. He couldn't get enough of her. Her smell, her feel, her taste. He was reveling in her as she drifted to consciousness, her body singing to his skilled play. She rolled over, toward him, allowing him greater access.

She groaned, barely capable of coherent thought, "Mmmmmm, what are you doing to me?"

Jack chuckled. He felt playful and very much alive. He couldn't remember a morning he'd greeted with such pleasure and enthusiasm. Having the object of eight years of fantasies warm and pliant in his arms had an incredible affect on his libido.

"Hopefully, I'm seducing you into having your wicked way with me." Jack bit down softly on the pulse point in Sam's neck. "Is it working?"

Sam's every nerve ending seemed to be running frantic signals to each erogenous zone in her body. No one had ever aroused her to respond to the slightest whisper of a touch. Areas of her body she'd never before considered particularly sensitive sang for Jack's lightest touch. The sensations were almost overwhelming in their intensity and each time she thought she could take no more without breaking into a thousand pieces, she would soar higher. She hadn't yet found the threshold and hoped fervently she wouldn't reach it any time soon.

But much as she enjoyed receiving his tender ministrations, her desire to explore Jack's body was an irresistible pull. That he wanted her to take control was an incredibly erotic thought. She rolled over, pushing Jack into the mattress. "Oh yes, it's working."

Jack closed his eyes and sank deep into the arousal coursing through him. He lay back, allowing Sam full access to every aching inch of his body. Jack had never before experienced such intensity of physical desire and emotional security evoked by Sam's touch and presence. Sam had been on the mark when she'd said the rightness of their relationship sang like a true note. He felt it deep in his body and it rang in his soul. If she were his, he was hers and here, in the soft morning light, they were one.