Jim fell back asleep after Sara had crawled in bed with him. He was just barely awake when shehad climbed in, all he could do was mutter a good morning, and within a few seconds he was backin dreamland.
()

Jim was asleep as he felt Sara drape her arm around his waist. It barely woke him as he lookeddown to see her hand dangling loosely over his midsection. He reached down and placed his handon top of hers, resting gently. He lay awake, feeling her warm breath on the back of his neck.He wondered in his mind whether this was a conscious gesture on her part of if she had justdone it in her sleep. Considering their conversation last night, he did not know, all he knewwas that she felt so good on him.

After about an hour she began to stir and she snuggled closer to him. He could tell she was awake, her breathing patterns had changed. He felt a warm, moist feeling on the back of his neck now.She had kissed him. He rolled over onto his back and turned his head to look at her and shesmiled a big sleepy, gap toothed smile as she greeted him good morning. He responded in kind ashe noticed that she had not moved her hand. He stretched his left arm out and she placed herhead on his chest, drawing herself closer to him. His mind and body were alive with feelings andsensations he had not felt in quite sometime. She drew lazy circles with her fingertips on hischest with her right hand. He squirmed slightly from the light tickling touch. She smiled andreached her hand inside his bag and tickled his ribs as he squirmed more wildly. She looked athim.

"My research didn't tell me that you're ticklish." She said as she smiled
"Well, that's a closely guarded secret."

She climbed out of her bag and straddled him, slipping his bag down to his waist. She looked intohis eyes as she proceeded to tickle him mercilessly. He was trapped. All he could do was writheunder her feather light touches. She continued her eye contact as she leaned forward and lightlybrushed her lips against his. It only took a second or two, but it was enough for him. The kisshad awakened him in more places than one. She felt this as she leaned forward again and placedher lips on his and ran her tongue against his teeth. He opened his mouth, only slightly, but itwas enough for her to slip her tongue into his mouth and taste him. The kiss was growing morepassionate and his arousal was growing more prominent. She sat up and looked deep into his lustfilled eyes. He had a look of confusion on his face now. She just looked at him and asked,

"You wanna?"
"Do I have a choice?" he asked
"You always have choices, the trick is to make the correct ones. That's how you get happy in life." She stated

He laid back and pondered her wisdom for a moment and answered her in a most disappointing way.

"We've only just met. I like to get to know a woman a little better before I make love to her."

Sara pouted and climbed off of him. She kneeled on her bag and looked at him. She leaned forwardand placed a kiss on his cheek and said,

"That was the correct choice, and it will make you happy later."

She crawled out of the tent and left Jim laying with only himself and his thoughts about what shehad just said. How was that the correct choice, and how would it make him happy later? Truth betold, he wanted her now, but he was a gentleman. He lifted his head to see her stoking the firefor morning coffee. He took his time getting out of his bag, he had to. He put on his shorts
and crawled out of the tent and sat beside her on the log she was occupying. He tried to avoidthe inevitable conversation, but Sara being Sara, brought it up.

"Why didn't we go ahead this morning?" she asked seriously
"I explained, I like to know a woman for more than 24hrs before I make love to her."
"No, that's not it."
"It isn't?"
"No. The reason we didn't go ahead is that you are a true gentleman, which is rare. You also havemorals and values, which are also rare in men these days. It was a test I conducted."
"A test? That was a test?" Jim asked, confused
"Yes, it was. You passed, with flying colors, I might add." She said casually. "I wanted to seewhat type of man you really are."
"So, what kind of man am I?"
"You are a good man, a kind man, a generous man and a gentleman. You are the best sort of man,Jim."

Jim looked at Sara and laughed. She had been playing with him to see what he would do if he werein a position to take advantage of her. But the words of Grissom echoed in his ears, "She's welltrained in the art of weaponless combat, she could probably kick your ass." He was glad he hadnot tried to take the chance he had been offered. Truth be told, he was beginning to like Sara,he didn't want to screw it up. He would wait, patiently.

They sat and drank their coffee in silence as Sara thought about the test she had administeredthat morning. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew what Jim would do, after all he had
made no effort to take advantage of her the previous evening, and if he were going to, itprobably would have happened then. Her suspicions had been confirmed. She felt that he was a
good man, but she had to know for sure. While she was doing her research on the team, hisprofile stood out from the others. She had spent more time looking at his information than the
information of the others. She felt that he was a good man. She had set her sights on himbefore even meeting him. She had found his profile quite interesting, there was a man, who by
all accounts was intelligent, compassionate, sincere and honest, yet he was uninvolved withanyone. She felt she had to find out why, and this trip was proving an excellent way to get to
know the man better. He had already passed one test, that left only one more, and she would haveher answers.

The day wore on and they decided to go for a little walk in the woods, after all, they had tocollect more wood for the evening's fire. It was around noon when they set out and about 4:pm
when they returned. The sun was getting low in the sky and they prepared their evening meal overthe fire that Jim had created. He sat on the log, gazing into the flames dancing about. He was
mesmerized.

As the sun went down behind the mountains, Jim went into the woods to relieve himself. This gaveSara the perfect opportunity to put her second test into place. She carefully watched as Jim
walked away from camp and just as he was out of eye sight she stripped her clothes off and doveinto the nearby creek. She had left an unmistakable trail of clothing leading from the tent to
the water, when he returned he would most certainly find them. She had been swimming around forabout half an hour when Jim returned to the camp. He noticed the trail of Sara's clothing, first
her shorts, then her top and finally her undergarments. He picked up the clothing and folded itneatly and placed it on the log. He then went into her pack and pulled out a dry towel for her.He did not see her watching him; she was well hidden behind a rock on the other side of thebank.

Jim sat on the log and looked out towards the water. He saw nothing. Suddenly he heard hersplashing and saw her coming in his direction. She stopped mid-pool and looked at him, smiling
a smile that indicated wicked thoughts.

"Care to join me, the water is wonderful." She offered
"Sure, I guess I could use a nice swim." He said as he took off his shirt and boots.

He waded into the water and swam around for a bit, trying to keep his distance from Sara. He knewshe was naked, how could she not be? As Sara swam up to him, he took a few steps back, he didnot want to get too close to her in her naked state, somewhere in the back of his mind hethought that this might be another one of her tests; what he would do if she were naked and
within reach of him. She noticed that as she got closer to him, he continued to back away, thiswas good. She finally gave up trying to entice him and waded slowly out of the water. Jim
watched her naked form leave the pool and take the towel he had laid out for her. As shewrapped the towel around her waist and put her top on, she looked at him and simply said,"You
pass."

Jim knew what this meant and did not feel the need to ask her to elaborate. She reached into hispack and pulled out a towel for him and as he waded his way back onto shore she approached himand draped the towel around his shoulders. He smiled as he dried himself off and hung the towelon a tree branch to dry. Sara crawled into the tent and when she emerged she was wearing a
rather short pair of shorts. She sat down on the log and twisted the cap off of the bottle ofwhiskey from the previous evening. She took a tug off of it and handed it to Jim as he satbeside her. He looked at her and sighed deeply.

"So, I passed, huh?" he asked
"Yup." She said simply
"So, what do I win?"

She did not answer as he handed the bottle back to her. She just looked at him and grinned. Hewas trying his hardest to keep his mind out of the gutter as she leaned towards him and planted
a kiss on his lips. He said nothing as he looked at her. She just took another tug from thebottle and settled it into the sand at their feet. They talked some more about their respective
backgrounds and when the hour marker on Jim's watch alerted him that it was 10:pm, he took onelast pull off the bottle and went to relieve himself. When he returned Sara was already in thetent and he noticed the bare skin of her back peeking out of her sleeping bag. He took off hisshorts and slipped into his bag. He lay on his back and stretched out his left arm as Sarasnuggled up to him and rested her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating, it wasbeating fast.

She tilted her head up to meet his lips and she pressed hers against his as their tonguesdueled. She could taste him and he her. She looked into his eyes as she unzipped the side of
his bag and climbed in with him. She climbed on top of him and straddled his mid-section as sheleaned down to kiss him again. He placed his hands upon her thighs as she covered his face and
neck with little kisses. She could feel his growing arousal beneath her and she reached downand slipped him inside of her. Gently, she rocked back and forth, establishing a rhythm. Jim
reached up with his hands and drew her face to his. His hands on her cheeks, he kissed her likea man who had not seen his love in forever. He could feel her muscles contract around him and
he brought his hands back down to her hips to guide her. With his guidance, she slowed her paceand he reached around her back with his right hand and rolled her over onto her back.

She was now looking up at him and she could see the emotion in his eyes. She cupped his face inher hands and brought his lips to meet hers in a crushing kiss that seemed to last forever. As
he thrust himself into her she moaned and grabbed at the sleeping bag material. As he felt hermuscles contract again, he quickened his pace and spilled himself into her as she cried out hisname in climax. He gave a few more thrusts until he was totally spent, and collapsed on top ofher.

After a minute, he rolled off of her and laid his head on her chest. She wrapped her left armaround his shoulder and drew light, lazy circles on his back. He began to squirm and she
substituted the tickles for an open handed back rubbing.

They lay awake for some time before each of them drifted into unconsciousness, lying in each others arms. To Jim, there was no place he would rather be than here, now.

TBC?