AN: Don't forget to check out my new Marie Caron romance novels. Available at Amazon. Com and other on-line bookstores. And now, the final chapter of this little drama.

Chapter Nine

Sam had been unable to concentrate on much of anything after what Janet had told her about Jack. In fact, her mind was still reeling from the news!

He was doing the best thing for his child, but it must have been very upsetting for him that she didn't know he even existed. And while Sam didn't know if she would ever be able to talk to Jack about his daughter, she was very glad she knew about her just the same.

In fact the more she knew about Jack, the more she thought she understood him. He certainly was not just a shallow, one-dimensional man as she had first been led to believe. No, Jack O'Neill was a man of many layers, and she wished she would have a chance to get to know all of them. But now it seemed her wish would not come true, and that thought made her really sad.

And for some unexplainable reason, Sam decided to drive to the rest area along the highway, where she and Jack had almost made love during the rain storm the day before. Fully expecting the parking lot to be empty late on a Monday afternoon, she was surprised to see a black pick-up truck parked there.

And as she pulled her car up next to it, she was even more surprised when she realized just exactly who the truck belonged to! Without even meaning to search for him, Sam had come back to the one place that apparently meant something special to the both of them!

Sam turned off the engine and sat there for a minute, looking toward the darkened interior of the gazebo. From here she couldn't tell if anyone was here or not, but even if he wasn't inside, she knew Jack couldn't be far away. She got out of her car, locking her purse inside. Then she dropped her keys into her blue jean jacket pocket and slowly began walking toward the small, round structure.

Before she even got to the doorway, she heard his voice.

"I don't know how Janet talked you into this, but you may as well turn around and leave right now," he said, his voice rising from somewhere inside the dark interior.

"She didn't talk me into anything, Jack. And I wasn't even trying to find you," she admitted.

"Then you've got rotten luck, because here I am."

"I don't consider finding you to be bad luck. In fact I don't consider falling in love with you to be bad luck either."

Sam waited a few seconds for a response, afraid to hope it would be a favorable one.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I'm in love with you, Jack. I love you, you stupid jerk," she said with a chuckle, as she stood in the doorway looking down to where he sat on the floor.

He was leaning against the wall, his knees drawn up almost touching his chest, his arms lying across them. In the dim light, his eyes seemed to have a sparkle in them, and Sam suddenly realized the glimmer was tears. Jack was sitting in here all by himself, and he was crying! Holy Hannah!

"Then you're more screwed up than I gave you credit for, Sam. I'm not the kind of guy women fall in love with...or I should say...women STAY in love with. Ask any of them; I'm bad news...the worst of the lot...a real bastard!"

"I don't know who or what you were before I met you, Jack. But the man I know is none of those things."

Sam stepped out of the light and into the dark, cool shelter of the gazebo. She went over and sat down on the table, resting her feet on the bench as Jack had done just yesterday.

Jack was sitting directly in front of her now...only about six feet away. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw him swipe a hand over his cheeks, obviously wiping the tears away.

"Why are you upset, Jack?"

"Nah, not upset. Just wanted to be alone...to think, that's all. So...why are you here, if you didn't come to find me?"

"I came to find what I lost, Jack."

"What you lost? What do you mean?" Jack shuffled his feet around and got up, pressing a hand against the brick foundation wall to steady himself. He straightened up, and then he began walking toward her. He stopped within a foot of the bench and stood there with a curious frown on his face. She could see the black streaks he had left on his face...dust from the concrete floor mixed with his tears.

"I lost a part of myself here yesterday, and I want it back," she said cryptically.

"Sam, I'm not too good at puzzles. Maybe you should be talking to Daniel," he said with a little laugh, but the smile didn't linger.

"I don't want to talk to Daniel. It's you who caused me to lose a part of myself, Jack. But I know where it is...it's with you. It's the part of me that will always be yours, Jack O'Neill."

"If you want...I could give it back to you?" He wasn't even sure what he meant. It just somehow seemed like something appropriate to say.

"No. I want you to keep it...forever inside your heart. Will you do that for me? Take good care of it and nurture it?"

She stood up on the bench as she spoke. Jack stepped closer, his shins touching the bench as her hands reached out for his shoulders.

"Yes, I suppose I could do that. If you're willing to take a chance on me," he added.

Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and bent down to rub her face in his hair, before hugging his head to her breast.

"You really DO have a thing for my hair, don't you," he said with a smile in his voice.

"Yes, I really DO! But even if I didn't, I'd gladly take a chance on you, Jack. I love you!"

Jack helped her down from the bench, her warm, supple body sliding through his arms until her feet touched the floor. She stood with her feet between his, leaning into his body, as his arms held her as close as two people could get without crawling inside one another.

"And I love you, Samantha Carter. I think I loved you the first moment I laid eyes on you...or maybe the first time I put my arms around you. I really did think you were choking, you know."

"I know you did, and I was mortified! I had watched you from afar since you started working at the SGC, and I never thought you'd even care to know my name, let alone..."

"Yes, well. I know your name now and even more about you. I know how you sound when you come, and I'm assuming there aren't too many men who know that much about you, am I right?"

"You are right, but don't get too smug about it! I have had a few boyfriends!"

"Boyfriends? I'd hardly call a man my age a boyfriend. I'm more like a father figure," he said with a self-conscious laugh.

"No such thing! You are NOT old enough to be my father! Besides, I already have a father."

"Yes, and I can't wait to see what he thinks of the man his daughter has chosen to spend her life with."

"I have? Let me see; I don't seem to remember any talk of a long-term commitment on either of our parts," she said with a smile, and he took her head in both his hands and kissed her long and hard. He let her lips go and Sam felt immediately lost without them.

"Then maybe we should talk about long-term commitments, AFTER I finish what I started yesterday," he suggested in a low, seductive voice that made her insides quiver.

God, it was no wonder he had women throwing themselves at him, Sam thought desperately.

"F...finish it here?" Her voice sounded small and weak, just the way her legs were feeling right now.

"Well, I started it here, but I really think I'd prefer to finish it at your place."

"Yes," she agreed breathlessly.

Without breaking any speed limits, they still made it to Sam's apartment in record time. And once inside the door, Sam began to feel much more comfortable...so much so that she grabbed Jack's hand, and like a little child who was having a friend over to play with, she dragged him along to her room, both of them giggling all the way.

And as Sam reclined on the bed watching every move he made, Jack stripped out of his clothing, giving her a show she would always remember. Then he crawled over her and unfastened the waistband of her skirt before pulling it down. Her panties followed the skirt and ended up piled on top of his clothes on the floor.

Next came her blouse, which to Jack's complete and utter frustration, had twenty little buttons down the front, and they were tiny and hard for him to manage with his big hands. So after a minute of watching his frustration grow, Sam finally pitched in and helped.

After the blouse was removed, Jack dove at her breasts, sinking his teeth in one right through the cup of her white, cotton bra. Sam squealed with delight as the excitement he generated shot directly from her breast to her clitoris and back again, like one of those lightning bolts from yesterday's storm.

"Jaaack! Stop it! I mean take it off first," she corrected, not wanting him to think she wasn't enjoying the wonderfully erotic sensations he was creating, because she most certainly was!

She lifted up a bit, and Jack reached behind her, easily unhooking her bra with one hand. After slipping her arms out, he tossed it across the room. And then their eyes met.

"Sam, this time I'm not stopping...no matter who tries to interrupt us."

"Good! Because I don't want to stop this time. I want you, Jack! Take me, please," she begged, spreading her legs and letting him in...his narrow hips fitting snugly between her thighs. Jack usually wasn't a man who went right to the main course before the appetizer, but this time he really couldn't wait!

With the long fingers of one hand Jack felt her pussy to see if she was wet. Finding her soaked, he spread her fluids around and around, swiping over her clit a few times before shoving two fingers deep inside her. After only a minute of working her and stretching her, Sam came like a roaring fire engine, screaming her pretty head off.

And now Jack really need to be inside her, so he replaced his fingers with the glans of his erection, the bulbous head dark purple and swollen with need.

Sam didn't flinch or move as he slipped inside her, burying himself up to the balls in her molten flesh.

"God, Sam! I want you so bad," he choked out, his forehead falling to her shoulder as he fought to control his emotions. God, she was so tight, so hot, so everything he imagined her to be and more!

"You have me, Jack! You have me!" She rubbed her hands over his back and felt him shudder. "Jack, it's okay. I want this. I want you!"

Jack slowly lifted his head and closed his eyes as he began to thrust into her. With one hand tangled in her hair, he cupped the back of her head. With the other hand under her hip, he pulled her toward him, using his powerful leg and butt muscles to control his movements.

Over and over again he withdrew almost all the way before plummeting back inside her, falling into her like a lost soul falling into the abyss. But he didn't care because she was the only place he wanted to be.

"Sam, I can't hold out much longer," he said in a strangled whisper.

"I know. I'm close too. ...just...a...few...more...ah...ah...AHHHHH!"

Sam screamed her climax again, her muscles squeezing Jack's cock in a tight embrace before allowing him to find his own release. He screwed his eyes shut as he felt that familiar tightening in his balls, right before a torrent of hot seed shot through his body and into hers. And now she was his.

And after a couple more quick jabs into her, he let his body fall on top of hers, his face buried in her neck. But he didn't stay this way for long, for fear of crushing her. And even though Sam didn't want him to move an inch, he lifted up and pulled his flaccid cock out of her, before falling onto his back on the bed.

"Wow, Jack! That was really worth waiting for," Sam told him honestly, and Jack reached out and found her hand. They just laid there for a few minutes catching their breath, before Sam turned onto her side and put her head on his shoulder. Jack put his arm around her and pulled her close, running his hand up and down her arm.

"Yes, it certainly was. And it's so much better when no one interrupts," he joked, and Sam punched his chest with her fist.

"Now I think there's something else that you should do," she told him, lifting up to look him in the face. He wagged his eyebrows at her suggestively, and she smiled, dimples appearing in her flushed face.

"No, silly! I think you should go and see General Hammond."

"I will under one condition...that you come with me and hold my hand while I get my ass kicked. He's probably not too pleased with me right now."

"So I heard. Come on, Jack, let's go see if you still have a job."

"And if I don't, then what?"

"I earn enough to support two people, Jack."

THE END