A special thanks to Mal for hosting in the past and for helping me get things rolling here and to MC for her beta work, especially since she really isn't much for Ship!

Author's Note: ITALICS = THOUGHTS

�Sam!�

Jack awoke to the fading echo of his own frantic scream. He stared, wide-eyed in the darkness. The familiar contours of his bedroom slowly replaced the nightmare of brilliant whiteness and the persistent, distant hum of the sarcophagus. His breathing came in shallow, painful gasps that coincided with the pounding of his heart and the throb in his temples. Moaning softly he swung his legs to the side of the bed placing his feet on the cool wooden floor. He bowed his head and scrubbed tiredly at his face with both hands.

When will this end, the headaches, the tightness in my chest, the dreams?

He slowly rotated his neck against the dull ache and the stiffness before climbing wearily to his feet and approaching the window. Jack pulled the blind cord and winced as it clacked sharply in the silence, before revealing the predawn light beyond. The lake was mirror smooth reflecting the sun�s first pale shafts spreading across the eastern sky, chasing the night into the forest and over the mountains behind the cabin.

Jack raised the window allowing the still morning air to caress his face and dry the sweat from his brow. The haunting call of a Loon pierced the silence, sending shivers racing down his back and pricking gooseflesh on his arm.

Get a grip Jack.

He turned from the window and wandered from the bedroom into the large common room beyond. His bare feet made soft sucking sounds on the polished wood floor. To his left was a fireplace still stacked with the wood from a fire he never built the night before. A pair of ancient armchairs, their stuffing oozing from the cushions, flanked a small table made from the butt end of a tree. Beyond was a roughly hewn wooden table and chair set. He padded to the sink with its� hand pump and splashed some water into a glass.

Taking his drink Jack opened the door and stepped out into the brisk predawn.

The grass was slick and chilly with dew on the soles of his bare feet, he stood for a long time kneading it between his toes. The sensation sent little shivers up his legs and caused dulls aches in his joints. Jack relished it, a part of him dully aware that it was one of the few things he had truly felt since�

No don�t go there

Jack took a long swallow of water, ignoring the tremors that coursed up his legs and through his torso.

No he couldn�t go there, but how could he move on until he had?

He gazed out at the still lake trying to draw some measure of peace from its� placid surface. As he watched the perfect reflection of a deer moved on the shore opposite. He raised his eyes and searched until he found the doe. Her delicate muzzle had dropped to the surface of the water and she was creating tiny ripples as she drank. The call of a circling hawk startled her and she abruptly flagged before fleeing into the brush behind her.

Jack stifled a curse as his glass hit a rock buried in the grass and shattered. The hawk screamed again and he looked up in time to see it plummet to earth. There was an unearthly shriek and the bird lifted skyward clutching a small brown rabbit in its� talons.

�Good for you my friend,� he whispered, the sound of his own voice a muted rasp that he did not recognize. Fishing in the grass he gathered the pieces of glass. A sharp pain and his fingers became slick as fresh blood welled at their tips. �Damn!� Jack mumbled and padded back to the house. Dropping the glass in a bucket by the door he went to the sink and washed his hands before applying pressure to the fresh cuts until the bleeding stopped.

Donning a pair of sweats, his boots and a jacket he returned to the lawn and made his way to the dock. His boots thudding dully on the worn planks as he went to the end. His thoughts drifted to the deer, how she had fled at the hunting call of the hawk.

I�m like her.

The thought rose unbidden and seemed to flash with the dull throb of his aching head and sore fingers. It was disquieting, no he corrected himself, it was terrifying. A nameless unspeakable pain that seeped into every pore of his body and lay in wait, until he slept, or tried to. Then it awakened in ghastly replays of his time in�

The cell.

There is nowhere to run, now or then.

The voice that whispered in his thoughts was his own and yet, like a shadow the remnants of Kanan lay just beneath the surface. Jack scrubbed at his face, feeling his jaw clench. He wanted to rip the vestiges of the conniving Tok�ra from his mind and fling them to the wind like so much dust. The blood roared in his ears and he leaned heavily against one of the dock�s support poles until the dizziness had passed. Gasping he settled to a sitting position. �no nO NO!� Wrenching his boots off he flung them over his shoulder onto the grass and plunged his feet into the icy water. The shock was a welcome distraction but not enough to hold his thoughts at bay for more than a brief moment.

You can�t hide from yourself, colonel.

The voice in his head changed to that of Dr. Warner, the Air Force psychiatrist who had attempted to counsel him after his withdrawal from the sarcophagus had run its� course.

But Dr. Warner failed, you saw to that, Jack.

He licked his lips allowing his eyes to wander the horizon searching for the first flash of sunlight. When its� golden beams finally emerged behind the low hills Jack caught his breath. The sky slowly turned to the same deceptively soft hue as the cell where Baal had held him between sessions.

Torture sessions.

He acknowledged the thought with a sigh that caught in his throat. Blinking rapidly he brushed at his eyes, not surprised when his hand came away damp.

He tortured me!

Jack fixed his eyes on the clouds as they slowly swirled in the sky, turning from flaming red and orange to soft peach and gold.

He remembered every moment of the nightmare that had begun with his escape from the Tok�ra base and the infiltration of Baal�s compound. The blackness of the night and the chill of the rain had closed in around them as he ran with Shaylin for the safety of the Stargate. She had fallen and Kanan�s inner voice had filled his heart with despair when they had left her hiding in the trees. Jack had struggled with the symbiote even as he ran for the Gate� �there is still a chance,� Jack had protested.

Kanan had not acknowledged him, already fixated on failure. The staff blast had been sudden intense pain oddly inconsequential to either the Tok�ra or himself. Instead there had been a deeper fear for Shaylin and as Kanan fled, leaving him feeling strangely abandoned, himself.

Then there had been the sarcophagus.

The searing flash of white and the odd creeping cold as he awoke in the miniature tomb. The voices of the waiting Jaffa had echoed in his head as they wrenched him from his reclining position and half dragged him to the cell.

But it began before then�has it ended yet?

Jack shook his head. Pulling his feet from the water he absently massaged them, liking the stinging tingle as they warmed slowly.

No, it hasn�t ended yet, only you can choose the path you take. Daniel�s voice echoed in his thoughts. The gentle soul of the archeologist had stayed with him as he clung to his sanity with a white-knuckled grip. �Where are you now?� Jack murmured. A soft breeze ruffled his hair and sent ripples skittering across the water. He smiled wanly, unsure what the breeze meant, but taking comfort in its sudden perhaps coincidental presence.

The nightmare had begun in Antarctica with the first fever flush he had felt while searching for the two missing scientists. He had not told anyone he was ill until he could no longer stay upright and had collapsed onto the couch in the lab. By then there had been no need.

Sam

Her soft rounded features partly hidden in the glare of the lights on her HAZMAT suit. She had been standing there when he swam briefly back to consciousness at the SGC. Her large, blue eyes dark and pleading

�Sir, please�.�

The shock, horror and utter terror he had felt at her request slammed into him anew. Jack bowed his head onto his knees briefly closing his eyes.

His mind was blackness, a void, from that moment until he fled the Tok�ra base.

Shaylin!

Jack�s head shot up and he stared wide eyed at the placid lake, a creeping fog was moving across it, slowly rolling onto the bank It enveloped Jack with caressing tendrils of dampness, leaving an oily slick on his exposed skin. He scrubbed at it, shivering.

I love her!

Kanan had revealed his feelings with a force that had both surprised and terrified Jack. As they had progressed through the forest and into Baal�s fortress the Tok�ra�s unfailing mantra had nearly driven Jack mad. It was nothing compared to the horrors yet to come.

No more! You�re gone! No more!

Jack rubbed his arms and jumped to his feet. Ignoring the stabbing protest of his stiff knees he grabbed his boots from the grass and snugged them onto his feet before heading for the series of trails beyond the cabin.

He concentrated on the rough trail, avoiding tree roots and kicking at stray rocks and branches as he made his way. His breath coming in short white puffs he ducked beneath a deadfall and splashed through a stream. Jack�s boots pounded the soft forest floor as he stalked down the trail faster and faster until he was jogging and finally running through the forest. A tree root snagged his foot and he fell headlong, his palm digging a wet hole in the pine needles as his face brushed roughly against a tree.

Jack lay still. The forest was eerily quiet, devoid of birdcall or even the fitful hum of trolling insects. He heard a sound; a distant moaning that could have been the wind but was, instead, the sound of his own mostly muffled sobs. He rolled onto his back, salty tears burning their way down his cheeks. With a sigh of quiet desperation he allowed himself to give into a pain he could not name or banish from his heart, no matter how hard he struggled.

The sounds of his anguish eventually died away. Too spent to care why the forest had been so respectively silent Jack climbed stiffly to his feet. Wiping the muddy needles off his hand and onto the offending tree trunk he turned and headed back towards his cabin.

He emerged from the trail and froze.

Sam

Major Samantha Carter was standing on the end of the dock. Her tall athletic body clothed in a dark green down parka and black sweats that clung to her legs. She pivoted at the sound of his approach. Her look of surprise turning into relief and concern at the state she found him in. �Sir?�

Jack swallowed. Her soft, formal address caused an icy chill to crawl up his back.

No, not now, not here�.

� Carter.� He managed roughly. �How did you find me?�

She chewed on her lower lip. �Um Teal�c told me.�

�Teal�c?� He hid his discomfort with surprise. �He�s only been here once I didn�t think�.�

�Actually Jonas helped. He looked up your location��

Jack raised a hand to cut her off. �Never mind,� he looked at the ground carefully schooling his features into a mask of disinterest before glancing up. �What do you want?�

�Sir?� She repeated looking unnerved. �What do I want?�

�Yeah, is there an echo here?�

Sam smiled without humor. �It�s not funny.�

�No�.I uh suppose it�s not,� he admitted softly. �What did you say you wanted?�

You�re being an ass Jack!

The inner admonishment was distinctly Daniel. Jack suppressed the urge to snap at his old friend, and found himself wishing he still could.

�I came to see how you were doing.�

How am I doing? I can�t eat, I can�t sleep, I�m having nightmares and my head hurts. I�m hearing voices from a dead man and a symbiote who used me as nothing more than a means to an end. Jack sighed �Fine,� he lied.

Sam didn�t buy it. �Come on Sir. Everyone�s worried about you�.�

�And you drew the short straw huh?� Jack guessed, his voice bitter.

�No.�

Her denial was instant and brought him up short. �Then I guess I�ll ask again. What are you doing here?�

Sam did not miss the emphasis. Her response was slower this time, but no less strenuous. �I had to see for myself.�

�Really?� Jack slowly closed the distance from the trailhead to the porch. He settled on the worn wooden bench there and dropped his eyes to study his clasped hands. He did not hear Sam�s approach until her boots rang hollowly on the porch steps.

�Sir?�

�No,� his voice was hoarse with nameless emotions that he was afraid to identify for fear of what lay beyond them.

�What?� Sam sat on the bench.

She was so close he could feel the heat from her body. The warm moisture of her exhaled breaths ruffled the hair of his bowed head. The dull throb in his temples rose to a pounding roar as his heart quickened. She smelled of spices and leather and soft clinging musk. He swallowed, suppressing a shudder that traveled from his inner core to the tips of his fingers.

�Where were you?� He murmured, afraid to look up, afraid she would see what he could not hide.

�What?�

She shifted on the bench, her thigh brushing his and sending waves of warm fire coursing through his limbs.

�Where were you?� He repeated softly, daring to raise his eyes and lock gazes with her.

�Sir I�� She seemed to realize that her mouth was open and closed it with an audible snap.

The need for her answer had blocked out everything else. Jack felt the world slowly spinning around him and he concentrated on her large dark eyes, which were staring innocently back him as she struggled with his question.

�When?� She asked, a note of frustration tingeing her voice.

�When I woke up. I expected you there,� he explained carefully. I needed you there.

Dare he say it out loud?

Sam shook her head obviously flustered by his intense manner. �I didn�t know. We had been taking turns�� she dropped her eyes. �I�m sorry.�

Sir. The word hung in the air between them though she had not spoken it aloud. �No,� he told her.

�No what? That�s the second time you�ve said that.�

Her confusion and the effort to rectify it were exhausting. He leaned his head against the damp log walls of the cabin. �Forget it.�

Sam closed her eyes and tilted her head, chewing on her lip. �Why do you do that?�

�What?�

�You start to say something and then�� she touched his arm her fingers soft and tentative, barely pressing the flesh beneath the clothing.

Jack struggled to suppress a tremble and failed. She felt it and pressed her fingers more firmly on his arm. �Sir, talk to me.�

�Not Sir!� He flashed hotly shrugging her hand away he stared resolutely out towards the lake.

�Jack.�

The sound of his name caused waves of fresh fear to wash over him. He struggled to ride them out seeking the warmth he knew lay beneath. He felt her hand on his arm again, firm and insistent.

�Talk to me.�

Where do I begin? �You were gone.� He echoed the words he had spoken to Daniel in Baal�s cell.

�I�m sorry,� she answered thickly.

He turned to look at her. Her eyes were shining in the morning light, soft pools of deep blue that he wanted to dive into and hide in forever. �I needed you there,� he told her quietly. Had he finally said it?

Sam gasped softly and he had his answer.

Jack turned away again, her apparent rejection another mantle of pain slowly settling onto his shoulder. I�m so tired�

�Jack no�.� Sam touched his chin with cold fingers and gently guided him back to face her. �I�m sorry�I just couldn�t,� she murmured.

�You couldn�t?� He spat back, suddenly angry. �You couldn�t�.� he fell silent.

�No okay!� She dropped her hands into her lap. �I couldn�t sit there and watch you go through all the withdrawal symptoms. It was bad enough when it was Daniel�� her voice caught.

He felt his anger drain away as the silence stretched out between them. Sam what can I say to make you see? �I needed you there when I woke up from that nightmare. When you weren�t I�� he trailed into silence.

�Why?�

Stung by her tone he raised his eyes to meet her gaze. There was confusion there but also determination to hear his answer. �Why?�

�Yes why. You tell me�� her voice had hardened now. She got to her feet and paced the length of the porch before turning to face him. �After 5 long years of struggling to understand who you are and what you want from me I want to know now. Why did you need me there?�

�You know why.� Sam. Her name whispered at the back of his mind but for some reason could not pass his lips. �You�ve known for a long time how I feel. You chose to keep things between us.�

�What choice did I have?� She challenged. �Do I just give up and walk away from everything I�ve worked for? From all my dreams and hopes. From the fight? What do you expect from me?�

�Nothing.� He murmured too stunned by her outburst to continue.

Why didn�t you tell me Sam?

Why didn�t I ask?

�Oh no you don�t!� Sam shook her head. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. �You have no right to lay this on me��

�No?� He got shakily to his feet and crossed the porch. He paused with barely an inch between them. Her chest was heaving and her face was flushed with the intensity of her feelings. �Don�t I?� He murmured thickly. Don�t you know how much it cost me that day? The day the Zaytarc technology forced me to acknowledge to you the feelings I had so carefully buried for so long.

�It was your choice,� he couldn�t tell her though every cell ached to do so.

�I needed you too,� she whispered in response.

Jack stepped back her soft voice as deafening as thunder.

�Yes I needed you when Daniel died, ascended, whatever you want to call it. I needed you.� She stepped forward to fill the space between them. �That day in the hallway�.�

�What do you want me to do? He�s gone. We�ve got work to do.�

The conversation had faded to a fuzzy unwanted memory save for that one stinging sentence. What she didn�t know was that he had turned and watched her walk away rubbing her eyes, her posture defeated and miserable.

I wanted to be there for you��I didn�t know�� he stammered.

She saw through his lie and grabbing him by the arms she gave him a hard shake. �Yes you did! Just like I did!� She released him and spun away. �Jack we�.I almost lost you again. Just like when you were stuck on Edora. At least then I could lie to myself, hope that you were alive keep myself occupied trying to save you�. but when the Ambassador told us you were missing, I��

He reached out a trembling hand, stopping a hairs breadth from her shoulder. Sam�s whole body slumped and began to shake as she buried her face in her hands. Jack lowered his hand to her shoulder, felt her stiffen and then slowly relent as he prodded her to turn and face him. Please don�t� �I couldn�t be there for you when Daniel�died�Hell I couldn�t be there for myself.�

She kept her face hidden in her hands until her tears had stopped and she could wipe them away. �I�m sorry for that, I know you don�t like tears,�

He shrugged trying to put them both at ease. �I saw Daniel when I was in that cell�� he ventured softly. Voicing his vision somehow gave it weight, but at the same time it plunged him into a dizzying kaleidoscope of pain that left him breathless. He pulled away from Sam and crossed back to the bench sitting down heavily and leaning his head against the wall again.

�Jack?�

He turned his head and regarded her through lowered lids. Her pale round face was puffy from crying, her blue eyes seeming to grow larger as she regarded him intently. Waiting but not prodding.

He wanted to brush it off, to leave it lie buried. A part of him wanted to run away, run and run and never stop. But�Jack raised his head and looked at Sam standing quietly on the porch her eyes pleading with him to lean on her to share with her�Pleading silently with more eloquence than any words. Here with Sam he felt a vague sense of safety. A feeling he knew had not been there two hours before, when he had woken screaming in the darkness. Leaning his head back against the wall he closed his eyes and began to speak.

He told her about Baal and the pain of each new and more imaginative interrogation. More than the pain, the sense of desperation and futility that had driven him to the very edge of madness. He told her about Kanan and the blending that had never really happened. How he had been a mere vessel as the Tok�ra went about his business. About his own growing sense of unease and eventual certainty that ultimately he would never be free. Finally there had been Kanan�s realization of his love for Shaylin. An emotion diametrically opposed to his treatment of Jack fragile psyche. Then the plan the Tok�ra had insisted they try and the growing intensity of Kanan�s emotions as they conducted their raid. Finally he told her about Daniel.

He had never intended to tell anyone. The idea at first glance had seemed completely ludicrous to him. Daniel was dead�.

Or was he?

With each new session he had come to rely on Daniel more and more. As if somehow, some way he was, in fact, in his cell. When he had not been there after one particularly harrowing ordeal Jack had nearly tumbled into madness. A spiraling grief and despair that had consumed him and thrown him into a state of numb disbelief, unable to process where he was or even who he was.

Baal had dragged him back to �reality� one final time and then Daniel had been there and the lights had flickered followed by the sounds of frantic Jaffa scrambling to protect the base from Yu�s orbital onslaught.

��and then I was back and you were gone�.� he finished softly. He raised his eyes to discover that she was crying silently, unable to contain her tears, but unwilling to interrupt his cathartic explanation.

I�ve missed you

He wanted desperately to tell her. Instead he turned away swallowing his desire along with the dull ache that it brought. His head was pounding steadily now and he rubbed tiredly at his temples. Feeling totally spent he shut his eyes and tried to let the soft murmur of the wind in the trees penetrate the throbbing in his skull.

He did not know how long it was until Sam came and sat beside him on the bench. She sat close her warm thigh pressing against his, her inviting feminine smell filling his nostrils and bringing him rapidly to a state that he had struggled so often to suppress. He shifted trying to move away but she moved with him until they were up against the arm of the bench and he could not escape. �I�ve missed you,� she breathed.

His eyes opened slowly but he could not look at her.

Had she really said what he had felt for so long? Since the day they had agreed to �keep it in the room�

He shifted his gaze to study her face, looking for the mirror image of his emotions in her eyes. �I�ve been right here.�

She smiled at the mildly sarcastic note of his answer, a soft sweet sad little smile that did not touch her eyes. �I know.�

�But�.� Jack prompted his whole body aware of her nearness. He clasped his hands so tightly he could feel the bones grinding together.

�But you were unreachable�� she murmured looking away from him and out at the lake. �After the alien Entity took over my body you began to pull away. And just when I thought we were getting closer again after we rescued Teal�c from the Gate�� she sighed looking down at her now folded hands.

Jack raised a hand to massage his pounding temples.

I was afraid, I still am.

�I killed you.�

�No Jack you killed it�. the thing that had invaded me. The thing that wanted to take over the whole world simply to preserve its� future safety. You did what you always do, which is the best for the team and for every living thing on this planet.�

�But I killed you,� he responded darkly. �I shot you twice. You could have, should have died.�

�But I didn�t!�

Sam finally shifted away and he relaxed despite himself.

How much longer before I can�t stop myself? How much longer until we both give in?

�I�m still here and so are you.� Sam murmured.

�Yeah, and your point? � He was falling back into familiar coping mechanisms. A part of him recognized this as if not healthy then at least as a sign of normalcy, but another part registered the pain on Sam�s face and the ache of emotions unfulfilled. He shifted in his seat. �Look Carter I��

�No!� She placed a hand on his lips and firmly shook her head. �No we�re not Colonel and Major here remember. You started this�.� she nodded at him her lips curved into a half smile before dropping her hand.

�Yeah I did�.�

What were you thinking?

Jack sighed deeply and licked his suddenly dry lips.

You were thinking that now is finally the time to lay your cards on the table.

Jack acknowledged his inner voice with a pang of fear. He would never be more able to speak to Sam. Baal�s torture had forced all his barriers to drop away, exposing the raw inner side of his own emotions. Memories of battles he had fought and lost; his imprisonment in Iraq, the death of Charlie and Daniel�s ascension, all of these had pummeled him and shattered his normally shallow and carefree fa�ade. Dry, sarcastic humor had been no shield against Baal�s inventive mind and the debilitating effects of the sarcophagus.

Sam

�Sam.�

She blinked startled by the sound of her name coming from his lips.

Memories of his early morning nightmare surfaced and he suddenly remembered that it had been her name he had screamed. �Sam, � he tried again and she did not flinch. �I pulled back because...I couldn�t go through that again. The pressure of what I had done to you, or nearly done�it almost killed me.�

The admission left him shaky and breathless. He got to his feet and walked down the porch steps onto the soft green grass. The sky had lightened to a crisp blue with only a wispy hint of the early clouds. The fog had burned away and a soft breeze had risen to ripple the lake. Jack stood at the edge of the dock taking deep measured breaths, trying to still his pounding heart.

The hollow sound of Sam�s boots on the worn planks sent a shiver up his back. She stopped behind him, near enough for him to feel her breath on his neck. �Janet told me.�

�What?�

�She told me you were there, that you wouldn�t let me go,� she touched his back and he gasped. She slid her hand down his arm and gently turned him to face her. �She knows Jack, so did Daniel. He told me how upset you were when Adrian Conrad kidnapped me.�

�We had to find you, had to find out what was going on,� he stammered, stunned by the knowledge that he had been far more transparent in his feelings than he ever intended.

She gazed out at the lake but did not take her hand off his arm. Jack focused on the warmth and gentle pressure of her touch as she spoke.

�After they took you away to blend with Kanan I focused on helping Janet examine Aiyana�s body. The Tok�ra said that you needed time to recover that we couldn�t see you. I needed something to do. Then they came under attack and had to move. We didn�t know where you were. Then another NID problem developed and Jonas, Teal�c and I had something to occupy our time,� she turned back to him. �When you came through the Gate with Shaylin I�I couldn�t believe what I was seeing.�

Jack shuddered and dropped his gaze to stare at the water. He had been nearly incoherent. Rambling about what had happened and unwilling to let go of the slave girl who had been the sole reason he was in such a state. They had sedated him and the world had fallen blessedly quiet but�.

�When I woke up, the first time, you weren�t there.�

�I wasn�t in the room, no,� she explained.

�You said you couldn�t watch, that�s why you stayed away,� he felt betrayed somehow, but he wasn�t sure why.

�Dammit Jack! I was afraid! Of seeing you like that, seeing you restrained as you went through the withdrawal, listening to your ravings. I knew if I stayed with you then everyone would know how I really feel.�

He looked at her then. Studied the intense pursed lips and the moist blue eyes. The bright flush in her pale cheeks.

She had been there, she knew!

The thought banished any sense of betrayal and filled him with warmth. He cupped her face in his hands. �There�s no one here now,� he whispered.

She gazed back at him her blue eyes growing impossibly larger at his implication. �What will we say, after your leave is over and we have to go back to being �friends�?� she murmured thickly.

�Then we�ll be friends, what else is there?� He released her face and placed his hands on her shoulder.

�A life someday beyond the SGC a life�together?� She trailed her hands up his legs and placed them on his chest.

His heart was hammering in his chest and he saw her smile as she felt the vibration through his jacket. The warmth of her nearness the smell of her filled the space between them, blocking out everything. With two fingers he gently held her chin and bent to taste the sweetness of her lips.

Her response was tentative, her tongue gently probing the corners of his lips and the hollow of his cheeks. He ran his hands up her arms and across her shoulders and he felt her tremble and become more insistent in her explorations. She slid a hand up his back until she gently cradled his head. Her jaw was moving slowly as she kissed him more deeply.

He let his hands travel down across her chest, lightly stroking her breasts before he moved on to her thighs and the soft firmness of her buttocks. She paused in her kiss seeming to enjoy the shivers that coursed between them.

He drew his mouth away from hers. He could feel the sting of unshed tears trembling on the edge of his eyelids but he ignored them. Jack brought his hands back to her shoulders and then gently enfolded her in his arms. His whole body melted into the embrace, which she returned without hesitation.

They held each other for a long time, not daring to breathe, as if somehow that would break the spell. Then Jack kissed the top of her hair and dropped his lips to her ear. �Someday soon,� he murmured and out of the corner of his eye he saw her smile.

*THE*END*