SUNDAY - JUNE 18, 1995

The musical chirping of the birds and the bright sunshine on her face woke Sarah up. She felt the weight of Sam's body stretched over half of hers and smiled at the feeling of contentment that it brought. His head rested on her shoulder, she could feel his breathing on her neck. She ran her fingers through his silky hair, as she murmured his name.

"Sam, it's morning, you have to go back to the bed in the other room, before Shannon gets up."

Sam mumbled "Good morning, beautiful." He stretched up and gave her a tender kiss before he moved his head down, sucking on a nipple through her tee shirt.

She squirmed as he moved his hips against her and his hand slid up her bare thigh. "No, we can't do this now. Shannon will catch us if you don't go back to your own bed."

Sam chuckled as he continued to suck then nip lightly. "Too late, we've already been caught." His fingers slipped under the waistband of her underwear and headed further down to her soft silkiness, stroking and circling slowly.

"What?" Sarah pushed away from him and sat up, looking startled. "How? When? What are you talking about?"

Sam gave a resigned sigh as he rolled over on his back. "Last night, when I came in, Shannon and Cody were in the living room." He coaxed her to lay beside him, her head on his chest and ran his fingers through her hair as he continued. "You might want to have a talk with her, by the way. I think I interrupted the beginnings of some hot and heavy teenage sex."

"Oh shit." Sarah closed her eyes and shook her head. "I knew it. Yeah, I will definitely have a talk with her. Maybe you could talk with Cody?"

"Me? Hey, I've only been a dad for a few months!" Sam shuddered at the idea of a "sex talk" with Cody.

"So, go on, tell me how we got caught." Sarah urged him.

"Well, after the two of them stopped looking so guilty and flustered..." Sam chuckled again as he remembered seeing Shannon and Cody locked in a very compromising position. "I had my duffle and I was headed for the spare bedroom. Shannon called me back to the living room. She informed me that she is not a child, she knows we must have had sex at least once. She said she knows how uncomfortable the sofa bed is and wouldn't I prefer to stay in your bed all night, rather than a couple hours in the middle of the night."

"Oh my god!" Sarah covered her face with her hands. Then she laughed at his perfect imitation of Shannon. "She's always been a precocious child."

"She has a point, you know." Sam pulled Sarah on top of him, settling her legs on each side of his hips. He grinned as his hands moved her hips in a rocking motion against him. "This bed is a lot more comfortable." He pulled Sarah down to kiss her, his lips moving against hers. "And your bed doesn't squeak."

Sarah pushed away from him, laughing. "Maybe she does have a good point, but we will talk about that later. " Sarah curled into his side, her hand playing with the black hair on his chest. "Right now, I just want to catch up. I tried to stay up and wait for you, but it got so late."

Sam's hands continued playing with her hair, running his fingers up the strands. He held them up and watched the golden colors ablaze in the sun. "Your hair glows, Sarah. You are just so beautiful." He pulled her close, resting his chin on her head. "I missed you, sweetheart. One week is too long."

Sarah snuggled in closer, squeezing him tight. She inhaled contently. "I missed you too. How was California?"

Sam concentrated on his fingers as they played with the strands of golden hair. "I had a talk with Tex."

Sarah's hand stilled on his chest. "Yeah? And..." She kept her head down, she couldn't look at him. She didn't want to see any hurt on his face.

Sam wrapped his arms around her , pulling her up to look into her eyes, solemnly. "It's in the past, sweetheart. Just like we said." Sam swallowed hard. "We deal with it, right?" He ran his thumb over her bottom lip before he gave it a feather light kiss and whispered. "I love you."

***

The first night that they were together, was also when they had their first argument. Sam noticed the looks that Sarah and Tex had exchanged when they met up with the band before the show. He had been surreptitiously watching them during the party afterward and saw a certain awkwardness between them.

"Tell me, Sarah! What the fuck is going on between you and Tex?" He asked as soon as they got back to his room. "This is more than just that one night." He turned her to face him, his hands held her shoulders. "What happened with you two?"

Sarah drew in a deep breath. "It doesn't matter now. We, you and I, are what matters now, Sam." She knew this would come up. She had tried to act as normal as possible when she and Tex had met up again today.

"Honesty, Sarah! Isn't that what we said this afternoon? No more secrets." Sam's voice was choked as he tried to talk. "Was there something between you two?"

"You have a past too! Didn't you mention this afternoon that you still have an ex-wife at your beach house?" Sarah walked over to the window and looked into the dark night. She sighed and turned to face him. "I'm sorry, I should have told you..." Sarah stopped and narrowed her eyes. "It was a long time ago. You were with Jessie......" She exhaled loudly in frustration, and hung her head, rubbing her temples. "Do you really want to go down this road?"

"You aren't going to tell me?" Sam voice was heavy with disbelief and hurt. "Come on, Sarah, we have been down this road! Do I have to remind you of what happened when we tried to keep secrets?"

"Okay. Here goes..." She leaned back on the windowsill, arms crossed on her chest and her eyes lowered as she told him everything. Mostly everything, there were some things she had to leave out, it was just too private. She couldn't tell him just how close they had come to falling in love.

When she was finished, Sam was on the bed, his head buried in his hands. "I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say."

Sarah crossed the room to sit by him, her hand rubbed over his back. "Things happened to both of us. We have a past. We were living separate lives." Sarah leaned forward to look into his eyes. "We both said things that we didn't mean."

"Sweetheart." Sam wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He squeezed her tighter. "I never forgot you. You were always..."

Sarah pulled back, reaching for his left arm. She ran her fingers over the tattoo on his wrist. "We each had our own...... "reminders" of each other. Our story was never over, Sam. No matter how hard we tried to end it."

***

Sarah paused. She didn't want to bring up the next reason he'd been in California but she was curious. "So, what happened with...?"

Sam leaned his head back down on the pillow. "It's done. I got her to see that there was no reason for her to stay there. She's gone. While I'm here, I'm having the house completely emptied. It's yours to decorate however you want. I can't wait for you to see it, Sarah. You will love living there. I was thinking that next week, when I have to go back, we could take the bike, just the two of us."

Sarah smiled down at him, her excitement showing in her face. "Oh my god, Sam! It will be so great! I would love a trip like that!" She sat up cross legged in the bed as she started making plans. "Shannon can stay with my parents, then fly out when we get there. Of course, she won't want to leave Cody too long....."

"I have to do this first." Sam interrupted. He persuaded Sarah to sit on the edge of the bed and knelt down in front of her, holding her hands in one of his, the other was rummaging around the floor for his jeans.

"Fuck!" He had to drop Sarah's hand to catch himself from falling sideways.

Sarah collapsed beside him, laughing at his clumsiness. "Do you need some help?"

"You know what I'm trying to do here?" Sam asked with a cocky grin as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap.

Sarah smiled and nodded her head as she looked up at him.

"And you promise you won't laugh and tell me it's a crock of shit!"

Sarah squeezed her lips tight to hold back the crazy grin that threatened to break out. She nodded again.

"So does that mean your answer will be yes?" Sam tilted his head, his eyes were gleaming wickedly.

Sarah lifted one shoulder in a shrug. She put her index finger on her lips and let a little of her grin slip out, slyly. Sarah wanted to hear Sam ask her just one more time.

Sam looked at the mischievious glint in her eyes. "Ok, then let's do this right." He lifted her back on the edge of the bed and knelt on one knee. Looking at her straight in the eye, his voice was earnest, pleading for the right answer this time.

"Sweetheart, I know it hasn't been easy, and I am so thankful that you've given us this second chance. We've changed, you and I, but we're finding out that our love, the love we felt the first time we met, is still there. It's gotten stronger. I love you. I love how I feel when I'm with you. I want to be with you, and only you. I promise that I will be true to you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She jumped into his arms causing them both to fall back, laughing and crying together. they hugged each other hard, and kissed, tenderly.

"I love you, Sam Carter." Sarah pushed him back to the floor, covering his face in kisses.

Sam sat up and pulled her into his lap. "Aren't you forgetting about this?" He opened the small blue box, lifted out a ring and slid it on her finger.

Sarah looked at the ring in awe. "This is beautiful." She held it closer as she caught her breath. "It's blue!"

"It's a blue diamond, sweetheart. When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for you."

Sarah turned her hand in the sunlight, watching the rays that bounced off the round stone. The rich blue color sparkled, highlighted by the white diamonds that lined the band. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around Sam's neck and kissed him.

"It is perfect, and so are you." She whispered.

"Oh, sweetheart, we both know that I am far from perfect." Sam laughed as he laid her down on the floor and rolled on top of her. "But I'm trying." His hands slipped her tee off and his head dipped down to kiss her breasts.

"Bed, Sam!" Sarah said breathlessly as his fingers continued doing what they had started earlier.

They never made it back to the bed. The floor and all their surroundings were forgotten for the moment.

***

The scent of pancakes and coffee wafted from under the door and Sarah looked at the clock as she jumped up.

"I forgot! Shannon is making breakfast today." She pulled Sam up by his hands. "She's doing this just for you, come on, get dressed."

Shannon greeted them with a big hug and a kiss. She pulled Sarah's hand up to look at the ring.

"Good job, Sam!" She exclaimed as she admired it. "I knew she'd say yes."

"You knew about this?" Sarah asked in surprise.

"Well, of course! Sam told me about it last night. But he wouldn't show me the ring, he wanted you to be the first to see it." Shannon flipped the pancakes onto plates and carried them to the table. "And now it's Sam's turn for surprises." She motioned towards the wrapped package that sat at the head of the table.

Sam looked confused as he looked from Sarah's face to Shannon's. "What is this all about?"

"It's Fathers Day, silly." Shannon held out the chair for Sam to sit down, then sat in the chair to his left.

Sarah sat to his right and tapped her finger on the present. "Open it." She set her elbow on the table, her chin rested in the palm of her hand. Her eyes glowed as she watched Sam's face.

Sam pulled the ribbon and bow off, sliding his fingers along the seam to remove the paper. He stared at the photo album, and took a second to try to clear his throat. His eyes misted over when he flipped it open and he turned each page slowly, shakily, as he looked at every picture. The first page were pictures of Sarah at different stages of her pregnancy. Each page thereafter contained pictures of Shannon, as a newborn, her first steps, in front of a Christmas tree, in her Halloween costumes. School plays, her first dance, every year of her life was represented in the album. The last page was pictures taken at her graduation, standing in her cap and gown, between Sarah and Sam.

"Oh god, Shannon..." Sam had to stop before he was too overcome with emotion. He closed the book and ran his fingers over the word embossed on the cover. "Family." He closed his eyes to stop the tears. "This is the best gift....."

"Yeah, well..." Shannon whispered, her own voice was thick with tears. "We're a family now."