I lean forward and kiss the side of her face, then adjust my angle so that I can pick her up. She wraps her good arm around my neck as I scoop her up like a baby, holding one hand under her knees and the other supporting her upper body.

As I carry her back to bed I feel myself overcome with a longing, a hunger, a need. When we were together before, there were times when I just couldn't keep my hands off her, but this is different. It's deeper, and a lot more emotional.

When I first disappeared, there were nights when I literally cried myself to sleep because I missed her so much. The hardest part was knowing that even if by some miracle I got to see her again I wasn't sure she'd even want to. I started to wonder if she'd ever even known the real me before that day, and I realized that I had never given her the chance. I had shielded my aggressive side, the side of me that acts on my gut and doesn't care about the consequences, because until that day eighteen months ago I thought it was something I could change.

I don't blame her for not liking what she saw. I think just about anyone would have been scared away if they'd seen everything she had to see me do that day. I didn't expect that anyone could ever love me after seeing that side of me.

When I first saw her this morning I felt uneasy. I didn't know how she felt and I don't think she even really knew. I found myself wondering how she would feel about me if I hadn't had to disappear and make her think I was dead. But I look into her eyes now and I know that she knows who I am, and somehow she still loves me in spite of everything I've done.

I gently lay her down on the bed, then climb onto the bed next to her. I turn onto my side facing her, taking a moment to smile at her and brush a few stray hairs out of the way before I lean in to kiss her. She wraps her arm around my neck and deepens the kiss, and we continue like that for several minutes, just taking each other in. I feel her heart start to beat unusually fast, and she seems out of breath. "Are you sure you're up for this?" I ask gently. She lost a lot of blood earlier and I don't want her to exert herself more than necessary.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she says with a smile. "Alright," I agree, "but I want you to promise me that the second you feel the least bit hesitant or uncomfortable physically or emotionally you'll let me know and we'll stop."

"Okay, I promise," she says with a smile. My hands tremble as I slowly reach for the bottom of her shirt. I look into her eyes questioningly, and she nods and puts her arms in the air and sits up a little to help me take it off. She tugs at the bottom of my shirt, which I quickly toss aside before laying back down next to her. I trail my lips down her upper body, teasing her by dipping my tongue just below her pant line, making her moan. I start to circle her breasts with my tongue, prompting an audible groan.

"How's this feel?" I ask, wanting to make sure it was a pleasure groan and not a reaction to me hurting her arm by mistake.

"Mmmm...so good," she moans. She closes her eyes and sighs contentedly as I continue, running her hand up and down my back.

"Jack," she whispers a minute later, placing her hand on my chest and feeling my heart rush. She turns so that she is leaning into me and we are facing each other on our sides. I smile and start stroking her hair and her lower back as she begins to peruse my chest with her mouth. A couple of times, I notice her placing her hand over my heart, needing to confirm that I'm really here and alive.

"I'm still here, I promise," I whisper reassuringly. She smiles and blushes a little.

A minute later she gets a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and I can tell she's about to torture me. Sure enough, she pushes me gently so that I am laying flat on my back, then reaches down and starts stroking my inner thighs, brushing her fingers over my clothed shaft lightly enough to look like an accident if I didn't know better. Meanwhile, she continues to explore my chest with her mouth, using her tongue in all the right places, the places she knows make me tingle. Feeling her hot breath against my skin is intoxicating. It's pretty amazing how after all this time she still remembers exactly how to make me crazy.

"Audrey," I hear myself moan, struggling to control my desire. As badly as I want her I don't want to rush this. When she hears me groan she reaches as far as she can with her injured arm and tugs at the elastic on my boxers. I stand up and take them off, then kneel on the bed and slowly help her remove the rest of her clothes.

I lean back and admire her for a minute, inhaling deeply at the sight.

"G-d, you're beautiful," I whisper. I didn't think she could possibly be as beautiful as I remembered but I was dead wrong.

Now I'm the one who needs reassurance. I need to touch her, feel her, taste her, hear her softly moan my name so I know this isn't some dream that I'm not going to want to wake up from.

I start running my hands up and down the length of her body, gingerly at first and then more firmly, careful not to put any pressure on her bad arm. I kiss her softly, then my lips work their way down her body, trailing up and down the inner part of each leg. I kneel down on the floor in front of the bed and gently push her legs apart. She gasps in anticipation when I lean down and plant a soft kiss between her lower lips.

She closes her eyes and leans back, moaning with pleasure as I begin to taste her.

"Oh g-d...that feels...so good," she manages to stutter. I reach up to take her hand, which she squeezes hard as I continue. I briefly glance up and see her laying back with her eyes closed, taking slow but heavy breaths and sighing contentedly. She looks so peaceful, so content. It feels so good to be able to make her this happy after everything I've put her through.

I continue at a slow, steady pace, wanting her to enjoy this for as long as possible. Eventually, her breath becomes ragged and I increase my pace until I feel her start to shake.

"Jack!" she gasps. I slowly lift my head up and jump back up onto the bed. She sits up and climbs into my lap facing me. We start kissing frantically, the heat between us becoming unbearable. After a minute I can't take it anymore. I have to have her.

I have to think for a minute about how I want to do this. I need to find a position that's comfortable for her and gives us the contact we both need without putting any pressure on her arm. I want her to be on top so she can control the pace but I don't want her to overexert herself.

At this point I'm literally throbbing for her, and it takes all of me not to lower her onto the bed and take her as fast as I can. But she's so fragile physically and emotionally right now, and I'm determined to make love to her as slowly and tenderly as humanly possible. She starts to climb off me so she can lay down and I can crawl on top of her, but I hold her in place on my lap. "Let's try it like this, okay?" I whisper. She nods and wraps her arms around me, repositioning her legs to give her more leverage.

"You ready?" I ask.

"Yes," she says softly but firmly.

"Come here," I whisper, pulling her close as I slowly ease myself inside her. She takes a deep breath and holds still for a minute, sensing that we both need a minute to take in the feeling of being connected. I look deep into her eyes, silently telling her how much I love her. After a minute she looks at me for confirmation. "Go on," I say softly.

"Nice and slow, baby," I whisper as she begins to move. "Just take it nice and slow." She nods and begins to slowly rock up and down. I slide my tongue into her mouth, kissing her hungrily as I savor the feeling of her body moving against mine. After a few minutes I move my lips to the nape of her neck and start sucking gently on her skin, slowly working my way down. She groans loudly when my lips reach her upper chest. I know how much she likes feeling my mouth on her skin while we make love, so I alternate between sucking on her breasts and sliding my tongue across them, eliciting a series of gasps and moans.

When I feel her start to get close I lift my head up and cup her chin with my hand. "Open your eyes," I whisper. I want to look into her eyes as we do this so I can show her how much I love her. I want her to see that I'm not ashamed of her or disgusted with her, to prove to her that nothing she did while I was gone could possibly change the way I feel about her.

She opens her eyes and lets me stare deep into them as we both let go, the prolonged build-up resulting in an explosive climax.

"I love you...so much," she gasps as I collapse backward onto the bed and pull her down on top of me. For some reason her words catch me off guard. It's not the first time she's said it...we said it to each other before we went to sleep...but it's the first time either of us has said it like this, in this context.

I remember the last night we spent together before I had to disappear, right here in this same hotel. For some reason, that night I found myself wanting to say "I love you" to her. We had never said it before, but that night I had to bite my tongue from yelling it out every time we made love. I knew I loved her...I guess I had known it for quite some time by that point, but I wasn't ready to tell her or even to admit it to myself.

The next morning we had taken a partial step when she admitted that she was falling in love with me. For some reason I reacted funny, even though I knew that I wasn't just falling in love with her - I had fallen in love, and fallen hard.

In hindsight, I realize that I may have known by that point that I loved her, but I don't think I realized just how strongly I felt until a few hours later, when I was faced with the very real prospect of losing her. I distinctly remember standing on the side of the freeway listening to a conversation between two of the men involved in the abduction. The man I was trying to follow asked the man on site if he had killed Audrey yet, and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a few moments while I waited for his answer. I guess it was at that moment that I realized just how hard I had fallen for her, and how devastated I would be if I couldn't get there in time to prevent her from being killed. Instead of returning to a normal rate like it's supposed to, my heart starts beating even faster when I recall that moment.

Suddenly, I start wondering if this is a good idea. I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing after tonight. I don't have a job, a place to live, or even a real identity yet. There's so much that Audrey and I need to talk about and maybe we shouldn't have rushed to do this so fast. My heart continues racing, which does not go unnoticed on Audrey.

"Are you okay?" she asks, interrupting my train of thought.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassure her. I look into her eyes and suddenly the anxiety subsides. We may have a lot to talk about but she looks so happy right now, and somehow that's enough to make all my concerns seem irrelevant. "I was just thinking about how nice it sounded to hear you say that. You know, because we've never...I mean we've said it before, but not..." Why am I getting so tongue tied? Luckily Audrey kisses me to shut me up before I can continue babbling like an idiot. I wrap my arm around her and kiss her back, and as we continue to kiss I start feeling a lot better.

"You know, there's only one problem," I say with a hint of mischief in my voice when we come up for air.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" she asks, perching her head on her hand expectantly.

"Now I'm kind of eager to try saying it."

She grins. "Well, I'm kind of eager to hear how it sounds," she responds, a mischievous twinkle forming in her eye.

"You sure you have the energy?" I ask. "Yeah, I'll manage," she says with a smile. She nuzzles her head against my chest and starts working her way down. I quickly become lost in her, savoring her every touch. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but right now I don't care. We have almost 15 hours before either of us has to go anywhere, and I'm going to treasure every second of that time, because as unbelievable as it seems Audrey's here with me, and somehow in spite of everything she loves me as much as I love her, and for right now that's all that matters.