First of all, MGM owns Stargate Atlantis and its characters. Not me.

Second, this is an M-rated tag to my story 'You Can Do Better', which itself is a tag to the SGA episode 'Identity'.

Third, thanks to RoryFaller for looking this over for me and catching those silly boo-boos.

Fourth, you can all blame RoryFaller for this, as it's her birthday present, belated though it is (by months). HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Finally.

Jennifer slipped her jacket on, then settled into the co-pilot seat of Jumper Two and turned to look at Rodney. She just watched him for a few moments as he readied the Jumper, his hands moving confidently over the controls and his attention focused squarely upon his task. She marveled at how his eyes intently scanned the readouts of the Jumper's systems, taking in the data at an incredible speed and no doubt retaining each and every tidbit in his massive memory.

She jumped in her seat when he quickly turned to look at her, and she realized she'd been caught staring at him. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders apologetically, willing the heat in her cheeks to cool and wondering why she felt like she was a teenager going on her first date when their first date was already so far behind them.

The right side of his mouth edged upward into a smirk and he turned back to the controls in front of him. Jennifer turned as well and looked out the front window into the Jumper Bay. There were a few people milling about, mostly security personnel she realized and a few scientists. Before she knew it, the view before her was slipping toward the bottom of the window as the Jumper began to lift up towards the massive overhead door.

It always took her breath away a little when she flew in a Jumper, flying around planets and space in a spaceship more than a little exciting for a girl from Chippewa Falls. Yet as the Jumper cleared the bay doors and the clear blue horizon of Atlantis' home came into view, she found herself almost completely breathless.

She leaned forward and peered out the forward window. There wasn't so much as a wisp of a cloud in the blue skies surrounding them. She tilted her vision downward and saw that there wasn't even a ripple on the blue-green ocean surrounding their home.

It's a perfect day, she thought to herself as she looked up into the sky again while Rodney maneuvered the Jumper forward. It truly was a perfect day, outside the Jumper and for her in general. She kept her focus on the outside as the Jumper banked around to the left and Atlantis came into view.

"Incredible, isn't it?" asked Rodney as he brought the Jumper into a hover, keeping the massive city in front of them.

Jennifer's eyes raked over the city framed against the peaceful sky and calm ocean and she finally managed to say, "It sure is."

She kept her eyes on the city until she could sense Rodney's eyes on her. She turned towards him and this time he shook his head and quickly looked to the controls as though he'd been the one caught staring. He cleared his throat and asked, "Ready?"

He turned and looked at her expectantly. She couldn't help but smile as she nodded her head and said, "Very ready."

Rodney nodded and turned back to the controls. Jennifer returned her attention to the window and asked, "How long until we get to the mainland?"

"It won't take us long to get to the mainland," he replied quickly, "though it'll take us a few more minutes to get where we're going."

Jennifer turned and cast a suspicious look towards Rodney. "And where are we going exactly?"

Rodney turned rapidly towards her and then sighed in relief after realizing she was teasing him….again. "I can't say."

"Can't or won't?" she asked, his cuteness when he became nervous and flustered too adorable to let her stop teasing him.

"Won't," he admitted after a moment. He looked down to the control readouts. "Now just sit back and enjoy the view."

Jennifer smiled and said with total honesty as she kept her gaze on him, "I am enjoying the view."

Rodney turned towards her again, and she could see the disbelief in his eyes followed closely by embarrassment.

"Yes, well, the view is much better out there," he said with a nod of his head towards the front window.

She was tempted to disagree with him, but held her tongue and turned to look out the window. She was surprised to find that the mainland had slipped into view already, and before she knew it they were flying over a thick forest. She stared down into the dense foliage for signs of life, but could see nothing but branches. She'd been peering so hard into the wooded area that she didn't know they were approaching the boundary of the forest until the trees disappeared and was replaced by golden sand and blue water.

"There's a little clearing thirty meters into the woods," explained Rodney as the Jumper veered to the left. "We'll set her down there and set up our picnic." He cast a nervous glance towards Jennifer and added, "If you feel up to it that is."

"I feel perfectly fine," she said with a reassuring smile. "And it sounds perfect."

Rodney nodded and eased the Jumper towards the flat, grass-covered clearing, which was now visible in the forward window.

Jennifer watched Rodney land the Jumper surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye, and then turned fully towards him when she felt the soft bump of the craft landing on the ground. He turned towards her as well and their eyes connected.

Jennifer gazed into his blue eyes. He was studying her, she knew, looking for any indication that she was overdoing it or wasn't feeling well. It was silly in her opinion; she had recovered beautifully from her injury and had been cleared for duty. Still, she wasn't surprised by his attitude; she'd seen first hand during the last few weeks just how caring and loving Rodney McKay could be. She'd even been surprised a little if she were to be honest with herself. She was genuinely surprised when he'd first mentioned the idea of this excursion as she lay in her infirmary bed. It made a little more sense when he'd told her that Neeva had actually come up with the idea, but it made little difference really. Rodney hadn't been obligated to ask her, whether the initial idea was his or not, but he did, and she'd been told he went all out for it.

Her eyes blinked and Rodney gave his head a little shake as if he were trying to rouse himself from some sort of spell.

"We should get going," he said as he stood up and held his hand out to her.

She took his hand with a smile and Rodney made to move towards the back of the Jumper to give her more room, but she stood before he could get out of her way and they ended up pushing into each other.

Jennifer felt herself tipping backwards and threw her arms around Rodney's neck for support even as his arms went around her waist and pulled her to him.

Jennifer looked up into Rodney's eyes and knew he was concerned about her. "I'm fine," she said softly. She wanted to say more, but the sensations caused by his chest pressing against hers left her struggling to breathe.

The urge to kiss him was too great to ignore. She tightened her hug of his neck and drew his face to hers and kissed him.

It wasn't the first time they'd kissed, but it felt so much more wonderful than the others. Their mouths moved against each other with perfect synchronicity, creating an electrical current at their point of contact that shot directly to her spine and then branched off along every nerve fiber in her body.

Perhaps it was the absence of life threatening danger, fear and relief, or it may have simply been the fact that they were completely and utterly alone. Either way, she was feeling sensations that she hadn't felt in a very long time, feelings that she'd almost forgotten existed.

She nearly growled in anger when he stopped the kiss and leaned away from her, but that annoyance disappeared when she saw just how intently focused he was on her.

"If we, ah…if we don't," Rodney said between rapid breaths, "if we don't get outside and, walk and stuff…"

She gazed into those blue eyes of his and remembered how much he'd been looking forward to doing this for her. She smiled and loosened her hold around his neck. "You're right," she admitted a moment later, though reluctantly. She released him and let her hands slide onto his shoulders and down his arms until her hands were able to hold his. She nodded towards the rear hatch and said, "Lead the way."

Rodney nodded, but hesitated before finally releasing her hand to pick up her bag and lead them outside. The warm air was a refreshing change from the air conditioned environment of Atlantis, and it was the first time in a long time that she'd left Atlantis for a reason other than a mission or medical emergency.

Or a bodysnatching, she mused inwardly as they began to stroll hand-in-hand towards the tree line, though the shudder that went along with the thought manifested itself outwardly.

"Maybe we should head back," Rodney suggested, his worry making his speech rapid and higher-pitched than usual.

She smiled at him again and shook her head. "I'm fine. I just forgot how nice it can be to just walk around outdoors," she paused and her nose wrinkled in astonishment, "and a tent?"

"Walking around a tent is nice?" asked a dumbfounded Rodney.

Jennifer laughed and pointed off to their left. "There's a tent over there."

Rodney brought them to a stop and looked at the tent. "I thought that we might need some shade or something," he said in a quiet and unsure voice. "It's a sunny day, so you know…"

Jennifer turned to look at Rodney, and understanding dawned on her when he hesitated to look at her. "You set all of this up this today?" She turned back to the tent and watched the right flap jiggle in the warm breeze that passed by it. "For me?"

"I had some help," Rodney said as his hand gently squeezed hers. "Everyone likes me, you know." At Jennifer's raised eyebrows he admitted, "Fine…they don't all like me, but they like the fact that I can fix whatever they break." He gave her a small smile. "Plus they all like you." He motioned to the tent with his chin and said, "It's the type of tent we set up as mobile labs when we go off world to protect us and the equipment from the sun, dust and that sort of thing."

Jennifer began dragging Rodney towards it, ignoring his yelp of surprise and his initial resistance. When they reached the temporary structure she pushed in through the flaps and stood in awe of the sight before her.

In the center of the room sized tent was a table, upon which rested a small cooler and a woven Athosian basket full of various types of food. Two chairs stood as silent sentinels around the table and off to the right, pointing out through an opened flap into the sky, a large telescope the size of a nineteenth century canon rested upon a sturdy tripod. Her head turned slowly to the left, past the table and finally came to rest upon a semi-portable field cot. A smile slowly came to her lips and her grip tightened around Rodney's hand: the cot was big enough to fit two people, and on the cot rested two large pillows and a cozy looking blanket.

She turned to look at Rodney, who had followed her gaze to the cot. She could easily tell by the bug-eyed look, the flush creeping up his cheeks and the thump that her bag made as it hit the ground after slipping from his hand that he hadn't put it there.

And to confirm that, a second later he turned his mortified look to her, pointed at the 'bed' with his free hand and stammered loudly, "I didn't put that there!" His eyes opened even wider in realization and he exclaimed, "Sheppard! It had to have been Sheppard! He said he left something in here and came back while I got the Jumper ready to go! I'm so going to kill that wild-haired…Jennifer I'm sorry…"

Rodney abruptly stopped talking as Jennifer gently squeezed his hand again. "Rodney," she said softly, and in a voice that she hoped told him she was far from angry or upset, "this is…this is incredible. I," she turned her body so that she faced him, "I don't know what to say."

"I don't know what to say either! I'm going to make sure he pays…wait, what?" Rodney was incensed and terrified to the point where he'd spoken before being able to fully comprehend what Jennifer had said. "You're not angry about," he pointed to the bed with his chin, "that?"

Jennifer's left hand moved up and cupped his cheek, and before he could do anything she leaned up on her tippy toes and said, "Anger is the last thing I'm feeling right now," before pressing her lips to his.

He stopped their kiss quickly by leaning away from her. Her hand moved to the back of his neck and her fingers played in his hair which she knew distracted him. She tortured him by doing that for a few seconds and then stilled her fingers.

"We should really go for that walk on the beach," he managed to say. His voice was thick with something she'd seen from him before, though not often enough for her liking.

Desire.

"Rodney," she said as she leaned in against him. "What made you think that I would want to go for a walk on the beach?" Her fingers restarted their frolic amongst his short hair and she nearly smiled when he shivered against her.

"I was told women liked the beach," he responded.

His hand released hers and she nearly jumped as his hands slipped up underneath her unzipped jacket and onto her waist. She could feel the warmth from his hands through her shirt. Her right hand moved up so that it could join with her other hand, embracing him around his neck and drawing him even closer to her. As a result, her shirt lifted slightly and she felt a sudden, searing heat as his fingers touched the skin of her sides.

"I'm from Wisconsin," she answered after a moment, and with some difficulty. "Not a lot of beaches in my neck of the woods."

She subtly licked her suddenly dry lips, at least she'd hoped that she'd been subtle about it. She knew she'd failed however when his eyes briefly flicked down to her lips, widened for an instant and then moved back up to her eyes.

"It'll be dark pretty soon," Rodney whispered as he tightened his grip on her. "We should…"

Jennifer leaned in and kissed him, softly yet firmly. He responded immediately and she had to clamp down on the moan that wanted to escape from her mouth when his hands moved up along her sides and down again.

Rodney stopped their kiss and leaned back to look into her eyes. "I…Jennifer…"

"What is it, Rodney?" she asked, concerned at the difficulty he seemed to be having.

Rodney sighed. "This isn't why I brought you here." He looked away for a second as if searching for the words somewhere else within the tent. "I brought you here to spend some time with you, just the two of us. I didn't bring you here for…"

When a few seconds passed and Rodney didn't say anything more Jennifer filled in the blank. "You didn't bring me here for sex."

She couldn't tell if the way his head whipped around and his eyes bored into hers was indicative of her being right or the fact that she'd been so blunt about it.

She gave him the gentlest smile she could as she lightly ran her hands from his neck out along his shoulders and back again. "I know that, Rodney." Her smile faded as something occurred to her. She took a deep breath and moved her hands out onto Rodney's shoulders again. "If you don't want…" She stopped and her body stiffened as her earlier bravado fled her in a heartbeat, the possibility that Rodney didn't want to be with her cutting her to the quick. She took another breath even though the ache in her chest increased with the movement. "If you don't want to be with me…"

"What!?!?!" Rodney exclaimed with wide eyes and more loudly than he needed to. His hands squeezed the flesh of her sides. "Are you insane!?! Of course I want to be with you!" His hands moved up, moving in between her arms and coming to rest on her cheeks. "You know how I feel about you, at least I hope you do because I know I'm not the most forthcoming about my feelings. I just…I wasn't expecting…and with your injury…" Rodney stopped blabbering and looked at her with as much seriousness in his eyes as she'd ever seen from him. "I just wasn't sure that," he stopped and shrugged his shoulders, "that you would want to, and it really wasn't what I had in mind when I set this up."

Jennifer felt the tension melt away from her and moved her hands up to cover his. "My father once told me that some of the best things in life happen by accident or when you least expect it." She turned her face into his left hand and kissed his palm.

She kept giving his hand tiny kisses as she looked up into his eyes until, at his gentle prodding, her head turned so that she was facing him.

She saw something in his eyes, a little flicker of brilliance, and the skin of her cheeks underneath his hands began to burn. The heat from his touch moved into her, saturating her head and then spreading down into her torso and out into her breasts. Her nipples hardened and began pushing against the fabric of her bra, demanding and begging for release from their stifling confines. The heat, meanwhile, kept spreading downward into her belly, invading every nook and cranny along the way, and stoking the tiny embers that had been smoldering there since they'd kissed in the Jumper. Her breathing quickened and became shallow as the fire inside her demanded more oxygen to grow so it could consume her. The heat went lower, and soon she felt wetness and heaviness settle in between her thighs. The feeling was so familiar and foreign to her at the same time that she nearly squirmed, but that sensation was erased as Rodney started to lean in towards her.

The heat from his touch kept moving throughout her body, but it became secondary as she closed her eyes and slowly leaned in towards him as well, trying to show him that she was an equal partner in the decision she hoped they were making.

Their lips touched and Jennifer's hands slid down along Rodney's arms as his moved slightly backward until his fingers pushed into her hair and his thumbs grazed her earlobes. Her hands moved underneath his arms, then pushed back and up so that her hands came to rest on the back parts of his shoulders.

Their mouths danced against each other cautiously. Then the tip of his tongue grazed against her lips in what her mind knew to be a tease, but her rebellious body fell for it hook, line and sinker and her arms drew him closer so her upper body pressed against his.

His tongue touched her lips again, except this time it slid along the length of her upper lip from left to right. She smiled to herself and waited as their lips continued to battle each other. A few moments later his tongue touched her lip again, and she thrust her tongue along his into his mouth.

Rodney's body jerked in surprise, but he didn't let go or stop kissing her. To her surprise, his tongue continued to fight with hers rather emphatically.

They continued kissing until she felt Rodney's hands slowly leave her cheeks and glide down along the sides of her neck until they reached the collar of her jacket. Instead of moving out along her shoulders, his fingers slid underneath the jacket and began a slow descent.

She willed her eyes to stay closed, though her lips stopped what they had been doing and her hands moved down onto his hips. Her forehead rested against his and their heaving breaths collided against each other in the small space between them as his hands moved lower along the front of her chest underneath her jacket.

So it was a moment later that she was completely powerless to keep from moaning when his thumbs gently rubbed over her erect and deliciously sensitive nipples, followed in turn by the next finger and so on as his hands slipped off her breasts and onto her abdomen. His hands stopped and turned so that his fingers were facing upward, and as his lips descended upon hers again they moved back up over her breasts and onto her shoulders.

Rodney stopped kissing her and she leaned back to look into his eyes. She could see the question his bright blue eyes were asking her and she nodded. A moment later his hands pushed back and then down her arms, taking her jacket along with it. She felt the jacket hit the ground more than heard it, the green grass enough of a cushion to muffle the sound.

Besides, it was hard enough to hear anything over the thunderous sound of rushing blood in her ears. Her vision remained unimpaired however, and she could still easily see that Rodney was not entirely sure about what they were about to do- what she hoped they were about to do.

Her perception was confirmed when Rodney spoke a moment later. "Jennifer…are you sure…?"

The rest of the question was lost in a mashing of lips and the thrust of a hungry tongue as Jennifer launched herself into Rodney and kissed him for all she was worth. Her arms flung around his neck and pulled him against her as her lips and tongue continued to assault his. She wasn't sure what she was doing, having never been so bold with a man before.

Yet she felt completely comfortable being in control with Rodney. Not because he was hesitant, but because Rodney managed to bring more out of her than others had before, just as she had managed to bring more out Rodney than anyone else had.

She'd laughed off the likes of Sheppard, Teyla and Zelenka when they'd said that Rodney had become a better person because of her, that he'd come to be more than he had been when he'd first come to Pegasus. It hadn't been until Jeannie intimated the same thing in an email a few days after the body snatching thing that she'd begun to give it some serious thought.

She'd seen flashes of the man she would come to love from the moment she'd met him, and over time she saw more and more of those flashes of compassion and humanity. It hadn't been until that morning, as his hand guided her hand onto the scar on her abdomen that she really understood. She was not responsible for Rodney being a better person. Those aspects of himself that he'd shown over the years, and even more poignantly in the last few weeks, had always been within him, had always been laying dormant under the hard crust of the driven scientist. If she'd been the catalyst for allowing some of those hidden parts of Rodney to surface, it was her privilege.

Rodney's lips left hers and kissed along her cheek to her right ear, where his lips captured and gently sucked on soft flesh of her earlobe. Her hands delved into his hair and she pushed her body against him harder as his lips left her ear and moved onto her neck.

His lips and tongue moved up and down her neck, tickling the sensitive skin and sending her arousal into overdrive. Her hands quickly moved down and captured his head and then moved his face back in front of her so her lips could kiss his again. Another intense kiss began as her hands moved down and frantically, and disturbingly uncoordinated for an experienced doctor, began clawing at the zipper of his jacket. Once the cursed thing was finally undone she pushed it off him, ignoring the gasp of surprise from him that briefly interrupted the kiss.

The colossal battle between their lips and tongues continued. Jennifer's hands moved onto his arms just above his elbows and then quickly rubbed up both arms and onto his shoulders. Rodney's hands moved to her waist and she could feel the tips of his fingers edge up under her shirt and she stilled her lips just as a moan worked its way up from her chest into her mouth. Before the moan had a chance to breeze past her swollen lips Rodney stopped their kiss and began lifting her shirt up over her body.

Her breathing stopped as the shirt went higher up over her abdomen, then over her sensitized breasts. She lifted her arms upward, reaching for the sky as he lifted the shirt up over her face. When her shirt reached her wrists Rodney moved her hands together and pooled the shirt on top of them. The moan that had taken up residence in her mouth when her breathing stopped intensified and escaped her mouth in a loud rush as his hands abandoned the shirt and slowly slid down the outside of her still upstretched arms, past her wrists, past her elbows, along her biceps, along her usually ticklish armpits and down along the sides of her breasts.

Jennifer realized by the sudden burning in her shoulders that her arms will still above her and she tossed her shirt away, uncaring about where it went so long as it was no longer on her. She was just about to begin lowering her arms when, in one surprising and swift movement, Rodney's fingers hooked underneath the front edges of her bra, pulled the offending fabric towards him and then upwards, freeing her breasts and finally allowing the arousal induced ache within them to ebb ever so slightly.

Her eyes slammed shut and her arms came down onto his shoulders once again when she felt the first kiss on her right breast halfway between her collar bone and nipple. Her hands moved along his shoulders and she buried her face in the hair on the top of his head as his mouth moved down and covered her erect nipple. Another moan escaped her mouth as his lips and tongue teased that puckered bit of flesh, and a gasp followed a moment later when his mouth jumped across the small valley on her chest to her left breast where his mouth heaped an equal amount of blissful torture upon that nipple as well. A small part of her mind wondered how he was managing to keep on target with her chest heaving so greatly as she tried to breathe through the pleasure.

He stopped and Jennifer's eyes opened and her head lifted as he raised his. Her eyes found his as his hands moved from her hips where they had been resting and slid along her skin towards her back. Back and up they went until they found the clasp of her bra. Jennifer licked her dry lips and waited for him to undo the clasp, and was surprised when a moment later she felt it give way.

They kept looking into each other's eyes as he removed the bra from her, dropping it on the ground to rest next to his jacket.

She was spellbound as she looked into his eyes, and the spell remained solidly intact until his eyes shifted down to her breasts and widened slightly. With the spell broken, her hands flew down to the hem of his shirt and quickly pulled it upwards. When the shirt was discarded a moment later she reached for his belt. His hands moved onto her arms and began rubbing them as she undid the belt, and his fingers tensed around her elbows as she undid the button to his pants that the belt had been covering.

Her fingers slid along the bulge in his pants that was his erection as she lowered the zipper, causing Rodney's hands to flex around her arms again. She couldn't resist the urge to tease him again, or perhaps she couldn't resist playing god with him and making him react in such a way. She decided it wasn't important as her right hand flattened against the top of his left thigh and then gently rubbed up over the mound again. Her hand rubbed downwards again as she looked at Rodney's face. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. She could feel his short hot breaths reaching across the small void in between them. Her hand slid along him again and this time his eyes opened and found hers.

"Jennifer," he said, desperation and pleading making his voice rough. "You need to stop that…or…"

"Or what?" she said with as much innocence as she could muster, which wasn't much.

Without waiting for an answer her hands took hold of his pants and pushed them down over his hips, freeing his own swollen arousal and eliciting a harsh gasp from his mouth. Once she'd gotten his pants down over his hips gravity did the rest and they fell down to pool around his feet.

Jennifer leaned in and kissed Rodney, pressing her breasts against his bare chest in the process. As they kissed her right hand moved in between them and her fingers curled around the base of his erection. She slowly moved her hand up and down the hardened flesh until Rodney's hands gripped her shoulders and pushed her far enough away from him to make her stop.

"Jennifer," he whispered with some difficulty. "We need…you need to stop…before I can't…"

Jennifer moved her hands up to rest on his forearms, and then gave him a smile. "I don't want to stop." She took in a shaky breath. "Please, Rodney- make love…"

The rest of her entreaty was lost in the most passionate kiss she'd ever received in her life. It happened so fast that she hadn't even seen it coming, which in retrospect probably added to the intensity of it. His hands moved over her quickly, yet methodically, barely skimming over the less sensitive areas and enticingly massaging over all the right spots. She felt him shift, then shift again and for a moment it almost seemed as though he was going to lose his balance. It wasn't until a moment later, when his lips jumped to her neck and began kissing, nipping and licking along the skin there, that she lowered her mouth onto his shoulder and tried to breathe and realized what he had been doing: he'd been kicking off his pants and shoes.

Her hands gripped at his back and she gasped against his shoulder as his hands found the clasp of her pants and undid it. His lips found hers again as his hands slid inside the loosened garment and underneath her panties down along her hips and then back onto the round cheeks of her ass.

A moment later she felt the backs of her legs impact against something and she opened her eyes to find that she had somehow been moved to foot of the cot without being aware of it.

Rodney broke the kiss and gave both of her cheeks a squeeze. In the blink of an eye Rodney had pushed her pants down to her knees and had her sitting on the edge of the cot while he knelt down before her. He quickly, albeit gently, removed her shoes and then removed her pants, discarding them on the ground next to the cot.

Jennifer never even had a chance to dwell upon the fact that she was naked in front of a man and she didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable before she felt the first kiss on the front of her left thigh just above her knee. Her eyes fluttered shut and her arms moved back so that her hands could rest on the cot and support her as she leaned back, letting her head fall back so that she faced the roof of the tent.

Rodney kissed along her thigh while his left hand slid along the side of her right thigh and onto her hip.

His kissing stopped, and after a moment of having nothing happen Jennifer lifted her head, opened her eyes and looked down just in time to see his fingers brush gently over the scar on abdomen. Fear gripped her for a moment, as irrational as she knew it to be, fear that the scar ruined something for him, somehow made her less than she had been before.

And as he leaned forward and kissed the mottled flesh the fear was replaced by the memory of what had happened a short time ago in her quarters. With that memory came a burst of love for this man, this man who suddenly straightened up and moved in so that he could kiss her lips. Her hands left the cot and went around his neck, drawing him closer to her as their mouths worked against each other.

Rodney's hands moved up and down her sides, tickling her enough to bother her but not enough to make her stop their kissing. After several moments Rodney's hands moved up onto her shoulders. When she stopped the kiss and looked at him he gently pushed her onto her back.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as the back of her head hit the cot. "What was that…oh my God!"

She would have said more, wanted to say more even, but the breath had been pushed from her chest by a surge of ecstasy flooding her. Her hands lifted and fell onto the cot above her head, gripping wildly at the blanket as the tip of Rodney's tongue licked up the right side of her sexual valley and down the left side. Just as that internal gush eased his tongue entered her valley dead center and moved upward until it reached her super sensitive nub of flesh. Rodney tickled that flesh over and over again, sending delicious shockwaves along the length of her spine. And with each touch, with each little flick of his tongue each and every muscle coiled that much tighter and begged for the one thing that would release them.

The feelings continued to roil within her, so she didn't immediately notice that Rodney had stopped what he had been doing until she felt the cot move. Her eyes opened just in time to see Rodney's face descend towards her, and then closed again when his lips hungrily devoured hers. The rest of his body followed his face and pressed down against her, melding their bodies as close together as was possible without actually being joined. Her arms encompassed him and her fingernails began to gently scrap at his back as her body came closer and closer to losing control altogether.

Rodney's lips stopped moving and he leaned back so that they could look into each other's eyes. There were no words spoken; in fact the only thing Jennifer could hear was the heavy breathing coming from the both of them. Eager to get as much of her skin touching him as she could, she lifted her feet from the ground and rested them against the backs of his thighs.

His right hand left the cot beside her where it had been helping to support his weight and moved down in between them. A moment later, even though she knew what was coming, she gasped as the tip of his rigidness gently probed against her moistened flesh. The initial point of contact was a little off, and Jennifer's breath hitched as Rodney slowly moved himself down along her wetness while gently pushing in towards her.

The inevitable happened a mere second later and Jennifer's eyes closed and her mouth opened to release a soft moan as Rodney found her slick opening and easily pushed within her.

Jennifer opened her eyes and found Rodney watching her intently. The adoration and concern she saw in those intense blue eyes was incredible to see. The urge to reciprocate the love and alleviate the worry in his eyes was too much to ignore. Her hands slid along his shoulders, up along the sides of his neck and onto his cheeks. She cupped his cheeks with her hands as lovingly as she knew how, with her thumbs gently caressing the upper edges of his cheek bones.

"I love you, Rodney," she whispered, her voice raw from the intense feelings within her, the emotion of the moment and the dryness in her mouth caused by her ragged breathing. She tilted her hips just enough to cause the smallest friction between them, though it was more than enough to send a stab of pleasure shooting throughout the already tightly wound muscles of her hyper aroused body. "I love you so much."

Rodney's eyes remained fixed upon hers, and for a fraction of a second she wondered what he was feeling and thinking, even though she knew in her heart that he felt exactly the same way.

"I love you," he said, his voice just as raspy as hers had been. His right hand came up and gently brushed her hair off her cheek as he added, "more than I thought I could love anything."

Jennifer smiled at what he'd said and the truth she knew to be behind it. He did love her, with more feeling than he'd thought was possible, with more than he thought he'd been capable of feeling.

She pulled his face towards her and pressed her lips to his. Their lips played their game slowly at first, but as the seconds ticked by they moved faster and harder until their momentum seemed to radiate to other parts of their bodies.

Rodney's hand moved down and covered Jennifer's left breast. He captured her erect nipple between his thumb and forefinger, gently kneading the sensitive nub as he withdrew from her and then gently sank within her again.

Jennifer's hands flew to and gripped Rodney's shoulders as his lips, hand and continuing thrusts worked to drive her completely insane with carnal delight. Her eyes closed and it became harder for her to breathe through the moans and gasps his actions were causing her to make.

Suddenly he stopped and his head bowed forward so that she when she looked at him she couldn't see his eyes. He remained perfectly still, outside and within her. After a few more beats of her racing heart her hoarse voice said, "Rodney?" He looked up at her immediately and she could see the muscles in his jaw working very hard. "What?"

His eyes slowly closed and then opened again, and when they did they were piercing. When he spoke a moment later his voice was strained. "I…it's been a while, a very long time, since I've done this."

She understood what he was saying immediately, of course. If she could have calmed her wild breathing enough to put any more than three words together, she would have told him that it had been a long time for her as well; she would have told him that he'd managed to manipulate her body so well that she was nearly vibrating with unreleased sexual tension; she would have told him that she was so close to the edge that she was teetering over it; and she would have told him she understood and that she loved him.

As it was all she could whisper was, "Rodney…me too."

She was about to prod him on with a gentle push against him with her legs, but all thoughts of that evaporated when he slid out of her again and immediately reclaimed entry within her.

He continued to thrust into her, igniting her insides in a blaze of sexual bliss. She forced her eyes to remain open and watch him, and she could see that he was barely hanging on. As if to confirm that his thrusts quickened and became harder, deeper to the point where his lower abdomen slammed against her with each thrust.

In a move of sexual symmetry her moans, like his thrusts, came quicker and louder. For a moment, she clamped down on her lower lip with her teeth to keep from making so much noise, but it was a futile attempt and only a moment passed before she was gasping and moaning in earnest.

Her hands dropped to the blanket and clawed at it as her first orgasm in a long time started to stir within her. A small grunt from Rodney and a thrust harder than the others pushed her perilously closer to the edge, though she managed to hold on. It was short lived however, for his next deep thrust pushed her over the precipice and into an orgasmic freefall, just as he buried his face in her neck and his hot release poured into her.

She rode out the waves of her orgasm by flinging her arms around Rodney's neck and holding onto him, anchoring herself to him against the tidal waves of bliss. He shuddered in her arms, though she could barely feel it amongst her own quivering and spasms.

She had completely lost all sense of time, so she couldn't tell how long they'd remained in that position when Rodney kissed her neck and then lifted his head from her. She loosened her hold on him so he could lift himself up further. When their eyes met, identical smiles on equally flushed faces followed.

Jennifer waited for the pounding in her chest to ease and her breathing to return to something akin to normal before speaking. "I love you," she said as her hands slid forward onto his shoulders.

Rodney's eyes danced across her features and then settled on her eyes. "You really mean that, don't you?"

Jennifer smiled sweetly and moved her right hand up to cup his cheek. "I most certainly do," she replied with as much sincerity as she could.

Rodney gave his head a slow shake and then said softly, "That just makes you even more amazing than I thought you were."

The bare honesty she heard in his voice made her smile even more. Before she could even think to stop him, Rodney lifted himself from her, removing himself from within her in the process, leaving her feeling empty and chilled despite the considerable afternoon heat.

She sat up on the edge of the cot and studied Rodney as he glanced around the tent. When he finally looked at her again, he held his hands out to her and said, "Did you want something to eat? Or go for walk? Or…"

Jennifer reached up and put her hands in his, allowing the warmth from that simple touch to warm her. "Can we just lay here for a while?" she asked, uncertainty making her voice soft. "Can we just cuddle until the stars come out?"

She knew she sounded almost childlike, and she hated herself for it. She looked away from him, towards the telescope as she internally berated herself for sounding so needy. She turned back to him only when he quietly called her name.

"Of course," he said with a smirk that told her nothing about what he was or had been thinking. "That's what I was going to suggest next."

Jennifer couldn't help but smile as Rodney helped her to stand, then drew her hands to his chest and hugged them to him when her legs wobbled. She leaned into him and looked into his eyes until her legs strengthened a few moments later.

When she nodded to Rodney, he kept a hold of her hands and guided her to the right side of the cot. He released her right hand, then reached down and threw back the comforter. He took her hand again and supported her as she first sat down, and then leaned back until her head hit the pillow.

She watched as Rodney moved to the other side of the cot settled down next to her. He reached down and pulled the comforter up over them, then gave her a smile.

"What?" she blurted out before she could stop it.

"Nothing," he replied after a moment. "I was just thinking about how lucky I am."

Jennifer smiled back at him, and when he lifted his left arm to give her the room to cuddle into him, she did just that. As his arm went around her and drew her closer to him, Neeva's voice once again sounded in her head.

'You can do better.'

As Jennifer cuddled her face against Rodney's shoulder and her right hand began making lazy circles on his chest, she thought about how wrong Neeva had been, and how right she had been when she'd decided that Rodney was all that she needed.