Daniel's eyes finally met hers, and their gazes locked in an intense stare.  In the next instant, they were kissing, fueled by need and desperation.  Within seconds, Sam was attacking the buttons of Daniel's shirt as he began yanking her top out from her pants.  Both articles of clothing were soon on the floor.  Daniel pulled Sam onto his lap, crushing their bodies together, her thighs straddling him as their lips came together in another wildly passionate kiss.  Never releasing her mouth, Daniel found the catch of Sam's bra and undid it, then fairly ripped the bra from her body to send it sailing through the air.  Then he was pulling her up onto her knees, his mouth descending to her breasts.

Daniel was nearly out of his mind with desire, his need for Sam consuming him.  He twisted around and laid her on the couch, his lips going down her body to the soft expanse of her stomach.  Sam moaned low in her throat as he unfastened her pants and pulled them and her panties down, his mouth following their descent, stopping at the apex of her thighs, wrenching a little cry from Sam's lips.

"Oh, God!" she shouted, her back arching, hands clutching the sofa cushions.  Very soon, she began to shake, her climax rushing upon her like a tsunami.  She came calling his name.

Daniel watched her, thinking that it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.  He was virtually shaking with his own need to find release with her, to create a new memory to replace the one he'd lost.

Still trembling from the aftermath of her climax, Sam stared up at Daniel, seeing his need for her in the brilliant blue depths of his eyes.  She reached a hand up and cupped it behind his head, pulling him down to her mouth as her other hand fumbled at the fastenings of his pants.  Unable to accomplish her goal quickly enough with just the one hand, she added the other one to the effort as their mouths remained mated in a fiery kiss.

The button and zipper undone, Sam shoved his pants down, along with his boxers.  He kicked off his shoes and quickly shed his remaining clothes.  And then he was on top of her.  His mouth found Sam's again as he completed the union of their bodies, their mutual cries lost in the caverns of each other's mouths.

Almost immediately, Daniel began to move, feeling like he was going to fly right over the edge even though they'd barely begun.  He fought to maintain some semblance of control, but the sensations were overwhelming him.

But Sam was right there with him, a second climax already building inside her.  This time, there was no otherworldly sharing of their psyches, no Ascended powers joining their souls in a psychic bond, but it didn't matter for it was Daniel making love to her, and, even without that added connection, what she was feeling was far greater than anything she'd ever experienced with another man.

"Oh, God, Sam," Daniel gasped.  "I'm going to. . . ."

"Me too," Sam moaned.  "I'm right there with you."

Those words were the undoing of Daniel's last shred of control.  With a shout, he reached his climax, overcome by the sheer force of it.  Sam went careening over the precipice with him.

For a long time after the last fiery tendrils of their climaxes had faded, Daniel remained where he was, feeling Sam's body gradually calm beneath him, her breathing slowing along with his.  At last, he lifted his head from where it had lain beside hers and met her gaze.  She smiled up at him, the sweetest, happiest smile he'd ever seen on her face.

"I love you," she said.

Daniel brushed his fingers down her cheek.  "And I love you.  I can't even express how much."  He lifted off of her and slid to the side, squeezing into the space between her and the couch back as he pulled her body tight against his.  Their bodies now yet again as close as they could be, he ran his hand all the way down her back to the curve of her bottom, where he proceeded to draw some arcane design with his fingertips.  The intimate touch made Sam quiver.  She had a sneaking suspicion that she would not be taking Daniel back to the base any time soon.

Daniel's eyes took in every inch of Sam's face, the contented curve of her lips, the heightened color of her cheeks, the spark of desire still in her eyes.  She was so beautiful.  And, as amazing as it was, she was his.  He would never be alone again.  He'd finally found where he belonged; it was right here in Sam's arms.  No matter what he might have seen or experienced as one of the Ascended, it couldn't have compared to this.

It was then that Daniel realized that the feeling he'd had on Vis Uban, the feeling of something important being missing, had been the empty place in his heart that should have been filled by Sam.  Even though he hadn't even known she existed, his heart had been missing her.

As that realization came to him, a memory suddenly leapt into Daniel's mind of him and Sam holding each other and crying in her living room.  It was followed by another memory, one of their embrace becoming a kiss, their first kiss.  And then the floodgates opened, and all the memories began pouring into Daniel's mind of that night he came to Sam, his heart aching with the need to see her.  The memories of their lovemaking filled his awareness, the images and sensations of their bodies and souls being joined in a union of absolute totality.

Daniel let out a gasp as the memories of that night kept coming.  Hearing the gasp, Sam looked at him, seeing his widened eyes looking off at nothing.  She was about to ask what was wrong when his gaze focused upon her.

"I remember, Sam," he said with a touch of awe in his voice.  He began to smile.  "I remember."

Understanding what he was saying, she laughed and brought her lips to his.  He cupped his hand behind her head and deepened the kiss.

"This is so wonderful," Sam said after the kiss ended, bubbling with happiness.  "I was so afraid you were never going to remember.  Are any other memories from when you were ascended coming back to you now?"

Daniel searched his memories before replying.  "No, not a one.  The rest of that year is still a complete blank."

The scientist in Sam was intrigued.  "I wonder why you'd get back the memories of that night, but nothing else."

Daniel shrugged slightly.  "Why did I remember your face when I had no memories of anything else from my life, including my own name?  Teal'c believes that Oma cheated with my memories, made it so that they weren't permanently forgotten.  Perhaps she's responsible for this as well."

Sam shook her head.  "I don't think so.  You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you made it happen.  Whenever there was something really important, something that really mattered to you, you never gave up about it.  You'd fight against everyone and everything to do what you felt was right.  I think that you wanted to keep those memories of us so much that you managed to overcome whatever it was that Oma did to you."

Daniel smiled at her display of faith in his ability to overcome the power of an Ascended Being.  "And where is your evidence to support this theory, Major-Doctor Carter?" he asked teasingly.

Sam grinned.  "Years of watching you butt heads with the colonel and dozens of other people and aliens and, more often than not, coming out the winner."

Daniel let out a soft chuckle.  "Sounds like solid evidence to me."

"You bet."

Daniel became serious.  "I don't know if I'll ever get back any of the other memories from that year, but, right now, I don't even care.  This was the only one that really mattered to me."  His eyes delved into hers.  "I wish I still had the power to do what I did that first time.  What we shared, how that felt, it was so incredible."

Sam ran her fingers through his hair.  "Yes, it was incredible, Daniel, something I'll never forget, but, in one very big way, this time was so much better than that first time.  Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because, as wonderful as that first time was, it also made me sad, because I knew that you were going to leave, even before you told me that you had to go."

"I'm so sorry, Sam.  I don't remember everything about why I had to go, but I do remember that it just about killed me to leave.  I wanted so badly to stay."

"I know, Daniel.  You did what you had to.  If you'd stayed, we wouldn't have found out about Anubis' plans to get the Eye of Ra until it was far too late.  Then who knows what might have happened."

Accepting what she'd said, Daniel pulled her head down to lie beneath his chin.  He stroked her hair, her shoulders and back.  And then his hand migrated to her front, finding her left breast.

"So," he said, "will you be taking me back to the base?"

Sam's breath hitched as Daniel's touch moved further down her body.  She lifted her head and saw a little, mischievous smile on his face and in his eyes.

Pretending to be unaffected by what he was doing, Sam adopted a thoughtful look.  "Hmm.  Let me think about that a moment."  She acted like she was giving the question a great deal of thought as Daniel's touch grew progressively bolder.  At last, she gave up the pretense and pulled his mouth to hers in a hard, deep kiss. "Not on your life, Doctor Jackson," she declared with feeling.  "I've waited four months to get you back into my bed, and I have no intention of waiting a day longer."

Grinning, Daniel sat up, pulling Sam up with him.  "Well, then I suppose it's time that I end your wait."  He got off the couch and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the awaiting bed to make some more memories – ones that would always be remembered.
 

THE END