[Moments of Adoration]

Originally started for the Porn Battle, but it got out of hand. Title from Dar Williams "Calling the Moon".

After an hour on a long stretch of smooth road, Sam maneuvered the motorcycle off onto a rough dirt track, bouncing them about. It obviously wasn't a well-used route; the ruts in the soil were mostly overgrown with brown grass. Vala wrapped her arms around Sam's waist as Sam worked the bike up an incline, and was about to complain about the abuse to her bladder when the trail leveled off and they rolled out into a clearing near the summit of the hill.

Sam turned off the bike and dropped the kickstand. Pulling off her helmet, she set it on the ground. "Sorry, the bike's not really built for off-roading."

Vala following suit, shaking her head to free the hair matted to her neck. "Where are we?" Scrub pines ranged about them, clinging to the brown hills. To the west, a line of snow-streaked high peaks, hazed in blue, marched in single file.

"Near the base of Pikes Peak. I haven't come up here in a while, but it's always been one of my favorite places to come to when I needed to get away from the mountain for a while." From their vantage Vala could see the slope up to the peak, though it wasn't as dramatic as the face it turned to Colorado Springs; just a long, rolling stretch upward, mottled green and brown. "That's Cripple Creek," Sam pointed to a village well below them, nestled among a cluster of hills just like the one from which they watched. "About 200 years ago, this was the center of the last real gold mining rush in Colorado."

"Gold?" Vala perked up, her affront at the rough ride vanishing in a swell of rapacious interest.

"Sorry," Sam said, one shoulder bobbing in a shrug; Vala noted a distinct lack of sincerity in the apology. "It's long gone. Nothing left here except abandoned mine shaft tours and museum replicas of ancient mining equipment."

"You, Samantha Carter," Vala said as she poked Sam in the side, "are a tease. You taunt me with gold. You promise me high speed thrills. And while the scenery is nice enough," she leaned forward to hook her chin on Sam's shoulder and peer down at the long legs stretched out to balance their perch, "I've seen better."

When Vala breathed those words across Sam's cheek, she didn't expect the strangled shudder that started at Sam's shoulders and ended at her hips, pressing her very shapely rear into the cradle of Vala's thighs. "Well," she said, hand sliding up underneath Sam's jacket, where she plucked at the thin fabric of Sam's shirt enough to get her hand under that, too. "Perhaps I spoke too soon about the lack of thrills." She trailed her fingers across Sam's belly, dipping her thumb into Sam's navel before finishing the sweep, dropping lower, right along the waistband of those delicious leather pants, on the next pass.

"Vala…" But there was no reproach in Sam's voice, so Vala took the advantage and splayed her fingers across Sam's ribs, just under her breasts, relishing the rise and fall of Sam's breath.

When she'd come to Earth to stay, Vala had seen Sam much like Daniel: a toy to crack open and see what delights might be inside, before moving on to the next distraction. Yet where Daniel had played along, consciously or not, Sam - who should have been as predictable as Daniel, much alike as they were in some respects - had scattered all of Vala's expectations like a child's marbles, sending her off on a grand game to collect them. And Samantha Carter became much more than a momentary entertainment.

"Come now, Sam, you can trust me." Vala said it only out of habit, because that was how the game was played; she knew Sam would never have brought her here if Sam didn't trust her. It thrilled Vala that she'd cracked this woman open enough to worm her way that far inside.

Lean muscle contracted under her hand as Sam's soft huff of laughter vanished into the soft breeze. "Oh yes, I absolutely trust you to be you."

Vala weighed the circumstances, the affection in Sam's gentle taunt, and figured there was, to use one of Daniel's quaint phrases, no time like the present. "Hush," she said merrily, as she undid Sam's pants - hooking her middle finger under to pop the button, she caught the zipper tongue between thumb and forefinger, dragging it down every so slowly. When that got her no reprimand, she grinned against Sam's cheek, letting her fingers steal under the elastic band of Sam's undergarments to gently rake her nails through coarse, sparse hair. "Take off your jacket."

"Your arms are in the way." Sam was breathless now, yes, her voice wobbling the tiniest bit, but her words were sure and laced with wry humor.

"You're a resourceful woman," Vala said, but relaxed her embrace enough for Sam to wriggle out of the heavy leather jacket and drop it to drape over her helmet.

"You happy now?"

"Almost." Anticipation spiraled up Vala's spine. "Now your shirt."

Sam's back snapped into a rigid line, her sudden grip on the handlebars stretched the skin over her knuckles to a milky white, and just for a second, Vala worried that maybe she'd miscalculated. Sam had certainly shown she liked things on the dangerous side, but she was also private, and Vala understood that. Vala, too, knew the dangers of being exposed. And this, this would expose a great deal more than that lovely pale skin.

Vala held her breath as Sam's hands flexed around the grips. It would be easy enough to make the point moot, to ruck up the fabric of Sam's shirt, slide her palms up across stomach and ribs, and cup a handful of breast before dragging the shirt off herself, but for the payoff, for this payoff, Vala was willing to be patient.

A quick burst of motion rocked the bike, almost unseating Vala, and Sam's shirt fluttered to the ground to rest on the small pile of helmet and jacket. Her brassiere followed, leaving Vala faced with a delightful expanse of skin. Later, Vala decided, she would run her tongue up the length of that straight spine, and taste each of the charming little freckles dusted across those strong shoulders, but for now she wanted to finish what she'd started. And she wasted no time; she shucked off the jacket she'd borrowed from Cameron's locker, scooting forward until she could see, over Sam's shoulder, the slope of Sam's breasts, nipples tight and high. She would taste those, too, for hours if she could. "Oh, I have plans for you."

"Do you?" Sam's voice, its timbre usually so crisp, had mellowed out low and lush, brimming with indulgence. It made Vala grind down against the bike's seat.

"Yes." Vala finished unzipping Sam's pants and worked both hands under the silky-soft undergarments. She all but wriggled in delight when her fingers slipped easily against ever so wet flesh and Sam's hips surged up against her touch.

Slowly, she navigated: mons pubis, clitoris, labia majora, labia minora. Vala had once taken a printout of the female anatomy and made Daniel explain the Tau'ri names for each and every part. Other names, the 'slang' as Daniel called them, she learned from the marines, television and the internet, but the scientific classifications were as tantalizing to her as any other, precise and detailed like Sam, so it was those she chanted in Sam's ear in time with Sam's quickening breath.

"In fact," Vala said, "I plan to make you come, my darling, so very hard."

"You'd better, after all this."

Sam's retort came out in a huff of laughter, and Vala, so pleased with her gamble, spread Sam open with one hand, and tweaked Sam's clitoris between thumb and forefinger of the other, laughing gaily when the bike tipped dangerously to one side before Sam stabilized it. "Cheeky."

"Yes." Sam grabbed Vala's right wrist, pushing that hand down. "Inside. Please."

There wasn't much room to maneuver, constricted as she was by their position and the tight draw of leather across Sam's hips, but Vala managed to push the tip of one finger inside, then another, and a third when Sam arched into the gentle press. She inched the fingers of her left hand up to press against Sam's clitoris, drawing slow, gentle circles, and teased her tongue along the tight tendons in Sam's long, graceful neck as Sam murmured "Oh god, like that," interspersed with little hiccupping gasps.

Vala savored every little sound that escape Sam's throat, coaxing each one free as "like that" became "please," and please became, "now, nownow, god, Vala."

"Yes, now," Vala said, brushing her thumb across Sam's clitoris twice, hard. Sam sucked in a rough, deep breath, bucking down onto Vala fingers. She was shaking when she finally slumped back, the curve of that proud spine nestled between Vala's breasts. Vala drew her wet fingers out and up, dragging through the sheen of sweat on Sam's belly, along the curve under each breast to paint Sam's nipples. "That was lovely."

"Yeah." Sam's head fell back against Vala's shoulder, turning in so that her nose was pressed just under Vala's ear. "Give me a second and I'll return the favor."

"Samantha Carter!" Vala's play-acted outrage was all but overwhelmed by her exuberant glee. "I am a modest girl. None of this shameless exhibitionism for me." She waited until Sam had stopped laughing before she said, "I want to be spread out on your bed while you have your way with me, while your fingers are inside me, while your tongue is in my mouth."

That brought on another shiver like the one that had started it all. "Demanding."

"I prefer 'forthright'." Vala picked up Sam's shirt and dropped it on Sam's head. "As in I forthrightly demand we drive back at recklessly high speeds and then have hours of incredible sex before you take me out to dinner."

Sam struggled into the shirt, Vala helpfully cupping Sam's breasts and tweaking her nipples. Strong fingers wrapped around Vala's wrists, pulling her hands away. When Sam let go she twisted around so she was facing Vala. "How about we keep the high speed thrills and incredible sex, but," and Sam voice dropped to that lush, enticing timbre again, making Vala squirm, "we order dinner in."

"Oh, fine," Vala said, just before she hooked her legs over Sam's thighs and all but crawled into Sam's lap so she could kiss Sam's sweet, smiling mouth, her earlier demands discarded.

The scenery here was quite nice, after all.