Borrowed a thing from Friends. Oh well.

"Aunt Kensi!"

She turned at the sound of her name. A girl about seven years old came bounding in her direction.

"Tanya?" she asked, surprised. The girl stopped in front of Kensi, as if waiting for a signal. "Get over here!" The girl smiled and nearly jumped onto Kensi to give her a hug.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" the girl commented.

"Well I've been a little busy, and—. That's not important. Who are you here with?"

"With uncle Nate."

"Oh," Kensi said simply.

"Did you and uncle Nate break up?"

"No, sweetie, we weren't even together," Kensi explained to the girl.

"Oh," she replied, her face falling. "That's too bad."

"Why's that?"

"It would have been cool to have you in the family." Kensi smiled nostalgically and hugged the girl again.

"TANYAAA!" The girl pulled away and turned to the sound of her name.

"TOMMY?" she yelled back, guiding the boy closer with her voice.

"Uncle Nate is going to kill you for wandering off!" Tommy said, getting closer.

"Hey Tommy," Kensi said simply.

"Aunt Kensi!" the boy shrieked, going to her and hugging her. "Uncle Nate is still going to kill you, Tanya."

"Maybe if we bring aunt Kensi with us he'll forgive me?"

"It's worth a try." The boy shrugged. Kensi smiled and got up, following the kids to their original spot.

"Tanya-Marie Kalina Townsend. You were supposed to watch your sister."

Tanya walked over to Nate with her head down. "I'm sorry uncle Nate, but look who I saw."

"Hey Nate," Kensi said softly, making him look up in surprise. She had a bittersweet smile on her face.

"Kensi..." he said, astonished. "Sit." He patted on a spot on the blanket he was sitting on. She lowered herself next to him.

"Are you still mad, uncle Nate?" Tanya asked sweetly.

"No, go on, go play." Before he even finished the sentence the twins were off and running. A baby was crawling around on the blanket, and made her way over to Kensi. The boy lightly tapped Kensi's leg, making her look down.

"Hey AJ." The baby giggled at his name and sat up straight. He raised his little arms up in the air. "Up?" Kensi asked, and the boy cooed.

She lifted him off the ground and bounced him around. He giggled and cooed, and when she settled him on her hip, he reached for her hair and tugged a strand. She smiled down at him.

"AUNTY KENSI!" came from across the lawn.

Nate's eyes went wide, and he quickly took the baby from Kensi. He moved away right in time, as the four-year-old collided with Kensi at such a force, she was pushed sprawling backwards.

"Hey Kyra."

"Whe've'you been?" Kyra asked, with a lisp.

"That doesn't matter, sweetheart."

"Okay. Imma go play now," the girl said, pressing a kiss to Kensi's cheek and running away.

"So... can we talk?" Nate tried. Kensi sighed, but nodded, turning to him.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I got all... what's the word?" Nate said.

"Jealous, envious, covetous, resentful... or maybe you meant cold, distant or... untrusting?" she said quickly.

"All of that," he said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"God I'm such a bitch," she said softly, looking down. "I'm sorry too, Nate."

"You are not a bitch, Kenz," he said forcefully, making her look up at him when he used the shorter version of her name, the one reserved especially for him; the one she'd been dying to be called.

"So... were you really gonna go out with that lawyer?" he asked, fidgeting slightly, not knowing he had totally killed the mood.

"Well, you know, since you and I are just messing around, I thought why not mess around with him," she said, making him flinch. She crossed her arms and moved away from him.

He quickly thought of something. "You know... I don't know if you've ever looked up the term 'messing around' in the dictionary. Well, I have, and the technical definition is, two friends who care a lot about each other and have amazing sex and just wanna spend more time together."

She couldn't help but grin at that.

"But... if you have this new fangled dictionary that gets us mad at each other, then we have to, y'know, get you my original dictionary." He seemed to ponder his words a bit. "I am so bad at this," he mumbled.

"You're better than you think you are," she said, amused.

"Really?" She nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry I got all jealous about her," Kensi said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Say her name," Nate taunted.

"No."

"Do it. Say it, Kensi."

"I'm sorry I got jealous of Rose," she spat. Nate smirked.

"There you go."

"Don't go get all smug," she shot at him.

"I'm sorry for losing my composure," he said, making her look at him.

"That's okay. I'm sorry for calling you mean things."

"And I'm sorry for calling you a—."

He suddenly found her hand on his mouth, stopping the next words from leaving his mouth. "Okay. No need to say it."

"'m'okay," he mumbled against her palm. In a quick moment of thought, he pressed his lips against her palm and kissed her hand. She smiled, moving her hand away. She cupped his jaw, then moved her hand to the back of his neck.

He reveled in the feel of her soft hand caressing his face. He couldn't help himself, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into him.

She closed her eyes, leaning her forehead on his, breathing in deeply. His hand moved down and sat on the underside of her thigh, drawing tantalizing circles there.

Emotions were swirling through her in a whirlwind, sending her head reeling.

"God, Nate," she whispered breathlessly, the feelings overtaking her. He finally lowered his lips to hers and kissed her torturingly slow, but she could feel the passion slipping closer, and soon they couldn't help themselves, and the kiss grew deeper.

When they pulled away, breathless, Kensi chuckled. He tightened his hold on her, looking curiously at her. "We are a messed up pair." He smiled.

"I missed being messed up with you, Kenz," Nate said, drawing a big smile from her.

"That was really cheesy." She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "But very nice. I missed being messed up with you too."

He had just started kissing her, when there was giggling.

"Uncle Nate an' aunt Kensi, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Fi'st thew was love, then ma—." The girl didn't get to finish, as Kensi wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. Kensi just looked at the girl with an evil eye, and she realized what was going to happen.

"NO!"

At that, Kensi started tickling the girl into oblivion.

There was a lot of laughing, giggling and pleading. Kensi's hair came loose in the activity, and Kyra was reaching for it.

"STOP!"

"Let go of my hair, young lady!"

Kyra let Kensi's hair go and Kensi stopped tickling the girl. A small giggle escaped Kyra's lips, and then she squirmed to get closer to Kensi.

"No mo'e tickling," the girl said, holding up her pinky.

"Deal," Kensi said, hooking her pinky around Kyra's and 'shaking it'.

Kyra settled in Kensi's lap, who was sitting very close to Nate. Kyra was playing with a strand of Kensi's hair.

"I like you'w hai'w, aunty. It's p'wetty." Kensi smiled. Straightening her hair had been horrible, but it was easier to manage. The first ten minutes it had been straight, after which the tips of her hair had curled back, but she didn't mind it that way.

"What do you think of it?" Kensi whispered to Nate.

He seemed to think about what he was going to say. "Hmm. I kinda like it."

"Kinda?"

"It may give people the wrong first impression," he commented lightly, making her eyes snap to his.

"How so?"

"You look adorable and sweet with your hair like this." She mock-gasped and punched his arm. "Your wilder hair warned people a little," he continued, not missing a beat. "But it does look very nice."

"Thanks," she whispered. "Your hair, on the other hand, looks just the same, but it feels softer," Kensi commented, making him smile.

"New shampoo."

"Hmm." Right that moment, Kyra yawned. Loudly.

"Tired, sweetie?" Kensi asked the girl, stroking the top of her head. Kyra nodded, blinking the water in her eyes away. "Want to take a nap?" The girl nodded again, and before Kensi could say anything else, the girl twisted in her grip, leaning her head on Kensi's shoulder and sticking her thumb in her mouth. In a matter of minutes the girl was asleep.

Kensi smiled down at the girl, her hand still stroking her head.

Nate moved around a little so he was right next to Kensi, but not to disturb the sleeping girl.

"So you're sticking around for the day?" Nate whispered in her ear. She turned, his lips only a breath away.

"I think I might," she said coyly, making him smile and lean forward to kiss her. He broke away when the baby boy tugged on his pant leg. He looked down at the smiling baby and picked him up, cradling him to his side.

"Hey big guy," Nate said, lightly bouncing the baby.

Tanya and Tommy came walking over. "Uncle Nate, we're thirsty."

"Alright, stay put, I'll go get something to drink." He looked at Kensi and raised his eyebrows, making her nod. "Be right back."

He walked to a little snack close to where they were sitting, and asked for five bottles of water.

"You have a beautiful family, sir, your wife is gorgeous," the teenage girl said, gathering the water bottles. He smiled.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to tell her." He paid, and the girl gave him a plastic bag with the bottles in them.

"Have a nice day!" the girl said to Nate's retreating back.

When he arrived back at their spot, Kensi was sporting a small half-smile.

He lowered himself down next to her. "What?" he asked, nudging her gently. Waiting for his answer, he took out two water bottles and handed them to Tommy and Tanya.

"Thank you!" they both said.

"You sometimes forget that I can lip-read, right?" Kensi said. Nate turned a light shade of pink. She had seen what the girl said, and expecting Nate to correct her and the girl to apologize, she was proven wrong when Nate just carried on.

"Well. You are gorgeous."

"AWW!" Tanya said loudly, giggling when both adults turned on her. "Kiss her again, Uncle Nate!"

"Nate?" Kensi said softly, not paying attention to the girl anymore.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking deep into her eyes, which were speaking volumes.

"I love you," she said softly, not breaking away from his gaze. He smiled.

"I love you too, Kenz," he replied, making her lips curl into a smile.

"Okay. I just wanted to tell you that," she said. "Kiss me," she said, looking down at his lips.

"No need to ask twice."

He lowered his lips onto hers and kissed her with all he had.

The giggling of the kids could be heard from afar.