Update: As promised, age corrections (because I can't count backwards from 12).

A/N: Yeah, yeah. I know I should be working on "Hold 'Em" … and I am, I swear.

If the setting doesn't immediately give it away, this is written to pair with the aircraft carrier episode: 4x10 ("Free Ride"). Another of my "missed opportunity" series, this is my take on how they could have ended up together on that ship.

Disclaimer: Did you know that the Van Buren (the ship in this episode) doesn't even exist? It's been decommissioned since the 40's and wasn't even an aircraft carrier. Did you also know that I have zero financial ties or copyrights to literally anything? (Least of all any recognizable media).

Rating: M for last chapter. It's grown out of control and needed a break so I could finish it up in two chapters. I could have typed 'penis' several times to make the first chapter M rated too (assuming you think 'penis' is a mature word)… but that seemed like overkill.

"Wouldn't you rather be watching the snowfall from a hot tub out in Tahoe with me, than be stuck aboard this ship?" Deeks wondered aloud for maybe the third time that evening.

Kensi smiled and shook her head slightly. Again. She would never admit it out loud, but that sounded pretty nice right about now. Especially since they were stuck on this Naval aircraft carrier for another three nights.

Elsewhere in the dark and colorfully lit mess hall where they sat, sailors, Marines, and the odd contractor ate snacks and watched a Christmas movie projected against the steel hull. Hetty, and by extension the three remaining team members, had been invited to the officer's lounge by the Captain for what promised to be a rousing board game of Axis and Allies ("Like Risk on steroids, set in World War II," he had explained). Callen had accepted the offer, the two junior agents had politely declined.

"At this point, I'd rather just be in my rack and out of this uniform," she sighed to Deeks.

Deeks grinned at her from across the table at the image she had just conjured up for him, and Kensi scrunched her face in an attempt to suppress her own smile. To her relief, he let the comment slide.

"So don't read into this or anything, but I may literally need your help finding my way back to my room," he told her, rising to join her as she stood up.

"Your berth," she corrected him.

"Whatever."

"Sure you don't just want protection from those sailors who beat you up?" she asked him as they wove their way through the labyrinth of bulk heads and corridors.

"I can handle myself," he assured her with a cocky grin.

They dropped down a deck, and Kensi made an abrupt turn to head down a corridor behind the stairs. Deeks must have missed the corner, because he was no longer following her. Kensi doubled back to look for him and walked right into him as he stepped through the narrow bulk head. Her hands went automatically to his chest to steady herself as she fell back into the wall behind her. His hands found her hips in an attempt to regain his balance.

For a moment they just stared at each other in the dim light beneath the steel stairs. Their bodies were still pressed together and their faces were close enough that their breath mingled. She knew she should push him away; knew she should keep walking. But as he leaned forward tentatively, her fingers grasped at the material of his shirt. She closed her eyes, tilted her head, and welcomed the embrace of his lips with hers.

At her signs of encouragement, Deeks deepened the kiss. His breath had hitched in his lungs and his hands tightened their grip on her hips, sliding up and under the stiff material of her fitted uniform shirt. Kensi had just opened her mouth to his lips when she remembered herself and jerked away.

Deeks cleared his throat, and stepped back to give her space to move. Without meeting his bashful gaze, she walked around him and continued on her way. After regaining his composure, Deeks followed after her.

"So about that?" he called out to her, laughing weakly. "We should probably revisit that."

"I already told you, Deeks. Fraternization is forbidden on board. Not here, not now," she told him, hoping that just for once Deeks would let her off the hook. But knew she would have no such luck. After all, they had just kissed for the first time as themselves and not undercover, and that was pretty huge.

"But you're not a real Marine, no offense," he reminded her. "And we're not undercover anymore."

"We sort of are," she contradicted him quietly. "We didn't just announce to the whole ship that we're all NCIS agents. Most of them don't know what happened."

"Okay. Then, so what if we get caught?" he asked, matching her pace so they could speak in low voices as they walked. "It's not like they'd go running to Hetty. And my undercover character isn't a jarhead or a swabie. I'm a civilian!"

She elbowed him in the side for his comments before admonishing him. "Be nice. And I'm dressed as an officer, and it's very against regulations aboard a ship. 'Swapping paint,' they call it."

"'Swapping paint?'" he repeated, grinning. "I like that."

"You'd like it less if you were actually serving and you had to face a fine, a demotion, dishonorable discharge or even prison time," she said flatly, pausing to look at the bullseye numbers painted on the wall to her right.

"For a little panky?" he asked incredulously. "That's harsh."

"Rules are rules."

"So," he started, "that guy was willing to risk it all—"

"What guy?" she asked. Kensi was genuinely confused about what he was talking about as she tried to look like she actually knew where they were going. "The Marine officer? Lieutenant Abernathy?"

"Whatever, the neanderthal was clearly a cougar hunter. Guy was like twenty four years old," he asserted.

'Oh for the love of… that's what he was stuck on?' she thought to herself. Realizing that she should be angry about the first half of his comment, she added, "Who exactly are you calling a cougar?"

"I'm just saying," he responded, putting his hands up in his own defense. "For you to have a star on your National Defense Service medal there," he indicates to the red and yellow ribbon on her chest, "you would have had to serve during the extended Persian Gulf war period ending in 1995. Making your alias a minimum of thirty five. He would know that. You look good for thirty five, by the way."

"That's because I'm thirty—" she said with annoyance.

Interrupting her, he interjected, "Sooo much younger."

"Then does that make you a cradle robber?" she asked him in an amused tone.

"What?"

"You just planted one on me. Clearly you're interested," she said, smiling outwardly and kicking herself inwardly for bringing it up again.

"Um, you kissed me," he argued quietly, looking up and down the corridor to make sure they were alone. They had stopped walking and he turned to face her expectantly.

Kensi barked out an unconvincing laugh before replying, "Yeah right!"

"We can argue about that later," he said as they started walking again. "I meant the 'cradle robbing' comment. I am only a few years older than you. And cradle robbers are women."

"Not always, and you're actually thirty five," she pointed out to him.

"Thirty four. And not for another couple of weeks, I'm not!" he argued, intentionally missing the point.

"Hmm. Well, I wouldn't be believable as a Major were my alias much younger," she said, thinking a little harder on it. Suppressing the urge to tease him about 'checking out her ribbon rack,' she instead asked, "And how do you know all of that, anyways? About the devices on these ribbons?"

"I work for Naval Criminal Investigative Service," he said dramatically. "Don't you think I bothered studying up on some basic military protocol, history, and insignia?"

"That would be the first I've heard of you voluntarily doing anything to advance your understanding," she joked at him.

"Or maybe, I don't feel the need to solicit kudos from you and the rest of team hardcore just for perusing a few wikipedia pages," he replied with a tinge of bitterness.

That was fair. The team, herself included, was pretty hard on Deeks. They still treated him like a newcomer even though it had been almost three years since he had been tossed into their midst with no warning. He really was a remarkable operator, a loyal partner, a good friend, and a great kisser with hypnotic sea blue eyes. 'No, stop!' she reminded herself as she always did when her train of thought ran too close to how attractive her partner was… and how badly she wanted him.

The corridor they had been walking opened into a larger room with the depot and the supply office at the other end. Both were still manned, despite it being late on christmas eve, and a few sailors were taking stock of some supplies being put away. She stopped Deeks in the threshold before entering the area completely.

Kensi drew on her knowledge of how things worked on a ship at sea from past assignments with other departments in the agency. They weren't too far from the civilian berths she was leading Deeks too, but an idea occurred to her. Time would tell if it was a terrible or a wonderful one, but at that moment, she just didn't care.

Turning to Deeks so she could speak quietly, she nodded at the scene behind her. "See that petty officer behind that counter?"

"Yeah."

"That's the supply clerk," she informed him. "Go and tell him a sad story about why you need what's called a 'distinguished visitor' berth. You may need to bribe him."

"What?" he said skeptically. "Use your rank or your wiles and get your own damn fancy room."

"I can't. He thinks I'm an officer with the Marine Corps Military Police," she argued matter-of-factly.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Deeks relented. "Fine. How much, do you think?"

"I don't know… like twenty bucks? I'll pay you back," she replied, shrugging to mask how nervous she was about what she had planned. "Shouldn't be too much because you're a civilian. Those private berths are meant for guests anyways. He's not helping you break the code of conduct like he would be if you were enlisted."

Deeks narrowed his eyes at her. It was clear that he knew she was up to something, but Kensi didn't think he had put it together quite yet. For someone who could read deep meaning behind each blink of her eyes, he sure could be daft about her actual intentions sometimes.

Doing as he was told, Deeks strode up to the young man in the dark blue work uniform, and made a show of looking at his name tape. "How's it going there? Uh, P-F-C Korslund."

"Sir?" the sailor responded, taking in the sight of Deeks.

"I was hoping you could help me out with something," he said, smiling casually. "I'm only supposed to be on this ship another few days, but the civilian contractor berths are all sorts of crowded since they shuffled us around after whatever that incident was earlier. Any chance I could get my hands on a key to a vacant distinguished visitor berth?"

Korslund considered Deeks for a moment and looked him up and down. Kensi remained hidden in the corridor as the exchange went down. "Scuttlebutt onboard is that you were there when that produce guy pulled a gun. Mighta had something to do with helping take him down. Might even be some kind of special NCIS agent."

"Come on," Deeks said incredulously. "Do I look like an agent? I can assure you I am not an N…CSI agent or whatever. Unless that will help me get that sweet berth. In which case, sure. Why not?"

The supply clerk nodded, and let a light smile peek through at Deeks' theatrics. "As it happens I've got three open. Only one's taken by some little woman who showed up out of nowhere on a hornet this evening."

"I'll take whichever one's farthest from hers," Deeks said quickly.

"Other side of the ship, if you'd like," he said before adding, "But… it'll cost you."

"How much?"

"Twenty dollars," the clerk said as he held his hand out.

Deeks started to reach for his wallet, "I can swing that—"

"A night. Plus a twenty dollar… processing fee," Korslund clarified. "And you turn your bed out when you leave."

"Gah. Fine!" Deeks exclaimed, counting out several notes and handing them over in exchange for the labeled key the petty officer had retrieved from a lock box behind the counter.

Deeks returned to Kensi, who had been waiting for him down the hall.

"Here's your key," he said, handing it over. "You owe me eighty bucks."

Kensi read the number on the card attached to the ring and started leading them in a different direction. She pulled out her wallet before responding, "Eighty?!"

"Twenty per night plus a 'fee,'" he continued, looking at the money Kensi had just placed in his hand. "This is only forty!"

"Half is fair," she informed him, as they climbed into a more polished looking deck on the ship.

"In what world?" he asked, indignantly, turning his head to inspect their new surroundings.

"This one," she replied, referring to both his question and the numbered door they were approaching. "It's your room too!"

"Berth," he corrected, before he stopped short to look at her with a stunned expression. "Wait, what?"

A/N: I'm mean. So this seems like a good place to break while I finish up the last half of it.