"Good afternoon Sir", the receptionist chirped as Deeks and Kensi made their way to the reception of the club.

"Afternoon." Deeks grinned at the young man whose eyes had widened slightly taking in Kensi who was looking absolutely breathtaking in her simple white summer dress. "Mr. and Mrs. Waring. We have the honeymoon suite."

"Ah yes Sir, I see your reservation for the entire month. Would you like to head upstairs right away? Lunch is being served by the pool in half an hour."

"Yes I think we'll head upstairs, right sugar plum?" He said, winking at Kensi. She flashed her smile at him, before twirling their fingers together and nodding her assent. Having collected the room keys, they made their way in to the elevator where Kensi dropped his hand and shot him a glare. "Sugar plum? Really?"

"Aw, you miss Sugar bear? It's alright Mel darling. I won't change them up."

Rolling her eyes, she stepped out on to the corridor, seamlessly transforming back into the doting wife. While Deeks knew that they were good partners, best friends and that they had a whole lot of unspoken feelings between them, he wondered if they could ever be more, and as he looked at her twirl her hair through her fingers and grasp his bicep wither other hand, he had a vision of it being real. Of the Op not existing, and the rings on their fingers being more than just the symbolism of their sham wedding that Hetty had pulled out of a safe.

"Justin? Justin!"

"Wha.. What?" He answered, pulling himself out of it.

"I don't think you even heard a word I said." She looked at him with her cute pout. He wondered if she knew what it did to him. Huh. She probably did.

"Yeah sorry, zoned out for a minute there. Just thinking about how I'm the probably the luckiest guy in the world." He finished, grinning at her.

Her smile faltered as she recognised the raw honesty in his voice. "I think you've got it backwards, sweetheart." She leaned in and gave him a peck on his cheek, before blushing and looking away.

"Hm. I think we've come to the conclusion that we're both pretty lucky", he smiled as he opened the door to their suite.

"Woah Justin. This is amazing! They really go all out, huh? I mean, these rose petals everywhere really are something."

Recognising the heavy sarcasm in her voice, he chuckled and closed the door. "Not to worry Kens. You can brush them off the bed."

"Any sign of Mr. Cortez?" Hetty enquired as she walked in to Ops.

"Not yet. But he should show up this evening. There's a black tie dinner supporting a few charities. And the woman he was seen with at the club for most of last month is on the guest list, and is bringing a plus one."

"Alright Mr. Beal, Make sure Ms. Blye and Mr. Deeks are on that list too. I don't think we'll need Mr. Hanna and Callen there tonight, today the aim is just to get him to notice both of them and spark some interest. However, inform them that they should stay close by in case anything goes awry."

"Will do Hetty."

As she walked out, Nell pushed her rolling chair to Eric. "How's the pool of Kensi and Deeks getting down to it doing?" she said, with a mischievous smile.

"It's up to 745 dollars" Eric grinned as he pulled up a spreadsheet. I will be quite rich if it happens in the first week.

"And I will if it happens in two."

"Let's leave these childish things to after work, shall we?" Hetty reappeared like magic.

Gulping like guilty children, they both turned away.

"And Ms. Jones?"

"Yes Hetty?"

"I bet it happens in three. 500 dollars." She disappeared around the corner with a smirk on her face.

"You ready sweetheart?" Deeks called out as he stood in from of the bedroom mirror looking over himself in the tux that Hetty had provided. He was having trouble choosing between the bow tie and the tie he help in his other hand.

"Yeah, almost." She called back from the bathroom. "Give me a minute."

"What do you think? Tie or bow tie? Bow tie just screams classy but this tie makes me look drop dead gorgeous, wouldn't you agr.." She had walked in to the room and it was as if his brain had forgotten how to form words. He could see her reflection in the mirror, and as he turned around to face her, it was as if she had gotten exponentially more beautiful. She was dressed in a floor length red strapless dress that seemed to sparkle as light fell on it. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders and her eyes were done up in a smoky fashion, bringing out her high cheekbones and unique features.

"I take that back. You're drop dead gorgeous." He said, his voice full of admiration. She blushed a shade similar to her dress, waved him off and walked closer to him. "Not so bad yourself. Who knew that you cleaned up well." She teased.

"I'd pick the bow tie." She said, plucking it out of his hands and stepping closer to slip it around his neck and tie it in to a knot. In her heels, she was only a few inches shorter than he was, and the proximity was intoxicating. He could hardly trust himself to remember to breathe as her face was only inches from his. It had a cute frown on it, concentrating on getting the knot just right. He stared down at her, completely in awe of the beautiful creature he called his partner. Luckiest guy in the world indeed. Just then, she angled her head up to look at him, and smiled. "All done" were the words that came out of her mouth. All he had to do was lean in and touch his lips to hers. They were centimetres away. He fought against every nerve ending in his body as he pulled away, and swore that he saw a glimmer of disappointment cloud her eyes.

He turned away and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I know." She said quietly from behind him. He spun to face her and she gave him a small smile and picked up her purse. Her eyes were full of the same longing he had seen that day at the gym, and with those two words, she had acknowledged it. She had been the one to speak up about it, even if it was just the two words. They had never openly discussed their feelings, discussed the attraction that they both clearly felt. And now, the opportunity presented itself. He could have said anything, anything in reply to the whispered confession, but chose not to. He couldn't be the one to ruin things between them. He would never forgive himself if he lost his best friend for the sexual longing he couldn't keep under wraps. Instead, he closed the distance between them, pressed a kiss to her temple and said, "shall we?" offering her his arm.

He saw relief and disappointment flash across her features one after the other, - he knew how much she dreaded talking about her feelings- and then felt her shiver as his lips touched her forehead. Jesus. He was sure he couldn't keep this up much longer. Any number of cold showers would not assist in getting her out of his head.