Kensi woke up the next day with a smile on her face. It felt like a dream now, it was so perfect, but she was sure it had happened. She remembered the day so vividly, ever last second of it.

Realising she had to get uo and go into work today, Kensi dragged herself out of bed and had to race to get ready for work, driving as erratically as ever to try and get into the bullpen on time. She made input with a minute to spare and ignored the amused looks from the other agape to suggesting they knew she had been out the night before drinking again and had woken up late. They probably assumed it had just been another one nights stand but nothing had gone on. She hoped they didn't know what had actually gone on the night before,that he hadn't spilled the beans on their evening, she didn't want the team knowing about her little crush just yet a while anyway and she didn't know if it was going anywhere anyway.

She caught his eyes as she looked up the stairs to the balcony above to see him looking down over her from above as he often was, but this time he was watching her and with a smile on his face as well. The look in his eyes told her he hadn't told and she hoped it also said that he had enjoyed last night although she was trying not to get her hopes up too much. She was caught up in his eyes and his smile when she heard the whistle calling them up the the tech room and the the day was off.

A new case kept her busy all day, rushing from place to place, house to scene to follow leads and people around and she was so busy she didn't see him again for the rest of the day but she would hear his voice every now and then and she would smile a bit, just the effect that he had on her. She loved his smile,it was so cheerful and happy that it made her want to smile back and that was just what she had done last night, the drinks having lowered her inhibitions and her worries and left her happy and just ever so slightly tipsy but then he had been the same as well so she didn't feel so bad about that.

The case lasted three days in total and in that time she saw very little of him and she missed him more than she ever had before. It was odd what one evening and a few realisations and admissions to herself could do and she found herself thinking about him so much more than she had been before, wondering what he looked like when he had just woken up, when he was cooking in the kitchen, she didn't know if he could cook but she hoped he could, she was awful, and when he was relaxed. In the sofa in the evenings. She found herself imagining them,a domestic couple, relaxed and happy I'm each other's presence keeping each other grounded but happy as they could be. She could see herself with him in all these situations and suddenly she was wishing that they would come true and she would be with him.

She wished he would act and show his feelings but it never happened and she began to lose hope. She for once was too shy and worried to reveal her feelings in case they weren't reciprocated, in case it was all a one sided fantasy in her head. Gradually she became more relaxed and less tense than she had been after that night around him, she had been like she was scared she would make the wrong move and five away her feelings or say something she didn't mean for him to hear, but over times hat faded to a deeper, closer friendship and they made their drinks nights more and more regular, to begin with with other members of the team and then gradually reducing numbers until it was just the two of them going out together. It would seem like a date to an onlooker but Kensi was too shy to ask and was never sure if she had read the situation right or not but she continued to dream of him whether it was at night or during the day staring off into space then cheeks growing red when she was snapped back to reality or seen. Her feelings didn't fade even though she seemed to have been put in the friends category and she never gave up her little bit of hope.

Then it all happened. One night out after a hard case they both had a little too much (read:quite a bit too much but not enough to not remember the next day) and they kept getting closer and closer and all those reasons that Kensi had been reminding herself of over the last months so as not to say anything faded into significance and all she saw was him. Then he said something and they were both laughing and then they were kissing. Then Kensi sobered up, she was kissing her best friend who she was convinced had no feelings for her and so she upped and left getting the first taxi him end going to bed crying.

Unlike the morning a few months ago, Kensi did not want yo get up and face him at work. She could face the fact that she had probably ruined their friendship by kissing him because of some one sided little crush she had on him. Still she got up and she dragged herself into work. She found herself avoiding him as best she could and wishing for a case but one never came and she was stuck with paperwork which just worsened her mood. She had just had lunch and was walking the corridors back to her desk when a hand appeared from a storage closet to her right and a surprisingly strong arm pulled her into it, shutting the door behind her and pulling her into a surprisingly strong and toned chest. Her heart constricted as she gazed up into the eyes she loved so much and then they were kissing again but he was kissing her and so she responded. When they finally broke apart, she looked up at him and he smiled down at her.

"What," he said. "You didn't think you were the only one with feelings for their best friend did you?"

That made her smile and kiss him again before pulling back, whispering tonight, my place in his ear, giving him a teasing wink and then leaving by the door behind her straightening her clothes and hair as she went. He stood there in shock for a minute and then smiled and headed back to his own desk and sitting down to get on with some more work. He was going to enjoy tonight, Eric thought.