I do not own Blindspot or its characters.

"You look like you could use a drink," Zapata commented when Jane entered her lounge shortly after four o'clock. "We're only a few hours into the first day of the cruise. You don't usually get that look until day five or six. What gives?"

Jane had never been more tempted to break the rule of not drinking while on duty. "Rich Dotcom brought a couple of friends along, supposedly not knowing that we were fully booked, and I had to move into Kurt's cabin with him."

Zapata snorted. "You're kidding." Jane's expression didn't change. "Oh my god, you're serious?" Several of the passengers looked her way, and she choked back her laughter with an effort. No wonder Rich had looked like the cat who ate the canary when he strolled through earlier. This voyage had just gotten infinitely more entertaining. She made a mental note to stop by Reade's office after her shift was over to make a bet on how long it would take the two of them to take advantage of the arrangement. "I bet that made Weller's day."

Jane eyed the bottle of alcohol in her friend's hand with longing. "I thought he was going to throw Rich overboard there for a minute."

"I'm surprised he didn't." Rich was playing with fire. For all that Weller was generally calm and collected in the most extreme of situations, he tended to lose his cool when those same situations involved Jane. And she was equally protective of him. Zapata couldn't understand how the two of them had managed to avoid acting on that attraction. The sexual tension between them had reached epic levels months ago, and was now bordering on the ridiculous. This was a cruise ship, not the Navy, for god's sake; there were no rules on fraternization here.

In fact, so many of the crew were hooking up that there were actually posters on STD prevention in the common areas—as well as free condoms, courtesy of Rich. She would have to filch a handful of those for Jane. "Please tell me that you're going to take advantage of this opportunity and put us all out of our misery." She did not want to contemplate what Weller would be like if he spent a week with Jane without alleviating that tension.

Jane's cheeks flamed. "I want to," she confessed. "But I don't quite know how to . . . go about it." The plan had seemed simple when she first conceived it, but the few guys she'd been involved with in the past had been just as interested in pursuing a relationship with her as she was them. If she wasn't far more intrigued by Weller than she had been all of them combined, didn't sense that deep down he wanted this just as much as she did, she would have accepted his rejection and moved on. "I was hoping you would have some ideas."

Oh boy, did she ever. Zapata frowned as she surveyed Jane's typically drab outfit. Everything she owned seemed to be in dark colors and unflattering designs. "First things first. We've got to do something about your wardrobe."

Jane frowned. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"They look like they were filched from my grandmother's closet," Zapata said bluntly. "Forty years ago." Though that might be a generous estimation. She glanced down the counter at the other bartender on duty. "Hey, Ana. Can you cover for me the rest of my shift?" They only had about twenty minutes to go, and it was a slow time.

"Sure," Ana agreed. "If you'll cover for me so I can leave early tomorrow night." Both women turned their attention on her, and she blushed. "I, uh . . . I have a date."

"With Oliver?" Jane asked eagerly. Ana had made no secret of her interest in the hot Australian chef since hiring on three months ago, and she hoped he'd finally taken notice of her.

"Yeah," Ana told them. She'd begun to think that he didn't even know she was alive, and the invitation had caught her off-guard. She hoped her stammering acceptance hadn't made him regret asking her. "He's going to cook us dinner once the kitchen closes for the night."

"I want details," Zapata told her as she began steering Jane out of the lounge and in the direction of one of the ship's most expensive boutiques. "Don't," she warned when Jane opened her mouth to protest that she couldn't afford to shop there. "You can't put a price on happiness, girl. Think of it as an investment in your future."

Jane nodded mutely as she followed her inside. Good thing her living expenses had been minimal, and she had saved every penny of her paychecks that she could since signing on with the cruise line. She had a feeling she was about to spend all of that and more. Much more, she amended when Zapata began tossing garments at her faster than she could blink. Lingerie, blouses, skirts . . . nothing escaped her attention, and every article of clothing was far more revealing than anything she would ever have chosen for herself. She even threw in a green bikini and an accessorizing wrap. "I don't think . . ."

"Trust me," Zapata said. "If you want Weller to stop resisting you, then you need to make yourself irresistible. You won't even recognize yourself when I'm through with you."

That was what she was afraid of, Jane thought, but she stifled her objections. She could hardly ask Tasha for help, and then spurn her advice.

She just hoped the end result would be worth it.

"Hey, Rose," Zapata greeted the cashier when they finally approached the checkout counter. "Good to see you again. Jane here finally decided to update her wardrobe."

"Smart move," Rose approved as she began ringing up the items. "I would too if I was moving in with a guy as hot as our captain. What?" she asked as they both looked at her in disbelief. "You know how it is aboard this ship. I heard it from the casino manager, who heard it from the head waiter, who heard it from the third officer, who overheard the steward who moved your things telling the head of housekeeping about it. And then of course Mr. Dotcom had us send you all those dresses."

"Oh god," Jane groaned. If this didn't work out, she was going to have to seek employment elsewhere. She would never be able to hold her head up on this ship again.

"What dresses?" Zapata asked curiously.

"Rich insisted that I have dinners at the captain's table during this cruise," Jane told her. "Since I didn't have anything suitable to wear, he promised to send over some gowns. What?" she asked when Zapata looked frantically at her watch.

"You're having dinner at the captain's table, and you're just now mentioning this to me?" Zapata asked in disbelief. Jane's face clearly reflected that she thought this was no big deal, and Zapata sighed. "Okay, new plan. Pay the lady, we'll head back to my cabin to grab a few things, and then go to yours to get you ready."

Jane obediently held out her credit card, but Rose shook her head. "Nope. This is all paid for. Mr. Dotcom put out the word to all the stores that if you came in to buy anything, we're to charge it to his account. Such a nice man," Rose gushed as she bagged Jane's purchases and handed them over.

She could think of a few words that better described him—devious and manipulative heading that list—but Jane bit her tongue with an effort. She would reserve judgment until she determined if his efforts were worthwhile or not. And no matter what, she would definitely be paying him back.

Zapata thrust the bags of clothing she was carrying at Jane the moment they stepped into her cabin and began moving through it like a whirlwind, gathering the supplies she would need, ignoring all Jane's protests that there was no need to be in such a hurry. The transformation she had in mind took time. Genius couldn't be rushed. Or at least not too much.

Fortunately, they ran into help along the way. "Hey, Patterson," Zapata greeted as the first mate approached, slinging an arm over her shoulders to steer her in their direction. "You're coming with us. It's an emergency. Jane here is having dinner with Weller tonight, and we can't let her go like—" she gestured in Jane's direction, "that."

"Hey!" Jane protested, still not seeing anything wrong with her current look, but both women ignored her. They followed her into the cabin, all of them relieved to find Kurt wasn't in it, and oohed and aahed over the cushy surroundings—Rich spared no expense to make sure his skippers were happy—before getting down to business.

They argued over the merits of the dozen or so dresses hanging in the closet, but surprisingly Zapata ultimately agreed with Jane's pick, and she was zipped into a body-hugging black gown that was nonetheless the least revealing of the gowns Rich had sent her. "This is perfect," she explained to Patterson as the blonde took charge of Jane's hair while she gleefully applied her makeup. She had wanted to do this from the moment she laid eyes on her. "It shows just a hint of the cleavage she's been covering up all this time, but it leaves plenty to the imagination." And she was counting on Weller having a vivid one. "We'll go with a successively more revealing gown each day, and by the end of the week, he won't be able to resist unwrapping the whole package."

Patterson was scandalized. "I . . . I can't . . . You can't tell me this." Her brow furrowed as she recalled her earlier conversation with her boss. "Wait. Weller told me that you guys were just going to be pretending to get close to get Rich off your backs."

"Well, yeah . . ." Jane admitted. "That was the deal I made with him, but . . ."

"But secretly you were always planning to seduce him," Zapata finished for her. "Oh, that's brilliant. Girl, you are way more devious than I gave you credit for." Her admiration for Jane shot up several notches. She stepped back, studying Jane critically. "Okay, you're ready." She pulled Jane to her feet and turned her toward the mirror. "What do you think?"

Jane stared at her reflection in the mirror, hardly able to believe she was looking at herself. Patterson and Zapata had worked wonders. Her normally straggly hair now framed her face becomingly, and the tastefully applied makeup lent just the right hint of color to her cheeks and accentuated her eyes. "I'm . . . pretty."

"You're freaking gorgeous," Zapata said bluntly. She and Patterson both hugged their friend before she pushed Jane toward the door. "Now get out there and knock him dead."