Part Two

As Nav pulled away from the most amazing, most passionate kiss she had ever had she thought, Wow all she had to do was say Goodnight Josh Sleep Well and she would know how he felt, if only she had known this weeks earlier.

"Josh," she said breathlessly, she wanted to know if he knew what he was doing or not, she wasn't sure if Swain had given him any drugs for the pain or not. He looked up at her with a smile on his face that was as wide as could be. When Nav saw that smile she knew he was fully aware of what he had done. She couldn't believe that he had kissed her; she had wanted it for so long.

ET looked up at her when she said his name, it was all he could do to fight the urge to pull her back to him for another amazingly passionate kiss, and instead he just smiled as wide as he could to let her know he meant what he had done. She had a look of disbelief on her face; he just sat there on the bed looking at her wondering what she was thinking.

Nav never acted on impulse, ever, but at this very moment she did, she pulled him towards her and kissed him again. When she finally let go of him she said,

"How long have you felt this way?"

"Since the moment you walked on board this ship" Josh replied, Nav was in shock, he had always felt this way, why didn't he say something? There were plenty of times when she had not been able to hide her feelings very well but then again he was a male, they just don't get all the hints.

When she asked him that question he looked at her and told her the whole truth, he had been infatuated with Nikki ever since she stepped foot onto the ship 6 months ago, at first he thought she was just like all the other girls he had been with, but over time he got to know her, he started to care more and more about her until finally she consumed his every thought, day and night and until everywhere he went he could smell vanilla and blueberries, her signature scent.

"Nikki, I care about you so very much" ET said, he had to let her know how he felt, he knew she felt the same; why else would she have kissed him, not once but twice.

"I want us to be together, Nikki, I know all the rumours about me sound like I'm some terrible guy who doesn't care about anyone but himself, but I do care about others, I care about you more than anyone I have ever met." ET said. He looked at her for any sign of reciprocation on the feelings he was sharing with her and then she spoke.

"ET, I care about you to and I want us to be together as well."

He felt so relieved that he now knew for absolute certain that her feelings mirrored his own.

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*6 Weeks Later*

As ET ran towards one of the storage rooms pulling her behind him so they could go there for some privacy, and to keep out of the watchful eyes of their CO and XO because their relationship must be kept a secret, Nav thought to herself, I've never done anything this impulsive and reckless in all my life. When they got inside the room ET pulled her towards him for a bear hug and wouldn't let go for at least 5 minutes Nav wondered why he was doing this, but just as that thought ended ET spoke,

"I had the worst dream last night, actually it was a nightmare, you had been transferred off Hammersley and I thought I would never see you again, so when I saw you walking along that corridor I just had to hold you and tell you that I never want to be without you."

Nav couldn't believe he had just said that, this was ET – ladies man to the rest of the crew but to her, he was becoming a gentle, loving, fragile, sweet, well boyfriend. She looked at him when he finally let her go and said,

"I'll never leave you, and I don't ever want to be without you either."

ET couldn't believe he had just revealed that to her now she's going to think he's some weird loser who can't bear to be without her but in all honest he was becoming that guy not the weird loser part but the can't bear to be without her part.

ET then kissed her, with so much passion, and she returned the kiss with just as much, she loved the sneaking around she thought it was exciting, but she started to think what would happen if we got caught? Just then they heard a sound outside the door, they broke apart so fast not wanting whoever was behind that door to see them in any compromising positions, it's a good thing Nav had the inventory checklists with her when ET grabbed her earlier, at least they had a cover story.

"I want all the engines to have a full maintenance check when we get back to base, Charge" Mike said as he opened the door.

Nav was worried that he would be able to see right through their cover and know exactly what was going on, but just as she was about to say something ET stepped up and said,

"Good Morning, Sir, Nav and I were just about to get started on checking this storage room to make sure everything is here. Were you looking for anything in particular in here Sir?" he was so convincing that if it hadn't been her in there with him she would have believed him, but it still worried her they could get caught at any moment and then it would be bye-bye career.

Mike looked around while Nav started checking the paper she had and started ticking off things keeping up the charade, finally Mike replied to ET,

"No, I thought I heard a noise and didn't know that this storage room was on the list of rooms you had to check. Call me when you get all the rooms finished." And he left, ET breathed out a sigh of relief once he was sure Mike was gone, he turned around to face her and said,

"That was a close call, huh?"

Nav couldn't believe she was about to say this, to the one person who made her feel whole, even when she was all alone, but she turned to ET,

"I think we should stop this thing before we get caught, it's not just transfers we have to worry about but we could lose our careers over this, I don't want to lose my career"

ET turned to her, she seemed to be thinking, she always had this one look on her face whenever she was thinking about something she felt strongly about, he wondered what was going through her mind, and then she told him, while she was saying that they needed to stop this thing that was happening between them, he could feel his heart breaking, he tried to convince her to think about it some more but he knew her mind was made up.

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The next weekend Chefo had everyone join him at the local pub so he could introduce everyone to his fiancée, Jennifer. ET thought, this is great, back to the way it used to be, chicks falling over themselves just to be able to sit at the bar near him, girls flirting like crazy with him, but when the night finally happened and this beautiful girl was doing exactly that he thought I don't want this, I don't want her, I want Nikki, I need Nikki. He knew he wasn't responding to the girl with much, if any, enthusiasm but it just wasn't what he wanted, who he wanted.

Nav watched as ET stood with a beautiful woman who was chatting away to him, some feelings started to surface within her, it wasn't annoyance, it wasn't happiness, it felt like jealousy and regret, she realised that she didn't care about her career anymore she cared about Josh more, she felt so stupid for telling him that it had to end, she decided that she would go tell him how she really felt right now, woman or no woman.

"ET" Nav said, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure" replied ET he looked at the woman he was talking to and said to her in a quiet voice so Nav couldn't hear,

"I'm sure you are a very wonderful girl but I just got dumped so I'm not really in the mood for anything tonight sorry." As the woman walked away ET followed Nav towards the back of the pub where no one from the Hammersley could see them and she said in a voice only he could hear,

"I was stupid, I was scared, I love the Navy so much but I've realised tonight that there is someone I love more than the Navy, you Josh, I Love You Josh, I love you with all my heart, I hope you can---"

Before she could even get the rest of the sentence out of her mouth ET pulled her towards him for a kiss more passionate, more amazing then their first. When they finally broke apart panting for air, Nav asked

"Does this mean you forgive me for being so stupid?"

"It sure does sweetie" replied ET, "I love you too."

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*2 Weeks Later*

They were back in the storage room where no one knew where they were, ET had been worrying a lot about what would happen if they nearly got caught again, he was worried that Nav would panic and leave him again, Nav had decided that he was the guy for her, her one and only, she knew she wouldn't ever want to leave him again, or hurt him they way she was sure she had hurt him last time.

As ET held her in his arms he just sat there thinking, he would do anything to keep this wonderful, beautiful, amazingly incredible woman in his life. Nav sat there in his arms and she thought to herself what is wrong with you how could you have been more worried about losing your career than being with this wonderful, handsome, terrific man? She turned to him, kissed him and said,

"I love you Joshua Holiday, I love you with everything I have." And she kissed him again with as much passion as she could gather, and he returned the kiss showing her he felt the same way.

They weren't facing the doorway which wasn't a very smart thing to do and because they weren't talking or making any noise they weren't attracting any attention from outside the room but that wouldn't mean that people wouldn't still open the door looking for something. The door didn't make any noise when being opened so they would not have any prior warning if someone was to walk in on them, which is exactly why they didn't know that Kate had opened the door and could see them together.

Kate had to do a double take when she opened the door to the storage room, she didn't expect to open the door to the storage room and see Nav and ET in there locked in a passionate embrace, she didn't know what she should do, the correct thing to do would be to announce her presence, then inform them that she would be letting the CO know what she had seen, the same CO she had been sneaking around with in the exact same manner five years ago when he was teaching a course she was taking. She felt that if she said something she was being hypocritical but if she didn't and someone found out that she knew she could lose her career just like Nav and ET would. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard ET speak,

"Nikki, I love you, you mean everything to me, and I would gladly give up my career if it meant that we would be together. I have never felt this way about anyone ever before and I don't want to feel this way about anyone else ever. I love you Nikki Caetano with my whole heart".

"I know I gave up on us once but I'll never do that again, I have been thinking about what I said that day and I was wrong, I would give up my career for you, you mean that much to me, I'm so sorry that I hurt you the way I did when I gave up on us I never want to hurt you that way again. I love you Josh". Nav said.

Kate couldn't believe what she had heard; these two were really in love but it was against Navy rules, she had a decision to make, would she turn them in or would she allow them to be in love and keep their secret quiet.

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