Did NCIS Open The Door Again For A Nick-Jess Romance? The Cast And EP Weigh In: 'The Feelings They Have Are Real'

We thought we'd seen the last glimmers of any potential romance between Nick and Jess on "NCIS"... but then they had to hide out in a cave together.

The two team members seemed to shut down any romantic feelings earlier this season on the hit CBS procedural when Jess called Nick "my valued friend and partner," but this week, a mission left the two of them stranded out in the wilderness. To survive the freezing cold night, Nick and Jess had to cuddle up close to preserve their body heat, and though they bickered back and forth, they did also share a moment where it seemed like things might get romantic, too. So is "NCIS" prepared to go there with Nick and Jess? 

"I think they're just leaving the door cracked," Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Nick, told TVLine on the red carpet at the annual CBS Fest in Los Angeles. "Look, I think we throw a drop of blood in the water, and we see it bubble up. We might follow the breadcrumbs into a storyline. But I think we try to kind of play with all those themes. Because when you work with people for this long, there are these things that happen, you know, and it's very normal." He admits that "this would be so messy with [Nick] and Jimmy and Knight. It might be good TV. Who knows? But we're also not 'Grey's Anatomy,' so maybe we won't go there. We'll see how it goes."

Katrina Law, who plays Jess, thinks all options are open going forward with Jess' love life: "I think the writers have done a beautiful job of setting it up that anything is possible. I think each character has their thoughts of what may happen, but that's kind of the beauty of it. You don't know what's going to happen, or what random situation" could pop up. She teases that "I do see a fight breaking out" between Nick and her ex Jimmy Palmer for her affections. (We'd tune in to see that!)

The complicated trio of Jess, Nick, and Jimmy has even earned a new moniker from co-star Diona Reasonover, who plays Kasie: "I have a new name for you guys, the trio: Nick at Knight in Shining Palmer." Hmmm... it's a bit of a mouthful, but we like it.

Nick and Jess, of course, have several hurdles in front of them if they did choose to go the romantic route. Not only are they co-workers, but Jess used to date their fellow co-worker Jimmy Palmer, with the two splitting up back in Season 21. Plus, Nick dated Jess' sister Robin just last season, so it could get messy if he and Jess do decide to pursue things... but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

"We always insist on everything being truthful to the moment," "NCIS" showrunner Steven D. Binder stresses. "The things people say are real. The feelings they have are real." He admits that "sometimes life is messy, and sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants. I'm not saying that we're writing toward anything, but you could see Jess and Nick having a little crush on each other and knowing it's horrible and icky and gross and they don't want to do it, because of Jimmy and her sister... But maybe they do. And then what happens? Now again, I'm not saying that's the thing we're writing towards, but we're not writing away from it."

So in this past week's episode, with Nick and Jess cuddling for warmth in the cave, "when we have an opportunity where these two people who have worked really closely together are suddenly in a place, and it's cold, and they have to talk about spooning... Do they have a moment where they wonder: 'Wait a minute, what are you thinking?' Are they thinking the same thing? And that's sort of what that moment was about. It was about the reality of the moment, and if it's messy, I don't know that that's a bad thing, as long as we're then truthful to that reality afterwards."

Binder insists that "we're not playing" with the emotions of "NCIS" fans here: "We're not teasing." But, he adds, "the feelings are real, and we're not gonna shy away from that."

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