A/N- Due to my recent obsession with NCIS LA, I have decided to do a series of Neric (Nell and Eric) one-shots. They do not follow any order, or purposely relate to each other.
This one-shot is an extension followed on from Neric scenes in 'Greed' (S03E08) but the end is my own work.
Disclaimer- I do not own NCIS LA or any of the characters.
Please R&R
Flowers
Eric walked up to the desk where Nell was perched behind a computer, explaining something to Sam and Callen. He noticed a vase of flowers sitting on Nell's desk. 'From who?' He wondered.
As he came closer Eric said, "Nice Flowers," In a tone of trying to figure out why she had flowers.
After Eric finished explaining the information to Sam and Callen they left leaving the opportunity to find out more about the flowers.
"Happy Birthday?" It was more of a question than a statement.
"It's not my birthday," Nell said.
"Right, I actually knew that," Eric said trying to cover for his mistake and then added, "and so the flowers are for-"
"No occasion," Nell replied finishing his sentence.
"So you have flowers just because?"
"Yep."
"So somebody did send them,"
"No they just grew there," Nell responded sarcastically before asking curiously, "why are you so surprised that somebody would send me flowers?"
I'm actually not surprised," Eric said, "at all," before he turned and walked away.
Nell's P.O.V
What did he mean by that? Was he flirting with me? No Nell Jones concentrate no time to think about that I have an 8.5 million dollar box of gold to find.
Later that Day in Ops
"So are you in a 'thing' now?" Eric asked, "like, umm, with another person?" He continued, "like a relat-"
"Don't say the 'R' word," Nell said cutting him off quite harshly before taking her normal tone of voice and adding, "I don't have to be in an 'R' word to get flowers."
"Well of course not you can get flowers for a lot of other things," Eric said.
"Yes, a lot, of other reasons," Nell started, "like if I-"
"Died," helped Eric, "or if you had major surgery," and then the thought passed through his head, "have you had a major surgery?"
"No I have not," Nell confirmed.
"And you're clearly alive," Eric pointed out, stating the obvious.
"Yep," Nell said then adding, "I have to go and talk to Hetty," as she stood leaving ops and the conversation.
Later that day in Ops- again
Nell walked into Ops later that afternoon. When she noticed Eric had a single, lonely looking flower in a glass.
"Oh look at that," Nell said referring to the flower.
"Oh, yeah, a little gift."
"Did you have a surgical procedure in the last hour?" Nell inquired.
"No," He stated, "and I am not dead. In case you were wondering."
"Well that's funny, that we both got flowers on the same day," Nell stated.
"That's odd."
"Or a coincidence," Nell said.
"Weird," Eric stated.
"Very weird," she confirmed.
Nell sat down and sighed.
"Okay, I sent the flowers to myself," she admitted.
This comment startled Eric, Nell knew this because all Eric had to say was, "Oh."
When Nell realised she'd just rendered Eric speechless she added, "I really like flowers and it's been a long time since anybody has sent me flowers so I sent them to myself."
"Great," Eric said before realising what he had said.
"Great?" Nell questioned.
"I mean, sad," Eric said trying to cover his mistake.
"Well if I sent myself flowers what's your excuse?" She asked.
"Well I saw you had flowers, so I gave myself a flower."
"Okay, why?"
"Because when I saw that you had flowers I felt-" Eric started, but stopped quickly, stuck on words because he wanted to say jealous but knew that would sound ridiculous.
"Competitive?" Nell suggested.
"Yes, I felt competitive when I saw that you had flowers," Eric said, although that wasn't exactly what he originally wanted to say.
"So where did your flower come from?" Nell asked, curious.
"Hetty has a bunch of flowers on her desk. I didn't think she would miss one," Eric explained as if it wasn't a big deal.
"You know that's playing with fire," Nell said, before the thinking about this and what it meant, "you sacrificed yourself for a flower. You sacrificed yourself to compete with me."
There probably would've been further discussion on the matter if Eric hadn't have gotten a hit and they'd gotten back to work without another word on the conversation.
Later that Week
With Kensi and Nell
It was a cold Saturday night and they had just finished a case and were leaving when Nell walked up next to Kensi asking if she wanted to do something that night. They ended up going to see a band that was performing at a local club.
"How did Eric react to the flowers?" Kensi asked as they waited in line outside the club.
"You were right," Nell admitted.
"I told you it would work," Kensi said with a proud smile on her face.
"I'm just not sure if it was all worth the effort, because if anything I'm only more confused now," Nell said exasperated.
"Tell me about it," Kensi said it in a similar tone to Nell's.
"Deeks?" Nell guessed.
Kensi sighed, "He acts like a 3 year-old, hides behind his facade of humour yet he probably knows more about me than anybody else. He knows when I'm fine, he knows when I'm not fine, he knows how to make me smile and yet he never says what he means... I just don't get it," she finished shaking her head.
They approached the entrance to the club and paid for the tickets for entry. You normally wouldn't have to pay but because there was a band performing it was a $5 entry fee.
"Even with all the technology the world has at its disposal we will never understand what's going on inside their heads," Nell said.
They walked up to the bar and ordered two drinks once taking their seats.
"But at least if we can't figure out their secrets they can't figure out ours," Nell continued with a smile on her face.
"Now that's something I'll drink to," Kensi said picking up her glass and clinking it with Nell's before taking a sip.
At one point they got up and danced for about half an hour. Well by danced it was more like half an hour of jumping up and down. But had, had enough after a while and were ready for some more drinks, so Kensi ordered another two. It was their 5th of whatever they were drinking and they'd started down the path to being drunk.
"What are you planning to do?" Kensi asked Nell.
"Keep drinking," she responded.
"No, not about that, about Eric," Kensi said finishing in a semi-serious tone.
"No idea."
"But it's simple isn't it. You like him and he clearly likes you too, ask him out," Kensi said half giggling by the end of it.
"You're one to talk," Nell said who was clearly still soberer than Kensi.
At once it was as if all the alcohol in Kensi's blood stream vanished and she was all of a sudden very serious.
"If you're talking about Deeks and I, forget it. We have to work out our issues."
Nell nodded her head and said, "Fine, fine," in a very sarcastic tone, "I guess I'm just waiting for Eric to ask me, or something, I don't know," she finished with a sigh.
They finished their drinks and Kensi checked her phone to see what the time was.
"Oh, god, look at the time. It's almost 12 and we've got to be able to get up and go to work tomorrow," Kensi announced.
"Ugh yeah, I mean I love my job but sometimes I don't want to have to get up in the morning, I wish I could just stay in bed all day," Nell said.
"I know what you mean," Kensi said as they stood up and left the club.