A/N: Ok, so this came out of being angry that we didn't get to see much from Eric and Nell's side during "Spoils of War" which then got my overactive imagination going. I also saw that we haven't gotten many fic based on them from that episode which also fueled my brain. I hope everyone gets satisfied with this! I hope I did Eric and Nell justice!
Oh, one more thing, if you think that Nell might be OC, first think about what she saw and the fact that her friend might be dead and then think about how you might act in that situation, even if you might be strong. Please, read this with an open mind about emotions and reactions.
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
He watched as she just stood there after the three men departed to do what she ordered. He couldn't understand why Hetty made her do it. It was the most selfish thing he had seen his boss ever do before. It made him want to shake the sense back into her after seeing the emotional turmoil it had put his "partner" in.
Eric walked up to Nell who was staring straight ahead and taking deep breaths. She finally acknowledged his presence after he moved into her line of vision. She looked up at him and he could see her holding back the emotions he knew she wanted to just let go of.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked. He could see the struggle she was going through, trying to keep her emotions in check. She shook her head as she bit her lip, hard.
"We are going to get her back." He said, laying a hand on her shoulder. This made the dam burst and she fell into is arms, sobbing. He was afraid at first, he had never seen her like this before. Usually, in any situation, she was strong. This side of her wasn't something he was ready for. This, comforting someone, wasn't something he had done before and he didn't know if he was ready for this challenge.
"The-the way he looked when I told them that she had disappeared..."She trailed off as the sobs over took her.
"I know. I know." He said as he held her, suddenly brushing his lips gently over her hair. It took him by surprise at how natural it felt, the whole comforting thing. Maybe it isn't something you have to be taught, he thought.
Then the reminder of why they were like this came to him. Kensi. He took a deep breath to keep himself calm. Kensi was like a sister to him, to know that she was in deep trouble was something he didn't want to face.
"Come on, we need to get to ops. They can't do much without us." Eric said after he felt her calm down and heard her sobs ebb away. He rubbed her back as she nodded. As they started to walk he gently took her hand, a sign that he was there if she needed him to be. He felt her squeeze and squeezed back.
They walked with their head held high and with an air of confidence. Confidence that they would get their friend back. Confidence that they would get their team back. But that confidence slipped, or more like was shattered with a sledgehammer, the minute they got the pictures from Callen.
He had heard her gasp when the pictures came up on the screen. He had to make himself not be sick at the sight. It was there, proof that their friend was gone. He analyzed it until his eyes crossed, but it was real. He was more than angry when Hetty wouldn't let them take it down and had to keep himself from doing something he would regret when he saw the reaction Nell had towards that order.
He watched as the young woman wiped a never ending stream of tears as she looked at the horrifying picture closely. He went up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently. He knew that the tears weren't caused by the picture itself, but also the fact that they didn't have contact with the team and what had happened a few minutes prior because of the picture. Something that he never thought Hetty would do, something he didn't think he would ever forget.
"Hetty...have them send me...the photo" They heard Deeks' emotion filled voice order.
Hetty gave Eric the go ahead. He looked to Nell before sending it.
"It's on it way. Have you gotten any information on the cleric? Mr. Deeks?" Hetty urged, but there was silence on the other end. It was either he had hung up or was in shock.
"Oh..." They heard him gasp, signaling that he had gotten the photo. Eric looked at Nell once again, this time her eyes were watery as they listened to Deeks yelling on the other end. The pain in his voice causing Nell to break. She put her head in her hands and he watched as her shoulders shook.
"Mr. Beale, I think we've heard enough." Hetty said as they heard the click of the safety of a gun going off on the other side. He immediately pressed the "end" button, efficiently cutting the connection. He watched as Hetty slowly left the ops center.
"How-how could she have done that." Nell asked softly.
"I don't know." He said with honesty.
"What has happened to her?" Nell asked him, turning around to look at him. He kept his hand on her shoulders. He didn't know if he was doing that for her or for him or both.
"I don't know." He said again. He wiped at the tears falling down her face. He was shocked when she grabbed his hand and held it against her cheek.
"Thank you." she said.
"For what?" he asked, a little confused.
"For being here." She said, confusing him more.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I overheard Sam and Callen talking. They were talking about you and how you turned down the offer from your friend." She explained. His mouth formed in the shape of an "O", he now understood.
"I could never leave. This is my home." He said with a smile.
"It's just...I don't know what I would have done during this if you had left. I-I don't think I could work if I was the only one doing this. Kensi..."Nell trailed off, she looked down as emotions overtook her again.
"I know. I'm sorry I even thought about that." Eric said, tilting her head up to look at her face.
"You're here, that is all matters right now." She said. He nodded that he understood.
"I trust you more than anyone else." She added. His eyes widened a bit at that. He wrapped his arms around her. He gave her a kiss on the head before letting go.
"Let's get Kensi back." He said. She nodded in agreement. Both of them not accepting the picture to be a true fact.
Later it would be known that that picture had not been a fact. Their friend was alive. The tension in the ops center decreased by a hundred percent when the call came that the team, Kensi included, had made it back to camp and that they were headed out within two hours. Both Eric and Nell had jumped with joy and then Nell grabbed him into a bone-crushing hug.
He could feel her shaking in his arms. She wasn't crying, but was just shaking. He figured it was the adrenaline that had overtaken her the last few hours and she had kept up a brave front. The adrenaline from nerves that were frayed at not knowing what was happening to the team that they had both come to know as family.
It wasn't until he had heard footsteps coming towards them that they ended the embrace. They both looked at Hetty who stood before them. She looked much older now; her eyes didn't hold the fiery, all knowing look that they usually had. She looked weary and torn. But that didn't make Eric feel any different towards her and, going from how Nell was looking, it didn't do anything different for her either.
"Mr. Beale, Miss Jones. The team's flight will be here in fourteen and a half hours. I would like for you to be the ones to pick them up." Hetty told them, knowing that she didn't have to ask. Their nods and faces telling her as much.
For the two, waiting was hard. Fourteen and a half hours seem to trickle by slowly. Eric watched as Nell's legs endlessly bounced up and down for the last hour as they sat in the van on the tarmac of Edwards. He had tried to stop her, but it was futile, she would just slap his hand away.
"Nell, please calm down." Eric pleaded. The jerking of her leg making the van sway a little and making him more and more anxious.
"I'm just...we don't know what condition she is in. What if..."Nell said before being interrupted.
"Don't think about it. Just think of Kensi like she usually is." Eric said. He noticed the bouncing had died down a bit and he decided to keep talking.
"Remember when Kensi was suspected of murder of her father's unit?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Nell shot back.
"Remember when she went MIA and we were looking? We found her by a report that said she had taken down a man and took his car...Remember what Deeks said?" Eric inquired. This brought a slight grin to the small analyst's face.
"Yeah, he said 'that's my girl'." She said. Her grin fell back into a frown making Eric wonder what she was thinking about. He didn't have to wonder long though.
"He loves her." Nell stated, keeping her eyes fixed out the side window. Though he couldn't see her face, he could see her cheeks shimmering in the lights of the airstrip.
"He does." Eric agreed.
"More than a partner." Nell added.
"Yeah, more than a partner." Eric said with a nod.
"We sent him a picture of the person he loves looking like she was killed." Nell said, her voice hard and trembling. She had her hands balled into fists on her knees. Eric covered one with his hand, forcing it open to tangle his fingers with hers, the action making her look at him.
"I know." He simply stated.
"How... How could we..." Nell tried to ask.
"It wasn't your fault, Nell. Hetty made the call, not you." Eric explained to her, trying to get her to stop blaming herself. He knew that that phone call would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Nell didn't say anything, just turned her head back to the side window.
He jumped a bit when she suddenly sat straight up as a plane started to come in for a landing. The lights from it growing bigger and bigger. It seemed to take forever for it to come to a halt and the ground crew to get ready for the exit of people out the side door.
Eric and Nell got out of the van slowly, getting themselves ready for whatever they were going to face when their team came off the plane. It seemed like an eternity for that door to open and for the first person to step off. Nell's heart was beating fast as she watched the darkened doorway, waiting for her friends.
The first to come off was Callen. His face looked tired, grim, and relieved all at the same time. He slowly climbed down the steps as Sam came up behind him, the same look on his face as his partner. Both men made their way towards to two at the van.
Nell finally couldn't stand it and met them half way, going to Sam first. She wrapped her arms around him and, like she had done to Eric when they had heard that Kensi was alive and safe, gave him a bone-crushing hug. Eric watched as a small smile came upon the bulky senior agent, Callen mirroring him. It wasn't long until he was also in her arms, but it wasn't the same as with Sam.
She didn't know if it was because he was the leader and she trusted him or what, but she felt safe with him and safe to show her emotions as she hugged him. Callen felt her start to shake and heard her sniffle as his shirt dampened with her tears. He tightened his hold on her and looked up to Eric with a worried look, a look that Eric returned with a small shake of his head and a frown.
Sam watched the scene and laid a comforting hand on Nell's shoulder. Her emotional state letting the two men know that they weren't the only ones affected by this whole situation. It was a minute more before she finally let him go, keeping her head down and tried to discreetly wipe the tears away but failed miserably. Both Sam and Callen didn't say anything, just kept silent, waiting for her to make the first move.
"Uh... sorry." She said softly.
"Don't be." Callen said, resting his hand on her other shoulder. Both he and Nell saw Sam look back at the plane as something caught his eye. Nell's breath caught in her throat as she watched the two people she was so wanting to see slowly exit the plane. Deeks first made his way out the door and right behind him, her hand tightly gripping his, was Kensi.
Eric had come up behind Nell and had taken one of her hands in his, her grip tightened like he was a lifeline as Deeks and Kensi made their way towards them. Nell took in the sight of her only female team member, she noticed how frail the woman looked and how pale as well. Her eyes watered as she thought about what would have happened to her to make her look like that instead of the strong, independent woman they all knew and loved. She shook her head a bit, shaking the thoughts out before walking towards the two.
Deeks smiled at her, but she just couldn't smile back. He frowned and looked at Eric with concern. The man shook his head and mouthed 'later' back to him. As she came closer Deeks noticed her eyes, eyes that weren't the same as he last saw them. They held an emotion that he had never seen in them before, torment. His concern grew for the young woman as he watched her reconnect with her friend.
He must have blanked out because all of a sudden arms were around him and he felt shudders from the person holding onto him. At first he thought it was Kensi, but when he looked at who had grabbed him, he just held onto her and let her let go of everything she had been holding in.
"I'm sorry." She said in a voice so soft he barely heard it.
"What?" He asked, a bit lost at where she was going with this.
"I'm so sorry." Nell said a bit louder.
"What are you sorry for?" He asked, the others hearing him and turning their attention to the two. He looked at them. He looked straight at Eric who had just pulled away from hugging Kensi. Callen and Sam turned to him as well. Eric sighed as he understood where Nell was going with this.
"For the picture." She stated, finally looking at him with watery eyes. Deeks' breath caught in his throat as he saw the pain and regret in them.
"We heard." Eric stated, hoping that that would help the detective a bit more. Deek's head snapped up from looking at Nell. His eyes betraying him as they showed his fear and regret as loudly as the pain and regret in Nell's.
"Everything?" He asked with a bit of fear in his voice.
"No, Hetty made us turn it off a few seconds after everything went to hell." Eric said, shocking them a bit with his words and the harsh tone he had said them in. Deeks gave a relieved sigh and turned back to Nell.
"It isn't your fault. I asked for it." He said, hoping to relieve her of her unneeded guilt. He grabbed onto her shoulders as she shook her head in disagreement.
"No, don't do that to yourself. Don't blame yourself for anything. I didn't even know how I was going to react and I shouldn't have asked to see. Okay?" Deeks asked her, he had lifted her chin to make her look at him. She meekly nodded. He gathered her in his arms once again and gave her a squeeze before giving a light kiss on the top of her head.
"You did good. Don't think otherwise." He said before letting her go. She returned to Eric's side and took a hold of his hand while Deeks went back to hovering around Kensi.
"Let's get home." He motioned to the van. Everyone vocally agreed and started to grab their things and load them in the back of the large vehicle. As Eric and Nell got in the front he grabbed her hand in his before turning the key and shifting it into gear, both had a small smile on their faces. They knew they still had stuff to face, nightmares to deal with from this, but they had their family back safe and sound and that was all that mattered.
Thank you for reading! Please review!