The Player
A/N: I feel like Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop's relationship has gotten stronger, and my amazing NCIS analysis buddies have put together some thoughts about them, and I am attempting to write a Torres/Bishop story. Set around now, 15x11 ish.
The loud buzzing from Gibbs's desk was starting to annoy her. A beep and a buzz would go off every few seconds, and then a Ping! Ellie knew that Gibbs certainly did not own an iPhone or any type of phone that was developed before 2004.
She brushed the hair out of her face, and sat up. She had spent the night at the office because of a heavy case they had been assigned to, and the rain had made all productive levels go down.
"Morning Bish." said Nick, strolling in the bullpen. "You look..."
"Tired?" asked Ellie, standing up. "Yeah I know."
"Oh no no no," assured Nick, "You look great. Fine. As normal. But come on Ellie, you've got to stop spending the night here." he persauded.
"I know... but it just feels so cold and empty going back to my apartment. I mean, I got divorced there, some of my last moments with Qasim was there, and... I like it here. NCIS is my home." she said softly, remembering her fallen fiance.
"I know how much you loved him." said Nick, "And I want you to know, that we're here for you. Always. Especially me, even after... Sophia." he sighed. "Sometimes, it's just like they never left you know? Like you can still feel them with you."
Ellie nodded. "Qasim left a shirt and a note. The last night he spent with me, and it said 'So you'll always have me.' and I, I bought his cologne so it just smelled like him. I know it sounds dorky and cliche, but I miss him."
Nick nodded. "Sophia, she liked the smell of strawberry, so every year on her birthday, I light a strawberry scented candle, and I remember her."
Ellie sighed. "Life is too short to not tell someone about love."
"Amen to that." muttered Nick, before diverting his attention elseware before he started stuttering again.
Gibbs set his cup of coffee down on his desk, and grumbled a "Hello." to Ellie and Nick, before annoyingly rolling his eyes.
Another text. "I hate Fornell." he grumbled.
"What'd he do this time?" asked Ellie curiously.
"Yeah. Did he like, blow up your kitchen or something?"
"He signed me up for some stupid app called Tinder. He got Emily and I an iPad for Christmas, and now there are all these weird gadget things. The whole da*n screen is bigger than 10 of my phones."
Nick choked on his blueberry muffin. "Did you say Tinder?" he asked.
Gibbs nodded. "Is that something I should know about?" he asked, before rolling his eyes again.
"It's a dating app." replied Ellie, before shooting Nick a sly smirk.
"And it says here you have 18 ladies and 2 men who'd like to date you." noted Nick, peering over Gibbs's shoulder.
Gibbs snatched the iPad out of his hands. "Wonderful." he muttered sarcastically.
He turned the sound off and stuffed it in his locked drawer.
"So, I want you both on this case." said Gibbs confidently. "We have evidence that states the handoff for the 'diamonds' will be tonight at 5:30. This means undercover."
"Us?" squeaked Ellie, "Nick and I?"
"Yeah." said Gibbs, "And I want you too as a romantic and in love couple."
Torres raised his hand.
Gibbs smirked. "Yes, Torres?" he asked.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "You want Bish and I, to go undercover, as a couple?"
"Did I stutter?" asked Gibbs, glaringly slightly. "Yes, I want you and Ellie to go. And plus, you keep telling us about your 8 years of undercover work, so you can surely survive a romantic two hours, can't you?" he mocked.
Ellie shrugged. "Okay, whatever you want boss. And where's McGee?" she asked.
"Delilah had some cravings last night. Even though she's not pregnant anymore. The twins have worn her out. Pickles dipped in mustard with a McFlurry and fries. Apparently only three McDonalds in the whole D.C. area sells fries at 2 am in the morning. McGee sounded so tired on the phone so I gave him a 3 hour late start." explained Gibbs.
"Did you say pickles dipped in mustard?" asked Nick. "Dang, that stuff is nasty, bro."
"You're not the one who's raising these children." grumbled Ellie, "If Delilah has to go through that, and having the babies, and raising them, the least McGee can help her with cravings and like, food. Twins is a lot of work. Plus, no uterus, no opinion."
"You watch too much of that show of yours, Friends." grumbled Nick.
"Hey," exclaimed Ellie, "At least I don't cry when girls reject me."
"That's because you're evil." he muttered. "Uh huh." said Ellie, "And you know that because-"
"Okay then. Come on." said Nick, dragging her by the arm.
"Hakuna your tatas will you?" grumbled Ellie, "Why do you walk so fast?"
"It's because I'm taller than you. Now hush." shushed Nick.
"Potassium." muttered Ellie.
"Excuse me?" asked Torres, "Did you just say potassium?" he asked dumbfoundedly. "Isn't that like a..."
Ellie sighed. "Nobody ever gets that joke. On the periodic table of elements, the letter for potassium is K. So, I said 'K' like 'okay'. Duh."
Nick nodded. "I guess you do learn something new every day, huh."
"Are you telling me you didn't know that the atomic symbol for Potassium was 'K'?" asked Ellie, shockingly.
"I mean, we can't all make perfect grades in science, can we?" he asked jokingly.
Ellie shot him a look of amusement. "You do realize that this is basic stuff right? Like 6th grade."
Nick waved it off. "Sure."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "If you had been on that show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grade, you obviously would have failed." she replied, shooting him a look of annoyance.
"Me, fail? Nah, Bish, you know me better than that."
"Your personal life didn't have anything to do with that." she muttered.
"Well-"
"When you two are done flirting, can I explain my analysis now?" asked Abby impatiently. "You guys need to go the marina soon."
Later that afternoon, Ellie was nervously fidgeting with her hair. She had chosen a navy blue sweater, with a black leather jacket, as well as a light blue denim skirt for the date, as well as her favourite pair of black boots.
Hesitating nervously, she quickly brushed her hair up into a messy ponytail, and left it a bit frizzled. Hopefully Nick would notice the change.
She came out of the bathroom, before shrugging. The crisp January D.C. air was nice, and she was really enjoying the breeze. Well... truth be told, she was freezing.
"You look nice." noted McGee, "Nice boots too. Delilah has a pair like that."
"Tory Burch?" asked Ellie, twisting to the side.
"Yeah. I got it for her, for one of her Christmas gifts last year."
"Nice." said Ellie, "These boots were not cheap. But they are so comfortable." she swooned.
"Hey," said Nick, "Wow, you look nice. Different. But I like it."
Nick, dressed in a gray Abercrombie shirt, with a fleece denim coat, and ripped blue jeans, nodded. "I look like some New York hippie, man."
"Good." said Gibbs, swooping in. "Here are your ear pieces, and you will follow any commands that Tim and I give you. Understand. This means giggles and laughs. We'll be a black van off to the side. I have a boat set aside for both of you. The handoff will be in the side, and it is visible from the water."
"Gotcha." said Ellie.
"And do not throw Torres off the harbor, please." asked Tim, glaring at Ellie slightly.
"Yeah Bish, don't throw me overboard." pleaded Nick.
"If you annoy me enough I will." she grumbled. "Hey hey hey, nice words. We're in love remember." said Nick.
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Sure. In love." she muttered sarcastically. Nick slipped an arm around her shoulder. "Come on Ellie. Lighten up a bit."
"Last time you said that, you ended up singing Ed Sheeran and we ended up in a ditch because you drank too much beer. And I had to tell the repairman that." retorted Ellie. "Hey," said Nick, "You asked me to drop you off, you know."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."
Nick grinned, "Can we practice-"
"No." said Ellie firmly, "We are not practicing saying romatic things to each other again."
Nick sighed, "But come on Ell, I'm nice and smooth, and-"
"Torres no one wants to hear about your bloody naked body again." retorted Clayton Reeves, who had poked his head over the divider in the bullpen.
"Hey, that was one time. And I'm sure you guys enjoy-"
Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Stop. We're not doing this again."
"Again?" asked Clayton, "What are you doing in your free time Nick?"
"Why does everyone automatically assume it's me?"
"Because it usually is!" exclaimed Ellie. McGee sighed. "Ellie does have a point..."
"Thanks Tim." mumbled Nick. Ellie smiled, "Come on, Nick, you've certainly gotten better over the past year."
"No I haven't. If I did, Paraguay would have never happened."
McGee looked down at the floor, and Gibbs sighed. "You can't keep blaming yourself over that. That wasn't your fault." he assured. "We don't blame you, you know. You did what we all would have done."
Nick looked disgusted, "I failed all of you. Even Quinn. All of you. I left you behind."
"No, you saved the lives of innocent children and youth, and you saved yourself." said Gibbs. "But you could have died." exclaimed Nick, "I can't take the idea of leaving you both for dead out of my mind and all of you know that."
Ellie sighed. "None of us will ever be over Paraguay will we?"
"No." said Tim, "But I'm glad we're all here."
"Me too." added Gibbs, "And that's saying something."
Nick chuckled lightly, before scratching the back of his head. "I guess."
Ellie patted Nick's back lightly. "There, there now. You're okay now."
"Ellie, no." grumbled Nick, "Would you rather do floor time again?" asked Ellie sweetly.
"Hell nah. My butt's still sore from sitting with you on the ground all day long." he retorted. Gibbs laughed, "Floor time, huh? So we got campfire, we got shout and talk, and now we got floor time."
"What's campfire?" asked Nick, "I think you've told me before but I forgot. Tell me again?"
"It was Tony DiNozzo's idea of meeting up in the bullpen, the one who used to sit at McGee's desk." explained Ellie.
"The one where the love of his life passed away because of Trent Kort?" asked Nick quietly.
"Yeah." said Ellie, nodding softly. "Ziva. She left behind a daughter. Tali."
The team shared a sombre look of sadness and sighed. They had lost way too many people over the last few years. "The NCIS rememberence wall," asked Nick, "Where is it? I want to pay a visit of respect tomorrow."
"2nd floor." whispered Gibbs softly. "Okay." said Nick.
Gibbs looked away, and Nick couldn't help but think what death would have caused Gibbs to be so heartbroken.
Even though he'd been on the team for awhile, Gibbs never seemed... emotional about anything.
In the NCIS evidence garage, Gibbs was softly trying to push the thought of Kate's death out of his mind. He still blamed himself for not knocking her out of the way, for not being careful. He was supposed to protect his agents.
And Jenny.
How he regretted how he didn't tell her.
Tell her about how he felt.
And most importantly, he was supposed to protect someone he cared about.
And look how well that turned out, he thought bitterly. Shannon and Kelly. Kate. Even Diane for crying out loud.
He had messed up every relationships he'd ever had.
Shannon. Diane. Stephanie. Hollis. Margaret. Jenny. Kate. Samantha.
Every woman he had met, almost every single one of them had ended up dead.
Plus, his heart had shattered every time the relationship ended as well. He had specifically chosen Torres for the team.
And Quinn. He liked Quinn.
She was an agent with a strong personality and an interesting history. He had always admired her ability to keep calm, and her odd sense of humor. Maybe if she had stayed... he could have fallen in love with her.
"You literally fall in love with everyone" whispered his conscience. Gibbs snorted, before rolling his eyes. "Uh Gibbs?" asked Abby, "What are you doing?"
Gibbs whipperd his head around and grinned sheepishly at Abby. "Hey Abbs," he said, regaining his posture. "I'm uh, thinking."
"Good for you Gibbs." said Abby, patting Gibbs on the head, "Now follow me, I have some more information about some valuable diamonds. And by diamonds, I mean meth." she grinned. "And sly move, today."
Gibbs looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Pairing the two lovebirds up and making them kiss each other." said Abby innocently, "Rumor has it that our bad boy, Nick Torres has a thing for our Ellie."
"Ellie?" asked Gibbs, "You thought I did this on purpose?" he questioned.
"Woah, Gibbs." said Abby, "You mean, you just paired them up together? You're not... wow."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Is this what you spend your free time doing? Shipping Torres and Bishop?"
"Yes." said Abby confidently, "In fact, I used to spend all my freetime shipping you and Kate... and then Tony and Ziva." she looked down, feeling really guilty about mentioning his former member of his team.
"Sorry." she said, wincing. "I didn't mean to-"
Gibbs sighed. "No, it's fine, Abby. I need to try and get over her death anyways. It's been almost 12 years." he said bitterly.
"A death I could have stopped. I could of killed Ari with my bare hands, so Kate would still be here." he said, sighing heavily.
"No," said Abby, "If Kate didn't die, Tony or McGee might have died, and I just need ONE of my otps to have a nice, happy, safe and quiet life."
Gibbs snorted. "As if. You know me, my middle name is 'disaster'. Leroy Disaster Gibbs."
Abby smiled slightly. "Did you just crack a joke?" she asked.
Gibbs looked down. "Maybe."
Abby patted him on the back. "Maybe... you're changing all by yourself and you don't know." she said softly, before kissing him on the cheek and strolling out of the room confidently.
Gibbs grinned. Maybe he was changing, and maybe it was for the better good.
In the black van, in the park, Ellie was shoving her ear piece into her left ear, and attaching the video button onto her jacket. "Why do we have to wear all this." she grumbled to McGee, who was helping her strap on the listening device. "Because, we want you to be safe and we need this information. Plus, I'm going to be a protective Dad, and I need to start babying people to practice for when Mo and Jo get older. Although Delilah says that-"
"Delilah is probably 99.99% right. You're a fantastic dad, and we are all behind you." assured Ellie. McGee grinned. "Really? You think so?"
"Yep," said Ellie, "And I hope you guys have anotherk kid or two, because if you guys don't, I owe Torres 20 bucks."
McGee grinned at the mention of Nick. "So, Ellie, rumor has it that Torres has a crush on you."
Ellie looked surprised. "Oh really? That's nice."
"That's it?" asked McGee, "No, 'Oh he's pretty hot' or 'Ew no!' for you?!"
Ellie grinned. "Let's just say this. I. Do. Not. Think. Torres. Has. A. Crush. On. Me."
"Oh yeah?" asked McGee, "Well, loser pays for takeout tonight?"
"You're on." said Ellie grinning.
"What's on?" asked Torres, strolling in and standing next to McGee.
"Nothing." chorused Ellie and Tim.
Torres rolled his eyes. "Uh huh..."
Tim grinned. "I'll leave you two to discuss what you want to do. Remember to make it romantic." he reminded.
Ellie and Nick rolled their eyes in unison. "We know." said Ellie sarcastically.
"Come on, I'm not that bad." defended Nick. Ellie raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really?"
"That's not what you said last night." he said smugly. "Last night was different." complained Ellie.
"You think I'm hot?" asked Nick. Ellie flushed red. "Sure."
Nick grinned widely. "Well, all the ladies-"
"All the ladies minus Abby." added Abby. "Gibbs says we're leaving in 5 minutes."
Ellie nodded. "Thank you Abby."
"No problem. Also, Tim says to make out."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Tell him that if he wants to make out, he should find Delilah."
Abby snorted. "Our lovebirds. Mr. and Mrs. McGee."
"Hey," said Nick, "So wouldn't their babies be McBaby 1 and 2?"
Abby groaned. "That's almost as bad as Tony's nicknames. Tony had a nickname for McGee, like everday. Of course, Gibbs would always headslap him at the end, but man, we don't need that many nicknames for our favourite married man."
Ellie smirked and shurgged innocently, "Do you think he'll mind if we call him-"
"Ellie? Torres?" called McGee, "We're leaving."
Ellie nodded. "I'll finish this afterwards, Abby. Thank you." she said, before giving them a hug.
In the van, the team was going over undercover protocol. "So, we have 3 backup agents stationed as bikers around the marina. You both have bulletproof vests, a video camera, a bug, and some well... you both have ear pieces."
"Okay." said Ellie, "This is a different mission, and it could affect the whole world?"
"Yes." confirmed McGee, "There are a lot of things at stake, including your lives."
"It's always the drugs" grumbled Nick, "It's always the drugs. Why can't it be candy? Or bananas? Or something I can-"
"Eat?" asked Gibbs, "You can eat-"
"Woah!" stopped McGee, "I have a very good feeling this won't be good. So stop talking."
"Daddy saves the day." said Ellie, grinning.
"Okay. We're almost there. Are you guys ready to fall in love?" asked Tim. Nick shot him a look of annoyance. "Sure."
"Okay." grumbled Gibbs, "One, two, three, we're going to drop you off at the coffee shop on the corner and you guys will walk out in the marina and act like nothing has happened. Be casual. Do not be creepy."
"Wow Gibbs, that's the longest sentance I've heard from you in a while."
Gibbs smacked Nick on the back of his head. "Go and do your work."
"There it is," grumbled McGee, "The headslap."
"You got plenty when Tony was still here, Tim." added Ellie, "You aren't completely innocent."
"In fact, you're not innocent at all." added Nick, "You and Delilah doing the hanky panky before you guys got married? A sin."
McGee grinned. "I did lose my virginity at 17."
Nick and Ellie choked on air, and spun to look at McGee. "Oh." said Nick, "You weren't a... good boy."
"Like you're a good Catholic boy anyways, Nicolas Torres." mumbled Ellie. Nick looked offended. "What's that supposed to mean?" he complained, "Like yeah I do-"
"Save it for later." snapped Jaqqueline, who had come down to wish the team some luck.
"Be sure to throw in some extra moves." she winked at Nick, who simply sighed.
Abby leaned over and grinned. "She's totally onto Nick about the whole 'crush on Ellie' thing."
Tim rolled his eyes. "Who wouldn't be?"
"Gibbs." replied Abby. "He didn't even see it."
"That's a lie." muttered Tim. "He saw Tiva... and now he's putting Ellick together."
Abby leaned on McGee's shoulder. "It's nice to see all these people in love."
I must confess I had this story written back in October, and I never got to finish it. So... it's kinda funny how I "predicted" an Ellick undercover beforehand.
Part two will be up soon!
