A/N This little one-shot popped into my head before I even finished the epilogue of "Settling the Score" and I figured I might as well share it with the world. I hope the world likes it. It takes place sometime after "Settling the Score" but you by no means have to read that to understand this. But I'm not going to tell you not to read it, because if you want to know where the 'little black thing' makes its appearance, that's where you need to look. But anyways, I'm a bit nervous about posting this, so I would love some input from anyone out there in internet-land.

Little Black Thing

Nell heard Eric and Deeks come in and she paused the movie. The boys had wanted to surf, but Nell and Kensi hadn't felt like going to the beach, so they had a girls' day in at Nell and Eric's house. Nell rolled her eyes as they heard the very distinct sound of two surfboards hitting the floor in the entryway.

"We're in here," Kensi called.

"Hey . . ." Deeks said, coming into the room, "Watcha watchin'?"

"Probably some chick flick," Eric said, but his eyes widened when he got a look at the screen. The main character was wearing nothing but lacey underwear, bra, and her boyfriend's half-unbuttoned dress shirt.

Nell raised her eyebrow at her husband, "Hey, Wolfram, I'm down here."

"Yeah, but she's over there," Deeks said, gesturing at the TV. Kensi slapped his arm. Soon, they were kissing. Nell turned back to her husband.

"I could never pull that off," she said under her breath.

"Pull what off?" Eric asked.

"That," Nell gestured at the screen, much like Deeks had.

"Well, not in Eric's Hawaiian shirts, you couldn't," Deeks said, making Nell jump. She hadn't realized he and Kensi had finished up so fast. "I'm not sure anyone could be sexy in those," he continued. Kensi shot him a look. "Okay, maybe you could, Fern," Deeks said quickly, "But I don't really want you wearing Eric's shirts. And I'm sure Nell would have a problem with that too."

"What about Eric?" asked Eric, sparking Nell to roll her eyes once more, "I don't want anyone wearing my shirts but me."

"What about that old T-shirt Nell sleeps in?" Kensi pointed out.

"Or that time I spilled my snow-cone on Nell and you gave her your shirt?" Deeks added.

"Or—"

"Okay, okay," Eric cut them off, "So, I don't like anyone but Nell wearing my shirts."

Nell laughed and stood up, "While it's paused I'll go top off the popcorn." She heard Eric follow her into the kitchen.

"What did you mean back there?" he asked, "Not being able to 'pull that off'?"

"Oh," Nell said softly. Why had she opened her mouth? "I just meant that everybody has things they can and can't pull off. Like you, not many people can get away with wearing only shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and flip-flops, but on you it's adorable!" she smiled, hoping to distract him. No such luck.

"So what exactly can't you pull off?" Eric asked, fighting to keep his voice neutral.

Nell laughed uncomfortably, "Look, it's simple, I can pull off 'cute pixie' but I can't pull off sexy." She pushed her bangs out of her eyes irritably.

"I think you're sexy," Eric's tone was almost plaintive.

"Yeah, well, you're my husband, you kind of have to think that," Nell said, grabbing the now full popcorn bowl and returned to the living room.

"What about that little black thing you wore on our honeymoon?" Eric asked as he walked back into the room.

Nell groaned internally as Deeks perked up at the new topic. "That was stupid and I'm not proud of it," she said, annoyed that Deeks and Kensi were hearing this conversation. Mainly annoyed that Deeks was; Kensi has some tact.

"Since when is wearing lingerie on your wedding night considered stupid?" Eric said exasperatedly.

"Wait, you wore little black lingerie?" Deeks asked excitedly.

"Deeks!" Kensi said, smacking him. "What's going on?" she asked Nell and Eric.

"Nell doesn't think she can 'pull off sexy'," Eric said, making finger quotes.

"Eric!" Nell exclaimed. Why was he making such a big deal out of this? She opened her mouth, but shut it again, and ran from the room.

Eric, Kensi, and Deeks were frozen for a minute before Deeks piped up, "Was it something I said?"

Eric shook his head, "I'm sorry guys; I'll go talk to her."

He found her in their room sitting on the bed with her back to the door. He crawled up on the bed behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her neck. "Nelly? Are you okay? I'm sorry you're mad at me," he said softly.

Nell sighed and brushed a tear from her face. She had no idea why she was crying. "I'm not mad at you."

"Then . . . I'm sorry you're upset with me?" he tried.

She laughed a little, "Nope."

"Um, how about I'm sorry you're upset? And you can't deny that; I know you too well. Please tell me what's wrong," Eric looked into her face. He scooted back so that he was leaning against the headboard, pulling her with him.

Nell sighed, "It's just . . . for the longest time I didn't think that I could ever be anything past 'cute'. I never ever thought I could be truly attractive, especially when I got old enough that 'cute' wasn't much of a compliment anymore," she took a deep breath, "But, Eric, you make me feel beautiful. And I appreciate that more than you know, but that doesn't mean that anyone else is going to think of me that way."

Eric wasn't entirely sure how to respond. For pretty much all of their relationship, he always thought of himself as the insecure one who was lucky to have someone like Nell. Hell, she'd gotten mad at him whenever he's expressed any of his insecurities. Now he knew how she had felt.

"Nelly? Remember when you used to get so upset when I kept wondering why you hadn't left me? This is like that. I was obviously wrong when I thought you would leave and, as much as you hate to hear it, you're wrong now too. You've always been more than just cute."

Nell blushed and rolled her eyes, "This isn't the same thing. I don't think you're going to leave me," she said embarrassedly, but she was smiling.

"Now that I think about it, who are you trying to impress, Ununoctium?" Eric asked, nudging her playfully.

"What do you mean?"

"You already know what I think of you. So, why would you need to change, unless you're trying to impress someone else?" Eric smirked at her expression.

"Eric! I'm not trying to impress anyone! I never said I wanted to change, either!" Nell made a face, "And you're the one who wouldn't let it go."

Eric laughed, "True." He squeezed her around her waist and kissed her forehead. "I wish I had a picture of you in that little black thing," he said after a moment.

"What would you do with it? Show it around and tally up what people think in order to make me feel better?" Nell snorted.

"Exactly. But I would skip Ira. He may be an old friend, but he sure gets on my nerves when he talks about you."

"Aw, don't worry, he isn't my type."

"Do you feel better now?" Eric asked quietly when they were done laughing.

"Yes. I'm sorry I freaked," Nell said sheepishly.

"Everyone's entitled to a few freak-outs every now and then," he said reasonably. But then a mischievous look appeared on his face, "Let's go finish your movie, kick Kens and Deeks out, and then I'll show you just how sexy I think you really are."

Nell smiled and wiped the remnants of the tears from her eyes. Eric was true to his word. He started proving it to her right away by not taking his eyes off of her during the whole move (even when the aforementioned main character started wearing even less). Nell was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on the screen when Eric kept kissing her neck and rubbing her back and other similarly distracting things. For once, they were worse than Deeks and Kensi. And it got even better after the other couple left. Nell decided that buying that 'little black thing' hadn't been such a stupid thing to do after all.