Hi guys! Yay, here's my first Navy CIS: L.A. Story. Of course, it had to be about Eric. I was quite excited about the episode "Traitor" and found that his hostage taking wasn't mentioned enough later on, so I decided to make a kind of aftermath story. – And here it is

It's just a one Shot, but I'd be very happy to read your comments and reviews about this story – so don't forget to review after reading it

And now – have fun with the story

Summary: Eric is having trouble with nightmares after the events of "traitor". Can the team help him?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything – except of the plot of the story.

Warmings: Spoiler for Traitor, and my mother tongue is not English – so please just read over those nasty language mistakes ; )

"I almost hate to kill you" Carl Brown said with an emotionless. Eric held his breath as he was face to face with his gun that was pointing at him. Why wasn't anyone here to help him? He had given the clue to Nell and thought that she'd understood him. However, there was nobody to save him.

He closed his eyes

And one second later…..BANG

"No!" Eric woke up, bathed in sweat. At first, he wasn't sure where he was. Breathe, he thought desperately and finally looked around. He remarked that he was lying in his bed, in his apartment. There was nobody – no Brown, no gun. He realized that he might had a nightmare.

He sighed as he took a look on his radio alarm clock. It was 5 a.m.

Sighing once more, he decided to stand up, and make himself some coffee. There was no way of thinking that he was able to catch some more sleep again. He knew the drill already; he had been having this nightmare for over a week now… ever since the traitor has taken him hostage.

After he made himself some coffee to go, he decided to take a shower and then go to work. He knew it was way too early to begin, but he couldn't go back to bed. He hoped that there was something to do for him today, maybe a new case. At least he hadn't has to think about the nightmares and had an excuse to stay in the office. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared to be alone.

"Eric, do you want some coffee?" He heard a voice asking him, but he didn't see anything.

"Eric!" Wow, Nell could have a loud voice sometimes. Wait, way was his head lying on his desk?

"Huh?" he asked confused and finally opened his eyes. Damn it, had he fallen asleep?

Nell must have read his mind. "Eric, were you sleeping?" She asked. Now, she sounded more… worried. Just great.

"No… I… I've just been looking for something… o-on the desk". He knew she wouldn't believe him, but as she looked at him suspiciously, he quickly got up from the chair.

"I… I'll go outside for a moment…. I just need a bit of fresh air." Stunned, Nell nodded. "O…kay. When you come back, there'll be a cup of coffee waiting for you."

Eric put on a fake smile as he rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. "Thanks" he murmured and left the office.

…

Eric breathed in deeply the fresh air and observed the city. He sometimes came up here on the roof of the office building when he needed to think, or when he just needed some time for himself. Up there, he had a wonderful view over L.A., and usually, he enjoyed it. However, today, he didn't feel quite in the mood to feel impressed by the view.

He thought about earlier. Obviously, his nightmares and lack of sleep began to have an effect on his work. Which was not good. When the others would remark how the hostage was bothering him, they would just pity him, or even worse, maybe they would think that he was weak. Well, in his opinion, he was weak. Why else would the guy had chosen him as a hostage?

He was deeply in thoughts when he heard suddenly a voice behind him.

"Mr. Beale, I hope you are enjoying the view?"

He turned around and was astonished to look in his boss' face. Hetty had come up here to search him. This day is getting better and better, he thought sarcastically.

"Hetty… I... I…" He begun. What should he say? That he was too tired to work because he had nightmares? Sounded way too childish in his brain. However, his boss interrupted him anyway.

"Mr. Beale, I can see that something is bothering you. Nell had come into my office and told me about your… sleeping problem". He could feel Hetty's piercing look. Just great, now he was in trouble if everybody knew about it.

Ashamed, he looked onto the ground. "I'm sorry…" he said. "I'll go down and back to work. I shouldn't have been awake that long last night."

As he wanted to go past his boss, she held him. "Mr. Beale, I've not come up here to be angry with you." Again, she tried to look into his eyes. "I'm worried about you. We all are." She paused and finally, Eric looked to her too. Hetty always managed to talk about a problem without letting it sound like it was something… he should be ashamed of. "You are very precious for our team and if one of us has problems, it concerns us all, especially when it comes to one's well-being."

That wasn't a question. However, as he heard the rather old, but the not to underestimate lady speaking to him, he felt that he could talk to her.

"I… "he stopped, but as she nodded in encouragement, he continued. "I've been having nightmares about… about this situation with Brown."

Stunned, Hetty gave him a questioning look. "I know that the situation has been dangerous, especially for you…"

"That's not it" Eric said quickly. "I… I always have the same dream."

"So split it out already, Eric. Or else, your coffee will get cold and Nell mad I'm sure you don't want a thing of that." He looked to the lady again. Now that she had called him by his name, it did wonder.

"I dream that… that nobody will come to save me. I get killed every time… by… by B-brown." He'd whispered the last sentence. He hated him for sounding so small.

"I'm sorry" Hetty finally answered after a pause that seemed to last endlessly. "It never came to my mind that you would be troubled like that after the incident."

"No, I-it's not your fault" Eric said. He hadn't expect this answer. He thought that maybe Hetty would understand him, but obviously she didn't. "I should… I should just go down and continue with the work"

"Mr. Beale, I'm not finished yet" she said with a loud voice as he was about to open the door that leaded downstairs.

He held in again.

"I hope you know that we all will be there for you, no matter what. We are a team, and we won't let down anybody. And don't you dare to think that you are weak or something." Eric looked to her again. "Because you aren't. You were just at the wrong place to the wrong time. Everybody in this room could have been taken. It is not your fault."

He sighed. "But… but I should've done something… I mean, he… just grabbed me. If Callen and Sam hadn't arrived in time, I w-would've been…" He stopped. He didn't wanted to say it.

"But they have arrived in time" Hetty continued softly. When she told him the fact, it sounded full of optimism. "And because you've been leading Brown into the right direction, we were able to catch him. So, without your courage and the work of the team it wouldn't have been possible."

Now he understood what she wanted to say. It would never happen that the team would let him down – and he wouldn't let them down, too. He nodded in agreement.

"And, Eric." She touched his arm softly. "Next time, when something is bothering you, no matter if it's concerning private live or work, you come and speak to either me or someone else of the team, is that clear?"

"Yes" he said. "I… I just thought that I've to solve this on my own. I'm sorry" he continued. He remarked that he'd said this sentence way too often today.

"You don't have to excuse yourself" Hetty gave him a severe look, but he knew that it was meant to be otherwise. "And now go down, drink that coffee and if you feel fit enough, you can go on with your work." She stopped and sighed. "I would send you home, but I feel that you won't sleep anyway."

Now he grinned. "I feel up to work. And I promise to try and sleep a bit more tonight."

She nodded, smiling at him warmly. As both went downstairs, He turned around to his boss once more.

"Hetty?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr. Beale?"

"Thanks for listening".

"Every time, Eric. Every time."

And as he went home that day to catch some sleep, it was the first time since the hostage situation that he hadn't have any nightmares.

And that's it : ) I have to mention that I just begun to watch the show, so I'm not a quit "professional" when it comes to the characters, yet. However, I hope that I did a good job and I would love to read what you think about it or if you want to read more stories, because I've got some ideas :) So, please don't forget to review.

Love

Cupcake01