Signs of Love
Summary: Pulled in for a case by the LA team, Abby Sciuto indulges in two of her favorite hobbies: forensics and convincing her friends they're in love. Neric-centric, hints of McAbby and Densi.
Author's Note: Eric uses sign language in Season 1 episode 9, which is also the episode that during which Abby guest starred and was kidnapped. I decided that Kensi would know it as well because that made this easier. We know she can read lips, so I figured, why not ASL as well? Also, I just rewatched that episode for research purposes and they're adorable. Eric is even wearing a normal shirt (which we all know is a rarity in Season 1)!
Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, NCIS: LA or any of the characters
As the plane touched down on the tarmac, Abby bounced nervously in her seat. The last time she had visited Los Angeles, things had not gone exceptionally well, to say the least. However, sometimes only her expertise in the field could compete with a case, which was why Eric and Nell had called her in, popping up on the screen in her lab.
Eric had tentatively introduced the young woman beside him as his partner, a title that they both seemed to accept. Nell's greeting had been warm yet wary. The longer she had watched them on her screen, the more prevalent their feelings had become. The moment they had finished their briefing, Hetty appeared behind Eric and Nell. Greetings aside, her only message to Abby was a reminder of her flight's departure time. As she had rushed to find her go bag, Abby decided to spend a little extra time discovering what was really happening between her favorite geeky friends.
Meanwhile, Nell and Eric sat in a sleek black van, awaiting Abby's arrival. The silence surrounding them differed from their usual quiet. In fact, Nell realized, total silence was completely new to them. In OPS, speech was replaced by keys clacking and computers humming. Even on their "quiet" drive to the airport, the rumbling engine could be heard under the radio's music. Now, however, only the sounds of distant traffic and planes flying to and from the airport surrounded them.
Although unfamiliar, the silence was not uncomfortable to Nell. She relished the moments, thinking over her interactions with Abby earlier that day. She had suspected that Abby and Eric were more than just colleagues, but his nervous demeanor when she appeared onscreen had confirmed it. Callen's teasing, followed by Kensi's explanation, hadn't helped either. Nell thought back to the conversation in OPS earlier that day.
"So Eric, is your girl on her way?" Callen asked.
"Not my girl," Eric replied, clearly trying to prove an old point.
"I don't know. That's what you said last time, too," Callen teased. Seeing the smaller woman's confusion, Kensi walked towards Nell.
"Eric took Abby out for a drink the last time she was in town," Kensi clarified. Nell nodded, removing all emotion from her face to avoid anyone seeing her disappointment.
Eric's phone, buzzing on the console between their seats, broke Nell out of her reminiscence. Eric tapped the Bluetooth device in his ear, picking up the call but not the phone. His face lit as he spoke. On the other end of the line, Abby became increasingly excited and energetic as she pulled her go-bag off of the overhead rack and moved toward the front of the plane. Once she stepped into the tunnel connecting the plane to the terminal, Abby wove through the other passengers and maneuvered herself to the parking area Eric had specified, searching for his car.
"Eric!" she called out when she finally saw him leaning against the backdoor on the passenger side. As he turned, he pushed off the car. Beside him, Nell followed his gaze, her eyes landing on the eccentric forensic scientist. As Eric jogged across the parking lot toward Abby, Nell walked more slowly, allowing the pair to reconnect before joining them. Abby launched herself at Eric, throwing her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist to steady them.
"Nell, Abby. Abby, Nell," Eric introduced, stepping away from Abby. Nell extended her hand, but Abby leapt forward, hugging her instead.
"It's so nice to finally meet you," Abby exclaimed as they walked back to Eric's car. Eric walked ahead of the two women, rolling Abby's bag behind him. They reached the car as he loaded the bag into the trunk. Eric slipped past Abby, opening her door before his own. Nell watched their exchange from the passenger side door. A disheartened sigh escaped her lips before she took her seat, buckled her seatbelt, and settled in for the traffic-filled ride back to the OSP.
"Callen!" Abby exclaimed, leaping out of the car as soon as it was safe. Hearing his name, Callen turned just in time to catch Abby's enthusiastic embrace. As Abby turned to greet Callen's partner Sam, Eric turned off the car. He stepped out, grabbing Abby's bag as Nell followed.
"We should probably bring you inside," Callen remarked. "Kensi's been dying to see you all day."
"And just wait until you meet Deeks," Sam added, smirking. Callen sauntered into the building and his partner waited for Abby to bounce past before following them, leaving Eric to hold the door for Nell. The technical analysts heard Kensi and Abby's reunion before they saw it. They reached the bullpen in time to hear Deeks' introduction.
"So you're Deeks," Abby remarked. "That would explain quite a bit."
"Wait – is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Deeks questioned. Before Abby could reply, Hetty appeared.
"Miss Sciuto, welcome back to Los Angeles. I see that you've met the newest additions to our team. I'm sorry we don't have more time to chat. Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna will escort you to the forensic analysis center." Sam and Callen nodded.
"Kensi, you and Deeks track down his fiancée. See if she knew what he was up to. Nell and Eric-" Callen began.
"Going back through the emails and phone records," Nell confirmed.
"Eric, I'm going to need-" Kensi jumped in.
"Already on your phones," he responded, hitting a few buttons on his tablet. The team dispersed.
"So, Abby..." Nell started as she and Eric entered OPS.
"She's really something, isn't she?" Eric grinned, diving into his work.
"Yeah, she's something..." Nell agreed. Eric didn't notice her lack of enthusiasm for their colleague's appearance, too intent on the computer in front of him.
Within a few hours of her arrival, Abby had completed the initial analysis of the pathogen that had killed their victim. As she waited for the computer to catch up, she had transformed her new space. Music blasted through the speakers, and the analytic machines whirred, working harder than they usually did. Kensi and Deeks stopped in, holding a muddy sneaker in an evidence bag. Seeing them enter, Abby quickly found her remote and paused the loud music.
"What've you got for me?" Abby asked. Kensi held out the shoe.
"We're hoping you can use this to help us figure out where the Lance Corporal has been recently," she explained. As the two women tracked the chain of evidence, Deeks wandered around the room, marveling at its technology.
"Cute," Abby signed, her fingers moving fluidly.
"Deeks?" Kensi checked, spelling his name in one hand. Abby nodded discretely. "He's my partner," Kensi signed. Deeks' voice broke through their conversation.
"This is like a whole new level of geek," he commented. Abby turned to him.
"This is going to solve your case in half the time," she countered, daring him to argue. Kensi snickered at the apprehensive look on Deeks' face. Luckily, her ringing phone prevented their further conversation.
"Hey Callen," she picked up, checking the screen briefly. "Yeah, she's right here...ok." As Kensi flipped the phone away from her ear, her eyes followed Deeks as he walked back to them. "Ok, Callen, you're on speaker."
Callen quickly ran through the latest updates on the case. Abby zoned in and out of the conversation, going over her procedures for testing the mud caked onto the shoe. She tuned back in just in time to hear Callen's request and agree, adding it to her to-do list. Kensi and Deeks left quickly after Callen hung up his phone, leaving Abby alone in her new lab with just her music and machines. She worked diligently, testing soil samples and comparing their composition to the federal database. She printed her findings and sped through the building, winding through its corridors that led to the bullpen and eventually OPS.
"I got it!" she announced as she entered OPS, panting to catch her breath. Nell grabbed the paper from Abby's hand without saying a word. Instead of taking offense like she usually would, Abby grinned. Eric turned to her, his brow furrowed.
"She's jealous," Abby signed to him. Eric shook his head.
"We've got a location for you Callen," Nell announced loudly. Eric spun around in his chair, his hands landing instantly on the keys. "Coming to your GPS," Nell added, glancing at Eric as his fingers flew across the keyboard. He transmitted the information she had input, triumphantly pressing enter as he finished. Abby rolled her eyes at his flourish. "Did you need anything else, Abby?" Nell checked.
"Oh, right," Abby momentarily snapped out of her observations. "I was able to determine the contents of the victim's stomach." As she rattled off the victim's last meal, she watched the technical analysts pull up a list of restaurants and eliminate them one by one until only a handful remained.
"I'll get Deeks and Kensi on this," Nell informed them. Eric prepared the list to send to their phones. Abby waited until they got off their call with the agents.
"I'll let you both get back to work," Abby mentioned, though she didn't turn to go.
"Thanks Abby," Nell said, her eyes still on her computer. Eric, on the other hand, turned his chair to offer her his thanks.
"If you don't tell her, I will," Abby signed before she left and returned to her makeshift lab. She had just begun to clean up the material from her analyses when her computer rang, indicating that she had an incoming video call.
"McGee!" she exclaimed when he appeared on her screen.
"Hey Abs! How's the West Coast treating you?" he asked.
"It's sunny," she remarked to his amusement. "And I was totally right about Nell and Eric."
"Abby..." McGee cautioned.
"What?!"
"I know that look. Don't do this. You know better than to meddle into other people's love lives. You have enough trouble with your own." Abby rolled her eyes.
"If I agree to go out with you, will you let me meddle? I was going to suggest we give it another go when I got back, but I'm also ok with this plan." McGee, speechless, didn't have a chance to recover before a second call came into Abby's station. "That's OPS, I better go!"
"Wait, but-" Abby cut off McGee by ending the call; Eric's face replaced McGee's on the screen.
"What do you need, Eric?" she asked.
"We found the source," he revealed. "Turns out there was a contaminated water source at a campground in the area you found. From there it was easy to figure out how the disease had spread. The team's all going out for drinks now that the CDC's got the situation under control. Want to join?"
"I'd love to," Abby agreed, shocked by how quickly the case had been solved. "I'll meet you guys in the bullpen as soon as I'm done cleaning everything up."
Abby followed Eric and Nell into the team's favorite local bar and grill, having joined them for the ride over again. As they passed through the doorway, they found the rest of the team gathered around a table. Nell and Eric filled in a gap the rest of the team had left open for them, and Abby slid in between Nell and Kensi, whose partner flanked her other side. Callen waved the server over so the group could order drinks. As they munched on shared appetizers and sipped their drinks, the group shifted their places around the table, engaging in a variety of conversations. Nearly an hour after they had arrived, Abby found herself sandwiched between Callen and Deeks, and the team's three established partnerships stood together. Nell and Eric split off from the rest of the group, discussing the merits of new software with which they had just started to work.
"Technology? Really?" Abby signed across the table, only partially paying attention to Callen and Sam's conversation. Eric noticed and rolled his eyes at her.
"Okay, that's it. What have you two been signing all day?" Nell interrogated.
"Wait – all day?" Kensi asked from Nell's other side, temporarily distracting her. As Nell recounted the interactions she had observed earlier in the day – which neither Abby nor Eric had thought she had seen – the other pair continued to sign.
"What do you want me to say?" Eric asked, his fingers flying almost angrily.
"Honesty," she returned. "You like her." Even the members of their group who did not understand sign language had an idea of Abby's message as she pointed first to Eric and then to Nell. Kensi alone followed the full conversation, her eyes bouncing back and forth as if drawn to a tennis ball.
"You're going to want to pay attention," she whispered to Nell. She joined Abby's side in the debate, causing Eric to turn more towards Nell. As she reappeared in his field of vision, Eric forced his hands to relax, removing the anger from his whole body in a matter of seconds.
"Abby thinks you're jealous of her, even though there's nothing going on between us," he finally interpreted. Other members of the group strained to hear their conversation. Behind Nell, Kensi interpreted for Abby, who relayed the messages to Callen and Sam. When Hetty spoke to the pair, they turned to her, providing the illusion of a conversation.
"I seem to remember something similar happening with Nate," she pointed out, trying to gain the upper hand as she often did. His eyebrows scrunched.
"There was nothing going on between you and Nate?" he asked. Kensi began to annotate the discussion, trying to explain some of the interactions Abby had missed while she was on the East Coast.
"Not by the time I met you. And you two?" Eric shook his head.
"That started and ended with one bar the last time she was in town."
"Getting kidnapped kind of killed any chance for us," Abby added, shouting across the table. Eric's jaw slid to the side, indicating his irritation that she had rejoined the conversation. She shrugged and returned her attention to Kensi.
"Kidnapped?" Nell asked.
"I can explain. Let me buy you a drink?" he asked, stepping away from the group. Nell's eyes traveled to Abby and then to Kensi before she followed him.
"Took them long enough," Sam sighed.
"Does this mean that we have to deal with them flirting in OPS?" Callen checked cheekily. Hetty piped up, humoring her team by discussing their relationships outright.
"That wouldn't really be new, would it?" They all shared a laugh. Abby turned to Kensi to sign one last message.
"You're next."
Author's Note: Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Before you ask, I have no intention to write a sequel. Aside from that, let me know what you think!