Fact, Inference, and Opinion (Part 1)

Eric Beale walked back into Ops after grabbing some coffee and noticed a bright orange Post-It note on his computer. "What's that?" he asked Nell as he sat down.

"My new address. You are stil planning on coming, right?"

Nell had been dropping hints about her new place for weeks, but tonight was the big reveal. "You betcha I am!" Nell looked like she might jump out of her chair. Eric flashed her a sideways smile before returning to work. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her this excited, and it looked good on her.

Eric knocked on Nell's front door exactly eleven minutes after walking out of the mission. "Come in," Nell called from inside. Eric stepped into the living room. It looked about the same as her old one, with the sofa against the front wall, a wall-mounted TV across from it with low shelves below, and her antique trunk serving as a coffee table. She had gotten a new chair, Eric noted, and behind it was the promised fishtank, inhabited by Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and two hermit crabs who were definately in each other's personal space. Further down that wall, Eric could see a bar which obviously served as Nell's work area, with her laptop, iPad, and what loooked like programming books covering most of the availible space. The bar was also the fourth side of the kitchen, judging by the enticing aromas drifting around the corner. Eric glaced around for Nell's library ,which she was thrilled to finally have room to unpack, but the only books he saw were programming books, field guides, and such underneath the TV.

He stepped into the kitchen to see Nell closing the oven with a satisfied look. "Do I smell cookies?" Nell gestured towards the oven timer, which had 7 minutes remaining. To Eric's fake pout, she added, "You haven't seen the best part yet."She slid open the pocket door at the end of the kitchen, and Eric stepped in-to what he could only describe as a Nell-cave.

The entire wall to his left was covered in floor-to-ceiling bookcases, which housed Nell's extensive library. Just glancing at it, Eric noticed Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Wizard of Ox, Clive Cussler, Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, even Timothy Zahn over on the far end (Alphabetical order by author's name-typical Nell). She hadn't been kidding when she said she owned almost every good mystery, fantasy, or Sci-Fi book ever written. The wall directly in front of him was a wall of windows, with sheer curtains to cut down on glare as well as the Mario-Kart pannels Nell had promised. A long storage bench underneath the windows housed board games and blankets (for movie nights). Another pocket door was on the wall to Eric's right, the rest of the wall lined with 2-shelf bookcases housing movies and video games on top and baskets of game equipment on the bottom. The TV stand was in the corner, barely visible with the TV and Kinect on top and Xbox, Wii, and Game Cube inside. Two denim beanbags took up most of the availible floor space. Nell grinned. "You like it?"
"I love it!"
"I got my posters up," and Eric realized he had forgotten to look up. Sure enough, there they were: Back to the Future, Bourne Identity, and her prized Star Wars VI poster, one of the rare ones that said Revenge of the Jedi-and a periodic table. Eric almost started laughing, it was so Nell. "So, did the floor plan include a game room, or what?"
"Well," Nell grinned wryly, "this was actually a study that was only accessible from the bedroom, but the previous tennant had some-major-anger mannagement issues. He punched a hole right through this wall, and since they had to tear it down anyways, they added a door for me. Hey, have you seen my pictures?" When Eric shook his head, Nell replied, "They're in the hall."

The photo collage in the hall was a virtual timeline of Nell's life. Toddler pictures of her and Randy-they were both adorable-Nell and Randy in a treehouse (with Nerf guns), Nell at what looked like a piano recital. I didn't know she played piano, Eric thought, as he stepped backwards and almost fell over, yep, a piano. Then there was Nell and Randy with huge smiled holding two shiny trophies in front of a science fair board. There were landscapes, too-probably Nell's photography-which were matted and framed, next to her diplopas and graduation tassels. There was also a photo from her graudation (high school or college, Eric couldn't tell), with Nell, Randy, their parents, and-Randy's girlfirend? No, she's standing next to Nell's mom. Who is that?
"Eric, you hungry?" Nell called.
It had to be her sister, Eric decided, she looks like Nell's mom. How on earth did I miss that?
Nell suddenly appeared by his elbow. "Learning something?"
"I didn't know you played piano, and I thought I had your family fingured out, but apparently not."
"We can talk while we ear."