Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA
2: Nell and Eric
Eric and Nell watched everything happen from the safety of their world upstairs. It was filled with so many gadgets to help protect people. Yet, at the moment, they were both completely helpless as they watched one of their best friends carted off to only-Hetty-knows-where. They remained silent as they watched Deeks' face drop and then slowly shut off the lights in the bullpen. They could see the glint of the rusted old knife, still glimmering in his hand as he walked out.
Nell stared at the screen for a moment, as if trying to find a shred of sympathy in her mentor's features, but as she found none, shut it off. "Well…I-I'm headed off. Good night Eric." She gave him a quick hug, feeling needy at the moment.
How could Granger and Hetty do that so easily? She understood that Hetty probably had her reasons, she always did, but this time, it didn't feel like they could ever have been as implicating as the expressions on her friends faces.
She hated her job sometimes. Neither Kensi, nor Deeks, deserved that. They had finally, finally accepted each other. (God, it had taken them forever…on the upside, it won her free tickets to a day spa, courtesy of Michelle.) For that to be torn from them, it was almost surreal.
Eric slowly shut down after he heard the doors slide close with Nell's departure. Tucking his tablet away into his messenger bag, he made his way downstairs toward his car. Man, being an agent really sucked.
He thought about the idea of having his own pseudo-partner going on a mission, and he only finding out about it after she was already gone. His head and heart ached at the thought. He really hoped the waves were swell for the next couple of weeks.
Deeks would need a wake-up call.
He was plenty frightened of Hetty, but even he was ready to march into her office and demand an explanation. Surely there was someone else out there with the same skill set as Kensi that could have gotten the mission instead. They just reassembled the team for crying out loud!
The next morning, when they walked in and set up, Nell looked a little less together, and Eric seemed a little less willing to get the day started. He walked down the steps, and tried a whistle, determinedly not looking at the empty desk.
He didn't see Deeks. But, as Sam and Callen made their way up, he saw his surfer buddy drop his bag carelessly on Kensi's desk and make his way up the stairs, not even stopping to acknowledge Eric.
The threesome set about their duties, and Hetty rewarded Deeks with a temporary partner, a new agent called Sean.
Sean was reassigned by the end of the week.
Eric and Nell watch the team pass them by as their workdays got longer and Deeks slowly seemed to leave the bullpen less and less. Kensi's desk was emptied further and further, and if one saw the footage from upstairs, they would see the regression of the team.
Eric looked over at Nell. They both looked back at the screen, watching Deeks refuse another team trip and return to his paperwork. Nell slid panels along her tablet, unhooking it from the NCIS databases and reestablishing firewalls. Her fingers worked until she hit a picture of a friend that was slowly becoming a just a memory.
Eric looked over her shoulder at the picture. Eric hit the off button of the security tapes just as Nell shut off her tablet.
Deeks and Kensi both disappeared.
Nell and Eric needed a spot. It seems our dear Nell is getting out there. Hmm...future Hetty maybe? Definitely X)