Young Geek Love- Three Years Since
A/N- As I promise there is Neric fluff in this one-shot, it is set Christmas Eve around what would be in the show's time frame about season 7. Kensi and Deeks have been married for almost half- a- year, and Nell and Eric are living together.
When summer gets here my family and I always do a lot of gardening and we have started taking extra care of our plants. So my mum has started naming our plants, we've had plants called: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Manzo. We had a two ferns both that we've had for a while but we've only recently named them. The larger one we named Kensi and the other Deeks because my mum ships Densi and recently last weekend we got a small plant with tiny white flowers and called it Nell. I don't know how long it'll be until we get another plant but I really want to call it Eric, but it could take some convincing to getmy mum in on it.
Sorry for the long note please keep reading J
"I hope that some of that is mine," Eric joked as he dumped his keys on the bench, referring to the bacon and eggs that Nell was cooking.
"Yes, there's enough for you," Nell responded as he appeared behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a wet, slightly salty kiss on her cheek.
"You know there is this wonderful invention called a towel," Nell said, "It means you don't drip salty beach water on the new carpet."
"Okay, well I'm going to have a shower, and make sure the bacon's off the pan by the time I get out," Eric said, but then saw Nell's face when she turned around and he realised how demanding that sounded, "I mean so that you don't burn it- not that you would burn it- because it's not like you can't cook like Kensi."
"Well if I don't cook like Kensi who do I cook like?" Nell asked trying again to trip up Eric.
"You cook like... you cook like my lovely girlfriend that you are," He responded.
As Eric walked away Nell turned back to her cooking. To Eric's previous comment she had a thousand watt smile that spread filling her face. She had spent so long waiting to hear it and even after dating for almost a year and a half and living together for almost two months she still hadn't gotten used to Eric referring to her as his girlfriend.
As Eric retreated to the bathroom he started thinking about his surf with Deeks and the advice that he had given him in answer to his query.
~~Earlier this Morning~~
Eric got out of their bed careful not to wake Nell at six in the morning, she knew he and Deeks were going surfing, but it still didn't stop her from being a little grumpy if he woke her so early in the morning. He went into the bathroom to where his where his slightly wet, wetsuit hung. He met Deeks at the beach at around six-thirty. When Deeks arrived Eric waved him over to where he was sitting; watching the waves pull back into the ocean taking at its mercy a lonely piece of driftwood with them. But that was probably the most exciting thing on the beach because the waves themselves were pretty melancholy.
"Really, why didn't you tell me not to bother coming once you saw the waves- or lack of?" Deeks asked.
"Your idea," Eric replied, "and they're not too bad down the other end."
"So I guess you purposely parked so far away from the waves so that we'd have to walk, which means conversation, so ask your question Beale," Deeks said.
"Well it wasn't purposeful, it just worked out to my advantage," Eric admitted.
"So," Deeks said as they started walking, "what's your question Beale?" There was no response so Deeks tried again with a different approach, "what? You've been asked to go on 'Beauty and the Geek' and you're not sure how to tell Nell?" He guessed sarcastically.
"No, I've been thinking about ... Proposing," Eric said with hesitation before the last word left his mouth.
"Proposing what?" Deeks asked; messing with Eric, "Do you want to sleep on the other side of the bed because-" Deeks started before Eric cut him off.
"No," he said slightly irritated.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Deeks said trying to stifle small amounts of laughter, before composing himself.
"Look I finally have Nell and I don't want to let her go, I want to make it more official, more permanent."
"Ah, marriage; look don't come to me for advice. Just because I'm married doesn't make me an expert," Deeks warned.
"Well, how did you get the words out in the first place, how did you ask Kens the question, without worrying about rejection at the same time?"
"Seriously, who could resist this?" Deeks asked charismatically, but he knew that wasn't what Eric had meant, or the answer he wanted, so Deeks rethought his answer, "Honestly? I pushed it as far out of my mind as I could. Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of wild, insane courage to get the words out. Remember my proposal?"
"Yeah, you stood in her parking spot with a sign that said 'Marry me Kensi'," Eric responded.
"There were a billion and one thoughts going through my head whilst I waited for her to arrive. You would think that when she got there I would've been more nervous, I wasn't. As soon as I saw Kens that was all the courage I needed."
"Okay, well thanks," Eric said as Deeks finished his explanation.
"And by the way you were right. The waves are much better down this end of the beach," Deeks said
Eric was walking back out of the bathroom freshly showered when he smelt the bacon and eggs. He found a plate of bacon and eggs awaiting him on the bench where he'd but his keys earlier. He could hear movement and noise in their bedroom and could easily tell that it was Nell getting ready. By this time he'd normally be in there too trying to find his keys, wallet or another inanimate object; today though he'd packed his bag before he'd gone surfing.
When Eric finished and put his plate in the sink as Nell came out ready to go.
"You ready to go?" she asked.
"Shoes and bag," he replied as he went to get the aforementioned items and under five minutes they were in Eric's car and on the way to work.
The reason that Eric wasn't packing his bag at the same time Nell was getting her belongings together was the fact there was a certain item in a certain form of packaging that would've raised interesting questions that Eric didn't have lies for and Eric could not let Nell ask those questions. There were reasons that Eric had, had that conversation with Deeks that morning. Now all Eric had to do was make it through the day and that would be the real challenge. He was glad though that he hadn't told Deeks he was planning on proposing tonight because he would then be trying to trip him up all day, as if he wasn't under enough pressure already.
"So, how was your surf with Deeks this morning?" Nell asked pulling Eric back to reality.
"It was good, Deeks caught this awesome barrel until it started to collapse on him. He was under for a while but he was fine although he'll probably have a dramatic story about," Eric replied.
"Sounds like fun," Nell replied.
"It was, until Deeks started complaining about Kensi and how she makes their bed. Can you believe that she'll put only to doona on and doesn't bother with the sheets?"
"So, you guys talk about Kensi?" Nell asked.
"Well yeah, sometimes."
"Do you talk about me?"
"No, why would we talk about you- no it's not like we wouldn't talk about you... when you're related to the topic of discussion."
"Ahhh," Nell responded.
Eric and Nell were sitting in Ops not doing much except talking because it was close to Christmas there weren't many active cases and the ones that were active didn't concern them. So they were both thankful when Hetty walked into Ops to inform them that they had a case.
"Go round up the team," Nell said to Eric as Hetty handed her a case file.
Nell flicked through the file whilst Eric left Ops, he walked out the doors and alerted the team to the case on deck with his telltale whistle that everyone in Ops heard.
Minutes later the rest of the team entered followed by Eric.
"Miss Jones," Hetty said indicating for Nell to start.
"We have a hostage situation in downtown LA. This morning a group of men who we believe to be known terrorists came into an office building and took ten hostages," Nell reported.
"All CCTV cameras and phone lines have been cut off; no access to anyone on the inside," Eric added.
"LAPD is on the scene with a SWAT team as we speak, trying to find some way to contact the captors on the inside to negotiate a hostage release," Nell said.
"Wait, hold on, how did the US not know they were here?" Deeks asked.
"Because they probably came here illegally," Callen answered.
"Correctomoundo," Eric said, "they smuggled themselves into a cargo ship. It got into LA last Thursday."
"Do you know where the ship came from?" Kensi asked.
"Three weeks ago it left from a port in Japan," Eric replied.
"It then stopped in Papa New Guinea, followed by Perth, then Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, South Africa, then Liberia where we believe they bordered before it made two more stops in Rio, then Haiti before the last one of which was the Port of Los Angeles," Nell finished.
"Someone went to a lot of trouble to get them into the country," Callen observed.
"And now they've taken hostages at an office building," Sam said, 'the question is why."
"I want all of you Mr Callen, Mr Hanna, Mr and Mrs Deeks to join LAPD at the office," Hetty requested.
"Address is on your phones," Eric said.
"Mr Beale, Miss Jones I want eyes inside that office."
"We're on it," Eric replied as everyone exited from Ops and headed to their designated places, to do their designated jobs.
When they all arrived at the office block Callen took the lead and headed over to the LAPD officer who he assumed was in charge because he was holding a megaphone trying to negotiate with the terrorists on the inside.
Callen and Sam approached and pulled their badges out.
"Special agent Callen, this is special agents Sam Hanna and Kensi Deeks," Callen said and Kensi and Sam shook the officer's hand, "this is-"
"Detective Marty Deeks, Yeah I know. I'm Chief Officer Aaron Bartley, Deeks and I worked a few cases together before I was promoted, good to see you again," he said.
"You too," Deeks said.
"So are you two together or is it a coincidence that you share the same last name?" Bartley asked indicating at Kensi and Deeks.
"Married actually, 4 months," Kensi replied.
"Congratulations," Bartley replied.
"Thanks," Deeks replied.
"Any way do we know anything about the hostage takers inside?" Callen asked.
"There are three terrorists inside and have taken ten hostages. They are all known to have links to the Taliban," Bartley reported pausing when Callen's phone rang.
"It's Ops," he said and excused himself from the conversation.
"Callen," he said answering his phone.
"I managed to get access into the office using the webcams on the computers and we managed to identify our terrorist trio. We have Samhal Katuzi, Maknki Lebski and Zakaia Nobi, and they all have ties to the Taliban," Eric reported.
"Yeah, thanks Eric."
"There's more; I looked into their bank accounts, they have all recently had fifteen thousand dollars deposited into their bank accounts. I did some digging and I found out where the money came from," Eric started.
"It comes from a business called Local and Far, they do travel documents, Passport photos, Itineraries, basically any documents that you need for travelling," Nell finished letting Eric continue.
"At first looks it's a legit company," he said.
"But then when you started looking into not so much," Callen guessed.
"Bingo," Eric said.
"We still aren't quite sure what they are exactly but we will keep you informed," Nell said.
"Okay, thanks," Callen said walking back over to join the others.
"Eric and Nell got names for the three inside; Samhal Katzui, Maknki Lebski and Zakaia Nobi. Recently they all had fifteen thousand dollars deposited into their bank accounts from a business called Local and Far, on the outside it's a legit company but according to Eric and Nell there's something very shady going on but they're not quite sure what it is at the moment. They said they'd keep us informed."
"Okay, but do we have anything on these guys?" Sam asked.
"Not except for their connection to the Taliban," Callen replied.
"Why this office, what's so important about it?" Kensi asked.
"An even better question would be what do they want," Deeks stated.
"Well it's in the middle of downtown LA and right around the corner is a newspaper company," Officer Bartley suggested.
"Big press, the perfect way to get a message across," Callen said.
"A story like this; it'll spread like wild fire," Deeks said.
Another officer came over to speak to Officer Bartley.
"Sir, we've got one of them on the phone," he said handing the phone in his hand over to Officer Bartley. He gladly accepted and put it to his ear.
"This is Chief Officer Bartley of the Los Angeles Police Department," he said.
"My name is Samhal Katuzi," he spoke with a thick Arabic accent, "and you have something that I want. Her name is Azmal Katuzi, you have five hours to bring her to me in a car with tinted windows and one million American dollars or I will start shooting hostages. Starting with your wife, Bartley," he finished before disconnecting the call.
"What did he say?" Deeks asked.
"He says that we have five hours to bring them a woman named Azmal Katuzi, he also wants a car with tinted windows and one million dollars," Bartley reported.
"Okay, anything else?" Callen asked.
"Yeah, he says if he doesn't get what he wants he's going to start killing hostages, starting with my wife."
That ended up being a very eventful day and for part of it Eric forgot about his plans for the evening and when he remembered he almost whacked himself for it. Honestly how could he forget; it was potentially one the most pivotal moment in their lives and he'd forgotten. Although he was thankful for the distraction to calm his ever growing nerves which he was thankful that he'd been able to mostly hide all day.
That said when the moment came he almost froze.
Everyone was packing up to leave and so were Nell and Eric as they walked out of Ops. When they passed the bullpen Eric gave Deeks a glance that said 'here goes nothing' although he knew that he had plenty to lose if this went badly.
He grabbed Nell's arm as they reached the arch way where three years ago a piece of mistletoe had hung and they had shared their first kiss.
"What's up?" Nell asked as she stopped and turned to face Eric.
This was it now or never, Eric told himself.
"I was just thinking, about this time three years ago," Eric responded.
"Definitely a memorable occasion."
"Do you think we'd be where we are today if that hadn't happened?" he asked completely oblivious to the fact that they were being watched very closely by the team sitting in the bullpen, although only Deeks- and probably Hetty because she knows all- knew what exactly was going on, "at this stage?" he continued.
"And what stage would that be exactly?" Nell asked.
Eric looked into her hazel eyes that he loved so much and found all the courage he was searching for and before he thought about what he was doing exactly he bent down on one knee and pulled out a velvet box that held one beautiful ring for one beautiful and lucky lady.
He flipped the box open.
"Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me and I want you in my life," Eric started as the team started moving from their seats to get a better look at the scene before them, "when you first came in I actually hoped that because you were an analyst, Hetty wouldn't keep you around for long, but that was my old self, and I can't see my new self without you because you're part of it. So this Nell Therese Jones is my proposal to you. Marry me," Eric finished.
Nell was starting to cry but it was there was they were absolutely tears of joy because she was smiling like crazy and nodding her head trying to get the words out.
"Yes Wolfram. Yes a thousand times yes!" she exclaimed.
So happy at the fact that he hadn't been rejected Eric gently reached for Nell's hand and slipped the gorgeous diamond ring onto her finger before he stood up.
Nell looked at the ring admiring it; the diamond was small and dainty; perfect.
Eric drew Nell into a hug. They had completely forgotten that they had an audience and so when Hetty came over to speak to them it took them by surprise.
"Miss Jones, Mr Beale," she said, "I believe you are missing something," and she produced a piece of mistletoe from behind her back and held it up in the air making her best attempts to hold it above their heads so Sam came and lifted Hetty up so that she could pin the mistletoe above their heads. Once it was secured on the arch way Sam placed Hetty back on the ground and Nell and Eric caring not for their audience pulled each other into a kiss that showed their undeniable love from each other. When they pulled apart there were cheers and shouts of congratulations from everyone.
It was like a scene from a book and they wouldn't have it any other way.
A/N- Please review it means a lot to me when you do and a massive shout out to my mum for helping me decide how Deeks proposed to Kensi and to my best friend for jokingly suggesting that at the end someone should hold up Hetty to pin up the mistletoe like the scene from the beginning of the Lion King but I decided it was a good idea and twisted it into something I could use.
TheAlphabetSong xx