A/N: I am open to constructive criticism, welcome it even, it helps me better myself as a writer but I will not stand for hatred and flames being left as reviews. A couple of people, kindly, told me that they would no longer be interested in this fic as it will be mostly Neric and that's fine, everyone has their own personal preferences. However, if you want to call me a 'useless writer' and tell me to not bother with anything because I'm not catering to your favourites then, quite frankly, you are petty and need to grow up. Such comments will not be tolerated. There are literally hundreds of Densi fics out there but less than 160 for Neric and about a third of those are actually Nallen in disguise. If this isn't your thing then fine, that's up to you, but don't start bitching and screaming because you're not happy with it.
Sorry about that but after some of the messages I've received today I had to get that off my chest. That being said though, thank you to those of you who do review, it honestly means the world to know that you're enjoying my work.
Anyway, on with the story. Not too sure about this one; we see quite a lot of Jealous!Eric on the show and so I really wanted to do him justice here. This one is set maybe a year or so ahead of the shows current timeline. Hope you like it...
9 - Man
He knows that it's necessary, but that doesn't stop his fingers from itching to strangle the guy every time he checks out Nell.
Stuck in OPS, Eric sat watching the main screen clenching and unclenching his fists.
Nell had been sent out into the field and again, another think-tank that wanted her had popped up, creating the perfect cover story for her. Eric knew that his partner was smart, though calling Nell 'smart' was something of an understatement. He wasn't even angry about Hetty sending his partner out into the field again; Nell had been going out more and more recently and Eric knew that she was thinking about becoming a full-time agent. He also knew that his partner was more than capable of taking care of herself and the way that his heart clenched every time Nell left OPS was something Eric wasn't yet willing to address.
No, Eric was pacing around like a caged animal because of the man on screen.
The man Nell was on a date with.
Well, technically it wasn't a date, it was part of her cover and all Nell was trying to do was get as much information from their suspect as possible without him noticing. Still, that didn't mean she had to keep laughing like that.
The fact that Eric was practically starring the suspect in the eye wasn't lost on the technical operator either. Nell wasn't the tallest out there and she was wearing a button camera, for crying out loud. Did this guy have no shame?!
"Yeah, buddy, her eyes are up there," Eric grumbled in OPS, unaware that Nell had heard him until the feed from the camera shifted slightly as the young agent shifted her shirt slightly.
Smirking to himself, Eric tried to focus on running a complete background search on this guy. Daniel Maston just appeared six years ago and after a few clever searches on Eric's behalf they'd discovered that Daniel Maston had been eight other people prior to the latest alias. If that wasn't enough to raise red flags then the suspicious death of the marine two weeks ago, the same time Maston began working at the think tank, had the team investigating.
"Try asking about his family, see if that helps," Eric said, moving away from the terminal and to the laptop found behind Maston's house.
"So what about you family, do they know about all this?" Nell asked Daniel, gesturing at the office building behind them where the think tank operated.
"No, my father wasn't around much as a kid. Walked out on me and my mom when I was eight. She died a few years ago. It's a shame," Maston told her, "She's always been so supportive of me when I was growing up, worked every hour she could to help send me out to the best colleges out there. While everyone else laughed at the 'smart freak' my mom just loved me."
Nell tried to smile and listen to everything Daniel told her but, honestly, the man could talk about paint drying and it would be more interesting. Apparently Eric agreed with her as he sighed loudly over the comms.
"I have a tragic backstory too; you don't see me painting it out like a Hallmark movie!" Eric told her, looking up from the laptop to the main screen to see Maston once again starring down Nell's blouse. He knows that it's necessary, but that doesn't stop his fingers from itching to strangle the guy every time he checks out Nell.
"Mh-mm," the analyst nodded, raising her hand to cover her smile at Eric's outburst. Unfortunately, Daniel took this as a cue to continue his sob story.
"Seriously, this guy is just milking it now. What a joke," Eric mumbled to himself as he tried to hack into the laptop again, forgetting that Nell could hear everything he was saying about her 'date'. After trying various methods to get past the first few firewall the technical operator
"Got it, guys," Eric announced over comms as he looked up at the main screen to see Maston holding his partners hands, tracing patterns nonsensical patterns across the skin and distracting the technician.
"Eric, can you hear us?" Callen called out over the comms.
"Yeah, sorry, I um," Eric stammered, eyes glued to the sight of someone else touching his partner.
"Eric? What'd you find?" Sam asked, trying to prompt Eric into talking sense.
"He's not the guy, Maston's in WITSEC, keeps getting moved around after a run in with some terrorists a while back. His laptops clean, well. It's not got the files Petty Officer John was supposed to have on it." Eric relayed, finally tearing his eyes away from the main screen.
"So we can cut him loose? You hear that Nell?" Callen asked over the comms, getting no response from the intelligence analyst.
Pulling out his phone, Eric sent his partner a quick text.
Nell finally pulled her hands away from Maston after hearing her phone beep on the table, pulling it out and seeing it was a text from Eric she opened the message, "Not the guy, get rid of him and come home." Nell had joked one night during a long case that she spent more time in OPS than she did in her apartment and Eric had continued the joke by referring to the Mission as home.
"Who's that?" Maston asked, seeing Nell smile.
"Nothing much, just my mom."
Well, Nell could hardly tell the ex-suspect that she'd been trying to flirt earlier with that it was actually her boyfriend texting her.
A/N2: After rewatching War Cries for what feels like the hundredth time, I couldn't resist add the 'just my mom' line. Hope you liked it, sorry it's a little shorter than the last few
