Disclaimer: NCIS: LA is not mine. Damn.
Prompt #8: Flip-Flops - "They're the reason you can never sneak up on me," she said, pointing at the footwear with a smile.
Words: 775
The first day Eric didn't wear flip-flops to work was the day Nell had her first mini heart attack.
She was trying to recover some data from a water-damaged document. Turning to grab the hair dryer, she almost walked into Eric and gave a small shriek. The hair dryer dropped to the ground with a loud crash.
"Nell?" he said, surprised at her surprise.
"Gawd, Eric," she gasped out, pressing a hand over her heart. "Warn me before you sneak up like that!"
"Sorry!" he said. He picked up the hair dryer and handed it back to her. "I didn't mean to startle you."
Nell smiled. "No problem."
While her heartbeat thumped out a reggae beat inside her ribcage.
The next time it happened, she wasn't expecting him in.
He'd called in earlier, sounding like hell with a sore throat, and said he wouldn't be able to come in. Nell quickly set to work, getting all the information together for the upcoming case. After the briefing she started searching through every database known to man, finding the information she needed for the team.
She was so focused on her task that she didn't hear the doors to Ops slide open.
She didn't hear his sneaker-clad feet shuffle up behind her.
She most certainly wasn't expecting his sandpaper-hoarse whisper of, "Where is everyone?"
To say she shrieked was an understatement. Her scream startled people across the building. She also jumped a good foot out of her chair, crashing into the ground and bashing her hip on the floor very painfully.
"Nell?" he rasped, surprised at this severe reaction.
She looked up and saw her scarf-wearing, runny-nosed partner standing over her, looking paler than death and shaky as a tower of gyroscopes. "The hell are you doing in?" she asked. And where the hell are your flip-flops? she barely stopped herself from adding.
He sniffed deeply. "Hetty said you needed my help." He coughed up some phlegm in one of the tissues he held and shuddered. "She said it was urgent..."
Only once did she really know when he wouldn't be wearing those flip-flops, and that was during an undercover op.
Despite his own (and quite honestly, everyone's) belief that the FAA cover was a once and done, Eric was needed to go undercover again. This time, he was a guest at a black-tie affair and had to talk hacking with other like-minded individuals.
He looked very boyish in his tux, Nell thought as she leaned over the railing and watched Hetty coach him on being an elite upper-crust snob. Very hot - Oh god, did I really just think that? she thought in shock - but it didn't fit his image.
Plus, he was wearing dress shoes. That alone looked weird on Eric.
Nell returned to Ops and put some finishing touches on his backstopping. And even though she was expecting him, his sudden intrusion of her personal space from behind was enough to make her give a small jump.
"Everything okay?" he asked, a trace of nervousness in his voice.
She nodded. "Yup. Everything's secure." She turned around slightly, glancing at her partner. "You okay?"
"Honestly? I'm not liking this. Going undercover again."
Nell gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. It's just for a few hours. Soon you'll be back in your chair and in your flip-flops."
The last addition was completely unexpected, but Eric didn't seem to notice. He just grinned, nodded to convince himself, and left.
And Nell tried not to blush.
Even though Hetty despaired of his flip-flops, Nell secretly liked them. Their sound was strangely comforting as he walked around the Mission, easily distinguishable as the Tech Operator's because, let's face it, nobody else would dare test Hetty's patience and try to copy Eric. Besides, that way he couldn't sneak up on her.
And he tried. Sometimes he came close. But then those sandals would flip-flop, like a little warning system, and give Nell the extra few seconds to brace herself.
Those extra few seconds were critical to Nell.
It was the difference between coolness and idiocy.
And sometimes, she needed more of the first and less of the second.
This one kind of zoomed all over. Oh well. Please review!
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