Chapter 10

Of course Nell wouldn't admit it to Eric openly right now, but she had been starting to doubt if they would be able to fulfil their mission successfully in the end. Protecting a child in this kind of dangerous situation was a totally different thing, as she would be making sure that a grown up person wouldn't be harmed in any way and she could see very well how scared the little girl was right now. But what should I say now? That everything is going to be fine? Or the cold hearted truth, which would be that I can't look into the future and tell her if she will be seeing her dad alive again, and that I don't know if I'll be able to protect her from the same men that kidnapped her parents? But she also couldn't worry that much about the whole thing right now, because it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that she would make some terrible mistakes if she did let herself get too distracted from the matter at hand.

Of course it didn't go by her partner unnoticed how thoughtful she was at this moment, and after some hesitation Eric finally said, "Hey, I know it doesn't look good for us right now, but deep down I know that if anybody is able to get us out of this mess in one piece, it's because you're definitely on one level with guys like Sam and Callen when it comes to being out in the field." Even if it maybe not the most opportune time, Nell couldn't help but blush for a short moment and it took some minutes for her to get out:"Thanks for the compliment Eric. I don't know how you do it, but you always find the right thing to say at difficult times like this."

Nell finally took one deep breath, made another turn with her red Mini Cooper, the tires screeching under the immense pressure they were under, but wasn't there an old saying, Sometimes there were no rewards when you didn't take any risks in the process? A few minutes later it was Eric who could announce some good news, "Looks like the cavalry has finally arrived to come to our rescue." Nell took a short glance into the rear view mirror to say in the direction of Stephanie, "Eric and I will make sure that nobody will be able to hurt you, I promise you that right now and I intend to keep that promise no matter what it costs." This wonderful little moment was suddenly interrupted, as they heard shots ringing out behind them. This time a gun battle had ensued between Hendrickson's men and their teammates from OSP, and that finally gave them at least a little bit of breathing room.

With Kensi, Deeks, Callen and Sam taking care of the threat for the girl's life, Nell decided it was for the best to finally get this poor little girl out of harm's way, because just saying that she was safe now was one thing, really taking her to a safe place was another story. They left the main road; Nell parked the car right in front of a nice looking little park because she figured that this was the one thing that little Stephanie would need the most now: some piece and quite after all the drama she had to go through in the last hours.

Of course you could say that it was wrong to create the illusion that everything was fine now, when Stephanie's dad was still missing but you also couldn't traumatize this kid too much by the reality that showed a very cruel side once again.

Shortly after Nell had helped the little girl out of the car, Stephanie practically launched herself into the Intelligence Analyst's arms and held onto her like her life still pretended on it. At first Nell felt a little bit overwhelmed by this whole situation, but then she put all her doubts aside for now and whispered into the quietly sobbing girl's ear: "Everything is fine now, those bad men will never be able to hurt you again because they will have to go through me first to do just that." From the distance Eric watched this scene unfold in front of him. He couldn't help but just be in awe because of the fact how well his partner could took care of the child, and Eric also had to ask himself if she also might start to feel some motherly instincts.

It took a few minutes before Stephanie's crying subsided and after Nell softly stroked her right cheek with her free hand, Eric and Nell finally went right into the little park with Stephanie tightly holding onto the hand of the Intelligence Analyst. Nell had tried to deny for some time, but deep down she knew that she and the little girl indeed start to have some kind of special connection and she couldn't but feel a little bit of motherly feelings for Stephanie even if she aware of the fact that she wasn't her child in the end.

Maybe this does mean that I want to have own kids in the future, but on other side I don't think that I'm ready yet to give up this job that I've loved doing since the beginning and settle down for a normal life, Nell thought and also took the time to just enjoy the wonderful view, rest up after all the drama they had to go through, and she was happy to be back at OPS very soon. Because even if it was great to get out of OPS from time to time, she preferred to do her work behind a desk alongside Eric as she wasn't that good out in the field as Sam, Callen and the other field agents and still had a lot to learn in order to get to their level.

Meanwhile Hendrickson was furious, as things weren't going as planned but he tried to see it from the positive side as Saunders was still in his possession, and he would try his best to quickly come up with a Plan B. With an evil grin he marched around in front of Frank Saunders and said: "Maybe the NCIS was able to avoid that your daughter gets in my grip too, but that doesn't change anything because one way or another I'm going to break you, and you're going to give me what I want!" Of course he hadn't been able to get Frank Saunders to reveal the secret place where he hid the USB flash drive that got him access to something very powerful: the access codes to the big nuclear arsenal of the USA.

A/N: Will the team be able to get to Frank Saunders before Hendrickson gets to break him? Thanks to: 974 IK for reviewing this story; Jones Deere 88 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription; Thanks to- Serotonin 2501 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription; Guy Guy Land for adding this story to his story alert subscription; Dubigail for reviewing this story. Please read and review.