Chapter 10
Kensi clearly didn't know what to say for a minute because she was not shocked because of Nell kissing Eric, it was the fact that she may regret it: „But that's such a nice thing Nell, maybe it helped him a little more to remember you. So why do you exactly regret right now?"
"I just have the feeling that it was too early, in the end nobody knows how long it will exactly take for him to get the rest of the memories back and I really don't want things to be weird between us in the meantime." Nell replied because of the fact that she first started to doubt herself as there was a very awkward silence between the two but remembering the words from the Doctor, Nell was now totally unsure of what to think: Is Kensi may be right? Did that kiss between us did trigger some memory in his head? Of course there was a slight possibility that Eric's memories about her were starting to come back slowly but in the end that was all nothing more than speculation right now, because he hadn't say anything considering that to her since this whole "thing" happened and sadly she couldn't see into his head .
Kensi could now understand her friends position a little bit better and she tried her best to give her a little pep talk:" You've got to talk to him about what has happened, ask him if he is starting to remember things about you because that's the best alternative to trying to sweep it under the rug because it maybe an uncomfortable topic for the both of you."
"Yeah you're right Kensi and thank you so for always being such a good advice giver in the past." Nell said and now was really happy to finally have the courage to talk about the whole thing that has happened between them today. The two then finally ended the call, Nell almost being too caught up in her thoughts that she forgot about the pasta cooking in the kitchen but she quickly ran to the boiling pot on the stove and made sure that the water didn't boil over. As she was later busy with making final preparations for dinner, she kept asking herself the same question over and over again: How do I handle this very delicate matter the best, so that I don't destroy the trust in me he has right now? Of course nobody said it was going to be easy but no way or another she would have to bring this "thing" up because Kensi was totally right. Finally she put the dinner on the table and as she put his plate in front of him he immediately said with big eyes: "This looks really great and I bet it also tastes good."
That compliment made Nell blush for a slight second, but she quickly focused back on her pasta and deep down she was thinking about how she could approach the whole kiss thing the best way without it sounding totally weird in the end.
The two were eating for some minutes when Nell finally put down her fork and asked Eric: "Can we talk about the whole "thing" that has happened in the living room in the afternoon?" Eric of course wondered about what she exactly wanted to talk about: maybe that she regrets the whole thing? He surely hoped that this wasn't the case and for him this one kiss had been pure magic, even if Nell was still such a big stranger to him. "I remembered this exact Christmas that I saw a picture of us during our kiss and the butterflies in my stomach were really active the whole time." She surely hadn't seen that one coming and with that confession, all of her doubts were blown away in a matter of seconds. With a big smile on her face she replied: "It's so great that you remember that one special kiss and I'm pretty sure that it won't take so much longer now to get the rest of your memory back."
She hesitated first, because she didn't know if it was an appropriate gesture at this time but then she finally hugged Eric tightly and wanted to show him that he got all her support no matter what.
Eric didn't feel a bit uncomfortable in Nell's arms and so he enjoyed this whole moment for a few minutes with a little smile on his face and he surely hoped that she was right in the end. Meanwhile back at Kensi's apartment, Deeks had come by to have a little movie night with her at her apartment and as he was busy with prepping the snacks at the couch table Kensi was busy with choosing a movie from her big DVD collection. Of course she really missed the presence of her colleague Eric at work and was also asking herself over and over again how this whole memory loss thing would take to disappear: It will definitely take some more time for him to fully recover, I guess I can be very inpatient in some cases. But one thing was sure of course: Eric would be back at work together with Nell very soon and how long it took didn't actually matter so much in the end, because they all just needed to keep up their confidence that Eric was going to fight to get through this.
Eric and Nell had finally drawn away from each other again, continued to eat their food, Eric of course couldn't stop saying how good the pasta tasted and Nell just answered being totally flattered by that: "Thanks Eric I appreciate your compliment." This time she couldn't avoid the fact, that Eric saw her blushing and him just smiling at her with one of his irresistible smiles just might would have made her knees buckle if she wouldn't be sitting right now. While they were totally busy with eating, Eric couldn't help but think about his dead girlfriend Vanessa, because to him it felt like it was yesterday that he had heard off her death from the doctor at the hospital on this one very bad day a couple of years ago. Does one part of me maybe still misses her? The other important question certainly is: What do I exactly feel for Nell, just friendship or something more? Maybe he did indeed miss Vanessa, maybe one part of his mind no struggles again to come to terms with the death of the woman he loved.
But he certainly couldn't talk with Nell about this one, because he had the slight feeling that it would hurt her feelings because his gut told him that the two of them were something more than friends, even if he just couldn't remember that fact fully.
AN: Thanks to- Sassy Classy NCISLA Lover and Jessiqua for reviewing this story. Don't forget to read and review, I hope you like this chapter and constructive critic is always welcome.