Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.

Prompt #25: Fist - "I...tripped down the stairs?" she hedged with a sheepish grin as his usually jovial face clouded with rage, his hand gently cupping her cheek just below the swollen black eye. Behind them, Sam and Callen winced as they imagined what her partner would do to her boyfriend (not that the team wouldn't offer their help).

This is Part 2 of the three-part story that started with #10, Conflict. Enjoy!

Words: 1,814

Nell slunk into the Mission with her head hung low, her hair hiding part of her face and her feet moving stealthily, trying not to draw attention to herself. She tried to get to the ladies' room without being seen.

Her eye throbbed painfully. Sucking in a breath, she reached up to lightly touch under her eye. Please let me just get to the bathroom. I can lock the door and then no one will -

"Nell?"

Oh no, she thought, freezing in place. "M-Morning Sam," she said without turning around.

"What wrong, Nell? Why're you sneaking around?"

Crap! "I'm trying to get to the bathroom," she blurted out. "I left home without putting on my makeup and I got a really bad breakout on my face, so..."

"Okay," said the big man. "Hey, you sound kinda tired."

"Didn't get much sleep," she said.

He left her alone, but Nell knew she didn't have much time. He'd mention her strange behavior to Callen, who'd talk to Kensi (and Deeks, if he arrived with her), who'd then say something to Eric, who'd come looking for her. She had maybe twenty minutes.

Locking the bathroom door behind her, Nell dug into her purse and pulled out concealer, foundation, blush, and a hairbrush. Arranging it around the sink, she took a deep breath and looked up to see the damage.

Her eye was turning a nasty shade of dark purple, but thankfully the swelling had gone down. Another bruise followed the line of her cheekbone, and there was a harsh red mark on her neck. Another deep breath calmed her down, and she picked up the concealer to begin covering up the marks.

She still wasn't entirely sure how it all happened. After a nice Friday night out, she and her boyfriend had gone back to her place for a movie and some cuddling. A quarter way through the movie, and Nell had the strange feeling that he was trying something. Something she didn't like. So she had sat up and asked him to quit it.

The slap had come from out of nowhere. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, on her back with him over her, his mouth latched onto her neck like a leech. Instinct had kicked in, and she kneed him in the gut to break his hold, then she slammed the heel of her palm into his face. Nose broken and bleeding, Christopher had cleared out of there in record time, leaving a terrified Nell lying on the floor of her living room, gasping for air and nursing a black eye. Needless to say, she hadn't slept well for the next couple days - a fact she hadn't lied about to Sam.

Once the marks were sufficiently covered and her makeup made to look natural (fifteen minutes - not bad), Nell collected herself one more time and left the bathroom to face the day. Smiling at the team, she grabbed some coffee and headed up to Ops.

Eric was waiting for her. "Hey Nell, what's shakin'?" he asked, his gaze never leaving his computer screen.

"Hey Eric." She walked over to her desk and started working. "Got a new case?"

His fingers suddenly stopped typing. Nell made the mistake of glancing over at him in surprise. Her partner was staring at her, confused and concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You seem...different."

"Nothing's wrong," Nell said, quickly looking back to her screen.

"Don't lie to me," he said. Nell was surprised to hear a hint of anger in his voice. "Tell me what's the matter, Nell."

He can't see the bruising, can he? "Nothing," she insisted. "Nothing's wrong. What's with the interrogation, Eric?"

Eric closed everything on his computer and swiveled to fully face Nell. His hand reached over, and Nell instinctively flinched away. "What?" she snapped.

"Why have you been crying?"

The sheer amount of tenderness in his voice drove her to tears again. Biting her trembling lip, she looked up at him, now giving Eric the view he needed to see her tears carve track marks through her makeup.

"What happened to you?" he whispered, reaching for the black eye. When she didn't recoil again, he cupped her face gently, minding the bruises. "Nell, what happened?"

Her eyes dropped in shame, tears dripping from her eyelashes. "I - I didn't want to," she whispered brokenly. "He - he wanted to go further, and I didn't want to, and then he - he h-h-hit me." Her voice caught and choked on the word. "Then he g-got on top of me and I c-c-couldn't get him off..." Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she kept talking. "I kneed him in the gut and then I drove the heel of my palm into his nose..." She started to demonstrate but stopped, noticing for the first time that she had a cut on her hand. "I didn't see that before," she remarked dully.

"Oh God, Nell," Eric breathed, horrified. His arms tightened as if he wanted to hold her, then relaxed like he'd decided against it. "Then what?"

"Then he ran out of my apartment with a bloody nose." It sounded anticlimactic, but Eric knew she was still reeling from the fact that she'd managed to escape without any lasting damage. "I double-locked everything and waited for Monday..."

His eyes widened behind his glasses. "You've been locked up in your apartment since Friday? Jesus Christ, Nell, why didn't you call someone? Callen, or Sam, or Kensi, or Deeks? Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want you to get involved! I couldn't!" she sobbed, breaking down against his chest. Eric quickly caught her in his arms, rubbing her back and stroking her hair to reassure her.

Knowing that his partner had been in fear of her life for the last three days was heart-wrenching. Knowing that he hadn't known about it was even worse, like his heart had been ripped from his chest.

Knowing, from the beginning, the man his partner had been seeing was dangerous, and having it proven to him in this way - that was a hell he'd ever felt before.

"I'm scared to go back now, Eric," she sobbed, her first spoken words in several minutes of crying. "I'm scared he'll be there again."

Eric's arms tightened around her. "Again?"

She shivered, her fists grabbing handfuls of his shirt. "He'd...show up a couple times a day, just...waiting for me out front..."

"That's stalking, Nell. Why didn't you - " He stopped short, realizing why she hadn't called anyone. "Jesus, Nell. You made one bad call. We wouldn't be the ones to say 'I told you so'."

"But you knew," she said in a small voice. Now that she'd cried herself out, her voice was steadier. "You ran a background check on him too."

Eric stiffened, caught red-handed. "Too?" he asked, not bothering to insult her intelligence and deny it.

"Don't play coy. I know you and Deeks both ran your checks as soon as you learned his name." She shook her head. "Deeks I get, since he asked to run it - "

"Wait, you let Deeks run a check on this guy but you didn't want me to?" Eric said without thinking. Checking himself, he said, "Never mind. Point is, you should have called someone, Nell. We all care about you, and we would've come over to make sure you were all right." One hand reached up to his mouth and let out an earsplitting whistle.

Nell shot up straight, shocked and a little scared at his action. "What're you doing?"

"Doing what you should have done. Calling in the cavalry."

In less than a minute the NCIS team entered Ops. One glance at Nell, and they immediately fell to their tasks as if commanded; Kensi walked over and took Nell from Eric, leading her to the bathroom with Deeks on their heels. Sam left to inform Hetty, while Callen looked to Eric and only said three words. "Was it him?"

Eric nodded tersely. "Friday. She's been locked in her apartment since then, and he's stalked her just as long."

The other man dragged a hand down his face. "Dammit."

Deeks returned, his face creased in a serious look. "Kensi's starting the first-aid. Hetty's with them." His blue eyes cut over to Eric. "So, what're you going to do about this?"

"Me?" The surprise at being addressed made Eric's voice squeak a little.

"She's your partner. Your partner got hurt." Now Callen was being serious as a heart attack, likewise looking at the Tech Operator like he held the answer. "What are you going to do about it?"

Eric was one of those people who hated violence. That was the main reason he wasn't an agent and just an analyst; no field work. The only reason he was comfortable during the Druitt investigation was because he didn't have to take a gun into the field. Video games were okay, because they weren't real. The enemies there really hadn't pissed him off beside existing to try and kill his gamer-self.

But this was different. This was real. A real enemy.

And this wasn't about a game. This was about Nell.

The bastard had hurt Nell.

So Callen and Deeks were only mildly surprised when their easygoing Tech Operator gave them both a steely glare and said, "I'm going to set this guy straight."

Callen nodded. "Go tell Kensi and Hetty where we're going," he instructed Deeks. "I'll tell Sam to get the car ready." He beckoned Eric to follow him. "Let's go defend Nell's honor."

Eric got up and put down his keyboard. Cold rage was quelling his usual nervousness about inflicting violence on someone. Following Callen out of Ops, he spared one glance to make sure Nell was okay. Hetty was with her, applying first-aid to her black eye and the cut on her palm. The small woman saw them leave, then gave a small nod.

That nod spoke volumes. Make this right.

Eric nodded back. I will.

Nobody hurt his partner and gets away with it.

Badass!Eric is in the house! Yay!

Halfway through this one! Review please!