Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
Prompt #48: Skype - While in New York to help out on a cross-juristictional case, she's so glad that he's always just a click away.
Words: 999
Nell looked out the window of her hotel room, staring at the bright lights of New York City. Even at one in the morning, they gleamed like diamonds in the darkness. They were similar, and yet so different from the city lights of Los Angeles.
Again Nell felt homesick. Everything about New York was wrong, to her way of thinking. It was cold all the time. Everyone was always pale, and in business suits. Nobody owned a surfboard, and everyone carried a briefcase. It was like she'd been plucked out of reality and dropping in the Twilight Zone.
Damn time zone difference, she thought, scowling at the buildings. She was still on Los Angeles time, which was three hours behind New York, which meant it was only...ten o'clock back home. Goddammit. She rubbed her eyes and got up from her chair, deciding to try and lie down on her bed in an effort to get drowsy.
But even going horizontal wasn't helping her jet lag. Groaning, she rolled over and buried her head in a pillow. She missed her own bed, with her own pillows, her own blankets.
She missed LA, and the beach, and warm temperatures. She missed surfing, and suntans, and rollerskating down the boardwalk.
She missed Ops.
She missed the team.
She missed Eric.
A light trilling ring suddenly echoed from her computer. Sitting up, Nell saw a window open and an icon blink. Speak of the devil, she thought in astonishment. She got up and clicked CONNECT. "I was just thinking about you," she confessed.
"What a surprise. I was just thinking about you too," Eric replied with a grin. "How's the Big Apple, rockstar?"
"I love NYC," she quipped dryly as she dropped into the chair. Resting her elbow on the desk, she propped up her chin and smiled weakly. "But I do miss sunny LA. And you."
Eric blushed and gave a small grin. "How's the case coming along? Making any headway that can speed up your homecoming?"
"Ugh, I wish. We're still waiting on evidence processing, and they won't let me touch the data until they triple-check it for worms or Trojans or whatever other nasty bug they think it could be carrying. I probably won't get a crack at it til the day after tomorrow."
"Ouch," he said, wincing in sympathy. "Well, cheer up babe. At least you can go shopping."
Nell couldn't stop the smile on her face. "Yeah, I can just blow through hundreds of dollars in one of the most extravagent cities in the U.S. of A. During Fashion Week." All the models walking the street had made Nell very conscious about how small and girlish she looked in comparison to those international bombshells. "That would go over nicely with Hetty."
"I'm sure you'd find something absolutely stunning," Eric assured her. His blue eyes glinted in the lights of Ops. "Now you should get some sleep, Nell. It's one in the morning there, isn't it?"
"Almost two," she admitted. "But I can't sleep." She sighed again, then reached to touch the computer screen. "I wish you could've come with me. I bet we could've spun a story that Hetty would've believed."
Her partner snorted a good few times as he laughed. "Yeah right, Nell. The day we successfully con Henrietta Lange will be the day that marshmellows rain from the skies and we all fly on dragons. Besides, one of us has to hold down the fort while the other swoops in to save our East Coast counterparts' techie butts."
"There are other analysts who could take over," Nell argued. But her tone was playful. She knew he was right. One of them had to man the booth. But she was so lonely, and he was on the other side of the country. She missed him.
It must've showed on her face, because Eric then said, "How about this? When you get back, we'll go out somewhere really nice. Actual restaurant, classy establishment."
Nell smiled with astonished gratitude. "You'd actually ditch your flip-flops and adhere to a dress code? For me?"
"Course I would, rockstar." Something beeped, and he glanced to another screen. "Eh, gotta go Nell. Something's starting to move over here."
"Okay. Get home at a reasonable hour tonight," she ordered him sternly. "No sleeping in Ops for codebreaking. The computers can do it themselves."
He pouted, his lower lip trembling in an adorable show of pathetic puppy-dog. "You're ordering me back to our empty apartment? Harsh, Miss Jones, very harsh. And after all I went through to Skype you."
"You'll survive, Eric." A yawn threatened to crack her jaw apart, so she gave him a sleepy smile. "I think I'm tired now. I'll be going to bed myself."
"Come home soon." The teasing and the pout was gone, replaced with a genuine wistful smile. "I miss not having you around, Nell."
Nell pressed two fingers to her lips, then put them on the screen over his lips. "Here's something to keep you going," she said. "Pick me up at LAX when this is all over and you'll get a real one."
"You got a date." He winked. "Night, Nell."
"Night, Eric." She disconnected and closed her laptop, got up and dressed for bed. Taking one last look at the fabulous New York City skyline, she snuggled in the hotel bed and closed her eyes with a smile.
A little relationshippy-ness! So cute...god, the cavaties are enormous! Review!
2...
