Eric was getting ready to go to work, when he heard a knock at the door.
When he checked the peephole, he heard a voice:
'Are you going to let me in, Mr. Beale? Or do I have to pick the lock?' It was his old boss, Hetty.
Opening the door, 'Hetty?! Oh my gosh! I, I thought you had vanished off the face of the earth!' Eric exclaimed.
Hetty laughed, 'Well, obviously not, because I'm here now!'
'Why are you here? And what's with the roller bug?'
'Well, a few members of the team are with me on vacation, and it's almost time for the Olmpics. I was thinking of getting a hotel, but I figured you and Miss Jones had rooms. Speaking of, Is Miss Jones around? I want to see her.'
'Nell's away for a meeting, she'll be back in 2 days. And yes, we do have an extra empty room, but it's mostly used as my 'man cave'. You do know what a man cave is, right?' Eric asked.
'Yes, I know what a man cave is. I trust you can clean it up a bit?' Hetty replied.
'Yes, I'll get my maid to clean it up. Oh wait, just remembered she's off this week. (looking uncomfortable), I'll, I'll clean it up myself.'
Hetty looked amazed at the huge mansion like house he and Nell resided in.
The wee hours of the next morning
Eric had gotten up for a drink of water, when he saw Hetty in the kitchen, wearing a robe and drinking tea.
'Whoa! I, had forgotten you liked to wake up early.' Eric said. 'Jet lag?'
'I don't get jet lag much. I like to wake up early. Plus, I figured this would be a good opportunity for us to talk. I see your bizarre fashion sense is still around in a way.' Hetty replied, pointing out Eric's weird PJ's.
'Oh, yeah. Some things just stay with you.'
'Reminds me of when you first came to NCIS. Those shorts and flip flops, leaving your surfboard near my car, tracking sand in the office, me making you wear pants that one time and you cut them.' Hetty said, feeling nostolgic.
'Yeah… Wait, how did you know about the pants thing?'
'I've worn itchy uncomfortable pants on undercover ops, I know what the feeling is like. Plus, there was security cam footage of you itching over and over again.' Hetty replied.
'And, you never said anything.'
'Figured it was useless to try and to get you to wear pants after that.'
'Yet, I surprised you by eventually wearing pants full time.' Eric replied, confident.
'Yes, that was very surprising, and grown up of you.'
'I missed this. I've missed you.' Eric said.
'I've missed you as well.' Hetty replied.
'If I may ask, why did you keep disappearing? There were many times I wanted to talk to you about some thing, but you weren't around.'
'Um. All I can say, it was important work. I don't really want to talk about, and some of it is classified.' Hetty replied, uncomfortably.
'Eh. Can't say I blame you, especially after that Mexico mission. I'd want to run away too if I survived captivity and witnessed the people that saved me almost killed in front of me. (Seeing Hetty giving him a stern look), and now I've just said the wrong thing.' Eric rambled.
'Mr. Beale. I may not be your boss anymore, but I still know many ways to make your life a living hell.' Hetty replied, sternly.
'Yes ma'am.'
'And I didn't run away. I was going through a very emotional time, and there was something else going on with me at the time.'
'Good to know.'
'Want some tea?' Hetty asked.
'Sure!'
