Authors Note; This is it. The final chapter - extra long to make up for the previous short one. I have a strange sense of accomplishment now and the support you guys has shown has given me such a boost in my confidence that I cannot wait to carry on with my writing (something I never dreamed would happen in a million years!). A huge shout out to nelliskinkyinbed and pracarual for their continued support, and to everyone else who has read, favourited, followed or reviewed. You guys are what us amateur writers need to continue with out writing.
So thank you once again for your support, now read and enjoy the final chapter :)
Previously:
"I had a dream that we were married, and in love, and had a daughter, and were happy together." His tone was steady, a total opposite to how he was feeling inside. Her response surprised him again.
"Was it a good dream? Or a bad one?" Their gaze was locked, and he felt in that moment that everything was about to change.
"Good," he breathed, unsure of who had moved towards who, but fully aware of the fact that their mouths were drifting closer, "Very good."
Their lips brushed and it was as if a switch flipped. She pushed forward, pressing her lips to his more firmly and lifting her hands, settling one against his neck and the other on his shoulder, giving her some leverage to balance as she stood up on her tip toes. His own hands moved, coming up to steady her body. He bunched one hand in her tank top at her waist and the other moved around her, pressing against the small of her back. When they were running out of air, he pulled back slightly, moving his lips to her cheek which he kissed softly. He kept his eyes closed, pressing his forehead to hers as he had done in his dream, terrified that if he opened his eyes he would wake up back in his bed. Her own lips brushed against his jaw, moving up towards his ear.
"Good." She breathed into his ear and he couldn't suppress the shudder that ran down his spine as her warm breath tickled his sensitive skin. They stayed wrapped up in one another, standing in his kitchen, for what felt like an eternity. Stealing kisses every now and then and sighing lightly. It was Nell who spoke up, breaking the comfortable silence. "What now?" She whispered, looking scared as she cast her gaze down to the floor.
"What do you mean?" He asked, pulling back so that his back was leant against the counter but his arms were loosely wrapped around her waist. She braced her own hands against his chest, but still didn't look at him.
"At work. Between us. I mean, what are we doing?" She tried to pull away from him and he could see the implications of what they had done strike her all at once; her entire body tensed, her eyes growing wide and fear creeping in, her lip trembled and she pushed against him, trying to get him to release her, "Oh God, we're colleagues. Partners, for heavens sake! We can't- We can't be involved!" Ignoring her protests he pulled her to him and kissed her firmly once again, pulling back and gently kissing each of her closed eyes, her temples, her cheeks, her nose, and finally her forehead until she relaxed once more.
"We'll be okay," he whispered, and his words seemed to drain the fight right out of her. She slumped against him, allowing him to support her full weight, and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest, "We can do this. I have waited so long to kiss you-"
"You already have." She interrupted, her voice muffled against him. He remembered their kiss under the mistletoe and smiled.
"I'm not counting that because you surprised me and I didn't get a chance to actually kiss you properly," he heard her giggle slightly and took that as a sign of encouragement, "So like I was saying. I have waited so, so long to kiss you properly, and I think that I've been steadily falling for you ever since you first bounced into ops and took my tablet from me." She pulled her head away from his chest and looked at him slightly surprised, but giggled again at his faux-annoyed glare.
"Well, if you had been running the right search parameters I wouldn't have had to!" She defended her actions, her eyes becoming challenging.
"Seriously?!" He asked, incredulously, "I'm trying to tell you I'm in love with you and all you got was that you snatched my tablet!"
"First, I didn't snatch, you had left it on the i- wait, what?" He laughed out loud at her stunned expression. She had finally realised what he had actually said and it had rendered her speechless apparently.
"I. Love. You. Nell. Jones." He said, punctuating each word with a kiss to various places on her face.
"You- You love me?" She whispered, not totalling convinced.
"Nell Diana Jones," he said, taking her face carefully between her hands and holding her gaze, "I am totally, 100%, irrevocably in love with you. I love you, Nell, I don't know how many different ways I can say it. Ich liebe dick. Eu te amo. Je t'aime. Ik-"
"Stop!" She cried, covering his mouth with a hand and laughing. Her eyes sparkled and once more a delicate blush touched her cheeks, "You love me." She whispered and looked up at him adoringly. He could see her hazel eyes swimming with unshed tears and for a moment he thought that he had done something wrong, "You love me." He was about to speak again, but realised that she was still covering his mouth. He felt his heart drop in his chest, and realised how presumptuous he had been, and reached up to move her hand.
"Nell, if you don't-" He couldn't bring himself to say the words so changed tack, "I um… I understand." He whispered, trying to move away from her.
"Stop!" She said again, her face turning panicked, "I'm just… trying to process," she whispered, "No one has ever said that to me before."
"What?" He asked. How could someone as beautiful as her never have been in love with someone or had someone tell her they loved her?
"I- I love you too," she said quietly and he felt like someone had lifted a tonne of lead off of his chest, "I love you too," she repeated, louder this time and with a smile spreading across her features so wide that he thought her face would split in two. She let out a light hearted laugh and pulled him down for a kiss. It was a simple kiss, filled with the emotions neither of them could find the words to voice. When they broke apart once more her smile was still there, "I love you." She repeated, pressing her forehead to his. He felt his heart swell and kissed her gently once more.
"So what now?" He asked cheekily and was rewarded by her giggling.
"Well, now," she said, stopping to kiss his lips chastly, "Now we are going to eat these pancakes." She dropped from her tip toes and moved away from him, using his surprise and temporary lack of motor function against him. She danced passed him, nabbing one of the plates and sets of cutlery from the tray and bouncing over to the breakfast bar, hopping up onto the stool, while he stayed where he was, staring after her dumbfounded.
"You- Wha-" He shook his head, trying to form a coherent thought and failing. He sighed in defeat and collected the other plate, disregarding his coffee which he knew by now would be cold. He sat on the stool next to hers and started to eat. They ate in silence, and he spent the time trying to process what had just happened moments before. When they both finished Nell collected their plates and dropped them in the sink, turning on the water and washing them. He stayed put, watching her move around effortlessly, and he just admired her. He got lost in his thoughts and didn't notice her leave the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her forehead against his back.
"You okay?" He asked, stroking her hands that were joined on his stomach.
"I'm more than okay." She said, coming around to his side, slipping under one of his arms and looking happily up at him, "Never better actually."
"Good." He whispered and he bent to kiss her thoroughly. As the kiss heated he twisted around so that she stood between his legs, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck while he tightened his grip around her waist. He tentatively opened his mouth and sucked her bottom lip. She moaned and the sound shot heat through his whole body, causing him to fist his hand in her shirt at her waist. She ran her fingers through his hair, gently scratching his scalp, causing a rush to run through him which, combined with the feeling of her body mashed against his and her insistent lips on his was proving to be almost overwhelming. He tortuously pulled away from her lips and groaned as she began to kiss her way across his jaw and down his neck, "Slow." He managed to pant, using all of his remaining self control to pull back slightly, "We need to- to take this slow." She looked up at him, her cheeks flushed and lips red, slightly swollen from their kisses.
"I guess." She sighed, gently kissing his cheek.
"You're going to be the death of me." He breathed, relishing the feel of her, hearing her give a breathy laugh and nuzzle his neck, dropping a hot, open mouth kiss on his throat, making him groan again, "So, what are your plans for today then, Miss Jones?" He asked, reluctantly pulling back so he could look at her face.
"Well, I was going to spend my day nursing my ill partner and uploading paperwork to the digital database, but seeing as you're all better I think I might head in to the office after lunch." She said, sounding a bit disheartened at the prospect.
"I'm not totally better," he urged, kissing her quickly making her smile, "So I think, seeing as Hetty already gave you the all clear to stay out of the office today, that you should stay here, with me." He finished with a cheeky grin, making her giggle.
"If you insist.." She said, and hugged him tightly.
"I insist." They shared a smile and kissed, looking into each others eyes lovingly.
"Well, I better go get dressed," she said, taking a step back from him, "Think you can stand in the shower by yourself today?" She smirked at him.
"I don't know…" He joked, standing too and moving into the kitchen, "I think I might need some help.."
"Oh, okay, I'll give Deeks a call." She quipped, winking at him before disappearing into the bedroom. He laughed out loud and marvelled at how much better he was feeling today. Three days ago he had been in bed, shivering his butt off, burning up and unable to move. Today he was kissing his partner. He stopped as that thought hit home. I kissed Nell. I told Nell I love her. Nell loves me. With the last thought a grin spread across his face and he couldn't help doing a little, dorky victory dance in the middle of his kitchen.
"Ahem," a cough brought him suddenly back to reality and he spun round, tripping over his own feet and only just managing not to fall flat on his face by grabbing the closest surface. He struck a ridiculous pose, trying to pull off blasé and failing miserably, meeting her amused stare, "You think you've got moves, Jagger?" She joked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Um… yes- I mean, no? I mean- You know what, I'm just- I'm gonna go… get dressed." He said, practically running passed her, his face on fire. Awsome, he thought, closing the bedroom door behind himself and banging his head back against it. He dragged himself into the shower and took his time, washing his hair again, even though Nell had done it the day before. Really he was just prolonging the inevitability of having to face his partner (Girlfriend?) after having made an idiot of himself. He got out, dried his hair and wandered into his closet. He pulled on a pair of his signature shorts and a clean t-shirt, putting on real clothes for the first time in days. He had to admit that it felt good. Best part of being sick, aside from Nell, of course, he thought. He took a deep breathe before leaving the room. As he walked into the living area again he saw Nell organising a stack of papers and files and setting up her tablet at his rarely used dining she heard him re-enter the room she turned and smirked at him.
"Good shower, Mick?" He blushed at the name but nodded, moving into the kitchen.
"Coffee?" He asked, lifting the coffee pot to show her.
"Please." He made two coffees, one with milk for her and adding two sugars to his, and took them over to her at the table.
"Want some help?"
"You know, technically you're still on sick leave…" She said, smiling up at him and taking the proffered mug, "But sure." He went and collected his own tablet from where it had been changing at his workstation and coming back, taking a seat beside her.
"So what is it that we have to do?" He asked, turning it on and logging in.
"Okay, so these are all old aliases for undercover operations. These," she pointed at the first stack, "Are aliases currently in use which need to be updated and checked for mistakes. These," she indicated a second stack, about the same size, "Are aliases which aren't currently active, but are able to be used again. And finally these," She pointed at a considerably larger stack, "Are burned aliases. All of these need to be uploaded to the new secure inter-agency database. Some of the files have been marked as 'Foxtrot'. These ones need to have the agents name excluded, no picture, and no agency attached to them." He nodded and looked at all the files. There were a lot of them.
"So how long have you been doing this?" He asked, noticing a fourth stack.
"These one's I've already uploaded. Hetty asked me to do a few just before her 'sabbatical'," she frowned at the mention of Hetty's unexplained disappearance right when they needed her most about two years ago, "But told me it wasn't urgent. Since then the files have just been piling up. Guess this was the perfect opportunity to get on top of it." He grabbed his first file and opened it. There was a picture of a good looking African American women. The 'name' field read 'Elizabeth Cummings'. The rest of the dossier had every detail about 'Elizabeth Cummings' life. There was a lot.
"Guess we better get to work then." She smiled at him gratefully and turned her attention back to her own file.
The two worked in synchronised silence for a couple of hours, the only noises being rustling paper and the dull sound of tapping on screens as they typed. After the 2 hour mark passed Eric put his work down, stretching and yawning.
"I need coffee." He said, and stood, his back clicking loudly. Nell wrinkled her nose at the sound, but stood as well, rubbing her eyes.
"Yes please." He went to the kitchen and made the beverages while she disappeared into the bathroom. As she came back out he was just carrying a box of Oreos out of the cupboard and over to the table. Her smile brightened when she saw the box in his hands and he laughed as she practically snatched it away from him, tearing into it and shoving the first cookie into her mouth whole.
"You know, we're not in ops," he pointed out, sitting back in his seat, "We can eat and drink AND work, all at the same time."
"I know," she said, curling her legs up on the seat so she was sitting cross legged, "But Oreos deserve my full attention." He laughed at her childishness, but didn't argue, taking one of the delicious cookies out and munching on it contentedly, "So, what happens at work?"
"Hmm?" He hummed, still intent on demolishing his share of Oreos.
"With us. At work. What are we supposed to do?"
"Oh, well," he said, turning his full attention to her, putting his empty coffee mug on the table and brushing the crumbs off his fingers, "At work we organise case briefings, run searches, track suspects, play Big Brother, you know, the usual."
"Eric. You know that's not what I mean." Nell said, heaving a sigh and turning to face him, pulling one knee up to her chest and resting her chin on it, "What do we do about us working together?"
"Nell, I don't understand why this has to change us at work?"
"Okay, well, as long as you promise to behave."
"Me behave?!" He cried indignantly, "You're the one who kissed me at work!"
"That was one time!" She said, throwing her hands up, "And it was after hours AND there was no one around AND it was Christmas!"
"Thats beside the point! We managed to function pretty normally after that at any rate, so I say we just do the same thing now, yeah?" She nodded her head and leaned over to kiss his cheek, "Everything will be fine as long you don't flirt with Nate when he comes round again." He couldn't resist teasing.
"Oh my God, I was not flirting with him!" She cried, indignant once again.
"Oh you so were! He said so himself!"
"Well you were the one that just blurted out 'Nell kissed me' at random!"
"I- You- Only because you were flirting with him!"
"Well as long as you don't do that again this time things will be fine!" They both glared at one another for a moment, their stubbornness not along either of them to give in, before they both grinned. He leant over and planted a gentle kiss on her lips, tangling his fingers in her hair. He felt her smile against his lips and pulled back slightly, looking at her quizzically, "I wasn't done with you." She said, her hand going to the back of his neck and pulling his lips back to hers. It was his turn to smile into the kiss now, and they continued kissing softly for a while.
"You know, I quite like this way of working." He grinned pulling back from her again.
"Sadly, I think this is exactly what we won't be doing at work." She pouted, but squeezed his hand.
"Yeah, I know, but a guy can dream, huh?" She laughed and turned back to the files.
"You're right." Eric stopped the cookie halfway to his mouth and stared at her.
"Sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you just say I was right about something?" Nell rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder lightly, snagging the cookie out of his fingers at the same time.
"I think that we should take advantage of the fact that we're here and not in the office.." she said slyly, picking up the stacks of files and carrying them over to the coffee table, dumping them and coming back, tucking her tablet under one arm and collecting up her coffee and Oreos and going back to the sofa, plopping down. He watched her organise her stacks of files and set her beverage down before collecting the file she was working on and sitting back in the sofa with her tablet.
"What are you doing?" He asked slowly.
"Like I said, taking advantage of the fact that we're not at the office." She looked up at him impishly from where she sat across the room, but quickly returned her attention back to her work. He sighed and followed her lead, collecting up his things and collapsing on the couch next to her.
Somehow he managed to focus again on the task at hand and once more they found themselves working in relative silence for a few hours. At some point Nell shuffled next to him and leant her back against his shoulder, but apart from that they worked as usual. It was just beginning to get dark outside when Nell broke the silence making a moaning noise as she dropped her things back to the table and stretched. Eric was just finishing up his last file and indicated for her to wait a moment before he too dropped his things and sank back into the cushions, this time pulling Nell back with him and wrapping his arms around her. She settled against his chest, letting her head loll back to rest against his shoulder, sighing happily. He kissed the back of her head gently before tipping his own head back to rest on the back of the couch.
"I never fully appreciated how much work the agents put in to maintain their covers." He murmured, closing his eyes and massaging his forehead with his free hand.
"That's one of the things that makes me reconsider an option to jump into the agent side of things."
"You would want to?" He was surprised by her answer, but gave he squeezed her shoulders gently.
"I've thought about it. But I obviously have a long way to go." Eric smiled at her but couldn't stop his mind from racing. If Nell left ops that would leave Eric there alone again. He would've never dreamed of saying it when she first started, but he didn't know if he would ever be able to work as effectively as a solo act anymore. On occasion when she had gone out into the field he had had to multitask on top of trying to ignore the worry he felt at her being out of the office. And on those occasions his competence had slipped enough for at least Hetty to notice. If she was in the field full time he would have to find someone else to help him with his workload, which would mean bringing someone else onto the team, which would alter all the partnership dynamics that they had all struggled so much to achieve. Nells hand brushing his cheek brought him out of his thoughts. Her head was tilted back to look up at him and he met her gaze, "Eric, I'm not going anywhere any time soon, okay?" She reassured.
"But you might someday?" He cursed the fact that his voice sounded so quiet and full of betrayal. She sighed, moving away from her position against his body and turning to face him fully.
"Someday, maybe. But like I said, not for a very long time yet. And you know, you might eventually leave too."
"No I wouldn't," he said automatically, "Not voluntarily at least." She sighed, the sound sitting heavily in his chest.
"Can we just leave it at the fact that I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon, neither are you, so we can just carry on like normal?" It was his turn to sigh, but he nodded his head all the same.
"Okay."
"Okay." Nell crawled close to him again, this time coming over and straddling his lap. She wound her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. He in turn wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, inhaling her familiar scent and allowing it to reassure him that she was still here, with him. For now, his treacherous mind added, but he threw the thought away. They stayed like that for a while, just breathing each other in, taking comfort in their presence, "You know that doesn't count as our first fight as a couple, right?"
"What?" He asked, totally taken aback by her question. She pulled back and grinned at him.
"They say that everyones first fight as a couple is always the biggest? That would be a totally lame first fight." He laughed at her silliness and kissed her thoroughly. She laughed against his lips, but kissed him back with equal fervour. When they pulled back they just grinned at one another before Nell bounced up off his lap, switching off their tablets and piling up the files, putting them into the box Deeks and Kensi had brought them in for her the day before, "What do you want for dinner?"
"I really don't want to cook," he admitted and went to the kitchen, looking through his freezer for something he could heat up for the two of them. Finding nothing he turned and looked at her guiltily, "Pizza?"
"Pizzas fine." She said, disappearing into the bathroom. As Eric grabbed the phone off the bench he dialed the local pizzeria, opening the fridge and snagging two beers. The person on the other end picked up and he placed his order, fishing a bottle opener out of one of the drawers and attempting to open the beer. Nells hands snagged the opener out of his hand just as the pizzeria employee told him that his delivery would be there in about 30 minutes.
"You, mister, have just spent the last three days in bed sick," she said, putting one of the beers back in the fridge and instead retrieving a can of Sprite, which she cracked open and handed to him, "Alcohol is probably the last thing you need." He pouted at her, but took a dutiful sip of lemonade all the same.
"Well then I think you should forgo the alcohol, as your duty as a girlfriend requires you to be sympathetic to my needs and limitations." He joked as she took a swig of her newly opened Corona.
"Girlfriend?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He blushed at having been presumptuous again and began to stutter some kind of apology when she cut him off, "It's fine, Eric. Its just 'girlfriend' is such a.. a high school word.." She trailed off.
"Oh, okay," he said, and smirked cheekily at her, "So as a partner duty then?" She laughed and kissed him delicately.
"Hey, we never got to watch our movie yesterday because someone," she poked his chest playfully, "Fell asleep."
"Is that right?" He asked, kissing her nose, "Well then I guess we're just going to have to watch it tonight aren't we." She pulled away from his arms and skipped out of the kitchen, beer in hand.
"I'm going to have a shower before the pizza gets here."
"'Kay, I'll let you know when to come eat." He called, taking another swig of his lemonade. As he heard the shower switch on and the bathroom door in his en suite close, Eric moved back to the couches and put his can down on the coffee table. He went about moving Nells box of files and dropped it by the door, ready to be taken out to her car the next day. He then collected up their various used coffee mugs and the now empty Oreos box, getting rid of them in the kitchen. Before plopping back onto the sofa he snagged up the remote for the tv and switched it on. Finding a new channel he watched idly, drinking his soft drink and waiting either for Nell to emerge or the pizza to turn up. As it happens he was rescued from watching a recap of some football game by a knocking on the door. He jumped up and went to open the door, seeing the usual delivery guy standing there with a pizza box.
"Hey man," Eric said, holding the door open and reaching to grab the pizza, "What do I owe you?"
"Just $22." The teen smiled.
"Awesome just let me grab my wallet." Eric turned away from the door and grabbed his wallet from where he had left it on the breakfast bar with his phone and keys. He payed the guy, giving him a generous tip, and brought the pizza into the kitchen. Just as he opened the box Nell emerged from the bedroom in her pyjamas from the night before.
"What'd you get?" She asked, opening the fridge and getting out a can of Coke.
"Half cheese, half pepperoni."
"Who's half is who's?" She asked, testing him. He grabbed two plates out of the cupboard and scooped out a couple of pieces of each, handing her one plate.
"Of course yours is the one with all the pepperoni on it." She smiled and kissed him, taking the plate and her drink and moving into the lounge. She sat on the couch facing the tv and waited for him to join her before turning on the DVD player. He switched off the lights in the lounge, leaving the one in the kitchen on to provide some light, before joining her and beginning to munch his pizza happily. As the opening credits started he felt Nell turn towards him.
"Why have we never done this before?"
"Done what?" He asked, swallowing his mouthful quickly.
"Pizza and a movie. I mean, we've been friends for what, 2 years now? You would think that we would actually hang out at each others places once in a while." He thought back to all the times that they had seen each other outside of work and realised that she was right. Them hanging out usually consisted of drinks at a bar with the team, karaoke with the team or sometimes just Kensi and Deeks, hanging at the beach, and one time they'd gone to Comic Con together. But other than that they had never actually just hung out at someones place.
"Huh, I guess you're right."
"I mean, is it weird that Deeks has probably been to my place more than you have?" He laughed at that, before picking up on she had actually said.
"Wait, Deeks has been to your place?"
"Well, yeah, we've had a few movie nights." He noticed she was blushing and turned to face her more fully, totally disregarding the epic escape scene that was playing out on his flat screen.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Are you jealous or something?" She asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief when she noticed his expression.
"Jealous? Pssh, no! I just- You've had movie nights with Deeks? As in Detective Deeks?"
"Yes," she laughed, "We have watched movies together, why is that so weird!"
"Well what did you watch?" He grilled, trying and failing miserably to keep the unbelieving and jealous tone out of his voice. She smirked once more which only caused his curiosity to peak.
"He swore me to secrecy."
"I promise I won't tell a soul." He tried, now really curious to get the answer.
"It wasn't horror movies or anything like that," she said, laughing at his face, "Nothing that had me cuddling up to him, I promise."
"Well what was it then?!" This time she didn't respond just turned and looked back at the screen resolutely, "Nell!" He cried, desperate for an answer. Taking a long drink from her can she made it perfectly clear she wasn't going to answer him, so he sat back in a huff, pizza lying forgotten on the table, and folded his arms over his chest, pouting. After what felt like an age he heard Nell mumble something from next to him and whipped his head around to try to hear her better. Whens he mumbled again he thought he heard her say 'Phantom of the Opera', but was sure he was wrong. Just to make sure though he asked, "I'm sorry, did you just say you watched Phantom of the Opera with Deeks?" She didn't answer immediately but her lips turning up in a little smirk was all that he needed as confirmation, "What else?!" He demanded, knowing there had to be more to it than that.
"Funny Girl, West Side Story, Chicago, Sound of Music. You know, musicals."
"You're telling me that you managed to bribe our friend Marty Deeks to watch musicals with you? How on earth did you manage to do that?!"
"Oh I didn't bribe him, it was the other way round!" She said, once more participating in the conversation.
"He bribed you?"
"Yes! Said that he would never be able to watch them with Kensi because she would just use them against her. Callen and Sam already caught him once when he 'took his girlfriend' to see Phantom in Vegas, and he said that asking you to watch them is just plain gay. Hetty, well, he said that after watching half an hour of Phantom with Hetty he couldn't actually enjoy the film without picturing her and Gerald Butler after some tale or rather than she had told him. So that left me. And I'll have you know that I think that it makes Deeks very cultured to be comfortable enough to watch a musical with a friend and sing along to the main themes too." Eric sat staring at Nell in disbelief.
"You are joking right? Deeks actually asked you to watch musicals with him?" She laughed and shook her head.
"Yes Eric, Deeks asked me to watch musicals with him. And I did. And it was fun!" He tried to picture it in his head, but he just couldn't, "Now, if you're done with the Spanish Inquisition, I would love to actually be able to watch this movie tonight." She turned back to the tv and watched. Shaking his head he turned to and wrapped an arm her shoulders, pulling her gently to his body for a cuddle. Once they were comfortable they fell quiet and turned their full attentions to the movie.
The final credits began to play and Eric rolled his neck. Even though he had spent the last three days in bed doing little more than sleeping he was still exhausted. Glancing down he smiled as he saw Nell. Her eyes were closed and her lips were partly open. She sighed in her sleep and snuggled closer to him.
"Nell," he whispered, kissing the top of her head, "Nelly." He tried again, shaking her shoulder slightly. She moaned, her eyes fluttering open. For a split second he saw a look of total confusion on her face and momentary panic, but when she caught his gaze as he was staring down at her she smiled, still very sleepy, and nuzzled her face into his chest.
"Hey," She croaked, voice husky from sleep, "Oh is the movie over? How long was I out for?" To her displeasure he moved away from her warm body so he could reach the remote on the table and turn the tv and dvd off. He stood, taking a moment to stretch before collecting up their dirty dishes and returning them to the kitchen. He put the plates in the sink and quickly filled it with hot water, washing them quickly and leaving them to drain on the draining board. He grabbed a clean plate out the cupboard and loaded up the remaining pizza slices, covering it with cling wrap and putting it in the fridge. He discarded the now empty delivery box and whipped the work surfaces off. After he was satisfied that he could leave the rest of the dishes for the morning he walked back over the lounge area in the dark after switching off the kitchen lights, closing the curtains on the way. When he got there he looked at the seat that he had vacated minutes ago. Nell was curled up into the cushions which were still holding warmth from his body, once more asleep. He sighed and brushed the hair back from her face, bending and kissing her temple. She didn't move, and rather than waking her once more he decided to just carry her to bed. He slipped one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders, and carefully lifted her up to a seated position. Making sure her head was supported on his shoulder he lifted her small body, mildly surprised at how little she weighed. Of course he wasn't expecting her to be heavy, but although she was petite she still carried a fair bit of muscle. He walked to the bedroom, trying not to jostle her or bang her head on the door. When he got to the bed he gently put her down on the right side and slide the covers out from under her. As he pulled the duvet up to her shoulders she smiled in her sleep and rolled over to the empty side of the bed, reaching a hand out to look for him. Her little smile quickly turned into a frown when she only found more cold sheets. He went to his side, stripping off his shirt and shorts before crawling in beside her. He set the alarm on his phone for 7am grudgingly, but knowing that they had to go to work the next morning. He settled down and reached an arm out towards Nells hand, entangling their fingers gently. She smiled again and moved closer to his warmth so that she ended up with her back pressed against his chest, and his arm which had the hand holding hers was wrapped around her tightly. He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning forward and gently kissing the back of her head.
"Night Nell." He whispered, closing his eyes and letting sleep overcome him.
Authors Note; Hey, so one final note. I've started on a sequel for In Sickness and In Health. Now, before you start cheering, I won't be able to post it for a little bit, but if you keep checking my profile any new updates will be mentioned there.
Once again, thanks for the love and support, and don't hesitate to message me if you have any questions.
daftmunky xx