Author's Note:

I am posting this earlier than I originally expected. Rain and thunderstorm wasn't what I had hoped for on my first vacation day, so instead of outdoor activities I focused entirely on moving forward with the story.

Thanks to anyone who read, reviewed, followed or favorited so far!

Present

"Ununoctium to Tungsten!"

Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones called out for the umpteenth time now. She had entered through the pneumatic doors of ops mere minutes ago and tried to get her partners attention ever since, but the blonde Tech seemed to be caught up in his own mind. He'd been sitting in front of his computer, staring a hole through the screen, unmoving, fingers hovering over the keyboard but not typing. Nell Jones had taken a look at the document that was opened on the monitor and recognized it as the final report to their latest case, but it didn't make her any wiser as to why he was unresponsive to anything she said.

She sighed. While Eric was known to loose himself in his work and daydream once in a while, this was getting rather worrisome. She gently laid a hand on his shoulder, bowed her head to the level of the side of his head and breathed something into his ear that was impossible for anyone else to hear but him.

It seemed to do the trick. The Technical Operator jumped, his computer chair rolled back at the sudden movement and his hands shot out to grab the edge of the desk in order to steady himself as not to lose his balance and fall to the ground. His face turned a healthy shade of red in embarrassment.

"Geez, Nell", he blew out still breathless from shock. He held his hand to his chest right above where his heart was and inhaled deeply for a couple times to regain his composure. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Nell fixed him with an amused close-lipped smile and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "In my defense I tried to get your attention for a while now", she explained calmly.

"You did?" Eric furrowed his brows. He hadn't been aware of her presence until mere seconds ago.

"Uh-huh. Where was your head at?", she asked and sat down in her chair next to his.

"Um… nowhere really", he stuttered nervously and turned back to his computer screen, well-aware of her skeptical stare.

"Yeah, right. Tell that to your mom", she said casually and raised her brows.

Eric's head shot in her direction, his neck muscles popping loudly at the sudden movement and he cringed at the tingling sensation it sent through his nerves, but ignored it. He squared his jaw and bit his lips, not quite enough to draw blood, but enough to elicit pain. He needed to keep his tongue in check, or he might say something he would regret later and Nell didn't deserve that. He couldn't blame her for saying something unwise that she had no knowledge about. He had never told her that his mother was deceased, after all.

Nell turned to him at the cracking sound and winced. "Ouch, that sounded like it hurt." Eric just blinked, not able to form a coherent thought. Upon noticing this, Jones brows knitted in concern and fixed him with a confused look. "Are you alright?", she finally asked.

"Um… I…" Eric started, but stopped himself. He cleared his throat before pressing out a tightlipped, "I'm fine."

Nell was unconvinced. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

The Intelligence Analyst still didn't believe him, but let it slide for the time being and changed the topic. "So… while you were staring a hole into the equipment I was able to get a glance at what you were working on and it looks like your case report is almost done already." She raised her voice a notch at the end, making it sound like a question.

Eric coughed slightly and sat up a little straighter in his office chair. Leaning his left arm on the arm rest while scratching his head with the other hand, he send her a quick sideways glance before he answered nonchalantly, "Um, yes. I just need to proofread it before I can send it to Hetty."

"O-kay." Nell drew out the first syllable of the word playfully. "Which leads me to the question", she paused and contemplated him with an inquisitive look, "how long have you been here?"

"Around nine, I think." The answer was delivered with almost no hesitation and Eric didn't even look up from skimming over his report.

Nell opened her mouth slightly and raised her brows yet again. "Does Hetty know?"

"Yep." He made a popping noise at the last consonant.

"And she approved?"

"Yep."

Slack-jawed, Nell turned away from her own monitor and spun her chair around to face him upfront and leaned forward in her seat. "Okay, Wolfram", she started, waiting for a reaction on his part. This time, he didn't disappoint as he had noticed her movement from his peripheral vision. He tentatively turned his head towards her while his body stayed in its position and dared her to ask whatever she was about to ask.

Her mouth opened and closed for a few times as she pondered about how to query this. "What is going on here? Why are you acting so weird?" She finally asked with a little more heat than she had anticipated.

"I'm not acting weird", Eric defended and let his hand fall to his lap. But he was never a good liar and he knew it.

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not", he said more firmly this time.

"You definitely are", Nell reinforced the argument. "Why were you here this early?", she probed, determined now to get to the bottom of his unusual behavior.

Irritated with her relentless questioning, he finally caved and decided to give her a hopefully satisfying short version. "I couldn't sleep. I came into work. Hetty caught me. I explained. She accepted. I stayed. End of story." The use of sentences with a maximum of four words each and the lack of emotion in his answer was unsettling Nell to say the least. She had never known Eric to be so brusque with her and it threw her off tremendously. This wasn't the charming, lighthearted, empathic Tech Operator she knew. Nell frowned.

"Besides", he started again, drawing her attention back to him, "I got some important things to do this afternoon and wanted to get this", he waved his right hand at the screen, "done beforehand. So if you excuse me, Miss Jones. I'd really like to get back to work, so I can get this to Hetty and get out of here. That is, if you don't have any objections to that, of course?" Ending his little speech, Eric drew in a deep breath, watching her closely for another few moments and when she didn't reply right away, he turned away from her and back to the screen, scrolled back to the first page of his report and started over with the proofreading.

Nell just sat there unable to move and gaped at him slack-jawed. She hadn't known Eric to ever react in this stressed out, not even when they were facing exceptionally disturbing cases. While he did have the ability to put his foot in his mouth, he never acted rude on purpose. He had never before raised his voice or got this irritated with her. He always bit his tongue, mindful of her feelings, instead.

What she had witnessed right here right now, was definitely a first and it got her thinking. Had she said or done something wrong by accident? Something, maybe, that had hit a nerve with him? She went through all the recent conversations they had held, but came up empty. Or had something else happened that she had no knowledge off, something that had nothing at all to do with her?

"I can hear you thinking and it's distracting me. Please stop it." Erics' voice interrupted her thoughts. His voice wasn't as cutting as before, but still had an edge to it.

"Sorry", she mumbled and turned towards her screen, this time it was her boring a hole into the monitor. Wheels still turning in her head she decided she could rack her brain all she wanted, but would be none the wiser without any useful input from Eric. So the Intelligence Analyst pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on the task at hand.

Eric who was a fast reader finished skimming over his report soon enough. As soon as he had corrected any typos and smoothed out any inconsistencies, he saved the document, attached it to an e-mail addressed to Hetty and sent it, before shutting down any programs still open on his screen. Then he logged out for the day. Nell stopped her own typing and silently watched him.

The Tech spun his chair around and made a move to stand up, he paused for a second when his eyes fell on the confused, grief-stricken look on his partners face. Immediately a feeling of remorse washed over him. Eric sighed. "Sorry for blowing up on you, but I'm really not in the mood for our usual banter, today. It's just…", he paused for a moment, debating just how much he should reveal, and decided on a superficial answer. "I just got a lot of things to take care of and they need my undivided attention." He winced slightly but decided to leave it at that.

"Okay", Nell answered in a quiet tone and with a microscopic smile that didn't reach her eyes at all.

"I need to go talk to Hetty now and then I'm out of here. See you tomorrow, Rockstar. I'll be back to my usual self tomorrow. I promise."

Nell nodded, not saying anything. She didn't feel any better, but at least she knew that she wasn't responsible for his mood. At least she hoped so.

Her lack of a verbal comeback made his heart sink, but he really couldn't dwell on it right now. Enough heartbreak would await him today without the remorse for blowing up on Nell. He hated himself for making her feel guilty over something that she had no influence on and he really wanted to get this out of the way before leaving, but he simply didn't have the time and nerve for it. "We good?", he asked tentatively.

"Yeah. We're good. Go. See you tomorrow", was the flat reply, but at least it was accompanied by a small smile directed his way, if briefly.

"Tomorrow", he echoed and with another glance he pushed himself out of his chair and walked out of the room with mixed feelings.

Nell just watched him leave, thoughts running through her head. Something was definitely up with Eric and she would get to the bottom of it. Even, if she had to grill Hetty for information. The older woman usually knew everything that was going on in any of their lives.

I love the chemistry and the way of communication Eric and Nell share in the show. I really enjoyed writing this part and while I came back to it a lot, changing a line or two and putting the final touches to it, I'm mostly satisfied with how it turned out. I hope you feel the same way.

- S.