Author's Note:
This chapter is considerably shorter than the last one and I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, especially the second part. It seems like I'm not that good at projecting the light humor that we see on the show. I tried my best, but I find it a lot easier writing dialogue for Eric, Nell and Hetty than for the rest of the team. See for yourself and let me know what you think.
Present
Eric descended the stairs into the open bullpen of OSP, mind still reeling about the conversation he just had with Nell. He was anything but happy with how it had turned out. He hadn't meant to lose his temper with her. He rarely did. Today's anniversary was no excuse for getting into her face like that. Nell had no way of knowing why he had such a short fuse today and he had probably confused and hurt her with his reaction. He sighed. Reaching the last step of the stairs he slowed down and hesitantly walked over towards Hettys office. He came to a stop a few feet away from her desk and fidgeted with his hands in a nervous habit.
It took a while for the Operations Manager to raise her eyes from the papers, case files Eric assumed, and acknowledge him with a look of expectation. She remained silent, though, waiting for him to speak his mind. The Tech Operator couldn't find the right words to start the conversation.
Hetty gave in, releasing him from his struggle. "Yes, Mister Beale?", she asked patiently after a minute of silence.
"I sent my final case report to your e-mail address", Eric elaborated, but it was plain obvious that this wasn't what he wanted to tell her.
"Good. You should get going then", Hetty excused him and turned her attention back to the case file, well aware of the fact, that Eric lingered just at the steps to her office, shifting nervously from one foot to the other and wringing his hands. Unfortunately, he didn't come forward with whatever was on his mind, so Hetty again took charge of the conversation. "Unless, there is something else, Mister Beale?"
Eric chewed his bottom lip and lowered his gaze. He took a deep breath to gather the courage needed to speak. "I kind of treated Nell poorly", he admitted ruefully.
The older woman leaned back in her office chair and scrutinized the miserable man standing in front of her. She noticed the hunched shoulders and the bowed head. "Go on", she encouraged him with a wave of her left hand, her face a mask of impassiveness.
"Nell kept pushing my buttons as to why I was there already. It doesn't usually bother me when she does that, kind of keeps me on my toes most of the time. But for some reason she got to me today. It might have something to do with her mentioning my mom. At least it kind of went downhills from there. She kept pushing and I lost my patience and snapped at her." Eric stopped there and scrunched his face. Hetty watched him closely and nodded timidly. She tapped the pen she was holding against her chin in a steady rhythm, but no verbal reaction was coming forward. The blonde took that as a sign to keep talking. "She turned really quiet after that. I never blew up in her face like that before and I probably hurt her feelings a lot." He paused for a minute. "I just feel really bad right now." His voice wavered at the end of the sentence.
The Operations Manager regarded him for a long minute, then inhaled and exhaled deeply, carefully laid the pen down on her desk and leaned forward in her chair.
"Eric", she started, resting her forearms on the table, folding her hands on top of each other. "I'm positive, that Miss Jones will forgive you your little outburst. You know her well. She isn't one to hold a grudge. I'm sure if you explain to her the circumstances leading to your poor reaction, she will most certainly understand."
Frowning at the cryptic answer, Eric looked up at Hetty. "Are you sure?"
Hetty nodded. "Positive", she replied confidently. "But right now you should stop beating yourself up over something that you can't change right now. There are more important tasks at hand that need your attention."
Eric took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "You're right, Hetty. I'll make it up to Nell first thing tomorrow morning."
Hetty smiled, satisfied with the answer. "You do that, Mister Beale. And keep in mind that honesty is vital when asking someone's forgiveness. It might serve you well, if you shared some of the burdens that you are carrying around with you. I'm certain, both you and Miss Jones would greatly benefit from this."
Eric closed his eyes for a second. This wasn't the first time the older woman urged him to open up about his past to someone. She bugged him about it ever since their first encounter. While he knew she was right, he didn't want to share his story with any of his coworkers. Everyone seemed to think that he had been born into a picture-perfect family and he was more than happy to let them belief that. At least it didn't raise any questions and it also kept the pity away. Deep down he knew that with each of their own less than perfect backgrounds no one on the team would actually pity him, but it was still easier for him this way.
Shaking his head, Eric turned back to Hetty and nodded. "I'll consider it", he said but it didn't even sound convincing in his own ears.
Hetty nodded, sad that the younger man still felt the need to keep everything to himself, to be the strong one on so many levels. It was unsettling that even after seven years Eric still couldn't trust anyone on the team enough to break his fall and catch him. Not even his closest friends.
"Your sister is awaiting you, Mister Beale. You should get going", Hetty reminded him after a moment of reminiscing.
"Yeah. You're right." Eric adjusted the strap of his satchel. "Bye, Hetty."
He turned around and headed for the building exit, passing by the bullpen area where Agents Callen, Hanna and Blye and Detective Deeks were already sat at their respective desks, laptops opened in front of them. Eric slowed his steps for a moment and considered saying hi, but decided it would probably end in them interrogating him why he was leaving this early, so he hurried his steps again. But his hopes of leaving without them noticing were crushed, when Deeks looked up from his notebook and caught him.
"Hey, Eric", he called after him, loud enough that it was impossible for him to pretend he hadn't heard the other man. He turned towards him and gave him a small wave with his hand. "Leaving already?"
"Um, yeah", he answered awkwardly. "So, hi and bye. See you guys tomorrow." Eric turned around in an attempt at a hasty retreat, but the other man had no intention of letting him leave. The agents had stopped working as well and they were all looking at him in expectation now.
"Really?" Kensi was the next to speak and she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Sams and Callen's looks were similar to hers. Eric nervously looked between the three field agents and allowed himself a small smile. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Deeks rise from his chair and walk around the desk towards him.
"Where are you going, exactly?" Callen asked. He stood up as well and sat on the edge of his desk. Eric felt a little like they were closing in on him, ambushing him. He twitched slightly and took an unintended step backwards, only to be stopped by Deeks, who somehow had come up from behind him now and put an arm around his shoulders. Eric jumped and looked at Deeks in trepidation.
"Um home?" he offered weakly.
"Already? What about your report?", Sam asked and leaned back in his chair.
Eric smiled proudly. "Done. It's already in Hettys inbox." He tried to entangle him from Deeks' embrace, but wasn't successful. "So if you don't mind, I'd like to go now?" He pointed in the direction of the hallway with his right thumb.
Kensi gaped at him in surprise. "That's impressive! You got your report done in…", she pulled up her sleeve to look at her wrist watch, but Sam was faster and supplied her with the answer.
"… fifteen minutes." Sam looked at him in awe.
"Wow. I call that efficiency", Callen underlined his astonishment with a whistle.
Deeks turned towards his teammates knowingly and smirked. "You know what? Maybe we should give our compared notes to 'magic mad hands' over here. He'll finish our reports in record time. Actually, that would safe us so much of the time we waste on paperwork. We would be able to solve double the amount of cases!" The man with the shaggy blonde hair clapped the Tech on the shoulder in friendly manner and grinned cheekily at his teammates.
"I like the sound of that, Deeks", Sam agreed and pointed his finger at him.
"Uh, guys…", Eric chimed in, but they ignored him as Kensi and Callen agreed with the idea as well.
"What do you say, Eric? Sound like a plan?", Deeks asked in a mock-serious tone and Kensi gave him a crooked smile.
"You can't tell Hetty of course", Callen added with a pointed look.
"If she finds out, we won't take kindly to you, you know that right?" An evil grin was plastered on Sams face and he accentuated his words by rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Eric gulped.
"If I find out what, gentlemen?" Hettys stern voice interrupted the banter unexpectedly from behind Eric and Deeks. The detective jumped and let go of the younger man, who immediately took a few steps backwards, eager to get away from the friendly harassing.
"Hi, Hetty, we were just asking Eric here for some advice…", Deeks trailed off as he saw Kensi shake his hand while making a motion with her hand as if cutting her throat.
"If I overheard correctly, you wanted to burden Eric with your paperwork, Mister Deeks. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't consider this asking for advice." Hetty pressed her lips together in a thin line.
"No, of course not. That would be unethical", Callen said seriously.
"'Unethical' doesn't even begin to describe the nature of the mentioned proposition, Mister Callen", Hetty stated with a pointed look and pursed lips. Deeks opened his mouth to argue the point, but Hetty interrupted him. "Now, I just checked my e-mail and while Mister Beale already sent his to me, I haven't received the reports of either of you, gentlemen. That goes for you as well, Miss Blye." She regarded each of them with an unyielding look.
Callen and Deeks took this as a cue to get back to their respective desks, Kensi and Sam were already typing furiously again, trying to look busy. Satisfied with the agents back to working Hetty turned to Eric and gave him a single nod. "You are excused."
The Tech smiled at her thankfully and made a hasty retreat, before any of the field agents could start pestering him again. Once outside the building, he fished his smartphone out of his pocket and scrolled through the recent contacts and pushed the call button when he found the number he was looking for. It only rang twice before the call was answered.
"Eric?"
"Yes, Emma. I just left work. Where do you want to meet? Are you still at your apartment?"
"No, I'm already on my way to yours. No need for you to make the detour", she said and he had to agree with her. Her apartment was a bit out of his way and it would cost them precious time if he drove out there first.
"Yeah, your right. I'll be home in twenty minutes, thirty tops, I guess. See you there", he spoke into the phone and pulled his car keys out of his satchel as he neared his vehicle.
"Okay. Bye, Eric." She ended the call and Eric stuffed the phone back into his pants pocket, then made his way to his car and drove out of the garage onto the busy streets of Los Angeles.
I have three more chapters written so far and two more are roughly outlined on paper right now, but after that I need to dive deeper into my brain for ideas on where I want to go with this, so I uploads might not be as frequent as they are right now. We'll see.
- S.