A/N I

Thank you for all the reviews, alerts, and favorites. The last chapter didn't have as much Nell/Eric stuff, this one should have more.

Nell and Eric watched through the window of the ratty old shop as their tour bus drove away. Their tour guide hadn't even questioned whether all his passengers were present or not. They had left undetected.

Nell looked through the shelves of the store for a box of Oreos. She and Eric hadn't eaten for six hours. It was getting dark out at seven o'clock in the evening and Eric was worried they might not make it back for dinner, he had reserved a table at Mi's Italian Bistro for nine o'clock.

Nell picked up the box of Oreos she found at the back of the shop and walked over to the counter.

"Damn it!" Eric nearly shouted from the door.

"What?" Nell was shocked. Eric very rarely swore.

"My phone just died." he replied.

"Do you have a phone we can borrow?" Nell asked the store owner, who was standing behind the counter.

"Yep." The man picked up an old, chunky, yellowed desk phone from behind the counter. Frayed wires stuck out from the back of it.

"Umm..." Nell raised her eyebrows while staring at the old piece of junk.

"Yeah?" Questioned the confused older man looking at her.

"I don't think this is gonna work..."

"Well why not?" he asked defensively.

"Because it's broken..." Nell continued.

"Uh, Nell?"

"Yeah,"

"I think he's blind."

"My eyes are as sharp as a double edged sword!" he defended with a slur.

"Okay, we'll take these Oreos." Nell resigned.

"Nell, we have to figure out how to get back to the hotel."

"Well it doesn't look like we'll be taking a cab."

Deeks sat on the couch watching TV. He was doing his best to avoid thinking about Kensi, what she was doing at the moment, what would have happened if he had had the chance to respond.

She wouldn't forget what she had told him, would she? She wouldn't move on because she hadn't heard I love you back and end up with Jack, would she? Why hadn't he told her before? Why hadn't he said it when they went to the beach, or some time on their walk?

He sat there, trying to get her out of his mind. Trying, but not succeeding.

The news ran across the screen. Followed by some reality show. A crime drama. Deeks continued to recline on the couch, not absorbing a single word that was spoken.

"I am so tired." Eric whined as they walked through a thick grove of trees and down a dirt road.

"Eric we have like seven more miles to go. Complaining isn't going to help." Nell replied

"Can we take a break?"

"We've only been walking for ten minutes."

"I'm too tired to walk seven more miles. It's almost eight. We should stop to rest."

"Eric, it's seven thirty."

"And we should build our camp while it's still a bit light out."

"How do you intend to build a camp? All we have are cell phones, maps, and jackets."

"We can figure something out. How do you think people do it on those survival shows?"

"Well they start with experience and training. Besides, do you want to eat bugs?"

"We have Oreos."

Eric put a final layer of branches on the small hovel they had constructed with timber from surrounding trees. Nell was approximately ten feet away, gently blowing on the thin flame developing on a leaf, which she had created by striking rock against rock, spitting sparks out and towards the leaf. She set the leaf atop some more kindling and added stacks of twigs.

Once they were finished setting up camp Eric and Nell went out to search for berries and other food. Eric returned to camp with blackberries, his shirt turned up to hold them all, a bit of his tan, surf toned stomach on display from the gap not covered. Nell gathered several pineapples before they reconvened.

"So," Nell said.

"Hm?" Eric distractedly replied.

"Do you know how to cut a pineapple open without a knife?" Nell asked.

Eric leaned over and picked up a rock. He took a pineapple from Nell and set it down on a boulder nearby. He slammed the rock against the pineapple and it split open, spewing juice at him. He handed it to Nell.

"There you go."

"Not exactly what I had in mind." She said with a small laugh. Eric smiled and threw a blackberry her way. "Hey!" She shouted. Nell picked up a fistful of the smashed pineapple guts and threw it at Eric.

"This means war." Eric declared.

They continued their food fight until they ran out of food, and they were both covered in blackberry stains. Then began the search for a pond to rinse the sticky mess off of their skin.

Eric looked for more food while Nell cleaned off in the nearly clear water of a lake they found half a mile away. Once she was finished Eric took his turn to clean the stickiness from his skin while Nell continued the search for more food.

They returned to camp with a new pile of berries, this time to be eaten, Eric taking note of the fact that they had, indeed, missed the reservations made for dinner at Mi's.

Once they finished off the berries, and what little pineapple they had left, Eric and Nell climbed into their tiny hut, Nell snuggled against Eric for warmth. They fell asleep quickly, held tightly together, wrapped in each other's arms.

"So then he gets up on the table, wasted, and starts singing "Outrageous" while dancing as if he were a background dancer for a Britney Spears music video."

"That's why you never go to the club with your partner?"

"Deeks is scary when he's drunk."

"Well I'm sure he has plenty of stories about you,"

"Hey!" Kensi protested. She and Jack were having drinks at a local bar.

"So what's the story with you two?" Jack asked. He knew he was pushing it just a bit by asking her that. For one, because she probably did not want to answer, but also because he knew it was dangerous. Personal. He was not supposed to get personal. Getting personal complicated what he knew he had to do.

"What do you mean? There isn't much of a story with us. He's my partner." The denial he knew was coming.

"Okay." He sounded skeptical. He was skeptical, obviously, people always were when she told them there was nothing between her and Deeks, they were quite right to be, but nonetheless it annoyed Kensi.

"Seriously."

"Okay"

"You don't believe me?"

"I do. It's just... it seemed like there was something. Like you were... distracted when you two said goodbye. It seemed like you didn't want to go." Was she that obvious? Of course she didn't want to go, but she thought she had hidden that pretty well. Ever since she was fifteen, she had learned how to do a good job of covering her emotions.

"Look, I didn't want to cancel on you or anything."

'This is going badly' He thought. 'I have to do something quickly.'

"If you don't want to be here,"

"It's not that. I mean, you are great, but Deeks and I... we're different. I don't know. It's just... I don't trust a lot of people. But I trust him. I trust him with my life."

"You should go then... be with him."

"Okay." Kensi looked away for a second. Jack swiftly poured a tube of Rohypnol into her drink. He did not want to do this. He had to. He knew that. But it still hurt him to do this to someone like Kensi. She had trust issues, he wasn't helping the problem. 'It's for the best.' He mused. 'Do what you have to do. This will be over soon.'

"One last drink, for good luck?" Jack held the glass up for Kensi.

"For good luck." Kensi reached for the glass and took a sip of her scotch.

Before even realizing what had happened, she slipped down against the bar, eyes rolling back before her eyelids closed.

"I'm sorry Kensi. I am so, so sorry." Jack held her up before carrying her out of the bar as if she

were a drunken friend, passed out from a long night of hard alcohol.

A/N II

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~A