I do not own the show or any of its characters.
The slam of Nell's computer startled Eric; he nearly fell out of his chair. He sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair. Why did I just admit my feelings? He thought to himself she probably doesn't even like me back. Ignoring his thoughts he removed his earpiece and went to check on the rest of the team in the bullpen.
"Hey, guys any news?" Eric asked all of his team members hoping for an answer.
"Deeks is an idiot" Kensi chuckled
"That's not new information, kens" Callen stating the obvious fact
"You make an excellent point" Sam laughed and hit Deeks in the back of the head
"Hey!" Deeks yelled, "What was that for?"
Eric carried a confused look as the rest of the team laughed. Clearly he missed something, but that wasn't unusual as they were usually bickering in the bullpen as he was working up in OPS with Nell. This, of course, reminded him that he was no longer working with her at this time, he was working with Natalie. So he turned to a chair in the corner of the bullpen where Natalie was sitting quietly.
"Have you found any new information Natalie?" Eric asked dryly. Natalie stood up, tablet in hand, and made her way over to the large TV screen.
"Yes. I ran a cross reference check to woman named Alice, and employees of Hammer Security. Turns out there is only one Alice that works in the building, Alice Mercer." Natalie pulled up a copy of Alice Mercer's ID on the screen in front of them. "Now I ran a background check, and it appears that she has a history with John Wilson." Natalie clicked a button on the tablet and a handful of photos appeared on the screen. Pictures of Alice and John from what looks to be a banquet of sorts. Sifting through the photos the team saw photos of the two of them getting very personal, to say the least.
"Oh this is interesting" Eric remarked, while looking at the pictures of Alice and John. "I ran a check on John earlier and he is a former military intelligence agent."
The rest of the team stood looking at the screen trying to make any connections between the murders and John's military background.
"Well do you think Alice could have done it?" Kensi asked "What if she wanted information from John, he wasn't going to give it to her, so she does whatever she can to get the info?"
"That's possible, but what would Alice want from John?" Callen joined in the conversation
"Well former military intelligence analyst would have access to a lot of information, it would be difficult to pin point exactly what she was looking for." Sam said, reminding them that this isn't going to be an easy case at hand.
"I'll tell Nell to keep an eye out on Alice, maybe get to know her a little better." Eric declared
"Tell her to watch her back. If Alice is the one responsible for these murders we need to find out where she's hidden the two missing persons and what she's going to do with them" Callen exclaimed.
"Will do" Eric headed back upstairs to Ops, Natalie followed.
"So do you think Alice could have done it?" Natalie directed to Eric
"I don't know"
Natalie could hear the tension in Eric's voice. She knew that he didn't enjoy working with her, but she wasn't sure why he seemed so upset about this case. I'm not that bad to work with am I? Natalie thought to herself. She shrugged it off.
They continued to run background checks on all the staff members of Hammer Security, to see if anyone had any obvious motive. Of course they came up short.
"Everyone has a clean history, other than a few speeding tickets here and there. Whoever is responsible is either not involved with the company at all, or is very good at covering their tracks, and if they can cover their tracks this well we are dealing with something that can go very wrong very fast." Natalie broke the silence. Eric ran his hands through his hair, hoping it isn't the later suggestion.
"Should we have Nell undercover there if there is a chance she's in that much danger?" Eric's mind filled with worry. Nell was almost always on his mind, and now he couldn't stop thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen to her. Natalie saw the look of worry on his face and finally understood, Eric like, likes Nell. It wasn't Natalie who was a bad person, or a bad worker, it was just that Eric was slowly falling in love with his partner.
"You like her don't you?" Natalie knew it was a risky question but asked anyway.
"What? You mean Nell? Of course I do she's my partner"
"No I mean do you love her?" Eric's cheeks turned the brightest shade of red Natalie had ever seen
"Umm what! Love her? I work with her she's my partner that's all. I don't love her and we wouldn't work out anyway 'cause she doesn't like me like that." His nerves were causing him to ramble, as he stared down at his keyboard.
Natalie placed her hand on his, to stop him rambling, "Hey its okay your secret is safe with me." She smiled
"Thanks" He whispered. He could hardly call it a secret though, now that he's confessed to Nell how he feels, and it was apparently obvious to Natalie. Eric couldn't help but think how many other people knew about his feelings for Nell. But these thoughts soon subsided, as he wanted to get back to work, he wanted Nell back as quick as possible after all.
Nell had composed herself, after hearing Eric's confessions, and stood up to answer the door.
"Hello Maria"
"Oh Hello Alice! Come on in" Nell was incredibly confused as to why Alice would be at her door. Maybe she should be extra careful around her just to be safe; she could be dealing with a life or death situation.
"Sorry if I interrupted anything, I just wanted to see you made it to your office okay"
"Yes, everything is good how are you?"
"I'm great thanks!"
"So what do you think about all the murders? Should I be worried?"
"No, I think your fine, or I mean I hope so anyway because if you're in danger that means I am too" Alice sounded confident, too confident.
"Okay good! However I do have some work to get" She said pointing to the stack of papers on her desk that John had given her
"Alright, I'll leave you to it then" Alice smiled and heading out the door.
Once her office door was closed she relaxed, and sank into her chair. Eric Beale likes me? She thought to herself, a smile written across her face. She never thought he liked her in that way, so she always resorted to pushing her feelings for him to the back of her mind. Now things were different. She knew Eric liked her, and deep in her mind knew she liked him back. What should I tell him? Would the job allow for anything more than friends? Would Hetty? Thoughts raced through her mind. She knew she wanted this case to be over so she could see Eric, her best friend, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to see Eric, her something more. Their friendship meant a lot to her and it wasn't something she wanted to ruin because feelings got in the way, and someone got hurt. All these thoughts, however, were shoved to the side because she had a job to do. Well Maria had a job to do, and it was a job that would easily distract Nell from her thoughts, or so she hoped.
A/N Sorry it's a short chapter, and not a very good one. Don't worry though it should get better soon. Reviews? *wink wink*