First of all thank you for your reviews. Sorry this has taken awhile to put up. I've been busy in the real world and I also got sick which sidelined me as well. But now I'm back.

This is a short chapter

Enjoy

Chapter 13

One month later

The drive to San Diego was a smooth one for Nell. Normally the I-5 is slow going on any day of the week but today it was a bit quieter and Nell was thankful for that. Nell had memorized the directions to the Ingram's home and since she had spent time in San Diego as a teenager she knew the way. Commander Ingram's wife gave birth to a baby girl a little over a week ago and Nell had been invited to come visit. In the back seat of her car were gifts that the DC team had sent along with Nell's. Upon exiting the freeway, she drove the surface streets until she arrived on the one that the Ingram's lived on and quickly found the house. Pulling into the driveway she got out and began unloading the bags of presents for the baby. The front door opened revealing Neil Ingram dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. "Hi, here let me help you with those," taking the gift laden bags. "Come on in," as he led the way into the house. Nell was led to what was the family room where the Commander set the gifts on what appeared to be a large table in the center of the room. Nell took a quick look around the home had a warm feel to it with an open floor plan she could see the kitchen and dining area on one side while the hallway that led to the bedrooms was on the other. "Have a seat, Beth will be out in a minute, she had just finished feeding the baby."

"Thank you,' Nell said as she took a seat on the couch.

"Beth brewed a fresh pitcher of ice tea this morning, would you like some."

"Yes thank you."

Neil Ingram walked over to the kitchen area and pulled the pitcher of tea out of the fridge setting it on the counter then pulled out some glasses and filled them with ice. Pouring the glasses of tea, he set them on a small tray and brought them over to the family area and set them on the table and then handed Nell her glass. "Thank you," she said, taking a sip of tea. "Mm, this is good."

"Yeah, Beth makes the best tea around," replied Ingram.

Just then Beth Ingram walked in holding a tiny bundle in her arms. "Oh hi, you must be one of the agents who was with my husband last month in Boston."

"Yes Ma'am, Nell Jones." Nell stood. Beth Ingram moved to hold the baby in her left arm to free her right hand to shake Nell's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You too and thank you for being there for Neil. Oh, and this is our daughter Jennell."

Nell moved in a bit closer to get a good look at the little girl. "She's beautiful."

"Thank you, I'm glad you could come,"

"Your welcome,"

Beth eyed all the gifts on the table, "What's all this."

"Oh, one of them is mine. The team from our DC office at the Navy Yard sent these," indicating hers and the ones from DC. "They arrived two days ago."

"I'll have to send a note to Agent Carson and his team," replied Neil Ingram. "They're a good group of agents.

"Agent Carson, he's the other agent who ran with you in Boston," Beth asked.

"Yeah that's him, sweetie, he brought his team with him," he explained. "The good news is that Mason never made it to Boston."

"Yeah, I'm glad too," replied Beth.

They sat and talked and Neil and Beth explained the baby's name. "Well, I liked Jennifer, and we were considering Nell for the middle name since it's the feminine version of Neil's name but in the end we just ended up combining the two. Hence Jennell," Beth explained

"I like it, a little creative, but something tells me she's going to think it's cool when she gets older," Nell was saying.

"Yeah, she is, she's going to have quite an ear full on this pregnancy," Neil said laughing.

"I'll second that," replied Beth. "Now which gift shall we open first?" Beth said spying the gifts and ended up grabbing one at random.

NCISLA

It was a beautify Saturday afternoon but Kensi didn't feel like going out. She had spent the morning cleaning her house and doing laundry but the events over the past month had been weighing heavily on her mind since learning that Nell was a runner. Since then, things have changed. The two women used go out and do things together like go to a bike rally or a monster show or take in a movie but not any more, not in the last month anyway. Kensi was trying to figure out how she could have said the things she said about Nell being a runner but to her credit she couldn't think of a reason. But running wasn't the only thing Nell could do. Kensi still couldn't believe that Nell demagged a guy giving the team the shot they needed to take him out a few weeks back. The red head was just full of surprises and Kensi couldn't accept the fact that Nell had more tricks up her sleeve than just genius smarts.

And that was the crux of the problem. Kensi had realized that she had not only turned on the young woman who had become her friend, but had betrayed her by what she had said about her. Kensi wasn't sure how she was going to fix it but she realized it had to be done soon or the damage to their friendship would never be repaired. She knew she couldn't ask Deeks right now, he was on medical leave until the trauma to his mouth and teeth healed and were repaired. She couldn't go to Sam, he wouldn't give her the time of day right now either, and forget the Callen or Eric. She thought about Hetty but Hetty was still upset with her behavior towards Nell, that Kensi wasn't sure the older woman could be of help. But somehow someway, Kensi needed to fix this and she would she just had to figure out how.

You are welcome to R&R.