Hello my darlings. I would like to thank ,for the wonderful reviews. I would also like to thank those of you who have followed and favoured since my last update.
So here is the next chapter, it is not the one I had planned to write, but what can I say? Eric and Nell are very demanding when they want to be. Anyway, I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA.
Nell stood in the alcove by the bullpen, out of sight of the occupants. She was trying to think of a way to get agent Callen on his own without raising any suspicion among the others. But so far she had come up with nothing. Well that wasn't completely true. She had considered the easiest option, which was to just walk in there and ask to speak to the man privately, but she knew if she did that it would raise a hell of a lot of questions, directed at both of them. That and the fact that from what she had seen when she sneaked a peek round the corner, Callen wasn't there. She was just about to take a deep breath and go and ask Sam where his partner was when she saw the man in question walking down the corridor towards her. Perfect.
Callen was minding his own business, trying to think of how to brooch the subject of Christmas with Marty when his arm was suddenly grabbed in a small, yet tight grip. For a second he thought it was Hetty, but when he turned to look at the face connected to the hand, he found himself staring at Nell.
"Nell. Umm, do you want something?" He asked his eyes fliting between hers and her hand in the hopes that she would get the hint and let him go.
"Yes." Nell replied loudly before colouring slightly and removing her hand from Callen's very muscular arm. No, stop that. she needed to concentrate on what it was she needed to discuss with the team leader.
"Okay. What's up?" Callen asked when she didn't say anything after agreeing she needed something from him. She was behaving seriously weirdly, though she always was a bit strange. Like Eric. Maybe they were a bad influence on each other.
"Not here." Nell responded taking a quick look around and seeing far too many people who could see her hand over the folder. Because not only had Callen told her it was a secret project, she also didn't want Eric finding out who she had been doing the research for.
With that in mind Nell pivoted on her heel and moved purposely down the corridor before entering an empty room. One look at the door she had gone through made Callen roll his eyes. What was it with him and having private conversations in the incinerator room? Should he set up an office in there or something? But still he followed her in and closed the door behind him before turning to face the intelligence analyst, hoping her reasoning for bringing him in here was not the same as Marty's.
"I have that intel you asked for." Nell said without preamble holding out the folder once she knew they were alone. She wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.
"Intel?" Callen asked with a confused frown as he took the folder and opened it. As soon as he read the name at the top it came back to him. He had asked Nell to look for Marty's father. Of course. With everything else that had been going on it had completely slipped his mind.
"So you found him?" He asked looking up at her in the hopes it would save him having to read through all the words in front of him. Hoping she would give him the highlights that preferably the man was nowhere near his son, or LA… or the US.
"Sort of." Nell replied looking somewhat shifty to Callen, causing him to return his eyes to the words in front of him until he found the line which explained her behaviour exactly and caused his heart to beat faster.
"You sure about this?" He asked his eyes snapping the younger woman now, and for the first time Nell understood why it was Eric would sometimes seem more scared of Callen than he did of Sam. That look could freeze just about anything.
"I double and triple checked." Nell nodded while pushing her shoulders back, hoping she looked a lot more confident than she felt.
"Thanks Nell." Callen responded with a nod before closing the file and marching out of the room to continue his journey to the bullpen. Once there he placed the file into his draw and locked it tight, not wanting anyone else to find it and read it. Not until he had had a chance to speak to Marty about what it contained. Thinking of his lover he looked up to find him staring at him with a look in his eyes asking if he was alright. Callen couldn't not smile back at the man before giving him a look which told Marty he would tell him later. With a nod Deeks bent his head back to his paperwork and Callen tried to do the same, but all that went through his mind was the question of how the hell to tell Marty that his dad was dead. Because even if he had been a crap dad, he was still Marty's dad, right?
Nell returned to ops feeling a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had done as Callen had asked and she had given him the intel. Her part was over. She could go back to doing the job she had been doing before. But when she entered the doors the first thing she saw was Eric sitting there staring at the entrance with his arms crossed. It seemed her swift exit hadn't gotten him off her back after all. Great, what was she going to tell him now? When she had to work next to him for the rest of the day? Because she really did not want to lie. But she would do what she had to to protect her job.
When she sat she waited for the question, and she had an answer ready. But the question that came was not the one she expected.
"Who is Gordon John Brandel?" Eric asked when Nell said nothing, just sat at her station as if nothing had happened.
"How do you know that name Eric?" Nell asked turning to him with a glare. She knew she had turned her computer off and cleared her searches before taking the file down to Agent Callen. The only way he would have found out anything would be if he actively searched for it. And by actively searched, she meant hacked. She did not appreciate him hacking her. Not to mention it was against NCIS policy to do such a thing.
"How do you? Because I know it's not for any case, I cross-referenced it against all past and ongoing missions." Eric responded side-stepping the fact he had hacked her, and that she knew it just as he did. He did it for her own good after all.
"Are you sure?" Nell asked her glare turning into a puzzled frown. Because Callen had told her it was for something right?... Well no, he said he was working a hunch and it was need to know. But wouldn't he record his hunch anyway, just in case anything happened to him in the field? That would be good practise. So… why hadn't he?
"Please. I know my job. I'm sure." Eric replied nodding at her with a look that told her there was no point questioning him. He really did know what he was doing in ops, and he had been here much longer than she had. He would have been able to run that search easily, so… what was going on?
"Okay, let me put this another way. Did Callen ask you to look this guy up?" Eric asked breaking through Nell's thoughts and causing suspicion to start to enter her mind.
"Agent Callen asked me to find him." She confirmed wondering what piece of information Eric was about to share with her about the team leader. I mean, from what she had seen, no one knew him very well, with the exception of Sam. And maybe Hetty, but she was even more mysterious.
"Did he tell you why? Have anyone with him when he asked?" Eric asked once more, wanting to make sure he suspicions were correct before he shared them with Nell. He didn't want to turn her against Callen if this was a legitimate investigation. That would not go down well with the team. And he tried to make a point of staying on their good side. But… he needed to protect Nell, Callen would understand that, right?
"No. He said it was need to know and he was working a hunch." Nell replied starting to feel as if she had been had by the sympathetic look Eric was giving her.
"No doubt he was, but it wasn't connected to work." Eric explained kindly, gently resting a hand on the woman's shoulder in a way of showing solidarity with her.
"But... that's against the rules. He wouldn't ask me to do something against the rules… would he?" Nell asked in disbelief. Would the team leader really do something so… underhand? Because if so she was going to give him a piece of her mind. She didn't care if he was the team leader, he did not ask her to break the rules. Not without telling her she was breaking them.
"Bitch please. Callen bends the rules all the time." Eric responded with a wave of his hand and a cheeky smile upon his lips. He could see the fire raging in her eyes, and he really didn't want Nell picking a fight with Agent Callen. It would not go well, for any of them if she did.
"So who is Gordon John Brandel?" Nell asked him turning towards him and pulling their chairs closer together. Maybe if they could find out more about the man he was looking for, then they would be able to understand why it was Agent Callen was looking for him. Nell had just decided that she was now part of that need to know list of his. She had done all the work after all.
"Didn't you just look him up?" Eric asked with a frown at Nell's sudden closeness, not that he was averse to having her that close. He just, wasn't really used to it.
"No. Callen only asked me to find him." Nell replied before turning back to her computer with a sigh. It seemed Eric knew no more than she did. They needed more.
"Well, you've done it now. Piece of advice though, don't do it again." Eric answered with a shrug before turning back to his screen as well, clearing his hacking from it quickly, and clearing all record of his activities so they could both get back to their work.
"But, who is he?" Nell muttered before she started tapping away at her keyboard. Time to find some answers, and she knew just where to start.
"Does it matter?" Eric asked calmly before he turned and saw what she was doing and reached out to grab her hands. "Whoa what are you doing?" He asked in a hushed tone, frugally looking round to make sure no one was close by to see what was on Nell's screen. It would be just like Hetty to show up right now.
"Finding out who Gordon John Brandel is." Nell replied in her normal tone as she pulled her hands away from Eric's and hit return before he could stop her.
"I don't think-" Eric whined but before he could come up with any kind of argument Nell's eyes lit up.
"Here's something. He was married to a Roberta Deeks. And he had one son, Martin."
At her words Eric didn't even think before reaching across and wiping the words from her screen. He did not want to know anything else. He knew that this Gordon had been in jail just from what Nell had been searching before. He did not want to know why. Especially not if he was detectives Deeks father. Of course that did also explain why it was Callen was looking for the guy. Family meant everything to G Callen. After all he had never had any.
"Okay. That's enough. We really don't need to know anymore." He stated as he made sure to remove everything related to Gordon John Brandel from her computer.
"But… why would Callen be looking up detective Deeks' dad?" Nell asked confused, but deciding to concede defeat to the tech operator. It seemed he knew more than she did about this anyway if his reaction was anything to go by. So he would be the better source of information right now.
"I'm sure he has his reasons. Ones we don't need to know." Eric replied but he couldn't look Nell in the eyes as he did so. He knew he looked guilty, but it wasn't his fault. If Callen and Deeks didn't want people to know they shouldn't go round kissing on surfboards.
"But why? Callen's looking into it, so why can't we?" Nell asked simply crossing her arms as she glared at the other man. She would get what he knew out of him if it took all day, though in truth she thought he would cave in under a minute.
It was 43 seconds later that Eric groaned and he finally looked Nell in the eyes.
"Because we don't have the same relationship with Deeks as Callen does."
"What you mean we're not his team leader? So what?" Nell asked, though she had a good idea about what Eric meant by those words, she wanted to hear him spell it out for her. Especially considering he was the one who told her that nothing was going on between the two men when she had first noticed something. She would make him pay for that lie.
"No. I mean neither of us are dating him." Eric whispered through gritted teeth. Oh if Callen ever heard about this conversation he was sooo dead. In the most slow and painful way possible.
"Oh my god. You told me I was seeing things when I said that before." Nell replied with a gleeful look at the relationship Eric had just confirmed. She had known, and she was right.
"I didn't know before. Just, don't tell anyone okay? They don't know I know… in fact I'm not sure half of them know either." Eric pleaded as he had sudden visions of Nell sharing what he had just told her with everyone, or even just sharing it with Kensi. Oh god no, don't let her tell Kensi… or Sam. Oh man, he was definitely a dead man walking.
"Whatever. How is it you know anyway? Did you see them kissing somewhere romantic or something?" Nell asked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Like that would happen. I mean it wasn't like Eric hung around in the same places as Agent Callen and detective Deeks, he was a nerd after all.
"Kinda, yeah." Eric replied a small smile appearing on his lips as he remembered what he had seen that morning at the beach. It really was rather cute, and not something he would imagine either of the men doing.
"Seriously? You have to tell me everything." Nell squealed pulling Eric's chair so close to hers that he couldn't move away. She wanted all the juicy details.
"Nell, we need to work." Eric begged. This was not how he had planned to spend his day. Or what remained of his life when the team found out that he had been talking about them behind their backs.
"Oh no mister. You are not getting out of this. Spill, or I'll tell Hetty you hacked me." Nell replied forcefully. She would know it all, and now.
"You wouldn't dare." Eric responded narrowing his eyes. If she told Hetty he had hacked her, she would have to tell her about why he had done it. Or more likely he would have to tell Hetty why he had done it. Could things get any worse?
"Are you sure about that?" Nell asked with a smug smile as she saw the realisation appear in Eric's eyes that he would be the one who would have to tell Hetty about her activities for Agent Callen.
"Fine." Eric conceded before leaning in closer as he relayed all he knew about Deeks and Callen's relationship, and his suspicion about how and when it started. He told the whole story in a hushed voice as he sat knee to knee with Nell. And when he was done, Nell couldn't quite believe what had obviously been happening without anyone seeing it. It felt good being one of the few who were in the know. This was the best secret she had heard since she had come to work here. And it was more than enough to stop her from continuing to wonder about Deeks father. If fact she forgot all about him in the face of her new knowledge about two of the main team.