Chapter 12

Eric drives Nell home. Doing the 20 minute drives to Nell's apartment, she doesn't say a word. When they get to her apartment, Eric helps her up the stairs and inside.

"okay I can take care of myself now." She sounds a little harsh.

"are you okay? You did say a word all the way."

"I'm fine." She says and walk to the kitchen and get a glass of water.

"you sound mad. Are you mad at me?"

"mad?" she comes back in from the kitchen. "why would I be mad?"

"I don't know. I followed an order from Hetty and you know how much Hetty scares me." He says with a little smile.

"you used me, Eric." She sounds more hurt then upset now. He is confused. "you could have told me that this was an undercover instead of playing with my feelings so I would get mad at you." He looks very confused.

"i… i… I didn't use you. I tried to protect you." He is very confused about her anger.

"all that about you having feelings for me was just a part of your cover story?"

He realizes now what she is talking about.

"no… no it wasn't Nell." He steps closer to her. her body languages are very defensive.

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"but you did."

He feels very bad about himself. Then he looks at her with a little smile.

"you have feelings for me?" his voice sounds very hopeful.

"what? You are my best friend."

He looks down with a very disappointed look. She steps closer to him.

"you are my best friend. Not being able to work together with you every day… made me really upset."

Nell holds his hand for a little.

"does Hetty know?" she asks while she is rubbing his hand with her thumb. "Did you tell Hetty the truth about what happened in ops?"

Eric smiles. "no. I just told her we had an argument."

Nell nods.

"okay." She says with a smile. "probably the best. I'm not sure Granger and Hetty would let us work together if they knew the truth." She giggles a little and then works to the kitchen. Eric is just standing there. Confused.

"what do you mean with if they knew the truth?"

She comes back from the kitchen with a bag of chips and some beers. She sit down at the couch.

"I mean if they knew what happened in ops.' She says with a little shy smile.

Eric is confused.

"but… they know. They pretty much busted us. They saw your lipstick on my lips."

Nell looks down.

"I just don't think they would let us work together if we started… something." She says a little hesitant.

Eric lights up in a big smile. He walks over and sit down next to her.

"Kensi and Deeks works together and they are together. What would make you think they wouldn't let us work together?"

He takes her hand.

"I just don't want to risk losing my partner."

"you want. If they try split us up, we will fight this together."

He looks straight in to her eyes/ she gives him a little nervous smile.

"can we just watch a movie tonight and then…"

"figure out the rest later?" he finishes her sentences. They start smiling. She nods.

"sure." He learns back and she rest her head on his shoulder.