A late night marathon of work ends with a Tech Operator, an Intellegence Analyst, and a couch.

YOUR PLACE, OR MINE?

Mission Ops, Late night

Eric looked at his watch for the 5th time in the last 20 min. Nell looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Watching the time just makes it worse, Beale" she said.

"Yea, I'm just doing what I can to stay awake. Coffee isn't helping anymore and we are so close to being done." Eric said, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. This caused Nell to yawn as she playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Stop that!" She said shaking her head. They were getting close to 2 am and all was quiet in the Ops Center. With their latest case ending they found they had a mountain of work to do and decided to stay late to finish it. But then 1 hour turned to 2 which turned to 5 hours later.

"Maybe take a walk around the building?" She said.

"Nah, that has never really worked for me." He said.

"Then here, go downstairs and lay down on the couch. Take a 30 min nap." She said.

"You sure? You don't mind?" He looked over at her questioningly.

"Yea. I can handle things on my own for awhile." She said, smiling.

"Ok, but promise me you will wake me up in 30." He said.

"Of course, Eric." She said, leaning in and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Good night." She said, smiling.

"Good night." He smiled back as he got up and left Ops. He walked down the stairs and over to the bullpen. He kicked his flip flops off and laid down on the long couch, thankfully long enough for his tall frame. He took his glasses off and placed them on the nearby stand before laying back, one arm rested on his chest and the other behind his head. He sighed before quickly falling asleep.

The Next Morning

Hetty unlocked the door to the Mission and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and began her morning routine of turning everything on, getting everything ready for the day. She was about to turn the lights on near the bullpen when something caught her eye. Over on the couch lay the sleeping figures of Eric and Nell. He was laying on his back and she was on top of him, her head rested on his chest and his arms circled around her. They hadn't changed their clothes leaving Hetty to determine they had been here all night. She couldn't help but smile as she grabbed a nearby quilt and draped it over them. She stood there for a few moments watching them. She had her sights set on the two of them for many years before they joined NCIS and she knew they would work well as partners, playing off of each other strengths. But as good as Hetty was with reading people she had to admit she didn't expect this so soon. But the content look on both of their faces was evidence that there was more between them and Hetty couldn't be more thrilled. She continued her rounds as people started to come in. Then around 8 the team started to funnel in. Kensi and Deeks were first, followed by Sam and then Callen. As they entered the bullpen they all stopped and took in the sight of Eric and Nell asleep. The jokes started to fly about young geek love when Hetty came in.

"They both had a long night so I think some rest is in order. In fact I wanted to tell you all personally that because there are no cases and all of our work is caught up we can all afford to take the day off. So finish up any lingering business you have to do and then go home. I don't want to see any of you here until Monday." She said. The team got excited and jumped on finishing up the last bit of work they had left over and then left as quickly as they could.

Later that morning

An hour later Eric started to stir, opening his eyes and rubbing the sleep out of them he looked down and smiled. He stared directly in the fiery red hair of Nell. He looked around and found the building relatively empty save for a few people. He reached up, trying not to disturb her, and grabbed his glasses and felt something under it. He slipped his glasses on and found a note that was left.

Everyone has the day off. That includes the both of you. Have a good weekend and I will see you Monday. Hetty.

Eric grinned before looking back down. He gently ran a hand down her back and she arched in response. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Morning, sleepy head." He whispered.

"Morning." She smiled.

"Why didn't you wake me?" He asked.

"You needed your rest so I finished up everything," She said, leaning up on her hands. The nervousness in her voice came in.

"I…hope you didn't mind sharing the couch" She said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many times I have dreamed of this?" He said. She blushed.

"So we have the day off. So I guess we should go home then." Eric said, his voice betraying the fact that he really didn't want to. Nell felt the same way. They both didn't want this moment to end.

"Yea. I guess we should." She said, throwing the blanket off of them and standing up. She straightened out her clothes and ruffled her hair a bit to get it back to normal somewhat. Eric swung his legs over and stood up. He slid his sandals back on and for a moment they both stood there, looking at everything except each other. Nell started to fiddle with her hands.

"So…Eric. Do you want to maybe do this again? Say tonight?" She asked, her head down.

"I would love to." He said.

"Your place or mine?" She said, looking up at him, their eyes finally meeting.

"How about yours?" He said, smiling.

"I like the sound of that. " She smiled, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

"Bring a couple changes of clothes." She whispered. "We have an extended weekend after all." She said as she walked away, looking over her shoulder.

"This is going to be an amazing weekend." He said to himself as he went to pack up his things.

On the other side of the room Hetty stood with a cup of tea. "It's about time, you two." She said out loud as she raised her cup and took a sip. "It's about time."

Little one shot that was going to part of the new story Im writing (A Sequel to It's Hell getting to Heaven) but I couldn't fit it in so I decided to publish it as a one shot. I hope you like it.