After a long and stressful night, the daylight comes

THE MORNING AFTER

Mission Ops

Nell let out an audible sigh as she started to power things down.

"I hear you there, Rockstar" Eric said, as he finished his typing. An IM popped up on his screen.

"Hetty said to take the day off and come in on Monday." He read.

"Great, I'm exhausted." Nell said.

"Well you've been running on nothing but coffee for the past 5 hours." Eric said as he packed his things.

"We gotta do what we gotta do, Wolfram." She said.

She slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Sorry tonight messed up our plans." She said to him.

"Hazards of the job." He said, giving her a smile. "How about I make it up to you. Breakfast at my place?" He asked her.

"That sounds great. Let me swing by my apartment and drop some things off real quick." She said as they walked out.

Eric's apartment 30 min later

Eric was currently mixing the batter when he heard a knock on the door. He opened the door to see Nell standing with her bag. She had changed into more casual clothes while he was wearing his pajamas.

"Perfect. Was just about ready to start the Waffles. Make yourself at home." He said. They both knew he never really needed to say it. She was over enough where she didn't need his permission, and he never felt he needed to give it, for her to be comfortable.

She stepped inside as he returned to the kitchen and began to pour the batter into the iron. He turned around to see her walk out of his bathroom, changed into her own pair of pajamas.

"Figured I'd join in." She said with a smile.

"When in Rome." He replied as he began to put breakfast together. He plated the waffle and added a few links of sausage he fired up. He set the plate down on the table as he returned to make his.

Nell took a bite of her Waffle as Eric sat down with his. "So?" He asked.

"It's amazing. You are great at this." She said as she took a drink of her milk.

"You are too kind." He said to her as he poured syrup on his and took a bite.

They finished their waffles and Eric cleaned up while Nell moved to the couch. Eric joined her shortly afterward and they started to watch some TV. At some point during their watching Nell leaned against Eric, curling her body against his, as he wrapped his arm around her. It had become so natural to them that neither of them really even recognized that they did it anymore. Now it left them with nothing but an immense feeling of contentment.

As the credits started to roll Eric looked down at saw that she had fallen asleep. He knew she hadn't slept much the last case because of how much running around she had to do so it didn't surprise him in the least. He couldn't help feeling his heart melt seeing the small, content smile on her face as it was dug into his side, her arm around his waist. He leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her head before moving slowly off of the couch, trying not to wake her. He bent down and slipped his arms under her, gently lifting her off of the couch. She never stirred as he carefully moved into his room and gently placed her on his bed. When he tried to remove his arms her body tensed up as she reflexively gripped into him; an audible whimper escaping her mouth, twisted into a frown. Eric had to fight from laughing at the sound.

"I'll be right back." He whispered to her, kissing her temple gently. Her body relaxed and let go of him. He went back into the kitchen, putting the last of the dishes away and tidying up the room. Making sure the door was locked he returned to his room and went to the window. The sun was full bore now so he grabbed a nearby blanket that he kept for just this occasion. Grabbing the corners of the blanket he found the steel rings and hooked them onto small hooks that were drilled into the wall. This succeeded to blocking out most of the light coming in, darkening his room drastically. He returned to the bed, pulling the sheet back and climbing in, shifting onto his side as he threw an arm around her waist. Sleep came quickly for him, listening to her breathing.

An hour later Nell opened her eyes and found herself somewhere different then where she remembered. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and found Eric lying next to her, his hand gently placed on her hip.

"Eric?" She mumbled, groggy.

"Yea?" He responded, not opening his eyes.

"Why am I in your bed?" She asked him.

"Because you fell asleep on my couch and I thought you would be more comfortable here." He said.

They lay there in silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Is that a problem?" He asked her, his voice sounding a little more awake now.

"Not at all." She said as she scooted back against him, curling into a ball as his arm encircled her.

"Good night, Eric." She said, turning her head just enough to capture his lips in a kiss.

"Night Nell." He said, squeezing her as she returned to her position and quickly fell back asleep.

This was partially inspired by the opening moments from Command and Control (which was a phenomenal episode BTW). I love when episodes break the traditional start in the morning, end at night storyline (House After Hours And NCIS Angel of Death are perfect examples). I would love to see an Eric/Nell focused episode that follows that format personally.

This was another spur of the moment idea hence why it was never added to the Profile

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