Mission 101

Chapter 10- To Think Of You Is To Smile

Nell's POV
Oh my god! I can't believe everyone knows I like Eric! My world is going to end! I never wanted anyone to know! They would just tease me and think I'm a loser for liking a guy like Eric. You know, all techy and nerdy, not having the guts to ask a girl out on a date! It wouldn't work anyway. I mean. We work together as partners. If anything were to happen between me and Eric, it would destroy our friendship and interfere with our work relationship.

We walked back into ops and everyone was looking at us. Kensi was smiling and cheerful when she saw me and Eric make eye contact. Crap. "Kens? You okay? Nell, what did you say to her? She's so.....so.....happy!" Sam stated, smiling at Kensi. "Let's just say, she knows something about me, that has made her in a good mood and turned mine into a miserable one." I stated, sitting down in my chair and opening up my tablet without making eye contact with anyone. Sam and Callen looked at me, and started laughing. "You told her we know?" Callen asked, Kensi nodded. "I had to! It's girl code. When you know something about your best friend, it's necessary that you tell them! Now we can talk about it! Actually no! I just had a second thought! No talking about it, Nell! That's just gross!" Kensi replied. "KENSI!" I yelled. Does she want Eric to know?

"What's going on? What did you find out?" Eric asked, walking up behind Kensi, a smirk lighting up his face. "Ahh! Umm, Nell eats chocolate and watches saddle club!" Kensi lied. "Oh my god! Really? Me too!" Eric agreed.

"Umm.. Eric? Kensi was kidding....." I informed, while Kensi, Callen and Sam were laughing there heads off. "Ohh, umm. Yeah, me too!" He stated, although I don't think he was joking."Yeah.... sure you were." Callen stated, sarcastically. Eric just stood up and walked towards the big screen. "So, we got a match on kalaidescope. If they haven't ditched the car, they should be at.....Santee Alley, Olymipic Boulevard. It's a big shopping mall. Guys, what do you think they are doing at a shopping mall?" Eric asked. I laughed when Kensi answered sarcastically. "Ohh, I don't know Eric. Ohh, actually they are probably hunting elephants!" Eric looked confused. "Kensi, that's stupid. How could they hunt elephants in Santee Al-" He stopped, suddenly realising Kensi was joking. "Never mind. Wait, why are you still here? Go get them!" He continued, urging Kensi and the others out of ops.

As they all left, Eric rolled his chair over to mine. "So, what does Kensi know about, that she shouldn't?" He asked, suddenly intrigued. I shook my head."Nothing that concerns you, Beale." I stated, not bothering to look up from my keyboard. I was trying to run racial recognition to find out who the guys were that were seen at the crime scene, when Deeks was shot. "Ohh come on! You can tell me anything! Please? I won't tell anyone! I promise!" He begged. I just shook my head again. Why did Kensi have to say anyhing! Eric is never going to let this go! "Fine. I'll stop hassling you. Hah, what a friend!" Eric joked. I continued running facial rec, hitting a few keys on the keyboard. Until I finally got a hit! " Eric, those people that were at the crime scene?" I started, waiting for him to stop what he was doing and listen to me. When I got his attention, I continued. "Let's just say, I don't think Gina and Max are working for Brandel...." Eric looked at me. " Why do you say that?"

I pointed to the computer screen and Eric looked shocked. "Is....is...is that Siderov?" I nodded. Siderov was back for Deeks. "Okay, but if Gina and Max are not working for Brandel, what has Brandel got to do with is? I mean, what? First Brandel wants Deeks dead and then less than twenty-four hours later, Siderov tries to kill him? This doesn't make sense!" I yelled, frustratedly as I hit the table in anger. Eric immediately calmed me down. How does he do that? You know, put one hand on your shoulder and send shivers all down your back. Like you feel completely safe when you've got that one person, holding on to you and never feeling like they are going to let go.

"Nell. It's okay. We are going to figure this out. Right now, we need to call Hetty and the others and let them know what we found. Okay?" He asked, I nodded, still in awe, as I walked out of ops and down the stairs to tell Hetty what we found.

"Something wrong, Miss Jones?" Hetty asked. "Um, yeah. Very wrong. We just got a hit on facial rec. It turns out Gina and Max aren't working for Brandel." I informed. "What do you mean? Who are they working for then?" "Siderov." Hetty sighed. "Ohh bugger!" That's putting it lightly!