Mission 101

Chapter 51- In The End, We Only Regret The Chances We Didn't Take

Nell's POV

I can't believe Eric quit NCIS. I feel like this is all my fault. Actually no. Let me rephrase that. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have pushed Eric away. He was just trying to help! I am such an idiot.

I left ops and drove straight to Eric's house, but when I got there, his car wasn't there. I went up to his door and knocked, thinking that maybe he got a lift home or something, but there was no answer. I sat on one of the chairs that Eric had outside of his house and dialled his number. It went straight to voicemail. "Hey, this is Eric. I'm unable to get to the phone right now, leave a message and I'll call you back! Bye!" I sighed and dialled his number again, still no answer. I left a message saying, "Eric, it's Nell. I'm so sorry about everything. Please call me back. I need to talk to you. I have made a mess of all this and I miss you so much. Okay, bye. Call me."

I looked around and there was no sign of him anywhere, so I got into my car and drove to the one place I thought Eric would be. The beach. Him and Deeks would both go there whenever they needed to clear their heads. I guess it's a 'surfer' thing.

I got out of my car and started walking down the sand, looking for Eric. I was walking for about ten minutes, when I finally spotted him sitting down in the sand, staring out into the ocean, drawing little sketches in the sand with a stick. He was wearing dark green shorts, an orange t-shirt and a grey hoodie. I smiled slightly and walked up to him, sitting down next to him. We didn't say anything for a while, just kept looking out into the ocean, until I spoke up.

"Eric, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. I feel like this is all my fault. You have to understand, I was just in a lot of pressure and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. I just wish Granger hadn't have put me on t-" I started, before Eric cut me off. "Nell, it's not your fault. I just think that if we both work at NCIS this will happen again. I was just trying to protect you. I'm sorry. I should have let you be. I know you can take care of yourself, but for some stupid reason I still feel the need to look after you and made sure you don't get hurt." Eric replied. I smiled and turned to him, to find him looking into my hazel eyes.

"I love you, Eric. And I most definitely, don't want to lose you. I need you. You are the light that guides me. You're my flashlight." I stated. Eric smiled. "I love you too, Nell. You're not going to lose me. Ever. We may come across many problems and of course our relationship is going to have it's bumps, but if you're willing to, I think we can make this work." He replied, instantly making me smile and nod happily.

"Before we kiss and make up, I have one question for you." I informed. He looked at me and nodded for me to go on. "Will you come back to NCIS?" He smiled and nodded, "Sure, Rockstar. But I have one condition. You are not allowed to get mad at me for wanting to protect you and make sure that you don't get hurt. There are going to be times when you have to go undercover and I need you to let me be worried about you, without shutting me out. If you can promise to do that, then yeah. I'll come back to NCIS." I smiled and nodded, "Okay. I promise."

"Good. Come on, Rockstar. Let's get back to ops. What do you say?" He asked, standing up and pulling me up with him. I nodded again and started walking, before Eric pulled me back and spun me around so I was facing him. I was confused, but my mind was cleared when Eric pulled me into a kiss, before turning around, still holding my hand and walking back to my car.

When we got back to ops, we walked into the bullpen, not stopping to say hi and just went straight to Hetty's desk. I looked over to see Gibbs' sitting in the chair across from her also with a tea. Hetty looked up and put her tea down. "I thought you'd come back. Don't worry, Mr Beale. Your position here is still yours. That is, if you are back. Just make sure that you and Miss Jones maintain a healthy 'work' relationship. I can not afford to have either of you walking out when a situation gets a little 'out of hand'. Usually I would not allow you back with certain circumstances, but considering this was mainly Assistant Director Granger's doing, I will let it slide. Do not let it happen again." Hetty explained. Eric and I nodded, before walking back to the bullpen, where the two teams waited, smiling when they saw us walk in together.

"Oh, what do we have here? You back at NCIS, Eric?" Sam asked. Eric nodded. "Yeah. Guys, I'm really sorry about this whole mess. I shouldn't have been such a freaking baby about the whole thing. Thank you for knocking some sense into the two of us, though. Hey Ziva, DiNozzo, McGee." They all looked up and smiled, waving and saying hi. "Hey, is Abby here?" Eric asked. Callen nodded. "She's upstairs in the forensic lab room they made for her. It's right next to ops. She seemed pretty bummed that you weren't here. You should go and say hi."

Eric looked to me as if to ask for permission, I nodded as he ran up to ops to say hi to Abby. "Hey, Nell? Just out of curiousity, where was Eric. I mean I went to see him just before I came in and he wasn't home. How'd you know where to find him?" Deeks asked. I smiled as Kensi answered for me. "It's Eric, you idiot. She is his girlfriend, why wouldn't she know where he was?" I smiled. I think Kensi felt a little left out.

"To answer your question, Deeks. He was at the beach. He is just like you and any other normal Californian. When they need to clear their heads, they go to the beach." Deeks nodded. "So everything okay with you two now?" Sam asked. "Yeah. I'd say so. I just wish Granger would get the hint and go back to the planet he came fr-" I started, being cut off by Granger walking into the room. "Something to say, Miss Jones?" I shook my head quickly. "No, no. I was just telling the team how much I enjoyed being undercover and how I should thank you for it. So, thank you." I lied. He frowned, "Mhm," before walking off. When he was out of view, everyone started laughing at how close I came to coming on Granger's bad side. Well I guess, everyone is on Granger's bad side. 

I went to walk up stairs, but was stopped when I saw a very familiar face walk into ops. A little bit too familiar, If you'd ask me.