Double Standards

Chapter 10

Callen, Nell, Sam and Deeks all headed out to a little restaurant that was roughly ten minutes away from their hotel, and once they got there, they ordered their food and sat down, waiting patiently until it arrived. 

"When is our food going to get here? I'm hungry." Deeks whined.

"Deeks, we just ordered. You have to give them time to cook. You don't want raw food do you? Food poisoning?" Nell reasoned.

Deeks shrugged, "I guess not. But I still think they should cook faster." 

Nell laughed, along with Callen and Sam, as a big muscular man came up to the table and stood behind Nell.

"Shortbread? Is that you?" He asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.

Nell turned her head to face the man, surprise streaming through her body, "Nick?" She asked, turning her head to face the voice.

"Oh my god, Nick!" She squealed happily, jumping up and throwing her arms around the bigger man.

"Hey, Shortbread! Wait, what are you doing in DC? You're not on the run from your attacker, are you? Because if you are, I can certainly do something about it. You know, ago and track him down, make sure he suffers after what he did to you." He spoke, pulling away, taking Nell by the shoulders and holding her at arms length.  

Nell rolled her eyes, "No, Nick. I'm not on the run. Derek is in jail now, and he will probably be spending the rest of his life there. And even if he wasn't, you sure as hell wouldn't be doing anything about it. Do you not remember what you almost did to Nate, when he broke my heart a couple of years ago?" 

Nick nodded, "Of course I remember. If it wasn't for you stopping me, he wouldn't even be alive today. However, I think in this case, Derek would have had it a lot worse than Nate would have, considering Nate didn't attack you."

"Wait, how do you even know about that? Mom told you, didn't she? Oh, I knew she would do that! Why can't she just keep information to her self for once, gosh!" Nell yelled angrily.

Nick placed his hands back on her shoulder,  "Come on, don't be mad at mom. She didn't know what to do. She had just found out that the man her daughter fell in love with was beating her up, you can't expect her to keep that to herself." 

Nell rolled her eyes in annoyance, finally glancing back to the table to see Callen, Sam and Deeks all watching the exchange between the two siblings, with curiosity. 

"Crap, guys, I am so sorry, I completely forgot you guys were here. Um, this is my older brother, Nick. Nick, these are my friends and co-workers, Callen, Sam and Deeks." Nell introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Sam, Deeks, and Callen replied in sync, causing them all to look at each other weirdly.

Nell and Nick laughed, as Nick turned to them, "Nice to meet you too. I actually have to get back home. My wife will kill me if I don't bring her food home warm. Pregnancy hormones are off the roof right now." Nick spoke, chuckling nervously.

Callen, Sam and Deeks all laughed, along with Nick and Nell, before Nell stopped and smiled at Nick.

"How is Amber doing, anyway? How much longer until the baby is due?" Nell questioned.

"Yeah, she's doing good. Just about this time next week. Did you know, pregnant women can have the weirdest and most disgusting cravings? Seriously. Last week, she made me go to the supermarket, to get her pickles and whipped cream, which she then combined with peanut butter and crackers. It looked and smelt like death. I don't even know how she eats that stuff. I nearly throw up every time I think about it. Do you know how freaking disgusting that is?" Nick spoke.