There is an unacceptable shortage of Nelric fics out there. This hopefully remedies it. It was supposed to be up before New Year's, but eh, better late than never right?

I don't own anything.

"Hey Eric, got any New Year's plans?"

Eric turned around at the very un-Nell question that she just asked him. "Excuse me?"

She fixed him a steady look. "Are you. Doing anything. For New Year's," she said slowly.

"Um, no?" he hedged, unsure of why she was asking him. "Why?"

The level of discomfort on her face was evident. "Because my parents invited you to spend it with us," she said. "My mom thinks we're - you know," she said vaguely with a twist of her wrist.

"Oh, right," Eric said, recalling his little impromptu meet-the-parents moment during the Christmas Eve case. "Oh. Oh." His eyes widened as he realized the implications of her words. "Ooooh."

"Yeah," she replied, reading his mind like always. "Ooooh. So, are you free?"

Eric mulled it over. He really didn't have any plans, and his family had already gone off on vacation without him. Nell's offer actually made him feel a lot better than the thought of sitting around his apartment alone. "Yeah, sure. I'll go."

She let out a huge sigh. "Oh my god, you have no idea how much you've just saved me right now. Mom was really on my ass about bringing you." Worry entered her eyes. "Are you sure it's okay? I mean, they're going to expect - "

"That we're together," Eric finished. He gave a small chuckle. "It's fine, really. We can explain when I meet them that we're just co-workers."

"Okay."

A thought entered his mind. "Wait, what did you tell them about me? Just so I don't blow your cover."

She grinned at him. "You're a cameraman who goes out on location. It's just up your alley so you won't have to make up too much."

"All righty then."

Eric felt a bubble of nerves start forming in the pit of his stomach as he and Nell headed up towards her parents' house. Once again he felt a trace of worry about this entire arrangement. "Run our cover for me again?" he asked.

From the tense note in her voice, Nell was a little worried too. "We work together for an LA TV station, and we've worked on a few stories together."

"And we're not together," Eric finished.

"Definitely not," Nell agreed instantly. "And I'll tell them that." She reached out and knocked on the front door. "Just act calm and don't panic. I hope you're not claustrophobic."

"What makes you say - " The door swung open, and Eric got his answer. Over forty faces were looking their way, and from the sound of it, there were more Joneses in the house than the ones he could actually see. His eyes widened in reflexive panic; there were a hell of a lot more people than he'd originally expected, even with Nell's warning.

A smiling woman that he instantly recognized as Nell's mom came forward and hugged Nell tightly. "I'm so glad you both got off work to join us!" she said chipperly, releasing her daughter to give Eric an equally tight hug. "This is such a nice surprise. And you're just in time for dinner! I hope you both are hungry!"

They were quickly ushered inside, quick introductions were given to the rest of the family, and hustled towards the massive dinner table. Obviously Nell had told her mother that she'd be bringing him as a plus-one, because there was a place set beside Nell at the table that had Eric's name on the place card.

Dinner conversation was like sitting in the center of the school cafeteria, but with better food. Eric thought his neck would snap a couple times as he tried to track all the conversations while making small talk with Nell's parents and eating at the same time. If he hadn't been so good at multitasking from running so many ops, he would have felt overwhelmed by the amount of chatter.

It was a different experience, though. Her family was warm and inviting and completely without secrets. They talked about everything with each other. In five minutes Eric had learned more about Nell than he'd learned from working with her for a year.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried that night, Eric couldn't get any chance to tell people that he and Nell weren't really "together." Oh, he tried. Very hard, in fact. And so did Nell, for that matter. But every time they tried, someone would say something else or something else would happen to catch their attention, and the chance was lost.

At 11:55 he managed to meet up with Nell in a corner of the kitchen. The majority of the Joneses had migrated to the living room, watching the coverage from Times Square and shouting to be heard over the TV and each other. "Any luck?" he asked her.

"Not a bit," she replied. "Either they won't listen or we have lousy timing." Glancing towards where her family was shrieking as the ball lit up, she gave a crooked smile. "They're sweet, really. It's just that they're really, well..."

Eric set down his glass of champagne, thinking about how he'd phrase the question he'd been working up the nerve to ask her for a while (in fact, since that case on Christmas Eve when he accidentally met her parents). "Hey, Nell?"

"Yeah?"

"Does it - does it bother you that they think we're together?"

Nell looked at him with surprise in her green eyes. "What?"

He shrugged, keeping his poker face firmly in place. "You don't seem very comfortable with the idea."

"Because it's not true, Eric. I know our job is about lying, but I don't lie to them about stuff like that," Nell said.

Someone shouted that it was the one-minute mark, but Eric paid no attention to anything that wasn't his partner. She wasn't meeting his eyes, something that was very un-Nell-like, and her fingers tapped against the side of her drink. She was nervous, he saw, and he wasn't sure why. He hoped it wasn't because of him.

"Whoa, Nelly! Don't you look great tonight!"

Eric noticed her twitch at the nickname as a guy he didn't recognize waltzed into the kitchen with a glass of champagne. "Hi Craig," she replied a bit shortly, sounding not very happy to see him. "What're you doing here?"

"Your mom invited me over." His eyes swept over Eric. "This your boyfriend?" Without waiting for an answer he continued, "Well, it's almost midnight, Nelly. Ready for that 2012 kiss?"

"I'm not kissing you, Craig," Nell stated, edging away from him.

"Aww, come on Nelly! Every girl wants a New Year's kiss!"

Eric didn't know what possessed him to act the way he did. When he thought back on it, he figured that it was the heat of the moment coupled with an extreme annoyance with this man who clearly knew Nell but didn't really know her at all. And yes, copious amounts of jealousy had something to do with it.

What he did was this: Reach out and wrap an arm around Nell's shoulders from behind, bringing her backwards until her back bumped against his chest. "And she'll get one," he said evenly. "But not from you."

"What?" Nell squeaked, the word almost drowned out as the gathered Jones family started counting down with the announcer.

"I said," Eric replied evenly, "not from you."

"What?" Craig repeated, just as flabbergasted at Eric's words.

"She's my girlfriend." Eric felt a small thrill at saying the words.

("10!")

Craig scoffed as Nell blushed scarlet. "Nice try, bub," he said. "She bribe you to say that?"

("9!")

"No, I didn't!" Nell almost shrieked in embarrassment.

("8!")

Craig snickered again. "I get why, but seriously? You could only get him to pose for you?"

("7!")

Eric was fast losing patience with this guy. Normally an easygoing soul, he was contemplating taking a page out of Nell's book and dead-arming Craig.

("6!")

Nell couldn't believe that this was happening. She'd hoped to clear up the misunderstanding before now, but if Craig blabbed about the fake relationship, her mother would never trust her again. Nell couldn't - wouldn't - lose that.

("5!")

Craig had this smug look on his face when he said, "C'mon Nelly, just a little kiss. I won't tell if you play along."

("4!")

Nell knew she didn't have a choice. Craig would do it too. So she made to step forward.

("3!")

A blood vessel in Eric's temple throbbed. Nobody blackmailed his partner in front of him. With reflexes that he wasn't aware he possessed, he reached out and grabbed Nell's wrist before she took that first step.

("2!")

"I said," he said, glaring at Craig as he pulled the redheaded analyst back to him, "she's mine. And she won't be kissing you, so buzz off."

("1!")

Is he really gonna - The rest of Nell's thought disappeared when Eric spun her around and pressed his lips to hers as her family's enthusiastic cry of "Zero!" resounded through the house. Shock made her tense up and freeze, but then Eric tilted his head to better catch her mouth and his arms tightened around her and Nell felt herself relax in his embrace. Faintly they could hear the Jones family singing Auld Lang Syne, but their worlds had narrowed down to each other as soon as Nell responded to the kiss. Pushing herself up on her toes, she pressed harder against Eric and looped her arms around his neck. One of his hands slid up her back and buried itself in her hair, cradling the back of her head.

When they pulled apart, both techs were breathing hard and bright-eyed. "Wow," whispered Eric.

"Wow," Nell agreed. "That was - "

"Intense." Blue eyes glanced to the side, then glittered as his grin grew wider. "He's gone. Guess we convinced Craig's List that we're the real deal."

She blinked, a little surprised at his words. Oh yeah, we're not really together. She'd forgotten that, even though she'd been the one to come up with the lie in the first place. For some reason, it was more painful to admit that then before.

Eric's arms tightened around her waist, keeping her secure against him. His grin turned boyish. "Then again, you really can't fake what you want to be real."

Nell stopped breathing. Did he just say - what I think he just said?

Apparently he did, because his cheeks blushed redder than an albino with sunburn. "I-I-I mean," he stammered, "that is, I thought that - what I meant to say - I mean, I wanted to - that is - "

He kept stammering and sputtering while Nell slowly began to realize just what his slip of the tongue meant. She pressed a finger to his lips, effectively silencing his attempts to dig himself out of a hole. "Are you saying," she said for clarification, "that you'd like this - " - she alternated pointing at him and her - "what we're doing now, to be real? As in, the real deal?"

Eric swallowed hard, and nodded. "The R-word," he admitted.

"Yeah, the R-word." Biting her lip, Nell's eyes drifted down to his shirt collar, now mussed thanks to their impromptu makeout session. Her hands moved to fiddle with the lapels. "You think it could work? For real?"

He responded without hesitation. "I do." Then he blinked and asked shyly, "What about you?"

Nell smiled in wonder. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'd like this to be real."

"All right then, let's get started."

"I thought we did."

That boyish grin returned. "Now for real."

Nell's laugh was swallowed up by his kiss as the last warbled notes of Auld Lang Syne faded to cheers from the living room. When they heard Nell's family starting to migrate back towards them, he pulled back again. "I knew I'd make last year's resolution come true."

"What resolution?" she asked, still breathless from the kiss.

"Yeah." He smiled. "To get closer to you." His head tilted curiously. "Why else do you think I came along?"

"To bail me out."

"That, and to get closer to you."

"You're - "

"Incorrigible?" Eric's grin grew wider as he kissed her again.

"I was going to say awful sure of yourself, but that works too," Nell said with her own smile. "Well then, that means my last year's resolution came true too."

"You had one? What was it?"

Knowing she only had moments before her parents came in, Nell stood up on her toes and whispered in his ear. He choked a little, then blushed bright red. "What?"

"You asked."

Eric's cheeks were still an adorable shade of red when Mr. and Mrs. Jones came in and started to ask where they'd gone, they missed the ball, what happened? Nell answered that they'd gotten crowded out and listened to the ball drop from the kitchen, all the while with a smile on her face.

She shot Eric a minxish grin over her shoulder, making him recall exactly what she'd said to him.

Last year's resolution was to bring you home to meet my parents.

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