Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I don't own NCIS: LA or the characters. *sigh*

"Eric!" Nell stood frozen in front of the main screen in Tech Ops. The color had drained from her face almost as quickly as the video feed from Eric's glasses had cut out. The last thing she saw was the wheel to a plane and the top of Eric's head. Now, nothing but snow went across the screen and Nell heard only static in her headset. "Eric!" she screamed into the microphone. She jabbed furiously at the tablet in her hands in an effort to get back some sort of connection to her partner. She should have listened to the nagging voice in her head when it told her something was going to go terribly wrong today.

The morning had started like any other. Sam and Callen laughing at a dirty joke Deeks had told while Kensi shook her head but silently laughed along. The Mission was bright as the sunlight poured in through the windows adding warmth the to the cheerful atmosphere.

Up in the cool darkness of Tech Ops, Eric and Nell were pulling together information for that morning's briefing. They silently worked in tandem which wasn't unusual for it was rather early in the morning. What was unusual was Eric's silence. It was a different kind of silence but Nell couldn't put her finger on what made it different. She shrugged it off attributing it to lack of coffee until a name on her monitor caught her eye and suddenly she understood: Gary Clay.

Not again, said the voice.

"Eric?" she said slowly. "Why-"

"I know," Eric said cutting her off. He could tell that she was taken aback by his quick response so he turned to her. Forcing a smile on his face he said, "Can you get the team up here, please?"

He's giving you whistle duty, the voice said. This can't be good.

...

The static continued and the main screen remained snowy. Nell was still frantically trying to re-establish a connection to Eric. Line after line of code came up on the screen blocking every single one of Nell's attempts to break through the airport's firewall. She strained her ears for Eric's voice in the headset as tears welled up in her eyes and blurred her vision. Her breathing was fast and short but she worked harder and faster than ever.

At last she broke through the airport's firewall and brought up the feed of every security camera aimed at the runways. She wiped her tears on her sleeve and scanned each frame of video for some sign of her partner. When she did find him, her heart almost stopped. He was flat on his back and his glasses were smashed to pieces beside his motionless body. What Nell could make out of his face was cut and bloody and his arm was positioned in such an unnatural way that it made her feel sick.

"Callen! Kensi! Someone!" Nell shouted, near tears, into her headset.

"Nell?" said Sam's voice.

"Sam," Nell breathed a small sigh of relief. "He's on runway 4!"

"G and I are on it. Get eyes on Fredericks and Killam for Kensi and Deeks."

"Copy," Nell replied now searching for the bastards while simultaneously trying to reconnect with Eric. "Kensi, Deeks?"

"Yeah, Nell?" It was Deeks' voice this time.

"They're in the hangar on runway 7. They're gonna run. I can stop the bay from opening but you two need to get there fast!"

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Nell asked Eric as he got dressed behind the curtain.

"I'll be fine," Eric reassured her. "I have a rock solid identity that Hetty put together and you'll be in my ear the entire time." Eric stepped out from behind the partition in khakis and a navy windbreaker. "Plus, you'll be able to see everything I see." He tapped his glasses which were no different from his usual pair except that these had a fiber optic camera hidden in the frame. He smiled a reassuring half-smile and opened his arms to show off his outfit. "How do I look?"

Nell looked Eric up and down and giggled at his ridiculous appearance. He looked so uncomfortable in dress pants but his shoes were the icing on top of it all. "Lose the flip-flops," Nell said turning to leave.

Eric looked down at his feet then back to Nell. "I think I pull this look off quite nicely," he yelled after her for she was already halfway up the steps. For someone so small she moved so quickly. Then again, he wasn't surprised; Hetty probably taught her a few ninja skills.

...

The next few minutes seemed to pass in slow motion. Nell watched helplessly as Kensi and Deeks ran across the tarmac to the hangar and Callen and Sam ran through terminals to get to Eric who remained still.

Nell tried to push in on the video to see if he was alive but the resolution was atrocious. "Eric? Can you hear me?" No response. "Please be ok," she said shakily. "Please be alive, Eric." Then she heard her name in her ear. It was faint, almost a whisper.

"Nell..." Nell maxed out the volume in her headset.

"Eric?" she gasped.

"Nell..."

"Eric, hold on," she said trying to steady her voice. "They're coming for you. Sam and Callen are coming."

"Nell," Eric groaned again.

"Eric, you stay with me! Eric?" Silence. "Eric!" Nell began to panic. "Sam!"

"We got him," he replied just as Nell saw both his figure and Callen's come onto the screen.

"We got Fredericks and Killam," said Deeks. Nell heard a pair of handcuffs click. She acknowledged him and turned her attention back to Sam, Callen, and Eric. Callen had already checked Eric and was helping Sam hoist his limp body over his shoulder. Nell cut off the video feed and ripped her headset off throwing it unceremoniously across the room. Then she sat in her chair and cried paying no attention to the other agents as they tentatively walked past.

...

He didn't know where he went wrong. He had stuck to his cover story and followed protocol. Nell successfully guided him through repairing the passenger plane's engine and Hetty assured him that he was in the clear. He didn't expect to be attacked after getting the evidence to put the corrupt general away and successfully completing his assignment. Maybe it was too easy, Eric thought to himself as another blow connected with his face. The last thing he heard before passing out was Nell screaming his name telling him to get out. Then everything went black.

...

"I wouldn't care if he's a billionaire philanthropist!" Hetty said icily into the phone. "He is guilty of multiple crimes against the United States, including terrorism, and he put one of my people in the hospital! You will arrest him or, so help me, I will go down there and cuff him myself." Hetty uncharacteristically slammed the phone onto the receiver and sat back in her chair clearly exhausted, but she couldn't rest. She slowly stood up and made her way up the stairs to Tech Ops where she found Nell visibly distressed, as was her right, sitting in her chair clutching her tablet as if it were a life preserver. She strolled over to her and embraced her. "There, there," Hetty said softly stroking Nell's head. "All is well, Miss Jones. You needn't worry anymore. You may cry, but you needn't worry."

The two of them were silent and Nell's breathing returned to normal. The soothing smell of tea that followed Hetty everywhere she went made her head stop spinning. She closed her eyes for a second but they shot open as the doors to OSP slid open downstairs.

"Go on," Hetty told her. Throwing aside her tablet, Nell ran out of Tech Ops and nearly slid into the railing. She clutched the wrought iron for support and let out a quick gasp. He was bloodied and bruised and his left arm was in a cast and sling, but he was smiling. His flip-flops flip-flopped on the stone floors of the Mission stopping mid-step as he caught sight of his favorite face.

Nell flew down the stairs and easily slipped through the daily bustle of agents. She stopped at the edge of the bullpen opposite the rest of the team and half-laughed, half-sobbed at the sight of Eric. The tears she had been holding back began streaming down her face and she ran into Eric's open arms. Hetty shooed the team away and into the foyer but that didn't stop them from peeking around the corner.

Tiny Nell seemed to disappear in Eric's chest as she pulled him into a tight hug. She buried her face in his shirt and cried silently. Eric hugged her back with his good arm and rested his head on top of hers. She turned her head up to face him and smiled a tearful smile. His bloodied lips curled into a faint grin as he tightened his grasp around the tiny analyst and pulled her up off the floor and into a kiss.

This wasn't the normal friendly peck on the cheek that friends would exchange. This was a full on "I love you" kind of kiss. Nell felt the ground disappear beneath her feet as Eric had pulled her up which only added to the feeling that she was flying.

When Nell was back on the ground and her senses had returned she looked at Eric in shock. He smiled sheepishly and opened his mouth to apologize but Nell cut him off.

"No," she said. "Don't be." Nell rested her head on his chest once more and shut her eyes not giving a second thought to what had just happened. Eric was back; he was safe and he was, finally, hers.