Aftermath

note: feel free to review. :)

Eric drives Nell home. They are both quiet doing the entire drive to Nell's place. When Eric has parked the car they look at each other.

"you okay?" he asks a little nervous not sure what to say to break the awkward silence.

"I'm fine Eric." She reassured him for at least the tenth time since the shooting. She places a hand on his cheek.

"thank you." She says and leans in and places a featherlight kiss on his lips. "good night Eric." She loses the seatbelt and is about to opens the car door.

"Nell." He grabs her hand. She looks at him with a questioning look. He felt way more confident when she wasn't looking at him.

"what?" she asks.

He loses his courage and looks down at his hands. He lets go of her hand.

"Eric." She places her hand on his. "hey." He looks over at her with a shy smile. "come up with me." She says and gets out of the car. He takes a moment before he gets out of the car and follows her op the stairs to her apartment.

When they get into the apartment Nell walks straight to her bedroom to change into her Pajamas. In the meantime, Eric makes some hot chocolate for them and finds a box of Oreos. When he walks back into the living room Nell has started a movie. She has placed a blanket on the couch.

"what are we watching?" he asks when he sits down on the couch.

"Star wars – the empire strikes back," Nell answers and takes a seat right next to Eric. She snuggles close to him and pulls the blanket around both of them before she rests her head on his chest. Eric rests his arm around her shoulder and pulls her closer without thinking about it. Nell's pulls the blanket up over his arm and takes his hand and intervenes their fingers. In the middle of the movie, Eric looks down at Nell. She normally likes the scene with Han solo and Princess Leia's kiss. Especially when C-3PO interrupts them. but today she doesn't say anything or laughs at C-3PO's comments. Nell is asleep. She has one arm around his torso and she holds his hand with her other hand. He runs his fingertips in circles on her bare upper arm. He places her light kiss on her forehead. She starts to wake up.

"hm…" she mumbles in her sleep.

"you are sleeping." He says with an almost whispering voice.

"no, I'm not. I don't fall asleep to star wars."

"really?" he asks with a teasing tone. "the scene with Han, Leia and C-3PO has just been there. You missed it."

"no I didn't."

"yeah you did."

"you don't know that." Nell moves to get in a more comfortable position and also moves impossible even closer to him.

"I could see it." He says with a smile.

"are you watching me while I'm sleeping?" she sits up and pretend to be offended. eric looks startled her. he is afraid that he has ruined their moment. Nell started laughing when she realize she has startled him.

"relax Eric. " she sits up and looks at him. "you are so easy to freak out. I don't get offended by it."

Eric starts smiling. Now more relaxed.

"you are so annoying when you do that. You do it on purpose." He reaches out to take an oreo. He grabs his hand before he reaches the oreo box.

"let go of my hand."

"nope." He grabs the oreo box and holds it out so he can not reach it.

"come on Nell. Not fair." He tries to reach the oreo box but she just moves it further away from him.

"you called me annoying. So no oreos for you mr."

He leans over her to reach to the oreo box and he finally reaches it. He is almost laying on top of her. He grabs the oreo box and takes one before any of them realize their slightly awkward position. They smile awkwardly at each other before they both sit up. There is a very awkward silence in the room.

"I should probably get home," Eric says. Nell gets up and brings the two empty cups to the kitchen. Eric walks to the entrée to put on his jacket and his sneakers. Nell is standing in the door between the living room and the entrée. They just look at each other briefly before Eric turns around to open the front door. he stops right before he opens the front door. he turns around to face her.

"Nell I don't want to do this anymore." He hurries to say it before he loses his courage again. His courage disappears as soon as he looks at her and sees her sad and confused look.

"you don't want to do what?" she asks. "movie night?" she asks for clarification.

"no. this. Us." She looks just as confused as she did before.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Eric."

Eric looks down at the floor. he starts getting sweaty palms. Nell walks closer to him.

"Eric. Tell me what you mean." She looks straight up at him with that look that makes him speechless. "eric?" she asks.

He doesn't say anything he just looks at her for a while until he leans down and kisses her with all the passion and all the feelings he hasn't been able to put into words. Afte a while they break the kiss when the air is needed. She looks up at him with a big smile.

"wow." Is all she manage to say. It rarely happens that the young analyst gets speechless. But she simply doesn't know what to say so she just stands on her tiptoes to kiss him. he takes her into a tight hug like he was never gonna let her go.

Note: so this is it. A story that started with a promotion picture from s8e18 'getaway' hope you liked it. I am planning on coming up with another Neric story soon. A lot of work is coming up so can't promise when.