Summery: A series of drabbles, tied together in their own sweet little ways, set after "Greed" and focusing around what should be known as the precursor to all things Nelric - the FLOWERS!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warning: SEROIUS FLUFF ALERT. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

~*~ Tulip ~*~

Nell could hardly believe it. Turner was in custody, and she could go home. At long last, her nightmare was over.

Back again in her hospital bed, she sat up with Eric and smiled as she listened to Callen tell how the team came to save the day. Again.

"...So when Eric called us up, we made the coronor rush the autopsy on the guy who fried in Turner's house," Callen said. "Turns out that it was the real Dr. Hillard, and melted on his face were bits of latex from a mask. He fooled us all into thinking he was Turner."

"We knew Turner would try to grab you, so we all quickly made a plan and waited for Eric to distract Turner so he could save you and we could arrest the bad guy," Deeks finished triumphantly.

"My heroes," she said, looking at the three agents and detective. "Thanks, you guys. I don't know how to thank you."

"Just rest, Miss Jones," Hetty said, patting her hand gently. "You'll be released in a matter of hours. Thank us by taking the time to recover from his ordeal." Turning on Eric, she said, "You will take Miss Nell home, of course."

"Of course, Hetty," he agreed. "My place is cleaned up, so she can stay there for a while. I mean," he backtracked, looking over at Nell, "if that's okay with you."

Nell nodded. "I'd like that, actually."

Eric's apartment was much cleaner than it had been the last time she was there. He kind of ruined the moment by explaining that the clean-up crew was responsible for it; he'd barely been home since Nell had been taken.

The moment was saved, however, by what Eric called her housewarming gift.

"Wh-What's all this?" Nell asked, overwhelmed by the display.

Looking very awkward and shy, Eric pushed the three vases closer to Nell. "I - I figured you'd like some color."

She stared at the bouquets in shock. "Some color?" she repeated. "That's gotta be almost three dozen flowers."

Three vases, each sporting a different bouquet of beautiful flowers. The leftmost vase held a dozen wine-red carnations, making her recall that first flower Eric had left for her after that disastrous blind date. The center one held a dozen azaleas, bringing to mind their first kiss in that very room. And the rightmost vase held -

Nell's hands rose to cover her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh, Eric..."

"I know you've got a recent slew of bad memories involving roses, so I knew they wouldn't be accepted. So I went with the next best thing." He smiled shyly. "Besides, they mean almost the same thing, right?"

A dozen red tulips. The near-universal symbol for undying love.

She looked at Eric with a trembling smile. "You're such a romantic dork, you know that?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But you love me anyway, right?"

"Awful sure of yourself, huh?"

Eric made a "duh!" gesture. "Hey, I did protect you from a psychotic stalker in my own home."

"For which you got a kiss as reward," Nell replied.

"Yeah, and a snuggle."

"I thought that was a fair trade."

"And then I saved you from said stalker. In quite a daring rescue, I might add."

"You pulled my wheelchair into an elevator. Hardly heroic."

"Still." He grinned. "What kind of reward does that entail?"

Nell smiled back. "If you're very good...maybe another kiss."

The grin twisted into a wry grimace. "You're such a tease."

"Yeah, I know." She rose on her tiptoes and whispered, "But you love me anyway, right?"

Aaaaaaand we're DONE! Thanks for sticking with me through this!

Review please!