Ellick One-Shots

You've Done Enough

A gun shot jerks Ellie out of her sleep as she lays on the couch, frozen. After a few seconds, she realizes it's coming from the TV. Embarrassedly, she sighs, glad that no one is home with her.

Laying her head back in the couch dejectedly, she thinks about Nick. He's at work. Lucky him. She wants him here with her, wants to lay her head on his lap and feel his fingers stroke through her hair. But unfortunately, he's at work and she's not. All because of stupid maternity leave.

Okay, she admits that she wouldn't be doing too well at work right now, but she isn't doing that great at home either.

She needs to do something, anything. Bishop's been laying on the couch watching Netflix all day, getting exactly zero things accomplished.

She should clean the bathroom. Nick would expect it. Imagine him coming home after a long day at work to find the bathroom still as messy as when he left! He would be furious! Nick might even divorce her! Leave her pregnant and homeless! Left alone to raise their baby by herself! She needs to clean the bathroom now! It's the least she can do after slouching around all day. She hasn't done anything else. Ellie should have cleaned the whole house! But no, she had to sleep. She's not even tired.

I'm such a slacker. I can't believe how little I've done today.

Slowly, she sits up. After a very careful process of about four minutes, she reaches the upstairs bathroom.

Okay, gotta get the- ow!- Clorox, and the mirror cleaner.

The baby kicks constantly as she scrubs vigorously at the dirty sink. She does a surprisingly good job of it, and moves on to the visual parts.

Hearing a car pull into the driveway, she begins to panic. He's home and the bathroom still isn't clean!

Quickly, she waddles to the linen closet to get out some clean towels. The hand towel was easy, it was on the top of the pile, as well as the first body towel. However, in order to get a matching color for the body towels, she had to pull a gray one out from beneath a green one. Her hands are already full as she tries to maneuver it free, all while attempting to move rapidly enough to finish before Nick enters the house. Every time she pulls the gray towel, the green towel comes with it.

"Hey honey, I'm home. How are you feeling?" Nick calls out.

"I'm trying!" Ellie exclaims, her frustration overwhelming her until she just bursts. Giving the gray towel a huge yank, it comes flying out of the closet, the green one coming with it, all the towels in her hands cascading to the floor. Looking down at the pile of towels at her feet, Ellie takes a deep breath in order not to break down.

Stupid hormones.

"Eleanor Bishop! Look at that mess! Are you crazy? You're an idiot!" Nick's voice rings through her head.

Unfortunately, that was her breaking point and she let the tears begin to slide down her face.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, and feels a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Ellie? Ellie, are you okay?" Nick asks softly, turning her around slowly and pulling her into a warm, reassuring hug.

"I was trying to fix it." She whispers. "You didn't need to yell at me."

"Yell? I didn't yell at you."

"Yes you did. You said I made a big mess, and that I'm an idiot."

"I would never call you an idiot, El! You know that!" Nick holds her tighter to him.

After a minute, Ellie pulls back.

"You didn't yell at me?"

"No! I wouldn't do that to you, Babe. I know you're going through a lot right now."

Nick kisses her hair, then bends down and picks up the towels.

"Were you cleaning the bathroom?"

Ellie nods, trying to take the towels back, but Nick pulls them away.

"I got it, El. Do you want to go downstairs and watch TV? I'll be there in a minute."

"No, Nick. You've been at work all day, I should be able to do something. I haven't done anything at all."

"Are you kidding? You've had a job a million times harder than me! You're growing our beautiful little baby!"

He kneels down in front of her and carefully pulls her shirt up just enough to show the baby bump. Laying a hand on it, he smiles, then looks back up at his wife.

"You've done plenty. Go lay down, I'll be right there."

He stands up and kisses her, and she makes her way back down the steps.

10 minutes later, they're on the couch, Ellie laying with her head on his lap, his hands running gently through her hair.