Ellie x Nick Oneshots

More than just friends

After Jake had left, Ellie remained seated at her desk for a while longer, thinking about how to deal with Jake's assumptions about Nick having feelings for her and her realization of her feelings for him.

In the end, the only reasonable conclusion she came to was that she probably needed to have an earnest talk with Nick.

So she stood up, put on her coat and got her bag and went into the elevator to leave the building.

The others had already left a while ago, so Ellie was hoping that Nick would be home and not somewhere else as she drove to his apartment.

After arriving there and entering the building, she went to his apartment door, stopping in front of it.

She raised her hand that was turned into a fist to knock but hesitated.
Was she really going to do this now? Was she really going to talk to Nick about her feelings in hopes of him reciprocating them?
And even if he did feel something for her, or even loved her as Jake had claimed, then what?
Rule 12 forbid them from dating, forbid them from becoming more than friends.
Or would they actually consider breaking the rule and just keep their relationship a secret if they would actually become an item?

There were many doubts in Ellie's mind, that made her wonder if she and Nick could ever work as something more than friends, as a couple.

But if they really felt something more than just friendship for each other, was it really right for them to just ignore those feelings and not act on them?

Ellie wasn't really sure about anything at the moment, still quite surprised that she'd only realized her feelings for Nick now, after a conversation with her ex-husband of all things.
Or maybe she'd had those feelings for quite some time now, and had just never acknowledged them, had just always ignored them and pushed them out of her mind because, before today, she hadn't dared to hope that Nick would have feelings for her as well.

Taking a deep breath and forcing her brain to stop overthinking that for now though, Ellie finally gathered the courage to knock on Nick's apartment door.

She had come here for a reason, after all.

It only lasted a few seconds before Nick opened the door, obviously surprised to find her standing in front of him.

''B? What are you doing here?'' he asked carefully, seeing the troubled look on her face.
Now that she was actually facing him, Ellie wasn't sure if she would still have the courage to talk to him about their relationship.

''I...'' she wanted to say more, but couldn't really focus, couldn't really find the right words at that moment, her mind thinking about a hundred different ways this could go wrong.

''Here, come inside,'' he beckoned her to come into his apartment, opening the door wider for her to step over the threshold.

When they were both standing in the middle of his apartment, and the door was closed again, Ellie finally managed to phrase a sentence again, though she was still nervous about this, thus she couldn't really keep her hands still.

''I think we need to talk,'' she started explaining, to see him nod with a raised eyebrow.

''Okay. About what exactly? Is it about today? About meeting your ex-husband again?'' he asked concerned, knowing that if she'd had a choice, she probably would have stayed clear of any sort of conversation with Jake.

''Kind of... He came to NCIS again when you were already gone, and we talked some more.
There were some things he said...that got me thinking'' she revealed, making Nick's concern grow and causing a frown to appear on his face.

''What did he say?''

''Well...'' she let out an awkward laugh, ''he actually asked me if we are an item...'' she told him, grimacing, feeling unsure now that she had said that out loud.

''Oh really...and what did you tell him?'' Nick wanted to know, his eyes slightly wide from surprise.
Why did Ellie's ex-husband care about his and Ellie's relationship, he started wondering.

''That we are just good friends...but Jake didn't seem to believe that...'' she elucidated carefully, not wanting to say the wrong thing and screw this up.

''Why not?'' Nick furrowed his brow again. He didn't really know what to think about this, about her husband meddling into their relationship and questioning it.
She had told him the truth, they are good friends. Never mind that he'd had feelings for her for a long time now and would like them to be more, but of what concern was it to Jake?

''Because of the way you acted around me, how you looked at me... he was convinced that you're in love with me...'' she anxiously waited for his reply after revealing that, not daring to look at him she chose to stare at her hands instead, which she still couldn't keep still due to her nervousness.

What if Jake had been wrong? What if Nick didn't have any romantic feelings for her, what if he didn't want anything else from her but being her friend?

Nick stared at Ellie for a moment, slightly shocked that her ex-husband had figured that out and actually told her about it.
He knew that he was quite obvious about his feelings sometimes, with all the flirting and all, but for him to be so obvious that her ex-husband had figured out what he felt for Ellie...?
He certainly hadn't expected that.

But thinking about it, maybe that might actually turn out to have been a good thing, since this finally gave him the chance to tell Ellie the truth about his feelings, which he never would have done otherwise, not wanting to ruin their friendship.
And, just maybe, since she came to his apartment to talk to him about this, there was a chance that she felt something for him too, wasn't there?
Otherwise, she could have just gone home and ignored what her ex-husband had claimed, so her coming here must mean something, right?

Looking at her, he saw that she had her eyes directed downwards and was still nervously playing with her hands, so he gently laid one hand on them to stop her from continuing that, and placed the other hand under her chin to raise her head so that she was looking at him.

''And how would you feel about this? About me having feelings for you?'' he gently inquired, needing to know if she has feelings for him as well before he told her that Jake was right and possibly ruining their friendship in case she doesn't.

''I wouldn't mind...'' she started slowly. ''The funny things is...Jake actually made me realize that I do have romantic feelings for you...have had them for quite some time actually, but I think I just never really acknowledged that they were there, or just didn't really want to because I didn't know if you felt the same way. And I also didn't want to risk our friendship for something that maybe wasn't even there...''

Her revelation relieved Nick, knowing that she had the same fears he did, glad that she'd had the courage to tell him that she felt something for him since he had been too much of a coward to do that.

He had somehow always imagined that he'd be the one to open up about his feelings for her first, not the other way around, but now that she'd had the guts to open up to him, he knew that he was going to be able to do so as well.

Looking her deep into the eyes, he spoke in a voice so quiet and soft she had trouble understanding what he was saying.
''Your ex-husband was right, you know. I am in love with you, Ellie. I have been for a while now.''

Ellie had never thought that she would ever hear Nick Torres talk with a voice like that, so quiet but full of love.
And the way he'd said her name... it made her heart melt.

Nick could immediately make out how Ellie's tense posture relaxed, how her expression softened and her lips turned into a tiny smile after hearing his confession.

Slowly and carefully, she leaned closer toward him, her face slightly upturned, until their lips were only inches apart.

Then Nick closed the short distance between them, their lips meeting in a slow kiss.

Nick's hands moved to rest on her hips while Ellie placed her arms around his neck, both pulling the other's body as close as possible toward their own.

The kiss soon turned more passionate, their lips moving against each other until their lungs needed oxygen and they eventually had to pull apart.

Resting his forehead against hers, their bodies still touching, Nick told her in a quiet voice ''I wanna be more than just friends with you, Ellie.''

Her lips turned into a small smile again. She liked that he was using her first name right now, instead of calling her 'Bishop' or 'B', like he usually did.

Now that she had realized her feelings for Nick, and both of them had shared a literally breathtaking kiss, Ellie wanted to be more than just a friend to Nick as well.

But then a thought crossed her mind, making the corner of her mouth turn downward as she took a step back from him to be better able to look at him.

''I want that too...But what about rule 12...? Never date a coworker.''

Nick had to suppress a sigh, having thought of that as well, and instead gave a nod, showing that he understood her concern. He knew she was the kind of person who liked to follow rules and therefore wasn't that surprised at her reluctance to disregard that specific rule.

''I'd be willing to break the rule,'' Nick told her softly. Unlike her, he wasn't that reluctant to break a rule or two if the situation called for it.
''The question is if you would as well,'' Nick added, not wanting to pressure her into anything.
He wanted to let her decide about whether to give a relationship a try so that she wouldn't regret anything later.
''And I understand if you need some more time to think about this,'' he added, aware that she was the type of person to always think things through.

''I think that we've both ignored our feeling for long enough... But what if Gibbs will find out and make one of us change the team, or worse, fire us?''

''I don't think he'd do that. Not as long as we both manage to behave entirely professional while we're on the job. We're a good team, Ellie, and we all work well together, like clockwork. Gibbs knows that too.
Besides, he doesn't have to find out by himself, we can tell him when we're ready.'' Nick proposed.

Ellie liked that he was so adamant about this, that this seemed to really be of importance for him.
And she started thinking, that maybe... a relationship between Nick and her could actually work.

So she slowly nodded her head, looking him in the eyes again.
''Okay. I'm willing to give this a try.''

That's all Nick needed to hear before he captured her lips in a kiss again.

Turns out, an unpleasant encounter with your ex-husband can actually turn out to be one of the best things to happen to you.