Taking Chances

Lunch Break

The next day, they woke up when their alarm clock went off.
Nick sleepily blinked his eyes open and then turned over in bed to turn the alarm off.

Ellie, on the other hand, had closed her eyes again as soon as she had woken up, not wanting to get up since she still felt quite tired, and therefore just turned to lie onto her other side with a groan.

Nick sat up and turned to Ellie to gently shake her shoulder.
''Come on, Ell. Time to get up,'' he told her with a yawn.

But his girlfriend just shook her head and pressed her face further into her pillow.

So Nick grabbed the blanket and pulled it away from her, causing her to let out a disgruntled sound as she tried to put the blanket over her body again, but Nick wouldn't let her.

''Ellie, stand up. We have to go to work.''

''I don't want to,'' she murmured into her pillow, still not wanting to get up.

Nick figured he had no other choice but to try a different method then.

He leaned down toward her and first placed a kiss onto her cheek since he couldn't reach her lips because of the way her face was still pressed into the pillow.
After that, he placed a kiss on her neck and then one on her shoulder, resulting in a slight moan from her.

Ellie thought for a moment, but quickly made a choice and finally turned around to face him, leaning up and wrapping her arms around his neck as their lips met for a gentle kiss.

When they pulled apart again, both had a small grin on their faces.

''Morning, Nick.''

''Finally awake, huh?'' he chuckled at her with a shake of his head, and then both of them finally got out of bed.

Both quickly drank a cup of coffee and ate breakfast in the kitchen before they went into the bathroom to brush their teeth and comb their hair.

Then they chose what to wear for the day, and Nick made a suggestion for a shirt he thought Ellie would look good in.
He held it up in front of Ellie and asked if she would wear it on the jeans she had chosen.
It was a soft and cozy pullover that he had bought for her some time ago.

Ellie agreed with a smile, the pullover being one of her favorite things to wear- except for Nick's shirts, which she liked to wear to sleep or on days that they just spend at home, since they were too big on her and therefore very comfortable, and they also smelled like Nick- and both quickly changed their clothes and then drove to work.

___________________________________________________________________________________

When they arrived in the bullpen, they greeted McGee and Gibbs, the two of them having arrived some time before Ellie and Nick, and sat down at their respective desks.

Since they didn't get any case that they, - which they were quite glad about because they were still exhausted from the day before - all of them just worked on cold cases for the day, which allowed Nick and Ellie- with Gibbs's permission of course- to take a lunch break and go eat lunch together at Ellie's favorite place.
When they had arrived and went inside, they sat down at a free table and ordered what they wanted to eat.
Nick had to suppress a laugh at the waitress's expression at how much Ellie had ordered for herself.
He had gotten used to seeing such looks whenever they went out to eat, and could only laugh about it now.

While they waited for their food to be served, they started to have a chat.
''Do you think we could go visit my family in Oklahoma again sometime soon?
Yesterday, when I was on the phone with her, my mom complained that it's been quite some time since I've been home. Wanted me to ask you to come too. I think my mom quite likes you.''
Ellie told him, making Nick grimace.

''Well, then at least one member of your family does.''
A few months ago, when Nick had been in Oklahoma with her for the first and only time so far since they'd become a couple, and had met her family, her mother was the only one who seemed to like him.
Her brothers hadn't seemed very thrilled. They'd asked him tons of questions, apparently doubting how important their sister was to him and that he was serious about their relationship.

On the one hand, Nick could understand them, since she was the youngest of the siblings and George, John and Rob felt like it was their job to protect and look after their little sister.
Not to mention that when Nick had first met them when they'd been at NCIS when she had still been together with Qasim, he'd told them she wasn't his type and that they were just good friends.

But on the other hand, he'd just wanted to get them off his back when he'd told them about Ellie not being his type, and his feelings for Ellie had changed since then, things between him and Ellie were different now.
Besides, Ellie can look after herself, so the overprotective big brother act was kind of starting to bother Nick a little bit.

''Oh come on, Nick. My brothers meant no harm, they're just looking out for me.
Besides, I think they just wanted to test you when they asked you all these questions, to see if your feelings for me are genuine,'' she explained to him.

''I actually think that after spending some more time with you the few days we were there, they warmed up to you. They just didn't want to show it. Trust me, in reality, they think you're a good guy.''

That lifted Nick's mood somewhat, though then another member of the Bishop family came to his mind, causing him to frown again.

''And what about your dad?''

While her father hadn't had a biased opinion of him and Ellie's and his relationship like her brothers did, Nick still wasn't sure what the man thought of him.

''Dad actually said that while he had his doubts about me dating a coworker- again-, which was the reason he was so cautious while meeting you, just like my brothers, he told me he knows the expression that you apparently looked at me with more or less the whole time we were there...said it's the same look he used to look at mom with, and still does... an expression saying that you're head over heels in love with me...''
Ellie looked at him, an obvious smile on her face as she recalled her father saying these words to her, and Nick couldn't do anything but return that smile.

Glad that her family seemingly liked him more than he thought they did, Nick decided to return to the original topic.

''Okay, so back to when we could visit your family again... maybe in a few weeks, as long as there isn't too much up at work, we could take one or two days off for an extended weekend and then take the plane to Oklahoma so that we won't have to drive so long.'' Nick proposed.

It was quite hard sometimes to find the time to visit their families since they always worked a lot, often even on the weekends.

''You think Gibbs will let us both take leave for two days at the same time?'' Ellie kinda doubted that.

''Maybe if we don't have a case and are only working on cold cases...Or else we're gonna have to wait a while longer and fly there for the holidays. Maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas.''

''Yeah, we'll see. I guess I'm gonna tell that to my mom next time I talk to her.'' she figured, making Nick nod in agreement.

Then their food came, so they ended the conversation and enjoyed their lunch before driving back to NCIS to continue working on their cold cases.

___________________________________________________________________________________

When they were home again in the evening, they immediately changed into more comfortable clothes and then sat down on the couch and ate the take-out food they had gotten on the way home since neither one of them felt like cooking anything.

They had gotten Chinese food, and Ellie had eaten her food much quicker than Nick had, but still felt a little hungry even though she'd had a large portion, so she did something that wasn't new to Nick since she did it rather often since they've become an item.
She stole some of his food. Nick complained at first, even though he was already expecting her to do that since he knew of her large appetite, but then relented, knowing it was never a good idea to get between Ellie and food.

After they were done with their food they turned on the TV and lay down on the couch together and cuddled up.
Ellie's arms were wrapped around Nick's waist and she laid her head down on his shoulder, while Nick had one arm wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him, both enjoying the warmth coming from the other one's body.

After some time, Ellie got bored off the sports game Nick was watching, and though he offered to change the channel, she told him it was fine. She would just read a book while he watched TV, she told him.
So she got up to fetch her book and then cuddled up against Nick again, in a position somewhere between sitting and lying, and opened her book to read.

When it was about eleven, both of them could hardly keep their eyes open anymore, so they decided to get ready for bed.

Nick smiled when he saw that Ellie had changed into one of his most comfortable shirts that she had seized for herself and a pair of sweatpants.

Then both of them went into the bathroom to brush their teeth, and after that, they went into their bedroom and lay down in bed.

Ellie was lying on her side as Nick snuggled up with her, his chest against her back and his arm wrapped around her as both of them closed their eyes and went to sleep,