Taking Chances

Worries And Advice

A few weeks had passed by, and today Ellie was going to meet Delilah for breakfast so that the two could chat and bring each other up to date.

Shortly after they had arrived at the place they were going to eat at and had sat down, the waitress came by to take their order, asking what they wanted to have.
Delilah simply ordered a coffee and a french toast and had to laugh when she saw the surprised look on the waitress's face when said woman heard what Ellie ordered.
''I'll take a french toast too, the pancakes, waffles and bacon and eggs, please. Oh, and a coffee.''

Ellie apparently didn't mind that the woman seemed quite shocked by how much she ordered, so Delilah decided to allow herself to jokingly comment on it.
''She's starving.''
Though she then realized, that that might actually be the case, considering Ellie's unbelievable metabolism.

The waitress wrote the rest of Ellie's order down on her notepad -having stopped writing for a second because she was wondering how Ellie would eat all that stuff- and then went away with just a nod.

''So, how are you and Nick?'' Delilah asked the blonde.

''We're good...I mean, things are still going really well between us. I mean, we argue now and then, but not about anything significant...only about little things.'' Something seemingly came to Ellie's mind that made her stop talking for a second and caused her to slightly frown in thought.
''Though I actually wonder... if he sometimes does things on purpose just to annoy me...''

''Tim mentioned once that Nick likes to drive you crazy, so I guess that might very much be the case,'' Delilah remarked with a short chuckle, causing Ellie to shake her head and let out a laugh.
''Yeah, that's what I think as well.''

''But let's talk about your cute little kids now. How are the twins doing?'' Ellie asked curiously, changing the topic.

''They're growing up so fast. And they're really starting to get a little heavy. Soon I won't be able to carry them around as much anymore...'' Delilah answered with a smile as she thought of her two children.
Though it is a little sad that her two little babies are already 3 years old and would turn 4 soon, Delilah thought.

The two kept on chitchatting for some longer, until their food arrived and they happily dug in, especially Ellie.
________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Nick had suggested helping McGee look after Morgan and Johnny while their women were having lunch together, and Tim had happily agreed.

Though what Nick hadn't told him was that he kind of had an ulterior motive for offering McGee his help since he wanted to ask him for some advice.

So, Nick found himself in the apartment of the McGee family, sitting on the couch and drinking a beer after he had helped Tim put down the twins for a nap.

Tim sat down beside him, and now that the children were peacefully asleep in their beds, the two started two relax some more.

Nick hadn't known that humans who were as small as the McGee twins could be that loud when they were screaming due to having a fight about some toy...and that preschoolers could be so tiring, especially Morgan, who was much more active and loud than her brother.

Now that they finally had some quiet, Nick thought about how to start asking Tim for advice.
But since said man was an investigator as well, he had already noticed that something was up, that Nick seemed almost nervous about something.
So Tim decided that he'd just be the one to start the conversation and ask Nick about it since Torres for once didn't seem to be able to say what he wanted to get off his chest.

''Okay, so what's up with you, Torres?''

Nick looked up at him, having previously been staring at his feet while he was thinking and every now and then had a sip from his beer, and took a deep breath, deciding to just outright say it.

''I want to propose to Ellie.''

McGee's jaw dropped for a second, obviously not having expected that to come out of Nick's mouth when he had asked him.

Since the other man seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment, Nick just resumed speaking.

''I've already picked an engagement ring. Did that a couple of weeks ago, actually.''

Tim closed his mouth again, having gotten over his initial surprise.
''Wow...okay...'' Apparently, those were the only words that came to his mind right now.
''Well, I guess you're certainly better at hiding it than I was when I'd chosen a ring and wanted to propose to Delilah...'' he added after a few seconds.

Nick let out a short laugh, remembering how his co-worker had been behaving like back then.
''Yeah...but I actually wanted your advice on that. I've been thinking over and over again the past few weeks about where and how to propose, but I just can't decide on what's the best idea...''

He then revealed all the ideas he had garnered to Tim, who quietly listened in the meanwhile.
Only when Nick had finished speaking, Tim chose to make an objection, a frown on his face after hearing how much thought Nick had put into this.

He asked in a voice that had just a hint of confusion in it ''Wait... why are you overthinking that so much? I mean, wasn't Bishop the one who said that the location and circumstances don't matter that much when I told her how I planned to ask Delilah? I wouldn't worry about it so much if I were you.''

''Says the guy whose plan to propose involved mathematical symmetry.'' Nick mocked him.

Tim didn't let that faze him, though.
''Yeah, and at the end of the day, I ended up proposing in an elevator at NCIS,'' he countered, a little bit of smugness detectable in his voice as well as visible on his face.
''And she said yes and we're now married and have two beautiful kids. So don't worry about it so much. If Bishop wants to marry you, she's going to say yes regardless of where or how you propose to her.''

Nick looked away from Tim and pouted just a bit, his eyebrows drawn together into a frown, not entirely convinced yet.
''But I want it to be special. Especially since it won't be the first time someone proposes to her,'' he replied, knowing about her marriage to Jake and about Qasim's proposal, which she had told him about sometime in their relationship when they were starting to really get serious.

''Torres, seriously. Don't let this drive you mad. I was in your shoes as well, I racked my brain trying to come up with the best proposal idea, and in the end, I discarded that idea anyway.
It won't do you or Bishop any good if you lose your mind over this,'' McGee tried once again to soothe Nick's worries.

But to no avail, apparently, when Nick opened his mouth to obviously disagree again with what he'd said.

''But-''

The sound of a key turning in the lock of the apartment door made him stop talking, just as the door opened and Ellie and Delilah entered the apartment.

Both men stood up from the couch and walked toward their respective wife and girlfriend to greet them.
McGee leaned down to kiss his wife, and Nick gave Ellie a kiss as well.

''How was breakfast?'' Nick asked Ellie, knowing she always enjoys food as long as it tastes good.

''Very delicious,'' Ellie answered dreamily, thinking back to the breakfast they'd had, after which Delilah asked the two men a question of her own.
''And how did the two of you manage with the twins?''

''Just fine, D,'' Tim told her, adding ''They've been peacefully sleeping for a while now. We put them down for a nap after they had a fight. Guess they were just a little cranky because they were tired.''

Though that turned out to be spoken too soon, because just after the words had left his mouth, Morgan and Johny came running into the room, throwing themselves at Delilah's legs and trying to climb onto her wheelchair to sit in her lap and hug her.
''Mommy back!'' Morgan exclaimed excitedly, as Delilah gave her kids a smile and leaned down to help them climb onto her lap to give them a proper hug.

''Food?'' Johnny asked soon after that.

''You had breakfast before I left,'' Delilah stated, looking at Tim, who shrugged.
Both of the twins now stared at their mom with wide eyes, giving her innocent looks.
Delilah rolled her eyes and sighed.
''Okay fine, a little snack won't hurt. You can have some apple slices, alright?'' she suggested, causing the two children to nod happily.
All four adults had to chuckle slightly at that.

''I guess that's our cue to leave,'' Nick concluded then, grabbing his jacket.

They all said their goodbyes and then Ellie and Nick left and drove home to quietly enjoy the rest of their day off, glad that neither one of them had to work.