Ellie x Nick Oneshots

Night call

The loud ringing of her phone startled Ellie out of her sleep.
She blindly reached for her phone and grabbed it from the nightstand.
In her still half-asleep state, she answered the call and pressed her phone against her ear while mumbling a hopefully halfway coherent ''Hello?''

She was surprised when she heard Nick's voice at the other end of the line, having rather expected Gibbs to be the one to try to reach her in the middle of the night due to them having caught a case.
She hadn't even actually taken a look at who was calling when she accepted the call.
''Ellie?'' Was it just her brain that was still in sleep mode or did Nick sound really worried as he said her name?

Propping herself up on her elbow, Ellie took a quick look at the time on her phone.
''Nick, what's up? It's two in the morning,'' she stated in a clearly confused tone, wondering what could have caused him to wake her up at this time of night.

''I just...'' he started, but what followed was only a short sigh, as if he knew what he wanted to say but didn't quite dare voice it. This just unnerved Ellie even more.

''Nick, what's wrong?'' she asked carefully, now also sounding concerned.
There was a moment of agonizing silence before Nick finally responded in a quiet voice, sounding very unlike himself. Kind of shaken and unsure.

''I-...I just...needed to make sure that you were okay.''
This confession immediately clued Ellie in on what was going on.
Since she had been injured by a suspect -who had turned out to be the murderer in the end- a few weeks ago he had started acting strangely around her.
He never wanted to let her go anywhere by herself, not even within the NCIS building, almost like he felt that she constantly needed to be babysat and he had also suggested carpooling.
He'd disguised it as ''better for the environment'' and ''saving gas money'', but Ellie was smart enough to know the real reason he wanted to do it was to keep an eye on her.
It all but seemed like was afraid that she'd get hurt and he wouldn't be able to prevent it, just like he hadn't been able to keep the bad guy from hurting her several weeks ago.

Her wound had healed since then, and while Nick hadn't been quite as controlling anymore, he apparently still wanted to make sure that she was alright.
A warm feeling rose in her stomach at his concern, but at the same time, it worried her that Nick seemed to be losing sleep over it.

''Nick, I promise I'm fine,'' Ellie assured him in a soft voice, hoping to ease his worries.
She heard him let out a long breath before he spoke again.
''Okay...good.''

It seemed to Ellie like he still didn't seem completely convinced, but as she opened her mouth to say something else, he beat her to it.
''I'll let you get back to sleep now... sorry for waking you up. I'll see you tomorrow at work.''
With that, he ended the call abruptly.

Ellie sighed, her brows furrowed as she chewed on her lip.
Once her phone was laying back on the nightstand, and her head rested on her pillow again, she closed her eyes, Nick's trembling voice still etched deep in her mind.
Hopefully, he would also be able to go back to sleep again.

________________________________________________________________________________

The next day at work when he came into the bullpen, McGee and Gibbs nowhere to be seen yet, Nick stopped at her desk.

''Hey, uh...'' he started, making her look at him.
''I didn't want to disrupt your sleep last night.''

Ellie's gaze softened, giving him a little smile.
''It's fine, Nick. I don't mind.''
Though she had been a little bit annoyed at first at being woken up in the middle of the night, her feelings about it had instantly changed as soon as she realized his reason for calling her.
Ellie was actually a little touched at his worry and concern for her since it just showed how much he cared for her.

''You okay though?'' she now wanted to know of him.
''You sounded a little shaken last night,'' she admitted softly, giving him an empathetic look.

''I am.'' At his response, she cocked her head just a tiny bit and gave him a doubting yet still gentle expression. It came out way too quickly, a little too harsh to be completely true.
Which he seemed to have realized too, as he exhaled once and then rephrased his answer, saying the truth this time as he looked her in the eye.
''Not really. But I will be,'' he confessed, nodding slightly at her, his face schooled into a neutral expression.

Ellie stared into his dark eyes for a few seconds, trying to figure out if he was actually gonna be alright like he said he would, considering that her getting injured by a criminal had obviously not only affected her but him too. More than she had realized, it seemed.

When she found nothing in his eyes or face that told her otherwise, she gave him a nod in return, resulting in Nick going to his desk, setting his bag down and taking his jacket off.

''Nick?''
Her calling out his name made him turn back around to her, a questioning look on his face, eyebrows slightly raised as he wondered what she was going to say.

''Just so you know... you can call me any time.''