Rule 12| Ellick

Glasses

Nick and I drove to work separate today, not because he was being crazy about his hair. Vance was still out of the office, and I wanted to try and get some stuff done at work before McGee or Gibbs got in. Nick knew I wanted to get to work early, so he woke up early with me and made me an iced coffee to take in with me. He stayed up and talked to me while I got ready, and laid back down for an hour or so after I left.

I got to the office and finished the notes for the last cases we had just closed and sent some evidence reports to Kasie. Tim came in about an hour after me, saying he had the same idea to get things done. Nick came in about three hours later, he came out of the elevator, walked over to my desk and kissed my head before walking over to his desk.

"ohhohho," he said hunching over.

"are you okay?" I asked confused, "Did you hurt yourself?"

He shook his head still hunched over and holding onto the table, "ahh, I stepped on my favorite shades," his voice was a mixed of sad and pissed off at the same time. "oh, ughhh, how could I be so stupid?" he whispered looking at the broken glasses.

"You're not stupid, accidents happen. They're just sunglasses, we can buy another pair this weekend or something," I told him.

He didn't turn around to look at me, he just stared at the broken glasses in his hands. "They're not just sunglasses Eleanor."

Eleanor? Oh? Okay, cool someone is in a whole mood. This is fine. He will be fine, he's just upset about sunglasses, I'm sure they mean something to him.

"Well, I'm sure you can fix them. Or you know, buy another pair?" McGee suggested.

"There is no other pair," Nick said through his teeth. His back was still to us and he was still fiddling with the glasses.

McGee and I looked between each other very confused. Nick finally turned around and looked at us, "They're just so cool, they fit my perfectly symmetrical face, y-know?"

Gibbs came to tell us that there was a dead body, so we had to grab our gear. Nick muttered something about how his boots were stupid, and when I ask if he was okay he just said 'perfect.' This was going to be a long car ride. Work Nick and home Nick were very different, but this Nick, was completely different than normal.

When we got to the crime scene, the body was in a hot tub. Gibbs opened the lid, and an ungodly smell came out of it. I hid my nose in my jacket to try and make the smell go away but it didn't work. I walked over to Nick and hid my face in his arm, "you smell good so I am stealing your arm while we stand here."

Jimmy came over and looked at the hot tub, "I am going to need buckets, not a gurney ."

Great the literal medical examiner thought that this was gross. That makes me feel a little bit better. At least I could hide my face in Nick because he smelled good and like safety and comfort. I had to leave him to go and talk to the neighbors to see if they knew anything that could help us.

When we went back to the crime scene, Nick and Jimmy were arguing because he didn't want to help move the body from the hot tub to the buckets. I didn't blame him, I was going to do whatever I could to avoid having to help with that.

Gibbs told me to call for a truck because we apparently aren't going to put the body in buckets. We are going to take the whole hot tub back to NCIS.

Nick got back to the office before the rest of us. When we got there he was at his desk trying to super glue his glasses back together. Could he be doing something more productive? Yes. Was he going to be able to function till his glasses were fixed? Probably not.

I walked over to ask him about one of the interviews, "don't touch me," he said not looking up from his glasses.

"I'm not touching I'm talking?" I said, very confused on why there was such an attitude.

"Don't talk to me don't even breathe," he responded.

He was a good five seconds away from sleeping on the couch with no blankets. Gibbs came in for an update and interrupted his focus causing the glasses to crumble again. "Super glue my ass," Nick mumbled.

"Please don't?" I said with a smile.

After we went over the lead I looked over at Nick and he had super glued his fingers together. This is why we can't have nice thing, or like a child? He would super glue the child or something.

While Nick was on the phone he was taping his glasses. After he got off the phone, I asked him why he was still beating himself up over glasses because I was genuinely confused. He didn't answer, he just asked if there was something else he could beat up.

All of the people in the cul-de-sac called us so we went to talk to them. No one really had anything helpful, and when I looked over at Nick he was yelling at one of the people about the way his yard looked. This was a very different Nick than the one who made me a fancy iced coffee and kissed me this morning.

After we got to the office, Ducky stole Nick and sent him and Jimmy on a mission to 'blow off some steam.' I mean it's good for him to take a break, and I mean how much trouble could they really get in?

A few hours later I got a phone call, "Hello, is this special agent Bishop?" the voice asked.

It was the local jail. Nick and Jimmy had gotten in a fight at a painting class and were in jail. How in the hell does this happen? I told them that I would be right over and decided that Nick was getting quite a few words, after quite a few hugs because clearly something was up.

Gibbs ended up hearing about it and took my place to go get him, so Gibbs gave him the words without the hugs. Gibbs was right about what he said, but I feel like he could have been a little nicer.

When we got home Nick was shut off and not himself. He walked to the bedroom without saying goodnight, I followed him and sat on the bed next to him laying my head on his shoulder. "Nick," I said softly. "What's going on, love?"

"Reeves," Nick said, staring at the wall.

"What about him?" I asked, putting my hand on Nick's leg.

He shook his head and laughed, I looked up at him and he had tears in his eyes. "He gave me the stupid glasses," he whispered.

"Oh," I said sadly, laying my head back on his shoulder and moving closer to him.

He took a deep breath and laid his head on mine, "Ellie? I miss my buddy," he said in a shaky voice.

We all missed him, none of us were over his death. We all reacted different to the loss and this was what Nick did. He just lost on of the things that reminded him of one of his best friends. It meant a lot.

We sat on the bed for over an hour, not talking just being together. Every once and a while he would twirl a piece of my hair or kiss my head. After a while I sat up and softly kissed his head, "Let's go to bed," I said.

For the first time in the year and a half that we had lived together, I fell asleep first. Nick was still awake and rubbing my back, when I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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