Rule 12| Ellick

Fear

There was a serial bomber, and we were pretty sure we had a lead. Gibbs sent Nick and me to his house while he and McGee checked out the mall. On the way to the suspect's house, Nick and I were talking about groceries and stuff around the house."

"I'm just saying, the name-brand creamer is better. I know my iced coffee babe," I laughed as we pulled into the house. 

When we got out of the car and introduced ourselves as NCIS he ran into his house. We tried to get him out to come to talk to us when shots were fired at us. 

"Gun!" Nick yelled, tackling me to the ground and shielding me with his body. He rubbed his hand on my shoulder as I tried to catch my breath. I know that it's part of the job, but it's still terrifying to have a gun going off at your head. 

I grabbed onto Nick's hand, still trying to breathe. "Yeah, um I don't think he wants to talk to us." 

He softly kissed my cheek and took a few deep breaths himself, "Yeah? Well, he can talk to my Zig.  Ready? One... two...th-"

"Nick?" I said, pulling him back down and pointing to a grenade that was just thrown at us. "Go! Go!" I yelled. We tried to run away, but we weren't fast enough. It sent us flying about ten feet, landing flat on the ground.

He was still shooting, when Nick practically lifted me and took me to a new spot for cover. When we got to the cover I looked and saw that Nick had been hit with something, "Okay, I'm going to help you and then I'm going to call for help."

"Call first Ellie," he said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "Don't worry about me."

I shook my head and moved to look at his back, "It's my job to worry about you."

He moved and reached into my pocket to get my phone. He handed it to me and nodded until I called for backup.

"SQUAT team is on the way, Mcgee and Gibbs are coming back from the mall. Help will be here any minute, so now let me take a look at this," I told him. I moved his jacket and he gasped in pain. He had about a five-centimeter gash right under the back of his neck. 

"Ow, Ow, Ellie Ow!" he yelled, "how bad is it?"

Horrible, you are going to need stitches. "Uh, it's not great?" I moved his shirt to try and get a better look, but he gasped again. "Oh okay, yeah. It's in there pretty deep." 

He dug in his pants and handed me a knife, "cut it out."

"I- no. I'm not cutting- are you crazy? Are you in shock or something? Just...no," I told him, shaking my head. Why in the hell would I cut it out of him? The only reason he wants me to is so he can try and play hero and get the bad guy. 

"Come on," he said, clearly not a fan of the fact that I didn't want to stab him. "Soldiers' wives did it all the time in the field."

I let out a frustrated sigh, "Well it's a good thing you aren't a soldier and we aren't married."

He put the knife back in my hands, "just wait and see Ellie, just wait and see."

"Are you actually having this conversation with me when we are five seconds away from getting shot, just got blown across the yard, and you are asking me to stab your back?" I asked him, throwing the knife in front of him.

McGee showed up and pointed at us and moved around trying to give us some sign. Nick and I were both confused about what he was trying to do when we heard a loud bang. Gibbs yelled for us to stand down because he was bringing the suspect out. 

When we got back to the office Gibbs told me to go down to interrogate the suspect while Jimmy stitched up Nick.

Jimmy looked between Gibbs and me and thought for a minute, "Are you sure you want to let her talk to him? I thought you wanted to bring him out alive so you can actually get some information."

I shook my head, "I'm not stupid, I'm not going to kill him on camera or  before we get information out of him." I walked over and kissed Nick on the cheek, "You got this, let him help you and listen to him. He is the doctor he knows more than you and your tough-guy attitude."

I walked down to interrogation and spoke with the suspect, we figured out who the target was and called her just in time to keep her from touching the bomb. 

Nick came over to my chair, "So I'm the one who got hurt? And you are the one who caught the bad guy? That is very unfair."

"I'm sorry," I told him, wrapping my arms around his waist. He pulled away slightly which was new, but I guess he was worried about me bumping him and hurting his cut. I was careful not to, but I could still see why he would be worried.

He put one hand in his pocket and smiled, taking my other hand in his, "Do you want to go get dinner or something? The case is closed for now so we are free."

I stood up and smiled, rubbing my thumb on his hand, "Yes, always. Do you want me to see if Jimmy, Bree, Tim, and Lilah wanna come?"

"Maybe not tonight," he said digging around in his pocket. "We can see if they want to tomorrow though."

"Here," I told him handing him his knife.

He took the knife from me and put it in his other pocket, "thank you?"

I looked at him confused, "isn't that what you were looking for?" I asked, "You left it at the scene after you threw a fit about me not using it to cut your neck open?"

"Right," he said clearing his throat, "knife."