I miss Nell

Chap 3

Late or early September

It had been a brutal 5 months for Nell. Feeling unsure about her job, her mother being sick, not sure about her relationship with Eric, dodging his calls.

Then the absolute worst happened: Her mother died. She had known it ws eventually going to happen, but it still hurt very much when it happened.

Nell was in a dark place for days. Her father and sister were too unhappy to help her with the funeral planning, so she had to plan the whole thing herself. She was thankful that when she told Hetty, she offered to help.

The funeral was depressing. Nell was the only one not crying, And she had to deliver the ulogy because her aunt was too much of an emotional mess.

Hetty suggested seeing Nate. So she did, and little by little, she started to feel good about herself again.

She occasionally texted Eric, each time she did though, he would insist on coming over to talk in person.

So, she agreed to meet with him, once.

'It's been a while.' Nell said.

'Yeah, it has.' Eric answered, awkwardly.

'So, how have things been with you?'

'Okay. Still working hard. You?'

'Trying to get through every day.' Nell answered.

'I know that feeling.' 'Why have you been avoiding me?' Eric asked.

'I felt trying to focus on us during these times would be too much to handle.'

'I thought it'd be a helpful distraction.'

'I tried other distractions, they didn't work. And I didn't want to burden you with my family problems.' Nell answered.

'I wouldn't have minded, really! I have really missed you, Nell.'

'I've missed you too, Eric. But I just didn't want to leave you with my troubles.'

'To protect me?! Nell, I can handle emotional pain!' Eric exclaimed.

'You don't know what it's really been like! Seeing your own mother slowly whither away, knowing there's nothing you can do to help her other then watch her die! It's a terrible thing, more terrible then you can ever imagine! The last thing I wanted was to make you go through with it. That's why I've been avoiding you.' Nell cried.

Silence.

'So basically, this you trusting me. Just like with the undercover mission and snapping at Hetty. I thought you loved me enough to trust me. I guess I was wrong.' Eric said, looking disappointed.

'I do, I really do love you!'

'Then why wouldn't you trust me? I'm not some fragile child! Sigh. I need some time to think.' Eric unhappily said. And left.

Nell felt worse then ever.

A few days passed, multiple sessions with Nate helped, a little. Then she got a text from Hetty:

'This is your last vacation day, are you coming back tomorrow?'

She thought about it, and knew that if she decided NOT to return, that would basically mean giving up on Eric forever. And she knew very well inside of her that she still loved him.

'Yes, I'll be back at work tomorrow.' She texted back.

The next day, she woke up with 2 goals:

1, Get her confidence back somehow.

2, Talk to Eric.

She came to work. Eric wasn't in yet. She went to Hetty's office to say hello, and saw a note on Hetty's desk:

'I have an assignment for you-H'.

It was a folder with cryptic files.

'Well, time to start deciphering all of this.' She thought. And went back upstairs to start working.

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Endnotes: One of the spoilers for Season 12 is that Hetty gives Nell a cryptic assignment and leaves on some kind of 'misadventure'. And um, I have no clue whatsoever if we'll even see Eric in any of the early episodes. So, that's where this idea came from.

As for if I'll update again, it'll have to be a great idea.