Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS: LA or any characters.

Prompt #50: Partners - At first, he didn't know how to deal with her and she didn't know how to work with him. Now, they can't imagine how they ever worked before without each other.

Words: 1,175

Some people are unsure of what they want out of life. Others know from day one what they want from it. Still others ho-hum along until what they want smacks them right in the face and says, "HEY! Look at this!"

And then there's Eric Beale and Nell Jones.

They were of the people who thought they knew they had what they wanted.

Seperately, they were amazing. Intelligent, resourceful, tech-savvy, and talented enough to do their jobs quickly, efficiently, and with enough desktop space to update their Facebook statuses. They were the best. They were confident about that. They also believed that they worked best alone.

Then they were thrown together by one Henrietta Lange, and that belief was stress-tested to the limit.

In the beginning, Eric didn't like her.

She was overly cheery, annoying, cut him off and finished his thoughts, and even stole his whistle. In one week, he was ready to strangle her.

Everyone could tell. It was the worst kept secret in the whole Mission. Nell Jones was pissing off Eric Beale. People were beginning to take bets on how fast she'd be gone.

But slowly, she began to grow on him. He found she was quirky, and sweet, and just a little bit adorable.

It got to the point that, if she wasn't in Ops, Eric found himself wondering where she was.

In the beginning, Nell couldn't work with him.

He was sloppy, annoying, got mad at the slightest provocation, and always looked like he was ready to smack her. In one week, she was ready to scream.

But she kept it to herself. She knew she'd been handed an opportunity very few people were made aware of. No way was she going to blow it because of some childish bickering. She was trying as hard as she could to belong as it was.

In time, however, she learned how to adapt. She found he was clever, and funny, and just a tiny bit cute.

Soon she was at the point where, if he was late, Nell would wait until he got there before starting on her work.

A series of events made them realize just how handicapped they've become when they're seperated.

When Eric was trapped in the satellite testing chamber, Nell tried to get him out from Ops, but couldn't. If Callen hadn't hit the override button when he did, Eric would've been frelted for sure. She trembled for a good couple minutes as she tried to come to grips with the fact that, alone, she couldn't save Eric.

When Nell had been attacked in her own home, Eric had to fight off a hacker from breaching OSP's mainframe all by himself while trying to trace said hacker at the same time. If Nell's program hadn't started up when it did, the hacker would've gotten in for sure. He was fairly jittery for the next hour while trying to understand that, alone, he couldn't have succeeded.

Little by little, they begin to realize that they've become dependent on each other. Two loners, each a whiz at their own specialities, had become so closely meshed that if they were seperated, their effectiveness was cut in half.

That was a little scary. If on-the-job performance was affected by that, what did that say about the partners themselves?

They're attached. Only way to explain it. Eric and Nell have become attached to one another. It's present in a number of ways.

It was present in their jealousy. He overtly worried about her when she announced she was dating a man. She was slightly miffed when he made a big deal of reading Abby Sciuto's weekly blog.

It was present in their actions. When she showed up to work with tears in her eyes and bruises under her makeup, he wanted to slaughter the one responsible. When he ended up in the hospital defending her honor, she want to simultaneously punch him silly and kiss him senseless.

It was present in their reactions. She'd been kidnapped, and he'd done everything humanly and technologically possible (and not entirely legal) to find her and bring her home. He was home across the country, and she'd worked her fingers to the bone so she could catch the earliest flight home to him.

In their business, it's almost always a bad idea to get attached to someone. Particularly someone in the same business. Especially your partner.

Almost always are the key words there. Not always.

Then again, there are part of a very clandestine branch of NCIS, operating under a very unorthodox leadership.

They were decrypting some very routine data when Nell suddenly said, "You know, we're pretty good."

Eric nodded. "I agree."

"I mean, we're good together." She sat back in her chair and looked at her partner. "We're solid, and fast, and efficient."

He likewise looked at her. "Yeah. Why are you suddenly stating the obvious?"

"No reason," she shrugged. "It's just...well, when we first started working together, I never thought it would happen, to tell you the truth."

Eric grinned. "Little secret? Neither did I," he confessed. "You were really annoying."

"Hey! You weren't a model employee either," Nell retorted with her own smile.

He reached over and laced his fingers between hers. "But you stayed."

"Of course I did," she said. "I'm stubborn that way." She squeezed his hand tightly. "You made it hard for me, didn't you?"

"Of course," Eric chuckled. "I'm stubborn that way too."

Nell leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "Good thing you're cute too," she whispered as she pulled away. With one last wink, she went back to work.

"You're lucky you're so adorable," Eric said. "I let you get away with murder."

"Nah, Hetty wouldn't like that. She doesn't like messes."

Both techs laughed and went back to working on code.

Yeah, they were attached all right.

But nobody minded. In fact, everyone was pulling for them to stay together.

Once upon a time, only Hetty's order had kept them from beating each other to death with their wireless keyboards.

Now, it took nothing short of impending disaster to seperate them.

Eric and Nell once thought that they knew what they wanted. They thought that they had it. Then they met each other.

Now they knew that they had what they've always wanted.

And now, I complete this compilation!

T_T so much love in this one, I'm so sad it's done...

Please keep reading my other installments!