Eric knew something was up the minute Hetty told him to meet the team in the boat shed. He knew he was in trouble the second they called him into the interrogation room.

"Have a seat, Eric." Sam said, indicating the chair across from him at the table. Eric tried not to read into the fact that it was the chair usually reserved for suspects.

"What's this about you guys?" He asked, perching on the chair like a bird that might take to the air at the slightest disturbance.

To his left, the door slammed closed, revealing Kensi, who looked far too much like a hungry panther for Eric to not instantly feel twice as nervous as he had before. "We have some questions." She said, stalking over to stand next to Deeks, who was flanking Sam's right shoulder opposite Callen.

Eric's mind briefly flashed back to a scene from some cheesy mob movie he had seen as a teenager. If he hadn't been so terrified of the agents in front of him he might have laughed. Instead he just asked "Questions about what?"

"You know what." Callen clipped.

"No, but I'm really starting to wish I did."

"Cut the crap, Eric. We know about you and Nell." Kensi spat. She began pacing around the room, every step echoing like a gunshot.

"Oh, that." Eric managed.

"Yeah." Sam folded his hands in front of him. "That." Eric couldn't be sure, but he swore Sam had gotten even more freakishly large since the last time they had spoken.

"I have to admit, our feelings were not left completely unscathed by your deception." Deeks said, placing a hand over his heart as if the topic were giving him heartburn. "However, I'm sure you have an excellent reason for hiding this from us for TWO WEEKS." From her spot behind Eric, Kensi shot him a look that clearly said 'cool it with the theatrics'.

"Look, guys, we wanted to tell you. Really, we did. But every time we tried something came up in the case, so we just decided to wait until the case closed."

"Alright, we'll let that slide, but only because you've got much bigger things to worry about." Callen smirked.

Eric paled slightly. "Bigger things? What things?"

"Like wether or not your arms are still gonna work if you hurt her." Coming from anyone else it would have been a threat, but coming from Sam, Eric knew it was a promise. He was familiar with the whole good cop/bad cop routine in the interrogation room, but the agents in front of him seemed to be playing bad cop/worse cop/even worse cop/cop that wants to maim you with him.

"Woah! Guys, I have absolutely no intention of hurting Nell!"

"And I have no intention of permanently disabling you, but things don't always go the way they're intended to, do they?"

"What Sam's trying to say is that we care about Nell, and we're happy that you guys are happy together. But if this goes south…" Kensi let the sentence trail off. "Well, you know what we're capable of."

Eric's mind was dancing with horrible images; most of which featured him lying in a pool of his own blood. "Look, I don't- I ummm-"

His stuttering was cut short by the sound of the door opening. "If you guys are done threatening my boyfriend, Hetty says we can leave early." Eric had never been more relieved to see Nell in his life.

One by one the agents left the room, each throwing a meaningful look at Eric before exiting, until only he and Nell were left.

"You know they don't mean it, right?" She asked, taking his hand as they walked out of the interrogation room.

Eric wasn't so sure, but he nodded his head.

"Besides," Nell continued "if you do anything stupid, I'll be first in line to kick your ass." She punctuated the sentence with a kiss on the cheek. "Now come on, I want to pick up Thai food on the way home."

Eric relaxed a bit as he opened the car door for her. "As you wish."