Girl, Interrupted
by danakate
Disclaimer: NCIS: LA isn't mine, I'm just playing around. No infringement intended!
Author's Notes: Just a little ficlet, inspired by many days just like this at work. No pairings, although there may be a small hint of Nell/Callen if you squint. Irony: the fact that I was constantly interrupted while writing this fic about Nell being constantly interrupted. Special thanks to vegarin for the beta services. Also, apologies if the formatting is a little weird.
7:45am
Nell opens a blank e-mail and pauses, thinking about what she wants to say.
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
"Excuse me, Nell?"
Nell glances at the computer clock before turning to the person who interrupted her. Who in the world needs help at 7:45am? The rest of OSP usually doesn't show up until closer to 9.
"What can I help you with?" she answers, smiling brightly.
9:30am
Nell sighs before dropping into a chair in Ops. She ALT+TABs around her desktop until she finds the still open but unwritten e-mail to her mother.
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
D
"Got one!"
Nell nearly falls off her chair in surprise at Eric's overly enthusiastic announcement. As he trots out to whistle for the crew, documents and images start popping up on her workstation.
12:05pm
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
Dear
The phone rings and Nell answers it. "Ops."
"Miss Jones, a word, if you will."
"Be right there, Hetty."
1:35pm
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
Dear Mom
"What have we got, Eric?" Callen asks as the team files into Ops.
"Possibly a break," Eric says, giving her a nod. Nell dumps her desktop to the big screen and starts sifting through the mountain of data she and Eric just found.
"It was buried kind of deep, but telephone records show that Anderson was, in fact, in contact with Miller," Nell explains, pointing out the relevant numbers. "We were also able to find surveillance photos that further corroborate their involvement."
Callen steps up and flips through a couple pages of highlighted numbers and photos.
"Wait," he pauses. "Dear Mom?"
Nell's eyes widen in surprise and she feels her cheeks heat up in a blush.
"Uh, sorry about that," she mutters, stepping to the screen and quickly swiping the e-mail off of the main view. "Started that this morning, haven't gotten around to finishing it."
She misses Callen and Sam exchanging an amused look behind her as well as Deeks mouthing "This morning?" to Kensi, who shrugs.
2:46pm
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
Dear Mom
alkdsjf;lakjs;dkjf;awlk
Nell makes a mental note to bring better shoes to work. Her feet are starting to ache with the number of times she's had to go between Ops and the downstairs workstations, not to mention the 17 times she's had to almost literally circumnavigate the entire facility. In the last hour.
It's Thursday but she's starting to think it's Monday, what with everything that's been going on and all that has gone wrong.
She has her arms full of documents from repro when a few people from wardrobe roll through three new racks of clothes.
"Make way. Coming through. Make a hole, please."
Nell steps out of the way, stumbling to the side when her back hits something. She spins to the left to keep from falling and that's when she realizes she's in the bullpen and the something she ran into is the corner of Sam's desk. She sticks a hand out to balance herself but there isn't much free space on Sam's desk and she's starting to fall. Her hand knocks over the lamp and while she's able to right it before it falls off the table, her momentum is still going in the down direction.
The documents she's holding are also digging painfully into her arm and her grip on them loosens. Of course, they fall to the ground and spread out in the most chaotic way possible. At this point, there's no way Nell can compensate for her loss of equilibrium and she lands on her backside in the middle of the document pile, a few loose pages floating down around her.
"Nell?"
She looks up to see Callen staring down at her, a fresh, steaming cup of coffee in his hands. His brow is furrowed in concern.
Marty walks around the corner into her field of view. "Hey— Yow, you okay there, Nell?"
Nell doesn't say anything, but blows a breath out of her mouth, ruffling her hair, and casts a glance at the mess. She looks up, purses her lips, looks both men in the eyes as if challenging them to say anything, and throws her hands up in the air.
"This day can go straight to hell. Straight. To. Hell."
Marty and Callen exchange a look but wisely say nothing. Instead, they move past her and start picking up papers. Nell sits for a moment longer before crawling under a desk to retrieve a couple sheets that found their way there.
5:07pm
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
Dear Mom,
She's running three different searches and cross referencing seven previous data dumps when they finally catch a break.
"Found it!" Nell nearly screams, making Eric jump.
Eric gives her a sideways glance but she ignores it, double and triple checking her results.
"Callen? Sam? Nell's found something."
She taps her earpiece and relays the information rapidly.
"Good work, Nell," Callen acknowledges.
Nell takes a moment to relax as she and Eric watch the case close up on the various video feeds. Hetty strides in, hands clasped behind her back, and watches in silence with them.
"Congratulations on a job well done, ladies and gentlemen," Hetty says when the relevant parties are being placed into custody.
"I say we go out for drinks," Marty suggests.
"I'd be up for that," Eric agrees.
"Nell, you should join us," Callen says. "My treat."
"Wait, you're buying, G?" Sam asks.
"Just hers." There's a pause and Nell can see everyone staring at Callen on the video feed. "She's had a rough day."
"True. Yeah, Nell, you have to join us," Marty chimes in.
Eric's looking at her expectantly and it's clear the rest of the team is waiting for an answer.
"Um, okay."
10:54pm
To: Mom
Subject: How are you?
Dear Mom,
I have some vacation time saved up so I m coming home for a few days.
Love,
Nell
End