#ellickweek

Torres and Bishop in NCIS Season 17

ELLICK WEEK | DAY ONE

Coming to you soon...Ellick Week! 

A whole week dedicated to our favorite idiots! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Below is what each day’s prompt will be, so get your brain ready and those ideas flowing. All fanworks are welcome so if fics or gifsets aren’t your thing, don’t be afraid to share! 

If you have any questions, ask away ❤

Following #ellickweek so tag it in your first five tags, or you can tag the blog directly/send your post to make sure!

April 20th-26th

Day 1: Fic - “We need to talk about what happened last night.” Gifs - Favorite Moment(s)

Day 2: Fic - “How much of that did you hear?” Gifs - An episode that hurt our hearts & an episode that healed them

Day 3: Fic - “I should have told you a long time ago.” Gifs - Favorite lines said

Day 4: Alternate Universe free for all!

Day 5: Fic - “You’re in love with him/her.” Gifs - Your favorite Ellick trio

Day 6: Fic - “Shut up and kiss me already.” Gifs - Parallels/Growth

Day 7: Fic - “I’m getting married today.” Gifs - Quote(s) for Ellick

@ellickweek

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‘How many potato chips can I eat without dying?’

As the question appears on Nick Torres’ screen, he makes a face. There’s no way anyone would really need to Google that question, right? He looks at one of his adjoining screens to see a slightly unflattering selfie-camera live view angle of a blonde woman with a dusting of crumbs on her top; she’s frowning as she scans the question’s search results. 

Nick is the FBI agent who has just been assigned to keep covert tabs on former NSA agent Ellie Bishop, and he’s not sure what to make of his new task. He’s to pay attention to her internet usage, primarily, and watch her through her webcams as necessary. Someone far higher up the food chain than Nick thinks Bishop might be spilling state secrets. 

The mere fact that she Googled her potato chip question five minutes into being watched makes Nick doubt the higher-up’s assessment entirely, but a job’s a job. 

________________

Three weeks later, he hasn’t seen anything that makes him any more suspicious of her, but she’s made him raise his eyebrows at least a couple of times a day ever since that first potato chip. 

On day three, she starts aggressively typing in Arabic so quickly that Nick’s translating software lags in trying to keep up. Before Nick can wonder what she’s writing about, though, the translator catches on… Bishop is merely making notes to herself on a recipe for Dolmeh-e-Kadoo, an Afghan dish consisting of stuffed squash. ‘Cook rice for two minutes longer than advised,’ Bishop types. ‘Fresh tarragon is preferable to dried.’

Someone really thinks this woman is a threat to national security?

On day nine, her biggest crime is using fifteen minutes at work to Google something called a Tater Tot Queen, clicking links that lead her to small Oklahoma newspaper websites. Nick checks into the background info he was given on her, and the Oklahoma thing starts to make sense. The Tater Tot Queen thing, though, remains a mildly endearing mystery. 

Day eighteen brings drama. Ellie has her laptop open and facing the living room of her apartment, giving Nick just the view he needs to watch her fight with her husband.

“You could communicate if you wanted to, Jake! I’m not asking for classified details! I just want to know how your freaking day was!” 

Her husband—who Nick decides quickly he doesn’t like at all—doesn’t respond kindly. “Hey, you’re the one who quit the NSA, Ellie. You’re the one who made it so we can’t talk about anything anymore. Surely your memory isn’t that short—you know damn well how strict the rules are about sharing information!”

Though Nick should really agree with Jake here—especially given the reason Ellie is being investigated—he finds that he can’t after Jake storms from the room, leaving Ellie on the verge of frustrated tears.

He wonders when he started thinking of her as Ellie.

________________

Four months into the assignment, Nick starts to strongly suspect that Jake is cheating on Ellie, and he does something stupid.

His department of the FBI has a number of highly secure servers that are untraceable. Anyone trying to pinpoint where an agent is working from will be bounced by a proxy from location to location all over the world at a speed human hackers just can’t match. That makes anonymity possible in a world where secrets are hard to keep, and Nick takes advantage. He just can’t help himself.

He sends Ellie a text masked by the servers. Don’t trust Jake. Trace his steps last week and you’ll find out why. 

He watches through her cell’s front-facing camera as Ellie’s expression morphs into one of suspicion. Who is this? she replies.

Nick: A friend. 

Ellie: Sorry, “friend”, but I think I’ll trust my husband over you. 

Nick knows he has threatened his own life and livelihood enough as it is, so he doesn’t reply. He watches Ellie start to consider what he said, though, and the risk feels worth it.

When Ellie discovers a few weeks later that Nick was right and her marriage subsequently falls apart, Nick finds that watching her pain is almost unbearable. He sends one more text.

He never deserved you. 

________________

Six months in, Nick watches in disbelief as Ellie eats her third junk food snack of the day… first, it was a honey bun. Then, it was hot Cheetos. Now, it’s half a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. How on Earth does she manage to stay so fit? 

Though it’s a moronic thing to do, he reaches out to her again. Ellie, I’m concerned about your health. Don’t forget to eat real food in between snacks, woman. 

She responds almost instantly, making Nick grin. Seriously, who is this?

Nick: I meant it when I said I was a friend. 

Ellie: Friends don’t text friends creepy, cryptic messages.

Nick experiences a stroke of genius—he’ll just tell the truth. She’ll never believe him. Okay, you caught me. I’m the FBI agent assigned to watch you. ;) 

He can see Ellie roll her eyes. Ha ha, very funny. Who are you really?

You can call me Nick. 

Okay then, “Nick.” I’m blocking your number now. Bye.

For some reason, though, she doesn’t, and Nick feels absurdly like he’s won some sort of unexpected prize.

________________

Talking to Ellie becomes the highlight of his job. Though she continuously asks Nick who he is and gets frustrated when he never really answers, she never stops replying to him. Something in that analytical mind of hers seems to think that if he was anything other than a benign—if slightly eerie—mystery in her life, he would have acted against her already.

In the beginning, she puts a lot of effort into figuring out his identity. She traces the IP address and the spoofed phone number he uses to contact her. She Googles a variety of increasingly unlikely questions trying to find clues as to his identity. She even has one of her coworkers dig deeply into the servers he’s using, but the FBI is nothing if not thorough in covering its tracks.

Then one day, she seems to decide that she doesn’t really care who he is, and she starts to chat with him more casually. 

Sometimes, they talk about whatever Nick has observed her doing, but sometimes, they just… talk. Nick eventually realizes that she’s become something of a confessional for him; she’s both intelligent and unbiased enough to give solid advice, and kind and funny enough to make him feel better about whatever he happens to be going through. It hardly matters that they’ve never met and that there’s a constant veil of secrecy between them… they’re friends, as ridiculous as that is. 

________________

Nick has been assigned to watch her for an entire year before he starts to realize how much he hates doing this. Surveilling unaware people never really bothered him before, but he realizes that he doesn’t want to keep invading Ellie’s privacy like this. He wants to be a part of her life organically. He doesn’t see a single reason she’s being watched at all, and it feels increasingly wrong to target her when she hasn’t done anything wrong.

In his latest report to his superiors, he details the mundane things Ellie does in her spare time. At the end, he notes ‘suspect displays no suspicious behavior. Recommend terminating surveillance.’

Then he decides all at once that he’s done. 

Officially done.

He types up a letter on his computer, prints it, and drops it in his boss’ mailbox. Then he takes his phone off of all the FBI servers and unspoofs his number to text Ellie one more time. 

My name is Nick Torres. I told you I was an FBI agent assigned to monitor you, and I was telling the truth. I just quit my job. If you don’t believe me, or if you do and you want to talk, I’ll be at Sweet Science Coffee this afternoon. I’ll be the one with the muscles. 

Then he stands up from his desk for the last time and says goodbye to the J. Edgar Hoover Building.

________________

She doesn’t show up.

Nick sits at the coffee shop in NoMa sipping Guatemalan dark roast for two hours before eventually concluding that Ellie has no interest in meeting him. He understands, honestly—he stole her privacy for twelve long months, and that has to be hard to look past.

Doesn’t mean her absence doesn’t suck. 

As he leaves, though, he physically runs into her just outside the door. She stumbles and he reaches out automatically to steady her. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I—” she starts, and then cuts herself off. “Nick?”

He gives her a little grin; his heart is racing, and he’s not used to not being utterly confident around women. “The one and only,” he replies. “Nice to meet you in person, Ellie.”

She blinks at him. “Nice to meet you, too—I think?”

Nick chuckles, his hand rising up to scratch awkwardly at the back of his head. “I can understand the confusion. I wasn’t sure you’d come, actually. I waited for a while.”

Ellie gives him an incredulous look. “Well, that’s your own fault, isn’t it?”

Nick winces. “Yeah. I mean, I was just doing my job, but—”

“No, not that, you idiot. I mean that you texted you’d be here ‘this afternoon’. You never specified what time, and then you turned your stupid phone off!”

“I… Oops. Sorry, Ellie.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Why did you want to meet me, anyway? I was too curious to stay away.”

Nick gives her a look. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“If it was obvious, would I have asked?”

Nick rolls his eyes to the high heavens. He adores her, but she has a unique ability to try his patience. “You must be blind. Here, I’ll spell it out for you—I think I’ve been in love with you ever since you Googled how many potato chips you had to eat before it was lethal.”

“Oh.” Her voice is suddenly very small, and her eyes are suddenly very wide. 

Then she’s jumping at him and knocking him over as she presses her lips to his. 

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: NCIS Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres, Ellie Bishop & Nick Torres Characters: Ellie Bishop, Nick Torres Additional Tags: ellick week 2020, ellick week Summary: