#rhrth

This answer depends on which thing you mean b/c it’s either A) how do i think they’d work it out as characters or B) how do i think they’ll work it out on the show. 

the latter? I don’t think we’ll get much, i think, personally, that Eric is gonna try and stay out of the field from now on, personally. Which is a choice i’d like, a lot, if only because this show can at times be irritating at how blaze it is towards death counts. Remember in s1 where the team killed 4 people in an episode and they made a comment about that being a lot to deal with??? Imagine them caring nowadays. lol. 

But yes, i would personally like if Eric decided that no, it wasn’t for him, and they drove home what they touched on in the episode with Sam, that not being able to deal with that is fine, but you have to know whether you can or can’t, because there’s no middle ground. 

Like, as far as what i think we’re gonna get, and that i’d prefer, i’d pick that. I mean, when Nell got her first kill, she was immediately put into a situation wherein she had a choice, sit back and do nothing or help save somebody she cares about, and it obviously told her that yeah, she actually could take the toll, and in honesty, i feel like even if Eric did back out of field work, if it came between the choice of saving somebody he loves (or anybody really) he’d take the shot, which i actually think might be part of what’s bothering him about it anyway. 

so yeah, i imagine we’ll get that. Him backing out unless it is absolutely necessary for him to do it. 

But, as the for former, how i think they’d deal as characters? I think they’d eventually get to the point where Nell confronts him on the fact that he’s off, and then it’d all come spilling out? And like, following from my theory as to why he hasn’t confided in her, i think it’s probably a miscalculation that Nell wouldn’t understand any post-shooting trauma going on? Because like, we know Eric was worried that she went MIA after she shot that dude, he knows she didn’t take it well even if he didn’t see it b/c nell has /never/ done anything like that before, so i feel like Nell would completely understand?

I also think her perspective on it would help her know how to help him, she’s been there, she knows platitudes would probably be crap, and that he has to decide for himself and that it’ll probably hurt (like, we had post shooting conversations with Nate and Sam, and they were consistent, both of them were firm and truthful, but didn’t pull punches about it, Nell and Eric were given honesty, even if maybe it wasn’t what they wanted or expected to hear, Nell knowing that, having recently been through it and now worked through, will have good perspective on it.

 Which is basically that she knows it takes time, and it’s traumatising, and she will give him what he needs to work it out and not push him, which i think is the type of thing that could appear as distance, but also, any hovering wouldn’t be helpful to them or their relationship, either. 

I think he’d get through it, maybe he’d decide to go in the field again or maybe not, but he’ll get there, and Nell will be there. It’s not idea for them, but i do think their similar situations will help rather than hinder. Eventually he /is/ gonna get through the emotional roil, and it will be less confusing, and i think Nell would probably apologise for an obviously Adrenalin fueled poor timing to start making out with him thing. 

It was poor timing and pretty obvious her inhibitions were totally down and she acted on something she’d been thinking about but hadn’t gotten the courage to do, and i think she’d feel bad, so i think she’d apologise, and in that cute little neric fantasy land of my brain, he’d make it absolutely clear anything with her he’s never regretted, and it’d make it easier for him to separate the two things as well, now he’s made it clear to her, you know??

(this isn’t structured b/c i was just thinking aloud?? sorry for being vaguely incoherent)

I’ve never really seen Eric as necessarily a submissive character, I’ve seen his deferring to Nell as a conscious choice to lay back and let her work it out after his pretty self confident exuberance of earlier seasons spooked her, as opposed to him just in general having the instinct to be submissive? i’m not really sure i have a good read on it. He’ll happily roll over and let somebody else be in charge but he doesn’t have any real problems taking charge, either, he kinda enjoys it? He just in general seems chill about it to me. He’s mildly possessive and overtly jealous sometimes, but not really reaching into straight up dominance level. 

But I genuinely think that this whole time Eric was just waiting for Nell to make the first move so he knew it’d be okay, like, she kissed him in the grass and from that he made a move on her, immediately, you know? He knew he was welcome so he was straight on it, with confidence. Before getaway she was kissing his face (very close to his lips) in opps and hugging him and stroking his hair in pretty emotionally charged moments, Nell has obviously been moving closer to him for a long while, and I pretty much feel that he was waiting for her to make an obvious, blatant move before he made any, just so he could be 100% sure he wouldn’t scare her. 

I don’t want to make this comparison but like... when you kneel down and let a cat approach u so it doesn’t get spooked and run away. Like that. I don’t necessarily think Eric is submissive as much as i think obvious dominance can spook Nell? 

I mostly just think they’ve been operating on a system of give and take for a while, on a surface level Nell is far more dominant control freak, she’s just like that as a person, but Eric is also the one person on the show she will defer to and open up to with all of her thoughts and feelings (she will talk to Hetty about her work anxieties, and i assume to Nate b/c she’s actually his patient, but nobody as much as Eric) and I???

I think she trusts him, If she didn’t love the blond nerd, she never would have gone to kiss him after he made it known that, yes, he is in love with her, and i think that trust would inspire her to let him have more of a measure of control than she would give up to anybody else. It’s also kind of nice in a symmetry way that her first introduction of being super dominant w/ him because she admired him faded into being relaxed b/c she loves him. 

I also think it’s probably notable that Nell is incredibly dominant and sometimes overtly pushy reaching into ‘you’re being a total ass’ territory in areas she is comfortable in (eric is literally one of the areas she feels comfortable being a little shit in ha), if she knows her stuff, she’s kind of arrogant about it, but when she perceives herself as, idk, the less experienced or learning, she’s unsure about it. She’s on very loose footing with the field work sometimes, she doesn’t know it like the back of her hand so she defers to the rest of the team’s judgement, she might defer a lot to Eric (probably correctly) assuming he’d be better at the relationship thing, i wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. 

i actually think my lack of firm opinion here lays with me not having a read on Eric, he’s pushy and confident and will easily go ahead and take charge but is also totally willing to roll over most of the time without any hint of ever being bothered by it. I kind of think his chill about it is why he works so well with Nell’s high strung-ness a lot of the time, it compliments her well and doesn’t bother either of them.