I’d be lying if I said this is the life I wanted for her. I get that it’s in character. But honestly I just wanted her to finally have peace. And this life will be far from that.
This also makes less sense when you consider Faith. Faith may have been willing to make a trip to Costa Rica. But Afghanistan? Ain’t gonna happen.
Slibbs fans, I’m glad you got your moment. I used to be one of you. I would’ve been very excited.
But now, as a Slishop shipper, I am obviously so disappointed. Not a single scene of those two together this episode (in fact barely any all this season). And that we don’t see Jack say goodbye to Ellie. Or to the rest of the team. I hate it. Honestly I do.
Me:
NCIS Writers:
.......... I think I see a fix it fic in my near future 😂
This took an insanely long amount of time to fill out so I’m posting it here as well as on my Instagram story. So, here’s a little insight into my headcanons about my OTP. ❤️
Summary: JACK SLOANE/ELLIE BISHOP. Fake Dating AU – Ellie asks Jack to pretend to be her date to a friend’s wedding after finding out Jake is attending with his new fiancée. Neither of them could predict how it ended.
A/N: This has been a long time coming! This is the longest fic I've written ever and also my first which isn't with a 'reader'. Basically, I just wanted to read a Bishop/Sloane Fic so you all got one. I hope you enjoy! It, let me know if you like the pairing and I might right this paring again in the future. If it's OOC at all, I apologise! There's a couple of Quishop (Quinn/Bishop) references in here because I couldn't resist! (Sorry for any mistakes, I'm tired)
Read on A03
“Ellie!”
Ellie swore under her breath, turning around to face the approaching man, fake smile plastered on her face. “Jake, fancy seeing you here.” She laughed awkwardly, picking up the coffee she'd gone to get for her and Jack. They were stuck at NCIS going over case files, and knowing they were in for a late-night, they’d taken a break and she had volunteered to go get coffee.
“How have you been? It’s been what? 3 years? You still working at NCIS?” Jake asked patronizingly like it was a bad thing. Ellie wanted to roll her eyes…or punch him.
“Yep, still at NCIS, you still dating Taylor?” She hid her smirk behind her coffee cup but frowned when she noticed Jakes smile widening as he turned to look at the woman coming up behind him.
“No, but this is Mia, my fiancée.” Jake’s arm wrapped around the stunning brunette. Ellie clamped her teeth together. “You still single?” Jake’s condescending tone and smug expression were enough to make her want to scream.
She was not letting this bastard show her up. “No actually” Ellie smiled smugly “I’m dating someone.”
“Who?”
“Jack” Her cheeks tinged pink. “She’s amazing.”
“She?” Jake stuttered.
“Yeah” Ellie smirked “This coffee is actually for her, so I better be getting back. Nice to see you Jake, Mia.” She smiled, signalling her head towards the door.
“Right yeah, see you at Caitlin’s wedding.” Ellie froze. The wedding. Shit.
“Y-you’re going to Caitlin’s wedding?” Ellie stammered.
“Yeah. Are you bringing Jack?”
Fuck! “Oh-I…She might be working, I-”
“Aww, a shame,” Jake smirked. That was it, She’d had enough.
“Jack’s hoping to come. Demanding job the NCIS. I’m sure she’d love to meet you though. Now I must be going. Cases don’t solve themselves.” Ellie smiled, walking out of the coffee shop and making her way back to NCIS quietly fuming the whole way.
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“Did you get lost?” Jack laughs as Ellie rushes into her office. She stops to hand Jack her now probably lukewarm coffee and places her own cup down on the table before flopping onto the sofa next to Jack.
“I ran into Jake.” Ellie moans. Jack winces turning to face Ellie.
“Your ex-husband…How did that go?”
“He introduced me to his new fiancée, Mia.” The disdain drips from her voice. Jack winces again and reaches out, putting a comforting hand on Ellie’s. Ellie ducked her head hiding her blush from the contact and groaned loudly. “I don’t even care but he was being all smug and condescending and I wanted to punch him and he asked if I was single and I didn’t want to say yes because he’d just look at me pitifully and say something about how there’s ‘still time’ so I might have…” Ellie trailed off, throwing her head back against the sofa.
“You said what?”
“I may have told him I was dating you.” She mumbled, staring up at the ceiling as heat spread over her face.
“Me?” Jack asked in shock, hand leaving Ellie’s.
“Your name was the first to come to my head and I know it was stupid, I’m sorry!” Ellie whined looking back at Jack who had a light blush spread over her face.
“Well, I doubt it matters right, that’s the first time you’ve seen him since the divorce? What’s the chance you’ll see him again.” Jack laughed and when Ellie didn’t respond, she frowned “Ellie?”
“You know that wedding I’m going to next weekend?” Jack nodded slowly as Ellie looked back to the ceiling, embarrassed. “Well…It turns out he’s going as well and I made an excuse but then he was smirking and I broke and told him you really wanted to be there…” Jack didn’t say anything, and when Ellie turned to look at Jack she was surprised to see her holding back a laugh. “Don’t laugh! It’s not funny!” Ellie smiled, hitting Jack playfully.
“I’m sorry” Jack snorts, causing both her and Ellie to break out into laughter. Once they’d both calmed back down Jack grinned devilishly “So you need a date?”
Ellie’s heart skipped a beat at Jack’s expression, gulping slightly she nodded.
“Okay.”
“O-okay?” Ellie stuttered, stunned at how easily Jack had accepted. A date…with Jack? She blushed.
“Well, what are friends for, if not to save them from embarrassment,” Jack smirked, and Ellie felt her heart drop slightly but ignored it, not wanting to unpack that can of worms anytime soon. “Now about this profile” Jack continues, picking up the folder on her lap and gently tapping Ellie’s knee. They both quickly got back into the flow of work and Ellie was grateful to let the conversation drop at least for a few days.
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Ellie had been delaying this conversation for as long as possible but with the wedding tomorrow, she knew they needed a backstory because people were going to ask questions. Ellie dragged her feet as she made her way to Jack’s office and lightly knocked on the door.
“Come in!” called the voice from inside. Ellie slowly opened the door, Jack looked up and grinned when she saw who it was, and she felt her nerves slightly ease. “You feeling prepared for the wedding?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk about actually…” Ellie bites her lip awkwardly and makes her way into the room, closing the door behind her and moving to sit in the chair in front of Jack’s desk “We need to create a backstory; people will definitely ask questions.”
“Oh ok, sure. Well, you know these people so when did your last relationship end?” Ellie was grateful that Jack was looking at the folder in front of her instead of Ellie, so she didn’t notice her cheeks flush.
She cleared her throat awkwardly “Nothing really in the last year.” There had only been the odd date since Qasim’s death, nothing had ever developed into a proper relationship. “What about you? They’ll be lots of people from the NSA attending and I know you’ve mentioned friends there before…”
Jack gulps “oh uh- Izzy.” Ellie feels her jaw drop open and Jack clears her throat, heat prickling her cheeks as she bites her lip. “Wasn’t my smartest decision…only lasted a couple of months.”
“Right…I just thought that she and Nick …” Ellie trails off, still in shock over the confession.
“Oh, no, no. Izzy’s a big flirt but that’s usually all it is, flirting.” Jack shrugs obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.
“So, time frame?” Ellie quickly sets the subject back on track and Jack looks relieved.
“How about 6 months?”
“So, around Christmas? Romantic” Ellie teased, and Jack smirked at her.
“Apart from when you asked me-”
“Wait! It wouldn’t be me! It would’ve been you” Ellie protested, almost jumping from the chair.
“when you asked me, You were incredibly awkward, and it took me about 5 minutes to realise you were trying to ask me out on a date. I, of course, said yes.” Ellie and Jack both stared at each other as Jack spoke, smiling softly. Ellie released a shaky breath.
“I took you too that fancy little Italian place you love, even though it was way too expensive for me and wooed you.” Jacks eyes twinkled. The lighting there was sweet and romantic and the food glorious. And at the end of dinner, Jack would have kissed-No! Ellie shook her head to get rid of the intruding thoughts. It wasn’t real.
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Ellie rang the doorbell, fiddling with her dress as she waited for Jack to answer. Ellie felt on show but wanted to look her absolute best to show up her bastard of an ex. Although she had no interest in him whatsoever and was honestly glad their marriage was over, she couldn’t help the small part of her that wanted to show him exactly what he’d lost.
When the door opened Ellie felt her brain short circuit at the sight in front of her. Jack was wearing a red dress, with a surprisingly high slit which Ellie’s eyes automatically zeros in on.
“You look hot as hell.” Ellie gulped at the same time Jack released a breathless “wow” causing them both to break out into light blushes and awkward laughter.
Ellie’s eyes focus back on Jack’s leg and Jack releases an uncomfortable cough, startling her out of her trance. “You ready to go?”
“Right…yes. Yes. Let’s go.” Ellie fumbles, spinning around and walking to her car, ignoring Jack’s laugh as she locks up her house.
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“You ready for this?” Jack asks as Ellie turns off the car engine, staring at the church across the street.
Ellie takes a deep breath before blowing it out “Ready as I’ll ever be” She opens the car door and gets out, Jack following behind her. As they’re about to walk in Ellie hesitantly holds out her hand, Jack takes it squeezing reassuringly before smiling at Ellie and making their way in. Ellie ignores the flutter in her chest.
Unsurprisingly Jake is one of the first people they run into, Mia hanging from his arm. Ellie tenses, teeth grinding in anger.
“Calm down” Jack breathes into her ear “Anyway, the woman’s got nothing on you.” Ellie stares at Jack in surprise and Jack smiles sweetly. The flutter in her chest now a full-blown storm.
“Ellie, hello.” Ellie’s got no idea how even 2 words could make her want to smash his face in. Jack squeezes her hand tighter.
“Jake. Mia. Nice to see you both. This is my girlfriend Jack.”
“I’ve heard many things.” Jack smirks, a devilish glint in her eye. Jake looks intimidated and the smile on his face vanishes and Ellie wants to burst out laughing.
“I just love your dresses,” Mia smiles from beside Jake “How long have you been together?”
“Thank you. 6 beautiful months” Jack beamed, pulling Ellie into her side and kissing her cheek. Ellie tenses slightly in surprise, a blush again gracing her features.
“Oh wow! We’ve been together about the same amount of time! We met at a party and hit it off straight away” Mia hungrily kisses Jake.
“oh god” Ellie mouths to Jack uncomfortably and Jack smothers a laugh into Ellie’s shoulder.
“Sorry,” Jake says unapologetically “The love between me and Mia is just hard to contain sometimes.”
“Right…Well, we really should be sitting down, so we’ll see you later.” Ellie pulls Jack away and they head over to the aisles to take a seat “Can you believe him? ‘The love between me and Mia is just hard to contain sometimes’ What does that even mean?” They both break out laughing. The people in front of them turn around and frown, they both duck their heads laughing even louder.
---------------------
The ceremony was beautiful but now all Ellie wanted to do was fill herself with alcohol, regretting the fact she’d decided to drive here.
They got into Ellie’s car, narrowly avoiding Jake again.
“Why is he so damn insistent on talking to me?” Ellie whined as she hit the steering wheel.
“He’s trying to convince himself that he’s doing better than you, which is obviously not the case for the fact he’s trying to convince himself” Jack laughed, placing her hand on Ellie’s. “He knows he made a mistake and whereas you moved on, he’s stayed in the same place…I feel sorry for Mia.”
“Yeah, maybe I should tell her to run.” Jack removes her hand as Ellie starts up the car and pulls out of the church’s parking lot.
“I doubt she’d listen; she hangs off his every word.” Jack sighs.
Ellie smirks slightly.
“I wanted to thank you again for doing this, you’ve given up your whole Saturday for me.” Ellie looks over to Jack to see her already looking at her. Ellie gulps, focusing back on the road.
“It’s not a problem, and anyway I get the chance to see what it would be like to date the legendary Ellie Bishop.” Jack laughs and Ellie nearly crashes her car.
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“Let’s go get drinks,” Ellie says the second they enter the reception hall. Car be damned. She knew there was no way she was making it through this whole event without the help of alcohol.
It’s a large hall, decorated with lots of white tulle, blue accents, and pretty lights. Tables and chairs fill the room, a dance floor behind them and a bar sits to the side of the room, already full of guests ordering their drinks. Music fills the room, but Ellie ignores all of that as she makes her way over to the bar.
“What do you drink?” Ellie asks, linking arms with Jack.
“Anything.” Jack shrugs.
Ellie orders 2 Gin and Tonics, drinking half of hers before Jack can even take a sip. Jack doesn’t say anything, just raises her eyebrows.
Finding their seats isn’t hard. They’re the first ones to the table, and a quick glance at the place cards shows it’s just people she used to work with at the NSA. Ellie’s just grateful Caitlin had the common sense not to sit her at the same table as Jake.
“Ellie? Eleanor Bishop? Is that you?” Ellie’s head snaps around, her face brightening into a wide smile when she spots who it is.
“Lauren! Oh my god! Hi, Hello, how have you been? Where’s Evelyn?” She pulls the older woman into a tight hug.
“I’m good, you? Evelyn’s getting here later, she got called into work.”
“I’m good, it’d be great to catch up with her too. I haven’t seen either of you since Emma’s birthday!” Lauren had been somewhat of a mentor for Ellie at the NSA and the two had grown close, she’d been to her and Evelyn’s wedding, was even godmother to their daughter Emma, however, she hadn’t seen them in ages.
Ellie turns grabbing Jack’s hand and pulling her over tightly to her side “Jack this is Lauren, we worked together at the NSA. Lauren, this is my girlfriend Jack, she works with me at NCIS.”
Lauren’s eyes sparkle in interest, but she doesn’t say anything, instead shaking Jack’s hand “Nice to meet you.” Jack says sliding her arm around Ellie’s waist.
“And you. No wonder Ellie won’t come back to the NSA however many times we try to poach her, I wouldn’t either if I was working with agents who look like you!”
Jack laughs awkwardly while Ellie blushes beat-red. “Lauren!” Lauren just laughs.
“I think it’s me who’s the lucky one.” Jack’s hand is brushing lightly at Ellie’s side and when Ellie’s eyes flick to her Jack winks. The blonde doesn’t know how to respond but her body definitely does, and Ellie finally admits to herself that maybe this wasn’t the best idea.
Because ok…maybe she had a tiny crush on Jack. But it was tiny, just co-worker infatuation. Yes, she sometimes thought about kissing Jack and taking her on dates and ok maybe there had been a dream where Jack had pinned her up against a wall and-NO. It just wasn’t helping being this close to Jack for this long, it was just making her body feel things that it shouldn’t be feeling for her friend.
Ellie’s face heats up as she’s drawn away from her thoughts and back into the conversation. Lauren is telling Jack about her children, but she can tell Jack’s only half-listening, choosing instead to shoot concerned looks at Ellie. Ellie ignores her, grabbing her drink and swigging the rest of the liquid.
The hall soon fills up and they sit at their now full table. Over the course of the meals, Ellie isn’t surprised about the number of questions fired at her from the table of old friends, the last time she’d seen most of them she’d been married to Jake. They hold up the story well though.
“You look really good together, it’s lovely to see you so in love again Ellie.” Lauren smiles. Ellie feels like hiding under the table, instead, Jack grabs her hand that’s placed on the table, and then shocks Ellie by again leaning over to kiss Ellie lightly on the cheek.
“Are you ok?” Jack whispers into her ear and Ellie nods, now even more overwhelmed by the smell of Jack’s perfume, and her breath tickling her neck.
“I’m good” She looks away from Jack who’s watching her closely. Ellie instead takes a gulp from her drink, pushing her plate away suddenly no longer hungry.
Their hands remained clasped together, falling onto Ellie’s lap, for the remainder of the meal. Ellie doesn’t even really notice, already used to it and the comfort it brings.
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They are standing by the bar, drinking another round of drinks when Lauren comes over to them “I haven’t seen you girls dance all night.”
“I’m not much of a dancer.”
“Oh, that’s the biggest lie ever Bishop! Or do you not remember my wedding?” Ellie blushes at the memory and Jack looks intrigued.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Ellie mutters, trying to sink further into her chair.
“Probably because you ended up passed out in a booth.” Evelyn says, coming over to hand her wife a drink and placing a kiss on her cheek. Jack’s head shoots away from Ellie and towards the new woman.
“Eve?” Jack questions in wonder.
“Jackie?”
“Jackie?” Ellie mouths, scrunching up her face. Lauren notices and laughs quietly.
“What are you doing here? How? I haven’t seen you since I left California!”
“I work at NCIS now, I’ve been here a few years! I thought you’d moved to Chicago?”
“Hello” Ellie pipes in (totally not slightly jealous at all) “How do you guys know each other?”
“Right yes…. Eve and I dated when I lived in California” Jack barely glances at her before her focus is back on Evelyn again.
“Wait she’s that Jack?” Lauren looks shocked and sends a calculated gaze at Jack.
“It must have been 8 years ago? I got a promotion and moved to Chicago, and long-distance just didn’t work, we lost contact. I moved to Washington about a year and a half later and then I met Lauren.” Evelyn looked between Ellie and Jack “You’re dating Ellie?”
“Yeah, we’ve been together for about 6 months” Jack squeezed Ellie’s hand tightly.
Lauren looks over to her wife “I told you.” She singsongs while Evelyn rolls her eyes.
“Told her what?” Ellie questions suspiciously.
“That you totally had a thing for that Alex girl you used to work with, you used to gush about her whenever we met up ‘Oh Alex is just so amazing’. Evelyn thought you were straight, but I knew it!” Ellie’s face goes bright red as Evelyn and Lauren laugh.
“Alex?” Jack questions sharply “As in Alex Quinn?” Ellie feels her face heat up further as Jack directs her interested gaze towards her.
“Hmm…didn’t you say something about a dance?” Ellie drags Jack up and onto the dance floor before she can even question it, ignoring Evelyn and Lauren as their laughter gets louder.
“I thought you didn’t dance” Jack smirks, pulling Ellie into her arms. Ellie wraps her arms around Jack’s neck, sighing.
“I don’t but I wasn’t going to sit there and have them laugh at me.”
“Well, you chose a good song,” Jack smiles softly. Ellie’s heart flutters “Perfect for our story.” Ellie gulps, trying to hiding the disappointment from her face.
She hated how swept up in the charade she was getting. This whole day had felt so natural with Jack and hated to think in a few hours they would be back to ‘normal’. No more hand-holding, kisses and dancing.
“Alex? I didn’t know…” Ellie tenses up. “Sorry I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”
“No, it’s fine. It ended before it even really began. She left” Ellie shrugs. They had kissed but then Paraguay happened, and Alex had to go home to look after her mother and that was that.
“And no one knew?” The twinkle in Jack’s eye unnerves her.
“Not that I’m aware” She shrugs again but wanting this line of questioning to end she changes the subject “So…Jackie” Ellie grins wickedly.
Jack groans and Ellie laughs “An unfortunate nickname I left in California for good reason.”
“I prefer Jack anyway” Ellie smiles, playing with a strand of hair that falls into Jack’s face before hesitantly asking “and Evelyn?”
“We were together for nearly 2 years. It would never have lasted though. I still wasn’t doing well because of Afghanistan” Ellie rested her head on Jack’s shoulder, Jack hugging her closer. They weren’t even dancing now.
“Thank you” Ellie pulls back slightly so she can look at Jack’s face again. Their faces are so close now, she can barely breathe. Jack’s watching her closely and Ellie’s eyes scan her face, before focusing on her lips. All she had to do was dip her head slightly and-
“Ellie!” Ellie jumps, quickly backing away from Jack.
“Caitlin? Hi!” Ellie’s still trying to calm her pounding heart when she’s pulled into a hug by the woman. “This wedding has been beautiful, thank you so much for inviting me”
“We need to meet up soon. You’ve only met Philip a handful of times, and I’m yet to even meet your girlfriend.” Caitlin looks at Jack curiously, Jack extends her hand.
“Jack. Congratulations”
“Nice to meet you Jack” Caitlin grinned. “Anyway, I’ve still got a lot of guests to talk to, so I’ll see you later”
Ellie pulled Caitlin into another tight hug, saying goodbye before turning back to Jack.
“Jack-”
“I’m going to go get another round” Jack’s walking over to the bar before Ellie can say anything. She sighs and heads outside.
Ellie’s barely sat down before Jake’s coming over. All she wanted was a moment of peace. A moment to escape from everything. Being so close to Jack the whole day was playing with her head. If Caitlin hadn’t interrupted them would she have kissed her? God she was so close to ruining everything, Jack must know considering how quickly she’d run from Ellie.
“Jack gone home already?” Jake’s attempts of being smug were getting more laughable every time they spoke.
“No Jake. She’s getting drinks.” and possibly avoiding me “What do you want?”
“You can’t honestly expect me to believe your relationship, right?” Ellie rolls her eyes, quietly seething. She watched the view of the surrounding garden from her seat instead of giving Jake the satisfaction of her full attention.
“And why’s that? Because she’s a woman?”
“Partly, but also because you know she’s way out of your league, right?” Ouch. “You’ll never do better than me and you were stupid to let me go. I’m- WHAT THE FUCK!” Jake screamed. Ellie looked up, breaking into hysterics. Jake was standing there, glaring at a very pissed off Jack who was holding two empty glasses in her hand.
“Oops sorry” Ellie continued laughing at Jack’s sarcastic tone. Jake stood there, wiping the sticky liquid from his face, huffing as he glared daggers at both of them, before turning around, literally stomping his food and walking away. Ellie’s laughter died down as she stared at Jack in wonder.
“Why? You didn’t have too…” Ellie trailed off unsure what to even say.
“He can’t speak to you like that! You deserve anyone you want Bishop. You have such a gigantic heart and the person who you decide to give it to…well…” Jack cleared her throat “The bastards lucky I only threw the drinks at him” Jack ranted angrily, Ellie moved towards her, placing her hand on Jacks arm to calm her. It did almost instantly.
“You think I deserve anyone?” Could that mean? Ellie watched Jack closely, hand still resting on her arm, but the woman was near impossible to read when she didn’t want to be.
“Of course. I know about your feelings…” Oh my, here it comes! “…for Torres.”
Ellie let her hand drop; her mouth hangs agape “Torres? I don’t- I’ve never-”
“Hey, it’s alright” Jack moves forward, grabbing hold of Ellie’s hand as a warm, supportive smile graces her features. Her eyes were unreadable. “I’ve known since Izzy; it’s why you didn’t like her right? She and Nick flirted constantly.” Ellie just stood there. Pain erupting in her chest cause holy shit how had she been so wrong. She’d really thought for a second that Jack liked her back. “So, I’m right, right?”
“Yep” Ellie croaked, ducking her head, what else could she say? ‘No, actually I think I’ve got big scary feelings for you and now I’m positive I’ve got no chance with you I’m going to tell you anyway’ hell no. She’d just crush it all down again go back to before when it was a ‘tiny crush’ she put in a box and mostly ignored. She could easily do that again. Whoever said bottling emotions up was unhealthy was obviously wrong.
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“Thank you again for today” Ellie says quietly. They’re both standing outside, the wedding over, waiting for separate Ubers as they live in different directions. Ellie kind of wishes she hadn’t drunk just so they could continue their facade a bit longer.
“I had a good time actually. Good music, food, and company what more could a girl ask for.” The joke falls flat, Jack grimaced. Ellie rubs her arms suddenly feeling cold. The air felt different, uncomfortable and she doesn’t like it. Her phone pings.
“My Ubers here” Jack pulls her into a hug and as Ellie pulls away to plant a kiss on Jack’s cheek, she accidentally ends up hitting the corner of Jack’s mouth. Ellie lingers as Jack stills. They lock eyes, Ellie is holding her breath as Jack pulls back slightly her eyes sweeping over Ellie’s lips. Jack leans back in and Ellie follows, her lips covering Jack’s. Jack releases a breathy sigh as Ellie deepens the kiss. Jack tastes like alcohol and sugar and Ellie’s already addicted. Jack’s phone pings this time causing them to both pull away.
“That’s my Uber. I should be going.” Jack says not looking at Ellie
“Wait, Jack-”
“I can’t do this Ellie” Jack has tears in her eyes. she turns around and leaves before Ellie can say anything else.
Ellie takes a deep breath confused as tears come to her eyes. Jack doesn’t look back and Ellie wipes at her eyes as she turns around and makes her way over to the car waiting for her.
The second she gets into the car the tears start to fall as the sharp pain in her chest becomes overwhelming and all over again Ellie’s losing something she never even had.
She wakes up the next morning to a text.
“I’m sorry about last night. I had had too much to drink, it didn’t mean anything. I hope we can forget about it and move on.”
Ellie sits there staring at the text for she doesn’t know how long before throwing her phone on the floor and hiding under the covers. ‘It didn’t mean anything’ running through her head over and over again.
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It’s Monday and Ellie’s sitting at her desk eating a breakfast muffin when she notices Tim and Nick are both watching her, smirking suspiciously. “What?” Ellie barks at them and that only causes then to smirk harder.
“And a good morning to you too Bishop, nice weekend?” Tim looks like he’s about to start laughing and Ellie glares at him. “Just didn’t you had that wedding this weekend?” He continues “because funnily enough, we overheard a certain blonde talking to Director Vance this morning about how she spent her Saturday at a wedding.” Ellie bites her lip still glaring but they ignore it.
“Imagine that! Both of you happen to be at a wedding on the same day.” Nick now has the biggest shit-eating grin on his face “And didn’t Ellie mention something about having a date to this wedding?”
“Oh yes! That’s right, she did Nick.” Ellie crosses her arms across her chest and they just stare back at her obviously waiting for her to explain.
Ellie sighs, knowing they were never going to let it drop “Fine” the guys high five, causing Ellie to roll her eyes as they make their way over to stand in front of her desk “Yes, Jack was my date BUT” Their gleeful expressions drop “It was a fake date, she was helping me because Jake was there.” Ellie shrugs, getting up from her desk and feigning interest in a filing cabinet, ignoring the ache in her chest.
“A fake date?” Tim’s voice is full of scepticism and Ellie begins to heat up and her thoughts go back to Saturday night. She slams the draw. “Damn it! After the whole Quinn situation-”
“THE WHOLE WHAT” Ellie’s voice rises about 3 octaves as she turns around to stare at Tim and Nick in complete shock, her cheeks now on fire. She was so sure no one knew anything.
“You really thought no one knew?” Nick laughs “God, you and her flirted constantly.”
“However, it’s not nearly as much as the number of wistful looks you and Sloane send to each other.” Tim smirks
“It’s actually quite disturbing.” Nick’s face mushes up in disgust and Tim laughs.
“I don’t send wistful looks at her!” Ellie protested shout-whispering, as she looked around the room making sure no one was listening. They both begin laughing again and Ellie huffs, quickly exiting the room.
She heads to the break room, desperate for a snack to help calm her. She slams the code and money in for her favourite chocolate bar and kicks the machine in frustration when it doesn’t move.
“Whoa! Are you ok?” Ellie whips around, finding Jack standing in the centre of the room and all Ellie feels is pain when Jack's eyes don’t quite meet hers.
“Yep, I’m good…so good” Sarcasm drips from her voice as Ellie turns back around to the machine, she shakes it slightly and the chocolate bar falls loose. She sighs in satisfaction, grabbing the chocolate, ripping the wrapper and taking a large bite.
“You’re eating your stress chocolate,” Jack says it so quietly Ellie nearly misses it.
“Yeah, just a bad morning I guess” Ellie shrugs, Jack finally looks at her and Ellie can see the pain in her eyes. Ellie looks away.
“I’m sorry” Jack says barely above a whisper
“It’s cool. It didn’t mean anything right?” The challenge in Ellie’s voice would be hard to miss as Ellie raises her eyebrow at her.
Jack ducks her head “Are we good?”
“Sure” Ellie sighs, she throws the rest of her chocolate bar into the bin not looking at Jack as she heads back to the bullpen.
It didn’t mean anything. Neither of them could even look at each other and all Ellie could think about every time she saw Jack was that the taste of her and how good the whole evening felt being in Jack’s arms. Her heart ached. No, they weren’t good. They were broken and Ellie had no idea how to fix that.
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“So, has either of you actually admitted your feelings for each other yet?” Is the first thing Lauren says when Ellie answers the phone a few days later.
“Hello Ellie, how are you? Oh, Hi Lauren, I’m good, thank you for asking.”
“Yes, yes, whatever. Have you told her?”
“We’re already dating.” They never discussed when their ‘relationship’ would end but Ellie’s going to keep the facade going a few weeks just so it doesn’t seem like it was made up.
“Lies.”
“What? No, it’s-”
“Lies.” Lauren singsongs
“Lauren-”
“All liesssss.”
Ellie rolls her eyes in annoyance, giving in easily. She needed to talk to someone about this. “Fine. We aren’t dating but we’re really just friends.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying. Jack is my friend.”
“Hmm…ok. How have you both been since the wedding?”
“We’ve been fine.”
“Eleanor.”
“Ok! Wait a minute.” She was sitting in the bullpen and even though Torres and Gibbs were hunting down a lead and McGee was doing a coffee run she was not having this conversation where other agents could overhear. She headed to the lady’s bathroom, checking the stalls to see they were empty. Ellie sighed in relief “You still there?”
“Yes.”
Ellie gulped “We uh kissed and we haven’t really spoken since.” It had been nearly a week since the wedding, and Ellie was avoiding Jack at all costs.
“Well, that’s further than I expected to be honest.” Ellie rolled her eyes “And why haven’t you spoken since?”
“She ran and then texted me telling me she’d had too much to drink and it didn’t mean anything” Ellie muttered.
“And you believed her?” Lauren laughed.
“Yes. No? I don’t know.”
Lauren hums “I’m sending you a photo. Look at it”
Ellie frowns but opens the image, setting her phone to speakerphone so she can still hear Lauren. “Oh” She breathes her voice thick with emotion. She finally understands what Tim meant about ‘wistful looks’. It’s a photo of the two of them when they’d been on the dance floor. Ellie’s head tucked into Jack’s shoulder as Jack holds her tight. Jack’s looking at her like she’s everything, a pained smile on her face. Ellie can’t breathe. “I-I don’t know what to say.”
“Just go get your girl,” Lauren says, and Ellie can practically hear her smirk. Lauren hangs up while Ellie’s still staring at the photo.
Go get your girl
Go get your girl
It rings through her head as Ellie groans loudly. This was probably a terrible idea she sighs. Ellie turns looking into the mirror, fixing her hair before nodding “You’ve got this Bishop”. She exits the bathroom and heads to Jacks office.
The door is open, so Ellie doesn’t bother to knock, instead walking straight in. Jack’s sitting on her couch, looking over paperwork but the second Ellie enters the room her head snaps up. Ellie’s caught off guard, she hadn’t seen Jack yet today but she’s wearing a pink and white suit and it takes away her breath momentarily.
“Ellie?” Jacks voice is full of concern and surprise, she removes her glasses and places them on the folders in front of her. Ellie realises she must look crazy as she paces in front of Jack.
“It was never Torres” Ellie confesses but Jack only looks confused. Ellie stills, taking a deep breath and facing Jack “That I had feelings for…It was never Torres, it was you” Jack gulps but Ellie continues before she can say anything “That’s why I didn’t like Izzy. It’s why I said your name, I wanted, want, it to be you but I was so sure that you’d never feel the same way” Ellie laughs “and then we kissed and it meant everything to me” tears came to her eyes and Ellie could see them forming in Jacks as well. “I can’t just forget about this or move on because I want this, us, so badly” Ellie takes a step forward. Jack just staring at her as tears fall down her face “I have these big messy feelings for you Jack and please, please, tell me you have them for me too.” Ellie finally lets her own tears fall as she releases a shaky breath.
Jack stares at Ellie in shock as she releases an almost inaudible “yes”
“Yes?”
Jack finally stands up then, moving over to stand in front of Ellie. She lightly grasps Ellie’s hand, staring at her in wonderment “Yes. I have big messy feelings for you too” Jack says more confidently this time. Ellie releases a choked laugh as she drops her shoulders in relief. Jack’s fingers lightly brush away a few tears from Ellie’s face, her hand settling on Ellie’s cheek. Jack’s eyes focus on Ellie’s lips “Can I?”
“Please” Ellie moans and then Jack’s leaning over to capture her lips in a kiss. It starts softly this time but quickly becomes hot and heavy and Jack’s hands move to Ellie’s hair as Ellie pulls Jack closer by her blazer before snaking her hands around her waist. Jack tastes just as sweet and addictive as the first time. When Ellie feels her knees begin to buckle, she decides to finally pull away, they stand still in each other’s arms as they try to catch their breaths.
“I’m sorry for running. I thought I really thought you liked Torres” Ellie’s face scrunches up, “I thought I had ruined everything.”
Ellie shakes her head “It’s okay” before placing a soft kiss against Jacks lips “Let me take you on a date?” Ellie questions
“I told you you’d be the one to ask me out” Jack quips and that all it takes for the two to fall into laughter.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Merry Christmas Eve everyone, here’s some Christmas Slishop for y’all. It’s pure fluff and full of cliches. Hope y’all have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.❤️🎄
