#nick torres

Here we have a screenshot from 13x24 Family First right after Tali calls Tony “Abba” and he gets a call from McGee

And here we have a picture of Fortress Security from this week’s NCIS: Hawaii crossover with NCIS

The fact that I immediately knew the exact second to find this connection to that episode tells you all you need to know about the chokehold Tiva still has on me after all these years

Thoughts on THIS week’s NCIS episode (like almost a week late)

KAYLA! I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s all grown up, as we’re pretty much the same age and well, so am I. But STILL.

Also WOW are they laying it on thick with the Dad!Nick feels, I love to see it. But what are they working toward??? Last time this happened a past love interest was supposedly killed and a love child showed up on the guy’s front step. Surely they wouldn’t do that again.

I love how much they’ve been mentioning McGee and Jimmy’s kids recently. They always seem to forget about them. Now if only they’d mention Jared Vance, what’s he up to?

Another thing, it amuses me how many times they’ve recast Kayla lol. From some angles though I swear this one looked like Jackie Vance, so I say A+ casting, and I hope we at least hear from her again.

I also loved hearing more about Knight’s history. At one point she looked like “Man, I gotta call my dad…”

OH SHOOT I almost forgot about one of the most heartbreaking parallels I thought of!! So, we’ve got a father that is the director and his daughter, the agent. Hmm where have we seen this before?? ELI DAVID AND ZIVA! Uh huh. Now imagine that Vance remembers how awful Eli was and he just cannot fathom how a father puts his daughter through what he did. And the kidnapping and torture parallels?? Somalia?? Solidifies the fact that Eli was a garbage human being. There’s so much more to be said about this…

I’ve gotta circle back to Nick clearly longing for a family, cause I can’t stop thinking about it. The poor guy was finally ready to settle down ages ago with Bishop and then she left him like

So SURELY they’re doing something there, right? I’m on to you, NCIS

Thoughts on last night’s episode of NCIS:

(Also, hi! It’s been a while!)

1. It has been SO long since we’ve had a proper villain on this show, one stemming an entire story arc and making the audience hate them with all their being. La Grenouille, Harper Dearing, and Ilan Bodnar will always be the most iconic ones, but I’m hoping we get some good stuff out of “The Raven.” That “nevermore” bit gave me chills.

2. VICTORIAAAAAA!!!! She is PERFECT! How is she so grown?? I officially feel old. And we got to see Breena again

3. CAROL. What a queen, I absolutely loved seeing her again.

4. And finally, fatherly Nick is gonna put me in an early grave. The writers had better be going somewhere with this, the way the last few episodes have shown him CLEARLY missing something in his life. He was so cute with Victoria. I’m glad Palmer is okay, but I loved when Jimmy essentially asked Nick to take care of her if he died.

Bonus: I really love Parker. And Knight, honestly. Still feels different, but not terrible. This season’s storylines overall have been meh, but Brian Dietzen knocked it out of the park with this episode. He absolutely chose violence with all the angst, and I love him for it. He’d fit right in with our fanfiction community

if you loved me, why’d you leave me?

A thread I desperately needed Knight to wrap up for my Parknight-shipping heart. ;w; *Note: This is set after my oneshot, “20 Winks,” so spoilers for that! I highly rec reading that first~

Fic: “Token” [FFN] [AO3]

Pairings/Characters: Jess Knight/Alden Parker, Kasie Hines, Jimmy Palmer, & background OCs, with cameos from Timothy McGee, Nick Torres, & Leon Vance

Rating: K+

Words: ~4,880

Additional info: romance, hurt/comfort, 3^rd person POV

Summary: Knight has something of Parker’s to return after their close call with an absent informant.

      How quickly her night had changed. One moment, she’d been going with Parker to meet a potential informant for them on the Unkindness. Now, Knight had nothing better to do than to wait for Parker to open his eyes.

      She leaned against one of the arms of the chair in his hospital room, bringing up a knee to rest her elbow while she pushed her hand through her hair. The action made her wince. She was covered in her own scrapes and bruises, including some small, stinging cuts on her hands from climbing up debris. The nurses had cleaned the wounds and patched her up well, but that didn’t mean that small motions like combing her hair with her fingers didn’t hurt. Still, Knight sighed, knowing she could be in worse shape.

      The evidence was before her. Parker lay reclined in his hospital bed, his grimy suit and shirt exchanged for a standard gown in one of those obnoxious prints that was either geometric or floral if you squinted at it in the right light. The staff had tucked him in after running tests following minor surgery and hooking him up to half a dozen lines, some of which fed him fluids and medicine, some of which connected him to the assorted monitors on the other side of the bed. The machines filled his room with their soft (and occasionally alarmingly shrill) beeps and trills.

      But, despite the grim sight, Knight took a few things as good signs. First, Parker hadn’t been intubated, because he could breathe on his own, which the doctors assured her and the rest of the team was a great sign. Second, Parker had much of his normal color, both in his cheeks and in his arms and hands, which rested atop the stark, white, layered blankets.

      Nevertheless, Knight’s fear remained, because he wouldn’t open his eyes.

      Someone knocked on Parker’s open door behind her. “Knight.” Ah, McGee. He paused. “…how’re you doing?”

      She didn’t pull her eyes from Parker’s slumbering form but found a more comfy position for her aching hand under her chin. “Peachy.”

      Footsteps informed her without needing to turn that McGee entered, likely accompanied by Torres. “Jess,” McGee said, his voice softer, his tone more brotherly this time. “We’re all worried. But you need to go home. You can’t stay here the whole time.”

      Her temper flared and she settled both of them with a glare out of the corner of her eye. They’d convinced that EMT it was fine for her to ride along in Parker’s ambulance—and now McGee was changing his mind? “I’m not going anywhere, McGee.” Knight didn’t say it, but she narrowed her dark eyes at both him and Torres in turn, daring them to order her home, which she’d ignore in a heartbeat.

      “You realize it’s not your fault that Parker’s in here? It’s the Raven’s. Or Jang’s. Or whoever’s,” McGee continued, proving that they’d gotten nowhere further on this case.

      Knight clenched her jaw, but Torres surprisingly put a hand on McGee’s chest and subtly shook his head. McGee’s shoulders sagged, but he took a step back.

      “Knight, have you even eaten? Had anything to drink?” Torres asked.

      “I had that bottle of water.”

      “The one the fire department gave you when we found you?” He exhaled, and the sound was caught somewhere between a sigh and exasperation. “That was hours ago, Jess. A lot of hours ago.”

      And, yet, despite the reminder of the time of night, her stomach didn’t chime in. Knight shrugged. “I’m fine where I am, guys.”

      She thought she heard Torres growl slightly under his breath. But that was the last protest she got out of the pair of them for a while. They stood together, watching Parker alongside her for a bit, but they were done trying to pull her from his side. She appreciated that and hoped she conveyed it when McGee and Torres each touched her shoulder before they left; she patted their hands, the only reassurance she could give them that she hadn’t crumbled yet.

      The sounds outside Parker’s room were humdrum hospital life, but Knight had noted at some point that McGee or Vance had stationed a pair of agents outside the door. Occasionally, one of them would shift and hit the backs of their heels against the wall or perhaps the butt of their gun in their holster would knock on the doorjamb.

      Knight had half a mind to close the door fully and block out the sounds, the reminders that danger still lingered, after what had happened. But she lost her chance when, around thirty minutes after McGee and Torres left, a trio of other familiar faces appeared.

      Director Vance politely knocked first before poking his head in. Finding Knight awake, he, Jimmy, and Kasie shuffled in as quietly as they could manage. “Agent Knight, good to see you well,” Vance said.

      She bit back her sarcasm this time and nodded her thanks.

      His eyes flickered to Parker with concern while Jimmy and Kasie tripped over each other’s words and crowded her. But Jimmy’s next words distracted her. “Man, you guys have incredible luck.”

      Knight furrowed her brow. “In what universe, Jimmy?” She kept her hand under her chin to keep from being snarky and gesturing to Parker.

      Jimmy stammered but cleared his throat. “I mean—” He took a breath and adjusted his glasses. “Being caught in any explosion or collapse isn’t good, obviously. But you came out of it with only scratches, Jess. And Parker? I was talking with his doctors and the surgeon. Parker just has some cerebral contusions. There was a minor subdural hematoma, hence inserting the catheter to drain it,” he explained, scratching behind his head in the same spot where Parker had the device, “but he had minimal swelling.” Jimmy’s eyes roved over the lines feeding medicine into Parker’s arms and he smiled. “Parker’s outlook is really great, Jess.”

      Her eyes went to Parker’s face. She wondered if Parker could hear them, hear Jimmy. If only this were like the movies or some clichéd book and he’d just open his damn eyes already, certainly after hearing such news. Knight held her breath for a beat—but she exhaled and frowned when Parker didn’t deliver on her expectations.

      “And,” Kasie said, bumping her hip against Knight’s nearer arm to grab her attention, “I tested the residue from your guys’ car, when you abandoned it by the garage exit?” Kasie’s curls bounced as she shook her head. “It was just a diversion. The residue revealed the smoke to be just that: smoke. Nothing toxic.” Her smile was soft as she looked between Knight and Parker and back. “So you two have nothing additional to worry about, Jess.”

      For the first time in what felt like a day, some tension ebbed from Knight, and she released a shaky breath. “Oh. Thank God. I really thought we might bring something nasty back to the office with us…”

      Kasie and Jimmy shared a look and shook their heads. “Nah. And, even if you did, we’re feeling a little bit wiser after our own run-in with these weirdos…” Kasie pulled her phone from her pocket for a second. “And I am elated—terrified, but elated—to know I have the great Dr. Carol Wilson on speed-dial should I need her.” She pocketed her phone again with a big grin.

      Knight chuckled at that but couldn’t find it in her to return her friend’s smile.

      They went quiet, letting the machines do the talking. Then Vance piped up, “Agent Knight, you understand you don’t have to stay cooped up in that chair all night and morning.”

      She bristled. Jimmy and Kasie took a step back from her as if they knew how things had gone with McGee and Torres. But this was their director. It didn’t bode well to give one’s agency director lip. So…Knight held her tongue.

      Vance sighed, stood a little straighter at the foot of Parker’s bed, and stared at her while he selected his next words.

      But where a parental tone failed, a friendly one helped, and Jimmy and Kasie offered Knight matching smiles. “It’ll be okay if you just duck home,” Jimmy said. “We’ll stay with Parker, Jess.”

      “And you need some self-care,” Kasie added, raising her eyebrows. “Because I wanna hug you, girl, and I will because you are my friend, but I cannot in good faith hold you all night long while you’re scared and give you my shoulder to cry on because you stink like explosives and staleness and eugh.” She punctuated her statement with a shudder.

      Kasie’s frankness made Knight laugh, and she welcomed the hug Kasie offered. It made it easier, too, to peel herself from the chair.

      “I would prefer you rest properly,” Vance chimed in after Knight sniffled and disentangled herself from Kasie. And yet there was a tiredness in his grimace that indicated he knew Knight would return here soon anyway.

      Knight, for her part, had the decency to duck her eyes in response.

      Vance cleared his throat and gestured to the door. “I have additional agents stationed at either end of this hall. Agent Finley will stay put outside Agent Parker’s room. Agent Knight, I will have Agent Dawkins escort you home and back.” He pursed his lips. “Given that we have yet to determine if you and Parker were the targets of this attack, we can’t be too careful with your safety right now. Don’t lose Dawkins, for any reason.” There was an underlying plea there, too: Please just accept the protective detail.

      She nodded. It was the least she could do.

      Outside Parker’s room, Knight finally introduced herself to Finley and Dawkins. Finley was her height and stick thin with shifty eyes; he seemed the scheming type, not normally the kind Knight would trust right away. But against the Raven’s kind of people? She’d take a dozen Finleys right about now.

      Dawkins contrasted Finley in every way, as if they were the Odd Couple. He was nearly a foot taller than Knight and radiated warmth, with a tan than didn’t make sense here in the Northeast and a big smile that didn’t fit anyone who’d seen action out in the field. He also literally radiated warmth, she realized, as he walked a couple steps ahead of her on their way to the car.

      On the bright side, Dawkins didn’t engage her in small talk on the way to her apartment. Once she settled in the backseat, her muscles realized they were no longer cramped into that hospital chair, and they lazed and long to rest. Knight’s eyes kept drooping. When Dawkins said, “Agent Knight, we’re here,” she snapped out of her daze with a new ache on her forehead. Ah. She must’ve nodded off for a couple minutes with her head against the glass.

      Knight wished she could’ve gone upstairs on her own, but Dawkins was dutiful and followed protocol, scouting her building’s garage and the elevator and her floor. He only left her for thirty seconds on her own welcome mat while he cleared her apartment.

      “All clear. I’ll be outside if you need me. Just give a holler,” Dawkins insisted, smile bright as ever.

      “Thanks,” she said, closing her door a tad too quickly to be considered polite. But honestly? She was done with Dawkins’ warmth.

      Knight eyed her home and its familiarity. The little ottoman she kept inside the door. Her loved, worn couch and all the pillows hiding stains on the damn thing. The half-dozen rugs that didn’t match anything in the room.

      She finally smiled. Home made yesterday’s events seem so far, far away.

      Knight ignored the call of the couch. She knew that, if she sat down, she’d cave and Vance would have his way, and she wouldn’t be back at the hospital until maybe lunchtime. Instead, Knight pulled her ottoman under her butt and yanked off her boots.

      She hissed when she removed the left one. In the post-rescue tumult, she’d actually forgotten about her sprained ankle. The nurses probably would be livid, learning about this when Knight returned, but…

      Knight studied the wrap job Parker had done with his necktie. He really had done a good job. She was reluctant to undo it, but she agreed with Kasie’s point about self-care, and first on Knight’s list of things-to-do was take a shower. So…off it came.

      She hobbled into her bathroom afterwards, her ankle protesting that it was allowed to feel pain again. She rolled her eyes, but she was thankful that the pain wasn’t unbearable. Knight managed to step into her tub all right and shower quickly, careful of her bandages and wondering if she had enough Band-Aids to replace what got thoroughly soaked.

      When she finished, she dressed in clean clothes and returned to her bathroom. First, Knight had to put dry coverings on her hands, because those cuts hurt too damn much. With a glance in her mirror, she breathed a sigh of relief that the nurse who’d stitched up the gash on her head had put a waterproof covering over the stitches.

      Second… Knight scrunched up her nose at the disaster pile on her bathroom floor. Kasie hadn’t lied; last night’s clothes did smell vaguely of explosives. Knight wondered if they were salvageable and worth laundering… Her sweater top was stained with Parker’s blood, which had dried hours and hours ago, and there were pulled threads here and there and a cut through the right sleeve. Her stomach sank, not at the item’s loss but at the fresh memory of cradling his head to her middle. Knight balled up the sweater and stuffed it in her trashcan.

      Socks and undergarments just needed a trip or two through the wash to be fine, she was sure. Her jacket…she’d left behind in the exploded parking garage. And her boots were dinged up but all right. That left her slacks.

      She pulled a face and inspected them. Knight hadn’t noticed before the speckles of blood on the dark gray fabric. Hers or Parker’s? She would guess his but couldn’t be certain. The hems were frayed, too, and there were tears at the knees and below, from when she’d had to climb the pile of debris to throw her phone to higher ground for McGee or Kasie to ping. Damn. This pair was little better than shredded. But, before Knight tossed the slacks, she went through her pockets, although she figured they’d be empt—

      Her hands seized a bit of cloth.

      Knight yanked it out, her pulse speeding up. And it was—it was Parker’s handkerchief. Through the confusion at the hospital, their rescue, their fall, the explosion. She still had his handkerchief.

      The memory of how she’d come to possess it early last evening was all too vivid, right after they’d left the car behind when the smoke spooked them. Again, Knight was glad Kasie said that’d been nothing more than a diversion, not a real danger. But she was also stunned that, between the smoke and what came after, the handkerchief wasn’t filthier, for it only had a hint of grime along one edge, the edge closest to Knight’s pocket opening.

      She took a moment to unfold the handkerchief and inspect it. It was nice quality, a soft fabric, an off-white that was just this side of pure. She never noticed before, too, that there was a faint, monogrammed A in one corner. The detail made Knight smile.

      With his handkerchief in her hands, Knight’s mind flew out to her living room, where his poor tie lay by her door in a heap with her boots and socks. She sighed. His tie…was a lost cause, having been wrapped around her sweaty foot this whole time. Knight decided she’d buy him a new one soon.

      But his handkerchief? That just needed some TLC. So she turned up her bathroom tap as hot as it would go and got to work scrubbing.

      When Dawkins returned Knight to the hospital and took up his post once more outside Parker’s door, they’d been gone for around an hour, including traffic. Knight nodded her thanks both to him and to Finley, the latter who stunningly offered her a small sympathetic smile in return, before entering Parker’s room.

      Parker’s room was a little less cozy now. “Vance went home?” Knight asked Jimmy and Kasie, who were still up and chatting quietly by the window.

      She hated the flash of worry she caught on both their faces. But then they beamed at her, realizing Knight had freshened up and looked more like herself. “Director Vance? Yeah, he left. But he went back to the office,” Jimmy supplied.

      Knight raised her eyebrows. Nice to know she wasn’t the only one rattled by things.

      “Glad you took my advice,” Kasie said, coming over to her and indulging Knight in a longer hug this time.

      Knight sighed. “Yeah, I can admit when I’ve been stubborn.” She pulled away, putting Kasie at arm’s length, and eyed the younger woman and their other friend. “Thank you, guys, both of you, for staying.”

      Jimmy grinned. “It’s nothing, Jess.” He checked his watch and yawned. “But…I think it’s time to head out. Walk you to your car, Kase?”

      Kasie nodded. She grabbed her bag and sweatshirt from a hook on the wall but stopped in front of Knight. “Jess, you call, okay? Call, do not text, if anything changes or if you need anything.” She jutted her chin out in defiance and raised her eyebrows as if daring Knight to go against her.

      But Knight shook her head. “No, I will. Promise,” she added, before giving each of them a hug. She watched them go. But this time Knight didn’t contemplate anything and quietly closed the door behind them before she settled back into the chair by Parker’s bedside.

      She scooted her chair closer than before. Now that she didn’t have last night’s filth coating her like a dusty film, Knight wasn’t scared to touch Parker. She picked up his hand like before, in the ambulance, and ran her thumb along the back as she sighed.

      Knight hadn’t asked Kasie and Jimmy for their concerns because she imagined everyone shared in her same worry. Parker’s surgery had gone well. The machines indicated he was doing well. By all means, he should be fine.

      But they rightly feared him not having woken up yet.

      Knight shook her head, holding on to hope. He’d been in and out of it while they were trapped. He’d been in and out of it in the ambulance. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t come back to her, especially if the doctors believed it.

      And yet…

      “No. Nope,” she said aloud, mostly to convince herself. “I’m not going there.” Damn, her voice sounded weak. Knight blinked back fresh tears and stared at Parker. “You know what, though, Parker? I have a bone to pick with you. You and I were playing Twenty Questions before you zonked out on me.” She tried hard not to think of holding his head in her lap and him being unresponsive while they waited, while she hoped someone would find and rescue them. She mustered a smile for him. “Our game never ended, so you’ve got to wake up for that. We’ve got to finish it, Parker.”

      Just like hours and hours and hours ago, he quietly breathed in reply. But she could feel the warmth of his hand, the slight hint of his pulse in his wrist; the machines also kept steadily beeping away.

      Knight twisted her lips around. “I’ve been thinking of other questions I really want to know, too,” she continued softly. “Like…if you’ve ever been shot. Have you ever screwed up a case? What are you planning to pick up for your next hobby?”

      She had nothing but little exhales and digital beeps for an answer.

      “You also need to wake up so I can return your handkerchief,” Knight mumbled, pulling the cloth from her jeans pocket with her free hand. She left her other hand in his, still thumbing the back of his hand, but her eyes scrutinized her cleaning job. “Looks as though it was just smoke, some mild irritant,” she said, noting what Kasie had said, “…but thanks, for this. Stinks we were lucky with that only to get—” A lump lodged itself in her throat, and Knight looked at Parker in his current state.

      He didn’t move his head. His face didn’t twitch—at first. But his fingers closed around her hand. And Parker mumbled, “…keep it, Jess.”

      Her heart pounded in her ears.

      Parker was awake!

      The same second she realized this, so did the machines hooked up to him. It were as though a million alerts went off in the room, and the cacophony had Knight wincing in pain while it summoned nurse after nurse to come check on Parker. Unfortunately, that meant they ushered Knight out of the room. She was left to watch through the window on Dawkins’ other side until one of the nurses closed the blinds.

      Though the noisy machines were silenced in short order, Knight wasn’t let back in for some time. She paced outside Parker’s room while Finley and Dawkins minded their own business and simply kept an eye out. It was maybe twenty, thirty minutes later when the medical staff emptied out of Parker’s room like clowns pouring from a clown car. The nurse who’d stitched up Knight’s head wound eyed her skeptically when Knight gritted her teeth after twisting to a stop hard on her left foot. “Special Agent Parker is awake,” the nurse confirmed.

      “Thank you so much,” Knight said, making to head back into his room.

      The stocky, motherly woman huffed at her and stuck a formidable arm out, barring the way. “Hold up, Agent Knight. I will let you back in, since your director explained there’s this ‘protective detail’ going on and you’re part of it. But do not keep Agent Parker up,” she warned, lowering her arm. “Just let him sleep, because he’s going to tire easily.”

      Knight nodded, tamping down her elation.

      “And come see me about that ankle as soon as possible.”

      She cleared her throat, feeling heat rushing to her cheeks over being found out, but Knight once more entered Parker’s room and closed the door behind her.

      Parker sat up slightly now, less horizontal than before. His eyes found hers automatically. He seemed pretty wide awake, despite what the nurse had said.

      Knight’s heart skipped a beat. Seeing him up at last…not knowing what all he remembered…just. Being here with him. Knight wondered where to start, but her happiness made her mind a blank slate.

      “Hey,” he said.

      Of course. Baby steps, as always, with Alden Parker. Knight smiled and sat beside him, scooting the chair close again. “Hey,” she said, plenty content with their monosyllabic exchange. She itched to reach up and comb her fingers through his hair, the way she’d done when looking after him in the collapsed garage. But she didn’t risk it now, not with him awake and not with the nurses potentially lurking nearby.

      Parker took a deep breath and blew it out low and slow, never removing his eyes from hers. But, after a beat, he said, “I have, by the way.”

      Knight tilted her head quizzically. “Have what?”

      “Been shot. Heard you asking.” He broke their stare and lifted his left hand to the collar of his hospital gown, tugging it down and glancing at what lay there. Peeking out above the garment was a pale, spider web-like splat of a scar, two inches above Parker’s heart.

      Knight gasped.

      Parker released the gown and let his arm fall back to his side. “It’s not as bad as it looks, though,” he assured her. “I’ve got other scars. Elsewhere and far worse.”

      Her pulse quickened, her anxiety over him rearing its ugly head nevertheless. Knight frowned and couldn’t help brushing back the silver locks of hair that fell in his eyes when he faced her once more. She wasn’t certain she was ready to know the stories behind the other scars. But the fact that he’d answered her question from earlier brought to mind a new curiosity. “Do you recall much of last night?”

      Parker went quiet.

      “Parker. Tell me. You were really out of it.”

      “…how long were we there?”

      Her shoulders fell slightly. Internally, Knight’s feelings warred. She couldn’t decide if she wanted him to remember much of anything or just wipe the slate clean. “Hours,” she told him.

      He pursed his lips, pensive, while he stared at his blankets.

      Knight sighed. Parker going quiet on her wasn’t much different to how she’d spent…the entire night, she realized as she caught a glimpse of the lightening sky outside the window on the other side of his monitors. She supposed she could tolerate his silence longer, though this time it was self-imposed, but it still made her wonder whether he’d reverted to being a less talkative Parker.

      He cleared his throat. Ah. He was not, in fact, done talking. “As for your other questions…”

      “Hmm?”

      “I did screw up a case. Several times.” Parker adjusted his posture, sitting up a bit straighter, as if they were anywhere but in a hospital, just shooting the breeze. He raised his eyebrows at her, though his expression was dry. “Never in a way that really affected the case outcomes, mind you, but in a way that had bosses playing Hot Potato with me because they didn’t want my name tied to theirs.”

      Knight found herself grinning a little. “I can imagine that, given your preference to do things your way. Been that way a long time then, huh?”

      Parker pouted and left that one alone. He cocked his head towards her and shrugged. “As for the next hobby…” His dark eyes met hers again. “Well, it’ll be the blind leading the blind, but I promised you dance lessons, didn’t I?”

      Knight properly laughed, her grin widening. “You remembered that?”

      He shrugged again, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at his lips, too. “It stuck out.”

      “Then yeah, dance lessons with you sound great. Just name a date. And time,” Knight added after a beat, red-faced.

      Parker tried to stifle it, but she knew she heard him chuckle. The subtle motion in his arms and shoulders also gave him away.

      It was hard to believe they’d been in danger less than twelve hours ago. Knight replayed their arrival in the parking garage in her mind’s eye, dwelling on her rising fear at Steven Jang’s lateness…and recalling Parker’s attempts at the time to calm her and the moments he’d agreed with her that it was time to go.

      Perhaps the same things were coming back to him. Parker seemed fine with this companionable silence, drinking in the sight of her. Although, the more he stared, the more his eyelids drooped.

      “Hey, just rest now, Parker,” Knight encouraged. So funny—talk of rest had worried her endlessly back in the parking garage. But she wanted to believe the medical advice now, that rest would see him better.

      He nodded and slid down the bed some, reclining a bit more against his pillows but still not fully horizontal.

      Knight crossed her arms along the right edge of his bed and rested her chin atop them, peering up at him. She gave him a small smile. “Well, you answered all my questions, so—”

      “But I didn’t.”

      Knight furrowed her brow, confused even as Parker angled his head to meet her eyes again.

      Parker fought his exhaustion. But he raised his right hand, weakly, to play with a lock of her hair, his knuckle brushing her cheekbone as he drew his hand down and lightly held the lock for a beat.

      It was only a gesture, and she held his gaze—but Knight knew. She knew, then, what he meant, that he’d heard all the questions back in the wreckage, questions she thought he’d never answer.

      And now she panicked.

      She feared the answers he was about to give her, that Parker was about to let her down gently and—

      But Parker simply released her hair and picked up his handkerchief, left by her earlier on the bed. He tucked it into one of her hands. “So keep this, Jess. Consider it— It’s a token.”

      Knight shook her head, confused more now than before.

      Yet Parker drifted off then, his fingers loosely linked with hers, so Knight couldn’t ask him to elaborate.

      Still… As she settled in beside him, watching over him once more, something clicked with Knight, an old memory she hadn’t thought of in a long, long time.

      Summers spent as a teen. Her mother on her to widen her horizons and read more books. Her having to bum the “dumb” romance novels off her sister to please her…except Knight grew to love the clichéd genre, all the gentlemen and ladies and parties and scandals and romance and tokens of affection.

      Knight smiled herself to sleep then, dreaming of her very own grumpy gentleman before her.

And now you know what was bugging me from “20 Winks.” X’D To think, this all transpired bc I thought, “Hey, she still has his handkerchief???” (I mean, technically his tie, too, but—as Knight pointed out—that’s deffo a lost cause. ;P) But I also wanted to see him wake and talk with her more and confirm some things, as well as include the one question I, uh, actually forgot to use in justtopostmyfic’s request for “20 Winks” (the “have you ever been shot” one)…but I think it slotted in rly nicely here, so! :3c I got to include some v nice hcs here, too, about these two, and employ some ol’ historical romance stuff bc why tf not? Esp bc Parker is most certainly a gentleman and you can’t change my mind. -w- Lessee, what else… It was also fun to write team dynamics here, and writing some OCs just bc! I might use them again, even. c: But GAH. I just… Knight’s concern for him is so palpable, and leaving him unconscious was not doing it for me, *LOL*. XD Now, regarding his head trauma—tho I did some research, I lack a medical bkgd, so pls take it with a grain of salt. XP But he should be good, bc we need him to be good, bc Parknight!!!! ;w; Gosh… I just… TTwTT I think I'mma just go recover now with my next few story ideas (bc, honestly, they are endless—I go reread or edit smthg and another idea crops up B3). So pls come dither with me about Parknight and read “20 Winks” esp and the other Parknights I’ve written if you’ve not already—bc, srsly, you’re missing out on some GREAT chemistry, my friends. And feel free to request! Bc you never know what gem you might inspire~

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave an anon/unsigned review via the FFN link or comment via the AO3 link at the top of the post, especially if you enjoyed this!

~mew

It seems to be a good year for ships at NCIS. Palmer and Breena are still happy, McGee and Delilah are still adorable dorks and all seem well…

…but if Ellie and Nick don’t get action with each other, I will change the channel.

Okay all I want right now is a Castle-like “I almost died and all I could think about was you” moment for Ellick. Is that too much to ask??