Love/Addiction

*~*~*~*

Chatter and laughter filled the bar as Mark and Nellie found themselves sitting together in a booth at the bar. Each of them nursing their own drinks as they simply sat there, allowing a bubble of awkwardness to rest around them. It had been nearly half an hour since the Gideon woman had arrived after her talk with Cristina. Half an hour and two drinks each, yet they had barely spoken more than a dozen words to one another. Both of them seemingly at a loss as to what to say.

"Why is it like this?" Mark suddenly asked. A frown tugging at the corners of his lips, not understanding why it was so awkward between the two of them-- not having been stuck in such a situation before. Not even the outcome of what had happened with himself, Addison, and Derek had left him feeling so uncomfortable.

"Awkward?" Nellie hummed as she ran her finger around the rim of her glass. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you've never tried to being friends with a woman after you've slept with her. At least, not without wanting to get back into her pants again."

"Are you saying I don't have female friends?" He questioned. "'Cause that's not true."

"Who?" She prodded.

"What about Addison? We're friends now," he offered. "And there's Torres and Bailey."

"You slept with Addison multiple times, both before and after you helped ruin her marriage. As for Callie, you might not be sleeping with her right now, but we both know you'd jump at the chance to get her into bed again-- regardless of the fact that she's married. As for Bailey, she hates you and will likely never be your friend." She ticked them each off with ease, her every word only seeming to make the frown on his lips deepen. "Any others?"

"You," he offered.

"Can you really tell me that you're not thinking of ways to try and get me in bed again?" She arched a brow at him, daring him to prove her wrong.

"Well where are all of your friends at?" He swiftly changed the subject, proving the tawny haired woman right as he did so.

"Callie's still reeling from her new responsibilities while also trying to navigate married life with George. Bailey has a husband and baby to care for. Addison moved to California. Shepherd's probably screwing Meredith as we speak. Then Henry apparently left for a business trip while I was gone and doesn't know when he'll be back." As Nellie thought over the current whereabouts of her small group of friends, she couldn't help but frown. Being forced to face the fact that they were all moving on with their lives while she was just there. "And then Burke... Hell, I don't even know where he is anymore. All I do know is that he's not here and he's not answering my texts."

"He froze you out too?" His brows drew together at the last part. While everyone at Seattle Grace was well aware of how Burke had informed the Gideon woman of his decision to leave the hospital, no one thought the man would simply cut ties with her altogether. Not when the pair had grown close since her arrival in the rainy city.

"Seems that way," she nodded. "Got to lose two brothers in a year. Yippee."

"Nell," he paused for a moment, not entirely sure what he could say to the woman that could even begin to make her feel better.

"No sad stuff, okay?" She cleared her throat before quickly downing the rest of her drink. "Booze and sadness never mix well. So only happy things, got it?"

"Deal," he agreed. "So how was your trip with the boyfriend?"

"It was nice... really great." Her lips turned upwards at the thought of Derek Morgan.

"So how does that all work? The long distance, I mean," he wondered. "It can't be easy, right? The two of you living on opposite ends of the country and having jobs that always keep you busy?"

"It's not the easiest, but we're making it work." She couldn't help but think back to what Derek had told her the night of Burke and Cristina's failed wedding.

"What's that look?" He questioned. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened. At least, not yet," she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Meaning what?" He pressed, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Meaning... we started talking about the future. What we picture our lives being like down the line, what we want out of our jobs..." She trailed off for a moment. Silently debating whether or not Mark was the best person for her to have this discussion with, but then again, it wasn't as though she had anyone else to talk about it with right now. "And he asked me if I'd be willing to move to Virginia if things kept going the way they are for us."

"He wants you to move to Virginia?" His frown had returned, not bothering to hide his skepticism over the idea. Clearly not thrilled with the idea of one of his few friends in Seattle considering leaving. Not when Burke and Addison had just left themselves. "What did you say?"

"I told him that I'd have to think about it," she shared. "I mean, I've certainly never thought I'd spend the rest of my life in Seattle, but I also never thought I'd ever move back to Virginia. But--"

"But you love him?" He finished for her.

"I do," she nodded. "And if he and I are going to have a shot at a real future together, it's not going to be here."

*~*~*~*

Nellie found her brows furrowing together the following morning when she caught sight of a small group gathered around one of the nurse's stations. A variety of boxes resting on the counter while Cristina wrote on a notepad while others spoke around her.

"It is beautiful." Tyler commented as he practically drooled over a waffle maker. Izzie right alongside him as she hugged a mixer to her chest.

"I know. It's a Belgian flip round pro." Izzie eyed the waffle maker herself as Mark and Nellie both joined the group.

"What do you want for it?" Tyler aimed his question at the Yang woman.

"What do you got?" Cristina challenged.

"Next time I get a projectile vomiter, I could lose your pager number," Tyler offered.

"You can do better than that," Cristina scoffed. "Surgeries, baby. Preferably cardio."

"Are these all wedding gifts?" Meredith asked the obvious question as she joined them just as Tyler sulked away.

"Yes. She's giving them away," Izzie nodded. "I have dibs on the Mixmaster."

"I'm not giving you the Mixmaster," Cristina rolled her eyes at the blonde.

"I think the tradition is you're supposed to return them," Meredith pointed out.

"Burke registered for this crap. Now I'm the one stuck dealing with it. So I'm using it for professional gain," Cristina spoke, sounding proud of her own decision.

"That's all great," Nellie cleared her throat as she eyed the box that still rested in Izzie's grasp. "Do whatever the hell you want with the other gifts, but the Mixmaster was from me."

"Take it," Cristina didn't bother arguing with the senior resident.

"No," Izzie pouted.

"Hand it over." Nellie narrowed her eyes at the blonde. Izzie frowned but eventually released her grasp, allowing Nellie to take it from her.

"You sure you're ready to part with this?" Mark questioned, tapping his finger against the espresso machine.

"She's not. I want it," Izzie quickly rested a hand on top of the box.

"I am if I can help on the rhomboid flap in your next MOHS defect repair." Cristina bargained.

"Come to daddy." Mark grinned, pushing Izzie's hand aside as he took the espresso machine for himself.

"What do you want for the waffle maker?" Nellie eyed the device Tyler had been drooling over before.

"You page me whenever a good trauma comes in," Cristina requested.

"Deal," Nellie agreed. "Make sure Tyler gets that otherwise I'll lose your pager number whenever a good trauma comes in."

*~*~*~*

"What do we got?" Webber asked as he hurried into the ER with a group of residents and interns at his heels, all of them looking towards Callie and Nellie for information on the incoming trauma.

"A gas main blew in an apartment building. Five injured, some badly." Callie briefed them as they all headed towards the doors to meet the ambulances.

"Excellent," Cristina commented as she hurried to tie the back of her trauma gown. Her comment only earning her looks from her three superiors. "Horrible. It's horrible. Sad."

"Nice save," Nellie rolled her eyes at the Yang woman before hurrying forward to meet the first ambulance.

"Marla Kristler, thirty-four-year-old female, abdomen blown out, skull fracture, third-degree burns over at least forty percent of her body." The paramedic briefed them.

"Okay, I got this. Open OR two," Webber claimed the case before the trauma resident could do so for herself. "Page Dr. Shepherd. Torres, triage the rest."

"Yes, sir. Yang, you're with the chief. Go," Torres sent the younger woman off.

"You've gotta be kidding me." A frown overtook Nellie's features when the second ambulance opened to reveal the paramedic holding a crying little boy, no older than two.

"My wife-- she came in another ambulance. Is she here? Where-- Where'd they take her?" The man that climbed out with the paramedic and baby looked to Nellie, frantic for answers.

"Callie," Nellie nodded for her friend to deal with the man, her attention solely on the crying child. "Talk to me guys."

"Eighteen-months-old, contusions, possible head injury. BP and pulse are elevated." The paramedic briefed her as he carried the little boy inside, setting him down on one of the empty beds.

"Alright," Nellie's nodded as she scanned over the little boy, practically oblivious to the father and Callie standing right behind her.

"Karev!" Callie shouted at the resident.

"I'm supposed to be on Plastics," Karve shook his head.

"I'll take it," Izzie offered.

"I called Karev. You're with the Kristlers," Callie shook her head.

"Fine," Karev muttered in annoyance as he moved to assist Nellie with the crying baby.

"Someone page Dr. Shepherd!" Nellie shouted over the baby's tears to no one in particular.

"No need. I'm right here," Derek slipped past Karev and next to the ER bed. "What do we have here?"

"Eighteen-month-old boy caught up in an apartment explosion. Noted contusions and possible head trauma." Nellie passed on the same information she'd been provided with.

"How close to the explosion was he?" Derek aimed the question at the father as Nellie started to check the boy's ears for any obvious signs of damage.

"Oh, we were, uh, we were in the living room, his mom was in the kitchen." The father shared with them, stumbling over his words slightly.

"The gas line blew?" Derek guessed.

"I-I think it was the stove," the father shook his head.

"All right, we're gonna run some tests on your baby. Karev, Gideon, I'm going into surgery with the chief. Keep me posted," Derek instructed the residents.

"Got it!" Nellie nodded.

*~*~*~*

Nellie couldn't help but feel as though her heart were breaking as she listened to the Kristler baby continue to cry. The sound constantly pulling her attention away from the screen in front of her to look across the room. Finding the boy's father still hovering over the bed, trying his hardest (and failing) to calm his son down.

"Come on, B. It's okay," Mr. Kristler tried to assure his son. "Brian, I'm here. It's okay, sweetheart. Brian, stop crying, baby. I can't-- I can't think, baby. I-- Why won't he stop crying?"

"He might still be in shock." Nellie passed the chart in her hand off to Karev before moving over to the bed. A gentle smile filling her lips as she lifted the crying boy into her arms. One of her hands coming up to rub soothing circles on his bare back as his wailing continued. "You're a big boy, aren't you Brian? You work out?"

She tried gently bouncing the boy in her arms. As she did so, Brian shifted in her arms, causing the side of his head to brush against her nose. As it did so she caught a whiff of an unfamiliar smell that caused her brows to furrow. Before she had a chance to ponder the scent for long, she was interrupted by Karev hurrying to her side.

"Dr. Gideon. CT results," the male resident held up Brian's scans for her to see with her own eyes as she continued to bounce the boy. "Should I page Shepherd?"

"He's in surgery," Nellie shook her head. She readjusted Brian into one arm before taking the scan with her free hand, able to see the boy's father watching over her shoulder.

"What do you see?" Mr. Kristler questioned.

"There's nothing acute," Nellie hummed as she eyed the scans. Looking for any reason for the discomfort the boy in her arms was clearly feeling.

"Acute? Nothing?" Mr. Kristler frowned at the words. "So-- So he's gonna be okay, right?"

"I'm going to have Dr. Karev run a few more tests before I decide anything, okay?" Nellie handed the scan back over to Karev. The father only shook his head, running a hand through his messy locks as he wondered away. As soon as the man was out of earshot, Nellie nodded for Karev to step closer. Speaking just loud enough for him to hear, "Order an MRI and have the lab run a tox screen on Brian's blood."

"Why?" Karev frowned at the second request.

"And here I thought you were a resident-- done asking stupid questions." She narrowed her eyes at the man, in no mood to have anyone questioning her decisions. "Get it done or I'll have your ass in the clinic. Got it?"

"Got it," he muttered, a frown pulling at his lips as he took Brian from her.

"Nellie!" The woman's head turned at the sound of her name, spotting the familiar dirty blonde locks of one Meredith Grey hurrying towards her.

"What do you want, Grey?" Nellie questioned, not bothering to stand around as she forced the junior resident to follow her through the hectic ER.

"I, uh-- I was wondering if you could help me with something," Meredith fumbled with her words.

"What? Forget how to do sutures?" Nellie quipped.

"No, it's... It's Mama." The last word brought the Gideon woman to a screeching halt. Spinning on her heels to face the blonde, spotting the nervous gleam in her eyes.

"What about Mama?" Nellie questioned, her dark eyes narrowing slightly at the mention of the Burke family matriarch.

"She's here."

*~*~*~*

When Preston Burke left Seattle Grace Hospital and only left a voicemail to share the news of his departure with Nellie Gideon before then ignoring every attempt she made to communicate him, she figured her time with the Burkes was over. She imagined she would go the rest of her life without seeing or speaking to the man she had once considered her brother ever again. He would become a distant memory, a mere anecdote of her life. Never had she imagined that she would find herself walking towards the second floor waiting area to face the man's mother.

Shock.

That was the best was to describe what she was feeling in that moment as she walked down the hall. Knowing that the moment she turned the corner she would find herself coming face to face with the woman. The woman she had spoken to on multiple occasions over the years, having even traveled with Burke when he went to visit his family for Christmas her first year in Seattle. Jane Burke was a woman Nellie had come to admire and loved to see over the years, but this day was not one of those beloved times.

"Mrs. Burke." Nellie cleared her throat, coming to a stop a few feet from where the older woman was sitting. The sound of her name caused the Burke woman to look up from her phone, a smile filling her lips when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Nellie," Mrs. Burke smiled at the sight of the tawny haired woman that had managed to worm her way into both her and her son's hearts. "Enough of that Mrs. Burke nonsense, you know you can call me Mama."

"I know." Nellie only offered a tight-lipped smile as she moved to claim the empty seat beside the woman. "I have to say, it's a surprise to see you here."

"Well, I had to grab some of Preston's things, and I was hoping I would have the chance to speak to you and Cristina." Mrs. Burke spoke honestly with the younger woman, offering a smaller and kinder smile than she had before.

"It seems like you've wasted a trip then," Nellie cleared her throat as she adverted her gaze, watching the numerous people wandering about the halls. "We had a small fire, none of his stuff made it. And as for Cristina and I, I can assure you that neither of us want to hear whatever half-assed apology or excuse you have for us on Preston's behalf."

"A fire?" Mrs. Burke raised a brow at the first part.

"I needed kindling to roast my marshmallows." Nellie spoke blandly, voice void of any emotion.

"Dr. Gideon," an intern hurried towards the resident, papers grasped tightly in her hands.

"What?" Nellie didn't hesitate to jump up from her seat at the welcomed interruption.

"Brian Kristler's lab results," the intern passed the papers over. Nellie could feel her stomach drop as she skimmed over the results, finding the results she had expected but dreaded. "It's crazy, isn't it?"

"Brian was moved upstairs?" Nellie checked, earning a nod from the intern in return. "Get up there, Karev should be there monitoring him. Make sure you both stay there, don't leave that boy's side. Do not leave that man alone with that child."

"Got it," the intern nodded before hurrying off to do as she'd been told.

"Nellie?" Mrs. Burke tried to catch the resident's attention.

"Go home, Mama," Nellie looked back at the Burke woman. "If he wanted to apologize to me then he could have done that himself already. Just go home."

*~*~*~*

"Chief?" Nellie held a mask to her face as she hurried into the OR where Webber, Shepherd, and Yang were all operating on Brian's mother. "The one-year-old-- Brian Kristler? He's fucking strung out on meth."

"What?" Derek's eyes widened as he paused his work to look up, as if waiting for the resident to announce that she was joking.

"Yeah," Nellie couldn't hide the bitterness in her voice. Feeling nothing but disgust for the fact that the parents had exposed their child to such a thing. "It was a meth lab that blew up. This woman and her husband are running a meth lab."

"Oh," Webber shook his head, his own jaw locking at the news.

"Ah, yes. The joys of surgeondom. Saving the lives for those who deserve it the most," Derek mused somewhat bitterly.

"Tell Dr. Torres to follow exposure protocol for children. Tell her I am counting on her to take care of this," Webber instructed Nellie.

"Got it," Nellie nodded before slipping back out of the OR.

*~*~*~*

"They were shooting him up--" Callie began, her brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to make sense of what Nellie was telling her.

"No, they weren't shooting him up. If that were the case, I'd have already killed the both of them." Nellie muttered the last bit, earning a raised brow look from her friend in the process.

"You're not already planning that?" Callie shook her head, impressed by her friend's restraint. "Look who's growing up now. Maybe I should offer Derek some money if he can get you to cut down on your chocolate intake."

"Not the time," Nellie scoffed. "Look, when you cook meth, the fumes, they coat the walls, the floors. The baby walks around, crawls around, puts its hands in its mouth, it gets in his bloodstream."

"God," Callie ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, um, call the police and social services. I'll spread the word."

"What about the dad?" Nellie questioned before Callie could walk away. "The guy's still in there."

"You call the police and social services. You let them take care of the dad," Callie pressed. "I don't want to hear anything about you getting into a fight with him, got it? You take care of the baby."

*~*~*~*

"That's a really big needle, man." Mr. Kristler commented as he stood behind Karev, watching the resident's every move from over his shoulder. Both Karev and Nellie's jaws locked at the father's concern. Neither of them taking it to heart as much as they had earlier in the day-- not after learning what he and his wife had been exposing their son to. "Do you have to use such a big needle?"

"His IV came out, and he needs to be hydrated." Karev reminded the father as he continued to work.

"I can assure you, Dr. Karev and I are only doing what's best for your son." Nellie offered the frustrated looking man a forced smile as she continued to oversee Karev's work.

"Shh. It's all right," Karev tried to calm down a wailing Brian.

"Okay, okay, look-- Look I'm just-- I'm freaking out a little bit here." Mr. Kristler started to pace the room as he spoke-- no doubt strung out on meth himself. "I mean, do you think you could get me an update on my wife?"

"Your wife has a crater in her abdomen, so even if she does survive surgery, it's gonna be a long, hard, painful recovery." Karev spoke bluntly with the other man, giving no thought to his feelings.

"She's gonna be okay, right? I mean, she's gotta be okay. Wh-- Brian, please, sweetheart, look at me." Mr. Kristler's attention was pulled away by his son's crying yet again. "Brian, stop crying!"

"He can't stop crying!" Nellie snapped at the father before Karev had a chance to do so himself. Karev's eyes widening at the sharpness to her voice and the narrowed steely gaze she had trained on the man. Having no doubt that the man would be six feet under if looks could kill. "He can't stop crying because his nervous system is shot, you goddamn idiot. He can't stop crying because his brain and his heart and his renal system are all compromised. He can't stop crying because he's in withdrawal from crystal meth, you fucking son of a bitch."

"No, no. That's impossible," Mr. Kristler shook his head at her harsh words. "He wasn't in the room when we were making it."

"It was all over your apartment, okay?" Karev backed Nellie up. "We tested him 'cause she smelled it on his skin."

"I love my son," Mr. Kristler insisted, as if that absolved him from any wrongdoing. "Okay, we--we were broke. I lost my job. But I don't use drugs. And I'm a good dad, and I love my family."

"Well, now you can love your family from jail." Karev easily countered.

At those words it was as though something snapped within the Kristler man. His hands balled into fists before he took a swing at Karev. The blow holding enough force to send the resident falling back into the tray behind him before hitting the group, unconscious.

"Karev!" Nellie's eyes widened as she watched the man fall.

"I'm sorry." Mr. Kristler apologized as he lunged at her. Nellie struggled against him, managing to land a few blows to the man's torso before he locked onto her hair. Pulling on the dark strands hard enough to swing her towards the crib. Using all his force, he slammed her head against the metal frame, the sharp corner cutting into her skin as her body gaze out. Plunging her into darkness before she could even hit the floor.

*~*~*~*

"So the happy little family makes meth." Meredith commented as she worked on suturing the back of Karev's head from where he'd hit on the tray when he went down. Across from him sat Nellie, the woman busy taping a piece of gauze to her forehead to cover the nasty laceration she'd endured herself.

"There's no such thing as a happy family," Karev muttered.

"I'll agree with that," Nellie mused as she finished with her gauze.

"I can suture that for you," Cristina offered the fourth-year resident for the fifth time.

"Only one coming near my face with sutures is Sloan," Nellie shot the offer down, again.

"What's with her?" Karev raised a brow as he watched Cristina pace around them in circles.

"Well, Mama Burke is here, and we don't know why." Meredith clued him in.

"She's still here?" Nellie frowned at the news.

"You saw her?" Cristina's attention locked onto the Gideon woman at the news. "Did you talk to her?"

"Briefly," Nellie shrugged. "Said she was here to get some of Preston's things and wanted to talk to the two of us before she left."

"The stuff you torched?" Karev chimed in, a smirk playing on his lips at the memory.

"Told her I roasted marshmallows," Nellie spoke proudly.

"Well, what did she say to you?" Cristina tried to keep them on track.

"Don't know, didn't give her the chance." Nellie offered a shrug of her shoulders. "Told her that I didn't wanna hear whatever it was she had to say. That if Preston wanted to apologize that he could've already done so himself. I also told her to just go home, but clearly she didn't take the advice."

"My guess is that she's waiting to kill Cristina," Meredith offered her own two sense. As she did so she could feel eyes boring into the back of her head, knowing just who it was. "She's hovering again."

"If you're done with the charts, go fold something, like, you know, sheets." Cristina waved Lexie off.

"What are you lookin' at?" Meredith slapped Karev on the shoulder, noticing his gaze following her half-sister as she walked away. "Don't look at her."

"Your sister. She's hot," Karev commented.

"I'm an only child," Meredith disagreed, refusing to acknowledge her half-sister. "Don't talk to me about Lexie."

"Police," Nellie waved her pager after it went off, Karev's doing the same. "Let's go."

*~*~*~*

Nellie's head rested in her hands as she sat in the observation gallery. Her eyes trained on the room below as Derek operated on Brian, having found the boy and his father hiding out in the bathroom of Martha Kristler's hospital room. Bailey and Karev both sat to her left, it only being the three of them watching over the surgery.

"He had a stroke," Bailey spoke up, her words catching the attention of both of the younger residents. "A one-year-old with a stroke."

"You can yell, you know?" Karev spoke up, sparing the Bailey woman a sideway glance as he did so. Truly shocked that she hadn't chewed him and Nellie out already.

"Not my job anymore," Bailey shook her head.

"I'm just saying, you can if you want," Karev pressed. "I deserve it."

"We both do," Nellie spoke up.

"Oh, you do deserve it," Bailey assured them. "You do deserve, Dr. Karev and Dr. Gideon, to be chastised for your stunningly poor decision making. You've-- You've both certainly earned a-a reprimand for your unbelievably destructive tactical error. You idiots got in the face of a drug dealer? You got in the face of a drug dealer before the police had arri-- You got in the face of a known felon while his one-year-old child was still in the room? Are you both stupid? Are you without intelligence? Because I know you were both taught better than that. I taught you better than that, Karev, Gideon. Gettin' in the face of a drug dealer. Fools."

"Thank you," Karev spoke quietly once she had finished her rant.

"Oh, no. Thank you," Bailey took a deep breath, having been yearning for someone to yell at all day.

*~*~*~*

Nellie's head rested against the arm of her couch as she laid stretched out across it after work had ended for the day. Her head hurting, the numbing medicine Mark had given her for the stitches having long since worn off. All she wanted to do was curl up and disappear, unable to shake the sense of guilt she'd been carrying with her since she woke up on the floor of Brian's hospital room. Even after knowing that his surgery had been a sucess, the guilt continued to gnaw away at her.

She found herself being shaken from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. Blindly reaching out to the coffee table, she grabbed the ringing device. Not even bothering to check the caller ID before she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She practically grunted the single word.

"Sweetness, I love every part of you, but I think I can do without an up-close look of your ear." Penelope's always chipper voice greeted her.

"Sorry," Nellie apologized as she pulled the phone back to find the colorful blonde's face filling her screen. Though the blonde's smile quickly vanished when she caught sight of the bandage covering part of the doctor's forehead.

"What happened to you?" Penelope questioned as a frown overtook her painted lips.

"Just some trouble with a patient," Nellie tried to brush it off.

"And here I thought I had someone I didn't have to worry about getting hurt on the job," Penelope huffed, not a trace of her worry leaving her features. "Are you alright? Did you have one of the other doctors take a look at it?"

"I had my friend Mark take a look at it. I have minor concussion and a head laceration. Nothing too serious," Nellie assured her friend. "Now I'm sure there was a reason you called, what's up?"

"Hotch actually asked if I would give you a call," Penelope confessed, the information instantly catching the brunette's attention. Her brows furrowing at the mention of the team's unit chief, not able to remember the last time he'd reached out to her himself-- not since she was in college.

"What's going on?" Nellie pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Is Derek okay?"

"He's fine," Penelope assured her. "The thing is... We were all wondering if you'd heard from Gideon recently?"

"No," Nellie cleared her throat, surprised by the question. "Last time we spoke was when I was out there the last time. Why? What's going on?"

"He requested some time off, but that ended two days ago." Penelope clued the doctor in. "The rest of the team is out of town for a case, but we're all wondering where he might be. It's not exactly like him to miss out on work without letting someone know."

"Or miss work in general," Nellie muttered under her breath. "Look, I'm sure he's fine. He likes going out to his cabin to just disappear for a while, tends to lose track of time out there. If he's not back by the time they get back from the case, maybe send somebody out there to check on him."

"Okay," Penelope nodded at the instructions.

"Pen," Nellie met the woman's gaze through the video feed. "He's fine, okay? My dad and I might not be close, but I know the guy. He's more than capable of taking care of himself. You don't need to worry about him."