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Learning. Always Learning

***

Maya woke up to Nick's alarm clock going off and she rolled over and got on top of Nick as he was turning off the alarm clock. "Well. Hello there, beautiful" he said, placing his hands on either side of her. "Do you meet with the shrink today?"

She ignored him and brought her mouth down to meet his. Their mouths moved in-sync with each other and she began to grind on him. She smiled against his lips when he let out a low moan. "Quickie?" She pulled her mouth away and whispered into his ear. He nodded and gave her a devilish grin before tossing her onto her back. 

When they were finished, they went and took a quick shower. "You never answered me. Do you meet with the shrink today?" Nick asks, lathering himself up with soap. 

"No, not today. Tomorrow morning and I meet with SECNAV next week. Monday I think," Maya responded. "Want to have lunch today at home if you aren't too busy with a case?"

"Yeah, I will try to come home for lunch. I will text you if I won't be able to," he tells her, pecking her lips gently with his own. "Google, what time is it?" he called out.

Their Google home responded quickly, "7:38am." 

"Shit, I gotta get going," he said, reaching to turn off the shower, but Maya stopped him, "oh, sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'll see you later, baby." He kissed her and got out of the shower, beginning to dry himself before throwing on his work clothes. He rushed out of the bathroom within a few minutes and Maya was left to herself. 

She finished up her shower a little before 8 and went to make herself breakfast. She was completely healed since they got back from Europe and from her previous mishaps before they left. She was grateful to be healed and she was taking her counseling seriously. She kept on with her physical therapy and was going to the gym everyday, but she was still bored. She missed being at work. She knew that she was close. Her counselor liked her and thought she was handling things well. However, she had left out the flashbacks that she often got, ones that led her to lash out or have intense anxiety. She knew that if she said anything about it that it would be put in her file and that she probably would not be allowed to go back to work, but she had to go back to work. She had to.  Maya went out to the grocery store so that she could get some cauliflower rice and chicken for lunch when she got home, Nick had pulled up too. He looked exasperated. She stepped out of her car, "what's going on, baby?"

"I have to grab my notes," the garage opened and there was a bike inside their garage. 

"What the hell?" Maya said and Nick's gone was out. They approached the entrance of the garage slowly and the bike exploded, throwing both of them through the air. They both landed on their backs hard. "What the hell," Maya said again and groaned in pain. 

"Are you alright, baby?" he got to his feet and helped her up, examining her as he did so.

Maya nodded, "I guess. Want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

"After we clear the house and call Gibbs," Nick tells her. "Come on stay behind me." They went into the townhome and cleared it then he called Gibbs. Abby and the tech team were sent over to get the bike. 

Maya started making lunch while Nick explained to her what was going on, "In 2012, I was undercover with the Rosewood Boyz. They rode bikes, robbed banks, and partied a lot. I blew my cover to protect this good kid that should not have ever gotten involved with these guys. So the kid got witness protection and the bad dude went to jail. Everything was fine. Till now, I guess." 

"So, I'm guessing you've been sidelined?" Maya asked, eyeing him, "you just came home to get your notes. That's all, right?"

"I like when you call this place home, baby," he smiles, but seems distant, "this is our home." He pecks her on the lips, "I'll see you tonight."

"You aren't gonna stay for lunch?" Maya asked, disappointed. 

"Sorry, baby. Got to take these notes back to work so we can solve this case," he picks up his box of notes and walks toward the garage, "I love you."

"Love you," Maya calls back, but he had already disappeared into the garage. She was really disappointed that he couldn't stay and read through his journals here, but she knew that he would have to go and talk to Abby about his bike exploding. Maya was also worried that he would go rogue and do something stupid since he had ties to this case. 

Maya couldn't eat. She was bored. She was worried about Nick and she didn't know what to do with herself. She put the food she made into containers and into the fridge before she rang Gibbs. "Gibbs."

"Hey, how's the Rosewood case going?" Maya asks.

"It's going," Gibbs replies shortly. 

"How is Nick handling it?" Maya asks. 

"Why don't you ask him?" Gibbs asks, Maya was testing his patience. She knew.

"Please, Gibbs."

"He disappeared and he is holding out on me, but I got it handled," Gibbs said, "don't worry so much about him. He can handle himself and you know that." 

"I know he can handle himself," Maya says, "I just worry sometimes that he doesn't know when to ask for help with personal things like this. Things that resurface have a way of making you do things without asking for help. You have to just do it all yourself. I'm worried that he's doing that now." 

"Reminds you of someone, doesn't it?" Gibbs says and with that, he hangs up on her. 

Maya sat down on the couch in their new home and flipped on the news. She watched absentmindedly and eventually dosed off. I guess what Gibbs said had eased her, reminded her that Nick was no longer over cover. He was on a team. Maya was woken up by a heavy weight on her body and a warm mouth on her lips, "hi, baby." 

"Hi," she smiled against his mouth, "how did the case go?"

"The guy I put into witness protection ended up being the leader of the group," he sighs, "I really do not get people sometimes."

"People do dumb things because sometimes they think they know better," Maya shrugs.

"I need to tell you something," pauses, "something that I'm not proud of."

"Okay," Maya tells him, "I'm listening." 

"I planted evidence back when I was undercover. I planted it to get a bad guy off the streets," Nick said, "It was wrong. I know it was wrong."

Maya takes a second to think. "We all have done the wrong thing for the right reason. It's human. But you shouldn't do it again."

"Funny, Gibbs essentially said the same thing," Nick says, looking at Maya admiringly. Maya smiles and leans into kiss him again.