‘NCIS’: Nick Torres Grieves ‘Buddy’ Clayton Reeves in New Episode

NCIS‘ Nick Torres was in a bad mood most of Tuesday’s episode before revealing that the reason was related to the death of Clayton Reeves.

In “Love Thy Neighbor,” viewers see Nick (Wilmer Valderrama) in a bad mood as he breaks his sunglasses at the beginning of the episode. The agent lashes out at his co-workers, and even superiors, at several points in the episode.

The most dramatic moment happens when Palmer (Brian Dietzen) and Nick attend a wine and painting class and are bothered by a couple of white men, calling Nick “amigo” and making fun of them, assuming they were a couple.

The NCIS team members attempt to ignore their rude words at first, but since they keep going, they get into a fight during the class, getting arrested in the process.

Gibbs (Mark Harmon) picks them up and reprimands them for their actions, as trained officer should not be getting into “bar fights,” but while Palmer says he’s sorry immediately, Nick continues to lash out.

At another point he is rude to Sloane (Maria Bello), who attempts to figure out what is wrong with him, but he tells her to send him home if he is not being helpful. Calling his bluff, Sloane tells him to go home and benches him for the rest of the case.

Once they solve the “human soup” murder case, Bishop (Emily Wickersham) arrives home and finds Nick sitting on her porch and she confronts him over his bad mood, when he admits that he is upset about his sunglasses breaking because they were a precious gift.

“They were a gift… from Reeves,” Nick tells Bishop. “He was wearing them one day to the gym and I was like… ‘hey, cool shades.’ But I didn’t really like them, I was just being sarcastic. The next morning, they were on my desk.”

“He bought you a pair?” She asks.

“He gave me his,” he admits.

“Yeah, well… he was kind,” she says.

“The kindest… I miss my buddy,” he says, and she replies she misses him too. The pair then go inside the house as the episode ends.

Fans will remember Clayton Reeves (Duane Henry) died during the staged robbery that he and Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) were involved in during her final episode of the series.

After solving Reeves’ murder, Abby was inspired to move to the U.K. to start the charity foundation he had always wanted to open, but didn’t get a chance to due to his death, leading to her exit from the series.

“I loved Reeves too. so sweet Torres,” one user wrote, relating to Nick’s pain.

“you hit it outta the park again! Fantastic character continuity. Still, did Reeves really have to die?” one user asked, noting many fans who wondered that after the character passed away in season 15.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.