diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/termvectors/ShardTermVectorService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/termvectors/ShardTermVectorService.java
index 9993edb4e1f..09eb85e88f7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/termvectors/ShardTermVectorService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/termvectors/ShardTermVectorService.java
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ public class ShardTermVectorService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent {
                 if (topLevelFields == null) {
                     topLevelFields = termVectorsByField;
                 }
-                if (useDfs(request)) {
+                if (termVectorsByField != null && useDfs(request)) {
                     dfs = getAggregatedDfs(termVectorsByField, request);
                 }
                 termVectorResponse.setFields(termVectorsByField, request.selectedFields(), request.getFlags(), topLevelFields, dfs);
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ public class ShardTermVectorService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent {
                 if (selectedFields != null) {
                     termVectorsByField = addGeneratedTermVectors(get, termVectorsByField, request, selectedFields);
                 }
-                if (useDfs(request)) {
+                if (termVectorsByField != null && useDfs(request)) {
                     dfs = getAggregatedDfs(termVectorsByField, request);
                 }
                 termVectorResponse.setFields(termVectorsByField, request.selectedFields(), request.getFlags(), topLevelFields, dfs);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/termvector/GetTermVectorTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/termvector/GetTermVectorTests.java
index 565d21944d4..6e4c4b23131 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/termvector/GetTermVectorTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/termvector/GetTermVectorTests.java
@@ -90,8 +90,7 @@ public class GetTermVectorTests extends AbstractTermVectorTests {
 
         ensureYellow();
 
-        // when indexing a field that simply has a question mark, the term
-        // vectors will be null
+        // when indexing a field that simply has a question mark, the term vectors will be null
         client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "0").setSource("existingfield", "?").execute().actionGet();
         refresh();
         ActionFuture<TermVectorResponse> termVector = client().termVector(new TermVectorRequest(indexOrAlias(), "type1", "0")
@@ -119,12 +118,14 @@ public class GetTermVectorTests extends AbstractTermVectorTests {
 
         ensureYellow();
 
-        // when indexing a field that simply has a question mark, the term
-        // vectors will be null
+        // when indexing a field that simply has a question mark, the term vectors will be null
         client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "0").setSource("anotherexistingfield", 1).execute().actionGet();
         refresh();
         ActionFuture<TermVectorResponse> termVector = client().termVector(new TermVectorRequest(indexOrAlias(), "type1", "0")
-                .selectedFields(new String[]{"existingfield"}));
+                .selectedFields(randomBoolean() ? new String[]{"existingfield"} : null)
+                .termStatistics(true)
+                .fieldStatistics(true)
+                .dfs(true));
 
         // lets see if the null term vectors are caught...
         TermVectorResponse actionGet = termVector.actionGet();