My first ever Fanfic. Please let me know what you think. I have an idea where I want this to go, so I do plan to continue. Hopefully lots of angst, jealousy and of course Ness.

I am just totally in love with both Jake and Zooey and in a perfect world they would live happily ever after together, but of course they are both married. I'd also like to add that Jake Johnson's forearms are just WOW!

SexyNess ensues as well.

ok enjoy! xo...

New Orleans...

The summer was shortly coming to an end and Nick had spent nearly the last 3 months in a hotel room working on his novel and catering to Reagan's every whim when she would return from her long days at the office (so to speak).

Reagan travelled a lot and although she was based in New Orleans for the summer, she had to travel throughout Louisiana to meet with different doctors and business people.

Whenever Reagan would have free time, they would spend their days together by the beach and evenings down by the ocean side restaurant near the hotel. But each time he looked out at the big blue abyss, it would remind him about one very special blue eyed girl.

And while he laid in bed at night, he would have a recurring war of words within himself lasting late into the early morning hours, long after Reagan had fallen asleep next to him. He couldn't help but think about her, the one who got away, the one who sleeps mere meters away from his bedroom door each night.

Sure he was enjoying their time together, but if Nick was being perfectly honest with himself, this wasn't going to last forever and he actually couldn't wait to get back to his bar and friends. He felt like the longer time went on, the more difficult it would become if he were to end things with Reagan.

God Woman, get out of my head! Why can't I just enjoy who I am with in the here and now? I shouldn't be pining after Jess, when I have this gorgeous, smart and sexy successful woman sleeping next to me. It's not fair to Reagan, it's certainly not fair to Jess and most definitely not fair to myself! But it's your god damn fault Miller; stupid Nick Miller, always fucking things up. Can't ever make any commitments, always moon walking away from your problems and not saying what you want to say in the moment.

But he was making a commitment, it just so happens that it was with the wrong woman. Oh man, what am I going to do?

Thursday...

It had been 3 months since he had seen her. Those ocean blue eyes and succulent red lips were all he could think about since he had left L.A..

She had said she wanted him to go, but he couldn't help but wonder if she really truly meant it. She had looked so lost and helpless when he told her he was planning to join Reagan in New Orleans for 3 months.

Sure he had a nice enough time with Reagan and it helped that she was drop dead gorgeous, but he had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't Jess.

No Miller, Stop it, Jess is over you, and she only wants to be your friend. You can't have her! Besides you and Reagan decided to be exclusive after one month in New Orleans.

This was Nick's continuous inner turmoil, relentlessly reminding himself that he was with Reagan and that Jess and him were over; it just wasn't in the cards for them.

He had worked so hard to try and better himself for her, but she had moved on with Ryan and then Sam (again), and although she had broken it off with each of them, she never said she wanted to get back with Nick.

But he couldn't help but wonder what Jess meant when she had told him how incredible he was and that he needs to stop putting himself down.

Stop it Nick, she told you to go, she wanted you to figure things out and grow up a little. Reagan is the best thing that has come along in a while, don't screw it up just because you think you may still have a shot with Jess.

As he ascended each floor, he realized that he was just about to re-enter her life and honestly he wasn't sure if he wanted to be with Reagan anymore.

Sure, Nick didn't really have it within himself to be a dick, and he certainly wasn't just going to break it off with Reagan, especially after spending 3 months in a free hotel room and making love to her almost every night.

Was it really making love though? If Nick was being perfectly honest with himself, it was more just sex, hot and raunchy sex.

There really wasn't much intimacy in their sexual rendezvous; he would try to cuddle with her, but she would just push him off and say that she was too tired or that she was in a rush to get to work. Some nights it was just so quick, that Regan would climb off after she climaxed and roll over and fall asleep.

Nick strolled out of the elevator, turning to his right, he took a deep breath and huffed out his frustration, "You can do this Miller"

He threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and proceeded to put his key into the lock, twisted the handle and flung the heavy grey door open...

"Oh my God, Nick, you're home early! I wasn't expecting you back until next Friday." Jess exclaimed as she flew up off the couch towards him.

They both stood awkwardly in the entrance of 4D, Jess fiddling with her thumbs and Nick jostling his keys.

"Ah yeah, well Reagan had a bunch of appointments this week, so I decided to come home a little early and enjoy the rest of the summer in Cali."

Jess looked on quizzically, "You brought your keys with you? I thought you never carried them, because you know someone is always home?" Jess asked a little perplexed.

"Well I couldn't be too sure if anyone would be here when I got back. Just trying to be more prepared, you know?"

Jess looked up at him and smirked "Hmm… I see, well it's nice to have you home Miller." Nick smiled at her unable to look away from her big blue eyes, "It's nice to see you too Day."

They both stood there staring at one another, Nick shifting his duffel bag up over his left shoulder and Jess rubbing her hands through her hair and twisting her right foot back and forth.

Nick noted that she always tended to fidget like this when she was nervous. "Get in here, give me a hug kid".

Jess walked over shyly and reached up around his neck, not quite sure what to do with her hands. She had been struggling with Nick's absence ever since she had her own epiphany, (thanks to Sam), that she was most definitely still in love with him.

She softly laid her hands down around his neck, placing one over the other. Nick pulled her in tight, wrapping his big arms around her waist and gave her a squeeze. 'Oh my, they've gotten bigger and his chest is just... WOW!'

Her brain was swirling as his familiar scent filtrated its' way up into her nostrils. 'God, he smells so good!' She felt dizzy enough that she lost her balance when he finally let go of her.

"Whoa there, you ok? I got ya." Nick took her by the arm to steady her.

Jess' mind began to whirl. 'My gosh, he looks good, he has definitely been working out. His chest and shoulders had gotten broader, his waist was smaller and it looked like his cookie pouch was just about gone. And look at those forearms.'

"Hey Jess, I asked you what's new with you? Are you ok, you look a bit dizzy?"

Jess was lost in her thoughts. "Oh, oh, sure yeah I am fine, everyone else is good, goood... Nothing really new. Cece and Schmidt are out house hunting as we speak and well Winston is in love; but you already knew that. And Furguson is staying at Aly's now."

Nick let out a low chuckle, "Hmm… really, why? I never pictured Winston leaving his cat at someone else's house."

Jess flicked her bangs out of her eyes, "Oh yeah, well you know Aly works the day shift and Winston works evenings now, so he thought that it would probably be best for Furguson to be at Aly's place. Besides Winston is there all the time, I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to move out next."

Jess shifted herself over to the wall to give herself a little more support.

"Yeah, well you're probably right about that." Nick's mind began to wander and for some stupid reason he thought that now might be the perfect opportunity to spring an idea that he and Reagan, well mainly Reagan, were mulling over.

"Hey Jess, Reagan is actually planning to move to L.A., she has been given a permanent position as a training director at Pfizer and well she was thinking that with Cece and Schmidt moving out, that maybe she could stay with us for a little while. She would probably stay in my room, and..." Nick felt the air stifle as his words fell from his mouth. He watched as Jess crossed her arms, one over the other and furrowed her brow.

"You know just until she gets settled in L.A. And she'll pay rent of course." Nick choked out.

Jess looked on nervously, not exactly sure what to say "Ummm… yeah sure Nick, that sounds great. Absolutely wonderful."

Nick could hear the hurt in her voice.

"At least we won't have to try and find a new roommate, you know the whole Craig's list interview thing can be really stressful and all. Last time we had that strange guy Neil move in and he had that box that growled and it totally freaked me out, so yeah, whatever you guys want, I'm in. All in..." Jess knew she was rambling and the tears were beginning to build behind her eyes.

Quickly without another thought she spun on her feet towards the bathroom, throwing her hands up in the air, "Hey Nick, I um, have a... ugh… a date tonight! So I... ugh… need to go get ready."

Jess bolted towards the bathroom, not turning her head back as Nick called out to her. "Ok, well it's nice to see ya Jess. Hopefully we can hang out and catch up. I want to hear about your summer."

Jess slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked it. Tears began to flow down her cheeks as she stripped herself bare and threw her clothes to the floor; she stumbled her way over to the shower, twisted the knob and stepped in. She had barely gotten the curtain closed by the time she had slumped down to the cold wet tiled floor and began to sob.

She really needed to pull herself together. How was she going to be able to cope with Reagan living across the hall from her? Making love, day and night, to the love of her life.

She could have said no to his request, but she wasn't about to just ruin the best thing Nick has had since, well, since Jess and him were together. Besides it really wouldn't be fair for her to ask him to move out of the loft, after all he lived here first. And It's not like she could afford to get a place of her own and there was no way she would be able to just crash at Cece's place all the time, especially when she was just beginning to build a life with Schmidt.

"Come on Jess, you're just going to have to put on your big girl panties and deal with it head on. You can totally do this. Reagan can't be that bad, sure she can be frigid at times, but she also seems to genuinely like Nick. Besides how are they going to react if you keep running out of rooms on the verge of tears all the time? There are only so many excuses you can use."

She had been mumbling to herself for at least a good 20 minutes, while sitting on the shower floor with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head between her knees, trying to stifle her sobs. Then as the water shifted from hot to cold, she began to shiver, and although the tears had stopped flowing, she still couldn't quite catch her breath.

She reached up and turned off the shower, slowly rising off the floor, she reached behind the curtain for her towel to pat herself dry. Cece will know what to do.

Cece had always been the more sensible one of the two friends and she knew an evening with her best friend and a bottle of pink was all she needed to be able to try rationalize this whole situation.

20 minutes earlier...

The door down the hall slammed shut.

Nick exhaled as he threw his keys into the bowl to the left on the credenza and dragged his duffel bag into his bedroom. "Jeez, what the hell did I say?" I thought she would've been more happy to see me. I've only been gone for 3 months.

Nick pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut as his sat himself down on the edge of his bed. Could she really be upset, because of Reagan? She had lived in the loft before and Jess didn't have a problem with it then, granted I wasn't sleeping with Reagan at the time, but why should that matter? Jess has no interest in me. Maybe I just caught her at the wrong time.

Nick flew himself back onto his pillow; he was tired from the long flight home and he knew he could use a nap. He also had to get back into the swing of things, because he planned to work the late shift tomorrow night and Fridays were always busy. And although he was part owner of the bar, he could really use the tips; especially since he had spent all his hard earned savings wining and dining Reagan all summer.

He began to drift to sleep when he heard his phone buzzing. He lifted his head slightly and reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone.

It was Reagan, "Hey Nicky baby, I just got off work. Did you talk to Jess and the guys yet? The meetings I had planned next week have been cancelled and they want me to start my new job in L.A. on Monday. Sooo... I was thinking that if it's still ok with you and hopefully with the others, that I could move in this weekend."

Nick's thoughts began to drift to the woman down the hallway; Jess had said she was good and I'm sure Winston won't mind. He works all night anyways and Reagan won't be home in the day time. And knowing Schmidt, he would be over the moon, especially since his new wife had already had a previous fling with his bisexual girlfriend. Putting them both under one roof would bring on a whole new set of fun possibilities, at least in Schmidt's mind.

"Sure thing Reagan, Jess said she is fine with the idea. And the guys are preoccupied with their significant others, so I'm sure they won't mind. When do you think you will arrive?"

Nick hovered his finger over the send button. Did he really want Reagan to move in? Did he really want this woman to sleep next to him every night knowing full well that Jess was only a few feet away in the next room?

The hell with it, Jess has moved on. She has a date tonight for fuck's sake! And with that last thought Nick hit send.

"Ok great! I'm taking the 2am flight Saturday morning, so make sure you pick me up at the airport at 7:00am sharp. Thanks again Nicky!"

Nick winced when he read the last message. He hated when she called him Nicky; only his Dad, Ma and Jamie used that name. None of his friends even called him Nicky, they all knew that he preferred Nick or sometimes Nicholas; especially when a certain someone used it.

And of all days, why Saturday morning? She knew that he was planning to work the late shift on Friday night, now he would have to pull an all niter just to make it to the airport for 7am.

Maybe he could take a quick nap at the bar after his shift, before heading to the airport. Hopefully she'll at least let him sleep when he gets home.

Reagan was always raring to go and the last thing that he wanted to do was have to unpack her things or take her out on the town. With that last thought Nick closed his eyes and nodded off. If he was going to be able to pull this off, he was going to need to catch up on his own beauty rest.

Jess exited the bathroom and ran into her room.

She grabbed her cell phone from her night stand and quickly shot Cece a text. "Hey, Nick just got home. I panicked and agreed to let Reagan move in with us. Do you think you could pick me up after you're done house hunting? Maybe we could go the bar or something? I told Nick I have a date tonight."

Cece replied not a minute, later "I'm so sorry babe. Get your shit together. I'll be there in 15."

Jess quickly got dressed and quietly slid out of her bedroom door; she had already blow dried her hair and put her make up on, all in an effort to divert Nick's suspicion from her brisk exit earlier. But as she began to tiptoe her way to the front door, she noticed that Nick had left his bedroom door wide open.

He was sprawled out on his clean bedspread, fully clothed and hadn't even taken his shoes off.

She calmly entered his room and removed each shoe from his foot, then grabbed the extra comforter that was laying at the foot of his bed and dragged it up over him. He always looks so peaceful when he is sleeping.

As she brought the cover up to his shoulders, Nick rolled onto his left side, "Thanks Ma".

Jess giggled softly as she reached for his cell phone, which was laying on his pillow.

That's when when she saw a flash. It was her, "Hey Nicky, I just wanted to tell you how excited I am to be moving in with you. See you Saturday." Jess nearly dropped his phone, but she managed to place it down safely on his nightstand.

Tears began to well their way back up behind her eyes again. That was it, she needed to get out of here. She didn't know how much more she could take for one evening.

She quickly exited his room and as she opened the front door, Schmidt was standing there, just about to put his key in the door.

As usual, Schmidt greeted Jess with his loud and boisterous voice, "Hey Jess, where are you going in such a hurry. Is Nick home? Cece said something about Nick being here. He has a lot of explaining to do, taking off like that all summer long and leaving me to tend to his heathen bar all alone."

"Yeah Schmidt, leave him alone though, he's sleeping ok? I got a hot date tonight, so I ah, I need to get going. Is Cece downstairs, she promised to give me a lift?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, she is waiting for you out front." Schmidt was already rounding his way towards Nick's room.

Jess took her chance and jumped in the open elevator and quickly pushed the close button, just hoping to get away before Schmidt noticed the tears beginning to stream down her face.

She didn't think she would be able to face Schmidt or anyone else for that matter given the state she was in. Cece was the only one who knew about her predicament and she planned to keep it that way.

As Jess descended the 4 floors, she became almost inconsolable.

Cece was waiting for her just outside the elevator and as the doors opened, Jess fell into her arms. "Oh babe, what happened? Are you ok? Come on let's get out of here, you can fill me in at the bar."

After too many bottles of pink wine and tequila shots, Cece had decided that it was time to get her friend home. She would let Jess sleep it off and rethink her position in the morning.

Friday morning...

Nick woke up pretty early; he was feeling refreshed and was actually surprised that he had slept through the night. Maybe it was because he was finally in his own bed or possibly it was because a certain someone was sleeping in the next room just across the hallway from him.

His shoes had been removed and the blanket at the foot of his bed was now covering him. Nick smiled to himself. It must have been Jess, she's was always looking out for me like an overbearing Mother or caring girlfriend. Erg, stop it Nick!

Slapping his cheeks, Nick slowly rose from the comfort of his own bed and padded his way to his closet. He reached up and pulled on the string for his closet light, triggering one of his old shoe boxes to tumble down to the floor.

As he slowly crouched down, he noticed that the box which had fallen contained memories of her; The Nerdy Sex coupon that he stole from her during their first Christmas shopping trip together, pieces of the broken helmet which he couldn't bear to part with, (even though he had the piece which Jess had salvaged hanging in his bar), the bracelet he gave her when he had promised her the world while they were down in Mexico and the ring he never had a chance to present her with.

Nick winced when he saw the last item and dragged his hand down his face. He had bought that ring when they returned home from Mexico. It was a small sapphire surrounded by a halo of tiny diamonds.

He happened to stumble upon it at an antique store down by the waterfront. He wasn't planning to buy her a ring at the time, but the blue stone just screamed Jess. And although they had dated each other for nearly a year, he never actually built up the courage to ask her. And after that dreadful morning when they had decided to call it for the second and final time, he had put it away in this box and tried to forget all about it.

Just then he heard his cell buzz on his nightstand. Nick sauntered over and read the text, "Hey babe, I wasn't sure if you got my text earlier, but I really can't wait to see you and start our lives together in L.A.. Hopefully with the extra money we save, we can start condo shopping and move out of the loft together."

Condo shopping, ugh. Nick never really cared for the condo life, he wanted more than just a box in the sky, but Reagan was dead set on living the high life, so to speak.

She with her fancy pharmaceutical job, and constant jet-setting across the country, a condo would suit her lifestyle perfectly.

The thought of it all really left a bad taste in Nick's mouth. He always thought that he would buy a cute little bungalow in the suburbs and maybe settle down and have a few kids; eventually growing old with his wife sitting by his side on their veranda watching the California sunsets until their dying days.

"Yeah for sure. See you tomorrow morning." Nick hit send and shoved his cell phone deep down into his pocket.

Twirling the ring on the edge of his pinky, Nick picked up the small blue velvet box and set the ring inside before putting it back into the shoe box. He put the lid back on and reached up to place the box onto the highest shelf. "Out of sight, out of mind, right Nicky?!

He grabbed his red and blue flannel off it's hanger and gave it a whiff. Hmm... Smells fresh enough. Nick turned out his closet light and slid the material over his arms, exiting his room ready to start his day.

Nick had tried to wake Jess up; he desperately wanted to hear all about her summer adventures, and was hoping he could take her out for breakfast, but it was no use, she was out cold.

Cece had mentioned that she had a long night and needed to rest.

The new school year was about to begin and Jess was going to be going back to work in a week, so this was her chance to enjoy the remainder of her summer and sleep in during the day.

Nick couldn't help himself, he quickly jotted down a short note and poured her a glass of water and left it on her nightstand along with two Tylenol. She would thank him later.

Everyone else was gone for the day; Winston was at Aly's and Schmidt had gone to work already. And Cece was taking the afternoon shift at the bar, so Nick decided that he too should probably go back to bed.

He had a long night ahead of him and he still needed to catch up on the time difference; not to mention the early morning trip to the airport to pick up his "wonderful" girlfriend.