Title: One Wedding And A Confession

Author: WriterGirl89

Rating: R

Pairing: Nick/Jess

Fandom: New Girl

POV: Third-Person

Summary: 'The first time he tells her he loves her, they're at another wedding.' In which Nick, Jess and the guys go to another wedding and a confession is made. Sequel to Not Just A Girl & Something.

Disclaimer: Have no ownership over none of them.

Author's Note: Obviously if you've read both of my previous stories before this, you know what this story follows. If not? Well, go ahead. Take 5. I'll wait.

….

Telling Jess that he loves her doesn't turn out exactly the way Nick initially plans.

Don't get him wrong. He wants to. Badly.

He wants to when their laying in bed at night, his hand stroking her hair, her soft skin and she's snuggled deep in his arms.

He wants to.

When either she wakes him playfully with wonderful, surprisingly energetic morning sex or he does it himself, languidly moving inside her as the early daylight enhances her beauty as she arches into his touch.

He especially wants to when, after that damn good wake-up call, he walks into the kitchen to an already prepared breakfast and if she's not there still to give him a goodbye kiss before she leaves to work, an accompanying sticky note with a message telling him to have a good day and to think about her if it helped.

And he does.

He does think about her. He thinks about how good she's been for him and how he hopes he's been the same for her. About how secure in himself she makes him feel in almost everything. About how much he adores her quirks despite sometimes saying otherwise. About how lucky he has become to gain the loyalty and affection she so freely and happily gives to him.

But, now recently and more than ever, he thinks of how much he loves her. How much he's fallen so deeply in love with her that it's hard to think straight when she's around and how much of a chickenshit he feels he is for not just telling her when he first realized it.

But, he does tell her.

Well... after he's admitted it to someone else first.

The first time he tells her he loves her, they're at another wedding.

He, Schmidt and Winston are invited to the wedding of Bryan Watkins, an old college friend who'd carved a notch for himself in software engineering and 'Angela', a European woman he'd met through 'mysterious circumstances' (in this case: What began in Vegas doesn't always end in Vegas).

The invitation states the obvious squeezing in of a 'plus-one' and Nick is more than happy that he has a more steady 'plus-one' this time around (though he knows better than to smother her spirit this time around, he begs Jess to please not bring the teeth this time).

Winston and Schmidt tease the couple as they walk hand-in-hand to the event and he just rolls with it, happy to have his beautiful, quirky girlfriend on his arm.

Caroline is there.

It feels like deja vu somewhat in the fact that she seems to come greet them and stare at them every opportunity she gets and quite honestly, he's a little put off by it.

Sure, he cares about Caroline and yeah, a tiny part of him will always love her. That's just something that can't be helped.

But, he has Jess now. Really has her. He's not pretending to be involved just to nab his ex's attention. If anything, he works hard to make it clear that he's serious this time. And, at one point, has his hand on Jess's thigh (she just had to wear that damn leg-baring dress again) and then, before she could stop him, slides it up more til it's almost intruding underneathe said dress.

"Nick?" She whispers, a bit startled, not looking at him.

"Hmm?" He hums a little, parting her legs for room under their big table as his hand moves more boldly upward, already feeling the heat of her, waiting and eager to meet his palm.

"What cha ya doing?" She tries to ask casually in her usual 'Jess way' but, he isn't fooled and hears the breathy quality in her tone.

"What does it look I'm doing?" He whispers back, stroking up on her bare inner thigh before moving up again to find... nothing.

He hardens and elights in her gasp as he finds nothing but, trimmed curls and soft flesh under her dress.

He lowers his voice more and begins to stroke her lazily, thumb moving in circular motions on her wet folds. "Since when do you not wear panties?"

She moans lowly and he stops to hear her answer. "Oh, you know, laundry day... Mmm..." She trails off as he begins again.

"Liar." He teases, pressing a finger onto her center, feeling her pulsating wildly at his movements.

"Nick... ah, God..." He pushes the digit in and she clenches automatically on him. "F-Fine... Ohh... I just thought you'd like it better than the bicycle shorts."

"You guessed good on that one."

It takes adding another finger and a few more motions on his part for her to come apart under his touch and he feels smug when she emits a sexy whimper as she comes down from her climax as he fixes her dress and puts her together again.

A few minutes later, Caroline comes over and asks him if they could talk alone for a minute.

He defers to Jess and being who she is, she cheerily lets him go.

Though, he doesn't miss the slight look of suspicion in her eyes at the way Caroline eagerly reacts when he agrees to go with her and honestly, he's a little suspicious himself but, walks off with his ex-girlfriend against his better judgement.

They end up near the photo booth again but, this time he feels no need to snap silly pictures with her.

Caroline tells him she has broken up with her boyfriend. That she's sorry and feels she made 'a big mistake' in letting him go and that she wants to start over with them. Start fresh.

He finds it ironic that the words he'd been wanting to hear for so long. The very words he wanted so desperately to hear mean just South of nothing to him now.

They mean squat, to be frank and as much as he cares about Caroline, he tells her exactly that.

She still tries to convince him anyway and he reminds her of Jess. The woman he's there with. The woman who's also his loving, loyal girlfriend.

"What is the big deal with her? Why is she so special-"

And the words spill out before he has a chance to stop them. "I'm in love with her, alright!"

Caroline looks as if she's been slapped and he fells momentary sympathy for her. He thinks of how difficult it could be to hear him proclaim his love for another woman when it took him a whole year to say those same words in what feels like forever ago to her.

But, the feeling passes and he feels geniune elation for second when he realizes that he's finally over Caroline and that he had finally said his true feelings out loud, even if it was to someone other than Jess.

Then, he notices Caroline is looking over his shoulder and her eyes have glazed over and he follows her eyes.

Jess is standing there. There's a look of shock on her face and judging by the mascara steaks on her face, she'd been crying.

And he feels like an ass.

He has no idea how long she's been standing there but, he could hasten a guess she didn't miss his last words by much.

He leaves Caroline without a glance back and walks toward Jess, guiding her back to their table.

They sit down and he grabs her hand, needing the contact and thinking she needs it, too.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?" He peers into her face, stroking his thumb on the back of her hand.

"What I heard back there-"

"I love you." Again, the words are barely stopped from escaping and he watches with bated breath as she processes them, her eyes widening. "I'm in love with you." He feels even more elation now as he says it to her.

"And Caroline?"

"I'll always care for her..." He trails off.

"But, you love me?" She finishes for him questioningly.

"Yeah." He nods. "I do. Very much."

She gives him a watery smile before whispering his new favorite words. "I love you, too."

And as they kiss in relief and head home early for some major make-up time he doesn't think you could feel this happy without dying a little.

But, he's wrong. Because it's Jess and that's the way she makes him feel.

...

A/N 2: Hope you enjoyed! Hope it wasn't too cheesy!