Hi guys – I promise I am working on a new chapter of FourDee, but found this one shot that I never posted. So here is something until I can get the FourDee chapter done.

This is bad, Nick had thought as he paced his room in the loft. I did something. I KNOW I did something, but damn if I know what it is.

Jess had taken off for a two-day teaching conference in San Francisco the day before. He knew something didn't seem right as he watched her pack that afternoon.

"Uh, Jess, you will only be gone for two days. Do you really need that many cardigans?" Nick laughed as she stuffed a bright red sweater onto the pile in her suitcase. She chewed her lip for a moment, then flipped the sweater carelessly onto the bed without replying.

"I better go see if I left anything I need in the bathroom," she scurried out of the room, leaving Nick staring after her in confusion. He walked slowly to the bathroom and leaned against the doorway. Inside, Jess tossed random hair implements from a plastic bucket. "I can't find my big curling iron. Have you seen it?" She spun and began pulling aside each of their towels hanging on the wall.

"Jess, you already packed that, remember?" Nick asked slowly, before adding with a small smile, "and I don't think it would be behind the towels."

She whirled back and glared at Nick. "I guess not, Nick," she snapped and marched out of the room.

Bewildered, Nick threw up his hands. "Jess!" he called over his shoulder, but she did not respond. He heard the zip of her suitcase and turned around to see her hauling the oversized bag into the hall. "Let me get that," he said, trying to grab the suitcase.

"I'm fine alone, thank you!" she yelled. Nick raised his hands in surrender, and her face softened. Jess pushed her hair back with both hands and sighed. "Nick…," she began.

"Let's get a move on, Miss Day!" called Schmidt. He leveled a look at Nick. "I am very disappointed in you, Nicholas. As her boyfriend, YOU should be the one to take Jess to the airport."

"I gotta work, pal, so I can keep my lady in the lap of luxury," he laughed, but noticed Jess did not even crack a smile.

Schmidt snorted. "You are the one loading and unloading in the white zone of her lady parts and…."

"Jar!" yelled Jess and Nick together.

Schmidt rolled his eyes. "I am just saying, it should be you sending her off on her conference, not I." He glanced down at Jess' bag. "Ugh. I'll go get the car. I don't want anyone seeing you bring that non-designer hobo bag into my vehicle."

"Thanks, Schmidt," Jess said wearily. "Text me when you are at the curb, and I will sneak it into you behemoth compensation mobile!" she called as he breezed through the door. She looked at Nick. "Well," she said quietly. "I better go." Jess edged around Nick, but he grabbed her arm.

"Jess, what's wrong?" he asked, but she refused to look at him. Nick brushed his hand along her chin, and eased it up to his gaze. He sucked in his breath, floored by the look of fear in her eyes. "Jess, what is it? Are you afraid to fly?" She shook her head. "Then what…."

Pushing away his hand, Jess grabbed Nick and pulled him to her, crushing his lips with her own. The rush of need in that kiss sent Nick reeling. Wrapping her arms around him, she clung to Nick with a desperate passion. He struggled to respond to the hunger of her kiss, but fell back against the wall, utterly overwhelmed.

All too soon, she pulled away. "Goodbye, Nick," Jess whispered, and wheeled her suitcase out the door.

He stared at the closed door for a moment. Why did that really feel like goodbye? he thought. It was a second later he launched himself out the door. But unlike the night a few months ago when she was supposed to meet Teddy, Nick was too late. The elevator doors slid closed before he could get to them. He raced down the steps, but by the time he got to the front of the building, he could only watch Schmidt's giant SUV pull away.

Nick spent all that night in a daze, serving drinks on automode. He'd tried to call Jess, but imagined she was already at the evening reception. He wanted to leave a message, but had no idea what to say.

Throughout the night, he replayed the goodbye kiss in his head over and over. Then he tried to rewind to the hour before, the morning before, the week before. Somewhere in there was the key to what freaked Jess out, what was making her act all weird. Should I have gone with her? he thought. Jess never asked me to go, but maybe there was some kind of secret lady code I was supposed to know. Did I say something mean? Of course you did, he answered himself. You are Nick Miller, the only human capable of turning a frown upside down – 360 degrees and back into a DEEPER frown. He slammed a beer in front of a customer.

After his shift, Nick barely slept. By the morning, he was in full Miller-freak-out mode. He picked up his phone around 10 a.m. and left her a brief message:

"Hey, just called to see that you got in okay. Call me."

Nick cringed as he pushed the End button. That was lame, he chided himself. She knows you know something is wrong. You made it worse be pretending it is NOT wrong. He flicked the phone onto his bed, needing to THINK before he called again. If he learned anything from his disastrous breakup with Julia, it was that a shaky Nick should NOT be allowed near a phone. Just one more call, he told himself.

"You've reached Jessica Day. I really wanted to get your call, but I can't. So leave me your name and number and I'll call ya right back, partner!" BEEEEEP.

"Hey Jess, just Nick. I wanted to say hi, and I miss ya. And, hey, let you know that I DO know something is wrong, but not sure what it is, which probably makes it worse that I do not know, but anyway, um, maybe call me soon, okay?"

Nick wandered around the room for a bit, opened his laptop, closed his laptop, put on some loud reggae music, danced around a bit, put his phone under his pillow so he would not be tempted, danced a bit more…

"You've reached Jessica Day. I really wanted to get your call…"

"Jeeeeeess. Hi. Sorry about those messages. I was just, ya know, curious about the way you said goodbye, so that is what I meant about something wrong. Not that I think anything is wrong, I am just wondering if you think something is or could be wrong in a sort of wrong way that could be …ugh. Is there a delete button here?"

Nick took the phone into the kitchen, stuffed it into a cookie jar, took a shower, ran dripping wet to the phone to see if Jess had called, dried his hair with a towel, checked to see if he had missed Jess' call when he was drying his hair, stared at the fridge to figure out if he was hungry, stared at the cookie jar and …

… So leave me your name and number and I'll call ya right back, partner! BEEEEEP.

"So I was listening to reggae music and thought of you, so thought I would let you know I was thinking of you…. And now I am hoping you don't think that sounds creepy, since the last time I was listening to reggae music loudly, you walked in on me naked, and WHY CAN I NOT LEAVE A NORMAL MESSAGE?"

… call ya right back, partner! BEEEEEEP.

"Hey, sorry to yell at ya there. In fact, whatever it was I did, or will do from now until infinity, I am sorry, Jess. Just call me, okay?"

His phone rang just as he hung up with Jess' message. Nick scrambled to answer. "Jess?" he asked. His features fell. "Hi Big Bob…no sure…I can come in early. Nah, I'm not doing anything. I'll switch shifts with you." Nick hung up and stared down. "I hate phones," he mumbled, and got ready for work.

That night, Nick dragged himself home. Jess still had not called. Nick had gone from nervous to slightly panicked to angry, back to panicked, then finally to a resigned funk. He tossed his keys in a bowl by the door and headed to the couch, when he froze.

Jess sat, stone faced, on the couch. She crossed her arms and looked toward Nick, but did not face him. "Nick, sit down," she said in a voice he could not place. An icy fear gripped his stomach and his hands felt slightly numb. This is where she dumps you because you are a freakin' nutbag who stalked her the one time she was away from you, he told himself. But Nick eased himself into the soft, leather cushions of the couch, and faced her.

She brought one hand to her eyes and squeezed them tightly. "Nick," she said quietly. "I am sorry."

Nick's brows furrowed. He folded his hands into his lap. "Sorry, as in, sorry I know you, Nick, or…."

"As in I am sorry for leaving the way I did," she said. Nick opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him with a raised hand. "The last time I left on a trip, I came back and found out the person I trusted had lied to me, and my whole life turned upside down."

Spencer, he thought, his insides clenching – her former boyfriend.

"So I guess I was afraid to leave, because I did not want the same thing to happen," she said, looking down. "I know we have not defined this or anything, but it is important to me. Losing you would be …." she looked away.

Nick slid beside her. "Hey, Jess, I'm not Spencer. He was a total douchebag." She laughed, but hiccupped back a small sob. Nick slid his hand on her knee. "Jess, look at me."

She turned those big, blue eyes on Nick. Seeing them full of tears made his heart ache. "Nick, those messages…"

He sighed. "Yeah, I know, I'm an idiot."

Jess shook her head. "No, Nick, they were wonderful. I loved knowing that you were thinking of me, and dancing naked to reggae..."

"I wasn't naked this time."

"Shut up, Miller!" she yelled with a shaky laugh. "What I am saying is that I like you as an idiot!" She gave him a teary smile. "You thought of me while I was away. That means something to me."

Nick reached over and gently bushed a tear away from her cheek. "Of course I thought of you, Jess. It's you." He swallowed hard. "And Jess, this is important to me, too." He gave her a small smile as she pulled him in close for a slow and tender kiss.

"Oh, Nick?" she whispered. "If you had stayed on the line, there is an option to delete the message."

"What?!" he yelled. "Damn it!"