*Edited to fix names. I had a different name for Michelle until I read online that Michelle was the name of this future character. Sorry for the confusion!

Chapter 1

Nick Miller sat on his bed, his head in his hands.

How could this have happened? He wondered to himself. He kept replaying things over and over in his mind.

It all started last week when that lady moved in downstairs. Michelle.

Michelle knocked on the door at apartment 4D early Sunday morning. Nick was the only one home. Jess was out doing some female bonding activity with Cece. Winston and Coach were off at some shooting range helping Winston get prepared for entering the police academy. Michelle had dark brown hair that reminded him of Jess, her green eyes piercing and nothing like the bright blues of his girlfriend's.

"Hey," she stood at the door, hands in her pockets, "I just moved in downstairs. I was wondering if you had a box cutter I could borrow. I seemed to have misplaced it during the move."

"I think I have one in my room, let me go check," He let her in while he went to find his.

He went into his room. He was pretty sure that his box cutter was in his top drawer of his dresser. He had it leftover from when he almost moved in with Caroline over a year ago, and knew it would come in handy someday. Take that Schmidt. Schmidt had always given him a hard time for hanging onto it. He rummaged through the drawer, sure that it was in there. He spotted it in the corner, buried under his zombie novel Z is for Zombie. He turned around to leave when he saw Michelle standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

He was making a turtle face at her when she asked, "You like the Bulls?"

"Huh? What? Oh," realization coming to him, "Yeah, I'm from Chicago, of course I like the Bulls."

"No way!" She entered his room and sat on his bed, making Nick's eyes go wide, "I'm from Chicago too! That's where I just moved from!"

"That, uh, that's cool. It's nice to meet fellow Chicagoans." He started towards his room door, wanting to get her out of there as soon as possible. He didn't like having another girl on his bed that wasn't Jess. "I found that box cutter for ya. You can keep it."

"Thanks," She got upoff the bed and followed him out of the room. He handed her the cutter, opening the door for her to leave.

"So how long have you lived out here?" She folded her arms, cocking her head to the side.

Nick sighed to himself, "I moved out here for school, so it's been 20 years or something. I've lost count really."

"Well maybe you could show me around LA sometime," she smiled.

"I, uh don't really think that my" the elevator door dinged open and out walked Jess and Cece. "Jess!" he was so happy to see her, he just couldn't get this girl to leave. "This is Michelle, from Chicago. She just moved in downstairs."

"Hi Michelle," Jess set her grocery bag on the ground so she could shake Michelle's hand. "Welcome to Los Angeles. Just a little advice, be careful around Remy, and watch out for outside Dave. Other than that, this is a pretty great place to live."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again Nick, I'll be sure to bring this back when I'm finished with it." She left, walking down the hall.

"She seems nice," said Jess as she picked up her bag and walked inside the apartment.

"Ha!" Cece laughed. "Did you not see the way she walked off? Her hips were swinging wider than a swing set. She is not a nice girl, I should know."

"Oh come on Cece, she's new here, she's probably just trying to impress people."

The girls went to the kitchen and put the groceries away.

Later that night, as Nick and Jess lay in bed, Nick couldn't help but feel bad, like he'd done something wrong.

"Jess I have to confess something."

"Mhm?" Jess said into Nick's chest, her head nestled against his chin.

"Michelle was in my room earlier. She sat on our bed."

Jess sat up a little to look at Nick's face. She had a little smile on her lips. "That's it? That's your confession?" She laughed.

"Yeah it is. I felt bad for having another woman on my bed besides you. You're the only woman I want in or on this bed." He searched her face to make sure she really wasn't upset at all about this. He hated when Jess was hurt, especially when he was at fault.

"It's okay Nick. I'm not upset," she kissed him softly on the lips, then looked into his brown eyes. "I trust you, and I love you Nick Miller."

He smiled at that. Hearing her say those words will never cease to amaze him. "I love you too Jessica Day." He pulled her close to him, kissing her deeply, showing her what he couldn't say with words.