Author's Note:
Based on the second New Girl ep, "Kryptonite".
Just a bit of "for the fun of it" fluff, mostly to say goodbye to Coach. :o)
But also to show another step or two in how Jess is really settling into their lives and becoming part of them. :o)

(I add the "romance" labels to these stories just because we ALL know that's where this is going, and I enjoy showing it sloooooowly unfold. ;o))

"Jess, you knew him for, like, a month."

"I can't help it Nick!" she sniffed, blotting at her red eyes, "I didn't think I'd have to let him go so soon!"

Schmidt rolled his eyes, "Jess, it was always understood that Coach was just holding the lease for Winston while he was in Latvia. We all knew this day would come."

"I didn't know! No one told me! Don't you think this should have been pertinent information to share during the roommate interview? Something like this could really have swayed my decision to move in. I DON'T HANDLE LOSING PEOPLE VERY WELLLLLLL!" She ended on a wail.

"Loook, uhhh...Jess," Coach's uncomfortable eyes rested every place in the room otherthan on Jess's splotchy, snotty little face. "Ummmm...I'll come back and visit...I'm...suuuure..."

"But will you be ok without us?" she asked, blowing her nose really loudly.

"For God's sake Jess," Nick exploded, "He's a grown man! Not an eight year old on his first trip to summer camp!"

"Yeah," added Schmidt, "You're acting like your only son and heir to the plantation has just decided to join the Union Army."

"STOP IT!" Coach finally yelled, and Nick and Schmidt began nodding their agreement...before noticing that it wasn't Jess he was yelling at-it was them.

COACH, of all people, had walked over and was patting Jess's shoulder with a clumsy, awkward hand that didn't really seem to know what to with itself. And he was giving THEM a dirty look.

A dirty look which faltered under their incredulous return-stares, and he self-consciously broke off mid-pat, muttering, "She's going to miss me. I think that's...sweet."

"SOOOO, anywayyyy," Schmidt said eyes wide at the strangeness of the moment, before trying to change the subject, "How are we going to spend Coach's last night here?"

"I think we should go to the zoo!" Jess perked up to offer.

Nick and Schmidt laughed their scorn. "Oh sure, like Coach is going to want to go to the ZOO. Yeah, right."

Nick finished chuckling, and said, "I think we should let this be Coach's call, don't you? How about it Coach, what do you want to do for our last hurrah?"

"Yeah," Schmidt chimed in, "One last roommate night-on-the-town, before you leave us. You name it...hookah lounge...a little drag strip action...cigar bar...OOOO! Bros! TATTOOS!..."

Coach muttered something indistinguishable.

"What's that, buddy?"

"Say what?"

Because he couldn't have said what they thought he said.

"I SAID, I THINK," he erupted angrily, before calming himself with visible effort, "...I think we should...I think we should go...to...the zoo." And with his last word, he finally met Jess's eyes...Jess's eyes that were now raised up from her tissue, and were starting to glow with happy plans.

Nick just pulled the most incredulous turtle face on record, while Schmidt shook his head in disbelief and said, "I think it's time for you to move on, man. Because I don't even know who you are, anymore. It's like living with stranger. It's extremely discomfiting. EXTREMELY! DISCOMFITING!"

And thaaaat was how they all ended up at the zoo.

"Jess, I haven't been to the zoo since I was twelve years old," Nick griped.

"Then you're nearly 20 years over-due!" she chirped, handing over the money for her ticket.

"I went once when I was 16," said Schmidt, "But only because I was trying to make time with a honey."

"Did it work?"

"Snake cave action, man." At their slightly horrified looks he said, "No, I mean, that's not a euphemism. I kissed her in the snake cave."

"What about you Coach," asked Nick, pushing his way through the entry turnstiles. "When's the last time you went to the zoo?"

"Ummmm..."

"Listen," Schmidt said, "don't let us intimidate you. If it was last year, it was last year. There's no shame in being a man who also enjoys viewing exotic animals living in luxurious captivity."

"Ummmm, actually...I've never been to the zoo before."

"What?"

"Never?"

"And you guys wonder why he's angry all the time!" said Jess, running a soothing little hand down their muscled friend's arm. "Oh Coach, we're going to have so much fun today, it's going to save you YEARS of therapy! OOOO! LOOK! SEALS!"

She sprinted ahead, with Schmidt ("Are you kidding? I LOVE seals!") surprisingly in pursuit, while Nick hung back for a minute with Coach.

"Dude, you've never been to a zoo? Why does that feel so heavy? I feel like you just told me that your dog died, or something."

Coach tried to shrug it off, but DAMN, it looked like the big guy was about to cry. Apparently this was a "thing" with him. And Nick realized that just because you live with someone, it doesn't mean you know them.

Well, unless you're Jess. And then you're up in everyone's business all the time, nagging them to "talk about your feelings".

But Nick had to smile and admit that, for once, it looked like something good was about to come from that.

He laughed, and hit Coach on the arm, "Come on, Teddy Bear...let's go check out some seals".

At the end of the day they sat in their favorite yogurt shoppe, quietly licking away at their spoons. Sweaty, dusty, sore feet and all: fabulously happy.

"You know what Jess, I have to hand it to you," Nick said, "that was pretty fun."

"'Pretty fun'?" Schmidt challenged him, "Today was EPIC. I mean, even aside from the three sets of digits I picked up from hot zoo keepers...the zoo is LEGIT, man."

"You know the best thing about it?" Jess asked.

"The balloons?" Nick teased, tugging on the bouquet of them that she'd insisted on bringing inside, and tying on the back of her ice-cream-parlor-style chair.

"Balloons are ALWAYS great," she said fondly. "But NO. The best thing about today is that no matter where we all go in life from here, Coach is ALWAYS going to remember this day. And he is always going to remember US. Because everyone remembers their first trip to the zoo. That will be our legacy."

And with that, she seemed to make her peace with Coach's eminent departure. He wasn't ever one for many words, much less sentimental ones, but he was smiling his thanks at her, and she was smiling back. That angellic smile that she sometimes had...that smile that said that the world was a happy place, and that even when it wasn't, good could come from bad. And even though he knew that wasn't always true, this time Nick couldn't resist smiling along, and wanting to believe that she was right.

Because today, she really was.