Author's Note:
In case you don't know the song "Tonight You Belong to Me",
or haven't heard it in awhile... you can cut and paste the following at YouTube dot com:
watch?v=pW5kKF-rlAs

(I suppose I should have linked Zooey's version, because, HELLO! :op
And I thought about linking the clip from "The Jerk" since this is from Nick's POV.
But in the end, I went with this version because it's just soooo sweet!)

Nick felt like a caveman, ignoring her resistance and literally dragging her off to her bedroom. He threw her on her bed, and stood there looking down at her for a second or two while he tried to catch his breath. She was panting too, sprawled in wild, indelicate beauty as she looked up at him with wide eyes, and he had to gulp hard as he took her in from head to foot. Her black outfit fit her like a damn glove, and from her impossibly tiny waist, to the gentle swell of her hips, every luscious curve was perfectly, distinctly show-cased.

Only Jess could still look so classy, and yet so completely, totally, irresistibly FUCKABLE at the same time.

He couldn't seem to stop the heaving of his chest, and his eyes narrowed darkly as he demanded in a low and dangerous voice, "Give me the condoms, Jess."

"What?!"

"HAND. ME. THE CONDOMS."

But when Jess just threw an arm across her face, he leaned over and roughly grabbed her hands. She wrestled with him feebly,as if she knew that this was a fight she would never win. And when she submitted, she went so suddenly, totally still, that they froze for a long moment or two, their faces mere inches apart, both breathing hard as brown eyes and blue eyes collided.

Then Nick shook himself back to reality and, forcibly peeling back her fingers, removed the condoms she was still holding onto for dear life, angrily heaving them across the room. "You're not going to be needing those tonight," he growled, as they bounced unceremoniously off the wall.

And later, Nick would reflect that that was about as close as he got to having Valentine's Day sex, that year.

"I'm going to go pick up the rest of that RIDICULOUSLY HUGE box of condoms, and then I'm REALLY going to need a beer," he groused. "Don't you DARE leave this room until I get back." He started to leave, but her little voice stopped him.

"Nick?"

"What?"

"Have we got any ice cream?"

"I don't know, Jess, I could look," he answered irritably.

"Can you please? I...I could really use some ice cream about now," she said, sitting up and swinging her booted legs around to dangle awkwardly off the edge of her bed. She took in a ragged breath, and ran an absent hand over her mussed hair. The slump of her shoulders and the watery state of her eyes were already enough to suddenly melt away his anger, but it was her pathetically sad little face that did him in. For some reason, he immediately flashed back all those months ago, to walking into that restaurant and seeing her waiting so forlornly for her no-show "rebound" date. And he marveled that even then, when he'd barely known her, his instinctive desire to preserve her happiness and innocence had already been so strong.

And now...well now, sometimes he felt like it was the fiercest and purest emotion he'd ever known, this intense protectiveness he inexplicably felt for her. So now, without even realizing he was using the endearment, he said in a gravely voice, "Baby girl, I will get you some ice cream. And then we're going to talk."

And a nameless emotion burned hot in his chest all the way across the loft and right up until the moment he stood there, gazing in dismay down at the pile of rubbers right outside Schmidt's door.

Right outside SCHMIDT'S door.

RIGHT OUTSIDE SCHMIDT'S DOOR!

The sobering knowledge of exactly what he'd barely-gotten-there-in-time-to-stop struck him all over again, and as he agitatedly scooped up the mess, his more noble emotions were replaced by something seething that, strangely, seemed to choose to settle in behind his eyes and make them sting.

He jerked open the fridge with way more aggression than was necessary, emitting a harsh curse when he saw there was only beer left. He grabbed the open bottle that someone had left in there (it really didn't matter who) and pounded it back, before grabbing the last one to go. And when he found half a gallon of Cherry Garcia in the freezer he muttered to himself that Jess had gotten lucky.

Because he was no longer feeling inspired to scour the city if necessary in order to to get her her sweet fix.

Returning to her room, he tossed the economy-sized prophylactic box on her bed and griped, "Jess, where do you even GO ABOUT buying a box of condoms that big?! Are there wholesale clubs for brothels or something?!"

The second he realized she wasn't even in the room, she returned from the bathroom, wrapping a band around the end of a long braid and crossing over to retrieve her glasses from the top of her bedside table. She pushed them up the bridge of her nose and looked at him slightly nervously, with round, unblinking eyes, like a damn baby owl. Dammiiiiiiiit, he thought, as he handed over her ice cream and spoon. Because he never could resist her when she looked like that...like she was about ten years old. He smiled inside as he noted the complete 180 her appearance had taken, and once again his roller-coaster emotions took an unexpected turn, the anger dimming in him as quickly as it had flared. Taking in the heart-strewn flannel pajamas she'd changed into, he sniffed ironically, "Believe it or not, I am now in possession of a matching pair of boxers." And he pulled them out of his jacket pocket and dangled them as proof.

"NO!" Jess celebrated, clearly delighted.

"Yes!" he affirmed. And just for the sake of eliciting one of her girlish little giggles, he put them on over his pants. "I'd just like to point out, this is the second time tonight I've been wearing my underwear on the OUTside, which would seem to logically indicate that my night has actually been MUCH more exciting than it's really been." He snapped the elastic waistband into place and surveyed them ruefully. "I'm starting to think these things are like an enchanted chastity belt out of a twisted fairytale, or something."