Aftershocks

YOU KNOW I HAD TO DO THIS. I am absolutely blown away by that kiss, my heart just completely melted into goo. My babies! So this is my take on the aftermath of all that kissing goodness, just for you. Here we go! Please review!

Aftershocks

"You'd thought about it."

It was abrupt and presumptuous, and the last thing Nick had been expecting to hear. He groans into his pillow and sits up in bed, blinking rapidly to clear the sleep from his eyes. At first he wonders if it had been a dream, that he was imagining hearing her voice (it wouldn't be surprising, every time he shut his eyes his vision swam with pools of blue and lips kissed a deep red) but then, his vision centred and focussed in on the figure stood at his doorway.

"Jess?" He questions, squinting his eyes and noticing how she fidgets with the hem of her robe. "What time is it? Where's Sam?" Nick asks, looking around for a clock, hoping that he could use it as a ruse so he wouldn't have to meet her eyes.

"Five in the morning. And gone. Do not bring him into this." She lightly pushes his door shut and moves further into his room, and Nick felt his heart rate increase as he absorbed her words. Sam was gone? Why? Was it because of him? Them? He couldn't even afford to entertain it. But the feel of her lips on his and the slight sigh of contentment that brushed across his lips as he held her so close… Surely, she felt it too.

Jess perches on the end of his bed and rests her head in her hands, rubbing her forehead tiredly. Nick wriggles uncomfortably under his sheets, lifting a hand to scratch at the back of his neck, completely unsure of what to say. He wasn't used to being uncomfortable around her. It was usually playful teasing and giggles and even sometimes to odd word of comfort. Never this. Two people completely unsure of each other; almost like strangers. And though he could see her, see the tears shining in her eyes and the way she worried her lip between her teeth, she'd never felt further away.

"I haven't slept at all," She says in a breathy tone, voice laced with amusement. Abruptly she turns to look at him. "Can't seem to get you out of my head, Miller." Her words reverberate around the silent room and Nick feels them settle in his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Jess' gaze alternates between her fingernails and hasty glances in his direction, searching for answers in his face he was simply unable to give.

"If it helps," Nick murmurs, voice rough from fatigue and this strange burning in his chest. "I can't stop thinking about you either."

More silence. The sides of her mouth turn up slightly at the sides in a half smile as she hugs her knees to her chest, and he runs his hand through his already sleep mussed hair, trying to regulate his breathing. Jess stifles a yawn on the back of her hand.

"It's over. With Sam I mean. " It comes out rather rushed and she clasps her hand over her mouth as soon as she'd said it, almost immediately regretting the words. Nick's eyebrows flew upwards as his eyes widened in surprise, and he choked on the breath he was taking. She's blushing furiously now and focussing on the pattern in her nightgown, tracing her fingers over the fabric. A sudden compulsion to comfort her overwhelms him, and her eyes widen as the bedsprings squeak with his movement. A gentle hand brushes the side of her face and her stomach erupts in thousands of dancing fairies, all singing his name.

"Is it because of…?" He lets the sentence linger on, unsure if he should bring up their moment. All at once Jess seems to become aware of their proximity, and she furrows her brows slightly as she musters up enough willpower to shift just slightly out of his one armed embrace, so their arms rested just next to each other, brushing only occasionally. Nick's eyes flash in confusion, before he hardens his gaze, sure that now was not the time to get into an argument.

"Us?" Jess finishes his question, looking him boldly in the eye for the first time. "Yep. That's why. I never was much of a 'keep it under wraps kind of girl' was I?" The ghost of a smile smirks across his face.

"Oh, right." Nick murmurs, unsure of what to say again.

"Yeah, right." Jess recites quietly. Another yawn escapes her lips and Nick glances at her, at the red rimmed eyes and tousled hair, dried tear tracks down her face. An uncomfortable feeling gnaws in his stomach, telling him to laugh it off and tell her it was all a joke and that she should call Sam and he'd apologise and all would be happy and merry and for him, miserable once again. She'd sleep across the hall and he'd dream about her, about her eyes and her smile and the way she laughed. They'd watch movies together and he'd throw a blanket across her if she fell asleep, perhaps press an innocent kiss to her forehead. He'd pick her up if her car broke down and grunt at her to stop singing show tunes when he woke up, grumpy and sad eyed. He'd content himself with stolen glances and the memory of her soft curves under his hands and the way her hair felt running through his fingers and the way he finally felt like everything would be good, be right, because he was finally holding her. He'd be in love with her when she wasn't looking, and that would be okay.

But there was something else, something the taste of her had awoken. A fire. It made him want to throw caution to the wind and kiss her again until their thoughts and doubts were nothing but memories, nothing but stories they couldn't quite remember the end of. He'd call her his girlfriend and he'd be allowed to kiss her when he wanted and hold her hand when they were out together. They'd watch movies together sprawled across the couch and he'd alternate between the screen and watching her, watching the way her chest rose and fell and the way her eyes looked when she was getting tired. He'd wake up to her bright eyes and toothy smile and the smell of daffodils. He'd be Nick and she would be Jess and they would be together. He'd be allowed to love her all time. One day he'd watch her walk down the aisle to him with flowers twisted in her hair.

That image had lodged itself quite prominently in his brain, with the slightest touch of her lips, and he couldn't seem to let it go. So they sat, silence swallowing them once more.

"Nick, you still haven't answered my question," Jess says delicately, meeting his eyes once more. He swallows. "You'd thought about it. Us. Kissing me. Hadn't you?" He shuffles just slightly, trying to distance himself from her just enough so that her presence wouldn't overwhelm his senses but she quickly darted a hand out to rest, just lightly, over his, effectively stilling him.

"Yes, I'd thought about kissing you, Jess. I'd thought about it a lot." Nick says, figuring that all airs should be abandoned now, no more lying, no more denying. It was time to get real with her. "Hell, I think about you a whole damn lot." The hand over his tightened at his words and Nick felt himself flush with pleasure at the small gesture, smiling tightly.

"Why?" Jess questions, voice barely above a whisper. Nick hesitates just for a moment, mouth forming the correct words.

"Because I like you Jess, I like you a lot." Nick shrugs in a manner that he hopes tells her that he'd stopped controlling the way he felt about her, that he'd told his head to shut the hell up and let his heart take the lead from now on. He wonders for a second if he'd said the right thing because she was staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face, her pretty mouth set into a hard line and her gaze wide and unblinking.

Then she was on top of him. Her grip was tight around his neck as the momentum of her sudden movement sent them both flying backward, so that she lay on top of him on his bed. Her gaze was so strong but her eyes so unsure, they were glistening with tears and a few had escaped, running slowly down her cheeks. Nick reached up and brushed them delicately away, Jess' eyes fluttering shut as his touch. Their lips meet for the second time and it's fuelled with as much passion as earlier in the night but this time they were both so much more confident, so much more prepared. Hands are everywhere as their mouths duel in ferocious battle, sighs and low moans escaping their lips and mixing with the silent air.

She pulled away from him and looks at him softly; his closed eyes and puckered lips. It's all falling into place.

"This is it Nick, this is us. We cannot mess this up." She traces the contours of his face with delicate hands and he kisses her fingertips.

"We won't Jess. I promise, I promise." Nick murmurs, burying his face in her neck and inhaling the scent of her. How could he mess this up? It's everything he needed, right here.

A silence engulfs them once more, but this time it's comfortable. They lay in his bed, her head on his chest, lulled to sleep by his heartbeat, as he twirls her hair around his finger. Nick Miller jumped into the ocean, left the wallets unattended, and became the guy he swore he'd never be. Pressing a kiss to Jess' hair, he realised that he would almost certainly getting no sleep that night, transfixed by the way her chest rose and fell and the light she radiated from the strips of pale dawn that crept in from his window. As she wriggled even closer to him, a sleepy moan escaping her lips, he realised that he almost certainly didn't care.