First New Girl fic. Eep! *is nervous* Nick/Jess friendship with a little hint of maybe more in the future. Spoilers for speculation on unaired episodes (well, one storyline) so turn away now if you know nothing and want to stay that way.


When Nick asks her for advice one day on what flowers he should buy for Caroline, Jess can only just resist telling him not to bother. She, like their other roommates, is certain the relationship will be over before the flowers have begun to wilt.

She doesn't want it to be, not really – for his sake, anyway. As much as she loathes Caroline ('loathes' is a good word, she decided one drunken night with Cece. 'Hate' is too strong but 'dislike' doesn't seem strong enough), she hates the thought of Nick being hurt again.

Instead, she gives him her best diplomatic smile, puts her own feelings aside, and advises him that he should chose whichever flower he feels suits Caroline best.

(A cactus comes to mind instantly but Jess bites her tongue. One, because it might remind him of another ex-girlfriend and two because she doesn't want him knowing how much she really, really loathes his former-ex-now-current girlfriend.)

Nick gives her his traditional upturned smile in return, making her heart both flutter and ache simultaneously in her chest. His brow furrows and he thanks her for her advice in a tone of voice that suggests she's been no help at all before leaving her alone on the couch, going off to hunt out Schmidt and Winston and ask for their advice, Jess is sure.

Alone with her thoughts, Jess stares blankly at the television.

Spencer never bought her flowers, she remembers, waiting for the usual pang that strikes her when she thinks of her ex, blinking in surprise when it doesn't come. She remembers him bringing her daisies on Valentine's Day once, recalls the long speech he gave her about having picked them himself rather than spend a small fortune on shop bought flowers.

She'd thought it romantic at the time; now she sees the gesture for what it really was. A cheap attempt at making it look like he'd remembered it was Valentine's Day, an attempt at making it look like he'd been thinking about her.

Even though her relationship with Paul had been short-lived, he'd bought her a rose once, from a street vender on their way back from dinner out. She'd taken the flower with a smile and a kiss as that was what was expected of her.

Roses, especially of the red variety, were pretty enough but she thought they were too common, too traditional. Red roses were supposed to be romantic but, in Jess's mind, red roses were an easy way of making a gesture without thinking about the person it was being made to.

(And, her mind added guiltily, roses bought on the street reminded her not of her ex-boyfriend, but of a certain roommate.)

Russell bought her roses once, too, trying to impress her on a date. He must've seen something in her face, though, because for their next date, he'd foregone the roses and settled on orchids instead. Beautiful, exotic, expensive orchids that had taken her breath away... and left her feeling more than a little out of her comfort zone.

She wasn't an orchid kind of girl, really. No more than she was a red roses kind of girl. The daisies, loathe as she was to admit it - and there was that word again - were probably more her kind of flower than any of the others.

Not that she'd ever tell Spencer that. Oh, no. That ship had well and truly sailed – and sunk.


Time passes, Nick buys Caroline roses and, a few weeks later, Jess comes home to find him sitting on the couch, empty beer bottles scattered on the table and floor around him as Schmidt and Winston do their best to cheer him up.

Caroline has dumped him again, to no one's surprise but Nick's.

Really, Jess thinks, for someone so cynical, he can be quite naive when it comes to the pretty blond who's made it a hobby to trample on his heart.

She plays the part of dutiful friend and housemate, assuring him he did nothing wrong, that the break-up wasn't his fault and he deserves better than Caroline. She, Schmidt and Winston take it in turns to stay up late with their nocturnal friend, letting him cry on their shoulders – literally – and listening to his often slurred ramblings that he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life.

As days turn into weeks and weeks into a month, Schmidt and Winston either lose patience or find themselves distracted by their own relationships.

Jess stays loyal; foregoing the hours of beauty sleep Cece keeps telling her she should have in order to keep Nick company.

She doesn't notice when their late night conversations stop being about Caroline and the disaster she left in her wake but gradually, Nick gets over his break-up and they start talking about other things instead.

Her birthday rolls around before she knows it and, while hoping for some kind of reaction from her roommates, Jess isn't expecting it. So she's pleasantly surprised when the guys make her breakfast before she has to leave for work – pancakes with strawberries and ice cream – and feels something in her chest grow warm when Schmidt grumblingly admits that Nick's idea was a good one after he's eaten a small stack of pancakes of his own.

She goes to school thinking that's it, that's the extent of their contribution to her birthday celebrations but, again, she's surprised when she gets home.

Cece, Sadie, Shelby and a couple of other people she knows are there when she gets to the loft, invited by the guys to a small but no less enjoyable birthday dinner party in which far too much alcohol is drank to be sensible on a week night.

Along with the party, Jess finds herself surrounded by several brightly wrapped presents – a gift voucher to a pamper day from Cece, a bottle of her favourite perfume from Sadie, a box of her favourite chocolates from Shelby and a gift voucher from the guys promising she won't have to do the grocery shopping for a month and will vacate their loft so she can have a girl's night in (or a night in with the beau of her choice, Schmidt adds with a waggle of his eyebrows) without being interrupted.

Jess accepts the presents with a laugh and a hug, making sure no one is missed and using the pink wine she's drank as an excuse when she maybe lingers a second or two longer when hugging a certain single roommate.

Not that she needs an excuse, she realises; no one else noticed and Nick wasn't complaining.

As the night draws to an end, Jess thanks each of her roommates again, announcing without any sarcasm that they helped make it her best birthday ever.

Less than five minutes after setting foot in her bedroom, Jess realises that it just got better.

Sitting in a jug on the drawers next to her bed is a bunch of the cheeriest, happiest, Jess-like flowers she could imagine.

Sunflowers.

Her favourite, though she can't remember ever telling anyone that.

Giddiness makes her dizzy but she makes her way across the room to the small card propped up against the jug. It's a business card from the bar but the message scrawled across the back more than makes up for that.

'Jess,

Happy Birthday – thanks for everything, you're the best.

Nick.'


End.