Yes, I'm terrible with titles, and yes this is another type of "what if" fanfic. I like to think Nick looked after Jess for comfort in the middle of the night after they got back from Chicago, but we just didn't see it on screen. And well, now we're seeing on fanfiction.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm not a native english speaker and I don't have a beta. I don't even know how this thing works lol.

Hope you all enjoy (:

Oh, and I don't own New Girl or any of its characters... Obviously.

Walt's dead. Dead.

Nick left his mom alone back home, and now he has to go back to live his ordinary life in LA again, like nothing happened. But something did happen: His dad is dead. He's gonna take some time to get used to it.

He doesn't wants to cry. Instead, what he wants to do the most is to hug his dad and say a proper goodbye. But his dad isn't there anymore, so the second thing he wants to do the most it's to hug Jess, and she's there, she's always there, so that's what he does. He goes to her room, where she's probably sleeping right now, and only hesitates once before knocking on the door. When she opens it, his mind goes blank and he just hugs her tightly, and they stay like that for a moment, in a lovely embrace.

She doesn't say anything, doesn't question it. Instead, she hugs him back, tightly, hands around his neck, caressing his hair and sniffing, like she's trying not to cry.

And that's when he starts to cry. Burying his face deeper on her collar bone, without making much noise, holding her even more tightly, to the point that he's almost strangling her, but he doesn't care. He just never wants to let go of her. Never. And to his surprise, Jess starts to plant soft kisses on his neck, moving to his cheek and letting go of the tight embrace to look deep into his eyes, settling both hands on his shoulders, while his hands remain circling her waist.

Nick keeps his eyes closed, afraid that when he opens them he'll see a look of pity on hers. He absolutely hates when people pity him. But eventually he gives in… Most specifically when she puts her soft hands on his face and whispers his name, so softly and quietly that if he stepped back an inch he probably wouldn't have heard it.

"Nick?" She says it again, probably thinking he actually didn't heard the first time.

When he opens his eyes, his jaw falls instantly. It's not pity that he sees on her eyes. No… It's something else. Something he can't quite decipher, but definitely not pity. She's smiling at him warmly, looking straight into his soul, her eyes full of tears on the verge of falling down. It might look like a face of pity to some people, but no, that's not pity.

That's when he kisses her.

Abruptly, with no warning. His hands on her face, holding it in place. It's a quick kiss. Actually, more like just his lips pressed tightly on hers, and their arms kinda fighting for space since they're both holding each other's face. And when he pulls back, he thinks that at least now he can read her face. It's definitely a shocked face, and his definetly doesn't looks much different.

"You stole my move" she says and laughs softly. But he can even form proper words, so he just says "What?" And she laughs again. The sound like music to his ears. "I was preparing myself to do that and you did it first... You know, kissing you..."

He smiles widely. And his sadness it's almost gone for a second. "I planned to do it more properly though… You know, Nick Miller style." Jess completes. "Well, I'm waiting" he says, hands going down back to her waist.

She leans in oh so slowly, as his heart starts to beat faster, and his face starts to feel hotter but then… She stops (sort of), millimeters from him, and instead of kissing him, she just touches his lips with hers very slightly, sliding against it, feeling it while it trembles a little. Nick opens his eyes and looks at her intently. Her eyes are still closed, her expression indecipherable again, but since he's not trying to decipher her now, he just goes all in and kisses her, this time properly, "Nick Miller style".

His hands circle her waist tightly, his chest pressed hard against hers, her hands caressing his scruff and she whimpers (he thinks), while he keeps kissing her with all this crazy intensity, like they're star crossed lovers and haven't seen each other for ever (when truly, they've just spent 4 hours sitting next to each other on a plane, and then watching some television on the living room). His tongue slides against hers, and everything is as slow as it is intense in this give and take. His body starts to feel hot and he hugs her even tighter than before, if that's even possible.

When they finally pull apart, Jess is breathing hard, eyes closed, and he can see her lips are red, and also her face (she's so damn white and he's rocking some scruff right now). He puts one of his hands into her cheek and caress it softly.

"Stay with me tonight." he whispers. Then quickly corrects himself "I, can I stay here with you tonight?". She finally opens her eyes and nods, a smile showing up on her face. She takes his hand on hers and leads him to bed, as they start arranging the blankets to lie down in bed.

They settle for lying down facing each other, only their knees touching. Jess carefully puts her hand between them, searching for his, and when she finds it she just holds to it and close her eyes.

Her room smells like strawberry, he thinks. Her blankets are soft, and the sound of the rain hitting her window is the perfect lullaby.

So much could be happening right now... He could be kissing her, they could be cuddling each other, or even having sex. Anyone would probably think this is such a wasted oportunity, but no, not for him. He feels safe and calm, his heart feels warm, and for the first time since her mom told him Walt was dead, he fell asleep just right, and didn't have any nightmares to wake him up in the middle of the night.