Just a heads up before you go on to the story.

This Nick isn't the creepy, completely out-of-character Nick we've seen for the last couple episodes. This is the Nick we all loved, the real one, the one that fell in love with Jess the moment she walked through the door- the one I'm sure will be back soon.

This story was inspired by a prompt that will hopefully remain AU.

"Don't. Don't you dare touch me", Jess says, and yanks her hand away from his grasp. He takes a step towards her but she takes one back and her back hits his door.

"Fuck you, Nick", she spits out, and before he can even blink she's stormed out of his room, slamming the door closed behind her.

His cheek is still red and sore, but the pain caused by her harsh slap is nothing compared to what he feels inside.

And the worst thing is, he knows he deserves it. He deserves her anger, and he deserves her hate.

xxxx

"How could you do that, Nick?", she asks him, her voice cracking as she unsuccessfully fights back tears.

"Just… in my bed?", she repeats, because she knows she heard him right the first and second time but her brain keeps screaming at her that it can't be true. He just stares at her, and there's nothing else he can't say at this point that will make it better, so he just apologizes one more time and watches as she closes her eyes and presses her hands to her temples. He takes a step towards her, and his hand reaches out to grab hers. He's never seen her move away from him that fast, her eyes filled with anger and tears.

xxxx

The slamming of the door is still resounding in his ears when he slides to the floor, buries his head in his hands, and for the first time in years, cries until he can't anymore.

She moves out of the loft a week later, because Cece and Schmidt have their own place now and she needs to get away from him. Cece tries to talk her out of it, tells her she might be overreacting and asks her to think about it, but she ends up helping Jess find a single room apartment and doesn't say anything when Jess signs the lease straight away. She is sure of her decision, that's what she keeps telling Cece and herself over and over again. Just being around him knowing that not only he isn't hers anymore, but that he could so easily replace her- in every way- made her stomach churn in pain.

She needs to get away from him.

Jess doesn't tell him she's moving out, but when he comes home from work one night and all her things are gone it's Winston that tells him. Nick freezes on the spot, and he can't believe she would do this, can't believe she would do this to him.

He calls her phone then, but she –surprisingly- doesn't pick up. Winston retreats quietly to his room, but Nick follows him and begs him to tell him where she is, because he needs to see her and talk to her right now. Winston promised he wouldn't tell, but he also said he's not a smooth man and so within five minutes Nick is speeding down the street to get to her place, the address burned in his memory as he repeats it over and over again.

He has to tell her again, he has to make her listen to him and he has to keep himself from losing her for good. His insistent pounding on her door doesn't last long, because she jerks it open and he's met with her blank eyes as she glares at him.

His words die in his throat when he sees nothing but emptiness staring back at him. None of the anger, pain and disappointment from last time, and he shivers because her emotionless eyes hurt a thousand times more than all the yelling and screaming he had expected.

"What do you want, Nick?", she asks him tiredly, and thinks damn Winston and his smoothness.

He keeps just staring at her, desperate to make his thoughts into coherent words and make her listen to him, but when he apologizes one more time and begs her to come back home, she lifts her hand up and stops his shaky speech.

"It's over, Nick", she says then. She can feel the burning of tears in her eyes and her heart breaks at his imploring gaze, but she's tired, she's so tired, and she also can't get the image of Nick and She-who-shan't-be-named in her bed.

Of Nick laughing with the other woman the way he used to do with her. Of him making love to the other woman the way he used to do with her.

"Jessica, please", he tries again, because he is not about to give up. He feels his eyes burning with unshed tears but he's so terrified at the thought of losing her that he doesn't care. "You have to believe me when I say it didn't mean anything. Nothing, Jess, I swear."

But she just shakes her head and even though her heart is pounding in her chest and screaming at her that he is telling the truth, that it really didn't mean anything to him, she can't bring herself to let go of the thought of it all.

"Nick, I just can't. I'm so… tired of this", she says, and her previous coldness has been replaced by a soft and shaky whisper. She's still looking at him, but he's not sure she's actually seeing him. "I need a break, Nick", she says, "I can't do this anymore."

"Please", he says, just one more time. "I'll do anything, Jess" he tells her, and he really means it. "God, Jess, please."

But she shakes her head again and sniffles through her nose, whispers a "goodnight, Nick", and lets the door close between them.