Disclaimer: I'm unaffiliated with Fox, New Girl, Iphone, Samsung, and whatever else I mention in this.

The past week had been a little more tense between Nick and Jess but between their schedules, they had barely seen each other and unintentionally avoided each other for the most part. They weren't exactly mad at each other – there was just a lot of love and heartbreak at the forefront of their minds due to the recent 'anniversary' and it was difficult to be so close all the time, but tonight Jess was going out to Clyde's with the guys and she made the conscious decision not to let things get awkward because she really did miss him.

Nick placed three beers in front of the guys without needing to ask them before turning to Jess. "Red wine?"

"Please" She tried to think of a conversation starter but he beat her to it.

"So how was work?" He smiled as he placed her drink down in front of her.

"Work was good. Oh! I have a new student in my class" she smirked before adding; "Her name is Rainbow and she has a sister in the grade below called Moonbeam." Nick shook his head with a laugh before he swallowing hard, keeping the smile on his face.

"Are you saying you wouldn't let me name our kid Rainbow?" he laughed. Jess' eyes continued to shine but she narrowed them and tilted her head slightly in question and surprise.

"Are you saying you would want to call our kid Rainbow?" she smiled over the rim of her glass. He wasn't sure if she was asking him about the name or the elephant in the conversation.

"Or hey, I know! How about Strawberry?!" he suggested with a chuckle. "Reginald isn't sounding so bad now is it?"

Nick watched her closely as she threw back her head and laughed. Their friendship had never dissolved entirely but it was much more strained and these moments between them were so much fewer. He'd forgotten how much he loved this, how much he loved- he swallowed hard. If he was going to do this, he was going to have to be all in; how much he loved her.

"Actually Nick, that doesn't sound so bad. Oh look how much little Strawberry has grown! It's got a nice ring to it."

"Jessica Day you are not naming our baby Strawberry!" he laughed, meeting her gaze and instantly changing the mood.

"Our baby..." she repeated quietly, staring into her wine. Their laughter had faded and the atmosphere thickened.

Nick opened his mouth to reply when they heard a loud smash from beside them.

"Winston that's like the third one this year man." Schmidt laughed.

"Shrimp forks" Coach laughed. Winston was already beginning to pick up the larger pieces of his bottle from the floor. Nick broke his gaze from Jess to grab a dustpan and brush to clean up the mess.

Jess flopped down onto her bed with her hands pressed against her eyes. She wasn't sure if it was excitement or nervousness creating the whirling in her stomach, but mostly she was just confused. Was that just a slip of the tongue left over from when they were dating? No, he said it several times and with that purposeful smirk. Was he just being snidey about the fact that she had ended it a year ago over the very issue of their future and kids? No, he wouldn't try to hurt her. Maybe he just dug himself into a hole he couldn't get out of. But he directed the conversation that way – he was doing this intentionally! She wasn't exactly smiling because she was mostly just bewildered but Jess couldn't help but wonder if maybe when Nick pictured his future, he saw her as a part of it... and their child apparently. She buried her face in her pillow and screamed lightly, wondering if she would ever have any idea what was going on between her and Nick.

The clock finally signaled the end of Nick's shift and he welcomed the cool breeze as he walked home. His plan was in motion and it seemed to be going well. She hadn't flipped out or started panic-babbling. She seemed to play along. That wasn't the important part though. The important part was whether or not she was still thinking about him and realizing he was far from finished with her. Only time would tell but he had nothing left to lose. He realized now that before, he was so hooked on trying to salvage their friendship, but now that amazing close friendship was more of a memory than a reality and if there was any chance of him keeping her in his life for the long-haul, it was worth the risk.

It couldn't be like last time though. If he was going to get her back, if he was going to keep her, he would have to do everything in his power to get it right.

The next morning, Nick groaned at the sound of his alarm going off – especially when he glanced at his clock and saw that it wasn't even seven o'clock yet. He remembered why he had decided to put himself through this torture and swung his legs out of bed. He stumbled to the kitchen and did something he hadn't done for a year – he made a cup of Earl Grey tea. He'd done it at least once or twice a week for nearly ten months and had resented the box in the cupboard ever since.

He picked up the mug (the one with the cats – the only one she drank out of in the mornings) and hesitated. Part of his little ritual was to place it on Jess' bedside table for her to find when she woke, sometimes with a cheesy little note, then return to their bed and fall back asleep until she kissed his forehead on her way out. She would then tiptoe out of the room, not realizing that those kisses woke him up every single time, but Nick was happy not to let her know that. He realized that entering her room would be inappropriate and settled for the kitchen counter. He started to leave but was suddenly worried she wouldn't know it was for her. When he noticed the kittens with the pink and purple bows on her mug, sitting in front of her stool, he decided that a note would be too much and left it as it was.

Jess woke up with a spring in her step. It wasn't that she was all that much of a morning person, but her debating with herself over Nick had put her to sleep quickly and she felt refreshed, though no less confused. Her naturally upturned lips quickly faltered when she reached the kitchen though. Jess had three rules; don't touch her yarn, don't let any spoilers about the Walking Dead slip (no matter how long she went without watching it), and don't use her morning mug. Ughhh! They hadn't even had the decency to wash it! When she reached it however, she saw that it was actually full and she could smell that it was tea. Schmidt was gone already and the other boys didn't drink tea, yet here was the drink she was about to make herself, still warm, in her favorite mug, by her usual stool. Just like Nick used to make for her. She turned to the hallway and saw four closed doors. With a small "Hmph" Jess sat down and drank her tea, the curve of the mug, not as wide as her smile.

Later, after dinner, Jess and Winston made their way down to the bar. Winston was meeting some girl for drinks and quickly disappeared to a booth. It was Friday night and the bar was packed, but Jess managed to slide herself onto a stool just as someone else left. Nick beamed when he saw her, but as even more people approached the bar, he couldn't stop working, though he did slide her a glass of wine and a plate full of nachos as soon as he had a chance. He was serving a group of rowdy guys when two loudly arrogant women who had been sitting at a booth approached Jess at her stool.

"So are you gonna hog the bar all night or..." Jess almost laughed when she met eyes with the tall girl by her side. She didn't understand women like these two – women who would start drama over something as trivial as a barstool. Who really cared? Had the woman politely asked if they could sit at the bar, she probably would have just up and walked over to a table.

"Um, yeah, I'm not really done here so..." Jess shyly pointed at her nachos and took a sip of her wine. Nick looked up sharply when he heard that it was Jess the annoying frequents were talking to.

Jess met his eyes for just a moment and with that boost of confidence, took a large bite of a cheese-covered chip and gave the women a closed-mouth smile.

The second woman looked up at Nick and nodded her head a little with narrowed eyes and a smirk.

"Oh, I get it. Doe eyes isn't finished chatting up the bar tender." The first woman let out a laugh and turned to walk away, adding over her shoulder;

"Give it up sweetie – he's not interested." Jess hated arguments like that because no matter what she said, the women would continue to believe that they were right and had won. She decided she didn't care and was about to shake it off when she heard his voice, loud and confident to be heard over the din of his waiting customers, "Maybe I am." He glanced at the bar. "No tip? Not like Wendy the waitress had to put up with you guys all night or anything." He muttered as he shook his head, wiping the bar down as he looked straight up into Jess' eyes, barely noticing as the two women glared at him and silently agreed to go somewhere else with a bit of a shocked snicker.

"Maybe I am." The words rang in Jess' ears as she stared up at Nick. Maybe he was what? Interested? Due to his position bent down wiping the bar, his face was level with hers a few feet away and he hadn't broken his gaze in several seconds.

"Nick..." With her vulnerably quiet voice, Nick's confidence was gone and he looked away, relieved to hear a group of tipsy college students requesting shots from the other side of the bar.

"Look Jess, I gotta..." He grabbed a bottle of tequila from behind him and turned with his head down to serve the excited girls.

Maybe I am. Jess had to talk to him, she had to know what he was thinking and if his statement had been true or just a way of showing the rude women up, but she could feel her eyes moistening already and she hated the idea of letting Nick know how much he affected her. She would talk to him in a stronger frame of mind. She picked up her purse and nearly ran out the door.

"Jess!" Winston caught up with her at the door dangling his keys near her face. "I was your ride remember. What's up Jess?" he laughed with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I'll just call a cab, or walk actually, have a good night Winston." She waved past him to his date and headed outside.

Nick sighed deeply as the bar began to empty. He did not mean for that to happen. Things had been getting too intense to quickly with Jess and his plan tonight was just to talk and laugh and have one of those amazing evenings like they used to tonight, lightening things between them but still getting her to think about them. Well that plan had failed. He knew Jess well enough to know that the woman's comment about his feelings would have played over in her head enough times until she believed them had he not told them otherwise, and he had to let her know that that wasn't the case. Yes, he had enjoyed making the impolite woman-child squirm but he had said it to Jess more than he had the other two women. Without another thought he'd made sure to let her know in a desperate attempt not to lose what he had been building, and now he was afraid he had done just the opposite.

He knew if he tried to pass it off as pay-back for the ignorant comment, he would get away with it, but that would mean telling Jess flat out that he wasn't interested and possibly relieving any chance he had left. He felt like he couldn't win no matter what he said now. He didn't want to have the conversation at all but he knew he needed to - if Jess was even home that is. He thought of the loft and all the chaos that went with it and decided that wasn't the best place to have a conversation.

When he took out his phone to text her, he was met with a picture of Jess on his back giving him an exaggerated kiss on the cheek as he smiled on. His phone had fallen from his breast pocket into the sink full of water that morning and wouldn't turn on. Schmidt had quickly pulled a little black square from the back of it, and Nick's old phone from their 'junk drawer' and explained that he could put his Sim card into the back of an old phone and keep his number and most of his contacts even if the phone was totaled. Nick didn't understand entirely, and was further confused when his roommate proceeded to put his wet phone into a bag of uncooked rice in the cupboard, but accepted the old phone with a "thanks" an let it charge for ten minutes or so before shoving it in his pocket and leaving for work. He realized now, looking at his lock screen picture, that he hadn't used this phone in a little over a year. Almost exactly a year actually.

He slid the screen up and was met with yet another reminder. There staring back at him from the little screen, was a sleeping Jess, exhausted and fully clothed on her bed, papers shifted to one side. She had passed out trying so hard to let everyone at Coolidge keep their jobs, despite how incompetent Nick thought they sounded. What must that have been? A week before they played True American? Jess hated it when he took pictures of her without her knowing, but he knew she would object to her perfect sleeping face, telling him there was something wrong with it, so he didn't care. He loved the photo and spent twenty minutes figuring out how to change his wallpaper to it.

Once he remembered how to use the Galaxy, he found Jess' number and was rather impressed that his old phone now had current numbers in it.

"Hey, can we talk somewhere?"

He knew it had only been about two minutes but the silence worried him until eventually his phone whistled at him, and yet another perfect picture of Jess flashed on the screen.

"Beach?"

Nick smiled. They lived in LA – there were miles of beaches just a short drive away in several directions, but nothing else needed to be said for them to both understand where to meet.

"Beach. See you in forty?"

"K" This was followed by some sort of alien face he couldn't quite decipher and he smiled as he remembered Jess begging him to upgrade to an Iphone for no reason other than to use the same emojis as she did.

A/N; Hey guys! I tried to find a new 'Nick stands up for Jess at the bar' angle because I know that's been done like a bazillion times so I hope this worked!

Just in case you didn't catch any references; sleeping Jess was from the end of Fired Up, the beach they both instantly recognize as their meeting place is where they fell asleep in Injured and the little alien face was an Android emoji.

Ps. I wasn't trying to insinuate Apple or Samsung was better or anything, I'll stay out of that war and take what I can get just as long as it isn't a Windows phone. ;)

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated and criticism are very welcome!