AN: Seeing as I've had such great responses for the first chapter, here's chapter 2! This one will have more of a plot, which I realize chapter 1 lacked, but I just needed to introduce the story. Hope you enjoy, and don't be afraid to review etc.!

Their first real fight as a couple fell on their one month anniversary. Of course, they'd bickered before; living together meant that Nick and Jess got sick of each other sometimes. For instance, one afternoon, Jess was exhausted from work, and had ripped into Nick simply because he hadn't made the bed like he'd promised. There was also the time where Jess had forgotten to tell Nick that his mother had called, resulting in him making a sarcastic comment that got out of hand. But, nevertheless, these arguments were quickly resolved and couldn't be described as serious fights.

For their one-month anniversary, Nick had thoughtfully booked a table for them at Beso, the restaurant where they'd had their first date. Jess had bought a brand new dress especially for the occasion, and Nick had allowed Schmidt to take him out shopping for the appropriate attire. Jess was just putting the final touches on her make up when Nick entered her room.
"Hey, Jess, you almost ready to go?" he asked. Jess stopped and stared. He looked gorgeous.

"Wow... Nick, you look amazing..." she said, her mouth agape.
"Uh, you too, I mean, that dress..." She looked stunning. "Anyway, shall we?" he said, extending an arm.
"We shall." she grinned, pecking him on the cheek sweetly.

The drive to the restaurant wasn't long, but Jess felt nervous for some reason. It was as if they were having their first date all over again, and she couldn't stop fidgeting. She told herself to relax, and inhaled and exhaled slowly. It would be fine; it was Nick, after all. They walked to the entrance, hand in hand, and Jess felt instantly better.
"Table for two, under Miller?" Nick told the woman at the reservations desk. They were soon escorted to their table, which just happened to be the same as the last time they were there.
"Did you plan this, Miller?" asked Jess, smiling.
"I may have requested this table." he winked.
"How very romantic of you."

-Ness-

Nick had just finished telling her the funniest story about his childhood as they shared their dessert. God, he was amazing. Was it too early to fall in love with him? Of course it was, they'd only been dating for a month. But as Nick awkwardly tried to stab the piece of cheesecake in the most adorable way, Jess began to wonder whether or not it was too early at all.
"What are you thinking about?" Nick could sense she wasn't concentrating.
"What, uh, nothing, just thinking about the last time we were here." she attempted to make it sound convincing.
"Yeah, that was quite a night. I mean, first there was Russell, and then there was the whole thing with the cards... What did you write on that, by the way?"

She was stumped. Jess tried to muster an answer, but no words came to mind.
"I, uh, I'm not telling you... Those cards were a secret!" she chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, but we're together now, so it doesn't matter either way..." he said, but there was still no response from Jess.
"I... I don't want to."
"Okay, how about I go first?" Nick suggested. Damn him and his kindness and need to please me. "Okay, if I remember correctly, I wrote 'Jess is the girl I'd like to spend the rest of my life with, if she wants to' or something like that. God, that sounds cheesy as hell."
"You... You said that?" she asked, dumfounded.
"Well, I wrote it, but yeah. Okay, I've embarrassed myself, now it's your turn."

The nerves bubbling inside of Jess suddenly burst as she shouted, "I don't feel comfortable telling you this! Let's just drop it!" and instantly regretted it. Nick stared at her as if she were insane, before clearing his throat to fill the silence.
"Okay, whatever, we'll forget about it." What the hell is wrong with her? She was acting so crotchety that Nick thought he must have done something wrong. Why did she not want to tell him? For the remainder of dinner, they exchanged awkward small talk, before sitting in silence the whole car journey home.

Thankfully, Schmidt was at Cece's that night, and Winston was in some work party; they had the place to themselves. Nick was glad that they could be alone, and not for the reason expected of them, but for him to confront her without anyone else hearing. He dropped the car keys in the pot near the door, before taking his jacket off.
"Shall, we, uh, go to bed?" Jess suggested.
"Yeah, but, can we talk first?" asked Nick. Jess nodded.
"What about?"

"I mean... Well, it's just..." Nick took a deep breath. "WHY WON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU WROTE ON THE CARD?" he screeched.
"NICK! I thought we weren't talking about that!"
"Well, I wanna talk about it! What are you afraid of? It can't be worse than mine, unless you talk about having a million babies with me or something! Jess, you're my girlfriend, you can tell me this." He then realized she was crying as he heard a sob escape her lips. "Jess, I'm sorry..."
"No, it's fine, I'll tell you. I, uh... Please don't be mad. I wrote 'It's a complicated mess that I don't think will end well.' But, Nick, you have to understand..."
"Oh... So, what, you didn't want this relationship in the first place?" Nick looked offended.
"No, of course I did, I just thought you would have put down something similar!"

"I see, so you thought I was going to bail on what we had?" his voice grew louder.
"Well, YOU DID!" she shouted. "You did bail, Nick, you called it, just like everyone thought you would!"
"If that's how you feel..." Nick looked genuinely hurt.
"Nick, wait..." Jess began.
"No, I get it, you don't think I'm in this relationship for the long haul! Even though I told you at dinner that I wanted to basically marry you sometime in the future, that wasn't enough? How does that not show you that I love you, Jess?"

There was a sudden silence. Had he just said...?
"You..." she started.

"Crap. For once, I'm the one who says it too early in the relationship."
"You love me?" Jess had to make sure he'd actually said it.
"Well, it doesn't matter, Jess, because you won't believe me either way! And just to prove that I do, in fact, want this relationship to last, I'm willing to work through this and not give up, because I want this! I wish I could say the same thing for you..."

Nick began to walk away. "Can we talk about this now?" she begged.
"No, I've had enough, I'm sleeping in my room tonight, you sleep where you like." he said coldly. He walked further down the hallway, and was almost at his door. He didn't look at her.

"I love you!" she yelled. He stopped in his tracks.

"Don't say it if you don't mean it, Jess. Please, don't lie."
"Nick, I was going to tell you tonight, but you kinda beat me to it. I love you, Miller. I know this doesn't excuse the fact that I wrote something untrue on the card... I just didn't want to write the truth because I thought I'd get hurt in the long run."
He walked back to her. "So, what was the truth? What should you have written?" He whispered. It was just like their first date, whispering softly to each other in the hallway, tension filling the air.

"I should've written... 'Nick Miller is one crazy guy, but I want to be with him for a really long time.' And that's the truth." she said softly. He moved closer so that their faces were inches apart.
"I'm sorry we fought." he whispered, and she could feel his breath against her lips.
"I'm sorry too. Maybe I could make it up to you."

And with that, she pressed her lips roughly against his, as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "We still have to talk tomorrow, okay?" he said in between kisses.
"Yeah, totally." she agreed. He pressed her against his bedroom door, kissing her neck. They then burst through the door, removing items of clothing frantically as they approached the bed.
"Nick, did you put fresh sheets on your bed?" Jess was impressed. Nick nodded proudly.

After a satisfaction-filled evening, Jess and Nick fell back down, their heads hitting the pillows.
"Goodnight, Miller." she whispered.
"Goodnight, Day."