A/N: I don't own it, this is just my toybox & Bryce & Nicole are merely borrowed action figures. This chapter is all Nicole (Bryce got a scene in last week's ep so I'm evening it up) & begins Part 2 (the second act, if you will) of Sync. Thx for reading & reviewing! Besos! :D

Chapter 4- Baggage Claim

Nicole's Ides of March began with an Organic Chemistry exam. She initially took the fact that she actually understood what was being asked on the exam of four main questions with subsequent queries lettered A through K beneath each, to be a good sign. When she finished and realized there were ten minutes more remaining in duration, she wondered if she'd really gotten it when Bryce had helped her study or she'd just completely messed up the whole thing. She re-checked her solutions and they made sense. There was no way to get to the end without answering each question in succession and everything followed through, step by step. She finally decided that whatever it was, it was going to be. She turned in her exam to the TA and left, still glad that she'd only told Bryce about the class and hoping that she wouldn't have to admit utter failure in this endeavor to him.

Her time at the hospital was abbreviated and she'd only seen Bryce briefly in passing. When she'd arrived he was on his way to surgery and was still there when she was leaving. She thought it just as well, she didn't want him to ask her about her exam. And her happiness at their establishing that kissing again was something they both wanted to do had since been dampened by other concerns. Just like with her exam, she'd considered later that it'd all been too easy. And really there hadn't been any sort of clarification on what exactly this was that they were doing. Did it mean something temporarily or not really at all? In the moment, she'd been so caught up in the prospect of kissing him again, that she'd simply let the other part fall away.

And as she drove to LAX, the irony that she may have placed herself squarely in the middle of being his Ms. Right Now anyway made her wonder if she should just accept it and consider herself lucky enough.

Nicole checked the Arrivals board and then the time as she stood in baggage claim looking for her best friend, Quinn. According to the board, the flight from Australia arrived a little later than scheduled. Nicole sighed in relief. The traffic to LAX had been worse than usual but she'd somehow managed to arrive and park with a scant minutes to spare. The passengers were beginning to filter down to the baggage claim area and Nicole expected Quinn to appear at any moment. She watched the luggage tumble onto the carousel and smiled at the sight of Quinn's luggage. Of all the bags beginning their trek around, hers was most easy to pick out among the standard black, green and blue bags. They were bright pink with green handles and tiny green frogs. She grabbed the bags and noticed her friend's monogram on the lock fobs.

"Nikki!"

Nicole turned to see her friend cutting through the crowd toward her, looking miraculously neat for someone who'd been on a plane for fourteen hours. She projected a totally professional image broken only by the pink slash strap of her violin case slung over her shoulder.

"Quinn!"

They squealed and hugged.

"Look at you, all polished and corporate. Very nice." Nicole commented on the tailored black suit and equally fabulous shoes Quinn was wearing.

"And so not me. Somehow I didn't really see myself like this when I went to work for RPR. Anyway, I was caught up at work and ran late to catch my flight, hence this." Quinn explained as they picked up her luggage and made their way through the crowd.

"I'm so glad you're back, even if it's just for a visit."

"Me too. I've totally missed you."

Nicole's phone chimed, "It's April... again."

"Don't answer it. Seriously, she's been killing me with the phone calls for the last twenty-four hours. Have you talked to her?"

"Oh yeah, we've talked. More than a few times. Most likely because you haven't answered her."

"Oh my god, you'd think she was the one marrying Jamie, instead of Ellie. Is the Maid of Honor supposed to be this obnoxious?"

"She just takes it seriously and it's not like you don't know how she can be. Good or bad, she hasn't really changed since highschool."

"True. But at least I can yell at her and no one will care." she took out her phone and began dialing.

"You haven't even been stateside for an hour and you're already looking for a fight." Nicole said.

"Yeah well, good or bad I haven't really changed since highschool either." she said and pushed the button to make the call as they continued to walk.

"So tell me all about Sydney and how much you love your job." Nicole prodded as they sat in a little cafe over chai lattes.

After being cooped up on a plane for hours, Quinn had practically begged for a little time in an open space before getting in a car and sitting in traffic.

"Okay, well Sydney is of course amazing and my job is pretty much even more than I ever dreamed it'd be. And you know all this because we Skype every week. I've got no new business... so..."

"What?"

"Come on, Nikki. Tell. For months, within the first five minutes of talking to you, you work Dr. Cute But Clueless into the conversation. And so far today, nada. What's up?"

"Well... there was a kiss a few days ago." Nicole admitted trying not to smile too much.

"Who kissed who?"

"He kissed me."

"Yes! Finally! Wait, you didn't call me to tell me so... is his fatal flaw that he's a bad kisser?"

"No. He's absolutely not a bad kisser. At all."

"So what's the problem?"

"His flashforward."

"How so?"

Nicole detailed the circumstances of Bryce kissing her and their following resolution. Quinn listened but frowned most of the time.

"Okay, so let me see if I've got this right. He kissed you and you liked it." Quinn started in.

"I really liked it." Nicole admitted.

"And your only point of reservation is that he's possibly still all about flash-woman and that whole thing, so you resolved not to go down that road at all without some sort of sign from him that. "

"Yes."

"Yet, you find that when you see him again you completely forget all about that for a number of reasons, including the fact that you want him to kiss you again... among other things. And he seems to be all up to that particular task."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"But you still care that he hasn't made a decision one way or the other. So really, you only have one option. You have to define it. He's got to choose."

"I can't ask him to do that."

"Well, first of all, you shouldn't have to ask him to. He should already have that worked out... ya know, because of the kissing."

"I know. But Quinn, his flash is so important to him. That moment, it's like, his whole reason to be."

Quinn rolled her eyes, "It may have been but if his current actions are any indication, it's not now. And that isn't even what your main problem is, so don't put all this on him."

"What do you mean? That's my only problem."

"No, it's not. Nikki you're my best friend and I love you, but you've kinda made a habit out of being relationship phobic. Which is some feat because you're also the biggest romantic sap I've ever known. You don't have any problem being a half-assed girlfriend or casual dater, but the whole in love relationship thing hasn't been your forte."

"That's so not true." Nicole protested weakly.

"Whatever. Shall we recount a few of the ways it is? Two years ago, Jared, your mostly ignored boyfriend of four months at the time, took off with some other girl on Spring Break and he didn't even bother to send you a text to break up. You, upon finding out by some random third party, were completely unfazed. Honestly, I think you thought he did you a favor. I'm not even going to sit here and try to count how many guys never made it past the first date mark. And the thirty day mark isn't looking too good either."

"First of all, Jared was not remotely like some love of my life situation." Nicole began.

"And he lasted a lot longer than most and that's my point. You never get this shocked and shaken. This thing with Bryce is serious and you're not even officially a couple. You're in love with him and it's got you freaked."

"It's a bit of a nerve wracking situation. I mean, there's me and then this fabulous unknown in his flashforward." Nicole said with a shrug.

"And so now you're coming up with reasons to sabotage things before they really get going. You're not scared he won't choose you. You're scared he will."

Startled by the the accuracy with which Quinn called it, Nicole stared into her cup, suddenly mute on the subject and sorry she'd embarked on this conversation with her at all. There wasn't anything she could say to argue that wouldn't be a lie. And of course, Quinn would know that too. And call her out on it. They'd known each other too long for Nicole to have expected anything else. Quinn was of course, right.

Nicole was scared he'd choose her. Chasing the fairytale was what she was expert at. Playing Princess opposite the Prince wasn't her territory. It was a theory she entertained. Between her feelings for Bryce, his illness and his flash, the whole prospect was more than a little intimidating. The very thought that he might count her as a regret at some point was unbearable. His entire flashforward was this totally life altering, elevating thing and Nicole was sure that even if she, by some wild stroke of luck could compete with it, she couldn't likely live up to it in the end.

So when he called her later, she answered and smiled at the sound of his voice. He asked about her exam and she feigned bravado she didn't really have. She'd decided that she could stand failing Organic Chemistry because she could always take it again. There wasn't much to loose. But failing Bryce was entirely different and very likely. And unlike Quinn, Nicole couldn't see Bryce thinking she was really worth it in the end.