"Hey Jess Im in a cab downstairs"

"Ok give me two minutes" Jess chirped into her phone as she wriggled her feet into her five inch heels. She was going to be surrounded by models all night she had to do what she could. Jess wanted so much to spend the night with Nick but she knew how nervous Cece got about these networking events and she had asked Jess weeks ago to go with her, she was good at helping Cece with what to say and more importantly - limiting her tequila intake.

Jess passed through the hall to wolf whistles and cat calls from Schmidt and Winston, she never even feigned offence when they did that. It was a nice little ego boost for a night out.

"I gotta go meet Cece but tell Nick...just tell him...I'll see him later" with that she trotted out the door, her heels clicking down the hallway.

Nick hurried out the elevator forty minutes later half hoping to catch Jess running late but no such luck so he immediately dealt with the next task at hand.

"Schmidt...Schmidt!"

"What? My bedroom is ten feet away why are you bellowing."

"Did you invite Stacey to the party tonight?"

"Um if it was the other night following the 15 sambuca shots I had then I can neither confirm nor deny" he riddled hoping to dodge Nick's wrath.

"Yeah you did" Winston chipped in over his shoulder "..and Victoria" Winston wiggled his eyebrows.

"Hey nice man do you think you two..."

"Schmidt!" Nick yelled cutting him off. "Uninvite her now and I mean right now"

"I can't do that Nicholas I'm a gentleman"

"Schmidt I'm serious call her now and tell the party isn't happening, tell her whatever you want just keep her away from this loft tonight. Do it, call her now!"

"Alright, alright geez!"

(Victoria's apartment)

Stacey knew why he was calling, especially after her conversation with Nick today so she calmly ignored it and threw her phone back in her bag.

"Which guy are you phasing out now" Victoria mocked rolling her eyes as she curled her hair getting ready for the party.

"Oh Vicky...this isn't about phasing somebody OUT..."

"Stacey, what are you up to? Stacey?...Stacey?!"

"What? I can't hear you ...I can't..." Stacey gestured to the hairdryer she had just turned on full blast to drown out Victoria's questions.

Half an hour later as they were leaving the apartment Stacey listened to Schmidt's message letting her know 'the party had been cancelled' due to all three of them being struck with Lyme Disease which he 'suspected they had caught from Winston's cat.' She laughed at his excuses before deleting the message and continuing to apply her lip gloss using the reflection on her phone.

(The Loft)
It was 8.30 and the loft was getting rammed. The guys couldn't say for sure that they knew every face that was passing through the door but it made them feel cool so they went with it. Nick proceeded to check his phone every ten minutes much to Schmidt's annoyance who then started issuing tequila penalties for every 'cell offence.' Soon Nick's legs were feeling warm and his head was nice and fuzzy, he couldn't wait for Jess to come home but he knew he had a couple of hours so he decided to try and cut loose. Just as he was finally persuaded to join Dirk on the table for a rendition of 'Careless Whisper' his attention was drawn to the girl below him who was wolf whistling and raising her glass to his talents. His face fell as he clumsily lowered himself from the table searching for Schmidt.

"Schmidt you said you called her what is she doing here?!"

"I said I tried to call her, I didn't say I spoke to her."

"Schmidt please, you gotta make her leave."

"Why don't you make me?" Nick felt somebody breathe into his ear causing him to flinch while Schmidt recoiled with a questioning look on his face. Schmidt backed away feeling like he was intruding on something private and left them alone.

She was standing uncomfortably close forcing Nick to back up further and further until he felt his heels hit the wall.

"Stacey why are you here?"

"I was invited" she offered, professing no knowledge of Schmidt's message "Is there a problem?"

"Yes there is, you know there is ...look Stacey..." It suddenly occured to Nick that his phone was ringing. It was Jess.

Nick walked as far away as he could terrfied that Jess might hear anything down the phone but it was a bad line, so much so that nobody was in danger of hearing much of anything.

"Jess, Jess can you hear me"

"Yeah I can...can...me?"

"Not really Jess where are you."

"Im in the bathroom...basement...awful signal."

"What?" Nick tried to decipher what she was saying from the string of nouns with no luck.

"Look I'm not coming home...tonight...ok?

"What do you mean you're not coming home...Jess ...Jess" Nick's phone went quiet as Jess cluelessly continued to talk at the other end."

(The Midland Hotel)

"Nick I said I'm not coming home at ten ok? It's going to be more like eleven...Nick?...Nick? Are you there?" Jess gave up exhaling loudly, shutting off her phone she headed back upstairs. Cece had hit it off with the director of some Parisian clothing line and she had talked Jess into staying a little longer with the promise of some free Champagne. As the first glass was thrust into her hand it seemed like a good idea but now she was just sitting on her own flicking through a barrage of failed text attemps to Nick.

Cece was doing well, she looked fine, maybe Jess could slip away.

(Back at the loft)

Noticing Stacey had disappeared Nick made a break for the roof to try and call Jess again. Was she really not coming back to the loft tonight? She had seemed so excited to see him earlier today. After having several conversations with her answer phone Nick started to wonder if they were ever going to talk this out. She was leaving for Portland in fourteen hours and he didn't want her to leave with any doubts in her head. He didn't want any doubts, he desperately needed to know that they were ok. He'd had a tense, sickly feeling in his stomach for two days and she was the only one who could make it go away. After six months together he had finally stopped worrying about the plethora of things that could break them up. Maybe he had become complacent, maybe he wasn't fighting hard enough.

"Come on where are you?" he whispered to himself.

"If I didn't know better I would think you were avoiding me Nick Miller."

Nick screwed up his face and dropped his shoulders looking defeated.

"Stacey what are you doing?"

"I saw you come up here all on your own"

"No I mean what are you doing with me...what is this?"

"What? I thought you might want some company with Jess being elsewhere and all."

"Yeah well I don't want company thanks so you can go."

For the first time Stacey seemed to take his pleas on board and actually flinched with a flicker of hurt in her eyes so Nick softened trying to appeal to this 'new' side of her.

"Stacey I'm sorry if I did or said anything that made you think that I was interested but...I'm not...I'm sorry I'm just not. I have a girlfriend who I love and that's just the way it is."

"I guess I just don't see it" Stacey spat with cool look washing over her face.

"See what?"

"You...with her...I don't get it. I'm sure she's a nice girl and all but she doesn't seem your...type."

"She's exactly my type. You don't even know her or me for that matter." Stacey had struck a nerve and he was trying hard to stay calm.

"Like I said I'm sure she's a nice person she just seems a little too goofy and plain for you that's all I'm saying I guess I just imagined you with someone a little more...exciting."

Nick knew he should leave but he felt compelled to defend Jess. Who the hell was she to talk about Jess this way. He was getting angry, he wasn't sure he had ever been this angry with a woman before and it was scaring him. He lowered his head trying to calm himself down failing to notice she was now standing right in front of him.

She cocked her head trying to draw his eyeline up to hers and she was almost whispering to him now. "I just think that if you knew what you were missing you might change your mind about her that's all."

With that she grabbed the collar of his shirt pulling his mouth to hers.

In his shocked state he probably took a second too long to push her away. A second that could have made all the difference. I second that now had him face to face with a horrified Jess.