A/N: I'm sad and frustrated af because I've run out of completed NickxJess fanfics both on this site and ao3 and Tumblr. Whut dis lyf.

Chapter 10 - Of E-Books and Pepperwood's Gal Friday

When Nick arrived at the Jaipur Aviv, he remembered that Mark - Marcus - and Jess were invited for lunch here. Last he checked, Marcus was still asleep and Jess was baking him a cake. Given how Abby was overseeing it, she might have to bake another one. And of course, there was eating the cake part too, once it had been baked.

He checked his nearly broken phone for the time - 10.30 a.m. They wouldn't be here till at least half-past eleven, he assumed. Well, he knew Cece wouldn't be too happy with his arrival this early in the morning, and even less so if Jess had already told her what'd happened in the morning.

Hesitating for only a moment, he rang the doorbell. The door opened almost immediately, and Schmidt stood there, wearing an apron, looking serious, but the hint of a smile was tugging at his lips. "Hello, Nicholas. We've been expecting you."

…

Cece had just gotten off the phone with Abby. They were comparing "notes" again - Cece, telling Schmidt about her conversation with Abby as well as her own observation and Schmidt told her about the Pepperwood Chronicles, and everything that seemed to imply to what he already suspected, while he sautéed a couple of peas and onions.

"Wait, how did you get a copy? I thought Winston had snuck only one with him," asked Cece.

Schmidt smiled triumphantly, as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Technology is a beautiful thing, Cecelia. I had Winston scan the book and send it to me as a PDF."

Cece raised her brows. "And he did what you asked? Why couldn't you just borrow the book?"

"Well, Winston was too excited to share the information with me to let all that hardwork bother him. Besides, does anyone read books these days? What is this, the 19th century? It's all about the e-books, my woman."

Their conversation was interrupted by the doorbell, and Schmidt hurried to get the door, while Cece started to flip through a magazine, not wanting to look empty-handed.

Schmidt opened the door, and was faced with a bemused but flustered Nick, and he could see a million questions on his face.

"Hello, Nicholas. We've been expecting you."

Nick merely nodded at him and walked past him as Schmidt stepped aside to let him in.

"Kitchen," said Schmidt, and the two of them walked to the kitchen, where Cece sat at the table, pretending to read the magazine. The stove behind her was fully engaged, as different saucepans and pots spluttered merrily under Schmidt's watchful eye.

Cece looked up when the two of them walked in, and closed her magazine saying simply, "So, Abby called."

Schmidt lowered the flame on the stoves and stood by Cece, watching Nick intently. When Schmidt had opened the door expectantly, Nick had decided to just let Cece and Schmidt do the talking, but then he remembered why was here.

"Yeah, I was talking to her before I left. She said something…" he said slowly, "… about the summer being hard on Jess, and that it sucked seeing her like "that" and it had taken her days to get her out of bed?"

He paused, and caught the silent exchange between the wife and husband.

"Everybody is acting like they know something I don't, and it's pissing me the hell off!" he said crossly.

Before Schmidt and Cece could say anything, Nick added as an afterthought. "You know what, that's fine. Whatever. One step at a time. I've found that asking simple questions help get somewhere."

Schmidt raised his brows, while Cece nodded warily.

"First, tell me what Abby meant."

Cece wanted to text Jess, asking her what to do. Would it be okay to tell Nick now? Or should she just lie her way through it? Cece bit her lower lip, contemplating and then decided that it the truth wasn't hers to tell, and that Jess would do it, if she ever decided to. For now, Cece focused on covering for her friend.

"Well… Jess left for Portland not just because her father was sick with er, pneumonia, and reeling from divorce, but also because…."

Cece gulped, desperately searching for words, and looked at Schmidt for help.

"… because she was pregnant and was freaking out. So she needed the company of her mother, like all pregnant woman do."

"Schmidt!" said Cece through clenched teeth, punching his arm.

"Jess is pregnant?" asked Nick, feeling slightly faint, wanting to sit down.

"Ugh, no! No, Nick, she's not," groaned Cece, putting her hand up to her forehead.

"Jess is not pregnant?" asked Nick, slowly.

"No, Nick she isn't…" said Cece, shaking her head.

"Not anymore, she isn't!" said Scmidt, holding up a ladle and shaking it at Nick.

"What?" asked Nick, confused again.

"Schmidt, what're you doing?"

"Jess was pregnant and then lost the baby?" asked Nick, weakly.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Cece, holding both her hands against her temple.

"She could've been, Nicholas, she could've been," said Schmidt dramatically, shaking his head.

"Schmidt, I don't understand anymore. What do you mean she could've been?"

Cece was now eyeing both of them, thoroughly confused, trying to catch her husband's eye.

"Oh, Nicholas. Every woman ever could always get pregnant," scoffed Schmidt.

"What are you even saying, man?" asked Nick, exasperated.

"All I'm saying, Nicholas is that-"

"Whoa, stop. Gah! I don't care. You're stressing me out, man!" said Nick, rubbing his eyes.

Schmidt looked triumphantly at Cece who just shook her head, partly amused, partly annoyed. Nick had caught the exchange, once again.

Wow, it's like writing a detective novel has sharpened my senses. I'm really getting into the character.

He didn't press any further; he'd found out enough. Jess had other reasons for going to Portland and whatever those reasons were, they didn't want him to know.

Which means of course, that I must find out.

Nick felt himself relax a little, and sensing that, the Schmidts relaxed as well. Nick walked to their fridge and pulled out a Heisler, a stock of which they kept just for him. He offered one to Schmidt, who rolled his eyes and declared that he felt insulted that Nick would even think he would partake something as lowly and cheap as wine. Shaking his head, Nick offered one to Cece, but smiled sheepishly when he remembered she wasn't supposed to drink.

"So how's the baby?"

Cece smiled a little. "Doing good."

"Cece on the other hand," said Schmidt, turning one of the burners off, "Uses the bathroom a lot more than usual because the baby won't eat any of the healthy food I make."

"Schmidt, we've gone over this! Morning sickness has nothing to do with the baby disliking food that I eat," said Cece, exasperatedly.

Schmidt merely grumbled in response as he emptied the contents of the saucepan into a casserole. Chuckling, Nick took a sip of his beer and as he chatted with them, time flew by and no one noticed until the doorbell rang. They were now sitting in the living room, Schmidt having laid out lunch on the dining table.

"I should go," said Nick, starting to head towards the backdoor.

"It's alright if you stay," said Cece, as she went to get the door.

Nick really didn't want to, but he also kind of wanted to; to make certain observations. He decided at the last minute that he should just leave, and just as he turned into the kitchen -

"Nick?"

"Hey, Jess," he said turning to look around at Jess.

"Nicholas," said Mark, looking at him coolly.

"Marcus," said Nick, nodding at him. Shaking his head, Mark turned to Cece who shot an uneasy look towards Nick and Jess before introducing Mark to Schmidt.

"Where were you, I was so worried! One minute you were being all weird and strange about sheet cakes, and then you were just gone!"

His eyes flickered back to Jess, who was eyeing him with concern, waiting for an answer. And for some very strange reason, he had a terrible temptation to rile her up; and he gave in to that temptation.

"Don't worry about me. You just go and bake more sheet cakes for Marcus," he said.

Jess gaped at him. "Are you seriously still on about that?"

"Obviously, I hold a grudge against you. He didn't even ask for it, and remember what you said the last time I asked you to bake me one?"

"And I still stand by what I'd said! I'm not your girlfriend to just be baking you cakes on demand. It is unfair. Hell, even a girlfriend wouldn't actually do those things," countered Jess, hands on her hips.

Before Nick could say something else, Schmidt intervened. "The Jaipur Aviv is a peaceful home wherein grows a child now," he said, stepping between Nick and Jess. "Dinner awaits," he said.

Nick turned to leave, when Schmidt said, "You can join us, Nick."

"Nah, I gotta get home."

"Oh, why is that, Miller? Running away from an admission of wrong?" spat Jess, wondering immediately -

Wait, what? What does that even mean?

"Oh, please, Jessica. I always admit it if I'm wrong. But only if I'm wrong," snorted Nick.

"What are those two even fighting about?" whispered Mark to Cece.

Cece shook her head. "Something about a sheet cake. Everything else is lost on me. Not to worry though, this is quite normal. We always lose track of what they're even fighting about," she said, showing Mark the way to the dining area.

As they sat down for lunch, Mark was talking to Schmidt and Cece while both Nick and Jess, sitting across from each other, would glare at each other while stabbing at their food (both mildly perplexed in their minds about what they were even fighting about). But as they ate and no one, prodded them any further, they soon began to relax.

"So, Nicholas, Jess was telling me you wrote a book," said Mark, looking at him.

"Yeah, yeah I did, Marcus. I actually managed to sell all copies," said Nick, sounding as if he himself was very surprised.

"Oh, that is so great! Who is the publisher?"

"Well, no one, really. It was about 30-35 prototype copies of handmade books. Jess helped me out with them," he said, nodding at her once. "All hail the crafting station!"

Jess laughed. "Yeah. It was hilarious. Both of us got so high on glue!"

"Oh, Jess' craft? Must've looked great!"

"It totally did, man. Who knew Jess could do something more than rainbows and unicorns?" laughed Nick.

Chuckling, Mark said, "It's too bad all the copies got sold out. I would've loved to see it!"

"I have a copy. I'll show it to you when we get back home," said Jess, smiling at Mark.

"So does Winston," mumbled Schmidt. "But I have an e-book. You should see the e-book."

No one heard him of course.

Nick looked at Jess, eyebrows raised. "You have a copy?"

Looking extremely uncomfortable, Jess said, too quickly, "It was a sample. Obviously, like a fair draft. I couldn't've perfected the look on my first try, could I?"

Nick couldn't help but notice that her eyes were glued to the floor, and that her hand had gone up to play with the loose strands framing her face.

She was lying.

"So what's the book about?" asked Mark, noticing nothing.

Shooting a glance at Jess, he said, "It's about a man who has nothing, who risks everything to feel something."

Jess stared at him and when he caught her eyes, he didn't look away and stared back at her coolly instead. And Jess saw a flicker of something in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time, and it made her feel a little jittery.

Mark raised his eyebrows. "That sounds… interesting."

"It totally is," Schmidt cut in. "It's based on real life people."

"How did you-"

"E-books, you caveman. E-books! Winston e-mailed it to me," said Schmidt curtly, then mumbled, "If you only listened to me once in a while, you'd know."

"Oh, wow. Who is it about?"

"Oh yes, Nicholas. Do tell," said Schmidt, very interested, looking at Nick goadingly.

Nick shot him an annoyed look. Winston had sent a copy to Schmidt; Nick knew what this was about, and looked at Cece for help, but she was staring at her hands in her lap, not looking up. He looked nervously at Jess, saying, "There's this private investigator, Pepperwood and his gal… Friday…"

Schmidt widened his eyes, impressed.

Nice save. Punctuation was indeed everything.

And Jess raised her brows, wondering if she was reading too much into what was happening. Was it a purposeful lapse between 'gal' and 'Friday' or was that just Nick being Nick? If it was the former, what was the problem with spelling out her name.

Ugh, I am definitely reading too much into this.

"…who work on cases together but have this unresolved, undeclared thing going on between them, but Pepperwood… he blew it. Sometimes, y-you don't get another chance to fix the mistake," finished Nick, shrugging.

Jess looked at him, and he stared back unblinkingly, while Schmidt and Cece looked stunned; they hadn't expected Nick to get so open. One look at Jess, and they both knew that she'd understood, or at least they hoped she did. Meanwhile, Mark, completely oblivious to the silent messages running across the table between all of them, commended Nick's story, who just nodded once in response, eyes not leaving Jess'.

Jess broke eye contact first, and stared at her lap before inhaling deeply.

Don't think too much about what he's saying. He was talking about his characters, and that's that. Ugh, stupid Jess. Not everything is about you!

She looked up again, forcing a smile. "That's quite a nice way to put it, Nick."

"It is, isn't it?" asked Schmidt, smirking. Placing his elbow on the table and his temple resting on his closed wrist, Schmidt looked at Nick.

…

After lunch, they drove back to the loft in Jess' car. Jess was at the wheel, while Mark was riding shotgun. Nick sat at the back, his eyes flickering over every once in a while to Mark's hand resting on Jess' thigh. He felt a pang of envy as it was evident that this was a habit and that it was quite an unconscious, natural gesture. Sighing, he rested his head against the window pane and looked at the slowly moving traffic.

"Why is everyone so quiet?" Jess wondered out loud, nervously, to avoid thinking of whatever had that had transpired during lunch. Besides, the painfully slow traffic was doing nothing to calm her nerves.

"Because Jessica, sometimes people prefer to stay quiet with their own thought," said Nick, continuing to stare outside.

Jess looked at him in the rearview mirror, looking outside dejectedly.

What has gotten into him lately? I thought his breakup with Reagan didn't bother him that much. Is there something else bothering him? Should I bother to find out?

Nick watched Jess' face from the corner of his eye and realised that tirade of questions was about to come. Questions he didn't especially want to get into with Mark - Marcus - around.

"Cece tells me you've known Jess since her childhood," said Nick hastily, looking at Mark.

Mark nodded, giving him a small smile. "Yeah, we were… are… neighbours. We only became friends after I had once wrestled Jess to the ground."

Nick's eyes widened questioningly., and Jess groaned. "Nooo! Not that story again!"

Mark turned to look at Nick, smirking. "So I was walking home once when I saw a van stop by Jess, and man asked her if she wanted some candy…."

Jess merely grunted.

"… and this 8-year-old nut said that she did want candy. The sidedoor opened and it turns out that the dude's granny had made too many so he was just going around distributing all that extra candy. So as she was about to eat her first one, I jumped at her and snatched it from her because well, strangers, dude! And boy, did we fight. She clawed at my face like a feline!"

"Jess! What the hell?! That's literally the first thing they teach at school!" exclaimed Nick. "Don't accept any candy from strangers!"

"Ugh! Not all people are terrible Nick. We've talked about this!"

"Right, like Remy?" snickered Nick, while Jess turned a beet red.

Mark looked at Jess questioningly, and she simply shook her head.

Nick continued laughing. "So, to prove her point, that not all people have bad intentions, she was ready to have a threesome with our landlord and me."

Mark's brows practically shot out of his head, while Jess exclaimed annoyedly. "Nick!"

"Jess!" said Nick, mimicking her tone.

Jess rolled her eyes, and the car came to a halt in the traffic. And Jess groaned, resting her head on the steering wheel for a moment, as a sea of vehicles came to a stop in front of them.

"Gah! I miss Portland at times like these!" she exclaimed, looking at Mark indignantly.

Mark nodded in agreement. "Of course, you do. In all the time I've known you, you hardly ever stepped out of your house," he laughed.

And then, it clicked. Nick saw a window of opportunity, nay, a French window.

Nick forced a laugh and said, "Ha, yes. Abby'd mentioned that it took a week to even get you out of bed during the summer. Extreme vacationing, huh?"

He observed that Jess' hands had tightened around the wheels, knuckles whitening, while Mark looked at her unsurely and then back at Nick. And for a fleeting second, Nick wondered if he had imagined the nearly imperceptible shaking of Jess' head. But then, he saw Marcus pat her thigh reassuringly, and he knew he hadn't imagined it.

One could say that it was at this point the Nicholas Miller lost it. The traffic began to finally move simultaneously.

Jess heard Nick's exhale before he began to yell.

"Okay, that's it. I want to know what's going on."

"What're you talking about, Nick?" asked Jess nervously.

"I saw that," said Nick, pointing at both of them alternately. "I saw what you both did with that… with that subtle head shaking and thigh patting and what not…"

"Nick! What're you even saying?" said Jess, trying to sound perplexed.

"Jess, you know what I mean. I can see it in your face, that you know."

"You can see it in my face, Nick? Can you really? Is that even a thing? Like- Seeing things in people's faces that are not their eyes and nose and-" rambled Jess, trying to make light of the whole thing.

"Jess!" Nick cut her off. "And yes, I can tell. Come on, Marcus, can't you tell she's lying?" he asked, looking at Mark for support, who merely looked sheepish and mildly uncomfortable.

"Oh, come on!" said Nick, rolling his eyes.

Jess tried to smile at Mark, but Nick exclaimed. "And there it is, again!"

"What?" asked Jess.

"That smile of yours, Jess! That little 'thank you' smile of yours!"

Jess said nothing, while Mark decided to observe and see where this was going. If Jess would tell Nick the truth; because she was with him now, so should the past matter anymore?

"Jess, you've been lying about something since the day you went to Portland," sighed Nick.

"I-I… No! What proof do you have!"

"The fact that you're staring down at your shoes while saying that just proves my point!" he said angrily.

He turned to Marcus. "Marcus, Bob was down with what, the stomach flu, was it?"

Mark nodded. "It's true, man. He had it so bad. He had to live on vegetables for almost two weeks," he bluffed.

Nick's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "A-ha! More lies. Cece told me that it was pneumonia!"

"It was stomach flu and pneumonia, Nick," said Jess, eyes still down.

"Dammit, Jess! At least try to lie better! Why won't you tell me the truth!"

"Hey man, lay off of her," warned Mark.

"Shut up, Marcus!"

"Nick! Don't talk to him like that!"

Nick ignored her remark. "It is unbelievable how everyone is lying their asses off! It's driving me insane! Schmidt told me you left because you were pregnant, and I was freaking out, woman…."

Jess squeaked, while Mark let out a snort, bemused and mildly irritated.

Nick continued. "…That's how far he went! Without even thinking that I might just notice in a few months that there isn't a freakin' baby in you!"

Jess began to laugh, but Nick was in no mood. He had to know what was going on, and not knowing was driving him crazy.

"Jess. What was Abby talking about?"

"How should I know? Ask Abby," said Jess, trying to sound nonchalant but instead her voice cracked with her nervousness.

Nick ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated, while Mark watched both of them with a mildly dazed face.

"Jess. It's killing me, not knowing," said Nick finally. "Why did you leave for Portland so suddenly? What did Abby mean when she said hat it was awful seeing you like that? Why won't you talk to me anymore, Jess? Wh-"

"STOP IT, NICK!" yelled Jess. "Stop asking so many questions! Why do those things matter anyway?"

Their apartment had arrived.

"I used to ask too many questions, Nick," she said softly, adding bitterly, "And look what it did to us."

A/N: Just in case you don't get it: Nick made it seems like Pepperwood's "gal" was called "Friday", and if it was out in the open that if "Jessica Night", it'd be hella obvious to Mark. So. Hope that ain't too weird (or lame, for that matter) ;)

So unlike Season6 Nicholas "Oblivious" Miller, I wanted Jess to still be looking out for her bestride, so there.

[Sorry if Portland is not how Mark said it is. I'm not American so I'm not sure how things would be lol]

P.S: I promise Marcus will be gone in the next chapter, cuz once again, this chapter turned out too long and I split it into two parts.