Parlay: A bet with two or more teams where all the teams must win for the bettor to be successful.

Thursday Night

Schmidt wheeled several pieces of luggage out of his room toward the front hallway. "Now, I take it you all have everything packed and ready to go?"

"Yes, DAD." Jess placed her cup of tea on the coffee table and sat next to Nick on the couch, who lifted his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"Geez, Schmidt, we all know how to pack a suitcase." Nick rolled his eyes.

Jess poked his side. "Oh please. You mean I know how to pack a suitcase, you were too busy looking up Google Earth to figure out how far we'll be from Area 51."

"Hey, this is our American heritage we're talking about, Jessica!"

Jess just shook her head before reaching for her tea. "So Winston," she glanced over to see him nervously shaking his legs on the other couch. "when is Natalie supposed to get here?"

Just as he was about to speak, Cece came walking into the room from the bedroom hallway. "Did someone say Natalie?" She walked by Winston and swatted him gently on the side of the head before sitting next to Jess, grinning and wiggling her eyebrows.

"She'll be here, just..." Winston lowered his voice, becoming serious. He leaned forward on his knees. "Look guys, I know I've told you all this before, but she gets really nervous when meeting new people, okay? So please, be on your best behavior."

Jess yelled and looked over at Schmidt, now seated on a kitchen stool. "Hear that, Schmidt?"

"So amusing, Jessica."

Jess opened her mouth to say something when there was a knock at the door. Winston jumped up immediately and ran to answer it, pointing at Schmidt with an evil glare before stepping toward the door for the handle. He smiled widely when he saw Natalie standing in the hall.

"Hey, you." Winston leaned over to kiss her, grabbing her hand as she walked in the door. Natalie took a deep breath and smiled up at him.

Putting his hand gently on her waist, he gestured toward the room as everyone came over to greet her. "Everyone, this is Natalie."

Jess ran up and gave her a huge hug. "I'm Jess. We've heard so much about you! I can't believe how long Winston waited to introduce us!"

"I-I know." Jess just smiled warmly as Natalie slowly answered her. Winston reached out to rub her back, giving her an encouraging smile.

"I'm so-so-sorry. I... She looked at Winston and he pulled her shoulders close. Feeling herself relax a little in her boyfriend's embrace, she glanced around at everyone, and pulled herself together with a deep breath. "I'm very happy to be here."

Cece stepped forward, gently rubbing her arm. "Don't be nervous." She made a sweeping gesture towards the group and rolled her eyes. "These guys are all pretty crazy anyway. You'll feel at home in no time."

Natalie took another breath. "Thank you."

Jess stepped next to Nick, grabbing his hand and pressing against his arm. "This is Nick," She pointed at Schmidt. "and that's Schmidt over there."

Nick made a small gesture. "Hey."

"Welcome to our home." Schmidt fanned his arm in front of him, coming over to Cece's side with a huge grin on his face. "And all our craziness."

Jess gave Nick a quick kiss on the cheek, before stepping forward to grab Natalie's arm. "Come on," she gestured her head towards her room. "You can help Cece and I finish packing."

Natalie gave a quick smile to Winston as the three woman disappeared down the hallway into Jess' room.

Winston and Schmidt walked around the couch to take a seat, while Nick made a trip to the fridge for drinks.

"Look at you, man." Schmidt slapped Winston on the shoulder. "You've finally found a great woman."

Winston shook his head slowly, a satisfied grin on his face. "I know. I know. She's incredible."

Nick shouted from the kitchen. "Yeah, and she doesn't think he's crazy for owning his own cat!"

"Hey, shut up man. Furguson and I are soul mates."

Nick passed the two guys each a beer, before collapsing onto the opposite couch and taking a sip from his bottle. He threw his arm up on the back of the couch, pointing toward Winston. "I'm just givin' ya hard time, she seems great."

"I don't know. Things just make sense with her. It's been so easy, ya know?"

Nick smiled and nodded, as Schmidt slapped him on the arm. "I'm proud of you, man!" Schmidt leaned his back into the couch and glanced quickly toward the hallway. "So, listen." He leaned over onto his knees and lowered his voice. "Tomorrow, Cece's going to see my first name and I'm freaking out."

Nick almost spit out the sip in his mouth. "You mean you've never told her?!"

"NO!" Schmidt grimaced. "Of course I haven't."

Winston pointed his bottle towards Schmidt and glared at him. "What IS your first name, anyway?"

"Oh, please. What do you think I am, some sort of idiot?"

Nick took another sip of beer, before leaning over and placing the bottle on the coffee table. "Look, she's going to be your wife, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal, Nicholas, is that's it's horribly embarrassing. I mean, what's she going to think?"

"Schmidt, she's going to think your mom is crazy." Schmidt just glared at Nick. "But, who cares? She's not marrying you for your name." Nick scrunched up his face and his eyes shifted to the ceiling. "Wait. I guess she is marrying you for a name, but..." Nick waved his hand and leaned back on the couch. "it's not going to matter to her."

"You really think so?"

Winston pointed to Nick. "Eh, Nick's right. Even if she thinks it's weird, if she hasn't run away from you by now, she's not going to do it after learning your weird ass name."

Schmidt took a deep breath and sunk his back into the couch, taking long sips of beer. They sat in silence for a few minutes, before loud laughter could be heard floating out from Jess' room.

Winston laughed. "What do you think they all talk about when they do that?"

Schmidt just shook his head as Nick rolled his eyes, "Who the hell knows."

Standing up and collecting the empty bottles, Schmidt walked back towards the kitchen. "So, I take it you both have your approved tuxedos."

Nick grimaced. "Yes, Schmidt. You do know that ceremony is going to be like a minute long, right?"

"And it will be the best dressed minute in all of Vegas."

Winston just rolled his eyes and changed the subject. "So Nick. Do you have your whole anniversary celebration planned out yet?"

"I uh..." He nervously rubbed the palms of his hands along the top of his thighs. "Yeah, yeah I think I'm good."

"Good, because the last thing I need Natalie to see is some massive relationship breakdown once we get there."

"Well you won't get that on our end. This wedding will be a glorious crescendo in my life with Cece."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Reign it in, Schmidt. You're getting married in a place with more Elvis impersonators than cars."

"Laugh now Nicholas. But in two days, I will be married and starting a magnificent life with my Indian goddess, and you will be back here managing your bar."

Winston raised his voice. "Alright, don't be an ass, Schmidt. Nick's been happier with Jess this past year than I've ever seen him. You've had a good month back with Cece."

Nick nodded in satisfaction as Schmidt just grimaced in annoyance.

Jess gestured to Cece and Natalie to take a seat on the bed before shutting the door behind her, and heading to her closet. "So Winston's been talking so much about you. I'm glad you decided to come with us."

Natalie sat on the end of the bed next to Jess' open suitcase. "I'm s-so happy to finally spend time with his friends. He talks about all of you a lot."

Cece leaned back on the pillow, smoothing her hair over one shoulder. "Well, we've been dying to meet you. Being with just the guys gets old sometimes."

"It's partly my fault." Natalie breathed deeply. "I-I do get nervous around new people, and I didn't want to pressure him. He seems ...v-very unsure about our relationship. I feel like I may have pushed to hard for him to invite me."

Jess walked out of the closet holding a folded blue sweater. "He got hurt pretty badly by his last girlfriend, so he's just super cautious." She placed the sweater in the suitcase and put her hands on her hips, scanning the room and then turning on her heels towards the dresser.

Natalie continued, "Daisy? He never did tell me much about what happened." There was a awkward pause before she turned to Cece. "So, eloping, huh?"

Cece leaned up on her elbows and nodded. "I actually walked out on an arranged marriage last year, and I couldn't see myself having a big wedding again. And," She rolled her eyes, "I'm not having any more conversations with my mother about weddings."

"I did hear about that, I'm sorry." Natalie laughed. "Or well, I guess, not sorry."

Jess threw the last few items in her suitcase and started to zip it closed. "Cece really loves to do super crazy things..."

"JESS! Who was the one that decided to start sleeping with her roommate?!"

"Hey, this has been the best sex of my life and it was right across the hall!" They all started laughing as Jess finished packed and walked to the door, opening it to place the suitcase in the hallway and shutting it again. Coming back into the room, Jess dropped onto the bed.

Cece sat up. "So, speaking of you and Nick, anything special happening this weekend?" She smiled and raised her eyebrows.

Jess just sighed. "I don't know, he's been acting really weird the past few days." She pulled her legs underneath her and started to absentmindedly play with the cuff of her jeans.

Natalie offered an explanation. "Well, maybe it's something at work."

"You know, it could be. I saw him talking to Clyde the other night, and he's never in the bar. I just feel like he's been avoiding talking to me about something, and I can't put my finger on it. It's making me kind of nervous."

Cece shrugged. "It's probably nothing."

Jess glanced up at Cece. "You think?"

"I mean, come on, we're talking about Nick here. A year is a big deal to you guys and then we threw in this whole marriage thing? Maybe he had something planned and we messed it up."

Jess just sighed. "He probably would have told me though, the man can't keep a secret to save his life."

"Maybe he's just feeling pressure now that Schmidt and I..."

Jess eyes widened in panic. "Oh God, I hope not. I certainly never tried to put any on him."

Natalie leaned onto her arm. "Well, maybe that's the problem."

Jess turned towards her. "What?"

Cece pointed to Natalie. "No, she's right. What if Nick had something on his mind and now he's worried that you don't."

Jess looked back and forth between them and shook her head. "No, it couldn't be that. Besides, we were really nailing this whole communication thing..." She took a deep breath. "well, at least up until a few days ago..."

Cece just shook her head. "I wouldn't worry about it. Schmidt's probably been so annoying with all of this, that Nick's just sick of it all. I tried to talk him out of those ridiculous tuxes, but he just muttered something about the need to outshine the strip." Cece rolled her eyes as Jess pursed her lips.

"That's true. I just hope the drive there isn't too awkward." Jess turned to Natalie, hopeful. "Are you sure you and Winston don't want to ride with us? Maybe I can postpone a full blown Nick freak out if you're with us? Cece has to leave early so they can pick up the marriage license, but we can wait for you!"

Natalie bit her lip nervously. "I'm so sorry, it's a really sweet offer, but I have to go into the clinic tomorrow morning. We'll be rushing as it is. No use in all of us getting there late."

Jess just shook her head and smiled, reaching out and giving her arm a squeeze. "Hey, no worries. I was just joking anyway. Nick and I will be fine."

There were a few moments of silence before Jess took a deep breath and sighed loudly. "Well, okay then." Jess reached out to grab Cece's foot, a huge smile coming across her face. "You ready to do this Cece?!"

Cece's eyes brightened as she smiled widely. "YOU. BET."