A/N:

Thanks for reading so far! I really appreciate the feedback from people, so keep it coming :) Chapter Nine was a hard slog for me and didn't come easily, so it was nice to write this one as it felt a lot easier. Massive thanks to Laura (mcloz98) for being my sounding board and putting up with my messages!

CHAPTER TEN:

Nick looked up from serving his customer to see Jess and Cece hurry through the door and head towards Schmidt, already waiting for them at his favourite booth. Apparently it had the best lighting for his skin tone, or some such nonsense. The girls bypassed Nick completely, which he guessed he could understand. They were probably still pissed at him for his reaction at the loft earlier. He decided he would try to make amends once he'd completed the order he was getting, he was due a break soon anyway.

Jess sat opposite Cece and Schmidt, and downed the drink he diligently had waiting for them as instructed by Cece in the cab over here. She felt the alcohol buzz through her limbs and took a deep breath. The adrenaline from earlier was wearing off and right now she was feeling quite shaky about what could have happened had Cece not come to her rescue. Jess quickly excused herself to go and freshen up in the restroom, in the hopes that she could gather herself enough to try and enjoy the rest of the night. As she crossed the front of the bar, Nick made a dash for the hatch and stopped in front of her, arms extended in a bid to halt her progress.

"Wait, please! Jess, about earlier, back at the loft...I can explain, I was an idiot...I promise I wasn't_"

He stopped when he noticed the pained expression on her face, her eyes shining with tears she was trying desperately to blink back. He reached out and laid a hand on her arm, the gentle touch of his warm skin making her look at him.

"Are you ok, Jessica?"

The concern in his voice and kindness in his big, brown eyes suddenly made it impossible for her to hold in the emotion she was trying to control and her tears spilled over as she shook her head. She rushed past him towards the bathroom, Cece following in her wake having seen the exchange. She glared at Nick and he raised his hands in surrender, stepping backwards out of her way.

Thinking that he was the cause of Jess's tears, he felt a heavy feeling settle in his stomach. He hated the thought that a flippant reaction from him could have affected her so much. Feeling angry with himself, he returned behind the bar, looking up in time to see Sarah rush through the door and make a beeline for him. This was unexpected, the exhibition didn't finish for at least another hour. Seeing the upset in her features, he realised something was wrong. His brow furrowed as she reached him "Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you for a while yet...everything ok?" he asked, knowing that it wasn't.

Sarah swallowed hard and tried to stop her lip from wobbling "Can I talk to you for a minute? I need to tell you something..."

...

After escaping to the bathroom and managing to calm herself down, Jess started to make her way back to their booth. As they walked out into the bar, she saw a flash of pale blue material in the corner of her eye. As if in slow motion, she turned her head and saw Sarah.

They were wearing the same dress.

The penny suddenly dropped as Jess thought back to the look on Nick's face at the loft.

"Ohhhh..." she breathed in realisation, giving a wry chuckle to herself

"What?" asked Cece, confused

Jess nodded her head in the direction of the bar "Ah!" laughed Cece "Well, that certainly explains a lot!" and gave her friends shoulder a little squeeze as they returned to their seats.

"Well there you are!" exclaimed an exasperated Schmidt with a roll of his eyes "I was about to send a search party, I thought perhaps you'd been sucked into the turlet..."

"Toilet..." corrected Jess

"That's what I said. Turlet" he frowned back

"Anyway" interrupted Cece "we're back now, so you can relax and tell us what that is all about" pointing discretely towards Nick and Sarah at the bar.

"I have zero clue" he admitted "but by the way she rushed in here and the frown on Nick's face, I'd hazard a guess that it's not all hearts and rainbows"

Jess looked over and saw Nick leaning forward on to the bar with his arms, his jaw tightening as his conversation with Sarah continued. It looked pretty serious. She narrowed her eyes to try and figure out the gist of the subject but it was no use. Cece followed her gaze then glanced back at her friend, a sympathetic smile on her face.

Of course.

It all made sense. Her reaction to Nick's laugh was far more intense than Cece had expected - Nick said and did stupid things all the time and she'd never seen it bother Jess like this before.

"Schmidt, can you give us a second?" Cece asked

"What? Why? Are you kidding me? If I'd wanted to spend my evening alone I'd have done it at the loft. At least there I could relax in my 'mono and let my boys hang out...if you catch my drift"

"Schmidt. Five minutes" she insisted, placing a hand over his as he begrudgingly stood up "I'll make it up to you" she whispered

"Oh, yeah..." he cleared his throat and tried to hide his excitement at the prospect "no, yeah, that's cool Cecelia, you know. Whatever you need..."

Once he was out of earshot, Cece turned to Jess and placed a hand on her knee, breaking her stare towards the bar. She tilted her head and raised her brow.

"It's Nick, isn't it?" she asked softly.

Jess bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes for a second before giving a shaky sigh and nodding her head slowly.

"I don't know what to do, Ceec. I had no idea I had these kind of feelings for him until I HAD these kind of feelings for him, you know?"

Cece looked towards Schmidt now hanging around by the jukebox and replied "Yeah babe, I know..."

"This is such a mess. I'm not used to feeling like this. I see him with her and I just get, like, crazy 'I-wanna-pee-on-my-territory" jealously. Except, he's not my territory. He's just my friend."

"I think we all know you and Nick aren't just friends, Jess" Cece said softly "Question is, what do you wanna do about it?"

"Ugh. I don't know" Jess whined, burying her face in her hands "I don't want to rock the boat, Cece. He's my roommate. He's seeing somebody, for goodness sake, it's not even like he's single!"

"Hmm, well, maybe that might not be the case for much longer" Cece lowered her voice and nodded her head in the direction of the door, where Jess looked up to see Sarah leaving.

...

Jess was sat in the booth alone, Cece had left with Schmidt a while ago. They'd insisted she leave with them, but she assured them she was fine and would make her own way back. In truth, she'd wanted to try and speak to Nick. But she hadn't yet found quite the moment. As she was twiddling with the strap of her purse, she sensed footsteps approaching. A glass of pink wine was placed in front of her, as Nick took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Peace offering" he said, sliding it towards her.

Jess gave a small laugh and took a sip in acceptance before replying "Thank you. But, not necessary. I saw Sarah in here earlier. The dress...it's the same. I get it now. I thought...well, I thought you were laughing at me, so..." she trailed off and met his gaze. His brow furrowed.

"God, no. I wasn't laughing at you, Jess. I swear. It just surprised me seeing you in the same outfit and I...I didn't think. I'm sorry"

She nodded her head "I know. You don't have to apologise. It was just a misunderstanding" she waved her hand in the air as if to swat away the memory.

"I feel really bad." he continued "Honestly, Jess, I didn't mean to make you cry and I shouldn't have laughed. You look great in that dress. Honestly, you do - really great. I mean it." he was rambling slightly but stopped when he saw the confused expression on her face "What's wrong?" he asked

"I didn't cry, Nick."

"But earlier, when you got here..." he pointed towards the restrooms "...I came to apologise and you rushed past me in tears. I thought_"

Jess laughed and placed a hand over his, squeezing slightly "No, Nick, that wasn't because of you. That was...other stuff. You didn't make me cry."

"What other stuff?" He asked, concerned

"Oh, nothing. It's not important" she tried to reply as flippantly as she could but his eyes locked on hers with a questioning gaze.

"Jessica? What other stuff?" he pressed

"It was just something that happened at Cece's party. Some guy. He got a bit handsy with me, but, you know, it's fine. Cece rescued me and he ran away with his tail between his legs so..." she looked back to Nick and tried to smile. His mouth was open and his face was angry.

"That son of a bitch" he growled

"Nick, it's fine. I'm fine"

"Why didn't you tell me, Jess?"

She sighed and weighed up whether to confess that, really, she wanted nothing more than to run to him and tell him. To see him get protective of her and want to check she was ok. To be pulled in to his arms and hugged all better. She took another sip of wine before replying "You kinda had your own stuff going on."

Nick swallowed hard and dipped his head "Hmm. You saw that, huh?"

"Yeah. Do you want to talk about it? I've been told I'm a good listener on more than one occasion!"

"No" he said, quietly "No. Not with you" he shook his head, then realised how that could have sounded as he saw hurt flash in her eyes "Not like that. I didn't mean it like that, Jess. It's just...I don't wanna talk about it. Especially not with you, because I feel like we've only just gotten back on track after the other week and I'd like to keep it that way. Ok?"

"Ok" she whispered back, not quite sure what he was implying but not brave enough to push him on it.

"So am I forgiven, then?" Nick returned to the original topic of conversation

"You're forgiven" she replied, finishing her wine

"Friends?" he offered

"Friends..." Jess whispered, looking down at the table to where her hand had never left his.