A/N

First of all I would like to sincerely apologize for this taking so long. I went on vacation, then had an after vacation slump where I didn't feel like writing (or doing much of anything for that matter) and I couldn't figure out exactly where I wanted this to go.

Anyway. Sorry.

So here's chapter 11, please enjoy and review! :)

Chapter 11

"He won't talk to me, Cece." Jess complained

They were sitting on the couch in the loft, feet curled up, glass of pink wine in hand. It was a week after what Jess had started referring to as "the incident" and things seemed normal. Emphasis on seemed. On the outside, Nick was his usual self, joking, yet generally grumpy, but Jess had started noticing the little things. He jumped at loud noises, didn't like to be around any type of open flame. One night, Jess had lit candles and Nick had broken out into a cold sweat. The worst, however, was that he wasn't sleeping. Jess would wake in the middle of the night and find herself alone, and cold, in an empty bed.

But he wouldn't talk about it, insisting that he was fine and that there was nothing to talk about. It was driving Jess insane.

"I don't know what to do." Jess continued. "I mean, I can't force him to talk to me about it. Maybe a psychiatrist?" Jess looked over at Cece and worried her lip.

"Babe, if he's not opening up to you, then there is no way Nick Miller is going to talk to a psychiatrist. Especially about feelings." Cece uncrossed her legs and set her wine on the coffee table. "I think you need to just give him time."

Jess sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's getting worse Cece. I don't know how much more time to give him. Last night he didn't even come to bed. He stayed on the roof all night."

The roof had become Nick's place of solace. If he wasn't in the loft, you were more than likely going to find him on the roof. Since the bar burnt down, Nick spent most of his time here, except on rare occasions like tonight. Schmidt had managed to snag some baseball tickets from his work and he Nick and Winston were all at the game. Which meant Jess had the apartment to herself. That was when she had decided to call Cece. She needed to talk to someone.

Cece raised an eyebrow at Jess "He didn't come to bed at all?"

Jess shook her head. "No. He said he was going to go shower and he would be right in but he never showed up. He went straight to the damn roof." Jess took a shaky breath, "Cece, I'm really worried about him."

Cece reached out and wrapped an arm around Jess's shoulder. "I know." She rubbed Jess's arm.

Jess looked up at her, her eyes misty. "What do I do?"

Cece shook her head and shrugged. "I honestly don't know."

Nick, Schmidt and Winston stumbled into the loft at half past 2AM the next morning. The game had been fun, cheering, yelling and eating greasy stadium food. But Nick found himself unable to sit still. Every time the bat cracked against the ball, he jumped. People shouting and yelling made him twitch. He hated it. But Schmidt and Winston were having a good time, so he sat there, antsy waiting for the game to be over. Which would've been great if it hadn't gone into extra innings.

Nick was also exhausted. He couldn't and didn't want to sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw flames, heard boards snapping and breaking, saw Kaylee's petrified face looking up at him, tears in her eyes. It was unbearable. So he went to the roof, it was cool and breezy up there. He could think when he was up there. But first, he wanted to check on Jess. Make sure she was ok. He knew that she was worried about him and saw right through his reassurances. He knew she wanted to talk, but he didn't. He didn't want to think about that day. Ever.

Nick said goodnight to Schmidt and Winston as they all made there way to their rooms. Nick quietly opened his door and peered inside. Jess was there, her back towards him, mane of curls spread over his pillow. He leaned on the doorframe for a second just admiring her. Jess meant more to him than she would ever know. Another reason he didn't want to bother her with his problems. They were his to deal with, she didn't need to be weighed down by them too.

Nick sighed and closed the door, heading for the bathroom. He quickly took a shower and grabbed his robe, throwing it over himself. He ran a hand through his wet hair and rubbed his eyes. God he was tired.

Nick made his way past the door to his room and headed for the roof again. This had become commonplace. Jess would find him there every morning and would great him with a warm cup of coffee. She wouldn't push him but he could see the concern in her eyes. But again, he wasn't going to talk to her about this. She didn't need it.

So to the roof he went as usual to wait out the night.

A few days later things came to a head. Jess was cooking dinner for everyone, sautéing peppers, onions and mushrooms on the stove top. Schmidt was watching her, a mug of coffee in his hand. He wanted to make sure that she, as he put it "didn't cross contaminate anything and kill them all." Jess had rolled her eyes at him and smacked his hand with a wooden spoon.

Winston was sitting at the counter watching Jess and Schmidt with an amused look on his face. Those two in the kitchen was kind of a deadly combination which always amused him to no end. It was usually an hour of bickering and smacking that he considered 'free entertainment.' His fingers were laced under his chin as he stared at the two some.

Nick was sitting on the couch ignoring everyone, eyes glued to the tv at some sports game. He didn't want to have anything to do with what was going on in the kitchen. He got enough of Schmidt's crap on a daily basis and didn't need to deal with his weird OCD kitchen tendencies.

"Jess why are you cooking dinner anyway?" Schmidt grumped from his place next to her, back against the counter, arms crossed in front of him as he glared at her.

Jess continued to stir her mixture in the skillet. She shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt like it. That ok with you?" The last came out a bit snarky. She was up to her ears with Schmidt's snippy comments as she cooked.

"You're using too much oil, you know." Schmidt smirked next to her.

"Schmidt… " she said warningly, holding up the spoon to his face. "I swear…"

Schmidt held his hands up in a surrender gesture. "Fine, fine. But when the food turns into a greasy heart attack.."

"Go sit down or I may kill you." Jess turned back to her sautéing and stirred some more. Schmidt rolled his eyes and headed for the couch. Nick looked over at him and raised his eyebrows. Schmidt grimaced at him.

"Your girlfriend is going to kill us all."

"No she isn't, Schmidt."

"Fine, but when you're in the hospital because you've had a heart attack, don't come crying to me." Schmidt leant back into the couch. Nick rolled his eyes at him and got up. He stretched his aching and tired muscles as he headed for the kitchen, his eyes catching the flames underneath the saucepan. He hesitated, taking a deep breath before marching to the fridge to grab a beer.

"You ok in there Jess?" he asked as he opened the fridge door. He reached in and grabbed a Heisler, trying his best to avoid looking at the flames. Nick could feel a cold sweat begin to break out on his skin. Stop it, he told himself. It's a little fire. It's not going to hurt you. Nick closed the door and leaned back against the fridge as he watched Jess cook.

"No, thanks, I'm fine. As long as Schmidt stays away from me." She grinned up at him.

Just then Jess flipped the the contents of the skillet up in the air and the whole thing caught on fire. Blue/red flames erupted from the top and shot towards the ceiling. Nick dropped his beer which smashed on the floor as he backed up, running into the dinning room table and knocking a chair over. His breathing was ragged, he was now dripping in a cold sweat.

"Nick?" Jess ran over to him, but he backed away from her. "Nick, it's ok. It's just a little fire."

'I'm fine, Jess." Nick gasped at her. He was still having trouble breathing as he backed farther away from her, but Jess followed him.

"Nick, you're not fine. Please talk to me." She begged reaching out to him. He shook his head, avoiding Jess's grasping hands, and walked further back into the living room.

"I said I'm ok."

"Nick please! This is not ok! YOU'RE not ok." Jess was still following him. Nick began to get angry. Why wouldn't she just let it be. Leave him alone. He wanted to deal with this whole thing on his own, why wouldn't she just let him.

"Jess I'm fine! Just, back off, alright?" He yelled at her, stopping so the stove was out of his eyesight. He took a deep breath.

"Nick, I'm you're girlfriend! You can talk to me! Please!" Jess stopped in front of him.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't be!" Nick screamed at her in frustration.

Jess gasped, the blood draining out of her face. She blinked several times in rapid succession, tears filling her eyes.

"You don't mean that…" she whispered, her bottom lip trembling.

Nick brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. He sighed. "I gotta go… I just… I have to go." Nick turned and grabbed his keys from the hook by the door and left the apartment.

Jess stood stock still for a second. She pressed her lips together, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Jess?" Winston said from behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder. Jess shrugged it off and turned to look at him. Her eyes were glazed over with tears. She shook her head at him and headed for her room. Shutting the door behind her, she leaned her back against it, sobs wracking her. Jess slid to the floor and put her head against her knees.

And she cried.

A/N

RUH ROH!

I know it wasn't very long, but the next part needed to be it's own chapter. Hope you liked! Please remember to review!