Sorry for the hiatus! Life has been pretty busy for me lately. I appreciate everyone's reviews!
Nick pulled Jess close to him, gently kissing her hair. He could smell the lilac shampoo she had used earlier.
"I was kind of surprised to see CeCe and Schmidt spending so much time together today," Nick commented.
"Yeah, she's trying to rekindle things with him," Jess told him.
"What happened to her search for an Indian husband?"
"Look, you can't tell anyone. ESPECIALLY Schmidt, but, she's pregnant."
"Again?"
"What do you mean "again"? The last time wasn't real!"
"It can't be his, they haven't even been together."
Jess smirked. "Actually…"
"Why am I not surprised? Will she keep it if Schmidt isn't interested?"
"Probably," Jess shrugged, "I mean, she wants children. I'm pretty sure she'll raise it by herself if she has to."
"If we got pregnant, would you want to keep the baby?" Nick asked as he stroked her arm.
"Pregnant? Us? You and me, have a baby?"
"Well, yeah. It could happen! Condoms break all the time."
Jess looked up at Nick. "I'd want to keep it."
"Good, because I was thinking the same thing," he smiled.
"I'm going to be a father!" Schmidt announced at dinner the next evening.
Winston started choking on his food. Jess and Nick tried their best to act surprised and shocked.
"Congratulations! Who's the mother?" Nick asked.
"Cecelia! My sperm and her eggs have finally combined to create a masterpiece," he replied triumphantly.
"When did you two sleep together?" Winston asked, "I thought that ship had sailed."
Schmidt waved his hand. "That's not the issue! The important thing is, a baby is going to be born. He will be a great young man, a perfect replica of his father except he will have CeCe's perfect skin tone."
"How do you know it's going to be a boy?" Jess asked.
Schmidt was silent for a few seconds before responding. "I just have a feeling, that's all."
"You don't want a daughter that'll look up to you and hold your hand and ask you to pick her up and spin her around and read fairytales to her?" Winston asked.
"Clearly that's something you want more than me. But honestly, I don't care whether it's a girl or a boy I suppose. It's just the last time I thought CeCe was pregnant, I could only imagine us having a boy."
"I'm so excited for you guys!" Jess said, "Your baby will be so loved by all of us!"
"You'll make a great father," Nick chimed in. He wasn't entirely telling the truth but he knew eventually, Schmidt would fit just fine into the role of a dad. And Nick would be there observing; learning the mistakes that Schmidt would make and take them into consideration for whenever he and Jess decided to have a baby. He didn't think about "if" because he absolutely knew that time would come for them someday. If he knew it wouldn't completely freak Jess out, he would go to a jewelry store and pick out the nicest ring he could afford and ask her to marry her. He had no doubts in his mind that she would be the one woman he'd spend the rest of his life with.
Jess sat on the couch knitting a pair of baby socks while watching an old "The Brady Bunch" re-run. Nick came into the room and plopped down next to her, wrapping one arm around her lazily.
"Getting a little head of ourselves aren't we?" Nick asked, pointing at the socks.
"I can't stop thinking about it! When their baby is born, I want him or her to have all kinds of goodies from their Aunt Jess."
"Aunt Jess huh? So I guess I'm going to be Uncle Nick right?"
"Yeah, I mean, you and Schmidt are like brothers, so why not?"
Nick only smiled. There was no reason for him to explain what he had really meant by that. He knew Jess cared a great deal about him; she had even said she loved him. But he didn't want to rush things with her or make her feel like they were already married or something.
"So Nick," Jess started, "Earlier, when you said mentioned what might happen if we got pregnant, did you really mean you'd want to keep the baby? And be a dad? You're actually okay with that?"
"Yeah Jess. I mean, I don't want to have a baby right now or anything but I could imagine it happening sometime." He was hoping he hadn't said too much.
Jess looked at him, her blue eyes looking into his and a small smile spreading across her lips. She could just imagine a tiny, beautiful baby sometime in their future. A life that they had made together. She gently kissed her boyfriend on the lips.
"Whew, glad I didn't freak you out," he said, "I might not have my life all together but being a dad someday has always been something that I've secretly thought about."
"I never knew that Nick. I never have thought of you as that type of guy."
"You thought I was a baby hater?"
"No, not a hater. But just like, one of those men that would only want a baby if their wife, late in their marriage, ended up getting pregnant."
"What can I say? I'm a softie at heart."
This was going to be a lot longer but I wanted to go ahead and put this chapter up since it had been so long since I last wrote one.
