Tiny correction to Chapter 12, thank you Ztofan, clearly no good can come from trying to write on 3 hours sleep :)

Thanks for reading everyone and for the reviews and motivation!

Chapter 13

When Nick turned around everything that had happened earlier with Jess came flooding back again and dropping his face, he began to walk past her back to his room.

Jess panicked and rushed to stop him, knowing she had to make things right between them, "I'm sorry."

Nick froze.

Jess continued, "before... everything I said it... it wasn't fair to unleash on you and not let you talk. I meant what I said at Cece's wedding, I don't want to give up on us. I just... can we try to talk?"

"Jess it's not," he began but changed his mind, "why would you want to be with me? You're the kind of girl a dream guy can't even keep and Russell was damn near perfect!"

She frowned in confusion, "What?"

"You're the girl an NFL star wants to marry like 10 minutes after meeting ya... and don't get me started on Genzlinger! That guy was like a human Care Bear and you didn't love him. I'm angry all the time, if this were Sesame Street, I'd be Oscar the grouch and you'd be Elmo... but like a girly Elmo with really awesome boobs..."

Jess cut him off, "Shut up Nick. You don't get to do this. You don't get to put me on some pedestal or act like you're not good enough for me. I didn't fall for Paul because sometimes... I dunno, sometimes feelings don't develop. And Russell was great but there was no spark! And don't throw Jax into this because he basically gets concussions for a living. Seriously, Winston told me last week that he'd proposed to some girl because she had a tattoo of Jamiroquai on her butt and he's always believed that, "Sometimes there really is nothing left for you to do but dance." I mean really Nick?"

Nick pushed aside the thought that Angie had a Jamiroquai tattoo and shrugged simply, stating, "Sometimes the boogie is for real Jess."

Frustrated, Jess shut her eyes and exhaled dramatically, "Look my point is none of them got me Nick. I can't spell out why you're different, you just are." She sighed. "I know you don't think so, but... whenever I've needed you, you've been there. For god's sake you were ready to take on a murderer for me Nick."

He nodded. "And I'd do it again."

"Granted, he turned out to just be a guy with a granny fetish but still!" she said firmly.

Nick scrunched his face at the thought of Edgar groping the elderly woman that Nick and Jess had assumed was his mother. "Bleh!" He shuddered.

Jess squinted and frowned, nodding in agreement. Then her face softened... "Nick I know Caroline hurt you and Julie and Angie took you for granted but I wouldn't." Her face looked pained.

Nick's eyes widened and he winced at the thought that Jess could ever think he'd put her in the same category of any other girl. "Jess, you're nothing like anyone I've ever..." he paused, at a loss for words. "Do you really think I compare you to them?"

She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "I know you think I'm gonna bail on you because you don't have your life together... but I know you Nick. I don't expect you to be something you're not... I'm not Caroline or Julia." and then her voice cracked as she spoke just above a whisper and swallowed hard. This was it, she'd decided to just put it all on the line, "I would love you better than any of them. I would. If you'd let me."

Nick stood there stunned, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. Did Jess just say that she could see her self with him... not only happy with him, but in love with him?

Jess couldn't bear the silence, she felt stupid, so stupid. She always knew she could wind up being the one to care more and now she'd gone and confessed that she wanted him to open up... to say something, anything that would make it ok for her to love him and he hadn't even responded. She felt utterly crushed. Maybe she'd over analyzed what Bonnie had said and jumped the gun. Not only was she being rejected by the first guy she'd loved since Spencer, but unlike Spencer or anyone else she'd been with, Nick was her best friend. He knew her completely... and now she was going to lose him, she just knew it. She could feel the fresh tears forming, pooling in her eyes, about to spill out onto her cheeks. In an attempt to save face, she tried to act nonchalant about his silence, cleared her throat and feigned exhaustion.

"I'm sorry, I've had a long day... you don't need to say anything... I should go to bed. The kids have a big math lesson tomorrow. I'm going to be Sir Cumference... he solves problems with the help of his nephew, Peri Meter, it should be fun... anyway... goodnight." She tried to smile as she walked past him toward her room.

As she began to walk away Nick felt a lump in his throat. She was leaving, he was an idiot and hadn't said anything and now he was going to lose her. He could feel a wave of nausea at the thought about it. His stomach dropped. He knew he had to just say it already. Get it over with. So he squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and balled his fists, bracing himself for her reaction to the confession he was about to make. "I'm in love with you."

She froze with her back to him.

"I'm sorry if I ever made you think that I wasn't sure. Or that I didn't know if I wanted you enough to really try... the truth is I can't remember ever wanting anyone this way and it scares me Jess. You're my best friend... what if I mess up and lose you? I can't lose you. Not you... I need ya too much."

She turned and took his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her, "Why are you so convinced that you will be the one to mess up? Look at us, this whole thing today started because I overheard something and assumed the worst. I'm the one who messed up here, not you." she said

Taking her wrists in his hand, he pulled her hands down off his face, shaking his head, "No Jess, this is my fault. If I'd talked to you sooner... if I'd just manned up and told you what you mean to me, you wouldn't ever have doubted what this was." Then he placed his hand on her waste, pulling her to him, grazing his thumb under the hem of her shirt, touching the bare skin of her waist so softly it almost tickled her, her skin burned and her breath caught and he continued, "it was that Jess... your reaction every time I touched you..."

She couldn't breathe.

"I think I convinced myself that deep down you felt it. Like I didn't need to say the words because I could show you how I felt about you, make you feel it in every kiss. I was so wrong." he said swallowing hard.

"You weren't," she said, her voice raspy, her throat a little dry as she continued, "I did feel it... but I didn't want to be wrong, I was scared it could all be in my head because you know me Nick, I'm not a casual sex kind of girl." She sighed, "At first I assumed I meant more to you than some random hook-up but when you couldn't bring yourself to actually talk to me about it, I ignored the little voice in the back of my head that said, this is Nick, he cares about you, he must really want you if he's willing to risk your friendship... and instead I let the fear that you were just giving into the chemistry between us creep in. I started to think maybe the appeal was that this was dangerous because we're friends and because we're roommates." She frowned at the thought.

When he saw the look in her eyes at that moment it really sunk in for the first time how none of this was a mistake. They were not a mistake. He'd finally admitted that he loved her and she felt the same way... Jess loved him. And for the first time ever, he believed they had a chance, a real chance. So he held her cheek as he looked into her dark blue eyes, glassy from tears and as one tear poured over her cheek, he wiped it away with his thumb as he leaned in kissing her slower and deeper than he ever had, breathing her in, he pulled back and whispered, "I don't know how you do it."

She looked at him confusion crossing her face, "What do I do?"

"You just look at me sometimes and I swear it's like you feel the same way I do... it makes me feel... less broken. You make me feel less broken Jess." He looked down.

She sniffled a little and smiled, "You do that for me too Nicholas..." she exhaled and closed her eyes for moment as she replied using the words his mother said he'd used when he'd talked to her about Jess, "meeting you is the best thing that's happened to me in years." then she laced their fingers together and lifted his hand to her lips, kissing it before placing their joined hands over her heart and adding, "loving you is the best thing I've done years."

Hearing her say that was too much, he couldn't help it, couldn't hold back as a single tear welled and escaped his eye. It was more than he could have hoped for to hear her say that to him. He was overcome with emotion, completely at a loss for words. All he could do at that moment was pull her chin up and kiss her. Then he could feel the smile forming on both their lips, because they were so happy to be back on track.

"So," she said, trying to lighten the intensity of the moment a little, "I hope you didn't just say all that so you could shack up with your roommate and avoid sleeping on the couch."

He smirked and shook his head with a playful frown, "Nah, I said it so I could shack up with my girlfriend."

"You scoundrel, all this time you've had a girlfriend and you never told me?" she said playfully.

He chuckled, "I have the best girlfriend... she's a nurse."

"You don't say," she laughed in response, "well you're a lucky man to have someone to take care of you."

His stopped joking for a moment and replied, "I am lucky, she's amazing. She loves me better than anyone ever has." And with that, Nick scooped Jess up in his arms just like he did the very first time they were together, and marched across the hall to carry her over the threshold of what was now their room... at least for the next few months.