As Coach once said, happy monday! Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I replied you all as always :) I don't know if you're gonna like this one, but I felt like I needed to get Nick and Jess closer (?). Any grammar mistake you find, please let me know. Have a nice reading!

x x x

8. Burglar

Bzzz. Bzzzz.

Nick rolled over on his bed and slammed his hand onto the nightstand, trying to find his damn phone that was waking him up in the middle of the night. Squinting his eyes because of the screen's bright light, he slowly read the name that appeared on the caller ID. Jess.

"What" He answered, still groggy.

"Nick, help me!" Jess whispered on the other side of the line "I think there's somebody here!"

Nick fully awoke and sat up on the bed.

"What do you mean there's somebody there Jess, it's three in the morning!"

"I know" She replied, voice low and muffled as if she was under the covers "but there's someone in the living room. I heard something crashing and I'm pretty sure it was my flower vase, which is near the hallway therefore near my bedroom and I' m 99% sure I'm about to die."

"Oh my god" Nick rubbed his hand on his face to think. What was he supposed to do, call the police? There was no time, someone was in Jess's apartment at that very moment and he needed to do something. Holding the phone glued to his ear, Nick threw his legs over the bed to the ground and slip his feet into a pair of sneakers.

"I'm coming , okay? Stay with me on the line." He said as he stood up and walked out the door.

"Alright." Was her shaky reply. Nick darted his eyes from corner to corner to try and find Winston's baseball bat, when he remembered it was hidden behind a cabinet exactly for situations like that one. He quickly reached for it and took his keys from the side table.

"I'm crossing the hall, don't leave your room."

"Nick, the door."

"What?"

"My door, it's locked... I mean, it's supposed to."

"I have your keys, remember? Lucky you I took care of your plants last week while you were away."

She didn't say anything else and Nick paused before unlocking the door.

"Jess?"

"It's going through my stuff in the kitchen." Jess's voice was tense and her breath was heavy. Nick felt an overwhelming urge of just kicking the door open and crush the skull of whoever was in there scaring her, but he was afraid himself and needed to act cool (something he wasn't good at). Taking a deep breath, he said:

"Stay calm and quiet, I'm coming in."

"Please, be careful."

"I will."

Again she did not reply, so he turned the key in the lock and put his phone in his pocket. Jess's apartment was almost completely dark, the moonlight that came through the biggest window in the living room being the only source of light that helped Nick see what was going on. He raised the bat in the air, preparing himself to hit whoever he found, when he heard something dropping on the floor, coming from the kitchen. Nick felt his heart beat faster and an intense urge of running away, but he wouldn't leave Jess alone with a burglar - tip toeing to the kitchen, he squeezed his eyes to see in the dark and held tighter to the bat. Another crashing sound was heard and this time it was a heavier object, like a pan or cutting board: whoever it was, was kneeling down behind the kitchen island going through Jess's cabinet of food and could not be seen if Nick didn't take a step ahead. Expecting the worst, Nick walked up towards the sound when a weird ball jumped from behind the island and showed its claws.

"MEOW"

Exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding, Nick dropped the bat on the ground in relief. It was just Winston's cat, Ferguson, that had been missing since that morning when Winston left the door open for a few minutes. How he ended up in Jess's apartment Nick had no idea, but the worst part was over: it was just a cat.

"Hey, Jess!" Nick called out as he picked up a nervous Ferguson from the ground "It's Winston's cat!"

Quick footsteps were heard and in a few seconds Jess was in the kitchen, turning on the lights. Her eyes were wide like marbles and she looked at the cat in Nick's arms.

"What? That's Ferguson?"

"Yeah, I have no idea how he sneaked into your apartment."

"Thank god it was just a cat." She approached them and lightly patted the animal on the head. Making a childish voice, she said "Sir, you almost made me suffer a panic attack. Don't you ever do that again, uh? Nick here will have to wake up and come pick you up every time you do that."

"Uh, nope, that'll be his owner's job." Nick yawned. The cat started struggling and Nick held him tighter "Alright, let me take this boy back to our loft. You alright, Jess? You seem a little tense..."

"Nah, it's fine." She chuckled nervously.

"People who are fine don't shake like a broken washing machine. Come on, Ferguson scared the hell out of you? He's a nice cat, just a little creepy sometimes but Winston said he's working on it."

"It's just... Ugh. Sometimes I hate being alone at night, that's all. I used to live with Cece before I moved in here and before that I shared a house with an ex boyfriend, so I was never really by myself. I could call you for help though, so I feel better."

Nick stared at her face. He could tell she was still a bit uneasy about the cat incident that just happened, judging by the way she embraced herself and how, when she wasn't looking at him, she searched everywhere in her apartment for, who knows, another cat. Ferguson started scratching Nick's hands with his claws and Nick jumped in pain.

"Awch! What the hell dude!" He held Ferguson in the air, away from him "Jess, just give me a second to take him back to the loft and I'll be back."

"Uh, okay."

Nick quickly made his way out of Jess's apartment and crossed the hall. After opening the door and letting a stressed Ferguson jump from his grasp, Nick went back to 4C and found Jess standing in the exactly same position, with her arms around herself and a pale expression.

"Jess, do you want me to stay here until you fall back asleep?"

Taken aback by Nick's question, she processed what he had just said in her head.

"You mean... Here? With me?"

"Yeah, dummie" He chuckled. When she didn't laugh along, Nick cleared his throat and corrected himself "I mean, it's cool if you don't want to, I was just offering because I thought you didn't..."

"No!" Jess almost yelled, startling Nick. He looked at her with wide eyes and she blushed "I meant to say 'no, it's fine'. I want you to stay."

Nick felt a good feeling in his chest that he didn't know what it was, but hoped, really hoped, it was just a momentary feeling. Recomposing himself, he shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled lightly.

"I'll stay here until you close your eyes then."

They held each other's stare for what felt like an eternity, and then she lightly shook her head.

"I'll get you a pillow and a cover."

He arched an eyebrow.

"Do you take that long to fall asleep?"

"Tonight I do." She sighed "It's okay if you don't want to wait."

Nick walked past Jess and flopped down on her couch, stretching his arms behind his head as if he was lying on his own couch.

"It's comfortable enough here."

She laughed.

"I'll get your things, Miller."

Nick nodded and found himself a cozy position to lie down. Jess's couch was familiar enough to him after so many movie nights with the guys, so he wasn't lying when he said he was comfortable.

"One pillow and one cover coming, sir" Jess came back mimicking a british accent, holding a pillow in one arm and a large pink cover on the other "May I tuck you in?"

Nick frowned.

"What am I, five?"

"Don't ruin the fun."

"Alright, alright."

She laid the cover over Nick's body, humming to herself, and placed the pillow gently behind his head. Nick watched how she made sure he was comfortable and how she genuinely cared and that weird feeling he experienced before made an appearance in his belly again. He closed and opened his eyes to clear his thoughts and looked up at Jess to see her staring at him.

"You okay there?"

"Yup." Was his simple reply. Jess nodded.

"I'm going to sleep then. I guess." she lightly chuckled. After a few seconds of silence, she proceeded "Thanks for everything, Nick. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't around sometimes... You seem to save me whenever I need the most."

"Hey" he reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze "I told you before, I'll always be here, okay? Just call me and I'll be waiting at your door."

"Okay."

They stared at each other's eyes, in a sign of reassurance, until Jess decided it was time to go and murmured "Good Night" to Nick. He said it back and turned around to face the couch as Jess turned off all the lights; her smell in the pillow and cover was soothing and sweet, which made it easy for him to just close his eyes. When he was about to drift off to sleep, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and the floor lamp near the couch was turned on. Nick rubbed his eyes to see Jess biting down on her lip.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, yawning.

"Uh...I..." She suddenly turned red "I just came here to check if I gave you enough covers. It's kinda cold."

"Jess, it's like 75° outside."

"Yeah, but still... Global warming and stuff. You can feel hot when it's actually cold and burglars can break in and turn on your air conditioner."

Nick lifted the cover and patted the space next to him.

"Come on, lie down."

Jess nervously chuckled. "What?"

"You're mentally freaking out, it's like Schmidt when he sees a spider: even after it's gone, he scans the whole loft scared of the spider coming back to haunt him."

Jess hesitated.

"It's not that I'm freaking out, it's just...How did that cat get in here and how did I not see it? If it was so easy for a small animal, imagine for an actual serial killer! I'll even change my locker tomorrow because who knows, right? I can be there, in the kitchen, heating up water for tea and bang, I'm dead!"

Nick shifted to the back of the couch to make more room.

"I'll check your lock tomorrow and ask Winston to put a bell on Ferguson's collar, now lie your butt down, alright?"

Jess pondered about Nick's proposal, and concluded that that spot next to him looked good. She laid down and leaned into Nick's body as he covered them both with her pink cover; Jess was stiff at first, the proximity with Nick feeling like a weird pressure she wasn't expecting for, but as she felt him relaxing and casually resting his arm on top of her hip in a gentle way, she started softening too.

"You're a good big spoon." Jess reclined against Nick's chest further.

"Thanks. Your hair's a good sleep mask."

She chuckled and turned her face up as if she was face to face with him.

"I'm feeling better now."

"Anytime, Jessica."

"Good to know."

Nick didn't say anything else, but Jess felt him smile against her neck. Closing her eyes, she squeezed the hand that was on top of her hip and sighed.

"Good night, Nick."

"Good night, Jess."