Jess came home from work and called out in the seemingly empty loft to see if she was alone. She heard Nick's muffled answer from his room and went to go see what he was up to. His door was open so she leaned against the frame and looked at him with her big blue eyes.

"What's up, clown?" She teased.

Nick had been tapping away at his laptop when she approached. Now he turned to face her and his face lit up when he saw her standing in his doorway. She was wearing a yellow sundress with blue polka dots and a matching bow around her middle. Her ebony hair fell down around her shoulders; the extra humidity in the air made her usually subtle curls stand out.

"Hey, Jess, how was work?"

Jess could feel her stomach begin to twirl at the way he said her name. "It was alright; glad to be home now though." She moved from the doorway; she walked toward him and leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek. He turned back to his computer and she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, pressing her lips into his warm neck. "What are you working on?" She stared at the screen tentatively.

"I was just going over my zombie novel again."

Jess grinned, "Well, that Pepperwood is smoking hot."

"Really, Jess? You think so?" He turned toward her, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Definitely," She giggled, squeezing his shoulders. She scanned the page he had open, frowning in confusion. "Uh… Nick? Why are there lines all over the page?"

"Oh, that's a fill in the blank; so the readers can make the adventure their own!"

Jess turned to him, her lips parted slightly, trying to figure out how his brain worked. Eventually she rolled her eyes at her goofy boyfriend and leaned closer to him. Their faces were centimeters apart as she whispered, "What say we make our own adventures, Julius?"

Nick replied with his thick Chicago accent, making Jess start to feel tingly "A night on the town with my gal, Friday? Count me in!"

Schmidt and Winston were walking along the mall discussing women when they bumped into a familiar face. Cece was wearing a dark blue figure hugging dress accompanied by Nadia who was pointing out various things in the stores and laughing vigorously.

Schmidt looked like a deer in the headlights. Clearly he hadn't considered the possibility of running into his ex in public.

Nadia was the one to break the awkward silence, "It's the Jew from your wedding!"

Cece smiled politely, "Nadia, can I talk to Schmidt alone for a minute?"

"Sure. I take Afro-American to find dress for party." The rambunctious Russian model grabbed Winston by the hand, dragging him reluctantly away from the pair.

Schmidt turned to Cece, smiling. "Cece, wow, you look amazing—Like a golden Indian goddess. You radiate beauty, how do you do it?"

"Schmidt, flattery isn't going to get you anywhere."

"You're right; we need to nip this thing in the bud. I hurt you and I'm sorry. If there is anything I can do…"

"Schmidt, we can't just 'nip this thing in the bud' whatever this is, it's going to take a lot of work to fix."

Schmidt looks at her with his pathetic puppy dog eyes. "I understand. If it helps, I choose you."

Cece looks baffled. "What?"

Schmidt smiles, a glint of excitement in his eyes, "I choose you. You're the one I want to be with. I love you, Cecelia."

Cece rolls her eyes frustratingly, "It's too late for that, Schmidt. You had the chance to decide and you chose to run instead. Now you think I'm just going to jump into your arms and praise the lord that you've finally made up your mind? It doesn't work like that!"

"But Cece, I-"

"I love you. I always have, but clearly you don't feel the same way or you wouldn't have run away like you did. You know how much that hurt? You know how embarrassing that was? I got left at the altar twice in one night, Schmidt." She was on the verge of tears now, but she refused to let him see her cry.

"Cece, I would have picked you right then, but I couldn't do that to Elizabeth. She's a fragile soul, she's not like us; I had to let her down easy."

"Some fragile soul; nearly killed me at the loft." Cece mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing; look, you have issues, I get that, but I'm not ready to jump into anything serious just yet. I still want to be your friend and I love hanging out with you, but you can't push me on this." She let out a heavy sigh, "I need my space."

Schmidt nods understandingly and whispers, "I need to White Fang you."

"WHAT?"

"Never mind, let's go find Winston and Nadia."

Winston immediately regretted agreeing to visit the mall with Schmidt after being with Nadia for five minutes. She kept pointing people out to him, laughing at their flaws all while dragging him into different stores to browse racks full of clothes. He called Daisy, hoping she could make the whole situation easier on him.

"Hey Winch," He shook his head at the nickname his girlfriend had given him. It was a mixture of his name and the word bitch.

"Daisy, you have to help me, I'm being forced into shopping with the world's most annoying Russian model."

As if on cue, Nadia pointed to a plump woman in leggings, "Look, Italian sausage!"

Winston could hear a throaty laugh through his phone and scowled. "It's not funny; she's been making fun of people for the past forty-five minutes. She's going to get me killed, woman!"

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Daisy asked.

"Just, please come save me." Winston begged.

Nadia saw a little boy dressed in orange and white and pointed at him excitedly, "I found Nemo! I found Nemo!"

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. You owe me big time." Daisy reprimanded.

Winston thanked her profusely before hanging up the phone.

Daisy met up with Winston and Nadia at the dollar store in the mall. Winston pulled her into a hug and thanked her again for joining them.

Nadia picked up a pipe cleaner and held it under her nose. "I'm angry black man; Daisy, save me from pretty model."

Winston looked bemused. "Oh now you're mocking my manliness? That's real mature."

Daisy chuckled. "Aw, Winch, what's wrong? She looks just like you."

Nadia continued mimicking him, "Ay, I'm a manly man, I have mustache smaller than my mother's."

"I don't talk like that! And what's wrong with my mustache? Don't talk about my mother!"

Daisy cackled, "This is pretty fun, thanks for inviting me, Winch."

"I thought you were on my side." Winston pouted.

Daisy patted his shoulder. "I am on your side, but you're so cute when you mope."

Julius Pepperwood and Jessica Night were enjoying an evening on the beach, searching for clues and protecting the world from zombies. They romped around on the sand, chasing after each other like two kids in grade school.

Jessica's stomach growled loudly and Julius jumped up, prepared to fight the impending zombies, "Julius that was me. I'm starving!"

Pepperwood nodded. "I believe there is a pizza place around here. I could go for a deep dish right about now."

Jessica couldn't help but swoon at his accent and walked with him, clutching his hand, to the nearest diner. As they were leaving with full bellies, they crossed paths with Pepperwood's old nemesis: Fancyman.

"Hello, Russell," Jessica shouted loudly, unaware of how gaudy she was being.

Fancyman looked rather uncomfortable with the whole situation. He had a young woman on his arm with bodacious breasts peeking out of her low cut dress. "Who is this, Russ?"

Fancyman took a moment to introduce them and then made an excuse to quickly part ways. Jessica finds his departure to be out of character, but she shrugs it off and turns back to face her boss.

"Hey, remember the last time we saw Russell? He made us write down what this is on those cards."

Pepperwood chuckled. "Yeah, that was a crazy night."

Jessica looked at him curiously. "What did you write anyway?"

A look of panic flashed in Pepperwood's eyes and he started to moonwalk away from her. She took his hand in hers to calm him down. "Relax; it's not a big deal. I think we both know what this is by now."

Pepperwood smiled, "Yeah, we don't need to talk about those stupid cards ever again."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Jessica reached her hand to rub his back and when she pulled it back it was soaking wet. "Nick Miller, you're sweating like a pig! What did you write on that card?"

Jess had come out of character so Nick knew she meant business. He started making his turtle face and nervously shifting his weight between his feet.

"Why do we have to talk about this, Jess?"

"We have to talk about it sometime. You can't keep avoiding your feelings, Miller!"

"Fine, then what did you write the card?" He crossed his arms, looking at her expectantly.

"I asked you first, Nick!"

"Who's avoiding their feelings now?"

"Okay, how about we both say what we wrote on the count of three?"

"Wait, on three or after three?" Nick asks, perplexed.

"Say it on three!" Jess cries out exasperatedly, "One… Two…"

"Hold on, what do you mean by 'on three'?"

Jess threw her hands in the air, "Have you never done this before? 'On three' means 'after three'!"

"Why would 'on three' mean 'after three'? Why don't you just say 'after three'?"

"Ugh, Miller, why do you have to make everything more complicated than it needs to be?"

The couple squabbled back and forth until Russell came back and let out a low groan, "Oh for the love of God."

Jess turns around to confront her ex, suddenly embarrassed. The girl that is with Russell speaks up, "Are you two okay?"

Russell scoffs, "They're fine. This is how these two are all the time."

"That doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship." The girl says in a mocking tone.

"Excuse me? Who are you? You don't know me; I'm so sick of people telling me that we won't work! LAY OFF!" Jess yells.

"Jess, you have to know he's not right for you." Russell says calmly.

"Like you are one to judge; she's what, a quarter of your age?" Jess bites back.

"You seem to be forgetting that you dated me, Jess."

"Wait a second, you two used to date?" The girlfriend looks mortified.

"Yeah, we broke up because of this," he gestures with his hand to Nick and Jess, "Whatever this is."

Nick finally intervenes, "Russell, you're being a little bit hard on Jess. Is this because you still love her?"

Russell is taken aback, "That is an outrageous accusation!"

"Is it though? You think you're a big shot with your fancy house and your fancy hair and your overall fanciness. Well guess what, Fancyman, you had your chance with her and you blew it. Now she's mine and I'm not letting her go!"

Jess is staring at Nick now, eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape. She is speechless. He didn't stammer or moonwalk away, he's not running from his feelings anymore.

Russell looks just as surprised as Jess and before he can make a witty remark, Nick says, "Go on; get out of here!"

As they walk away from a fuming Nick Miller, the girlfriend says to Fancyman, "They really are something aren't they?"

When the threat is long gone, Jess finally is able to muster up the courage to speak. "Did you really mean what you said?"

Nick pulls her closer to him, squeezing her hips and pressing his forehead to hers, "Every word." He licks his lips and presses his mouth to hers, quenching his thirst for her sweet, watermelon-flavored lip gloss.

Nadia was in the dressing room of a fancy department store trying on different dresses. She put on a sequined, strapless dress and looked at herself in the full length mirror. "I'm caterpillar." After trying on a yellow floor length gown, "I'm peek-a-shoe." Finally she tried on a lilac sundress with floral accents, "I'm fluffy kitten." She pawed at the glass and purred.