**Author's Note** Sooo, I caved and watched the sneak peeks. Like, no fucking around, I watched the shit out of 'em. Like a million times each. I know...I'm weak. I kinda had an outline of how this story was going to go in my head, but after seeing the sneak peeks, I had to tweak it a little bit. Also, this chapter is a bit longer than the first two. Lots of dialogue. Anyway, sorry it took me so long to update. I hope you enjoy...

Disclaimer: I do not own New Girl. And that makes me a saaad panda.

When Jess came back from the walk with her dad, Nick was hanging out at the loft by himself. Jess got a call from a former teacher on the way back saying they wanted her to substitute for a class at their new school. So she had to ask Nick a favor.

"Nick! Look," she whispered. "I need you to hang out here with my dad for a little bit. I have to go sub a class. I might actually get to teach kids again!"

Nick tried to play it cool. "Sure, no problem." Meanwhile, Bob breaks out his camera and starts taking pictures of them. "Smile!" They both give Bob a fake smile and then return to their whispered conversation.

"Just keep your mouth shut, okay? He can never find out about this becuase he will KILL YOU." Her warning starts to make Nick sweat. He isn't really sure he can keep this secret. He has been wanting to talk all day about what happened between him and Jess last night but they just haven't had the chance. And it's killing him.

"Alright, so I'm gonna go. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay Dad?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart. Good luck. Me and, uh, Mick. We'll be just fine." Nick secretly rolled his eyes at Bob's slip up with his name, but then smiled nervously at him. He watched Jess as she walked out the door, mouthing "HE WILL KILL YOU!" and making a throat cutting motion with her finger.

...:::...

Nick decides to take Bob up to the roof and have a few beers. They sit there for a while in awkward silence until Bob decides to break the ice by asking if there's any ladies in Nick's life. Immediately, Nick denies that there's anyone. "No no no. No girls for me."

"Seriously? A good lookin' guy like you. It seems like women would just flock to you, with that gruffy. And the stubble. And a young guy..." Nick interrupts him, beyond frustrated.

"This isn't something we should talk about, Bob. Trust me!"

"Okay! I'm sorry..." Nick was changing his mind before Bob could even finish his sentence. He wanted to rave about this beautiful woman he had just spent the night with the night before. But how could he describe her to Bob without him realizing it was Jess? So he began describing someone the complete opposite of her. A girl with no quirks and no bangs. A girl who is tall and fat. A girl who has tiny, ugly, beady little eyes. But the whole time, all he could think of was Jess' quirky personality, the way her soft hair framed her perfect face, the feel of her small frame in his arms, and those beautiful big blue eyes that looked right through to his soul.

...:::...

As they walked back down to the loft and sat in the dining room, Bob began to pry more about this girl in Nick's life.

"So you finally got with this girl last night, huh? After all that time? Seems like you're really into this Yolanda girl!"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Nick could barely contain the smile that spread across his face."

"Well, I'm happy for ya. It's good, you know. To have someone." Nick thought that maybe Bob was starting to like him, the way he was rooting for him and this girl. Then he had a crazy thought.

"Look, Bob. I wanna tell ya...it's Jess." Bob just stared. "Bob?" He leaned in closer as he finally took in Nick's words.

"What's Jess." Bob said harshly. Nick swallowed hard as he continued. "Th-the girl. It's Jess." A nervous smile crept to his lips as he finished his sentence.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Nick screams and runs out the door as Bob chases after him. "YOU'RE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME?! DEAD!"

As they race into the hall they run into Jess coming out of the elevator.

"Nick! Dad! What is going on here?!" Nick cowers behind Jess while Bob throws his hands up in defeat.

"This guy! I'm gonna kill him!" Bob shouts. Nick puts his hands on Jess' shoulders and tries to say something to Bob but is quickly interrupted. "Get your hands off her you animal!" And Nick raises his hands up in surrender to his words.

"Okay, let's go. Inside...now!" Jess says to them, clearly frustrated by their immature little squabble. As she leads them inside she gets a call from Cece, so she shoves them inside and answers the phone in the hall. Bob takes a seat on the couch and Nick tries to stay as far away from him as possible, glancing at the door waiting for Jess to come to his rescue. Finally she comes through the door and he breathes a sigh of relief.

"Okay, conversation's over. Nick, hands up. Back away. Dad, you're coming with me."

"What, you wanna get rid of me? So you two can do it again?" Bob says in a disgusted tone.

"What? You told him?! God, I knew you would blurt it out..."

"Shows how much you know," Nick said triumphantly. "I didn't blurt it out. I told him on purpose!"

"What?! Why would you do that?!" Jess could feel her blood boiling. Why would he tell her dad what happened between them? He could talk to her dad about them but he could barely talk to her about it?

Bob ignores their conversation and starts his own accusations. "Wh-what do you owe money on the rent? What is going on here?"

"Dad, I don't know. We haven't had a chance to talk about it yet."

"Well when did this happen?" Bob probed.

"Last night." Nick blurted out.

"Nick!" Jess was getting frustrated. Nick was already kicking himself for answering Bob's all too personal question.

"Why am I tell you this?"

"Jess, why are you picking him? He's a lazy, drunken, cable thief."

"Dad, there's nothing wrong with Nick. You don't even know him." Nick smiled briefly at the sight of Jess defending him, but was quickly pulled back to reality.

"I know him. You're me," Bob said as he turned to Nick. "And I'm not good enough for my little girl." Nick just crossed his arms and shook his head in agreement. He had always thought that about himself and Jess, but no one else had ever said it out loud to him before. And it felt like someone took a baseball bat to his chest. He knew he was right. So all he could do was leave.

"You know what? You're right. I'm just gonna..." Nick pointed toward the door with his thumb and headed up to the roof.

"Nick, wait..." Jess pleaded softly. But he couldn't hear her over his heart breaking and slammed the door to the loft. Jess had had enough of this conversation.

"Dad, how could you do that?! Do you have any idea how fragile Nick is? Now he's NEVER gonna talk to me about us!"

"Well, he needed to hear it..." "NO!" Jess interrupted. "You need to go apologize right now and fix this. Go!" She pointed toward the door and tapped her toe impatiently.

"Alright! Alright, I'll go. If that's what you want, I'll do it. But I don't think it will help." Bob headed out the door and up to the roof to find Nick.

...:::...

As Bob walks over to him, Nick just gives him a sullen nod. He's no longer afraid of him. Or maybe he is, but he's too torn up about Bob's words to be scared right now. Bob takes a seat next to him and lets out a sigh. Then, while his eyes scan over Nick's distraught face, a lightbulb seems to go off for Bob.

He looks at Nick knowingly. "Have you told her?"

Nick tries to look confused, but he already has an idea of what Bob means. "Told her what?"

Bob shakes his head. He wants to say,'That you love her.' But Bob knows if he says it out loud Nick will just deny it. "Just tell her. I may think you two are completely wrong for each other, but she deserves to know."

Nick doesn't try to deny what he know Bob is implying. He just sits there nodding to himself. Bob lets a small smile creeps to his lips, Nick's wordless reply confirming what he knew as soon as he saw him up here with that look on his face. He's not the best at apologies, so he just pats Nick's shoulder and smiles, saying, "C'mon. We better get back down there."

...:::...

Later that night, after Nick had gone to bed, Jess sits down with her dad on the couch. Bob is still trying to convince her that Nick is all wrong for her. He can see that Nick's obviously head over heels for Jess, but that doesn't mean that it's right.

"Dad, please. Don't ruin this, okay? You have no idea how much Nick means to me. How much he's been there for me and supported me. I don't know what I'd do without...him." At the end of her declaration, she realizes how much he really does care for her, and she for him. And a frightened look washes over her face.

Bob sighs deeply, frustrated yet defeated at the same time. "Okay, honey. If this is really what you want. I just want you to be happy. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Why do you think he's not good enough for me? Is that what you thought about mom? That you weren't good enough for her?"

"Look, Jess. Guys like me and Nick...we're pros at self-sabotage. If we think something isn't going to work out, we make sure it goes south sooner rather than later to avoid the heartache. It's just who we are." Jess has a deflated look on her face. And Bob almost wishes he hadn't said what he had to her. "But look, honey. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there's more to him than I see. You clearly see something good in him, and I trust your judgement. You should be free to make your own decisions about who to be with. So whatever you decide, I promise I won't interfere anymore."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Bob stands to his feet and heads into Jess' room. She had forced him to take her room instead of the couch. As she sat there in her pajamas, she realized she wasn't tired. She just wanted to talk to Nick. She needed to figure out what page they were on. She padded over to Nick's room as quietly as possible, then tapped quietly on his door. Nick couldn't sleep. He had just been laying on his bed thinking too much (again), so he answered the door quickly. He was beyond surprised to see Jess staring up at him. After what happened today, he was sure she would have realized that her dad was right and just wanted to pretend like nothing had happened between them.

"Jess? What are you-"

"Shh..." she pushed him by his chest so that she could enter the room and closed the door behind her. "Shut up." She was ready to talk this out...until she looked him straight in the eye. Suddenly she didn't want to talk. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She knew they had so much to decide and so much to figure out. But the look in his eyes, like he knew this whole thing with them just wasn't going to happen, she just had to erase that look. She didn't want him to stop it before it had barely begun. As he watched her intently, the tiniest smile crept to the edges of her lips. She ran fingers along the worry lines of forehead, trying to make them disappear. Then, grabbing the back of his neck with both hands, she raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him sweetly. His hands instantly smoothed across her waist and around to her back as the kiss grew more intense. Suddenly, Nick pulled back from her lips, breathless, as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Wait. Jess...don't you wanna talk about..." his hand moving back and forth between them, "...this?"

"Nope. No talking. We can do that later." The words rushed out of her mouth as she tried to keep kissing him. But he pulled away, not convinced.

"Are you sure, Jess? I mean..." Jess wouldn't let him continue.

"Nick..." she gave him a smoldering look that made him weak in the knees. "Take off your pants."

"Yes ma'am," he uttered as he unbuckled his pants and pulled his pants down while simultaneously make his way over to the bed. Maybe tonight was not the night for talking...

**Thanks for reading! Please review...I need to know if and why I suck. :D**