You know those days where you feel like NOTHING can go wrong? I don't have them that often, but oh my, they're awesome. I'm in a fantastic mood. So, today's update is brought to you for that very reason!

Chapter 12

Well the night rolls on like a long lost friend
'Til the sunrise bleeds like the bitter end
Don't let me be lonely…

Nick woke with a start. He was sure he'd been dreaming about the night before, sure he was jolted awake by Julia's alarm clock. Why she always wanted to get up this early on weekends, he'd never know.

"Can ya turn that damn thing - "

Oh.

As he came to his senses, his nose was greeted with the sting of throat lozenges and the slightly sweet, indisputable smell of…

Jess.

Her form slept peacefully next to him, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that he had not actually been dreaming, and he had really attempted to nurse Jess back to health. The memories came back out of the fog.

Her stare. Her confession.

His feelings.

He shook the thoughts out of his head, peering over at Jess's curled up form. Sometime in the night, she had turned away from him, and kicked off every single blanket in the process. This didn't really surprise Nick; she'd always done that with him when they were together, sick or otherwise. Not to mention, it had to mean she wasn't cold anymore. That meant her fever wasn't as bad…

Right?

It was then he registered that he, too, had shifted in his sleep. His body had slid down, but his head had remained oddly propped up against another pillow. The ridiculous crick in his neck would remind him of this all day. He turned his head a few times, giving himself a good stretch, before doing a quick scan of the bed. Jess's back was now to him, her shoulders rising and falling with slow, steady breaths.

Nick brushed her cheek with his fingers, relief flooding him when they were not hot to the touch. She may still have a fever, he was never really good at telling those kind of things, but it wasn't nearly as evident. He sat up, content that he'd done a halfway decent job at keeping Jess alive.

Snapping him out of his self-praising, he heard his phone buzz from somewhere on the floor, and fumbled around in the dark until he found it's ominous light.

His heart sank as the time flashed across the screen.

6:27 AM.

Shit.

It couldn't be that early. There was no way he'd slept for eight hours.

Not only that, but he had also four missed calls, three voicemails, and quite a few texts from none other than Julia. His Julia. His fiancée. The woman that he should have woken up to this morning.

He flew out of bed, still careful not to wake Jess. It took a minute for the whole situation to sink in.

"Nothing happened!" He whispered frantically, to no one in particular. Jess sighed again in her sleep, and Nick took his cue to tiptoe quickly out of her room. He did the math in his head. Julia got up at 7:15 on the weekends, given him a little over 45 minutes to get back. She'd still be pissed, but it wasn't like he was walking in the door after she woke up. It would take him twenty minutes, tops, to get home, and maybe five more to dress into more appropriate attire for sleeping…

That gave him another twenty-or-so-minute window to make sure Jess and Aly were set for the day.

He found Jess's phone on the couch, and set her alarm for 6:45. Then he headed into the kitchen, digging in the cabinets before finding the little green box that he used to get out for her every morning in the loft.

"…Nick?"

In any other situation, he wouldn't have winced. He would never be unhappy to see Aly. But when that very three-year-old comes peeking in the kitchen the moment he was planning his grand escape… Well, it happens.

Her hair was tousled, still in her little purple nightgown, and in one hand she grasped tightly onto her favorite stuffed animal, Elvis the bear.

"What, sleepy-head?" He asked, amazed at how steady his voice was.

"What are you doing here?"

Good question, he thought. Aloud, though, he had a smoother answer. "I'm making your mom tea. She's still asleep, so we gotta be quiet."

With this, he put his finger to his lips. She suppressed a small giggle before doing the same with her own finger.

"Ooooh," she whispered. "So this is kinda like a secret?"

He smiled. "Yeah, a secret. So, go back to bed and Momma will be up in a little bit, feeling a lot better."

"You're not stayin'?" There was the turtle face. His willpower was strikingly weak in her capable hands.

How in the world was he going to deal with her as a teenager?

"I'll be back tomorrow, sweetheart," he assured, ushering her back to her room. She settled back into the pillows, but watched him intently as he left the room.

He picked up the box of tea once he was back in the kitchen, eying skeptically the pot of now-boiling water. He used to be a pro at this – could four years really make him forget how to do one of his favorite things about the morning?

His distractions were costing precious time. He sighed, trudging along through what he could remember.

It took two tries, and ten more minutes of boiling water, to get the tea right. When he finally did, he only had a few minutes to spare. Sneaking back into Jess's room, he set her phone (soon to go off) and the steaming cup of tea on her nightstand. He hoped she wouldn't be mad about the early wake-up call.

As much as he wanted to see Aly again before he left – if only just to give her a proper goodbye – he knew better. He left the dark apartment with his keys in hand, and stepped outside, trying not to think about what he was about to go home to.

"You didn't even think about calling me, Nick? I was worried sick."

Nick put his head in his hands, starting to believe that there was no apology was good enough. He'd be ambushed the second he walked in the door, not even given time to change out of the clothes he wore to the park, and was pretty sure this round wouldn't end anytime soon.

"For the hundredth time Julia – I'm sorry."

"I just don't know if I believe it this time," she huffed. He couldn't think of anything to say to that. Did he even believe it?

Sure, he was sorry. He just wasn't sure if it was for the right reasons. Not that he was going to say that.

He was smart enough to know that was a bad idea.

"Look," he replied, running his hand through his hair, "I was only thinking that Aly needed a parent there, that's all. I really am sorry I didn't call."

They sat at the table in silence for a bit longer. He felt the heaviness in his eyes, starting somewhere distantly behind Julia. Nick was tired, no doubt about it.

"We were doing so good…" she trailed, wistfully. "We set a date… You were talking to me… I just don't know how to keep you here anymore, Nick."

"I have a – "

"Daughter, I know," she cut him off, holding up her hand. "But that doesn't mean you can't let that be part of our life – not just your life."

"I'm trying," he defended. "I'm learning one thing at a time! I barely know how to keep her by myself. Do you know how freakin' stressful it is to be alone with a toddler?"

"I can't say I do," she shot back, a clear stab at her knowledge of Aly. "I've been kept in the dark this whole time! I know nothing about your own daughter, Nick!"

"You never asked," he retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Do I need to?" She snapped. "Because you come home almost every night, tired and worn, then ask me about my day and go to bed."

"At least I ask about your day."

"Do you even listen to it?"

This caught Nick off guard. A knee-jerk response would, obviously, be "of course I do…" but was it the truth?

Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

He was beginning to realize that there was absolutely no way to have both Julia and Jess happy with him at the same time.

"I do listen," he replied, finally… unconvincingly.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Did you ask Jess about Aly being the flower girl? I asked you again two days ago."

He closed his eyes. He'd listened to everything but that. Okay, so the entire conversation eluded him.

Apparently he didn't listen very well.

His silence didn't help matters much. Julia rolled her eyes and stomped off into the other room, throwing an envelope at Nick on her way to their bedroom. Her aim was spot-on – he caught it as it smacked against his chest, forcing some of the air out of his lungs upon impact.

"This came for you yesterday."

He looked curiously at it, his eyes drawn to the familiar Chicago return address. His mother's script spelled out his name and address in the center. Strange… She'd sent plenty of packages for Aly… Just never a letter. Surely she knew Aly couldn't read. He was then even more curious to know what she could've sent for her in an envelope.

Nick ripped at the top, his fingers skimming a few strips of thick paper. He pulled the pieces out once he'd managed to mangle the envelope open.

His gasp was enough to get Julia's attention.

In his hands were three travel vouchers – two adults, one child – for the last weekend in May… Memorial Day weekend. The vouchers gave them some choices for flights out Friday afternoon, and arrived in Chicago soon after. The return date appeared to be sometime on Monday.

"Nice…" he breathed. His mother hadn't been kidding when she said she wanted to see Aly.

He felt bad that he hadn't come up with the idea first.

"What's that?" Julia insisted, poking her head out of the bedroom.

"Plane tickets," Nick replied, hesitantly. It occurred to him that there were only three tickets – presumably one each for him and Aly, and one for Jess or Julia, but not both.

Just what he needed right now.

"Oh," Julia replied shortly. "For what?"

"Ma wants me to bring Aly to Chicago for Memorial Day," he carefully stated. If he asked Julia to come with him… Did he have the ability to take care of Aly that far away from Jess? They had half of a country and two airports to navigate before he'd reach the knowledge bank that was his mother…

Almost like she was reading his mind, Julia continued her questioning. "Can you handle Aly by yourself like that?"

"I… I don't know," he shook his head. Then, his heart racing, he knew that he had to tell her. "She sent another ticket."

This time, Julia only nodded. The silence was almost deafening in his ears, implications stirring madly between them.

"You don't have to take me, you know."

Her confession was another blow to his conscious. She was right to be mad at him after last night. She was right to be angry for not calling. Hell, she was right to worry about whatever was going on with Jess.

And yet, here she stood, indirectly giving him permission to take Jess along.

"I couldn't do that to you," he conceded, his eyes falling to the floor. He saw the hurt flash in her eyes – he had just admitted that he had given consideration to taking Jess along. Always the good lawyer, she straightened up almost immediately after.

"I'm not going to tell you to take a three-year-old on her first cross-country flight without her mother," she countered. "I'm a lawyer, I know all-too-well what can go wrong with that," her voice then got quiet, "and as a human… I know she needs Jess."

Nick sighed. "I can probably still get you a seat on the same flight if we go look now. This is in like two weeks."

"No," she contested, biting her lip. "Your mom hates me, and there's already going to be enough women cooing over Aly…"

"My mom doesn't hate you, Julia, she - "

"Nick," she replied flatly. "She hates me."

Nick knew full well that this wasn't entirely true. Yes, she thought Julia was boring and too serious… But most functioning adults were. No, the truth was that she was still remembering someone else– holding out for something that Nick was currently resisting for Julia's sake.

He wished he could tell her that. He wished the words would come to him, but it was just so much easier to let her believe that his mother hated her. It was almost more comforting than the truth.

His mother wouldn't like anyone that wasn't Jess.

Sure, she'd said that she was still angry over her taking Aly away. Her voice still had a slight edge when he talked to her on the phone about Jess's decision making. There was no denying she was upset.

But she had sent three plane tickets. Not four… three. She had done so without telling him, so he wouldn't know, so he couldn't plan.

It was a test, and he had a sinking feeling that his mother was going to get exactly what she wanted out of it.

As the gears turned in his head, Julia stood in front of him, still waiting for a reply.

"Just believe me when I tell you that she doesn't hate you," he pleaded.

She shrugged. "Fine. She doesn't hate me."

Her tone was hard to decipher. Was it defeat, or disappointment? Tired or Confused? Was it a mix of it all?

In the quiet, Nick heard his phone go off from the spot on the couch that he'd thrown it to when he walked in the door. It had to have been at least an hour since he left Jess's apartment. He briefly thought about calling her about the ticket, and then thought better of it with Julia standing right there.

"I really am sorry," he attempted, putting his arm on her shoulder. She shook her head sadly and retreated back into their room. She turned around at the last second, locking eyes with him.

"Can we at least agree to try a little harder?"

Nick nodded quickly, exhaling in relief. "Promise."

Julia smiled tightly and went back to their closet, presumably to change. She had recently started going to the gym weekend mornings while Nick preferred to sleep in.

Once she was out of sight, Nick went to pick up his phone from the couch, clicking through to his messages.

Two from Jess.

6:49 AM

If there wasn't a cup of tea next to my bed, I would've killed you for waking us up this early.

Then, sent a few minutes later… one that made him forget the conversation he just had with Julia.

6:51 AM

And thank you. For everything. It meant the world to us… to me.

The smile was hard to contain. It was even harder to wait until Julia left to call Jess about the plane tickets, and then send a call his Ma's way, as well. Even though she'd opened a whole new can of worms with him and Julia, he just couldn't help but be excited at bringing Aly to Chicago.

It would be like when he was a kid… Like a real family vacation. No doubt, they were a strange, dysfunctional, non-traditional kind of family… but they were a family nonetheless.

Newgirl78 was particularly helpful in this chapter, and the next few to come, so get excited for some Nick-Jess-Aly traveling!

As always, I am so amazed at the feedback from those of you that have continued reading. This week was hard on me, but I promise I'll catch up on review replies soon! I do read each and every one of them, even the ones I can't reply to. Can't wait to see what all of you have come up with for the Cabin fic day on Sunday!