So, I have some (hopefully) good news for everyone - the addition of this chapter, thanks to some requests and a surge of inspiration this weekend, has made this story just a little bit longer! MayaLala pretty much convinced me to do it, so thank her, too :P

I reached kind of a huge milestone last chapter (for me at least) - over 387 reviews! Which officially passes an older story of mine, and puts this one ahead of the rest, which is pretty darn exciting.

Thanks again for all of the amazing support! I hope you guys enjoy this bit of comic relief :)

Chapter 18

The next Monday, Jess checked her phone at lunch only to find three missed calls, two voicemails, and a various text messages from the few people she'd brought back into her life. She scrolled through the numbers, quietly thankful that they were the type of calls the delivered good news, not bad.

There were some texts from Cece, asking about her plans for later in the week, and also Dylan, which caused her to sigh. She'd deal with that later. There was also one from Nick, with whom she'd had a strictly professional relationship since the night she'd almost had to pry Aly from his arms. He had messaged to reminder her that kept forgetting to return the movie that she'd left at his place in her panicked exit with Aly that night.

Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

She hadn't bothered to ask about the empty living room, because Nick had mentioned a few weeks before that he and Julia would need a bigger place if Aly were to stay with him on a regular basis. Obviously, they had found a new house, and she just hadn't been in the mood to listen to them talk about moving on.

Furthermore, Jess had spent the entire weekend feeling awful about the painful way that she had to take Aly away, and the way she was letting Nick affect her emotions. Her ability to flex around his fleeting advances was wearing thin. But parenthood had given her a relatively tough skin in it's wake, and she woke up Monday morning with full intentions of accepting all of the things life had thrown at her. It was simply time to grow up.

She almost responded to Nick, then saw that the final point on her list was a Los Angeles phone number that she didn't instantly recognize. They'd left a voicemail, too. Curious, she pressed play.

"Hi Jessica, I'm with the the West Pediatric Clinic, and we're calling to confirm the appointment for Allison at four..."

Jess nearly smacked her palm across her forehead. She had to stay late on Mondays, as it was her turn for hall duty, and there was no way she could make it out by four. She'd been trying to get Aly in for a physical on their new insurance for almost two months, and of course she'd forget to set time aside the one day that she actually needed to.

The whole thing with Nick had thrown her so off-balance, she was letting it go to her head.

"You can fix this," she muttered, begrudgingly acknowledging that Nick was perfectly capable of doing a simple thing like going to a doctor's appointment. She'd already had to cancel Aly's first appointment because of how busy their move had made them, and the last time she'd been sick, they had just run to the nearest minor emergency clinic.

Jess knew that one day she would have to suck it up and admit to Nick that she'd made a mistake. Her goal, though, had been to put it off as long as possible, because Nick was simply irritating when he had the upper-hand.

She shook all of the frustrations out of her head as she dialed Nick's number. He picked up in a few rings.

"Hello?"

It took her a second to swallow down the feelings that kept bubbling to the surface every time she heard his voice, and his voice grew worried from her silence.

"Jess? Are you there?"

"No, I'm here. Sorry," she shook her head, even though he couldn't see that. "I'm at lunch, but I just got a call and realized that Aly has a doctor's appointment today at four."

There was a pause. "Okay?"

"And I... I can't make it at four," Jess said, this time slower. Would he think less of her because she'd forgotten something so simple?

Nick didn't take long to respond.

"Oh! Do you need me to take her?"

"Would you?" She pleaded, somewhat relieved that his tone was amiable.

"Sure," he agreed, but then seemed to be fighting some hesitance. "Uh... This isn't one where she needs any... uh... vaccines... is it?"

Jess rolled her eyes. Leave it to Nick to need the reassurances... And he'd get it back ten fold this afternoon when Aly realized where they were going.

"No, this is just a consultation and physical, just to get her set up here in LA. She doesn't need anything until next month when she turns four." I'll be the one to take her to that, Jess thought glumly, "And do not, Nick, under any circumstances, say the word 'shots' to her. She will not walk into the clinic with you if you say that word, even if you said it to tell her she's not getting any."

Jess could hear Nick's gulp from her end of the phone.

"So what do I do? She'll know it's the doctor's!"

Shaking her head again, Jess sighed. Parenting over the phone was not her specialty.

"Just don't act like it's a big deal when you pick her up. She's going to be crabby when she sees where she is, I can't stop that, but she has to go. Don't let her play with any of those toys, either, because they're covered in germs. And don't panic if she freaks out, okay? Can you do that?"

Nick sighed, and Jess could almost hear him counting the list of commands she's given him. "Yeah, I can."

"I'm not convinced."

"What do you want me to say, Jess? I'll try my best."

Jess gripped her phone tighter at his words. Truthfully, she didn't know what she wanted Nick to say. She just wanted him to make her feel better about them going to a doctor's appointment without her. It took her too long to realize that there was nothing that would make her feel better about forgetting about it, and subsequently getting Nick to save the day.

"Jess? You still there?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "I am. I'll make sure everything they need is faxed over to the office, and I'll send you the address and the insurance card. Get her there by three-thirty. I'll call the daycare and make sure they know you're picking her up early."

"I can call them, Jess," Nick responded. "I can do that, right?"

His words took Jess by surprise. He could do that. He was listed as her father, and he could pick her up whenever he wanted when it came to the daycare. Weird, she thought, trying to soak in the idea that she could just let Nick do it, and the world may not actually fall apart.

"Yeah... Yeah, you can."

Nick was certain that his original fears, and Jess, had been overreacting about Aly's whole aversion to the doctor's office. That is, until they actually arrived at the building. She couldn't read, but was apparently observant enough to know what the building of a clinic looked like.

Her little eyes grew wide in her car seat, and Nick tried to swallow his apprehension as he pulled open the door to the backseat.

"Where are we?" She frowned. He told her back at the daycare that they'd be making a quick stop before they took her home, and the answer had been good enough at the time.

"We're..." Nick hesitated. Was it too soon to tell her? "We're just going to go inside for a little bit, okay?"

He gently pulled at the buckles on her car seat. She was clearly doubtful, but didn't fight him, and let Nick pick her up. She clung tightly to his neck all the way across the parking lot, and let a cry escape as the automatic doors slid open.

"It's okay," He soothed, not unlike that night in Chicago, and tried to pick up her spirits. Why, all of a sudden, did he feel like he was betraying her trust? "They just want to make sure you're healthy."

She pushed against his chest, like she was trying to get away and had somewhere to go, but he held on tight. Obviously, she was not convinced of his assurances. Her squirming became more of a problem once the receptionist handed him a clipboard, and he needed to sit down and look at his phone to fill it out. He carefully sat down into a chair in the waiting room, placing the clipboard in an adjacent seat when his grip on Aly started to falter.

"Hey," he chuckled, trying to be good-natured about it, "what in the world are you in such a hurry to get to?"

"I'm not getting a shot, am I?"

There it was. The word he wasn't supposed to say. The word that wasn't supposed to freak him out.

"You're not, I promise," he coaxed. What in the world was he going to do when the answer was different?

She frowned again, and it was like Nick was looking in a mirror. For now, though, his answer seemed to be good enough, as she crawled out of his lap and into the seat next to him. She picked up the clipboard and handed it to him.

"Momma always takes me to stuff like this," she commented. Nick wasn't prepared for how her comment would cause a dip in his stomach. However innocent it may have sounded, was there a reason to worry that she didn't trust him? Jess had always done the big stuff, from doctor's appointments to picking out her clothes, and Nick was even further reminded of this as he glanced at his phone for all the answers to the questions on the sheet.

"Well, you're stuck with me this time," he joked, trying to push all of the doubts out of his head. Aly cracked a small smile at his assertion, but it wasn't a very convincing one. He knew that she was nervous... Would having Jess there make it any easier?

Once he double checked the numbers on the form, he returned it to the receptionist's desk. On his way back, he picked up a picture book from the very bottom of the pile - surely there weren't that many germs on it - and handed it to Aly as he took a seat next to her. She shook her head quickly when he offered it to her.

Nick sighed. "Do you want me to read it to you?"

She turtle-faced again.

"Hmm..." He tried to keep his tone light, and not worried, at her rejection. "I think the big blue bunny wants me to read it to you." He held up the ridiculous cartoonish rabbit-faced book cover up to his face. Aly let another, more genuine, giggle escape her lips. Finally more at ease.

Just as Nick flipped the book open, though, a nurse opened the door into the waiting room. "Allison?"

Aly gave Nick a suddenly nervous gaze. He gave her the best reassuring smile that he could muster, offering her his hand. Her small fingers slipped into his palm, and they followed the waiting nurse into the hallway.

As they made their way past the nurse's station, Nick remembered exactly why he never trusted doctors. The hallway was adorned with pictures of cartoons and cars and butterflies, but, what always waited for him behind those doors as a kid was usually less than pleasant. Aly kept a tight hold on his hand, and he only let go when they had to take her weight and measurements.

The nurse was cheerful enough, scribbling down all of the numbers that she rattled off, all while asking Aly questions about school and her favorite toys. Aly was slowly becoming more trusting, and even let the nurse in on her and Elvis's latest adventure. It was when they reached the room that the doctor would see them that Aly hedged back.

She whimpered a little bit as Nick picked her up and put her on the table, but he held her hand the entire time the nurse took her temperature and confirmed the information that Nick had just written on the medical form.

"And I think that's it!" She finished with a bright smile. "The doctor will head over in just a sec!"

Aly squeezed Nick's hand as the woman left.

"Are you sure I'm not getting shots?"

"Have I ever lied to you?" He asked her, softly. She bit her lip, so much like Jess did, and started to relax again. "I promise, they just wanna make sure that - "

The door was pushed open then, and the doctor came into the room almost back-first.

"Well Ms. Allison, I - "

As the man spoke, Nick's breath caught in his throat so fast that it actually made him start coughing. It wasn't because the man was entirely too good-looking for a pediatrician, or because he sounded like an overaged frat guy, it was simply because they had stumbled across yet another one of Jess's ex-boyfriends.

And it just so happened to be Dr. Sam, the man that Nick had actually been the cause of his and Jess's break-up.

When would this whole thing end?

"Oh, uh, hello, Sam!" Nick sputtered, still trying to control his gasping for air. "Or, I guess Doctor..."

"Sweeney." Sam finished, blinking at Nick. Oh. Nick had never bothered to learn Sam's last name, figuring that wasn't something he really needed to know at the time. It wasn't like he needed to know the name of his roommate's boyfriend, who happened to be a pediatrician.

Funny how time had a way of changing things.

Nick could also feel Aly's eyes on him, and so he squeezed her hand as he watch Sam take his first sideways look at Aly. He wasn't sure how to read the neutral expression on his face, but Nick was smart enough to know that Sam was seeing Jess in her. He also didn't miss Sam's short glance at the medical history that the nurse had handed down to him. Yes, her name is Allison Day. Because of the last name situation, Nick could only assume that Sam was looking at her birthday, too, given that the timeline of Sam and Jess's relationship really wasn't that far off from Aly's age, either.

There was absolutely no way that Nick could have asked for a more awkward situation.

He couldn't exactly say "don't worry about that, she's mine" while Sam took a painfully long time to do the math in his head, because Aly was sitting right there and Nick was not about to have that conversation with her. Good God Sam, Nick thought, you went through medical school! Surely you can count back faster than that!

In that instant, Aly turned to look straight-on at Sam for the first time, only to give her most impressive turtle-face to date.

This did wonders to relieve the tension in Sam's body. He broke into a wide smile for Aly, crouching just slightly so he could be eye-level with her.

"Why the long face, sweetheart?" He asked, and the kid-friendly tone surprised Nick.

Aly leaned away from his stare. Friendly or not, she obviously hadn't missed the uneasy vibe that had just resonated in the room.

Sam only laughed. "Has anyone ever told you that you look just like your daddy when you do that?"

She shook her head, though Nick knew that she was lying. Jess had commented on it with her in the room at least a dozen times, and his family in Chicago talked about it nonstop.

"But don't worry," Sam reassured, "I bet you look just like your mommy when you smile. And she's a lot prettier than Daddy, huh?"

This time, Nick could feel the deep scowl pull at his face. Careful there, Dr. Sam...

He would've scowled a little longer, had Aly not looked to the side and burst out laughing at Nick's response. He sighed in resignation.

"You don't know what my momma looks like," Aly contested, still giggling at Nick's expense. Sam chuckled.

"Oh, but I do. We go way back, before you were born."

"You do?" Aly's eyes widened. Nick wondered if Sam realized that her irises were the exact shade of blue as Jess's.

"We were all friends," Nick interjected, though he wasn't exactly sure why he was feeling defensive over the whole thing. After all, he had been the reason that Jess and Sam had ended. Aly's eyes flickered between the two men and Sam took the opportunity to pull out his stethoscope and change the subject. How oddly professional.

"So have you ever heard your heartbeat through one of these?"

Aly shook her head quickly, instantly curious. Sam began to bargain with her, promising to let her take a listen once he was done. As he started to get on with the appointment, Sam cast a sideways glance and smirked at Nick.

Nick tried his best not to respond, simply because Sam wasn't really easy to read. On one count, he hadn't heard from Sam in years, and while he was certain that Sam wasn't terribly bitter about the break-up, he also knew that they hadn't exactly ended on great terms.

As he watched Sam interact with his daughter, he became lost in the what-ifs. What if this had happened between Jess and Sam? What if he had been subject to the ups and downs of this type of situation, but with him sitting on the outside? Would Sam have accepted the idea? Would Jess have still run away?

And, what would he have done? Would he have just let her go like that?

He swallowed back those thoughts, and the likely answers, feeling overwhelmingly thankful for the time that he had gotten to call Jess his, however short-lived. If nothing else, he had gotten one of the most amazing gifts that life could offer out of their relationship. It was something that he could never have imagined the night he kissed her in the hallway, with Sam sleeping in the other room, but now he couldn't seem to want it any other way.

The feeling of lightness that filled his body carried through her entire appointment, and in no time, Sam was helping Aly off of the table and she was pulling Nick to the door.

"Everything looks good, Aly," Sam said, more for Nick than for Aly, as he gave her a high-five. The three of them shuffled out of the room, and Aly's eyes fell on the jar of candy that sat on top of the nurse's station. Sam picked it up. "And I think good patients deserve a special prize, don't you think?"

"Can I have a purple one?" Aly asked, bouncing up and down while surveying the bowl candy.

Sam smiled and picked up her preferred purple candy, placing it gently in her hands. Nick looked at it hesitantly.

"I thought they said all this sugar and food coloring was bad for them," Nick commented, trying to say Jess will have my head for giving her sugar without actually having to talk about Jess.

Sam just shrugged, clearly not understanding the implications in Nick's voice. "I'm a pediatrician, not a dentist. I mean, don't eat a whole jar of them, but..." He glanced at Aly, happily putting her hard-earned prize to use, and chuckled again. "She's a good kid. It's good to see you and Jess worked out."

Nick only smiled tightly, then nodded. Sam didn't seem to miss this, as his eyes made a clear glance to Nick's hands, as if looking for a ring. Despite the consequences of letting the assumptions settle, Nick just didn't seem to have it in him to correct Sam. He'd leave that conversation to Jess.

On their way out of the office, though, he had been reminded of a comment Jess made on his first night with Aly, and he figured the doctor would be a good person to clarify it with.

"Can I ask you a question?" Nick turned to Sam, while Aly happily went to work on her candy. "About Aly, that is."

Sam leaned against the nurse's station. "What's on your mind?"

"We think Aly is allergic to something, but she's never eaten it... Jess said that her skin just breaks out if it's in lotion." Nick looked down at Aly. After Jess had told him that, he'd gone home done some research online about allergic reactions, and it had scared him enough to have a nagging feeling about it over the past few weeks.

"Well, it could be a number of things," Sam shrugged. "Some kids have sensitive skin, and that's normal. But I can make a note of it and have the receptionist give you some numbers to get her tested, if you want. I can even have her call Jess and leave my personal number."

My personal number.

Nick shook his head so fast that his neck popped. He tried his best to recover.

"I can get the numbers, thanks" Nick replied coolly. "Thanks, Sam - or, er, Dr. Sweeney."

Sam gave him a small nod, while Nick waved one final goodbye before pulling Aly gently out of the office. Even as the nurse handed him a few numbers for allergy doctors in the area, Nick couldn't help but reflect upon the entire visit. He found himself repeating a phrase that he'd said more often than not over the past few months.

Well, it could've gone a lot worse.

Jess arrived back at her apartment just as her phone rang. Nick's name flashed across the screen, and she tried to ignore the way her heart picked up.

"Hello? Nick?" She answered. Her voice wasn't as steady as she would've liked, but Nick didn't seem to catch it, as he wasted no time in replying.

"Jess, do you know what the name of Aly's pediatrician is?"

Nick's tone wasn't accusatory, but since he wasn't standing right in front of her, Jess couldn't really tell what he was trying to imply. It also occurred to her that she didn't know the man's name. She'd just called the first place that the insurance company had listed. She remembered that there were multiple names listed under that clinic, and she had just asked the receptionist to put Aly in at the first available time.

"Um, no, was he bad?"

"No, but I didn't exactly expect to run into Dr. Sweeney again."

"Dr. Swee - "

Dammit Nick!

Okay, it really wasn't Nick's fault, but Jess couldn't hold back the shock as it sunk in that she had sent Nick to the office of her ex-boyfriend. Not only that, she'd sent him with a daughter that he was still getting to know, and the man that was going to be seeing them was who she had been with at the beginning of her and Nick's disastrous attempt at a relationship.

"Nick, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean - "

He laughed. "Don't worry about it. Everything looks good with Aly. I even got some numbers for allergists in the area."

"Really?" Jess blinked, and her stomach did another flop. Aly really did need to go see one, and leave it to Nick of all people to remember to get the ball rolling on it. "I guess I'll call later this week and see what we can do."

"Sure thing. I'll have her home in a few minutes."

"Oh, okay, see you soon."

Jess hung up the phone, pushing the whole allergy thing out of her head. Her thoughts then drifted to the appointment as a while, as she tried to imagine what in the world could've been said once Sam realized that Aly was her and Nick's daughter. Sam, the guy who she'd given a coloring book to in order to entertain before sex, was now the guy she was going to be looking to for medical advice.

Great.

Nick was clueless enough as it was, and Sam was all they needed to make things more dysfunctional.

It was nice, though, as she sunk down into the couch, knowing that it wasn't her that had to sit in that office, alone, with Sam and the product of her relationship with Nick. She let that thought sit just a little longer, before letting out a long overdue laugh.

Her and Nick may not be on the best terms, but she could at least appreciate the humor in the whole thing.

Once again, thank you all for such a great response! And especially thanks to Newgirl78 for looking over this chapter and getting her feedback back to me in record time! Seriously, guys, she's got some truly amazing ideas. Couldn't make this story the way it is without her help.

Until next time!