Thanks for the reviews guys
Here is the next chapter. I think I'm getting better at this. Maybe...

His alarm clock went off way to early the next morning. He growled and put it to silence by smashing his hand on it. A pain shoot through his palm and he let out a silent curse. Not a good day!

But when a well known voice reached his ears, he couldn't help but smile a little bit. It was Jess. And she was singing to herself. He could feel his mood changing. At least one good thing about waking up so early was that he would see Jess before she went to work.

A month ago Jess got her job as a kids teacher back. She was really excited about that, but it also meant that she worked during the day again. So most of the days, they only had a brief span between her coming home from work and him leaving. And sometimes they didn't even see each other at night, because Nick came home so late, that she was already asleep to be well rested for the next day.

Nick wasn't exactly happy about the situation but there wasn't much he could do about it. And he wasn't in the right to complain about anything. It was him who had the unusual working hours.
They made the best out of it. Sometime Jess came into the bar to mark the homework of her kids there, so that they could at least spend a little bit of time together. And on the weekends, if he didn't have to work, they spent half of the day in bed. Talking, cuddling. And, of course, having sex. Breathtaking sex. He probably had the best sex of his life with her. Sometimes it was sweet and soft. Sometimes, especially after (or during) fights, it was fast and a little bit rough. But it was always amazing.

So yeah, even if things weren't totally perfect, his life was great at the moment. Screw it, he'd go out on a limb and say it: He was pretty damn happy right now!

He stretched himself one more time, rubbed his palms against his eyes and stood up.

Jess was sitting at the table, when he entered the kitchen-livingroom with sluggish steps.

"Jess, what did I tell you about singing in the morning?", he mumbled in a sleepy voice.

She looked at him surprised and a smile appeared on her face. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"You're up already?"

Nick nodded, went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, sending a silent 'Thanks' to Schmidt, who probably made it.

Then he turned back to Jess. "I have the early shift and Shane wanted to talk to me before that"

Jess wrinkled her nose at that name. "Why?"

He couldn't fight the little smirk that sneaked up his face. It was kind of cute, that Jess still was jealous about Shane because of that one night.

"I don't know. Something about a new colleague", he explained and sat down on the chair next to her.

She let her fingers come up to slide through his messy, bedroom hair.

"I've missed you last night", she said with a slightly sad smile.

He caught her hand and place a kiss on the back of it.

"Sorry. There was a brawl right before I wanted to close and I had to call the cops and somehow manage to keep these two drunk ninnies apart from each other until they were there. And afterwards I had to clean up the mess. When I came home you were already asleep and I didn't want to wake you"

She looked at him worried. "That sounds dangerous. You shouldn't interfere in a fight between two drunken men. It could end really bad"

"Nah! I can handle that, I'm a strong man!"

She let out a laugh and fake-flexed her muscles. "I'm Nick. I'm a strong man", she imitated him.

He turtlefaced. "You don't think I'm a strong man?"

"Not exactly the word I would use", she was still laughing.

He huffed at her, but she just smiled, leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "You're my little teddy bear with a grumpy face", she said in a childish voice.

Nick just rolled his eyes and stole another kiss from her.

"I have to go now. Don't wanna be late", she stood up but her hand immediately shoot back to the table and her other hand clutched at Nick's shoulder.

He jump up quickly to hold her. "You okay?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "It's nothing. I just feel a bit dizzy today and I stood up too fast"

"You shouldn't go to work then"

She shook her head. "I can't afford to call in sick already. It'll be fine"

"You sure?", he asked with concern on his face.

"Yes", she smirked and saluted awkwardly, "Miss Day is ready to serve!"

"Alright sergeant", he said with a amused shake of his head.

She went to her room to grab her keys and a jacket. Nick followed her.

"Are you home early then?", she asked on the way to the door.

"I hope so", he put his hand on her hips and pulled her closer in order to kiss her, "Maybe you could come by for lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll try", she gave him a last peck and was out of the door.

"You're late, Nick", Shane greeted him as he entered the bar.

"Sorry Shane. My car...", he tried to explain but Shane stopped him with a wave of her hand.

Nick sighed quietly. This was going to be fun...

Shane wasn't around much anymore. She had bought another bar in the neighborhood and spend most of her time there now. Only from time to time she showed up to check if everything was okay.

But it wasn't a bad thing. Quite the opposite. Since Nick ended things with her after only one night, because he found out that he actually might have a shot at Jess, Shane wasn't the biggest fan of him anymore. To put it nicely. So Nick was kind of glad, that she wasn't here anymore to boss him around or talk him down on every occasion.

"This is Jason", she continued and pointed at the man next to her.

He was tall, ripped, had blonde hair, seemed a lot younger then Nick and his suit was basically screaming 'Look at me, I'm so fancy'. Nick hated that guy already.

"He works here now. I'd like you to show him a little bit around before the bar opens"

Normally Nick would be annoyed by such a task, but he was in a way too good mood to pick up a fight with Shane now, so what the hell.

"Sure thing", he reached out his hand to shake Jasons, "Hi. I'm Nick"

A little bit of a weird ending but I had to cut the chapter in two halves because it was getting too long :)