Again, thanks for the reviews and follows! Means a lot :)

And Happy Easter, everybody!

"So, you hooded and moonwalked her?", Winston stared at Nick, "That's a new low. Even for you"

"Shut up", Nick hissed at him, "I don't need you to tell me that I screwed up. I know that"

"And now you're sitting here in your underwear, drinking beer at 11 am", he held his thumb in the air, "Respect Nick"

"I said shut up!"

Winston sighed and sat down on the other side of the table.

Nick ran his hand over his face a few times and looked up to his friend.

"I wanted to talk to her after the first shock, but she was gone. I think she ran off to Cece"

"Yeah...Schmidt told me he saw her there actually. He also told me to punch you in the face for him", Winston said with an uninflected voice.

Nick raised one eyebrow and nodded. "Justifiable"

For a few seconds they both stayed silent until Winston opened his mouth again. "How did that even happen? Don't you use protection?"

"Of course we do. Well, Jess doesn't take the pill, because it makes her moody and sometimes we're a bit..", he paused and clenched a fist around the beer bottle, "..you know..rough...so maybe.."

Winston grimaced. "Stop talking Nick. I don't want to picture any of that"

"Sorry", he mumbled and shook his head, "And it doesn't matter how it happened. Fact is, it happened. Another fact is", he continued and looked at his friend with an almost helpless expression, "I can't be a dad Winston. I can't even take care of myself. How should I take care of a baby? You know how bad I am with small living things. I would probably drop it every time I try to hold it in my arms"

Winston rolled his eyes. "That's a common fear and it almost never happens. And don't act like you never took care of a little kid. I know you have"

For a second Nick looked at Winston with intense eyes.

"Yeah and Jamie turned out just great", he said ironically and formed a circle with his thumb and index finger and held it up, "He's my brother and I love him, but he's probably the stupidest person I have ever met. And I meet a lot of stupid person. I work in a bar"

Winston couldn't fight a little laugh. "Yeah, he's not the smartest"

"Maybe because I've let him fall down on his head once too often", Nick came back to his original statement.

"That's ridiculous. Jamie is just dumb. It's not your fault. And besides, you were a kid back then and now you're a..", Winston paused and waved his hand in Nick's direction, "kind of grown man"

Nick smirked slightly. "Kind of? You should really work on your pep talks, Winston"

Winston joined his smirk and for a moment they were both silent again.

"Just...don't screw this up, okay?", Winston looked at him with a warm expression.

Nick looked back for a moment and nodded. "Okay"

"Good", Winston stood up, about to leave the room.

"Hey, can I have your phone? I need to text Jess", Nick stopped him.

Winston raised an eyebrow. "Text her?"

"Well I can't call her. She's probably in class...and she wouldn't pick up anyway.."

Winston gave him a nod of assent and handed him his phone.

Nick looked at it for a moment with furrowed brow. "How do texts work with this thing?"

Winston rolled his eyes and clicked on the green icon which said 'Messages'. "Here you go"

'Hey Jess, I'm so sorry about how I reacted. I was just so surprised. Can we please talk in the evening? I'll try to come home early from work. Please! - Nick', he typed in, pressed send and gave the phone back to Winston. Then he stood up, took his beer and poured the rest of it in the sink.

It was a quiet day at work. Jason was there too again, which was kind of unnecessary, because of the lack of costumers in the bar. But Nick was happy about it. He hadn't slept last night and he couldn't focus on the work. His thoughts were with Jess. He really hoped she would show up in the loft tonight, even if he hadn't figured out what he was going to say.

The doors to the bar opened and Shane entered the room. Her eyes went straight to Jason and then to Nick.

"Hey Shane. You here again?"

She nodded. "Actually I need to talk to you"

Nick gulped. That sentence again. It almost never meant something good.

He followed her to the corner of the room, a little apart from the costumers.

"I'm just gonna say it, because there is no good way to do it anyway", she started and took a deep breath, "You're fired"

His face froze andhis eyes opened wide. "What? This is a joke right?", he asked. Panic in his voice.

She bit her lip. "I'm afraid not"

"Shane please", he folded his hands, "You can't do that. I need this job!"

"I'm sorry Nick, I'm trying to change the image of the bar a bit, because I think it's more profitable to have a bar for young people instead of having the homeless hanging around here all the time", she glanced over to Sid and then back to Nick, "And I just don't think you'll fit into that new image"

Nick opened his mouth but Shane continued.

"But it's not just that. You are repeatedly drunk at work, you give people free drinks, you are distracted at work when your little room friend is here and yesterday you even went home early to check on her and left Jason alone on his first day. That is just not acceptable"

Nick clenched his fist and looked over to Jason. That little bastard squealed on him.

"Is this about Jess? And us? Look, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I really am. But.."

"Don't be ridiculous", she cut him off, "this has nothing to do with private reasons"

He didn't believe her, but there was nothing he could do.

"I thought your messy nature is refreshing and fun to work with but it turns out, it's really just...messy", she explained and looked at him a little apologetic.

Nick saw his chances fade away.

"At least give me time to find something new", he tried to negotiate, "Isn't there something like a period of notice?"

She laughed ironically. "Yeah I wanted to check your contract for that and it turned out, there isn't even one. All I found was this piece of paper, which says 'Nick Miller works here as a bartender'. And then it is signed by you and a guy called 'Clyde the manager'. And I don't even want to know, what you used to sign that, because I'm pretty sure it's your blood"

Nick looked at the paper she held in the air and burrowed his face in his hand. Now that he saw it, he remembered that time. He was still in law school, but hated everything about it, so he spend most of his time in this bar instead of going to his courses. One night he was joking with Clyde, the owner at that time, about how he should work here, because he was here all the time anyway. Clyde took out a piece of paper and wrote that sentence on it. And because they were both totally drunk and thought it was bad ass, Clyde took a knife and cut both in the finger so they could sign it. The next day Nick thought it was a joke but Clyde called him in the afternoon and asked him if he would show up for work today. And since then, Nick has worked here.

"Well I guess, that's it", Nick finally said, defeated.

He glanced over to Jason and he was looking back at him with a guilty expression on his face. The realization hit Nick. Jason had known the whole time. He had known, that he was the replacement for him. The whole 'nice guy' thing was just an act and he fall for it.

Nick stormed to the exit. He was mad, hurt and frustrated. He push his body against the door to open it but he just bumped into it. His eyes moved over the little sign that said 'Pull' and something boiled up inside of him.

"OH COME ON! JUST SHUT UP! EVERY TIME"

Nick sat in his car, which he had parked in the small backyard behind the apartment. He could see Jess's window from this spot. The curtains were closed, but he could see her silhouette inside, walking up and down. An hour ago all he wanted was for her to show up so that they could talk. But now he couldn't bring himself to go up there. He couldn't face Jess.

When he left the bar, he felt angry. He wanted to destroy things and scream at everybody. But now he was just exhausted. How was he supposed to go up there, look Jess in the eyes and tell her, that her boyfriend and father of her child wasn't even good enough to be a bartender? How was he supposed to deal with all of that?

Shane was right. Even if Nick still thought that the main reason she fired him was her wounded pride, all she said about him was true. He had luck that, until now, nobody had ever questioned his work. It was probably because it seemed like he was an old hand. Managers waxed and waned, but he had always been there. In every other bar, his behavior would have let him get fired a long time ago. Because, yes, he has been drunk a lot of times and yes, he did pee in the register among many other stupid stuff.

And now he was without a job, without qualification, without anything. His throat tightened at the thought of it. He had no idea, what he should do. He needed a job, but he couldn't do anything.

His eyes were still focused on Jess and a pain spread through his body.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't go up there. He couldn't face her. He was too scared.

His hand went to the keys, he turned them around and the car started with a loud engine noise. And with a last glance at her, he slowly drove away.

Don't hate me or Nick or me :D