Tell- Detectable change in behavior or demeanor that gives clues to what a player is thinking.

Running down the hallway with her arms full, Jess made it back to the same couch she had been sitting at only moments earlier. Collapsing onto the cushion and dropping her things to the floor, she felt the tears that she had been holding back for so long finally release. Her hair fell around her face as she sunk forward into her hands, warm tears trailing down her cheeks.

No matter how much she had convinced herself that everything was okay between them, she knew deep down in her gut that something was wrong. Nick was hiding something from her. It terrified her that they had come so far, and she loved him so much, to reach this point where he may not even want to be with her at all. An overwhelming emptiness took over and all she could do was sob quietly.

"Jess?" Winston gave Natalie's arm a squeeze and ran ahead, sitting down on the small couch where he found Jess in tears.

Jess looked up and sniffled, wiping her hand across her eyes. "Hey."

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he gently pulled her damp hair back, coaxing her into his chest. "What going on?!"

"He..." She closed her eyes and leaned her head to the side against his chest. "he just..."

Winston shook his head and pursed his lips, widening his eyes silently in Natalie's direction as she hesitated by the wall.

"Talk to me."

Jess nodded into his chest, speaking sadly. "It's not going to happen, is it?" Winston looked helplessly at Natalie as Jess continued. "Do you think this is all he ever wants?"

Jess pulled back and looked at Winston, just as Natalie took a few steps forward and knelt in front of them. Resting her hands on Jess' knees, she spoke softly. "Just tell us what happened." She glanced up at Winston's grateful expression and smiled.

"I don't know. Nick's been acting so strange and I know he's hiding something. I'm afraid that..." She took a deep breath. "I'm afraid he wants to end it and doesn't know how to say it."

"WHAT?!" Winston let out a loud laugh, quickly stopping himself when he was met by Natalie's disapproving glare. "Jess, where would you get that idea?"

"He said...he made it sound like he has doubts about us. We talked about so much and...I thought he was ready for us to get our own apartment. I just..." She bit her lip. "I can tell he's avoiding something, and then he got this strange call from Clyde that has him all on edge..." Jess noticed Winston's body stiffen at the mention of Clyde's name and sat up straighter. "Winston?"

Winston just shook his head. "I..."

Jess' eyes narrowed, glancing down at Natalie before both of their eyes were focused on Winston. "What do you know?"

"I uh,...not much at all." He tried to shrug it off. "Just work stuff."

Jess narrowed her eyes as Natalie poked his knee and stood up. "What work stuff?"

Winston looked at his girlfriend with a pleading look on his face, quickly darting his eyes to Jess and then back to hers. Natalie paused for a moment, then turned toward Jess to try to deflect the situation.

Natalie stepped over to Jess and gently grabbed her arm. "Why don't we go find Cece, okay? She's probably going crazy getting ready, right?"

Winston shot Natalie a grateful look as Jess glanced back and forth between the two of them. Finally Jess gave up and she shook her head, too tired to argue. Taking a deep breath, she stood up, doing her best to shake all these ideas out of her head. "You're right." Turning to Winston, she pointed a disapproving finger at him. "YOU. You better not be hiding anything." Her voice dropped, a sadness lingering there that was hard for Winston to miss. "You'd tell me if something was really wrong, wouldn't you? If he thought this was over?"

He swallowed, standing up next to her and pulling her in for a hug. "Just give him some time here, Jess. He's trying to figure things out for you two. You need to trust him."

Natalie helped Jess gather all of her things, and draped the garment bag over her own arm. Wrapping the other around Jess' shoulders, they turned down the corridor toward Cece's room.

Giving Winston one last look, Jess brushed her hand across her cheek. She frowned, "you might want to go find Schmidt too. See if he's okay." Winston just nodded, watching the two walk in the opposite direction.

Natalie rubbed Jess' arm gently and squeezed her shoulders into a hug. "It'll all work out."

Jess gave her a weak smile and nodded. They came to a stop in front of Cece's door and knocked, the door opening almost immediately. Cece's face fell the moment she locked eyes with her best friend, her hand finding her hip as she cocked her head to the side. "What'd that idiot do now?"

Simultaneously, Natalie and Jess both replied with, "which one?"

Reaching out to help Jess with her belongings, Cece gestured for both of them to come into the room, shutting the door behind them. Jess collapsed onto the couch as Natalie arranged all her things neatly beside her on the floor.

Sitting down next to Jess, Cece placed a hand on her knee. Looking up with a hesitant glance, Jess just took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"It's okay, babe. Don't feel bad. Spill it."

Jess' eyes shot open and nodded slowly. "Nick, he...he just. UGH." Frustrated, she began playing with the hem on her robe as Cece scooted closer to rub her back, gently smoothing her hair down her back. Natalie quietly took a seat in the chair across from them.

"Let it out, Jess."

"I don't think he sees this going anywhere, and ..." She choked back on her words. "I don't want it to be over."

Cece shook her head as Jess let out the breath she had been holding. "It's not over Jess,..."

Jess snapped to face her. "But we've had conversations before and he sounded so sure, and now..."

"Jess..."

"What if he never wants..." Her voice cracked again. "what if he never sees this being more? What then? I thought this was serious, you know?" Jess could feel the tears prick her eyelids, while Cece and Natalie exchanged confused glances.

Natalie whispered quietly. "People let things slip out all the time. I'm sure he feels terrible."

Cece looked back at Jess and grabbed her hand. "She's right. What exactly did he say? I mean, did he actually say he doesn't see a future with you?" She tried hard to fight the smirk that wanted to creep onto her face. "Nick isn't exactly...well, he's not always the best with words."

Jess let out a small, forced laugh and glanced back and forth between the two woman. "No. No he's not."

Cece smiled and gave Jess a squeeze with her arm, leaning her head against hers. "Give him a break, Jess. He loves you. You know he does."

Jess took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Ugh, he just...Schmidt came in and..." She stopped short and froze. Cece sat up stiffly, her arms dropping to the couch and she narrowed her eyes toward Jess.

"Schmidt came in and what?"

Jess swallowed hard, eyes widening. She locked eyes with Natalie, who simply sat there in a state of confusion. Her voice was quiet and she turned toward Cece. "Cece, I think you need to talk to him."

Cece sat up straighter, closing her eyes. "What did he say, Jess?" Unable to find the words, Jess remained silent and simply looked at the floor. Cece muttered under her breath. "I'm going to kill that man."

Now it was Jess' turn to comfort her best friend, and she reached out to grab her hand, Cece's eyes remaining closed. "I really think he's just nervous, but...I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Please, just tell me what he said." Cece's voice was quiet and calm as she opened her eyes, throwing Jess completely off guard. Expecting that she would have started yelling and running off after Schmidt, Jess took a deep breath.

"I think he's afraid that the same thing will happen to him that happened to Shivrang. That he rushed you into this too." Bracing herself for Cece's anger, Jess held her breath and gritted her teeth. After a few moments of silence, Cece relaxed her shoulders, calmly releasing a long breath of air from her lungs.

Confused, Jess shook her head and shrugged at Natalie, who could only look on wordlessly. Finally, Jess spoke, "You're being oddly calm about this, Ceece."

"The truth is,... I've been waiting for him to bring it up." Cece stood up and started to pace between them slowly, twisting her hands. "I walked out on Shivrang at our wedding, Jess. I did a really stupid thing, and Schmidt's been so calm about all of this." She stopped and spun around to face Jess. "We're talking Schmidt. CALM." Pausing for a moment, she continued her pacing. "It's almost like he didn't even care we were here. I don't know, something about the fact that he's actually thinking about this is making me feel better."

Cece collapsed once again on the couch next to Jess, leaning onto the side arm and hugging a pillow to her chest.

Jess just stared at her, stunned. "Okay."

Cece continued, almost relieved. "Don't get me wrong, the man has some serious explaining to do over his little freak out just now. But..." A wistful smile crept across her lips. "at least I know he's feeling something." Laughing now, she shook her head. "He was actually kind of creeping me out a little. When Schmidt gets worked up about things, that's when I know it really means a lot to him. I thought he'd be going overboard, planning every detail, ...I expected it."

Jess nodded, smiling back at Cece and reaching out to give her leg a gentle pat. "I bet he's just nervous he'll scare you into running away... Maybe that's why he's holding back his excitement."

Cece looked at Jess, a serious expression on her face. "I don't want that, Jess. I'm not running from this. Not this time."

"I think you should go talk to him."

Cece smiled and nodded, raising her eyebrows with a smirk. Her tone was almost teasing, "interesting advice there, Jess."

Rolling her eyes back in her head, Jess could only nod. Taking a deep breath, Jess did her best not to let her insecurities creep into her consciousness, and she smiled back at Cece. "How did we fall in love with these two idiots anyway?!"

Cece threw back her head and a loud laugh reverberated through the room. "I don't know." She sat up, bumping her shoulder against Jess', her voice quiet again. "But we did. And they make us really happy."

They all exchanged quiet smiles as Cece stood up and grabbed Jess arm. Her voice was more cheerful, and firm. "Come on. We're going to get you some clothes, you're going to go find that grumpy man of yours, and I'm going to try and figure out if I'm still getting married in two hours."

Jess groaned as Cece pulled her to a standing position before running off to her bedroom. A few moments later, Cece placed a pair of yoga pants and a bright purple shirt into her palms and pushed her towards the bathroom. "Go and change. Now."

Taking a few minutes to finally change out of her robe, Jess returned to the living area and slipped on a pair of flip flops that Cece handed to her. Natalie motioned her hand and nodded toward the door. "Let's just go for a walk and relax a little. Let Cece get ready." She glanced toward Cece and she gave them both a weak smile.

Jess reached out to hug Cece. "You sure you don't need my help?"

"If it's okay with you, I just want some time alone to think. I made such a mess of things."

Jess nodded. "You sure you'll be okay?"

"I need to talk to him but," Cece took a deep breath, biting her lip. "I think we're gonna be okay."

After leaving Cece's room, Jess and Natalie walked in silence until they reached the elevator. Stepping inside and pushing the button for the ground floor, Natalie spoke softly.

"Listen, I know that we don't know each all that well yet, but... Winston talks about the two of you a lot." Jess glanced up at her. "What you have with Nick? It sounds like something really incredible. I know that he would never say it, but sometimes I think Winston is jealous."

Jess shook her head, confused. "Jealous? Why?"

Natalie shrugged, glancing up at the decreasing numbers above the door, then back at Jess. "He's lived with you and Nick for a long time and Nick's his best friend. He's said so many times how lucky Nick is to have found you." She crossed her arms over her chest shyly. "I just thought you should know that."

"That means a lot." Jess bit her lip, her voice slightly louder. "We're good together, you know? Like, really good. It just makes sense and I want everything with him." She felt the tears start to rise in her eyes again and she blinked quickly. "It hurts to think he might not feel the same way."

Natalie spoke softly. "Maybe he just wants to be able to give you everything you want."

Jess swallowed hard, pushing her hair behind her ears and crossing her arms over her chest. The elevator door began to open, and they stepped out into the quiet hallway, the muffled sounds of the casino in the distance.

Jess took a deep breath, staring straight ahead at the wall, speaking as though she was alone. "Nick is what I want, I don't care about anything else. I thought he..." She stopped short and froze, swallowing hard and turning toward Natalie. Her eyes widened, "He knows that, right? I mean, we've been together a year and he knows I love him and..."

Natalie watched as a look of panic took over Jess' features. She stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on her arm. "Maybe you should tell him. Maybe he just thinks that until he can give you everything, he's not good enough."

"Nick would never..." Raising her eyes to meet Natalie's gaze, she paused.

"I really don't think he meant what he said." Natalie gave her a small smile. "At least not the way it sounded."

Jess swallowed, her eyes warm with tears. "It just hurt to hear him say it, you know?" Natalie simply nodded silently, before Jess continued. "But I didn't mean what I said either." Jess threw back her head in frustration. "God, I wish we could just forget this whole thing. Start over. Just be together."

"Just tell him that, then."

"Yeah." Jess nodded decisively and dropped her fists to her sides. "We don't need to make any big decisions right now. And certainly not here. What we have is GOOD, and I love him, and ..." She took a deep breath and smiled widely at Natalie. "I'm gonna stop worrying about the future and just be with him."