A YEAR LATER

THE BOX

After Schmidt's whole "I'm a good person" segment, Nick, Jess and Winston were all in the kitchen when they heard a knock on the door.

"I got a package for Nick Miller," Jess opened the door to a mysterious man, holding a paper bag.

"There's nobody here by that name," Jess turns to whisper at the guys, "I got this!" She winks.

"I saw that." The mysterious man pointed at her. Feeling a little scared, Jess yells,

"Run, Nick! Run!"

"Aah!" Nick panics while Winston, stood still, puzzled.

"Relax," the man exclaimed, "I'm with your late father's estate."

"Pop-Pop?" Winston asked.

"This is for him," The man gestures the bag at Nick and hands it over to Jess and dramatically runs to the elevator. Jess closes the door and turns to the guys,

"What's in there?" Nick pointed at the bag, "It's a hand, isn't it? Just tell me if it's a hand."

Jess peaked into the bag with wide eyes, "Oh, my God! It is a hand."

"I knew it. It's a hand. What does that mean, though-"

"Full of dollar bills, y'all!" Jess reaches into the bag and throws the money in the air.

"You are rich, man!" Winston exclaims and Nick is still confused.

"Do the crystals make it look too glamorous?" Nick asked Jess as he put up the fancy portrait of himself in his room.

"It's really glamorous,"

"I don't even know. I don't know what's cool anymore," Nick shrugs.

"It could be a good time to start a bank account," Jess casually brings up the idea,

"Yeah, or I could just flush it down the toilet." Nick chuckles.

"It's not really the same thing, but-"

"A bank is just a paper bag but with fancier walls. That's all it is. I'm gonna keep my money where my mouth is. Um… under my nose. That saying actually does work." Nick makes his way to his closet, grabs a box and sets it on his desk,

Curious, Jess asked, "What is that?"

"This is my box! It's where I keep all my junk that I don't feel like dealing with,"

Chuckling nervously, Jess points to the box, "That looks like a lot of bills. It's… mostly bills,"

"Like I said, it's junk."

"You know, I'm just brainstorming here, but what if you paid some of those bills with the money you just got?"

"T-yeah, I'm gonna 'pay my bill.' And what's next? I'm gonna go to the doctor and get a checkup. Give them $500 to check my bones," He laughs as Jess is still nervously chuckling, "You're being funny."

Nick grabs the box after stuffing the paper bag in it and stores the box back in his closet. Jess kept eyeing it. It was begging to be dealt with. Just then, they heard a knock on the door.

"Again?" Nick asked no one.

Conflicted, Jess' eyes looked back and forth between the box and her boyfriend who is now making his way to the front door.

"I'll come back for you later," She whispered to the box and ran after Nick.

Opening the door wide open, Nick and Jess were greeted by a slim figure, a brunette with a small suitcase in hand,

"Mia!" Nick and Jess cheered.

"Me!"

Nick pulls his cousin in for a hug, completely surprised by the visit, "What are you doing here?! I didn't know you were coming!"

Mia tries to speak but taps on his back letting him know she can't breathe, "Oh, sorry," He let go of her and Jess went in for a hug, too.

"Well," Mia started as she let the cheery woman hug her, "I heard from a little birdie that you two were together-"

"Oh?" Nick asked, "What birdie?"

Mia deadpanned at Nick and gestured to the woman standing beside him. Jess sheepishly grinned,

"Mia and I have been texting and e-mailing since last year and we really hit it off and I let it slip a couple weeks ago that we were dating and she didn't know,"

"Yeah, that's something my own cousin should've told me. Especially after I kept mentioning it for a year so I thought I'd come to see it for myself-" Mia slaps Nick's chest.

"What?" Jess didn't know this information so she looked between the two Millers.

"Oh, uh…" Nick stuttered, "back home, Mia kinda implied-"

"I knew you two would be together by the end of the year, at most" the younger Miller interrupted him.

"Awww… you didn't tell me that. That wasn't in any of our e-mails,"

"Yeah, well we didn't talk much about you guys, in specific,"

Jess nodded until she realized they were still standing in the doorway, "Well, come in, come in! Nick take her bag,"

"On it." Nick grabbed Mia's suitcase and went to Jess' room to drop it off. Jess led Mia to the kitchen to pour her a cup of coffee.

"Actually, I'll think I'll take a beer." Jess stops in her tracks and squints her eyes at Mia. "What?" She asked, confused by the expression on Jess' face.

"It's 1 in the afternoon..."

"Is there a time for drinking?" Mia asked rhetorically as she made her way to the fridge and grabbed a Heisler.

"Technically, there is-" Jess answers but stopped herself, realizing that Mia wasn't really asking.

"Ah, already making yourself at home, I see," Nick pointed out as he met back up with them in the kitchen. He takes a seat on one of the stools, gesturing for Mia to grab a beer for him, she gladly took his request.

Jess looked between the two. Either they're very similar or they both have severe drinking problems. Thinking of problems, Jess remembered the box, "So! What are you guys up to today? Nick, you should take Mia out, give her the LA tour, you know, New York gal in LA, there's lots to see and stuff…" Jess acted a little squirrelly.

Nick nodded, agreeing with her idea, "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, what do you think, lil M?"

Mia notices Jess' behavior but doesn't comment on it, "Yeah, I guess so or we could just chill, see what the day brings us."

"Great!" Jess exclaimed and left the kitchen, "See you guys later!"

Noticing Jess' actions, Mia's turtle-face matched Nick's, "You'll get used to it," he states.

1 HOUR LATER

"That's, uh, $900 to the Parking Authority of Los Angeles. Oh, is it okay to mail cash? I'm gonna do it anyway. All right, it's on its way." Jess whispered into her phone and then hung up. Sitting on Nick's bedroom floor, she stared at the box realizing she hasn't even made a dent in the bills. She picks up few items, her bag and coat and makes her way out of the loft.

ANOTHER HOUR LATER

"You son of a bitch, Winston! That's what this is about?!" Nick stood up from the couch so quickly, Mia broke attention from her phone at the end of the couch and observed her cousin and his friend. Nick and Winston were just enjoying a couple of sliders five minutes ago and all of a sudden, it has turned into a yelling match.

"Nick, it's my money, okay?! Give it back to me!" Winston pleaded,

"I make a little bit of money and you come slipping out of the 'woodword'?!"

"You mean 'woodwork'?" Winston corrected him,

"What is 'woodwork'?" Nick yells back.

"What the hell is 'woodword'?!" Mia chimed in,

"Yeah, what's 'woodword'?" Winston, still quite confused,

"Wood! Word! Wood! Word!" Winston groaned as Nick continued to yell at him, "That's where people like you come crawling out of when people like me have money!"

"But you owe me that money!"

"Stay out of my damn box!"

"I'm not in your box!" Winston yells at him in frustration,

"Jess gets it, right?"

Mia looked to Jess not realizing she had quietly walked into the loft.

"Yeah, what's- what the hell, dude?" Jess tried to mask her guilt,

"I'm gonna go to the bar to blow off some steam," Nick told everyone in the room.

"That's a great idea. Go get loaded. You deserve it! Black out-" Jess encouraged,

"You are the only one that I trust around here," Nick moves to give her a kiss and leaves the loft.

Mia bites her lip, refraining from saying anything until Nick has officially left.

"What'd you do, Jess?" She asks her and Jess' eyes grew five times bigger. She quickly ran to her room, grabbed all the bills and put them back in the box. She made her way to Nick's room to store the box back in its place. Winston and Mia slowly walk into Nick's room with matching shocked faces,

"Ooooooh!" Winston hoots, "You went through Nick's box."

"Jess!" Mia looked at her with both amusement and disappointment.

"Look, you guys, it was so much worse than I thought!" Winston chuckled as Mia crossed her arms. She was judging but also laughing. "Why does he have the deed to an old Mercury Cougar in there?"

"Oh, yeah, he lost that." Winston reminded them of the time he, Schmidt and Nick were stranded without a car.

"I'll just get the money back!" Winston and Mia nodded in agreement. "Bill collectors are reasonable people, right?" Mia shook her head.

"That makes sense," Winston egged her on,

"You both better keep your mouth shut!" Jess pointed her finger back and forth at the two.

"Oh, I can't do that. I'm a Miller, Nick will know when I'm lying,"

"What? You sweat, too?"

"What? Gross, no. The opposite. I excessively drink water," Winston nods, already knowing this information then changes his misdemeanor towards Jess.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll keep my mouth shut if you pay me the money Nick owes me."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" There's a beat of silence between the three until Jess grabs Winston's collars and pins him up against the wall,

"You don't scare me, Jess."

Mia is thoroughly amused while Jess and Winston scream as Jess smacks Winston's face. After not even thirty seconds of the mediocre abuse, Jess collects herself,

"How much does Nick owe you?"

"$1,900."

Jess sighs and Mia laughs.

ANOTHER OUR LATER

"It's your lucky day, old friend," Nick storms into the loft, Winston is startled at the dinner table while Mia is unnerved on the couch, already downing a bottle of water. "I had an interesting talk with Schmidt, and I've decided to give away my fortune. So, what do I owe you?

"How much money do-" Winston stutters,

Jess exits from her room after hearing the front door slamming, "Hey, guys, what's going on?"

Winston, still in his seat, greets Jess carefully, "Hey, Jess, um…"

"It's tzatziki is what it's called. It's a Jewish charity," Nick slowly turns to head to his room. He notices Mia on the couch downing her second bottle of water which alarms him.

"Nick was just about to pay me the money that he owes me," Winston carefully pronounced each word.

In a panic, Jess yells, "Wait!" And runs for Nick's room, shutting the door. Before Nick could say something to Mia, he tries to open his door.

"Come on, what are you doing?" Nick yells from the other side of the door.

Jess panics and grabs a lighter, "I'm uh… I'm lubing up, Sally."

"From ankles to ears? The door's locked. You want me to bust in?" Jess frantically shoves the box away as Nick drunkenly plows into the door but backfiring, "Son of a- it opened!" He runs into the room, "Where are you?" He looks around to see Jess halfway under his bed,

"Um, I just was hot, I wanted some shade."

"Oh, done that," Nick chuckles and makes his way to his box, after grabbing the paper bag, it felt light and looked empty, "He take my money? Winston!"

"It was me, it was me, it was me! I'm so sorry, I went through your box, I just couldn't help it and I paid some of your bills, and I'm so sorry I-"

Nick, with a full on disappointed expression on his face, leaves the room.

"Hey, Nick… You gonna leave me here? Nick! That's fair."

Nick walks to the living room which has been cleared by Winston, leaving Mia laying on the couch. He notices the 3 empty water bottles on the coffee table and he sighs, "Seriously?"

Mia looks up from her phone, "What?"

Nick gestures to the bottles. Mia sits up, waiting for his next words, "You knew and you didn't say anything?"

Mia opened her mouth and closed it again. She knew this might be Nick and Jess' first argument as a couple so naturally, she didn't want to meddle. Mia clamped her eyes shut but then opened them again to look at him,

"Nick… she's helping you out."

He groaned, "Oh, not you, too."

"Are you kidding me, Nick? Walt leaves you that much money and you just blow it on meaningless things?" Nick's hands rested at his hip, entering his annoyed stance. "Oh, right, I forgot. I'm talking to Nick Miller." Mia shook her head at him and grabbed her phone. She turned quickly to make her way to Jess' room whom she bumped into.

"Go easy." Mia whispered to Jess and then disappeared into the room.

Jess shuffled towards Nick who was still in his angry, annoyed stance, "Hey, Nick. Look, I know you're really angry and you have a right to be,"

"I have the right to be? I mean, why do you feel like you need to fix me? It's like you think you know better,"

"Well, I… I might know better than you... Did you start a corporation?"

"Was it Fat Face?"

"I think so."

"Yeah."

"Well, you're getting taxed like crazy."

"Well, that's because I thought I was filing a patent."

"Fat Face is an invention?"

"Kind of— in its intention it was suppo— it-"

"Are you a lifeguard?"

"No, that is a false certificate. Just a classic beach prank,"

"That seems dangerous."

"It's funny, 'cause I- I can't swim. Everyone was watching me, and I'm like, 'I don't know'— I was 13! … I was 26. This is the problem with the box. It's my private stuff!"

"You've never once done jury duty or paid your taxes,"

"Not until gay marriage is legal everywhere. I stand by that. And I don't want to do jury duty or pay taxes."

"Nick, you're in so much debt, it's crazy! You have to deal with this stuff."

"No, I don't, Jess, it's in my box,"

"That's not true, though."

"It's not a perfect system, Jess, but it's mine, okay? And it's private."

"Well, I'm sorry I went through your damn box, but I was just trying to help you, Nick."

"So maybe I'll try to help you. What if I went into your box?" Jess grimaced, "Not that,"

"Stop it!"

"I like that box, but I'm mad at you! I'm back to 'You disrespected me' okay,"

"I was just trying to help."

"Well, then, how about this… two can help. Okay? And if two are going to help, then I'll be one of them 'cause two can tango on this dance, okay? So, you want to waltz? Well, you picked the wrong dance partner. Two can play," Nick walked past her and frantically made his way to her room.

"What?" Jess followed him,

"Who needs changing, huh, who needs fixing?"

Mia, who was relaxing on Jess' bed was startled when her cousin came barging in. Jess came running after. She didn't realize the argument was making its way to Jess' room so she stood up from the bed to make her exit but before she could do so, Nick stops her, "Mia, you stay right there," He points at her. Mia takes a deep breath to compose herself and slowly turns around to the couple.

"I'm gonna go through your personal drawers, Jess, and see what needs changing,"

"Nick, you sound like a crazy person," Mia commented. Ignoring her, Nick pulls open Jess' side table drawer only to reveal a drawer full of peanuts.

Both the Millers' brows furrowed and turned to Jess. Nick picks up a handful of the peanuts, "What are you, a zoo elephant?" Nick asks,

"Those are my night peanuts!" She explained,

"There shouldn't be day peanuts and night peanuts! They're just peanuts!" Nick yells, throwing the peanuts onto the bed.

"I'm sorry, why is that weird?"

"You just have a bunch of boxes? I would change that. Oh, you have a bunch of metal toothpicks,"

"They're bobby pins,"

"Bobby pins." Both Jess and Mia pointed out,

"What's a bobby pin?"

"It keeps your hair back," Jess explained.

"You need Bobby's pins to put your hair up?"

"It's bobby pins, not Bobby's pins." Nick picks up a wad of yarn,

"What is this?!"

"Yarn."

"What are you knitting, a mansion?!"

Jess looks on at Nick as he tears apart her room while Mia is severely confused as to why her presence is needed.

"Oh, look at this! What do we have here? A bunch of beat-up old sacks!"

"My vintage purses."

"Well, you know what?! They could be sexier!

"You want my purses to be sexier?!"

"What?!" Mia exclaimed at her cousin's stupid comment, "Ok, I'm sorry but why am I here?"

Nick turns to his cousin, "Oh you know why,"

"No, I really don't."

"You knew Jess got into my box and you didn't even bother to tell me?! Whose side are you on?!"

"Wh- no one's!" Mia yelled back. "There isn't a side, Nick! Uncle Walt gave you money and you should've used that for good. Apparently, Jess here, has the right mind to even think of that!" The two Millers were now matching their tones in volume.

"So what, you're saying that I don't have the right mind?!"

"No! You don't! You never do!" And with that, Mia turned and left the room. The sound of the front door slamming only reminded the older Miller that he was still frustrated with Jess.

"Nick, can we jus-"

"Would it kill you to get something sleek, covered in gems for once?" Nick turned to Jess, waving one of her vintage purses in her face.

"You want my purses to be covered in gemstones?!"

"All guys do! That's what we think is sexy! We want to be playing a saxophone in an alley and have you walk by in a miniskirt with a purse with gems! But you girls don't listen!"

"What?!"

Before even thinking about it, Nick chucks the purses out the window, "Changing!"

"No! Nick, no!"

"This all is changing!"

"No, no, stop! That's disrespectful!" Jess is now trying to stop him from throwing the purses but his height and strength overpowered her.

"Gone!"

"Nick, stop it! No! You're just trying to get a rise out of me,"

Nick raises another purse and throws it out the window, "Gone!"

"Nick!"

"What?"

"Stop it! Look, I like you the way you are. I'm just asking you to grow a little."

"Are we ever gonna get to the point where you stop working on me? You do it, Mia does it. Instead of changing me, maybe once, Jess, see it my way."

"Well, your way's crazy and illegal."

"This is me, take it or leave it. I'm not changing for anyone,"

Jess looks at him. Clearly she's not getting through so she walks to her desk,

"Hey, where are you going?" Nick asks and sees she grabs a pen to starting writing something, "If you have something to say, just say it. Don't write me a note or-"

Jess turns back around after writing him a check, "That's the money I spent. Do what you want with it,"

"Thank you," he grabs the check and looks at it. He chuckled at the check, "A couple of best friend horses. That's neat." Jess starts to leave the room after she tells him with her calm and quiet voice that he better go talk to Mia.

Nick walks into The Griffin, knowing exactly where Mia would run off too. She's basically him. He finds her at the bar and sits down on the stool next to her.

Mia fiddled around with her drink, which seemed to be her third one if the two empty glasses next to her were any indication.

"A Manhattan… obvious choice," Nick comments. With Mia's annoyed expression on her face, she turns to him. She doesn't say a word, she doesn't need to and Nick knows that. He sighs and bows his head,

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just… You both got to me and I let my anger take over,"

"You let your stupidity take over," Mia corrected him, turning back to the bar. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Look, I'm my father's son… It's just what I do-"

"You can't use that as an excuse, Nick," She turns to him again but this time, all presence of anger has vanished. "Back home, I get it. You took care of everyone, you accepted that responsibility- but that doesn't mean you come here and forget all of that,"

Nick stays quiet as he lets her talk it out, "You're with Jess, now, Nicky… I'm not saying that you or her have to change for each other, I'm saying you guys need to meet at the middle." Nick nods in agreement, absorbing everything his wise, little cousin is dishing at him. After a few moments, he lays a hand on hers,

"Why are you really here, Mia?"

A change in her demeanor proved to Nick that she's hiding something. She turned away from him and reached for the drink.

"I told you… Jess mentioned it to me that you guys were finally-"

"Bullshit. You lost your temper with me back there, so either you're frustrated at something else or those classes aren't working for you,"

Mia sighed and set her drink down. "I was dating someone," Nick was intrigued. He sat up in his seat and gestured for her to go on, "We were together for 9 months… and he… wanted more. And I didn't. So… I walked out," Mia looked down at her hands, "For a second, I thought he'd come after me… but, he didn't so… now I'm here." Nick sighed and reached over to kiss her temple. "Wouldn't you go after Jess?" She asked him. Nick stood up from his seat,

"Come on, let's get you back to the loft... but first, we gotta go to the bank."

"Nick's right. I have too many purses."

Jess sat on the side of the curb, outside the loft. She's accompanied by Outside Dave who is busy checking out his new purses. As she continued her revelation about her vintage purses and the argument with Nick, Jess' phone started to ring and after taking the phone call, she makes her way to her car.

AT THE BANK

The bank teller Nick was dealing with had contacted Jess. "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Day, but this man was trying to open an account with a check in your name and a paper bag full of money,"

"Would you please stop hovering? I'm being cooperative," Nick gestures to the security guard.

Jess smiles and turns back to the woman, "It's fine. He's okay. Thank you, though," As they're left alone for a minute, Jess approaches the rugged man in the seat, "Opening a bank account, huh?"

"Yeah, I, uh… I realized something." Nick gave her a small smile,

"What?"

"I'd do anything for you, Jess."

Jess smiled at his confession and moves to get closer to him, "Hey… Thank you,"

During the whole processing fee fiasco, Nick realized more than what he already knew. Not only would he do anything for Jess but he also loved her. Would he tell her? No. No way. It's way too soon. But what she did just now, make a scene in the bank to support his views- that meant something to him. He picks her up and lands kisses on her neck and shoulder while she continued to express her views on the bank, "Yeah! We won eight dollars!" Nick chuckled at her actions and then realized something, "Banks suck! Banks suck!" Jess continued to rant as they made their way out of the bank.

"Jess, we gotta get home. Mia's a little tipsy," Nick sets Jess down as soon as they were in the parking lot. Jess notices the half asleep Mia in the back of Nick's car.

"Nick!"

"What?"

"Let's go!"

Passing Schmidt and Winston in the living room who were very busy with a candelabra, Nick carried his cousin all the way to Jess' room while she followed. She paused for a moment observing the two grown men on the couch and decided to leave them be. She quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and made her way to her room.

Nick was in the process of tucking Mia in when Jess paused in her tracks. She stood by the door and didn't show herself when she heard Nick muttering something to Mia. She took a peek to see him wiping the strands of Mia's hair away from her face, "You can stay here as long as you want, lil M." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and butterflies came flying around Jess' stomach. She's seen Nick be vulnerable, sweet, romantic, funny, and angry but she's never seen him like this. She doesn't know what this is but she knows that seeing this side of him makes her fall even harder. There was just something about Mia that turned grumpy, ol Nick Miller into goo. She wanted to know so bad, but instead of barging in on the sweet moment, she turns around to the still, very grown men on the couch, fiddling with a candelabra.

"Hey… guys," she whispers at them to get their attention.

Both Schmidt and Winston look up, "To what do we owe the pleasure?" Winston asked in a weird, regal accent. Schmidt grimaced at the man next to him. Jess sat down close to them, still holding onto the bottle of water meant for Mia.

"Tell me about Mia. Why does Nick care about her so much?"

Schmidt and Winston were taken aback by the question,

"What… what are you talking about?" Schmidt asked, in a condescending tone, "they're cousins. They're related. That's called family, Jessica."

"Yeah, yeah I know that, but I've never met cousins as close as those two are," Jess continued to loudly whisper.

Winston was still rubbing the candelabra when he chimed in, "Well, Mia is a close link to Walt, so I guess in a way, Nick feels closer to his dad when it comes to Mia."

Jess was curious by what he meant, "Go on." Schmidt was now interested, as well.

"Growing up, you know, Pop-Pop wasn't around much," Schmidt and Jess nodded impatiently, "But every time Mia was over, he'd miraculously show up. He'd take Nick, Jamie and Mia on trips. He'd take them to games, amusement parks, zoos. Rarely… because he comes and goes. But every time he comes though, Mia is always there. So I guess, Nick wanted Mia around all the time, hoping that Pop-Pop would be around all the time, too. Nick got older, Mia got older, they got real close. Hence," Winston gestures to what Jess had mentioned earlier, "close cousins." Winston finally set the candelabra on the coffee table as he finished up his story. He looked at his two friends on the couch who had matching expressions. "What?"

A second of silence goes by until both Schmidt and Jess erupt into their reactions,

"You are the dumbest boy!"

"Winston, how do you not see it?!"

"I can't believe you."

"They're literally the same person,"

"I can't believe I didn't figure this out myself," Schmidt and Jess alternated with their reactions while Winston was still confused.

"What are you guys talking about?" Winston asked, still very much befuddled.

Schmidt groaned and stood up to go to the kitchen while Jess went to go deliver the bottled water to Mia, leaving Winston Bishop to sit in a puddle of his confusion. Winston picks up the candelabra and admires it for a few seconds until it hit him.

"Oh my god."

A/N: What? What could this mean? I really hope this story is a good way to get inside Nick's head more. Jess has Cece to go to while Nick, although he has Schmidt and Winston, we'd never get insight the way Mia does. I really hope you guys like this story so far. Feedback helps! Also, keep in mind, this story follows the plot of New Girl up until the most recent episode but I'm throwing two big twists. Once again, shoutout to mcloz98 for beta-ing!