Nick was standing behind the bar, finishing checking over everything with his son sitting on the stool on the other side drinking a juice with Coach and Winston on one side of him and Schmidt on the other all drinking and talking while they waited for Jess, Ruth, and Cece to arrive. "Isn't that Angie?" Winston said making Nick look up as the woman walked over to the bar.
"Who's Angie?" The boy asked looking confused.
"Angie is your dad's stripper ex-girlfriend." Coach said watching the woman a moment as Nick stopped what he was doing and looked over at Coach.
"Really, Coach?" Nick said as Coach shrugged asking what he did wrong as Nick shook his head and went back to work.
Angie walked over and smiled. "Hey… Nick…." She said softly making him look at her. "It's… it's been a while."
"It sure has." Nick said. "What do you want, I'll have Andy pour it up for you." He said.
Angie paused, looking at him then glancing at the others. "Do you think we could… talk?"
Nick shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
"Nick, I know what I did wasn't… the greatest but I got scared and I went off the deep end the last few years. I just…. I'm trying to fix the things I've done." She explained.
Nick took a breath and shook his head. "You want a drink you can order one, I've got to finish this." He said turning back to the shelves.
"More juice!" The boy called making Nick look at him.
"What do you say?" Nick asked him.
"The boy demands juice." Coach laughed. "Get the boy juice."
"Yeah! Juice!" He grinned.
Nick looked at Coach again before he shook his head. Schmidt looked at the boy beside him. "Reggie, you know you have to use the passwords or you don't get things." He told the boy. "What's the password?"
Reggie looked at him a moment. "Juice please."
"Coming right up." Nick said taking the glass to refill it and set it back in front of him.
"Thank you." Reggie smiled brightly, drinking his juice, looking at Angie who was still at the bar trying to get Nick to talk. "Daddy?" Reggie said as everyone looked at him.
"Yeah, Buddy?" Nick answered.
"Is this lady your stripper girlfriend?" Reggie asked tilting his head as he looked between his father and Angie.
Nick paused looking at his son, not sure exactly how to answer as Coach laughed while Winston shifted in his seat unsure what to do and Schmidt shifted looking at Nick as he glanced over at him. Nick glanced at Angie as she furrowed her brow. "This kid…. did he…?"
Nick took a breath. "Reggie why don't you and uncle Winston go check for Mommy and Aunt Cece." Reggie grinned and turned to jump only to have Winston grab him and set him on his feet, glancing at Nick as he walked away.
"You have a kid." Angie said looking at Nick.
He nodded. "Yeah, I got a kid, I'm also married." Angi looked at him a moment before she nodded.
"Right, well she's a lucky woman. I hope she knows that." She said as she stepped away to walk over to the bar tender to order her drink.
"Jess is going to kill you." Schmidt said looking at his friend.
Nick shook his head. "She's not going to kill me. There's nothing to get mad at." He shrugged.
"Nothing to get mad at? Dude, your ex-girlfriend was chatting you up in front of Reggie and Coach here has him calling her your stripper girlfriend. You really think your kid's not going to rat you out? They do it, they all do it all the time."
Nick shook his head. "You're looking too far into things." He waved him off before looking at Coach. "You need to dial it down. It's not like before, we got kids, we can't be talking about strippers and sex and all with them around."
"Especially with who their mothers are." Schmidt added as he took a drink. "Cece found out Ruth learned how to say douchebag and I was sleeping on the couch for a month, and she wouldn't talk to me for weeks after that." He said looking between the two as he started to worry again.
"The point is, these are kids, they'll learn this stuff when they're older, they don't need to know about it all right now. Keep it kid friendly." He said before they heard laughter as Reggie ran back with Winston following him.
"I got to run. Aly got called into work and I need to stay with DanBill." He said.
Schmidt reached out, pulling Reggie back into his seat as he smiled. "Thank you Uncle Schmidt." He said as Schmidt said you're welcome. Reggie looked at Nick as he turned back to trying to finish his work. "Daddy." He said making Nick look at him again.
"Yeah, buddy?" Nick said as he worked.
Reggie cocked his head looking thoughtful. "What's a stripper?" Schmidt coughed as Nick turned looking at him quickly. Reggie watching him, waiting for an answer, genuinely curious.
"It's… um…" Nick tried to think of something.
"It's a lady that takes her clothes off and dances a lot." Coach supplied.
Reggie looked at him, thinking about the answer before he looked at his father again. "Is Mommy a stripper?" Schmidt spit his drink out as Nick stared at his son and Coach tried to hide his laughter.
"Jess is, now, going to kill me." He said still watching his son as he waited for the answer again. "Uh… No, Mommy is not a stripper."
"But mommy likes to dance a lot and she takes her clothes off." He looked confused.
Nick took a breath leaning on the bar and let it out. "Reg…. Okay, you know Mommy is a teacher, Aunt Cece is a model, Uncle Winston is a cop."
"You write." Reggie said with a smile.
Nick nodded and smirked. "I'm a writer." He agreed. "well, a stripper is a job like that." He tried to explain watching as Reggie nodded. "Hey, how about we don't tell Mommy about any of this, okay?"
"Why?" He asked.
"Because… it's guy talk. We don't want the girls to know what we talk about." Nick tried watching as Reggie thought a moment before he nodded. "Alright, drink your juice." He said as he stepped back letting out a breath and finishing his work.
"Hey, sorry we're late." Jess said as she walked in with Ruth and Cece. "We got caught in traffic." She explained with a smile.
"Mommy!" Reggie smiled as he turned and hugged her.
Jess smiled and kissed his head, hugging him back. "Hey there little man." She smiled. "What did you and Daddy do today?"
Reggie grinned. "Daddy give me lots of juice!" He said making Jess smile glancing at Nick as Schmidt helped Ruth onto the seat on his other side and Cece smiled, sharing a kiss with her husband. "Oh! Mommy! Do you know what a stripper is?" He asked making Jess look at him before looking at Nick as he jumped, wanting to cover his son's mouth as Cece looked at the boy then the men sitting there. Schmidt and Coach looked away as Jess tilted her head.
"I… I do." She said looking back at the bright smile on his face. "How do you know what it is?"
"Jess…." Nick tried. "It's not…"
"Daddy's stripper girlfriend was here." He said making Jess look at Nick as he winced.
"Daddy's stripper girlfriend?" Jess asked looking at Nick. "I think Daddy and Mommy need to talk."
"Run Nick." Schmidt tried to whisper. "Just run now, save your life."
"What do you know Schmidt?" Cece asked, poking his arm.
Jess walked around the bar pulling Nick with her as he tried to explain. "Look Jess, I was trying to count and then Angie walked in." He said nodding over to where the woman sat at a table.
"Angie? As in the biker stripper Angie that left you in the cabin after she tried to get with a drunk doctor Sam?" She asked looking back to the woman then at Nick. "So, you told our son she was your stripper girlfriend?"
"No, I wouldn't…" He sighed shifting in his spot as she watching him with those big blue eyes demanding answers. "Jess… it's not what it sounds like."
"So, our four year old son didn't just learn what a stripper is?" She asked.
Nick paused. "See when you put it like that it sounds really bad."
"Because it is, Nick." She said swatting his arm. "He's four, he shouldn't learn about that stuff for another twenty years!" She half yelled.
Nick couldn't help but chuckle. "Twenty years? First of all, he didn't really learn about it. He just learned the word, it's not the end of the world." He said as she crossed her arms. "And secondly, you do know he's going to grow up, you can't stop that from happening and you can't stop him from learning all the stuff like we did."
"I know." She said glancing over where their friends entertained Reggie. "But that doesn't mean we give it all to him." She looked back at him.
"I'm not saying we do, but you can't lock him away forever. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to do that, and it'll be even worse with two of them." He said watching as she looked at him and let out a breath.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "No more talking about strippers and girlfriends and… and… none of it."
Nick smirked. "It'll be fine, Jess." He said reaching out and wrapping her in his arms as she sighed and gave in, leaning against his chest as they looked over at their son. "Sometimes I think he's smarter than even you." He mumbled.
Jess smirked. "He really is too smart." She said as he kissed the top of her head. She took a breath and pulled away. "Come on, we should get going. Is Winston and Aly going to meet us?"
"DanBill is sick, and Aly got called into work so it's just us, with them." He said as they looked back over as Coach started teaching Reggie how to fill his juice. "Let's go before he starts teaching him to pour the beer." Jess nodded as they made their way back over.
"You're not dead." Coach smiled. "That's a surprise."
Jess crossed her arms and looked at him. "I know it was you." She said looking at him. "No more talking." She said pointing at the man before walking over to Reggie. "Alright, let's head out."
"Finally!" He giggled as he stood up and jumped making Nick jump to catch him. He looked at his father.
"Hey, hey. Slow your roll." He said as he reached out picking him up. "You know you can't jump on Mommy anymore." He said as he set him on the floor.
"I thought Ruth was rough." Cece sighed as Reggie started running around and smiled before she watched as Schmidt helped Ruth to her feet.
"Reg." Nick said as the boy ran over with a grin. "Let me finish putting this away and we can head out." He said as he finished cleaning up his notes and books. He walked over pulling his coat on as Jess smirked at him. "You know we're in for trouble, right?" He asked her as she smiled glancing at the boy jumping around as Coach ran in circles with him.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." She said looking back at him. Nick smirked leaning in and kissing her.
"Whenever you're done sucking face." Cece said making them part and look at her. "That's how we got this one and another on the way, we don't need like extra craziness." She teased.
Nick glanced over, seeing Angie watching. Jess wrapped her arm around him making him smirk. "Reg, come on, let's head out." He said as he grabbed his hand and wrapped his arm around Jess and they all left for their fun night out."