Cannot say it enough. Thank you so much for reading. I truly hope some of you enjoy it. The favorites, the follows, the reviews were more that I really anticipated. It really was so generous of you guys. Thank you again.

Nick stepped onto the elevator and pushed the button for the fourth floor. He wasn't certain what was going to be waiting for him on the other side of the door to 4D, but he did know it was going to be a very different conversation than he anticipated when he left the loft that morning. It had turned out to be quite the day. He rubbed his eyes with his left hand before looking down at his right, where he was nervously fumbling with a new set of keys. He briefly considered pushing the hold button on the elevator to buy him some more time, but he had been rehearsing what he might say in his head for the previous hour, to no avail. He simply kept coming back to the same bullet points, and he had not found any way to appropriately dress what he wanted to say. Didn't seem an extra five, ten, or thirty minutes were likely to change that. The elevator pinged and he quickly shoved the keys into his pocket as the doors opened, revealing Schmidt, Winston, and Cece standing before him.

"Uh, what's up, gang?"

"Hey hey, Nick," Winston said, nervously. "We, uh, are just on our way to get some dinner."

"Dinner, huh" Nick said, frowning and nodding. "The three of you. Winston, and… you two? Together."

"That's the plan," Schmidt answered.

"That's cool. Where you guys going?"

"In-N-Out Burger," Winston answered before Schmidt or Cece could chime in.

"I see," Nick said, folding his arms. "That's strange. Schmidt, you never eat fast food. What do you call it? Horsemeat inject-"

"Horsemeat injected with muscle sucking, fat birthing poisons," Schmidt answered. "But hey, you know me. Always willing to try new things."

"That isn't you at all, but okay. What about you, Winston. Thought you hated In-N-Out Burger? Thought the secret menu was too confusing?"

"Why it gotta be a secret?" Winston said. "This is just a burger. If I wanted a brain teaser I'd do the jumble in the funny pages."

"I see, I see. So you guys know something's about to go down, and you're fleeing the scene, right?"

Schmidt and Winston hung their heads silently as Cece moved past Nick into the elevator. Nick turned and his eyes followed his roommates as they joined her. Cece pushed the button and looked pleadingly at Nick.

"Do yourself a favor, Nick? Don't be an idiot," she said with a sad smile as the doors began to close between them. "There is only one Jess."

Nick stood in front the elevator for a few moments, not moving. Finally he turned toward the loft and moved slowly towards the door. He paused, took a deep breath, and entered. The apartment was quiet. He first looked towards the bedrooms and saw that both he and Jess' doors were open, and the rooms dark. The living room was also empty. He finally spotted Jess sitting at the kitchen island, sipping a mug of tea. She had, not surprisingly, cleaned up since earlier in the day, and was no longer wearing the pajamas he had last seen her in. Instead, she was wearing a simple red dress, a black belt banding around her waist, while her bare legs led down to a pair of black flats with little black bows on them. He'd probably seen the dress before, but she had so many, it was hard to be certain. Her hair was mostly pulled back into a simple pony tail, but her bangs, of course, were present as ever. Her oversized glasses, however, were not, so there was nothing between Nick and her eyes. Eyes that were, today, as big and blue as he could remember. Seeing her caused a small panic inside of Nick, and he wondered if he was going to be able to say what he'd been practicing for the better part of the day. Just the sight of her knocked him off stride. Not that he should've been surprised.

"Hi, Nick," she said, placing her mug on the table.

"Hey, you're home."

"Yeah. You know, school night," she said with a nervous laugh. "How was your… appointment?"

"Very… informative. I'm glad I went."

"That a fact?" Jess said, traces of disappointment in her voice.

"Yeah. I normally don't like doctors. Truth be told, I didn't really like this one either. But… I learned a lot today."

"Nick?" Jess said, standing up.

"Yeah?"

"Can we just… get to it? Let's just get to it. About the other night… about us."

"Okay. Let's do it. Let's..."

"Nick, I know you didn't go get a checkup today."

Nick was stunned. Had Sam called Jess? Had someone seen him? He hadn't told anybody.

"You… you do, huh? How, may I ask?"

"It doesn't matter, Nick. What matters is we need to talk about this. Why didn't you just tell me? Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Huh? What…"

"Nick, just be honest with me. Tell me. Where were you? Who did you really go see?"

"Okay, okay. I'll explain," Nick said, moving towards Jess until they stood about a foot apart. "I was really, really upset Jess. I saw that guy… his hands on you… his face on you…I just… I couldn't deal."

"Yeah, but Nick…"

"Jess, please. Can I … just say what I have to say?" Nick asked gently.

"Of course," Jess said quietly. She inadvertently broke eye contact as she lifted her arms and wrapped herself in a small hug.

"Jess, I couldn't handle what I saw, okay? I know you said it was it was nothing, I know I should trust you. And I do, Jess, I do trust you. But… that just hurt so, so much. Seeing that? It was just the worst feeling I've had since… well… since my Dad died."

Jess looked at Nick and took note of the redness in his eyes. The sight of his tears made her realize it was unlikely she'd be able to hold her own back for very much longer.

"That sounds bad," Nick continued, "and it's a totally different thing. But that is how much it upset me, Jess. And I gotta tell you, it scared me. I don't want to be 'that guy', y'know?"

Jess nodded, blinking back her own tears. For the time being, she was keeping it together.

"So, I had to go talk to him, Jess. I had to go apologize. I had to… I dunno… hear his take on things, you know?"

"Nick," Jess said softly, thoroughly confused. "What are you…"

"That's why I lied. Well, sort of lied. He is a doctor, after all, and I technically did meet him at the bar."

"Nick, what are you talking about?"

"My visit with Dr. Sam…wait… who… who are you…" the realization that they were not talking about the same thing quickly took hold of Nick. "Oh boy."

"You… you went to see… Sam?"

"Yeah, Jess. I went to see Sam. What were you talking about? Where did you think…"

"One thing at a time, Nick," Jess said wiping her forehead, exhaustedly. "Why did you go see Sam?"

"Because. He was the first person I could think of that… that's been through something like this."

"What are you talking about?"

"He's the first person I could think of that knows… that knows what it's like to feel that he might be losing you, Jess. And I needed to talk to him to…"

"To what, Nick? Compare notes?"

"Jess, it's not…"

Jess turned from Nick to gather herself for a moment.

"Look, Jess. If someone like Sam… a handsome, successful, doctor like Sam… if he can lose you, then what does that mean for a guy like…"

"Enough, Nick," Jess said, turning to face him. She slowly moved in on him, until she was close enough to reach up and fumble with the front of his flannel shirt. She looked up at him, her eyes determined, and took a deep breath.

"It's different with you, Nick. You need to know that. You can't not know that. Sam was a good guy, but it was different. Nick," Jess looked down, working up the last of her courage. "It was different with Sam… because… I just... I…"

Jess closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking back up at him.

"Nick, it was different because I wasn't in…"

"Jess, I can't let you finish that sentence," Nick blurted out.

Jess' hands fell from Nick's shirt and the color instantly drained from her face. She felt slightly dizzy, and her eyes couldn't seem to find anything to focus on.

"Jess, look. I think I know where you're going, but I just… I can't let you. I'm sorry, I can't let you say it."

The tears she'd been holding back didn't come. She quite simply went numb. She looked up at Nick, resigned to what was to come. Nick grabbed her hands gently, and held them to his chest.

"I can't let you say it Jess, because… because you deserve to hear it from me first."

After a brief moment of confusion, Jess' lips began to tremble, and the tears she thought had abandoned her returned to glass over her eyes completely. She looked at Nick.

"Jess. You're a beautiful woman, and my life hasn't been the same since I met you. And I… cannot imagine my life without you. These past few months? I don't have the words," Nick continued, smiling. "I don't think the right words actually exist. Because 'I love you' isn't enough, Jess. 'I love you' doesn't begin to cover it. But… I don't have the words, so for now, it'll just have to do."

Nick blinked his eyes quickly to clear away his own tears that had started to gather around the edges.

"I love you, Jess. I love you in a way I just…didn't know existed. And I want…"

Jess had heard enough. She dropped Nick's hands and reached up to his face, pulling it down to hers as she stood up on her toes. She never broke eye contact until their lips met. After a long, slow kiss, she let go of his face and allowed her heels to fall back to the floor. She smiled up at Nick, and slowly caressed his chest.

"Can I say it now?" Jess asked, biting her lip to help hold back a giggle.

"Oh, were you going to say something, too?"

The giggle escaped Jess and she bashfully turned away for a moment to gather herself before turning back.

"I know what you mean. About not having the words? Because… I love you… and you're right. Those words kind of…don't seem like enough."

"Well then… say it again," Nick said, smiling.

Jess put her arms around Nick's neck and smiled through her still glassy eyes. "I love you, Nick."

Nick took a moment to enjoy the words. He stood, staring at Jess, as a thought crept into his mind.

"You know what, Jess? Saying the words? Maybe that doesn't seem like enough. But… hearing them? That's actually pretty…"

"Amazing?"

"Well, I was just going to say 'neat', but that works."

"Really, Nick? Neat?"

"Yeah, you don't think it's neat?"

Jess just smiled for a moment and looked at Nick.

"Yeah. Yeah I think it is pretty neat."

They stood for several moments, just looking at each other. It had been the first time in days that they had been together, that they had been okay. Suddenly, Jess was struck by a thought.

"Hey, what about your new apartment?"

"Wait, what? You know about the apartment?"

"Yeah," Jess said, taking a step back. "Yeah, I actually thought that was where you were all this time."

"Well, I was there some of the time. Wait a minute, how do you know about the apartment?"

Jess looked down nervously. She hadn't done anything wrong, but she still felt a little guilty about overhearing his conversation.

"I heard you on the phone as you were leaving today. About how you didn't want the apartment to be too far away from work. So… is it? Is it too far from work? Tell me it's too far from work."

Nick folded his arms and frowned a bit. He nodded his head before reaching into his pocket and producing the keys. He held them in his hand and showed them to Jess.

"Well, there is an apartment," he said. "And it is not too far from work. But Jess, you got the wrong idea. As weird as it is to live with your girlfriend from day one, I'm not going anywhere Jess. Not sure I could leave you if I tried."

"Then what was that phone call about? And what are these keys?"

"I got a call from my mom the other day. Apparently she was going over some stuff of Dad's, and she came across something… interesting."

"What's up?"

"Turns out my Dad owned a small apartment building not far from here."

"An apartment building?"

"It's really small, Jess. Just three units. But… yeah. I'm not sure how he came to own it. Maybe he won it in a card game, maybe he used it to peddle knockoff handbags, I don't know that I'll ever know. But apparently the deed is legit. It was his property."

"Nick, what does this all mean? What does it have to do with you?"

"Well, my Dad left everything to my Mom, including this apartment. But she's in Chicago, and she isn't going anywhere. So… she wants to give it to me."

"Come again," Jess said, her mouth dropping open.

"Yeah. I went over there to take a look and get the keys. It's a real hole about twenty minutes from here, but… it's mine if I want it."

"That's great! I mean, isn't that great?"

"Well, it's…. it's something, alright. Something to think about, anyway."

"So, what do you think so far?"

"I don't know, Jess. I was kind of preoccupied, you know? With… you. With us."

Jess blushed and smiled, moving in close. She put her arms around Nick and put her head on his chest and shoulder.

"But," he continued. "There are some different options. I could just sell it outright. Not worth much, but it's something…"

"Or?"

"Or I could, I dunno. Maybe… fix it up, then sell it? Maybe fix it up a little bit and rent it out? I don't really know. I literally haven't had time to think about it."

Jess squeezed Nick tighter before she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up at him.

"So you're not leaving?"

"No. I'm not going anywhere."

"Well… I'm sure Schmidt will be quite relieved," Jess said with a smile. "Really was quite a day for you, huh?"

Nick smiled back down at her. He raised his hands, cupped her face, and stared deep into her eyes. Eyes that still made him weak in every joint in his body.

"Actually, Jess, I'd say it's been quite a 'last two and a half years'."

Nick gave Jess a small squeeze before pulling his head back a bit and looking down at her. She smiled back up at him.

"You ready for bed?" she asked.

"Always," he answered.

They loosened their embrace and started moving, arm in arm, towards Jess' room.

So... that's probably kind of it. I've really, really enjoyed writing this. Wasn't all smooth sailing, and there is certainly room for improvement, but that's half the point, right? I guess there are some storylines there I could toy with in the future that have been set up here if I want to pick it back up, so who knows. Maybe there's more to be done here. But honestly, I kind of like a little drama between Nick and Jess. So if I write anything else, that's probably going to be part of the equation more often than not. I said it before but I can't say it enough. Thanks for reading!