"jessica day?" a nurse asked to a crowded waiting room. six people stood up immediately. "one of you!"
the nurse laughed. five sat back down, and nick walked over quickly. "jessica is fine— we removed her appendix, and there were no complications that we know of" nick nodded and sighed in complete relief for the first time that day. "she is still asleep, but will probably wake up soon if you want to go sit in the room with her" the nurse offered. nick nodded "yeah" he answered gratefully "let me just tell the guys what's up."
"jess is fine" nick said walking over to his five waiting friends. "thank goodness" cece sighed and the rest smiled. "i'm going to go see her, and see when we can all go home" nick explained. "go get 'em, son" schmidt smirked at him. nick rolled his eyes but also smiled at the ground as he walked away. "ready?" asked the nurse. "yeah" nick took a large breath and followed her back.
he walked into jess's room. she was sleeping hooked up to an iv and a heart monitor. nick hates hospitals, and he hated seeing jess in one even more. "she should wake up soon" the nurse reminded him as he went to sit down by her bed. "thank you" nick said not looking away from jess. "if she wakes up and feels well, you guys can go home in a few hours" the nurse said looking at her chart. the nurse slipped out of the room and nick smiled. he reached over and held onto to jess's hand gently and waited for her to wake up.
jess felt pressure on her hand and her eyes blinked open. she started to sit up quickly. nick was faster though, and he jumped up and held her shoulders down. "what—" jess started. "you are in the hospital. you had appendicitis, and it got really bad on our hike" nick filled her in quickly and released her shoulders and sat down. reflexively, jess reached up and grabbed one of nick's hands. "thank you." she whispered looking straight into his eyes. he smiled when he saw there were no tears in her eyes. "anything for you jess" he said not jokingly but earnestly. she blushed. "can i go home? where are the others? i ruined the hike didn't i?" i feel so—" "jessica!" nick laughed "you are fine. nobody is mad. we had a great hike; we were just worried about you— we love you, jess..." he trailed off and looked up at her "i love you, jess" she smiled and leaned toward him. however her incision hurt and she winced and laid back down. "come here..." she whispered. he stood up and hugged him as tight as she could while still feeling a little sleepy from the anesthesia. "i love you too" she whispered. he pulled away only a little and kissed her. she leaned forward as much as she could and kissed back. nick ran his hand through her hair, and jess reached up to hold the back of his neck. "i was so scared" nick breathed out "i thought i would never get to tell you that." "i'm right here" jess assured him using the same phrase he had tried to assure her with. "i'm right here" she said again as he kissed her.
they got to go home after the doctors ran some tests on jess's vitals. her fever had broken, she was not in a ton of pain— just sore where her stitches were, and she overall felt a lot better. schmidt drove them
home— everyone was far more relaxed. cece and aly hugged jess and returned to their cars after schmidt had parked in the parking structure. "thank you guys so much" jess smiled as they walked away. "ready to go to the loft?" nick asked jess who was sitting next to him holding his hand. "yeah..." she said sleepily. he hopped out of the car and reached over to scoop her up— this time he was not in a major hurry. "you don't have—" "let me" he said quietly. she sighed and let him carry her up the the loft. schmidt opened the door for everyone. by this point it was past midnight, so everyone dispersed and went to bed. "i'm glad you're okay, jess" winston said as he walked to his room. "me too" nick sighed. and jess smiled. "thank you all so much" jess said as nick set her down.
she turned to walk to her room. "wait" nick said grabbing her arm. "stay in my room" "but—" "i just want to make sure you are okay" nick said looking into her eyes. "okay..." jess smiled and followed nick into his room. they curled up onto his bed. "i am so glad you're okay" nick whispered as he gently wrapped his arms around her— careful not to touch her stitches. "thank you for taking care of me, nick" "anything for you, jessica" nick said kissing her forehead. he laid on his back and let jess curl into his side. he finally closed his eyes knowing she was safe.
