After they go back up to her room & make love, Jackie asks him if he can play any 'F Hole' songs: she wants to contact her drummer & get together for a jam session. Nico answers that he can of course play her songs, though he refrains from adding that he can play them better than her former guitarist, given what happened with him. Still confused & apprehensive about Jackie, not knowing if she intends to have their baby or what she means to do about him, it is a great relief to him that she is seriously considering him as a her guitarist. Having previously decided he was returning to Firenze, he had already given up his not very well paid gig at the Viper Pit, and with the prospect of fatherhood before him, he's desperate for income. Even if his child's mother was the richest woman in L.A., his pride demands that he be a major contributor to the child's welfare. Assuming she'll keep their baby, which Nico is trying desperately to do.

Jackie tells him what she told him the day they ran into each other in the cafe in Beverly Hills, that he's a bad ass guitarist. He knows this, he's worked hard at it & it's the only thing he's done in his life that he's proud of. But it is still gratifying to hear her say it

He waits for her as she calls Matt, her drummer. He's not trying to eavesdrop, but her conversation is the only sound in the hall, so he can't help but hear her gasp "Stacey's pregnant?" and she glances at him warily as she says it & turns her eyes away just as fast. Nico knows Matt's girlfriend Stacey: she is the singer of Numb Skull, the ska band Ty joined when Nico's old band finally broke up. Nico feels a stab of jealousy: he'd like to be able to make the same announcement to the world, his girl is pregnant. But she can't decide if she wants his baby or him either. It is decided they are to go out to Matt's place in Silver Lake for their jam.

They ride in Jackie's limo: it is a good couple of hours drive from Malibu to Silver Lake. Though he'd like to spend the time holding Jackie & trying to woo her into keeping their baby & even into marrying him, this is the biggest 'audition' he's ever had. Jackie he knows is already impressed with his playing, but he doesn't know at all what Matt thinks of him. So he takes out his guitar & practices F Hole's songs. Though he's unplugged & his strings make a hollow, tinny sound, he can hear the notes in his head as he picks out the tunes, occaisionally stopping to ask Jackie about a note or to get her to hum the bass line for him. He's played with her once: it was as sweet as making love. They have something very special he thinks: surely she must feel it as he does....But as the limo starts climbing the hills of Silver Lake, Jackie tells him she doesn't want it to look like they're 'together' when they get to Matt's place. Nico tries not to show how much this hurts him, and he keeps his eyes averted as he lays his guitar back in it's case. "Okay?" she repeats when he doesn't answer. "I heard you, Jackie," he says then, "I just wish...," but his words are cut off by the driver, opening the door for them. He just wishes he knew how she felt about him, wishes he knew his place in her life.

"Congratulations," Jackie says to Stacey as the happy couple comes out to greet them. Unlike Jackie, Stacey is enormously happy & proud of her condition, wanting to talk about it to everyone. She says she's going to continue gigging right until the end of her pregnancy, laughing about the difficulty in finding appropriate maternity clothes for the stage.

Nico very sincerely congratulates Stacey as well. Every expectant mother should be as happy as she is.

But ultimately, they are here to jam, not to celebrate with Matt & Stacey. Nico hasn't played like this in too long. Playing by yourself is just for practice, to really jam you need other musicians, players you can feel. Nico can see himself fitting in easily with this band, they've got the kind of musical rapport that is difficult to come by, but bliss when you find it.