Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Old Friends
"I'm excited to see Chris and Emily again, it's been awhile." Jackie told Nick as she was putting the finishing touch on the spaghetti and meatballs dinner she was making.
"Me too." Nick replied.
Chris Lawler was a college friend of Nick's and Emily was his wife. They would come to Vegas at least once a year and whenever they were here they made it a point to get together with Nick and Jackie.
Jackie liked Chris and she got along great with Emily.
Nick also liked Emily.
Tonight Chris and Emily were coming over for dinner at the Stokes' house.
Jackie's parents were nice enough to keep the kids for a few hours.
"Nicky do you know if their baby is a boy or a girl?" Jackie asked as she started setting the table.
"Nope, I don't think Emily is far along enough in her pregnancy to know."
Jackie smiled, she was happy for their friends, they had tried for a long time for a baby.
"Honey would you set this garlic bread on the table please, they'll be here any minute." She said as she handed him a bowl full of garlic bread.
Just minutes later the doorbell rang.
"Hi." Nick and Jackie greeted.
After hugs and hellos, they all went into the kitchen so they could eat dinner.
They had been at the kitchen table all of ten seconds before Emily raced up the stairs and into the bathroom so she could throw up.
Chris went to check on her.
"You ok?" He asked her as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, it was just the smell of garlic and the different spices in the spaghetti."
She slowly got up and washed her face off.
"I'm embarrassed." She told him.
"Don't be, Nick and Jackie will totally understand."
She smiled at him and then they went back downstairs.
She was seated for all of one minute this time before she was rushing upstairs again.
"Chris, why don't you take her to the bedroom at the end of the hall so she can catch her breath for a minute, and give her some of these, they work wonders." Jackie said as she dug out a box of crackers from the cupboard and then put ice in a glass and filled it with water and then handed them to him.
"Thanks Jackie." He said before he went upstairs again.
"Poor thing." Jackie told Nick as she sat back down.
"Yeah. Bring back memories?" He asked her.
"Yes, and not very good ones." She replied.
"Is she ok?" Nick asked as Chris came down the stairs a few minutes later.
"Yeah, I think the crackers are working."
"That's good." Nick said.
Jackie gave Emily a few minutes and then went to check on her herself.
She knocked on the door to the master bedroom.
"Come in."
Jackie went in.
Emily was sitting on the end of the bed nibbling on a cracker.
"You ok?" She asked as she sat down next to her.
"Yes but I'm mortified, and I feel so bad, you went through all the trouble to make us dinner and then I do this."
"Don't feel bad, and don't be embarrassed, I get it, if anyone understands what that is like, it's me, believe me."
"Still, I feel bad that I can't eat."
"Don't, and let me tell you a story."
"Alright." Emily said, now staring at her intently.
"Once when I was pregnant, I got home from work and Nick told me that he was taking me out for a nice dinner as a surprise. He had made reservations to a very nice Italian restaurant, we even wore semi-fancy attire. I was excited for our date night but when we got to the restaurant not even a minute after we walked in I just grabbed his hand and told him we had to leave. He didn't even say anything, he just walked out with me. He told me that my face had turned nearly green, he said he knew that if we didn't leave I was going to hurl. Needless to say there went our fancy evening."
"Was Nicky mad?"
"Nope, he just smiled at me as he drove to the nearest fast food restaurant for a burger and fries because that's what I asked him to do."
Emily chuckled.
"We are lucky, Chris is that way too, he's been nothing short of a saint during my pregnancy."
"That's good and yes we are lucky. Our husbands are sweethearts." Jackie replied.
Emily nodded in agreement.
"Can you keep anything else down do you think?" Jackie asked.
"I've had really good luck with ice cream."
"We have ice cream, do you want me to get you some? We have a carton of chocolate, a carton of vanilla, and a carton of birthday cake flavor that Hundley insisted I buy the last time I was at the store."
Emily laughed.
"I'd love some vanilla." Emily told her.
Jackie got up and left the room so she could get the ice cream. A few minutes later she came back into the room but she wasn't the only one, Nick and Chris were right behind her and they were all carrying ice cream.
"We decided to have our dessert up here so we could all visit and you wouldn't have to come down to the kitchen." Nick said with a grin.
Emily grinned back at them.
"Thanks guys." She told them gratefully.
They all took a seat on the bed.
After a few minutes Nick look at Jackie and said "You know Jacks, Hundley is onto something with this birthday cake flavored ice cream, it's not bad at all."
Jackie laughed and opened her mouth so he'd give her a bite.
He put a very small bite on his spoon and stuck it in her mouth.
She playfully swatted him.
He laughed and gave her an actual bite.
"Not bad." Jackie agreed.
After everyone was finished with their ice cream Nick went and got a deck of cards and brought them into the bedroom.
They played a few games of cards and then Chris and Emily thought they better head back to their hotel.
"It was great seeing you guys again, next time you come you'll have a little one with you." Jackie said as she wrapped Emily in a hug.
"Nope, not yet, Chris has a conference here in a couple months. Maybe we could all go out to dinner, hopefully by then I won't be vomiting every 5 minutes."
"Hopefully, and dinner sounds fun." Jackie agreed.
"Thanks for dinner Jackie, it was delicious." Chris said as he gave Jackie a hug.
"You're welcome, thanks for coming." Jackie said as she hugged him back.
"Stokes." He said as he turned his attention to Nick as he stuck out his hand.
"Nice to see you man, you take care of her, you hear?" Nick told him as he nodded towards Emily and then he shook his hand.
"Will do." Chris promised.
Once they left Jackie asked Nick if he'd go get the kids while she did the dishes. He agreed and then left the house.
Overall it had been a fun, if unconventional evening.
The End!