Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI.
I'd like to thank Extraordinary Gibblet for giving me this idea.
Keyboard Fun
"I'm not sure how much more I can take of that." Jackie told Nick.
"Me neither, but remember, it's your fault." He told her with a grin.
"I thought I was doing a good thing but I'm beginning to rethink that." She answered.
He laughed at her.
Jackie had recently signed Jasmine up for piano lessons and Jasmine loved it.
She loved it so much that Jackie had bought Jasmine a small child's keyboard.
Jasmine had been "playing" her new keyboard for the past hour but instead of sounding like music it sounded like someone was pounding nails loudly inside the house and as a result Nick and Jackie's heads were pounding.
"Sweetheart, do you want to take a little break?" Nick asked his little girl sounding hopeful.
"No, fun." The little girl responded with a proud smile as she continued to bang on the keyboard.
"That's nice." Nick told her, managing a small smile.
"Good Dob?" Jasmine asked Nick as she hit one of the keys.
"Oh yeah, that's beautiful." Nick lied.
Five minutes later Jackie had an idea.
"Jasmine, look what I bought when I was at the store yesterday." Jackie said as walked into the room carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies.
Jasmine reached for one of the cookies but Jackie pulled the plate back.
"You can have one but you have to come out into the kitchen to eat it, you can't eat it by your new keyboard." She told her.
Jasmine immediately jumped up and followed Jackie to the kitchen.
Jackie flashed Nick a smile and he gave her a thumbs up in return.
After she ate her cookie Jasmine went into the living room and started playing with one of her dolls, leaving the keyboard alone, much to the relief of Nick and Jackie.
Soon it was time for dinner and after dinner Jackie gave the kids a bath then got them into their pajamas. After the kids were all ready for bed she read them a story and when the story was over she tucked them into bed for the night.
After the kids had fallen asleep Nick and Jackie did a few household chores and then watched a little T.V before they went to bed themselves.
"What the hell was that?" Jackie asked as she sat up straight in bed very early the next morning.
"I don't know." Nick answered.
The noise they heard was like a loud screech.
Nick and Jackie jumped out of bed and walked out of the bedroom. It didn't take them long to discover that the noise they had heard was Jasmine practicing her piano skills on the keyboard.
"No, no sweetie, you can't play that now, it's way to early, you'll wake everyone else up. You need to go back to sleep for a while." Jackie told her.
Jasmine scowled but she went back into her room. Jackie tucked her back in.
After she was all settled in her room Nick and Jackie went back to their own room.
"We have to do something with that thing." Nick told her.
"Like what? She loves it." Jackie answered.
"What if I accidently smash it with a hammer?" Nick asked with a grin.
Jackie laughed
"Well you probably have learned enough from your job to make something look like an accident."
"See, so can I do it then?" He asked with what seemed to be with pleading eyes.
"No, you can not smash it." Jackie declared.
"Ok, how about you bring it back to the store?"
"I can't do that, Jasmine will be crushed."
"I know but if you don't our eardrums and our sanity will be crushed." Nick said trying to reason with her.
"I know." Jackie said with a sigh.
They thought for a minute.
"How about we just implement some rules for her?" Jackie suggested.
"Like, you are never aloud to play with it again?" Nick asked with a laugh.
"Not exactly." Jackie said.
Nick made a pouty face.
"How about if we put a time limit on how long she can play it?" Jackie suggested.
"That's a great idea, what'd you have in mind?"
"How about for ten minutes at a time, three times a day?" Jackie said.
"Sounds good, that way she can still play but we won't go nuts."
"Exactly and maybe what I could do is get her a timer and set it for ten minutes. I'll explain to her that when the timer goes off she has to leave it alone and go play with something else."
"That's awesome."
"Thank you, I have my moments." Jackie said with a grin.
Nick laughed.
He wrapped his arms around her and soon they both fell back asleep.
The next day Jackie went to the store and bought Jasmine a timer.
When Jackie got home she sat Jasmine down and explained to her what the timer was for.
A few minutes later Jasmine started playing on her new keyboard so Jackie set the timer and to Jackie's surprise when the timer went off Jasmine without so much as a wine quit playing and looked at Jackie and said "all done."
Jackie was shocked that Jasmine had understood what the timer meant the very first time it was ever used.
"Jasmine you are so smart sweetheart." Jackie said as she wrapped her little girl in a hug.
"Yeah." Jasmine proudly agreed.
"You are a genius." Nick told Jackie once Jasmine had left the room.
"I've been trying to tell you that for years dear." Jackie quipped.
Nick laughed.
"Seriously though, she is so smart for her age, I thought for sure it would take her a while to learn what the timer was for but she understood it immediately."
"Yeah she is a smart kid, no question about it." Nick agreed.
Both he and Jackie were relieved. Jasmine could continue doing something she loved without it costing them their sanity or their hearing.
The End!