Saved
It was the middle of the afternoon and Nick and Jackie were in their living room watching TV. Jasmine was on the floor playing with her doll house while Houston was in his swing fast asleep. Nick paused the TV all of a sudden.
"Did you hear that?" He asked.
"Hear what?" Jackie responded.
"I thought I heard a baby crying." He said.
Jackie looked over at Houston who was still fast asleep.
"No Houston's asleep." Jackie said.
"No, no, I didn't mean Houston, it sounds like it came from outside."
Jackie listened closer but she still didn't hear anything.
Nick figured he had been mistaken and so he un-paused the T.V but just a couple minutes later he heard the cries again, this time Jackie heard them as well. Nick hurriedly got his shoes on, grabbed a pair of latex gloves out of his kit which was right by the front door, and raced outside.
He went to the side of their house because that's where the cries seemed to be coming from, that is also where the Stokes' big garbage can was kept. Jackie tried to look out the window but the garbage can was just barely out of view from the window. Nick came back seconds later. To Jackie's horror Nick was carrying a small baby.
Although the baby was small it looked to be about Houston's size and he was a little over two months old so Jackie didn't think the baby was a newborn.
She rapidly dialed 911.
After she had hung up Nick had her go get towels to wrap the baby in. She raced upstairs and got the towels and then hurried back downstairs.
Despite being found in a dumpster the baby looked to be healthy. It did not have any visible signs of trauma and it was crying loudly. Nick and Jackie figured it was a girl because it was dressed in a cute sunflower outfit but they had more important things to worry about so they didn't bother to make sure.
Jackie tried to grab the baby from Nick but he pulled the baby back and said "Get in my kit and grab some gloves, I don't want any evidence to be ruined or contaminated, I want whoever did this to be caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law."
Jackie nodded feverishly and got the gloves before taking the baby.
Jasmine had been watching all of this from the living room floor but she finally got up and walked over to Jackie.
"Baby" she said sounding confused.
"Yes sweetie, it's a baby." Jackie said.
"No Houston, Houston dere" Jasmine said as she pointed at Houston, who despite all the chaos continued to sleep peacefully in his swing.
"You're right, it's not Houston because Houston's right there." Nick said to his little girl.
"Baby" Jasmine said again with a smile as she reached out to touch the baby's foot.
"No honey, I'm sorry, but you can't touch her." Jackie said as said as she pulled the baby out of her reach.
Just then the sirens from the ambulance blared loudly.
"Baby bye bye." Jasmine said sweetly as the paramedics rushed the baby out of the house and into the ambulance.
After the baby had been taken to the hospital Nick immediately called the lab to report what had just happened in case the day shift was investigating a missing infant.
It turned out the day shift in fact was working a missing infant case. Nick asked to be kept informed about the case.
A few hours later Nick's cell phone rang.
"Stokes" he said.
"Nick its Ecklie, the day shift supervisor wanted me to call you and tell you that the baby you rescued was in fact the baby from their case. They also wanted me to tell you that the baby received a clean bill of health at the hospital and that she has been reunited with her overjoyed parents."
"Good, good, I'm glad she is going to be alright. Have they solved the case yet?" He asked.
"No, but he said that they are working feverishly on it."
"Alright, thanks for letting me know Conrad. If you hear anything else let me know will you?"
"Sure, if there are any breaks in the case I will let you know, if not then I will see you tonight when you come to work."
"Thanks Conrad, I'll talk to you later." Nick said and then hung up the phone.
Jackie had been listening to Nick's end of the conversation and she was waiting not so patiently to hear what Nick had been told about the baby.
"How is she doing?" Jackie asked as soon as Nick had hung up.
"She's great, and she's back with her parents." Nick said with a smile.
"That's wonderful." Jackie said happily.
Nick smiled and nodded.
When Nick got to work he found out who the baby belonged to. He also found out who placed the baby in the dumpster and why they did it and it was almost too shocking for him to believe.
After his shift was over he went home. When he walked in the door he found Jackie sitting on the couch feeding Houston a bottle.
"Did you find out anything about the baby?" she asked the second she saw him.
"Yeah and you are not going to believe it." He said.
"Oh no, please don't tell me the baby didn't make it." She said.
"Oh, no, the baby's fine." He assured her.
"That's good." She said sighing in relief.
"So what happened?" she asked.
"Well it turns out that the baby belongs to Adam and Mary Stevenson and they live just a couple houses down from us"
"Those names don't ring a bell." Jackie said.
"No, we don't know them, they are fairly new neighbors, they just moved into their house a few months ago."
Jackie nodded and said "go on."
"Ok, anyways it turns out that the baby's 10 year old brother confessed to putting the baby in the garbage can because she wouldn't stop crying and he was trying to study for a spelling test. The CSI'S estimate that the baby had been in the garbage for about an hour before I found her. He took the baby while his mother was in the shower. I don't think he wanted to hurt the baby because from everything the parents told law enforcement he is normally a very loving big brother. I don't think he knew he was putting the baby in danger, he just simply wanted her quiet long enough so he could study a bit that's all, and I'm just glad the baby is ok."
Jackie was stunned but like Nick she was very happy that the baby was safe.
"Wow that's unbelievable." Jackie said.
"You're not kidding." Nick agreed.
"There is one thing I don't understand though." Jackie said.
"What's that?" Nick asked.
"Why did he put her in our garbage can?"
"They asked him that and he said because all the other one's he looked in were full."
Jackie just shook her head in disbelief.
"I'm just glad it had a happy ending. In my line of work we unfortunately don't get happy endings very often."
"I'm just so glad you found her in her time, it makes me sick to think what could have happened."
"I know." Nick said with a shutter as he sat down on the couch next to her.
He took the baby from her and finished feeding him.
"Where's Jazz?" Nick asked.
"She's still sleeping." Jackie said.
He smiled as he began burping the baby.
A few hours later Jackie was making sandwiches for lunch when the doorbell rang.
"Nick, could you get that?" she called.
Nick opened the door.
A man and a woman were standing on the steps. The man was holding a baby.
"Mr. Stokes?" the man asked.
"Yes." Nick responded.
"Mr. Stokes I'm Adam Stevenson and this is my wife Mary. We just wanted to come over and thank you for saving our little girl. There are no words to express our gratitude for what you did, be we wanted to at least come over and say thank you. So from the bottom of our hearts thank you so very much."
"You don't have to thank me. Seeing her safe and back with her parents is all the thanks I need." Nick assured them.
Jackie then walked into the living room to see who was at the door.
"Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson this is my wife Jackie. Jackie this is Adam and Mary Stevenson." Nick said as he introduced them.
"Jackie, thank you so much for helping save our little girl." Mary said.
"It was my pleasure, I am so glad to hear she is doing so well." Jackie said with a sincere smile on her face.
She looked at the baby that Adam Stevenson was holding. She was quite content in her little blanket as she looked around at her surroundings.
"She is absolutely beautiful." Jackie said.
"Thank you" Adam and Mary said in unison.
"Even though there is no amount that we could ever give you to repay you for what you did for our little girl we wanted to give you this." Mary said as she handed Nick a gift certificate to one of the most expensive steak houses in town.
"Oh, no, we can't take this." Nick said.
"Please, take it. It is a very small token of our appreciation."
"Thank you but you certainly did not have to do that." Nick said.
"I know, but we wanted too, and again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Nick and Jackie both thanked them for the gift certificate and reiterated that they were just glad they could help the baby. Then Adam and Mary Stevenson left.
"What wonderful people." Jackie said after Nick had shut the door.
"Yeah they are" he agreed.
"An experience like this really makes you realize how much your children mean to you." Jackie said.
"It sure does." Nick responded.
After that the couple stood in silence, wrapped up in their own thoughts.
After a few moments Nick said "Come on, let's go eat our lunch."
After Jasmine had been put in her high chair and Jackie had gotten Houston out of his crib the family had a nice lunch consisting of BLT sandwiches, baby carrots with ranch dressing to dip them in (Jasmine's favorite) and diet sodas. It wasn't the food that made the lunch so enjoyable though, it was the fact that they were all together.
The End! I would love reviews!