Jasmine's Boyfriend
"Hi babe. how was work?" Jackie asked when her husband walked in the front door.
"It was good, I solved my case so that's always a good feeling." He responded as he gave her a light kiss before going into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.
"Are you tired?" Jackie asked.
"No, why?"
"Because I'm taking the kids to the park, Tina and Eli are going to meet us, Tina and I figured it'd be nice if Jasmine and Eli could have a play date. I thought you'd like to come along so you can see Eli, we haven't seen him for a while."
"Oh I'd love to, you're right, we haven't seen the little guy in forever."
A little while later the family started walking to the park. Nick gave Jasmine a piggy back ride and Jackie pushed Houston in his stroller.
"Ehi." Jasmine said excitedly when they got there as she began looking around for her little play mate.
When there was no sign of him she looked at Nick and Jackie.
"Ehi?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Eli's coming kiddo, they're just not here yet." Jackie said with a smile.
About five minutes later Tina and Eli arrived.
"Sorry we are a little late, Eli decided that he hated wearing shoes all of a sudden." Tina said.
Jackie laughed "Oh the joys of parenting, right?" she asked.
"Yep." Tina said with a grin.
"Ehi." Jasmine said happily as she came up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Hey young lady, you are way to young to be hugging a boy like that." Nick said in a mock stern voice.
Jackie and Tina laughed at him.
"Look at Mr. overprotective father." Tina said jokingly.
"Pay." Jasmine said ignoring Nick as she grabbed Eli's hand and then both children ran to the slide.
"It's like she didn't hear a word I just said." Nick said with a laugh.
Both women chuckled and shook their heads.
Minutes later both children came running back to the adults.
"Pay dada." Jasmine said as she tugged on Nick's arm.
"Alright, come on." Nick said as he immediately got up off of the park bench so he could go play with the kids.
Jackie took Houston out of his stroller so he could look around as the two women sat their and chatted about different topics.
"He's so good with Jasmine." Tina said as she nodded towards Nick, who was pushing both Jasmine and Eli on the swings.
Jackie nodded with a smile.
"I know that there are millions of children that are raised by single mothers that turn out fine but I worry about what effect not having a father will have on Eli. A male role model is so important in a young boy's life." Tina said with a sigh as she turned to face Jackie.
"Tina, Eli does have a father." Jackie said sincerely.
"No, he had a father, and he would have been a good one, but now he doesn't get a chance to be in his son's life. My son got screwed out of having a father" Tina said as she tried not to cry.
"I'm not talking about Warrick. I'm talking about Nick, he'll step in and be the father Warrick can't be for Eli. He will be as involved in Eli's life as you allow. He'll do all the fatherly things Warrick would have done: take him to sporting events, cheer him on when he plays little league and pee-wee football, play catch with him in the yard, and he'll be there to listen when Eli needs a male role model to talk to when he gets older."
"Would Nick really do that?" Tina asked sounding astonished.
"Absolutely, he'd be more than happy too, and I know that if the roles were reversed and Nick was the one that had been killed, Warrick would have gladly stepped in and helped me raise Nick's children."
"And you'd be ok with that? I mean not every woman would like the fact that her husband was a father figure to another woman's child."
"Sure, why wouldn't I be? Warrick was family to Nick and I, therefore you and Eli are family to us. Besides that, I believe that every child should have a father figure in their life if at all possible."
"Jackie I don't even know what to say except thank you."
Jackie smiled.
The women's attention then went to Houston as he started to fuss.
"Shhhh." Jackie said gently as she took a bottle out of her diaper bag.
She gave it to the baby and he immediately was content again.
"May I?" Tina said as she held out her arms.
Jackie handed her the baby.
"They are so sweet when they are this little but they don't stay that way for long. It seems like yesterday Eli was this age."
"I know, they grow up way to fast." Jackie agreed.
Minutes later Nick came and plopped down in the grass besides the women. He was out of breath.
"Those kiddo's are wearing me out." He said with a laugh.
Nick didn't get to rest for long.
"Pay dada." Jasmine said as her and Eli ran up to him.
"Daddy needs to rest for a bit." He said to his little girl.
"Pay." She said not at all caring that he was exhausted.
"Daddy's tired." Nick said trying to reason with her, but like most two year olds there was no reasoning with her.
"No tire dada, pay." She said.
Tina laughed "Here, you and Eli have a juice box and let Nick rest a little, before he has a heart attack." She said as she got out two juice boxes from her purse.
"Tank oooh." Jasmine said.
"You're welcome Sweetheart." Tina said to Jasmine and then she turned to Jackie
"She's so polite." She said.
"Most of the time." Jackie mumbled with a grin and Tina laughed.
Jasmine walked around the bench.
"No Jazz, you have to sit down while you drink that, I don't want you wandering around when you have that straw in your mouth." Jackie said.
Jasmine looked at Jackie, grinned at her and then plopped herself down on Nick's knee.
"Good girl." Jackie said.
Eli also sat down and scooted next to Nick and then he tentatively put his hand on Nick's knee.
Nick waited to see what the child was going to do, and when Eli didn't move Nick patted his knee, the one Jasmine was not sitting on and said "Do you want to sit on my lap too kiddo? Come on there's room for both of you."
Eli happily clambered onto Nick's lap.
The adults all understood the significance of this moment and it brought a smile to all of their faces. It also brought tears to Tina's eyes, Jackie was right, Eli would have a father, maybe not a biological one but he was going to have one, and who could act as Eli's father better then Warrick's very best friend?
The End! Please Review!