Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Pane, Pane
It was Christmas morning and as usual the kids were spoiled rotten. They got so much stuff Nick and Jackie didn't know where they were going to put everything.
"I have something for you." Nick said with a grin at Jackie once the kids were done opening their all their stuff.
He handed her a small wrapped present. She looked at him and smiled as she tore open the wrapping paper. Inside the wrapping paper there was an envelope. She gave him a curious look as she opened the envelope. Once she realized what was inside her eyes grew wide in shock.
"Nicky thank you." She said almost breathless.
Inside there were five plane tickets to Portland Oregon. Jackie's best friend, Lucy, had moved to Portland a few years ago and Jackie was devastated when she had. The two remained really close though, they would call each other at least once a week, and visit each other whenever possible, although Jackie hadn't seen her since right after Johnna was born. Lucy had come for a visit right after the new bundle had arrived.
"I thought you'd like that." Nick said with a smile.
She smiled back.
"And I figured we could make a family vacation out of it, the kids have never seen the ocean before and since Portland is pretty close I figured this would be a great opportunity to take them to it." He added.
"That is an awesome idea, I am so excited. Thank you so much." Jackie said.
"You're welcome, there's just one thing." He said.
"What's that?"
"You can't tell Lucy we're coming."
"What, why not?"
"Because I worked this plan out with Steve (Lucy's husband) this is going to be a surprise for her too."
"That'll be really hard but I'll do my best to keep the secret." Jackie promised.
Nick laughed, he knew his wife well enough to know that keeping secrets was not her strong suit.
A week later the family was at the airport waiting to board the plane.
"Pane, pane." Jasmine said excitedly as she pointed out the big windows at the plane.
"Yeah, that's a big plane isn't it Jazz?" Jackie asked with a smile.
"Yeah, big pane." Jasmine agreed, as she vigorously shook her head up and down.
The plane ride went better than Nick or Jackie could of asked for. Houston and Johnna slept most of the way and Jasmine was so excited she didn't take her eyes off the window the entire flight.
Once they landed they got their luggage and rental car and then headed to their hotel. Once they were settled Nick called Steve. They arranged for Lucy and Steve to meet Nick, Jackie and the kids at a restaurant. Nick, Jackie and the kids got their first. They got a table and waited for Lucy and Steve to arrive. When they walked in Steve nodded secretly at Nick so Lucy wouldn't see. Steve pointed at some art work on the wall so her back would be turned to Jackie. Jackie then got up from the table and walked over to her friend and gently tapped her on the shoulder. Lucy spun around, it took a few seconds for it to register who Jackie really was but once she realized she screamed and threw her arms around her best friend.
"What are you doing here?" she asked happily.
"Our husbands set this up, aren't they sneaky?" Jackie said.
"Yes." Lucy said as she looked at Steve.
"Hi Jackie." Steve said as he gave her a hug.
"Hi." Jackie said as she hugged him back.
"Come on, we got a table already." Jackie said.
"We?" Lucy asked confused.
Jackie nodded towards Nick and the kids.
"The whole gang is here." she said with a smile.
Lucy grabbed her friend by the arm, she was eager to go see Nick and the kiddos.
"You forgot your hubby." Jackie said with a laugh as she looked back at Steve who was left standing by himself.
"He'll find us." Lucy assured her as she continued towards Nick and the kids.
"Hi guys." Lucy said cheerfully.
"Hi" Jasmine and Houston said in unison, each giving her a big grin.
Lucy peeked at Johnna who was fast asleep in her car seat.
"Oh my god, she's gotten so big since the last time I saw her and it hasn't been that long." Lucy said looking at Jackie in shock.
"Yeah it doesn't take long, they grow way too fast." Jackie said.
Steve finally found them, he shook Nick's hand and then said hi to all the kids.
After that the friends sat down and had a nice dinner and after they were finished Nick and Jackie decided the kids should probably get to bed because it had been a long day, so they went back to the hotel and went to bed for the night.
The next day Lucy thought it would be fun for the kids to go to the zoo so that's what they all did. The kids had a ton of fun looking at all the animals.
"Baby." Jasmine shouted as she pointed at a lady pushing a stroller.
"Two dem." She added when she noticed that there were actually twins and not just one.
Lucy laughed "She's just like her mother." She said.
"What do you mean?" Jackie asked confused.
"Jackie you're the only person I know that would come to a zoo and pay more attention to the kids having fun looking at the animals then the animals themselves."
Jackie laughed.
It took them almost the entire day to get through the zoo and once they had they were hungry so they went to dinner.
After dinner Nick and Jackie thought it would be fun for the kids to go swimming in the hotel swimming pool so that's where they went, and boy did the kids have fun.
After swimming the kids were wore out so everyone went to bed.
The next day they got up early and headed to a beach that was a few hours from Portland. Lucy picked that beach because it had whale watching tours and she thought everyone would enjoy that.
It was way to cold to swim in the water but the kids loved going on the boat, they didn't see any whales but they did get to see a dolphin, Jasmine wanted to take the dolphin home as a pet and was very upset when it swam away.
After the tour had ended everyone went shopping in the little stores by the beach and since Jasmine was still mad about the dolphin Nick bought her a dolphin snow globe and then she was happy again.
After shopping they had a seafood dinner and then headed back to Portland.
The next day everyone went shopping, it was a lot of fun, well for everyone but Nick that is.
Jasmine and Houston wanted to go on the escalator at the mall, which was fine, once or twice, but they made him ride it up and down for an hour. Lucy, Jackie, and Steve sat at the food court watching the spectacle laughing hysterically.
"Come on guys, I'm hungry, can't we go eat?" Nick begged his kids.
"No dada, do gin." Jasmine insisted.
Nick was never so happy as when the kids finally grew tired of it and he could go eat lunch.
After shopping everyone went over to Lucy and Steve's house to play board games. The kids sat at the table contently coloring while the adults played cards.
"I'm so glad you guys got to come for a visit, I just wish you didn't have to go home tomorrow." Lucy said.
"I know, I wish we didn't have to either, you guys will have to come to Vegas for a visit soon." Jackie said.
"We will." Lucy promised.
The next day, Nick, Jackie, and the kids didn't have to leave until the afternoon so after Nick and Jackie had everything packed up and they had checked out of their hotel they went back over to Lucy and Steve's house. They had coffee and visited for a while and then they decided to go to breakfast.
After they had finished breakfast they just sat and visited, no one wanted the vacation to come to an end, everyone had had so much fun.
Nick looked at his watch "We better head to the airport Jackie." He said.
Jackie nodded and stood up. "We'll follow you guys to the airport and say good bye there." Lucy said as she and Steve stood up as well.
"You guys don't have to do that, it'll be a pain, you'll have to drive in that traffic and then park."
"Nonsense." Lucy insisted.
Once they had returned their rental car, the family met up with Lucy and Steve again to say their goodbyes.
"Bye, we'll come to Vegas soon." Lucy promised Jackie as she wrapped her arms around her best friend, fighting back tears.
"You better." Jackie said as she too fought back tears.
After going through security Nick, Jackie, and the kids turned back and gave Lucy and Steve one last wave. Despite being sad about leaving Jackie smiled, it had been a wonderful vacation. Nick couldn't have gotten her anything better for Christmas.