Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
I'd like to thank Extraordinary Gibblet for giving me this idea!
Miracle
Jackie was standing at the checkout line at the grocery store. It was busy, like it normally was this time of day.
"Excuse me." A woman said as she reached in front of Jackie to grab a magazine off of the rack.
Jackie smiled and stepped aside so the woman could grab her magazine.
"Thanks." The woman told Jackie.
The woman looked familiar but Jackie couldn't place her.
"Oops." The woman said as she accidently dropped one of the items she was buying as she was unloading them so she could be checked out.
"Here you go." Jackie said as she picked it up for her.
"Thank you." The woman said with a smile.
"No problem, this is going to sound a little odd but do I know you? You look so familiar." Jackie said.
"You know, I was just thinking the same about you." The woman replied.
"I'm Jackie."
"Christina." The woman said as she shook Jackie's hand.
The name Christina didn't ring a bell to Jackie so she thought she must have been mistaken and she did not know the woman after all.
Suddenly a shrill squeal snapped the women to attention.
"No sweetheart, you have to keep your sock on." The woman told her baby with a laugh.
Jackie hadn't noticed the woman had a baby with her until that moment but when Jackie looked at the baby she knew exactly who the baby and the woman was, Jackie had been thinking about this woman and the adorable little one an awful lot
"Oh my god, I just realized how we know each other, we met at the airport. You were flying to New York to see your grandmother and your parents, your baby's name is Sloan." Jackie said.
"Yes, and you are that nice woman that kept waving at him trying to keep him entertained, and your husband, or at least I assumed he was your husband told me where the bathroom was."
"Yes." Jackie said.
Suddenly both women's facial expressions changed, it was as if both thought they were looking at a ghost. Ever since that horrible day at the airport Jackie had assumed this young mother and her precious baby were dead, Jackie of course felt horrible for all the victims of that plane crash but the young mother and especially baby Sloan had a special place in her heart.
The woman had also thought a lot about Jackie and her seemingly doting husband, usually strangers didn't take the time to talk to an infant but Jackie had and the Christina had very much appreciated it.
For Christina the woman that had been so nice to her baby and the woman's husband had been the faces of the terrible tragedy, and she was shocked, yet so happy that she was safe.
"You missed the plane." Christina finally said, addressing the huge elephant in the room.
"At the last minute we decided not to go." Jackie explained, not knowing what else to say.
"We missed that plane by sheer luck. You know how in some bathrooms next to the changing table they often have hooks so mother's can hang up their purse while they are changing their baby?" Christina said.
"Yes."
"Well when I was finished changing him I grabbed the baby and the diaper bag but completely forgot about my purse. By the time I realized I had left it in the bathroom the plane was already starting to board, I ran as fast as I could but by the time I got back to the terminal it was too late, they wouldn't let us on. I was so angry at them, and also at myself for being such a space cadet. The airline was really nice about it though, they scheduled me a flight for later in the evening free of charge, and all I could think was lovely now I have to sit in the airport for several more hours with an infant, this is going to be wonderful. I called my mom and explained that Sloan and I would be late, she'd been so disappointed. I was still waiting for the next flight when I heard on the news what had happened. I was so stunned I didn't get on my next flight either, I just went home. I'm still too scared to fly right now so my grandmother still hasn't met Sloan but I finally booked us seats for a trip for Thanksgiving."
"That will be fun." Jackie said with a smile.
"Yeah." Christina said with a smile. "Well Jackie it was wonderful seeing you again, I am so glad that you and your husband are safe." She added.
"Thank you, and the same too you." Jackie told her sincerely.
With one last smile Christina moved out of the grocery line as she pushed her cart with all of her groceries and baby Sloan in it. After Jackie had paid for her items she too was about to leave the store when she noticed Christina seemed to be waiting for her.
"Jackie, has your Sloan started teething yet? My little guy has and the baby teething medicine does not seem to be working for him."
"No my Sloan hasn't yet but when my youngest little girl was teething she didn't do very well either, but what I did for her is I would wet a baby washcloth and then put it in the freezer for a bit and then I would take it out and let her suck on it. It really seemed to help her, she'd suck on it forever."
"Ok thank you, I'll have to try that. So you have other little ones besides Sloan?"
"Yes, we have four others."
"Wow you must be busy." Christina quipped.
"Yes we are." Jackie answered.
"You know, I'd like to pick your brain about a few other mommy things, as you know my mom, dad, and grandma all live in New York and my two sisters both live in Pennsylvania so I don't have any family around me other than my husband, and I'm the first one out of my friends to have a baby so I don't really have any women to help me with baby things, would you be willing to have coffee or lunch with me sometime?"
"Sure, I'm usually super busy during the week but I'm free most weekends, let's exchange email addresses, I'm better at that then I am at answering text messages or calling people back as strange as that seems." Jackie told her.
"It doesn't sound strange to me, I'm the same way, I'm on the computer almost all day." Christina answered.
Jackie smiled and got out a notepad and a pencil from her purse.
The two women exchanged email addresses and then parted ways.
When Jackie got home she immediately told Nick about who she had seen and he was just as relieved that the young mother and her baby boy was safe than Jackie had been.
For Jackie, it had been a great trip to the grocery store.
The End!