Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
House Hunting
"Hi babe, what are you up too?" Nick asked his newlywed wife Jackie who was sitting on the couch with her laptop in her lap and a notebook beside her.
"I'm looking up houses that we can afford so our realtor can show us them tomorrow. Look at this one, it's cute, four bedrooms, two baths, 1,892 square feet and it's well within our price range."
She scribbled the address on her notepad as he sat down beside her.
"Cute house, but not so cute neighborhood, the crime lab is in that area at least once a week."
Jackie sighed and immediately crossed the house off the list.
"Here, why don't you look at the addresses I have written down so far, I don't know the neighborhoods very well, so I'm just writing down anything that looks like a possibility."
She handed him the notebook and he crossed out more then half of her selections.
"Sorry" he said when he saw the disappointed look on her face.
"It's not your fault, I don't want to live in an unsafe neighborhood either." She assured him.
He smiled at her.
"I'm excited to start actually looking for houses though." She said cheerfully.
"What, you don't like my bachelor pad?" he asked with a fake pout as he pretended to showcase the room they were sitting in.
"Oh no, your bachelor pad is lovely, it's just, well yeah." She said not knowing how to finish the sentence.
He burst out laughing and she grinned.
"Come on, let's finish going through these houses, there is a ton of them, that's one good thing about Vegas, there is quite the selection of houses."
"Ok" he said as he leaned over to look at the laptop on her lap.
Two hours later they were finished and they had compiled a huge list of houses to show their realtor.
The next morning they drove to their realtor Laurie's office. They showed her their list.
She laughed "boy you two are going to make my job easy aren't you?" she said.
Nick and Jackie smiled at her.
"I think the best way to go about this is to narrow down the search by looking for houses that have your must haves in them. What are your must haves?" She asked the happy young couple.
Nick and Jackie looked at each other and shrugged.
"The only thing I really care about is that it is in a safe area." Nick said and Jackie nodded in agreement.
"Oh, and I'd like it to be a single family house, I don't really want a townhouse, duplex, or apartment." Jackie added.
Laurie wrote down what they told her.
"Anything else?" she asked.
Nick and Jackie looked at each other and both shook their heads no.
"Do you care about how many bedrooms or bathrooms it has?" She asked them.
"Well, at least two bedrooms would be nice that way we could have room for guests, or down the road, a baby." Jackie said looking at Nick with a smile.
"You mean way down the road on that last one right?" Nick asked somewhat worriedly.
"Yes, a couple years at least." Jackie assured him.
"Good" Nick said obviously relieved.
"How about number of bathrooms?" Laurie asked.
"More then one would be nice, but it's not a necessity." Jackie said and Nick nodded in agreement.
"Alright, is that everything?" Laurie asked.
"Yes I think so." Nick said and Jackie smiled.
"What is the most you can afford? Laurie asked.
"Well, we've been preapproved for $140,000 but I'd like it to be less." Nick said.
"Ok" Laurie said as she wrote that down on her notepad and then added "Alright then, let's start looking."
They all left her office and got into her car to begin their search.
"This one is cute." Jackie said when Laurie opened the door of a house.
Nick laughed at her.
"What, it is, I love the archway." Jackie said pointing to the archway that led to the kitchen.
"Honey, we've looked at 5 houses now and you've said that about every one of them." Nick said.
"She's easy to please, that's not really a bad thing." Laurie said with a laugh.
"Nope, I guess not." Nick agreed.
"This house has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and is 1,891 square feet." Laurie informed them.
"That's nice" Jackie said.
"Yes, and better yet the price is $130,000." Laurie said.
"That's good." Nick said and Jackie nodded.
"Look Nicky, it's a good size living room." Jackie said as she looked around.
"Yeah and look at that T.V, it's huge." Nick exclaimed happily as he pointed to the huge flat screen TV in the corner of the room.
Jackie laughed "Honey I don't think that comes with the house." She said.
He just grinned at her.
Next they went into the kitchen, it was nice, especially because it was an eat-in kitchen.
There was a door in the kitchen that led out to a two car garage, something that Nick really liked.
After checking out the garage they went back into the house. Then they checked out the formal dining room.
"It's nice that it has an eat-in kitchen and a formal dining room." Jackie commented.
"That is a nice feature." Laurie agreed.
"What's this room, one of the bedrooms?" Jackie asked as they entered a room right off the dining room.
"Well technically it's not a bedroom because it has no closet but you could make it a bedroom if you needed it to be." Laurie said.
"Or Jacks you could use this as an office, you are always on the computer looking for lesson plans and things, you could use an office." Nick said.
"That's a good idea." Jackie said.
Next they went and checked out the backyard.
"It's a good size, I could see us having barbeques out here, and there is even enough room to put in a pool down the road if we want." Nick said.
"Yeah, it's a nice backyard, I could see kids running around having a good old time out here." Jackie said.
Nick gave her a sideways glance.
"I meant when your nieces and nephews come to visit us." Jackie added quickly with a grin.
"Uh-huh" Nick said, he was not at all convinced that that is what she meant.
Next they went upstairs. Double doors led to the huge master bedroom, but even though the bedroom was very large there was a problem, it was painted a very bright blue.
"Yikes, I feel like I am in a submarine." Nick said when he walked into it.
Jackie frowned, she also did not like the paint color at all.
"I know the color is pretty bold but keep in mind that painting is an easy fix." Laurie said.
"That's true" Nick said.
"Right this way is the master bathroom." Laurie said.
The bathroom was nice sized, not huge, but big enough, it also had two sinks, which for most couples would be a god sent in the morning when they were trying to get ready in the morning, but since Nick and Jackie worked opposite schedules it wasn't as important to them, but nice to have none the less.
Jackie though noticed something she didn't like about the room.
"There's no tub." She said sounding disappointed.
"No there isn't but there is room to put one in if you want, it's not all that expensive to do as long as you have the space, and this bathroom has that." Laurie said.
"Alright, I guess we could do that." Jackie said, she was willing to compromise.
"Jackie I have a surprise for you." Laurie said as she led the couple out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom.
She opened a door and Jackie's eyes grew wide.
"Nick look at the size of this closet, it is a walk-in and it's HUGE" Jackie exclaimed.
"It's pretty nice." Nick said in agreement.
They then left the bedroom to continue the tour.
"Two of the bedrooms have a jack and jill bath." Laurie said.
"What's that mean?" Nick asked.
"It means that two of the bedrooms share a bathroom. Each of the two bedrooms have a door that leads to the bathroom."
The first spare bedroom was really spacious.
Next they went to the shared bathroom, it was good sized and it had a bathtub which made Jackie happy.
"Notice that there are two sinks in here, that's nice if say two children are trying to brush their teeth or something at the same time." Laurie said
"That is nice." Nick agreed.
Next they went to the other bedroom that shared the bathroom.
"This is nice, not quite as big as the other one but plenty big enough." Jackie said.
Nick nodded.
After that they toured the laundry room.
"It's a nice feature that the laundry room is on the same floor as all the bedrooms." Laurie said.
Nick and Jackie agreed.
They peeked into the hall bathroom, it was nice, and liked the other bathroom it also had a tub. The last room they looked at upstairs was the last bedroom, like the other spare bedrooms it was good sized.
"The last thing I have to show you guys in this house is the attic space, follow me." Laurie said.
The attic staircase was only accessible by pulling on a string that was connected to the ceiling near the top of the upstairs staircase. Laurie pulled on the string and down came a set of stairs. All three of them climbed the stairs.
"This is obviously unfinished space right now but you could have it finished, if you did that it would add around 800 square feet of living space up here. That would increase the value of this home dramatically." Laurie stated.
"That's probably what we would do because I'm not a huge fan of unfinished attics like this." Nick said.
"Why, do you have a fear of bugs?" Laurie asked sounding genuinely interested.
"Nope" Nick simply stated.
He was glad when Laurie didn't ask anymore questions, he really did not like to talk about why just thinking of spaces like this gave him the creeps, he was even more happy when they all left the attic.
"That is the end of the tour what did you both think of the house?" Laurie asked once she had led them back downstairs to the living room.
"I love it, it is by far my favorite out of the ones we've seen." Jackie said.
"I like it too, the only things I didn't like was the color of the bedroom and the attic, but the paint color in the bedroom is easy to fix and we can eventually finish the attic, until then it is good storage space. How about you Jacks, is there anything you didn't like?"
"Just the fact that there was no tub in the master bathroom but we could put one in and even if we don't there are two other bathrooms with a tub so I could compromise on not having one in the master if I had too." Jackie said.
"So would you like to make an offer on the house?" Laurie asked.
Nick looked at Jackie "I think we should, how about you?" he said.
"I think we should too." Jackie said excitedly.
"Ok then, let's go back to my office and write up the paper work." Laurie said.
Within 20 minutes they were all back in Laurie's office.
"How much would you like to offer?" Laurie asked.
"Well since the house is ten thousand dollars under our budget I was thinking of having the offer be full price and then have the seller pay the closing costs." Nick said.
"I like that idea Nick, having the seller pay the closing costs would be great, the less money out of pocket we have to spend, the better." Jackie said.
Nick smiled at Jackie and then turned to Laurie "Does that sound like a good offer to you?" He asked.
"That sounds like a very fair offer to me." Laurie said.
"Great, then let's do it." Jackie said eagerly.
Laurie filled out the paperwork and then had Nick and Jackie sign it.
"Great, we should know by tomorrow afternoon if the seller has accepted your offer, I'll call you the minute I hear anything."
"Ok thank you." Nick said before he and Jackie left her office.
The rest of the day was typical. That night Nick had the night off from the lab so he and Jackie played board games and watched T.V before going to bed.
"I wish she would call, I'm so nervous but also so excited." Jackie said the next morning.
"I know, I am too." Nick said with a smile.
Finally just after the lunch hour Laurie called. She told them that she had news about the house. She instructed Nick and Jackie to come down to her office.
"Well did we get it?" Jackie blurted the second she walked into Laurie's office.
Laurie laughed. "Have a seat." She told them as she motioned to two chairs that were across the room.
Nick and Jackie looked at each other nervously as they took a seat.
"I wish I had better news for you two but I'm afraid that the seller has accepted another offer."
"Are you serious or are you just kidding?" Nick asked in disbelief.
"I wish I was kidding but literally only an hour before you submitted your offer another couple submitted one and the seller accepted that offer before they even saw yours. I'm sorry."
Nick looked at Jackie "Sorry Babe" Nick said, he knew she was disappointed, as was he.
"Darn, I had already decorated it in my mind." Jackie said with a slight chuckle.
Nick smiled at her.
"I do have some good news though." Laurie said, trying to cheer them both up.
"What's that?" Nick said.
"Well, there is a house literally only two doors down from the one you looked at that is for sale. I just saw it and it is virtually identical to the one you liked. The only difference is the yard is 50 square feet smaller, which you can barely notice, if you notice it at all. It is also ten thousand dollars cheaper then the house you liked."
"Why is it so cheap, what's wrong with it?" Nick asked skeptically, he didn't want to buy a house and then find out there is major problems with it.
"Nothing is wrong with it, the sellers are just in a hurry to sell it because the husband got a job transfer to Michigan. If you have time right now we can go look at it if you want." Laurie said.
"Let's go." Jackie said eagerly.
"Yeah I agree, let's go take a look." Nick said.
Soon they were pulling into the driveway of the house.
Laurie was right, everything downstairs looked identical to the house they loved so much, and the couple couldn't even tell the difference between the yards, even though this one was just a touch smaller.
Nick and Jackie then went and toured the upstairs and when Nick opened the double doors that led to the master bedroom he was pleasantly surprised, the room was not painted a horrible blue color like the other house. Instead the walls were colored in a very nice, neutral tan color.
"No paint job needed here." He said looking at Jackie with a grin.
"It's a very nice color." Jackie agreed. Then added "I just hope the closest is the same size. Cross your fingers." She said as she put her hands on the closet door handle.
She opened the door and burst into a huge smile.
"Nicky do you hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?"
"I think I hear angels singing." she said with a grin as she stared at the huge walk in closet.
Nick laughed.
They then went into the master bathroom. Like the other house the master bathroom had no tub but Jackie could live with that.
The rest of the house was exactly the same as the other one. Once again when they were finished with the tour Laurie led them back downstairs to the living room.
"Well what do you think? Would you like to make an offer?" She asked.
"Absolutely." Jackie said.
"Yeah, let's go." Nick eagerly agreed.
So all of them immediately headed back to her office. Laurie wrote up the offer and Nick and Jackie both signed it.
After all of that was finished Laurie said. "Alright, just like the last time I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything."
"Ok, thank you." Nick said, and then Nick and Jackie left her office.
Jackie was so excited the rest of the day, she could hardly think of anything else.
"Don't get too excited, you never know what's going to happen. I don't want us to not get the house and then have you be devastated." Nick warned gently.
Jackie knew he was right but she just couldn't help herself. When nightfall came she couldn't sleep but finally after what seemed like an eternity her eyelids became too heavy to stay open and she drifted off to sleep. The next morning Jackie was nearly going crazy waiting for Laurie to call.
She finally did around two in the afternoon.
Nick answered the phone.
"What did she say?" Jackie asked the second Nick had hung up.
"She said she wanted us to come down to her office." Nick said with a not so hopeful look on his face.
"Oh no, not again." Jackie moaned.
They were at her office in less than twenty minutes.
"Hi guys, have a seat." Laurie said when they walked in.
Nick and Jackie looked at each other and sat down.
"Do you two still want the house?" Laurie asked.
"Yes" Jackie said, her voice so loud it was nearly a shout and Nick nodded vigorously.
"Well that's good because you got it, the sellers readily accepted your offer. Congratulations" Laurie said with a smile.
"Really?" Jackie said happily as her and Nick both jumped up and gave each other a hug.
"Thank you so much for all your help." Nick said to Laurie.
"Yes thank you." Jackie added.
"It was my pleasure, I felt so bad when you lost the first house, I am so happy that you found a house you liked even better." Nick and Jackie smiled at her.
"What's the next step?" Nick asked after him and Jackie's excitement had died down a little.
"Well now you schedule an inspection and if that goes well we go to closing." Laurie said.
Nick and Jackie stayed and talked to her a few more minutes and then left her office.
When Nick and Jackie arrived back at Nick's apartment he immediately scheduled an inspection, and he got lucky because the inspector said he could do it the following morning.
"I really hope there are no major problems with the house." Jackie said that evening as she absentmindedly stirred the gravy she was making for the mashed potatoes that they were going to have for dinner.
"Me too." Nick said.
After dinner they did odd chores around the apartment to keep their minds occupied. After that they went to bed.
The next morning finally came and both of them headed to the house to meet the inspector. Laurie also met them over there. The inspection went really well, no problems were found in the house except for the fact that one of the bathroom sinks leaked a bit which the inspector said could easily be fixed.
Nick and Jackie were elated.
A week and a half later the couple was sitting in an office as some woman rattled on and on about the mortgage, mortgage insurance, taxes, and so on. It made little sense to Nick and Jackie but they listen intently. After the woman was finished speaking Nick and Jackie had to sign a mountain of paperwork, to the couple it seemed to take eternity to finish but finally the last document was signed. Then the moment the couple had been waiting for finally happened.
"Congratulations, here is the key to your first house." The woman said with a kind smile on her face as she dropped the key in Jackie's hand.
"Thank you" the couple said in unison.
Just minutes later Nick and Jackie were driving to the house, their house.
"Nicky where are you going the house is the other way?" Jackie asked confused as Nick turned down the wrong street.
"I'm going to make a quick stop first." He said.
He soon pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store.
"I'll be right back" he promised as he shut off the car and strolled into the store.
He came back a few minutes later with a bottle of champagne.
"Let's go home." He said with a smile as he started the car back up.
He soon was pulling into the driveway.
Nick grabbed the bottle of champagne and then got out and opened Jackie's car door for her. They walked up the sidewalk hand in hand. Jackie unlocked and opened the door.
"922 Rose Avenue, home sweet home." Nick whispered in her ear as they stepped inside their house together for the first time.