Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Girl Time
"Hey hon, I'm going to go jump in the shower really quick before the other kiddos wake up." Jackie told Nick as she walked down the stairs and into the living room where Nick was sitting with Houston on his lap.
They had a book open and Nick was asking Houston what the different animals in the book say.
"What does a dog say? What's Dolly say?" Nick asked the little boy as he pointed to a picture of a dog in the book.
"Roof, roof." Houston replied.
"That's right, good job."
"What does a sheep say?" Nick asked.
"Meow." The little boy said.
Nick laughed "Nope that's what a kitty says, a sheep says baaaah." Nick told him.
Houston laughed as if Nick was crazy.
Nick chuckled and then turned his attention to Jackie.
"Ok." He said with a smile.
Today Jackie was going to the mall with one of her best friends named Ashley. Jackie hadn't gotten a chance to go out and have fun since Karlie's birth so he thought it would be nice for her to get out of the house for a little bit.
Ashley had also recently had a baby, her first, a little boy named David. David in fact was just two weeks older than Karlie was so Ashley hadn't gotten the chance to go out and have any fun for a while either so her husband was going to watch her baby so she and Jackie could go have some girl time.
Jackie went and jumped in the shower.
"Aaaaa." Nick heard her scream just moments later.
Nick looked at Houston.
"There must be a spider in the shower." He told his little boy.
Jackie was deathly afraid of spiders, as was Jackie's mom. Nick often joked with Jackie's dad that the only reason the two women kept the guys around was for no other reason then to kill spiders for them.
Sure enough just seconds after Jackie screamed she said "Nicky, there is a spider in here, come kill it."
Nick chuckled as he set Houston down on the carpet, set the book in the little boy's lap and then walked up the stairs.
When he opened the bathroom door he found Jackie out of the shower wrapped in a towel. He grinned at her as he grabbed a Kleenex, he killed the spider and then flushed it down the toilet.
"Thank you." She told him.
His grin got bigger as he grabbed her bath towel and yanked it off. He started gently kissing her neck.
"Nicky, not now, you know we can't fool around until the baby is six weeks old." She told him.
"She is, isn't she?" He said with a grin.
"No, she's not even quite a month old yet." She told him as she rolled her eyes, she knew very well that Nick knew exactly how old Karlie was.
"Besides that if I don't get ready I'll be late, I'm meeting Ashley at 9." She reminded him.
"Sweetie, it's Ashley, you could get there an hour late and you'd still beat her." Nick said with a laugh.
Jackie laughed too, she had to admit Ashley's strong suit was not punctuality.
Jackie flung her towel back over the top of the shower and climbed back in, leaving Nick no choice but to leave the bathroom.
He went back downstairs, Houston was still sitting with his book, making all kinds of animal noises. Nick wished he had the video camera because it was awfully cute standing there and just listening to him.
A couple minutes had passed and then he heard a loud thud and a scream come from the bathroom.
"Jackie." He called as he dashed up the stairs.
He went into the bathroom and flung open the shower curtain. Jackie was standing in the shower, looking annoyed.
"What was that thud, are you alright?" He asked her.
"Yes I'm fine but the whole damn shelf just fell down." She said as she motioned to the shower shelf that was now on the floor of the shower, as shampoo bottles, conditioner bottles, a bottle of face wash, a jar of shaving cream, a jar of body wash, and Jackie's razor lay around it.
"That piece of crap, I've never liked that thing, it doesn't hold anything anyways, everything just slides right off of it." Nick said as he picked up the shelf.
"Here, give me a minute, I'll try to put it back up." He told her.
"Don't bother, just throw it away, like you said it's a piece of junk anyways." She told him as she began to pick up all the bottles and other items and place them in the back of the shower stall so no one would trip and fall over it while they were in the shower.
Nick carried the shelf out of the bathroom and down the stairs.
"Uh-oh." Houston said as he saw Nick carrying the shelf.
Nick laughed "Yeah, you could say that."
Nick opened the front door and threw the shelf out on the lawn. He didn't want to take it to the garbage can because he didn't want to leave Houston in the house unattended while Jackie was in the shower and he didn't want to take Houston outside with him because Nick's hands would be full with the shelf and he'd be unable to hold Houston's hand, which was a concern because the garbage can was by the road and he didn't want Houston to wander out into the street. So for now the shelf would stay in the front yard.
When Jackie got out of the shower she quickly got ready and then walked downstairs so she could have a quick cup of coffee before she had to leave.
She poured Houston a bowl of cereal and then poured herself a cup of coffee while Nick took the shelf to the garbage.
"Alright, I better get going, but I'll have my cell phone, if the four little terrors become too much please call me." Jackie told Nick about fifteen minutes later as she kissed his cheek.
"I will." He assured her.
"I mean it Nicky, I don't want to come home and find you tied to a chair." She said with a grin.
He laughed "I'll call." He promised.
"Ok, good." She said.
She turned her attention to Houston.
"Bye bud, be good for daddy, mommy loves you." She said as she kissed the top of his head before walking out the door.
Jackie got to the mall and as usual her friend was late so Jackie sat down on a bench and patiently waited for her.
Fifteen minutes later Ashley walked in and to Jackie's surprise she was pushing a baby stroller.
Jackie laughed "What happened? You didn't quite trust your hubby to be alone with the little guy yet?" She asked.
"No, that's not it, he got called into work at the last minute, I'm sorry, we can reschedule if you want."
"No, don't be silly, I don't mind at all." Jackie said.
Jackie turned her attention to the stroller.
"Hi little guy." She said as she lifted up the blanket Ashley had laid over the baby to shield him from the sun.
"Alright, if you're sure."
"I'm sure." Jackie assured her.
"Ok, so do you want to grab lunch first or shop first."
"Honestly I'm starving." Jackie said.
"Good, so am I." Ashley said.
After grabbing a quick bite to eat at the food court the two women went shopping.
"I love this store, they have so many cute kids clothes and their prices are so reasonable, this store is practically my second home now that the little guy has arrived." Ashley said.
"I know, I shop here a lot for my kids too." Jackie agreed.
A few minutes later the baby started to get fussy.
"He probably needs to be changed, would you mind watching the stroller while I take him into the bathroom?" Ashley asked Jackie as she grabbed a diaper out of the stroller pouch before taking the baby out of the stroller.
"Sure, no problem." Jackie said.
While Ashley was in the bathroom changing the baby Jackie pushed the stroller over to the corner of the store to look at some adorable jeans to see if they had any in Jasmine's size.
Jackie was bent over looking at the clothes and so she wasn't paying attention so she was quite surprised when she felt a tug on her pant leg and then heard a little voice say "Hey lady."
Jackie spun around.
A little boy that looked to be about four was staring at her.
"Hi." Jackie said cheerfully.
"You lost your baby." The little boy said sounding very concerned as he pointed at the empty stroller.
Jackie smiled "No sweetie, I didn't lose my baby, the baby is with his mommy, I'm just watching the stroller." Jackie told him..
"Well that's good." The little boy said sounding very relieved.
"But thanks for telling me." Jackie said.
"You're welcome." The little boy said with a smile before he turned and walked away.
Seconds later Jackie heard the little boy say "mommy, can we go get my ice cream now, I've been really good."
Jackie chuckled to herself.
"Was that one of your students?" Ashley asked as she walked up with the baby after she'd seen the little boy talking to Jackie.
"No, he just wanted to inform me that I had lost my baby." Jackie replied.
Ashley laughed
"Kids, they are so cute."
"Yes they are." Jackie agreed.
The two women shopped for a couple more hours before Jackie said "Well I better get home, Nick probably could use some backup by now."
"And a beer." Ashley added with a laugh.
"That too." Jackie agreed.
"Ok, we'll do this again soon, and hopefully next time I can leave the little guy at home." Ashley said.
"Ok sounds good." Jackie said to Ashley before she turned her attention to the baby.
"Bye cutie, you were a great shopping buddy today." Jackie said with a smile.
The two women then parted ways so they could go to their separate cars.
On the drive home Jackie relaxed as she listened to the radio and when she got home and opened the front door she was very relieved to find that the kids had not tied Nick to a chair.