Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

Terrible Night

"Hi Nicky, long day?" Jackie asked as she took one look at Nick when he walked through the door after working yet another double.

"Yes." Nick mumbled as he plopped down on the couch next to her.

Jackie then noticed something else, Nick didn't seem just tired, his eyes looked like he'd been crying.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Jackie asked as she grabbed his arm.

"Nothing, it was just a long day." He lied, he didn't want to tell her about the horrible case from that night and the awful memories it had brought back.

"Honey, talk to me, please." Jackie said, not for one second buying that he was just tired.

He just stared down at the floor.

"Are you ok? Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah." He told her truthfully, physically everyone was fine, but his emotional state was far from fine.

"Ok, well if you want to talk about it, I'm here." She assured him.

"Thank you." He said as he offered her a small smile.

"I made spaghetti for dinner and I made a Jell-O cake with cherry Jell-O, your favorite, I felt bad for you because you had to work another double." She told him.

"Thanks hun, but I'm not hungry, I think I'll just go to bed."

She looked at him oddly, it wasn't like him to skip an opportunity for Jell-O cake.

"Well then why don't you skip dinner and just have dessert?" Jackie asked with a smile.

"I'll have some tomorrow." He responded as he started to get up off of the couch but she pulled on his arm.

"Hey, I meant what I said, I'm always here if you need to talk."

"I know, thank you." He told her as he leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Hi dada, you no here when me go to seep, me miss you." A little voice said suddenly.

Nick spun around and saw Johnna standing there with a small smile on her cute little face and a book in her hand.

"Hey there peanut, daddy was working when you went to sleep, and I missed you too." He told her with a smile as he softly tousled her hair.

"Dada read me a story?" The little girl asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"You know what sweetheart, why doesn't mama read you that story, daddy's tired." Jackie told the sweet little girl as she got up off of the couch.

"It's ok, I'll do it." Nick told his wife with a smile.

"You sure?" Jackie mouthed.

He shook his head yes. He then picked up Johnna and carried her up the stairs into her room, and then sat down on her bed with the child in his lap.

"Me cold." She said.

Nick pulled a blanket that was on her bed over both of their legs.

"Is that better?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said happily.

He smiled at her.

"Story time." She then announced excitedly as she handed him the book.

"Alright, let's read the story." He told her.

He opened the book to the first page.

"Dada." She said before he started reading.

"What?" He asked her.

"Me love you." She told him.

"I love you too kiddo." He told her sincerely with a smile.

"Read story." She told him.

He read the story to her and then got up off of the bed so he could tuck her in.

"I love you." He told her as he tucked her under the covers..

"This big?" She asked as she stuck out her arms as wide as they would go.

He smiled at her

"Even more than that." He replied.

She smiled and then said "Night night dada."

"Goodnight sweetheart, sleep well." He then walked out of the room so she could go to sleep.

As he walked into the master bedroom he couldn't help but smile, it amazed him that just by simply wanting to spend time with him how Johnna was able to turn the heart wrenching case he had just worked into a distant memory.

His children loved him but not nearly as much as he loved them!

The End!