Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Nick's Niece
Nick, Jackie, and the two children were driving to the airport to pick up Nick's niece Lisa. Lisa's mother, Nick's sister, was allowing Lisa to come to Vegas for a visit over her spring break. Lisa had just turned 16 and had begged her mom to let her go to Vegas to visit her favorite uncle.
"This place is a mad house." Nick complained as he looked for a parking spot at the busy airport.
He finally found one and parked the mini van. They unloaded the two kids and then headed inside to wait for Lisa to arrive. She came running excitedly towards them moments later, rolling her heavy suitcase behind her.
"Uncle Nick, Aunt Jackie." She said happily as she wrapped her arms around Nick.
"Hi, it's so good to see you Lisa, how was your flight?" Nick asked.
"It was good, the two hour layover wasn't that much fun though." She said.
Nick nodded, he didn't really like to fly, he hated all the hassle, plus he wasn't all that fond of the small space either.
"Hi Jasmine." Lisa said as she tenderly patted the little girl on the head.
"Mine." Jasmine said excitedly as she pointed to the huge cookie in Lisa's hand.
"I got hungry during my layover and the only place that didn't have a huge line was a little coffee shop." She said with a laugh.
"You must not have been too hungry, there are only a few bites out of the cookie." Nick said.
"Yeah, I meant to grab a sugar cookie but I grabbed a peanut butter one instead and I hate peanut butter."
"What is it with you and your family not liking peanut butter?" Jackie asked with a grin as she looked at her husband.
Nick just laughed.
"Mine." Jasmine said again as she pointed at the cookie.
"That's Lisa's cookie, not yours." Jackie said with a smile and a shake of her head.
"That's ok, I'm not going to eat it anyway, she can have it."
"That's very nice of you, but don't give it to her until after dinner." Jackie said.
"Ok." Lisa said.
"Speaking of dinner, where do you want to go? Is pizza alright?" Nick asked as they walked back to the van.
"Sure, I love pizza." Lisa said.
"Good, so do I, plus there is a new pizza place I've been wanting to try." Nick said.
They all piled into the minivan and Nick drove to the new pizza restaurant.
They had a nice dinner and then they went home and helped Lisa get settled. For the rest of the night they all talked and joked around with one another. Jasmine absolutely loved Lisa because Lisa played dolls with her, she combed Jasmine's hair, Lisa even sat and had a "tea party" with her in Jasmine's room with the new tea set Jasmine had recently been given. The best part was Lisa seemed to love playing with Jasmine as much as Jasmine enjoyed playing with her.
When it came time for Jasmine to go to bed Jackie was just about to start reading Jasmine her bedtime story when Jasmine said "No, Esa."
Jackie laughed "Jasmine, Lisa didn't come here just to be your personal playmate."
"Esa." Jasmine said again with a grin.
Jackie chuckled and then went downstairs to ask Lisa if she would mind reading Jasmine her story. Lisa happily said she would.
The next day the family all went down to the strip so Lisa could do some sightseeing, then at night Jackie and Lisa went to a show.
The next couple of days they just did different things around Vegas that they thought Lisa would enjoy. She was having a blast, and it was nice to see Nick, Jackie, and the two kids, because she didn't get to see them very often.
On the second to last night in town, Lisa was about to head upstairs when Nick asked.
"What'cha doin'?"
"I have homework to do." She said not at all sounding to thrilled about it.
"You are going to do homework on vacation, what a nerd." Nick said jokingly.
"Oh hush." Jackie said as she lightly smacked her husband's arm.
Lisa just laughed and continued up the stairs.
About a half hour later Jackie knocked on her door.
"Come in." Lisa said.
"Here, I brought you some apple pie."
"Thanks Aunt Jackie." Lisa said with a smile.
Jackie smiled.
"This is really good, can I have the recipe?" Lisa asked as she took a bite.
"Ok, but you're going to have to call the store down the street to get it." Jackie said with a chuckle.
"Oh." Lisa said with a laugh.
"What kind of homework are you doing?" Jackie asked as she noticed all of Lisa's books and notebooks scattered around the bed.
"Chemistry and I hate it. I have straight A's in my other classes and in chemistry I have a C." Lisa said glumly.
"Do you get in trouble when you get C's?" Jackie asked.
"No not at all, in fact my parents always tell me that I should relax and have more fun and not stress so much about my grades. They don't put any pressure on me or anything, I put it on myself. I just don't know why chemistry is so hard for me, I spend far more time on it then I ever do on any of my other subjects and I have the lowest grade in it, go figure."
"Well Lisa, some things are just hard for some people. I had a terrible time in math when I was in school, and like you I cared deeply about my grades, I too got upset when I got anything less than an A."
"Did your parents get mad at you when you didn't get A's?" Lisa asked.
"Nope, my parents said the exact same thing your parents say to you. My mom said it over and over again but I didn't listen. My struggles with math was especially hard because my dad is really good in math, actually he's just super intelligent overall, he's by far the smartest man I know."
"Even smarter than Uncle Nick?" Lisa asked with a grin.
"Yeah, but don't tell him I said that." Jackie answered with a smile.
"Ok, I won't." Lisa assured her with a smile.
"It'll just be our little secret." Jackie said as she winked at Lisa.
Lisa gave her a thumbs up and then she asked "If your dad is so good at math why didn't he try to help you with it?"
"Oh he did, there were many many many nights my dad and I sat at our kitchen table for hours on end while he tried to explain it to me, but he is so smart that he always explained it in a way that most people, including me, couldn't understand. I love my dad dearly but I'm glad he never became a teacher, he wouldn't have made a very good one, he would have never been able to dumb the material down enough for his students to understand it."
Jackie smiled as she thought about all the nights at that kitchen table with her father.
"He'd always say to me "you're being dense Jackie." Jackie said with a laugh.
Lisa laughed too "Well at least he tried to help you."
"Yeah he tried hard, but let's just say that none of my favorite father-daughter moments with him involve math homework."
Lisa laughed again.
Jackie smiled and then walked towards the door, she thought she should leave Lisa alone so she could study, but before leaving the room she turned back around and said "But Lisa, take your parents advice and don't get so stressed out, it's not worth it, looking back on it I wished I would have listened to my parents." And with that Jackie walked out of the room and shut the door closed behind her, but apparently not all the way closed because 10 minutes later Jasmine walked into the room.
"Hi Esa." She said happily.
"Hi Jazz." Lisa responded.
"Mine." Jasmine said excitedly as she saw the half eaten piece of pie on the nightstand.
"Ok you can have it." Lisa said as she put down her chemistry book and then picked up Jasmine.
She began feeding the child the pie.
"Jasmine." Lisa heard Jackie call from the hallway a few minutes later.
"She's in here Aunt Jackie." Lisa said.
Jackie came into the room and saw Jasmine chewing on the last bite of the pie.
"Jasmine's that was Lisa's." Jackie said.
To Lisa she said "Sorry Lisa, I'll get you another piece."
"No that's ok, thanks though."
"Ok." Jackie said as she went and took Jasmine off of Lisa's lap.
"Esa." Jasmine whined.
"Sorry sweetheart but Lisa has to study and I'm sure she can't do it with you in here." Jackie said as she carried Jasmine out of the room.
Not ten minutes went by before Jasmine poked her head back into Lisa's room.
"Esa pay?" the little girl said sounding hopeful.
"You're awfully persistent for being so little." Lisa said with a laugh as she put down her chemistry book once again.
"I have an idea." Lisa said as she grabbed Jasmine's hand and led her down the hall to the toddler's room. She grabbed one of Jasmine's coloring books and her crayons and then the two of them headed back to Lisa's room.
"Here, you sit next to me and color." Lisa said as she laid out the child's coloring book and the box of crayons on the bed.
She then lifted Jasmine up onto the bed. Once Jasmine was settled she picked up her chemistry book again, she hadn't even read a complete sentence when Jasmine started tugging on her arm.
"Petty." Jasmine said once she had Lisa's attention.
"Yes that's very pretty Jazz." She said as she looked at the single scribble Jasmine had made on a page of her coloring book with a green crayon.
She turned her attention back to chemistry but not even 35 seconds had past when….
"Petty" the little girl said again.
"Yes that's pretty too Jasmine." Lisa mumbled as she looked at the second scribble Jasmine made, this time with a blue crayon.
"Jasmine what are you doing in here again?" Jackie said shaking her head as she scooped up the child and then scooped up the coloring book and crayons.
"I'm sorry Lisa." Jackie said apologetically.
"That's alright." Lisa said.
"Petty." Jasmine whined when Jackie started carrying her towards the door.
"Yep, that's pretty, let's go show daddy." Jackie said.
Lisa smiled and picked up her text book. Jackie was just about to take Jasmine out of the room when Houston started crying.
"I'll get Houston." Nick called from downstairs.
Lisa silently sighed, chemistry was hard enough when there was absolutely no noise, but she didn't know how she was ever going to concentrate with all this racket.
Jackie seemed to read Lisa's mind.
"Lisa I have an idea, why don't you and Nick go to the coffee shop down the street, it would be much quieter, and Nick would be happy to help you learn this stuff, he's very good at chemistry. With the two kiddos our house is kind of a madhouse; it's not exactly a prime spot to study in."
"Do you think Uncle Nick would mind?" Lisa asked.
"Nope, not at all. I'll go tell him." Jackie said.
"Thanks Aunt Jackie." Lisa said gratefully.
Fifteen minutes later Nick and Lisa walked into the coffee shop and after ordering their drinks they sat down and began to look over Lisa's homework. Nearly two hours later Lisa felt much more confident with the subject material, Nick had done a really good job explaining it to her and she no longer felt like pulling her hair out when she heard the word chemistry.
They got up, and Lisa thought they were going to go home but Nick stopped at the ordering counter.
"What are ya doin'?" Lisa asked her uncle.
"If I go home and don't bring your aunt a frappe she'll rip my arm off." Nick answered only half joking.
Lisa laughed.
"I wonder what kind I should get her, she likes so many of them."
"Hi sir, what can I get you?" The woman behind the counter asked.
"Uh, I'll have a small pumpkin frappe please."
"Ok, and would you like whip cream on that?"
"No thank you." Nick replied.
He handed the woman a five dollar bill and she gave him a dollar and fifty cents in change. He dropped the dollar in the tip jar and put the fifty cents in his pocket. After the woman handed Nick the frappe he and Lisa headed home.
"Here, I got you a present." He said with a chuckle as he handed Jackie the frappe.
"Thanks Nicky." She said happily.
"What flavor is it?" Jackie asked.
"Taste it and find out." Nick said.
"Pumpkin, my fav, nice work hon." She said after taking a sip.
He looked at Lisa and said "Phew" As he ran a finger across his forehead.
Lisa laughed as she headed up the stairs so she could put her chemistry book back in her backpack.
The next day was last Lisa's night in town and so the family all went downtown so Lisa could tour Freemont Street. She loved watching the amazing light show that the street was famous for but as much as Lisa liked it Jasmine loved it even more.
"Oooohhh." She said sounding amazed as she sat on top of Nick's shoulders.
"Isn't that cool Jasmine?" Nick asked with a smile.
"Petty." Jasmine said and then just a second later "Doggy." She said excitedly as she pointed at the ground.
Nick looked where Jasmine was pointing and saw a woman walking a small dog. Nick laughed "Jazz, I swear, you have the attention span of a moth."
After the light show the family toured a couple shops and then headed home. The next morning they all drove Lisa to the airport. They all gave her a hug and said their goodbyes before she went through security.
"Thanks again for everything, I had a blast." Lisa said and then she checked her watch and added "I better go."
"Ok, you come back and visit soon, ya hear?" Nick said.
"Ok Uncle Nick, I will." She assured him.
As Lisa turned to leave Jasmine let go of Jackie's hand.
"Bye bye Mama." She said as she then grabbed Lisa's hand.
Jackie laughed "No no Sweetie, I'm sorry but you can't go with Lisa, you have to stay with mommy and daddy." Jackie said.
"Esa." Jasmine argued.
"I'm sorry kiddo, but you're stuck with us." Jackie said as Jackie reached over and again took Jasmine's hand.
Lisa chuckled "don't worry Jazz, I'll come for a visit again soon." She promised.
Lisa gave one last hug to everyone before she headed to security. They all watched until she was out of sight.
"Esa." Jasmine said sadly when they could no longer see her. Tears started to spill down the child's face.
"Don't cry sweetheart, Lisa will come to see you again soon, or maybe we could go see Lisa and everyone else in Texas. Would you like that?" Jackie asked the little girl with a smile as she picked her up.
"Yeah Esa." Jasmine said happily.
Jackie chuckled "Good." She said as she wiped away Jasmine's tears.
The family then left the airport, it was always wonderful to have family come to visit, but it was always so hard to watch them leave!
The End!