Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

Escape

"I like your shirt, Jacks, that's a nice color on you. Is that the shirt Carissa got you for your birthday?" Nick asked as he looked at her dark green shirt and black slacks. For footwear she decided to wear just a black flat shoe since they'd be on their feet a lot.

"Thank you, and nope, my mom bought me this shirt for Christmas. Carissa got me the light blue one I wore awhile back."

"Oh, ok." He responded as he sat down on the edge of the bed to put his tennis shoes on.

"I am so excited; this is going to be so much fun." Jackie said as she got out her eyeshadow and begun applying it in front of the full-length mirror on the bedroom door.

Nick and Jackie were going with the graveyard shift out to dinner and then to an escape room, the grave shift had won a bet with dayshift and as a result they got the night off while dayshift worked a double to cover them. Jackie's parents were going to watch the kids for them for a few hours so they could have a night out.

Jackie had been to an escape room only once, last year for her best friend Lucy's birthday, they had gone with a big group of people, it had been a blast but unfortunately Nick didn't get to go because Jackie's dad had gotten the flu that weekend and they couldn't find a babysitter at the last minute. Jackie was going to stay home too but Nick insisted that Jackie go have a night out, it was her best friend's birthday after all.

"Jackie, I can't go." Nick said as he suddenly came up behind her in the mirror.

"What do you mean? Why not?" She asked.

"Look, I know you're excited and I tried to tell myself all day that I can do this, but I'm sorry, I can't, I already feel sick to my stomach."

Jackie set her eye makeup back on the dresser.

"I don't understand, Nicky, I want to, but you're going to have to help me." She said as she grabbed his hand and led him to the edge of the bed so they could sit down.

"I can't be in a locked room with no way to get out, I…I can already feel myself not being able to breathe." He told her.

Her eyes got wide, she understood now, his kidnapping, feeling trapped.

"Honey, I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about it, oh God, I feel awful. I'm so sorry, and I'm sure Catherine and the gang didn't think about it either."

"I'm sure they didn't." He responded with a smile.

"I still want you to go though, you've been looking forward to this all day." He told her.

"No way, I'm not going without you." She said with a shake of her head.

"I don't want to ruin your fun."

"You're not ruining anything." She promised.

"Jacks, just go, it's fine, besides, you love the gang, they are always a lot of laughs." He told her with a chuckle.

"How about we go out to dinner with everyone but then we make up an excuse as to why we can't go to the escape room? That way we still get to have a night out with everyone and have some fun, and also, I know how much you like Royce's. ( Royce's is a very popular steakhouse by the Stokes' house) We'll just pay Catherine back for our tickets to the escape room since she made the reservations."

"Alright, that sounds like a great idea, and you're right, Royce's has the best food."

"Great! Let me finish putting on my makeup and then we'll go." She told him.

"Yeah, you better, you look pretty odd with eyeshadow on only one eye." He told her with a teasing smile.

She laughed and stood up but he immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.

"Hey, thank you." He told her sincerely.

In response she leaned over and kissed him, feather soft on the lips, he kissed her back and then things got heated. Jackie eventually pulled back. "We better quit or we won't make it to dinner." She told him softly.

"That's ok, I take back what I said, Royce's food isn't that great." He responded.

She laughed, stood up, and walked over and grabbed her makeup again. Pretty soon they were out the door and headed for the restaurant. When they got there everyone but Grissom and Sara were already there.

"Hi guys, where's Grissom and Sara?" Jackie asked as she took a seat next to Catherine.

"They are running a little late, they'll be here in a few minutes." Cath replied.

"Hey Cath, my parents have to get up early tomorrow and so I don't want them to have to babysit really late tonight, so I'm afraid Nick and I are going to have to pick them up after dinner, we won't be able to go to the escape room, but we still want to pay for our tickets, how much do we owe you?"

"Nothing, it's a group rate, it would be the same whether you went or not."

"Oh, well, we should still chip in though, no reason why you should have to pay for the whole thing."

"The rest of us are going to chip in and buy her dinner, if you want you and Nick can chip in as well, you don't have too though." Russell said.

"Ok, that sounds great!" Jackie agreed.

"It's too bad you can't go with us to the escape room." Russell said.

"Yeah it's too bad, darn kids." Jackie quipped with a grin.

Russell laughed.

Jackie glanced at Nick, she could tell he was much more relaxed now that he knew he'd gotten out of going to the escape room. A few minutes later Grissom and Sara got there and then they ordered.

Everyone had a fabulous meal and they enjoyed themselves immensely, like they always did when they got together.

After dinner Nick and Jackie said their goodbyes to everyone and got back in their car.

"Hey Nicky, since we have some extra time and since we didn't get to eat dessert (the group had to get going so they wouldn't be late for their reservations at the escape room) what do you say we go get some ice cream at Haven's Ice Cream Parlor, ice cream sounds so good right now."

"Sounds good to me." Nick agreed.

Normally they would have felt bad going for ice cream without the kids but they knew that they were having a blast at Jackie's parent's house and were more than likely getting ice cream from their grandparents anyways.

Nick pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream parlor and they went inside. Once they had their ice cream they sat down.

"What flavor did you get again?" Jackie asked.

"Butter Pecan."

"Sounds good." She responded.

He stuck his spoon in his ice cream and offered her a bite.

"That is good, want some of my root beer float?"

He took a sip.

"Not bad." He confirmed.

The couple sat contently eating their ice cream.

"Hi Mrs. Toes." A little voice said.

"Hi Marcus." Jackie responded with a smile.

The little boy eyed Nick.

"Who is that guy?" the little boy asked.

"Mr. Toes." Jackie answered.

"Oh, that's your boyfriend?"

"My husband, yes." Jackie said.

He looked at Nick critically. "Is he nice?"

"Yes, he's very nice." Jackie assured him.

He shrugged, apparently taking Jackie's word for it.

"What flavor of ice cream do you have?" Jackie asked as she looked at the little boy's chocolatey treat in his cup.

"It's chocolate with peanut butter in it." He answered.

"That sounds good." Jackie told him.

"Yep, it is good, and you have a root beer float." He said.

"I do." Jackie agreed.

"What about him?" Marcus asked as he nodded at Nick's cup.

"He has a flavor called butter pecan." Jackie answered.

"Hers is better." He informed Nick as he nodded at Jackie.

"I think you might be right." Nick told him with a grin.

"Come on Marcus." An older lady called to him.

"I have to go Mrs. Toes, my grandma said so."

Jackie laughed.

"Ok, it was nice to see you, have a great rest of your weekend and I'll see you on Monday."

"Thanks you too." He gave her one last grin (normally he'd have given her a hug but he was holding onto his ice cream for dear life.) and then joined his grandma before the two of them left the shop.

"Mrs. Toes?" Nick asked with a grin as soon as Marcus and his grandma had left.

"Stokes is apparently really hard to say, I've had several kids in my class over the years that really struggle with it." Jackie explained.

Nick laughed.

They finished their ice cream and then went to pick up the kids. They'd had a very nice night out, even if they didn't get to go to the escape room!

The End!