Snapshots of a Small-Town Life
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.
Rating: K
Chapter 16They were drawn from their discussion of Abby's acting ambitions by the sound of the screen door slamming and the artist herself calling "Mom, I'm home."
"Hi sweetie, we're in the kitchen," Sara called back, and heard Abby's footsteps approaching.
"What're you doing?" she asked curiously.
"Looking at photos," Jenny replied.
"What of?"
"Us."
"Oh? Let me see. Where am I?"
Sara suppressed a smile and Rose rolled her eyes with a grin. Abby was going to be some producer's nightmare someday.
"We were just looking at photos of you from when you were in Peter Pan," Sara told her.
"My stage debut," Abby sighed dramatically, then grinned. "And dad had JJ give me those lovely flowers. You know, I still have one stuck in the programme to remind me."
"Even back then you knew exactly what you wanted to do. You were a determined child. I remember when you decided that the low diving board at the pool was for babies - you must only have been about nine. In fact, I'll bet there's a photo of it in here somewhere…"
It was a hot July day. All the kids were irritable and Sara wasn't faring much better. Even Nick's famously even temper seemed a little shorter than usual.
"Nick, I have got to get out of this house or I'm gonna go nuts," she complained, having just returned from the living room where she had confiscated JJ's baseball and exiled boy, ball and Abby to the backyard to continue their game somewhere where they were less likely to break something expensive.
"I know darlin'," Nick, who had just run the gauntlet of his eldest and youngest daughters playing some kind of game involving a hose and two over-excited and very wet dogs in the backyard on his way into the house, agreed. "I don't know where they find the energy in this heat."
"Do you think we were ever like this?"
Nick chuckled. "Well, I'm sure you were the sweetest angel of a girl, but believe me, my family and I were worse."
"Well I guess I know where they get it from then." In spite of herself, Sara smiled.
"Why d'ya think I never introduced you to my family until after I'd convinced you to marry me?" He hugged her, then sighed. "How about we take them to the pool?"
"Good idea." She kissed her husband's cheek, then turned to yell: "Kids! Get your stuff; we're going swimming! You know," she added in a quieter voice, slipping her arms about her husband's neck, "I'd have married you even if I'd met the whole lot of them first."
Two fights, one tantrum, one sulk and a threatened smack – undelivered; the kids knew when to stop pushing their luck – later they arrived at the pool, and that was when Abby announced that the low board was for babies.
Rose and JJ, who had themselves only ever braved the high board once each, on a dare, exchanged a worried look.
"No it isn't, Abby," Rose said anxiously. "Look, even me and JJ still go on the low board, and we're way older than you."
"I don't care. I'm going on the high board." And with that she stalked off determinedly.
"Nick…?" Sara asked. She was still holding two bags and keeping an eye on Jenny.
"I'm on it." He followed their daughter at a discreet distance and took up a post at the foot of the board, ready to dive in after her if she looked like she needed saving, or climb up and get her if she froze on the board.
Abby climbed up, up, eight or ten feet above the water, her parents and siblings watching anxiously from below. She walked out, and for a moment she did seem to freeze, but then she raised her chin determinedly, surveyed her audience, and dove.
She surfaced, beaming, to applause from her family and some of the other swimmers.
"That was awesome!" she declared. "I'm so doing it again."
"Just let me get my camera!" Sara called, rummaging furiously in her bag.