The Beginning
Chapter 3: The Unexpected Visit
Jackie's friends walked into the room just minutes later.
"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married." They sang teasingly.
Jackie playfully threw a pillow at them.
"You girls are crazy, I've known him less then 24 hours." She said.
"You like him, admit it." Ashley said.
"I do but it's too soon to be thinking about wedding bells." Jackie insisted.
"Huh-uh." Her friends said sounding completely unconvinced.
"So what do you guys want to do tonight?" Jackie asked quickly changing the subject.
"I thought we could go back down to the strip, we didn't get to see everything last night." Amanda said.
"Sounds good to me." Ashley agreed.
"Me too." Jackie said.
The ladies quickly freshened up and then caught a shuttle down to the strip. They all had a good time sightseeing and by the time they got back to the hotel it was really late.
"I'm beat." Ashley said.
"So am I." Jackie said.
Amanda nodded in agreement. They were just about to start getting ready for bed when there was a knock on the door. Ashley quickly went to see who it was.
"Jackie it's Nick." She said excitedly.
"It is not." Jackie said as she turned on the T.V.
"No, I'm not kidding, it is." Ashley insisted.
"Ashley it is not, I didn't tell him what room I was in."
"I don't care, I'm telling you, he is standing outside the door." She said getting frustrated.
Jackie sighed as she went across the room to look for herself.
"Oh my god, it is him." She said completely shocked.
Ashley gave her a look that said I told you.
Nick could see someone staring at him through the peephole but he couldn't see who it was.
"Hi, my name's Nick Stokes, I'm with the Vegas crime lab." He said.
"I know who you are, my memory isn't that bad." Jackie said with a smile as she opened the door.
Nick looked shocked to see her but his surprise quickly turned into a smile.
"Oh hi." He said.
"Hi" She said noticing the butterflies in her stomach.
"We are questioning every guest of this hotel about an investigation, Warrick and I split up the rooms by floors, I just happened to get this one." He said.
Then he grinned "But I'm tired and I need a little break, I'll be right back." He said as he turned and walked down the hallway.
About 5 minutes later there was another knock on the door.
"What took you so long?" Jackie said flirtatiously as she opened the door.
She was mortified to discover that it wasn't Nick, but an older gentleman, he was wearing the same type of vest Nick had on.
"Hello" he said sounding surprised by the greeting he had just received.
"I am so sorry sir, I thought you were someone else." Jackie said immediately as she let him in the room.
"No problem." He said smiling kindly at her.
"Ladies, my name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the Vegas crime lab. There have been reports about a beetle infestation in several rooms of this hotel and I was wondering if you ladies have seen any in this room?"
"Beetles?" Amanda asked, sounding totally grossed out.
"Yes" Grissom answered.
"No we haven't seen any." Jackie said.
Grissom nodded respectively and was about to tell the ladies goodbye when his cell phone rang.
"Excuse me for a minute." Grissom said as he reached for his cell phone.
"Grissom" he said answering the phone.
"Hi Warrick, I'm in room 731." He said.
Jackie glanced at her friends and all three gave a small smile at the mention of Warrick's name.
Grissom talked on the phone for just a few more seconds and then hung up. Just moments later there was a knock on the door. Jackie answered the door and Warrick walked in. He was shocked when he realized he recognized the ladies.
"Where's Nick?" Grissom asked Warrick.
"I'm not sure." Warrick admitted.
About two minutes later Nick knocked on the door carrying a tray with four cups of coffee on it. He looked mortified when he saw his boss and best friend standing in the room.
"Oh you went to get us coffee, we were wondering where you were." Grissom said as he took a cup. "Thanks Nick." He added.
"You're welcome." Nick mumbled.
"Who's the extra cup for?" Grissom asked, noticing there were four cups instead of only three.
Luckily Nick was quick on his feet.
"Uh the guy accidently made mine wrong and so he gave me another one and let me keep the extra one as well."
Grissom nodded and took a sip.
Nick was relieved that Grissom had bought the white lie.
Grissom was about to leave when Amanda screamed loudly from across the room.
"What's wrong?" Her friends asked her worriedly.
"Is it a beetle?" Grissom asked sounding almost hopeful.
"No it's a giant spider, Ashley toss me a shoe, quick." She said.
"No wait." Grissom said.
He quickly handed his coffee to Warrick and then hurriedly went over to where Amanda stood. The ladies watched as Grissom took out a container and got down on his hands and knees and captured the spider in his container.
Nick inwardly groaned, he was embarrassed; he put his hand over his face. "There goes any chance I had with this woman." He thought to himself with dismay.
Warrick noticed his friends' misery.
"Cheer up man, there are other fish in the sea." Warrick whispered with a smirk.
"Shut up Brown." Nick hissed quietly at his best friend, which lead to another smirk from Warrick.
Grissom got up off the floor with his prize in his hand.
"Thank you ladies." He said with a smile.
"Uh sure, no problem." Ashley said to him, not knowing what else to say.
Grissom then retrieved his coffee from Warrick and then left the room.
"Well ladies, I have many more people to question, it was nice to see you again." Warrick said as he grabbed one of the coffee's out of the tray in Nick's hand.
Nick gave him a dirty look.
"Hey man, if I don't take one, Gris is going to wonder why, so really I'm just helping you out." He said with a smirk as he left the room.
"Why did that man want that spider?" Jackie asked Nick curiously after Warrick had left.
"He's an entomologist, bugs are a hobby of his." Nick explained.
Jackie made a grossed out face and then turned to her friends, by the looks on their faces Jackie could tell that they too felt that bug collecting was an odd hobby.
"Well to each their own." Jackie said turning back to face Nick.
Nick grinned.
"So how well do you know him?" Jackie asked.
"He's my boss." Nick said.
Jackie then gave Nick a sympathetic look.
Nick laughed "He's actually a really nice guy and he's a great boss, he just takes a little getting used to at first."
Jackie smiled at him.
Nick glanced down at the two remaining cups of coffee. "Sorry ladies, I'll have to go get a couple more cups of coffee."
Ashley thought quickly "Uh no, that's ok, Amanda and I are leaving, we are going to go check out the hotel gift shop." She said as she quickly grabbed one of their hotel room keys, and then she and Amanda walked out the door.
Jackie had the urge to run after her friends and strangle them, how dare they leave her in a locked hotel room with a man that was almost a stranger.
"Come sit down." Jackie said politely as she motioned to the little table in the corner of the room.
She was kind of uncomfortable, sure she liked Nick a lot but being in a private hotel room was a lot different then being in a crowed restaurant. Nick smiled and carried the tray of coffees over to the table.
"I hope you like coffee." He said with a smile.
"Are you kidding me, I'm addicted."
Nick laughed "Well then, you'll hopefully like these, but I hope you like hot coffee because that's all I bought, I didn't really think about it, but I guess a lot of people like cold coffee like my friend Sara, she drinks those fancy iced coffees a lot. What about you, do you like hot or cold coffees?" Jackie couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness at the mention of another woman's name.
"Who's Sara?" Jackie asked trying very hard to make her voice casual.
"She's another coworker. Don't tell anyone I told you but I think her and Grissom, you know, the guy that likes bugs, have a little crush on each other." Nick said with a playful smirk.
Jackie was surprised to realize that she was relieved that Sara had a crush on Grissom and not Nick.
Nick gave her a serious look
"You never answered my question." He said.
"What question would that be?" She asked.
"Do you like your coffee's hot or cold?" He said with a playful smile.
"Oh, right, I forgot. Um either one, it depends on my mood." "You're not just saying that because all I brought was hot coffees are you?" Nick asked.
Jackie laughed "Nope, I mean it."
"Ok good, but if you would prefer cold, I can run down and get you a cold one, it won't take me long it's right downstairs in this hotel."
"I know where it's at, Ashley, Amanda and I stopped there shortly after arriving in Vegas." Jackie said with a laugh.
Nick laughed too.
"Hey I warned you that I was addicted."
"That you did." Nick said flashing her a gorgeous smile.
She took a drink of her coffee.
"Actually I do prefer cold." She said.
"Ok" Nick said as he started to get up so he could go buy her cold one.
"I'm only joking." Jackie said as she grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get up.
She noticed that when she touched him she felt electric sparks run through her entire body.
Nick laughed and settled comfortably back in his seat.
"You know, I'm glad you like coffee." He said.
"Why's that?" She asked.
He smiled at her "Because I've always said I enjoy getting to know a woman better by talking with her over a cup of coffee."
Jackie smiled, everything about this man seemed perfect, it was almost too good to be true. They sat and talked for nearly two hours before Nick's cell phone rang.
"Excuse me." He said with a frown as he got up to answer his phone.
"Stokes" He said into his phone.
He talked for a minute and then hung up.
"Jackie, I'm sorry but I better get going, I still have a lot of interviews to conduct and I didn't realize I'd been here for so long." He said.
"Oh ok, I hope you don't get in trouble." Jackie said worriedly.
She loved that they were able to talk so long but she didn't want it to cost him his job or anything.
"Nah, I won't get in trouble, Warrick will cover for me, and even if he doesn't Grissom is in a great mood thanks to that spider." He said with a grin.
Jackie laughed "Ok good."
Jackie stood up and walked him to the door.
"Thank you for the coffee." She said.
"No problem, I'll call you when I get off in the morning."
"Ok great." She said.
He turned and left, she watched him walk down the hallway until he was out of sight.
Just minutes later her friends came back into the room and Jackie laid into them.
"Are you two crazy, why on earth would you leave me in a locked hotel room with a guy I barely know?" She demanded angrily.
"Relax Jackie, we were right outside the whole time, you were never in any danger." Ashley said.
"Oh ok, sorry for going off on you like that then." Jackie said.
Her friends just grinned at her.
"Listen can we get ready for bed now, I'm tired." Amanda asked.
"Sure, I'm tired too." Ashley asked.
Jackie yawned in agreement and so the women got ready for bed and soon after lying down they fell asleep.
The next morning Jackie and Amanda were at the coffee shop. Jackie took a long sip of her very delicious iced coffee.
"You do like iced coffee's better, I knew it." A voice exclaimed.
Jackie looked over startled, Nick was standing there grinning at her.
"Huh-oh, you caught me." She said with a laugh.
"You're missing one, where is she?" Nick asked.
"Huh?" Jackie asked confused.
"Where's your other friend?"
"Oh, she has a headache so Amanda and I thought we'd come down here for a bit and let her sleep for a while."
Nick nodded in understanding.
Then Jackie asked "Why are you still here?"
"Let's just say it's been a very long night." He said.
Jackie noticed how tired he looked.
"Jackie listen, I know I told you I'd call you after I got off but honestly I'm exhausted. Would it be alright if I went home and got some sleep and then I'll call you afterwards?"
"Sure that would be fine." Jackie said.
"Ok good, maybe we can go to a matinee movie or something." He said.
"Yeah sure, I like going to movies." Jackie said.
"Great, I'll see you later then." Nick said and then he took a couple steps forward and then turned back around.
"Enjoy that iced coffee." He said with a grin.
Jackie laughed "Ok I will." She said.
Nick smiled as he turned and walked away.
Jackie smiled to herself; she was never so excited to go to a movie.
To Be Continued! Please Review!