The Beginning

Chapter 8: Nick's Visit

Jackie's heart was about ready to beat out of her chest because she was so excited. She was at the airport waiting for Nick to arrive. The two month wait was finally over, in just a matter of minutes Nick and her would once again be reunited. She glanced at the screen for arrival flights and noticed with dismay that Nick's flight had been delayed 10 minutes. "Oh well, I've waited this long, another 10 minutes won't kill me." She thought to herself. Nick and Jackie had talked on the phone nearly every day since Jackie had left Vegas and while the phone calls were wonderful nothing beat seeing each other in person. After what seemed like a lifetime she saw Nick walking down the escalator. He flashed her a huge smile the second he saw her.

"Hi." He said wrapping her in a sweet embrace after he navigated through the big crowd of people.

"Hi." She said back with a smile.

She noticed how fantastic he smelled.

"I've missed you." He said with a smile as he kept her in his embrace.

"I've missed you too." She said.

Finally he let her go so she grabbed his hand.

"Come on, the baggage claim is this way." She said as she led him to her right.

"Oh, I didn't check any bags, I only brought one suitcase. I figured since I am only staying for two days I would pack light." He said as he nodded to the suitcase he had by its handle.

Jackie looked at the luggage. "Um, I hope you have a warm coat in there, it's getting cold here." Jackie said.

"I have a light jacket." Nick told her.

"You might be sorry then, you're not in Vegas anymore you know." She said with a chuckle.

Nick laughed, "I think I'll be alright, just don't let me die of hypothermia alright?"

"Ok, I'll keep an eye on you, if you start turning purple, I'll take you to the ER." She teased.

"That's very thoughtful of you." He said with a grin.

"I'm a very nice person." She said with a smirk.

"I know." He said quietly and once again he flashed her a smile. Jackie could feel herself start to blush.

"Should we go then?" Jackie asked.

"Sure." Nick said so she led him to her car.

"So what do you want to do while you're here?" She asked him as they drove away from the airport.

"I don't know, I've never been here before. Actually I've never been in this state before. What is there to do here?" He asked.

"Honestly, not a whole lot, this isn't exactly a tourist city, like Vegas is."

Nick laughed, "No place is like Vegas."

"That's true, but really, there isn't a lot to do here." She said.

"Well what do you and your friends do for fun?"

"Well, we go to a lot of movies, we go to coffee a lot too. We also bowl and go out for lunch quite often."

"So you like to bowl?" He asked.

"Yeah but honestly I'm terrible at it." She admitted.

"I could teach you, I was in a league once."

"That's awesome, and yes, I would love the help."

"Ok great." He said with a grin.

"Oh and there is one other thing we have to do while you're here." She said

"What's that?"

"Well since we both love coffee, you have to try this coffee shop here, it has the best coffee you will ever taste. Whenever I go on vacation I like to go to different coffee shops just to see if the coffee is as good as it is here and nowhere has even come close."

Nick laughed "You weren't kidding when you said you were addicted were you?"

"No." She said with a smile.

"So where is this amazing coffee shop?" He asked.

"There are several locations around the city, actually there are several around the state. This is the only state that has this chain of coffee shops. Sadly enough that's about the only good thing about this city."

Nick laughed "If you hate it here so bad why don't you move?"

"I am really close to my family, but really they are the only thing keeping me here."

Nick nodded, he understood how hard it was to leave family, that was the one downside about taking the job at the crime lab in Vegas, but luckily for him, his team was like family now so it made leaving home much easier.

"So I was thinking tonight we could go to dinner and a movie. It's kind of late to do anything else, nothing really stays open very late here. Does that sound ok to you?" Jackie asked.

"Sure, sounds great." He said.

"Alright, we'll go drop off your stuff at my apartment and then we'll go."

When they pulled up to her apartment Nick looked somewhat surprised.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, not at all, I was just thinking how quickly we got from the airport to your apartment. I guess I'm just used to Vegas traffic, in Vegas it takes a while to get anywhere."

"It gets busier during rush hour, but I'm sure traffic here is nothing compared to Vegas traffic. Most people hate traffic but honestly I don't mind it, I just relax and listen to the radio." She said.

"Yeah I don't mind it all that much either, it gives me some time to think about things. It can get irritating sometimes though when you have to deal with it everyday, but I grew up in Dallas and now live in Vegas so I'm used to it."

"I bet." Jackie chuckled.

Nick grabbed his suitcase from the car and then walked with Jackie to her front door. As soon as Jackie opened the door Nick was almost knocked over by Jackie's yellow lab.

"Annabelle get down." Jackie scolded, but as usual she didn't listen.

"Sorry about that Nick, she's really friendly, she loves people."

"She's alright." Nick said laughing as he got down on his haunches and petted the dog.

"Here give her one of these and she'll be your best friend forever." Jackie said as she went to her pantry and pulled out a dog treat.

She handed it to Nick and the dog took it gratefully and then ran into the other room to eat it.

"Annabelle, that's a pretty name." Nick said.

"Thanks but I didn't name her. She's a rescue and she was older and already named when I got her so I figured it would be mean to change her name."

"That's nice that you rescued her."

"When I was looking at getting a dog I knew I wanted it to be a rescue dog. Her first owner was really cruel to her. I don't know if you noticed but she has a scar on her left side, she got that because her first owner burned her with a cigarette lighter."

"How sad." Nick said looking disgusted.

"Yeah, it's horrible, luckily though the owners' neighbor reported him and Annabelle was taken away from him. She then went to a pet adoption agency and that's where I found her. The only problem is that I wanted a watch dog because I live by myself and the only help she would be if someone ever broke in would be that she would give me time to run away while she licked the perpetrator to death."

Nick laughed. "She sure is friendly for being mistreated like she was." He said.

"Yeah she is, it's amazing actually." Jackie said.

About two minutes later Annabelle came back and dropped her tennis ball right at Nick's foot. Nick laughed and picked it up and threw it across the room and the dog happily ran to get it.

"Bring it here girl." Nick said as he clapped his hands against his legs.

"Or not." He said with a laugh as the dog took the ball and ran into the other room.

"She doesn't exactly get the concept of fetch." Jackie said.

"I see that." Nick chuckled.

"Let me show you your room." Jackie said.

Nick grabbed his suitcase and followed her into the spare bedroom.

"And you get your own bathroom too, its right this way." Jackie said leading him out of the bedroom. "Make yourself at home, and don't be shy." She added.

"Thank you, but it wouldn't have been a problem for me to stay at a hotel." He said.

"Nonsense, that would have been silly, I have plenty of room."

He smiled at her.

"Should we go eat, I'm getting kind of hungry." She said.

"I am too actually." Nick agreed.

"Ok, do you like Italian food, there is a cute little place not far from here that I really like."

"That sounds good to me." He said.

They had a nice dinner. Talking and joking with one another. Jackie was so happy to see him and by the way Nick kept smiling she was pretty sure he felt the same way.

After dinner Jackie asked him "So what movie do you want to see? The only kind of movie I won't watch is a horror or thriller movie, I'm a chicken."

Nick laughed "That's alright I get enough horror at work, I don't need more. What kind of movie do you like?"

"Comedies are my favorite but I'll watch anything."

Nick grinned at her "Except for horror or thriller right?"

Jackie laughed "Right." She answered.

"I like comedies too, who doesn't like to laugh right?" Nick said.

"That's what I have always thought too." Jackie said.

When they got to the theater they picked a movie and then Jackie fished money out of her purse.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked.

"The movie is my treat, you bought dinner, not to mention the cost of your plane ticket to come out here."

"No, put that away." Nick said nodding towards the money in her hand.

"I'm paying." Jackie insisted.

"No, a gentleman never lets a lady pay. Except when the gentleman forgets his wallet." He added with a grin.

Jackie laughed "Does that happen a lot?" She asked.

"No, but if you ask my coworker Catherine she might tell you different."

Jackie laughed again.

Nick paid for the movie ticket, and when they ordered a popcorn and pop Jackie started digging in her purse for money.

"Don't even think about it." Nick said.

So Jackie sighed and let him pay for that as well. The movie was one of the funniest movies Jackie had seen in a long time. When they made it back to her apartment it was pretty late so they decided to call it a night.

The next morning Jackie woke up early and made pancakes. Nick woke up just as she was finishing.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Morning." Nick greeted with a smile of his own.

"I hope you like pancakes." She said.

"Love um, but you didn't have to make me breakfast."

"I know but I wanted too." She insisted as she set a plate in front of him.

"Thank you." He said as a warm smile spread across his face.

She sat down next to him with a plate of her own.

"So what do you want to do today?" Jackie asked.

"Well I was thinking I could give you those bowling lessons if you want." Nick said.

Jackie looked skeptical.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." He assured her.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't want to embarrass myself." She admitted.

Nick chuckled "No reason to be embarrassed, that's how you learn."

She smiled, Nick just couldn't get any sweeter.

"Alright then, I'll give it a shot." She said.

They finished their breakfast and then got ready and headed to the bowling alley.

"Do you promise you won't laugh?" Jackie asked.

"You have my word." He said raising his right hand.

She threw the ball and was surprised when it actually knocked down three pins.

"That's not that bad." Nick said.

"No, but it's certainly not good either." She chuckled.

She threw it again and this time got a gutter ball.

"There, that's more like how I normally bowl." She mumbled.

Nick smiled at her, not a mocking smile, more of a sympathetic smile.

"Try to keep your wrist straight. You do a good job when you throw the ball but then when you let it go, you turn it your wrist. If you would just keep it straight on the follow through I think you would do well."

He retrieved the ball from the ball return and walked up behind her. He handed her the ball and got really close to her

"May I?" He asked.

She nodded so once she had her fingers in the finger holes of the ball her grabbed her arm.

"But it's your turn, trust me, you don't want me to bowl for you."

Nick laughed, I don't care about the score." He assured her.

"On the count of three, throw it." He said.

She felt her stomach do flip flops as she felt his warm breath on her skin.

"Just relax, the ball can sense fear." He said with a grin.

She laughed and tried to calm down.

"Ok ready?" He asked and she nodded.

"One, two, three." He said so she threw the ball,

Nick did the best he could to hold her wrist straight and to Jackie's surprise all but one pin fell down.

"See, that's all there is too it." He said with a smile.

She grinned at him triumphantly.

"One more thing, try to find your sweet spot on the floor."

"What's that mean?" she asked feeling stupid.

"Ok, these spots on the floor." He pointed and then continued "If you are successful with where you stood the first time, don't move from that spot."

"That makes sense." Jackie said.

She did as Nick instructed, and to her shock she picked up the spare.

"Nice job." He said giving her a high five.

By the second game Jackie was doing much better, she wasn't anywhere close to Nick's score but she was definitely making improvements. Nick even threw a couple gutter balls himself but Jackie was pretty sure that was just to make her feel better, even though Nick wouldn't admit it.

"I think I am getting the hang of this." Jackie said.

They were on their fourth game and she was not only getting better but she was also having so much fun. Jackie had spoken too soon though, because the next time she threw the ball it accidently slipped out of her hand and went rolling very slowly down the lane, so slowly that it stopped in the middle of the lane, it didn't even reach the pins!

Jackie could feel her face getting beat red.

"Oops." She mumbled.

She had no idea how she was going to get the ball back, she knew she would fall on her face if she tried to go get it. She looked at Nick and he was grinning from ear to ear.

"You promised you wouldn't laugh at me." She reminded him.

"I'm not laughing, I'm smiling, there is a big difference." He said.

"I'm not sure I believe that." She mumbled.

"You should believe it." He said still smiling.

"I'll get your ball." He offered, as he very carefully walked on the edge of the gutter.

When he reached the ball he gave it a shove towards the pins and it knocked down eight of them.

"Thank you." She said when he had gotten back to his seat.

"No problem." He said with a grin.

"Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is my face all red?"

"Yup, extremely."

"Thought so." She said with a grin of her own.

"Don't feel bad though, that happened to my little niece too the last time I took her bowling."

"How old is she?" Jackie asked.

He smirked "She's four."

"Wonderful." She mumbled and Nick couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing.

He once again came up behind her "You are extremely cute when you're embarrassed. Did you know that?"

"No but that's a good thing to know." Jackie said with a smile.

They bowled one more game and then Jackie said "My wrist is getting tired, do you want to take a break?"

"Sure, my wrist is starting to hurt a little too, and I'm thirsty, let's go grab a soda."

They went into the little snack bar area, ordered a soda and sat down.

"You really are getting much better at bowling." Nick said as he took a sip of his drink.

"When my ball actually reaches the pins you mean?" Jackie said with a grin.

Nick laughed "Yeah."

Nick's phone started to ring. He glanced at the caller ID Warrick Brown.

"I'm sorry, but I better take this." He said.

"No problem." Jackie assured him.

"Stokes." He said answering the phone.

Nick paused and then said "Hittie, yeah I recognize that name, Dale Hittie, was one of the victims of that triple you and I worked out in Henderson about a month ago, maybe Dan Hittie is a relative?"

Nick paused again to listen to what Warrick said and then said "No problem man, good luck."

Another pause "Yeah she's sitting right here." Nick said as he looked at Jackie.

"Warrick says hi." He told her.

"Hi Warrick." Jackie said with a smile.

"She says hi." Nick said relaying the message back to Warrick and then he added

"Alright talk to you later."

After that he ended the phone call.

"Sorry about that, he had a question about a case he's working on."

"No problem, but don't you guys work nights?" Jackie asked confused.

"Technically, but we work a ton of doubles, sometimes even triples."

"That must be hard."

"It's not as bad as you'd think, and it really helps that our team gets along so well."

"That's good." Jackie said.

Nick nodded.

Jackie then looked at him and said "I was thinking that after dinner we could go to the coffee shop, would that be ok?"

"Ah yes, the infamous coffee shop." Nick said with a grin.

Jackie laughed, "Does that mean you want to go?" she asked

"Sure" Nick said.

"Alright, and is alright if my friend Lucy meets us there, she really wants to meet you."

"Sure, I'd like to meet her." Nick said with a smile.

Jackie returned the smile. "Lucy and I are a lot alike." She said.

"How so?" Nick asked.

"Our personalities are very similar, I think that's why we are such close friends." She said.

Nick smiled "Well if she's anything like you I'm sure I will like her very much."

"You're very sweet." She said, she could feel her face getting red again.

"What do you say we bowl a couple more games and then head to dinner?" Jackie asked.

"Sounds good to me." Nick said.

So the couple bowled two more games and then headed to a nearby Chinese restaurant.

After dinner Jackie called her friend Lucy and asked if she wanted to meet them. Lucy readily agreed to meet them for coffee.

When they got to the coffee shop Lucy was already there waiting for them.

"Nick this is Lucy, Lucy this is Nick." Jackie said introducing the two of them.

"Nice to meet you Lucy." Nick said extending his hand.

"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you."

"All good I hope."

"Yes, all good." Lucy assured him. All three of them laughed.

"Let's order." Jackie said as she stood up and started towards the counter.

"So Lucy Jackie tells me this place has amazing coffee, is it true or is she exaggerating a little?" Nick asked as he grinned at Jackie.

"No she's not exaggerating at all, they have awesome coffee here."

"Good, I can't wait to see for myself." He said.

When they got to the counter the lady asked Nick what he would like.

"What's good here?" Nick asked.

"A mocha frappe." Jackie and Lucy answered in unison.

Nick laughed "I think I'll have a mocha frappe please."

"What size?"

Nick looked at the menu on the wall "A 16 ounce please."

"With what base?" the woman asked with a smile on her face.

Nick looked at Jackie

"Vanilla." She whispered.

"Um vanilla."

"Would you like whip cream on top?"

Again Nick looked at Jackie. She shook her head yes and so Nick said

"Yes please."

Lucy ordered the same thing as Nick did.

Lucy got her money out to pay.

Nick shook his head. "Here we go again." He said.

Lucy looked at him like he was crazy.

"What?" She asked.

"What is it with you women in this state, do you all have a problem with letting the guy pay?" He asked with a grin, and Jackie just laughed.

"Oh that's ok, you don't have to pay for mine." She assured him.

Nick looked at Jackie and rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to Lucy and asked her "Are you not going to sit and visit with us?"

"Yes." She said tentatively, she didn't know where Nick was going with this.

"And are you one of Jackie's best friends?"

"Yes."

"Well then, I am paying, end of story." Nick said.

Lucy looked at Jackie and Jackie just smiled at her and said "Just roll with it Lucy."

"Thank you Nick." Lucy said.

"No problem." Nick assured her.

Jackie ordered her coffee next and she ordered the same thing that Lucy and Nick did.

They sat down to wait for their coffees to be made.

When the coffees were ready Nick said "I'll get them."

He got up and went back to the counter.

Jackie turned to her friend. "So what do you think?" She whispered to Lucy.

"Oh my God when is the wedding?" Lucy gushed.

Jackie laughed "So you like him then?"

"Yeah, he's gorgeous and he seems so sweet."

"He is." Jackie said beaming from ear to ear.

Jackie was relieved that Lucy liked him because there was something to be said when your friends didn't like your boyfriend.

Nick came back carrying the coffees.

"Thanks." Jackie and Lucy said.

"You're welcome." Nick said.

"Well what do you think?" Jackie asked as soon as Nick took a drink.

"You two are right, this coffee is amazing." Nick said.

"I'm glad you like it." Jackie said with a smile and then added "But now you're going to hate me because you won't be able to find coffee that tastes this good anywhere else."

"I could never hate you." Nick said with a sincere smile.

Jackie blushed and it was everything Lucy could do to not squeal out loud.

The three of them sat there and talked for a nearly two hours.

When Nick and Jackie finally got back to her apartment they played board games before going to bed.

The next morning Nick made her breakfast. While he did that she tried to think of something fun they could do.

"Hey Nick would you like to ride go carts? They have a very small amusement park here that has them." Jackie said.

"Sure that sounds like fun, I haven't been on one of those for a long time."

So after breakfast they went to the amusement park. First they played ski ball, then they played whack a mole. After that Jackie beat Nick at a game of air hockey. Finally they rode the go carts.

They were having a great time, Nick gently bumped her car and Jackie laughed so Nick did it again, harder this time, but suddenly a man that worked for the park came running towards them.

"Sir, these are not bumper cars, please do not hit the other cars." The man told Nick and he was not very polite about it.

Nick apologized profusely and when their turn ended Nick quickly grabbed Jackie's hand and then they hurriedly left the park. Jackie was laughing so hard she couldn't control herself, tears were streaming down her face.

Nick grinned at her and said "It's not very nice to laugh at your guest Jackie."

"I'm sorry Nick." She said but she couldn't help herself, she just kept laughing.

Luckily Nick found the humor in the situation and joined in on the laughter.

"What do you want to do now?" She asked and then with a smirk added "I say we go back and ride the go carts again."

"No way." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie laughed too.

"There is a nice dog park that I take Annabelle to a lot, the scenery is pretty there. Would you like to go there?" She asked.

"Sure." Nick said.

So Jackie and Nick drove home and got Annabelle and then headed to the park.

It was a very nice day out and so they stayed at the park a few hours. Nick tried to teach Annabelle the correct way to play fetch but despite Nick's best efforts she still would not bring the ball back when he threw it unless he chased her and wrestled it away from her.

When they finally went home Jackie fed and watered Annabelle and then Nick and Jackie went to dinner.

"I can't believe you have to go home tomorrow, the time has gone by so fast." Jackie said sadly.

"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I just couldn't take anymore time off of work." He said.

"That's ok, two days are better then nothing."

"A lot better." Nick agreed with a smile.

"What time does your plane leave tomorrow?" Jackie asked.

"11:30" Nick answered. "Good then we'll have time to go out for breakfast before you leave." Jackie said happily.

After dinner the couple went home and played cards.

"I haven't played cards for so long, it's too bad to because when I was growing up my family played all the time." Nick said.

"Really? My family used to play all the time too."

"What game did you play?" Nick asked.

"500 rummy." Jackie answered.

"I don't think I've ever played that before." Nick said.

"I could teach you if you want." Jackie offered.

"Sure, I'd like that." Nick said.

"It's not very hard." She said as she dealt the cards.

Nick learned the game quickly, he even beat her the second game.

"Let's play a tie breaker, whoever wins this game is the 500 rummy champion." Jackie said with a grin.

"You're on." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie won.

"Nice game, but you have to admit, for just learning this game I didn't do too bad." He said.

"Not bad at all." Jackie agreed.

They were having so much fun that neither wanted to quit but both of them were tired so finally they agreed to end the evening and go to bed.

The next morning when they woke up Nick packed up all of his stuff and then loaded his suitcase into her car and then the two of them headed to breakfast. They had a nice time but all too soon it was time for them to head to the airport. The couple just stared at each other while holding hands. Neither wanted to face the fact that their short time together had already come to an end.

"Come with me while I check in." Nick finally said.

Jackie walked with him hand in hand to the check in counter.

When Nick was checked in he glanced at his watch, "Jackie I better head to security." He said, not at all wanting to let go of her hand.

"Ok, I'll see you in two months when I come to visit you." She said determined not to cry.

"Alright I can't wait. Oh and in the mean time I'm going to teach Warrick how to play 500 rummy so I can get some practice for when you come, that way we can have a rematch." He said with a laugh.

"I look forward to the challenge." Jackie said with a grin.

"Goodbye Jackie." Nick said as he finally let go of her hand.

He leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"Bye Nick." Jackie said.

He smiled and then he turned and headed to security. Jackie watched until he was no longer visible.

She wished she had a time machine so she could jump two months into the future.

Sorry this chapter is so long. Please review!