"Nick's right." Jackie said out loud to herself.
She took a deep breath and walked out of the break room to rejoin everyone else. When Nick saw her he walked over to her.
"You ok?" He whispered in her ear.
"Yeah." She said.
She looked around at her kids.
Houston was gripping Jackie's mom's hand and Johnna held her dad's. Karlie was sleeping peacefully in her car seat which sat on the floor right by Nick's foot.
"Where's Jasmine?" Jackie asked in a panic as she scanned the area and noticed the child was gone.
Everyone looked around frantically but luckily she was found quickly.
Jasmine had made herself right at home in her new mommy's lap.
"Petty mama." She said sweetly as she gently ran her fingers through Carissa's red hair.
"Thank you." Carissa said with a smile.
"Jazz, no no sweetie." Nick said as he went over to Carissa and took Jasmine off of her lap.
"I'm sorry." Nick said apologetically to the surprised looking woman.
"That's alright, she's just as confused as everyone else." Carissa said with a laugh.
Jasmine gave Nick a dirty look.
"No mama lap dada?" she asked.
"Honey she's not your mama, she's, she's, your…" Nick stuttered, unsure what to say.
"She's your aunt Jazz." Jackie said, finishing Nick's sentence for him.
Nick looked over at Jackie and gave her a huge smile. He knew she'd come around but he didn't think she would come around this quickly. Nick set Jasmine back down on the ground.
She walked right back over to Carissa.
"No mama." She said as pointed her finger accusingly at her.
Everyone laughed.
Jasmine then walked over to Jackie.
"Mama." Jasmine said as she put her arms in the air, indicating that she wanted Jackie to pick her up.
Jackie happily obliged as she picked her up.
"Mama." Jasmine repeated.
"Yes sweetheart." Jackie told her with a smile.
Houston let go of his grandmother's hand and toddled over to Carissa. He put his arms in the air.
"May I Jackie?" Carissa asked.
Jackie smiled and nodded yes so Carissa picked up the sweet smiling little boy.
"Tanta?" Houston asked happily.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"That's not Santa Klaus you silly goose." Nick told his son.
Houston immediately crawled off of Carissa's lap appearing very disappointed by that news
"How about you cutie pie, do you want to come say hi to me?" Carissa asked as she smiled at Johnna.
"No, no." Johnna said as she ducked behind her grandpa's leg, trying to hide.
Carissa frowned slightly.
"Don't feel bad, she takes a while to warm up to people but once she does she's their best friend." Jackie told her so Carissa wouldn't have hurt feelings.
"Kids usually like me right away which is good considering I am a teacher." Carissa said.
"You're a teacher, what grade do you teach?" Jackie asked.
"First."
Jackie's mouth dropped open.
"What school?" Jackie asked.
"Canton Elementary. Why?" Carissa asked.
"Because I'm a first grade teacher too, at Kent Elementary."
"Wow that is too eerie." Carissa said.
"No kidding." Jackie agreed.
Carissa's mouth dropped open a couple seconds later as she remembered something.
"Jackie, do you remember how in February the teacher's at Canton Elementary were suppose to get together with the teachers at Kent Elementary to discuss how to best teach the new math objectives but at the last minute it was canceled?"
"Yeah, and instead the teachers just met with their teaching partners from their own schools. We could have met then, boy would that have been a shock."
"Yeah, no kidding, I wish that meeting wouldn't have been canceled. Not only would we have gotten to meet sooner but it would have saved me from having to work with my teaching partner all afternoon, that was like torture."
"Why, don't you like your teaching partner?" Jackie asked with a laugh.
"No, she is a mean old woman, she's mean to everyone, especially her students, I feel sorry for them."
"Yikes, that is too bad, poor kids."
"Yeah no kidding, do you like your teaching partner?" Carissa asked.
"I have two teaching partners actually and I love both of them, they are both amazing teachers, and people, they are also two of my closest friends, I am very fortunate, not only do I love my teaching partners but I love every single staff member at my school, it is truly a great place to work. I'm sorry you don't like your teaching partner, that would be very hard." Jackie said.
"It's not so bad, I like everyone else at the school, I just don't like her."
"Well that's good at least."
"Yeah it makes it a little easier." Carissa said and then glanced at her watch.
"Jackie, I'm sorry but I have to get going, thanks again so much for getting my ring back to me, and listen, I don't know how you feel about what has gone on today but I'd like to get to know you, and your family better."
"I'd like that." Jackie said without a second's hesitation.
"Great, let's exchange numbers and we'll get together for lunch, or maybe coffee, do you like coffee?" She asked.
Nick burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, they're twins alright." He said.
Jackie laughed too. "Yes, I do."
"Ok, then we'll meet up for coffee soon."
"Sounds good to me." Jackie agreed.
With one last smile and one last wave Carissa disappeared through the lab doors.
"You sure you're ok?" Nick asked as he gently wrapped his arm around Jackie.
"Yeah, I'm still shocked but you were right about what you said, I didn't lose anything, instead I gained something I've always wanted. Hopefully over time Carissa and I can become very close like my friends and their sisters are."
"Yes, that would be very nice." Nick agreed with a smile.
"Nick, could you do us a favor and give Rich and I a couple minutes alone with Jackie please?" Her mom asked.
"Sure, come on kids, let's go to the vending machine and get a snack." He told them as he picked up Karlie's car seat.
After Nick had disappeared down the hall with the kids Jackie's mom turned to Jackie.
"I'm so sorry about all of this, we should have just been honest with you from the beginning, I guess we never thought of you as being adopted, you were our daughter from day one, it didn't matter that we didn't share DNA, but I am sorry and I hope you can forgive us."
"Forgive you for what? For being incredible parents? For always being there for me no matter what? For helping me become the woman I am today? For uprooting your lives so you could move to Vegas when I got married so we could still see each other all the time? Or for being awesome grandparents to my kids?"
Her parents wrapped her in a hug.
"We love you Jackie." Her dad said.
"I love you guys too." Jackie said as tears began to run down all of their faces.
"I was so scared you'd turn your back on us and never speak to us again, and as scared as I was to lose you I was even more heartbroken that I'd lose those four little ones." Her mom said.
"You want to be close to those little stinkers?" Jackie quipped jokingly.
Her mom burst out laughing.
"Shocking isn't it?"
Jackie's face turned more serious. "I'd never rip you guys away from those kids, I wouldn't do that to you and I certainly couldn't do that to them, they adore you." Jackie assured them with a smile.
Just then they heard the sound of a baby's cry.
"Uh-oh, it sounds like Karlie is hungry and Nicky forgot the diaper bag out here, I better go give it to him." Jackie said.
"Ok, we'll go home then, maybe we can take the kids to the park later?" Her mom suggested.
"Yeah that sounds good, I promised Tina I'd watch Eli this afternoon and I'm sure he'd like to go to the park, and my kids always like to go there."
"Ok, call us this afternoon and tell us what time you want to go." Her mom told her.
"Ok I will, see you guys later."
Jackie watched as her parents left and then grabbed the diaper bag and walked down the hall with it.
"I ceem." Jackie heard Houston say as she walked into the break room with the diaper bag in her hand.
"Houston they don't have ice cream in the vending machine." Nick told him sounding somewhat frustrated.
"Mama." Jasmine said as she pointed at Jackie.
Nick spun his chair around so he was facing Jackie.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
She smiled at him.
"I'm just fine." She assured him as she got Karlie's bottle out of the diaper bag.
She quickly made the bottle and then handed it to Nick who hurriedly stuck it in Karlie's mouth. The baby immediately quit crying.
"There all better." Nick said soothingly to the tiny infant.
Karlie finished her bottle while the other kids finished their cookies that Nick had bought them from the vending machine.
After they were all done the family headed home.
It had been a very strange and shocking day for Jackie but she hoped today was the beginning of a wonderful new friendship with her surprise twin sister.
The End!