The Answer

"Zach I'm sorry but I don't think that is a very good idea." Jackie said.

"You should go" Nick said.

Jackie looked at her husband "What?" She asked him shocked.

"Go ahead, what harm could it do?" Nick asked.

Zach looked at Jackie, waiting for her answer.

"Sure, as long as Nick is ok with it, I'd like to go."

"Ok good, where do you want to go?" He asked. "

"Do you like Chinese food?" Jackie asked him.

"Sure, who doesn't?" he said with a laugh.

"Since I have a rental car, I can pick you up." Zach offered.

"Alright that sounds good to me." She said.

"Does tomorrow night at 7 work for you?" He asked.

"Yep, works for me." Jackie said.

Jackie gave him her address, and then he said "Ok, I will see you tomorrow." Then he once again left.

"Nick are you sure you are ok with this?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah, it's no problem, you know I'm not the jealous type, and I trust you." He said.

She smiled gratefully at him.

Nick suddenly grinned and said "come on, let's dance, this is our song."

She listened and sure enough the song that was playing was their wedding song. She got out of the booth, and placed her hand in Nick's awaiting hand. He led her to the dance floor and while dancing in each others' arms Jackie found it hard to believe that just 15 minutes ago Nick was upset with her. Those fifteen minutes seemed like a lifetime ago. The couple enjoyed the rest of their evening, and when they had gotten home they went to bed and fell asleep wrapped in each others embrace.

The following evening Jackie was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. "Nicky, are you sure you are ok with this?" She asked him for the one hundredth time.

Nick laughed "Yes dear, I haven't changed my mind."

She grinned at him. Minutes later the door bell rang. She went to answer the door. She opened it and Zach was standing there.

"Wow you look amazing." He said sweetly.

Jackie could feel her face getting red. "Thank you." She said with a smile.

Then he asked her a surprising question. "Are you from Tennessee?"

"Zach we are from the same hometown, you know I'm not from Tennessee, why would you ask me that?"

"Because, you're the only 10 I see." He said with a huge smile.

Jackie laughed, she looked at Nick, who was bent over he was laughing so hard.

"You haven't changed at all have you?" She said still laughing.

"Nope." Zach replied honestly.

"Let me grab my jacket and we'll go." Jackie said.

She walked by Nick, who had finally quit laughing, he grabbed her arm "That was the cheesiest thing I have ever heard." He whispered.

"Hush" Jackie whispered back with a grin.

She grabbed her jacket and then she and Zach were out the door. He opened the passenger car door, she got in, and he shut it, and went to the drivers' side and climbed in. He started the car and they were off.

"Nate seems nice." He said while driving along.

"Nick" she corrected him.

"Oh sorry, Nick, Nick seems nice." He said.

"He is, he is a true southern gentleman." Jackie said.

"I am very glad your boyfriend treats you so well, you deserve it." Zach said.

"Husband" Jackie corrected, rolling her eyes and smiling.

"Husband, sorry my mistake." He said with a mischievous smile on his face, and Jackie was almost positive that "mistake" was intentional.

It did not take them long to reach the restaurant, and after pulling the car into a parking space and shutting off the engine Zach again went around and opened Jackie's door for her.

"Thank you" She said. Zach grinned and asked her

"Am I a southern gentleman too?"

Jackie laughed and said "Well you're not from the south, so you're not a southern gentleman but you are a gentleman, which is the important thing."

"I'll take that" Zach said smiling at her.

They got a table in the restaurant and ordered; while they waited for their food Zach asked "So what part of the south is Nick from exactly?"

"Texas" Jackie said.

"That's a nice state, my company just sent me there a couple of months ago, I got to go to Houston for the first time, it was a pretty cool place."

"I've never been to Houston, but I do like Texas, it's pretty down there." Jackie said.

"Yeah it is." Zach agreed. Then Zach asked "Not to be nosey, but when I was in your house I didn't see any pictures of kids, don't you have children?" He asked.

"No, not yet." She answered.

"Why not? You love kids" Zach said.

"Oh I don't know, we are both pretty busy with our careers right now, but we will have kids one day soon hopefully, because you're right, I do love kids, and I would love to have a couple of my own one day." Jackie said.

"You would make a really great mother." He said.

"Thank you, that means a lot." Jackie said happily. Then she said "So enough about me, I want to hear what you have been up to." Jackie said.

"well, I went to grad school as you know, I got my degree, work for a big name company in our hometown, and I am living the single life right now."

"That sounds exciting." Jackie said.

"Yeah it's ok." He answered. "I thought I found my future wife last night but it turns out she is already married."

"That's awful." She said sympathetically.

He gave her a huge grin, and then it dawned on Jackie that he was talking about her.

"ohhh me?" She asked.

"Yes you." He said laughing.

"Well sorry about that." She said chuckling.

Then Zach said "so I know you two are married, but are you happily married, or otherwise?

"Zach" Jackie said laughing.

"Answer the question" Zach said with a grin.

"Happily" she said playing along.

"Extremely happy, or just kind of happy."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Extremely happy."

"Darn it." Zach said with a laugh, and Jackie joined in on the laughter. They got their food, while eating they talked happily with one another, remembering stories from days past.

After they ate Zach looked at his watch, "Hey, it's still early, do you want to go dancing?" He asked?

"Sure, why not" she said.

They left the restaurant and drove to a near by club. They got there and got a table and sat down.

Then Zach got up and said "I will be right back."

"Ok" Jackie said.

He came back a couple of minutes later so Jackie got up, thinking they were going to dance.

"hold on, we'll dance in a minute." Zach said.

So Jackie sat back down.

They sat there for a couple minutes, then Zach got a huge grin on his face and said "alright, come on, let's go dance."

Jackie immediately knew why he was grinning, their song had come on again.

He grabbed her hand as they went to the dance floor "that's why I left for a few minutes, I went to put in a request for our song." He whispered to her as they begin to dance. He then started singing the song to her as loud as he could, just like he did when they were in college. Jackie was embarrassed, and she could feel her face getting red.

"shuuuu, not so loud." She begged as people were starting to stare and laugh.

He didn't listen, instead he just got louder. Which she somewhat expected, that is what he always did in college too, the more she tried to get him to be quiet, the louder he would get. She finally just gave up, letting him sing as loud as he wanted.

After the song was over he whispered "You're face is red."

"I bet it is." Jackie said with a laugh.

They danced for a couple hours nonstop; Jackie could not believe how much fun she was having. As they danced, he kept smiling at her. Jackie loved his smile, she always had. When they were in college just looking at Zach's smile gave her tingles down her spine. Nobody else's smile ever made her feel that way, nobody but Nick's smile that is.

Zach looked at his watch and frowned. "Jackie, I'm sorry but I think I better get you home, it's getting late and I have an early flight out of here tomorrow morning."

"Oh, Ok." She said with a smile but she couldn't help feeling disappointed.

On the drive home she said "I had a wonderful time tonight."

"I'm glad you had fun, I did too." He said. Then he added "you're a good dancer."

"Thank you so are you." She said.

He pulled into her driveway, turned off the car, and said "Jackie I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" she asked.

"I'm sorry I moved to go to grad school, I should have never left you, it was stupid." He said.

"Don't be sorry, it was a huge opportunity, you would have been stupid to not have taken it." She said.

"But I lost you." He said quietly.

"Listen Zach, don't worry, you will find a girl soon, you have so much going for you, a great job, money, a sense of humor that would make any normal person burst out laughing, and movie star looks."

He offered her a small but sad smile "Thanks" He said.

Jackie just smiled back, and started to grab the car door handle "No wait." Zach said, she stopped and he got out of the car and ran to the passenger side and opened the door for her.

He grinned, "am I a southern gentlemen yet?" He asked.

She laughed "boy you don't give up, do you."

"Nope, persistent is my middle name." He said.

They smiled at one another.

She got out of the car, he shut the door, and they started to walk to Jackie's front door, when they got to the top of the steps, she had her hand on the door handle when he leaned in for a kiss goodnight but she immediately pulled back. Tears filled her eyes,

"Zach I'm sorry but I can't do that, I love you but I'm married, and I love Nick more than anything, he is my heart and soul and I can't betray him like that."

Zach took a step back "I understand." He said.

"I'm sorry" She said again quietly.

She opened the door, he watched her step inside, she turned back one last time "goodbye" She whispered; now the tears were streaming down her face.

"Goodbye Jackie." Zach said, he then turned and started walking towards his car.

She shut the door, and went over to the window. She saw him get into his car, and she watched as the little red sports car drove down the road. She sat on the couch and cried. She knew she had done the right thing, she wasn't lying when she'd said that she loved Nick, he really was her everything, but it was still hard. She lay down on the couch, she hadn't realized it until just now, but she was exhausted. Thoughts still filled her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

The next thing she heard was the phone. "Hello." Jackie said. It was Catherine Willows, her friend and Nick's supervisor, and she was crying

"Jackie, I'm so sorry to have to tell you this but there was an accident tonight and Nick was killed."

TBC