Choices

Madison and Zachary chased each other from one of the two connected hotel rooms to the other while Joe and Toby fought over the only hand-held video game that the boys hadn't broken on the plane.

"You guys have the kids today," Jess told Nathan and Antonio, "because we're going to be in the San Francisco office all day."

"You want us to drive around looking at neighborhoods with four kids all day?" Nathan said. "I thought we were going to find some kind of daycare service."

"We're only going to be here for one day. The only reason we even needed the rooms was because I know if we leave tonight, the kids will melt down on the flight back."

xxxxx

"And this is Nicole Scott," Jess introduced Nicole to Brooke.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot."

"Most of it is true…unfortunately."

"Well, according your track record in D.C. you and Jess seem to get results and you haven't had any disciplinary notes in a while, so I don't predict a problem. I think that you and Jess will be happy here."

"Uh, Brooke, we haven't actually made a choice yet."

"I know. But I hope to change your minds by the end of the day. Shall we start the tour?"

Nicole and Jess nodded.

xxxxx

"This looks nice," Antonio said. They had just entered the town of Levi, population less than two hundred, mostly young couples with children. It was one of those towns where everybody knew each other. There was one police station with a sheriff and two deputies that patrolled and kept a very short leash on the town, which was probably what accounted for the lack of crime in Levi—no crimes reported since 1998 and no murders since 1983. It was a good place to raise children, and only twenty minutes from San Francisco.

"I like the houses. They look roomy." Nathan pulled up Levi on his laptop for more information. They both liked what they read. Most of the residents were couples with young children like them. "The only school is a private one owned by the town."

"This is one of those close knit, Mayberry towns…only with money. Jess and Nicole will love it."

xxxxx

Brooke finished the tour of the office. "Have you decided what department you're interested in?"

"We were thinking Homicide or Missing Persons," Nicole answered.

"Since you already know everything the Missing department entails, why don't you try Homicide for a week or two and if you don't like it, I'll station you in M.P. The substitute agents I am using now can stay a couple of extra weeks while you decide."

"We will definitely take it into consideration." Jess shook Brooke's hand. "We'll call you this evening with our decision."

"As they left the office, Nicole expressed her interest in Homicide. "I like the idea of no living victims."

"Except there are," Jess reminded her. "The families."

"Damn. I didn't think of that."

"I suppose it could be less stressful. No more informing families that their loved one was found dead. No more late nights, rushing to find the victim before he's murdered."

"And now that your visions come so easily, we'll be cracking cases left and right."

"Does that mean you want to move out here?"

"Well, Antonio's totally on board with it, so…yeah, I guess we could try it. What about you?"

"If Nathan likes it here, yes."

xxxxx

"Stop running!" Nathan yelled at his boys. "Sorry," he told the realtor.

"No problem. This house was designed for children. The sellers had six. So what do you think of it?"

"It's good," Nathan said.

"Certainly spacious," Antonio added.

Nathan excused himself to quiet his three rambunctious children.

"So," Antonio said, "What else do you have?"

"In Levi? This is our only property on the market. People rarely move from here."

"I can see why."

xxxxx

Nicole, Nathan, Jess, and Antonio made themselves comfortable around the kitchenette table of one of their San Francisco hotel rooms, while the children slept in the other.

"So how was the interview?" Antonio asked.

"Good," Nicole told him. "I'd like to try it."

"Great."

"Do you like it here?" Jess asked Nathan.

"It's promising. I can live here."

"Good, because I think I'd like to try it too."

"So it's settled," Nicole said, "we're moving here. Now all we have to do is find places to live. Did you guys find any nearby cities good for children?"

"Already taken care of," Nathan showed them pictures of the house they looked at. "It's in Levi, about twenty minutes from here. Trust me you'll love this place—the house and the town. And it's already vacant. We can move in right away."

"What about you guys," Jess referred to Antonio and Nicole.

"Yeah, about that," Antonio eased into his and Nathan's idea, because he knew Jess and Nicole wouldn't like it. "That's the only house for sale in Levi."

"Well, then we can't take it. We have to live in the same city, Antonio. You and/or Nathan are going to have to watch the kids until we find child care."

"That will be pretty easy to do if we live in the same house."

Nicole and Jess got the idea. "No."

"Just listen-"

"We cannot live in the same house, Nathan."

"It's a big house, it's not like we'd be crawling all over each other and it's a good opportunity to make some money."

"How?" Nicole said, barely interested in this idea.

"When two houses go on the market in Levi, we can sell this one."

"It's not worth all the trouble this will cause."

"What trouble?"

"Us sharing a house with another couple, Nicole and Antonio having to live with three extra children, one of which is throwing fits constantly these days, none of us will have any privacy."

"It's a five bedroom house. Look at this floor plan. There is a mother-in-law suite, which is basically just another master bedroom on the other side of the house and down this hall is a regular room. Antonio and Nicole can have the mother-in-law suite and Zachary can have the bedroom. We'd be all the way over here in the master bedroom. Look, the other two rooms are in the same hallway. Nathan and Joe can share this one and Madison can have the one closest to us."

"We'd never hear them at night, but you would and you'd never hear Zachary, but we would," Antonio added. "And there's a big bonus room upstairs, away from the main rooms, so the kids can play without disturbing us."

"What made you guys even think of this? There must be other towns around San Francisco."

"Nicole, once you read about this town, you're going to want to raise Zachary there," Antonio assured her. "And once you see it, you'll love it. Their school has an excellent reputation."

"The town has a school?"

"Levi Day School." Antonio handed Jess a pamphlet.

"And this house has an office, which I am going to need soon," Nathan added. "I could even work from home. The father of one of the guys in my med school runs his practice out of his home. And I'm sure you and Nicole would be okay with having a nanny with me right there in the house."

"You guys thought of everything didn't you?" Jess said. "…All right. If it's okay with Nicole, we can make an offer in the morning."

Suddenly, all eyes were on Nicole. "Fine."