Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Contribution
Jackie walked into the master bedroom wrapped in a towel and nearly screamed.
"Nicky, you scared me half to death, what are you doing here?" She asked.
"Uh, I live here." He answered with a grin. "I meant, what are you doing home so early?"
"It was a slow night so I came home early." He told her.
"Everything's ok though, right?"
"Yeah, it's fine." He assured her.
"That's good."
"Are you still planning on going to the bank later this afternoon?" She asked as she walked over to her dresser.
"Yep."
"Oh good, I wanted to give you this." She told him as she handed him $60.
"What's this for?" He asked.
"I want you to put it in our Maldives account."
"Honey, I didn't tell you about that account so you could add to it, this is my thing, I'll take care of it."
"I know, but now that I know about it I want to contribute as well."
"Are you saying you'd sacrifice getting your iced coffees for awhile to contribute to our trip?"
"Who said anything about sacrifice, a few of my sweet students and their parents got me gift cards to different coffee shops around town, I have enough to last me at least a couple months." She replied with a grin.
He laughed and shook his head at her.
"You're sure?" He asked as he held out the money she'd just given him.
"Yep, I'm sure."
He took the money and put it with the other money he was taking to the bank later.
"You wouldn't happen to have any one-dollar bills would you? I only have a couple. If not it's no big deal I'll just take a five dollar bill instead."
"Popcorn day today?" he asked as he dug 4 one dollar bills out of his wallet and gave them to her.
"Nope, today is sucker day, popcorn day was last month, they alternate." She explained.
"Ah, I see." He nodded to the money in her hand.
"That enough? I have two five-dollar bills if you need them."
"That's enough, I usually only have to buy for one or two of my students, but I'd rather have too much than too little and as a result have to borrow it from Sue or Lisa."
She then reached in their change jar and grabbed a few quarters as well.
"I always like to bring a few quarters as well, just in case we have a quarter catastrophe." She told him.
"What's a quarter catastrophe?" He asked.
"That's what Lisa, Sue, and I call it when a student has two quarters for popcorn or sucker day but somehow they manage to lose a quarter along the way, usually they find it in the bottom of their backpack or in their pockets, but not always, then they get hysterical because they don't have enough to get their goodie, as if any of us teachers would let them miss out on a treat over a quarter. So, we always have a few quarters handy just so we can immediately give them one to calm them down." Jackie explained.
Nick laughed, kids were funny, but he had to hand it to his wife and her fellow teachers, they were truly kind human beings.
"Hey Jacks, since I'm home so early do you have time for a quickie?" He asked with a wide grin.
"No, sorry dear, but I'll be late." She responded with a laugh.
"A really quick quickie then?" He asked.
"Nope, sorry." She said as she leaned over and kissed him apologetically.
"Next time I'm going to make sure you've left for work already before I come home, you won't have sex with me and you take my money." He said as he nodded to the money in her hands.
She laughed.
She eventually went to work.
When her students arrived for the day it was chaotic like it normally was to start the day but it was even more so on sucker or popcorn day because Jackie had to make sure all the students gave her their money and then she had to make sure she had enough money in the sucker/popcorn envelope so every student got a treat.
"Mrs. Stokes?" She heard a voice say.
Jackie turned around and saw her friend and fellow first grade teacher Lisa Masters standing there.
"Yes?" Jackie asked.
Lisa walked next to her so she could whisper in her ear.
"Do you have a quarter I could borrow? I have a quarter catastrophe and I forgot to bring quarters and now there are tears."
Jackie hurriedly handed her a quarter.
"Do you need any more?" Jackie whispered back.
"No, I brought dollar bills, I just forgot quarters, I won't make that mistake again."
Jackie chuckled softly.
"Thank you." Lisa said as she walked back to her own classroom.
Soon after, from the room next door, Jackie heard "Here you go kiddo, see it's ok, next time you see Mrs. Stokes, tell her thank you."
Then just seconds later "No, sweetie, I didn't mean right….." and soon a small little girl had walked through the divider that separated the two classrooms.
"Thank you, Mrs. Stokes." She told Jackie as she gave her a hug.
"You're welcome sweetie, enjoy your sucker." Jackie told her as she hugged her back and then watched the little girl walk back to her own classroom. (Part of one wall in each classroom had a divider that separated it from the classroom next door, which made it handy when a teacher had to step out for a minute and needed the teacher in the next room to watch her kids because the neighboring teacher could just stand at the divider and watch both rooms.)
Jackie made a mental note to tell Nick that night that a quarter catastrophe had been avoided!
The End!