Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

Adoption

"Thanks, Nicky." Jackie said as he held open the door to the animal shelter and let the family walk through it.

The family had recently had to put their dog Skittles to sleep. Jackie had woken up one morning and discovered the dog could no longer move her hind legs. Nick had rushed her to the vet and was told that Skittles had a stroke and there was nothing that could be done to help her walk again and so to end her suffering she'd been put to sleep.

It had devasted the family but especially Sloan, out of all the kids he was the one that spent the most time with Skittles, playing fetch with her for hours on end in the backyard.

Sloan loved Dolly too and was grateful they still had her but he missed Skittles.

Nick and Jackie decided that now that the Holidays were over they could welcome a new puppy into the family and Jackie was adamant that they get one from a shelter to save it's life so they went to the same shelter that they had adopted Dolly from.

"Hi, how can we help you?" A friendly woman with a nametag that read Maureen asked as the family approached the desk.

"Hi, we were wondering if you guys had any puppies available for adoption at this time." Jackie answered.

"As a matter of fact we do. We have a litter of four puppies available for adoption, you guys would be the first to have a look at them, you would get the pick of the litter."

"That's awesome, what kind of dogs are they, and how old are they?" Jackie asked.

"We believe they are a mix of heeler and lab. They are around 9 weeks old. Would you like to take a look?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright, follow me." Maureen smiled.

The family was led into the room where the dogs were kept, in the very first cage four bouncing puppies came to greet them.

They were adorable, they had a reddish coat and floppy ears, and shortish tails that wagged excitedly.

The kids were overjoyed, Jackie glanced at her children who were all happily talking to the puppies.

This might not be good, what if they can't agree on which puppy to bring home?" She thought to herself.

"Would you prefer one of the males or one of the females?" Maureen asked.

Nick looked at Jackie and just shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to us." Jackie answered.

"Since it is so close to the holidays, we gave them Christmas themed names but obviously you can change the name if you like."

"What are their names?" Jackie asked.

"Well the females are Holly and Natalie."

Nick grimaced, he hoped the kids didn't pick Natalie, every time he heard the name Natalie he just pictured poor Sara wandering around the damn desert scared and alone. If the kids picked that puppy, he would have to insist on changing its name, for his sake and Sara's.

"What are the boy puppies' names?" He asked.

"Mistletoe and Jingles." Maureen responded.

Nick looked at Jackie and grinned, he knew exactly what puppy they would end up with and it wouldn't be Natalie.

As if on cue all of the kids started yelling "Jingles, Jingles, we want Jingles."

Maureen looked at the little kids with surprise all over her face while Nick and Jackie just laughed.

"Jingles is their favorite athletes name ." Nick explained with a laugh.

"Alright, why don't we take Jingles out to the backyard and let you play with him."

"Yay." The kids said happily, they loved that idea.

Maureen opened the cage, walked in, grabbed the puppy and then led everyone outside.

Once outside Jackie suggested they all sit nice and calm in a circle so they don't overwhelm the cute little puppy.

Jingles made his way to every member of the family to say hello and the kids giggled like crazy.

When Jingles got to Nick he promptly lifted his leg and peed right on Nick's sandaled foot.

The kids laughed even harder, and Jackie, God bless her, tried so hard not to laugh but was not at all successful.

Maureen gasped and ran to get something to help Nick get the urine off of him.

Nick, like always was a good sport, he pretended to glare at all the happy kids.

"What is so funny?" He demanded playfully which did nothing but make the kids laugh harder.

Maureen came back outside with a bottle of water and several sheets of paper towel and then handed the items to Nick.

"Thank you." He told her as he wiped his foot off.

The kids played with the puppy awhile longer.

"Alright guys what do you say? Do you want to take Jingles home?"

"Yeah!" All of them shouted.

"Ok." Jackie told them with a laugh, not at all surprised.

Maureen picked the puppy up to carry him back inside. The family followed her.

Just as they had gotten to the door to go back into the shelter Hundley shouted "Look!" As she pointed across the yard.

Everyone looked over and saw a family with two young children with one of Jingles' siblings across the yard.

Good, another one of the puppies might get a home. Jackie thought to herself.

After all the necessary paperwork had been completed the puppy was handed over to Nick.

"Alright Jingles, let's go home, and no more peeing on me, alright?" Nick said.

The kids once again erupted with laughter and Nick joined in, it might very well be a wild ride with this new furry addition!

The End!