Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

How Many?

Nick, Jackie, and their 21 month old daughter Jasmine were sitting at the kitchen table eating their dinner. Jackie was now nearly 4 months pregnant with their second child and she had just the slightest hint of a baby bump. If you didn't know she was pregnant you probably wouldn't be able to tell quite yet. They were quietly eating their dinner lost in their own thoughts when Nick broke the silence.

"Hey Jacks you know what I realized today?" He said.

"What's that?" She asked.

"We talked about children early in our relationship and we both knew we wanted kids but we never actually discussed how many we wanted."

"You're right, we've never discussed that." Jackie said sounding surprised about that revelation."

"How many do you want?" Nick asked her.

"I'm not sure. How many do you want?" She asked.

"I think 5 would be nice." Nick said.

Jackie nearly choked on her salad.

"Five, are you crazy?" She exclaimed.

"What's wrong with having five, you have always said that you hate being an only child. You've told me several times how important it is to you to give Jasmine siblings." Nick said.

"I know, but I didn't mean that many. Nicky, I want to be able to give my kids individualized attention, and there are certain things that I want to be able to give them financially that we won't be able to do if we have that many children."

"Like what?" Nick asked.

"I want to be able to pay for my children's college educations." Jackie answered.

"My parents put all of us through college and they had seven children." Nick reminded her.

"I know that Nick, but your dad is a judge and your mother is an attorney."

"So what?" Nick asked.

"Well you're a CSI and I'm a teacher. I'm not saying we don't have great careers, we do and we both love our jobs, but let's face it, there is a huge difference between how much money your parents make and how much we do." Jackie said.

"That's true." Nick admitted.

"So are you saying that you want this to be our last child?" Nick asked placing a hand on her stomach.

"No, not necessarily." Jackie said.

"Good" He said smiling.

She returned the smile "I think three would be a good number. I think with three we would be able to give them everything we want to give them. Plus, we have a four bedroom house, if we have three children each child could have their own room. That is something I think is very important." Jackie said.

"Yeah, why's that?" Nick asked.

"I just think a child needs a place to go, somewhere they can be by themselves if they need to be, or if they need it quiet to do homework or whatever." She answered. Then she asked "So, what do you say, does three sound good to you?"

"You bring up a lot of good points, especially the money part. Kids are expensive, especially in today's world, and I want to be able to do things with my children." He said.

"Like what?" Jackie asked.

"I want to be able to take my kids to sporting events, take them on family vacations, and take them to places like museums that are educational. My parents did that for me and my siblings when we were growing up and it was an awesome childhood, I'd love to give my kids the same opportunities. " He said.

Jackie smiled at him "So does that mean you are agreeing to three children?" She asked.

He returned the smile "Yeah, I think I am."

"That's good." She said and then she gave her husband a smirk

"What?" He asked.

"When I was little I wanted 12 children."

"Yikes" Nick said.

"Yeah but when I was little I wanted 12 of everything, kids, pets, stuffed animals, dolls, everything."

"Why?" Nick asked with a laugh.

"12 was my favorite number, actually it still is and probably always will be." she said as she got up out of her chair and grabbed a rag to wash Jasmine's face with.

After she was done she took her out of her highchair and started up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to go give Jasmine her bath." Jackie answered.

"Want me to do it?" Nick offered.

"Nope I want to. I want to do as many things as I can while I don't have a huge belly, and I love to give Jasmine her bath because she is always really happy while she's in there and it's really cute to see her giggle and splash around."

Nick smiled "Yeah it is neat to see her have so much fun. Except for the fact that whoever gives her a bath gets almost as wet as she does because she splashes around so much." He said with a chuckle.

Jackie laughed as she carried Jasmine up the stairs. Nick cleared the dishes from the table and then went into the living room and turned on the T.V. Jackie began giving Jasmine her bath. Nick was right, Jackie got almost as wet as Jasmine did.

The End!