See A/N's in part 2 of the REAL World Anniversary McRollathon—A Gentle Nudge.
A Relaxing Morning (1/1)
Picks up exactly where Mari's fabulous Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? leaves off.
"What's your idea," Steve asked his sister.
"Joan and I can just grab some extra blankets and sleep on the floor," Mary suggested. "It'll be like having a campout. She's so sound asleep by now she probably wouldn't even wake up when I moved her."
"Nonsense," Elizabeth scoffed. "You're our guests. You're not going to sleep on the floor. No one is going to sleep on the floor."
"Steve and I can … "Catherine started but her mother cut her off.
"There's a pull out couch in the basement," Elizabeth said as she tried to work out the best arrangement in her head. "Joseph, you and I can sleep there."
Joseph nodded his agreement but Angela was having none of it. "Oh no, we couldn't possibly put your out of your own bed. No way." She shook her head fervently. "Honestly, Sal and I can sleep anywhere. A pull out sofa is fine."
Grandma Ang and Nonna exchanged amused glances as the others tried to work out the sleeping arrangements. The discussion reminded each of them of family holidays from the past and they couldn't help but smile, each knowing exactly what the other was thinking. That the true blessing was in being surrounded by enough loved ones to make sleeping arrangements an issue.
"Steve and I will sleep on the pull out and that's all there is to it," Catherine said conclusively. "It won't even make the top 50 list of the worst place either of us has ever slept."
"There's a joke in there somewhere," Angela muttered so only Mary could hear her.
Elizabeth nodded towards Steve and Catherine. "Ok, we'll put you two on the sofa bed, Sal and Angela in your room, Joseph and I can … "
"There are two single beds in our room," Mary piped up, still trying to help come up with a solution that didn't put Joseph and Elizabeth on couches. "I can bunk with Joan and someone can use the other bed."
"Perfect," Nonna piped up enthusiastically. "I'll stay with Mary and Joan."
All eyes in the room turned to her.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have some privacy?" Elizabeth asked.
"I'm positive," Nonna insisted.
"Joseph and I can sleep on the couch and you can have our bed," Elizabeth offered.
"Nonsense," Nonna waved her hand to make it clear the discussion was over. "I haven't been to a sleepover in years. It'll be fun."
"Ok then, Steve and Catherine will sleep on the pull out in the basement, Sal and Angela can sleep in their room, and Nonna will bunk in with Mary and Joan." Elizabeth smiled, happy with the way things worked out.
"I'll just grab Steve's and my bag out of the room and change the sheets," Catherine said as she started towards the guest room. She had actually changed the sheets just hours earlier after their afternoon romp but she didn't want to say that. She knew if she did it wouldn't take long for everyone in the room to put two and two together.
"The sheets are fresh," Elizabeth called after her. "I changed them right before dinner."
Catherine turned and looked at her mother in disbelief. "You did?"
"Yes, honey, It's Wednesday," Elizabeth said, as if that explained everything.
"Wednesday?" Steve squeaked out, unable to meet Catherine's eyes. The two of them were in the process of changing the sheets when they heard Elizabeth and Joseph returning from the food bank earlier and had to scramble to finish and get the sheets they removed into the hamper before anyone noticed.
"Wednesday has been the day I change the sheets since Catherine was a little girl," Elizabeth said patiently. "Is there something wrong with that?"
Steve shook his head and studied the carpet.
"I just didn't realize … I could have helped …" Catherine stammered. She studied her mother's face closely looking for any signs she knew the sheets had been freshly changed. "I didn't know you were doing it."
"I'm very stealthy," Elizabeth winked. "Though I could have sworn I put blue sheets on before the two of you got here but there were stripes on when I changed it. I must be getting forgetful."
Steve and Catherine blushed as Mary and Angela hid their smiles behind their hands.
"Now can you do me a favor?" Elizabeth continued. "Between your clothes and mine and your dad's and Steve's I'm sure we can find something for Angela and Sal to sleep in. I'll grab something from Grandma Ang's closet for Nonna."
"I'll be glad to," Catherine said, happy for any excuse to flee the room.
"I'll head down to the basement and pull out the sofa bed," Steve offered.
"Thank you, dear. I think there's a sheet on it but if there's not I know we have a blue set around here somewhere," Elizabeth smirked.
Steve dropped his head to his chest as Mary and Angela looked at Elizabeth with naked admiration.
When it came to subtle needling she could teach them both a thing or two.
Twenty minutes later, after everyone said their goodnights and headed off to bed, Steve entered the kitchen to find Elizabeth standing in front of the refrigerator, studying its contents carefully.
"Everything ok?" he asked quietly, hoping not to startle her.
"Oh, Steve, I didn't hear you come in," she jumped slightly then turned to face him with a smile.. "Everything's fine. I'm just thinking I might need a few things from the grocery store for breakfast tomorrow."
"They're open all night, right? Do you want me to go for you now?" Steve asked.
"That's very sweet, but no. I may take you up on your offer in the morning though. I know you and Catherine are early risers."
"Whatever you need," Steve said. "I'll be happy to go."
"I appreciate that." Elizabeth continued to look around the kitchen as though making a mental checklist.
"Is there anything else I can do? Catherine and I would be happy to help cook or … "
Elizabeth cut him off with a wave. "No," she smiled, "It's just …"
"What?"
"Joseph and I adore Catherine, and no two parents have ever been prouder of a daughter than we are of her."
"I know that." Steve said genuinely.
"And I would never want to insinuate that only having one child makes us feel like we missed out on anything."
Steve nodded and waited for her to continue.
"But when you only have one child, especially when we were deployed and far away from our own siblings and parents for so many years, holidays tend to be ... well … let's just say small."
"I understand completely," Steve said softly, remembering some of his own lonely holidays.
"I wouldn't change a minute of my life," Elizabeth said with absolute conviction. "It brought me to where I am today and I am very, very happy and grateful for that. But tonight, having the house full of people and energy and love … " Elizabeth ducked her head as her eyes grew damp. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm feeling emotional."
Steve crossed the room and wrapped her in an affectionate hug. "I'm the last person you need to apologize to. I get it completely. That feeling of being surrounded by family is … powerful. You and Joseph showed me that the first time I set foot in your home."
He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, wanting desperately for her to see his sincerity. "It's life changing."
Steve's own eyes filled with tears as Elizabeth kissed him on the cheek.
"You gave me a family at a time when I thought I'd never have one," he continued.
"And now you've returned the favor," Elizabeth said softly. "You're expanding our family at an age when we thought our chance had passed."
"What do you mean?" Steve looked at her with genuine confusion.
"Through you we met Mary and Joan, and Nonna, and Sal and Angela, and your team." Elizabeth beamed as she squeezed his forearm. "So many amazing people we may never have met if not for you and now they're becoming such a big part of our lives."
Steve's voice instantly choked with emotion. "I never thought of it that way."
"Well, I did," Elizabeth replied. "And I want you to know I'm grateful. And on our next visit to the island you better believe we're meeting the Allens."
"Absolutely." Steve smiled at the thought. "You'll love them. And I know they'll love you."
"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Elizabeth chucked as she wiped a tear from her eye and watched Steve do the same. "Having a moment. Just like the first time we met, when Catherine brought to our house and we talked about losing a parent young. That was in the kitchen, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Steve smiled. "And there have been other moments since."
Elizabeth patted his cheek. "And many more in the future I'm sure." She cleared her throat and smiled. "Now … was there a reason you came in here to begin with?"
"I wanted to grab a couple bottles of water for Catherine and me," he answered.
"Well, then I better let you get on with that," Elizabeth took one final look around then headed out of the kitchen. "Goodnight."
"'Night," Steve said as he opened the refrigerator to get the water.
"Oh, and Steve?" Elizabeth turned back.
"Did you need something else?" He turned to face her.
"We got a new sofa bed when we moved to this house but still … best to keep the acrobatics to a minimum."
Steve shook his head and blushed slightly. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"
"Not anytime soon, dear, not anytime soon."
The next morning Steve and Catherine got up early and made a grocery store run while Elizabeth squeezed fresh orange juice and Joseph began preparations for his famous home fries. They had just returned home and were unloading the bags when Mary entered the kitchen, her eyes wet with tears.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth rounded the island hurriedly, wiping her hands on a dish towel and approached the emotional young mother. Joseph turned down the heat on the potatoes and was right behind her.
Mary shook her head and smiled, indicating they were happy tears, but still not quite able to speak.
"Is Joan okay?" Steve and Catherine approached as well, ready to spring into action if there was any sort of problem.
"I woke up a few minutes ago," Mary finally managed to say with a quivering voice as tears escaped her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks, "Joan wasn't in bed with me. I panicked for a minute and then ... "
Unable to adequately put into words the scene she'd found just moments earlier she held out her phone for the others to see. Catherine and Elizabeth's hands both flew to their mouths in identical gestures as they saw the picture on Mary's phone.
Sometime during the night or early morning Joan had crawled out of the bed she was sharing with Mary and into bed with Nonna who had one arm around the toddler, securing her safely, while Joan curled against her side, sleeping peacefully.
Sal and Angela entered the kitchen and immediately took note of quite a few pairs of watery eyes. "Is everything okay?" they asked in unison.
Mary held out her phone and the two broke out in wide smiles. "That is adorable," Angela cooed.
"I was gonna try to lift Joan up but I was afraid I'd disturb Nonna." Mary chewed her lip nervously. "I hope she's not upset when she wakes up. Sleeping with a toddler can be an adventure."
"Oh she won't be upset," Angela shook her head and smiled. "Are you kidding me? She'll love it. She's gonna want copies of that picture. I guarantee it."
Twenty minutes later Joseph was standing over the stove carefully adding spices to his secret recipe home fries, one of the few things he cooked well, while Sal and Angela set the table and Steve, Catherine and Elizabeth worked on prepping ingredients for omelets. Mary stood at the counter chopping fresh fruit from the local farmer's market.
They all looked up when they heard off-key singing in the hall and a few seconds later Nonna and Grandma Ang entered the room, Joan standing between them, smiling broadly, holding each woman's hand, all three of them singing Let it Go from Frozen even though not one of them knew all the correct lyrics.
"Well good morning, Peanut," Mary held out her arms and Joan toddled happily towards her. Mary scooped her up and covered her face in kisses.
"Mama ... Two gam-mas," Joan squealed happily.
"Two grandmas?" Mary's exaggerated facial expression made Joan laugh. "How did you get so lucky?"
"Luck-eeeeee."
"We're the lucky ones, bambina," Nonna stated.
"I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable having her in bed with you," Mary said apologetically. "I honestly didn't even hear her getting up … which is kind of scary."
"Nonsense, you were exhausted. You needed your sleep. And she was absolutely fine," Nonna insisted. "I was gonna change her but I wasn't sure which bag was the diaper bag."
"Tell me about it," Steve commiserated. "I've never seen so much gear for such a tiny person. I finally figured out all the diaper related stuff is in the orange one with the yellow ducks."
As soon as Joan heard Steve's voice she reached out her hands for him. "Unca Teeve."
"Since you know exactly where everything is, Uncle Steve, you can take the first diaper change of the day," Mary said as she passed her squirming daughter to her brother.
Catherine chuckled. "You kind of walked right into that one."
Forty-five minutes later breakfast was finished and talk turned to plans for the rest of the morning.
"I had Steve and Catherine pick up some extra ingredients at the store," Elizabeth said eagerly. "I thought maybe we could do a little cooking this morning. If you're in the mood that is, Nonna."
"I am always in the mood to cook, bella," Nonna smiled.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
"I promised Mary yesterday that I'd teach her to make lasagna someday," Nonna grinned. "No time like the present. If that's ok with you of course."
"Ok?" Elizabeth said, the anticipation clear on her face. "I'm looking forward to it. I saved room just in case."
"I noticed you only had one helping of my famous, special occasions only home fries made with my secret ingredient," Joseph teased. "Now I know why."
"The home fries were delicious," Angela chimed in. "Any chance we might be able to get you to share the secret ingredient?"
"Well I don't know … " Joseph pretended to contemplate.
Elizabeth leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "The secret ingredient is bacon fat. Which is why the home fries are special occasions only."
Everyone at the table chuckled.
"So ... lasagna for lunch." Steve smiled. "That sounds amazing."
"And turkey tetrazzini from yesterday's leftovers," Catherine added.
He rubbed his hands together. "Two of my favorites."
"Sounds like I better work off breakfast," Sal said. "Luckily I'm used to being surrounded by lots of food and still managing to keep my awesome physique." He puffed out his chest and everyone laughed. "Once you're part of Nonna's family good cooking is a way of life," he smiled fondly at his grandmother-in-law.
"I have an idea how we can work off breakfast AND keep ourselves out of the way while the cooking is going on, "Joseph suggested. "My friend Tom lives on the other side of the neighborhood. He's restoring a 57 T'bird. I thought I might take a walk over this morning and see how it's going. You boys interested in coming with me?"
"Are you kidding?" Sal said. "I'd love to. A 57 T'bird is my dream car. Hardtop or convertible?"
"Convertible," Joseph grinned.
"Be still my heart." Sal sat back in his chair.
"What about you, Steve? You interested?" Joseph was pretty sure he knew the answer.
"Do you even need to ask," Steve grinned then stood up. "Let's clear these dishes and then get out of the ladies' hair."
"Remember," Elizabeth put her hand on her husband's forearm, "you have to be back by noon. You can't be late."
"I remember," he assured her. "I'll keep a close eye on the time."
"Why noon," Catherine asked as she picked up her glass to finish the last of her juice.
"Nothing for you to worry about, sweetie." Elizabeth's eyes darted to Nonna who smiled in return.
Steve leaned over to Catherine. "What's that all about?"
She narrowed her eyes and looked at her parents. "I have no idea but they're definitely up to something."
An hour later the kitchen was abuzz with laughter and activity. Joan was in a booster seat at the table happily playing with Elizabeth's animal shaped cookie cutters while Nonna, Grandma Ang, Catherine, Angela, Mary and Elizabeth worked on lunch.
"Just trust your judgment on the amount of each ingredient," Nonna said as Mary carefully assembled the lasagna. In the interest of time they were using jarred sauce but aside from that it was an authentic Nonna lasagna in every way.
"I just want it to be good," Mary fretted. "The boys are expecting a Nonna lasagna. I'd hate to disappoint them."
"It's nearly impossible to make a bad lasagna," Angela offered as she cut up ingredients for a salad. "I mean not everyone's is as good as Nonna's … that's a given ... but you're doing great. They're gonna love it."
"I hope so." Mary picked up the bowl of cheese mixture and began spooning it some onto the layer she was currently working on.
"Trust your instincts," Grandma Ang smiled as she sliced a loaf of Italian bread which would be become garlic bread. "That's the key."
Nonna nodded in agreement.
"It's the best advice I ever got. In the kitchen and out," Elizabeth smiled fondly at her mother.
The timer on the stove went off letting them know the noodles for the tetrazzini were finished.
"Sit!" Joan said happily, throwing her arms in the air.
Mary chuckled. "That sounds like the bell they use at our library to signal the beginning of story time. Joan knows when she hears that it's time to sit down and be quiet."
"Not right now," Catherine smiled as she placed some of the fruit left over from breakfast in front of Joan. "Right now we're cooking."
"Cooking!" Joan selected a piece of strawberry.
"We'll read stories later," Catherine told her.
"Ok," Joan smiled contentedly.
"She's such an angel," Elizabeth said as she removed the pan from the stove and drained the pasta in the colander she had placed in the sink.
"I love turkey tetrazzini," Nonna said excitedly. "I can't wait to taste it."
"It's our favorite way to use up the leftover turkey," Elizabeth said. "Plus I thought it would be a good chance for Mary to practice working with heavy cream."
"Excellent idea," Nonna nodded. "It can be tricky. It's best to have someone around with some experience on your first try."
Catherine smiled as she watched Mary eagerly soak in every bit of information the older women were willing to give her.
"I hope the boys are having fun working on that car and come home with big appetites," she said.
Elizabeth chuckled. "I'm not sure how much work they're actually doing. Tom's wife Alicia told me he's been restoring that car for ten years, five of them full-time since he retired."
"What?" Catherine laughed. "What's taking so long?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm not exactly sure. All I know is your father goes down and 'helps'," she made air quotes, "at least three times a week. Alicia told me they usually spend about half an hour looking at the car, discussing what needs done next, in great detail, then they take a break and head to the other side of the garage that has conveniently been converted into a man cave and watch ESPN in the giant tv."
Angela laughed. "ESPN. It's like Sesame Street for grown men. Turn it on and they'll stare at the screen for hours. Sal will watch a game, then watch people talk about everything that happened in the game, then watch replays of all the key plays in the game. It never ends."
"Is he a Jets fan?" Elizabeth asked.
"Oh yeah. A big one," Angela nodded.
"Ah well … he'll be the tiebreaker then." Elizabeth began removing the ingredients for the tetrazzini from the refrigerator. "Usually Tom and Joseph are at a stalemate. Jets versus Bears. This time Joseph is gonna be outnumbered."
"Maybe Steve will take Joseph's side," Angela chuckled.
Catherine shook her head. "No way. Steve is a Redskins fan. Has been since our days at the Academy. Besides, he'll probably actually work on the car," she chuckled.
"Alicia would love that," Elizabeth smiled. "She'd told me her goal is for Tom to get it running before she's too old to drive it."
At noon, exactly as requested, the men came through the door, Joseph and Sal continuing their debate as to whether the Jets or Bears had the better draft. As the men entered the kitchen Steve snagged a piece of tomato from the cutting board in front of Angela then kissed Catherine on the cheek.
"You should see that car, babe. I need to get one of those." Sal's eyes danced and his excitement was clear.
"For you to fix up in all your spare time," Angela teased. Between work, home and family Sal was scheduled pretty tightly and what little spare time he did have Angela wanted to save for them to do things together. She didn't want him sequestered in the garage working on a rusty old car.
"I'd make the time," Sal promised.
Angela sighed. He looked like a small boy begging for a puppy. "Wash up for lunch, please." She kissed him on the cheek.
"So you're saying maybe?" he asked hopefully.
Angela shook her head.
"Steve has a Marquis he's restoring," Sal added. "He said he'd let me drive it if we ever visit Hawaii."
"Stop corrupting my husband, McGarrett," Angela warned. "I don't need some old junker car cluttering up my garage."
"It's not junk. It's a classic, " Steve grinned.
"Just stop it," Angela smiled. "Or no lasagna for you."
Twenty minutes later everyone was seated at the table in the dining room when Elizabeth entered carrying her laptop and a brightly wrapped box. Catherine looked around and got the feeling she and Steve were the only ones who didn't know what was about to happen.
"What's going on, Mom?" she asked.
"One minute, sweetie," Elizabeth smiled as she stood beside Joseph at the head of the table. "Before we eat we have a little piece of business to take care of."
She tapped a few keys on her laptop and her face broke into a wide smile. She turned the screen towards the rest of the table. "Say hello," she bubbled happily.
"Hello everyone," the smiling face of Grace Williams greeted them. "I'm on the Skype," she giggled.
"Gracie," Steve looked at Catherine and her look of shock matched his own. "What's going on?"
"Gwace," Joan shrieked.
"That's right, that's Grace," Mary said as she kissed Joan on the cheek. "But we need to be quiet while she talks to Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine."
"Shhhhh," Joan whispered.
"Originally Aunt Elizabeth was just going to give you my surprise herself but then she texted me last night and said that Nonna was sleeping over and so were Aunt Angela and Uncle Sal so Danno said I could get up early and be on Skype when Aunt Elizabeth gives you the box."
Grace could barely contain her excitement and even from thousands of miles away Steve and Catherine could picture her bouncing in her chair.
"I don't understand." Catherine still couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening. "Is this the special project you've been working on for weeks?"
"Yes," Grace nodded with a huge grin.
"But you were working to get money for that," Steve said. "You shouldn't be spending your money on us."
"I wanted to," Grace said adamantly in a tone that sounded so much like Nonna it made everyone smile. "As a thank you for all the things you guys for me."
"You don't need to thank us for that, Gracie," Steve said sincerely, wishing he could reach through the computer and hug her.
"We love you and we love spending time with you," Catherine said as Steve slipped his hand in hers and laced their fingers together.
"I love you too," Grace beamed. "Which is why I wanted to do this. Nonna?"
"Yes, bambina?" Nonna responded.
"Can you please tell Uncle Steve and Auntie Catherine to just accept the gift gracefully?"
"You heard my brilliant great-granddaughter," Nonna said.
"Excellent," Elizabeth smiled. "Now that that's settled ..." She took the box wrapped in brightly colored paper and handed it to Catherine. "Here you go."
"This paper is beautiful," Catherine said as she ran her hands across the top of the package.
"We get no credit for that," Joseph replied. "That was all Grace too. She sent along the box and the wrapping paper and everything. All we had to do was gather a few items together and wrap the package."
"I can't believe you went to all this trouble," Catherine said as she placed the box between herself and Steve.
"Just open it so I can get my kid to school on time." Danny's face appeared beside Grace's on the screen.
"Don't rush us," Steve replied with a smile.
He and Catherine slid their fingers under the tape and tore the wrapping paper together, then Steve carefully lifted the lid off the box.
"Oh my," Catherine's hand went to her mouth and tears immediately filled her eyes. "Gracie ..."
"This is amazing," Steve said, his voice filled with awe, as he dropped his arms across Catherine's shoulders. "Really amazing. And incredibly thoughtful."
Neither Steve nor Catherine could take their eyes off the contents of the box.
Three new spindle solar lights to add to the path at the beach house.
Each personalized.
One from Aunt Deb, Mary and Joan.
One from Nonna and the Williams family.
One from Grandma Ang and the Rollins'.
"These are gorgeous," Catherine said with a quivering voice as she lifted one of the spindles and noticed they were all, just like the ones already in place, filled with reminders of the maker.
"You like them," Grace asked nervously.
"We love them," Steve and Catherine assured her in unison. "They're perfect."
"I added the Bingo chip to ours after your win the other night." Grandma Ang winked at Steve.
"And are those little snowballs?" Steve looked at Williams family spindle.
"In honor of our epic battle," Angela smiled. "Though you'll probably have to explain to the people in Hawaii what a snowball is."
"We all talked and decided … well we thought … " Mary struggled for words.
"We all agreed on the message we wanted to include so we split it up amongst the three spindles," Elizabeth smiled fondly at Mary. "Read them in order."
Steve looked at the first spindle, Mary, Joan and Aunt Deb's and read aloud, "'Family isn't always blood.'"
Catherine picked up with the message on the Williams family spindle. "'It's the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are."
Steve read the Rollins' spindle, the final one, with a lump in his throat. "The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what."
"These are ... thank you everyone," Steve said sincerely as he looked around the table. "And thank you Gracie."
"We'll treasure these forever," Catherine said as she ran her fingers over each spindle. "And we owe you a big hug when we get home, Gracie."
"I'm just glad you like them," Grace responded happily.
"We do," Steve assured her.
"I can tell by the look on your faces," Danny said. "Much different than the look on your faces in the picture Mary texted us a few days ago."
"What picture?" Steve looked at Mary accusingly but she just smiled. She couldn't resist sending Danny, Kono and Chin the picture of Steve and Catherine's faces when Aunt Deb was questioning them about a wedding date.
"Someday you're gonna have to explain why both of you looked so shocked," Danny teased.
"Danny … "Steve's voice took on a mock warning tone.
"Gotta go," Danny laughed. "Gotta get my kid to school. Enjoy your lunch everyone and Nonna please let us know when you get back to New Jersey safely."
"I will, nipote." Nonna smiled. "You have a good day. And you too, bambina. Study hard at school."
"I will. Bye everyone." Grace disconnected the call and Elizabeth closed her laptop with a smile.
"Ok everyone, let's eat."
THE END
"Family isn't always blood, it's the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are, the ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what." Maya Angelou.
REAL McRollers! We want to hear your favorite moments from the last year of REAL World stories.
Check out the endnotes for each story during the Anniversary McRollathon for a prompt and leave your favorites in a review, on Twitter (#REALMcRoller), on Tumblr (mcrollintherealworld at tumblr dot com), or send us an email (realmcroll at yahoo dot com).
Today: What are your favorite REAL World food related moments?
I have a few:
Steve trying to diplomatically pick a favorite cook in The Question
The entire Thanksgiving meal in the Ilna's epic Thankful
Steve and Catherine's affinity for chocolate sauce in many stories but especially Oblivious: Taken
Steve reading his fortune in Fortune Cookie
And that's just to list a few! I could go on and on and on . . .
Now let's hear from you REALMcRollers
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