Steve stumbled into the kitchen and immediately made a beeline for the coffee pot. He blinked blearily and went through the motions of pouring the grounds into the pot and plugging it into the wall.
"What are you doing?"
He jumped and landed in a defensive position at the unexpected whisper. He squinted into the darkness and muttered, "Cath? Why are you up?"
His wife raised an eyebrow at him. She looked him up and down and Steve sheepishly fell out of the defensive stance and leaned back against the counter. "I could ask you the same thing," she whispered back.
"I couldn't sleep," he confessed, yawning. It had been a long few nights in the McGarrett household - Poppy has brought home a stomach bug from kindergarten and within a weekend, all four members of the family had been competing for time in the bathroom. It had been a long and gross week.
"So you figured coffee was a good idea?" Catherine laughed. She set the mug in her hands on the kitchen table and walked over to lean against Steve. He wrapped an arm around her back and rested his cheek against the top of her head.
Tilting his chin at the mug she abandoned, he retorted, "Like you can talk. You made your own mug."
"Tea," Catherine mumbled into his shirt. "Chamomile. Couldn't sleep either."
"Oh." Steve rubbed his free hand over his face, trying to shake off some of the exhaustion. Tea was probably a better idea than coffee. But it was probably too late for that, he realized, listening to the coffee maker percolating happily. "Why can't you sleep?"
He felt Catherine shrug against his side. Her hands were resting against his hip and her fingers lazily played with the hem of his shirt. He knew she had to be exhausted. While he was happy to run back and forth getting the kids whatever they needed in between throwing up, JR and Poppy had really only wanted their mom to cuddle with. So, while Steve had been able to at least grab a few, intermittent hours of sleep on the couch, Catherine had been holed up in the king-sized master bed with both kids vying for her attention and comfort. Not to mention, she seemed to have been hit harder by the stomach bug, bolting for the bathroom multiple times an hour.
Catherine's weight was getting heavier against his side, a sign that she was falling asleep. Steve held in a light laugh - yeah, his wife was definitely stubborn as hell. Of course she was exhausted, she just didn't want to admit it. He gently started steering her towards the living room, hoping to at least get her to lie on the couch for a couple of hours before the kids woke up. She grumbled incoherently as they moved, and Steve shushed her - already 75% of the way to the couch.
"Just get a couple hours of sleep, Cath," he mumbled. "I can handle the kids."
She blinked one eye open and regarded him seriously. "No you can't. Babies want their mom," her voice was sleep-slurred and Steve laughed openly at her tone.
He gently sat her down on the couch and she reclined automatically, tugging one of the throw pillows under her head.
"I've got this, babe. They're functioning at half-capacity anyway," he joked, pulling a throw blanket over her body and gently tucking it around her shoulders. Eddie ambled lazily from his bed in the corner and climbed up onto the couch to curl against Catherine's legs. Steve spared a head scratch for the dog and mumbled, "good boy."
"So're you," Catherine mumbled into the pillow. Her eyes were shut and her face was already relaxing as sleep overtook her. Steve leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"That's what the coffee's for," he teased. Catherine exhaled heavily through her nose and buried her face in the pillow, out like a light within seconds.
Steve raised an eyebrow and said to himself, "Guess that chamomile worked."
He made sure the blanket was secure around her shoulders and then padded back into the kitchen for his coffee.
A sudden crash roused Catherine from her sleep. She jolted up on the couch, displacing Eddie onto the floor. He whined at her and she murmured an apology to the old dog. Leaving the blanket on the couch, she got up and headed for the kitchen - the apparent source of the noise.
Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't her husband and kids covered in flour. Three sets of eyes immediately found her when she snorted a little laugh.
"Mommy!" Poppy beamed and shimmied off the chair she was standing on, making a beeline for Catherine. "Daddy said we had to be quiet 'cause you were sleepin' but now you're up so we can be loud!"
Catherine laughed and lifted the little girl onto her hip, brushing some of the flour off of her cheeks. "You guys look like you're having fun. What was I missing?"
"Pancakes," Steve grinned widely, lifting his hands to display a bag of chocolate chips and a container of blueberries. "Chocolate or blueberry?"
"Pick choc'late, Mommy!" Poppy sighed dramatically. "Daddy's gross and wants blueberries."
JR nodded vigorously in agreement. "If you say chocolate, Dad's gotta listen!"
Catherine pretended to consider her options. She winked at Steve and said, "We can't have Dad winning - chocolate chips it is!"
Both kids cheered, so much more animated than they had been yesterday, and Steve pretended to be upset that he had lost. He slowly, faux-grudgingly opened the chocolate chips. "Are you sure?" he teased. "I think blueberries are better in pancakes!"
He held the container of blueberries over the bowl and pretended that he was going to pour them into the batter.
JR and Poppy protested, the latter sliding out of Catherine's grip so she could run over to Steve and join her brother in begging for the chocolate chips. Catherine hung back and watched Steve tease the kids, eventually giving in and lifting them both so Poppy could pour the chips into the bowl and JR could stir them in. A smile stretched across her tired face, one hand absently going to rest on her stomach. Steve looked up at her, grinning. His eyes flickered down, clocked her hand's resting place, and flickered back up. His happy grin slipped into a questioning tilt of his lips.
Catherine bit her lip and nodded slightly, just once.
His eyes widened and the smile returned. Catherine could tell he wanted to say something, but JR interrupted him, patting his cheek and saying, "Dad, I'm hungry. Let's get a move on."
Both adults laughed at their 6-year-old's serious tone. Steve nodded and let both kids slide to the floor. "You got it, kid. Why don't you and Poppy go wash up and I'll get cooking?"
Catherine knew it was a weak attempt at getting the kids out of the room so he could talk to her. But, as usual, the kids interrupted his best laid plans.
Poppy pouted. "No, I wanna watch!" she stomped her foot and gripped the fabric of Steve's sweatpants in her sticky hand. Steve sighed.
"Pull a chair over, Pop," he said. "But you have to be careful and do what I say, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy!" Poppy agreed happily, dragging a chair over and clambering up to watch Steve cook the pancakes. JR ambled over curiously, munching on a handful of chocolate chips. Steve explained what he was doing as he did it, the kids eating up all of the attention.
An hour and a half later, breakfast was cleaned up and the kids were camped out in the living room, watching cartoons. They had begged Steve to set them up with a fort, so he built a structure out of cushions and blankets. Poppy and JR had immediately burrowed inside, snuggling among the blankets and pillows.
Confident that they would be occupied for at least an hour, Steve left them and found Catherine folding laundry in their bedroom. He stood in the doorway, just watching her for a minute.
She looked up and smiled. "Hey there, Commander."
"Hi," he replied, smiling softly. He took a step forward.
Catherine bit her lip.
"So," he said, eyes flicking down to her stomach and back up to her eyes.
"So," she repeated, smiling a little nervously.
"Jesus, Catherine," he laughed a little wildly. "Another baby?"
She nodded, tearing up from the hormones. "Mhm. I know it wasn't planned and -"
Steve strode across the room and cut her off with a kiss. His hand cupped the side of her face, thumb stroking her cheek reverently. She leaned into the kiss, snaking one hand around his back to rest on the waistband of his sweats. When they broke apart, Steve rested his forehead against Catherine's.
"I don't care. We're having another baby," he spoke softly, his lips curving into a smile involuntarily. Catherine giggled a little bit. "I can't believe it," he shook his head.
"I can't believe it either," she replied. "I took a test this morning."
It clicked on Steve's head and he said, "Couldn't sleep?"
Catherine shook her head. "Mhm. I ran out really early and got back quickly. I suspected last week since I was worse off than the rest of you."
Steve pulled her closer and hugged her tightly. "I noticed. But I didn't think anything of it." He shook his head again, still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of a third kid. He wondered who this one would take after.
"God," he said, "I hope it looks like you."
Catherine laughed. "We have some time for that, but I could go for some more of those pancakes. It felt really nice eating solid food finally."
"I," Steve leaned down to kiss Catherine quickly, "can absolutely make that happen."
A/N: I don't know why I'm on such a McRollins kick right now, but I am lol. Have some more family fun and drop me a review to let me know what you think! :)