I love the relationship Sammy created between Samantha and Catherine and wanted to do a story based on it, so thank you, Sammy! Samantha and Catherine's interaction started with my amazing birthday story
Sammy & Ilna, you not only make me smile daily, but inspire me as well. Thank you for your friendship & support.
#REALMcRollers, readers, reviewers, and guests: as always, thank you for your love and support of the REAL World. You brighten our days!
Xoxo Mari
Questions for Catherine
McGarrett/Rollins Residence
Samantha Grover bit her bottom lip while smiling. "… and I thought maybe you could … I mean … I shouldn't have said anything, but once I did, she asked me to ask you and then I thought, no because if I say 'I'm asking for a friend' who believes that? Right? Nobody believes that, even if it's totally true, and …"
"Samantha…"
"… so I then said I'd ask you if you would talk to her and I told her how you're super nice, really nice and brave and smart and not judgmental or anything and how you and the commander are so perfect together and …"
"Samantha." As Catherine placed a hand on the girl's forearm to stop the flood of words, a small smile graced her lips. She'd been listening to Samantha for three minutes and she still had no idea what the girl was getting at. Other than it concerned her best friend, Jenny Riggins and Jenny's eighteen year old sister, Carly.
"What? Oh, sorry." Samantha looked startled.
"Honey, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Samantha took a deep breath. "Maybe this was a bad idea, I should …" She made to stand up to leave, but Catherine's hand on her arm stopped her.
"You've come this far, at least let me know what you're not telling me before you go." Catherine grinned and Samantha relaxed. "Besides, your dad's not due back for half an hour.
"Okay. Thanks." They were seated on the sofa. Samantha asked if her dad would drop her there for a bit so she could talk to Catherine about school. As soon as Catherine saw the girl's demeanor and tense posture she knew schoolwork was the last thing on her mind. She also knew it couldn't be too serious a situation because while Samantha looked up to and liked Catherine she would absolutely go to her mom if it was a matter of grave importance.
She glanced toward the back of the house. "The Commander's not gonna come back right away, is he?"
"No, Steve's not due home for an hour at least. Samantha, Honey, what is it?"
"Okay. Jenny, my best friend, you met her at my house, right?" When Catherine nodded, she continued. Her hands were plucking at the frayed fringe of her denim shorts. "Well her sister, Carly, she's eighteen and …" Samantha took a deep breath. "She has questions about … sex … not about well, the um stuff they teach us in health, but about what people say, other girls. None of us know what to believe, none of us has …" She shrugged. "There's a lot of stuff online, but you can't really search for, like, a legit reason, because then you get all this creepy porn stuff and it plants cookies and that's not cool."
"You're exactly right. A lot of what's online is embellished and untrue, it's best not to believe everything you read there. But I don't have to tell you that, you're a smart girl." Catherine smiled. "Samantha, what exactly are you asking me here?" Catherine's mind was racing as to how she'd appropriately handle delicate questions from other people's kids. "Do you girls have specific questions?"
Yes!" Samantha breathed sigh of relief when Catherine got it. "Yes. And I thought you're smart and nice and cool enough that you'd answer with the truth. Do you think … maybe …?"
Catherine's sigh matched Samantha's. "I'd be happy to; you said Carly's eighteen, right?" She confirmed the girls weren't too young for the information they were inquiring about. Samantha nodded and she continued, "Alright, then why don't you invite her over and I'll…"
"No!" Samantha's whisper made the word no less fervent. "I mean, not at my house! Oh my God, can you imagine if my Dad overheard? He'd freak out."
Catherine smiled again. "Okay, okay, tell you what. You can ask her to come here. We'll talk. And I'll answer whatever I can."
She was nearly bowled over by Samantha's enthusiastic hug. "Thank you! You're awesome. But …" Her eyes flicked to the door.
"I'll make sure Steve's not home when she comes over." Catherine grinned when she relaxed. "And Samantha?'
"Yeah?"
"I'll talk to Carly, but understand, Honey, I may not tell her what she wants to hear, but I promise I'll tell her the truth, okay?"
"Okay. That's great. Okay." Samantha agreed.
/
McGarrett/Rollins Residence
One week later
7:00 p.m.
"I could stay in the den while they're here and clean up later." Steve said as he surveyed the kitchen. Catherine had tried one of Nonna's recipes, zuppa di pesce, a thick fish soup ladled over bread, and there was quite a few pots in the sink and several dishes. "I hate to leave you to clean all this up. Dinner was incredible. Thanks."
She smiled. "Thank you. I wanted to make it before we go to Nonna's, Danny said she makes it over the holidays and I wanted to practice before I help."
He smiled at her enthusiasm to make any recipe Nonna gave her. "So I should clean up. House rules, Rollins."
"Steve, go." She brushed her lips against his. "I appreciate it, I do. But I'm just gonna toss these in the dishwasher and meet with Samantha's friends."
"And it's so top secret I can't even be hom …" He stopped at her amused look.
Suddenly, he got it.
And his desire to be home during their visit was gone.
"Oh. In that case, thanks again for a great dinner." He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. "I'll clean up next time I cook." They shared another lingering kiss. "And I'm getting the hell outta dodge." He felt her smile against his lips.
"Thank you. Don't make me feel like I'm throwing you out, you have plans with Danny later, anyway."
"We're gonna go to the junkyard and look for a couple of parts for the Marquis. Chin's friend got a shipment of vintage car parts and he knows I'm always looking so he called me. I'll just stop by Danny's earlier and say hi to Gracie. I'll back in a couple of hours."
"Have fun. Tell Grace I said hi."
Steve turned to leave after bending to ruffle Cammie's fur. He'd walked a few paces before he turned back. "Cath?"
Catherine put the dish she was holding into the dishwasher and looked up. "Yeah?"
"Samantha's sixteen and her friend's sister is older, right?" His forehead was creased and Catherine grinned.
"Yes. Why?"
"Aren't they … I mean don't they already get …"
"Their periods?" Her grin grew at his discomfort. Steve was rarely uncomfortable and she thought he looked adorable on the rare occasion that he was. "Yes."
"Then, what … why …? You know what? Never mind." He'd made it to the front door before she followed him into the living room.
Steve was turning the knob, holding his keys when Catherine said, "Sex."
The keys nearly slipped from his hand. "What?"
"The girls' questions. They're not about periods, they have questions about sex. Apparently Jenny's older sister feels like she may be ready to have sex with her boyfriend and has questions that they couldn't get answers to. I said I'd be willing to have that conversation and …"
"No, stop. Stop right there." He shook his head.
Catherine full on laughed. "Why?"
"Because it involves Lou Grover's daughter, Catherine. If he asks, I want plausible deniability." He smirked, closed the space between them and wrapped his arms around her.
She placed another kiss on his lips. "Ah, so do as I say not as I do?" She was chuckling when she pulled back to look in his eyes.
"I'm sure as far as Lou is concerned on the topic of his daughter; it's more like do nothing until you're forty." They heard a car door slam and saw Samantha and two other girls get out and approach the door. "And there's my cue to leave." He opened the door and greeted the teens "Hi, Samantha, hello, girls. I was just leaving."
"Hi Commander. Bye Commander." Samantha giggled. "These are my friends Jenny and Carly."
Steve smiled at them, thinking they looked so incredibly young. "Nice to meet you." He lifted his eyes to Catherine's, "I'll be home in a couple of hours." He pantomimed 'text me when it's clear' over the girls' heads as they greeted her, and walked out to his truck.
/
The three teens hung back until Catherine told them to please come inside and have a seat. Once the sisters met Cammie, the ice was broken, and they asked about her and made a fuss over how pretty she was.
They nibbled on the snacks Catherine put on the coffee table and all three huddled together on the sofa while she pulled the chair closer and sat down. The girls looked as different as sisters possibly could. While Jenny had olive skin, short dark hair in a modified pixie cut and huge brown eyes, Carly shared her sister's height and slim build but her complexion was as fair as Catherine's. Her curly auburn hair was in a messy topknot and she had bright hazel eyes.
Jenny shrugged, "Yeah, we look nothing alike. Everyone notices." She giggled nervously and they chatted a few minutes about liking Steve and Catherine's house and how their family lived on the island because their dad, a retired army colonel, and mom, an army doctor who was still serving, had been stationed there for years.
When Carly explained that she felt she might be ready to take the next step with her boyfriend of a year, another honors student who was a good kid, Catherine asked her if she minded the others being there while they talked.
"Um, no. it's okay. I tell Jenny everything anyway. We're kind of like twins; we're only fifteen months apart. And Samantha's kinda become like another sister."
"Alright then, what is it you want to know that you didn't learn in health or from your folks?"
Carly looked at her hands until Samantha said, "People say all kinds of stuff, Catherine, and we got to talking and we really just don't know what to believe. I told Jenny and Carly I trusted you and that if you'd talk to us, Carly could figure out some things and we'd get our questions answered, too."
Flattered that Samantha felt she could come to her and glad the girls were responsible enough to ask a trusted adult and not another kid, Catherine said, "I understand you have questions, and I'll answer them honestly and as best I can, but I want to point out two things before we go any further."
Three pairs of eyes followed her every gesture.
"First, you should never do anything you don't feel comfortable with, ever. Sexually or otherwise. And second, if and when you do have sex, you use birth control.
One hundred percent of the time.
Every single time. I can't stress that enough.
Until you're planning on making a child that you're emotionally and financially stable enough to support. That's not a variable. Neither is using condoms in addition to any other type of birth control you use.
That's also not a variable. You use them every single time. Your number one priority is to keep yourself safe and healthy, okay?"
"Um, yes. Okay." Carly looked at Catherine, then her sister, and nodded apprehensively.
"I'm not trying to scare you, Carly; I'm just making sure you realize the importance of being safe and not bringing a child into a situation that's unfair. To the child, to you, or to your parents."
Catherine touched the girl's hand, and after a deep breath, the questions began in earnest.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"Is there gonna be much … blood?"
"What if afterwards, the guy doesn't like you anymore?"
Catherine looked the girls in the eyes one by one, and began to tackle their questions.
/
/
McGarrett/Rollins Residence
9:10 p.m.
Steve arrived home an hour after the girls left. They'd thanked Catherine profusely and she'd advised them to call her if they had any more questions or didn't quite understand something they'd discussed. She was honest and open but not graphic and she thought the girls seemed okay with what they'd learned.
"Catherine?!" Steve called as he set the alarm and greeted Cammie. The dog had descended the stairs to greet him when he'd entered, so he knew Catherine was upstairs.
"In the bedroom!" Her voice carried down to him, "Cammie's been walked, come on up."
Steve found her resting against the headboard and a stack of pillows, reading her Kindle, which she put aside when he walked in and crossed to her. "Hey." She tilted her face up and cupped his cheek to return his kiss. "Find anything?"
"Yeah, we scored. Radio knobs and a hood latch. I'll show you tomorrow." Steve pulled his T-shirt off and disappeared into the bathroom, calling, "Do I want to know how your visit went?" over the sound of running water.
/
Less than five minutes later, Steve joined her in bed and Catherine slid down to face him with a smirk. "How much do you wanna hear?"
"Not really sure."
He looked so serious; Catherine couldn't suppress a bigger smile. "It wasn't that bad, Steve. They asked legitimate questions. About the kinds of things all girls worry about but never get a straight answer to."
Steve regarded her with knitted brows. "Don't make me sorry I asked this, but, like what?"
"Like, does it hurt? Am I going to bleed a lot? What if I don't like it? Typical stuff."
"That's … typical?"
"For girls, yeah." Catherine rolled her eyes at Steve's adorably befuddled look.
"I thought they were gonna ask … I don't know, about birth control."
"Of course I started and ended the discussion by telling them they have to be safe every time. No excuses, ever. But I was just reiterating what they learned in school. They wanted to know what the schools don't teach. Anything that got too personal I redirected or said just that."
"Personal?" He looked horrified, "about us, personal?"
"Most of it was fine. Like they wanted to know what I thought after my first time, did my boyfriend still like me, was I all crazy in love at the time, oh, and was it …" She winked, "with you. Samantha asked that one."
"She did not. Now you're busing me." Steve looked at her skeptically.
"Nope. Not busting. She asked if you were my first boyfriend. Apparently, Grace told her at my birthday dinner that we were together forever. Forever to a sixteen year old means just that. And they all think you're cute, by the way. For a guy your age. Jenny said she'd bet you were a good kisser, 'you know, not all sloppy-like'." Catherine laughed and said, "I confirmed your kisses were definitely not all-sloppy-like," and noted the tiny glint of pride in his eyes before he looked embarrassed. She placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"You didn't discuss …" He asked when she pulled out of the kiss. "… I know you wouldn't tell them anything too … because Lou's kid was there and I have to see her…" A flummoxed Steve McGarrett was just too lovable to resist. Catherine leaned in and kissed him again, chuckling when they broke apart. "Relax; I didn't give them any details. They're kids, Steve. I told them the truth."
Steve did relax but looked just slightly less uncomfortable than when any period talk came up between Catherine and Kono at work. A simple, 'Hey Cath, got any tampons?' would have him out of the room in seconds. "What exactly …" He shook his head. "You're something, you know that, Rollins? How are you so comfortable discussing sex with these kids?"
"Because, I'm impressed they asked an adult, and flattered Samantha trusts me. And I thought they deserved and honest dialogue. I wish someone had told me and my friends half the stuff they asked."
"Would you have done anything … differently?" Steve looked suddenly concerned. "You didn't have a … bad experience or anything? I mean …" Worry crossed his handsome face and Catherine's heart melted a bit.
"No! No, Steve. It was … fine." She knew exactly what he'd get from her use of that particular word and she gave him a soft smile. "I was ready and it was my decision." She saw him settle. "It just would have been nice to have been a little better informed. Not about the stuff my mom or the health ed. teacher explained, just … girls that age tend to embellish, not necessarily like guys do, but honest answers would have been great."
"Embellish?"
"Embellish. Some tell horror stories; some rewrite the last romance novel they read. Not many admit the truth is different for everyone and is somewhere in between." She grinned. "Like I told the girls tonight, most women aren't any more or less infatuated with the guy afterwards. First times aren't like the movies. It's usually awkward and somewhat uncomfortable and for some girls it does hurt, especially if they're really tense.
And honestly, do you know what most of the friends I've discussed it with thought right afterwards? They thought, 'That's it?'" She shrugged.
"Okay that's wrong." Steve couldn't hide a grin.
"Only if they said it to the guy's face." Her grin matched Steve's.
"Not funny, Rollins." He was laughing when he pulled her into his arms. "You're beautiful, and those girls are lucky to have you to talk to. But I feel the need defend my entire gender by reminding you that most eighteen year old guys can't pride themselves on staying power."
Catherine barked a laugh. "Yeah, well luckily … some things improve with age."
Steve's eyes crinkled in a grin. "I'd be happy to validate that theory."
Catherine reached over him and switched off the light. "You have. Repeatedly." She snuggled back into his Steve's embrace. "You know …"
"Hmmm?" He'd lowered his head and was placing kisses along her collarbone.
"I hope I covered everything."
"What?" He lifted his head to look in her eyes. "I'm sure you did. And I'm sure Samantha won't hesitate to call you if she has more questions." He grinned at her. "Are we done taking about Lou's kid, here?" He teased, "Because I've got other things I'd like to … discuss with you." His lips resumed their path.
"Good," Catherine hummed and her fingers found their way into his hair when Steve's kisses trailed down to her breasts, but she went on to say, "I just hope Grace is comfortable enough to come to me when …"
Steve's head shot up like he'd been struck by lightning. "What?!" His voice was strangled. "No! No, no. That's years away. Years, Catherine I …"
She smiled apologetically because he looked completely stricken. "Awww I know, and I didn't mean next week, I just meant …"
"Gracie's only … she's twelve, Cath." He all but sputtered.
"And in a few short years she'll be a senior. I just want her to know she can ask me anything; in the future, Steve."
"The future, that's … that's good." Steve exhaled and relaxed his arms to close the space between them. He'd locked his elbows to where he was hovering a foot above Catherine when the thought of Gracie asking about anything remotely connected to sex had hit him like a torrent of ice water. "And I'm really glad she has you, but…" Steve shook his head as if physically erasing the thought. "Can we not discuss it right … now?" He nodded to indicate their current position.
Catherine shook her head. "If mentioning it makes you get like this, God help Grace when you and Danny tag team her first boyfriend." She laughed, and placing her hands on his face, kissed him softly. "Makes you a little more sympathetic for my dad during your first meeting, huh?"
"What?" He shifted his weight to one side and drew her in close. They were touching head to toe, their noses inches apart.
"Because, as much as he liked and respected you, until he considered us serious, which was probably sometime around last Tuesday …" She winked to make sure he knew she was teasing. The Rollins' approval was very important to Steve, and they did love and respect him. "You were still that guy," She ran her foot up and down the back of Steve's calf as she talked, "who was having sex with his little girl."
Steve nodded and his lips twitched up in a grin. "Never really thought about it like that before …"
"Danny's gonna think about it like that forever, and now so are you, but promise you won't make Grace crazy?"
"I'll try. But you promise no details if you learn them, ever. None. Ever, okay?" He tilted his head in thought. "I'm not still that guy, right?"
"My God, no. Not for a long, long time. Besides, even if you had been, my moving in here would've changed that. Dad knows I'd never do that on a whim, or for convenience. You adding me to the deed and us sharing the mortgage? If we weren't written in stone for my dad before, he knows it's 'for keeps' now as we used to say as kids. You're stuck with me, Commander." Her kiss was intense.
"Can't think of a better fate," Steve panted, his smile beautiful and genuine.
"Me either. And I promise any gory details I get from a grown up Grace will never leave my lips."
"Thank you." Steve sighed in relief. "Now, can we change this discussion because I can't think about Gracie growing up and … I can't think about that, not for years."
"What would you rather … discuss?"
"We have lots of things to discuss." His voice took on a familiar timbre. They were literally nose to nose and Steve shifted them and kissed her fervently.
Catherine matched his tone when he broke the kiss to start a path down her neck. "Just discuss?" Her hands slid along his back to his butt and she smiled and pulled him closer.
After a low moan, he found his voice. "It's a very detailed discussion." He murmured against her breast. "It comes with a demonstration."
"That so?" Catherine's breath hitched.
"That's definitely so."
"Then by all means, Commander, the floor is yours."
.
End. Thanks for reading.