"So how was your first day?" Steve asked, grinning at her.

Catherine sighed. It had been a long day of standing around outside diplomatic meetings and she was glad she wasn't getting eyeballed any longer for being the only woman in a suit. "It's a big change," she admitted. "But in a good way."

"Yeah? That's good," Steve seemed genuinely pleased for her.

"Billy's already got us another gig, so I'm gonna be quite busy!"

Steve gave her his incredibly sexy half-smile and said, "Good, I'm glad." She couldn't believe he had sat outside on the back-porch waiting for her to come home, it was very unlike him. Yet, she was getting used to the new thoughtful and sensitive side of him that she was seeing more and more now that they lived together, and she certainly wasn't complaining about any of it.

"C'mere," she smiled and gave him a gentle kiss, before pulling away and saying, "I'm going to wash up, will you maybe open us a bottle of wine?" She stepped up to the door and looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah," he said, slightly surprised. She was always more of a beer kind of girl, preferring a casual night of beers at the bar instead of going out to fancy restaurants for expensive dinners, which Steve guessed was one of the things that had made him feel so comfortable with her when they started spending time together years ago. "Red or white?"

"Um, surprise me," she quipped, before disappearing inside the house.

Steve stood there for a few seconds, smiling at her retreating shadow through the frosted glass, when he heard an engine start up and turned around to see Billy waving at him through his car window. He smiled back at Billy - he really wanted to trust him, having trained with him and knowing that he really was a good guy. But he couldn't stop this tiny nagging feeling at the back of his mind that encouraging Catherine to take the job wasn't the smartest move on his part, a feeling that Danny certainly contributed generously to on a daily basis with his constant jibes about Billy. As he watched Billy drive off, he again pushed that nagging insecurity aside, and headed back inside to locate a bottle of wine.

After spending about five minutes rummaging in the kitchen for a decent enough bottle and a couple of wine glasses, he stepped back out into the living room and dropped onto the sofa with a soft sigh. He could hear Catherine moving around in the bedroom upstairs, and guessed she must be just getting out of the shower. He was used to her being home whenever he returned from HQ every night, and he had forgotten the feeling of returning to an empty house after work. It was then that he fully realized how comfortable he was with their living arrangements and the time they spent together, a feeling that he had never experienced with anyone else.

At that moment, Catherine came down the stairs wearing one of his oversized tank tops and a pair of pajama shorts, the scent of her favourite coconut-lime soap preceding her. Grinning at her, he shifted and patted the seat next to him on the sofa. Despite his newfound love of her in a fitting pantsuit that made her look extremely smart, sexy and, he had to admit, alluring, he loved it most when she was in shorts and one of his shirts. They were both the most relaxed and open at home, perhaps due to how they had to refrain from any signs of affection while still in the Navy, and that made their time spent indoors extremely natural, comfortable, and enjoyable..

"Hey," she said, plopping herself down onto the sofa next to him and sinking onto his shoulder. The tips of her hair were still wet, and he inhaled the scent of her citrus shampoo as he put an arm around her and planted a kiss on her head. She turned her head up to look at him and asked, "What about your day? Making progress, I see, in not getting hurt so often."

"Ha ha. Oh you know, same old. Runaway bride who tried to run away from her past, almost dies, but then gets married in the end in the hospital with Danny and I as their only guests," he deadpans. "Long story."

She laughs. "Tell me another day then. I'll probably fall asleep on you if you try to tell me now, I'm too tired," she says, stifling a yawn and leaning back on his shoulder again. "You'd think that this job would be less tiring than Intelligence with all the freedom that we have to make our own schedules now, yet I'm so exhausted."

"Really. Well that's a pity. I was hoping you'd have saved some energy for... other plans," he murmured next to her ear, sliding his hand down to her waist.

"Can't say no to that," she laughed, lifting her head and kissing him deeply on the lips. He breathed in her wonderful mix of coconut and citrus scents, hands slowly getting lost in her thick, dark hair.

She pulled away all of a sudden and he looked at her, confused. "Oh, the wine, I forgot!"

Steve couldn't help but laugh at how she was so concerned over how she had asked him to prepare the wine but had apparently forgotten about it. So had he, and to be honest, it was nowhere near the top of his priorities at the moment.

"It's fine," he said, pulling her closer to him again on the sofa. "It's still in the bottle. Besides, we have better things to do," he grinned at her.

She took the hint and ran her hands down the side of his shirt to find the waistband of his sweatpants. His breath hitched as her right hand slipped underneath, his eyes darkening as he gazed intently into hers.

"Right you are, Commander," she whispered.