Summary: Steve and Catherine have dinner after the events in 3.04 – Popilikia (Misfortune)

Note: Just a short one this time. I'm officially awful with titles – I had no idea what to call this.

Disclaimer: You all know the characters aren't mine.

Made It to Dinner

"I'm impressed," Catherine began, folding her napkin and placing it on the table next to her empty plate. "Not only did we make it to the restaurant, but this has to be your quickest repayment of a favor on record."

"You're lucky we didn't hit a drive-thru somewhere after you abandoned me yesterday morning," Steve accused with a smirk.

She tried for incredulity but couldn't completely contain a smile. "I told you I had a briefing."

"Yeah, what time?" he asked skeptically.

She paused, squirming a little under his gaze. "1100," she admitted finally.

"Right."

"You needed to talk to your mother alone," she insisted.

He looked away, his eyes darkening a fraction. "Yeah, a lot of good that did."

Catherine lowered her voice. "She tell you anything about why she let Wo Fat escape?"

Steve sighed, looking back at her. "She claims they struggled for the gun and that's how it went off. That she wasn't aiming."

"I was up there barely seconds after the shots were fired, Steve. I just don't see how he could've gotten out the window and cleared the yard that fast," she said, shaking her head.

He nodded his agreement. "Yeah."

Catherine paused, watching him. "You don't believe her."

"No."

"Why would she lie about what happened?"

"I don't know," he replied, his frustration evident.

"What are you gonna do, Steve?"

He paused, but when he answered, his voice was resolute. "Keep digging. Until I get to the truth."

She nodded. "All right. Let me know if there's anything I can do."

He gave her a half smile. "Thanks, Cath." He straightened, nodding over her shoulder. She glanced over and saw their server approaching.

"How was everything tonight?" the young man asked, placing the check holder on the table.

Catherine smiled at him. "Very good, thank you."

Steve pulled out his wallet, producing a few bills and placing them in the check holder before handing it back to the server.

"I'll be back with your change, sir."

Steve nodded his response before turning back to Catherine.

"But back to the other morning, you're not . . . ashamed or anything, right?"

"Of course not," she was quick to respond. "It's not that, it's just, it is a little embarrassing to meet your mother for only the second time wearing . . . very little, having obviously," she motioned vaguely and he raised his eyebrows, "stayed the night," she finished with a smile. She rolled her eyes as she continued. "The baseball bat didn't help either."

"I told you to stay upstairs," he reminded her with a small grin.

"Like that was gonna happen."

He acknowledged her point with a nod.

"So, yeah," she continued. "It was a little embarrassing, I mean, especially after how I met your sister."

Steve scratched his neck, a little sheepish. "I said I was sorry about that. I forgot to mention she was staying. I was a little distracted that night," he pointed out.

She smiled. "I mean, at least your mom didn't get there till the morning." She stopped, narrowing her eyebrows. "She didn't get there till the morning, right?"

"Yeah," he replied quickly. "I'm sure we would have heard her if she came in during the night." He paused and she looked at him. "Reasonably sure."

She shook her head, chuckling as she looked down.

She glanced back up at him, more serious now. "Speaking of your sister . . . now that it looks like your mom's hanging around, are you gonna call her?

"Yeah. I've been thinking about that. I honestly don't know how Mary's gonna react."

"Probably like you: with a lot of questions."

"Questions Doris won't answer."

Catherine sighed, acknowledging he was probably right about that.

They fell silent again as the server returned.

"Thank you for coming in tonight," he said, leaving the check holder on the table.

"Thank you," Steve returned before the young man turned away. Steve pulled a few bills from the holder to leave as a tip before placing the rest in his wallet. He glanced over at Catherine. "You wanna go to yours?" he asked, putting his wallet back in his pocket.

She laughed. "Oh, now who's embarrassed?"

He held out his arms. "Hey, I'm not embarrassed. Challenge accepted, Lieutenant. If you wanna go back to the house and–"

She laughed, waving a hand. "No, no. No challenge, Commander. We'll go to mine."

He raised his eyebrows. She smiled, leaning forward conspiratorially. "I don't want to have to be quiet."

He grinned in response, quirking his eyebrows in anticipation.

As they stood, pushing in their chairs, she looked over at him. "Besides, you're one to talk about embarrassment. Do I need to remind you of the first time you met my father?"

He pointed at her. "Hey, you were sworn to secrecy about that."

"I have never revealed the incident to anyone," she said as they started for the door. "Although Danny has been bugging me for ammunition to use against you."

"I'll bet he has. And anyway, we were a lot younger then," he said defensively, opening the door.

"Not that much younger," she countered. "Don't worry, sailor. Your secret is safe with me," she said with a smile, walking past him.

Steve touched her arm and Catherine turned back.

"I know."

She tilted her head at his serious tone, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared and he smiled.

"Let's go," he said. He shook his head and his smiled turned sly. "I don't want to be quiet either."

Hope you enjoyed!