Notes: Mari and Sammy – THANK YOU for the help and the squeal-inducing feedback.

Readers and REAL McRollers – One of the most amazing things to me is how thoroughly you've embraced our original characters like Aaron. Thank you for that and for your incredible support of the REAL World. We truly have the best readers I could ever imagine.

Hope you enjoy!

Big Steps (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

After finally getting Joan to settle for the night, Mary and Aaron relaxed on the sofa in her living room. The television was on, but at a low volume. Mary held the remote, idly flipping through channels, and Aaron's arm rested around her shoulders.

"Hey," he began. "So uh . . . remember that company party I mentioned?"

Mary tensed and focused on the remote control in her hand. "Company party?"

"Friday?" he continued, raising his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"Um . . ." she said, wiping at imaginary dust on the buttons with her thumb.

"For the release of the new software?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, right, that company party." She bit her lip, avoiding his eyes.

"You said you weren't sure if you'd be able to go but you'd see," he reminded her.

"Yeah," she said noncommittally.

"That was last week."

"Uh huh."

When she didn't say any more, he prompted, "So . . .?"

She inhaled and sat up, waving a hand. "Oh, I don't know . . . I mean, I'd have to get a sitter for Joan . . ."

"My parents would watch her. You know they would. They love Joan."

"It just . . . doesn't really sound like my scene."

His brow creased. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged dismissively. "It's gonna be a bunch of computer nerds, I don't have anything in common with them."

He blinked, surprised. "Um . . . I'm one of those computer nerds, you've got plenty in common with me."

"That's . . . different," she said haltingly.

"How is that different?"

She stood, pacing uncomfortably. "Well, it's not that so much, it's just . . ."

"What?" he asked, also standing.

She folded her arms across her body, shrugging as she turned away from him. "I don't . . ."

He took a step toward her, trying to smile. "Come on, it'll be fun. And there's free food and an open bar so–"

"I don't want to go!" she shouted, whirling on him. "Okay?"

He flinched, taken aback by her vehemence. "Wh–"

"Why are you forcing me to go to this thing?"

He held up his hands. "I'm not forcing you to–" He stopped, his forehead creasing in consternation. "Mary, what the hell? I just asked you to go with me. You don't want to go, fine. You could have just said that from the start." He folded his arms and muttered, "I guess I should have figured."

"What does that mean?" she asked defensively.

"Just that it seems like every time one of these events comes up or . . . my friends are getting together or something, you find a reason not to go, and now I know why."

Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and she swallowed. "You do?"

"Yeah, apparently my life, my friends, my work, they're all too boring for you."

"I didn't say that."

He sighed. "You didn't have to."

"Just because I don't want to go to your stupid work party, that doesn't mea–"

"So you do think it's stupid."

"I–"

"Or is it something else?"

Her back straightened. "You . . . you know what? Just . . . just go."

His posture caved, and he took a step toward her, holding out a hand placatingly. "Mary–"

"Go! Okay?"

"Mary, come on–"

"Just leave! I don't want you here right now. You're gonna wake Joan up."

He held out his arms in disbelief. "I'm not the one who's shouting here. Why are you getting so worked up?"

"Will you just go?!" she yelled. She turned her back on him, wrapping her arms around herself again.

He stepped toward her and reached to touch her arm. "Mary–"

"Go."

He dropped his arm and stood still with a pained expression, staring at her back for a full minute, waiting for her to turn. When she didn't, he sighed.

"Fine," he said finally, frustration evident in his voice. "Fine."

He waited a few more seconds before shaking his head and leaving the living room. She heard him gather his keys and wallet from the kitchen, followed by the door opening and closing.

Collapsing on the sofa, she held her head in her hands, finally letting the angry tears drop.

"God, what have I done?"

The next day, Catherine was in her office scanning information on her computer sent over by a contact at the FBI.

Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it on her desk, answering immediately when she saw Mary's name on the screen.

"Mary, hi," she said. "What's up?"

"Hey, Cath, are you busy?"

Catherine frowned at the unsteadiness in Mary's voice. "Nothing that can't be interrupted."

"God, you're at work, aren't you? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you with this."

"Mary, stop. Are you okay? Tell me what's going on."

There was a heavy sigh over the line. "I had a fight with Aaron."

Catherine stood and stepped over to close her office door. "A fight? What about? Everything seemed fine when we were there over the weekend." She returned to her seat, closing her laptop to give Mary her undivided attention.

"He . . . I . . ." she sighed again. "It was my fault. I . . . overreacted when he asked me why I didn't want to go to this party his company is having tomorrow."

"Is this the first one you haven't gone to?"

"No," Mary admitted. "I've never gone. They don't have very many, and I've always been able to come up with an excuse."

"Why don't you want to go?"

"I . . . I'm not gonna fit in there," Mary said self-consciously. "I mean, come on. They're a bunch of genius computer science people like him. I'm just gonna embarrass myself, and once he sees me surrounded by his co-workers and everybody he'll realize he's got no reason to be with me."

"Mary, no," Catherine said immediately.

"What? It's true."

"It's not," Catherine said firmly. "Of course it's not. You two have been together almost a year. He's crazy about you."

There was another heavy sigh, and when Mary didn't respond, Catherine asked, "Well, what did he say?"

Mary paused for a moment.

"I didn't . . . exactly tell him all that," she admitted reluctantly.

"Mary . . ."

"He thinks I don't want to go because I think his life and his work is boring and stupid, but I don't. I really don't, I just . . . it was easier to let him think that than admit . . . what I'm really afraid of."

"So what happened during the fight?"

"I . . . I told him to leave. Better that than him doing it on his own."

Catherine sighed sadly at the defeated tone in her voice. "You've gotta talk to him, Mary. I'm no expert, but not talking about it is the worst thing you could do."

Mary snorted. "No expert. You've put up with my brother for 20 years."

Catherine smiled softly. "I don't put up with him. I love him. Everything about him."

"Even when he leaves the cap off the toothpaste or something like that?"

Catherine sighed. "That's . . . that's small stuff. And he doesn't leave the cap off the toothpaste, by the way, but I know what you mean. I guess . . . I don't know, I guess the things we've seen, the places we've been . . . compared to all that, the small stuff isn't worth fighting about. And the big stuff . . . you work through that. You talk about it, you see things through the other person's eyes, and you work through it together."

"That's what you guys do?"

"Yeah," she said nodding, though of course Mary couldn't see her. "Steve and I are lucky. We agree when it comes to most of the big stuff, and when we don't, we talk about it. And we respect each other's opinions and feelings."

"I respect Aaron's opinions and feelings."

"Then give him a chance to respect yours. There's nothing wrong with taking a little time to calm down and get your thoughts in order, but you've got to talk to him, Mary. You owe him that. And more importantly, you owe it to yourself not to push him away without talking to him first. He's a good guy. And he loves you."

"Yeah," Mary said in a quiet voice.

"Talk to him, Mary," Catherine repeated.

"I will," she said. "Thanks, Cath."

That evening after dinner, Mary composed a half dozen texts before finally sending one to Aaron.

Can you come over so we can talk?

After a beat, she added another.

Please.

The response came quickly.

On my way.

Figuring she had a good twenty minutes at least to prepare herself, she was surprised when there was a knock at the door less than five minutes later.

"Hey," she said quietly after opening the door and bit her lip, not meeting his eyes.

"Hey," he replied cautiously. Looking past her, he asked, "Where's Joan?"

"Next door," she said, motioning with her head. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"I was already on the way. I was hoping we could talk. That you wouldn't . . . slam the door in my face or something."

She sighed, looking at the door she was still holding.

"Can I come in?" he asked when she didn't move.

She shook herself. "God, yes. Sorry. I'm sorry." She stepped back so he could come inside and closed the door behind him. She glanced up at him hesitantly. "You could've used your key."

"I didn't think I should," he said quietly.

She sighed again, a pained look on her face. "I'm sorry I told you to leave last night. I shouldn't have. We should've talked then, it's just . . . hard for me."

"I'm sorry I left. I probably should have stayed but . . . I wanted to respect your wishes and I was . . ." He paused, searching for the right word. "Frustrated."

"You mean you were pissed at me."

He winced and admitted, "Maybe a little."

"You should have been. A lot. I overreacted and I let you believe things that . . . weren't true."

His brow creased. "What things?"

Mary paused.

"Let's um . . . let's sit down," she said and led him into the living room.

She sat on the sofa, and he sat beside her at an angle so he could face her.

She took a deep breath. "The reason I didn't want to go to the party wasn't . . . because I think it'd be boring or that I think you're boring or your work is boring or anything like that. It's because . . ." She looked down, plucking at an errant thread on the outer seam of her pants. "I'm scared I'll embarrass you and you'll realize you don't really want to be with me and you'll go and that'll be it," she finished in a rush and glanced up at him apprehensively but didn't quite meet his eyes.

He sighed. "I knew there had to be more to it." He reached for her hand, stopping her nervous fingers and held her gaze when she finally looked at him. "I love you, Mary. What do I have to do to convince you? I'm not gonna just up and leave. You and Joan . . . you're the most important things in my life."

She took a shaky breath, staring at him.

"As far as embarrassing me?" he continued. "Are you kidding? You're amazing. I'm so lucky to be with you. You're smart and funny and caring and . . ." He sighed again. "Look, I know how hard it is. I told you how I was in a bunch of different foster homes when I was a kid and it took me a really long time to accept that my parents weren't going to disappear or send me back. That they wanted me and loved me."

She looked down but he tightened his fingers around hers until she met his gaze again.

"I don't care about those stupid parties," he said, shaking his head. "I just . . . love you and want to share my life with you. And work is a big part of who I am. But it's not everything. You and Joan are more important than all of that other stuff."

She blinked in amazement.

"See . . . see that right there, that's what I'm not used to," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"How good you are. How honest. How you actually mean what you say."

"I do."

She looked down. "Most of the guys that I've dated . . . didn't."

He sighed. "I wish I'd met you years ago . . . maybe you could have avoided some of those crappy relationships."

"I probably wouldn't have given you a second look."

"No?"

She gave him a little smile. "Well, you are pretty cute so I would've looked twice but . . . just looked. I wouldn't have known what to do with a good guy like you. Still don't know if I really do," she admitted.

"Talk to me," he said. "Okay? Mary, I love you. That's not gonna change. So if you're feeling scared or upset or anything just . . . talk to me. And we'll figure it all out together."

She nodded vigorously, tears in her eyes. "I will. I love you, too."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled into a tight hug.

After a minute, she sniffed and, smiling, pulled back to ask, "So . . . what time's the stupid party?"

"We don't have to–"

"I want to go," she said sincerely.

He smiled and started to answer when the front door opened.

"Hola," an older woman said. "I'm sorry."

"Aawon!" Joan cried excitedly, running toward him.

He stood and scooped her up as soon as she was close enough.

"Hey, pumpkin!" he said and kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry," the woman repeated. "She saw Aaron's car and was clamoring to come back. I held her off as long as I could but she's a stubborn one, tu hija."

"Thanks, Mrs. Mendoza," Mary said, putting a hand on Joan's back. "It's okay. We're good. Thank you again for watching her."

"Anytime," she said, smiling warmly. She wiggled her fingers in an affectionate wave to Joan. "Adiós, chiquita. Hasta mañana."

"Mañana!" Joan repeated happily.

Once their neighbor had departed, Joan turned to Aaron with a beaming smile.

"Aawon stay heaw," she announced.

"Yeah, peanut," her mother said with a similar smile, her other hand going to Aaron's back. "You're right. Aaron should stay here. Aaron should always stay here."

He stared at her. "What are you–"

"We can talk about it more but . . . I think you should move in with us." She smiled hopefully. "I want you here."

"Heaw!" Joan cried. "Aawon heaw!"

He looked surprised but a huge smile spread across his face as he looked at Mary.

"That's . . . that's a big step. Are you sure?" he asked.

"I am," she said decisively. "I really am."

He leaned over and kissed her soundly.

Joan clapped gleefully. "Mama an' Aawon kiss! Kiss me!" she instructed.

Laughing, they both kissed Joan's cheeks, blowing raspberries to the little girl's squealing delight, their eyes dancing joyfully at this new phase in their relationship.

Catherine and Steve were home early Friday after they'd wrapped a case. Catherine stood on the deck, towel drying her hair after a swim while Steve and Cammie remained down by the water.

Her phone buzzed, and she draped her towel over her shoulder to answer it.

"Hey, Mary. I was going to call you. I got your texts, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Everything's good," Mary assured her. "It's great, in fact. Better than ever. I actually have some news."

"Oh yeah?" she asked and perched on one of the lounges.

"I asked Aaron to move in with me and Joan."

Catherine gasped. "That's great. Oh, I'm so happy for you. That must have been some talk."

"Yeah. You were right. Of course."

Catherine smiled. "Well, remember what I said about the toothpaste cap."

Mary chuckled warmly. "I will."

Aaron's muffled voice called out in the background.

"Hey, my parents are gonna be here in a minute, have you seen Comfort Bunny?!"

"The last time I saw her she was having a tea party with the unicorn on roller skates in the sunroom!" Mary yelled back with a smile in her voice.

Catherine laughed. "I'm not even going to ask."

"Just you wait, sis. Just you wait," Mary said, chuckling. "Well, I've gotta run. We're going to the party."

"Good," Catherine said with happy smile.

"Thanks again, Catherine."

"Anytime. Like Nonna would say, la famiglia."

Mary's smile was clear in her voice. "La famiglia."

Catherine ended the call and set her phone back down, a happy expression on her face.

"Hey," Steve said as he approached her, towel around his neck. "Gotta be good news, anything that can make you smile like that."

He sat on the edge of one of the benches facing her and ran the towel over his hair.

"Yeah. That was Mary."

He stopped moving, his expression sobering. "She texted you earlier. I thought everything was fine now."

She smiled, reaching over and touching his knee. "It is. Good news, remember?"

His tension eased.

"She asked Aaron to move in with them," Catherine said.

His eyebrows shot up. "She did? What about this whole fight?"

"It was a misunderstanding, I told you."

"You didn't tell me what it was about."

"She can tell you, if she wants. The point is, they've cleared the air."

He exhaled. "Yeah." He leaned forward and rubbed the back of his head, his brow furrowing slightly. "That's a big step, though."

"It is," she agreed. "But I think they're ready. More importantly, they think they're ready."

He appeared thoughtful, processing this change in his sister's life.

Catherine rubbed his knee. "It means that she's secure in his commitment to her. And hers to him. That's huge for Mary."

"Yeah," he said nodding finally and took her hand. "Yeah, you're right. It's good. It is. I just . . ."

"Can't turn off the big brother," she finished with a soft smile. She squeezed his fingers. "And that's good, too."

He nodded. "I just want what's best for Mary and Joanie."

"I know you do. And I think this is it."

He tightened his fingers around hers and smiled finally.

Sitting back, he released her hand with a final squeeze. Lifting the towel, he rubbed at his wet hair. He stopped, chuckling.

"What?" she asked.

"Danny's gonna have a field day with this," he said, rolling his eyes. "How Mary moved a helluva lot faster than I did."

She smiled. "Everything at the right time," she said, standing. She leaned over and kissed him briefly before moving off the deck to rub Cammie down with a towel.

Steve stared after her, his expression soft. "Yeah," he said, his heart swelling as the sunlight caught in her ring. "Everything at the right time."

Hope you enjoyed!

Note: Thanks to Suz for supplying a classic Comfort Bunny line :-)

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