Notes: Mari and Sammy – from one line in a seemingly random email thread to this. Love it when that happens! Thanks for all your squeal-inducing comments on the drafts!
Readers and REAL McRollers – thank you for never-ending support. It is truly appreciated!
Esther – I hope this makes you smile :-)
Hope you enjoy!
Evening In (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Cath, what's the dinner plan?" Steve asked as he entered the kitchen.
Cammie followed him in and headed for her water bowl while Steve crossed to where Catherine stood at the island tossing spaghetti in a pot.
"Looks like you're way ahead of me," he said, placing a hand at her waist.
He smiled to see the cookbook Nonna had given Catherine at Christmas open beside her to the recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara.
"I thought something pretty quick tonight since we're Skyping with Mary and Joan soon," she said and tilted her head toward him for a quick kiss. "We haven't tried this one yet, and we had everything on hand."
"Looks great." He leaned over her shoulder to look closer at the contents of the bowl. "Is that bacon?"
She flashed him a smile. "Yup."
"Excellent. Need me to do anything?"
"Nope. I just have to add some of the pasta water to get the consistency right."
Steve moved to get bowls and silverware out as Catherine finished up with the spaghetti.
"There we go," she said and started filling the bowls. "Not too watery, not too gummy. Just like Nonna says."
He smiled. "Let's eat."
Steve pocketed his phone as he returned to the living room after putting their empty bowls in the kitchen.
"Just got the 'ready when we are' text from Mary," he said. "Should be calling any second."
As he retook his seat beside her on the sofa, Catherine angled the laptop on the coffee table. Moments later, the Skype call appeared on the screen, and she tapped the touchpad to accept it.
A video image of Mary and Joan sitting on the floor of their living room filled the screen.
"Hey!" Steve said with a broad smile. "There they are."
Joan reached out and said, "Teeve!"
Her body filled the screen as she moved forward.
"Remember, you can't get so close, peanut," Mary said and pulled her back. "They can't see you when you do that."
"Ann Caf," Joan said, pointing with one hand while clutching a small toy in the other.
"Hi, cutie," Catherine said. "What you got there?"
The toddler held the object out toward the screen. "Tuck."
"Yeah, that's your favorite truck," Mary said. "It's blue, like Uncle Steve's, right?"
"Teeve," Joan said. "Tuck, Teeve."
"I see it," he said. "It's a good looking vehicle."
"Vehicle?" Mary said as Joan momentarily disappeared from view.
He shrugged. "I'm expanding her vocabulary."
Mary laughed. "Just like you used to do with me. I was the only eight-year-old in my class rattling off words like perpetrator and motive."
"That sounds about right," Catherine said, smiling at him.
He shrugged again, his own smile firmly in place.
Joan returned with a pink spotted bunny.
"I think you're about to get a toy parade here," Mary said to Steve and Catherine.
"Bun," Joan said proudly.
"Yeah, that's your new favorite, huh?" Mary said, brushing a hand over her daughter's hair fondly. "Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Joseph sent it, and now you won't go anywhere without it."
"Did they?" Catherine asked. "Mom didn't tell me that."
"Yeah, I hear you used to have a little bunny of your own," Mary said teasingly.
"She told you about Rufus?"
"Your stuffed bunny was named Rufus?" Steve asked with smirk.
Catherine smiled. "When I was really little, my cousin had a teddy bear he called Rufus so I started calling my bunny Rufus, too." She shrugged. "It stuck."
Joan pushed the truck into Mary's hand and took off again across the room.
"Looks like she's fully recovered from last week," Catherine said.
"Yeah," Mary said. "That stomach bug only lasted a couple days, thankfully. She was fine by Friday, and we both finally got some sleep."
Joan returned, still clutching her bunny and now also carrying a pink clog.
"Bink shoooes," she said and held it up.
"Mmhmm," Mary said. "The only ones you'll actually wear."
Joan dropped the shoe and put her bunny in Mary's lap. She toddled to the back of the room and picked up a pink cloth basket, dumping the toys inside onto the floor.
Mary watched, shaking her head. "And now you're going to show them how you can put a basket on your head. Good." She chuckled and looked back at the screen. "You can thank Aunt Deb for showing her that little trick."
"Are you playing peek-a-boo, Joan?" Catherine called out.
"She's showing off for you is what she's doing," Mary said. "You should know, I just have to say your names or show her your pictures, and she gets all excited."
Steve beamed and he straightened, his arm moving around Catherine's back. He squeezed her shoulder.
Mary continued, "We went to a birthday party at Gymboree last weekend, and there was a parachute laid out on the ground. Your niece lifted it up, peeked underneath, and said, 'Teeve . . . Ann Caf?' "
"Ohhhh, really?" Catherine said and looked at Steve with a smile. "She remembers."
"Of course she remembers her first sky blossom," he said proudly.
"I couldn't get her to do it again, but I took a little video of her when all the kids were playing with the parachute. Here, I'll send it to you both before I forget."
She pulled her phone out and began navigating to find the video.
Joan returned to her mother's side instantly and reached for the phone.
"Ah ah ah," Mary said, keeping the device out of reach. "There." She finished sending the video and pocketed her phone.
Joan turned to run off again but Mary grabbed her around the waist.
"Hey, missy, come back here." She put the toddler in her lap. "We're supposed to be talking to Uncle Steve and Aunt Cath. Can you tell them what you had for dinner?"
"Treat!" Joan said happily.
"Well, you had a treat after dinner. But what did you eat?"
"Treat," Joan repeated.
Steve and Catherine laughed.
"Clearly she's got priorities," Steve said.
"Mac and cheese," Mary said. "Remember?"
"Cheeeese."
"Yeah, you like cheese."
"Well, who doesn't?" Steve said with a smile.
Joan squirmed out of her mother's lap and ran to other side of the room.
"Okay, I think her attention has officially run out," Mary said. "And I want to get her in the bath before bed."
"Hey, real quick, Mare," Steve said. "About the trip to Elizabeth and Joseph's. We were thinking early May. Cath and I could come to California first so we can see Aunt Deb. Then we head to New York. What do you think?"
Mary looked surprised. "That's really . . . we're really . . ."
Steve smiled broadly. "Yeah, we're really." He glanced quickly at Catherine. "Elizabeth's been trying to pin us down with some dates so we thought the first week in May if that works for you."
"I . . . yeah," Mary said, her smile growing. "I mean, yeah, I think that will work fine."
"All right," he said. "We'll touch base with more specifics."
"Okay."
Catherine smiled. "Okay, we'll let you go."
"Joan," Mary called. "Come here and say goodnight to Uncle Steve and Aunt Cath."
Joan ran back into view and launched herself at Mary who caught her with a laugh.
"Say goodnight," she said again and pointed at the screen.
"Niiigh," Joan said.
"Goodnight, Joan," Catherine called, waving.
"Night, Joanie," Steve echoed.
"Can you blow them a kiss?" Mary prompted.
Joan kissed her palm and thrust her hand out with a little wave.
Catherine blew her a kiss back.
"Bye, Mare," Steve said. "We'll talk to you soon. Love you."
"Love you," Mary said. "Night."
"Night," Catherine said before Mary ended the call.
Catherine and Steve sat for a moment before she said, "Video?"
"Video," he said, reaching for his phone.
Catherine came back from taking Cammie out to find Steve on the sofa with his phone still in hand. She smiled when the sound of squealing laughter coming from the device told her he was watching the video of Joan and the parachute again.
Cammie trotted over to lie at his feet, and Catherine watched Steve's face as she walked around the coffee table.
"We don't need a parachute," she said.
He looked up. "How did you–"
"Please," she said as she sat beside him.
"Well, I mean . . ." He shrugged and put his phone on the coffee table. "The backyard's big enough."
"Okay, first," she began with a teasing smile, "you're telling me you don't already have one?"
The corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile as he gave her a mock glare. "No, I don't have a parachute."
She clucked her tongue. "That is shocking, Commander."
He rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Second, we don't need a parachute," she repeated with a laugh.
His voice dropped as he leaned in to press his lips beneath her ear. "Think about it. Everything's better under a parachute."
She laughed even as she raised a hand to his neck to keep him in place. "I think I said something similar about the hammock, and we know how that turned out."
"Pretty damn well, if I remember right," he said and pressed a kiss to her jaw. "Despite falling out."
She inhaled deeply as he reached her pulse point, and she cupped his cheeks to bring his lips to hers.
As they kissed, he guided her to lie back on the couch.
"Besides," he said from above her, "we only fell out the first time."
"So now you're looking to add 'under a parachute' to our list?"
"If the situation ever presented itself . . ." he said with a slight shrug. "I mean, I'm not one to let an opportunity pass."
She smiled and nodded to their current position. "Obviously."
He grinned and bent to kiss her again. She ran her hands through his hair as his lips trailed down her neck.
Her brow knitted slightly. "How would that even work?" she asked.
"We'd figure it out," he said against her skin, his hand drifting under her shirt.
She smiled. "There's that confidence I love, McGarrett."
He raised his head to smile at her. "Back at you, Rollins."
"But we still don't need a parachute," she said.
"Yeah, we'll see."
Her laughter was swallowed by his kiss.
When he pulled back he said, "I guess I could live without the parachute, as long as we get plenty of evenings in like this."
She smiled. "Deal."
Notes: Thanks to Mari for the awesome hammock reference from Sensory Overload.
Want to make Spaghetti Carbonara and everything else in Nonna's cookbook? Send an email to realmcroll at yahoo dot com with "Cookbook" as the heading and we'll send you a PDF version of 12 Days of Cooking with Nonna!