Notes: Mari and Sammy – Thanks for the always fabulous feedback and suggestions. You make any and every story better.

Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for your excitement and enthusiasm for the REAL World. We're so lucky to have such fantastic readers with us.

*Last week's story, Like Mother, Like Daughter, was briefly replaced by an older story (What Lay Ahead) over the weekend, so if you were reading it and it seemed familiar, that's why! Apologies for the mistake, the correct story is back up now.

Hope you enjoy!

Practice Plans (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

The Skype call connected and Joan's brightly smiling face appeared on screen. "Unca Steve! Ann Caf! You have da baby yet?" she asked immediately.

Steve and Catherine laughed, staring back at the screen from the sofa. "Not yet, sweetie," Catherine said.

"She wouldn't believe me when I told her the baby wasn't born yet," Mary explained from behind Joan. "She had to ask for herself." She shook her head ruefully. "So stubborn."

"Wonder where she gets that," Steve quipped.

"Yeah, I wonder …" Catherine teased, looking at him.

"No idea what you're talking about," he said, straight-faced.

Mary snorted, and his expression broke into a smile.

"Better watch out, there," she warned. "I got a feeling your kid's gonna be ten times as stubborn."

Steve grinned, always happy to hear any predictions about Niblet.

Smiling with a hand at her belly, Catherine returned her attention to Joan. "The baby will be born in the summer, honey," she said. At Joan's confused look, she added, "After your birthday."

Joan brightened immediately. "I have bufday and I fo-wa," she stretched out the word into two syllables and held up four fingers to demonstrate. "An' den I go to pweschoo'."

"In the fall you'll go to preschool, peanut," Mary reminded her. "Not right after your birthday."

"When I fo-wa," Joan said again.

"When you're four, yes," Mary repeated, clearly not for the first time.

"Hey, where's Aaron?" Steve asked.

"Aawon sick," Joan said. "I put washcwofs on his head. Bink and bwue and bwue … he wike bink one."

"Oh no," Catherine said. "Is he okay?"

"Just a cold," Mary assured them. "Picked up from you know who." She pointed at Joan who was twisting her fingers in a random attempt to interlace them. Mary chuckled. "Who then turned into Doc McStuffins over here. Had her whole kit out, giving him pretend shots and listening to his heart. Of course he's a big softie and let her do whatever she wanted, including putting three wet washcloths on his head before I figured out what was going on." She looked at Joan who was smiling proudly.

"I make Aawon feel aww betta'," she announced.

Mary smiled fondly. "You certainly made him smile." She raised her eyebrows. "Hey, peanut, why don't you go get your baby doll so you can show Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine how you've been practicing?"

Joan squealed. "I pwactice!" She pointed at the screen. "You wait dere. I show you." With running footsteps, she disappeared from view.

"So Aaron's asleep," Mary said. "He wanted me to wake him up when you Skyped, but he hasn't been sleeping well."

"Then I'm glad you didn't, he needs the rest," Catherine said.

"Is he drinking enough water?" Steve asked.

"Yes, Commander Hydration," Mary retorted. She sighed. "If he had to get sick, I'm glad it's this week. We've got our trip to San Francisco next weekend for Aaron's cousin's wedding."

"Ohh, that's right. That is coming up," Catherine said. "But what if you get sick?"

"I don't get sick," Mary stated.

Steve nodded approvingly.

"I'm getting a strange déjà vu feeling here …" Catherine began wryly.

"It's true," Mary insisted. "Joan comes down with stuff all the time. Aaron'll get sick, but I never do."

"If you say so," Catherine said. "But that sounds an awful lot like tempting fate."

"Even if I do get sick we are totally going next weekend. I've been so looking forward to this trip."

"Everything's set?" Steve asked. "Your neighbor is staying with Joan?"

"Well, she was going to. But her daughter in Arizona had her baby a little early, so Mrs. Mendoza went to Phoenix on Monday."

"Everyone's okay?" Catherine asked.

"Oh yes, mom and baby are both doing fine. It's a little boy. Erick."

Catherine and Steve smiled.

"But now we're scrambling a little," Mary admitted. "Aaron's parents and sister are going to the wedding, too, of course, and I don't really want to ask Aunt Deb. I mean, I know she would absolutely do it, but Joan can be such a handful. Her recovery is going so well, I just don't want to do anything to cause a setback. Maybe if it was just one night …"

"What if we come stay with Joanie?" Steve asked suddenly.

Catherine's face lit up at the idea.

"What?" Mary asked. "No, no, I didn't … I mean, we'll figure something out …"

"It's just three days, isn't it? Friday to Sunday?" Steve glanced at Catherine. "We can do that, right?"

She nodded. "I'll check my calendar, but I'm sure there's nothing that can't be moved to clear Friday. We can probably even fly out Thursday afternoon or evening."

"That's settled then," Steve said.

" 'That's settled,' he says," Mary scoffed. "Just like that?"

"Just like that. We'll make it happen."

"We'd love to do it," Catherine said. "It'd be nice to spend a whole weekend with Joan before Niblet gets here. And it'll give you and Aaron some time alone. When was the last time that happened?"

Mary sighed. "I'd have to get a calendar to answer that."

"See?" Catherine said. "It's settled. It'll be fun for us and good for you."

"And it's okay for you?" Mary asked. "I mean, to travel?"

Catherine nodded. "For a little bit longer." She ran a hand over her belly. "Everything's progressing very normally, so my doctor said travel was fine for the next month unless something changes."

Mary bit her lip. "Well, I know Joan would love it, but only if you're sure …"

"We're sure," Steve said resolutely. "It'll be great."

Mary grinned knowingly. "It'll certainly give you some practice."

They smiled broadly, and their attention shifted as Joan came back into view, her arms laden with objects.

"I thought you were just going to find your baby doll to show them?" Mary asked as Joan dumped the assorted contents into her lap.

"See baby dow?" Joan said, holding the doll up then abruptly dropping it on the ground to move on to the next show-and-tell toy.

"Annnnnd that's why we got the doll, so you could practice being nice to the baby," Mary said, picking it up.

"I nice," Joan said, taking the doll back and holding it more gently.

"Remember how we rock the baby to sleep?"

Joan swayed back and forth arrhythmically. "Niiiiice, baby. Sweeeeep."

"Aww, that's very nice," Catherine said, utterly charmed by her niece's actions. "I bet Niblet will love when you hold her."

"Nibwet?" Joan asked, cocking her head curiously.

"That's what we call the baby," Steve explained.

"Remember?" Mary prompted. "We talked about that. We won't know the baby's name until she's born, so we call her Niblet."

Joan beamed happily and held up her baby doll. "Dis is my baby nibwet!"

"Hey, peanut, what do you think about Uncle Steve and Aunt Cath coming to stay with you next weekend?" Mary asked.

Joan looked at Mary and then at the screen excitedly. "You come to my house?"

"Next week," Steve said.

"Eeeeee!" Joan cried, bouncing excitedly and flinging the baby doll to the couch. "You come to my house!" She looked at Mary. "How many sweeps?"

"Umm …" Mary counted quickly. "Eight sleeps."

Joan's brow furrowed. "Dat's a wot, Mama."

Mary laughed, running a hand over her hair. "Not a lot. Just a little more than a week."

"You pway wif me at my house?" Joan asked Steve and Catherine.

"Of course," Catherine said.

"We'll play on that big swingset of yours," Steve added.

Joan gasped. "We pway hide-an'-seek!"

"Hide-and-seek?" Steve asked.

"Her new favorite game," Mary said. "Despite not being totally clear on how to play. Along with Go Fish."

"Go Fishhhhhh!" Joan cried. She searched through the pile on Mary's lap and came up triumphantly with a box of oversized cards.

Steve squinted at the screen. "Those don't look like fish."

Mary snorted. "They're not. We play with Disney Princess cards. You better study up on Cinderella and Ariel, big brother, cause I bet they didn't cover them in SEAL school."

"You weren't kidding about practice," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a slight cringe.

"Who's you favowite pwincess, Unca Steve?" Joan asked.

He looked slightly panicked, his eyes flicking to Catherine's for help. She pressed her lips together purposely, fighting a smile, and raised her eyebrows in question.

He turned back to the screen where Joan was clearly waiting for an answer. "Uh … how about I let you know when I get to your house, Joanie?" he said finally.

Mary snorted. "Nice dodge." She decided to give him a break and looked at her daughter. "Hey, peanut, it's bedtime."

"No, Mama, I tawk to Unca Steve an' Ann Caf."

"You'll talk to them lots when they come stay next week."

"I show dem my toys. See my puzzle," she said, holding up a small box.

"More princesses," Catherine said with a grin.

"You hewp me with my puzzle?"

"Of course, I will. I can't wait."

"Unca Steve, you hewp, too?" She looked at him with round, hopeful eyes.

He sighed, smiling. "Sure, Joanie. Anything you want."

Mary laughed. "Now that you've extorted a promise from Uncle Steve to help you put together a princess puzzle – she has about a million of them, by the way – it really is bedtime."

Joan looked at her. "You read me a book, Mama?"

"Of course I'll read you a book."

"Two books?"

Mary chuckled, shaking her head. "Yes, two books, then sleep."

"Twee books?"

"Not three books, two books."

"Fo-wa books? I aw-most fo-wa, Mama."

Mary sighed and looked at the screen. "See what you have to look forward to?" She turned back to Joan. "Not how it works, peanut. Now say goodnight to Uncle Steve and Aunt Catherine."

"Night night, Unca Steve, night night, Ann Caf!" Joan called, blowing enthusiastic kisses at the screen.

"Say, 'I'll see you when you come to my house,' " Mary prompted.

Joan's smile looked ready to burst at that. "See you when you come to my house!"

"We'll see you soon," Catherine said, beaming. "Love you, honey."

"I wuv you!" Joan replied.

"Love you guys," Mary said. She shook her head, chuckling, still a little amazed at the outcome of their conversation. "I'll guess we'll see you next week."

"Yes, you will," Steve said, smiling. "We can't wait. Have a good night."

"You, too."

The screen closed when the call ended, and Steve and Catherine smiled at each other.

"All right then," he said. "LA next weekend."

She grinned. "For hide-and-seek and Disney Princess puzzles and Go Fish."

He huffed a resigned laugh, and she patted his cheek.

"Better start practicing those princesses, Commander."

Hope you enjoyed!

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