Sammy & Ilna - as always you make the bright days brighter and the cold, cloudy ones a lot less gloomy. Thank you, my friends.
#REALMcRollers, readers, guests, we are so honored by the support and love you show us every day. Thank you so much.
C.A. Thanks for always being willing to answer 'just one more' question about being a brilliant, (not to mention adorable), female at the Academy. For the water-seal on that damn tent, and for finding the fountain of youth.
Kelly, thank you for so many REASONS since high school; for being my 'sister from another mister' for more years than I care to remember; for making this only child a proud aunt twice; for making me laugh until I cry and for the best vacation, ever.
Nonna hugs, Mari
Light as a Feather ...
McGarrett/Rollins living room
Saturday afternoon
Carrie Stagler took a bite from the loaded nacho chip in her hand and grinned at Catherine. "So, Grace was excited about her new bras?"
"Oh my God, Carrie, she was out of control. She's so adorable. There was a sleepover the following weekend, so she wanted a real bra. Turns out, she and two friends got the same ones. Grace actually texted me from the party to tell me. Wait ..." Catherine reached for her phone and scrolled through several photos of a beaming Grace and her friends wearing similar t-shirts and leggings. The last one was captioned, we all wore same yellow 1! thx luv U!
Carrie placed a hand over Catherine's and smiled. "Of course she loves you. Look at my roomie, being the coolest aunt ever."
She knew how much her friend and Steve adored Grace Williams and Catherine's happy smile was contagious. "And, middle school sleepovers, remember? Frozen bras for the first one to fall asleep, junk food and Truth or Dare." Carrie ran a hand through her short blonde hair. "Can you imagine if we knew each other in middle school?"
"We'd totally be ruling the world by now." Catherine laughed, held up her glass to clink, and the women grinned.
Carrie took a sip of her drink. "We could still call up boys. I know at least two cute sailors who wouldn't hang up on us. Oh, and we'd have completely nailed every round of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board …"
Catherine looked up as Cammie came bounding in a few feet ahead of Steve.
With a smirk, Steve bent to grab a handful of nachos from Catherine's plate while she hugged the dog. "Round of what?"
The women laughed at his intrigued expression and Carrie snorted, "That's need to know. Shut up and eat your nachos, McGarrett."
Steve's look was all feigned innocence. "What, Stagler? You ..." He pointed at her with a chip. "discussed it in front of me. That negates your 'girl talk' rule." He winked at Catherine.
"Uh uh." Carrie held up a finger. "One: It's not my rule. It's a universal rule. And two: You walked by and heard it. I was not discussing it in your company."
"I walked by you discussing it in my own home," Steve scoffed. "That gives me the need to know," he busted.
"Ya know what? Sometimes ignorance is bliss, remember that." Carrie laughed and tossed a balled up napkin at his head, which he caught on the fly.
He laughed. "I'm gonna run to Lowe's. Cammie, make sure these two don't break ranks." Steve ruffled the dog's fur and bent to peck Catherine's lips. "Be back in an hour."
"I'll be gone by then. But we'll both be here to help with the deck." Carrie grinned. "You know, our place needs painting ... just sayin', McGarrett."
"Pick a day, Stagler. We'll make it a challenge, half the house in teams." He winked at Catherine who just smiled knowingly. "Winners get dinner."
"You're on." She returned Steve's grin. "Thanks."
Steve nodded, indicating of course he and Catherine would help. "Tell John I said hi." He touched her shoulder as he passed. "Drive safe when you guys do the jeep tour tomorrow."
"Thanks." Carrie smiled at the domestic ease between her oldest friends. "Go, have fun." She turned back to Catherine. "When John goes to Lowe's, I lose him for the whole day."
The women resumed their conversation as Steve picked up his keys and went out the door.
6:00 p.m.
"Cath, I'm home." Steve called out as he entered the house from the garage. He opened the refrigerator and surveyed the contents while leaning on the open door. "Any sandwiches left?"
"Saved you a couple. Top shelf." Catherine smiled to herself. She wasn't the least bit embarrassed to admit it still delighted her to hear 'I'm home' from Steve. It made her feel so … settled.
"Thanks." He grabbed two sandwiches and a beer before walking back to join her in the living room.
"There's brownies, too. Carrie brought them."
"Her mom's recipe?" Steve smiled around a bite of sandwich. "Great." He sat and gently butted her hip so she'd scoot over. "Now, about that game …"
"Game?"
"The game with the interesting name."
"Truth or Dare?" Catherine teased with raised eyebrows.
"That could be interesting, too, but I need more intelligence on any game with 'stiff as a board' in the title." Steve's smirk earned him an eye roll.
"Do you?"
"Absolutely. I'll need a complete rundown: synopsis, rules and …" He leaned close and said into her ear, "more importantly … is this a game we can play together?" His hand slid up her leg to rest on her thigh.
She laughed out loud. "You're … never mind." She shook her head. "You've never played Truth or Dare, right?"
"Hell no. Why?"
"Because it can get interesting. Especially the truth part."
"Truth. What kind of truth? What questions do you get asked?" He looked adorably intent on figuring out the scenario and she moved to kiss his cheek, but he turned into it, catching her lips until her chuckle broke them apart.
"The questions depend ... But you can't as …"
"And what are the dares?" His brow furrowed.
"Steve. You've never played, so listen to the rules."
"Just because I never played…"
Catherine couldn't suppress a smile. "Which is probably for the best."
"Because ... ?"
Her hair fell across her cheek as she cocked her head. "Because? Would you have ever not chosen dare?" She glanced down at where his hand was drawing circles on her knee, and up to catch his half smile.
"No. Never." He was absolutely serious, and her teasing smile grew.
"Exactly." Her finger gently nudged his bicep. "So incorrigible."
His shrug was completely unrepentant. "Part of my charm."
"So you say."
"Let's play, then. See how I do." His eyes lit in a familiar way that Catherine knew meant his competitive streak had been ignited. "And afterwards we discuss the other one, because no way in hell you're going to sleep before explaining a game called Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board."
His smile crinkled the corners of his eyes and Catherine's laughter rang through the house as she shook her head.
"Alright, okay. This normally takes at least three players, usually teenage girls, but you asked.
One person asks 'truth or dare'. If the person chooses truth, they're asked a question with an embarrassing or personal answer. If they choose dare, they're assigned a dare. Usually an embarrassing or dangerous one."
"Dangerous? How dangerous? Gracie isn't playing this at those sleepovers, is she?" Steve looked concerned.
"No, no. Not our kind of dangerous. More like, sing a song off key in gym class. Or tell the boy you have a crush on you like him."
"That's ... why would anyone do that?"
"Because they're kids, and they don't want to answer truthfully."
Steve thought a moment and said with complete honesty, "Oh, then this isn't gonna work with us."
Knowing immediately what he meant, Catherine touched his hand. "Because there's nothing we wouldn't tell each other?"
"Exactly." The look in his eyes made her smile when he continued, "And there's nothing you'd ask I wouldn't do."
"Same here." She kissed him and her fingers tightened gently on his.
Steve nodded but seeing her expression change said, "What? I know that look."
"There're adult dares, Carrie and I googled it. Not that any of us would ever have played in a group ..." Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
"God, no." Steve was adamant.
"But some of the dare suggestions looked like fun for us to try. It's really not part of a game if its only you and me, but ... we could …" Her voice dropped. "Play our own version."
Steve closed the sliver of space between them and Catherine knew he was interested. "Continue, Lieutenant."
"Knew you'd be game." She reached into her glass for an ice cube.
Steve's eyes darkened as she lay down. "Cath, you've already done tha ..."
"No ... " She chuckled. "That's not it. The challenge is for you to hold the ice cube on my stomach until it melts."
Steve immediately moved to lift her top out of the way as he reached for the cube.
"Ah, ah. Not so fast."
"What?" His fingers grazed the smooth skin of her tummy.
"You can't use your hands." She grinned. "Up for the challenge?"
"I will be." Steve's low rumble of laughter vibrated on her skin as he placed the cube in her belly button. "In about ten seconds."
Later, bedroom
"Okay, so..."
"What?" Catherine glanced up from turning down the comforter.
"We got sidetracked." His eyes glinted as he walked to his side of the bed to do the same. "Before you explained the Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board game."
She slid into bed and grabbed a lotion bottle from her night table, applying it to her hands and arms before capping it. "It's nothing like what you're thinking." Catherine chuckled as Steve crawled in beside her and placed a kiss on her neck.
"Hmm." He buried his nose in her hair. "Still wanna hear about it."
She grinned at his gentle nuzzling and played with the hair at the nape of his neck. "It's a seance game."
"A seance?" His expression was quizzical when he met her eyes.
"Yeah. Most girls play it at a slumber party at some point." Catherine pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged, facing him. "Because recounting urban legends and scaring the crap out of ourselves is a rite of passage." She got comfortable and placed her hands on his leg for leverage to lean in and kiss him lightly.
"Basically, after experimenting with makeup, eating pizza and discussing the guy you want to meet when you grow up." Her eyes danced merrily and she linked their fingers as an image of her teenage self seeing them right now filled her mind. "Damn, if half those girls could see ..." She laughed at his little grin and shook her head. "Never mind."
Steve squeezed her fingers gently. "Never mind?"
Catherine shrugged and took a breath. "Oh, what the hell." She brushed her lips across his again. "If they could see you. Because you're pretty much an even better version of what I'd discuss. Lots of my friends wanted a rock star, or movie star, or whatever."
"And you wanted a Navy SEAL turned task force commander with a cargo hold full of family baggage?" Steve joked but the look in his eyes was grateful.
"Nope."
"Nope?"
"I wanted someone smart.
And brave.
Who treated me as an equal, with as much respect as my dad treated my mom.
Handsome and smart." She kissed him again, lingering a bit. "Was icing on the cake."
The gratitude in Steve's eyes melted into love. "I love you, Rollins."
"Back at ya, McGarrett. So much." She smiled radiantly and Steve's look matched hers. "Now, are you ready to enter the inner sanctum of a slumber party game?"
"Absolutely. I've got a very high security clearance." His playful expression was back in force.
"Normally this is need to know, Commander, but since I've checked you out ..."
"Thoroughly ..." He full-on grinned.
She chuckled. "What happens is, someone lies on the floor and the others try to lift her using only their index and middle fingers."
"What? Why?" Steve looked genuinely perplexed at why that would be considered a game.
"I repeat, teenagers. Before social media. Hell, they still do it, but now they instagram and tweet it. Anyway, of course the girl being lifted falls on her butt the first time. Then they all ... " Catherine air quoted, " 'channel the spirits' and chant 'Light as a feather, stiff as a board. Light as a feather, stiff as a board,' followed by a countdown: One, two, three, lift! On that try, BAM, the girl gets lifted half a foot."
She shrugged and leaned forward to plant another kiss on Steve's lips, simply because of that 'what the hell?' face he was making . "And that's it. Everyone would collapse into giggles and then we'd call cute boys."
Steve moved to lean against the headboard while she crawled up and tucked herself under his outstretched arm. "But, Cath, that's just … science. You were clearly able lift her the second time because you focused. The chanting channels the focus and energy of the group and the lifters work as a team. They weren't coordinating their efforts on the first try. Once they did, they'd only need two fingers ..."
Catherine nodded. "Because the middle and index fingers are the strongest. Yeah, I know, but when you're pumped up on candy and soda at fourteen and have been telling ghost stories, it's the coolest thing. Guess you gotta take my word for it." She grinned and ran a finger over his cheek. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's all there is to Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board."
Steve closed the space between them. "Know what?" He breathed.
"What?"
"Bet we could come up with a version that's a hell of a lot more fun."
She reached across him, laughing, and switched off the light. "I bet we could at that."
End - Thanks for reading
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