Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for everything.

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for all your amazing support!

Apologies, I know it's a short one today.

Hope you enjoy!

Domestic Bliss (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

Steve and Danny were walking out of HQ towards their vehicles when Steve's phone buzzed with an incoming call.

"That better not be what I think it is," Danny said. "This day has been long enough as it is and Gabby and I have dinner plans."

Steve glanced at the screen and smiled immediately, shaking his head to relieve his partner's worry that they were about to receive another case. "It's Catherine." The smile stayed on his face as he answered the call. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," came the reply, and he could hear the smile in her own voice. "Are you headed home anytime soon?"

"Yeah, just about to leave HQ."

"Can you pick up some milk on your way? We're nearly out."

"Sure," he said easily. "Anything else?"

"No, just the milk."

"Okay, I'll be there in fifteen."

"Thanks. See you then."

"Yep." Ending the call and pocketing his phone, he exhaled, smiling to himself.

"All good?" Danny asked from the driver's side of the Camaro.

Steve looked over at him, eyebrows raised as if remembering he was there. "Yeah. Just gotta make a stop before I go home. Pick up some milk."

Danny looked surprised. "Pick up milk?"

"Yeah."

Danny chuckled, opening the car door.

"What?" Steve asked. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Of course there's nothing wrong with that," Danny said. "It's perfectly normal. In fact, it's more than perfectly normal, it's … it's the most cliched domestic request there is."

Steve smiled, opening the door of the truck. "Yeah. I guess it is."

"It's domestic bliss, that's what it is, my friend. Enjoy every second."

"Mooo," Angie said, repeating after Steve when they reached the cow page of her animal sounds book.

"Yes!" he said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. "The cow says 'Moo.' " He turned the page and Angie clapped at the illustration of a dog. "What about the dog? What does the doggie say?"

"Caa-mee!" she exclaimed, and reached out for Cammie who was lying at Steve's feet.

Cammie raised her head and looked up at her littlest human in response.

Steve chuckled, sharing an amused look with Catherine who was picking up some discarded toys Angie had left on the floor when Steve had pulled a book out to read with her.

"Yep, Cammie is your doggie," he agreed, "and she says 'Woof.' "

Angie grinned at him, then pointed to Cammie again. "Caa-mee."

Steve smiled. "We'll keep working on that one." He flipped to another page. "How 'bout the sheep? The sheep says, 'Baaa.' "

"Bah!" she said, then reached for the book pages and turned them, searching for an illustration. When she was unsuccessful, she wiggled out of Steve's grasp and slid to the floor so she could wrap her arms around Cammie's neck. "Caa-mee."

Catherine smiled. "She'd probably be happy with a book filled with pictures of Cammie."

"Seems that way," he agreed, smiling as Danny's words from earlier drifted through his head again.

Later, once Angie was asleep, Catherine disappeared for a minute to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. When she returned to the kitchen, Steve was unloading the dishwasher. She leaned against the doorway for a moment, folding her arms, and took in the scene.

After a moment, he glanced back over his shoulder and grinned. "You just gonna stand there, Rollins?"

Her smile widened and she pushed off the wall, walking toward him. "I was enjoying the view."

He chuckled. "Well, in that case, don't let me stop you."

She grabbed two plates from the bottom rack. "Oh, I can enjoy the view just as easily up close."

He smiled, leaning over and kissing her briefly in response.

When they parted, she turned and put the plates in one of the cabinets. "Actually, it just struck me how … normal a thing it was. You unloading the dishwasher. And earlier … playing with Angie and Cammie."

He smiled, taking the last of the silverware out and sorting it into the drawer. "You know, I had the same thought when you called to ask me to pick up milk on the way home. That it was just … normal."

She nodded, smiling in agreement.

"And after years filled with …" His voice trailed off as he searched for the right words. Finally, he shrugged. "... not normal, I realized that we've had years now that actually have a helluva lot of normal in them."

"You're not saying we're boring, are you?" she teased.

"Not boring," he said, smiling softly. "Happy."

Her teasing smile softened, touched by his words.

" 'Domestic bliss,' Danny called it," Steve went on.

She chuckled. " 'Domestic bliss'?" She turned the words over in her head, then nodded. "I guess that's exactly what it is." She stepped around the open dishwasher and draped her arms around his neck, smiling when his hands went naturally to her waist.

"Twenty, fifteen, even ten years ago those words weren't even on my radar," he said, leaning back comfortably against the counter and bringing her with him to rest against him. "And now here we are."

"Here we are," she echoed, gazing up at him.

Rising up on her toes, she kissed him. Light at first, the kiss lingered, and her hands slid over his shoulders and down to his chest.

"Mmm," he moaned softly, immediately picking up on the subtle shift in her mood. Her lips drifted down to a particularly sensitive spot on his neck. He smiled, fully on board with the direction she was heading, and asked teasingly, "What about the dishes?"

"The dishes can wait," she said, reaching for the hem of his t-shirt and pushing it up to feel his warm skin. "There's more than one kind of 'domestic bliss,' and it's the one I'm most interested in right now."

He obliged, releasing her just long enough for her to pull his shirt over his head before gathering her back against him and diving for her lips. He lifted her easily and walked the few steps it took to reach the island and set her on it. Pulling back to peel her shirt off, he grinned.

"I got a feeling our kind of domestic bliss will never be boring."

Hope you enjoyed!

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