Notes: Mari and Sammy – Thank you for your enthusiastic feedback on this story. I'll never get tired of keyboard gibberish. The epitome of ded :-).
Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for your AMAZING support and feedback on every story, but particularly my last two. They were tough to write, and every word was very much appreciated.
And thank you for the birthday wishes! You make my birthday week even brighter with each one!
ToZiKa – I promise this is a happier Allen family story!
Esther – Sorry about the glitter!
Hope you enjoy!
Family Style (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Are you sure this is . . . fancy enough for a birthday dinner?" Kaitlyn asked worriedly from her perch atop a step stool where she whisked eggs in a bowl at the kitchen counter.
"Steve promised Catherine would like it," Cody said, pouring orange juice into several cups at the table. "He said scrambled eggs are one of her favorites."
"It's not really her birthday yet anyway," Casey put in as she filled a vase with water at the sink. "That's on Friday."
"And she's gotta like breakfast for dinner," Dylan said from beside his sister, holding a small bouquet of flowers. "Breakfast for dinner is awesome."
"Yeah!" Jacob agreed, hopping from one foot to the other in the middle of the floor. "I wish we could have breakfast for dinner every day."
"If we did that," Jenna said, coming in to the kitchen, "then it wouldn't be so special."
Jacob paused, his face scrunching up in thought.
"I guess," he said finally with a nod.
Cody's phone buzzed, and he checked the screen.
"It's Steve," he reported. "They're on their way. 10 minutes, he says."
"Okay," Jenna said, looking around the room. "Is the picnic table set?"
"Yep," Casey said.
"Yep," Dylan echoed.
Casey held out the vase, and Dylan carefully put the flowers inside.
"Just gotta put the flowers out," Casey said.
Jenna nodded and turned to her youngest daughter. "Okay, Egg Woman, how are we looking?"
Kaitlyn grinned and tipped the bowl slightly to show the yellow mixture. "Looking good!"
Smiling broadly, Jenna looked at her excited kids. "Then let's get ready for breakfast, Allen family style."
"This looks great," Catherine enthused as Jacob and Casey led her and Steve out to the Allens' backyard where their picnic table had been decorated along with a card table beside it. "Oh, I love the flowers." She reached out and touched the brightly colored petals. "They're beautiful."
"And look!" Jacob said, running to the far side of the picnic table and holding up a plate. "Happy Birthday plates! We got 'em at the store where Cody works!"
"There's cups, too," Casey said with a good-natured eyeroll. "And napkins. Jacob picked them out."
"I did!" Jacob exclaimed, nodding excitedly.
"They're great," Catherine said, smiling. "They really put me in a birthday mood."
"This is your seat," Jacob continued, bouncing on the balls of his feet and pointing to a spot on the picnic table bench.
"Okay," Catherine said.
"And Commander Steve, you can sit next to Lieutenant Catherine."
"Can I?" Steve said with a grin. "Thanks, Jacob." His brow furrowed, and he teasingly asked, "But don't you want to sit next to her?"
"I'm gonna sit next to her on that side," Jacob said matter-of-factly, pointing to another spot.
Steve nodded, his lip twitching. "Of course."
Catherine pressed her lips together, fighting back a smile and sharing an amused look with Steve.
"You're very popular," he said, with mock seriousness.
"I am the birthday girl," she replied in the same tone.
"And look at this," Jacob said as he picked up a heavily decorated paper crown from where it had rested on the bench. "It's a birthday crown. Me and Kaitlyn made it."
"Kaitlyn and I," Casey corrected automatically.
"Yeah," Jacob said, unfazed. "It's got staples and glue, but don't worry, the glue is dry. I checked. Will you wear it?" He looked up at Catherine with hopeful eyes.
She smiled warmly at him. "I will absolutely wear the birthday crown. Thank you for making it."
She knelt down next to the table, and Jacob put the glittery crown on her head.
"It fits," Catherine said, adjusting it on her ears.
"We tested it on Mom," Jacob told her.
Steve cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms. "That's a good look, Rollins."
She smiled at him, her tongue between her teeth.
The backdoor opened, and Kaitlyn stepped out and held the door for Cody who was carrying a tray of cups.
"Cheese Dude, Butter Whiz," he said. "You're up."
"Oh!" Jacob said. He glanced back at Catherine who had stood. "I gotta go. Cheese Dude, to the rescue!" He made a blast off noise with his mouth and stuck one fist in the air in front of him, running toward the door.
"Slow down, slow down," Cody warned, holding the tray high out of his brother's way.
Casey took over holding the door from Kaitlyn, then followed Jacob after he ran inside.
Steve took a step toward Cody. "Got it?" he asked.
"Yeah." Cody set the tray down on the card table.
"Are you sure we can't do anything to help?" Catherine asked.
"Nope," Cody said. "Like Mom said, it's your birthday."
"You're wearing the birthday crown!" Kaitlyn said, clapping and beaming in excitement.
Catherine smiled, shifting the crown on her head. "Of course I am."
"The glitter was my idea."
"It's fantastic."
Kaitlyn looked at Steve contritely. "Sorry we didn't make you one for your birthday, Commander Steve. Cody said you probably wouldn't wear it."
"Well, if I'd known it was gonna look like that . . ." he started.
"Careful, Commander," Catherine said under breath as she leaned toward him. "You know your birthday comes around every year, and that's the kind of thing kids remember."
"Maybe Lieutenant Catherine will let you wear it later," Kaitlyn suggested.
"Oh . . . I don't think anyone but the birthday girl can wear a crown that . . ." He searched for the right word. "Sparkly."
Catherine smiled, shaking her head at him.
"What?" he said, his smile growing. "You know, it kind of reminds me of your uh . . . your ice skating outfits."
Kaitlyn's eyes widened, and she gasped. "You were a ice skater?" she asked in awe.
"I was," Catherine said with a smile. "When I was a lot younger."
"Really?"
"Really."
Steve moved to help Cody put cups at every place setting, and Catherine and Kaitlyn sat on the edge of the bench, the young girl enraptured as Catherine told her about skating when she was a teen.
A few minutes later, they were all seated around the picnic and card tables, eating scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast.
"Cody said you like ketchup on your eggs, too," Dylan said with a huge smile, squirting a generous amount of ketchup directly onto his own eggs.
"Steve told me," Cody said, unable to stop his lip curling slightly as he looked as his brother's plate. "I couldn't believe there was another person who actually ate that."
"I love ketchupy eggs," Catherine said, adjusting her crown and smiling at Dylan who passed her the ketchup bottle across the table. "You should try putting them on toast with peanut butter."
Cody gagged. "Ughh." He looked at Catherine aghast. "What?"
She grinned. "It's really good."
"That sounds awesome," Dylan said, his eyes wide with admiration and excitement.
"That sounds disgusting," Cody countered, and Steve chuckled.
"I like ketchup," Casey said, wincing slightly. "And I like peanut butter. But I don't know about that . . ."
Kaitlyn stuck her tongue out in distaste. "Yeah, me either."
Catherine winked at Dylan. "Maybe next time."
Dylan's eyebrows shot up suddenly, and he looked at Jenna.
"Mom, can I be right back?" he asked. "I gotta do something real quick."
"What?" Jenna asked.
"Just . . ." He glanced at Catherine surreptitiously. "Something. Please?"
"Okay, but hurry, or your eggs will get cold."
Dylan jumped up and ran toward the house.
"I put the cheese on," Jacob announced as the back door shut behind Dylan.
"Really?" Steve teased. "I had no idea."
"You didn't?" Jacob asked, confused. "But I'm Cheese Dude."
Steve inhaled. "I . . ."
"He's joking, Jacob," Cody said.
"Oh." Jacob sagged for a beat and then straightened excitedly. "Hey! I know a joke. Wanna hear it? What do you call cheese that's not yours?"
"Um . . ." Steve began.
"Nacho cheese!" He threw his head back and laughed hysterically. "HAHAHAHA! Get it? Nacho cheese? Not your cheese? Get it?!"
Casey rubbed her head with one hand wearily. "They get it, Jake."
"Jokes are his . . . new thing," Cody said in the same weary tone.
"I know another one . . ." Jacob started.
"Not right now, Jacob," his mother said with an amused smile.
He sighed. "Okay." Looking back over at Catherine and Steve, he asked, "But the cheese is good, right?"
"It's great," Steve said, and ate a forkful of cheesy scrambled eggs.
Jacob beamed.
"I know it's not very fancy for a birthday dinner," Kaitlyn said, looking around the table a little dejectedly.
Catherine smiled genuinely.
"To me, this is better than a five star restaurant."
"Okay, why don't we let our food settle a little before dessert," Jenna suggested after they had cleared their empty plates and cups from the table.
"Can we give Lieutenant Catherine her present?" Jacob asked, jumping up from his seat. "I can go get it!"
"Present?" Catherine said. "You didn't have to do that. This dinner was just perfect. And my birthday crown," she added, repositioning it on her head. "That's present enough for me."
"But wait'll you see!" Jacob exclaimed. "We worked so hard on it."
"We all did," Kaitlyn agreed, nodding around to her siblings and mother.
Catherine sighed with a smile. "Well, then, I can't wait to see what it is."
"Can I get it, Mom?" Jacob asked.
"Go ahead," Jenna told him.
"I'll go, too," Kaitlyn said, following Jacob to the house.
"They really did work hard on it," Jenna said.
"You did, too, Mom," Dylan said.
"But not as much as you all," Jenna countered, smiling proudly at her children.
"I'm so touched," Catherine said sincerely. "Really." She laughed. "And I don't even know what it is yet."
Steve smiled at her, running his hand along her back.
The two youngest Allens ran back outside, Jacob carrying a colorful shirt box.
"Careful, Jacob," Kaitlyn said, right on his heels. "The bow!"
As if on cue, the purple bow flew off. Jacob whirled around while Kaitlyn grabbed it from the grass and pressed it back to the top of the box.
They came around to where Catherine was sitting and presented the box, which was decorated with marker drawings all over in addition to the now lopsided purple bow.
"Hmmm . . ." Catherine said, taking the gift and peering at it from every angle. She gently shook the box by her ear. "Doesn't sound like a pony."
Casey snorted, and Kaitlyn giggled.
"Lieutenant Catherine!" Jacob said in exasperation.
She grinned at him. "I guess I should open it, huh?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Jacob said for all of them, holding on to her shoulder and bouncing in place.
She glanced around to see all the Allens looking on expectantly with varying degrees of anticipation, from Jacob nearly bursting out of his skin to Cody's more measured smile. Even Jenna was biting her lower lip in expectation.
Catherine looked at Steve who said, "Well, go on, I'm dying to know what's in there."
She set the box on the table. "These drawings are great," she said, looking at the gift. "So much better than wrapping paper from the store."
"Me and Kaitlyn did the pictures," Jacob said.
"Kaitlyn an–" his mother started.
"Kaitlyn and I," Jacob finished hurriedly. "And Dylan did the writing."
"I had to look up how to spell 'Lieutenant,' " Dylan admitted.
"That is a tough one," Catherine agreed.
"And once I kinda forgot the first 'e' in your name," he said, leaning over the table and pointing to a spot on the box. "I had to squeeze it in."
"Well, you can hardly tell," she said, smiling at him, and he sat up straighter, grinning.
"Open it, open it!" Jacob cried, shaking her shoulder.
"Okay," Catherine said with a laugh, lifting the top off the box. "Before Jacob explodes." She set the top down and pulled back the tissue paper to reveal a stack of papers, tied together with a purple ribbon through holes punched in the top corner of each page. Gently, she lifted the papers out, and Steve craned his neck to read over her shoulder.
" 'Lieutenant Catherine's Book of Coupons,' " he read.
" 'Happy Birthday! Love Jenna, Cody, Casey, Dylan, Kaitlyn, and Jacob,' " Catherine finished reading the first page. " 'Book of Coupons'? Wh–"
"We made 'em on the computer!" Jacob exclaimed. "Look!" He flipped the title page over and pointed. "That one's from me!"
" 'This coupon is good for one drawing by Jacob,' " Catherine read.
"A big one!" he told her, his arms going wide in demonstration. "And I'll use my special colored pencils," he added seriously.
"Oh, wow," Catherine said, a delighted smile on her face. "This is–"
"Look at the next one!" Kaitlyn urged from beside Jacob.
Catherine turned to the next paper and read, " 'This coupon is good for one bracelet by Kaitlyn.' "
"And I'll make it any colors you want. I could even make a starburst bracelet, and those are hard."
"This is amazing," Catherine said in astonishment, turning more pages.
Each had a new "offer" and was accompanied by either a hand drawn picture or clip art printed on the computer.
" 'One car wash,' " Catherine read.
"That's from me and Cody," Dylan said.
"Cody and I," Jacob said, beaming proudly to have corrected someone else for a change.
Jenna winced. "Actually, he's right. 'Me and Cody.' Or 'Cody and me.' "
"What?" Jacob exclaimed in disbelief. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" He gave an exaggerated groan, throwing his head back. "I'll never get it right."
"Sure you will, Jake," Cody said. "Just keep working on it."
"Wow, a car wash," Catherine said, looking at the two older boys. "I'll definitely take you guys up on that,"
"Maybe we'll throw in an oil change, too," Cody said, glancing over at his mentor. "If Steve'll help."
"Absolutely," Steve said with a proud nod.
Catherine looked at the next page that featured two runners.
"Kono said you like to go running . . ." Casey said, twisting her fist around the thumb on her other hand a little uncertainly. "I thought . . . maybe sometime we could go together."
"It's a date," Catherine agreed immediately with a warm smile.
She turned to the next page that seemed more hastily done. The pictures weren't quite centered, and the font was different from the other pages.
"I just added that one when I went inside before," Dylan said.
There was a photo of ketchup on eggs and another of peanut butter on toast.
"We could have a ketchupy eggs date," he said brightly. He stopped suddenly and looked at Steve with wide eyes. "I mean, not like a date," he rushed to say. "Just, like . . . with Casey . . . and the running . . . and she called it a . . . um . . ."
Steve chuckled lightly. He winked at Catherine and slid an arm around her shoulders.
"What is it with the guys in this family making moves on my girlfriend?" he asked, feigning annoyance. "First Jacob, now Dylan." He looked at Cody. "You next?"
"Uh uh," Dylan was quick to jump in, clearly glad the focus was off him. " 'Cause Cody's got a giiiirrrrrrrrlllllfriend," he sing-songed with a huge grin.
"Yeah," Kaitlyn chimed in. "Jeeeeeeeeessssss."
"She's not my–" Cody started, flustered. "I . . . we're just . . ."
"Don't even try," Steve said, waving a hand. "No one ever believes it. Trust me."
Catherine smiled at him, and he squeezed her shoulder lightly.
She looked back at Dylan and said, "I know the perfect diner for our ketchupy eggs date."
He smiled, looking down slightly in a way that was very reminiscent of his older brother.
Catherine looked at the next coupon. " 'An acrostic poem by Kaitlyn.' "
"Casey helped me spell 'crostic. It's when you write the name on a paper like this," she said, running her finger down the edge of the paper vertically, "then you think of a word that starts with each letter so you get a poem about somebody." She winced a little. "But it might take a while. You have a really long name," she said by way of explanation, "even if I just do the Catherine part."
"I understand," Catherine said, smiling. "I can't wait to see what you write. I know it will be wonderful."
Kaitlyn beamed proudly.
"That next one is a two-fer," Jenna said as Catherine turned to a page with pictures of brightly colored toenails.
"Ooh," Catherine said. " 'Pedicures and lunch.' "
"I thought once just you and me, and maybe once with the girls and Grace?"
"That sounds great," Catherine said genuinely, and Jenna smiled happily.
Catherine turned to the last page, looking around at the group and saying, "This is just . . . amazing." She blinked back a tear. "I just . . . this is so special. Thank you . . . all of you." She looked down and smiled as she read the final coupon. "Well, I know which one I'm redeeming right now," she said, holding it up.
"Are you sure you want to start with that one?" Jenna asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Are you kidding? Absolutely."
Jenna laughed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Catherine gave her a quizzical look, then put the coupon book down and swiveled on the bench so her legs were on the outside.
"Okay, gang," Jenna said. "Catherine wants one Allen Family Hug."
Jacob and Kaitlyn, who were closest to her, launched themselves at Catherine in a massive hug.
"Ahh!" Catherine yelped with a laugh when Dylan and Casey ran around the table to join them, and they practically wrestled her to the ground, all six giggling as they tumbled around.
Steve laughed heartily, lifting his legs to avoid the pile of squealing, rolling bodies.
Cody came around the table more slowly and shrugged at him. "It's what the coupon said," he managed before being pulled down by his siblings.
"Mom!" Jacob yelled. "Come on!"
"I'll sit this one out," Jenna said. Raising a camera, she took a picture of the joyful group that was bubbling with exclamations of 'Happy Birthday!' in between shrieks of laughter.
She smiled at Steve.
"That one's definitely going in the digital frame."
After a dessert of brownies and ice cream, followed by effusive thanks for the dinner and the special coupon book, Catherine and Steve walked toward his truck parked in front of the Allens' house.
"Your crown's looking a little worse for wear," Steve commented, nodding toward the item in her hands that had suffered a certain degree of damage during the enthusiastic group hug.
Catherine smiled at him. "Worth it."
She held the crown along with the decorated box containing her coupon book, both of which had escaped harm since they had remained on the table throughout the excitement, as had her flowers which Steve now carried.
As they continued toward the truck, Catherine exhaled with a thoughtful smile.
"What?" Steve asked.
She looked at him. "I was just thinking . . . what a difference a year makes, you know?"
"Yeah," he said with a soft smile.
"A year ago . . . we didn't even know the Allens. And now . . ." She shook her head and smiled. "I can't imagine life without them."
He nodded his agreement as they stopped beside the passenger door of the truck.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
She looked down at her crown and gift box. "I certainly can't imagine celebrating my birthday without them ever again."
Smiling, he reached over and gently swiped a piece of glitter from her cheek.
"And just think . . . your birthday week isn't even over yet."
She laughed. "I don't know how much more excitement I can handle."
He flicked the speck off his fingers. "You're gonna be finding glitter for days, you know that, right?"
She chuckled. "Possibly longer." Licking her lips, she smiled and said with absolute sincerity, "Totally worth it."
Hope you enjoyed!
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