Notes: I continue to be amazed at and grateful for your support, REAL Worlders. Thank you!
Mari and Sammy – huge thank you for your advice and support on this one. (More on that after the story.). And thanks to Mac for her approval!
The omelet scene is for MnemosyneMorrigan who suggested it waaaay back when Ground Rules was posted. Sorry it took so long! Thank you for your generous feedback.
When Jerry Met Cammie (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Hey, guys," Catherine greeted Chin and Jerry at the front door with a bright smile.
"Hey, Catherine," Chin said as they stepped into the house. "Sorry to drop in on you like this, but Jerry has something he wanted to give you and Steve."
She shut the door behind them. "Yeah, you said in your text. It's no problem at all. I'm very curious to see what you brought," she said with a smile in Jerry's direction.
His smile was a little shy in response and he shuffled one foot slightly.
Catherine motioned them to follow her and said, "Come on, Steve's out back with Cammie."
"Cammie?" Jerry asked when they reached the back door and walked outside.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you . . ." Chin started as they stepped off the lanai.
"Hey," Steve called from the sand where he had been tossing a ball with the energetic young dog.
Seeing the newcomers, Cammie bounded toward the house to greet them. She bypassed Catherine and Chin and headed straight for Jerry.
"Waaaa," he said, backpedaling up the lanai and reaching for the door handle behind him. He leaned against the door, eyes widening as he looked at Cammie who was sniffing his shorts and the bag he carried. "That's a . . . that's a big dog."
"She's just saying hello," Catherine reassured him.
"Cammie," Steve said as he came up beside Catherine. "Come here."
Cammie obediently turned and trotted back to where Steve and Catherine stood in the grass and sat at their feet. Steve bent to rub her head before he straightened and draped an arm around Catherine's shoulder.
Chin smiled at his friend. "I've never seen you move that fast, Jerry," he teased.
"I was just . . . surprised. She's very uh . . . big."
"Yeah, you said that." Chin chuckled and knelt to pet the dog. "Hey, Cammie."
"Um . . . when did you guys get a dog?" Jerry asked, still standing on the lanai.
"A couple of weeks ago," Catherine said. "Found her at crime scene and well . . ." she shrugged and looked down at Cammie with a fond smile. "Here we are."
"You guys want something to drink?" Steve asked. "Beer? Water? There's probably some lemonade from the last time Grace was here."
"I'll take a beer," Chin said.
"Jerry?"
"Oh, um, lemonade. Thanks," he said, though his voice sounded distracted.
"Be right back," Steve said and walked toward the house.
Jerry stepped cautiously onto the grass but kept his eyes on Cammie.
"Come on, have a seat," Catherine said, motioning Jerry and Chin toward three chairs.
As they sat, Cammie wandered off to investigate the foliage and Jerry breathed easier, settling back in his chair.
Steve returned and handed drinks to Jerry and Chin. He grabbed his own beer bottle from the table and stood beside Catherine's chair, facing their guests.
"So when are you guys going to finally start that big kitchen re-modeling project?" Chin asked.
"Plans are nearly done," Steve said and took a drink. "We'll probably start in a week or so."
"You're fixing up the kitchen?" Jerry asked. He nodded approvingly. "Cool. I didn't want to say when I was here, but it really needs it, dude."
Catherine glanced up briefly at Steve, hiding her smile behind her bottle as she sipped her beer.
Steve rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, "Yes, I know, I know. Long overdue." He smiled down at Catherine when she chuckled at him.
"Hey, remember when I made omelets for you guys?" Jerry asked.
Steve sighed with a laugh and said, "How could we forget?"
After their morning swim, Catherine and Steve walked toward the wooden chairs near the water.
"Looks like breakfast is served," Catherine said as she picked up her towel from the chair and began to dry off.
Steve glanced toward the table near the house where Jerry was busy laying out food and drinks.
"Nice," he said before running his towel over his face and hair. He looked over at her with a smile. "This houseguest thing may turn out to be a pretty good idea after all."
She raised her eyebrows but remained silent.
"What?" he asked.
Catherine shook her head and pulled her cover-up on over her bathing suit. She started toward the table.
"Good morning, Jerry," she said and greeted him with a smile. "Looks like you found everything you needed in the kitchen."
"Yeah. I hope you guys are hungry," he said eagerly.
"Definitely," Steve said as he came up beside Catherine, pulling a tank top on over his head. "Looks great. Let's dig in."
"All right," Jerry said, a proud smile on his face.
They took their seats and Jerry watched expectantly as Steve and Catherine tasted their omelets.
He waited for a moment and then asked, "Well? Do you like it?"
"Umm," Steve began, chewing and nodding. "Mm. That's a lot of cheese."
Jerry looked mildly panicked. "Do you not like cheese?" he asked.
"No," Steve said and swallowed. "No, I like cheese fine. It's just . . ." he took a drink of orange juice. "That's a little more than I usually eat in an omelet."
"I needed something to cover the taste of the spinach," Jerry said, wringing his hands. "I'm . . . not a huge fan of spinach, but I know you both said you liked it in omelets . . ."
"It's really good, Jerry," Catherine said with a warm smile. "Thank you for cooking." She glanced quickly at Steve before she continued. "We don't usually do a big meal in the mornings, so this is really nice."
Jerry beamed and finally took a bite of his own omelet.
"So what have you got planned for the day, Jerry?" Catherine asked after a moment.
"I was going to do some laundry later," he said. "If that's okay?"
"You haven't even been here 24 hours yet," Steve said, his tone confused.
"Yeah, well, I kinda left my mom's place in a hurry so I didn't really bring a lot of–"
"Okay, okay . . ." Steve said, waving a hand.
"I told you I brought my own detergent."
"I remember."
They continued eating for a few minutes. Steve finished his orange juice and stood.
"I'm gonna get some water," he said. "Anybody need anything?"
"I'm good," Jerry said.
Catherine looked up at Steve and said, "Will you grab–"
"I'll grab the ketchup," he said, already walking toward the house.
"Ketchup?" Jerry asked.
Catherine just smiled in response.
A minute later they heard Steve yell from inside, "Jerry! What the hell did you do to the kitchen?!"
Jerry jumped up from his seat and ran toward the house, leaving a bemused Catherine at the table.
"It's okay, roomie, I'm going to clean it up!"
"I still can't figure out how you got egg on the ceiling," Steve said, shaking his head.
Jerry smiled sheepishly as Catherine and Chin chuckled. He straightened in his seat as Cammie approached the group. She dropped her tennis ball in front of Jerry and looked up expectantly. When he didn't move, she lowered her head and rolled the ball closer to his feet with her nose.
"I think she wants you to throw it, Jerry," Chin said in a stage-whisper.
"I . . . I know that," he said. Swallowing, he kept his eyes on Cammie as he leaned over and picked up the ball gingerly. He winced a little at the dampness. "Uh . . . okay, here you go." He tossed it a few feet away.
Cammie immediately retrieved the ball and dropped it at Jerry's feet again.
Steve laughed and said, "Oh, come on, buddy, you can do better than that. She loves to play."
Jerry glanced up at him and then looked at Catherine who smiled encouragingly. He picked up the ball again and threw it nearly to the water's edge. Cammie took off after it and Jerry smiled, watching her run.
"She's really fast," he observed as she ran back toward him and dropped the ball at his feet. She looked up at him, wagging her tail and barking once.
"Looks like you've got a new friend, Jerry," Chin said with a grin.
"I have to warn you, though," Catherine said, smiling broadly. "She'll keep going till your arm falls off."
"This is kinda fun," Jerry admitted and threw the ball again.
Steve, Catherine, and Chin exchanged knowing smiles as they watched Jerry continue to throw the ball for the excited dog to retrieve.
After several minutes of fetch, Jerry looked over at the others.
"I see what you mean," he said to Catherine, rubbing his arm.
Steve set his empty bottle down and said, "Cammie, come here."
She ran to him and dropped the ball at his feet.
"Sit," he told her and she immediately obeyed. "Good girl," he said, scratching her head.
"So what did you want to bring us, Jerry?" Catherine asked.
"Oh, right!" Jerry said, as if he had forgotten the reason he had come. He grabbed the plastic bag he had set down beside his chair and handed it to Catherine. "I remember you guys didn't always agree on what movie to watch. I thought . . . you both might like this one."
Catherine reached in the bag and pulled out Non-Stop.
"Have you seen it yet?" he asked.
"No, we haven't," she said.
He exhaled his relief. "Oh, good. I was worried maybe you saw it in the theater. I mean, I haven't gone to the movie theater in . . . well, you know. Anyway, I thought maybe you had . . ."
"No, we don't go to that many movies at the theater," Catherine said. She glanced up at Steve. "It's not really fair to other people," she said with a smirk.
Steve started to speak in his own defense but sighed instead, unable to contain his smile at her teasing.
Catherine turned back to Jerry and said, "That was really sweet. Thank you." She reached over and squeezed his hand.
Jerry blushed, ducking his head slightly.
"Maybe we'll watch it tonight," Catherine said and looked up at Steve.
He rolled his eyes slightly and said, "That figures. Tonight was supposed to be my choice," he said, though his smile indicated he wasn't truly annoyed. "Thanks, man," he said with a nod at Jerry who nodded back with a pleased smile.
"Well, we should probably get going," Chin said and stood up. "Thanks for the beer."
"Sure," Steve said.
Catherine and Jerry also stood. Cammie looked between them all and then trotted over to stand next to Jerry who, after a moment's pause, leaned down to pet her a little awkwardly on the head.
"Maybe uh . . ." he started. "Maybe I could come back sometime and . . . you know . . ."
"Are you trying to arrange a play date with our dog, Jerry?" Steve asked with a smirk.
"Well, I just meant . . . if that's okay with you . . ."
Catherine elbowed Steve in the side and said, "That'd be great, Jerry. She'd love to see you. So would we."
"Anytime, buddy," Steve said, his smile now genuine.
Later that night, Steve sat on the couch as Catherine put the movie Jerry had brought them in the player. When she joined him, he put his arm around her shoulder.
"So this is what? An action movie?" Steve asked.
She flipped the DVD case over to look at the back and said, "Looks like it." Her eyebrows arched as she looked at him. "So you should be happy for once."
"I don't know what you're implying there, Rollins, but I don't think you want to get into a discussion about movie tastes."
She winced and tossed the case on the coffee table, settling against him before acknowledging, "I do owe you for a couple of movies."
Steve kept his arm around her but pulled away enough to look at her with his eyebrows raised.
"Are you saying my tab is finally paid off?" he asked.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I said I owed you for a couple of movies."
He paused and nodded. "I'll take it," he said with a smile and settled back against the couch, pulling her closer.
She smiled and said, "That really was very nice of Jerry to bring us a movie."
Steve nodded his agreement and said, "I mean, a couple of . . . incidents aside, he really wasn't a terrible houseguest."
Catherine smiled at the memories of Jerry's brief stay with them. "No, he wasn't," she said.
"Not that I'm going to be inviting him back anytime soon . . ."
She chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder, her arm sliding across his midsection.
Steve glanced over at Cammie who was lying on the rug in front of the television.
"This latest houseguest seems to have worked out," he said. He looked at Catherine and smiled. "Permanently."
Catherine returned his smile and said, "Yeah."
Cammie raised her head and looked over at them as if she knew they were talking about her.
"Isn't that right, Cammie?" Steve asked.
She barked once in response and laid her head back on her front paws.
"That's right," he said quietly.
He pressed a kiss to the top of Catherine's hair and rested his head against hers before pressing play on the remote to start the movie.
Notes: Hope you enjoyed my first story with Cammie!
Full disclosure: When I found out Steve and Catherine were getting a dog, my reaction was, Ohhh, boy. I'm gonna be writing about a dog? I've never had a dog. I don't know anything about dogs. I will confess I am much more like Jerry in this story. One eye on the dog, one eye on the exit. But fortunately, I have two *awesome* teammates in Mari and Sammy who are incredibly supportive and who never hesitate to lend their canine expertise. And it certainly doesn't hurt that Cammie is pretty awesome herself! She had me from the first moment I met her :-)