Mari's notes: Sammy and Ilna - This was especially fun to co-write, because of the live chat while prepping the story. I love our chats so very very much. Love you both!
Real McRollers and Readers - Thank you all for warming my heart with your love and support. The warmth is especially appreciated it today as it's frigidly cold here in snowy New Jersey!
Ilna's Notes: Mari and Sammy - Another fabulous co-write. This one was a TON of fun to write :-)
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support with each and every story. Happy New Year's!
Sammy's Notes: Ditto (It ain't New Year's yet)
Hope you enjoy!
Time Alone (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Mari, Sammy, and Ilna)
"So, what do you wanna do first?" Catherine asked as they entered the beach house after dropping Angie at the sleepover.
Cammie greeted them immediately and seemed somewhat concerned that her tiniest human, although she'd left the house with them, had not returned.
"She's fine," Catherine said as she knelt and wrapped her arms around the dog. "She's staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight."
"How about if I take her out for a quick run?" Steve suggested. "Then when I get back we can do … " He waggled his eyebrows. "Whatever."
"Sounds good," Catherine tossed over her shoulder as she started up the stairs. "And since you'll be all sweaty when you get back, how about I meet you in the shower?"
"An asterisk," Catherine purred as she stepped back under the warm water cascading from their rainfall shower head.
Steve slid his arms around her waist and kissed her neck as his breathing began to return to normal. It took a few seconds for him to register what she had said. "Huh?"
She pointed to the back wall of the shower and grinned. "We made an asterisk on the color changing tiles." She kissed him, gently capturing his bottom lip between her teeth. When she felt his breathing start to quicken again she whispered, "One of my very favorite punctuation marks."
"Is that so?" His hands slid down to her butt and pulled her closer.
She ground her hips against him eliciting a moan. "There is one other I've been dying to try though."
"Name it," he growled.
She waggled her eyebrows as she began backing them towards the wall of the shower. "Guess."
"Catherine, there's not a lot of blood flowing to my brain right now."
She dropped a row of kisses along his jawline. "Just try."
"Parenthesis," he suggested.
She ran her foot seductively up and down his calf. "Way too much space between us."
"An ampersand," he moaned.
"We've done that lots of times," she grinned.
"I'm out of guesses." He ran his hands up her torso and cupped her breasts. "Can you give me a hint?"
She placed her hands over his. "Did you know that a question mark, followed by an exclamation point, is called an interrobang?"
His eyes met hers. "You're making that up."
"I'm not," she assured him.
She couldn't help but smile at the slightly confused look on his face as he stared at the wall trying to figure out exactly how it would work.
After a few seconds she took pity on him.
She turned around so her back was facing him and curled her spine forward placing her hands on her knees.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Would you care to interrobang with me, Commander?"
His fingers grasped her hips firmly and he smiled wolfishly. "Any time, Lieutenant."
"No, no, Frank. It's no problem. I'll go down and see what I can do." Steve disconnected the call and pocketed his phone. "Kathy's car won't start and she needs to get to get to the hospital to visit her aunt. Frank is all the way across the island," he explained apologetically.
"It's fine." Catherine smiled. The Kayamas were good neighbors and they were clearly in a bind. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."
Thirty minutes later Steve returned. "It was just a loose battery wire," he called as he entered the house.
He was met with silence.
He grinned when he spotted Catherine's handwritten note:
To find item number one
Go to the place
That reflects your face
He took the steps two at a time, reaching the bathroom mirror to find a note under a small bottle of chocolate sauce on the counter. He pocketed the bottle and read,
In your weapons box I may have placed
Another item with a very sweet taste
Shaking his head, he grabbed the note and made for the garage.
Catherine stifled a laugh as she stepped out of the walk-in closet. Steve was not easy to hide from, but his being distracted by the potential prize helped her game. She moved across the room quietly while she heard the garage door open and close.
Downstairs in the gun cabinet, a third note accompanied a packet of butterscotch.
Now it's time to turn up the heat
But your search is still incomplete
As this clue you save
Go to the place where you'll see waves.
"Cath…" He ran a hand through his hair, grabbed the butterscotch and the note and headed for the deck. On the first chaise lounge near the door he read,
Hurry now, don't hesitate
The game ends where you kissed me awake.
Unable to hold back a chuckle, Steve reentered the house and ran back up the stairs.
In the bedroom, Catherine was sitting against the headboard of their bed wearing a beautiful, saucy smile and a purple teddy.
"Looks like the game's over, Commander." She held up her arms and Steve, already peeled down to boxers, crawled up next to her.
"Actually, I think it just started." He kissed her until they needed to breathe. "And I already won."
"Maybe I should just give them a quick call and make sure everything's ok," Steve suggested as he reached for his phone midday.
"I'm sure they would have called if … " Something about the look in his eyes made Catherine rethink what she was going to say. "You know what?" She smiled. "I think that's a good idea."
He checked his watch as the call connected and he heard Elizabeth's voice. "Hi, Steve, I've got you on speaker."
"Hey, just checking in," he said, fighting to keep his voice casual. "I figured Angie would be getting up from her nap around now." It took everything he had not to add 'Can I talk to her?'
"Just a few minutes ago. Joseph's feeding her right now. And her eyes just lit up because she heard your voice."
Steve smiled.
"She slept okay?" he asked. He knew she was perfectly comfortable at Joseph and Elizabeth's and had napped there many times before but this was different.
The tone of Elizabeth's voice was very reassuring. "Like an angel."
'They're playing Rummikub,' he mouthed to Catherine as Joan, Mary and Ang all chimed in on the call.
"Sounds like you're having fun." He knew they would be but he just felt better having called. He'd never hear the end of it if Danny found out. "And we're all still lip gloss free?"
He could almost hear Mary rolling her eyes. "Yes, all lip gloss has remained on lips only. And is safely tucked away in my purse and out of reach when not in use."
"Glad to hear it."
"Are you two having a good afternoon?" Elizabeth asked.
Steve looked at Catherine and flashes of their day so far danced through his head.
He cleared his throat.
"Uh … yeah. Absolutely," he said finally.
Catherine chuckled out loud and Steve was sure everyone at the condo could hear.
"Okay, we'll … let you get back to your game," he said. "Glad everything's going well."
As soon as they said their goodbyes Steve tossed the phone on the nightstand. "Everything's fine."
"That's good." Catherine smiled saucily. "Now that that's settled I can think of a few things that could use some of your attention."
"This day is bringing back memories." Catherine smiled as she stretched languidly.
"Of all those leaves where we never left the bed," he chuckled.
She pushed up on an elbow and patted his stomach. "I'm getting hungry." When his eyes lit she added, "For food," and he huffed a laugh.
"Okay, Lieutenant, what do you feel like?" He swooped up and over her, and she was suddenly beneath him, smiling up into his eyes. "After the chocolate and butterscotch appetizer."
"Hmm, how about burgers? On the indoor griller," she said pointedly.
"Perfect." Steve pulled back, his smile widening. "Because outside would require …"
"Clothes."
"Clothes."
They said together and laughed.
"Actually, one of us is gonna need clothes for a few minutes." Catherine nodded at Cammie who'd stretched and risen from her nap and was looking at her humans over her shoulder from the doorway. "Cammie's gotta pee."
He nodded. "I got her." He kissed Catherine once, twice and ran a hand down her arm to her side and squeezed her hip gently. "I require less clothes."
"Excellent point. I'll start some burgers." She stretched and smiled when his eyes darkened as they ran over her, even after just having an acrobatic romp not a half hour before. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and went to pull a t-shirt from his dresser, explaining when his brows rose, "I'm not dishonoring naked day, but I'm also not frying burgers naked. Grease splatters." She winked.
He huffed a laugh and pulled on boardies. "See how brilliant she is, Cammie?" he asked the dog, who turned in a tight circle as he approached the doorway. "We'll be back. I'll do a swim with her, too. Then she'll be set till tonight." He started into the hall and turned back. "Cath? We have sweet potatoes left, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, we need to shop tomorrow but we have white and a few sweet."
He ran a hand over Cammie as she head bumped his leg in anticipation of their swim. "I'll make mixed fries."
"Awww." They both grinned at a shared memory. "Sounds delicious. I'll have the frier hot, you two have fun." She reached for a clip and gathered her hair up to cook.
Steve's voice floated from the hall. "Be back in forty five!"
Catherine went down into the kitchen, padding across the floor in her bare feet and pulled out the ingredients for burgers. Before leaving the refrigerator, she nodded to herself after checking the freezer for a few ingredients.
Steve carried a tray with loaded burgers, sweet and white french fries and some cut up avocado on mixed green salad and placed it on the night table. Catherine followed him into the room and put a small ice-cooler on her nightstand before stripping off the t-shirt and climbing onto the bed.
"Spill sheet?" He indicated the sheet covering the bed. Catherine had made the bed, sans comforter, before cooking.
"Just in case," she said with a grin. "I don't want us to waste time cleaning up after lunch when we can be getting to better activities." She let her eyes roam his body meaningfully. "I needed to straighten the bed anyway, your pillow was halfway to Cammie's bed and the top sheet was on the floor."
They'd settled comfortably and begun to eat. "Then we haven't lost our touch." His smirk was salacious as he took a huge bite of his burger.
"Never," she agreed and ran a hand up this thigh, chuckling when he stopped chewing for a full five seconds before resuming. "The fries are amazing. Better than in …"
"Bali," he finished her thought. "That was a great New Year's Eve."
She swallowed a sip of the St. Lupulin beer John had gifted Steve for Christmas. "We were together on the actual holiday," she said with a huge smile.
"And Bali was great."
Her smile morphed to a sensual smirk. "We left the room twice in five days."
"Exactly." He leaned in and kissed her. "Great."
When she went to move back, he leaned further and another kiss went from soft to more ardent.
"Mmmm, finish the burger, Commander, you'll need your strength."
She pecked his lips gently and he sat back, shoving the last bite of burger into his mouth, grinning as he chewed.
"You never change, McGarrett." Her eyes lit. "And I love you for it."
He swallowed and washed it down with the rest of his beer. "Back at you, Rollins."
She gestured at the cooler. "Want dessert?"
He'd collected the remnants of lunch and placed them on the tray. "Dessert or dessert?"
She chuckled. "Actual dessert. And that was rhetorical; you have to say yes, 'cause it's gonna melt otherwise."
Steve smiled. "Then, yes, I want dessert. And then we can have …"
"Dessert? Mmmhmm, but first…" She opened the cooler and took out a bowl filled with a fried plantain-type banana and two scoops of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with fresh coconut. "The sweet potato and regular fires reminded me of Bali so …"
"Goreng Pisang," Steve said and they shared a smile.
"I improvised on the type of banana, but yeah."
He took a bite. "This is great, Cath."
She took another spoonful. "Remember eating it at midnight?"
"I remember watching you eat it naked." His grin was infectious as he scooped up more of the sweet concoction.
She finished the last of the ice cream and hastily closed the bowl and spoons into the cooler. Turning back from depositing it on the nightstand, she leaned in and kissed Steve, straddling his legs as she did.
"Hmmm, time for dessert, Lieutenant?" He slid his hands up her naked back, burying one in her hair.
Just before deepening the kiss Catherine murmured, "Definitely" against his lips.
"That was Lea," Catherine said as she put her phone back on the bedside table. "She was calling to make sure we still plan on going to the party at the governor's mansion next weekend to celebrate her first year in office."
"Of course we're going." Steve grinned. "After all, I have my awesome Christmas gift from my wife to show off."
After putting Angie to bed for the night on Christmas, Steve and Catherine settled on the sofa for one last round of present opening.
"Here," he said, handing her a small wrapped box. "Merry Christmas, Cath."
She smiled, taking the gift from him and unwrapping it. "Jewelry," she guessed, opening the box. Her mouth dropped open slightly. "Oh, Steve. It's beautiful." She touched the necklace made of three interlocking circles, two silver and one rose gold. "These silver rings look just like …"
"Our wedding rings," he finished quietly. "Yeah."
She looked up at him, realizing his intended symbolism. "And the rose gold for Angie."
He nodded, his eyes on her. "I thought … out of two, one."
"Steve," she whispered, her eyes misting. "That's beautiful." She exhaled a breath, smiling, and put a hand to his cheek. "You know, you can be downright poetic when you want to be." She pulled him closer for a kiss.
"I don't know about poetic," he said when they parted.
She grinned. "Is that going to be like 'adorable'?"
"I think so," he said, grinning back. "I'm officially adding it to the list."
Chuckling, she kissed him once more and sat back, her eyes going again to the necklace. "This is so beautiful, Steve. The necklace and your poe–"
He cringed slightly and she smiled indulgently.
"Your thoughts behind it," she amended, sans adjective. "Thank you."
He smiled softly. "You're welcome."
Carefully she removed it from the box and held it out to him. "Will you put it on me?"
"Of course," he replied immediately, taking the necklace as she turned around. He fastened the clasp behind her neck and then pulled her hair out from under the silver chain.
She turned back around and smiled, her fingers going to the circles now at the base of her throat.
"Beautiful," he said.
"Isn't it?" She looked up to see his eyes on her and not the necklace. She smiled. "I think you say that every time you give me a necklace."
He shrugged. "It's always true," he said simply.
She smiled, touched, then turned to the coffee table and picked up a small wrapped box, similar in size to the one he'd given her. "Your turn," she said, handing him the box.
He unwrapped it and opened the box. Inside lay two circular cufflinks.
"I figured you'd be needing a few sets since my job entails multiple fancy events a year …" she said with a small smile.
"The compass set you gave me at our wedding was pretty special," he pointed out.
"I think these are, too," she said meaningfully.
He lifted one and looked closer. "Is that …"
"Yes," she answered his unfinished question.
"You're right," he said, a touch of awe in his voice. "These are special, too."
She smiled. "I realized you didn't have any jewelry with our special sand, so …"
He quirked an eyebrow.
"Cufflinks are technically jewelry, Steve," she said.
"Men don't wear jewelry," he said. "Well, besides this," he amended, holding up the hand with his wedding ring.
"I thought men don't wear accessories," she said, quoting his assertion from seventeen years ago when they attempted to play what amounted to strip crossword puzzle.
"Those either," he said.
She nodded at his gift. "So these are …"
"These are cufflinks," he said, carefully placing the one he'd picked up back in the box and smiling softly. "And I love them."
She smiled, pleased at his reaction.
"Thank you, Catherine," he said. "I love the idea of having this little bit of our special spot with me when I'm wearing them."
"I know exactly what you mean," she said, thinking of her sand necklace.
"Do you have to be somewhere?" Catherine teased when she caught Steve looking at his watch for the third time in five minutes as they sat on the couch in the living room half watching a movie between make out sessions.
He shook his head. "I just figured Angie should be finished eating by now … "
Catherine smiled affectionately. "I miss her too."
"I know you do," he said softly.
She squeezed his hand. "My first few nights at reserve duty were awful so I know how you're feeling."
"I just wanna make sure … " He picked his phone up off the coffee table.
Catherine wrapped her fingers around his wrist. "This movie is doing nothing to hold my attention. I feel like a nice hot bath instead. I was hoping you'd be available to help soap up the hard to reach bits." She dipped her head and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "But if you're busy making a call …"
It only took him a split second to drop the phone back on the table.
"That soaking tub was the best investment we ever made," he laughed as they raced up the stairs.
After drying off from the shower she took to get clean after their soaking tub adventure, and the activities afterward, Catherine exited the bedroom and saw Steve standing in the doorway of Angie's nursery, his eyes on the crib. He'd donned shorts to take Cammie out while she was in the shower but his chest was bare. With a soft smile, she stepped up beside him and ran a soothing hand across his back.
"Why don't you call?" she suggested quietly.
He looked at her. "Your mom texted Angie went to sleep an hour ago."
"I know, but you'll feel better."
"I'm fine," he said, his eyes going back to the crib even as he draped an arm over her shoulders.
She wrapped her arm around his waist, tightening her hold supportively. "It's okay, Steve. It's harder than you thought to be away from her. I know exactly what you're feeling. So trust me, you'll feel better if you call. They won't mind. I promise."
He glanced at her again, searching her eyes. Seeing nothing but understanding and love, he inhaled deeply and pulled his phone from the pocket of his shorts. He navigated to his call list and tapped the most recent number.
"When I said feel free to call if you need to, I didn't think it'd be more than once."
Steve winced slightly when Elizabeth answered the phone. He knew she was teasing yet he didn't want her to think for a second he was calling because he didn't trust her and Joseph with Angie so he said so. What he didn't say was that this might have been the third call if not for Catherine's timely, and very enjoyable, distraction earlier with the tub.
He couldn't quite explain it. He spent most of every weekday and even some time on the weekends away from Angie when he was working a case. Shortly after she was born and he went back to work he'd felt the need to call often and check in, but that need had abated with time.
Until today.
He'd loved every second of the day with Catherine, but he'd still felt the need to call the condo. Not to check in so much as to feel closer to his daughter.
He shouldn't have been surprised when Elizabeth voiced what he was feeling.
"It's just that it's your first full day and night away from your baby girl and it's a little tougher than you thought it would be."
He sighed. Of course she understood. Like mother, like daughter. His arm tightened around Catherine as he answered. "Yeah."
"It's perfectly all right, Steve," Elizabeth went on. "I understand. Truly. It's because you love your daughter and you've gotten used to being right there with her. The first time Catherine stayed overnight with my mother I was exactly the same way. And so was Joseph."
The small lump that had formed in his throat since he'd come to nursery loosened. "It actually helps a lot to hear that," he admitted truthfully. Along with Danny, Elizabeth and Joseph were at the top of his very short list of parental role models, and if they'd had the same feelings at being away from their child for the first time just like Catherine did … he knew without a doubt what he was feeling was completely natural.
Now feeling much more relaxed, he confirmed that Angie had gone to sleep without any problems and agreed wholeheartedly when Elizabeth observed how lucky they all were that she was such a good baby. Thanking his mother-in-law sincerely for knowing exactly what to say and when to say it, he ended the call and pocketed his phone.
He turned, leaning against the doorframe and wrapping both arms around Catherine to bring her closer. "You were right," he said against her hair. He felt her smile against his bare skin, knowing she'd been close enough to hear both sides of the conversation. "She didn't mind. And I do feel better."
"Good," she said, both her arms now wrapped him as well. She looked up at him, her chin resting lightly on his chest. "Just because Angie is handling this first sleepover fine doesn't mean she doesn't still need us. And we shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying our time alone."
"I don't," he assured her without hesitation. "Our day together has been … outstanding." He smiled slowly. "And you know something else?"
"What?"
He tugged her even closer. "It's not over yet."
Grinning, she leaned up to meet his lips in a heated kiss.
THE END
Hope you enjoyed! There are still two more stories in this year's Holiday Marathon, REAL McRollers! Get ready for the New Year's festivities!
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