Notes: Here we go, REAL McRollers! It's time for the REAL World Baby Marathon! Thank you for all your amazing support. We know you've been anticipating the start of this marathon as much as we have! We hope you enjoy everything we've got in store for you over the next thirteen days!

Mari and Sammy – Thank you for the constant support, story-wise and life-wise. I know how lucky I am to have you both in my life. Here we go!

Hope you enjoy!

Top Form (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

Steve stepped through the front door and dropped his keys on the end table, glancing briefly at the special go-bag stashed beneath it. The sight made him smile. It contained everything they'd need for the delivery and hospital stay, and there were duplicates in both his and Catherine's vehicles and offices.

T-1 day, he thought, his smile widening. He knew it was very possible, and in fact probable, that Niblet would not arrive on her due date. At their appointment last week, Dr. Kucher had said as much, but he was holding out hope that their appointment tomorrow would bring different news. Nevertheless, the sight of the bag always triggered a surge of excitement.

He turned to greet Cammie whose tail was wagging happily at his arrival. He looked up as Catherine's head popped around the corner from the dining room.

She smiled to see him. "Hi."

"Hi," he returned, slightly surprised. He walked the few steps across the living room to reach her. "What are you doing?"

She tipped her head up for a kiss which he readily gave before quirking his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"I said I was coming home early," she said.

"I know, I thought that meant you were coming home to rest." He watched as she turned toward the sideboard, microfiber cloth in hand, and wiped the surface.

"I told you I felt fine."

"Yeah, but … you can feel fine and still rest."

She shrugged, collecting minute amounts of dust on the cloth. "I had things to do."

"Like … dusting the sideboard?"

"Well, I just thought of this." She finished with the cloth, handing it to him, and turned to put cards from the baby shower back on display. "I started in Niblet's room, putting her clothes from the shower away."

He scratched his head. "Didn't your mom and Mare already do that?" he asked. "After they put the contact paper in the dresser drawers?"

She nodded. "They did. I just … had a thought that maybe we'd want more onesies in the changing table so I had to look at them to see which ones to put there and which to leave in the dresser, and then I had to put them all back," she explained. "And while I was in there I figured I'd alphabetize the books on her shelf and put those anchor decals Hoss sent on the door."

He paused for a beat. "Okay, that … makes sense," he said, not entirely convincingly. His eyes flicked to the sideboard as she put the last card back. "Doesn't explain the dusting. We just cleaned top to bottom before the shower."

"I just want to stay on top of things as much as possible." She glanced at her watch. "Speaking of on top of things, laundry should be about done."

His eyebrows shot up. "Laundry?"

"I stripped our bed and threw the sheets in."

"Oh, I could have–"

"After I did a load of towels."

"Towels," he repeated.

"And cleaned out the inside of the washing machine."

He sighed, chuckling. "Okay, as long as you didn't take down the drapes," he teased. He stopped when he realized she hadn't joined in his laughter. He looked quickly over at the living room windows. "You didn't take down the drapes, did you?"

She frowned. "No. I knew a step ladder wouldn't be a good idea, but I thought maybe you could …?"

His reply was precluded by the sound of the oven timer in the kitchen.

"Oh, that's the lasagna," she said, looking in that direction.

"Lasagna?" he asked, surprise in his voice even as he backed up a step so she could move past him. He followed her to the kitchen. "I thought you wanted grilled chicken for dinner."

"I do. This isn't for tonight," she said, opening a drawer and taking out two oven mitts.

He took them from her without a word, nodding to her to get the trivet. "It's not?" He opened the top oven and took out the pan of lasagna.

"It's for after Niblet is born," she said as he set the pan down on the trivet she'd placed on the island. "We're not gonna want to cook so I made a lasagna to freeze. And a chicken pot pie … and an eggplant parm."

"Catherine," he said with a smile of amused exasperation.

"What? It's a good idea."

"It is a good idea," he acknowledged, "but I don't think we're gonna be needing a lot of MREs in the near future. Not with your mother and grandmother on the island."

"I know, but I don't want them to feel they have to always cook for us."

"I'm pretty sure that's one of their stated mission objectives."

"Yes, but they'll only be here through the end of the summer, so then we'll have some things on stand-by. In fact, I thought maybe one more, maybe a casserole …"

"Cath, we're good. We're ready."

"I know," she said, too quickly.

"Catherine," he said, turning to face her and putting his hands on her arms gently. He waited until she met his gaze. "We're ready."

She was quiet, taking in the certainty in his expression. He didn't look away, but waited as she took a deep breath and smiled slowly.

"We're ready," she said.

He matched her smile and nodded. "Now all we have to do is wait for Niblet. And you're gonna need to be in top form for that, so why don't you let me work on our actual dinner for tonight as opposed to dinner in two months, and you–"

"Go put my feet up," she said, sighing.

He squeezed her arms lightly. "I swear I'm not trying to tell you what to do or coddle you or–"

She moved her hands to his waist, stopping him. "No, no, I know. And you're right. I need to take it easy. I just … I had all this energy and that's been pretty rare recently so when I thought about what I could do with it …"

"You did it," he finished. "Which is something I love about you. You see what needs to be done and you do it."

She smiled. "And sometimes I see what doesn't really need to be done but I do it anyway."

He grinned. "Well, I wasn't gonna say …"

She laughed, and he leaned in to kiss her forehead. Straightening, he said, "So, grilled chicken?"

She smiled. "Sounds delicious."

"Coming right up," he said, nodding. He stepped back to get what he needed for dinner and she moved toward the living room.

Stopping in the doorway, she turned back and said, "Steve?"

He looked over. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

He smiled. "Always."

In their room that night, Steve sat in bed, a familiar book in his hands.

As the water in the sink turned off and he heard the sound of Catherine putting her toothbrush away, he called out, "You know what you were doing earlier, right?"

"What?" she called back.

"With the cleaning and the cooking and the organizing …"

There was no answer for a moment, then came the sound of the toilet flushing and the sink water coming on again.

Catherine turned off the bathroom light as she shuffled into the bedroom. "I suppose you're going to say there's a chapter on the final nesting phase."

"Not a chapter …"

She rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Oh my …"

"And I know you've read this book as much as I have," he countered, pulling the sheets back for her.

She grinned wryly as she eased herself onto the bed. "No one has read that book as much as you have, Steve."

His look in response to her teasing was completely unashamed and, in fact, bordered on proud.

"But it does say sometimes you get a spike of energy in the last week or so, and that often leads to …" His voice trailed off.

"Nesting. You can say it. I was nesting. I can recognize that now."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"No," she said. "As long as I don't wear myself out." She smiled slightly. "But it wasn't just nesting."

"I know," he said quietly with a slow nod.

"It's … we're almost at the finish line," she said, running a hand over her belly. "She's almost here, and I can't wait to meet her and to start this new chapter," she added quickly, "but … it's so … so huge, you know?"

"I know," he said again.

"And I've never been one to sit around and wait, so I wanted to ... to do something. Or a lot of things."

"I feel the same way, but … I also know we're ready."

She smiled softly. "We are," she said, her voice confident. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and smiled again. "But for now, I'm ready for bed."

He returned her smile. "Okay. Love you," he said and kissed her briefly. He leaned down to rest his cheek against her belly. "And you." When he sat up, Catherine pulled him in for a more lingering kiss.

"And we love you," she said, smiling at him.

He watched as she shifted onto her left side, facing away from him in the only comfortable sleeping position she currently had.

When he was sure she was settled, he put the book back in its spot on his nightstand and turned off the light. He didn't immediately move into a sleeping position himself, however, and after a moment, she spoke again.

"Do not sit up and watch me sleep, Steve."

"I'm–"

"I promise if I go into labor, you'll be the first person I tell."

"I'm good," he assured her. "Just not tired yet."

"I mean it, sailor." She peered back over her shoulder at him. "I'm gonna need you in top form, too," she said, purposely repeating his earlier phrase.

"You got me," he said without hesitation.

"Is that so?" Her voice dropped as her smile turned sultry. "Then speaking of top form …"

"Thought you were ready for bed?" he said even as he shifted closer, sliding a hand down her arm and to her hip.

"Ohh, I still have some energy," she assured him. "What do you say, Commander?"

He leaned over, ready to seal their lips in a heated kiss.

"I say I'm the luckiest guy on the planet."

And there is the beginning of the REAL World Baby Marathon! We'll post a story a day from now until July 10th, and we promise Niblet will be born before then! ;-)

In the meantime, we're inviting you to join the REAL World Baby Pool! When do you think Niblet will be born? What do you think her name will be?

Leave your guesses in a review, send us an email (realmcroll at yahoo dot com), post a comment on our Tumblr page (mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com), or tweet Mari (at Mari21763) with the hashtag #REALMcRollBaby.

We can't wait to hear from you!

Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll

You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line.