Sammy and Ilna thanks again for the love and support last week and afterwards as I'm plugging along. Not to mention you made me smile and laugh a lot of times on Friday - and that right there is another reason I'm incredibly fortunate you're in my life.

REALMcRollers you guys are the best! Thanks for all the DMs and love! And for being the best readers ever!

Cross My Heart

Sunday afternoon

Steve opened his eyes when Cammie gave a soft huff and nuzzled his cheek. "Hey." He ran a hand over the dog's head. "You're back fast." He sat up from where he'd dozed on the sofa.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Catherine bent to kiss him with a smile. "We just did a short run since we played catch with her for an hour before lunch."

He returned her smile. "Lea called while I was changing the air filters."

"Didn't we just change them?" She tilted her head in question. She was sure it wasn't more than a month.

"I decided I'm gonna do it every two weeks." He nodded. "The cleaner the air for you and Niblet, the better."

"Awww, thanks." She rubbed her tummy. "From both of us."

Steve gave her a happy smile and gestured to her phone on the coffee table. "I saw it was Lea so I grabbed it. Nothing urgent, she said to tell you she heard from the chair of the budget committee and she'd like you in tomorrow morning's meeting." He scooted over as she joined him. "Oh and that Mason is fine and eating chicken nuggets."

"Great. At least they avoided another ER trip." Catherine had told him about the Kekoa family's kids' choice weekend the previous week and how just yesterday, Mason had attempted a bike stunt in the hallway of the Governor's residence which resulted in a bruised lip and some dented sheetrock.

"Good thing the hallway's carpeted," Steve noted. "But it also let him wheel the bike out before they heard him."

"Lea said she and Lance were literally in the room right off the hall when he decided to pop a wheelie in the house." She shook her head with a smile.

"Something else we have to remember."

"Not big enough for bike stunts in here." She grinned. "What's that look?"

"Nothing." He shrugged but a tiny smirk gave him away.

She poked his abs gently. "Lack of room didn't stop little Steve from being creative, did it?"

"I may have slid down the stairs on a raft when it was raining too hard to play outside."

"Mmmhmm. Of course you did. That go as well as the tire escapade?"

He snorted. "Until I hit the landing wall. Little plaster incident."

"Lucky you have that hard head," she teased and gave him a quick kiss.

"Coulda used your calculations that time, too, but again, you were …" He did the math. "Six." He squeezed her shoulder gently as he sat back and she settled against him. "Still, if you had my back …"

She laughed. "Might not have ended in damaged walls or body parts? It's all about the calculations."

"You calculated velocity at six, didn't you?"

"Maybe a little older." She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "I definitely calculated a stunt in sixth grade. More to prove a point than do the actual stunt, but it turned into both." She grinned.

"Tell, Lieutenant. There's a story there."

June 23 1989

"... and my Grandma's coming tomorrow for three whole weeks, and …" Eleven-year-old Catherine stopped speaking to her friend. Her nose scrunched slightly with her frown as they approached a group of boys from their class. "Um, guys, I don't think that's gonna work."

"How come?" Josh Halliday looked up from where he was rotating his bike tire.

Before she could respond, Caleb Burns challenged, "What does she know? She's a girl," with a derisive smirk.

"She's pretty smart, Caleb." Josh stood and brushed off his jeans.

"No girl's gonna tell me how to jump my bike." Caleb's look was condescending. "She don't know nothin.' "

Catherine's shoulders tensed. "I know that jump's not long enough to get you over that log. You need to start farther back and the board isn't high enough. But, you know what, go ahead." She waved a hand.

Jamie Arroyo crossed her arms and stepped closer to Catherine. "I'd listen to her, she's the best at math in the whole class. She got the math award today."

"It ain't got nothing to do with math," Caleb said and swung a leg over his bike. "Watch."

The two girls and Josh took a step back as he peddled in a wide circle and shot up the makeshift ramp only to hit the log he'd placed as an obstacle and crash to the ground. Luckily he was more embarrassed than hurt, but he glared at Catherine when she asked, "Are you okay?" as he picked up his bike and limped slightly before getting back on the seat.

"It didn't even hurt, and I gotta get home anyway," he mumbled. As he rode off, the others turned to look at her while a couple of the boys straightened the board and log.

"How'd you know that?" Josh said as he laid his bike to the side.

"I just …" she shrugged, "can see it. The ramp needs to be longer. Here …" She dropped her backpack and grabbed a longer board from a pile they had on the grass. "Try this one. And make it a little higher."

Josh and another classmate, Brian Gillespie, helped her and when she stood back she smiled. "That should work."

"Wanna try it first?" Brian tilted his bike towards her.

"Sure." Catherine shrugged and seconds later was easily flying over the two foot log she'd placed closer to the longer, higher ramp.

"That was awesome!" Jamie grinned. "See, I knew she was right." She flung an arm around her friend as Catherine picked up her bag.

"That was pretty cool." Josh nodded. "You guys wanna play motocross with us?"

"Thanks, but we gotta get home. Our moms are taking us to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kids because it's the last day of school." Jamie grinned.

"Have fun." Catherine gave a little wave and the girls linked arms and left the schoolyard.

Present Day

"Rest of the stunts go smoothly?" Steve huffed a laugh.

She shrugged. "Guess so. We didn't stick around. I was really excited to get home and get ready for the movies. We had gotten opening night tickets from Blue Star Families. The local theater owner had served in Korea." She shifted and let out a contented sigh. "Mister Kane. He was really sweet, always gave a block of tickets to Blue Star. Mom and I baked cookies for him and his wife a few times to thank him."

"Of course you did." He smiled at the very Elizabeth-like gesture. "You realize those boys probably all had crushes on you, right?"

She snorted. "I doubt that."

"Catherine, they asked you to play motocross. That's a pretty high compliment from a sixth grade guy." Steve noted as he ran a hand over her arm while she settled more comfortably against him.

She laughed. "While I'm sure McGarrettitis started when you were in kindergarten, not so sure I had quite that many crushes coming my way… I …" The rest of her sentence was lost in a burst of laughter.

"Hmmm what?" He raised his eyebrows in question.

"I said…" she composed herself enough to speak between giggles, "Heaven help me if Niblet causes McGarrettitis generation two."

"That's … oh, God." Steve groaned.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you, it could totally happen."

"No, no, I just realized … if it's a girl, " he took a breath and let it out, "And your dad's right and Niblet looks like you … we … I … boys. Boys with crushes, Cath."

She full on laughed again. "That's like ten years away, Commander, power down."

He sat up, taking her with him. "Ten? No. No way. What are you talking about, ten?"

"I just told you I was eleven in that story. You're the one that brought up crushes."

"On you. Because you're beautiful and smart and … I was talking about you, not … you know what, let's not talk about it. I need at least ten years to wrap my head around anyone having a crush on Niblet."

She was still chuckling when she pecked his lips. "You'll be fine. I'll reign you in." She patted his chest.

"Reign me in? I need you as backup when I scare 'em away," he teased, but his brow remained furrowed.

Catherine reached for her phone and snapped a photo.

"What?" He looked confused. "Was that for?"

"That face. It's going in the baby book. And I'm gonna say it … you are adorable." She put the phone down "And you'll be just fine." She winked. "I have your back." He grinned at her joyful expression but she could see him calculating how many years before the baby went to it's first boy/girl party or school dance. "Besides, if it's a boy, I hope he's less oblivious than you or I'll be fielding little girls full time." She pushed him down and pressed against him. "C'mon, Commander, I'll distract you."

He rested his hands on her hips. "You may need to keep distracting me 'til Niblet's forty." He was smiling at her in the way that still made her heart flip even after all their years together.

"My pleasure." She kissed him. "Forever."

"Word of honor?" He pushed her hair behind her ear as she settled into the kiss.

"Cross my heart." Catherine leaned back a bit to make the gesture. "Promise."

# End thanks for reading

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