Summary: Steve visits Catherine while on leave. Prequel to First Impression.

Note: Prequel to the prequel. Thanks for the enthusiastic response to First Impression. And thanks to the guest reviewers who I don't get to respond to directly. I appreciate the feedback from everyone!

The Box Spring Incident

Catherine couldn't contain her smile when she heard the knock. She approached the door but paused with her hand on the knob, licking her lips and schooling her features before opening it.

"Hey," Steve said, a sea bag over his shoulder and a half smile on his face.

"Hey," she returned, matching his expression.

For a moment they just looked at each other, then both stepped forward at once. He let his bag fall from his shoulder, reaching for her with a hand at her waist and another at her neck. She pulled his head down to kiss him, one hand moving back into his hair. They shuffled inside the apartment, pushing the door closed behind them. Catherine fumbled for the lock before returning her hand to his face.

"Nice place," he said, barely moving his lips from hers.

She chuckled even as she worked open the buttons on his uniform top. "You haven't even looked around," she countered, sliding her hands up and pushing the material off his shoulders.

"You picked it out," he continued, releasing her to pull off the top, tossing it on the futon as they passed through the living room. "I'm sure it's nice. Bedroom that way?" he asked, nodding his head back toward the hallway and steering her that way.

She laughed, pulling his t-shirt up and off. "I'm not getting dinner tonight, am I?"

"Oh, I'll feed you eventually," he assured her, pulling her shirt off as they reached her bedroom. "Need to keep your strength up. We've got 72 hours." He sat on the edge of the bed and raised a foot to remove his boot.

Catherine stopped, looking at him in surprise. "72 hours?"

"Yeah." He glanced up at her quickly before turning his attention back to his boot.

"Well. That changes everything," she said, her hands moving to her hips.

He dropped his first boot and started removing the second. "Huh?"

"Well, we have plenty of time now. We can get so much done," she explained, holding her hands out.

Steve stopped, looking up at her. "What?"

"There's a nice art museum we could visit. Then maybe take in a show . . . ooh, and tomorrow there's a walking tour of the historic district, ends at the Farmer's Market. You're an early riser, right?"

Steve narrowed his eyebrows, regarding her in confusion. Catherine smirked, unable to keep up the pretense. His other boot dropped to the ground.

"Steve . . ." she warned, holding out a hand as she recognized him tensing for action. She let out a very un-Catherine like squeal as he lunged for her, scooping her up into his arms.

"Yeah, I'll give you a show," he growled. Turning swiftly, he threw her onto bed, but as he moved to follow they heard the distinct sound of wood cracking and the mattress dipped, nearly sending her to the floor.

Steve barked a laugh, quickly covering his mouth with a hand. Catherine rolled off the bed and pushed the mattress aside to look beneath it.

"Are you kidding?!" she exclaimed, touching the broken beam through the fabric.

"Wow."

She straightened, turning to him. "That's all you have to say for yourself?"

"Myself?" he asked, incredulous. "What have you been doing on this bed, Rollins?"

"It's an old bed!" she said defensively. "But it was fine until you started throwing me around," she accused, turning back to the look at the damage.

He tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin. He reached a hand out, touching her bare midriff and she slapped it away, staring at the bed as she debated options. He snorted at her reaction and turned to move his boots against the wall.

"We'll have to move the box spring and the mattress out of here. We can move the futon in from the living room," she said, removing the pillows and sheets. "Remember I told you my dad's coming here tomorrow? I don't want to explain a broken bed."

"Won't he wonder why the futon is in the bedroom?" he asked, following her as she walked into the hallway back to the living room.

Catherine shrugged, looking at the futon and mentally measuring the size. "He hasn't been here yet, he won't know it hasn't always been there."

"All right, we'll move it later," he said, stepping behind her and sliding a hand around her waist.

"No, we'll move it now."

"We got a little something to finish, Cath," he protested, bending to kiss her neck. He moved the strap of her sports bra aside as he trailed his lips along her shoulder.

"Yeah," she agreed, tilting her head automatically to give him more room. "That's why I want to move the futon."

"We can finish out here."

She rolled her eyes, glancing over her shoulder at him. "You won't want to get up afterwards. We're moving it now."

He straightened and held up both hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Mattress first?" he asked, walking toward his bag by the door.

"Mattress first," she confirmed, heading back for the bedroom. "Open that door while you're over there."

He unlocked and opened the door, then grabbed his bag, taking it back into the bedroom and tossing it into the corner. "Where are we going with these?"

"I've got a decent sized storage space in the basement. Should fit."

"All right. Ready?" he asked, gripping the handles of the mattress.

"Yup," she answered, doing the same on the opposite side.

Ten minutes later they were back in the apartment, sweaty and tired after having moved both the mattress and box spring down three flights of stairs. They now stood in front of the futon in near identical poses, feet spread and hands on hips. Steve glanced dubiously over at the hallway.

"I don't know about this, Cath. That hallway is kinda narrow."

"It'll be fine. Just takes a little finesse."

He looked at her doubtfully.

She bumped her elbow into his with a smile. "Come on, sailor, I know you're capable of finesse when you're properly motivated."

He raised his eyebrows.

She smiled. "Do you want to finish what we started or not?"

He nodded to the far end of the futon. "You take that end."

Note: The lunch scene with Captain Rollins is in progress. I'm having too much fun in this little prequel world to stop now. Hope you enjoyed!