One for Sorrow
Pairing: McRoll
Spoilers for season 10 - Episode 7
Chapter - 16
Once lunch was over, and they had eaten the ice cream that Joan got, they decided to walk to the Washington Monument. It wasn't too far away from the place where they stopped to have lunch and while Mary, Catherine and Steve walked, Joan got a ride on her Uncle's shoulders, his sister on one side of him and Catherine on the other side.
By the time they had lunch and Joanie had been to the bathroom before they left, it was nearly two pm and while Joan was looking a little tired after such a busy morning, she wasn't too tired to go see the Washington Monument. When Steve and Mary had asked her if she wanted to go back to the hotel, it was met with a loud no in protest to which Mary laughed and told Steve she was exactly like him, never wanting to miss out on anything.
Steve and Catherine had seen it many times before, both had visited Washington when on active duty and had been there before, a few times alone and a couple times together, but it was the first time they had seen it like this, as a family. He almost didn't dare use that word when it came to Catherine, mainly for fear of losing her again or having her leave like she had done before, but she was family.
He only had Mary left as his biological family, and he did count his five-o family his Ohana as well, and Catherine would always be a huge part of his life, so wether he felt comfortable or not saying it right now, she was family. Once they had paid to get in, Catherine took his free hand, the one not holding onto Joan's legs and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling softly when she felt Joan's fingers moving through and playing with her hair.
"Remember when we visited at sunset that one time, how beautiful it was", she moved her head slightly to look into Steve's eyes as they walked.. "I remember.. I remember how beautiful you looked as your hair moved in the wind, the way the sun's light as it set looked against your face, the look in your eyes as you revelled in the beauty of nature, the way you smiled at me when I held your hand, how you wore that white dress, the summery one with light purple flowers that was strapless and flowed down your body, swaying slightly in the breeze, the way that the whole world went away and it was just you and I".
Catherine nearly froze as he said those words, how detailed he was in that description, right down to what she was wearing. They had decided to go there as part of a date and so both were already dressed up, out of their uniforms and into comfortable and casual but still date like clothing. It had been so many years ago.. It was a week after their first date, the one where Steve had asked Cath to the Army-Navy gala at Westpoint. Both had to be in Washington, DC, ready to ship out on their respective ships and this was the last chance to be stateside together for a while.
"You still remember what I wore that night?", she was surprised.. It hadn't been anything fancy, Catherine wasn't a woman who wore dresses a lot, but when she did, she preferred simple rather than overdone. It was also the first night of many to come that they made love, it was filled with passion and care, the way he treated her that night, she had felt safe in his arms, and it was that moment, that whole evening in fact when she fell completely head over heels in love with him and now standing beside him now, with his sister on his left and his niece on his shoulders, she realised she had never fallen out of love with him.
"Of course I remember, I was speechless.. You. You took my breath away that night". He smiled, recalling that memory of when she opened the door to the hotel room she was staying in, "You always take my breath away Sailor", her words were whispered, soft and low, only for him to hear as she snuggled into his side, his arm wrapping around her waist as he walked. Coughing softly to get rid of the emotion in his voice, he spoke a bit louder to Joan, "So Joan, what do you think, do you think we should go right up the top of the monument?".
She smiled and bounced up and down on his shoulders carefully, nodding her head, "Please, we have to Uncle Steve, we just have to", Mary smiled and wiped away a few tears, she had heard part of Catherine and Steve's conversation as much as they tried to be quiet, her heart filling with hope for her big brother that he would finally be able to settle down with the love of his life piped up, "Yeah, Uncle Steve, we gotta, we just gotta". Steve laughed softly and chuckled, "Okay, I think you guys are gonna love it".
Author Notes:
Thank you all so much for all of your patience. I haven't really written anything for this since late November so I appreciate you all sticking by and waiting for the next chapters to come. I hope this is a lovely belated Christmas gift to you all. I wasn't aware where I began this journey on this story that it would turn out the way it has but I am really enjoying writing it and really enjoying going through this journey as well. Getting back home after our holidays, December just became quite busy but finally I have had a bit of downtime to get these next ones done.