Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being their awesome selves, and to Mari for bouncing.
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated. I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the previous story - it was fun to write :-)
Hope you enjoy!
Sleepover Fun (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"If you do play Candyland, you can be the blue one, Mommy, since I won't be there," DJ said as they drove to the Rollins' condo for their sleepover.
Catherine glanced at Steve in the driver's seat, fighting a grin, then smiled softly at their son in the backseat. "Thank you, honey. That's very nice of you."
"I be da yellow one," Angie said.
"We're not going to be home to play, Angie, remember?" DJ said. "We're going to Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Ang's."
"We play bingo wif Grandma Ang?"
"Not today, baby girl," Catherine said. She caught Angie's frowning expression. "At least not at the community center, but maybe you all could play your own game with Grandma Ang's chips if you have time between all your other fun activities."
"Yay!" Angie cheered, raising both arms in the air. "I say Bingo!"
DJ smiled. "That's more fun anyway because then Angie has time to find the numbers under B on her own. She can do most of them, except 9 and 6 are kind of tricky."
Angie nodded. "DJ helpted me."
Catherine and Steve exchanged a proud smile, and she looked into the backseat again. "He helped you because he's the best big brother, right?"
Angie nodded even more emphatically as DJ ducked his head with a pleased smile.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Joseph asked as DJ and Angie returned with Elizabeth after putting their suitcases in their rooms. "We have plenty of hamburger patties."
"Oh, thank you, Dad, but we're good," Catherine said.
"Mommy and Daddy are going to make pancakes for dinner," DJ told them.
"Bu' no spwinkles," Angie added, shaking her head.
"They're going to have chocolate sauce."
Steve dropped his chin to his chest, rubbing his eyes to avoid his in-laws' curious looks.
Catherine knelt, opening her arms for hugs. "And you are going to have hamburgers with lots of mustard and pickles," she said, kissing Angie's cheek, then turned to DJ, "and extra cheese." She kissed his cheek as well.
He nodded, looking up at Elizabeth hopefully. "Can I have two slices, Grandma?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Of course you can, sweet boy."
"I love you," Catherine said, kissing both kids again.
"Love you, Mommy," DJ said, hugging her around the neck as Angie snuggled into her chest.
"Love you, Mommy."
Catherine straightened so Steve could say his own goodbye.
"Have a good time with Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Ang," he said, lifting Angie for a hug and kiss.
"Have a good time wif Mommy," she parroted back innocently.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head against hers, a resigned chuckle escaping. "Thank you, baby girl." He straightened and kissed her again. "I love you."
She beamed. "Love you."
"Save a few pickles for Grandpa, okay?"
She pursed her lips, considering, and looked over at Joseph. After a moment, she smiled toothily. "Okay!"
He set her down and wrapped DJ in a hug. "Bye, buddy. See you tomorrow."
"Okay," DJ said. "I love you, Daddy."
Steve kissed the top of his head. "Love you, too, buddy."
"Okay, let's go see if Grandma Ang is done making those hamburger patties," Joseph said, leading the kids toward the kitchen. He smiled back at Steve and Catherine. "Bye."
"Bye, Dad," Catherine said. "Thanks."
"Bye, Mommy! Bye, Daddy!" both kids chorused before disappearing into the kitchen.
Catherine gave her mother a quick hug as Steve opened the front door. "Thanks again, Mom."
"Of course, honey, you know we love having them."
"I do." She squeezed her mother's hand and stepped out the door.
Steve kissed Elizabeth's cheek. "Thank you," he echoed.
She smiled. "Go on now, don't worry about a thing."
"We never do," he said honestly, following Catherine outside.
Catherine took his hand and looked back at her mother, giving her a quick wave. "Have fun tonight."
"Mmm, you, too," Elizabeth said with a knowing smile.
Steve groaned for what he hoped would be the last time that evening, out of embarrassment at least, and Catherine laughed, squeezing his hand and reaching over to rub his chest soothingly.
"Thanks, Mom," she called back.
Elizabeth gave a final chuckle before closing the door. Smiling with anticipation at an evening with her beloved grandchildren, she went to join them in the kitchen.
"Gwandma Ang, can I have you' pickles?" Angie asked as they sat around the table finishing their meal.
Ang laughed. "You already ate your grandpa's."
"Please?" Angie pressed hopefully.
"I'll get you some more, Angie," Elizabeth said, rising to reach the jar in the middle of the table. "How many do you want?"
"Two!" Angie said immediately, holding up two fingers.
When Elizabeth went to pass two more pickle slices over to Angie's plate, Angie plucked them off the fork and held one in each hand. "T'ank you!" She took a bite from one and then the other. "Can I have two mo' pickles?" she asked.
Joseph laughed beside her. "You're going to turn into a pickle at this rate."
DJ giggled but Angie looked at Joseph quizzically.
"I'm not a pickle, I'm Angie McGawwett."
"My mistake," he said, chuckling, and kissed her head.
She beamed, finishing one of the pickles in her hands, and looked up at Elizabeth expectantly.
"These are the last pickles," her grandmother said. "I'm going to have to add them to the grocery list for our next shopping trip."
"Are you sure you want them, Angie?" Grandma Ang asked. "You've gotta save room in your tummy for that unicorn ice cream later."
Angie's eyes widened and she looked at the remaining half a pickle in her hand and the two on the fork Elizabeth held, clearly torn. She looked down at her tummy, already bulging from dinner, and gave a decisive nod, reaching for the pickles. "I eat da pickles and da spawkle unico'n ouse cweam."
Elizabeth chuckled, nudging DJ as she sat back down. "As long as you don't want to eat them at the same time."
He stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Blech! Gross!"
Angie bit into one of the pickles and grinned. "Gwoss!"
"This tiger is going to look so cool," DJ said as he added the tail to the upside down orange paper handprint. "You think of really good craft activities, Grandma."
"Thank you, honey," Elizabeth said, helping Angie trace a second red handprint. "It's fun for me to look for crafts that I think you and Angie will enjoy."
"And we couldn't decide which animal was the cutest, so we decided to do a whole zoo," Grandma Ang added with a wink as she passed the first red handprint back to her namesake after cutting it out for her. "There you go, angel."
"Dis for da cwab," Angie said, grabbing it. "Dey pinch." She made a pinching motion with her fingers.
Elizabeth smiled. "That's right, but not these crabs."
"Because they're made of paper," DJ said.
Ang laughed. "Can't put anything past you, can we?"
DJ finished gluing the head onto his tiger and held it up. "Look, Angie, it kinda looks like Pumpkin."
"Like Pun'kin!" she agreed. "I's owange like Pun'kin!
"I hope Mommy and Daddy don't forget to feed Pumpkin and Cammie," DJ said, suddenly frowning worriedly. "That's me and Angie's job now."
"I'm sure they won't," Elizabeth assured him.
"Yeah, Mommy never forgets anything," DJ said, relaxing. "Neither does Daddy."
"Dey playing Can'yland," Angie said, giving the freshly traced handprint to Ang to cut out.
"Is that what they said they were going to do tonight?" Elizabeth asked, hiding a smile.
"Mommy said probably not, but it's a good game, so maybe they'll play if they get bored," DJ said, coloring stripes onto his tiger.
Elizabeth and Ang exchanged an amused look. "I don't think they'll be bored," Elizabeth said.
"I hope not," DJ continued, eyes still focused on his craft. "Me and Angie were worried because they wouldn't get to do the fun activities we're doing, but Mommy said they are special things to do."
" 'pecial things," Angie echoed. She took the second handprint back from Ang. "Now what, Gwandma?"
"Now we glue them together with the fingers on both sides for the crab's legs," Elizabeth said, handing her a glue stick.
"But I think Daddy was worried, too," DJ said, looking up, concern now back on his face.
"Le's call dem," Angie said. She pointed. "We can see dem on you' phone, Gwandma."
"Oh, I don't think we need to call them," Elizabeth said. "It's very sweet that you're worried, but I promise they're having a nice night together. I'm sure they miss you, but they're not lonely."
When it was clear they were still concerned, she exchanged a look with Ang who shrugged and nodded.
"Okay, how about this?" Elizabeth began, not wanting to interrupt Catherine and Steve unnecessarily, but also wanting to support DJ and Angie's feelings. "Let's finish our handprint zoo and have our ice cream. If you still want to call before bedtime, I'll send a message."
Now it was DJ and Angie's turn to exchange a look. Finally, both nodded.
"Okay," DJ said.
"Okay," Angie agreed.
"Okay," Elizabeth repeated. She smiled warmly. "That tiger looks great, DJ. Do you want to work on the penguin or the hedgehog next?"
"Hi, Mommy!" Angie said as soon as the image of her parents came onto the phone screen.
"Hi!" DJ echoed, pressing close to Elizabeth on the bed.
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said, shifting slightly with Angie wiggling in her lap. "They were pretty insistent we check on you."
"It's fine," Catherine assured her, smiling at the kids. "Have you been having fun with Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Ang?"
"Yes!" DJ said as Angie nodded emphatically.
"How were the hamburgers?" Steve asked.
"Dey so yummy!" Angie replied. "I ate all da pickles!"
"She did," DJ confirmed. "Grandma had to put pickles on her shopping list so she can get some more."
Steve and Catherine chuckled.
"Did you do your special things?" DJ asked.
Elizabeth pressed her lips tightly together, fighting a smile. She glanced over at Joseph who stood across the room, leaning an elbow on the top of the dresser. He didn't look completely comfortable at the thought, but much more composed than Steve whose chuckle turned into a groan and he ran a hand over his face.
"Mmhm," Catherine replied noncommittally.
"You got da bunny!" Angie said excitedly when she spotted the stuffed animal's ear.
Steve smiled, clearly relieved at the change in subject, and held it up. "We do. Thank you for leaving him with us."
Angie noticed Catherine's wet hair and asked, "You take a baf, Mommy? I's not baf night."
"Hey, where are the handprint animals you were going to make?" Catherine said, and Elizabeth gave the two a knowing look that had Steve closing his eyes.
"Here they are!" DJ said, passing Angie her three crafts. "You can go first, Angie."
She beamed and held up all her crafts at once. "I made dese ones! Dis a cwab and dis a fwamingo, and dis a budderfwy!"
"Good job, baby girl," Catherine said. "I love them. What about you, DJ?"
He held his up one at a time. "I made a tiger and a penguin and a … a … what was it called, Grandma?"
"A hedgehog," Elizabeth supplied.
"A hedgehog."
"Ohh, those are very cute, honey," Catherine said.
"Before I put the stripes on, the tiger looked like Pumpkin," DJ went on. "Did you remember to feed Pumpkin and Cammie?"
"We did," Steve assured him. "But I think they both missed you and Angie feeding them."
DJ smiled at his sister.
"You say night night to dem," Angie told her parents.
"We will," Catherine assured her. "Promise."
"But now it's time for us to say night night so we can read our book before bed," Elizabeth said, guiding the conversation to a close.
"Okay," DJ said. "Night, Mommy. Night, Daddy. Glad you're okay and not bored and sad."
"Thanks, honey," Catherine said with a smile that was equal parts amused and touched. "Sweet dreams. We'll see you in the morning."
"Night night!" Angie said, blowing them a kiss.
"Good night," Steve said. "Love you both."
"Love you!" DJ and Angie echoed.
"Good night," Elizabeth said, one last knowing smile before ending the call.
As she did, Ang appeared in the doorway, having heard the end of the conversation. She looked at Angie and DJ. "Well? Feel better now?"
Both children nodded.
"Mommy an' Daddy aw okay," Angie said.
"And you know what?" DJ said.
"What?" Joseph asked, approaching his side of the bed.
"I'm glad they are okay without us there for one night because I like our sleepovers here with you."
"Oh, sweet boy," Elizabeth said, wrapping an arm around him for a hug. "So do we."
Hope you enjoyed!
Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll
Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net
Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com
You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line.
And find Mari on Twitter at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller
