Sammy & Ilna - your becoming la famiglia is the best gift ever. Love you both.

REAL McRollers, your loyalty to Steve & Catherine and the REAL World warms our hearts.

This story references the magnificent True North by Ilna

All Our Firsts

"Hey, everyone asleep?" Catherine asked as she stepped out of the shower to Steve reentering the bathroom after checking on the kids.

"Fast asleep." He smiled. Angie had been calling, 'Mommy, Daddy, look!' while they were getting out of the soaking tub, so he'd gone to check. "She must have been dreaming. When I looked, she was still out like a light."

"Good." She grabbed a towel and began to dry off. "Her timing left something to be desired, but at least we were getting out of the tub this time and not in."

Steve leaned down to kiss her. "True." He wrapped her in an embrace and swayed them slowly. "No candy canes today, and lots of beach time so hopefully she's out 'til at least six."

"Ever think we'd be ready for bed at 21:00?" She laughed lightly and turned to grab a rubber band for her hair.

He raised his brow and she laughed, lightly smacking his bicep. "I meant ready to sleep."

"Yeah, that, too," he teased and followed her into the bedroom. "Never thought I'd be checking the Christmas tree for a kitten every night either, but here we are."

She crawled onto the bed and patted the mattress with a saucy smile. "Here we are."

Catherine stretched and pulled back enough on her pillow to see Steve's face. "Hmmm." She reached for his wrist and checked the time. "21:39 and I really am sleepy." She pecked his lips and pushed up. Grabbing a pair of sleep shorts and tank, she donned them to peek at the kids.

"I'd have checked." Steve rose on an elbow.

"I know, but I've gotta hit the head, Commander." She chuckled. "Twelve hours stretches ended with our daughter." A soft smile graced her lips. "Best reason ever."

He nodded as she left the room and sat up to grab a pair of boxers. He was about to go back to bed when a thought crossed his mind and he moved in the other direction.

Five minutes later, Catherine came in and headed to the bathroom. He heard the tiny gasp and soft "Awww", and when she came back into the room she was beaming.

Crawling in beside him, she placed a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"Love you."

"Room 215. Long time ago, huh?" She traced his cheek and rested her fingers on his jaw. "And we're still us."

"Still us." He pushed a lock of hair that came free from her ponytail behind her ear and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Two kids, Cammie, a cat, and a house full of family for the holidays. And still us. Still on our amazing path." Her soft smile morphed into a grin. "Now I want hot chocolate."

"You packed it that night." He referred to the Christmas they'd spent in a hotel her last year at the Academy. He'd arranged leave and their dinner was in the hotel restaurant. She'd packed hot chocolate and they shared a cup in bed. It was the best holiday he'd had since he left the island.

"No tree that year." Her eyes flicked towards the bathroom.

"We improvised."

"Perfectly. You know what?" She turned and grabbed her phone, going back to the bathroom and running hot water in the sink to make steam. Seconds later she returned and showed him the image. Captured forever was the tree he'd drawn on the mirror. Exactly like the one all those years ago in a Maryland hotel. "There. Now I have it forever." She smiled. "That was technically our first Christmast tree."

He returned her grin. "Yeah, I guess it was."

"We've had a lot of firsts over the years. That was one of my favorites." She smiled. "And you bought me my beautiful mirror that Christmas."

"And I knew you'd always be my true north."

He settled back against the pillow and she folded against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "That was the first holiday in forever I had somewhere I wanted to be. With you." He shook his head in wonder. "If anyone had told me where we'd end up…"

"We knew we'd be together."

"We did. But here. Like this, it was more than I could have hoped for." He ran a hand through her hair. "And like I said before, Here we are. Because of you."

"Like I've said before, because of us."

"Love you, Cath, so much. Thanks for that Christmas. For all of them and all our firsts."

"Love you." She lifted her eyes to his and smiled. "Thank you for sharing them all with me."

# End. Thanks for reading!

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