Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for being their amazing selves in so many ways. Thanks to Mari for bouncing, as always!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your wonderful support! It is always appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!

Two Pumpkins (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)

"What's that?" Catherine asked as Steve dropped the mail on the end table except for a large envelope.

"I don't know, but the return address says it's from Joanie," he replied.

"Joanie?" Angie asked excitedly, ears perking up at the name of her beloved cousin. She jumped up and down, trying to reach the envelope.

"What is it?" DJ asked, equally excited.

Steve chuckled. "Hang on, I've gotta open it." He slid a finger through the edge to open the envelope. He handed it to Angie and DJ to actually pull out whatever was inside.

"Careful," Catherine cautioned.

"It's pictures!" DJ said as they removed several sheets of construction paper.

"Ohhh, pwetty," Angie said. "Joanie make dese pictu'es?"

"That looks like her signature style," Steve quipped, angling his head to try and see what she'd drawn.

Catherine gasped in realization. "Ohh, I think it's–"

"It's Pun-kin!" Angie squealed. She held up one of the drawings. "See? It's ou' kitty Pun-kin!"

"It is!" DJ agreed, flipping through the other papers.

"Oh, here's a note," Catherine said, looking inside the envelope. She pulled it out and read. " 'Here are pictures I made of Pumpkin! And one of Cammie so she doesn't feel left out because I love her too. Love, Joan.' " She smiled, showing them the note.

"Here's the one of Cammie!" DJ said, handing the others to Steve.

Angie ran over to where Pumpkin was batting at Cammie's tail as the patient dog slowly moved it back and forth. "Look, Pun-kin! Pictu'es of you fwom Joanie!"

"And here's you, Cammie!" DJ added, joining them.

Cammie sniffed the paper and chuffed happily while Pumpkin took a swipe at the picture in Angie's hand.

"She likes it!" Angie declared.

Steve chuckled. "If you say so, baby girl."

"Can we hang the pictures in Pumpkin's room so she can look at them when we're not here?" DJ asked.

"That's a great idea, honey," Catherine said.

"We make pictu'es fo' Pun-kin and Cammie?" Angie asked hopefully.

"Also a great idea," Steve said. "Why don't you two work on those at the table until it's time for dinner?"

"Let's go, Angie!" DJ said, waving her toward the dining room and the sideboard where their art supplies were kept.

"Le's go!" she echoed, immediately following him.

Steve smiled, flipping through the pictures DJ had handed them. "Leave it to Joanie," he said.

"She was very excited about Pumpkin," Catherine pointed out.

"She was very excited about Pumpkin's name," Steve clarified with a grin.

"We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of the family," Catherine said to the smiling faces on the tablet screen.

"Kitty!" Joan squealed excitedly, clapping.

Steve, cradling the soft orange ball of fur, held the kitten close to the screen.

"Ohhhh, she's so cute!" She stopped, realizing she didn't know the kitten's gender. "Is it a girl?"

"She is," Catherine said. She looked at Angie and DJ who were ready to burst. "Okay, go ahead and tell them our kitty's name."

"It's Pumpkin!"

"I's Pun-kin!" they said together.

"Awww," Mary said. "Perfect."

Joan's mouth hung open. " 'Pumpkin'?" she asked, eyes widening. Her face lit up and she looked back at her father. "Like you call me, Daddy!"

Aaron grinned.

"We thought you'd like that," Steve said.

"I have a … a … what's it called? Like Angie and Grandma Ang?"

"A namesake?" Aaron suggested.

"I have a namesake!" Joan squealed.

"Well, a namesake would mean the kitty was named after–" he began, stopping when Mary elbowed him. He smiled at his daughter. "Yep, you have a namesake, pumpkin."

"Why do you call Joan 'pumpkin,' Uncle Aaron?" DJ asked.

Aaron smiled. "Because on one of the first outings together after I met Mary and Joan, we went for donuts …"

"And I picked the biggest one with the most orange frosting on top!" Joan continued. "Right, Daddy?"

"That's right." He smiled at her, remembering the day. "And by the time you were done, you had more frosting on your face than you had actually eaten, and I said you looked like a 'pumpkin.' " He smiled and turned his gaze back to DJ who had originally asked the question. "Joan liked that so much that I just started calling her that."

"And you still do," Joan said happily, leaning against him.

He bent to kiss her head. "And I always will."

Joan looked back at the screen. "Did Pumpkin fall asleep?" she asked.

Steve smiled, nodding down to the cat who was now dozing in his lap. "Yeah, she's pretty young so she does a lot of sleeping."

"Just like Cousin Angie when she was a baby!"

Angie nodded emphatically, ready to go along with anything her beloved cousin said.

Mary chuckled, shaking her head. "I still can't believe you got a kitten just because your daughter made a sad face."

Catherine glanced at Steve, fighting a smile.

"Hey, I've seen you give in plenty to Joanie," he protested back to his sister.

She quirked an eyebrow, motioning behind her. "Do you see any four-legged critters running around here?"

"Ohh, could we get a kitty, too, Mama?" Joan asked, pressing her hands together under her chin. "Pleeeeeeeease?"

Mary sighed, glaring at the screen. "Now see what you've done?"

After dinner, DJ and Angie went to finish up their pictures while Catherine and Steve cleaned up in the kitchen.

"Did you ever think we'd be hanging up pictures of our new kitten drawn by our niece?" he asked, hanging up the towel he'd used to dry the dishes. "At the insistence of our three and seven year olds?"

She turned towards him, smiling. "Did you ever think we'd have two 'Pumpkins' in our life, pictures or no pictures?"

He tilted his head. "Touché." Grinning, he continued, "You round up the kids and the pictures, I'll find some painter's tape."

Catherine's smile widened and she leaned up to kiss him. "Love our life," she said.

He returned her kiss with a broad smile of his own. "Wouldn't change it for the world."

Hope you enjoyed!

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