"Why are you staring at me you weirdo?" Catherine asked with a smile on her face, eyes closed and facing towards Steve.
Steve chuckled as he reached out a hand to hold her head and gave her a kiss on the forehead "I'm not staring, I'm gazing" he said with a sleepy voice. "You're so beautiful, Cath" he whispered as he gave her a kiss on the lips.
Catherine opened her eyes and saw him looking at her with nothing but love and honesty in his eyes. "I could get used to this" she smiled as she scooted closer to his side of the bed and snuggled close to him, placing her head on where his heart is and carefully listening to its beat.
"Can I just say that it has been absolutely amazing to have you home? I love waking up to you. It's gonna be so hard when you go back to 5-0" she mumbled, still holding him close.
"About that..." he started as he pulled back a bit to make eye contact with her. "I was thinking... uhm... I haven't been working for like five months now. You're due in four and I... I mean what are a couple more months?" he asked quietly, unsure if he meant what he said.
Steve had been telling himself that eventually he would go back to Five 0. He was determined on going back full force, because he knew as well as everyone else that he was not one to sit in an office and do paperwork. If he was going back, he was going to go back to the way he did before.
He had taken the time off to focuse on himself for once and to find peace as he had told Danny, which was true. And he had found his peace. He had felt more alive and at peace with himself than he had in a very, very long time.
And he wasn't sure he wanted to go back to the way it was before.
If he was honest with himself, he knew that this whole slowing down, taking time off work and starting the day with no paperwork to fill, no bad guys to catch and no case to run after had been exactly what his body needed.
And then there was her.
The one that made all of it worth it. Steve had enjoyed every second he got to spend with Catherine and to watch her baby bump grow. He loved waking up right next to her, without having to sneak out for a case, get woken up by a phone call or not coming home for days at a time at all.
This was exactly what he had always wanted. Ever since the day he met her.
This was it.
Steve didn't know how his life could get any better than this. With Catherine by his side and his baby, their baby, growing inside of her.
"Steve..." Catherine snapped him out of his thoughts as she gently caressed his cheek. "Mh?" he asked, unsure if his trail of thoughts had caused him to miss a thing she said.
"Do you think you'll really be able to stay home for much longer?" she chuckled, looking at him in disbelief.
"Why wouldn't I?" she smirked as he gave her a peck on the lips "I love being home with you" he said honestly.
"Well, for starters...you've never been good at not working" she laughed "And don't you miss the team?"
"Well, for starters...I've never had as good as distraction as this time. And you're not working either, which makes it even harder to leave" he chuckled "I just feel like we have waited so long for this... for us to be where we are right now, you know? I don't wanna miss any of it. Not anymore" he concluded as he kissed her.
"You didn't answer my question" she stated after a minute of silence "...about missing the team."
"I do miss them. And I'm not saying I don't ever want to go back but for now I wanna be right here, with you. And our little girl" he winked "..boy" she corrected him with a smile.
"You sure you don't wanna find out the gender?" he asked, "Don't need to" she was quick to answer "I already know it's gonna be a boy" she smiled and gave him a kiss before she got up.
"Go back to sleep, cause I'm gonna make us some eggs" she stated as she put on one of his button up shirts and left the bedroom to make her way downstairs and leave Steve with his thoughts about the future.
"Go back to sleep, cause I'm gonna make us some eggs" she stated as she put on one of his button up shirts and left the bedroom to make her way downstairs and leave Steve with his thoughts about the future.
Steve found himself in a weird state of deja vu and taken back to the last time she had said those same exact words to him.
Back then he reached out to his phone and texted Nahele, asking for the ETA on the ring, which was ready that day. Steve smiled to himself as his thoughts took him back to the day he held that ring in his hands for the first time.
He had it custom made for her and decided on every detail by himself. He knew exactly what he wanted. And he made sure it underlined everything she meant to him.
He remembers exaclty how he felt the day he went to the juweler. He had borrowed one of Catherine's rings she always wore and loved dearly to make sure he got just the right size and came home to Catherine freaking out about that specific one missing.
He even helped her look for it for about thirty minutes when in reality, that ring was in his pocket the entire time. He waited for Catherine to leave for work when he texted her that he had found it under the bed.
He had never been good at lying and he figured it was easier to do so over text than to lie to her face. He figured this was a lie she would forgive.
Steve smiled to himself reminiscing about that day and how he had told Danny that he had been planning the op and how he secured the ring, reconned a location and just needed to execute.
Execute he thought, staring over at the drawer where the ring was still located after all this time.