Notes: Mari and Sammy - Thanks for being your awesome selves. Huge thanks to SuperSammy for the assist finishing up!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Hope you enjoy!
Best Birthday (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Ilna and Sammy)
Tuesday, March 10
Catherine chuckled lightly as Steve let out a satisfied groan, his head dropping back to his pillow.
"Happy birthday, Commander," she said after catching her own breath.
"Thanks," he murmured, snaking his arm underneath her shoulders to pull her closer. He grinned. "Off to a great start."
Neither made any move to get up, relishing the afterglow without the usual rush of a work/school day schedule.
"First time I've taken my birthday off in … I can't remember how long," he said.
"With that big case wrapping yesterday you probably would've taken today off anyway."
"True, but I'd already scheduled it before the case broke. With DJ having no school because of a teacher inservice on my actual birthday, it seemed like the thing to do." He angled his head to look at her and smiled. "I'm glad you could arrange the day off, too."
She smiled, sliding a hand across his bare chest. "Of course. It's our first birthday together as a family."
"Can't think of a better way to spend it than the four of us together."
From her bed in the corner, Cammie raised her head.
"Five of us," he amended, smiling over at her. "Sorry, Cammie."
They heard a door open in the hallway followed by DJ's footsteps heading toward the bathroom and realized that's why Cammie alerted. They paused to see if he went back to his room for more sleep after, but instead heard more footsteps and then his voice coming through the monitor in Angie's room.
"Morning, Angie," he said.
"DJ!" came her excited response.
"It's Daddy's birthday today, remember?"
They heard rustling sounds that indicated Angie was probably sitting up in bed. "Daddy bifday!" she said, the excitement clear in her voice.
"Yeah. Remember the song we've been working on? Wanna practice?"
Her response was obvious a moment later when they began to sing, DJ in the lead, both off-key and off-tempo but heartwarming nonetheless.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Daddy, happy birthday to you."
Steve exhaled, his face suffused with a completely different kind of pleasure.
Catherine shifted up to press a kiss just below his ear. "Happy birthday," she said again. "I have a feeling this is going to turn out to be the best one yet."
"Okay, let's get these pancakes on the plates," Catherine said. "Daddy will be back from his swim in a minute."
"His birthday swim!" DJ said.
"Bifday 'wim!" Angie echoed.
"That's right," Catherine said with a grin. "It may be his birthday, but he's still Daddy, so he still went for his morning swim." She transferred the pancakes from the griddle onto a large platter, then deposited them on the plates set out on the table.
"Pancays!" Angie said excitedly, clapping.
Catherine went to the fridge and took out a can of Reddi-wip. "These are going to be a little sweeter than Daddy's usual taste, but they're birthday pancakes."
DJ's eyes widened at the sight. "Ohh," he said as Catherine squirted a good-sized dollop of whipped cream on one of the pancakes.
"Nummy!" Angie squealed, reaching across the table to press her hand into the cream before Catherine could stop her.
Catherine sighed, chuckling. "Well, I guess that one will be yours, silly girl." She shook her head at Angie's face, now covered in whipped cream.
"Can I try to do it?" DJ asked, pointing to the can.
"Sure, honey," Catherine said. "Point the nozzle at your pancake and press it down gently."
She helped him, smiling at his look of wonder when the whipped cream came out of the bottle.
"DJ do it!" Angie said, clapping and splattering bits of whipped cream on her pajamas and the table around her.
While Catherine finished off with just a little whipped cream on hers and Steve's pancakes, DJ, after a quick glance at her, swiped a bit from his plate with his finger and quickly ate it. His eyes widened when he realized Catherine had seen him, but she just winked at him and smiled.
"Now for the sprinkles," she said, going over to the pantry and retrieving the container.
Angie gasped. " 'Pinkas!" She held out both hands. "I do!"
"Not with those hands, you don't," Catherine said, grabbing a cloth napkin. "Let's wipe your hands, then you can do it."
Angie let her mother wipe off her hands, but twisted away when Catherine tried to wipe her face.
"Okay, I guess it's just going to get messy again anyway," Catherine acknowledged and handed over the container of sprinkles. "Shake shake shake," she said, helping Angie shake out some sprinkles onto her pancake. "Here, you can do Daddy's and then DJ can do his and Mommy's."
While DJ took his turn, Catherine returned the Reddi-whip to the fridge. She heard a little gasp and turned around. DJ had his lips pressed tightly together and Angie was holding the now empty sprinkles container, having dumped the rest onto Steve's pancake.
"Daddy 'pinkas," she announced proudly. "Bifday 'pinkas."
Catherine laughed. "I guess at this point we might as well put a candle in it."
"Like a birthday cake!" DJ said.
"Bifday ca'?" Angie asked excitedly.
Catherine chuckled. "Not for breakfast, baby girl. Though you made these pancakes pretty close to cake as it is."
"Is Daddy gonna like them?" DJ asked.
Catherine dropped a kiss on his head and smiled at him and Angie. "You two helped make them, so I guarantee he's going to love them."
"Happy birthday, dear Daddy, happy birthday to you," Catherine, DJ, and Angie sang to Steve as he sat in front of his whipped cream and sprinkle-covered pancake with a candle sticking out of the middle.
"Thank you," he said. "That was awesome." He flashed a quick smile at Catherine before looking at DJ beside him and Angie in his lap. "You must have been practicing."
DJ straightened proudly. "We did!" he said.
Steve squeezed his shoulder, keeping one arm around Angie, and smiled. "Knew it."
"B'ow it ou', Daddy!" Angie said, pointing to the lit candle.
"Okay, can you two help me?" he asked.
DJ nodded eagerly and all three of them leaned forward.
"One, two, three," Steve said and they blew out the flame as Catherine snapped a picture.
"Yay!" Angie cheered, clapping.
"Okay, let's dig in before the whipped cream melts completely." Catherine chuckled as she laid her phone beside her plate.
DJ picked up his fork but didn't take a bite immediately. Instead he watched Steve intently. He held his breath as his father cut a bite-sized chunk of his pancake, making sure to include some whipped cream and a generous amount of sprinkles, and put it in his mouth. "Is it okay?" he asked hopefully.
Steve smiled. "It's more than okay. It's delicious."
"Good." DJ breathed a sigh of relief. "Birthday pancakes should be extra special. That's why Mommy said we could have whipped cream today."
"'Pinkas!" Angie squealed.
DJ laughed around a bit of pancake. "And sprinkles."
"Not only are these delicious but they are definitely the most … colorful pancakes I've ever eaten," Steve noted as he took another bite.
"P'itty," Angie said before taking a bite of her own pancake. She grinned. "Nummy."
"Very nummy," Catherine agreed as she cut a few more pieces of pancake for Angie. "And it's just the beginning of Daddy's very special day."
The happy family shared a relaxed, celebratory breakfast and Angie was so enthralled by Steve's retelling of the story about the surprise party Grace threw for him that she didn't even protest getting her hands and face cleaned off. As soon as the story was finished DJ turned to his mother.
"Can Daddy open his present now?" he asked.
"You don't want to wait till dinner tonight with everybody?" Catherine asked.
DJ bit his lip, brow furrowing as he thought hard.
"P'esen now!" Angie said, and that made his decision.
"Present now," he echoed with a decisive nod.
Catherine smiled at their eagerness and nodded. "Okay, then. Do you remember where you hid it?"
DJ nodded eagerly, sliding out of his chair. "Come on, Angie, let's get it." He held his hand out for her as Steve set her on the floor and they ran out of the kitchen.
"Wocks!" Angie said as they disappeared around the corner.
"Rocks?" Steve repeated. "They got me rocks?"
Catherine just smiled, clearing away the breakfast plates. "You'll see." She left the plates by the sink, opting to clean them later, and came back to the table to sit by Steve.
"DJ seems to really be enjoying his first family birthday," he observed.
She smiled happily, nodding. "I think it helped that we talked about the day with him so he knew what to expect, so today he can just enjoy the experience." She gave him an appreciative smile. "Part of that was the birthday pancakes, so thanks for indulging them and eating all the whipped cream and sprinkles."
He leaned over for a kiss. "A little on the sweet side, so I'll call them my second favorite kind of pancakes," he said, voice dropping.
She smiled knowingly. "Mm, next time the kids sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's maybe we can make your favorite …"
"I like that plan," he agreed, giving her a lingering kiss. Sitting back, he said, "A few extra sprinkles are a small price to pay for seeing those excited smiles when they revealed the plates."
" 'A few,' "she echoed, chuckling lightly.
"More than a few," he amended. "I'm trusting you'll help me work those off later, Lieutenant?"
She leaned closer. "You've got yourself a deal, Commander," she said, and kissed him.
They pulled apart at the sound of running feet coming back into the kitchen.
"We got it!" DJ announced, holding out the wrapped box.
"What about the cards?" Catherine asked.
"Ca'ds!" Angie said, waving the pieces of construction paper in her hands.
"Let's see these cards," Steve said, lifting Angie back into his lap as DJ climbed into the chair beside him.
"That one's from me," DJ said, once Steve had organized the small pile in front of him. The blue paper had a lop-sided heart drawn in crayon on the front and the words,
I lov
e You Da
ddY
written in red, the sentence broken up onto three lines when he'd reached the side of the page after the V in Love and the A in Daddy.
On the inside there was more room, and he'd written,
HappY birthdaY DaddY
Love DJ
and drawn a birthday cake with four people of different heights and a dog around it.
"Mommy helped me spell it," DJ said.
Steve wrapped an arm around him for a hug and kissed his head. "I love it. Is this our family?" he asked.
DJ nodded, pointing to each drawing. "That's you, that's Mommy, that's Angie, that's me, that's Cammie, and that's your birthday cake."
"Bifday ca," Angie echoed.
"Clearly an important part of the family portrait," Catherine said, giving Angie's side a tickle.
"I love it, DJ," Steve said again. "Thank you."
DJ beamed happily. "Look at Angie's," he said.
Steve pulled the next card out and smiled at his daughter's emphatic scrawlings across the front of the paper.
"What's this say, baby girl?" he asked.
"Daddy bifday cawd," she said, tracing one of the lines. She opened it and pointed as DJ had done. "Mommy, Daddy, DJ, Angie, Cammie!"
Though not as recognizable as DJ's, she'd managed some solid attempts at circles for the heads and lines for the arms and legs.
Steve kissed her head. "This is wonderful, Angie," he said. "I love it. Thank you."
"We'com," she said automatically.
"And this one's from Cammie!" DJ said excitedly.
Steve chuckled at the card with a large paw print traced and colored in on the front. DJ had signed Cammie's name on the inside with Angie adding her own scribbles next to it.
"Thanks, Cammie," Steve said, reaching over to rub her head.
"Now the present!" DJ said, pushing
"P'esen'!" Angie echoed, reaching over to tear the wrapping paper.
Steve smiled and let her tear off paper until, as was her habit, she got frustrated things weren't moving along fast enough.
"Daddy do."
"Okay." He smiled and tore away the rest of the wrapping before lifting the lid off the box. "Oh wow." He lifted a square, rock covered frame out of the tissue paper. In the center was a picture of Steve, Angie, and DJ relaxing on the beach after a morning of swimming. Small tiles above and below the picture proclaimed 'Our Daddy Rocks'. The rest of the frame was covered with carefully arranged stones.
"We picked up all those rocks!" DJ beamed. "Mommy took us for a walk up the beach but me and Angie decided what stones to use. Then Mommy helped us glue them on."
" 'Ticky." Angie scowled, recalling an incident during the gift making process that ended with her covered in glue and being placed immediately into the bathtub.
"They really worked hard on it," Catherine said proudly.
DJ bit his lip. "Do you like it, Daddy?"
"Are you kidding? This is amazing!" Steve kissed DJ then Angie. "I absolutely love it."
"YAY!" Angie threw her arms around Steve's neck. "Pic-ure wa'?"
"I don't think this one is going on the wall." Steve smiled and touched his forehead to hers. "I think this one is going on my nightstand so I can see it last thing at night and first thing in the morning."
"Do you remember what this says, baby girl?" Catherine asked, pointing to the words.
Angie ran her finger over the letters. "Daddy wocks," she said.
"That means you're really, really great," DJ added.
Steve chuckled. "I don't need my son explaining slang to me … yet," he said, tousling DJ's hair.
"You're still cool," Catherine assured him with a grin. "But it's nice to know when we get to that point we'll have two built in translators."
Steve smiled broadly at his family. "It's the best. Just like this birthday."
Hope you enjoyed!
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