Mari & Ilna-you guys are the absolute best! Thank you for EVERYTHING! YOU'RE THE BEST!

REAL Worlders-you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the support and encouragement.

Normal but Not Ordinary (1/1)

As soon as he stepped through the front door Steve was greeted by the sound of running feet and calls of "Dada!" and "Uncle Steve is home!"

"What a greeting!" he grinned as he lifted both Angie and Joanie into the air, one in each arm and smiled at Catherine, Mary and Aaron who were just steps behind the girls.

"We're here, Uncle Steve." Joanie squealed with delight. "Happy Birthday!"

"Ahhh bah dee ummm Joooo-ni," Angie gushed, thrilled that some of her favorite people had arrived for a visit.

Catherine kissed his cheek and removed his gun from its holster before heading upstairs to secure it safely away.

"You have to come see what we built." Joan pointed towards the deck. "It's a village where all the princesses can live."

"Ahhh baah dee dee eeee!" Angie chimed in, clearly feeding off her cousin's excitement.

"They used every LEGO and building block you have plus half the contents of the playroom," Mary chuckled. "These princesses are living in the lap of luxury."

Joan squirmed to get down. "You just need to give us one minute to finish everything before you come out and see it."

Angie imitated her cousin, squirming to be put down, and within seconds of their feet hitting the floor the girls were headed towards the deck.

"We'll let you know when you can come out," Joan called over her shoulder.

"I better go keep an eye on things," Aaron chuckled.

"Those two have been thick as thieves since we got here," Mary smile.

"Sorry we weren't able to pick you up at the airport." Steve hugged her. "Catherine had to be there for the senate vote, and I was stuck in court longer than I expected."

"That's ok," Mary assured him. "It was actually kind of nice not to have anyone there to meet us."

Steve's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Should I be insulted?"

"No," she chuckled as she elbowed him in the ribs. "It's just that … it's hard to explain. When you pick us up at the airport and make a fuss it's great, but it feels like a special occasion. Like vacation or something. But today it felt like … business as usual. Like us spending time here isn't a rare occasion. It felt … ordinary isn't the right word. It felt … normal. And I like that."

Steve's face softened to a smile and he made eye contact with Catherine as she headed down the stairs. "I like that too."

"Besides," Mary said, "Angie, Esther and Cammie were quite the welcoming committee when we got here. And Angie has already followed Joan to the bathroom twice so Operation: Potty Training is on."

"Mom and Dad are gonna be here in a few minutes, Catherine said as she reached the bottom step. "They're picking up some steaks on the way. They figured it would give you a chance to use the awesome new BBQ tools set the Allens got you for your birthday."

"Oh, I can't wait to see that." Mary smiled. "Catherine told us that your 'no gifts' request was kind of a no go this year."

"No one needs to spend their money on a gift for me."

"Well you need to put up with it for a little while longer," Mary said. "Joan has something in her suitcase for you that she picked out herself and has been dying to give you."

Steve shook his head. "You guys visiting is more than enough."

"Get used to it, big brother. People love you and enjoy celebrating your birthday."

Steve threw his arm across his sister's shoulder. "You sound like Catherine."

Mary beamed at him. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Wow." Steve's eyes tried to take in everything in front of him after he was summoned to the back deck for the big reveal. "That's quite something."

Spread across almost the entire deck was a village built to house all of Angie and Joan's combined princess dolls. It was built with LEGOs, assorted wooden blocks, and more than a few cardboard boxes that had been rescued from recycling. Each princess had a stuffed animal companion and a pile of books. At the moment all the princesses were in the center of the village engaged in a pitched battle with several plastic dinosaurs and a stuffed sloth. At the far end of the village several princes sat watching the battle.

"Sometimes I worry about her obsession with the princesses," Mary admitted. "But then something like this happens." She grinned. "Hey peanut, tell Uncle Steve what the princes are doing right now."

"They're just watching because the princesses don't need a prince to save them," Joan replied matter of factly. "They're strong on their own. They can beat the dinosaurs."

"Eeeeee bah ahhhh rawr!" Angie giggled.

"It definitely looks like you girls have things under control," Steve said as another dinosaur was felled, this time by Ariel, and was tossed out of the village.

Joan looked up at him with a serious expression. "The princesses might ask the princes for help later. But for right now the princes love and respect the princesses enough to let them fight their own battles."

Mary beamed at her daughter's words.

"Those are some woke princes," Aaron chuckled.

Cammie's alert let them know Joseph and Elizabeth had arrived and seconds later the door to the deck opened.

"Eeeeeee!" Mary squealed louder than the girls before being wrapped in a tight hug by first Joseph, then Elizabeth.

"Ama! Apa! Jooo-ni!" Angie squealed excitedly.

"We see that," Elizabeth chuckled.

After a loud, boisterous round of hellos Elizabeth produced two boxes wrapped in brightly colored paper and presented one to each girl.

"Mom," Catherine said just as Mary said, "Elizabeth."

"Hush, both of you." Elizabeth waved them off. "It's something small. I just like wrapping things is all."

The girls tore open their packages to find matching floaties and swim goggles.

"Look, Cousin Angie! We match!" Joan held the floaties up side by side.

Angie threw her arms in the air. "YAY!"

"You can try those out after dinner," Catherine promised.

Suddenly Joan stopped and looked at her mother. "Is it time for me to give Uncle Steve my present now?"

"If you want." Mary smiled. "It's in your backpack, which I think is in the playroom."

"I'll get it." Joan tore off for the house. A minute later she was back carrying a present she had clearly wrapped herself. "Happy Birthday, Uncle Steve!"

She handed him the package then stood in front of him vibrating with excitement.

"She picked it out herself," Mary reiterated.

"This was very nice of you," Steve said as he began to tear at the heavily taped package. "You didn't need to get me anything though."

"But it's your birthday," Joan said in her best 'silly grown ups' voice. "You gotta get a present."

Steve smiled at her as he opened the package and pulled out a gray shirt that read, 'Uncle Shark doo doo doo doo doo'.

"Do you know that song?" she bounced excitedly.

"I sure do," Steve beamed.

"Do we ever," Catherine said in a voice loud enough that only Mary could here.

"This is perfect." Steve immediately removed the shirt he was wearing and put on his new gift.

"Baaaa-by shark doo doo doo doo doo doo," Joan began to sing causing Angie to squeal happily and bob along.

Within seconds all the adults were singing along as Joan pointed to each person and sang about their relationship to her. "Mommy shark, Daddy shark, Auntie shark, Uncle shark, Cammie shark and last but most definitely not least, Cousin shark."

As they finished the last verse Steve noticed that Mary was videoing with her phone.

"Your gonna have to delete that," he said with mock sternness.

"I don't know," Mary teased. "I think we could probably cover the cost of the plane trips home with what Danny would pay for this."

After dinner was finished and they were all relaxing on the deck Mary reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. "This is from Aaron and me. Happy belated birthday."

"You didn't need to …" Steve started before Catherine cleared her throat and gave him a soft smile. "Thank you," he said as he accepted the envelope.

"A night at Breakout Hawaii," he grinned as he read the enclosed certificate.

"We figured an escape room would be something you might enjoy," Mary said. "I already talked to the manager and he said that they keep a plaque on the wall with the best time anyone has ever completed it in. So you'll know what your goal is," she snorted.

Steve looked at Catherine and waggled his eyebrows. "That plaque is ours."

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. "I'll call next week and book us a time."

"Can I go?" Joan asked.

"Sorry, peanut. You have to be at least 12 years old to go to the escape room."

Joan frowned.

"But that's ok." Steve picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Because tomorrow we're going to the zoo and we are gonna have so much fun!"

"YAY!" Joanie clapped her hands. "I love the zoo!"

"Eeeeeeee," Angie added from her perch on Elizabeth's lap.

"In fact, we have all week to do as much fun stuff as we can fit in." Catherine joined the clapping.

"Speaking of fun stuff," Mary smiled. "I hear you're going back to your favorite bed and breakfast for a weekend sometime soon."

Steve nodded. "Joseph and Elizabeth got me a gift certificate for my birthday. It'll be good to get back there and see Martha and Oscar."

"Don't forget Adele and Randall," Catherine reminded him with a smile.

Mary leaned over to whisper to Elizabeth. "I see what you did there. They go away for the weekend and that means you get a two-night sleepover with Angie."

Elizabeth smile guilelessly. "Gee, I never thought of it that way."

Sure you didn't," Mary snorted. "That's one of the great things about family. We all get to share in the fun and celebration of everyone else's big moments."

Elizabeth wrapped one arm around the young woman she'd come to love like a daughter. "Exactly."

THE END

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 join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with: Add me, please! in the subject line. Or just drop us a line to say hi! We love hearing from our readers.