Sammy & Ilna - thanks for the edits and help on this one and the awesome anniversary chat! Love you guys.

REALMcRollers and Readers thank you for being the best!

Qandahār Moon

Catherine stepped barefoot onto the balcony holding a mug of tea. Her eyes swept the ocean until they landed on the agile figure cutting smoothly through the water. Steve had originally planned to swim right after Angie fell asleep.

Angie. Just the thought of their daughter had a smile playing across her lips.

They had gotten ... sidetracked … several times when the baby did finally doze off and afterwards they'd fallen asleep, too. When they'd woken nearly an hour later, it was almost 10:30 p.m. When Catherine stretched like a cat, then settled comfortably into her pillow with a sleepy and familiarly satisfied look in her eyes, Steve kissed her lips and slipped out of bed for the last baby check of the night. While pulling on boardies, he grinned as he said he'd get up early to run a few extra miles in lieu of the swim time he missed for their more pleasurable activities.

After his 'Angie's sleeping beautifully' report, he reached for his phone to set an earlier alarm until Catherine made a suggestion. If he swam that night, they could sleep in as long as possible. They could feed the baby and dog and since the timing worked out really well with their daughter's after breakfast nap last time, maybe even come back to bed with a breakfast of pancakes. That, and her saucy expression as she licked her lips had Steve grinning, kissing her deeply and trotting down to the beach.

While he was gone, she'd made her tea, peeked in on Angie and gone to the balcony off their bedroom. The moon wasn't full, but bright enough that she could see her husband's skin as he broke the surface between strokes when he came closer to shore.

Minutes later Steve walked onto the beach headed up towards the house and looked up. When he spotted her silhouetted against the light, he offered a wave and broke into a jog.

Smiling broadly, Catherine returned the gesture and thought of another time she'd watched him running towards her over sand in the moonlight.

Steve had been fresh off a mission back then and she'd met him at the airbase in Afghanistan. Catherine arrived first and was passing the time pacing, her eyes searching the perimeter every few minutes for his familiar figure.

Within an hour, she felt Steve's presence before she saw him. Four men appeared in her line of site, walking together but not in unison. For Catherine, his movements confirmed his identity. His sure gait and the way he strode across the sand was illuminated by the full moon even before he, Cuzzi, Hoss and Freddie crossed the camp border and passed the guard checkpoint.

Her breath caught in anticipation and she smiled at seeing him moving so easily: read, unharmed. She praised the full moon she'd been concerned about while his mission was underway for the few extra seconds of relief its light afforded her.

A soft, "Steve," escaped unbidden and she took several steps forward, mindful as always that she was in uniform on a base, even if she was on leave and only there to pick him up.

As if he heard her, or read her mind, he'd looked up and across the sandy expanse. She knew the instant he recognized her. He said something to his trio of friends and tilted his chin in her direction seconds before breaking into a run, his boots kicking up sand in their wake.

When he reached her side he looked around furtively and stepped close enough that they were a hair's breadth apart. "You …" he paused and just looked at her. "Are a sight for sore eyes."

"You're okay?" she breathed.

"You're here half a day early, Cath. I passed okay the second I saw you." His voice dropped lower. "I'm in … top form, actually."

Catherine's smile was dazzling. It was luckily a casualty-free mission for Steve's team but she always held a small touch of worry until she saw or spoke to him for herself.

"Top form, hmmm?" She murmured, "Oh, now that sounds promising."

He leaned down, ostensibly to whisper, "Let's go, Lieutenant, and I'll demonstrate," but lingered to breathe in the clean scent of her hair and skin.

"Then go hit the showers, debrief, and grab your gear." She smiled into his eyes. "I can't wait."

Not long after, they'd boarded their three and a half hour flight for Mövenpick Resort on the northern shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan.

It had been an amazing leave, and Catherine grinned at the memory and at Steve's footfalls in the hall as she turned and re entered their bedroom at the sound of his whispered "Good night" to Angie over the monitor.

A minute later he was crossing the room to change out of the wet boardies and hop in the shower. "Hey." He pecked her lips. "Still awake?"

"Umhmm. Angie was chanting 'mama' but she settled herself before Cammie and I had to go in …" She nodded towards the sleeping dog, who'd raised her head at Steve's return then snuggled back down. "So I made a cup of tea and just took a peek at her." She spoke a bit louder as the water came on in the bathroom. "Good swim?" She climbed into bed and sat against the headboard.

Steve was out in less than five minutes. "Yeah." He nodded.

"I saw a school of something flashing out there."

"Flagtails." He nodded and crawled in beside her.

"I remembered something when you were on the way back."

He pulled her close and they slid down, face to face. "Hmm, what?"

"Watching you come into base before we went to the Mövenpick." She ran a hand through the hair at his temple. "There was a full moon and when you recognized me you started running."

He grinned. "I didn't expect you for hours." He placed a sleepy kiss on her lips. "The minute I spotted you I couldn't move fast enough." They shared another languid kiss. "I remember thinking …"

She tilted her head a fraction on the pillow and waited.

"...I'd been cursing the full moon all week." He smiled knowing she understood the extra light was a hindrance on a mission. "But I thought you looked more beautiful than ever under that moon."

She cupped his cheek and ran her thumb gently back and forth. "Aww, even covered in travel dust in BDUs, huh?"

"Even then." His hand traced up and down her bare arm.

"See, and there I was thankful the moon didn't hinder your team and happy I got to recognize you from 60 yards further because of the extra light." Her eyes danced playfully. "And just how ado …" She stopped and chuckled lightly at his quiet huff, ending her sentence against his lips. "Handsome you looked under that same moon."

# End. Thanks for reading!

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.

And find me on Twitter asking your opinions on all things McRoll in the REAL World! at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller