'Hey guys! Come on in!'

Andrea greeted Alexis and Shane at the door with a wide smile, and despite the fact her haircut was nothing new, the look of it always surprised Alexis; still the short, pixie cut set off her smoky eyes. Holding tight to her hand was little Nessa who had Andrea's face and Daniel's build.

'Hi Lessis! Hi Shane!' the toddler greeted them with a bright singsong. 'Yummy nigh'!'

'It is a yummy night, isn't it?' Shane agreed, swinging the little girl into his arms and kissing her cheek; it made little Nessa blush and wriggled like a little salmon.

'Ewwy, Shane!'

'You don't like getting kisses?'

'Moosha icky!'

'Well, that's all of them,' Alexis laughed helplessly, kissing Andrea's cheek herself as she took off her coat and boots. 'Where's the man of the house?'

'Daddy nappin',' Nessa replied, fascinated by Shane's hair and was running her fingers over it. 'You pidy, Shane.'

'And now it's my turn to be the jealous fiance.'

'Oh?' Andrea gave them an intrigued look as she poured her guests wine while they took Nessa into the living room for a play. 'Did Shane have to get all alpha-male on an overeager co-ed?'

'Finn Parrish-Robbins was trying to put the moves on her,' Shane replied as Nessa retrieved her playing blocks. 'He used the classic 'help me with my juice-box straw' move.'

'Ah, yes, that was popular when I was little too,' Andrea nodded wisely with dancing eyes, then looked down the hallway when the bedroom door opened and she saw her hubby lurch out, yawning widely. 'Hey, what are you doing up, big guy, I thought you wanted to sleep before working nights tonight.'

'We have guests, Andrea Darcy,' Daniel replied stubbornly, kissing his wife's brow, then going over to sit on the floor with Nessa. 'We can't be rude to our guests, right sweet-pea?'

'No meanie.'

'That's right, no being mean.'

'So.' Alexis set down her glass of wine, put her hand on Shane's shoulder as she looked at Andrea and Daniel. 'We wanted to talk to you about something really important.'

'You're pregnant!' Andrea replied automatically. 'Do we get to be godparents?'

'Lessis baby, Daddy?' Nessa asked, looking at her father while she played with her Legos.

'No, Alexis isn't having a baby, Nessa. You're not are you?' Daniel looked to the happy couple for verification.

'No, that won't be until at least I'm finished medical school. No, this is wedding related.'

'I'm sure you've heard through the family grapevine that my rabbi died quite unexpectedly last week,' Shane supplied, 'and the replacement at his temple refused to marry us because Alexis isn't converting.'

'Pinhead,' Daniel scoffed.

'Which puts us in a situation because the only promise I made my parents about the wedding was that it would be a Jewish ceremony in front of a rabbi.'

'We talked about having a judge or justice of the peace, but Shane has his heart set on a rabbi, which brings us to you, Daniel.'

'Me?'

Shane nodded, reached up to find Alexis' hand on his shoulder. 'We found an on-line course that would allow you to become a rabbinical minister to marry us.'

'You want me to marry you?' Daniel looked at them, then at Andrea and back again. 'Me? The good Irish Catholic boy who's about as Jewish as a quesadilla?'

'Yes.'

'But I'm not really religious,' he protested, 'and if you were going to ask someone, shouldn't it be in your family?'

'Yes, that's it, I'll get RJ on becoming a rabbi even though he still wears diapers to bed. Or better yet, my grams,' Alexis said dryly, then reached over to give her friend's hand a squeeze. 'Daniel, we want you to do it because you're a good public speaker, and we want you to be part of the ceremony.'

Daniel frowned, thinking on it. 'What exactly to I have to do with this online course?'

'It's a twelve-week course, just like an intense university intersession,' Shane explained. 'You'd be focusing on Judaism ceremonial rites, which includes weddings, brisses, bar mitzvahs, and death rites as well.'

'Do I have to learn Hebrew or Yiddish?'

'That's part of the course,' Alexis added helpfully, hoping the sales pitch wasn't falling flat. 'So you can say the blessings properly.'

'Well, ah, gee, this is not what I was expecting you to ask when you wanted to talk to me,' Daniel laughed, running his hand over his hair and looking at Nessa who stared back with questions in her blue eyes.

'Daddy? You silly?'

'No, just a little surprised, sweet-pea,' he told his daughter, scooping her into his lap. 'Andrea? What do you think?'

'I think it's your decision, Daniel, because they didn't ask me, they asked you,' she reminded him, though she could already see he'd made up his mind.

'Okay. Okay, I'll do it.'

'Oh, Daniel!' Alexis launched herself off the couch and straight at Daniel, nearly bumping Nessa in the head in the process. 'Oh, this is great! Shane!'

'Dude.' The groom looked at his friend with such gratitude that for a moment Daniel actually thought Shane was going to cry. 'You have no idea how much this means to me.'

'Just don't let me make a fool of myself up there.'

'Oh, I won't. In fact, you can have a dress rehearsal in a month or so when we have Passover. My parents are going to be visiting so that would be a perfect time for you to meet them too, get a feel for what kind of ceremony would work best with our faith.'

'I can do that. Parents love me.'

'I love Daddy!' Nessa declared proudly, giving her father's thick body a hug. 'Daddy bes'.'

'Yes, your daddy is the best,' Andrea gave her little girl a wink. 'Well, now that we have that part out of the way, you guys hungry?'


After a delicious dinner of chicken and Israeli couscous, they gathered around the laptop for Alexis and Shane to show their newly-chosen rabbi-to-be how his course would work, with Nessa trying to wedge her way in to learn what was going on. Neither were surprised when the little girl's face crumpled up as she was told it was for the grown-ups and she had to put her pyjamas on.

'Sweet-pea, come on, you know the drill,' Andrea reminded her daughter, causing Nessa to stamp her foot in protest.

'No, I big!'

'Hennessey Brick, that's one. Let's go, it's time to get into your pjs.'

'No! Wan' 'tay!'

'That's two.'

'Nessa, listen to your mother,' Daniel added, looking over the edge of his laptop at his daughter on the edge of a full-blown temper tantrum.

'Daddy, wanna 'tay!'

'That's three.' Andrea stepped over and scoooped Nessa up even as she began to fuss and whimper, her voice never raised once as she took the little girl into her room and quietly closed the door behind her.

'She's tired but it's no excuse for not listening,' Daniel sighed, shaking his head. 'She knows the rules. So this is all I have to do?'

'Yep, you should be getting your materials in two or three weeks.'

'Cool, step one to being an Irish Catholic rabbi. I can dig that. Does this mean I get premium seating at the ceremony for dinner?'

'Of course, Daniel,' Alexis laughed; the man always thought with his stomach, much like Esposito did.

'What are you even having for the dinner?'

'That's coming up this weekend,' Shane replied, 'and Cam and Lili are coming with so Cam can give us a veggie-saurus perspective on the menu.'

'That'll be fun.'

They all glanced up when the door to Nessa's room opened and the little girl came back in her nightie, her stuffed dolphin under her arm and a repentant look on her face. She marched straight over to her daddy and pecked his cheek.

'I sorry, Daddy, I no' sassy.'

'I know you're not sassy, sweet-pea. Next time, what do we do?'

'Lissen Mama.'

'Exactly. Apology accepted.'

Daniel gave his baby girl a hug, then watched as she went over to Shane and Alexis, gave them each little hugs and pecking-kisses on their cheeks too.

'I sorry, Shane. I sorry Lessis. I no' sassy.'

'No, you're not sassy,' Shane agreed, understanding this was her word for 'rude'. 'But I think it's time for Alexis and I to go home, because we've got another busy day tomorrow.'

'Okay. Nigh'-nigh'.'

The image of Nessa waving her little hand in good-bye stayed with Alexis all the way until they reached their own apartment, and were getting themselves settled in for the night.

'Alright, we're alone now, have you given anymore thought to your clinical work offer?' Shane asked her, going to put on the decaf coffee he liked before bedtime. 'By the way, you'll notice I didn't bring it up once during dinner even though I wanna brag about you till I turn Smurf-blue in the face.'

'Another reason I love you so much. And no, I'm not any closer. But I'm not dwelling on that tonight,' she replied, taking down their coffee mugs and the sugar dish. 'We have resolved our rabbi situation and that's the most important thing.'

'Yeah, hopefully this is the last of the universe's screw-ups we have to endure.'