Eric knew Tami was joking about the whiskey and Benadryll, but he did fetch himself a beer before settling into his recliner in the living room. Angie apparently wasn't sleeping either. She was sitting on the couch, her feet up on the coffee table, surfing channels on the TV.

"A New Year's day wedding," Eric grumbled. "Isn't that a bit much? Won't New York be insanely crowded then?" Angie and Nikolajas were planning to marry in New York city, since he apparently had a brother and sister-in-law who lived there and that's where most of Angie's old college friends still lived. They were going to honeymoon for three nights in Cape Cod, and then stay with Nikolajas's brother in New York for another week before heading onto Nambia with Doctors Without Borders.

"At least we're not having it on New Year's Eve."

"It's still going to be crazy crowded."

"Well, you know what, Eric? You can just not go then, if you don't want to fight the crowds."

Eric blinked, a little surprised by the edge in her voice. "Well who's going to give you away if I'm not there?"

"Uh…Dad. Even if you are there. That's kind of his job."

"Oh. I didn't think you wanted him to come after what he said to you."

Angie shrugged. "He's the only father I've got. You work with what you're given. Besides, it may be the last time I'll see him before he dies."

"Dad's not dying anytime soon. He's going to outlive us both."

"No. One of those buxom forty year olds is going to give him a heart attack in bed."

Eric extended his finger and shook it in her direction. "Don't talk about that."

"What if he marries one and they have a kid? We could have another sibling."

"That's not going to happen."

Angie pulled her legs up on the couch and crossed them under herself. "How do you know it's not?"

"Because he hasn't been married for a long, long time. He's set in his ways."

"Would you remarry if Tami died?" she asked him.

"Tami is going to outlive me," he insisted. He looked at the TV screen. Angie had come to pause on a documentary on schools in Africa. It reminded him that in a short time, Angie would be married and gone across the world, slipped out of his life again just as quickly as she'd slipped back in.

"But if she did die," Angie asked, "how long do you think it would take you to remarry?"

"Tami tells me she's the only woman who would tolerate me."

Angela snorted. "I bet they'd be lining up for the hot widower. You just wouldn't know what to do with them." She switched off the T.V. "So…it's clear you don't like that I'm getting married."

Eric scratched his head. "I just...I don't know this guy."

"Yeah, but I know him. And you know me. Don't you trust my good sense?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"No, it's not a trick question!" she said defensively. "Oh." Her voice grew dull. "You're just like dad. You think I've wasted my talent doing service work. That I'm being reckless, going off to Africa. That I'm just a silly do-gooder."

"I never said that. I never said anything like that."

"But do you think it?" she asked.

"Nah," he said. "Look, we're different. You and me."

She smiled. "That's an understatement."

"But that doesn't mean I don't respect you. But…you remember Milton Sanderson?"

"This is why I've never told you about any of my boyfriends, Eric. I make one less than perfect pick, when I'm seventeen, and I never hear the end of it."

"Less than perfect?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "He committed armed robbery."

"Yeah, but you would have forgiven him that if he wasn't a Redskins fan."

Eric shook his head. "Why did you ever date that guy?"

"It's not like he was a felon when I started dating him. That happened a year after we broke up."

"Yeah," Eric conceded. "But he was a loser. Why'd you go out with him?"

"Honestly? Mostly to piss off Dad."

"Ah." He drummed his fingers on the recliner. "I hope that's not why you're marrying Nick."

"Don't call him Nick. He doesn't like Nick. And I've already succeeded in pissing off Dad by not going on to med school and not becoming a surgeon who makes six-figures a year. By going to Africa to play nurse as he calls it."

Eric sighed and sipped his beer. "You know he still thinks I should have made it to the NFL? That if I had just...I don't know. Not been such a screw up. Not been...not-Mark."

"You ever wonder how we turned out to be the awesome people we are?"

Eric smiled. "I know how I did. Tami."

"Nah, you were pretty awesome before Tami. She just sanded off your less-than-awesome edges and shined you up a bit to bring out some of the hidden awesomeness."

"And you?" he asked, resting his beer bottle on his upper leg.

"Well, I had the benefit of a pretty awesome big brother, at least until you married Tami and forgot I existed."

"I didn't forget you existed. I called every week. We were there a couple of Thanksgivings. That one Christmas."

"Yeah, I know...but I missed you. Once you two got married..." She shrugged casually.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I should have visited more when you were still in high school."

"I can't really blame you. It's not as if I ever looked back once I got out that door. You know I haven't seen Dad since I graduated from college."

"Well," Eric reminded her. "You haven't seen me since you graduated from college either."

"Yeah, but you e-mail. And I'm here right now, aren't I?"

He nodded. "And I'm glad you are." He took a slow swig of his beer. "But I'm going to have to vet this Nick fellow before the wedding."

Angie rolled her eyes.

By the time Eric got to bed, he'd had three beers in rather quick succession. He nudged Tami awake. "Want to fool around."

She pulled her head back. "You smell like beer."

"I'll brush my teeth." He slid out of bed, but when he came back, she was asleep. He nibbled her ear until she woke up, swatting him. "See?" he asked, kissing her lips. "Minty fresh."

"I was asleep," she muttered.

"I've got a game tomorrow, babe. You know you always help me relax before games."

"Hon, can you even get it up right now?"

"I didn't drink that much."

She rolled onto her side and slung a leg over his leg. He grinned and pressed against her. "Fine," she said. "But don't be upset if I fall asleep halfway through."

"Never mind."

She made a sympathetic sound, kissed his cheek, and muttered, "I'm sorry. Try me in the morning."

He hrmphed and rolled onto his other side, but his resentment didn't last long, as he was asleep thirty seconds later.