When Steve got to the tree lot, he was the last to arrive. The lot was only a few blocks away from the Winslows' house which was much closer to their apartments than his job at ForWard. "Merry Christmas, Winslow men!" he exclaimed as he approached the group. He looked at Eric. "And my favorite male neighbor!" Then he noticed OGD, and his face fell. "And my 9th favorite cousin."

OGD glared at him. "There are only 10 of us," he complained.

"I said what I said," he shrugged.

"Man, c'mon!" OGD exclaimed.

"All right, fellas. Let's get it together," Carl scolded.

Steve pursed his lips. "Yeah. I'm lettin' you crash on my futon. Be nice."

"Laura's lettin' me," OGD corrected with an eye roll.

"Ok. Let's try it this way," Carl interrupted again. "Let's split up and scout for good trees. We need to walk out of here with four today, and that's not gonna be easy this close to Christmas. OG, you come with me. Steve, you go with Eddie. Eric, go wherever you won't get into a fight. It's Christmas, gentlemen, so act like it."

The men grumbled in agreement as they broke up into their small groups.

As Eddie and Steve walked away, Eddie turned to his brother-in-law. "Steve, are you good? You really went after OGD before he even opened his mouth."

Steve grew defensive, but then he exhaled as he realized Eddie was right. He had started that one. "I don't know, Eddo. Cornelius just… bothers me."

"Ok, but it's not like you to be that catty. You're usually so positive in the face of verbal and physical abuse."

Steve stared at him deadpan for a moment. "Sorry to disappoint," he said eventually.

"Hey, I'm just checkin' in. I mean, did he do something? Do I need to beat him up for pickin' on my little bro at Christmas?" Eddie offered, grabbing Steve's neck and giving him a noogie.

Steve laughed and snorted. It was a little embarrassing and a little emasculating, but he really appreciated the sentiment. He pushed him away. "No, Eddo, but thanks. I don't know what it is about him. I guess… It's like taking in a stray. Now, when we were kids, I took the stray puppy in over and over again. Then it'd bite me and run away. Now that I'm a grown-up, and there's a puppy at my door, I'm just waiting to get bit… Only this time, I think it's gonna be Laura."

"Why's that?"

"She's really invested in this. I just hope Laura doesn't catch rabies."