So this update is LONG overdue. I'm so sorry about the delay. It was a combination of many outside factors- some good and others not so good at all- and also just trying to rework it a bit because I was no longer completely happy with what I'd originally written and was now editing. I didn't expect to go so many months between updates and I apologize for that.

Thank you for your patience. :-)

You mean to tell me my little munchkin is walking and no one thought to send a video to her Uncle Cory?"

"What about me, the beloved aunt home from California?"

"There is no video at least not yet."

"What? How can there be no video of your kid's first steps?!"

"We agreed a long time ago that we weren't going to experience Georgia's childhood from behind the cameras on our phones." Angela deposited bowls of chips and pretzels on the table. "If we catch something, great, but we're not going to be in her face like some kind of parental paparazzi."

"But-"

"Morgan, no, you can't act like you don't get plenty of videos and pictures."

"None of her walking."

"To be fair, the only person she's walking to is Eric and even that is hit or miss depending on what he's bribing her with."

"Hey, she's walked to me a couple of times without the bribes. But if anyone wants a chance to see her walk you can come over and hang out with her and Angela's dad for a few hours on Wednesday morning while me and Angela meet with some lawyers."

"Why are you meeting with lawyers," Topanga pressed.

"We're finally being adults and preparing wills and figuring out life insurance."

"Oh, okay."

"Why do you sound so relieved?"

"For a second I thought you were going to say you were going for counsel for a prenup and I was going to drag you into the kitchen and ask what was wrong."

Angela and Eric briefly made eye contact from across the yard before going back to what they were doing. They'd briefly discussed a prenup and were leaning towards it, but decided to wait until after they got everything squared away with the wills and life insurance policies to sort it out. There were only so many heavy topics they could tackle at once. Managing what do to in the event of their untimely deaths came first. "Even if we did get a prenup that doesn't mean anything would be wrong."

"Maybe, but you have to admit you wouldn't be starting out married life on the most optimistic foot."

"How?"

"Please, everyone knows a prenup is basically a how-to guide for divorce," Cory chimed in. "It's like waving the white flag before you say 'I do.' Name one couple we know with a prenup."

"Rachel and I have one," Jack said. He wasn't interested in signing one at first. It was his parents' idea. Not that they didn't love Rachel, but his stepdad said there were things to consider, with one party coming from a very wealthy family and the other not as well off. Rachel balked at the idea at first- insulted by it really- but after a while, they put together something that would protect the both of them should the unthinkable happen. There was even a stipulation included to protect her in the event of his gambling addiction breaking them apart, which it nearly did early in their marriage. "We took a while to hammer out something that would be fair to the both of us."

"Oh. But come on, mom, dad, you'd never sign a prenup, right?"

Angela just barely stopped herself from reminding Cory and Topanga that just a year ago they were close to divorcing. She couldn't imagine that going over well and she didn't want to ruin the party. Attempts to tune out the conversation were difficult, especially since it seemed Amy and Alan were on the anti-prenup train, but "didn't judge those who got one." She hoped this wouldn't influence Eric's decision one way or the other. While he knew how to think for himself, he could still be easily swayed by his parents- mainly his dad. Thankfully cries coming from the baby monitor put a stop to any prenup talk.

Morgan jumped up. "I'll get her."

"Sorry, Weasel, I'm going."

"Come on, Eric."

"No. I have to get her dressed. We have to put on our coordinating shirts."

"Your what," Alan asked.

"Coordinating shirts, dad. It's Father's day. I have to match with my kid."

"I never once matched with you guys aside from sports jerseys or when your mom would make us coordinate for holidays or family pictures."

"Bet you're kicking yourself now, huh?"

/

"Get over here, Houdini." Eric reached across the floor and grabbed Georgia when she tried to make her escape, much to her dismay. "Hey, if it were up to me I'd let you crawl around in your t-shirt and diaper all day long, but it's not up to daddy. I won't hear the end of it from mama and grandma if I don't put your shorts on." He winced when she dug her nails into his arm. "Ouch, no pinching. No. You don't do that to daddy. That's not nice." Her face crumpled at his harsher tone. He sighed before picking her up. "Seriously, kid? You already cry at hearing no? Did you not get the memo that it's my day? Yeah, it's Father's Day. That means you save the whining for everyone else."

"Is someone being a demanding diva?"

He looked up and saw Angela leaning against the doorframe. "She doesn't want to put on her shorts."

"Okay."

"Okay? Really?"

"Really. I don't care. It's not like we're taking her to the store and sitting her in the cart. There needs to be layers between her diaper and the shopping cart, but here? She's at home and will be crawling all over the backyard. The shorts will be dirty in two seconds anyway. Plus it's already hot outside. We're probably going to put out the sprinkler and splash pad for all the kids, right?"

"Max was setting them up." He rubbed Georgia's back, happy she didn't immediately fling herself towards her mother the second she came into the room. It was reassuring to know his daughter felt comforted by him even when Angela was right here. That wasn't always the case. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just-"

"Cory, Topanga, and their Debbie Downer prenup talk? We can kick them out."

"Sure, because that would go over well."

"It's our house. No one can tell us what to do, not even our parents. If they try, they can go, too."

"We don't have to go for the nuclear option. I can deal with it for a few hours. Now let's see these themed shirts you made such a big deal out of."

"They are awesome. Georgia, are you ready to show mama?" He turned the baby around and tucked her into his side so the writing on both shirts was visible. "People will get it, right?"

"Yeah, she's the Tiny Twister and you're the Storm Chaser tracking her down."

"Clever, huh?"

"I know Tiny Twister is the perfect nickname for her right now. You saw the pictures of the mess she made with all the toys the other day when you were at work. Thank goodness for baby gates to keep her contained."

"I got you a Storm Chaser shirt, too, but-"

"I'll wear it another day. Today is all daddy-daughter." She smiled at the way Georgia's sleepy expression matched Eric's when he woke up first thing in the morning. "She really does look like you, you know? It's been clear from the twenty-week ultrasound when we could see she had your nose." They laughed when the baby pointed at her face. "Yeah, that's your nose, smart girl."

"You sure you're okay? You don't seem to be in a huge rush to get back down there."

Angela nodded. "Just taking a minute to recharge with my two favorite people."

"Cool," he said before sighing. "We probably shouldn't stay up here all day though. We've got like twenty people here, not to mention all the food cooking."

"Your parents are watching the grill and my dad and Rachel are in the kitchen."

"We still probably can't get away with hiding up here forever."

"Probably not, but we can do it long enough for you to get a couple of the presents from Georgia. What do you say, Georgia, should we give daddy two of his presents from you?" The baby babbled back to her. "I know. It's a good idea to me, too."

"The way you talk makes it sound like there's more than two. Not that I'm complaining. I'll take all the gifts you want to give."

"Don't be greedy. You already got baseball tickets, new ties, and the face scrubs and lotions you love."

"Hey!" He looked towards the door. "People could hear you."

"Please, male skincare products are so in right now. You're on-trend. Besides, you gotta take care of the money maker," she teased and gestured towards his face.

"Still, my dad would never let me hear the end of it."

"Let me at him with one papaya facial and I'd have him singing a different tune."

"Yeah, good luck with that." He rubbed Georgia's back when she laid her head on his shoulder. "Are you falling back to sleep already, kid?"

"It is a little early for her to be up from her afternoon nap. She could probably hear everybody downstairs." She glanced at the time. It would be a little bit yet before the food was ready. "If she needs to hang in here for a while longer that's fine. She loves people, but she's also so easily over-stimulated lately. And there are a ton of people in our kitchen and backyard." Angela held her hands out to her daughter and was surprised when she didn't immediately go to her.

"What's going on in with you?" It was obvious there was more going on than just "needing to recharge."

"I'm fine, why?"

"Come on. I can hear your wheels spinning from here and your brain is kicking up all kinds of gravel."

"Huh?"

"Haven't you ever driven down an old dirt road and…never mind. What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Don't pull that crap. I can hear you. You're not the only one with that superpower now." He scooted closer to her, praying Georgia didn't wake up too much. "You know neither of us will be able to enjoy the rest of the day until we talk this out." The next few seconds passed in silence. "Is this a balcony conversation? We can sit out there without them seeing us."

She smiled and shook her head. Ever since becoming parents, their best conversations happened on the balcony. "It's almost ninety degrees and two-thousand percent humidity."

"And people say I'm the overdramatic one in the family."

Angela closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his free shoulder. "Are you okay with us getting a pre-nuptial agreement?"

Okay, so that wasn't what he was expecting her to say. "It makes sense for us, at least the couple of times we talked about it. We already said we were getting one."

"Yeah, but you weren't exactly speaking up just now when your family was going on about it being the gateway to divorce."

"Between them and the weather, there was already enough hot air blowing around."

She sat up and looked at him. "You haven't answered my question. Are you okay with us getting a prenup?"

"Yeah."

"Even after your parents and-"

"My parents didn't have anything when they got married. And don't mention Cory and Topanga because less than a year ago they were a fight or two away from divorce."

"So you don't think it's writing a how-to manual on divorce before we say 'I do'?"

Eric was quiet, he didn't say anything, hell he hardly moved. He just held her tighter. "When we get married, I plan for us to stay that way for the rest of our lives."

"Me, too."

"But I've also seen too many people break up and end up hating each other. It didn't matter that they had kids. Sometimes they even used the kids as weapons to hurt each other."

She nodded. She's witnessed her fair share of happily ever afters that turned into nightmares.

"I don't think that will ever be us," he continued. "Even at our worst I want to think we'd keep Georgia out of it and always put her first, but just in case we turn stupid or have our brains taken over by aliens or something I think the smart thing to do is work out a plan just in case."

"And it's easier to do that now when we love each other and have our family's best interests at heart." Angela ran her fingers through her daughter's curls, unable to imagine not acting in anything but her child's best interests.

"Exactly. To me, it's no different than the weather disaster kits we keep stocked in case of tornados, hurricanes, or blizzards. If shit's gonna go down I want to be prepared."

"Right."

"If you're having second thoughts-"

"No, I'm…I just didn't want you to feel like you were being forced into anything. I love you and I plan to be with you for the rest of my life, but I've seen too many things go wrong to just assume life with magically work out. And I figured the best time to plan for a worst-case scenario was when we loved each other and have clear heads."

"That is the smart thing to do."

"I have my savings and investments, but that doesn't change the fact that you make a lot more money than I do. I'm more or less financially dependent on you right now and I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me sometimes."

"But staying home with Georgia was your idea. I didn't push you to do it. I just supported your decision."

"I know and I appreciate that. I love being home with her and I don't know if being a mom would work for me any other way right now. I had to completely enmesh myself in the role."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Part of the reason I was afraid to stop working was that it meant being dependent on you. If things ever went south between us you could screw me over if you wanted to. You make a very good living and it doesn't hurt that you're famous here- the most popular news personality four years running. My savings account can't compete with that. You would crush me in court if something happened." She didn't dare mention any potential custody issues. She'd had nightmares right after Georgia was born of Eric swooping in and taking the baby away because he didn't think she was a fit mother. "I wouldn't stand a chance if things turned ugly between us."

"Do you really think I'd do that?" Eric tried not to be offended, but it was difficult.

"No."

"But putting something in prenup would make you feel better?"

"Yes…no…I don't know. It's hard having to think about all this. I hate the thought that we could turn into the kind of people we have to protect ourselves from."

"So we don't have a prenup and hope for the best?"

Angela took his hand and held it tight. "We need to talk to the lawyer and decide what's best for us. I should know better than to listen to Cory and Topanga's love is magic ramblings by now. But when your parents took their side…" She shook her head. "I don't know. Your parents are typically the voices of reason."

"They're not us. Hell, we never even have to tell them if we decide to get a prenup. That's between us. But they don't get to judge us…at least not without consequences."

She looked at him, impressed with his assertiveness in this situation. Eric wasn't exactly a pushover with his family, but it was hard for him to say no, especially to his dad. "What does that mean?"

"I…I don't know," he admitted with a chuckle. "We limit Georgia time or something. Hit 'em where it hurts."

"Good start."

"And I'd say Jack and Rachel are doing pretty good and they have a prenup."

"They are a very strong couple."

"Max and Gina have one, too. Her mom's family owns vineyards in France and Napa going back generations and he comes from a family of accountants and lawyers. There's no way they weren't signing one."

"I haven't known them as long as you have, but they seem very solid."

"They are." He kissed her temple. "You know we can slow this whole wedding down if it's moving too fast. Nothing's been booked. All we have is a date and that's easy to change."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "We can't. My dad…I want him to walk me down the aisle. I need him there. I don't want to take the chance of him not being around. I just can't shake this feeling…he's living on borrowed time. I-I know it. I think he does, too." She leaned into him. "We can't push it back."

"Okay. Let me know if you change your mind…I mean if his health improves or he gets good news." She nodded. "Anything to delay the best man drama."

She laughed quietly so as not to wake the baby. "Feeling a little sympathy for me with the bridesmaids all of a sudden, huh?"

"What the hell is wrong with those people? Why are they debating between themselves? I'm sorry if I blew off your frustrations about the planning talk before. You're right, they're crazy and jumping the gun before we've made any moves."

"You know we wouldn't have this problem if you had listened to me and we eloped. We'd already be married."

"Definitely kicking myself now, believe me."

"Although we do need to get serious about planning. I think we let lawyers and guardians, wills, and prenups, interfere."

"Those things are important. Not fun to think about," he added, "but important. And I'd rather know we have everything in place for Georgia's sake first."

"Me, too. But after Wednesday…wedding planning?"

"Yeah. We could be really mean and not tell anyone a thing about it until like two days before it happens. Just tell them when and where to show up and let the rest of it be a surprise."

"Don't tempt me."

Eric ducked down and kissed her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Putting up with all the wedding stuff. I know you're only doing it for me. You didn't want a wedding. I did."

"I'm not just doing it for you. I'm doing it for me, for us. I love you and our family and we should celebrate the life we've built. You're already compromising by not having some wedding of the century-style event that rivals a royal wedding. The least I can do is meet you halfway." She jumped when her phone went off, indicating a text. "It's Rachel. She wants to know if everything is okay. I'll tell her we're on our way down, Georgia had a wardrobe issue. It's not exactly a lie because she didn't want to wear her shorts."

"Hey, what about my presents! You can't tease gifts from my baby girl and then take them back."

"Sorry, we got a little derailed." She got up and went to her dresser. "You get two now and one we'll save for Georgia's bedtime."

"Intriguing."

"Spoiler alert: it's a book I can barely get three pages into without crying so-"

"Then why are you giving it to me? If it made you cry I don't stand a chance."

"We can read and weep together when we put her to bed."

"I'll bring the tissues."

"All right, now for the first present: last week she was having a bad teething day and nothing was making her happy. I remembered this idea I saw on one of those parenting videos. You take butcher's paper and tape it to the floor and let the kid go to town with washable markers and crayons. Georgia was more interested in coloring her legs or crawling after Thor with the markers than anything else, but…" She unrolled the paper and held it so he could see it. "…we managed to get a few scribbles on here."

It was barely anything more than a few streaks of color, but Eric was mesmerized. Yesterday she couldn't hold up her head and today she was creating art. Okay, maybe calling it art was generous, but it was on the way. Even Picasso had to start somewhere. He used to laugh at those annoying parents who thought everything their kid did was amazing, but now he was one of them. Hell, he may as well be their leader because as far as he was concerned, his daughter was a genius. "Did you make this for daddy, huh? Did you?" He kissed her cheek, making her giggle.

"I'm pretending the purple squiggle is the cat. That's what she drew when I told her to draw Thor on the paper instead of trying to color on him. And the red kinda curvy lined things are you because those streaks happened when I said it's for daddy."

"My little artiste. This is going into a frame and being hung in daddy's office at work. This has to qualify for an art scholarship somewhere, right?"

"I think I'll wait a little bit before getting Harvard and Mensa on the phone."

"I'm just trying to encourage her. I know we don't call Mensa until she's at least two," he teased.

Angela once again sat beside her family and held the other gift close. "I know you're always saying how I'm the center of Georgia's universe and you think she prefers me to you…but I wanted to do something to show you how much Georgia loves you."

Eric studied the frame. It was one of those photo collage frames. It was full of pictures of him and Georgia.

"These are just some of my personal favorites from the day she was born until just a couple of days ago." He was silent. "I take pictures of you two whenever I can, especially when you don't know it. The candids are amazing. I had trouble narrowing it down." He still wasn't saying anything. "If you don't like it I can always-"

He reached out and touched one of the photos: he and Georgia were playing tug of war with one of her teething toys- only with either end clutched in their mouths- laughing hysterically. "That was the first real belly laugh I got out of her," he said softly.

"The first of many. You are the keeper of her biggest belly laughs. And this," she pointed, "was the day we brought her home from the hospital. I walked into the living room and found you two asleep in the recliner."

"God, she was so tiny." There was another one of them sleeping that was more recent. "When did you take this one?"

"Yesterday morning, so…last-minute addition. I love that she still needs to hold our collars in a death grip when she sleeps with one of us."

"Yeah."

"And now…" She smiled when Georgia tried to shove the picture away and get in Eric's face. "What are you doing, goofball? Now you're jealous you don't have all daddy's attention? We're remembering when you weren't a little goblin who knew how to pinch." The baby rambled out a string of syllables, and Angela's eyebrows shot up. "What did you just say? Did you-" She put her hands over little ears and spoke softly to Eric. "Did she just say bitch?"

"I think she was trying to mimic you and say pinch, but that's not what came out." It was impossible not to laugh, that cute little voice saying that with no clue? Precious. "You realize this means I technically win all the money in our swear jar, right? That's now my fun money. I think this counts as baby's first swear." He practically doubled over when Georgia repeated her new word in her gibberish. "Um…mama 'pinch' is going to be fun to explain to everyone."

"Crap!" She covered her mouth. "Oh, no, sweetie, mama didn't mean to say that. Damn it."

"That's okay, keep adding to my fun money."

/

/

"Home, sweet home," Naomi declared when she opened the door to their apartment and moved to take a step inside.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm walking into our apartment. What do you think? Hey," she exclaimed when he held onto her arm. "Shawn, what the hell?"

"We're married."

"We've been married for a couple of weeks, but glad you still remember. Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Nomi…"

"Shawn, come on. It's late and I'm tired. We were stupid not to ask anyone to pick us up from the airport. Why did we think it was a good idea to shuttle our luggage from JFK on public transit? We're morons." He didn't let go of her. "Care to tell me why you're holding me hostage in the hall?"

"Because I only get one chance to get this right."

"Do wha-Shawn! Put me down."

"Not until I carry you across the threshold."

"Huh?"

"That is the tradition, right? I know I'm not the best at that stuff, but I'm pretty sure that's one of them."

And suddenly she was speechless and could only nod.

"Great. Are you going to let me do this now?" She nodded again. "Welcome ho- what the hell?" Barely two feet into their apartment and the romantic spell was broken.

"What's that smell?"

"Don't look at me when you ask that. We might have just gotten married, but we've been together for over five years. You should be used to me and all my smells by now. God knows I've gotten used to yours'."

"What smells do I have?"

"You eat natto a few times a week, for one."

"It's loaded with fiber and probiotics."

"Well, that's a gateway to a whole other smell direction."

"That's not all it's good for. It has tons of health benefits."

"Taste is not one of them."

"Hey! Lay off my natto. Let's figure out what smells right now."

He put her down and they tried to follow the odor, which was difficult since it permeated the air. They opened all of the windows and searched for the source.

"Shawn!"

He followed her voice to the kitchen and pulled his shirt up over his nose when he reached the doorway. "You found it?"

"Nice going," Naomi said sarcastically.

"What did I do?"

"You left your milk out."

"How do you know it was me? It could've been you."

"I drink almond milk. You drink whole milk."

He grimaced at the half-full glass and the nearly full gallon on the counter. It had been sitting there for over two weeks in their apartment with the air-conditioning turned off. "I don't suppose you'd buy that I was conducting a science experiment, would you?"

"Unlikely."

"Eh, it was worth a shot." He shook his head. "It makes you wonder how people ever started eating cheese if it begins with bad milk. Like, was there a dumbass who lost a bet, then he didn't die from eating it and people decided to make more?"

"I'm going to find some scented candles, you tackle the counter."

"Sure, leave me the fun job."

"It's your mess."

"We're married now. It's our mess."