Small Cottage

"We.. We could have lived in Egypt!"

"Egypt, huh?"

(It's in South America, for future reference. And you do NOT want to go there.)

[*knew this*]

[Yeah, I knew it too. For the sake of stupidity.]

"Egypt. It's always warm there."

"Too much sand!"

"Well, think about it. With all that sand we could build a giant sandcastle.. Whatever. I'm going to bed."

"I'll be in in a little while." Elroy picked up his devotional book off of a side table and began his evening reading. "About ten minutes."

"I'll stay up until you get in, then." Serenity said, getting in bed anyways. "I'll stay up." She seemed quite determined to stay awake. She fell asleep anyways.

There was a loud CRACK! outside the door the following day around three. Christmas and all. The crack was followed by about twenty consecutive knocks on the door.

Serenity ran to the door, opening it. She saw who it was, and screamed, then tackled the person standing in the door.

Olivia flung her arms around Serenity's neck and held on like a koala or whatever it was that does that. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? LIKE, LAST WEEK!?"

"I WENT TO YOUR HOUSE, YOU IDIOT! I WENT! AND YOU DIDN'T OPEN YOUR DAMN DOOR, YOU.. YOU... I'M GETTING MAAAAAAAAAARRIED!" Serenity seemed on the verge of tears. "We're gonna be sisters!"

"Wait, that was you!? Oh, I'm sorry!" Olivia laughed. "I KNOW! Isn't this, like..." She couldn't think of a word.

"Spectacular! I'm getting married to ELROY. Angel's in jail and I'm getting married to a slut." She grinned. "My life is such a mess."

"Oh, he's not so bad anymore!" Olivia assuringly patted Serenity on the shoulder. "Probably!" In fact, she hadn't said two words to either of her brothers in the past year or so. More or less. "I'd imagine."

"I was just kidding, Liv. I trust him. It's not going to be a problem."

"Good, good. Oh, Happy Christmas!"

"Yes, Happy Christmas!" Serenity said. "I'm sorry. I didn't get a present."

"Oh, that's fine," Olivia said. "So, when is it? The wedding, that is."

"Spring, I think. I don't want to have it in the cold. So, spring is the most obvious choice."

"Ugh, allergy season? Then again, so's the whole year. Ah, well. June's nice," she mused. "I'm happy for you guys. Never though El would settle down. None of us did."

"I certainly didn't. Then, one morning, I was talking about how we were doing all of the actions of dating, but none of the mental commitment, and he just.. asked. No ring. No warning.."

"Like you haven't been nagging him about it this whole time, right?"

"Well, not very much. Only once or twice. A month."