Nuptials

Chapter 2

Tuesday Night.

"Hurricane Amy," Derek confirmed with a slight chuckle, "That's what they used to call her at school. She hated the name." He took a sip of his whiskey, adding, "That, and Little Amy. Call her that if you want her to tear your eyes out."

"I'll take your word for it," Owen laughed, knowing how much Amelia hated it when people, aside from Derek, called her Amy, far less Little Amy.

"Amy was very volatile in school," Derek continued, embarrassing his younger sibling in her absence, "She would just say things without even thinking about it. It got her into a lot of trouble."

"I don't think that has changed much," Alex piped in, taking a seat at the table Owen and Derek were sitting at.

"I remember a little after our dad passed away," Derek recalled, "Mom got called in to our elementary school for a fight she got in." Derek laughed as he thought about the memory, stuttering to finish the story. "Amy grabbed a little girl by her throat and almost choked her because she said something mean about dad." Alex almost choked on his drink as he erupted in a fit of laughter.

"The point of this entire story," Derek concluded, downing the rest of his drinks, "Is to be careful of what you say to my sister. She will grab you by your throat."

"Noted," Owen smiled, shaking his head as Andrew, Ben and Jackson approached the table, carrying a bus load of shots on a plate.

"Drinks are here," Ben announced, grinning mischievously at Owen.

"Uh, those are shots," Owen corrected the firefighter.

"Same thing." Ben placed four differently coloured shots in front of Owen.

"I can't drink all of this," the trauma surgeon tried to say. The other five surgeons were having none of it.

"Come on, Hunt," Andrew encouraged him, "You only have a couple more days of freedom before you officially become a soccer dad."

"I think it's soccer mom, De Luca," Owen curtly corrected.

"No way, dude," Alex chimed in, taking a shot from the plate and downing it instantly, "Shepherd wears the pants. You're definitely the soccer dad; she has you whipped."

"He only drinks when Shepherd allows it," Jackson inserted into the conversation, purposely adding to the chaos.

Owen frowned at his statement. "She's an alcoholic. I choose to respect that, but I can drink whenever I want, Avery."

"Then prove it," Jackson taunted him, gesturing to the four shots in front of him. Owen looked around at his fellow surgeons, each of them with a smug grin on their faces. He then remembered that Amelia had, in fact, asked him not to drink tonight, and now he felt even more emasculated.

Desperately wanting to prove them wrong, Owen sighed and said, "Screw it." He downed all four shots, being cheered on by his colleagues. He could already feel the buzz creeping as Derek began to speak again.

"So, how is family life?" Derek asked, "With the new baby and all."

"For a new born, Rosie throws a lot of tantrums," Owen disclosed thoughtfully, "She and Amelia almost never get along."

"Maybe because they're so similar," Derek shrugged, "From what I remember, Amy was the loudest crier and persevered during the longest tantrum episodes."

"I'm usually able to calm her down," Owen added, "So I don't know what it is about Amelia that makes her so...agitated."

"They're two north pole magnets," Derek metaphorically stated, "You're likely going to have to be breaking up fights between them for the rest of your life."