3:16 The Meaning Of Friendship

After screaming the house down for close to forty-five minutes, and pulling at various peoples legs, Kaity finally managed to convince Madison and the Lansing children to stay without having to say too much.

She couldn't bring herself to tell her beloved cousin that if she had gone to visit her fathers grave, she would not have come home. What would have happened to her after that, she didn't know. And she could only hope that stopping her from going tonight had changed things and she would never have to find out. Besides, it was Kaity's birthday in just a few days, and she'd be starting school. She wasn't too fussed about school, she'd rather sit in the library and teach herself, but she could see the advantages of spending time with her peers too. She may be a genius, but she wasn't socially inept, and she knew having friends outside the family would help her out as she grew older.

Madison watched the young girl, effortlessly making even this battered old xylophone sound good, and wondered what had got her so panicky earlier. She seemed calm as anything now, like any child her age should. She had refused to sleep though, so Madison had decided to stay up with her until she was tired. Taylor had offered, but she had work in the morning, and Madison had forced her to bed.

A couple of hours later, Kaity started to get sleepy, so Madison tucked her in.
"No more dreams tonight, okay honey?" Kaity nodded sleepily, and Madison left her to sleep.

She headed downstairs, to get some sleep herself, and was surprised to find Taylor sitting at the table, crying.

 She took the other seat opposite her, and wondered the best approach. She had a pretty good idea of what was wrong, though.
"I told you to go to bed." She scolded playfully. "Go on, spill."
"It's Kaity." Taylor replied, after taking a few seconds to compose herself. "I don't know what to do, Madi! First the nightmares, and now... Well, I don't even know what that was today! She just freaked out and I have no idea why."

The room fell silent for a few minutes, as the sisters thought about the evenings events.
"She did seem very insistant that we stay in. I wonder why?" Madison asked to the room, knowing Taylor didn't know the answer either.

"I just wish I could help her." Taylor said quietly, as a fresh wave of tears flooded her cheeks. Madison looked at her sister, and wished she knew what to say. "If any of this has anything to do with... With her..." Taylor's tone had changed to anger, and she creased her nose in disgust as she spat out her last words. "I swear to God, Madi. I don't care if I go to jail for life, I'll do whatever it takes to get her to leave us all alone."
"Tay, you don't mean that. Sure, she's a dirty evil bitch, but if you did anything..." Madison knew exactly who her sister meant. She sighed as she tried to find the words to explain herself. "Just don't stoop to her level, Tay. You're better than that. You're better than her. You're a brilliant, kind, loving mother, aunt and sister, and she's nothing but scum." Taylor looked up at Madison, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Thank you, Madi." She forced a smile, and jumped out of her chair, rounded the small table, and pulled her sister out of the chair and into a tight hug.

Madison was a little shocked by her sudden movements, but soon responded, wrapping her arms around her sister and pulling her closer.
"I promise you, Tay, we can get through anything together." Taylor rested her forehead on Madison's shoulder as she started crying once again.
"Madi, I love you, you know that right?"

"Of course I do! I love you too, and honestly, we can get through anything. I mean it."

_____

"All hail Queen Shaena! Ruler of the toybox, and most beautiful Queen in all Simnation! May all her loyal subjects know that today is her birthday!" Shaena had been over-the-top excited at school all day, and had even got into a little trouble for it. It wasn't just that it was her birthday, meaning she started high school tomorrow, but it was her triplet cousins birthday too. Which meant finally she and Kaity could go out to places together and do real best friend things.

It wasn't long until the party was in full swing and Shaena blew out her candles. The triplets didn't have cakes of their own, it would have not only have cost too much money, but it would have made endless cake leftovers that would most likely never get eaten. The Mattells in general ate healthily, and cake was a very rare special treat.

Shaena looked around the small gathering of family and close friends. It was mainly family. Summer and Layla were here, but Summer was practically family, while Layla surely would be one day. Shaena had hoped Summer would bring Bonnie, her daughter, as she wasn't much older than the triplets and would have made a good distraction for Rose and Jake so she and Kaity could sneak into a different room after the ritual. It didn't matter too much though, there were enough people to distract them so they could be left alone.

 The party guests were being well entertained by the family members, and the house was filled with chatting and laughter, so Shaena and Kaity headed upstairs for some private time.

"Shae, I need to tell you something, but I need you to promise you'll never tell anyone. Ever. I mean it." Kaity looked deadly serious, and Shaena was a little worried.
"I promise, Kait. Your secrets will always be safe with me."

"I have dreams and nightmares. But I don't think they're the same as what everyone else has." Kaity started. Shaena was giving her her full attention, so she carried on. "They're really real, and they feel different to normal dreams. It's like I'm standing there, watching something happen, but there's nothing I can do to stop it."
"Kaity, everyone has dreams that feel real, it's nothing to worry about."
"No, this is different." Kaity wondered if she should really be saying anything at all, what could this kind of information do to Shaena? "They come true."

Shaena looked to her feet, wondering whether to believe her cousin.
"Shae, I didn't want to tell you this, but the night before you asked to go see your Dad's grave..." Kaity trailed off, seeing Shaena's eyes light with recognition, clearly remembering how she'd made such a fuss about them not going. She still hadn't been, but hoped to go in the next day or so, as her mother had promised.
"What happened in the dream?" She questioned. As Kaity decided how much to tell her, she took a deep breath.
"I saw you, Luis and Aunt Madison at his grave. You were all dressed up, like it was a special occasion, and it was a full moon. I couldn't hear anything, it was like a silent movie, but a man appeared in a flash of blue light behind you. Your Mum grabbed you and pulled you out the way, and it looked like Luis was protecting you both. He looked angry and you were crying. The man pushed him to the side, and then tried to grab you. Your Mum fought him, and you fell over, but quickly got up again when the man pushed her to the ground too. And then he took your hand and you looked terrified."
"And then what?" Shaena couldn't believe her cousin had stopped there.
"And then it ended and I woke up. I think he was going to kidnap you or something, but I can't be sure." Shaena stood there in stunned silence for a minute. She was about to reply when Jake came in.

"Mummy says it's bedtime, Kaity. It's eleven thirty and we start school tomorrow. She also says don't expect to be allowed up this late every night." Jake continued walking through to the bathroom, presumably to wash up before bed.
"Yeah, wait a minute, Jake. She'll be in bed soon." Shaena was annoyed by the interruption at such a crucial point in the conversation.

"We should probably go to bed, Shae"
"No, wait! Do you promise to tell me every dream you have?"

Kaity turned to leave the room as she replied.
"Yeah, I guess. Look, we'll talk about this more another time, you start high school tomorrow so you should probably get some sleep too."

_____

"I seriously feel like I've not seen you in years, Summer! We need to catch up more often!"
"Oh, God, I totally agree, Tay. Can you believe we've both got kids in school now?"
The party was winding down, it was gone midnight, and as it was a Thursday night, all the guests had either work or school the next day. There were still a few milling around. Taylor didn't mind, but the few who were left she didn't even know. They must've either been guests of guests, or crashers.

"I know! Feels like just yesterday we were at high school! Hey, how about you sleep over, like old times? Bonnie's at her Dad's, so you don't have to be home til after she's finished school tomorrow. You can sleep in my bed with me." She pointed to her bedroom door as she finished, as if Summer didn't know where her best friend's bedroom was.
"I'd love that, Tay!" Summer smiled at the idea of feeling like a kid again.
"Ok, I'll just kick these guys out."

_____

The girls had been talking on the end of Taylor's bed for close to three hours, and the conversation had drifted to Kaity and her dreams. Taylor took advantage of her lifelong friend being here, and poured out her heart, spilling tears as she went.
"I just don't know what to do! What if they don't go away as she gets older? What if she has these nightmares for the rest of her life?" Taylor didn't expect a response, and she didn't get one. Summer just held her tighter. As a human, she'd not had any experiance of things like this, until Bonnie was born, the Mattells were the only connection she had to the supernatural. It was different with Bonnie, though. She was a vampire, like her father, and he was always around to support her and give advice. "I'm sorry, Sum. You don't need to hear this, and it's getting... Early. Maybe we should get some sleep? I have to be up and ready to leave the house in 5 hours."

The girls pushed up off the bench at the end of the bed, and settled themselves on top of the covers. They still had no intention of sleeping, as Taylor's nightwear, and the shirt she'd pulled out for Summer to wear, still lay on the floor where they'd left them.
"Sorry, Summer. How's things with you and Bonnie? You realise you've never properly told me what happened between you and Cortez?" Summer sighed.
"Best get comfortable, Tay. It's a long 'un."

Taylor rolled herself over onto her back, and pulled the pillow under her neck.
"Done. Spill."
"Well... It all started when we got drunk... Well, no... You know when it started, you were there, but this bit started when we got drunk. We weren't out together. He was out for someone's bachelor party, and I was just catching up with Chiquita. Chi had to go, you know what crazy hours she works, but I didn't want to yet. So I figured I'd just have a couple more drinks, and then call it a night. Then Cortez spots me, and comes over. He kept buying shots. Rounds for the group he was with, but he'd get me one every time as well. I should have stopped hours before I did, but before I knew it, it was closing time. He practically carried me to a taxi, and had to help me to my door. I insisted he stay, and he was in no fit state t think straight himself. So then, well, you can work this next bit out... And then when I was pregnant with Bonnie, he took me out to dinner once or twice, but it was just so awkward and I figured it'd never work, and I should just accept the fact that I'd followed in my mothers footsteps and was destined to be a single mother."

"And after Bonnie was born, obviously I wasn't going to stop him from seeing her, so he came round loads when she was too young to stay with him overnight. And so we ended up spending loads of time together, and then... I dunno, he just asked me to try dating again, and I said yes. And the rest, they say, is history..." Taylor giggled at the cliched way her friend ended her story.
"That's a sweet story. I hope I can find someone one day."
"Aw, Tay. You will! Don't forget you've got like a billion more years than me!" Both girls were suddenly saddned by the thought of Summer dying. It wasn't long before she'd be old and grey and thinking of retirement. Taylor was still in her prime, and it was horrible seeing her best friend age. They'd been through everything together, and Taylor didn't want to imagine life without her.
"Uh, Summer... It's three thirty. I really need to get some sleep..."
"Oh, God! Ok, lets get some sleep."

I apologise for how jumpy the party/birthdays are. I had save errors and just aged them and then threw another party in the end.

Blurry! Sorry. I think from day one Kaity was winning, but Rose caught up near the end. Because of Rose's popularity, I'll make sure she has a big part throughout her child and teen years, don't worry :)
Oh, I decorated the rest of the house now! And it's all fully furnished :)
Sorry, no more chairs though! Eek... 

 And now for the age-up picture spam:

Good, Friendly, Artistic and Brooding

Excitable, Clumsy and Absent-Minded

Loner, Brave and Loves the Outdoors

And your heir:

Genius, Clumsy and Family Oriented

3:15 Nightmares

"RAAAAARRRR!!!!"

"RAAARRR RAARR RAR RAAARRRR!!!"
Shaena often got bored on weekends. She used to do something with Luis, and there was usually a toddler or two around, but now Luis had a girlfriend, he was never home until curfew, and today all three triplets were asleep. Kaity was her favorite cousin to play with, because she could talk a lot better than the others and so they could have conversations and she could understand the rules more.

 "RAAAR RAAAR RARARARAAAA!"

"RAAA-" Shaena stopped her roaring as her aunt entered the room looking angry.
"For God's sake, Shaena! Do you know how hard it is to get all three of them asleep so we can get some peace and quiet?" Taylor didn't like telling anyone off, but she was so tired since she went back to work. Madison did most of the night-feeds, but sometimes struggled and had to get Taylor up.
"Sorry, aunt Taylor." Shaena hung her head, partly to show that she really was sorry, partly because the foam dinosaur head was quite heavy. "I'm just bored and I thought maybe Kaity would play with me." Taylor sighed and looked at the top of the dinosaur head.
"Well, if you can play alone for one more hour, I'll get her up and then you can play with her." Shaena looked up.
"And you too?"
"Ok." Taylor smiled and breathed a laugh. "And me too."

_____

_____

"MUMMIEEE!!!"
Taylor ran up the stairs, and burst into the nursary to find Kaity in hysterics in her crib, while Rose and Jake just looked shocked and sleepy.
"What is it, baby?" Taylor scooped up the crying infant and held her close. The screams she'd heard were not the screams of a child who was hungry or dirty, they were of someone who was terrified. She looked to her other two children as she held Kaity. They seemed a little shocked about the way they were woken up still, but were both now sitting happily in their cribs. Rose had got a toy from nowhere - she had a habit of doing that, while Jake was just sat there, enjoying being alone.
"Nightmare." Kaity replied through her sobs. "Shaena." Taylor took this to mean she wanted to play with Shaena, and so called down the stairs to her while she dressed her daughter.

Shaena rushed up the stairs, and Taylor watched the two girls playing, wondering what to do about Kaity and her nightmares. This wasn't the first one she'd had, and although she knew it was common for young children to have bad dreams, she'd never heard of toddlers waking up with blood-curdling screams. Maybe Kaity should see a doctor about this. For now, though, she'd see if she could find out what they were about.

She took a seat on the floor with the girls, and turned Kaity to face her.
"What was your dream about, Kaity?"
Kaity gave no response, but instead turned her head to watch Shaena and the dragon toy. Taylor put her hand on Kaity's tiny shoulder, making her turn to look at her again.
"Kait, what was your dream about?" She asked again. Kaity once again turned to look to Shaena again. Taylor decided she didn't want to talk about it so soon, and so instead let the girls play.

_____

"So, I've got a lot of potions for you today, hopefully you can sell them all! I'd like to thank you for doing this, too. You have no idea how much this has helped."
"It's no problem! Your potions sell really well, and these will sell even better tonight. It's a full moon, and people always splash out on a potion or two for the occasion." Madison laughed at the idea of people celebrating the full moon. Her whole life had been spent avoiding going outside for the night. Maybe that should change? Nothing too bad had happened out there in a while.

Meanwhile, Shaena and Luis were working on their homework together. Luis was helping Shaena, but she couldn't really help him with his. She'd be attending high school soon, and needed Luis' help to get her grades up.
"Lou..." Shaena trailed off.
"Shae." Luis stated, without even looking up from his homework. Shaena put down her pencil and took a deep breath.
"Have you ever seen Dad's grave?"
"Nope." Luis continued his homework, unphased by his little sisters questions.
"Shall we ask Mummy if we can go tonight?"
"Can do." Luis was barely paying attention anymore, otherwise he would have realised he just sort of agreed to go to a graveyard on a full moon with his little sister and his mother. He already had plans with Layla, but he'd let his sister down later.

It was just before sunset by the time Shaena had finished her homework, eaten her dinner and had a shower. She decided she still had time before bed to go to the graveyard, and found Madison changing Kaity.
"Mummy! Can we go see where Daddy's buried tonight please?" Madison was a little shocked by the sudden request.
"Uhm, yeah, I suppose we could do. Let me just finish up with the toddlers and let Taylor know." Shaena grinned and threw her arms around her mother.
"Thank you Mummy! I'll go tell aunt Taylor now!" She ran from the room and down the stairs, as she did the moon rose.

"Well, Kaity. I'm going out now but Mummy is here for you." Madison placed the toddler on the floor, and as she went to pull back Kaity grabbed a handful of her hair. "Ow, Kaity, let go please."
"Don't go." Kaity whispered. "Go tomorrow." She let go of Madison's hair, allowing her to stand up.

3:14 Painful Truth

It was still raining the next morning. Shaena's first day of school, and Taylor's first day back at work since she'd realised she was pregnant. Shaena was nervous now, and her brother and aunt flying out the door immediately behind her made her embarrassed. She hoped no potential friends were on the bus yet, otherwise they'd all know she lived with fairies. She wasn't sure whether this would make her 'cool' because it was different, or 'weird' because she wasn't magical in the slightest. She was the only human she knew besides her grandfather, and she craved the company of 'normal' sims.

Almost as soon as everyone had left, the triplets decided they were all hungry and all needed changing. Madison went to start her first day alone with three toddlers. She hoped she'd be able to find time to research alchemy a little more, but the triplets were the priority right now. She set about trying to stop them from screaming as she could only change one diaper at a time, she started singing lullabies. She loved singing, and would love to have been a professional singer, if she hadn't had Luis so young maybe she would have persued it. She was happy with the alchemy set though, and wouldn't trade her children for the world.

While the kids were playing, Madison noticed that Rose already seemed to be able to control her powers. While Jake could fly a little, as she, Taylor, Devon and Luis could at his age, Kaity didn't seem to be able to do anything. She was definately a witch, but she either didn't know how to use her powers, or just didn't want to. Madison was a little worried by how easily it came to Rose. She didn't know any witches that she could ask about this, and wondered if it was normal for her to be so powerful at such a young age. Or maybe Kaity was the odd one here?

Whether it was mother's intuition, or just that she had used her own powers more than her sister, Taylor could sense that Rose definately had more magic in her, whereas Kaity seemed more content with everyday things, and seemed drawn to her human cousin, Shaena. She hoped that Kaity would be able to use her powers at some point, even if just so she wouldn't be jealous of her sister. Of course, if Kaity didn't want to, or couldn't, Taylor would love her just the same.

Taylor insisted Madison leave the house, and after she'd taken her latest batch of potions to the consignment store, she headed to the local kareoke bar, still in the mood to sing. The place was deserted besides the proprietor (Taylor's childhood friend, Chiquita), but it was still early in the evening. Madison was quite glad that she was almost alone, as she wasn't confident in her singing abilities. Chiquita came up to her at the end of the song, and insisted she sing it again for practice. She said she had 'real talent' and it just needing fine tuning. Madison smiled and started singing again, trying her hardest to hit the right notes and thoroughly enjoying herself, she promised herself she'd do this more often (maybe 5 hours a week?) and get really good at it.

The singing had taken her mind off a lot, but as soon as she stepped away from the machine she remembered Shaena and the questions she had about Geoffrey. It was best to tackle this sooner rather than later, and so on the taxi ride home she tried to prepare herself for the conversation, she knew it would be hard, but Shaena deserved to know.

She found her daughter in the room they still shared, looking at the pictures of her parents that filled the walls. She took a deep breath as one last preparation, and walked around the bed.
"Hey, honey. Are you ready to talk about Daddy?" Shaena nodded, excited to finally be let in on the bubble of secrets that surrounded her father.
"I want to know everything about him, and I want to know why he left us..." Madison's sharp intake of breath cut her off.
"Shae, baby... Maybe we should sit on the bed?" Madison suggested, wondering the best way to tell an elementary school girl that her father died when she was born. Maybe just come right out with it? Shaena jumped up onto the bed, and Madison joined her, crawling over the sheets to 'her side' of the bed. "Honey. Daddy didn't leave us. He..." She closed her eyes, wishing it wasn't real. "He died the day you were born."

 Madison watched as Shaena's face fell, and the usually loud, bubbly girl was replaced by a silent, lost child. She reached up and started running her fingers through her ponytail. She decided to stay quiet for a minute or two, waiting for the information to sink in.

"Why?" Was all Shaena could get out, as she hugged her legs to her chest, and continued staring off into space. Nobody had ever told her he'd left them, but she'd never imagined he was dead. There had always been that glimmer of hope in the bottom of her heart that he would come back to meet her, but that was gone now. There was no hope of him coming back, she'd never met him and never would.

Shaena's one-word question reminded Madison of when her daughter had been a toddler, and 'why' was all she'd ever say. That seemed like so long ago now, she'd grown up so much in those few short years since then, and it wouldn't be long until she was a young woman herself.
"Your Daddy worked long hours to make enough money for us to have a good life. He came over as much as he could, and when he found out we were having you he was the happiest man in the world..."
"Mummy. I asked why." Shaena cut her mother off. She'd been kept in the dark about this all her life and didn't care to wait any longer.
"Ok, honey." Madison moved to kneel infront of her daughter, and took her hand, which Shaena kept away, still holding her legs to her.

"Sweetie, your Daddy was fit and healthy, and nobody expected it. One afternoon he was on his break, and he walked off the site he was working on to get some lunch. His break ended and he wasn't back yet and then his friends at work started to worry. Your Daddy was never late in the morning, and was never late back from break, so they went looking for him. They found him on the street and he was unconcious." Madison held back tears as she watched them begin to fall down Shaena's cheeks. "They took him to the hospital and the doctors hooked him up. He was in a coma, which is like when you go to sleep but you can't wake up. And then he died the next day, about an hour after you were born."

Shaena sat in silence, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Madison slid off the bed and knelt on the floor infront of her, pulling her round so she was sitting with her legs over the edge of the bed.

"I see him in you everyday, and I know he would have loved you with all his heart. He would have been the perfect father to you, and he would have supported us all through everything. Every day I wish you could have met him, honey, I really do..." Madison had to stop. She didn't know what else to say, but also because she wanted to stay strong infront of her daughter, and she could feel the tears begging to come out.

"I don't blame you, Mummy." Shaena looked her mother in the eye, just for a second, but it was enough to reassure Madison. "I don't blame you for not telling me. It's a horrible thing to think about, but thank you for telling me even though it hurt." Madison let a single tear escape her eye, as she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Shaena didn't hate her.

Madison pulled her off the bed and into a tight hug.
"I love you, Shae. I really am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted you to be old enough to understand..."
"I know Mummy. I still love you."



So, we finally know most of the story. I doubt it will ever be explained in more detail, but if you want to know the darker parts from the depths of my mind, just ask.
Madison's hobby will be kareoke (she rolled a want for it when I was deciding hers) and Taylors will be working out. I don't know how much I'll feature these hobbies, but I'm planning on Madison doing hers on week nights, and Taylor doing hers at the weekend. I am aware I have waited pretty late to start this roll, but I completely forgot until the triplets were born, and then I just couldn't get either of them in a good enough mood to do anything when they were babies! The whole thing will be easier when the triplets are kids. Not long now! And also, when the triplets age to children, Shaena will age to teen the same day, and Luis will only be a few days away from YA!
Also, "How can Shaena stay warm enough in that tiny dress?" I hear you ask? Well, truth is, it was the first day of summer when I was last in-game, and I just haven't got around to getting everyone else into cooler clothes. It should be done by next chapter, because I need to name the seasons 'this year'. Phew, wish me luck! Still not really got many ideas, but I kinda want 'summer' to have something to do with Summer (the season, the girl). No idea how that will work.
And, I shall introduce Summer's daughter soon. Hopefully next chapter too! She is one day older than the triplets, and a vampire.