Chapter 77: Midnight Hollow

 Warning: Language

   Colin took a deep breath of the early morning air, as he stared at the scenery in front of him while seeing nothing at all.  It seemed he couldn't run from his past, he was known even here.  Sh*t, who had known that he had already traveled here?  Apparently he had never f*cking divulged his travel plans with anyone, ever.

  The town itself wasn't too f*cking bad, a little dark, a lot depressing... Colin definitely knew next time he wouldn't f*cking let a grieving man pick the next place to move to.  Sh*t, where else would his Dad move to?  This gothic mournful town was the perfect f*cking place for grieving, and what it didn't have in atmosphere, it made up for in attitude.  Everyone pretty much left them the h*ll alone.   Except for him, f*ck, "Stupid f*cking females." he muttered.

  Why the f*ck they continued to chase after him he couldn't understand.  They all operated under the same f*cking delusion, that he would suddenly wake up and want to spend the rest of his life with them.  Hello?  He didn't f*cking remember them, and he wasn't too f*cking impressed with what he saw now.   How in the h*ll had he handled their attention before?  No matter how many times he said h*ll no, it was like they f*cking heard h*ll yes!  He shook his head.

  Had he f*cking led them on last time he had been here?  He just couldn't remember, and it was d*mned frustrating.  He couldn't remember the half a dozen businesses he apparently owned here either, sh*t, one of which was a strip club and gambling den.  D*mn, he had apparently slept with all his stripper employees too.  Who the h*ll hadn't he slept with?  He shook his head again.  He had been a f*cking prize idiot.  At least he had given his brother a reason to laugh, the sh*thead, he thought sourly.  Brothers.

  At least Midnight Hollow had the Hollow River, and Hollow Lake, so he could still f*cking find work as a lifeguard.  Downtown Midnight Hollow was nestled up against the foothills, hiding in plain sight.  Colin would have rather had lakeside property, then be f*cking landlocked like they were, he could barely see the lake.  He f*cking loved the water, that and the house they had f*cking rented was too d*nm small.  His Dad had claimed he hadn't known anyone was coming with him when he had first rented the house.

 

  That was one of the first f*cking things Colin had taken care of.  He bought a huge piece of property right along Lake Hollow's shoreline, it cost him a f*cking pretty penny, but he didn't care.  He would have water, and plenty of f*cking space to build a huge a*s house that would hold the whole family, comfortably.

  "Hey Dad!"  Colin turned to see his oldest bounding towards him.  He f*cking hated the weird a*s sh*t his son kept doing to his hair, but he did his best to ignore it.  Hair was the least of their f*cking problems.

  "The bus will be here in a few moments, but Grandpa wanted me to remind you that it's Toddler Reading time at the library today." 

  Colin noticed the glint of humor in his son's eyes.  "Are you sh*tting me?"

  Jake held his hand up.  "Scout's honor."

  "You know that only works if you're a scout right?"

  Jake grinned.  "I swear Dad, that's what Grandpa said.  He claims the triplets need to get out of the house for a bit."

  Colin was thrilled to see Jake smile, and at him, f*ck!  His life must be pretty f*cking pathetic that Jake smiling at him would make him this f*cking happy.  Pathetic or not, his son had f*cking smiled at him, the first time ever!  "Ah h*ll, Grandpa just wants some peace and quiet for a while.  D*mn, I don't think I have enough hands for those three.  Skye is the only one that sticks close by."  Colin frowned.  Skylar was the cuddle bug, Luna the adventurer, and Jack was a master of cause and effect.  He pictured the three of them at the library and groaned, which earned him another f*cking precious smile from Jake.

  "Oh and Dad?"

 

  "Yeah?" Colin answered, distractedly.  His mind was still on three f*cking toddlers destroying the Public Library.  Maybe he should buy it first?

  "I have Debate tonight...can you..."

  "I'll be there, unless your siblings f*cking kill me today, and tear down the town around our f*cking ears."

  Jake smiled.  'Great!"  He hesitated, then said, "I'm glad you'll be there tonight Dad."

  "Me too."  Colin smiled back at him.  Colin watched Jake head off towards the bus, before heading back inside the house.  Two smiles, h*ll yeah, now that was f*cking progress!! Then he noticed his daughter, and what she was doing.  "Luna, don't poke the doll's eyes out."

  Luna looked up, mid-poke.  "Baby eye Dada!  Baby eye!"

 

  "Yes, that's the doll's eye.  Stop poking at it, that thing is ffff...creepy enough without you picking the eyes off of it.  Dad!"  Colin hollered.  "How the hhh...am I supposed to take these three to the library by myself?"  Sh*t, no answer.  Colin trudged up the stairs, and found his Dad and Grandad in heavy conversation.  D*mn, he didn't want to interrupt that.  Well, he would just have to f*cking suck it up, at least they were all walking.  Even if it was in f*cking different directions.

  The huge crack of thunder nearly made him jump out of his f*cking skin.  He looked out the window in dismay to see that the sunshine that had been there two minutes ago was no the f*ck where to be seen.  He heard the hail tinkling against the window.  Sh*t, that was all he needed.  With a sigh, he walked back down the stairs, he needed to f*cking lasso three kids.  He'd f*cking have better luck trying to lasso three greased pigs.

  "Jack Jack, come on buddy, don't pull those curtains down again."  Jack turned around, and clapped his hands in glee.  "Kutens Dada!  Kutens fall!"

  "Yes they fall, now don't touch them you little...imp." 

  It took an hour but he f*cking managed to wrangle three squirmy bodies into jackets, hats and gloves; get them belted into carseats, and get them safely inside the library.  He felt like he had just accomplished the f*cking twelve labors of Hercules.  Sh*t, he was already f*cking exhausted.

  "Pincess Dada!  Pincess!"  Skylar demanded.  Colin groaned inwardly.  Skylar couldn't get enough of f*cking Princess stories.  Jack and Luna were contentedly chewing on the same book, so Colin grabbed the first Princess book he could find and sat down beside Skylar.  She curled up close to him, and pointed at the picture.  "Pincess.  Me."

 

    "Yep, you're Daddy's Princess."  Colin began to read the story, "Once upon a time there lived a Princess named Rose.."

  "No no Dada!  Pincess me!  Me!"

  Colin rolled his eyes.  "My apologies your highness. Once upon a time there lived a Princess named Skylar..."  Skylar sucked on her thumb as he read the story.  "..and then Princess Skylar lived happily ever after with her Prince.  The end."

  Skylar patted him.  "Dada pince.  Me pincess.  Pincess happy Dada?"

  "Hmm," Colin pretended to think.  "Happy with her Prince Dada forever and ever, yes I think she is."  Colin tickled her, and Skylar broke out into giggles.  Suddenly Colin noticed that the library was awful quiet.  Sh*t!  He looked to where Jack and Luna had been just a few minutes before.  D*mn, where the h*ll did they go?  He listened for sounds of chaos, and when he heard bookshelves crashing, he knew where the f*ck Jack had gone.  "Sh*t."

  "Dada say bad wood!  Bad wood Dada!"

  "Dada's sorry, now come on little girl, let's go find your naughty little siblings."  He spied Jack right away, he was sitting in a pile of books happily clapping away, but where the f*ck was Luna?  Colin headed for Jack, but some f*cking female suddenly stood between him and his son.  What the f*ck??

  "Colin, I had heard you were back in town.  How come you haven't looked me up?"

   "Lady, I don't know who the h*ll you are, now get out the f*ck out of my way."

  She didn't move.  "That doesn't bother me the least little bit.  I could refresh your memory."  She coyly suggested.

  Colin gritted his teeth.  "Get the f*ck out of my way now, I need to get my kid."

  "Oh, that precious little boy is you.." 

  She squeaked when Colin forcibly moved her out of his way. "I'm not f*cking interested in you, f*ck no, not in a million f*cking years."

  "You'll call me then?"  She called out after him.  Colin ignored her, and picked up Jack.  The Librarian came towards him with a soaking wet Luna.

  "Does this belong to you?"

  Colin sighed.  "Yes."

  "She was flushing all sorts of things down the toilet.  Every single one of the toilets here are now clogged."

  "Sh*t."

  "Bad wood Dada!  Bad wood!!!"  Colin closed his eyes.  Sh*t.


~<>~


"Happy Birthday to Luna, Skylar and Jack!  Happy Birthday to you!!!"  Colin could uncover his ears now that the song had been sung.  Thank God it was the triplets birthday, he had f*cking survived them as toddlers, though barely.

  Luna, being the most impatient, had her birthday first.

 

  Followed by Skylar.

 

  And then Jack.

 

  Any slight f*cking hope he had held of having some peace and quiet now that they were older, was instantly quelled.

  "No, I get to sleep with Daddy!"  Luna yelled.

  "Nuh uh, I get to sleep with Daddy!" Skylar yelled back.

  Colin groaned.  Females, they were going to be the f*cking death of him yet.


~<>~


"Hey Rhys!  Glad to see that you made the move too."

 

  Alder hadn't seen Rhys in a long time.  Rhys had kept his distance after Alder's father Reilly had died.  Alder still missed his Dad, but it sure was good to see his Dad's best friend again.  "You shouldn't be such a stranger."

  "I made a promise that I intend to keep, it would be hard to watch over you guys if I lived in another town.  Besides, "  Rhys shrugged, "as if that wasn't reason enough, I married Rosina, and she couldn't bear to be parted from her family.  So here I am."

  "Rosina?  Really?"  Alder grinned at him as he patted Rhys on the back.  "Why you old dog you...marrying someone centuries younger than yourself!"

  Rhys grinned back.  "She isn't quite that young!"


  "My name is Luna, what's yours?"

  "Tttttanner." the boy said shyly.

  "Do you want be my friend?"

  Tanner stuttered in surprise. "You want to be my friend?" 

  Luna scratched her head.  "Yeah, why wouldn't I want to be?"

 

"Well, ccccause I stttttutt...I can't say my wwwwords right.  Oooother kkkkids ccccall me stttupid."

  "Well, that's stupid."  Luna declared.  "You shouldn't listen to stupid kids.  My Daddy says I'm a smarta*s, so that means I'm smart, and I don't think you're stupid at all.  So there."

  Tanner's eyes shone.  "Yyyyesss, I'll bbbe your ffffriend."

  Skylar whooped.  "Yahoo!  We're going to be best of friends, I can already tell!"


  "Hey Marcy, do you want to see the video of when all of my kids were sick?  Someone was puking every five minutes, it was a fff--nightmare, but makes for a great video!"  Colin said enthusiastically as he pulled his phone out.

  "Eww, no, gross!"

 

  Alder placed his hand on Rhys' forehead.  "Hmmm, I'm sensing something here..."

   "I'm sensing something too.  I'm sensing a nutcase."

 

  "Hush now Rhys."  Alder teased him.  "I'm sure I could read your mind like you can read mine, just give me a minute!"

  "If you pull that freezing ice cold trick again on me Alder, I swear I'll..."

  Alder gave his practiced innocent look.  "Me?  Surely you jest, I gave up pranking ages ago..."

  Colin started to ask, "Hey Jake, do you want to see..."

  Jake laughed.  "I stopped saying yes to that question from you a long time ago."

 "What?  I don't know what the h*ll you're talking about."  The f*cking sad part was, Colin really didn't know what the f*ck he was talking about.

  Jake shook his head then said with a slight grin.  "In so many ways, you're still you, that's all I'm saying."

~<>~


 Luna called out,  "Tanner!  I need your help!"  

  "Wwwwwhat nnnnnnow?"

  "Don't give me that look Tanner!  We couldn't possibly get in trouble this time, it's for a humanitarian cause!"

  Tanner smiled weakly at his best and only friend.  Luna made his life tolerable, she made him laugh, she didn't laugh at him or at any of his ideas, she would even add in some of her own!  And she would beat up anyone that dared to try to bully him, she sure packed a wallop, he thought admiringly.   It didn't take long before all the bullies steered clear of him, and his bullying troubles were now a thing of the past.  His life was a thousand times better since she had decided to be his friend.  He would follow her anywhere, and often did, straight into trouble.  Now if he could just get rid of his stutter.   "Wwwwhat aaaare wwwwwe ssssaving nnnnnow?" 

  "Frogs."

  Tanner's eyes widened.  "Ffffrogs?"

  Luna nodded.  "Tanner, they're going to get dissected!  They could be Kermit's babies!  We have to save them Tanner!  We have to!  I've got the key to the Science room..."  Tanner didn't even ask how she ended up with a key to the Science room, sometimes he was better off not knowing.  "...and the cages are not locked, so all we need to do is sneak into the school."

  Tanner glanced around him.  "Bbbbut mmmmy sssister iiiiis hhhhere."

  Luna rolled her eyes.  "Your sister is on her phone, she wouldn't notice if the Apocalypse happened!"

  Tanner smiled.  "Tttthat's ttttrue!" he agreed.

  "Come on Tanner, I know a good way into the school, and no one will even see us!  For Kermit and Mrs. Piggy!"  Luna cried out.

  Tanner copied her, a little less enthusiastically.  He noticed that none of the older teens were paying them much attention though, many of them were used to Luna's exuberance, and were simply glad that she was leaving them alone for once.

 

  It was the last quarter, only minutes to go until the end of the game...

  When his phone rang, Colin answered with a distracted, "Yeah?"  Then he sat up, the game forgotten.  "What the h*ll?"  He growled.  Luna!  "I'll be there in five minutes.   Yes, Officer,  I f*cking understand, okay?  Sh*t."  He hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and keys and ran out the door.  Luna was so...grounded...for the rest of her life...if he didn't kill her first.


_________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes: Short chapter!  It was either that or one really long chapter, and I decided to go ahead and split it into two.  This way I can pretend that I actually had 2 whole chapters planned with Skye, Luna, and Jack as children---most times I do tend to skip the child age in my stories, lol  Usually it is because I am so focused on my heir, that I tend to forget about the kids (who are only kids for 7 days), and I don't take very many in game pics of them.

  I'm liking this new version of Colin, I've had so much fun writing him as an involved parent, what he could have been before, if he hadn't been all mixed up.  He still has some Colin attitude, though, it's just directed differently.

  He's still working on his relationship with his older kids, but he's pretty close with his younger three, which are a handful, haha!  Being the progeny of Colin and Ivory, they had to be a handful!

  Colin rolled social bunny, and while I don't always show the outings, he does go out once a week, this chapter he attended a party put on by the Nightblossoms.  Rosina is the daughter of Alyssa and Paeris---and yes, Rhys did marry her, the old dog!  Alder alternated between mind melding with Rhys, and playing pranks on him, lol  Colin kept showing gross videos to anyone that would look.  Turana and Johnny (Tanner's mom and dad) kept woohooing, haha.  It was quite the party!

  Luna was actually born as a mermaid (I had a whole story I was going to do with that), the only triplet to be a mermaid, but that occult seemed to severely glitch my game so much, I finally made her just human.  Poof for that idea, lol  This is when I started having severe game issues, and I thought my game was broke, because after the triplets aged up to children, the in game clock stopped working.  Do you know how hard it is to play with the in game clock broken?  Nothing works properly, school, work, anything that relies on the time.  The game itself played fine, I could send the sims anywhere, and they would go.  It was baffling.  I ended up using Porter in the end, and starting a new game.

  Some pics that shows how things were horribly awry!

  The game also aged them up in the wrong order, which irked me, lol

  Thanks for reading!  Next chapter will be more fun filled parenthood (and probably the triplets age up to teenagers---what will Colin be like when his daughters want to date?)  =)