Warning: Language
Luna motioned for her brother Jack to sit next to her on the bus. He eyed her warily, but complied. Usually Luna and Skye sat together, whispering and giggling in the back. He had no idea what Luna wanted from him, but he had learned long ago it was easier to just find out what she wanted and get it over with. Luna was nothing, if not persistent. Luna got straight to her point. "With that techno-brain of yours Jack, you could be a huge help in finding Mom."
Jack sighed, and looked away. Not this subject again. He didn't understand her obsessive need to find out more about their mother. Their mother tried to kill their Uncle, and their Dad, why would she want to know more about her? Clearly the woman had been a psycho. "Mom is dead." Jack said matter of factly. "I've calculated the odds of us finding anything useful about her, and we have a better chance of being eaten by sharks in the middle of the Sahara desert."
Luna sighed. "Honestly Jack, you lack imagination. Couldn't you invent some techno gadget gizmo thing that could..."
Jack interrupted her. "I'm not interested in wild goose chases Luna, nor do I have the time for it. I'm so close to cracking the time continuum, I've discovered that..."
He turned back towards her, his face animated as he excitedly began to speak of time travel, portals, fourth dimensions and the like. Jack's words turned into a lot of blah, blah, blah to Luna, how boring! She didn't care about quantum physics, or relativity or any of that nonsense. She crossed her arms. Her brother was so smart, and yet so dumb. Couldn't he see that it was much more important to find out the past first, before messing with the future? He was always inventing something, how hard could it be to invent some sort of a search engine that would allow her to search files that were classified?
Jack was shaking his head. "No, I recognize that look of yours Luna, and I'm not doing it."
"Doing what?" she asked crossly.
"Any of it." he answered promptly. "Last time I helped you out, I was grounded from my work table for two weeks! Two weeks!"
"You're a wuss Jack. I'll figure out another way, you'll see."
~<>~
Luna attacked the clay in front of her, using her chisel to take off big chunks of clay. She frowned, it just wasn't turning out the way she envisioned.
"What is that supposed to be? A frog?"
Luna glared at her brother. "It's a Chinese dog, for your information, jerk."
Jack shrugged, and asked Tanner, "How was I supposed to know? Frog, dog, it's all the same." A waste of time, in Jack's opinion. What was the point of art anyway? Science he could understand, it bettered people's lives, but what would a sculpture of an ugly dog do for humanity? Tanner only smiled at him, wise enough to stay out of an impending sibling argument.
Luna chucked some of the clay at her brother; he ducked, and the missile sailed over his head. "You are so dumb sometimes Jack. Frog indeed." She snorted, then looked over her sculpture again, turning her head side to side. Drat that Jack anyway, putting doubts into her head. "What do you see Tanner?"
Tanner walked over to her, and looked the sculpture over. He had to make sure that enough time passed, yet not too much, Luna wasn't insecure in very many things, but in her art she was. Thankfully he was well versed in all things Luna, and knew just how long to wait. "It definitely looks like a Chinese dog." he finally answered, without stuttering even a tiny bit. He had lost his stutter when he became a teen.
"An ugly one." Jack stated, giving the sculpture a closer look.
"Shut up Jack." Luna growled. "I don't know why I bother listening to you, you have no appreciation for the finer things in life, and you have appalling taste, unlike Tanner."
Jack chuckled. "That's because Tanner is in lll..." Tanner gave Jack the evil eye, and Jack stuttered to a stop. Luna wasn't paying either one of them any attention though, she was back to muttering and chiseling. Tanner smacked the back of Jack's head before leaving the room. "What did I do??" Jack asked out loud.
Luna heard that comment though. "You opened your mouth Jack, that's what you did."
~<>~
Skylar held lightly onto the barre, as she ran through a quick warm up. She had a lot of practicing to do.
Skye loved to dance. She loved all forms of dancing, but ballet was her favorite. She loved the fluid, graceful moves, and the way she could float across the floor, dancing on the air itself. The tryouts for The Nutcracker took place in a week, and Skye was determined to be the Prima Ballerina, and dance as Clara. If she practiced enough, she knew she could win the role.
~<>~
"Hey Dad!" Jake greeted his father. "Do you have a minute?"
"Always."
"Today is my birthday, and I've been thinking about what I want to do with my life, and I've finally decided."
Colin quirked an eyebrow. "A shoe salesman?"
Jake rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, funny Dad. Uncle Brae says he'll hire me at his restaurant, and that someday, I might even run it. I've already got a place lined up to stay at, not that here hasn't been great and all..." Jake hastened to add.
Colin stared at his son. Did he f*cking hear that right? Jake wanted to be a cook? What the h*ll? Jake had kicked a*s on his debate team, Colin had been expecting him to be a f*cking politician or something. H*ll, he would have even voted for the kid. Then he got it. Sh*t. "What's her name?"
Jake stuttered and blushed. "What are you talking about?"
"Being a Chef is your dream?" Colin asked skeptically. "What the h*ll Jake, I wasn't f*cking born yesterday!" He considered Jake for a moment. "I bet she's pretty, no kid of mine would dare chase after a f*cking ugly chick."
Jake groaned. "Dad! I'm not chasing after anyone, I just..." he caught his father's smirk, and sighed. "Sherri, her name is Sherri."
Colin crowed. "I knew it! Have you..."
"I am not discussing my sex life with you!"
"...asked her out?" Colin asked innocently, a twinkle in his eye. He had been very open with his kids about sex, and the f*cking consequences of sex, even if he didn't have any memories of the act itself. Plenty of women had been happy to fill in the details, whether he wanted to hear them or not. He couldn't help it though that his kids thought he sometimes went a little f*cking overboard on the subject, he didn't want them to get hurt.
"Not yet, and!" Jake held up a hand to forestall his father's next comment. "I don't need your help, thanks though."
"I'm the perfect person to ask for advice, you know what the ladies call me?" Colin waggled his eyebrows.
"Gross Dad!" Jake covered his ears. "I don't want to hear it! If I need your help, I'll ask, okay?" He smiled at his Dad.
"Maybe I should..."
"No, no, and no Dad! You shouldn't!"
Colin grinned at Jake. He was too f*cking easy to mess with. He pulled his son in for a hug, and then over Jake's laughing protests, gave him a noogie. "Whenever you need me, I'll be there." He told him, seriously, as Jake pulled away.
Jake rubbed his head as he smiled. "I know Dad, and thanks."
Later that day, surrounded by his family, Jake had his birthday.
Colin sighed heavily as he watched Jake leave. He wasn't f*cking ready to let go of him yet.
~<>~
"Hey Brae!" Colin greeted his brother.
He waved his brother over, and Brae sat down next to him. They tried to meet once a week, and just hang out. The first few times had been really awkward, neither one of them knowing what to say or do, but now they had a comfortable friendship going, and Colin really looked forward to it. "Want a drink?"
Brae slid beside Colin. "No thanks, I've got to keep my wits about me, so I can kick your a*s in Poker tonight."
Colin scoffed. "Even with your so-called wits, you could never kick my a*s at Poker." He added, "Or anything else for that matter."
Brae laughed. "Including your ego."
Colin shrugged. "It's just the truth bro, you're a lousy Poker player." He took a gulp of his drink.
"What in the world are you drinking?"
"It's called a Frozen Grasshopper, are you sure you don't want one?"
Brae made a face. "No, I'm good, really, thanks."
Colin shrugged again. "Your loss." He smirked at his brother. "Are you ready to lose your shirt, your pants, and that new Bakery you just bought?"
Brae chuckled. "As if, you'd be begging me to take that Bakery back in a matter of a few hours. You hate cooking or baking, and would much rather own one of these sleeze marts."
"Sleeze marts? Hmmph. I'll have you know, this place is quite profitable, and I'm losing out on a ton of f*cking money by closing it tonight."
"You just don't want to be publicly humiliated, cause you know I'm gonna kick your a*s."
Colin snorted, as he followed his brother to the Poker table. "You are so full of sh*t."
"You would be the expert in....hey! You sit over there." Brae waved him to the far end of the Poker table. "This time I'm not going to let you distract me!" Brae sat down, and the mechanical bot dealt out his cards. He pursed his lips, as he looked his cards over, before setting them down. "This thing isn't cheating for you, is it?"
"I don't need a f*cking bot to win for me." Colin bragged. "I can kick your a*s without any help."
"Ha! Dream on little brother, tonight is my lucky night, I just know it."
Colin rolled his eyes. "Sure it is."
After a few minutes of playing, Brae held a deep sigh in, he didn't want to alert his brother, but Colin was once again winning. He needed to go for a distraction, so he could get the upper hand. "So...how are the kids?"
Colin looked up from his hand, grumbling. "Driving me f*cking crazy! Jada and Nick are talking about moving to Paris, Paris of all places! How the h*ll am I supposed to see them if they live in Paris?"
Brae smiled to himself, his plan was working. All was fair in love and war, and playing Poker with his little brother was definitely war. "Why Paris?"
"Jada is marrying some high powered business man who lives in Paris, she met the man online!" Colin shook his head in disbelief. "Can you believe that? F*cking online! He could be a f*cking serial killer or something. I caught the little sh*t though, and we had a f*cking meeting of the minds. I told him if he so much as sneezed wrong, and that caused my baby girl to cry, I would f*cking joyfully tear his limbs off."
"I bet that went over well with Jada."
"What Jada doesn't know, won't bother her." Colin muttered. "Girls!" he groaned. "They will be the death of me. Luna is hanging around that f*cking Winter creep too much."
"Your new neighbor?"
Colin cast a baleful eye at his brother. "Yes, that one." Colin eyed his cards, and then added a few more chips.
"Well," Brae said thoughtfully, "from what I hear, the kid has money, looks, and raw talent. Rumor has it that there's already been several talent scouts out watching him play football, because he's that good. So, your daughter has good taste."
Colin threw a chip at him. "A*shole. I don't f*cking care who the h*ll he is, or how f*cking rich he is, he's a f*cking jacka*s, thinks he's God's gift to females, and he treats them like sh*t."
Brae slapped his thigh, and laughed gleefully. "That sounds SO familiar! The irony, it's too much!"
Colin bounced another chip off his brother's head. "Shut the h*ll up Brae! It's f*cking unfair of you to use my past against me, when you know I can't f*cking remember any of it. Besides that, the difference between me and that little pr*ck, is that I am God's gift to women." He grinned at Brae, who threw the Poker chip back at him. It bounced harmlessly off the wall. "You throw as well as you play."
"I wasn't aiming for you." Brae lied. He frowned, he was seriously losing, and losing badly.
Colin chuckled. "Sure you weren't, bro." He studied his cards some more, just a few more cards and he would have another winning hand. "As you know," Colin continued with his earlier train of thought, "Skye has been busy at the Dance studio. She's performing in just a few weeks. I tell you bro, I would rather f*cking suffer the torture of sitting through the Nutcracker, which just sounds f*cking painful all around, then deal with Skye f*cking crushing on boys and sh*t like her sister. You are so f*cking lucky to only have boys."
"Morri always wanted a girl. I wonder sometimes if she had been able to have a girl, if that would have helped stopped her..."
"...psycho stalking behavior?" Colin finished for him. Morri had been a sensitive topic for a long time, so had Elliot, but Brae had eventually forgiven him, and let it go. Colin knew he didn't f*cking deserve it, but he was thankful he had such a f*cking awesome older brother.
Brae nodded his head. "Yeah. I feel bad for her, the boys don't want anything to do with her and her craziness, and she just jumps from guy to guy to guy." He sighed. "I just wish sometimes that things had turned out differently with her and I."
Colin winced. He was a big part of why they didn't end well. "I'm sorry, if I could f*cking take it all back, I would."
Brae sighed again, sadly. "It wasn't all you Col, I was a selfish a*s, I never stopped to consider Morri on anything. I just went on my way, and I expected her to just follow along, like some obedient puppy. She tried to talk to me about...things, but I shut her out. I had enough on my plate with my Mayoral duties, I didn't have time for her nonsense. So I left her to fend for herself, and she did. At least our boys seem to have turned out all right, both are happily married, and doing well."
"You're a f*cking terrific father Brae, and your boys are a testimony to that fact." Colin would have said more, but his cellphone chose that moment to ring. He looked at the number, and then answered it. "Hey Gramps, what's up?" A pause. "What the f*ck? The h*ll he didn't? Is he okay?" Colin listened for his Grandfather's affirmative answer before saying, "Good, because I'm going to f*cking kill him." He hung up, and then abruptly stood up. "Sorry, Brae, I gotta run. Jack managed to catch himself on fire again while running his experiments, and messing with his f*cking gadgets."
"Sh*t, and he's okay?"
"Well, yeah, until I get a f*cking hold of him. I tell him, and I tell him, and I tell him, that Hydrogen and a f*cking torch is not a f*cking good combo to f*cking be playing with. Does he listen to me? H*ll no. He goes right the f*ck on with his experiments. But Dad, he says, I'm so close to discovering blah, blah, blah... He's close to discovering the end of his life, that's what he's close to." Colin grumbled as he left.
Brae looked over at the cards his brother had left behind, and smiled. He knew it was going to be his lucky night, he had won by default. When playing cards with a cardshark like Colin, Brae would take his victories where he could. That, and he had kept his clothes.
~<>~
Colin hugged his daughter, tightly, he didn't want to f*cking let her go. "You know, studies show, that people who live in Paris don't live as long, or as happily."
Jada hugged him back, and grinned. "Dad, that's nonsense and you know it."
"No, it's true." He lied. "Would I lie to you?"
Jada didn't hesitate. "Yes."
"Well, the happily part is true."
Jada smiled at him. "I love you too Dad, but you know we've already talked about this." She told him sternly. "That is where Waldo lives, and he's my husband. We'll visit, I promise."
"Waldo? What kind of a name is that..." his voice trailed off when Jada gave him the 'look'. He sighed. "Fine." he groused. "I still don't like it though."
Jada hugged him again. "I'll miss you too." She pulled away, then stepped aside so that Nick could say his own goodbyes.
Nick stood before Colin, a little unsure. Colin sighed, Nick was still too f*cking uncertain around him. Colin ignored his son's hesitation, and pulled Nick into a big bear hug. He felt Nick smile, and hug him back. "You'll stay in touch?" Nick nodded. Colin stepped back, and felt for the present behind him, then he handed it to Nick.
"For me?" Nick asked, surprised.
No, for your f*cking sister was his automatic sarcastic comment, but Colin held his instinctive reply back. Nick just didn't f*cking understand sarcasm, and the last f*cking thing Colin wanted to do was to hurt his son again. "Open it."
Nick obeyed. Inside the package were two keys. "Two keys?" he asked, confused, as he put them in his pocket.
"One is for your new house. I wouldn't want to ffff...live with Newlyweds, and I doubt you do either. It's still close to Jada." Colin assured his son. "This way you'll have your own space."
"And the other one?" Nick asked curiously.
"The future location of your veterinarian's office." Colin smiled at his son. He knew what his son's dream was, but Nick was a more timid soul, and afraid to reach out for what he wanted. Nick had struggled with self worth and self doubt for years, but Colin knew with just a little push, Nick could f*cking move mountains. "I have watched you all these years Nick, with those animals of yours. You have a f*cking gift. Don't give up what you love, but keep f*cking pursuing it."
Nick's voice was doubtful. "You really think I could finish the schooling and be a vet?"
"I know you can." Colin said simply.
Nick's face lit up. "Thanks Dad."
Then all too soon, Colin watched as two more of his kids f*cking left home. D*mn, where the f*ck had all the time gone? Now all he had left were the triplets. They were all on the front porch, waving goodbye. Colin frowned. What the h*ll? "Jack!" he bellowed. "Where the h*ll are your clothes?!"
__________________________________________________________________________________
Notes: Good bye to Jake, Jada, and Nick--I'll miss them. I was really surprised by how quickly Jada got married. The night she moved out, SP snagged her and married her off---I can't remember the name of him though, lol So I named him Waldo, just cause it was the first name that came to me while I was writing. SP also made Jake a cook, of all things, lol It also hooked him up with Sherri---one of the Nightblossom grandkids---so I put two and two together--- haha! Nick so far hasn't done much, he's living rather quietly. =)
I've had Colin working on his relationship with his brother while satisfying his social bunny goal. They play lots of poker, and they always sit on opposite ends. I determined that this was because Brae didn't trust Colin to cheat, lol Colin is good at cards though, and always win. I have no idea why it decided not to show the cards while I was taking pictures---but just pretend that they are there, haha
And Colin. <3 That little ole knock on his head has been a good thing for him, even as it frustrates him that he can't remember anything from before.
Also, it occurs to me as I am editing this chapter---that I should clarify (just in case) that Winter is Luna's boyfriend's last name, and has nothing to do with Gemma's Winter--who is a doll. <3 Colin would hardly bother with the boy's first name, instead choosing to use his last name---"that Winter boy" lol Most especially because it bugs Devin (which is his first name.) Clear as mud right? Haha
Nick's age up pic, since I really didn't have a good picture of his face in this chapter. From this angle, you can't see his unfortunate nose, lol I like larger noses on my sims, but this poor guy is all nose! He's basically a male version of his mother, not too much of Colin in there, other than he's a fairy with golden wings.
Jada is like a carbon copy of her mother as well.
Some outtakes:
No matter what he tried, Colin just couldn't keep his kids from coming in...
Luna really gets into her scultping...
I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter, I have lots planned---
Thanks for reading! =)
