2.7 I will always be around

Way too soon, the unexpected happened. Anna had been playing with Christina, when a strange feeling went through her entire body. She put her granddaughter down, who looked at her, confused. Christina was too small to understand what happened here, but Anna did. She had seen it happen twice before, when both of her beloved husbands had been called to join the souls in the sky. 

As she lost control over her legs and arms, she didn’t regret a single thing that had happened in her life. It all had brought her here, to a lovely family who took care of each other no matter what. Anna’s childhood and years as a teen surely had been tough, and there was no way she would want anybody else to go through her pain, but she had learned so much from these years. She had learned how to be strong, and eventually she had learned how to live. When she had met Jo, all those things she had read about love had finally made sense to her. He had been the most wonderful man, and even though he had been a lot older than her, they had spent an amazing time together. When he left her, everything had gone dark and she hadn’t felt like this was ever going to change. 

Falling in love with Benjamin, an old acquaintance from her first weeks in Appaloosa Plains, brought back her zest for life. To him she opened up, and told him everything that had happened in her past, making her the woman she was now. The years they had together had been fulfilling and almost made her forget about the past. But not quite. Her brutal father and her indifferent mother who met with other men in their house had never left her mind, as well as the pictures that haunted her in her dreams. Pictures of a fire, pictures of despair and pictures of a black truck in the front of her house. 

She had never told anybody about this mysterious truck, slowly rolling past the house, with an open window and a deep voice telling her to leave Jo alone. Nobody knew that Jo’s former roommate, Chuck, had been so possessive of him that he couldn’t let his best friend go to be with a woman, even though he loved her. And instead of opening up to her husband, she kept quiet about Chuck announcing that he knew everything about where she came from. Sometimes, she had wondered about why Chuck hadn’t put his threats to action, since this would have destroyed her life for good. If he had found a member of her family, and told them about her current location, they would have found her. And she wouldn’t have stood a chance against them. Running away had required a lot of mental strength, which she had. Physical strength, however, was what she lacked, which was why she knew it would be over as soon as they found her. Chuck would never have forgiven her for loving Jo. Maybe he had been waiting for the right moment to destroy her and her family for good.

Maybe this moment was yet to come. Her last thought before her soul and her body parted was a prayer to God, asking him to watch over her beloved family, over everything she had. 

Then it was over.

Britney and Karim took the recent events very hard. Karim had gotten to know Anna quite well over the last years, and she had been like a mother to him. Her leaving them hurt him more than he could ever put into words.

Britney’s heart was broken into a million pieces, too, but she somehow managed to pick them up and put them together for her kids. Taking care of Christina and Cyra was all she had right now, since her newspaper immediately asked both her and Karim to take a few days off, in order to deal with everything. Britney didn’t want this break. She wanted to go back to work, to write new articles and books, to do research. She didn’t want to slow down, and even less to stop doing anything altogether. As soon as her body was quiet, her mind exploded. 

The girls were very needy these days, and Britney found herself exhausted every single evening. Karim was too wrapped up in his grief to help her, and more than one time she called him irresponsible and selfish. A minute later, she already regretted being so angry, but couldn’t help herself. She was the glue holding this family together, and sometimes it just seemed to break apart a little. Something was not working out right, something was missing.

With time passing, she managed to slow down a little. When she looked at herself from the outside, she saw a woman desperately trying to be busy every single moment, in order to fill a hole in this family that couldn’t possibly be filled. One life had ended, and she couldn’t make up for it. What she was capable of, though, was to make sure herself, her husband and her amazing children got the most out of their lives before they ended. And that wasn’t enough.  Having another newborn in her arms, seeing a third child grow up in their house and raising him or her to being able to do anything was what felt right to her. 

With the prospect of a third baby on its way, Karim finally found his way back into the family. He had neglected his fatherly responsibilities for way too long, and it was time to support his wife again, who had been so strong throughout the past months.

Britney was more than relieved to see her husband smile again, even though she soon realized that he only focused on Cyra when it came to cuddling or play time. Christina was always left out, which is why Britney took care of her more than of her twin sister. It seemed like Karim, seeing himself in the young Cyra, preferred her over Christina.

When Britney found out she was, indeed, pregnant again, everything changed.

Author's notes: Letting Anna go was, in fact, one of the hardest things I had to on The Sims... she has become one of my favourite sims, and I have written so much about her that it was really tough to see her die. She was 10 days older than she was supposed to, which probably means she was happy enough to lead a long and healthy life. R.I.P., I'll miss you :(

2.6 The clock is ticking

Having two babies in the house kept Anna, Britney and Karim on their toes all the time. None of them had expected to be blessed with twins, especially since Britney’s gynecologist had never mentioned there were two fetus growing inside of her instead of just one. Now there were two little sims, demanding attention and begging for love, and their parents and grandmother were more than willing to be responsive to their pleas. It had been a long time since Anna had last held a baby in her arms, and she was savoring every moment of it. Too soon the two girls would grow up and enter the world – she had seen it happen before. Besides, she was growing older every day, and didn’t know how much time she had left on earth.

Karim and Britney had no such thoughts. They were living in the present, and simply enjoyed every moment with their two little darlings. Even though they were only a few weeks old, differences in their behavior were already obvious and made every day a challenge. Christina was happy around any adult, and conjured a smile on everyone’s face as soon as they looked into her dark eyes; Cyra, however, sometimes seemed as if she was lost in thoughts. Whenever someone approached her in a moment like this, she started screaming and crying, until said person left the room. If her parents were able to sneak back in unnoticed and take a look at her face, they would notice she was smiling then. Confusing and rejecting her family members seemed to make her happy, which is what worried all of them. Karim repeatedly asked Anna for some pieces of advice, knowing that she had been through a lot more in life than he and his girlfriend had. But even though Anna had seen more evil than most of the sims her age, she couldn’t satisfactorily explain what was going on in Cyra’s mind. 

Still, she shared everything that could help dealing with this little girl who already seemed to know how to get what she wanted. As a child, she had been the complete opposite of her granddaughter. She had done so many things, trying to please her parents and to put a smile on their faces every now and then. This barely happened, and even if it did, it never reached their eyes. Anna’s parents had never really showed her affection or another sign of being loved. This was why Anna couldn’t understand how Cyra could enjoy hurting her parents’ emotions: wasn’t it the most natural thing in the world to love your parents? Maybe Cyra was really different from all of them.

These discussions obviously aroused some difficulties in Karim’s and Britney’s relationship. They repeatedly got into fights about nothing, being overwhelmed by the situation as it was. Even though their relationship was strong, Cyra seemed to be stronger sometimes. One night, after the kids had finally fallen asleep, Britney and Karim sat together and had a long talk. This was not how their life was supposed to be. A little girl’s temper shouldn’t be able to tear apart a young family. Britney, knowing how it was to be raised by loving parents, made very clear that she loved both her children and was going to be there for them, no matter what. Karim agreed, not doubting his girlfriend for one second. He knew how wonderful she was, and he knew what she was capable of. What he didn’t know was that she had made a plan to stabilize their relationship quite some time ago, spending a number of hours in jeweler’s shops. The next morning, it was time to put the plan into practice. She asked him to change into pretty clothes and meet her in the garden, where she was already waiting for him. What happened afterwards was probably too beautiful to be put into words.

Karim was more than happy to agree to be Britney’s husband. And since it was such a beautiful day, and the sun was shining bright, they decided to have the ceremony right there in their own garden. Anna, knowing what her daughter was up to, had already arranged a wedding cake.

Since Britney clearly was the stronger person in their marriage, it was her to cut the cake. No one had expected anything else from this lovely couple.

The girls ate the cake in the garden, chatting for hours about what had just happened, while Karim checked on the girls. It was more than just their wedding day today.

It was also time for the twins’ birthdays, as well as Karim’s. A year had passed by so quickly, and after at first considering it funny that their birthdays fell on the same day, they now realized how much stress resulted from this. Three cakes, birthday presents for three sims at the same time, three parties as soon as their kids got a little older. For now it was just the three cakes and presents.

Christina was the first to age up into a toddler, with her grandmother helping her with blowing out the candles. She was almost asleep and didn’t really notice anything, besides everyone being buzzed.

She was a beautiful girl, with Karim’s original hair color and seal brown eyes, which nobody in her family had. 

Cyra was up next, and again Anna helped out. It was an honor for her to hold her small granddaughter on this special day, and she savored every moment of it.

Cyra looked completely different from her sister, except for the skin color. Her hair was as red as her father’s, as she also had his eyes. 

Before they brought the kids to bed after this long and exciting day, it was time for him to blow out the candles, too. Britney had always known he was a little older than her, but she hadn’t been aware that he had been approaching sixty. As a result, her emotions were running a bit high, as was the temperature in the room – due to the candles. With the toddlers starting to cry, and their mother crying as well, Karim couldn’t really pay attention to the candles.

Before he knew it, the cake had caught fire. He reacted instinctively, ran out to the garage and picked up the fire extinguisher. No harm was done, except to the floor, which looked a bit damaged. Still, it was an intense day coming to an end.

 

And the circle of life turned just a little bit more.

Author's notes: Caught up with my gameplay! Finally I can move on. Even though it's hard to tell  for sure at this point, because both twins are only toddlers, I might already have a favourite. Or at least one of them who seems more exciting, especially in terms of the next DITFT generation. We'll see.

By the way: great job, Kokette! Photobombed Britney's proposal just fine. I have one picture that literally consists of the unicorn's butt only, as I was trying to capture the look on Britney's face when she pulled out the ring. Damn unicorns, always thinking they are the most important characters.