Chain Reaction 3.4: Fallen Angel

Drake

     Violet and I have settled into a routine. We wake up, woohoo, eat breakfast, go to her uncle's, work, go home, eat, woohoo, and sleep. Although some days lately, all she does is sleep and woohoo. She's not eating much either.

     It's no secret we're trying to get her pregnant. She started talking babies as soon as the honeymoon. I'm pretty sure my suspicions are correct. I'm being used as a Goth sperm donor before they decide to bump me off. I'll have to act before they do.

     Emily and Dad had a baby. The woman I love is the mother of my half-brother. I hope my half-brother realizes his parents are not going to stay together if I have anything to do with it. It's only fair; my parents didn't stay together.

     Then, it happens. With the way she's been acting lately, I've been wondering if she was pregnant. She is. I'm going to be a father, and hopefully, I'll live to enjoy that fact.

     Her appetite comes back. Bigtime. "Are you sure you should be eating again?"

     "Watch it, Drake," she snaps. She's been very snappish lately and not interested in woohoo in any way. She did at least try to just satisfy me, but that sent her running to the toilet to be sick. What a boost to my self-esteem that was, let me tell you. She'd never had a gag reflex before.

     Going back to the topic of food...

     She tries to kill me. Poison.

     I can't prove it, but I am the only one to get food poisoning. I'm hospitalized for three weeks, but I recover. During my stay, my father visits me, looking just as worried and scared as Mom did before I assured her I'd be fine. Dad acts like he's trying to reconcile with me, like he expected me to die. I tell him to plum off.

     When I return home, our butler is new. The old one went somewhere else for reasons I don't know while I was hospitalized. The new one is nice, but I'm suspicious. I'm wondering if he was hired by Uncle Donovan.

     I am perfectly capable of hiring my own staff. So, as soon as I'm well, I do just that. To explain it to Violet, I tell her I'm hiring a cook who will also double as a nanny when the baby gets here. Until the cook arrives, I only eat at restaurants and keep my food selections totally random.

     Naturally, she's attractive. These pictures don't show it, but we'll see more of her. At least, I hope I see more of her.

     Violet has turned off the woohoo, saying it freaks her out that the baby might be able to 'see' it. It's crazy! But I can't convince her otherwise.

     I'm very...frustrated, and the cook is looking ten times more delicious than her food.

     "Oh! Mister Goth," I hear to my right. It's her. I can't place her accent. It surprised me because her name didn't imply she was foreign, Melody Monroe. Doesn't matter. It's just another thing to make her sexy as hell.

     "I vas looking fur yu," she finishes.

     "Well, you found me." I am pounding this bag because I'm mad at my wife. Why the hell is she my wife anyway? Oh yeah. Franco's company. I punch the bag quickly three times, one-one-two. Oh, plum. Don't look at her. You'll lose focus. She's paused, staring at me. "Do you need something?" Because I sure do. 

     "Vhat vould yu like to eat tonight?"

     Plum! Just jump up on the counter and leave the rest to me. "Something that doesn't upset that woman's stomach." I don't have to look to know she's nodding.

     "Okay. I haff a idea."

     "Good." Wham! Ow! F---! I hit it too hard, making me wince, take a step back, and hold one glove with the other one.

     "Are yu hurt?" Crap. She saw that.

     Embarrassed, I quickly reply, "No, no. No. I'm fine. I think I'll, uh, take a shower." I make my retreat.

     Violet barely speaks to me at dinner. She's suspicious of the cook, but after the poisoning incident, she has a weak argument. I refuse to eat anything either her or the butler touch. Why should I when Melody is one hell of a chef? Violet's figured out I don't trust her.

     After dinner, I go downstairs to sit and relax in a meditative kind of state. I've even changed back into my workout attire to be more comfortable.

     Melody finds me. It has to be on purpose. Then, I find out why.

     "May I see yur hand, please, Mister Goth?"

     Oh, plum. I'm just sitting down here trying to figure out how to stay alive and you have to come and find me.

     Well, I guess it's not like she has anything else to do right now. 

     I look at my hand. It hurts--but nothing like it did before. "I'm fine." I make a fist. It's a little tight.

     "I sink it vill help. I'll be gentle." Her eyes smolder a small joke, and my inner self starts babbling incoherent nonsense. She takes my hand.

     "So, uh, what made you decide to move to Eden?" Conversation must be made or I will run my tongue up her arm as I pull her down to me.
     She smiles a small smile, knowing her accent gives her away. "My ex-boyfriend is a bad man, so I change my name and move here."
     Right now, she could be telling me that sharks are about to burst from the fish tank and chomp me to death and I wouldn't care. But something in my brain focuses on what she said. "So it's, uh, like... a witness protection program or something?" I close my eyes. This is so good. Who is this woman?
     "I don't know vhat sat is."
     I open my eyes again.

     "It's... ah, um, it's a..." Pull yourself together, Drake! Some super villain you'll be if a beautiful woman turns your insides into mush. This wasn't covered in Franco's 'training.' I guess for obvious reasons. "It's basically what you said. I think it's funded by the government."
     She snorts and shakes her head. "Sen no."
     "And you decided to become a cook?" Was she a masseuse? Damn, this is good.
     "Vhy not?" She shrugs. "It is somesing I can do. And I can disappear."
     "And you're just trusting me with all this information," I observe. I hate that I can't trust anyone, not even her. This could be a made-up trap. She could have this elaborate, fake backstory to gain my sympathy.
     She shrugs. "Yu don't haff much information."
     "You have to be careful. I have plenty of information." In fact, I'm going to scour the internet to see if her story checks out. There are tricks I can pull to find out, a legacy learned from my father.
     I scared her. She decides she's finished. "I sink sat is good." She means like my hand is fine. She starts walking away!

     I call out, "Uh, Melody? I think my other hand might be hurt, too."
     She turns, and I do my best to look pitiful. She sighs and walks back over. I try not to grin.

     "Sis one does not feel hurt as si ozer one." Nonetheless, she starts up her ministrations.
     "Oh, it is. It's just not as bad." I drop my voice to a playful whisper. "Besides, I think it was jealous." She smiles. Yay! I clear my throat.
     I shift in my seat. I'm better prepared this time and don't get distracted as easily. My hand inches back, making her eventually have to take a step forward. I don't stop pulling my hand back.
     "Mister Goth, I need yu to hold out yur hand."
     "Why do you have to be so far away?" I ask in a gently-prodding way.
     "So sat I can focus." She's flustered.
     "And being too close interrupts your focus," I state like a question.
     "Y-yes."
     "I think you being too far away interrupts my focus."
     "Focus on vhat?"
     "You," I boldly tell her.
     She drops my hand, and it flops on the arm rest. "Yur hand is fine."
     "Melody, please don't walk away!" I haven't had this much attention in a month. So, I decide to use that. "I'm a miserable man, and you are the only bright spot in my day."

     "Why do you think I was hitting the bag so hard?" I position myself in front of the door. "My wife hates me. Well, it's not like she's my favorite person either. It's pretty much an arranged marriage, and I'm miserable. But when I look at you, I see hope. You're a beautiful reminder that not all women are as evil as my wife." I pause while she looks like she's searching in her mind how to reply. I decide to add more by artfully admitting something. "You've started entering my dreams. They're such wonderful dreams that I'm depressed when I wake up."
     She's breathing hard. "I don't... know vhat... to say."
     I take her hands.

     "Well, I just want to say thank you. For being you." I gently kiss her fingers. "And I want you to know you're safe here, whatever happens." Oh, plum! I want to rip her clothes off!
     She's still light of breath, and she whispers, "Yu haff dangerous eyes, Mister Goth."
     I smile and run my thumbs on her hands. I'm not letting go. "I do?" And I I'm starting to think you like danger but are afraid to admit it.
     "Sey are so light vhen se rest of yur features are dark."
     I feel one corner of my mouth go up. "My eyes are the only feature I get from my mother. So them being light makes them dangerous?" She tugs her hands; I tighten my grip. Then, I kiss one of them again.
     She backs up, still tugging her hands, and I follow her. "Sey are beautiful."
     Done.

     Her surprised noise isn't unexpected. What is unexpected is how plumbing good she feels in my arms. I'd thought I'd encounter some more resistance, but the second her little noise finishes, she melts in my embrace like she's been dying for this too.
     I thought I was going to work my way up to this slowly over time, but I need her. Now. To my delight, she pulls me into the sauna. Then I find out how wild she really is as she rides me like she's breaking a rogue stallion. Violet is upstairs asleep, so I have hours to woohoo this blonde fallen angel.

     "Vhat about yur... wife?" she asks, smiling.
     "What about her? It's not like I love her." I let my nose play with hers, and she makes a sexy, lower-pitched giggle.
      "Do yu luff... me?"
      "I might," I answer and silence further love talk.

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To those, like myself, who get irritated at accent-based dialogue: I am so sorry. I debated back and forth about whether or not I would write Melody that way. For some reason, in my head, she sounds like that. I have no idea why. Maybe I've been watching too many movies with bad fake accents. *thinks of Uma Thurman in The Producers, which is supposed to be funny because we all KNOW it's fake* Still. And I really don't have any specific area where Melody is from. I think it makes the most sense to have a fake country/place so that I don't royally screw things up and insult people because let me tell you, it gets on my last nerve when Hollywood screws up a Southern (SE USA) accent, which is what I have. "Yer just gonna have ta truuuust uuuusss." from YaYa Sisterhood. No! No no no. You're trying too hard. Just make your mouth hardly move (kinda) unless you're doing an R and combine words whenever possible.

*deep breath*

In summary, please pardon the possibly pathetic-ness of my pursuit into the potholes of parlance.

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Jeet yet? Naw, d'ju? Y'unttoo? Aiight. (Thanks, Jeff Foxworthy)
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Oh, and only after assembling everything did I realize that Drake is shirtless the entire chapter. That wasn't deliberate, I assure you...

Chain Reaction 3.3: It'snot

     I feel terrible! The more and more I thought about it last night, the more I realized that Jarvis had to be telling the truth. I'd know if he were lying. Sure, he didn't tell me everything about him, but neither did I. I mean, we'd just met each other.
     Of course, I could see why Tommy would want to let me know. It's something I need to know. But... He also kissed me. Does he like me? Why else would he do that, and he did it like he meant to do it. It was like he was worried that Jarvis wanted to be my boyfriend or something so he had to act fast. It never occurred to me to have a boyfriend.
     But that doesn't matter. What matters is finding Jarvis and telling him that I understand he hates his step-father. I need some answers to questions, though. I need to find him and talk to him. But I'm not going near that Landgraab house. Jarvis is always out doing something. Maybe I can find him somewhere else.
     I decide to start at the park where it all happened yesterday, but I don't like who I find here...

     Pearl.
     "Ugh! You Taylors! Why can't you just leave my family alone? I'm here because I accidentally spilled that I saw my stupid brother here yesterday, and now Mommy's worried about finding him. She wants him to come home, and now she's got us all out searching for that loser."
     "What?" What does she mean he's not at home, that his mother wants him to come 'back' home? She makes it sound as if he's been gone a long time.
     "I don't have time for you today, Charlotte. Leave me alone." She turns on her heel and walks away, grumbling under her breath.

     I watch her go and think, Jarvis isn't at home? He hasn't been at home? She said her mom wanted him 'back' home. That means he hasn't been at home. That means he... Jarvis ran away.
     No wonder he was always talking about making money! I thought it was just some kind of future businessman inside him showing itself. Even if it was, he really meant it.
     I have even more questions than before. But I have to find him, and I don't know where he is.

     I wind up searching all day in the woods, trying to stick to trails that I know. When the sun starts to set, I know I need to get back home, but the breeze carries a slight campfire smell. Carefully, I follow it.
     I see Jarvis! But then, some kind of sparkly stuff surrounds him. He looks so...proud of himself.

     My mind races along as I try to take it all in. "Ja-arvis?"
     He jumps like I startled him. Then, he smiles. "Lottie?"
     I nod my head yes. Oh no.
     Still smiling from ear to ear, he holds out his hands and says, "Look at me! I'm a teenager! Finally!"
     But this is awful!

      I guess I'm a big crybaby lately. "Oh no!" I thought I'd have more time! I thought we could be friends! He'd told me this would happen, but I didn't know he meant this soon!
      "Uh, Lottie, don't... Don't cry. I'm sorry! Me and my mom were starving, and he was looking for someone to have his baby. We were just supposed to live there until the baby was born, but then they got married, and-"
      "You're a teenager!" I cry into my hands.
      "Oh. That's what you're crying about?"
      "Yes!" Isn't it obvious?
      He sounds confused. "Well, it... That's bad?"
      "Yes!" I'm kinda loud. "We were gonna be friends! I was gonna tell you I understand!"
      "Lottie, it's still me in here."
      "No it's not!"
      "Yes, it is. C'mon. Don't cry."

      He hugs me, and my nose wipes on the new shirt the game gave him when he poofed into a teenager.
      "Y-you're too b-big," I tell him in a hiccuping way.
      "No I'm not."
      "Yes you are."
      "I'm thirteen now. You're nine. So what? It's not my fault the game makes it look so drastic."
      I wipe my face on his shirt again.
      "There's still a kid in here. I don't even care that I have boogers on my shirt. See?"
      "That only proves you're a boy," I tell him, but I do think that was funny.
      He cracks up laughing at what I said, letting me go and lying back on the grass. I kick his foot. He doesn't have boogers on his shirt. Just drying tears and snot. I feel bad because of it, but that's what he gets for turning into a teenager!
      "You ran away?" I ask him, still kinda sad.
      He sighs up to the stars. "Yeah."
      I nod and sit down by the campfire. He adds another log to it.

     "He's a terrible man, Charlotte. I'm so sorry." No more laughing. He's serious.
     "You called me Charlotte."
     He smirks. "Yeah. Don't get used to it."
     I slump, wishing he was still a kid. "I'm going to miss hunting collectibles. It was fun."
     "You can't do it anymore?" He's concerned but accepting. Then, he surprises me. "Why?"
     Again, isn't it obvious? "Because you're a teenager."
     "We can't be friends because I'm a teenager," he states like a question. "That's a stupid reason."
     I scowl. "It's not stupid." We get in trouble in school for using the word 'stupid,' so I feel really brave saying it.
     "Yes it is! It makes no sense why we can be friends one day and then not the next just because one of us ages up. That's lame." He even sounds like a teenager now. Then, he gets quieter. "And I've... never really had any friends." His face pops over to the fire, embarrassed. He acts like he's beating himself up inside for admitting that.
     It's just how I am; I have to fix that. "We can be friends, I guess. I can be your assistant. And I have to warn you. They're looking for you."

     He gives me a concerned look. "Speaking of 'looking for,' we need to get you home, Lottie."
     "Why do you call me Lottie? My name is Charlotte."
     I get a surprised half-grin. "It's a nickname for Charlotte. Didn't you know that?" He stands up like a giant. "Little Lottie."
     I growl and punch his stomach. Not hard, but enough to know I did it.
     "Didn't feel it," he says anyway--just like a kid. We start back to the trail, and he says, "I'll bet I could carry you under one arm, Little Lottie."
     "I'll bet I could climb up your too-tall back and rip your hair out by the roots, Giant Jarvis." Ha!
     "Well, that's not very nice. And here I was, offering to carry you so you wouldn't get tired walking." He's funning me.
     "I like walking." I say and fold my arms.
     "Well, good because I'm not going to carry you anymore. But I'll still bet I could if I wanted to." He grins like he absolutely loves being bigger than me.

Chain Reaction 3.2: Friends

Jarvis Watanabe

     That girl! I was doing nothing but minding my own business, as usual, when she comes running up and forcing her help on me. I didn't ask for that! I don't need that. I don't need to owe anyone anything. You start owing people things and they start to own you. I much prefer a simple transaction: one person does something or offers something like an item for sale and the other person pays money. That way, when they're done with that, they can go their separate ways and no one has that nagging feeling that they owe someone something.

     I tried to explain that to her! I can't pay her! Yet she didn't let up! Does she want to be friends? I don't need friends. 'Friends' can stab you in the back and walk away laughing about it.

     Family can too.

     That's why I said goodbye to both, not that I really had any friends. I don't need anyone. I'm going to make it on my own. I'm almost a teenager, so it'll be easier then. Maybe I'll be one of those teens that looks like adult so that no one questions why I'm alone.

     But there was just something about her! She's just this stupid kid, this stupid, persistent kid, but I found myself agreeing to let her help me. Maybe it's because she said this would mean that she could escape her bossy sister. I know all about aggravating sisters. After all, I have annoying Princess Pearl for a sister. Half-sister.

     However, this still means I owe her something. She wants freedom too, but that means I have to give up some of mine. If she starts irritating me, though, she's out.

     The real thing is: I could use some help. The flea market day is coming up, and I want to have plenty of irresistible stock to sell. I only have one day to make enough money until the next time. Well, I can sell stuff to the local collector's business, but he knows I'm desperate and will only take my best stuff without giving me the full value price. He's gotta make a profit, too.

     I guess I can sacrifice a little time. So, I agree to let her help me.

     She says her name is Charlotte, but Charlotte is too serious a name for her, I think. Plus, I think it's funny that she acts confused when I call her Lottie. Doesn't she know that's a nickname for Charlotte? Little Lottie. Haha! 

     I tell her I'll meet her after school. What she doesn't know is that I quit school, too.

     After the school day ends, I go back to the same area to find her, but before I even get there, I hear her voice sounding very high-pitched. Pearl would get like that when she played, and sure enough, Lottie is sitting there playing with a toy like it's the creature chosen to pull the princess's carriage to the ball. I smile and sit down, thinking it's funny that she's so sucked-in that she doesn't know I'm here. Then, she makes the thing make the goofiest noise I've ever heard, and I can't take it! I crack up laughing.

     Her head snaps over in my direction. "Hey!" she says like she's mildly insulted I'm laughing at her.

     I hold my stomach from laughing. "You're...so...funny!"

     I expect her to get mad, but she doesn't. Instead, she smiles like she can now see how that really was funny. "Guess what?" she asks excitedly and puts the toy back in the mysterious place where everything goes.

     Before I can ask, she continues, "I snuck out last night."

     Now this surprises me. "You did what?" I remember the day I'd decided to finally leave. I hate my step-father. He's such an ass. It was better for a while when he went to prison, but he was out within a year on a stupid technicality. My mom welcomed him back. Seeing that my mom will put up with being married to a murderer just so she doesn't have to fend for herself was the last straw. I had the decency to tell her I was leaving, and she cried. That jerkface Landgraab was standing there with her and he was all like, 'Let him go, Liliana.' I knew he hated me. Mom kept trying to convince him to adopt me, but he wouldn't. I'm glad. If being a Landgraab means being like him, I don't want it. I'd rather have the last name that everyone teases me by calling me a 'wannabe,' the last name of my real dad, who also left my mom.

     Lottie starts telling me about what happened, distracting me from my more negative thoughts.

     "I couldn't sleep, so I slipped out my bedroom window." She grins. "I was just too excited about finding stuff for you to sell!" I must look concerned because she says, "Don't worry; I was careful. It was really pretty out there at night!"

     "I found some great stuff." She shoves a bunch of things into my inventory, one of them being a limited edition figurine and the other one even more uncommon.

     "You found a Morcubus?" That one sells for about seventy-five simoleans. I could buy an actual cot to sleep on instead of just my sleeping bag!

     "Yeah! Is that a good one? I remember seeing one at my grandma's. The frog one is my favorite, though."

     I smile. "You like frogs."

     "Yeah. So what?"

     "Girls don't usually like frogs." Did her face get red?

     "Well," she starts defensively, "my Aunt Em-Em would read me a story about a frog and a rabbit. I liked the frog the best because the rabbit thought he was better than everyone else." She scowls because I'm laughing again.

     "Your 'Aunt Em-Em'?"

     Still scowling, she says, "I've always called her that."

     I have to remind myself that her toddler memories are more recent than mine, and I'm guessing that's what she called her aunt when she was a toddler. "Okay." I still smile, though.

     "We could find some frogs for you to sell..." She leaves the idea hanging in the air.

     "They'd die before I could sell them. I'm not good at keeping them alive." I much prefer nonperishable stock like collectibles and toys. They're easier to transport, too.

     She convinces me to go hunt for more stuff, and we get to work. I have to admit it's nice to get more inventory with half my usual effort. When night falls, I make her promise me that she'll stay in her house.

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Charlotte

     Jarvis is so cool, but he's also a little too serious sometimes. I know he's almost a teenager, but I think he's forgotten how to just be a kid. Sure, I guess it's good to know what you're gonna be when you grow up, but that doesn't mean you have to do it now.

     Today, I've convinced him to go play at the park. When I get here, Tommy Keenan is here. He's really excited to see me. Very excited. Something gives me a fluttery feeling when he smiles at me. I'm guessing that's his excitement.

     He starts telling me about something that happened at school today. He's in a different class than me for half the day, and we don't get to hear about everything because the teachers don't like us to talk too much during class.

     "And so then Britney got up and pulled his shirt up," he says, talking about a boy that likes to wear his pants too low. "He'd had his underwear just as low as his pants, so the whole class saw his butt!"

     "For real?!" I crack up laughing. So that's why Aiden wasn't at school today. He'd gotten sent home and told to wear pants the right way from now on. "Did Britney get in trouble too?"

     I hear a voice behind me. "Lottie!" It must be Jarvis. I turn around and smile at him, glad he's here, but I get confused when a wave of irritation sweeps over me from Tommy. I turn back around, wondering why.

     "Tommy? Is everything o-"

     He kisses the side of my mouth.

     "-kay?" I finish.

     He's not looking at me, watching Jarvis, who's stopped. I'm too shocked to say anything. I look at Jarvis as he walks to us.

     "Charlotte, do you know who he is?" Tommy asks me.

     "Yeah. He's Jarvis." Did Tommy kiss me?

     "You don't know his last name?" Tommy continues.

     "Um, no." Why did he kiss me?

     Jarvis closes his eyes. "It's Watanabe," he growls out.

     Tommy smirks. "I guess you're not even good enough to be a Landgraab, are you, Wannabe?" He looks at me. "He's Pearl's brother." Pearl is in our class, and I hate her. A year ago, I got sent home with a note after I gave her a black eye. Daddy was furious, but then he hugged me and cried. And I felt awful. Now Tommy is saying Jarvis, my new friend, is Pearl's older brother? I didn't even know she had an older brother.

     "Half-brother," Jarvis replies, telling me Tommy's telling the truth.

     I'm so full of my own emotions that I can't feel the others'. "You..." I feel betrayed.

     Tommy keeps going. "Did she tell you she's Charlotte Taylor?" Then, he really rubs it in. "His dad killed your mom!"

     Everything is like it's under water. There's a rushing noise in my ears, and my vision swims around me. My mom is dead, and I wonder if that will ever stop hurting. All I remember was that Mommy was gone. She went to work and never came home. Later, I learned that she was shot in the back by Malcolm Landgraab. When he got out of jail was when Pearl paraded herself around in front of me like she was something extra special. Then, she had the nerve to say that my mommy wasn't important enough for her dad to spend any more time in jail. That's when she got a black eye.

     "He is not my father," I hear Jarvis growl like he'd love to give Tommy a black eye. "And I didn't know. But since he's not my father, it shouldn't matter. It's just one more reason to hate him."

     Tommy speaks next like he's winning an argument. "It doesn't matter? Look at her! You've made her cry. It doesn't matter whether or not he's your actual father because your mom is married to him, and he buys your clothes and food and stuff." He pauses, and I start wiping my cheeks. "Don't worry, Charlotte. I doubt your mom would be upset with you since this wannabe didn't tell you who he was."

      Oh the pain! Anger! Jealousy! Fury! Rage! It all mixes in with my sorrow. I liked Jarvis.

      "Lottie!" I hear him wanting to explain. "He's not my dad! He doesn't buy me things; I won't let him. I hate him. Do you understand?" He holds my shoulders, but I throw him off.

      "Leave me alone!" I run away from both of them, not worrying about Chloe getting mad at my dirty shoes. I wanna go home.

Chain Reaction Generation Two Summary Chapters 76-96

Ahhhh!

What are you doing here?

What do you want?

....

Oh.

Really?

Well, if you insist:

Where were we?

Hm. That sentence looks cool.

w h e r e

w    e r e

w    e

Don't you agree? Great. Now I'm RHYMING! 

Oh yeah! Emily was just kidnapped.

So, we go back to just after Alex told the guys that he's figured out she's been kidnapped. The men all freak out until Alex pulls them together, reminding them that they're a cop, a spy, and a hacker. If they can't find her, no one can! (insert cheerleader chant here)

Ethan wants to call his cop buddies, but Alex doesn't want Franco to know that he was able to tap into his system. So, the Taylor men start giving tips on what to search next to find her. Alex gets to work. He finds someone carrying Emily into an alleyway, and he enhances the photo CSI-style. (omg have you seen the ridiculous stuff they do? I mean, I don't watch it because I'm always writing or working, but my coworkers have shown me hilarious clips!)

Graham and Alex are shocked to see Logan McKinney's face pop up, matching the photo enhancement. Just a reminder: Logan is Brielle's younger brother, the one born just before she ran away.

Funny thing here (well, I think it's funny): Ethan was calling Alex 'Uncle Alex' still, but that irritated Alex. He says, "I'm in love with your little sister, Ethan. Don't call me Uncle Alex." To which Graham calls him a freak; Alex says that must mean Emily was looking for a man like her father; and Ethan tells them both to shut it.

Just putting that ^^ in because Ethan really had no idea he even had an uncle. So it was like, 'speaking of uncles...' Yeah.

They find her.

The pistols are Graham's. (Well, except for the one that Jett is holding) Ethan is still reeling from the fact that his father was a spy and he never knew. For now, though, he has to put it behind him and focus on the task at hand, which is make sure that Jett doesn't shoot Alex for running over to Emily before they've fully apprehended Jett. Then, Jett drops the weapon, and Ethan starts arresting him.

Jett's all happy-like and thinking it's neat that he's being arrested by his grandson. Ethan's nonplussed by the whole thing, realizing crime is on both sides of his family (his mother's brother and father and the double-agent thing Graham is guilty of).

Alex takes Emily home. They never find Logan.

Next, someone else shows up at the hidey-hole...

Drake!

(DUN dun DAAAHN! music)

That's right, folks. He organized the whole thing. It was a setup so that he could come in and 'rescue' Emily from her kidnappers. He was looking forward to her waking up to find him taking care of her. He'd hoped she'd be so grateful that she'd give him another chance. Whoops. THAT DIDN'T WORK, did it, Drake? I almost feel sorry for him except for the fact that he is pissed. And I'm not talking drunk. Livid works too. It's a calm kind of livid as he stalks the one he holds partially responsible for his plan falling through. I mean, they were supposed to be able to fight off Alex if he tried anything, right? Neither Graham nor Ethan have the skills needed to scour anything internet or even intranet to find her. He never counted on the three of them working together. Still, right now, he blames Logan.

So, he shoots him.

I did the blood in that pic. Not bad, eh? I've never really done that before, certainly not to the level I did in Photoshop for this pic. I'm kinda proud of it. :) Don't get used to that; it's not really my thing.

Graham comes to Alex's house to check on Emily. Alex notices that he's grayed, drastically for just one afternoon. Emily is still asleep from the sedative Logan gave her, so the two men go downstairs to have a little 'chat.'

I love what Graham says here: "I never should've let you into my children's lives! All I wanted to do was make Brielle happy, and she was under the impression she needed your friendship. If I had to do it all over again, I'd break your face, tell you to plum off, and be done with you!"

Graham is heartbroken that his daughter loves Alex. He asks about his intentions. Alex says he wants to marry her. Another blow. Poor Graham to have his lifelong enemy possibly become his son-in-law because he knows it would be pointless to tell Emily she can't. He tells Alex that he never pictured him for a son-in-law. This makes Alex hopeful that the two of them can bury the hatchet and he has Graham's support. Graham tells him 'plum you,' that Emily has his support; he'll support whatever decision she makes.

Later, Emily wakes up.

She disoriented and acting loopy, but she's happy she's safe. Alex curses himself for thinking that she's so...fetching with her guard down like this. 'It has to be the dress,' he thinks. That dress is like his kryptonite. Emily says she understands that Violet was throwing herself at him, and she kisses him. Alex tries to hold back, not wanting to take advantage of her in this state, but she tells him to shut up and kiss her. They make out for a few hours, Alex not wanting to let himself take it further than that. Emily admits that she's jealous of Selena being pregnant with Alex's baby. 

This is some of my favorite dialogue ever (put in a kind of script format for space purposes)...

Alex: I want to marry you, Emily.

Emily: Yes.

Alex (confused): I mean, I want the whole picture, marriage, kids, happily ever after and so on.

Emily (dreamy eyes): Yes.

Alex (trying to hide how happy he is): And I'm not asking you until you're in your right mind.

Emily: I'll say yes then too.

:D Now writing that was one of the moments I live for. *happy sigh*

Let's see...

• My Finn gets pregnant by aliens
• Claire is spending more time at work, not telling Ethan what she's doing
• There's an alien abduction outbreak, and Malcolm Landgraab is happy about this

And Mikey ages up:

He looks like a brown-haired, blue-eyed Claire to me.

It's been a few days since Emily's rescue, and Alex takes her to dinner at his favorite swanky restaurant. Emily is very nervous because she guesses Alex is about to ask her to marry him. She waits all dinner with Alex kind of teasing her about being nervous. He doesn't ask her. Then, they go for a walk.

Poor Alex. The only time he's ever really done proposing right was with Laura. He almost screws up before asking Emily because he makes it sound like the beginning of a breakup speech. After calming the situation down, he asks Emily indirectly to marry him. Emily's confused. So, he makes it more obvious and asks her directly. That works for her. More lovey dovey mushy wuvvikins.

Bling!

Months go by, and they get a surprise visitor:

It's mommy dearest, the (in)famous Bella Goth herself. She's not really happy that it looks like Alex is satisfying his Brielle obsession with her daughter. Alex has to explain, again, that it's not about Brielle. Then, before she can say anything, he starts defending their age difference. Bella interrupts him and reminds her son that she and Mortimer had a twenty year age difference. Alex is like 'oh yeah.'

I made it that way because in my original game save, Mortimer aged to MA long before Bella did. It may even be that way when the game starts up. I don't know. I typically delete everyone before I really get started in a new save.

Bella decides Emily is okay. So, like any mother, she starts breaking out the baby pictures.

What? Huh? Who is that in the next pic?

Logan is alive. When Drake left him, Drake thought he was dead. He'd shot him in the chest after all. Nope.

Not dead yet.

He was found by someone...Addyson Metzger to be exact. Dunno if you remember, but Addy was one of Alex's lovers after Laura divorced him and before he proposed to Selena. She lives in a rat's nest of a studio apartment downtown, below street level and almost right on top of where Logan and Jett were hiding Emily. She didn't call the police, deciding to let fate decide his, um, fate. She figured he was a criminal and probably wouldn't want the police to get him anyway.

Logan doesn't trust her even if she saved his life. However, he's still too weak to dash out of the place. He also thinks Addy has...as he puts it... an enormous rack. They sit and talk, and he lies and tells her his name is Darren. There's a real lying thing with McKinneys. Remember when Brielle would sooner tell a lie than the truth? She gets it honest. Guess Logan does too.

Addy makes breakfast and then there's this whole funny scene when Logan thinks Addy wants woohoo as payment for saving his life. That ticks her off something fierce. He apologizes and plays the guitar for her. (Addy is an entertainer.) He heals and decides he needs to help out. But he has to change his appearance.

Blond.

Addy says he needs new clothes, so she gets some that she's stashed somewhere and gives them to him.

Do the clothes look familiar? They should. The clothes belonged to Alex. Seeing him in Alex's clothes makes Logan finally get what he wants: woohoo.

Then, I abandon them. I plan on them having at least one kid. Dunno what I'm going to make of that, but the possible plot element is there.

A few months pass, and it's wedding day! Alex didn't invite Drake to the wedding, but he shows up anyway, coming with Mr. Franco. Of course, he gets away from Alex to go find Emily.

He barely keeps his cool as he tries to convince Emily not to marry his father, that he loves her. She doesn't listen to him, so he tells her he'll be there for her if she should ever need him. He knows he'll regret not just carrying her off somewhere, but as per Mr. Franco's instructions, he doesn't do anything crazy.

Da dat da dah!

Wuv. Twue wuv. Mahwage ...

Graham has one final request, that they not name a son Alexander Goth, Jr. It's bad enough he has him for a son-in-law, but an Alex Goth grandson would be too much.

Honeymoon time. Alex goes over the top and buys the house they live in for their honeymoon. They're there for a month anyway.

Emily likes being married to the incredibly romantic Alexander Goth. Alex asks her if she wants to start trying for a baby right away or would she might waiting for a little while. He wants her all to himself for a while.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I guess not 'meanwhile' because the next chapter backs up to just after the wedding before pushing ahead into the future so that I can get all the Drake stuff together. Well, not all. A good chunk of it. Needless to say, he's devastated.

He stays at the Franco mansion most of the time because it's easier with the crazier hours Donovan Franco keeps, and he's mentoring Drake.

Violet comes into the guest room he uses and seduces him. They become lovers.

Drake is grateful to Mr. Franco for everything he's taught him. However, he feels cheated and betrayed when Franco 'suggests' that Drake marry his niece.

Really betrayed. He decides he can't trust anyone. He realizes that Franco probably intended this all along. You see, Mortimer Goth was Franco's mentor, and he has a fixation with the Goth family. And ever since they arrived in Eden, he'd been looking for an opening. He thought he could get Violet to seduce Alex (and happen to go along with 'Drake's' plan), but that didn't work. Violet is a little older than Drake but not by much. Drake figures Franco wants another heir and would be happy to have Goth blood mixed with his niece's. So, he mentally prepares to murder both of them before they can probably attempt to murder him. For now, though, he acts the part of the gullible fool, letting Franco underestimate him.

Selena has the baby and texts Alex the next day tell him he has a daughter. She sends a pic, maybe thinking that will be enough. No way! Alex rushes over to see her. Selena says her name is Diamond.

Alex has to ask to hold the baby, and Selena acts like she's not thrilled he's holding her. He says Diamond is a good name for a Goth (even if he'd have preferred something from classic literature or the like), but Selena says she's Diamond Aguilar. Alex hides his anger at that.

They go and have a chat, and Selena says that she doesn't want Diamond around Alex because she might get some of the evil Goth gene if she hangs around Alex. Alex swears he'll fight for custody.

Meanwhile, Claire has been sticking her nose into a whole mess of trouble. She follows Malcolm Landgraab and two others into the basements of MorcuCorp and discovers that they've been doing experiments on sims when she'd thought they were doing it on aliens, which was bad enough. Nope, they'd passed that point and were trying their tests on abducted individuals. She watches as a man behind a glass wall goes rabid being turned into a tiger-sim. He bites one of the workers attending to him, and that worker starts showing signs of tiger-ness.

She gets spotted. Malcolm orders his bodyguard to 'take care of it.' The other woman with Malcolm happily says they may have a new test subject.

Frantic and scared, she tries to quietly call Ethan, but it goes to voicemail.

After running around the maze of buildings, the man finally finds her, saying his boss would 'like a word with her.' She pleads he should say he couldn't find her, to which he laughs.

He cuffs her, and Malcolm comes up. For personal reasons, Tony, the bodyguard-of-sorts, says he draws the line at killing otherwise-innocent women. He's not thrilled with this scenario either. Malcolm knows this, so he comes up to assist.

Background info: I wanted, with permission granted from Maladi, to make Tony as close as possible to the Tony in the Heffner legacy, picking an empty spot in the story when Tony disappears to go do random jobs--this being one of them--that he wound up hating because...

Malcolm shoots Claire in the back, right in her heart. She dies almost instantly.

Hours later, Ethan sees Claire called and left a message. The thing is, while trying to avoid capture, Claire never turned off the call, so the message plays out everything that happened. He hears some of the dialogue and then a gunshot. Then, he hears Tony's voice come on the phone saying Malcolm shot her. (Tony was pissed off enough to do that.)

Ethan goes crazy, screaming and scaring Mikey. He thinks it's Mikey screaming. Then, he just loses it.

Brielle and Graham help out the first week or so, but then Ethan manages to convince them he's fine enough to take care of the house and kids (he's obviously not working currently). He even calls off the nanny--forgot to mention that in the chapter, come to think of it. Thing is, he's not okay.

Mikey tries to fill in the blanks and care for the twins, but he's overwhelmed. He gets on the phone and calls Aunt Emily.

Emily and Alex tell Ethan that they're going to help him. (not ask) They stay for a long time--until the twins age to kids.

They age up, and Ethan decides he's ready to go back to work. Malcolm Landgraab still hasn't been caught, and he wants in on the case.

The chief tells him no. He's mad.

Then he gets a phone call to his personal cell phone from a mysterious stranger who says he knows where to find Malcolm.

But before we find out who that is (as if you can't guess), we detour back to Drake! :)

I love how he looks in this pic.

He and Violet discuss whether or not they should get married like her uncle wants them to.
Drake wonders how Violet feels about that, her knowing that he still loves Emily.

Violet reminds him of the benefits of having a hot wife.

They go upstairs and woohoo again. Then, figuring he may as well until he can think of a better plan to get Emily, he asks Violet to marry him.

He still will never trust the Francos. He guesses they want to kill him once a son is born.

Back to Ethan:

He meets with "John Doe" (whom he later figures out is Tony from the message--Malcolm had called him by name). Tony wants to barter a favor for the information where Malcolm is. He feels it would be beneficial to have an ally in the police department. Ethan doesn't trust him, but he's determined above anything else to catch Malcolm.

So, he agrees. Tony takes him to a back entrance to a hidey-hole in the woods. Malcolm has a subterranean hideout.

Seeing Malcolm, Ethan loses it.

Tony has his own reasons for leading Ethan to Malcolm, getting vicarious satisfaction from watching a widower beat the living crap out of his dead wife's murderer.

However, he's disappointed when Ethan doesn't kill him, but he left it to Ethan to decide. Ethan arrests and uses Tony's tie to restrain the bloody pulp that Malcolm is. Outside in the woods again, he lets Tony go.

When he walks into the police station with Malcolm, everyone is shocked. Ethan locks him up.

The chief is REALLY MAD because he'd told Ethan to stay off the case. This is the third time (at least) that Ethan's gone against orders and done whatever he pleased. He gets fired.

Alex wins partial custody of Diamond. They have alternating weeks.

Emily wants to get pregnant, but it's not happening yet for her. She starts getting depressed.

The two of them discuss how the house they're currently living in isn't right to raise a child, let alone two should Emily get pregnant.

So they get a new one.

Emily's depression gets worse as the months go by and she's still not pregnant. Alex finds her at random places in the house when he gets home.

Like today, when he walks in and sees she didn't even bother getting dressed after her shower and she has tear streaks on her face. She's sleeping in the room decorated for a boy. His heart goes out to her, and he walks over to work a little more on getting her pregnant, hoping that if she just relaxes that it'll happen.

It's Drake's wedding day. His parents come to the wedding, but the step-parents decide to stay at home (yes, this means Emily too). Alex and Laura haven't seen each other in years, and they have a very entertaining spat-fight, hurling thinly-veiled insults at one another before the butler can come in and tell them that they're ready to start the ceremony.

Drake marries Violet, and he's hiding how severely irritated he is that her plans are the ones that are working here. She wanted a Goth. Drake will do.

Emily finally gets pregnant, but the pregnancy is very hard on her.

I end generation 2 with a picture of Alex holding his newborn son, Alaric Goth. He's in a reflective mood, thinking about his life and how he's happy that it seems like he's finally found his happily ever after.

As I was writing this, I realized how much this is an Alexander Goth story. You know, when I started this, I planned on deleting all the original families. And I did. I just couldn't bring myself to delete the Goths. (like when I couldn't delete the Landgraabs when Graham and Brielle moved to "Eden") I'd let child Brielle form friendships on her own, like watching a wishacy and having almost no control over what the sims did. She made friends with quite a number of people, but Alex was one of them who came out ahead. It figures. I didn't want this to be a legacy with starter families because everyone has them. But I believe I've made this Alexander Goth my own. He's been around since the beginning, and I'll be 10 times sadder when he dies than I will with my founders. I guess he's a parallel founder.

Anyway, that's enough of me getting mushy/sentimental. Thank you for your continued interested in my little hobby.

Generation Three starts years after this with Ethan's daughter Charlotte. The other characters come around every once in a while, but Charlotte has quite an adventure!

Click here to go to 3.1

Click here to go to gen 3 summary chapters 1-10