Chapter 3.13: Don't Let Go

Vera and Brooke arrive home to news that Aunt Leila had passed. The symbolism isn't lost on Dahlia who waits anxiously to hold the new baby and breathe in that new baby smell.

Caring for Brooke becomes a household job. Everyone helps. Claude takes time from his sad introspection to feed baby Brooke and not think about his children dying off before him.

Michele and Lindsay spend some time doing homework right in front of the dishwasher. The dull whirring of the machinery is oddly soothing when working through long division.

Snuggles. Sigh. Grin. Snuggle. Jude is the proudest papa he could ever be.

Amira and Claude arrive at Selma's for a midday tea date only to see her suddenly covered in golden sparkles and hovering half a foot off the floor.

"Not again!" Claude moans.
"What's wrong?" Selma's voice fades in and out of reality as she asks without realizing that death has come for her. "Amira?"

Amira just shakes her head as her voice dies in a lump in the middle of her throat. It won't be too long now. 

Selma realizes only after her body disintegrates. She begs to see her husband and children one more time. To hold her grandson again. One more week? A day? Another hour? Grim just shakes his head and reaches out a bony hand towards her. Her time is up.

Cameron Pittman-Soto comes crashing through the door when he hears the commotion only to find his neighbor in the last throes of death. He stares, frozen in disbelief, at the scene in front of him.

 Michael has to break the news to Vera.

"Selma passed this morning. Your mother and grandfather were there."
Vera turns to look at her father, "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Aunt Leila and now Aunt Selma is gone too? That means. . ." Vera gets choked up and doesn't finish her thought.
Michael knows all too well what she's thinking. "Your mom and I aren't as old as we look," he says through a forced smile. "We still have time."

They both know he's lying but neither one of them admits it.

Claude busies himself with Brooke. Her youth is reassuring in a way that he can't quite express to anyone. He wishes he could join Varinia and not have to suffer watching each of his children pass on. He focuses on Brooke and let's his thoughts melt away.

Michele is not having the easiest time with aging either. Her birthday is right around the corner and Deric is no where near his.

"I wanted to go to prom with you again," she admits. "I had picked out a dress and I knew how I wanted to style my hair but at this rate, I'm pretty sure my birthday will come before prom night."
"I don't want to go with anyone else."
"They're not going to let me go with you."
Deric shrugs, "Then I won't go."
Michele smiles, "You don't have to skip it for me," she says. "Go with someone else or with some friends or something."
Deric pulls her into a hug and whispers in her ear, "Or I can just spend it with you."

Michele feels her cheeks getting hot and buries her face into his neck.

 As curfew approaches, Deric starts to prepare to leave. Michele pulls him back down into the sand.

"Stay with me a little longer?" she asks.

He settles against her without another word.

 Michele gets home and finds Lindsay struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Why aren't you in bed?"
"No one read to me." Lindsay replies matter-of-factly.
"Dad's not home? What about mom?"
"Mom is passed out with Brooke. Dad's at a cross-country race and said he wouldn't be back until very late. Where were you? Out with Deric?" Lindsay asks teasingly.
Michele rolls her eyes, "Come on weirdo. I'll read you one book."
Lindsay jumps up, sleep forgotten and dashes for the stairs, "Race you to your bed!"
"You're not sleeping in my bed!" Michele calls after her.

The Adventures of Raymundo has many more chapters than Michele realized. She struggles to keep her own eyes open as she reads chapter after chapter.

Amira tries to prove she's not that old. She's still spry. She's still young enough to beat the snot out of anyone that would cross her. It's only when she feels the tightness in her knees and hips that she realizes the truth. She couldn't kick anything above the bottom rung on this dummy if her life depended on it. 

"We're getting older," Michael admits the next morning. "I know we both want to pretend that we're still young. That we've got years to go but we both know that's not the case. We're grandparents now. We're just not that young anymore."
"I'm not ready to give up my profession but I know you're right. Time will not slow down for us."

Bodica does not care about how old she is or how old her owners are. She can still hop up and nap on the dresser so she's still doing just fine.

Vera decides, now that she's no longer pregnant, to confront Rebecca herself. She still hasn't gotten over all the drama Rebecca has put her family through.

"I see the toad curse has worn off," Vera says. "It's too bad it isn't permanent. It would be an improvement for you." 
"Aaawww did little Judey have to send wifey to come scare me off? Don't worry I don't want anything to do with your pathetic family," Rebecca spits out.

Vera doesn't even realize what she's doing until after she's shattered the Flask of Angry Bees at Rebecca's feet.

She watches in amusement as Rebecca is stung repeatedly. She feels badly for the bees but Rebecca has inflicted enough pain on her family that she absolutely deserves to be paid back in kind.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rebecca screams. "You're sick!"

Vera shoves a finger in Rebecca's face, "The only sick one here is YOU. Come near my family again and I'll be more than happy to cook something else up for you in return!"

Vera storms off before Rebecca can reply. She feels her heart pounding in her chest as she fumbles with her car keys and speeds off.

 "Prom is next Sunday," Deric informs Michele. "I say we go on a date instead. Everyone else will be busy with prom and stuff. I'm sure we'll be like the only teens out on the town."
"My birthday is Saturday, I probably won't be able to go on a date with you on Sunday."
"It's your turn," Rosanna calls from behind them. They both ignore her.
"It's ok if you want to go with someone else," Michele continues. "You could totally get another girlfriend closer to your age."
"I love you, though." Deric says.
Michele sighs, "You're just saying that. You'll forget me in a few days and start dating people in your grade. It's okay, you don't have to spare my feelings."
"I'll prove it," Deric says as he grabs Michele's hand and drags her behind him.

"You're joking right?" Michele asks.
"Nope," Deric responds. "Everyone I know that has done this has gotten a low reading. I bet you we'll get an awesome rating."
"This is so dumb, Deric."

Michele and Deric hold the tester firmly. The colors on the machine go crazy. It dings wildly and everyone in the park is looking their way.

UNCONTROLLABLE  it reads.

Deric grabs the ticket from the Love Inspector and starts reading it eagerly, "Love Inspector feels terrible for taking your money to observe something so beautiful - Love Inspector should be paying YOU."
Michele can't help but grin, "You're such a dork."
"And you're stuck with me," Deric says through a grin. "Love Inspector says so!"

Vera stares at Brooke and wonders if Rebecca is going to reciprocate. She'd be crazy to attack us, she thinks. She is pretty crazy though. Vera holds Brooke tighter as she starts to worry.

Lindsay and Drew are hanging out in Drew's garage. Lindsay still feels cripplingly shy but Drew is the only kid her age she can, occasionally, feel okay around.

"Why can't we go upstairs?" she asks. "Maybe we could play a game or something since it's raining out."
Drew leans in close and answers in a whisper, "My dads adopted this new kid. He's weird, Lindsay. I think he wants to eat us."
Lindsay pulls away and stares at Drew's face, trying to decide if he's messing with her. "What do you mean?"
"He's like a vampire," Drew says. "I swear."

As if summoned, Tim walks into the garage right at this moment.

"Good evening," Tim says, his foreign accent weighing his words down and dragging them out. "'Who is this, Brother Drew?"

Lindsay takes a step behind Drew and tries to hide her face.

"This is my cousin, Lindsay," Drew responds.
"Do you not mean our cousin, Brother Drew?"
"Um, yes? Eerrrr, Da and Pa should be home soon. Lindsay invited me to sleep over so we're going to her house. I'll see you later," Drew says hurriedly while pulling Lindsay towards the door.

Lindsay yelps when Drew drags her straight into the rain storm.

"We could have at least grabbed an umbrella." Lindsay whines.
"Vampire!" Drew says with emphasis.

Varinia appears as a ghost in the middle of the living room the next morning. Claude drops his bowl of yogurt when he sees her. His tears stream down his face when she smiles at him.

"Take me with you," he pleads. "I can't keep going on."
"I can't, my love."
"Then don't leave me," he insists.

She kisses him softly and is gone when he opens his eyes again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 I can't lie, I enjoy watching my sims be mean to Rebecca. She deserves it!

Barnaby and Mauricio are trying to collect all the life states or something. 
So far they have 3 sons as follows:
Drew Drudge is human and their biological child because that's a think in this world.
Vance Drudge is a fairy and adopted
Tim Drudge is a vampire and adopted
I'm not sure why they keep adding kids seeing as Mauricio is hella old at this point.

I think Claude may end up being last man standing and he is seriously distraught about it.