Chapter Ten - Motherlode

Tamsin's old mailman had finally transferred. She kept an impersonal relationship with the new one. She had hated feeling paranoid when she went to the mailbox. "I won't hit on this one", she vowed, "...I guess."

Meanwhile, Cory had informed Tamsin that she was moving on from baby-sitting. She was a young woman now, and wanted to try her hand at more challenging full-time work. She hadn't pinned down a job yet, but she was actively searching. Cory really had become Tamsin's best friend, and they spent time together regularly. The new baby-sitter that the service had assigned her was... ...less than ideal.

Moonlight had taken up scouting. She was becoming more and more erratic. It was a period of huge changes at 2 Kat Road.

The biggest change being: Tamsin had conceived a child during her visit to Egypt. She was distraught. She didn't know how to act. She was handling the second pregnancy much more comfortably than the first, but it distracted her from Moonlight, who was really feeling the lack of attention. She was becoming more resentful of her mother. As with her first pregnancy, Tamsin threw all her energy into her work. Somewhere, amidst all the draining struggle of parenthood, she still had a dream of inventing something that would change the world for the better. She wanted to help the environment. She wanted to save the Earth.

Time flew by. She was in labour again. She was calm and sensible this time. She took a taxi. The entire trip to the hospital, she lectured the driver about the inefficiencies of the the gasoline engine. Her mood was dropping. She wished Youssef, who knew of the child but was far too poor to come to Tamsin's aid, was with her. He was a noble man. If he could have, despite having only lust for her, he would have helped her raise the child. Instead he sent a sizeable cheque. Tamsin knew he had sent her everything he had.

Penny is born.

The morning after she gave birth, Tamsin walked into the kitchen in pain. She was tired, she was angry with the hospital for not letting her stay as an inpatient. She would write a letter of complaint.

Moon was already up, talking aggressively into space. When she noticed Tamsin she said:

- "It's Leafie's birthday today. Did you know that? He's having a party. I can't go. Because you're making me go to school. Not fair, huh?"

Understandably, Tamsin was confused. She was too tired to argue.

- "Okay bub", she said, "That's cool. I'll make sure his party goes well."

Moonlight departed on the school bus about 30 minutes later.

At midday there came a knock at the door. It was Cory.

- "Hi Tamsin, I'm here for the party!", she looked around quickly, "Do you think it was a good idea to give Moon the day off just for a birthday party? Surely you could have held it this afternoon?"

It took Tamsin a good few seconds to work out what Moon had done. She was glad Cory would be there, and braced herself for more guests to arrive.

Cory went to the nursery to meet Penny properly. "I don't know what this family would do without me", she thought to herself, cradling the one day old protectively. It was true, Cory was much more aware of the children's needs than Tamsin was, despite not living with them. Whenever she visited, the kids were cared for. That much wasn't guaranteed when it was just Tamsin at home, beset as she was with mood swings and depressive episodes.

Tamsin was relieved to find she knew most of the guests. She'd never met Cleo before, though. At first she had assumed Cleo was Jimmy Ropata's date, but Jimmy was still tragically, miserably single. "I wonder why we didn't work out", she had thought to herself, forgetting, momentarily, the pregnancies. She was sometimes very angry still to be single at her age. She was so earthy and positive - she told herself - so why didn't men leap at the chance?

Jimmy, however, was becoming flagrantly desperate. It was a shame. He even, to everyone's embarrassment, propositioned an old friend of the family, Margo Tumeke, who was openly gay.

As each guest arrived, Tamsin explained to them what had happened. Despite all her apologies, and having had quite a good time, they left unimpressed. They had expected to spend time with a birthday girl. Tamsin, for her part, had completely forgotten about Moon's birthday. The fake party, and her forgetting, had made her feel sick and hurt.

She called up Youssef, and they talked at length. Youssef said he was saving his money to come to Riverblossom Hills one day. He wanted, more than anything in the world, to meet his daughter. His support, even from a distance, made Tamsin feel stronger.

She waited for Moon to come home, glaring out into the night.

Moon got home very late, dressed up in her fairy costume. She was sullen. Tamsin gave her a ten minute lecture, while - in Moon's head - Leafie patrolled the stairs for trolls.

Moonlight becomes a Teen.

Moonlight imagines Leafie becoming a Teen.

Later still that night, Leafie sat in the kitchen silently. He had been told to wait there. Moonlight was getting changed. She walked out of the hall, into the kitchen, and took an apron out of the drawer:

- "Leafie", she announced, "It's time there was a mother in this house."

Chapter Five - Moonlight

Time had flown by, and Tamsin was feeling huge. Her back ached, her ankles were swollen, but she was determined in her denial. She did not deny she was pregnant, she simply denied that she had to do anything about it. A part of her hated the baby, it was now far too late in term for abortions even if they had been legal. She resisted every urge to eat crazy foods. She cast from her mind all thoughts of babies. She hated the little maggot that moved inside her. She tried to treat her pregnancy with complete indifference. Even if her world was ending, she was going to be stoic enough to at least continue doing the bloody laundry!

She threw herself into her chores and her inventing with a newfound gusto. She exhausted herself daily, giving over very little time to think about her circumstances. She became a conveyor belt of dipping birds and floor hygienators. She threw the last of her savings into inventing, and didn't even blink when the repo-man seized her only chair.

She barely had a house yet. Why would anyone imagine she'd need furniture?

Finally the inevitable happened, and she used up all her scrap reserves. If she didn't find more, she'd have nothing to do. She needed to gather as much as she could - at least 80 units. More, if possible. Her life was evolving into a melodrama. Her denial was a great, sweeping gesture. It deserved its own soundtrack, so desperate and vigorous it was. She marched, nearly literally, towards her quarry.

As Tamsin entered the lot she saw a mad old woman in a silver swimsuit. It annoyed her that anyone else would be there, especially somebody who, from the looks of her, was two kittens short of a crazy cat lady. Tamsin was horrified, at one point, to notice the old bat licking a piece of metal she'd pulled out of the pile! She tried to rummage on the other side of the heap, ignoring the hobo.

After half an hour, Tamsin was left to her own devices. She gathered anything that looked like it could be recycled, hissing to herself that so many perfectly good resources were left to spoil and to ruin the environment. When she got home, she continued her inventing blitz.

Late that night she went into labour. She thought carefully. She could call a taxi. But that would be an acknowledgement of this mess. She heaved herself clumsily onto her bike. Her labour pains made the journey nearly impossible, and at more than one point she almost tumbled. What she was doing was insane, but part of hoped her carelessness would be the end of the baby - or even of them both.

She arrived at the hospital in tears, the muscles in her inner thighs felt torn. The doctors were visibly furious with her, as much as they tried to mask it behind professionalism. She didn't care. The birth was long and she had put both herself and the baby at risk - not so much as to be locked away, but enough to send a very clear signal of her wilfulness. Afterward the birth, she declined an offer of free counselling.

Holding her new baby girl, she tried to love it. She understood it was now her child. It was very important. She had to take care of it. But she didn't yet love it. She figured she would have to work herself up to that. All she really felt was sad.

When she got home she stood on her porch in the moonlight, holding her baby. She liked ludicrous names. She thought, at the moment, that "Moonlight" was a good name. It was nature-themed. It was beautiful. It was very, very sad, and a little frightening.

She would never tell her daughter why she had chosen this name. It was too horrible. But her daughter, she decided, was Moonlight Knox.

Moonlight Knox spent the first night of her life sleeping on a cold, stone floor beside a very depressed woman who happened, unfortunately, to be her mother.

Moonlight Knox, as tiny as she was, was already insane - the bike ride had addled her brain - but she was not unhappy. Moonlight stared upwards. She enjoyed the twinkling of the stars with uncomprehending newborn wonderment.

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Challenge Notes

The first child is here. She is Insane and Loves the Outdoors. The next child is heir, and the quota for this generation. I'm not really certain how I'll get the next child. Do all the children have to share the same parentage? I'd rather not draw Perseus back in. I was so thrilled to see Prof Von Threadneedle in the quarry! It's a hidden tomb lot. I had thought Sims never routed to those autonomously! I guess I was wrong. Tamsin is currently too broke to pay her bills. I should have spent a lot longer skilling up in her professional abilities before letting her have children, but this destitution suits the story.