Green says goodbye

"I'm sorry Mom isn't here," Water said to Green as he scooped him up in a "long time seeing you sorry to see you now" hug.



Green only shrugged and turned his head to look over at his wife, Amanda, who was shaking hands and accepting condolences from Richard, The Mayor. "You know, she should be here. She made such a huge deal about the babies. She wanted a girl."

Water only stood silently near his younger brother. There was not much he could think to say. His own wife was due any day now to deliver their second girl. He could only imagine how it would feel if they lost her before they knew her.

But Water expected his wife to deliver a healthy girl. Green had only known about two of the babies for sure, the third one was something of a surprise. Water was sad for his younger brother, but he couldn't help thinking that Green had two other children. Two strong boys who had probably crushed their younger baby sister in the womb. Guilty at his thoughts, Water looked over to his brother.



Green stood still, but his eyes betrayed him. Even with the sun at his back casting a shadow on his face, Water could see the tears brimming in his younger brother's eyes. Water placed a hand over his brother's back, and at his touch Green snapped. His shoulders hunched as he started to cry softly. Amanda glanced over, but seeing Water comforting her husband, she did not move to help.

There wasn't much that could be said. They stood in the grass before the small grave. Water's eyes kept reading over the name imprinted on the tombstone-- Lyrisa Ann Mellon. In the grass next to her tombstone, a small stone fairy sat protecting the young child buried under the ground.

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Alberta

"So ostentatious!"

Alberta's grandmother scowled as she did at everything that did not meet her approval. Alberta only stood quietly beside her.



"Like they're so much better than our family. So much better than my daughter that they have to get this huge tombstone that's larger than two plain ones for someone who's smaller than all the rest."

Alberta wisely said not a word, not even rolling her eyes as any normal teen would do. She would never dare.

Her grandmother became quiet and stared off into the distance. During the silence, Alberta respectfully prayed for her family, as she always did, and for this new addition to the cemetery. It was always going to be sad to see a new resident at the cemetery.

Alberta was young, but she had known more pain than any one person should know in such a short time. It was a lifetime's worth of pain that resulted in the loss of her mother, her father, and her brother, who had been older than her at the time. Now she was older than he had been when he had died.

Her pain was a part of her. It wound and twisted through her shaping her reactions and responses. She was a different person than she could have been. Now she was meant to take over the cemetery when her Grandmother passed away. Something her Grandmother was certain would be coming soon.

Her Grandmother glanced at her, allowing her another moment to her own thoughts. So it was often between the two who had both suffered. Without a word, they went to visit the grave stones at the back of the cemetery.



A small goup of people arrived and stood around the grave bowing their heads. Alberta stood behind a tree, watching them deal with their grief. It was clear who the father was. He was crying, and another man put his arms over his shoulders. Alberta was not certain which woman was the mother, but she guessed that it was the woman standing alone, chatting with the couple before her. She did not appear to be crying, though Alberta had to admit it was difficult to tell from such a distance.

She wished she could offer her help to them. Even her condolences would be kinder than simply standing back and watching them suffer. But her grandmother had strict rules about bothering those visiting their loved ones, especially when those visiting were from on The Hill. She was only to remain in the background, never speaking or disturbing anyone.

Her grandmother meant it for the best. "We're hardly higher than the Service NPCs," she had told Alberta just before they headed over to the cemetery. "Never forget that."

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Leander Hazlebone

He stood still at the fence watching her. She didn't look like the young one he had known so many phases previous. Her silky hair was cropped short. Each time she moved her head, her ears were visible. He winced at the thought. Did the sims here believe that she was a true representative of the elves?



Once the bus left, she glanced around quickly as if she were expecting someone. Her eyes fell on his still form just as the bus pulled away.

For a heart beat, they stood still staring at one another. Her arms dropped to her side as her eyes widened. It only took a second before her surprise turned into a grimace.

He stepped through the gate and walked towards her. Although he tried to walk slow, to give her time to work on her forced smile, he realized that she would need more time than he could give.

He stood before her and crossed his arms. "Amberle."



"Leander." Her small lips curled cautiously into a smile. "What're you doing here?"

He found her lilac eyes brighter than he remembered them. "I think the question is, what are you doing back?" His crossed arms made his slender body appear wider. It seemed to have the desired effect.

Amberle stumbled over her words as she tried to come up with some sort of excuse. "Well... everyone moved here, and they invited me along as well. This is my home now. Why shouldn't I have come with them?"



"Because you were sent away. The Council fears for our safety."

Amberle raised an eyebrow at him. "And so they sent you out to walk around with your ears showing? I haven't told anyone anything, but don't you think they'll wonder why there is another elf with ears like myself wandering around town?"



Involuntarily, his face scrunched up angrily at her stupidity. "You know they can't see my ears. The S.E.P Charm won't allow them to see what they don't want to see. Besides, we're not worried about the Sims, we're more worried about your return." He kept his arms crossed as he waited for her reaction.



She simply turned away from him. Her voice became flat and lifeless. "Don't worry. I'm not going back. Ever." He had expected her to yell and to hit him, possibly tripping and falling on the concrete, but he hadn't expected this reaction.

She refused to look at him. Her hair slipped over her eyes letting her small elfen ear peek through.



"Well, I'll be in town for a short while. You know the Council needs to approve of the settlement here." When she still refused to look at him, he simply walked away to check out the rest of town.

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Amberle Waits

Amberle Silverring felt nervous the entire day. She had class to teach, but it was not the reason why she felt nervous. It was something else. The problem was that she didn't know what was making her so nervous.



For the millionth time that day, as she stood in the school kitchen listening to her three students chatting over lunch, she glanced out the window. It was a stupid gesture that she knew would only give her the view of the back of the house beside the school. Still, she couldn't help peeking as if she would be able to catch a glance ahead of time of whatever she felt she was waiting for.



The kids munched on their lunchmeat sandwiches as they unwisely discussed the bugs they had caught earlier in the morning. Sweet little Amália Centowsky made a point to be as disgusting as she could, and poor dark haired Jason looked a little queasy.

The rest of the day, Amberle did her best to continue teaching the class without glancing out the window. She still snuck glances though when her students weren't looking. As the time got nearer to 3, Amberle found herself more nervous.



"Ok, class!" She smiled brightly at her three students. "Let's say we end class early today."

Amália's mouth dropped open. It was no secret that school was not her thing. Amberle was certain that Amália simply enjoyed the enforced company that had to put up with her. "But, It's only 2:30! The bus won't be here."

"Don't worry. I called the school bus driver at lunch, so she should be there in a few minutes. Let's start cleaning up, shall we?"

She gathered her students and ushered them out the door to the waiting school bus despite Amália's weak protests. Amberle stood in front of the school house, pretending to watch the kids loading on the bus as she sheilded her eyes from the sun with one hand. But her racing heart made it hard to concentrate.

She was sure she wasn't alone.




*********************

Since Amberle is a character with a bit of a history, I have posted a quick profile on Amberle here. Not really needed for this story, but nice to have I figure.

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On watch

Amanda Mellon relaxed in bed. She felt enormous. The doctor had warned her that she had to have plenty of bed rest in the last month. He was sure there was more than one baby, but he was worried there might possibly be even a third.



The time was close. She could feel the babies in her belly jostling for room.



The entire house was still awake. Caliburst, their servo who never needed sleep, was continually cleaning the house, tending the new garden Green had put in for her, and making grilled cheese sandwich platters (which he generally ate all on his own). Normally, the smell of the greasy grilled cheese sandwiches made her sick, but she had actually found an appreciation for Caliburst's tendency to always have a platter of sandwiches ready. When she was ravenously hungry, he would hand her a plate and sit down with her as she swallowed it in one gulp. It was more than Green had done for her.



Green spent his time in the small study working on his novel. Most of his time, at least. This afternoon, Amanda had gone downstairs to see her husband with a strange woman in the house. They had simply been too close for Amanda's comfort. And that strange woman, the way she looked at him. Her eyes were too bright, her smile too large. She said she was Aden Mellon's fiancée, but she hadn't looked attached to anyone when Amanda had caught a glimpse from the door way to the living room.

Ann's seaside shack (How it stays up, I don't know!)

To make matters worse, Ann (or as Amanda was beginning to think, "The mother-in-law from hell") called often. She had moved out to a seaside shack as soon as the decorations from the wedding had been cleaned up. But that didn't stop her from calling every other day anxiously waiting for news about babies. Even Green shuddered when the phone rang. Of course, his response was to take the phone out of the study where he worked.

Amanda closed her eyes as the babies kicked her belly and probably each other. She had laid in bed all day and most of the night, but she had not felt any better. The babies were due any time now.

Clothes-- Amanda felt a need to get dressed. She couldn't stay in bed any longer.

Just as soon as she had put on her newest maternity outfit, her belly began to ache. Sharp pains poked her in her sides, causing her to clutch at her stomach. They ebbed quickly before a newer, stronger onslaught of pain stabbed over her entire belly.

Amanda jumped to her feet and grabbed her large belly. "It's time!"








Silly picture time:


Apparently Elizabeth hadn't left after all. (Perhaps she was coming through to catch that can kicker.)

I love her look of worry, which almost matches Green's. Neither of them are having the babies. (Although Elizabeth is looking over at Green as if she is more concerned for him. Sort of an "awww" moment for me, even if it was a bit stalkerish for her to wait around for the birth.)

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Greetings

Green invited her inside offering her lunch. "Caliburst makes the best grilled cheese." She had gently refused saying that she couldn't stay around long. "Then how about a game of pool?"

They walked over to the living room with the intent to play. Green's memories still searched for the missing piece of information that he was sure would break his memory wide open. Wasn't there something more? He was pretty sure that they all lived in the same dorm for a while, yet he couldn't remember much about her.



"Do you remember the time Aden pulled that prank on the Cow mascot?" She was saying. Her eyes seemed bright, and she moved much more comfortably than she had a second before. "Oh that poor cow mascot, I was sure we weren't going to see him until the end of the school year, and he was back the next day."

Green laughed with her, a natural and easy laugh. Something about her was different, natural and simple. It was easy to laugh with her around.



"I feel bad, you know." He said suddenly. She looked at him, the curiosity clear on her face. "I feel like I should know more about you. But I'm really drawing a blank."

She shrugged with a small smile. "Well, you did have to leave quickly, I don't blame you." There was something in her eyes. Her large green eyes seemed to shimmer in the light that filtered in through the expensive window.

"Hmm.. still." Green looked away, trying to catch the memory that was dancing just out of his reach. "I think I remember you looking differently."



For a second, worry clouded her face. "Oh, true. My hair used to be longer. I'm thinking about growing it out again though."

Worried that he had somehow insulted her (shouldn't he know better then to make comments on the looks of someone he couldn't remember well?), Green said quickly, "Oh well I think it's lovely now. Very pretty." At that she perked up. "I just wonder if I can't remember you because of it."

A throat was cleared as someone entered the room. "Hello." Amanda slunk between Green and Aden's girlfriend. (Green found himself impressed by her slinking abilities even while nine months along with twins and possibly, something in the back of his head added, triplets.)



Green stumbled over a quick introduction. "Amanda this is..."

"Elizabeth," the dark haired girl said quickly. "I'm Aden Mellon's fiancée."

Amanda raked her eyes over Elizabeth. "And I'm Green's wife." She rubbed her belly purposely.

Elizabeth smiled as she nodded. "Well, I do have to get going." With a small wave, she disappeared quickly.




This is all stuff that pretty much just happened while I was playing. Pregnant Amanda snuck up on me too.

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Crash

Green stood at the bottom of the stairs after having tucked in his very pregnant wife. She was due any time now, and it was difficult to get her to listen to doctor's orders. Green had to finally just take her cell phone, her laptop, her PDA, and her files. Even then he had to practically lock her in her room to get her to stay put.

He'd had a small garden planted for her, a hint to her that she needed to slow down and smell the flowers. She only begrudgingly sat in the garden after she had rifled through his office to find her work tools and then became too tired to stand (but much too stubborn to sit with him as he worked on his newest novel).





Green put his head in his hands. She was wearing him out. As soon as the babies were born, he was sure that she would go straight back to work.

Just as Green was ready to head back to his office to continue working on his book, he heard a large crash from out front as if someone had just kicked the garbage can. Again. Only this time, he would catch the culprit!

Green burst out the door and ran over to the surprised girl who stood on his front lawn. Her eyes went wide at his approach and she raised a delicate hand. "Uhm... hi."



Green stopped short and stared at her for a short while. She looked so familiar, but in a way that felt like Deja Vu. "Did you just kick over my garbage can?"

"Uh... no? There was some guy who came along and kicked it. Then he ran off."

Green cursed under his breath. He was relatively sure that this girl had to be telling the truth. Why would she kick over his garbage can?

He focused on her, trying to remember where he had seen her before. "I know you..." Green thought back. He remembered her recently, just withing the last few phases. His thoughts stumbled around in circles as he tried to place her. He could feel the memory far off. It felt as if there were an invisible hole that his thoughts circled around.

"I know! You're Aden's girlfriend!"

He wasn't quite sure what the face she made meant (perhaps she and Aden were having some issues), but after a second of hesitation, she nodded.

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