Chapter 11: Let's Get Caught Up

          Quite a bit has changed around the Harper household. Finley herself showed signs of a metamorphosis, if only a shallow cosmetic one. Yes, while plenty had happened, one might not recognize any blooming maturity in our protagonist. Perhaps, if closely examined, little buds could be spotted forming within her.

          The most obvious event that transpired would be the birth of Sasha Harper. Finley had been told that her labor with Sasha was terribly long and plagued with complications. Per usual, she could remember none of it. She’d been with her creator, sharing her first honest conversation with them. They’d answered so many questions for her amidst the enveloping love and warmth. They said it was her reward for bearing a child with a different father; they didn’t like Manu.

          When it was over, Finley was left with a startling abundance of information. This time, she did not awake at home or on the way there. She was still in the hospital with only a doctor for company. They prattled on about Sasha’s difficult birth. It lacked weight for Finley, since she had no memories and had felt no pain. Even then, she wasn’t pained or sore in the least bit, which the doctor gave her skeptical looks for saying. Before she could leave with her second daughter, they threw one more piece of information at her. Finley was advised to take a break from having children for a while. They had feared that the difficulties had been caused by her aggressive breeding; if only they could know the truth.

          Having a baby break didn’t sound half bad to Finley though. She needed to think over her creator’s words. Doing so made her very tired.

          The boys were once again great help for the newest baby. Seeing how eager Eddie was to help out with his younger siblings worried Finley. He looked so natural holding a little one in his arms. Guilt nestled into Finley’s stomach while she watched him. “Eddie, are you looking forward to making me a grandma one day?”

The teenager rolled his eyes at her. “Gross, no. You have the kids, and I’ll just come over and play with them.” As if forgetting the presence of others, Eddie began to coo at tiny Sasha. “Yes, I will, won’t I?”

Well, that was good news. Finley hoped that his stance would not change.

          For the first time, the harpers were sitting on a decently sized savings. Thanks could go to Finley’s gardening and collecting, and Manu’s fishing. The crowded house had convinced both the adults to start working harder. When they had enough, Finley declared it was time for a massive renovation.

          Finally, the pops of color that Finley desired began to make themselves present. In order to fit their growing family at meal times, things had to be shuffled around. And she also wanted to bring in some skill building items, so that she would be putting less limits on her children. Unfortunately, this meant that some things had to go for the sake of having some room to walk around. This namely meant the couch and television. Manu was not pleased.

          They turned the small second bathroom with the leaky sink into a hallway. With having so many bladders in the house, this may sound like a crazy idea. Fear not, Finley was ahead of this.

          The boys’ old bedroom became a spacious bathroom, decorated solely by Finley. It was tight having her two sons share it, so adding in Frankie and Sasha would have been near impossible.

          At least she finally had a proper use for that small room off the side of her bedroom. It was now where the stairs were tucked away.

          They built a child’s dream bedroom in the newly added second floor. There was plenty of room to run and play.

          On the right, there were books, a violin, and a drawing table for the children to entertain themselves with. Quinn especially was pleased by this. He’d been complaining that he’d never have an A in school if he didn’t master the art of creativity.

          The beds were set up on the left. Sure, there wasn’t much privacy, but Finley had done this on purpose. She’d gotten Eddie to agree to not bring anymore strangers into her bed, and now hopefully he’d keep the girls out of his too. He wouldn’t dare try anything in front of his siblings, right?

          Quinn and Frankie began to develop new skills the first night that the remodel was complete. As a mom, this pleased Finley to no end. However, she did find it strenuous to listen to Frankie make the strings screech, and playing chess could get boring very fast. She often had to cheat just to make the games end quicker.

          After the house was finished, Finley did not know how to pass the time during the day while the kids were at school. Sasha mostly slept quietly, hardly ever stirring aside from when she needed a change or feed.

          While she’d never been a stick, she wasn’t exactly pleased by the way her body had been of late. Always too squishy in the middle and her chest was beginning to sag in an unflattering way. Since she wasn’t happy with it, she decided to change it. Finley still occasionally jogged around the neighborhood, but Manu was especially unhelpful with a baby that wasn’t his. And she was more than okay with the amount of sellable fish he’d been bringing home.

          So, to workout at home, Finley bought a treadmill and put it in the only spot she could find room enough for it. It couldn’t be described as being classy, having workout equipment for sweating on in the dining area, but it worked. She began to slowly chip away at her extra weight. A few days a week, she’d go to the gym after Eddie was home and use the equipment there to tighten everything up. The results made her feel so good that she giggled to herself whenever she caught her reflection in the mirror.

          One weekend while she was strolling around to do some collecting, Finley spotted a magnificent tree. It nearly glowed! She must have always had too much on her mind before to notice it. Now it took her breath away.

          Being an avid gardener, Finley determined that the tree could use a nice cool drink. She continued to water it whenever she had the chance. While she worked with it, she thought that she could feel a connection growing between it and herself. This wasn’t a totally unnerving idea to her. After all, she very much loved her creator, but had no concrete proof (at least that she could show anyone else) of their existence.

          Finley began to talk to the tree. She’d share with it all of her current worries. The tree was the first person she told about the rules that her creator had passed down during Sasha’s birth. One afternoon, while she was busy chatting away, Finley was surprised to see an opening appear in the tree’s massive trunk. “Has this always been here? How could I have missed it?”

          It appeared to be big enough for a person to fit into, so Finley cautiously stepped inside. It was nearly too dark to see inside and uncomfortably damp. She could hear a gurgling sound. In the opposite direction, she could see a light. Finley decided to walk in the direction of the light. Of course, that was just from the sun outside the opening where she had gone in. Finley chuckled at herself. She’d gotten turned around. How silly of her to think that there might be something crazy inside a tree!

          Still, it had felt fairly large inside. Perhaps she could come investigate it another day.

          Eventually, Sasha aged into a child. Finley thought she was a pretty little girl, but recognized that she was a bit different from the rest of her children right away.

          Sasha did not spend much time with her siblings. Instead, she’d follow Finley around. She became so attached to her mother’s side that some days Finley couldn’t convince her to go to school. Luckily, Finley was able to call and have school work sent home with Quinn, so her grades did not sour too badly, but she still worried about her little girl.

          Usually Sasha only concerned herself with more adult-like activities, namely whatever Finley was doing. Sometimes Finley would be able to coax Sasha into playing with toys.

          “What’s that thing?”

“It’s a pool. I’m making her take a swim.”

Sasha glared down at the wet doll in Finley’s hand. “Why don’t we have one of those?”

“Uh, I dunno. I don’t think we really have the room for it right now.”

Sasha threw her doll into one of the dollhouse rooms. She’d tossed it so harshly that Finley worried that she might have cracked the plastic floor. “This is stupid!” she huffed and then ran down the stairs.

          Not only was Sasha not the most social girl, she also had a few problems dancing with anger. She became upset so easily, often taking it out in a very aggressive way. Quinn worried when she hit his favorite stuffed animal, Lala.

          It took her more time than she thought it would, but Finley eventually tracked down Valetin’s contact information. Perhaps her daughter had inherited something, Finley had worried. When she told him that he had a daughter, he yelled at her through the phone. “Why didn’t you tell me? Not cool bro, not cool!” After he calmed down, he assured Finley that there weren’t any anger management plagued people in his family.

          Valetin never offered to come meet Sasha, but he did occasionally call Finley and ask for her to be put on the phone. Their conversations never lasted more than twenty minutes, but Sasha was always smiling when they ended. Whenever they talked, it was much easier to get her to school and to keep her in a good mood.

          Don’t worry, Finley still saw her best friend, Brandon, from time to time. He showered her in compliments over her new look, and then promptly assured her that he thought she looked darn pretty before too.

          Sometimes Brandon could be such a man. Finley was nearly raising her family singlehandedly, but he still didn’t think she could handle fixing a simple stove. “Sure you don’t want me to give ‘er a try, Finny? Sparkin’ up pretty nice there.”

“I’ve got this.”

“Yeah, Mom’s got this!”

          But Finley could easily forgive him for such annoyances. Especially when he reaffirmed that the treadmill was a good idea. A really really good idea.

Giving her a small hand with the chores helped too. Right after his workout. Yes, he was a very good friend to keep around.

        When Finley wasn’t drooling over her friend, she had a handsome new man in her life to admire.

       She’d met Don at the gym, before she’d finished sculpting her new body. He’d always been friendly to her, taking time to show her a few moves to use on the punching bags. And he was kind enough to flirt with the mom of four.

       They started dating after Finley was more willing to let her hair down (both figuratively and literally). Yeah, she pegged him to be a naughty guy. This was especially true when Eddie began to basically idolize him. Sometimes on her way to the gym, Finley would catch him walking with another woman.

       She was taken by him though. Couldn’t help that. Just like with Manu, she and Don weren’t an official couple or anything. Brandon couldn’t fathom why she had started seeing yet another man without commitment, and she couldn’t answer him with anything other than it was fun. He was cute, he was funny, and he was great in bed. Maybe even better than Manu. What more did she need?

       And now we’re nearly caught up to the present. Finley stood over a mixing bowl at the kitchen counter, mumbling to herself to be brave. “It’s going to be okay. Just be a big girl, Finley.”

       It took a few hours of labor, but she eventually had two cakes prepared. Both were donned with birthday candles. She’d made Eddie a hamburger cake once again, just for laughs. Quinn had wanted something fancier. She feared that she may have ended up making a wedding cake though. Finley let out a nervous laugh. How ridiculous!

       At Quinn’s request, they all wore some of their best clothes. Finley gathered her family at the dining table one last time. “We need to come together as a family!” she declared. “Let’s go around and say something nice about the birthday boys. I’ll start: Eddie, you’re going to be a very handsome young man like your father. And Quinn, you’re so very bright. I’m proud of both of you.”

All eyes settled on Manu next. He shuffled uncomfortably in the chair. “Uh, let’s see here. You’re, uh, good kids, I guess.”

“I want to go next!” Frankie chimed brightly. “Eddie, you’re macho at picking up the ladies!”

“Frankie!”

“What Mom? He told me he was. Okay, and for Quinn, you’re a lot more fun than Eddie!” The young redhead giggled almost uncontrollably. One of the boys blushed while the other glowered.

“You’re next Sasha.”

“I don’t want to say anything.”

Manu gave Finley a look that said, “See, my kids are the best.” She gave Sasha firm encouragement to say something nice.

Sasha groaned. “Quinn is okay. And Eddie is okay. Happy now?”

          Quinn went to his cake first. It took him a few minutes to even attempt to blow out the candles. He was too busy pondering on whether or not it was too exquisite to eat.

          He finally did though, revealing his teenaged self to be a more even blend of both Manu and Finley.

          “Seriously? Is this supposed to be funny?” Eddie groaned before quickly blowing out all the candles in a single attitude-filled breath.

          “So Mom, is he really moving out?” Quinn asked as they watched Eddie morph into an adult. Plenty of inappropriate words had been thrown about by the blonde when he first looked down at his new body. He’d come out quite heavy, which didn’t make sense since he’d worked out a lot in high school. The pounds were magically shrinking though.

“Yes Honey, he is.”

          Finley let out a sigh. Ever since she’d gotten rid of the television, Manu complained that he wanted to move out. TV must have been more important than being with his kids. When Eddie caught wind of this, he demanded that he get to move with his father. He was still much closer to Manu than Finley.

          She knew how their son would be raised without her around. In a pigsty with no responsibilities. He’d probably let him skip school as much as he pleased. And if Eddie had the ability to get girls pregnant, then she would have had dozens of grandchildren all over town. That’s why Finley demanded that Eddie not be allowed to move until he was out of high school. And she wouldn’t let him be done until he was at least at a B-average.

          “Daddy! I’m still gonna be your girl, aren’t I?” Frankie called out as she ran to embrace her father. “You better visit all the time!”

He chuckled. “Sure thing.”

          Frankie, like most of her siblings, had been convinced by Manu that formal wear meant glasses were needed. ‘How can ya be fancy without glasses?’ Finley had to go out and purchase fake readers for her kids so that they would get off her back about it. Although, she will admit that Frankie did look quite darling in them.

          The two brothers spent some time in the corner saying their goodbyes. They were quiet enough that the rest of the family couldn’t overhear their promises of staying in touch. And Eddie made sure that only Quinn could hear him apologize for being a douchey teenager.

          As the boys talked, Finley faced Manu for a final time as housemates. “It’s been a good run,” Finley shrugged. She wasn’t exactly happy Eddie was leaving, but she was okay seeing Manu go. If what her creator had said about adults living in her household was true, then she thought the gift could be better spent on someone else.

          As Finley made her way to Eddie, she wasn’t thinking about his many faults. They’d had a rough relationship during his teen years, and she obviously wasn’t his favorite parent. There had been good times in the mix. He’d helped her with the garden more than once during her last pregnancy.

          And he had worked really hard to bring his grades up in school. He’d rounded himself out by learning skills other than flirting and kissing.

          She took a good look at her oldest son. He’d finally found his adult weight and she was a bit shocked. He was thinner than either she or Manu. Finley thought about asking him if he wanted to stay, but decided against it. His excitement to be somewhat out of the nest was obvious. Instead she instructed, with a flutter of nerves, “If you change your mind on wanting children, make sure you tell me.”

“Ha, don’t count on it.”

“Be a good kid.”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m going to miss you.

“Don’t. I’m just down the street.” Eddie smiled and tightly hugged his mom, whispering a thanks for putting up with him in her ear. “We’ll see each other a lot. Too much!”

          After her three remaining kids were asleep in their beds, Finley stood out in the breezy night. Although the house was bigger, it felt too cramped for her at the moment. She needed to be alone for a few minutes.

          Her first child was all grown up. What would come with the next few to dive out into the world? How could she ever tell them what her creator had told her? How long would it take her neighbors to notice her unending youth? Finley couldn’t answer any of these and it worried her. 

          “You are a work of love, Finley. I sculpted you entirely by hand and breathed the gift of life into you. Like me, you are able to bring new life into this world. None of your children will have this power though, unless you give your own to one of them. Your family may pass this on as long as they wish, but it will never be able to be held by more than one in each generation.

          “I recognize that this could be taken as a hardship, Finley. To ease any trouble, I will allow any grown sims residing in your home to live with eternal youth. And this you may keep and also give to the child who one day will take your place.”