3.16 Newcomers

The following morning, the day that Madeline would take her place in this household, Ryan was up early to make breakfast. He was not sure what had woken him, perhaps it was the tension as to how this would work out, or because he was going to be a father again.
Or perhaps it was the same noise that he heard behind him just now. As he turned around to see what or who was making that noise, he felt a jolt going through his stomach.

Of all the times he had wished for Satya's ghost to appear, he had now arrived at a point that he wished for her to not appear at all. It was far more easier not to have to explain that her best friend was gong to live here, that she was also pregnant with his baby. But Ryan did so anyway, hoping she would understand. "I still love you Satya, it was just, I can't explain it, and now...well I can't just leave her on the streets with my baby can I? You know I'm not that guy..."

Not sure what he expected from the ghost of his wife, he knew this was not the reaction he was hoping for. Not a word came from her lips, but she looked disgusted. Ryan felt heartbroken, knowing his wife did not approve of his decisions. Did she felt deceived? Would she really expect him to stay alone for the rest of his life? Before he could as her she drifted off.

When he followed her into the room that was supposed to be Rafe's, she was about to haunt the doll that she bought for Rafe. It was at that moment Ryan realized his wife was gone, truly gone. This might have been the ghost of his wife, but it was not the women he fell in love with or married. She would have never been evil enough to haunt a toy that belonged to her son. And with that, the voice of his wife sounds through his head, from a long forgotten memory, "I don't want you to stop living, please, continue to live, if not for yourself, then for Rafe, promise me that?". And he did promised her to do so. Feeling relieved, the tears started to drip from his eyes. Wiping them away again, he walked back to the kitchen, while humming a song again for the first time in years.

Later that day Madeline had arrived, with Rafe at school, and Ryan at work, she had some time for herself to settle in. Danya was around, but she kept to herself mostly. The only time she saw her around the house, was at lunch. Danya had prepared some salad, freshly made with a lot of watermelons, it tasted great, but it was a first that someone added watermelons to it.

When Ryan got home, he greeted her like any friend would. Politely he asked if he was allowed to try if he could hear the baby. She assured him it was okay, that she would love for him to be able to bond with the baby as much as she could, she was thrilled that he was responding so positively to the baby.



But when Rafe got home, he took one look at Madeline, turned around and went to play some computer games. When it looked like Rafe was not going to behave and say hello to Madeline, Ryan walked over to Rafe. He had told the boy that Madeline would be coming to live with them again, and he seemed okay with it. Ryan even thought the boy looked forward to seeing Madeline again. He couldn't understand why Rafe ignored her like that. "What are you playing son?" Rafe glanced over his shoulder at his dad for a second before immersing himself in the game again, "Humans 3 dad, it's a game where you get to create these people that kind of look like us, and you get to control their lifes, what job they have, if they get married, have children. I can even make them fight if I want to dad!" Ryan rubbed his chin while thinking about this last comment, "and from what age are you allowed to play this Humans 3?" Rafe let out a impatient sigh while nearly slamming the mouse down on the desk, other then that he pretended he didn't hear his dad and went on playing. When his dad didn't move a muscle, or didn't say anything, he asked "are you sick dad?"
Wondering where this question came from, Ryan turned the screen off to make sure he had Rafe's attention, "no, I'm not sick, why do you ask?" As Rafe looked up to his dad, Ryan bend down through his knees to look at him, "because Maddie is living here again...so that must mean your sick, just like mom was when Maddie lived here." Ryan put his hand on Rafe's head, ruffling his hair. "Listen to me, I am not sick, and I am not going to die, that is not why Maddie is living here again." Still not comforted enough, Rafe gave his father a daring look, "then why is she?" Ryan swallowed hard, he hadn't thought about how to tell Rafe this, "well, she is going to give you a little brother or sister, and since she had no place to live, she can live here."
"A baby brother or sister? So is it gonna call you daddy then?" "yes it is, because I am it's daddy, the baby is as much mine as it is Maddie's." Rafe looked puzzled at that, "oh, but what about me?" "You are going to be a big brother, and you do not have to worry about a thing, because you will still be my son, and I will always love you!" Rafe looked over his shoulder to check what Madeline was doing, lowering his voice to a whisper he said "will she be my mommy then?"
That was a question Ryan had not anticipated, ruffling his hair with his hand, he looked towards the couch, where Madeline was resting. "I don't know son, do you want her to be?" "everybody at school has a mom..." Ryan hadn't realized that Rafe had missed having a mom, he knew he missed his mom, but that was a whole different issue. "we'll see how things work out okay?" Giving his son a kiss on the forehead he said, "when Maddie wakes up, you are going to behave normal and at least say hello to her okay?" Rafe sighed "yes dad."

Though Madeline felt very welcome in the Crist house, the last few weeks she retreated to the water behind the house a lot. Ryan had been treating her just like he promised, as a friend. He showed a lot of interest in the baby, they even discussed names, though Ryan kept insisting it would be a boy and did not actually participate in finding a girls name. Rafe even asked her if she was his mom now. Danya kept bringing her meals or snacks, all with watermelon in it somehow, so she thought that was a good sign as well. Everything seemed okay, but she kept feeling sad. So whenever she could, she went out to fish. When she was young, she would hide away in her paintings, but since the easel was in the Crist house, where Ryan was, she found her refugee in fishing.

It was at one of those times, that she had had a lingering feeling in her belly all day, but she choose to ignore, just thinking it makes the urge for peace and quiet even bigger. So she went to fish anyway, and after standing there for most of the day, caught up in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the lingering feeling had grown into a painful sensation until it became full blown contractions. She looked over her shoulder to the Crist house, it was so close but walking there with contractions did not feel doable at all.
She had no choice, so when the contractions faded away, she had a few minutes to walk towards the house, until the next contraction came that stopped her again.

It took her more then half an hour to get to the house, and when she did, Danya just turned around from the counter where she was cutting yet another watermelon. When she noticed Madeline was in labor, she rushed over, grabbing the phone to call a cab. But before she could even dial the number Madeline's water broke.
So instead of calling a cab, Danya called Ryan to tell him his son would be coming. "What is it with you family and assuming this will be a boy?" Madeline breathed through her teeth, Danya smiled and simply asked her if she wanted another watermelon. Madeline rolled her eyes at Danya just before another contraction began.

 When the final contraction began, Madeline felt a tingling sensation going through her body. Instinctively she knew this meant the baby was nearly there.

And sure enough, a few minutes later, just as Ryan stepped out of the cab that brought him home, she was holding her newborn son Luke.

When Ryan came in, he was amazed to see his son was already born. While giving Madeline a kiss on her forehead, he took his son and gave him a quick snuggle. "shall I put him in his crib while you get some rest Maddie?" Madeline nodded as she walked towards the couch, her forehead still burning where he kissed her.

"I love you Luke," Ryan said to Luke, surprised by the truth of it. With Rafe there had not been a doubt in his mind about it throughout the entire pregnancy, he was as sure that he would love Rafe as he loved Satya. With Luke it was a different story, he and Madeline were just friends, so he was not sure about what he would feel for this child. "I love you no less then I love Rafe," he whispered while putting Luke in his crib.

-----------------------------------------Notes--------------------------------

Right, so no matter how many watermelons I made Madeline ate, she still gave birth to a boy! That's no girls for 4 generations now! I have a theory, but that will come back in the story as well :).
Anyway, that is the 2 children fulfilled. I don't have much news, cause all of this has taken place in only a few sim days, so no promotions, no birthdays etc :)

As for maddie and her fishing, those who've been reading the discussion thread know I have been having lots of error 12's and crashes, so I moved, somewhere while taking the pictures of this chapter. I've been advised not to travel, to avoid the error 12's coming back. So I rerolled for the adventurer bit, maddie is now going to be a fisherlady. It actually save her butt, because I was planning on having Ryan to go hard at her, taking her in, but not wanting her around, forcing her to go and travel. But now i'll just give it a diff twist :). I figured Ryan wasn't the kind of guy who would do that to anyone anyway.

The episode with Satya, that was her first appearance as a ghost, and she did evil stuff! That was when I remembered that the mummy curse takes away a trait and replaces it with the evil trait. So I decided to use that fact in the story. To let Ryan have peace with everything.

I think time will start passing quickly again for the family from now on, no major changes to go through, and well, i'm already at chapter 16 for this generation and the second child has only just been born!