Chapter 16: Two of Us

Meadow's friend Fred is overcome with emotion; today is her birthday and she's invited him, and only him, to share her in her family's small celebration.

Meadow blows out the candles.

And becomes a teen.

"Wow, Meadow," is all Fred the weepy vampire can say at her transformation.

"You're mine," Meadow declares, and kisses him.

Darius has his birthday later that evening, without cake or celebration. Tomorrow he and Autumn will marry, and that's all the celebration he needs.

Besides being a master mixologist and handyman, Gibson has become an accomplished chef as well, ans stays up late preparing for tomorrow's wedding party.

Autumn has her birthday first thing in the morning.

Gibson mixes drinks while they wait for the first guests to arrive. For his son's wedding, he'll go as far as putting on a suit, but a tie is absolutely out of the question.

"Isn't it supposed to be bad luck to se the bride before the wedding starts?" Darius worries.

"That's just a silly superstition," Autumn laughs.

"I want everything to be perfect," Darius says, trembling nervously.

"It's you and me, Darius," Autumn soothes, "Everything is perfect."

It's a day for estranged relatives. Meadow meets her grandfather Foster for the first time, while Gibson hugs his daughter Sherrie. Autumn's father Dominique Goolsby has even shown up.

Inviting the father and grandfather who hadn't been part of her life previously was not Autumn's idea, and she doesn't know why they even bothered to come. She has nothing to say to either of them.

Once all the guests have arrived, Autumn and Darius go out to the deck to take their vows.

Gibson and Jasmin cry as their children exchange rings.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming," Darius sighs.

"It's real," Autumn assures him, "We're married."

"Finally," Darius sighs, and kisses her passionately.

The ceremony is followed by wedding cake.

It would be too much to expect the guests to just evaporate after the vows were exchanged, so Darius makes the required polite small talk with various half-siblings and other estranged relatives.

After cake the newlyweds sneak off to their bedroom, leaving the party to carry on without them.

 Jasmin entertains everyone with a few songs, while Fred Martin gets acquainted with his own estranged half-brother Collin. After Collin's human father passed away, their vampire mother took up with Freddie Frye and they had Fred. Collin and his step-father didn't get along, and Collin left the house as soon as he was old enough, and is now married to Brie Frye, Darius' mother. She and Collin were both invited to this wedding, but only Collin showed up.

"Wait," Darius says, "Let me just look at you for a minute. I want to remember this forever."

"We're going to be looking at each other for the rest of our lives," Autumn answers, "I don't want to wait another second."

"As you wish," Darius replies.

Jasmin hasn't seen much of her father since he married Sandra Roth. "Your brothers aren't here," he notes when she finally gets around to talking to him.

"No, we've all kind of drifted apart," she says sadly.

Foster nods, "You're closer to Carey's son than to my sons," he says, with no judgment in his voice, "It was like that with me and Carey. I still miss him."

Jasmin misses Carey more than she'll ever miss her own father, too, but she says nothing.

Meadow gets in a few minutes of romancing with Fred before the party breaks up.

Yesterday's party of estranged relatives has inspired a devious plan. Meadow's own father of course hadn't been invited, since it wasn't her party. Like her sister, she'd never even met her father.

Shelby Hsu, formerly Merneptah-Dove, lives right across the street from the Enmity house. Meadow slips quietly to the side of his house and eggs it, until his wife Joy comes out to yell at her. Her late grandmother Twosret Merneptah, once the Empress of Evil, would be proud of her rebellious young descendant.

Gibson hugs his son proudly, happy that Darius and Autumn plan to stay in the house with him and Jasmin.

Autumn sets to work writing thank you notes for the wedding gifts. They didn't really need so many fountains, but the gesture is appreciated.

Gibson and Jasmin gave the couple a much more practical gift; a chemistry set. Autumn's job in the hospital doesn't start for a few days, so she has time to experiment while her husband works on his sculptures.

In the evening they go out dancing at Cathedral, a nightclub close to the beach.

"How about a romantic walk on the beach?" Darius suggests.

"How about we go home and make love until dawn?"

"We could do that..."


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Challenge Notes:
Generation 3 is now underway. The roll again is couple, 3 kids, primary career medical, secondary Artist, Party to Remember and No Strangers.
Party to Remember is successfully completed. We had an epic wedding party, served salad, grilled salmon and cobbler, which no one touched. Gibson mixed Romantic and Party drinks, which no one touched. All were better than Very Nice quality. I almost forgot to have live entertainment, but I did get Jasmin to play a song before the guests left. And of course the drama was the wedding.

I'm thrilled that Living Green is no longer in effect, so I was able to buy a new bedroom set for Darius and Autumn. And a car. The bike ride out to the part of town where Cathedral is is ridiculous, lol.
I also bought a clothes dryer and a new fridge and stove and dining set.
Jasmin did really give the chemistry set as a wedding gift. I was surprised that Sims in the same household would give wedding gifts, but there it was in the mail. Plus, the couple got two fountains and a portable stereo from other guests.

Darius got Hopeless Romantic for his final trait, and Autumn got Bookworm. He's already at level 5 of the sculptor career, since he started as a teen.
I do not like the new forced days off after a wedding. Maternity leave is bad enough. But, I've added a few days to the YA stage now so that makes up for lost career days. Still, they should give you the choice; I miss the way it was in TS2, when they gave you days you could take off whenever you wanted, not this forced thing.

Meadow got Rebellious as her teen trait, because I want to try it. And, because as the youngest child and non-heir, she gets largely ignored. I'm bad like that. So I figure, she can act out in defiance of my neglect. Left on her own, she's pranking everything autonomously.

Foster Enmity is still alive! He should be dead by now, really. Even Xander Roth, his wife's younger brother, has passed away recently. Sandra is still alive, too. It's not fair that Carey went before Foster. But there it is, the universe rewards the selfish bastards.