Chapter 18: I've Got You Under My Skin

Fred Martin cries a lot.
"What's wrong?" Gibson asks the weeping vampire.

"It's Meadow's birthday," Fred answers.

"I thought you'd be happy about that," Gibson says.

"I've never been happier," Fred answers through his tears.

Meadow blows out her birthday candles.

And becomes a woman at last. Fred has waited for her as he promised, and Meadow wastes no time rekindling their romance.

"You changed your hair," she observes as she runs her fingers through it.

"My campaign advisors said people won't vote for me if my hair looks like my mother cut it for me," Fred answers, "Do you like it?"

"You look adorable. I'm voting for you right now," Meadow says, making Fred blush. "Are you hungry?" she asks, remembering to be a good hostess, "Do you want some of that cake? We also have some of Gibson's awesome pomegranate pancakes left if you want."

Fred's brow wrinkles uncomfortably, "I'm an adult vampire now, Meadow, I don't eat food."

Now it's Meadow's turn to blush, "I'm sorry, Fred, I wasn't thinking." Meadow steels herself, and asks, "Do you want to feed off me?"

They never talked about this when they were teens. Back then he was pretty much a normal kid, eating food, able to be in the sunlight for as long as he liked. But Meadow always knew the day would come when all that change, and being with him would require some major adjustments on her part.

Fred's blush turns him almost purple, "That's not necessary, Meadow," he says softly.

"It is," Meadow answers, "I want this. I want to feed you."

Meadow turns her head, exposing her neck for him, and Fred leans in to bite her. It's painful, but she thinks she could get used to it.

"How was it?" she asks when he's done.

"It was...wrong," Fred answers hesitantly.

"Wrong?" Meadow asks, "How? Am I different from other humans?"

"I've never fed on another human," Fred says, "I would never...some vampires feed casually, but it's so intimate, I wouldn't do with anyone else."

"But you don't want to do it with me, either," Meadow fishes for an explanation.

Fred sighs, "I don't like the dynamic of the vampire/human relationship when feeding is involved. I become a parasite, feeding off you. Or worse, you become a pet. I want us to be equal partners in our relationship, Meadow."

"You can read my mind, you have super speed and intelligence," Meadow points out, "I don't think I can ever be your equal now. Unless..."

"You want me to turn you," Fred says, seeing where she's going.

"I don't want to get old while you stay young. I want to be with you forever."

"We will get old eventually," Fred says, "A very long time from now. Are you sure you want this? The advantages are tremendous, but there is sacrifice. You give up food, sunlight, and worst of all, you watch your friends and loved one grow old and die."

 "Do you want to watch me grow old and die?" Meadow asks him.

"No," he admits, firmly, "I don't."

"Then turn me."

"As you wish," Fred answers, and leans in again for another bite.

Meadow leaps into his arms when he's done. "Now we'll be together forever," she says, "But I don't feel like a vampire."

"The transformation takes a few," Fred explains.

That afternoon, Meadow buys a huge house out on Winter Road, and Fred moves in with her. They marry the day after they move in, and the day after that, Meadow's transformation is complete.

The twins become toddlers. All three have their father's blond hair. Darryl and Julia have Dominique Goolsby's rich brown eyes, Julian has his mother violet eyes.

Darius and Autumn celebrate her last night of maternity leave. Tomorrow she goes back to cleaning bedpans at the hospital.

Autumn is quickly promoted to EMT, and the hospital sends her out to vaccinate the local townsfolk. Mechanicholas Treebeard, a Simbot, comes to her for his turn, but she can't administer the shot. He's made of metal and has no blood, no veins. Nothing Autumn says gets through to him, and the simbot leaves angry at being discriminated against.

Autumn works long hours, goes back to the hospital frequently for emergencies, and has to spend a lot of her off time researching. Sometimes she misses all the free time she had for her family when she was on maternity leave, but she's determined to be a world renowned surgeon someday, and the only way to get there is through hard work.

Darryl grows into a child.

He's inherited his father's artistic talent, and looks to Darius for guidance.

Darius walks in on Autumn's morning shower. "I'll be done in a second," she promises.

"Not if I come in there and interrupt you," Darius says, and makes good on his threat before she can protest. He misses all the time they had together when she was on maternity leave.

Darius makes her late for work that day, but it was well worth it.

The twins have a birthday party. Too young to have any friends of their own, their party guests are members of their large extended family. Parker's daughter Leigh shows up, heavily pregnant, along with her husband Willis Greenman. Jasmin's brother Dante, now an elder and sporting a shaved head, also comes, though he hasn't been in this house since he was a young adult.

Darius catches up with his half-sister Sherrie, while Autumn chats with meadow.

Julian is first to blow out his candles.

And Julia follows.

Julian as a child.

And Julia.

Gibson spends some time with his daughter. She's already had one child with her boyfriend Percy, a boy she named Darrel, and now she's expecting another.

"Don't name this one Julius or Julie, or I'm going to start getting all my grandchildren confused," Gibson laughs. He and Jasmin have both been hoping to have five grandchildren, and he's well ahead of her. Jasmin won't have more grandchildren until Meadow has children, while Gibson's fifth is on the way.

Meadow works in the music industry, like her mother and grandfather did before her, so she has to rush out to work before the party is over. As she runs past Willis and Leigh Greenman with her super vampire speed, Meadow casts a glance at Willis. All through the party he was thinking about stealing candy from the children, and Meadow feels bad for her cousin Leigh. She has no idea what an evil bastard she married.

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Challenge Notes:
The vaccination scenario with the simbot was real. He showed up for a vaccination, but could not be vaccinated, and he left angry, lol.

I don't think I've ever devoted this much of a chapter to a spare as I did for Meadow. I'm kind of sad I don't get to play her and Fred. They are so cute.

Parker's daughter Leigh has Foster's purple hair. I hope her kid has purple hair and green skin. :D

And yes, story progression named Sherrie's son Darrel. He was born a day or so after my Darryl.

I'm sorry about not having good pics of Julia and Julian as kids. The party was chaos and they were exhausted and went to bed and I just didn't think to get good portraits. I didn't even change Julian out of his default clothes. But I will get pictures next time I play.
The boys oddly remind me of Lyle Carlton, though he has nothing to do with this legacy, genetically.