Chapter 41: Where you grip her love like a driver's license

Rex built a small mausoleum on their property to house the urns of their dead ancestors.
While father and son were training in the yard, Rex slipped away, and worried by his father's absence, Sheridan went looking for him, and found him mourning Tamsin.

"Dad, how did you know what you were going to with your life?" Sheridan asks his father.

"When we were in high school, your mother asked me what I wanted to be when we grew up. I told her I didn't want to be labeled by a profession. Truth was, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with myself."

"I thought I wanted to write, and I struggled with myself when the writing didn't come right away. But, I did eventually author a few books. In retrospect, doing that was not as important as the other things I've done. I think my most important accomplishment was coming to terms with myself, truly living what I had boasted to your mother when we were young, that I would just be myself, and not live for a profession, or any label society might pin on me."

Normally, Sheridan tunes his father out when he gets philosophical, but today he's hanging on every word. Because Sheridan is facing middle age, but he still doesn't know who he is. His daughter growing up, and he hasn't changed since he was her age.

While he was talking to his father, Chanda came in and waits for him in the hot tub. And she was trailed by the stalker with a camera. Sheridan has had enough.

Chanda knows Sheridan is about to beat the crap out of the paparazzi. As a cop, she stop the assault. But she's grown pretty tired of being stalked and photographed all the time, so she sits back and lets it happen.

The paparazzi is shocked to discover that people don't actually enjoy having their privacy invaded.

"Stay off my property!" Sheridan shouts as he punches, "Stay away from me, stay away from my girlfriend." Eventually, he pinches his message through, and the paparazzi scurries away.

"Good job," Chanda comments as he joins her in the hot tub."

"I talked to Demond," Sheridan gets straight to the point, "We're giving it up. I'll be home for you every night. I'll be an upstanding citizen. Good enough to marry."

"That is good news," Chanda says, "But what are you going to do with yourself?" She trusts his intentions, but worries he won't be able to follow through, that his restlessness will push him back into dangerous, criminal behavior.

"Do I have to do anything?" Sheridan asks.

"We'll see," Chanda answers, and kisses him, hoping for the best.

Rex is thrilled that his granddaughter wants to be an author.

Chanda frets in front of the mirror, worried about what the passage of time will do to her beauty.

"You will always be gorgeous," Sheridan assures her.

In the morning, Sheridan teaches Thessaly to drive. She was surprised he's letting her drive his beloved Beratti.

"It's your baby," she laughs when he hands her the keys.

"It's a car. I can buy ten of them. You're my baby," he answers.

As they drive, painfully slow, through the town, Sheridan watches her, his little girl, becoming a woman. "You're dating Demond's boy," he observes, trying to sound casual.

"He's so wonderful," Thessaly gushes, "He's sensitive and gentle, and he plays guitar."

Sheridan winces, remembering what he used to do to boys like Archer Riley when he was in high school. But on reflection, he supposes he'd rather see his daughter dating one of them than a guy like him.

In the evening, Thessaly meets Archer at Howl. They wanted to go dancing, but there's no band tonight and the speakers are broken, so there's no music at all. Thessaly suggests that Archer play, but he doesn't feel his talent is up to a public performance just yet.

"Plus, I want to be with you, not up on a stage," he says.

So they give up on Howl and go to a nearby pond to hang out.

There's even less entertainment here than at the nightclub, but they have privacy, and a sky full of stars.

"Riley, is it weird to be adopted by a vampire?" Thessaly asks.

"No, it seems kind of familiar, actually," he answers, "I think there must have been vampires in my family from...before. Demond, my father, says that he found me with a vampire."

"And you really don't remember anything about that?"

Archer shakes his head, "I don't remember anything. Even my name, really, 'Archer', I don't know if that was my first name, or last. That's why I don't mind that you call me Riley all the time. I at least know where that name comes from."

"Wherever you're from, Riley Archer Riley, I love you," Thessaly says.

"I can't tell you how much that means to me," he answers siftly.

"You don't have to say anything," she says, kissing him fiercely.

They could stay with each other all night, except for the curfew. Archer won't risk having Thessaly brought home by the cops; her father would never forgive him.

His face has gotten noticeably older, lines forming around his eyes, but despite his aging, Sheridan most definitely still has it.

Getting older is no excuse to slack off on the workouts; it's a reason to push harder.

Rex visits Dulce and Duane, and their daughter, Marta. Dulce has become a renowned journalist, and Duane is both an accomplished painter and author.

It's Thessaly's prom day, and Demond comes along with Archer to visit with Sheridan. Tennille has finally agreed to marry the vampire, and he's moved in with her and their new baby daughter, Jordan.

"She hated my house, she wanted something more suburban and family-friendly," Demond explains. "Since we quit our 'business' I've gotten into professional sports. I haven't played since high school, and it feels so good to get out on the field again. Maybe you should join me?"

"I'm a little past my prime. It's too late for me to get into a sports career," Sheridan sighs.

Demond looks at his friend sadly. Human aging happens depressingly rapidly, a vampire's lifespan encompasses several human ones. Demond doesn't want to close himself off again, having a long life is pointless if you don't actually live it, experience its ups and downs, its joys and its pains. But he's not going to relish the pain of losing his friend, his wife, his adopted son and his newborn, human daughter while he;s still young.

"What's with the new look?" Sheridan asks, not wanting to mope about middle age.

"Tennille said I should let my hair down more often," Demond explains.

"And you took that literally," Sheridan laughs.

"Was there another way to take it?"

While their fathers chat, Archer and Thessaly get ready for the prom. Archer is grateful to the vampire for taking him in, giving him a home and treating him as family, but now that he's married and has a new baby, the teen feels like and extra wheel sometimes.

Sheridan fights hard to suppress the urge to pull Archer off his daughter. She's growing up, he reminds himself, she's not doing anything her mother didn't do at her age. And thinking of Chanda makes him wish she were here to se Thessaly off to the prom. Chanda's is visiting with Tennille and her new baby today while Demond is here.

Thessaly and Archer head out in their rented limo, Demond heads home to his new wife, and Sheridan awaits Chanda's arrival. The wrinkles don't look too bad, right. He looks distinguished now, he tries to convince himself.

Tonight, it's Chanda's turn to reassure Sheridan that he'll always be gorgeous.

Sheridan is out to prove he's still as virile as he was when they first graduated high school. That he's even more virile with maturity.

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Challenge Notes:
Another fight down for Sheridan. I actually had to move the paparazzi into the house temporarily (using MC, he brought no money or anything) because the paps seem to be immune from attack. I immediately moved him out again after the fight.
Sheridan did get a midlife crisis with aging, though I've been playing him as going through one since a few days before his birthday. The midlife crisis is fairly disappointing. He rolled a wish to plan an outfit, and I did. He got the wish fulfilled, but on the 'midlife crisis' moodlet it says 0 wishes fulfilled. Which has happened for me so far with every midlife crisis I've gotten. So, I'll probably get him therapy before it runs out, but I've been keeping it for now to see what kinds of wishes he as a single Sim rolls. So far, just the plan outfit one, lol.
I think Sheridan looks better now with his adult face.
Rex is like 113 now.

Title is a lyric by Soul Coughing