Chapter 45: Fertility Issues

Thessaly goes into labor in the dead of night.

This is their third pregnancy, so Riley is calm and unruffled as he dresses and takes his wife out to the hospital. Darius' ghost is equally unperturbed by the event; he's seen plenty of births in his life, and even more after his death, as the patriarch spirit of the house.

Before dawn arrives, Thessaly and Riley have another baby girl, Aislin.

The nursery is currently full up, so the new parents have added a crib for Aislin to the spare bedroom Riley used to sleep in as a child when he spent the night.

Kennedy becomes a toddler.

And Quinnell has a birthday.

Quinn becomes a child. She has her mother's hair, but her facial features are mostly from Riley.

The nursery is less crowded once Quinn occupies a bedroom of her own, but the playroom, converted from a bedroom longer back in her family's history than Thessaly can remember, is, in Riley's opinion, too small for the kids to move around in. So they expand the second floor out to create a wide open space for a playroom. They even have space for an exercise room, and take Sheridan's old equipment out of storage. Not that they have any plans to use it themselves, but with all the space they've opened up, there's no need to keep so much stuff locked away.

Although their band is just Riley and Santos on guitar and bass, River Monster actually gets a gig. The fact that Thessaly owns Red Shed was probably a huge factor. They even manage to attract a small audience, both of whom are disappointed to discover that the entire band consists of two married men.

Santos is on fire. Quite literally, playing outside in the hot afternoon sun is not healthy for the vampire bassist.

As soon as their set is over, Santos runs of to find relief in his cold, dark house. "Next time, schedule a gig at night. Preferably indoors," he calls out over his shoulder as he speeds away.

Riley considers going into the bar to have a drink, but decides against it.

He needs to be home in time to help Quinn with her homework.

"Tess, what do you think about adopting a child?" Riley asks when they get a rare quiet moment to themselves.

"Why would we adopt?" she asks, "We don't exactly have fertility issues."

"That we don't." Riley laughs in agreement, "It's just, if Demond hadn't taken me in, I don't know where I'd be right now. We have so much here, we could really make a difference for some kid like me."

"You're just so sweet," Thessaly sighs, "Let's do it."

The adoption agency was reluctant to give them a child at first, balking when Riley said he and his wife were both unemployed and not looking for work. But dropping both Sheridan's and Demond's name cut through the red tape and Riordan joined their family.

"Your sister Quinnell is in the treehouse outside," Riley tells his new son, "You can join her if you like."

Quinn has been waiting for her new sibling to arrive. Her sisters are still too young to help her fight the pirate invaders.

Done battling the pirates, Riordan and Quinn don their regal attire and hold court.

And in the evening they conquer their father's highest game scores.

Aislin becomes a toddler somewhere in all the tumult.

Sunday is Kennedy's birthday. The relatives start arriving for the party. Grandma Chanda gives Quinn a big hug. Aunt Jordan has graduated high school and joined the music industry.

Riley's sister Devon is sunk in grief, as her mother has just passed away. "I don't think Dad is going to make it," she tells her brother, "He's not taking it at all well." Riley wasn't very close to his step-mother, as she and Demond didn't marry until he was close to graduating, and he never really got to know her.

"You don't have to stay if you don't feel up to a party," Riley says softly.

"No, I'm all right," Devon insists, though she's clearly deeply distressed, "Dad says it's important to not let the grief close you off. He says family is the most important thing, and that I should be here."

Riley notes that Demond is himself so deep in mourning that he hasn't come, despite his advice to Devon. He'll have to pay a visit to his father tomorrow.

Riley senses Demond's arrival when he brings Kennedy to her cake. Riley isn't a vampire and has none of their mental powers, but he's always aware of his father's presence when he's nearby.

Kennedy blows out her candles.

And becomes a child. She looks remarkably like her mother.

Sheridan enjoys cake with his daughter and granddaughters.

Riley takes a moment to console his father in his grief.

"I miss her," Demond says as he embraces his son, "And I miss you, too. You humans age so quickly. Tell me about your little ones." The vampire never got to know the grandchildren he has from his first marriage, and he now regrets the estrangement he created.

Riley is more than happy to go on about his children.

After the guests have gone and all the children have been put to bed, Riley and Thessaly have a moment of peace.

"Do you remember when we used to stay out dancing until dawn?" she sighs, reminiscing, "No we're usually exhausted by midnight."

"I still have some energy," Riley says, pulling her into his arms, "It's too late to get a sitter, but we could stay up late and have some fun right here."

"That sounds wonderful," Thessaly says, leading him back to their bedroom.

On Monday, all the older kids are at school, and Aislan's only playmate is her father.


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Challenge Notes:
Mixed couple, four kids is complete, with 3 biological kids and one adoption.
Happily Aislan got her father's hair. It's too soon to tell whose features she's got most of. She doesn't seem to be the Thessaly clone that Kennedy is, though I don't think she resembles her father as closely as Quinn does. You can't see it in the pics, but Aislan has Demond's purple eyes. I was concerned about Riley's kids picking up Demond's genetics, but I decided to risk it rather than cut the family tie. And since Demond's eye color comes from the same source as Jasmin's eye color (Maya Riley), I can pretend she's inherited it from her distant ancestor rather than from her father's adoptive father.

I didn't change Riordan, except for clothes and hairstyle, since he's pretty cute right out of the box. He's got high, prominent cheekbones, like Foster Enmity. Considering how many genetic resources I have in my bin to draw from that have features like Foster's, that's not surprising, really.

I've been wanting to the expansion on the house for ages, but have held back in case I roll Expansionist. Since I've rolled for gen 8 without getting it ever, and I've got 4 kids in this generation, I decided to go for it. If I roll Expansionist, I can take my joker to get something else, since there really isn't any other expansion I could do on this house that wouldn't ruin it for me.

The Band thing is horribly broken. I got the one gig, but after it was over I got an error message saying it couldn't complete because target was no longer available. If 'target' was the guy that scheduled the gig, Antwon Fong, the bartender, then I was looking right at him when I got the message, at work at the bar. Anyway, I don't care about the money at this point, or even much about band progress. I haven't sent Riley out busking even once.

And I still haven't done property mogul. I keep thinking I'll buy one of the nightclubs and fix it up, make it part of the story, but I'm too involved raising 4 kids right now, so I'm likely to just quietly acquire 3 properties/rabbitholes with barely a mention in the blog.