This chapter provides a recap of the previous chapter of The Absolutely Crazy Matriarchy. Bella has given birth to another daughter, Corinna. The chapter follows the lives of Bella and her children - twins Temperance and Matthew, and daughters Corinna and Rin. The twins are nearing adulthood and college while Bella continues raising her family in the matriarchal community.

1. Welcome to chapter 4.5 of The Absolutely Crazy Matriarchy! If you haven't read any of the previous chapters, I highly recommend that you do so. Hosting this chapter is the Simself of the talented ladylarkrune, or Lark for short. Lark writes Lady Lark's Looney Bin for the Morbidly Insane, an asylum challenge. Go read it if you haven't.

2. "Thanks, Fire. Nice to be here, by the way." ...In a house full of crazy female Simselves with no Gaara to console you? "Bit of a rest from the crazies at the asylum." Well. I suppose that would work. Shall we get on with the recap? "Good idea."

3. "Last time, the matriarchy's principal antagonist, Stella Chandler..." Whose conception I blame entirely on you, by the way. "Thanks! Anyway, Stella had a big magical showdown with the pregnant heir Bella and her mother Beka."

4. "Not to worry though, Beka banished Stella to an asylum where she will remain until she manages to perfect Plan G." If at all. "You're the one in charge of the plot here, you should know." I'm not telling. "Awww."

5. "Bella ended up having a son, Matthew, and later a daughter, Temperance. Weird name, by the way." Come on, you know my naming theme. "It's still weird."

6. "And you left us with a bit of a cliffhanger last time. Bella's been throwing up, Tempe and Matt have firstborn syndrome, and, well, we're kind of waiting to find out if Baby C has it too." Well, if you read my LiveJournal... "I do, I was speaking for the audience in general." Okay, okay. On with the show.

7. Thanks, Lark. "Anytime. Seriously. Anytime. Don't leave me to rot here with a new bunch of crazies. "I resent that!" "Oh, um, Fire. You're, erm, right behind me." "Yes. I am." "...I'm doomed." "Yeah. You'll look nice as a zombie." Run, Lark. Run.

8. *pop* "Great. Another one." ...The morning sickness didn't tip you off? "Well, yeah, but I had my fingers crossed for food poisoning."

9. Too bad. You have another kid on the way. "I've given you your female child. Can't you let me raise her in peace?" Nope. You're doing a good job, by the way.

10. *pop* Number two, people. Clock is ticking, Bella. "Sure wish it were my biological clock. I'm a Pleasure Sim, not a Family Sim." Which I am glad of. You'd be in aspiration failure from not marrying Ry.

11. ...Chili? "Yeah. Chili. Got a problem with that?" You sure are snippy when you're hormonal. Your family has a reputation for hating chili. "Oh, Mum and Zoey do. I'm the black sheep." You sure are.

12. "Um. Fire? Is there any way out of this?" Nope. Sorry. "Right-o then.

13. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" *gasp* "Bella's in labour!" Duh. She's done it before. If she pops out another Matt clone, I'll cowplant her.

14. "Baby!" Aren't hormones wonderful? She's all "grr I don't want another brat grrr" and now she's all "squee it's a baby!"

15. Uh oh. Black hair. Blue eyes. Skintone one. Better not be a clone, dammit! This is Corinna, by the way. Named after Corinna Chapman from Kerry Greenwood's Earthly Delights series.

16. "Hey, Fire?" What now? If you're not dying or in labour, leave me alone. "Guess you don't want to hear about my perma-plat-ness then." Your what? Awesome, it took long enough. So you're a celebrity now. "Always was." Modest.

17. Birthday time! "Make a wish, Tempe!" "Mummy have squirrel cheeks!" She speak the truth. "Oh shush."

18. And yet another bad grow-up shot. *sigh*

19. {insert comment about having hands here} Any need to destroy the world? "Um. No?" Good. That's two without the framming evil gene.

20. Hey, you're kind of cute. Despite the fact you are a clone of your brother. "A what?" Never mind.

21. Here's a comparison, people. You be the judge. I'm not going crazy, am I? "Yep." "Sure are." I wasn't asking you two.

22. "Muuuuuuum! Tempe's kicking me in the head!" "Tempe, stop kicking your brother in the head." "Awwwww." Sound familiar to anyone?

23. "Muuuuuuuuuuuum! Matt's teasing me!" "Matt, stop teasing your sister." "Awwwwwww!" *laughs*

24. Double birthday. Sorry, Matt, I didn't get to do much character development for you. I'm planning a whole chapter for you in the future. "Why a whole chapter?" Why not? Make a wish.

25. "Sparkly!" "I wish for..."

26. "A hot tub and loads of girlfriends!" Matt rolled Pleasure/Romance. His turn ons are fitness and red hair, and facial hair turns him off. Clearly a ladie's man. "Got that right. Pretty girls, here I come!"

27. I did say it was a double birthday. It's Corinna's turn. Time to see if Bella will get up close and personal with Gladys. "Not funny." Shush, Squirrel Cheeks.

28. "Fwee!" Another decent birthday shot. Am I actually getting good at this? Shock horror.

29. Crud. 10/3/9/9/1. Black hair, blue eyes, Damion nose. That's a trifecta, people.

30. I have a plan to individualise the girls. I've changed their hair colour and personalities (not playing for points, so boolpropping is okay) and will give them a touch of plastic surgery in college. Just to make them unique, not to radically change their looks. So Tempe is now a brunette, with a personality of 8/1/6/3/5. Neat, serious, shy, sorta active and sorta nice.

31. And Corinna here is a redhead, with a personality of 10/7/10/8/9. Neat, outgoing, super-active, playful, and nice. They'll be genetically identical, but different physically enough that I'll be able to tell them apart.

32. Bella has been teaching Rin all her skills, just as she did for Tempe. She didn't for Matt - her pregnancy at the time was so draining I thought it was twins, so she was constantly asleep or eating.

33. "Oh, Ry, we have three beautiful children. I wish we could be together so you could watch them grow up." "I wish that too, Bells. But rules are rules. I get to stay immortal; you live your life without me." *sniff* It's a Titanic moment, isn't it?

34. Ryker's been a fairly attentive dad. I guess that's the Family Sim in him taking control. "Check." "Check what?" "Um. Have you ever played chess before, dad?" "No. Does it matter?" "No, not at all." She's only sorta nice. She doesn't have to play by the rules.

35. "Aww." Stupid chance card popping up where I was clicking. Matt lost his job, frammit. "This sucks, man."

36. "Oh, honey, you can get another job. Actually, there's a job opening up at the fast food place across the road from the studio - what say I pull a few strings?" "You're the best, mum." I really, really hate chance cards.

37. Private school attempt again. Tempe got in since I am so awesome at charming the headmasters. "Hey, give me some credit too, Fire." "...Who are you talking to?" "...I didn't say anything. You must be hearing things." Ahh, the awkwardness of being a Legacy Sim.

38. "Hey, Fire! I got an A+!" Cue the A+ dance. Well done, Tempe. Keep it up and you'll get a nice scholarship in a few years. "Of course! I love school!" Weird kid.

39. Rin's birthday, and WHAT are you wearing, Bella? "Work uniform. Didn't get time to change." I must say, the black goes nicely with the squirrel cheeks. "Shut up about that already."

40. Oh, yay, I didn't stuff the photo for once. "Sparkles!" "Grow up pretty, Matt-clone!" She's going to - she looks exactly like Tempe.

41. See? "Even my hands are the same!" If I hadn't changed the hair, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart. On the plus side, no evil egnius gene. So I just have to worry about Stella. Joy.

42. "I dunno. I feel fairly unique." Well, you are NOW. Now that I've fixed your personality. "You messed with my personality?" Had to. Sorry, kid. "Meh, that's okay. Couldn't you have made Tempe less nerdy though?" ...No. That's called characterisation.

43. Study away, my pretty clones. "This is boring." "Yeah. When do I get to go on dates?" "Shush, you two. I'm trying to study." One of these things is not like the others...

44. Final headmaster visit. Of course, I COULD have waited and got all three in at once, but I'm not smart enough to do that. "Maybe you like causing yourself trouble." Shush, you.

45. Very nice, Matt. "Hey, not my choice of extracurricular activities. I want the dance scholarship. Plus, the ladies love a man who's light on his feet." And light by way of brain cells, apparently. "Hey!"

46. Well, that plan failed epically. "Um, Matt, you're cute and all, but you're not macho enough for me." "Aww." How is ballet not macho? They spend most of their time with women in tight leotards!

47. "I am so great. I am so great." Why, because you didn't get fired? "That and I got promoted! I'm an overachiever!" You're getting close to college, Matt. "Cool. Parties."

48. "But first, let's do this!" "Hey, you're actually not a bad kisser. Sorry I called you un-macho." Ahh, the awkward first kiss. There's plenty more where that came from, especially with that LTW of yours. "Ohh yeah. Bring on the chicks."

49. Tut tut. Sneaking out, are we? "Well, duh." Holly's ghost is over there, you know. She'll dob you in. "No, I won't. I say, let the boy have some fun before he's doomed to sparedom." Not helping, Hol.

50. Ahahahaha. You got busted! "Lousy cops. Was having fun." "Don't worry, dear, you'll get other chances." Really not helping, Holly.

51. "Matt, honey, don't do that again. I'll always give you permission, but don't go sneaking out like that. I was so scared when the officer brought you home." "I just wanted some fun." "I know, honey, and I did too. You have to be responsible."

52. Clone time! "All right already! We look alike! Get over it!" "Yeah, it's getting old." *pouts* Fine. I can't wait till you hit college. Then I go crazy with the plastic surgery kit. "Um. Yay! Clonedom!" Keep trying, girls.

53. "Mum! Matt! I got an A+ at last!" "Great job, honey!" "I didn't think you were into school, Rin." "We-ell, Tempe sorta did some of my work. She wanted more homework." *sigh*

54. Speaking of Tempe, it's her birthday. Make a wish, Tempe. "Please. Wishes are for those who believe that there is a Tooth Fairy." "There isn't?" Um, of course there is, Rin. Tempe's just being funny. "Yes. Funny. Ha-ha."

55. "All right, I'll bite. I wish for..." "A new puppy!" "Whose wish is this, Corinna?" "...Yours." Cheer up, Rin. It'll be your turn soon.

56. "I wish for a good education, intelligence and lots of grilled cheese sandwiches!" Tempe rolled Knowledge/Cheese, with a LTW to top the Intelligence career. Just like Beka. If Tempe becomes the heir, she'll reroll her aspiration in college. "I relly need a makeover."

57. "Much better. I feel more at home now." Very 'you'. That's it for Chapter 4.5. Stay tuned for my first special episode, coming soon - An Absolutely Crazy Christmas! ----------->

58. ...Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Bella, put the book down. "Why?" You didn't notice you've put your arm through your daughter's leg? "I'm holding Rin?" *sigh*