Celia visits her estranged father Alec and meets her aunt Tosha for the first time. Tosha hints that she and Celia may have magical abilities. This worries Celia as she realizes Tosha may pose a threat to her cousin Comet. Celia warns Comet and helps him flee town with his new wife before the wedding to protect him from Tosha. At the wedding, Celia remains anxious but hopes everything will go smoothly.

2. The apartment door opened with a click, and Celia looked up from the phonebook she was thumbing
through. She grinned at Autumn. “Jeez, how long does it take to pick out a suit?”
Autumn groaned. “All day when you’re Jimmy Phoenix. He and Comet spent an hour just looking at
bow ties. Bow ties.”
Celia snorted. “Comet’s a dork, what did you expect?”
“Like, two hours of shopping, tops. But no, Jimmy is very opinionated about different shades of
black.”
“There’s more than one shade?”

3. Autumn dropped the shopping bag on the floor. “Speaking of things that shouldn’t exist, what the
hell are you doing with a phonebook?”
Celia turned her attention back to the book. “Looking for my dad. Couldn’t find him anywhere
online… he probably doesn’t even know what the internet is. There isn’t an Alec Miceli listed in any of
these, but there’s a Tosha Miceli.”
“And you think there’s some sort of relation?”
She shrugged. “Could be a cousin of his, or something.”
“Why do you even care?”

4. “Because he’s my dad?”
Autumn gave her a wary look. “He’s a deadbeat, Cee. If he cared at all about you or your sister he’d
at least have the decency give you a call.”
Celia scowled. “Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Autumn sighed. “Forget it. I’m not starting a fight over this. If you want to see him, go. Just don’t
expect too much, okay?”
Her face softened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I’ll be back in an hour, okay?”

5. “Wait, you’re going tonight?” Autumn turned to follow as she moved towards the apartment door.
“Uh, yeah? What’s the problem now?”
“It’s a bit dangerous going by yourself, isn’t it?”
Celia rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine on my own. He’s my dad; it’s not like he’s going to try to hurt me or
anything. He knows what our family’s capable of.”
“You don’t even know if you have the right address,” Autumn reminded her.
“If I’m not back by ten, feel free to freak out and start a search party.” She smirked. “Okay?”
“Fine.”

6. Twenty minutes later, Celia arrived at the address from the phonebook. She a deep breath to steady
herself, then knocked on the door. He insides knotted as she waited for a reply.

7. The door swung open moments later. The man who answered had a familiar face, but had aged since
the last time she’d seen him; his hair was greying around his temples, and he was sporting a new
pair of wire frame glasses.
Alec Miceli leaned forward, studying her face for a few seconds before reaching forward and taking
hold of her shoulders. “Celia?”
“Hey, dad,” she said, her voice quiet. He pulled her into a hug.

8. He released her, and took a step back. “Cee, I’m so happy to see you! It’s been years.”
“Yeah, she agreed, picking at one of her fingernails. “Could… I come in? Maybe?”
Her dad nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! Would you like something to drink? Hot chocolate?”
“Tea’s fine, if you have any,” Celia replied. Alec nodded again, and stepped aside to let her into the
house.

9. The two of them stood in the kitchen in awkward silence, broken only by the whistle of the kettle.
Her dad handed her the mug, and leaned back against the counter as she took a sip. “How’s school
going?” he asked when she lowered the mug.
“I just graduated, actually,” she replied.
Alec’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s exciting, huh? What are you doing for university?”
Celia forced a smile. She expected her dad to be a little behind the times, but she’d hoped that he
would at least remember how old she was. “Actually, I’ve just graduated university,” she informed
him. “Hero’s starting university, though. She’s majoring in drama.”

10. “Really? Good for you two! Times really flies, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah… and you remember Comet? He’s getting married this week. Just got back from SSU with his
fiancée.”
“That’s fantastic! Give him my congratulations, will you?”
“Oh, and he can talk now, did you know that? Oh, no, of course you wouldn't. You didn’t even
remember how old I was, did you? Maybe you’d know, if you bothered to pick up a fucking phone
once in a while.”

11. Her dad’s face fell. “Cee, don’t be like that.”
“What’s your excuse?” she demanded. “Or did you not care enough to come up with one?”
“Contrary to what you think, I do care about you and Hero.” His brow furrowed as he continued to
speak. “And I might not be with your mother anymore, but I’m still your dad, and I don’t appreciate
you taking that tone with me.”
Celia snorted. “What, are you going to ground me?”
“I just want to have a civil conversation,” he replied, sounding defeated.
“Maybe you should’ve had one with my mom, instead of walking out the door on her.”

12. “What charming company you have, Alec.” The woman standing in the doorway spoke at last. “Told
you those brats weren’t worth reaching out to.”
“Okay, who’s this bitch?” Celia gestured towards the living room. “Did you go and knock up some
other woman when my mom wouldn’t take your sorry ass back?”
“Cee, calm down. That’s Tosha, my sister.”
Celia glared at him. “You never told me I had another aunt. How many other things are you keeping
from me, dad?”
“I’m not keeping anything from you, I promise!” Her dad held up his hands in surrender. “Your
mother-”

13. “Don’t you dare blame this on my mom,” Celia hissed. “You think I came here to listen to you pin all
your problems on her? She didn’t do anything wrong!”
In the background, Tosha laughed. Alec gave her a look, before turning back to Celia. “I didn’t do
anything wrong, either,” he replied, his voice starting to break.
“Bullshit! You fucking walked out on all of us, for no fucking reason! You expect me to believe that
you’re the victim here? How do you think I feel? I helped my mom raise your other daughter, just
the two of us.”
“Will you at least let me explain what happened?” Alec asked in a quiet voice.
“Whatever,” was Celia’s reply. “It’s not going to change anything.”

14. “Look, I might be a romance sim, but the day you were born was the happiest day of my life. All I
ever wanted for the three of us to be a family, a proper family. And after Hero was born, I thought it
would be the perfect time to make that happen.”
“So you walked out on us. Makes total sense,” Celia replied, rolling her eyes.
“I didn’t want to leave, Cee. I wanted to your mother to marry me. I thought she wanted to be a
family, too, but she was disgusted by the idea. I left because I was hurt, and I thought she wanted
her space.”
“So why didn’t you come back?” Celia demanded.
Alec stammered, his cheeks beginning to flush. “I don’t want to talk about that,” he eventually
replied.

15. “It’s because your mother fucked another guy while your dad was gone, if you really want to know,”
Tosha added casually, brushing a section of hair out of face. “You’re welcome.”
“Can you make her leave?” Celia asked with disgust. “I don’t care if she’s my aunt; I think she’s a
complete bitch.”
Tosha smirked. “Off by one letter, darling. And you’re one too, if you haven’t figured that out
already.”
“What are you going on about now?” Celia asked, turning away from her dad at last. “I’m not a
witch. My aunt is. My mother’s totally normal.”

16. Tosha entered the kitchen, and came to a stop in front of Celia. “You mean to tell me you’ve never
experimented, dear?”
SCelia frowned. “Okay, first, don’t fucking call me that. And second, I experimented with normal
teenager things, like kissing girls and maybe drugs a couple of times in college.”
Tosha frowned. “I meant magic.”
She hesitated. “I… might have cast a spell. In college. Just once.” Tosha gave her an encouraging
look, and Celia continued. “I mean, I don’t know if I really cast a spell, I just kind of read it out of
some old book my cousin found. He was the one mixing secret potions and shit.”
“Secret potions?” Tosha asked with interest. “Do share.”

17. “Well, he was born mute,” Celia began, unsure of whether she wanted to tell Tosha the whole story.
“Oh, I know all about Comet,” Tosha said with a grin. “Your Aunt Bellatrix is on the Arcane Council of
Witches. She fucked up quite spectacularly with that potion of hers, I must say. I offered to fix it for
her, being far more experienced with magic than she is, but she refused to trust me.” Tosha paused,
and looked Celia in the eyes. “But you trust me, don’t you? We are family, after all.”
“I… I’m not sure if I do,” Celia replied. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as she slowly
began to realize what exactly her Aunt Bellatrix might be so paranoid about all the time.
“You know, I want to help you, Celia. I could teach you how to strengthen your powers. I just want
you to tell me more a bit more about your cousin Comet. His mother is awfully protective of him,
isn’t she? She didn’t even tell the council he was home.”

18. “Look, I’m really not interested. If Aunt Bellatrix hasn’t told you anything, I’m sure there’s a reason.”
Celia set the empty mug down on the table, and slowly began to back towards the front door. “It was
nice seeing you Dad; let’s never do this again.”
“Don’t say that, Cee.” Her dad began to tear up, and Celia averted her eyes. “I want to fix my
mistakes; I want to be a part of your life again.”
“She’ll be back soon enough,” Tosha replied, unfazed by her brother’s emotional distress. “I give it a
couple months before she blows something up playing with magic.”
“Like hell I will,” Celia scoffed.
“I’ll see you there.” Tosha winked.

19. Celia slammed the door shut without so much as a glance back at her dad. When she had set out to
find him, she figured the worst case scenario would end with her life in danger. Instead, she had put
Comet directly in Tosha’s line of fire, and that was infinitely worse.
She shoved her hands into her pockets and began the short walk back to her apartment, her heart
racing from the confrontation, and her mind racing with half-baked ideas to get Comet out of Astra
Villa as fast as possible. His safety, along with his soon-to-be wife’s, depended on it.

20. “Okay, so Jimmy is driving Comet and his sister to the wedding venue,” Charlotte said, gesturing as
she spoke, “and Autumn’s coming by in fifteen minutes to give us a lift to Aunt Bellatrix’s house, so
that we can pack up Comet’s things. His parents are staying behind to help-”
“They’re staying behind?” Celia interrupted, a hint of panic in her voice. “Then who’s taking Marielle?
Charlotte, we totally forgot about Marielle!”
“Relax, Cee, Deirdre’s taking her. Remember? We’ve got everything worked out.”
Celia scowled. “I can’t relax; I’m the reason he’s in immediate danger all of the sudden! If I hadn’t
gone to my dad’s house, that bitch wouldn’t have found out that he’s home.”

21. “You didn’t know she’d be there,” Charlotte sympathized.
“Um, yes I did. The address was listed under her name in the phone book! And Aunt Bellatrix doesn’t
even know what happened, she just thinks we’re doing this out of the goodness of our hearts!”
“That’s probably for the best, Cee. You know how easily paranoid she is; Comet said she put up a
ward around the wedding venue, and that was long before Tosha knew there was going to be a
wedding. She’d probably cancel the entire thing if she knew the truth.”
“That’s not reassuring, Charlotte; that means she’s a huge fucking threat to him! Aunt Bellatrix was
already worried about his safety when Tosha wasn’t even aware that he was back from college, and
now I’ve gone and dangled him in front of her!”

22. “Look,” Charlotte said in a gentle tone of voice, “I know you think this is entirely your fault-”
“Because it is.”
“-but you need to give yourself some credit; you figured out how to get him out of town as soon as
possible, and you managed to do it without raising any suspicion. You’re amazing. Promise me you’ll
try to have a good time at the wedding?”
Celia sighed. “I guess.”
“Besides,” she continued, “there’s going to be alcohol there. You just need to make it through the
ceremony, and then you can drink all your worries away.”
Celia grinned. “That’s horrible advice, Charlotte… I love you.”

23. Despite Celia’s worries, the wedding party got to the venue on time without a hitch, and soon
everybody was in position for the ceremony to begin.
Comet was surprisingly calm, considering he was just about to speak in front of a large group of
people, and a murderous witch may or may not be out to destroy him and his family.

24. “So we’re sure this isn’t all about to go horribly wrong, right?” Celia muttered to Charlotte as they
waited for the wedding ceremony to begin.
“Cee, shut up,” Charlotte hissed back. “It’s starting in like, two minutes. Nothing bad is going to
happen, and there’s nothing we can do about it anyways.”
Celia nodded. She had done her best to remedy the potential problem she’d created, and she’d just
have to sit back and see how the afternoon played out. She took a deep breath, and tried to relax as
the music began to play.

25. I can't stop this feeling,
Deep inside of me
Girl, you just don't realize,
What you do to me

26. When you hold me,
In your arms, so tight
You let me know
Everything's all right

27. I, I'm hooked on a feeling
High on believing
That you're in love with me

28. Lips are sweet as candy,
The taste stays on my mind
Girl, you keep me thirsty for
Another cup of wine

29. I got it bad for you girl,
But I don't need a cure
I'll just stay addicted
And hope I can endure

30. All the good love,
When we're all alone
Keep it up girl,
Yeah, you turn me on

31. I, I'm hooked on a feeling
High on believing
That you're in love with me

32. All the good love,
When we're all alone
Keep it up girl,
Yeah, you turn me on

33. I, I'm hooked on a feeling
I'm high on believing
That you're in love with me

34. After a half hour of dancing, Comet managed to escape to an emptier area of the venue to have a
moment to himself. It wasn’t long before he was joined by his cousins.
“Guess what?” Charlotte asked with enthusiasm.
“You’re getting married next?” he guessed.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I don’t even have a boyfriend, Comet.” He shrugged in reply, and she
continued, “we got you tickets to Twikkii island as a wedding gift!”
Comet’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

35. “Yeah, aren’t we awesome? You leave tomorrow, by the way. We booked you guys a hotel room for
tonight. Figured you wouldn’t want to spend your wedding night at your parent’s house.” Celia
replied.
“We’ve already packed your stuff for you, don’t worry,” Charlotte assured him.
Comet frowned. "You went through my things?"
"Your parents helped us, if that makes it any better," Charlotte added. “They thought it was a great
idea.”
"That makes it worse, actually. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'd like to keep some of my
things private? There are things in my room that I don’t want my parents seeing, you know."

36. "Aw, don't worry Comet. We packed the all the naughty stuff after your parents left." Celia grinned.
“Trust us, you’ve got everything you need.”
Comet groaned. He didn't even want to think about what else his cousins might have slipped into his
suitcase while packing. "If we get pulled over for a random security check at the terminal, I swear on
boolprop, I'm going to murder all of you.“
“It’s just a joke, Comet,” Celia replied. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“We packed you those, too,” Charlotte added gleefully.

37. “Yeah,” Autumn agreed. “Relax. We didn’t pack anything illegal." He smirked.
"I think dildos are illegal in some places, actually," Charlotte said thoughtfully.
"Great." Comet rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get arrested before my honeymoon even begins.
Fantastic start to my marriage, really.”
“Come on, we’ll bail you out if that happens,” Celia reassured him.

38. “Bail?” Marielle joined the group, slipping an arm around Comet’s waist. “I left for five minutes to
grab another drink, and you four are already plotting something, aren’t you?”
“We aren’t up to anything,” Charlotte said with an innocent smile.
“Yeah,” Celia agreed. “We were just telling your husband about the awesome honeymoon we booked
you guys as a wedding gift.”
“Really? That’s very kind of you.” Marielle smiled. “I assumed you guys were just going to send us
more condoms.”
“Why would we give you those?” Charlotte asked.

39. “Because that’s what all of you sent me when I told you I was engaged?” Comet reminded Charlotte.
“Okay, but now that you guys are married you’re supposed to be having babies,” Charlotte
explained. “So you need to get started on that right away. I heard your dad is already telling people
he’s a grandfather.
Comet groaned. “Please tell me that was a joke.”
“It might be.” Charlotte grinned. “Anyways, enjoy your honeymoon!” With a wave of her fingers,
Charlotte left the two of them alone, followed closely by Autumn and Celia.
“Yeah, thanks, I guess,” Comet muttered, and drained the rest of his drink. He definitely needed a
vacation from his family.

40. “Comet?” He and Marielle had left the wedding venue after saying goodbyes, and checked into their
hotel room for the night.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to explain why there’s a giant dildo in our suitcase shaped like a plumbbob? Along with
ton of other weird stuff?”
“It’s part of the wedding gift, apparently.”
“Your cousins are strange, you know that?”
He shrugged. “My entire family’s kind of strange, when you think about it.”

41. “I like your family, even if they have a weird taste in wedding gifts. It would have been nice if we
could have spent more time with them before leaving town.”
“Do you think I made the right decision?” he asked. “Leaving Astra Villa?”
She smiled. “Well, I hope so, because we’ve already bought the new house.”
“Yeah,” Comet replied. He ran his fingers along down her back and down her side. “I’m just worried
that I won’t be able to make it on my own. You know?”
“You aren’t alone,” she replied, cupping his face. “You have me.”

42. “Besides,” she continued, turning to face him, “you survived college all on your own, and a quarter of
that time you couldn’t even speak. That’s impressive.”
Comet smiled. “I wasn’t entirely on my own. I had Jimmy. If it weren’t for him, I would have
probably spent the rest of my time at college wallowing in my dorm room.”
“I think you would have figured something out,” she replied. “You’re pretty resourceful.”
“Maybe. But I definitely wouldn’t have worked up the courage to kiss you if he hadn’t convinced me
to ask you out again.”
“Why are we talking about Jimmy on our wedding night?”
“I dunno, why’d you invite him to come along the first time I tried to ask you out?”

43. “Listen, you.” She moved so that he was pinned against the side of the tub, and inched further up his
lap. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
“Why? Is it because you have a secret crush on him?” Comet teased.
“Obviously. That’s why I married you.”
He grinned. “Knew it.”
Marielle pressed her forehead against his, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Shut up and
romance me, Comet. This is supposed to be our honeymoon.”

45. After a short flight, they checked into their hotel in Twikkii Island the next morning.
To Comet’s relief, his cousins had actually packed him suitable clothing and gear, in addition to the
absurd array of woohoo toys they’d bought to embarrass him. All that he had left to do now was
enjoy his honeymoon.

46. Neither Comet or Marielle had ever been to the ocean before, and they spent the majority of their
honeymoon discovering new wildlife, swimming, and exploring the old shipwrecks that dotted the
shores.
And when they weren’t enjoying the tropical weather, they were pretty content to just enjoy each
other’s company alone in their hotel room.

47. After returning from their honeymoon, they made one last trip to Astra Villa to collect the rest of
their belongings, before moving into their new house in Aurora.
It wasn’t as large as the past two homes he had grown up in, but Comet was happy with it. The yard
was large enough for future expansions, and with only two of them in the house at the moment,
there wasn’t a pressing need for space.

48. While the exterior of the house was complete, the inside was unfinished. They spent the majority of
their summer painting the rooms, unpacking what furniture they had brought, and start shopping for
what they still needed.
With the wedding covered by his parents, and the honeymoon a gift from his cousins, Comet was
able to put all of his savings, along with Marielle’s to pay for the house. They had a couple thousand
left once the house was complete, but it wouldn’t be enough to live on for much longer.
So, the two of them began looking for jobs.

49. Between finishing the house, and searching for work, Comet had almost forgotten about keeping in
touch with his old college roommate. The last time Comet had seen Jimmy was at the wedding, and
so when he received a call from him one morning he was eager to find out how what had happened
to his friend in the weeks since.
“Hey, man!” Jimmy’s voice greeted him when he accepted the call. “How was the vacation?”
“Fantastic,” Comet said. “Sorry I haven’t called lately.”
“It’s cool. Figured you guys were busy. Gotta start popping out those babies, right?”
“No,” he replied hastily. “No babies yet. We’ve only just finished moving in. What about you?”

50. “Oh, nothing much. Just got engaged, that’s all,” Jimmy replied casually. “No big deal.”
“Seriously? To who? Deirdre?”
“Yeah. I know you said the two of us weren’t going to last-”
“Okay, I never said that-”
“I know you were thinking it when you and Marielle got engaged and we didn’t-”
“No, why would I think that?”
“Dude, just shut up for a second, let me finish.”

51. “Anyways, we were looking at houses together, ‘cause things were starting to get serious, and we
realized that the one we were looking at was right next door to yours. Then we started talking about
what it would be like if we all had kids, and our kids grew up together. How cool would that be,
right?”
“Pretty cool, I guess,” he replied.
“I know, right? Anyways, I was like fuck it, I’m gonna ask her. So I got down on one knee, and pulled
out the ring, and she said yes! I didn’t even have to say anything. It was awesome.”

52. “Congratulations, man,” Comet replied. “You two deserve it.”
“Yeah dude, I’m totally stoked. Do you wanna be my best man? I mean, since I was yours and all.
My wedding’s not gonna be as fancy as yours, but it would really mean a lot to me.”
“Of course. I’m your best friend, aren’t I?”
“The best,” Jimmy assured him. “Oh, and Deirdre wants Marielle to be her maid of honour. You know,
if you haven’t knocked her up by then.”
Comet sighed. “Again, there is no baby.”

53. “Yet,” Jimmy replied with a grin. “I mean, I guess you guys should probably find some jobs first.
Have you had any luck yet?”
“Yeah, actually. Doing some research on soil for an organization. Collecting samples and stuff.”
“Exciting,” Jimmy said with enthusiasm. “At least you get to be outdoors. I’m going back to school.”
“Wait, really? What are you studying?”
“Well, I’m not actually going there to learn anything. One of my old profs asked me if I wanted to do
a couple guest lectures on ancient history at SSU. I’m kind of terrified, but it’s money, right?”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, as long as the students aren’t anything like you,” Comet teased.

54. “Not funny, dude. Anyways, I need to go now. Gotta pick out towels or some shit from Ikea. I’ll call
you back some time with more details about the wedding, alright?”
“No problem,” he replied. “Nice talking to you again, Jimmy.”
“You too, man. Have fun making green babies with Marielle, okay?”
“Please stop talking about babies.”
“What was that Jimmy?” Marielle asked as he ended the call. “What did he want?”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll want to tell you in person,” Comet replied. “He’s our new neighbour, so you won’t
have to wait very long.”

55. With the house finished, Comet and Marielle spent the rest of their summer helping Jimmy and
Deirdre plan their wedding.
The ceremony was small, with only a few of their friends from college, but it was nice seeing all of
the previous members of Oresha Cham Oresha reunited again.

56. Comet began his new job at the start of the fall. It was a low position, but it paid fairly well, and with
some hard work, he’d soon be able to move up into working with plants.
Marielle, on the other hand, was doing small freelance jobs, as well as taking on the majority of the
household chores in her downtime until she found some full-time work.

57. “We need to talk about something,” Marielle informed him one day after he’d returned from work.
“Is it about the promotion I just got? Because yes, I do think congratulatory woohoo would be the
best way to celebrate that.”
Marielle smiled. “Well, it’s related to that, I guess. But better.”
“You found the job opening you want?” He guessed. “I told you that you’d get it; your work is
amazing.”
“You’re just biased because a lot of it involves you.”
“Well, perhaps.”

58. “You’re on the wrong track, anyways,” Marielle replied.
Comet raised an eyebrow. “Can’t you just tell me what you want to talk about?”
“It’s more fun watching you try to guess. Besides; you’re a scientist. Isn’t hypothesizing what you’re
supposed to do?”
“I hypothesize whether or not the dirt under construction sites has any historical importance. The
answer is usually yes.”
Marielle sighed, and whispered a hint into his ear.

59. “You’re pregnant?” he asked, his face lighting up.
“Yeah.” Marielle returned his smile. “I found out this morning. I tried calling you at work, but I guess
you had some important hypothesizing to do about dirt.”
“That’s why you made me, guess isn’t it? Because I didn’t answer my phone.”
“No,” she said innocently. “I just thought maybe you would like to hypothesize some more. Practice
for your next promotion.”

60. “You’re lucky I’m too happy to be annoyed with you right now.” He moved his hand so that it lay flat
across her abdomen. “Seriously though,” he said in a more gentle tone of voice, “I’m really happy.”
“Well I’m glad to hear it.” Marielle squeezed his shoulder. “Because it’s a bit late to turn back now.”
“I suppose we should hold off on the celebration, then,” he said. “Since we’ve already succeeded.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she replied. “This just means we should celebrate more, before I get huge and we
have to start getting a bit more creative with how we go about things.”
“Then I guess we should start right now.”

61. “Definitely.”

62. “Comet?” Marielle asked when they broke apart.
“What is it? Is the baby alright? Should we not do that?”
“The baby’s fine, honey. Maybe you should worry less about me, and more about the fact that you’ve
majored in biology, yet somehow have a very naïve understanding of how pregnancy works.” She
grinned.
“Oh.”
“Anyways, what I wanted to say was that we really need to get some curtains for the living room
window. Soon.”

63. Fall turned into winter, and the two of them spent their first Christmas together as a family in
Aurora. Jimmy and Deirdre were also staying in town for the holidays, and had invited the couple to
celebrate it with them.
While Comet missed his family, he wasn’t going to risk returning to Astra Villa for an extended period
of time, especially with Marielle expecting. He’d been born mute as a result of something going
wrong with his mother’s pregnancy, and the last thing he wanted was for something similar to
happen to his own child.
Besides, he’d spent all of his winter holidays with Jimmy back in college, and it had become
somewhat of a tradition. With stories of honeymoons to be swapped, and baby bumps to be
compared, he was just as happy to spend it with his friends as he would have been with his family.

64. Though visiting his family was out of the question for the time being, he still made an effort to keep
in touch with his family over weekly phone calls.
Comet had been excited to share the news that Marielle was expecting to his parents, and continued
to update them as she progressed through her pregnancy, along with the usual news about how his
work was going, and what was happening with his extended family back at home.

65. Spring arrived, and though a lot of their money was being put towards buying things for the baby,
they began to look into small ways to improve their growing home.
Comet had wanted to start his own garden since they had bought the house, and now that they were
expecting, it would be a good way to continue his work in botany while being able to spend more
time at home with his family.

66. The spring season seemed to fly by, and with the arrival of summer came the arrival of a new sim.
“Comet?” Marielle said. Comet mumbled something in reply, and rolled over, pulling the covers with
him. “I’m like 95% sure I’m in labour.”
He shot upright, kicking the covers off him. “Now?”
“Yes, now. What did you think this was, some sort of baby fire drill?”
“That would have been nice,” he replied, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Marielle groaned,
and he gave her an apologetic look.

67. Marielle slid off the bed, and turned to look at him. “Honey, what are you doing?”
Comet looked up. “Making the bed?”
“Can’t you do that later?” She asked, her voice growing shrill. “When I’m not about to give birth to
our first child?”
“We won’t have time later.”
“Comet!”

68. She bent over, clutching her abdomen. Comet climbed over the bed to reach her, stopping a few feet
away. “What do I do?” He asked, panicked.
“I don’t know!” Marielle cried. “You’re the one with a biology degree, you must know something!”
Comet ran a hand through his hair, desperately trying to think of anything he learned that could be
remotely helpful to his wife. “Have you tried taking deep breaths?” He suggested at last.
“No, actually, I’ve found that not breathing at all really helps,” she said sarcastically.
“Maybe it would be best if I just shut up.”

69. Their daughter was born moments later, after quite a bit of yelling, and a couple more unhelpful
attempts at giving advice.
Comet breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank plumbbob that’s over… and sorry I was completely useless.”
“You aren’t completely useless,” Marielle said in a reassuring tone of voice. “In fact, it would be really
helpful if you could hold our first one for a moment.”
“First one?” Comet repeated as he stepped forward to take the baby.
Marielle gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, I’m afraid we’re only half done here.”

70. A few minutes passed, and a second daughter joined the first, with a bit less yelling involved this
time around.
“Twins,” Comet said. “On our first try. I can’t believe it. I’m going to have to look up the statistical
odds of that… later.”
“At least they’re not identical,” Marielle added. “Diana’s got your hair colour, and my eyes, and
Halley has the opposite.
“Thank plumbbob,” he replied. “I’d lose my mind if we couldn’t tell them apart.”
“We’re going to have to buy another crib, though. And diapers… and everything.”
“They’ll probably be fine sharing one crib for a few nights,” Comet assured her. “…I hope.”

71. After the twins were fed, and safely nestled in their shared crib, Comet and Marielle returned to their
bedroom to grab a couple more hours of sleep. Or attempt to, at least.
“Well, things just got very interesting,” Marielle said, reaching up to caress his cheek.
“It could be worse,” Comet said with a smile. “That potion I took could have made me infertile.”
“I think you were a little too fertile, if anything,” she teased.

72. Comet wrapped his hand around hers. “I’m just glad they’re healthy,” he said. “I was afraid the
potion might have affected them somehow. I wanted to tell you, but… I didn’t want you to worry,
especially if there wasn’t anything to worry about.”
“Well, now we know there isn’t,” she replied. “So you can stop worrying about that.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, a small smile began to spread across his face. “Now we have about a hundred
other things to worry about instead.”
“And we’ll work through them,” Marielle assured him. “Right after I get another hour of sleep.”

73. With Comet working his way up the career ladder, Marielle continued to do freelance work from
home so that she could look after the twins.
She had begun to branch out to other mediums since graduating from college, and found that she
was able to make a decent bit of money from selling home-made pottery. It was a bit messy, but
Marielle figured the clay was less harmful to the babies than the fumes from oil paints and solvents.

74. At the moment, the majority of their income was going into buying more furniture for the nursery, as
well as painting and papering the walls to brighten it up.
They were hoping to renovate the house some time in the future so that the girls could each have
their own room, but until they had the money for that, it was easier to keep the twins together.

75. As the summer came to an end, Marielle managed to land a job photographing weddings. It wasn’t
exactly her area of expertise, but she knew enough about composition from painting classes to
convince other sims she knew what she was doing.
Of course, with both Comet and Marielle now working full-time jobs, they needed to find someone to
look after the twins. Jimmy and Deirdre were also busy with work, so they settled on hiring a nanny.
Comet was sure his grandmother would disapprove; she had basically raised her siblings, in addition
to her own children, but he wasn’t left with any other options at the moment.

76. Fall brought about the twin’s first birthday, which was both exciting, and slightly terrifying for Comet
and Marielle.
So far, they had done a pretty good job of tending to two babies on a tight budget. But with the girls
growing, they were going to need new clothes, on top of furniture, and much, much more attention.

77. The bright side to the twins becoming slightly older was seeing how each of them took after their
parents.
Diana had inherited both Marielle’s eye colour and shape, but the majority of her facial features were
from Comet. Halley, on the other, took heavily after her mother, with her eye colour being the only
noticeable feature she had inherited from Comet.

78. When it came to personality, Halley also took after Marielle in terms of talent. She spent most of her
time glued to the activity table, producing mountains of multicoloured scribbles that turned into
recognizable shapes as the season passed.
Halley was shy, but affectionate like Comet, and extremely playful. When she wasn’t doodling away
at her activity table, she was usually getting up to trouble in other areas of the house.

79. Diana wasn’t quite as playful as Halley, but she was easily the most outgoing member of the family.
When she did leave the nursery, it was usually to follow Comet or Marielle around in hopes that
they’d give her some attention, whether it be reading her a book, or playing a game of peek-a-boo.
Of course, she was just as happy to spend time with her twin sister when her parents were too busy
to play with her.

80. As the winter season began, Comet and Marielle started arranging play dates for the twins with
Jimmy and Deirdre’s daughter, Piper.
At least, they claimed it was for the kids. They spent far more time catching up with one another
than they did supervising the children.

81. “I’m gonna kick all of your asses,” Jimmy announced as he passed out plastic sticks. “I am the
undefeated champion of Don’t Wake the Llama.”
“I’m going to kick yours if my kids pick up any inappropriate words from you,” Comet muttered.
“Children, please. Behave.” Deirdre grinned. “It’s a kids’ game; there’s no need to be hostile.”
“Not if you adding drinking rules. Then it’s for adults. Adults only,” Jimmy replied. “You guys in?”
“No way.” Marielle frowned. “Not while we’re supposed to be watching the kids.”
Jimmy sighed. “You guys were so much more fun to hang out with in college.”

82. “We have more responsibilities now,” Marielle said in a gentle tone of voice.
“Two of them, to be precise,” Comet added.
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Jimmy placed his first stick on the plastic llama. “I guess with twins it’s
kinda like dinosaurs, right?”
Marielle frowned. “Are you drunk already?”
Jimmy ignored her question. “It’s like, they have their own secret language that only the two of them
can understand, and if you don’t keep an eye on them at all times they’ll probably try to kill you. You
know? I know what I’m talking about; I’ve seen those dinosaur movies.”

83. “I think he might be right about the language thing, actually.” Comet reached across the table to
take his turn. “I’m pretty sure I’ve read about that somewhere.”
“See? I’m fantastic at kids.” Jimmy massaged his shoulder. “So fantastic, it hurts.”
Deirdre snorted. “That’s what he likes to think.”
Jimmy looked hurt. “Excuse me? I’m the perfect father. Name one way I could be better.”

84. “Well, maybe the next time we have a child you could, I don’t know, help me when I go into labour,
instead of fixing the computer,” Deirdre replied. “Crazy thought, I know.”
“Okay, but to be fair I was already fixing the computer before you went into labour, so…”
“Hey, at least your husband was doing something productive,” Marielle interrupted. “Comet decided
he’d rather make the bed.”
“Making the bed is productive,” he argued.
“No it’s not,” Jimmy scoffed. “That’s just dumb, dude. Nothing bad happens if you don’t make your
bed. Broken computers, on the other hand, are totally dangerous so really I was just protecting my
family.”

85. Deirdre sighed. “At least the kids are getting along.”
“Of course they get along. I’m best friends with Comet, why wouldn’t our kids be best friends, too?”
“Just because they get along now doesn’t mean they’ll like each other when they’re older.” Marielle
replied. “I haven’t talked to any of my childhood friends since I left for college.”
“Well I hope they will,” Jimmy said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if our kid married one of your kids? Then
we’d all be related. That’d be totally awesome.”

86. “Plumbbob, no,” Comet replied. “Not if they’re the heir; that’s against the rules.”
“We’ve already decided that if one of our kids falls in love with yours, we’re going to disown them,”
Marielle teased.
“Seriously, though,” Comet continued, “it’s not allowed.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Whatever. All of our kids are girls, anyways. If your heir likes girls, you’ll have a
different problem on your hands, won’t you?”
“Let’s not talk about this now, okay?” Deirdre said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to
think about how fast Piper is going to grow up.”

87. “Agreed,” Marielle replied. “And I don’t want to think about getting older myself, either.”
“I’ve already decided I’m gonna to be the coolest old person ever,” Jimmy piped up. “When I go
through my mid-life crisis I’m getting myself a motorcycle.”
Comet raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even have a driver’s licence. You made me drive you
everywhere in college.”
“Well, okay, I don’t actually plan on riding it,” Jimmy admitted. “I’m just gonna stand outside with it
when the kids get off from school. Ask them if they wanna take a look. Yell at them to get off my
lawn when they get close.”
“I’m going to get a tattoo,” Marielle decided.

88. “Wouldn’t that look awful?” Deirdre asked.
“I’ll just put it on whatever area of my body is the least saggy.” Marielle grinned. “It’ll stop the kids
from wanting to get tattoos, maybe.”
“I’m sure it would still look lovely,” Comet argued.
“Well I’m going to learn to knit.” Deirdre studied the llama as she prepared to take her turn. “I’m
going to make misshapen sweaters as Christmas gifts for all of you.”
“What about you?” Jimmy looked up at Comet. “What’s your plan?”
Comet shrugged. “Haven’t thought about that, really.”

89. Jimmy crossed his arms. “Boring.”
Comet shrugged. “Boring is fine with me. If I wanted excitement, I would have stayed in Astra Villa.
With all the witches and werewolves that want to kill me or my family.”
“How is your family doing?” Jimmy asked. “Have they met the kids yet? Are they bugging you for
more? Is there going to be more?”
Comet shook his head. “We haven’t gone back to visit yet. We might one day, when the girls are a
bit older. I’m not exactly keen on spending hours in a car with twin toddlers.”
“He calls his mother every Tuesday, though.” Marielle added. “It’s sweet.”

90. “That’s adorable,” Deirdre commented. “Jimmy doesn’t speak to his family.”
“Neither does Marielle,” Comet replied. “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“My family is in the witness protection program,” Jimmy joked. “I can’t contact them; it’ll blow their
cover. Besides, I have you guys; that’s the only family I need.”
“Are you guys hosting Christmas Eve again?” Marielle asked. “We can do it this year, if you want.”
“That’d be great,” Deirdre agreed. “We’ll do Christmas morning, then.”
“Hold on,” Jimmy interrupted. “Christmas morning means we have to clean up after three toddlers’
worth of wrapping paper. I think whoever loses the game should host Christmas morning.”

91. Jimmy moved to place his last stick, and the tower collapsed. “Fuck… fudge, whatever. Don’t give me
that look, Comet, they probably don’t understand half of the things we say anyways.”
Marielle laughed. “Well, I guess that settles it.”
“What? No! I demand a rematch.” Jimmy scowled. “We didn’t have a chance to all agree on the
terms before the sticks fell over.”
“Fine,” Deirdre agreed. “We have time for one more match before I need to start dinner.”
“Prepare to get your butts kicked,” Jimmy declared. “For real this time.”

92. Winter turned into spring, and soon Comet found himself back at the garden shop. With a larger
income due to Marielle getting more work, they were slowly starting to expand their small house,
and with it, the front garden.
As he studied a potted hydrangea, a cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts. “Hi, can I help you?”

93. Comet turned around to find the owner beaming at him. “Hey, I remember you!” She chirped. “You
came here last year, didn’t you? With your wife?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I did, yeah.”
“Sorry, that probably came off super creepy. It’s just that there’s not a lot of aliens, around here,
you know? You’re very memorable.”
“My wife said the same thing to me when I first met her, actually,” Comet replied. “I guess you must
get the same thing, with your tattoos.”

94. “Oh, these aren’t tattoos,” she said with a laugh. “I’m a plantsim.”
“Oh… sorry. I’ve never really heard of plantsims,” he said, feeling stupid. “I guess I should; I studied
botany in college.”
“Really?” She asked with enthusiasm. “That’s so cool! I’ve been trying to start a garden club lately,
but nobody’s been interested.”
“That’s a shame. Isn’t there already a garden club, though?”
“Well, technically yes, but mine’s going to be special. A garden club for plantsims, by plantsims!
Because no sim knows gardens better than us… except you, maybe.”

95. “Would you like to join?” She continued. “I could totally use a sim with your knowledge, not just any
idiot who turns themselves because they can’t use a canister of industrial-strength pesticide
correctly.” Her eyes widened, along with her grin, as she spoke.
“I’m not a plantsim, though,” Comet pointed out. “I’m a warlock, technically, because of my parents.
There’s not much else supernatural about me, though, other than the green skin.”
“A warlock? Oh my plumbbob, me too! Okay, well a witch, but you know what I mean. I grow
ingredients for the local council here. We have so much in common!”
“Not really,” he replied, beginning to feel uneasy.
“Not yet,” she corrected. “So, what do you say?”

96. Comet held up his hands. “I think you have the wrong impression,” he replied, taking a step back. “I
don’t want to be a warlock. No offence, but I moved to Aurora to get away from witch councils, and
any other supernatural creatures.” The woman’s face fell, and he quickly backtracked. “I know, that
sounds really hypocritical coming from me, I’m sorry.”
“No,” she replied with a sigh. “It’s okay. I got a little too excited, didn’t I?”
“Sorry,” Comet said again.
“It’s fine, really,” she assured him. “I just thought it would be nice to spend time with people like me.
I thought you’d understand, maybe.”

97. “Look,” he began, feeling bad for letting her down. “I appreciate your offer, I just can’t take it. My…
my family’s had some bad experiences with other supernatural creatures. I’m sorry, but I came here
to start a safer future. I need to do what’s best for my family.”
“It’s alright,” she said, looking sympathetic. “It’s disappointing, but I don’t blame you.”
“Thanks for understanding,” he replied. “I’m sorry, I really am.”
“I could still help you,” she offered. “I’m not a very high ranked witch, but I could take away your
powers, if you wanted. All traces of magic gone. Completely.”
“Could you really?” The woman nodded in repose. “I’d like that,” he decided.

98. She began to mutter a spell under her breath, twirling two fingers in the air as she spoke. A blue
light began to glow from within him, reminiscent of the effects of the spell he and Celia had
performed in the basement of the science building back in college.
Comet glanced around uneasily at the other customers, but none of them took any notice. Potted
flowers were more interesting than a glowing alien man, apparently.

99. The light dissipated, and he opened his mouth to speak, but not sound came out. Slowly, the
realization of what had happened washed over him, and his insides sunk. He shot a panicked look at
the woman, and her eyes widened.
“Oh my plumbbob,” she covered her mouth as she spoke, muffling her words. “Your voice. I got rid
of your voice. Oh, plumbbob, I’m so sorry!”

100. Thanks for reading! I’d like to note that I will be returning to school the second week of September
for my fourth (but not final) year of university, so updates might be a bit slow in the following
months.
So far I’ve done a pretty decent job of releasing an update every month, but I don’t know what my
workload will be like until school starts. I’m hoping that taking a separate year for my thesis (for
personal, unrelated reasons) will give me enough free time that I won’t have to put this story on
hiatus!
Song Credits:
Hooked on a Feeling – BJ Thomas