Round Six - Bhalli - Playing Happy Families

Jace Bhalli and Solveig Tellerman are engaged and settling into life with Jace's mother, step-dad and new baby brother Gabriel. Will things continue to be plain sailing?

Round Five - Bachman/Darwin - Stress-Free Living

Tom Darwin has joined his college-drop-out girlfriend Allyn Bachan after getting unceremoniously kicked out of university himself. Will he stop his philandering ways, and will either of them get it together enough to pay the rent?

Round Five - King - We Are Young

Petal Bhalli has graduated university and left her family home in order to live with her fiancé Nathaniel King. Unfortunately, this is a package deal including him, his parents and his two little sisters... still, they're not going to let it get in their way.

This may sound like a stupid question, but...

...how do you do the "read more" thing so that only the first photo of a post is visible, thus meaning there aren't "spoilers" and the main page of the blog takes a shorter time to load? I'm only used to Livejournal cuts, and not so used to Blogger...

Round Five - Darwin - Backstabber

Harvey Darwin's home art business is thriving, but with that comes the temptation of a beautiful, young and naive employee. Adele is oblivious, preferring her career, and their youngest children Sam and Maya are doing their own thing. How long can they continue before their fake happy family implodes?


The stresses of increasing age and three pregnancies lead to Adele switching careers and starting again from the very bottom, but she wasn't too worried. Yes, being an athlete had suited her well, but the idea of breaking the glass ceiling in politics intrigued her too... even if her dreams did wobble a bit when she saw the wreck she had to car-pool in.


Little Maya was growing up fast and was delighted with her newest toy - a stove of her very own! She was fascinated by the process of cake-making as much as the end result, which was a good thing as at the moment she mostly only managed to burn them. She ate them anyway, though.


She was a friendly little girl - not extremely outgoing, but sweet and playful enough to overcome her shyness easily. She made friends with Liliana King at school.

"I can so do algebra," said Liliana boastfully. "I am AWESOME at algebra. Listen!" She started off on a nonsensical stream of Xs and Ys but Maya nodded her on indulgently. Liliana was a bit over-the-top but she was a lot of fun to be around the rest of the time!


The "affair" with Esther hadn't gone past a little flirtation but it was still obvious to anyone who cared to notice, the way they looked at each other, the way he always touched her arm when complimenting her.

"Esther, you're a natural saleswoman! Of course, who could resist buying from someone so pretty... I'm giving you a raise, effective immediately."

"Oh wow! Thanks Harvey!"

The other employee rolled his eyes. Had Harvey Darwin never heard the term "abuse of power"?!


Harvey couldn't bear it anymore. The moment he shut up shop he walked over to Esther and tried to caress her face - a risk, he knew, since all they'd had was touches that could be construed as friendly... and she rebuffed him, a look of horror on her face.

"I'm sorry, but... look. I've had time to think about all of this. You're so handsome and charming and all the rest, but you're married! I'm not that sort of girl."

"What sort of girl's that?" asked Harvey with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not a home-wrecker. I want love, sure, but not like this. I want someone I can raise a family with. It's got to end between us, right now, before anyone gets hurt."

Harvey walked off without a word.

But her resolve not to be "that kind of girl" couldn't stand up to the pressure - Harvey wore her down and wore her down, and eventually she caved under the pressure. She even though she might be in love... which allowed him to take the next step.


Adele returned home early after finally getting a promotion, in higher spirits than she had been for a long time. Harvey was nowhere to be found, so she headed to the bedroom... and found him instantly, in bed with pretty young Esther.


"HOW COULD YOU?" Adele had never been a violent person but she struck out in a cloud of rage and smacked Harvey across the face, then stormed off.


They tried to keep their anger quiet, but it was impossible. Over the next few weeks they had quite a few fights and arguments, and Sam realised what was going on. One time they had a particular vicious shouting match right in front of him and he ran to his room in tears - he was always a sensitive kid.


Adele sat in her baby girl's room, playing chess and trying to compose her thoughts. Yes, Harvey had hurt her, betrayed her, broken her heart, but she he had three children by him and the youngest was about to hit puberty - was it worth losing all that history? Didn't Maya need a father-figure in her teen years? Although, thinking about it that way... considering how Tom had turned out, maybe not letting Maya think that jerks cheating on her was okay would be a better plan. This was a tricky problem, she mused as she moved the pawns and queens around the board. She'd need time to think.

Round Five - Bhalli - Adult Life

Jace Bhalli and Solveig Tellerman are freshly graduated from university and have moved into Jace's mother's house. Will they manage to find any space of their own as a soon-to-be-married couple now Alima and Duncan are expecting Jace's new baby brother or sister?


Jace and Solveig were settling in fairly well - he thought the new decoration theme in the house was a bit too minimalist but he supposed he could deal with it - making any changes could come later, when they were a little more financially stable. As long as they had each other, it was all good. Solveig was glad she'd found someone who would give her backrubs whenever she asked and not demand anything in return!


One of the factors that cemented Alima and Duncan's relationships was their love of music, and Alima's burgeoning pregnancy bump hadn't dampened that in the least. They'd made one of the new rooms their own personal rehearsal space and continued to rock out as fervently as ever.


Solveig had to admit to herself that she'd been very worried about the concept of living with her future mother-in-law. She'd met her a few times while she was at university but living together was a whole other matter! What if she didn't think she was good enough for her little boy?... Of course, Solveig hadn't reckoned on having a mother-in-law like outgoing, cheerful Alima, and her ability to corner you then get you into a really awesome conversation. She was still fairly young, after all, and she'd lived a lot on those years!

"I don't want you to ever feel uncomfortable here. This is your house as much as it is mine!"

"Thanks. I just don't want to get in the way, what with the baby and everything..."

"Don't worry about it! You're great fun to have around, not as stuffy as my twins... I'm not sure what happened there. I mean, I love them, but they're a total mystery to me! But you've got a good head on your shoulders. You're ambitious but you're cool."

Being told you were "cool" by your boyfriend's mother was a little surreal.


In seemingly no time at all, Solveig had become an intern at Sim City Hospital. The hours were long and gruelling but it was what she most wanted out of her life - helping others while netting a great paycheck!


Jace had also got a job, in order to prepare for Alima's incoming baby and any future children of his own. He wasn't as ambitious as his fiancée but work as a police officer was just right for him.


Alima gave birth to a healthy and handsome little baby boy, Gabriel King. He was a perfect mix of both his parents, as far as they were concerned!


Alima couldn't find a way to fully express her joy at having a new baby, especially with a guy she truly loved who would always stand by her. She could stare at little Gabriel for hours, just like she had with her twins, amazed at how she'd made such a cute little thing.


Alima and Solveig had indeed become very close friends, always joking and gossiping - about men, as often as not. Rumours about Harvey Darwin had been spreading around the community and they weren't about to pass up any opportunity to talk about that!


Jace had always wanted children of his own, and helping look after his baby brother fully cemented that desire. He willingly got up for midnight feedings, which was more than could be said for Alima. But everyone knew that after years of being a devoted single parent she deserved some rest.


Gabriel soon became a toddler and Alima began thinking about whether she and her "new" family should move out... but there was plenty of time.

Quick Note: How I'm Playing University

Usually I'm trying to keep to a listed schedule of sending students to university based around age, and I'm attempting to not give in to frustration at the lengthy teen years and send them off early as some teens won't want or need to go to university at all. However, sometimes I will break that system for drama purposes or not wanting to only have one sim in university at the time! I am still new to University as an EP (ironic that the first one is probably the last one I'm gonna get! although I'm suddenly tempted by Seasons...) so expect a few bits of confusion from my end :)