Chapter 15: Forever With You

Ida pleads with her mom for an inventing bench of her own.

"Please, Mom, I'll try really hard in school and I was on the honor roll in elementary, and you bought Rain an easel! I don't have time to always go running to the fire station, please Mom please I want it so bad..."

Shanti sighs. She can't quite remember when exactly her kids developed minds of their own.

"Rain got an easel because she needed to do something productive to reduce stress after work. You chose not to get a job, which is fine, but that means you'll have to make do with looking for stars. I thought you loved searching the galaxy, anyway."

But at the look on her daughter's face, Shanti caves. "Oh, all right. If you can make an A by the end of the week, your father and I will consider it."

So Ida studies hard. She even calls her sister's friend Rosalind over to help tutor her in the more difficult subjects.

Rosalind: "Since when am I qualified to tutor? God, this is all Rain's fault."

Ida also fixes the computer,

and makes the tub self-cleaning.

Not to mention spending a few minutes every day buttering Shanti up in the Hand Family style:

Ida even studies the night of her and Marlin's date.

"I just need to finish this worksheet, then we can go to the movies," she promises.

"I don't care what we do," says Marlin, "as long as I get to spend time with you."

Movie night! The couple decide on a romantic comedy. Cheesy, but still good.

And then they make out.

Dinner afterwards, at the fancy Bistro.

More kissing!

The rain makes it more romantic, somehow.

Marlin waits until Ida's back is turned to start jumping up and down like a little kid. Best date ever? More like best girlfriend ever!

Immediately after their date is over, Ida rolls a wish to kiss Marlin. Are they meant to be? Definitely.

Meanwhile, Rain has a bad day and autonomously starts setting booby traps.

.....Poor Rain. Maybe I'll take pity on her and give her a boyfriend or girlfriend soon. She's had the wish for a first romance since her birthday.

And how are the parental units doing this week? Alexander's gardening is doing really well... a little too well, if you ask me:

So. Many. Trees. Can you spot the Sim in this picture?

Also, life fruit! Finally.

His nectar making is going well, too. He's so close to being at the top of his career that the city council gives him a trophy!

He's very proud of it; it gets its own little display space in the basement.

His painting has also really improved. He paints brilliant pieces and masterpieces regularly.

A painting of Ida:

A painting for Ida:

Both get hung up and framed; they're masterpieces.

Shanti gets hired to train Jody Jett-Gabriel, wife of Alex's friend German (the consignment specialist), in Martial Arts.

Shanti supports Jody's attempts to stay physically healthy in her old age. In fact, the training session is a reminder that Shanti's own birthday is coming up. She makes a mental note to practice more on her days off, and then another to thank Alex again for first buying her the training set so many seasons ago.

... Wait, Jody, don't sit there!

Yes, better.

Back to Ida: The Wans have moved again. Ida goes to visit!

Wow, big.

Ida gets to meet her boyfriend's family for the first time. First is Junior, the baby:

The Wan face looks good on him, I think.

Shana, who had somewhat less luck on the genetics front, is a little weird. She's perfectly friendly to Ida, though.

Finally it's time to meet the parents.

"Hello Ms. Wan, Officer Goddard sir, my name is Ida, Ida Hand, I'm dating your son, did you know? He's the best, thank you for making him; like, seriously, thank you so much."

"Uh... oh, hey, I know your family. Your mom's the doctor, right? Let's just say she helped me after I had a run-in with the freezer tacos last year. It's nice to meet you."

Pauline: "I know your family too! Your parents used to throw all these totally rad parties last year when you kids were still babies, and I would crash! Ahahaha, good times."

Marlin's parents are pretty easy to get along with.

Marlin: "Got something for you here..."
Ida: "If it's not an inventing bench I'm not interested."

She's kidding, of course. What girl doesn't love flowers?

They stay up late watching the stars and holding hands.

"Wanna cuddle?" asks Marlin. Ida grins. "Hell yeah."

"So that star is the one you discovered and named after me?" Marlin asks, pointing. Ida's not embarrassed to have named a star after her boyfriend. That's just the kind of thing teenagers do when they're in love, right?

"Yeah.. wait, no, it's the one next to it. Just to the left, that big one, yeah. That's you." Ida feels as though she's floating among the stars herself. This is great, she thinks. This is so perfect.

Whispered confessions beneath the stars; "I love you"s exchanged, promises made. "I want forever with you," he tells her.

"I want that, too."

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Notes-

Kind of a mushy filler chapter? I usually don't like playing teens but these two just kill me. I'm not sure what it is about them but they just strike me as so friggin' cute. Oh, and sorry for the ugly outerwear, I always forget to fix those, they're so annoying...