Chapter 37:...And More Babies

Racquel is feeling maternal lately, which is why today's morning sickness is not at all an unwelcome feeling.

Josie passes them on her way into the bathroom.

Welp...

"Can we do this?" Josie worries. "I mean, two more babies?" Jonesy assures her that she can do anything.

Playing guitar to soothe her nerves:

Maternity wear blues.

Tony discovers a penchant for dark spaces.

And Zoe becomes a toddler.

On Snowflake Day, Racquel and Josie are tired out from motherhood and pregnancy. They decide to just invite family for the party.

Josie is disappointed that Jonesy doesn't show. Maybe he's spending Snowflake Day with his own family, she thinks, a little bitter. He's the father of her child(ren), doesn't that make them family?

The Hands jamming together, like the old days.

Marlin and Ida are as sweet as always.

As Marlin and Ida head home (they go to bed early now that they're elderly), Racquel goes into labor.

Which is why when Josie goes into labor, less than an hour later, she's home alone with two toddlers who need an adult.

Hurry up, Racquel, Josie thinks desperately, her teeth gritted against the pain.

Finally, the Rockets come home with a baby boy, Blaze. The name was Rolando's idea.

Josie practically flies out the door and gets to the hospital just in time to give birth to baby Zinnia. Further evidence that Hands are only capable of having girls, apparently.

A second nursery is built. Now they have one for the Rockets and one for the Hands.

Both rooms have a space theme.

Josie teaches Zoe about clubbing and dance music.

Zoe just likes to hear her mother talk.

Is it just me, or is there a bit of Pauline/Marlin in that face?

Once Zoe learns to talk, she tries to communicate with her housemates.

"Is it yummy, Tony?" she wants to know. 

"Shut up," says Tony, and ignores her when she starts to wail. Racquel's evilness is rubbing off on him.

To stop her crying, Josie brings Zoe to a party at her parents' house. She's hoping Zoe will have inherited her own love of partying, but Zoe sleeps through the whole thing. She has the heavy sleeper trait.

At the party, Josie meets some new people. The pregnant blonde is Irene Funke, who has the ugliest sim face I honestly have ever seen.

Ida and Josie share a look over poor Irene's shoulder.

Bo Jack, a celebrity actor, also attends.

He and Josie are good friends by the end of the night.

And of course, Josie doesn't forget to say hi to Cheech the dog.

What a good dog.

She comes home to a mess of squalling and hungry toddlers. Racquel is busy in another room, aging up.

Not really the glamorous lifestyle she envisioned for herself when she moved to Storybrook County.

Since becoming an adult, Racquel is having a midlife crisis. She's becomes absolutely no help around the house, instead stomping around scaring people and using the megaphone on them.

Even poor Zoe gets it. Luckily, her heavy sleeper trait means she doesn't even stir.

Disappointed, Racquel stomps away to vandalize the park. It seems all she wants to do lately is spray paint every surface in sight.

Josie worries about her friend's mental health, as well as her children's physical health after being exposed to the spray paint fumes.

The season changes once more. It's now Spring!

The house is a flurry of child-rearing.

And birthdays! Josie, Tony, Blaze, and Zinnia all have birthdays on the same day.

Tony ages up with the Can't Stand Art trait, to go with his Evil and Loner traits. He looks like a mini Racquel, except with Rolando's eyes and skin tone.

He has no respect for his mother's street art plastered all over the apartment.

Next birthday is Blaze's. He looks nothing at all like his brother; he seems to have inherited his father's exact face.

And then Zinnia:

She likes the toybox, too.

And finally Josie. 

Tony doesn't cheer. He sort of hates Josie and her artsy hair and floral shirts and stupid bubbly personality. 

He dreams of living alone and not having to share a room with a smelly toddler. 

For the first time since Tony was born, the entire house is asleep at the same time.

In the morning, Tony complains about them only having canned soup and toast in the fridge. "This food is shit," he says, mimicking his mother's language. "Get me something nicer to eat."

"I'm not your servant, kid," Racquel says grumpily. She's a night owl, and the combination of midlife crisis and early morning is turning her into a real terror. Tony is no better.

"When I grow up," he tells her angrily, "I will have servants, and I'll eat only the best and most expensive foods and everyone will be jealous of me!" And he storms off, leaving his toast half eaten on the plate.

Racquel sighs. "Clean off your plate, kid!" she yells after him.

Tony ignores his mother and goes out for a bike ride. He wishes to see a ghost.

Instead, he finds a plant that grows jelly beans.

He keeps eating them until he's stuffed. And orange.

No ghosts here, either.

This boy is fascinated with death.

"OK, repeat after me: 'party rock is in the house tonight...'"

"And remember, when you commit arson, make sure to disable the smoke alarms first."

Tony rolls his eyes. Racquel is wasting her breath on Blaze. The real evil mastermind in this house is Tony, obviously. 

Case in point. Zinnia is shocked and extremely displeased.

Stupid toddler won't stop crying. It was only a lollipop, for Pete's sake!

Racquel thinks Tony's prank was hilarious. She's less proud of him when he starts ranting about how much he hates art, though.

He plots to grow up and DESTROY ALL ART. Muahahahaha!

Three toddlers playing peacefully.

As often happens in a house full of young kids, things fall apart at the drop of a hat.

For some reason, Tony really likes picking on Zinnia. She's an easy target, I guess.

Babies SUCK!

Marlin and Ida come to visit. Tony wonders if one of them will die and fulfill his wish to see a ghost.

Josie is concerned about the boy hovering around her father's ankles looking simultaneously evil and hopeful. Marlin doesn't notice, he's busy looking cute for the camera.

Ida checks to make sure three toddlers and an evil child haven't done any damage to Josie's psyche.

Tony booby traps the entire apartment.

"You're stupid," he tells Zinnia. "I'm going to make you my minion one day."

At night, Tony hunts for valuable things.

Racquel gets another tattoo.

She tries to startle Josie into dropping her mixology tips.

Blaze and Zinnia often play next to each other, but never together.

Zoe becomes a child. 

Her traits are Heavy Sleeper, Couch Potato, and Grumpy. She divides her time equally between sleeping, sulking, and watching tv. Often she does the last two or the first two together.

Tony abandons his gem-hunting hobby and moves on to fishing. He likes the graveyard pond a lot.

He stays out in the rain until he's soaked and sweaty, and barely makes it back in time for the Love Day party his mom and Josie have planned.

It's a fairly big party, unlike the last one. Josie misses the epic house parties she used to enjoy so much, so she invites a lot of people she barely knows.

Pictured here is Bo Jack, Venus Pierce, and Irma Richardson in green. Irma is a five-star celebrity sculptor, and a good friend of both Racquel's and Josie's. She doesn't know her husband is cheating on her with multiple women. Marlin, Jonesy, and Ida are here too.

That's Cletus, Irma's wife. Josie didn't invite him, because he's a slimeball, so he's either crashing or Irma invited him along.

Martina Buchanon, wife of politician Pierre Buchanon, tries out the bar stuffed in Josie's bedroom.

Holden Glover-Wozny plays video games with the kids. Tony cracks a rare smile as he kills alien simulations with a giant laser beam.

Suddenly, people are shouting downstairs. There's the sound of breaking dishes and the music abruptly stops. Everyone clamors for the tube elevator as everyone rushes to see what happened.

Not Marlin! I'm not ready!!

Finally, Tony gets his wish of seeing a ghost. I don't have time for you right now, Tony.

Ida is shocked and heartbroken. Everyone looks at her in sympathy as she cries out her grief.

Josie can't believe her father is really dying. It's not fair! He didn't even get to know his grandchildren well, but her own grandfather lived to see her become a young adult. 

It's Love Day, the anniversary of his and Ida's wedding, and that just makes it even worse.

Zoe is confused, but her mother is crying and her grandmother is crying so she cries, too.

Marlin gets on his knees and begs for just a little more time with his family. Oh, no, Marlin, that is just so sad.

The Reaper refuses, of course, and then Marlin is gone. R.I.P.

Josie cries on Jonesy's shoulder and is weirdly thankful that her youngest didn't have to see what happened. She's too young to remember this, and Josie is a little envious.

And then, just moments later...

Is it too cliche to say she died of a broken heart?

Josie is disconsolate. She abandons the rest of the party and escapes to her room to cry into her pillow.

Eventually, she cries herself to sleep, and dreams of her parents' wedding day.

---------------

Notes - 

Losing Marlin was a shock. I actually started to feel all sad and choked up about it, while taking screenshots and admonishing myself for getting so attached to him, and then I saw Tony laughing in the corner and I got really irrationally angry. Then I had to tell myself to calm down, that he's just a child-aged computer simulation. And then Ida died, and I was really surprised, but also I thought like, it's kinda good because at least they get to be together. In Josie's inventory. xD

Anyway, 4 out of 4 kids born, that means one of them is the gen 4 heir! I wonder who it will be... (just kidding, I know who it's going to be. Heh). I got really lucky with the rolls again, and rolled another career I never tried. So I'm excited! And I really like the kids this generation. So the next few chapters should be fun. For me, anyway, haha.