Gen 3 - Chapter 11: Why Can't Life be Normal Sometimes?

Being a mother to the girls during their toddler years turned out to be easier than during their infant years. If I wanted to get a good amount of sleep, since I didn't have to worry about work, all I would have to do is make sure they were fed and had a fresh diaper - and I made sure they knew I loved them, too - and then set them on the floor to entertain themselves. Oh, and boy did they know how to entertain themselves! They couldn't read yet, but they really enjoyed their board books, and babbled to each other in their adorable toddler-speak as they read them, probably about what they had just 'read'. I could sit for hours and just watch them, but often I would catch myself sneaking off to my room to get a good amount of sleep.

It had been a month or so since Marcelo had turned me down, and I had completely thrown myself into being a mother since then. I knew they needed a father, because.. well, I know I never had one, but at least I did have two parents, and I'd needed them both. Even if Mama Elvy and I had never been real close, I would have been different without her. So, when I heard my cell phone ring, and looked at the caller ID to see that it was Marcelo, even though I kind of wanting nothing to do with him, I still reluctantly answered it.

"Took you long enough - you know, I expected you to call ages ago."

"I'm sorry, but you know I'm not good with emotions and-"

I sighed, and rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know. You're not good with emotions, and you have a good excuse as to why you turned me down and then didn't call."

"I thought you were too angry at me to want to hear from me!"

"I WAS! But I was even angrier that you didn't call and try to explain yourself or apologize! Don't you understand anything, Marcelo?! I'm not giving up on you until you outright tell me you hate me, and once you do that I hope you know you're paying some really expensive child support." I decided that moving out of the nursery while the girls were sleeping was probably a good idea, since I was shouting and flailing all over. So I quickly moved over to the door and slipped out silently, closing the door behind me.

"I don't hate you, just the opposite! I need you in my life, Dahlia, but you caught me by surprise and I just.. my first thought was that I was needed at home to take care of Alicia since I'm the only one home during the day, but when I told my Mom and sisters what I did, they snapped on me like you did. As I was refusing I knew it was the wrong choice, but now I really know it. Not seeing you or my girls hurts more than I could have ever imagined before, and I'd prefer to deal with the good emotions with you and them than go through anymore of this."

"Good to know your family's on my side," I said, smirking somewhat to myself. "So.. Marcelo, why were you calling at this hour?" I glanced at a clock on the wall, noticing that it was in the later AM hours. I was awake because Rosella had woken up from a nightmare, and I'd had to soothe her back into sleep.

"I just got off work, and I thought maybe you'd want to meet me somewhere. Try a certain question again.." 

Excitement flooded me, and my eyes widened. Was he saying that he was going to say yes this time? "Does that mean-? Oh, never mind, yes, I want to meet you somewhere. Let's meet at the pond near the park, okay?"

"Okay, see you there. I love you."

"I love you too!" I exclaimed, and quickly called Quin to come babysit. He was the only one of my siblings that didn't have a career that required him to get up at certain hours, so he was my go-to man for late night babysitting. Plus, then we could catch up later.

 

I took off as soon as Quin got to the house - looking more like a zombie than a vampire - and got to the pond as quick as I could. Marcelo wasn't there yet, though, but that didn't surprise me because he he lived further away than I did. It would take him longer to get here. I stood around for several minutes, waiting, before I got tired of waiting and meandered over to a snake charmer's basket that was just kind of sitting there. I wondered who'd left it there, but didn't worry about it too much before I sat, wiped at the mouth of the flute, and then started attempting to charm the snake. I wasn't very good, and it didn't seem to be like most skills - I didn't pick it up right away. I don't even think there was a snake in there. But, if it was a snake charming basket, that meant that there had to have been one in there at one time, and if it wasn't anymore.. I jumped to my feet and dropped the flute, looking around at the ground, to see if the snake was anywhere nearby. Didn't seem to be. 

After an hour, I realized that I'd been stood up. I didn't know whether to cry or be angry, so I did neither and just drove home. I guess I should start expecting this - I had to wonder what his excuse was this time. When I got home, Quin was much more away than when I left, so when he saw the look on my face, he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. I couldn't help it - I lost it, and cried into his shoulder. We stayed that way for a while, before I finally settled down and we sat on the couch in my room. "Thanks, Quin.. for watching the girls, and for taking care of me, too."

"No problem.. it's the least I could do, with all you did for us while we were living here." He smiled at me, and I opened my mouth to tell him that I really didn't do that much, but he interrupted me. "Don't say you didn't do that much. Your worry was enough. You helped me figure myself out again!"

I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise, and smiled. "You did?"

"Yeah! I'm not gonna seek love out, I'm just gonna let it happen, and the gender doesn't matter. I'm a vampire, I have a long time yet before I have to find love. Though, the current stylist at the salon is really cute.."

".. you mean Juston?"

"Yessss!"

We sat there and talked about our and our siblings' love lives for the rest of the time it was dark out. Turns out that Kristy, the girl that Quin turned, had taken an interest in both Zach and Drazen, and they returned her interest (last I'd heard it was just Zach..). Oh boy, was I glad that I wasn't living with them currently - I had enough drama without worrying about my brothers' obsessing over Kristy Harden. But Eulalie seemed to be taking after her big sister - last I'd heard was that she was dating Willie Thirtytwo, but turns out that they'd recently gotten married because she was pregnant. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous about that. Quin could tell, too, so he quickly changed the subject. 

 Eventually, he figured he should probably go home, so I gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, then watched him go. 

  

The next few days, I decided I would ignore Marcelo for a while. I knew there was probably actually a good reason this time, since he told me that I should try my question again, but I was still angry for being stood up. I threw myself into motherhood again, and focused on Rosella's potty training first. She was the only one showing an interest in losing the diapers, and so whenever I'd see her doing the potty dance (she couldn't walk yet, but one can dance while sitting down), I'd rush her to the potty. It really didn't take her very long at all to catch on. Wren, however, got jealous of the attention her sister was getting, and so would cry whenever I rushed Rosie to the potty. I decided maybe I'd work on a skill with her, too - I wanted to get both of them out of diapers, but I wanted to wait until Wren seemed ready to be potty trained, so I decided to go with talking instead.

She caught on very quickly, and soon enough, she and I were having conversations. Just before putting her to bed, she'd protest, "Mama no theepy!"

"What? You've been awake all day, you haven't even had a nap you little liar." I would boop her nose, and then carry her over to the crib.

"Uh uh, no theepy!" 

Contrary to her protests, as soon as I would put her in her crib, her eyes would droop and she'd yawn, then she'd be completely out. "Uh huh. No sleepy. I see how 'not sleepy' you are." I'd whisper, then pet her hair and lean down to gently kiss her on the forehead.

It was one day, right after this nightly ritual that I heard my text tone go off. I blinked, then quickly slipped my phone out of my pocket and checked my inbox. It was from Marcelo. I didn't want to read it - I wanted to ignore him some more. But, the girls needed their Daddy even more than I needed him - and I needed him more than I admitted. So I read the text. 'Meet me at the place at my house that you proposed to me the first time. Bring the ring. I WILL be there this time.'

I debated for only a few moments, before calling up Quin again. He more than willingly came to take care of the girls, and I headed off towards the Swan/Knowles household. 

When I got there, I went straight to the spot where I'd proposed to Marcelo, and as soon as I turned the corner, I felt a pair of hands grab me. I gasped as I was pulled up against him, and then he kissed me passionately. I returned the kiss, quite urgently, and realized that I had missed this more than I had even realized. We stood there for who knows how long, before we finally pulled back, panting despite the lack of a need to breathe.

"Dahlia.. I'm tired of hurting you. My things are packed up. Please, ask me again. I'd ask you, but I know you have a ring."

Was this really happening? I hesitated only a moment.

I grabbed the ring from my back pocket, and sunk to my knee once again - much more comfortable this time, since I was in a tight skirt last time. He faked a gasp before I could even get the words out, and then pulled me to my feet. "Yes, I will marry you."

"You didn't even let me say anything."

"Ah, but you said it last time. It just took me a while to get the right answer out. What would you say to getting married right now?"

I stared at him, before nodding eagerly. I wasn't even able to speak, until we actually said our vows. Was this really happening? I was really, really marrying my high school sweetheart, finally. Once our vows were said, we kissed just as passionately as we had only a little while before, not even noticing that the sun had risen. Evidently our kiss before had taken longer than we realized! Our first kiss as husband and wife didn't last nearly as long as the first one, because I wanted to get him home and introduce him to his daughters. Possibly do some marriage related things, too.

When we got home, Quin and Marcelo had a small confrontation, but it mostly consisted of Quin using his eyes to communicate his dislike of my husband's previous cowardice to him. I understood it, but Marcelo was just confused, and I giggled after Quin had left. "What was that about?" Marcelo asked, and looked at me with the most adorable confused look.

"That was a silent form of 'you better not hurt her anymore or I will hurt you', I think. You're a brother, what else do you think it could have been? I'll meet you in bed, I just realized I'm exhausted." I kissed him on the cheek.

"Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes, I'm just going to go see our girls first, and then see if I can send my resume for the military in." He hugged me, and then I headed off to bed, just imagining the interaction between Wren and Marcelo. She was a smart girl - I knew she would figure out who he was. I knew Rosie would know, too, but she couldn't talk yet, so wouldn't tell him all about.. everything.

By the time Marcelo joined me in bed, I was already asleep, but as he crawled into bed, I woke up enough to cuddle up against him and mutter, "I love you, koi."

"Love you, too."

The next day, after he got home from work, was purely amazing and I'm sure you can imagine what we spent most of it doing. First, we decided to try having some 'fun' in the time machine - in the future, too - but I only vaguely remember what happened in there, and by the time we came out, the girls were screaming. It wasn't nearly as amazing as I'd thought it would be, woohooing in the future. So we moved to the bed, and Marcelo gave me a charming smile. "You know what I would like?"

"What's that?"

"I would like to get another chance at being a father. You know, try again and see if I can get it right this time."

I frowned slightly - oh, I was excited at the prospect of more children, but what he said about himself was what made me frown. "All Rosie and Wren will remember is you being here. You're a perfectly fine Daddy. But I would like to try for a baby, myself."

"I will remember not being here for Rosie and Wren's infant-hood." After that, words pretty much were lost, and we spent most of the rest of the day the same way.

I knew that my mothers were truly in love, and if I hadn't known it with their after-Mama-Elvy's-death-fling, I would have known it now. I'd never seen a ghost interact with another ghost before; most of the time, it was like they were completely unaware of their fellow incorporeal beings. But then one night, both Mama Elvy and Mom Lyr were out, and as I walked into the living room.. they were just pulling back from a kiss. I quickly had to back out of the room and cover my mouth to keep from letting out a sob that the romantic in me was trying to force out. It made me amazingly happy, and yet sad, to see that. They were so in love that not even both of their deaths could stop it.

A few months later, I was pretty sure I was pregnant. My life had been perfect for months, and now it was just getting better. After nearly throwing up on Wren as I potty trained her - she finally was ready - I cheerfully started teaching her to walk. "Let's learn to walk before your baby brother or sister comes, okay, Wren?"

"Babee?" she chirped, then toddled over to me, happily cooing. It was at about this time that I heard, from the bathroom, the sound of Marcelo vomitting, and my excitement about my own nausea faded. If he was vomiting, too.. we probably just had a stomach bug. That was disappointing. When walked in, to get Rosie up from her nap, he glanced over at me. "When did Wren start walking?"

"Oh, just a little while before you puked. Hey, honey! Maybe we're pregnant together," I teased, grinning over at him.

"Don't even JOKE about that! Knowing Estiu and her stunts, it could probably happen!" I noticed him start to look a little sicker than he already looked, and I kind of collapsed into a giggle fit, imagining him with a pregnant belly. "Oh shut up! Ella and I are gonna go somewhere else, if you're going to joke about me being pregnant." he huffed, and then left the room.

It just made me giggle even harder, and confused the heck out of poor Wren, who just plopped down on the ground, tilting her head at me in confusion.

Moments like these made me so happy that he'd finally given in and got married to me.

Two weeks later, Marcelo's nausea and vomiting had stopped, but mine continued. I was pretty sure that I was pregnant again, because it felt very much the same as it did before. Just, with less morning sickness so far. 

One morning, when Marcelo was distracted by teaching Rosie how to talk, I snuck off to the bathroom to use a test I'd bought. And sure enough, I was pregnant! I had a squeal of excitement, before running to the bedroom to change into some new maternity wear I'd bought. First, I let myself coo over my tummy, though. "Hi baby! I'm so excited to meet you."

I was sure that this pregnancy was going to be calmer, easier than the last one. Well, it was also exciting because I actually had Marcelo with me for the entirety, and I'd learned that Drazen had found himself a girl (besides Kristy), named Alissa, and Juston had asked Quin to be his boyfriend. Oh, and Eulalie had her baby, a boy named.. Jedidiah. I didn't ask why the name. But, besides those things, I was pretty sure it would be calmer and easier, simply because I had help from my husband. Little did I know I was going to have a shock waiting for me a few months later.

One day, around my seventh month, on Rosie and Wren's birthday as well, I was downstairs hurrying on teaching Wren to use the potty. I didn't want her to grow up and still have to use diapers, after all. Anyway, while I was down there, I suddenly heard some strange noises coming from upstairs, and I looked up at the ceiling in confusion. What could that be? It sounded like the time machine..

I set Wren down, and waddled as fast as my feet could take me while I had a watermelon for a tummy upstairs. I couldn't imagine what was really happening if I had tried. When I got to the top of the stairs, I could see a purple glow coming from around the corner of the house. Had Marcelo gotten home and decided to use the time machine? I calmed down slightly, and headed around the corner. "Koi, is that y-" I froze.

There was a young, teenage girl.. standing in front of the time machine, staring at it. Now, normally that wouldn't be so weird, since Marcelo and I were celebrities we got fans on our lawn quite a bit. But.. for one thing, this girl was dressed very strangely. Actually, the outfit seemed a little familiar, but I couldn't place from where. For another thing, she.. had my hair, and her face was unmistakably Parodi-esque. Now, I knew that none of my siblings could have a teenager - I only had a nephew, and he was still an infant. And my cousins and their kids all looked more like Grandpa Buster, or - in Uncle Rhett's kids' case - Aunt Katina. So.. who was this strangely dressed girl?

When she turned to look at me, I had a feeling I knew exactly who she was. She had Marcelo's eyes. That's when it hit me - Marcelo and I had woohooed in the future, and we were in there for an oddly long time. I didn't remember what had happened there, exactly, but I was beginning to understand.

The girl and I just stared at each other for a long time, before either one of us spoke. "Mom?" she asked, quietly, after a few moments. I knew immediately, right then, that Marcelo and I had had a daughter, and for some reason, left her in the future. I nodded in reply, tears beginning to sting my eyes, and the next thing I knew, she'd surged forward and grabbed me in a tight hug. 

"I.. I'm sorry, I don't remember why we did it, but I'm so sorry we left you behind.."

"Shh, Mom, it's okay. It was the time stream, it wasn't you. The one that raised me told me what happened. When you got pregnant, the time stream wouldn't let you out, because it was too dangerous for me. So you had to stay until you had me. As soon as you gave birth to me, and the nurses took me to get me cleaned up, the time stream spat you back into your time without me. You didn't remember, because that's what time machines do when you have a baby in the past or the future."

I just nodded ever so slightly as I listened to my.. well, I suppose she was eldest now, wasn't she? That was going to take some getting used to. I pulled back, and studied her features. "You.. are so beautiful. Oh my gosh, I'm a mom again!" I squealed, when it suddenly really hit me. She just continued to stare at me. "Ah, sorry. I just.. yeah. Oh, I just realized.. I don't know your name. Or, do I? Did we name you before we were spat out?"

She shook her head. "No. The nurse that took me home and took care of me named me. My name's Amy."

"Amy.. it is a pleasure to meet you, Amy."

This was really going to take a lot of getting used to, but boy was I excited to have another daughter. Not to mention, having a teenager around the house after the new baby(ies) was(were) born would be very handy.

After our.. well, our reunion I suppose, I dragged Amy downstairs for her little sisters birthday. We got there just in time to see Wren age into a complete tomboy. I could tell she was before, but now she definitely was - and also a curious little girl, because as soon as she'd aged up, she looked at Amy in confusion. "Are you my sister? I don't remember you."

Amy looked at me, then back at Wren and gave her a half grin and a shrug. "That's because, in your time I was sort of just born. I'm from the future. It's a long story - I'm Amy, and you are..?"

"I'm Wren! I have a new sister, from the FUTURE?! SO COOL!"

I let them have their moment, and turned to watch my other girl age up into her sister's complete opposite. Gorgeous flowing locks, make-up, a dress, and girly shoes.. oooh, Marcelo wasn't going to like this new development. He wanted his babies to stay babies as long as possible, and here was Rosie, trying to grow up before she needed to.

 I never knew being a mother could be so.. complicated. Of course, how many mothers have to deal with a child from the future? I just hoped she wasn't rebellious.

(A/N: Yep. I had them try for a baby in the future, and then try for a baby in bed directly after. I thought that maybe if a kid popped out of the time machine, it probably wouldn't satisfy Dahlia's wish for a baby, it would only satisfy my own wish for a time machine baby. XD A sim-day came and went, and I was positive it hadn't worked. But then, the afternoon of the second day, out pops Amy! I would have continued writing until Dahlia had the babies, but there is quite a bit of pictures between where I stopped and the birth and this was already pretty long. Anyway! Traits! Amy's traits are: great kisser, genius, bookworm, and lucky. Wren's new trait is: over-emotional. Rosella's new trait is: ambitious.)