5.1--Time Skip

** This chapter takes place 13-15 years'ish after the previous chapter.  Due to glitches (explanation is after the jump), I had to age Harlan up and move him.  So, without further ado, here is the start of Generation 5.

Harlan is nervous to meet his new landlord.  When sifting through vacancies in Redwood Harbor, Henrietta's small place seemed the perfect fit for his meager budget and was willing to take him in as soon as he made the long trip from Meadow Glen.  However, she wasn't exactly the most accommodating person when he spoke to her on the phone - anytime he asked about the place, she simply stated that he could either take it or leave it.  He took it.


"Look -" Henrietta says nervously. "The room you'll be staying in, well... I got this place from my grandmother when she passed on and um, let's just say she had a penchant for colors. If the rest of the house is any indication."  She waves her arms around, drawing attention to the brightly colored walls behind her. "I haven't had the time or the funds to repaint this monstrosity."


Harlan shrugs.  At this point, he doesn't much care.  The trip from Meadow Glen has left him tired and aching to simply fall into next available bed.  Henrietta looks mildly relieved at his apparent nonchalance and escorts him into his new room.

"It's very uh..." Harlan smirks as he takes in the state of the room.


"... Pink, I know." Henrietta frowns.  "And you'll be the tenth person this week to decline taking the damn room because it's too small, or too pink, or too - whatever other excuse you can come up with." 

Harlan doesn't let her waver long in her dejection. "I'll take it." He says resolutely.


"What? Really?" She looks cautiously surprised, but also exhausted.  Henrietta obviously can't believe her luck might be changing.


"It's not like I really have a choice. I can deal with a nauseatingly pink, tiny room for the rent you're charging."

"Thank the Watcher." Henrietta smiles.  "If I had to show one more person around this place only to be rejected, I was seriously going to punch something - or someone."


"Why have people been turning this place down?  The room isn't that bad."


Henrietta shrugs.  "It's probably also partly my fault.  After the first couple of let downs, I started getting a bit - frustrated with perspective renters."


Harlan nods, remembering when he first spoke to her on the phone and via email and how short she had been with him.  He would have turned down her offer too if he hadn't been in a rush and so dirt poor.


Henrietta laughs when Harlan simply nods in agreement.  "All right.  There's a few ground rules."  She says, sternly when the silence begins to delve into awkward territory.  "One, no parties without my or my girlfriends permission."


"Girlfriend?" Harlan perks his eyebrows.


Henrietta crosses her arms, defiantly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Harlan backtracks, embarrassed that his reaction was obviously being misconstrued. "No, of course not.  There just wasn't any indication in the advertisement that there was going to be three people living here."


"Well, there is."  Henrietta resumes. "Two, you're more than welcome to bring guests here, just please be mindful of the hours.  I have to get up early for work most days.  Lastly, I don't like nosy renters.  I won't get into your business, so please extend that same courtesy to us."


"Understood."


"Good. Then, I guess the room is yours."  Henrietta smiles, shaking Harlan's hand.  "And Dafne will most likely be in later on today.  She'll be glad the room is taken finally."

Henrietta leaves him in his new space to unpack his belongings, but taking his stuff out of his suitcases proves to be too daunting for the time being.  Instead, he shoves all of his stuff near the dresser and laughs when he realizes how out of place his things look in his very colorful surroundings.  He kicked off his shoes tiredly and made his way to the bed, staring at its foreign sheets and oddly yellow frame.  It creaked loudly as he got into it, making him miss his shitty bed back home and the memories of spending time with her in it.  He shakes his head, forcing the memories to fade, before finally giving in to his exhaustion and drifting off to sleep.

Harlan is awaken just a few hours later from the incessant ringing of his phone.  He turns it off, but whoever is calling apparently can't take a hint.  Reluctantly, he answers it only to be barraged by his cousins voice.


"Harlan!" Shalonda says with exasperation. "Pick up your damn phone!"


Harlan laughs. "I'm here Lonnie."


"Yeah, you are." She scoffs. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming into town this week?"


"I didn't know I was.  Things just... sort of worked out that way."


"Right. Well I'm taking you out to dinner."


"Lonnie -" Harlan yawns unexpectedly. "-I'm still exhausted from the trip here.  I don't know how entertaining my company will be."


"I'm not taking no for an answer.  There's a bistro in the West District.  Meet me there in a couple of hours."


Shalonda hangs up before Harlan can protest further.

Harlan shows up to the bistro early.  The longer he's there, the more he regrets coming at all.  He loves hanging out with his cousin, but he hates how brunt she can be, something that she apparently inherited from her father Gideon.  He just hopes that she doesn't ask any questions about his intentions for moving.  She believed him over the phone when he said that she convinced him that his scientific skills were needed in Redwood, but he was terrible lying to her face - and she often took advantage of that.

Before he can sneak away, however, Shalonda is there and ushering him to the nearest table after snatching a couple of menus from the waiter.  They eat their dinner and after the normal catch up conversation, he can tell she's dying to ask him something.


"What is Lonnie?"  He asks.  "Your stare down is starting to freak me out."


She laughs, shaking her head. "I'm too obvious.  I just wanted to talk to you about the work we're doing here.  If you're still interested that is?"


Harlan releases a sigh of relief.  So, she hadn't been told about his situation with his ex-fiancee yet. "Yeah."  Harlan says, breaking himself out of his own reverie. "I'm still interested."

"I've been talking you up at the Science Facility." She says excitedly, jumping right into the conversation. "However, there's no stable positions right now.  You can do lab tech stuff on a freelance basis until an actual job opens up."


Harlan shrugs. "I prefer to be freelance.  As long as I'm getting paid, I don't much care for anything else."


"Good.  I can't discuss specifics in public, but there's been widespread missing persons cases popping up in surrounding areas.  It hasn't hit us here in Redwood, thankfully, but the cities are really feeling it and they're sending out evidence to neighboring labs in the hopes that someone will find something new."

Harlan doesn't share his cousins fascination with the morbid, but he does enjoy a challenge.  "Has anyone found anything at all yet?"


Shalonda shakes her head, sadly.  "No.  Not yet."


"Right.  Well I'll give it a try." He smirks.  "Maybe my overwhelming genius will crack the case."


"Your ego is the only things that's overwhelming."  She laughs. "Welcome to the team."

"Thanks." Harlan smiles.  "Listen, I'm really tired.  I think I'm going to head in early tonight, but I'll call you tomorrow or something."

Before Harlan can leave, Shalonda blurts; "I heard about you and Cadence. Um, Lachlan and your mother both called worried when you said you were leaving so abruptly."


Lachlan rubs his temples.  Of course she knew - how could he ever think that his family wouldn't talk about his private life behind his back.  Lachlan, for sure, could never keep a secret. "Well tell them that I'm fine.  I'm sure hearing it from someone besides myself will get them to stop asking about it all the time."


Shalonda nods.  "I will. And Harlan?"


"Yeah."


"I'm here if you need to talk."


Harlan smiles.  "Thanks."

 Harlan returns home to find his two new roommates fast asleep.  He enters his room and shrugs off his clothing.  "First day down." He mutters before crawling back into his bed and falling asleep as well. 


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angst, angst, angst, angst... angst.


As the title of this chapter implies, this is a major time skip.  Due to game borkage, I wasn't able to use any of the legacy saves I had stashed and had to remake Harlan's generation.  Instead of replaying/rebuilding what I had in Meadow Glen, I decided it would be best just to get to the next generation and sum up what happened previously.  So don't worry - Lachlan, Lily, Logan, Ellis, Dasia, Duncan, Cedric, and Harper will either make an appearance or have their story arc's finished in some manner via Harlan's retelling of events.


Also, rule breaking.  Rule breaking EVERYWHERE.  The game spawned Harlan in the Congreve household while I was setting Redwood up and I decided to keep it.  *shrug* Story  > Rules in this case.


Dafne Muller (Henrietta's girlfriend and Harlan's second roomie), who will make an appearance later because I accidentally deleted her pictures, is a sim that was made for me by the lovely strawberrysims.  She's adorable and I love her.  Thanks so much Barney, if you ever read this. : ) 

4.8--Onwards and Upwards

Dasia's publisher stops by unexpectedly.  She's only ever spoken to him on the phone, so she's surprised to find out that he's so... young.

As soon as he steps inside her home, he immediately gets straight to business.  "I read your latest submission. Are you really going to include that in your next work?"


Dasia quirks her brow.  "What? You don't like it?"


Randolf frowns deeply, accenting the premature wrinkles he's already developing - most likely on her account. "Talking polar bears, Dasia?  Am I being so demanding that a half-assed rewrite of His Dark Materials is necessary to meet the submission deadline?" 


"Dammit.  I knew I got that plot from somewhere." She smirks, then shakes her head when she see's he's not amused.  "I have writer's block."  Dasia feels even more defeated admitting it out loud and Randolf's careful gaze isn't helping any.


"Let me take you out to dinner." He finally says.  "Maybe a small brainstorming session away from home will help you."


"You really want your cut of my next novel, don't you?"


Randolf laughs and then dons a smirk to counter Dasia's suspicious glare. "No.  I just really want one of my favorite authors to continue writing quality literature."

Dasia feels like a failure the more she elaborates on the aborted and horrible plots that have been going through her mind for the past month.  Randolf gives good suggestions, but none that she thinks are up her alley.  However, being out of the house and simply having a conversation with someone that is invested in her work is enough to promote some motivation on her end.


"Do you take all your writers out for dinner?" Dasia asks.


Randolf shakes his head.  "You're honestly the only sane one I'm representing.  The others tend to lash out when I push them for deadlines.  One even threatened to write a flop next time to make sure I didn't get a paycheck.  How he thought that was hurting me more than himself, I'll never know."


"If I'm sane in comparison, then you need to find new authors." She laughs and Randolf smiles in response.  "You should smile more." Dasia says before she can stop herself.


"When you send me your next masterpiece, I'll make sure do so.  In fact, maybe I'll take you out for a few celebratory drinks ... or something."  He grins again.

Dasia started the flirting and he went along with it.  She's sure this is second nature to him, something he does in order to exude charm when necessary and likely won't go anywhere - but she still feels obligated to stop it. 


"I, uh... I need to get back.  I think I've got a few ideas I want to write down."  She stands up abruptly, driving the point home that she wants to leave.


Randolf nods, as if he knows she's uncomfortable with the current mood of the conversation.  "Of course.  I don't want to interrupt genius."  He can't help smiling as he watches her glare at him until he begins moving from his seat and toward the car.  She's beautiful, but also clearly off limits.  Not to mention, someone he works with.  


"I'll give you a ride home." He offers and beyond her acceptance and a careful "thank you and goodbye" when they arrive at her home, she doesn't say another word to him.  Randalf shrugs it off as soon as she's safely inside.  Keeping things professional would be easier - but he was never exactly someone who strove for "easy."  He wouldn't have gotten as far as he had, at his age especially, if that were the case.  So he resigns himself to calling Dasia later that week.  He does have to check on her progress, after all.

Just like her great-grandfather, Robert Dennis, Ellis finds herself rummaging through trash in the name of work. She has since been promoted to the resident Crime Scene Technician and is expected to fill out reports on local suspects, specifically ones pertaining to recently re-opened cases, but the pay increase swayed her perception of the "investigation" portion of the job.  She doesn't particularly care for these new duties - but as the saying goes, someone has to do it and that someone is unfortunately Ellis.

Logan keeps his promise and takes Harlan out for dinner, with Ellis' permission, at the local diner.  It was hard for him to miss Ellis'relieved smile when he showed up.  Add to that Harlan's apathy with his company and it's clear that the non-trust Ellis harbors has filtered to their son.  He can't fault them for it, he knows this, but it still hurts.

Logan isn't surprised to find Ellis waiting in the kitchen for them to return.  After Harlan goes to bed, they both sit wearily at the table.  "He looks like he had fun." Ellis says with a tired smile.


"I think so.  Although I can't really tell with him.  He is still reserved around me."


Ellis nods.  "He's... a quiet kid.  Always has been.  Just give him time and I'm sure he will open up to you eventually."


"I don't need encouragement, Ell." He frowns.  "If he decides to keep me around, then I'm staying."


"Good." Ellis stands up, moving toward the front door as a signal that Logan should leave.  "Harlan tells me you're going to drive him to school tomorrow?"


"Yeah.  I'm leaving for Bridgeport in the afternoon and I thought I would say goodbye personally."  Ellis nods again, holding the door open as Logan passes through back into the night air.  "Ell."  He says, turning back before she can shut the door on him.  "He's a great kid.  You did a wonderful job raising him."


"Thanks... truly."  She smiles for a brief moment, before shutting the door and leaving Logan to his waiting taxi.

Saying goodbye proves difficult for both of them, but Logan promises to call as often as he can until his next visit.  Harlan smiles at that and quickly hugs Logan, something he wasn't expecting, before heading into the building.

This "dad" thing is better than he thought...

Speaking of dads - Duncan had been teaching Lachlan how to drive for the past few days, in preparation for his license test.  They had quite a few scares (including almost hitting an old lady when Lachlan confused the gas pedal for the brake pedal), but he was getting better.  And by better, Duncan means "not murderous."


"So dad.  What kind of car are you and mom getting me once I ace my test?"


"A fixer, probably.  I'm not getting you anything new, what with your current driving 'expertise.'"


"Hey!" Lachlan frowns.  "I haven't almost run over anyone today.  That's progress!"


Duncan laughs.  "Let's hope you don't have to use that argument with your driving instructor.  He or she will fail you on principle."


"Do you think if I cry, it will net some sympathy points?"


"You're an ugly crier.  I wouldn't bet on it."


Lachlan smirks. "Thanks, dad.  Love you too."

Not to either of his parents surprise, Lachlan does pass his driving test with flying colors.  Both Dasia and Duncan chipped in for a "new" car, and although he acts excited when opening the box containing his new car keys, he can't help feeling the guilt rising in the pit of his stomach.  His parents promised to get him a car if he got his license, sure, but also on the condition that he does well in school and doesn't get into any trouble.  School was going well, but Lily's "deal" was severely compromising the latter.  Hopefully, things would go in their favor because he's not so sure he can deal with both of his parents disappointment if it doesn't.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I finally got Photoshop working again, which means my pictures are going to look a bit different from here on out (assuming I have the motivation to continue editing them).  Nothing fancy; I just thought they were too giant, and given the fact that my computer doesn't have a "real' graphics card, also too blurry.  I fixed them as best I could, so hopefully it makes a marginal difference.


Ellis has been blasting through promotions lately.  I'm okay with this, yes I am.


Dasia hasn't written anything recently, mostly because I've forgotten to keep up with it, hence the writer's block plot.  She's still at 9 or 10 novels and slowly working on her 11th - which is a romance novel.


Harlan is at level 9 with his logic already and I didn't write down any of Lachlan's skills, so uh... yeah.  Ja-whoops.

4.7--A Family Visit

Lachlan is gone a lot more than usual, especially the last couple of days.  Dasia chalks it up to him meeting a girl - something she's quite nervous about - but she trusts him enough to give him his space.  Harlan, on the other hand, is a bit annoyed at his cousin's lack of presence.  Lachlan is his one and only friend and suddenly being alone is - boring.  So, he concocts random potions in his room.  Hey, who knows?  Maybe he'll somehow create a miraculous cure, or a stink bomb he can use during the next assembly at school...

...or he can accidentally mix two combustible liquids together and blow himself up.  Anything to break the monotony.

While Harlan takes his sweet time taking a bath...

...Ellis is greeted by an unexpected visitor.  Against every initial impulse of letting him rot outside her door until he finally gets the hint, she hesitantly let Logan into her home.


"What are you doing here?" She asks sternly, glancing upstairs to where her son was hopefully so wrapped up in whatever he was doing that he couldn't hear them downstairs.

Logan knows that his anger isn't justified; that if anything, Ellis's consternation of his impromptu arrival is warranted, but he goes on the defensive anyway.  "I'm here to see my son."


"No."  Ellis spits.  "You don't have that right.  You can't just waltz back in here after promising me that you would be regular figure in his life, only to leave him again.  He needs a father, Logan, not a disappearing act."


Logan frowns, letting his anger fade to guilt.  "I promised that I'd visit when I could, Ell.  Work has been tough lately and I've barely had time to go home, let alone see my kid."


"If work is more important than your child, then maybe it's better that you just go."  Ellis lets the words fall from her mouth, full of venom.  When Logan looks at her, truly hurt, she sighs. "Logan, you have to understand where I'm coming from."

"I do.  More than you know."  Logan says, shaking his head.  "Look, I know I don't deserve a second chance - but can you at least let that decision be Harlan's?  Can I talk to him?  Please?"


Ellis grinds her teeth in concentration, letting the silence hang between them.  "I'm supposed to protect him from this."  She whispers.  "From these situations.  If you break his heart, Logan, I'll..."


Logan grabs her hand.  "I know.  And trust me, there's nothing you can do to me that I won't do to myself if I don't pull through this time."


"Don't make me regret this... again." She chides.  He nods sternly and she motions to the couch.  "Harlan is upstairs, but he should be down soon to get help with his homework.  You can wait in the living room."

Ellis leaves Logan alone to wait until Harlan comes downstairs.  The kitchen was far enough away from Logan, but close enough for her to see the stairs when her son would make his inevitable appearance.  


As soon as she see's Dasia enter the house and glance toward the living room with a confused expression, she ushers her sister into the kitchen.  "Is that Logan?"  She asks skeptically.  "Why did you let him in?"


Ellis bites her lip in frustration.  "I don't know."  She says slowly.  "He says he wants to see Harlan.  And he wants to speak with him and let him decide whether he wants him in his life or not.  Watcher knows, I wanted to slap him in the face and tell him to leave - but I agree with him.  Harlan should be the one to send him away if he so chooses, not me."


"He's a child, Ell."  Dasia raises her hand to her sister's shoulder, squeezing softly.  "Are you sure he's ready to make that decision on his own?"

Ellis pats her sister's hand nervously.  "No.  I don't.  But I don't think I have the right to deny him that either.  What should I do, 'Sia?  I still have time to send Logan away, to pretend like this never happened."


Dasia smiles weakly.  "I'm just as clueless as you."  She shakes her head.  "But I'll be there with you through it all.  You know that."

Harlan finally emerges a few minutes later.  Ellis manages to intercept him before Logan and inform about what is going on.  Harlan listens in confused contemplation the entire time - making Ellis a bit worried that her son isn't entirely grasping the situation fully. But before she can ask any further questions about his preparedness, he heads toward Logan, who has been waiting in the background patiently.


"Logan."  Harlan nods, extending his hand toward his father.  


Logan glances at his son sadly.  He couldn't expect him to hug him and call him 'dad,' after all these years.  Could he? "Son."  He answers, shaking his child's hand like he's a business partner rather than family.


Harlan releases his hand and they both stand there in silence. "I, uh... understand you have some homework that you need to do."  Harlan nods.  "Would like me to help you with it?"  Harlan shrugs and grabs his homework from the kitchen table and sits on the floor.  Logan immediately follows suit.

At first, there's no conversation.  Harlan just starts working on the problems, occasionally scratching out an incorrect answer.  Logan makes a few poor jokes to fill the silence and Harlan smiles, but there's still no words uttered on his end.  At least not until Logan realizes that Harlan is doing math far beyond his age group.  "Is that trigonometry?" He asks, confused.

Harlan turns and nods.  "Yeah.  I tested into College Mathematics this year.  I'm good at Science too."  He says, confidently.


Logan laughs.  "You must have gotten that from your mother's side.  My side has only been good at business and, well... being generally unambitious.  So why do you need help with your homework then?"


Harlan smiles.  "I don't.  I just like spending time with mom."


"I'm sorry, kiddo."  Logan looks down at his hands guiltily.  "For not being there, I mean.  Things were hectic and I got my priorities screwed up."


Harlan frowns at his finished homework.  "Will you be here tomorrow?" He asks.


"I will.  I'll be here for the next two days."


"Will you take me out to dinner tomorrow after school?"


Logan smiles at that.  "Sure thing, kiddo."


------------------------------------------------------------------
Longest and probably most uneventful chapter of the legacy, but there you have it.


Logan is going to be playing an interesting role coming up (assuming I get the necessary pictures), nothing too fancy, but it's obviously heavily tied to his "relationship" with Harlan.  


Aaaand... this is where I say I'm getting back into the swing of things legacy-wise - but that would be a lie.  I'm trying to keep on a schedule (ha! right) as much as I can, but school keeps rearing it's head and messing up with anything that's, well, not school.  


Next up should be Lachlan's adventures, which I'm excited to reveal over the coming chapters. :D  Although I have to play through some portions to get there, so... 

4.6--Lachlan

Dasia gets a makeover.  She may be getting older, but there's no reason she has to look older. Although her sister's half-naked romps around the house do make her feel a bit more self conscious than she would like to admit.

As soon as she returns home, she's back to working on her latest novel about... giant talking bears or something.  Her publisher has been pushing her harder than usual for her next novel, so she feels obligated to write something - anything, to placate him for a few days.

Lachlan enjoys his new room...

What he enjoys even more is when he outsmarts a rival hacking group.  He needs to assert Simnonymous dominance somehow - and what better way than to compromise the system that another group has been planning to hack for several months.

His success makes him quite popular among the group.  So popular, in fact, that one particular member asks if they can contact him directly.  He feels weary when he says yes, and even more uncomfortable when he receives a call just a few hours later.


"I live near you -" the mystery girl starts, "- and I was wondering if you wanted to get together to help me with a particular issue I'm having with a site."


Lachlan narrows his eyes. "How do you know where I live?"


"I'm a hacker." She laughs. "It's not that difficult.  If you put some effort into it, I'm sure you could find all of my information as well - although my security measures are much more stringent than yours."

Lachlan frowns.  "I should change that."


"Yes - you should.  So, are you in?"


"Fine."  Lachlan sighs.  "Where would you like to meet?"


"Tomorrow at seven, your house.  Mine is... well, mine is not a good place and we probably shouldn't meet anywhere public. I'll see you then."

When she does show up the following day, Lachlan is surprised that she's so... hot.  


"Have you been listening at all?"  She chides.


"Not really. No." Lachlan admits. "I can't follow what you're getting at."


She quirks her brow, smiling mischievously. "Are you confused... or distracted?"


"I still don't know your name."  He blurts.  "Who are you, exactly?" Niiice cover.

"I'm an interested party looking to hire you for your services.  Except I don't have any money and this will be for fun.  And the name is Lily."  She smirks. "So - are you still in?"


"To hack the Doo Peas Corporate website?" He shakes his head.  "I still don't understand why you're doing it."


Lily shrugs. "Is there ever truly a reason behind what we do?"


"I like to think so."


"Ah."  She laughs.  "So you're one of those 'stick it to the man' types?  I'm not."  Lily shakes her head, tossing her red curls about her face and making Lachlan even more distracted than he would like. "I just do it... well, because I can."

She inches forward, brushing her hand along Lachlan's arm. "I'll ask again - are you with me?"


Lachlan blushes and nods.  "Yes."


"Good. Once I get everything set up on my end, I'll need your careful eye to look over everything and help me get into the system quietly.  I'll talk to you later then, Lachlan." She smiles and before he can grasp what exactly he just agreed to, Lily is gone.


-----------------------------------------
Short chapter! I haven't had time to actually play due to... well, life - but I'll have some time this weekend to get a substantial buffer going.


I'll be the first to admit that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to hacking.  I'm seriously pulling stuff from a computer science course I took over four years ago. D: Hopefully this works in my favor.


UPDATES (because I actually remembered to write everything down):
--Ellis is at level 6 with the Law Enforcement (Wiretap Reader?) and pretty darn close to her next promotion.  She's maxed her Logic, level 4 with painting (starting early), and level 6 with Athletics.
--Dasia has maxed her writing skill and has written 10 novels so far; 4 of which have been hits. 2 have been biographies (1 of Alistair before he passed, and the other of Lizzie Wells' husband), 3 have been Humor, 3 were Romance, 1 was Sci-Fi, and 1 was Trashy (lol).  She's doing pretty well; I can't remember her royalty amount, but it's significant enough to sustain them while Ellis was on maternity leave (not that they needed it).
--Lachlan has 5 Logic and 3 Charisma (not sure where the latter came from).
--Harlan has 6 Logic and nothing else as of yet.


Whew.  I think that's it.

4.5--I Can't Hold All These Feels

Dasia goes through a renovation kick after finishing Ellis' exercise room.  She may have gone a bit overboard.


Here's the outside.

The upstairs nook area - that is never used.

Ellis' new bathroom.

The kitchen.

Aaaand the living room.

While Dasia spends her time making the house mildly headache inducing, Ellis works on her fitness.  Just look at those muscles!

It's been over a week since Logan left and he's only called this once to let Ellis know that he can't make it for his son's birthday.  Ellis feels like she should be surprised by this development, but she isn't.  She's not sure how she's going to explain it to Harlan though - all he does is ask for his father.

The next day, Harlan celebrates his birthday.  

And so does Lachlan.  

Lachlan decides to try using his new teenage manipulation techniques to ask his parents to buy him a car...

...Dasia and Duncan just look at each other and laugh.  His parents are smarter than he originally hoped.  On to Plan B - the guilt trip.


"But moooooom! Daaaaaaad!"  He says, pouting his lips.  "I want to be more self-sufficient and independent. Don't you both want me to be a successful adult?  And what better way than to give me something to be responsible for?"


Duncan sighs.  "All right.  All right.  You can stop with the pathetic frown.  I'm okay with it if your mother is."


"Great."  Dasia laughs.  "Put all the pressure on me! Tell you what, kiddo - you prove to me that you can be responsible and I promise that your father and I will discuss getting you a car.  In the meantime..." She adds, interrupting Lachlan's premature celebration, "... focus on getting your driver's license first."

Lachlan's not entirely sure his attempt was a success, but he'll take what he can get.

"He's going to be a tough one."  Duncan laments, smiling sarcastically.


"Nah. Our Lachlan is a good kid.  I mean, he's nowhere near as troublesome as my siblings and I were; so at least there's that."


Duncan laughs. "And I thank my lucky stars everyday, trust me."


"Me too." Dasia smirks.

"So, uh - how is everything with you, 'Sia?  We haven't spoken in..."


"...a few weeks." Dasia frowns. "I'm fine.  Everything is the same.  I'm getting commission after commission for biographies and my latest novel did well."


"Yeah I know.  I read it. It was really good."


Dasia smirks.  "Even the part about the oblivious woman who fucked up a good friendship by getting involved, but doesn't have the balls to say so?"


"That was my favorite part." He laughs.  "Although I think the male counterpart should have the balls, as you say, to acknowledge that he shouldn't have pushed for something more if he knew she wasn't ready or shared his feelings."


Dasia shakes her head.  "I'm in the wrong here, Duncan - and I'm willing to admit that.  You were just being honest and I was just being willfully oblivious.  I'm sorry. Can we just, I don't know, start over or something?"

Duncan extends his hand with a snide smile. "Hello, Dasia.  My name is Duncan and I'm the father of your child."


Dasia laughs as she shakes his hand.  "Very nice to meet you, Duncan."

Harper rocking out - because she's one badass grandma. 

Gideon joins Pacey outside, who has recently taken to the guitar as well - although he knows he'll never be as proficient in music as his mother or brother.


"Judging by the sad-sack tune you're playing and that frown on your face, I take it things with you and Anne aren't going well?"  Gideon quirks his brow.  His brother never really displayed his emotions, other than through his art.  It was always difficult to tell when he was depressed due to his overly dramatic tortured artist persona and formal manners.  

Pacey peers down at his guitar sadly.  "Anne and myself have decided that being in a relationship would ruin our art.  Happiness doesn't breed true creativity; misery does.  So we broke things off."

Gideon smirks.  "Wait - you both broke up... for your art?"  Pacey nods.  "Well, I always thought your role was to be the weird one in the family; now I think it may be the insane one."


Pacey scoffs. "Insanity and genius are often one and the same.  I don't take that as an insult, brother."


"Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night." Gideon shrugs.

Harlan's retirement to his room didn't escape Lachlan's notice.  He feels bad for his cousin, knowing that Harlan is most likely disappointed with his father's lack of presence.  


"Hey - I got you a present."  Lachlan says, barging into his cousin's room dramatically.  "It's not much.  I got it on a field trip to the Science Facility when I was your age and when Aunt Ellis told me she was getting you that chem lab for your birthday, I thought maybe you'd appreciate it."


Harlan opens the box excitedly.  "A model of a DNA strand?!  It's awesome.  Thanks, Lachlan."


Lachlan shrugs.  "It's no big deal."


"It is to me." Harlan smiles.

As soon as the guests leave, Dasia feels herself engulfed by the familiar sparkles.  Somehow, planning for her son's and nephew's birthdays made her forget that she was celebrating her own that very day as well.

Getting older doesn't feel so bad - not yet anyway.


-----------------------------------------------
Aaaand I'm cutting this one short since all of my pictures after this point don't really make sense in this chapter.  I should have planned this one out better. *shrug*


As discussed briefly last chapter, I had this grand story planned with Logan - maybe grand isn't the right word, but whatever.  Anyway, he glitched and is no longer on any of the Harris' relationship panel and resetting the town, him, and Ellis did absolutely nothing and no one can interact with him - for some reason.  Since I can't be arsed to do anything beyond what I've already tried - I just scrapped my old story and rewrote him as the standard absentee father and then changed a future generation to have his story.  Poor, poor future Harris'.