1.4 The One Really Long Chapter

Most of Damaris's second pregnancy is spent at home helping Dot develop her skills. With most of the tip money she earned already spent paying her utilities, Damaris's phone bill has gone unpaid. She missed getting texts and phone calls at first, but lately she hasn't been too bothered by it; she's too busy with Dot. 

The long summer season causes one week to blend into another. Damaris is caught by surprise when, one hot summer day just like all the others before, she goes into labour. 

It's only on the way to the hospital doors does it occur to Damaris to tell DeAndre that she's about to give birth. She doesn't want him to get mad like Wei did. She'll have to use someone's phone in the hospital. 

She walks out sometime later with a baby boy. She and DeAndre named him Quartz. 

DeAndre has been uncharacteristically moody since driving to the hospital. Gee Damaris, I wonder why, the narrator thinks. 

"You never called me again," DeAndre says shortly once they're in the taxi. 

"I haven't had any data for a while now. Besides, you went out of town, like, right after our date," Damaris defends herself, "Anyways, don't you have a girlfriend now?"

"That's besides the point! It takes a few minutes, max, to send a text or call me. Or email, if your phone really wasn't working. Don't you think I would want to know if I'm going to be a dad?" 

Damaris rolls her eyes which only annoys DeAndre more. 

"I don't get why you're mad. I'm not asking you for anything," Damaris sighs, tired of DeAndre's stony face. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I couldn't, seriously. I've been with my daughter non-stop." 

DeAndre looks at Quartz and a pained, forlorn look crosses his face, "I still would've liked to know. I'm booked for so many tours now...I can't get out of them without paying a huge renege fee. If I knew before..." he wouldn't have left the city, not with a kid in the picture. 

"Well, now that you know? What do you want to do?" 

DeAndre shakes his head, "I need time to think about this." Not that he has much. In a few days he'll be on tour again with his band for months. 

Damaris shrugs, "Take your time. We're not going anywhere." 

But I am, he thinks bitterly for the first time in his life

For the meantime, life goes on as usual. 

Dot continues to try out for gigs. This time her audition is ruined by a playful pup. 

"Scram!" she hisses at the dog. He mistakes her anger for mischief and continues going for her ankles. 

This time Des, maybe out of pity, agrees to let her perform in a few days. It's not a steady gig, but definitely a good start. 

She can't afford to waste a day not getting tips with the babysitter fee and all, so she immediately starts singing next to her tip jar. 

Looks like she has competition. 

It's only been a day since their conversation, so DeAndre's smile is still thin and wan when he sees her. Playing guitar used to help him clear his head, but seeing Damaris here makes the entire exercise futile. He leaves soon after. 

"Wow, you're a slightly fancier bellhop now," Sinbad Rotter sneers at Damaris, remembering her old red uniform, "Hardly an improvement." 

Damaris lets it roll off her back, as usual. 

Amy Bull cheers and claps for her, entranced by her catchy lyrics and "cute" outfit. 

Other audience reactions are mixed. 

Lots of young families lately, Damaris has noticed. 

Alma Drill is an instant fan. 

Damaris would consider this day to be, all in all, a success. 

Another day of work. Dot cries for her not to go. 

"I'm sorry, sweetie," she really means it too. "But I have to go." 

"Mama no go! NO!" 

But in the end, mama does go. 

Flippin' fantastic. My entire tipping session is ruined now. Who's going to watch me in this torrential downpour?

Surprisingly, at least two people. 

They leave not long after. Damaris walks to the bigger park in the city centre and chases after some butterflies. 

She soon retreats indoors. She gets a call while she's milling around the totally dead club. 

"Hey DeAndre," she says breezily. 

"Well at least your phone credits are working..." he wanted to pay for her phone contract before he left, to make sure she could always contact him about Quartz, but she flatly refused. 

"Hey, no need to check up on me. I'm a grown woman!" 

DeAndre chuckles, "Sorry. I just... well, how's Quartz doing?" 

"Oh, he's growing so fast! The other day, he even tried to walk!" Damaris gushes. 

"Oh that's great!" There's some rustling on the phone as he talks to someone in the background, "My kid can already walk!" 

She hears some murmured congratulations, then one of his bandmates saying that they have to go and rehearse. 

"I'll talk to you later, Damaris." 

When Damaris gets home, she smiles at Quartz and Dot. 

"Guess who's home!" she bear hugs both of them. They shriek with giggles. 

After she puts them to bed, she suddenly has a burning desire to go out. She guiltily calls a sitter and walks around outside. Somewhere down the long road that connects the swamp to the rest of town, she finds an abandoned house. 

She doesn't even check if the springs are all attached to the trampoline before leaping onto it. 

She jumps as high as she can. 

She ends up going to the beach, shivering in her thin jacket, when she comes across Juan Darer. 

It's like a bolt of electricity sparks when they lock eyes. 

(I.E. I was too lazy to photograph the several hours they spent talking to each other before...)

Juan was clearly not expecting to find any romance tonight. 

"Can I have your number?" he says breathlessly when they break away. 

She types it into his phone with numb fingers. "Call me soon." 

Realizing the time, Damaris waves goodbye and starts searching for a cab. 

Not too long after, she's already up and busy. 

She decides to spend the day at home catching up on chores. Right after loading her laundry, she gets a call from Wei. 

"Hey, it's Dot's birthday today, right?" 

"Yes, it is." 

"...is it alright if I come over? I want to celebrate it with her." 

Damaris smiles, "Of course! I'm sure she'll be happy to see you." 

Dot is very interested when Wei comes over, but hesitant to approach him while he's talking to her mother. 

"What do you think about him?" she whispers to her little brother. 

Quartz just cries. He hasn't been fed yet. 

Without being asked, Dot warms up his bottle and feeds him. 

"Say, 'thank you mommy!'" Dot doesn't need dolls to play house.

"Ba-ba-ba!" 

Close enough. 

"Look, I have to put Quartz to bed. How about you and Dot chat?" Despite coming over here to meet his daughter, Wei has been nervously talking to Damaris the whole time. He's not sure if she's going to like him...or if he'll know what to say... he's never really had to talk to kids! 

He doesn't need to worry, though. Dot is all too eager to talk to him, even if she does most of the talking. 

"Do you think I can get a shooting star for my birthday?"

"What for?" 

"So I can make a wish!" 

Wei smiles sadly, wishing he'd brought over a birthday cake so she could still make her wish. "What would you wish for?" 

"For you to live with us!" 

"Aw, Dot, I'm sorry, I can't do that..."

"Why not? You don't want to live with us?" 

He sweeps her into a hug, "It's not that... But I already have my own house." 

"So why can't we live with you?" 

Wei shoots a panicked look to Damaris. 

"Because, sweetie," she says through a yawn, "your dad needs his own place, and I need mine." 

"But why?" 

"We have different schedules, sweetie." 

Dot's nose wrinkles as she considers this answer, "But why?" 

"We have different jobs." 

Damaris and Wei are relieved when she doesn't ask why again, and goes right back to chatting with her father. 

"Have you heard mommy sing before?" 

Wei smiles and tries to suppress a laugh, "Yeah, I have. She's...very unique." 

"What does that mean?" 

"Special, Dot." 

"Yoooou are special tooo!~" Dot sings one of her mom's lyrics very off key. Wei tries not to wince. 

Eventually the subject changes to her little brother. 

"Quartz is nice when he isn't tired. Or hungry. Or smelly. Then he just cries a lot." 

Despite their different interests and tastes, Dot still trusts her dad with her biggest secret. 

"Don't tell mommy, but one time I called Quartz a stupid head." 

Wei promises not to tattle-tale. 

He promises to put Quartz to bed before he leaves, so Dot and Damaris climb into bed and sleep. 

Wei looks critically at the small room. Only one room for three people and Dot doesn't even get her own bed. 

He tries to channel his rising anxiety into playing with Quartz. 

"Arggghhhh I'm the....excel monster! You put in a decimal instead of comma in the spreadsheet! RAAAWR!" 

Quartz has no idea what Wei is saying, but he's pretty spooked. 

"Shhhhh," Dot hisses.

"Sorry," Wei winces, "Good night, Quartz."

Quartz smiles and giggles when Wei puts him to bed. He straightens his suit and tie before heading out the door.

The next morning Damaris heads out to get tips. She hits up the other junkyard when she comes across Juan Darer. 

They pick up where they left off the night before. 

Damaris only has a few hours to spare before she needs to go busking again, but she agrees to go back to Juan's place. 

"I'll drop you off at the park later, so you won't lose too much time," he promises. 

Damaris smiles, "That's really nice of you. Thanks, Juan." 

***

After some fun and a shower, Damaris has to regretfully go back to work. 

"I hope I can see you again later this week," she sighs. 

Unfortunately, Juan will not be seeing anybody later this week. 

Juan has not lived an accomplished life. He always thought he'd have time to rebuild his burned down house and get back to sculpting. 

Grim takes him anyways. 

And then Damaris is left totally alone. 

She doesn't really remember running to the park, but she's soon singing her heart out. Her exhaustion and shock choke her voice and go completely against the upbeat tunes of her pop songs. 

By the time it starts raining, Damaris is too exhausted to even stand. She calls the sitter to say she'll be late and then passes out on a bench in the park. 

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AN: I actually don't know how divorced or otherwise not living together parents answer their kids' questions about it. I had to look it up. Just letting everyone know in case what I presented wasn't accurate. 

Juan Darer passing away that soon caught me totally by surprise. I thought I could actually develop their relationship a bit more, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. 

I'm trying to move everything along because I took way too many pictures. In-game I'm actually in the third generation already!