2.4 Bittersweet

Damaris is a little surprised to see her youngest son at home today. 

"You're not going out?" she asks suspiciously. 

"Later, in the afternoon," Pancho never really asks for permission to go out. 

"Hmmph." 

"What?" 

"It feels like you don't love your old mom anymore." 

Pancho rolls his eyes, "Mooooom." 

"Just wait until I'm all old and withered! You'll regret not hanging out with me then!" 

Pancho looks bemused, "You're not withered and old yet, mom." 

Maybe not outwardly, but Damaris is starting to feel her age. She doesn't have enough energy to sing for tips as much as she used to. 

Where she would've done hours long tipping sessions she now only does an hour. 

Even with the shorter time, her audience now is bigger than when she just started out. They also tip much better... not that Damaris is counting. 

Dot opens her email and sees more messages from the dating site. 

She squints ruefully at the screen and this time goes through deleting her profile. She won't be party to wrecking a marriage. 

It's been months since she last talked to Justin, but her eyes well up all the same. I need to clear my head... 

So as she's been doing since her first trimester, Dot heads out to the park for a walk. It's getting too chilly for her skirt, she notices. 

She always runs into people in the park. Today it's Catrina Coddle-Prudence, one of the six Coddle-Prudence kids. She just graduated high school. 

"Yeah, I'm guessing you can see that the rumors are true. I'm pregnant!" Though Dot smiles, she's had this conversation so many times by now. 

"I just wanted to say congratulations, actually..." 

"...Sorry. I've just been gawked at so much, and I know some people are gossiping about me," Dot admits. 

"Pffft, people in this town... they have nothing better to do, they're all so starved for entertainment. They'll be gawking at someone else soon enough." 

"I guess you're right. Thanks for talking to me, I needed to get it off my chest..." 

"Of course! I'm glad I could be here for you." 

Catrina checks her phone and raises an eyebrow. "Looks like I have a date to get to! I'll see you later." Her boyfriend scored two free movie tickets- neat! 

Dot is in the middle of saying goodbye when she feels it. 

The baby's coming! 

Like a typical sim, Dot decides to drive herself to the hospital. Despite free taxis being everywhere. 

Sims 3 logic, man. 

She spends most of the day in the hospital. The labour was painful and draining and Dot can't even muster the energy to smile. Still, looking at her daughter, she does feel a fuzzy warmth inside her. 

"Here you go, Tatum," she says soothingly when they return home. 

Tatum is very hungry and sucks down her milk eagerly. Soon after she finishes, she blinks her eyes sleepily. Dot puts her down for a nap. 

"Sweet dreams." 

Damaris is out delivering sing-o-grams when Dot leaves the hospital and is unaware that she's a grandmother. 

"Is that kid who looks like you but with a cap yours?" Mark asks after she's finished. 

"If you mean my son Pancho, yes. Why?" 

"He keeps running across my front yard," Mark grumbles. 

"That is such an elderly thing to say..." Damaris can't help but snicker. 

Mark squints unhappily at her, only emphasising her point. "I am not old..." 

"Sure. And that's not your cane," she nods towards the cane propped up behind him. 

Taking his cane, Mark grumbles under his breath as he walks away. He is not old! He's just... older. 

***

"Do you want to go out today, Tatum? Hmmmmm?" She takes her daughter's giggling as a yes. 

So she gets out the stroller... 

...and they go to the beach. 

It turns more into Tatum napping while Dot talks to people, though. 

After a few pleasant hours on the beach, Dot comes home for Aloiso's birthday. 

As it turns out, he has his own plans. He wants to rebuild his father's decrepit, burned down house. He decides to stick around for a few days, though. 

In the days before Aloiso's graduation, Dot and Damaris have some disagreements about babysitting. 

"Mom, it's fine, I can feed her..." 

"Shhh, nonsense. You're tired." 

"So are you! You've been working all day..." 

"C'mon, she's my only granddaughter..." 

"And my only kid," Dot points out, but her tone is light. 

"Go and sleep, I want to spend time with our adorable little tater-tot." 

Dot frowns at the nickname, "Please tell me you won't call her a tater-," 

"Adorable, little tater-tot," Damaris corrects. 

Dot is too tired to argue further, but swears to herself that her daughter will not be known as a potato. 

It's Aloiso's graduation day! 

Damaris gives him a song and dance of congratulations. 

"Thanks mom, it was really funny." 

"Funny? Don't you mean inspiring? Titillating? Marvellous?" 

Aloiso laughs, "Sure, all of those things." 

"I'll miss you..." 

Aloiso squeezes her for a moment, "I'll miss you too..." 

***

With another one out of the nest, the twins' birthday is a bittersweet day for Damaris. 

All of her kids are growing up so fast! 

All of her kids...minus one. 

One moment, Una is cheering for her twin...

The next, Ume is alone. 

A sense of loss tears at her, and for a second, Ume thinks she hears someone calling for her... 

But no one else is there but her mother and siblings. 

"Are you ok?" Dot asks Ume cautiously. She ran to the bathroom as soon as her cake was cut. 

"I...I'm not sure. I feel like...something's missing." 

Dot's eyes widen, "Me too. Like someone isn't here..." 

Ume cries, but she doesn't know why. 

Little Tatum has her own birthday. She's a near clone of her mother, only having Justin's skin tone. 

Dot smiles at her daughter... then frowns. For some inexplicable reason, her heart hurts. 

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AN: I promise there's a story reason for all of this weirdness. It won't become apparent for a long time within the blog... 

But I'll tell the real life version here. I had a strange glitch with Una. She wouldn't age up. I tried making a clone of her in CAS then aging her up to teen...no. Manual transition. Nope. Each time I tried, she got a different face. 

Example here. I looked it up, and this glitch occasionally affects child-aged female sims. There is no fix for it. I had to delete her from the game because apparently the glitch can eventually spread to other sims too if the glitched sim is left in the game. I've had it before in another save and also had to delete the sim. 

I feel so bad. The best I could do to make up for it is a verrrrrry long term story line. 

Another side-note, Aloiso was romantic interests with this woman, Melissa Belvins. Like Shanda, I made her over and moved her into a house. Unfortunately she and Aloiso never got together properly after he married someone else.