Christmas 2019 - Sims

Warning: this one is LONG. You might want to take a few breaks while reading...

Cody and Lucy are 25, Isabel and Isaac are 0. (Mikayla is 18, Robert is 44, Nicole is 38, Noah is 9 and Nora is 6.)

It's Tuesday the 24th.

It's one of those mornings when the word “hurry” doesn't even exist in the vocabulary – it feels as though they have all the time in the world. Everything is nice and cozy, exactly like the two of the most indoorsy persons in the world would expect it to be on the day before Christmas.

“We should probably go downstairs”, Lucy sighs as she pulls one of her little babies closer to her chest and softly kisses his forehead.
“You just fed them”, Cody says.
“I know, but we can't spend the whole day in bed, you know.” She looks at him with her green eyes wide open. “Can we?”
“You know I'd love to.”

They do eventually get up, and that's when the day officially starts. Isabel and Isaac are now 4 months old and they've turned out to be quite the attention seekers. They don't cry much, but they do need lots of activities to keep them entertained.

This litte family just got a dog, a Labrador retriever. His name is Ocelot, and he has already become an important part of the family.

Lucy always wanted to have a dog, and now she finally has one. She loves Ocelot – he's perfect. The dog is only about a year old, and he isn't exactly housebroken, but Lucy's love for him has no limits.

Mikayla is spending the holidays with them, since her mom is out of town with her “boyfriend”, Berjes. Mikayla's already 18, but everybody knows Christmas is supposed to be a family occasion.

“Thanks for letting me stay here”, Mikayla says smilingly.

“Mikayla, you don't have to thank us”, Lucy says, her eyes twinkling like stars. “You're Cody's little sister. We love you.”

“This is going to be the best Christmas ever”, Mikayla promises. “You'll see.”

She's being totally honest with her– for the last couple of months, this house has been her safe haven. It's the place where she has been able to be her real self, without any judgments.

It's the place she can practically call her home. She can freely open the fridge, find something to eat and then serve herself. She doesn't want to bother anyone – she pretty much takes care of herself and her own needs without causing any trouble.

Mikayla simply adores her little niece and nephew. She takes care of them while Lucy heads upstairs to take a nice, relaxing bath.
“There is nothing more like a romance killer”, she said to Mikayla, “than hair that smells like vomit.”

Mikayla holds Isabel, and looks at her very closely. She is so tiny. The baby looks at her, with her brown eyes wide open and full of curiosity, and lets out a little, yet trickling, laugh.

Mikayla smiles, and pulls the little girl a closer. She cuddles the baby, and whispers in her ear: “Aunt Mikayla loves you.”

After her bath, Lucy takes the babies upstairs to take a little nap. Isabel falls asleep first, but Isaac is a bit more cranky this time. Lucy tries to sing him to sleep, but it doesn't seem to help at all.
“Oh, my baby”, she sighs while lifting the cranky one in the air. “You don't want to wake up your sister.”

Lucy's life pretty much circles around the babies now. That way, she has learned to appreciate all the tiny little moments of pleasure in her life. Nothing could make her happier than being able to sit down at the end of the day, maybe eat some ice cream, and later, make love to Cody.

Then again, Isabel and Isaac are the ones who bring the most joy into all the repetitive days. Seeing her babies smile and learn something new almost every day makes it all worth it.

Mikayla is sitting downstairs, watching some TV while Cody and Lucy are putting Isabel and Isaac to bed. She zaps through some channels until she finally finds something interesting to watch.

She loves the way she's being treated; Cody and Lucy let her do whatever she wants. “We trust you”, Lucy always says. She values their trust too much to actually do anything stupid. Besides, she's 18 now. She figures she's an adult.

After about 20 minutes, Cody comes down the stairs and walks to the living room.
“I'm not really watching KidzTube”, Mikayla says quickly. “I was just zapping.”
“That's okay”, Cody says with a reassuring smile, and sits down in one of the armchairs.

“What's up?” he asks then. Mikayla laughs.
“Are you serious? I've been here the whole day.”
“Yeah, but I mean”, he hesitates for a while, “in life. Not just today.”
“I'm okay.” She tries to control her laughter. “Seriously. I'm better now.”
“I know you've been talking to Lucy-”, Cody starts, but Mikayla interrupts him:
“Are you jealous?” She can't help but laugh. “You know she's a girl. And she's not my brother. It's easier to talk to her.”
Cody smiles a little. Then, he becomes more serious. “Listen, sis. I know living with mom isn't the easiest thing in the world. Especially now that she's going out with that guy, what's his name again?”
Mikayla raises an eyebrow. “Berjes”, she says dryly. “He was at your wedding. Plus, she's not just going out with him. He lives with us.”
“I knew that”, Cody says quickly. He takes a moment of deliberation, and then speaks again: “Anyway. You've been spending a lot of time here lately, and I like it.”
“I like it too”, Mikayla interjects.
“And you know, next year you're going to college and, wait – you are going to college, right? Well, what I wanted you to know is that, you know.. We'll always be there for you. Us, Lucy and I.”
Mikayla looks down, blushing. “Thanks, Cody”, she says. Then, she smiles. “You've never been the kind of brother to give lectures or anything.”
“That wasn't a lecture.”
“I knew that”, Mikayla teases.

Lucy comes downstairs and Mikayla soon joins her in the kitchen.
“You won't mind if we just order in tonight, will you?” Lucy asks her. She grabs her cellphone and starts dialing a number. “You know I'm not much of a cook.”
“No, I won't mind at all”, Mikayla assures her.

In fact, she couldn't be any happier – she just loves how real Lucy is. Mikayla's mom always prepares a fancy meal for them at Christmas, but that isn't something Mikayla likes. It's all pretending – they try to act like a real family, even though they're all perfectly aware of the fact that they're not.

But Mikayla likes it here. In her opinion, Christmas isn't about following the traditions to the point where you actually forget to enjoy yourself. She figures it's about being with the people you love.

And she might be a little embarrassed to admit it, but deep down, she knows it's true – she loves these people.

The girls sit down to play some of Cody's video games, as the doorbell rings.
“Cody!” Lucy calls. He soon comes out of the kitchen, with cookie crumbs all around the corners of his mouth. Lucy gives a laugh, and then says: “Could you please get the door? It must be the delivery guy.”
Cody nods, and says: “I can tell that you guys are obviously in the middle of something much more important.”
“As were you”, Lucy laughs and gets back to the game.

“Merry Christmas, man”, Cody wishes.
“Same to you. Here's your food.”

It's snowing outside – it's one of the coldest Decembers Bristol Bay has ever seen. Cody pays the delivery guy, and takes their dinner inside.

Just as they're about to sit down at the table and start eating, they hear a soft cry coming from upstairs.
“You know it's Christmas, don't you?” Lucy asks Isabel. “You want to come and celebrate with us.” She looks at the other crib, and notices Isaac is also awake. “Well, you might as well come then.”

Lucy hands the two babies to her husband, who gently places them on their playmats.

The three of them can now finally start eating, while listening to the twins' reduplicated – Cody learned that word from a parenting book – babble.

“This is good”, Mikayla says as she takes her first bite of the food.

She loves the relaxed atmosphere that's surrounding them. She loves the fact that she can look everyone in the eyes, be herself, and that she doesn't have to watch her every move, dreading someone might misunderstand her. That's exactly what goes on at home – she tries to avoid her new stepdad as best as she can, but at times, she fails at it.

Her mom, on the other hand, is a bitter middle-aged woman who raised her to become just like her – bitter. Mikayla understands that now, after having spend months and months running away from home to come here.

She remembers the time when she still considered her mother something like a saint. She believed every word she said, she changed because of her. But as her mother fell in love, everything changed.

“Yeah”, Lucy says, “this is good.”

They finish dinner and Cody and Lucy take the twins back upstairs – hopefully for the last time that night. It's getting really late, so Mikayla just slumps on the couch, without even turning the TV on. Ocelot is chewing a new squeaky toy that Mikayla gave him as a Christmas present.

Otherwise, it's rather quiet. Mikayla listens to the howling wind, and is happy to be inside where it's dry and warm.

Later that night, Cody lights the fireplace to bring them even more warmth.
“Be careful”, Lucy says. She doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in her husband when it comes to dealing with fire.
“Of course I am.”

They all sit down to watch how the flames start growing bigger and bigger, and soon fulfilling the room with a nice sensation of warmth.

“Guys, I'm gonna head to bed now”, Mikayla soon announces and gets up from her armchair.
“Are you tired already?” Lucy asks her.
“Yeah, I am. Good night.”

What Mikayla means is that she wants her brother and Lucy to have a little moment of their own, as well. They've been married for five months, of which four have been dedicated only to their newborns.

So the two of them sit together on the couch, watch the beautiful, orange flames dancing, and cuddle.

Later, they go upstairs, to their bedroom, crawl into bed and make love.

~~~~~

The next morning, as the people of Bristol's Square look out their windows, they see huge drifts of snow covering up almost all of their neighborhood. It's all happened during just one night, and the little ones believe Santa Claus must have had at least something to do with it.

“I've never seen this much snow before”, Mikayla says with joy.

The twins are particularly happy this morning – it's not like they understand anything about the snow, but Lucy thinks it's because of Christmas. The babies surely sense the joyful spirit.

“Come here, sis”, Cody says suddenly. Lucy is smiling brightly at Mikayla.
“What is it?”
“We got you something.”

“Aww, guys, you shouldn't have”, Mikayla says as soon as she realizes what's going on.
“Shut up”, Cody says jokingly.
“We weren't sure what to get you”, Lucy starts explaining. “So we just thought – what is it that Mikayla likes? And we came up with it – music!”

It's a brand new iPod, and Mikayla simply loves it. She hugs both her brother and Lucy, and immediately starts testing out her new toy.

Mikayla isn't used to getting anything new – she has some nice things, but most of them used to belong to Cody; his room in the attic, his old laptop, his antiquated cellphone. Their mom isn't poor, but she's very strict on using her money; most of it is spent on herself. At first, she had needed to look as good as possible to attract men and now that she already had one, she needed money for sustaining their relationship. “Ask your dad for money”, she always said to Mikayla. “He's rich. Do you have any idea of how much it costs me to maintain you?”

~~~~~

That afternoon, as Cody decides to take the twins napping, the girls stay downstairs.
“Mikayla”, Lucy starts with an unsure tone. “You do know we are going to have some visitors tonight?”

“Um, no”, Mikayla answers confusedly. “Cody didn't tell me anything.” It's not like she's afraid of people, but there is that certain look on Lucy's face that makes her stomach twist. “Who?” she then asks.

“Your dad”, Lucy says in a calm manner. “And your brother and sister. And, of course...”, she takes a short pause, “Nicole.”

Mikayla just looks at her, without blinking. She's not mad at her, of course not – it's their house, and they're free to invite whomever they want there. But at the same time, she feels like she's been tricked; she wouldn't have agreed to spend Christmas with them if she had known her dad was going to be there, as well. She hasn't seen him after the wedding, but that's normal for them. He lives only two blocks away, and yet they almost never see each other.

She can't help but laugh acerbically at the thought of calling those kids her brother and sister – she's never even said a word to them. She saw them at the wedding, of course, and they were all perfect – well-mannered, nicely dressed and the objects of everyone's adoration. She doesn't want to say she's jealous at them – they're just kids – but she knows they have been given so much more than she ever has.

“Okay”, she says plainly.
“They're all really looking forward to seeing you”, Lucy says.

“Yeah”, Mikayla says. “Sure.”

She can see it in Lucy's eyes – concern.

~~~~~

She decides to take Ocelot for a little walk, just to clear her thoughts. There's snow everywhere, but the weather itself isn't too bad – it's actually quite pleasant. The sky is clear, and the sun is almost shining, not quite though; it's still December.

Mikayla's always been the kind of girl to solve all of her problems on her own. She locks herself in her room, goes for a walk or just does something else to forget about them. But lately, she has come to notice that her own remedies just aren't strong enough – she can hide all those painful thoughts in the depths of her mind, but eventually, they'll come out.

She's been telling Lucy quite many things about herself. It's been relieving – having someone to talk to, someone older, someone who listens, and someone who cares.

“You're 18 now”, her mom had said to her own her birthday. “Why are you still angsting? You're not a teenager anymore.”

Mikayla had always known it – her sadness wasn't normal. It wasn't just because she was a teenager – it was something more. She had grown up without a real, reliable figure of a father, which had made her lack the confidence she needed to become an independent, self-assured woman. And then, there was also the example she had been provided with at home. No wonder she has grown up to be like this – bitter.

She doesn't want to see their faces. She doesn't want to know how happy they are, living in one of the most expensive houses in town, with a pool, and probably with a pony somewhere in the countryside. It had also been her dream – a dream that had been ruined for her.

It's getting darker. The earlier so bright and blue sky now turns into something grayer, something red. Mikayla sits down on the lowest step of the porch, and sighs. Ocelot curls up lazily right next to her, and leans his head on her knees. She strokes the dog's head, with her fingers lingering over the silky softness of his ears.

She doesn't know what time it is. Quite late, she presumes. How long has she been out already?

The door opens, and Mikayla jumps in the air. Ocelot runs away, alarmed, but doesn't go too far.
“Where have you been?” Cody demands.
“Nowhere”, Mikayla says, but quickly corrects herself: “I mean – I was out. With the dog.”

Cody loosens up a little bit. “I fall asleep and the next thing I know you're gone. What am I supposed to think?”
“Nothing”, Mikayla says. “Don't you trust me?”
“Of course I do”, Cody answers quickly. “But Lucy told you about dad.”
“She did.”
“I thought you'd ran away.”

“I didn't”, Mikayla says, trying to remain calm. Cody smiles a little.
“I'm glad you didn't.” He takes a deep breath. “You should come inside. They're going to be here any minute.”
“Okay.”
“You know – they really want to see you.”
“Okay”, she repeats.

~~~~~

She doesn't take a shower, nor does she even change her clothes. She feels like there's no need to make an effort or to put up a show. She goes to the balcony, leans on the fence and breathes in the cold, evening air.

Then, from behind the trees covered with frost and snow, she sees the headlights of a car that's approaching slowly. She gulps loudly, and feels her heartbeat hastening.

She turns around and goes back inside before anyone can see her.

...

She stops at the upper end of the stairs, and tries to breathe normally. She feels like a spy, or an outsider, a silent watcher.

It's ridiculous, the way she dreads them, as if they were ghosts or some well-hidden skeletons from her closet. But that's exactly what they are – they've always existed, no matter how hard has she tried to forget about them.

She knows she can't hide forever, so she'll start walking slowly, without making a sound. She wants to enjoy the last seconds of her secret hideout, before stepping into the spotlight.

She is the first one to notice her. They look each other in the eyes, without saying a word – they both just stare.

Then, with something that seems like just one, subtle sprint, she's there, hugging her. Mikayla hugs her back, clumsily, waiting for it to end. For a minute, it feels as though they're the only ones in the room, but then Mikayla sees the faces of all the others – waiting, even scared of what's to come.

“I'm so happy to see you”, Nicole says.

Mikayla doesn't know if it's genuine, or just an act, but she decides to not even care.

~~~~~

Cody and Lucy have somehow managed to get three more – non-matching - chairs around their dining table. They all sit down to eat – some pizza and Chinese food – and the conversation begins.

“Yeah, work's great, dad”, Cody says contentedly. “We're actually working on this new video game right now, it's going to be awesome.”
The little boy, Noah, looks at his older brother admiringly, as though he'd never seen anyone cooler before.

“I'm so glad he found this job.” Lucy smiles. “It pays well, and he clearly enjoys doing it.”
“Who wouldn't?” Robert laughs. “He plays video games for a living.”

Mikayla doesn't look at her dad – instead, she turns her head to face the opposite direction and remains silent. It's an easygoing atmosphere, yet she's feeling haunted.

The kids look happy. The boy doesn't say much and seems very respectful, whereas the girl, Nora, talks a lot and thereby always draws the attention back to herself. Everyone can tell that these are children who have been raised in a loving, solid environment.

Not like everyone.

But there is someone Mikayla can't even stand to look at. It's her. She's not constantly talking, but makes a few comments among the conversation. She acts like she's Lucy's best friend, all youthful and vivacious. And then, she asks Cody about things that aren't even her business – she's not their mother. They already have one, who might be kind of shitty, but she's still their real mother.

After dinner, the little girl walks up to Mikayla and asks:
“Are you my sister?” But before Mikayla even has the chance to answer, the girl continues: “My daddy says you are.”

“It's complicated”, Mikayla says with a sigh. She looks at Nora, whose brown eyes remind her of the ones she sees every times she looks in a mirror.
“My daddy says you are.”

“I've always wanted to have a big sister”, Nora continues. “I only have two brothers, Noah and Cody, but I don't like their old toys. Noah likes to play with blocks and build things, but I love playing my piano. Do you have a piano?”
“I don't”, Mikayla says. “I have a violin.”
“Wow”, the little girl gasps. “How come you never come to visit us?”

Mikayla gulps, and feels a pressure on her chest. She looks at the little girl's eyes, the exact same shape and color as hers, and sees confusion, but also hope.
“I've never been invited”, she gulps.
“You don't need an invitation, silly”, Nora laughs. “You're my sister. You can always come. Wait until you see my room, it's really pretty!”
Mikayla isn't even blinking anymore. She just looks at the girl, almost paralyzed.

“I have a gift for you”, Nora says. “Can I give it to you now?”
“Um, sure”, Mikayla says uneasily.

“Here”, Nora says. “My mommy helped me to wrap it up nicely. It's a drawing, but she told me to get a box for it, otherwise the package wouldn't be as pretty as it is now.” She lets out a bubbly laugh. “I drew a picture of you, but at first I wasn't sure what you looked like. I saw you at Cody and Lucy's wedding, but I didn't really remember. I wanted to draw you as a princess, and then my daddy told me you look a lot like me. Easy-peasy.” She giggles.

Mikayla holds the gift, uncomfortably, and doesn't know what to say. Nora is waiting eagerly for an answer, and looks at her with her brown eyes twinkling.

Mikayla looks at Lucy, in need of an answer. She smiles at her very brightly, and slightly nods her head. Mikayla feels everyone in the room is staring at her, expecting her to do something.

She gulps.

“Thank you”, she says weakly, almost like a whisper. “I can't wait to open it.”

She gives the little girl a kiss on her cheek, because she reckons all the bad in the world can't possibly be her fault.

Probably not any of it.

~~~~~

• Okay, so Mikayla just basically took over this whole update. She's an interesting character with a story to tell. Or maybe I just like writing about troubled characters ;)

• Well, to be totally honest, Mikayla's story has a very special meaning to me. I see a lot of myself in her, and that's why writing about her is something that comes very naturally to me.

• Lucy is probably my favorite sim at the moment. She is so sweet! I also like Cody, so I guess that makes them my favorite couple!

• Mikayla got fat during the holidays! But you know, because fat sims don't even look fat, she just now has some bigger boobs, which isn't such a bad thing.