Chapter 22: O Positive

Carter becomes a child. Unlike his half-sister, his mother doesn't show up to see him age up.

With his presidential election so close, Shepard's campaign manager suggested he not spend so much time hanging around bars. So Shepard bought a home bar and has been developing a new hobby.

Between stump speeches and TV appearances, Shepard makes time to visit his pregnant girlfriend.

His campaign manager flipped when he told her he was expecting yet another out of wedlock child, but the scandal hasn't been as damaging to his poll numbers as one might expect. The public have grown used to Shepard's unusual family, and unlike a lot of other politicians, he isn't cheating on a wife or caught up in any prostitution scandals.

When election day comes, Shepard wins, and becomes Leader of the Free World.

Shepard still wishes Anne would marry him, but she continues to refuse. He's even asked his mother for advice, but all she can say is that any girl who refuses to marry her son is a fool.

Oregon's best friend is Bree Merrick. 
"I can go out in the sun now, but when I grow up, I'm going to have to stay in the shade, or burn up." Bree is a vampire, like her father Beau.

Shepard rushes to the hospital to be with Anne when she gives birth to their son, Josiah.

Though it didn't effect him politically, Shepard is worried about what having a child will do his relationship with Anne. She insists everything wiil be fine, great even, because she's thrilled to have a baby of her own. But his new executive position comes with new responsibilities and pressures. Making to time for two families will be difficult.

After spending time with his new son, Shepard gets home in time to play some games with Oregon and Carter.

Shepard orders a pizza for Oregon's birthday.


"Your father would rather you didn't have strangers coming to the house," Allyson protests.


"Mom, MorcuCorp isn't hiring pizza deliverers to spy on us. I'm the Leader of the Free World, I can order a pizza for my kids if I want."

Mmmm, pizza. Oregon celebrates her birthday with the best food ever created.

Oregon also got a guitar for birthday. She's a natural, like her grandfather, Shadow.

Bree Merrick had her birthday around the same time as Oregon, and the two remain inseparable friends.


"I wish I had your complexion."


"Are you kidding? I wish I had your complexion!"

Oregon also remains close to her mother, Lilly-Bo. Oregon got her artistic flair and fashion sense from her mother.

Raising a child os a lot of work, and Shepard helps Anne out as much as he can. As he feared, it has put a damper on their romantic life. What little time he has to give them goes primarily to Josiah.

The Leader of the Free World still has to hold fundraisers. In fact, fund raising is one of his primary responsibilities.

Seeing her neighbors in their formal finest has inspired Oregon. When she grows up, she's going to be a stylist and help these poor people.

Oregon senses Beau Merrick staring at her from across the banquet hall, so she goes up to introduce herself.
"You're Bree's Dad," she says, "I'm Oregon McDermott."


"I know who you are," Beau answers in his creepy, yet oddly seductive monotone, "You're Lilly-Bo's girl. Your mother was O positive, my favorite type. What type are you?"


"What....type?" Oregon asks, confused.


"Blood type," he says with a smile that shows his fangs.


"Oh, uh, excuse me," Oregon stammers and runs off to find her father.

When Carter becomes a teen, he seeks out his mother, who lives in the house next door but has never made an effort to see her son. He quickly discovers that Marina is a shallow gold digger who is only interested talking about her wealth and personal possessions. She left her son with his father at birth and hasn't had a single thought about him since.

Oregon has her first date, and first kiss, with Jeromy Green-Maynard.

"I always knew you'd be Leader of the Free World someday, Shepard," Misty proclaims proudly, "And you're a great dancer. You make me proud."

Ewan decides he wants to meet his newest grandchild, and visits the Navarro house. Anne has done everything she could to keep Shepard's family separate from hers, but she can't refuse Ewan's request when he comes to her door.

Anne directs Ewan to Josiah's room, and leaves the old man to spend some time with his grandson, while she returns to her studio to paint.

A short time later, Shepard appears at her door. "You father is here," she tells him.


"My father?" Shepard asks in surprise, "I'm sorry he intruded on you. I'll tell him to leave if you don't want him here."


"No, it's okay," Anne answers, "Everything is just so much more complicated than I thought it would be. I wanted to keep my family separate from yours, but..."

"I guess you have to take that," Anne says when his cell phone interrupts her.


"Yeah, I do," Shepard answers. If he doesn't answer his phone, it could cause a huge panic.

No matter where he is, the leader of the free world is always at work. When she's alone at night, Anne frequently thinks about marrying Shepard, wanting to be with him more, have their child grow up in the same house with him and his other children. But whenever she's with Shepard, the paparazzi follow, his phone rings non-stop, and she becomes more firm in her resolve to not subject herself and her son any further to the constant demands the world makes on her man.

Whenever he spends time with Anne, Shepard makes sure to have an equal amount of time for Oregon and Carter.

Shepard is Leader of the Free World, but he's also a McDermott, and will personally defend his home from intruders in his underwear.

Allyson gets in line to beat up on the burglar.


Challenge Notes:
Shepard has achieved his Perfect Career goal, he's Leader of the Free World and level 10 Charisma. He turned adult the day before he got his last promotion.


Oregon's traits are Exitable, Virtuoso, Artistic and Charismatic. The  first two were random from her birth outside the household. I chose artistic for her as child, since she will be a Stylist. For her teen trait, I couldn't quite decide, so I hit the randomize button and it came up Charismatic. More than one of her ancestors has had that trait (Allyson included) so kept it. Her favorite color is Violet.


Carter's traits are Brave, Clumsy, Kleptomaniac and Easily Impressed. He's been getting all random traits. He's going to have a hard time finding a girlfriend, the few teen girls are all one or two days from YA (except for his sister and her friend Bree Merrick, who is dating someone), and the child girls are all still several days until hitting teen.) 


Allyson and Ewan managed to see their grandkids grow to teens. Well, the ones in their house, anyway. Wyoming's daughter Karen just turned child and he and Rosalie just had another, Tamika. They are both over 90 and could be visited by the reaper any time now.
Allyson is still at celebrity level 4. She still works and does celebrity opportunities, but HP's mod makes it harder. So, if I ever actually roll 5 star celebrity as a goal, I might have to take out the mod.