Chapter 37: Fatherhood

After work, archer usually walks through the park to the Red Rendezvous. Today he stops along the way to introduce himself to a young woman he's never seen before.  

He greets Nickey in his usual charming style, but utterly fails to impress her. 

But she agrees to have dinner with him at the Red Rendezvous despite her negative first impression. She is new in town and doesn't want to alienate her new neighbors right away. And Archer is the son of Drew Carlton, one of Nickey's favorite authors.


"Is it true that your father is a total recluse?" Nickey asks, wondering how to get Archer to invite her to the family house without having to get involved with Archer himself.


"My father never leaves his office, let alone leave the house," Archer confirms the rumors about his author father, "We hardly ever saw him when we were growing up."


That doesn't bode well for Nickey's chances to meet Drew, even if she got into the house, she might not get so much as a glimpse of the reclusive writer.

Archer offers her a dance and a drink, but Nickey declines, saying it's about she got home. She'll find a way to meet Drew Carlton without having to go through his son.

Archer is not used to being turned down for anything by anyone, and wonders how this one girl is able to resist him.

Drew spent the better part of his life in front of his computer, and old age takes him completely by surprise.

Briar Rose wakes in early hours to discover her father's ghost lurking around her bedroom.
He died when her children were still young, and she could use some good parenting advice now that her oldest son has been developing a reputation around town as a sex-crazed party monster.


"You were so much better at this that I am," Briar sighs, remembering her own childhood and teen years.

Lyle comforts her with a ghostly hug, but offers no coherent advice.

It won't be long now before Briar's hair is as gray as her husband's, so she pays one final visit to her vampire grandfather. Knowing how much he suffers to see his human relations grow old and die, she won't visit him again when she appears older than he does. Already she can see the pain in his eyes as he looks at her, knowing she hasn't got that much time left.
"Briar Rose.." he starts, but she raises a hand to stop him, knowing he's going to offer to turn her one more time.


"Don't," she says, "I made my decision to stay human long ago."


Beau nods sadly, "I will not offer again. And I thank you for seeking me out, and being a part of my life, Briar Rose. You are the best of my line and I...love you."

Meghan graduates high school and is finally of age to resume her romance with Archer. She meets him at the Red Rendezvous, which he now owns.


"You know what they say about you around town," she says, "That you've been sleeping around."


"That's an exaggeration," Archer explains, "It's true, I haven't been completely faithful, but there's only been one woman. And we're done now."


"I should tell you to get out of my life," Meghan sighs.


Archer pulls her into an embrace, "You know you can't leave me," he says, "Whatever I've done, you're crazy about me."


Meghan doesn't have an answer to that, because it's true. She's always adored him and has no intention of letting him get away now.

He promised to marry her when they were still in high school, and Archer hasn't changed his mind, despite his flirtations with other women. He gets down on one knee and offers Meghan his ring.
"From now on, Meghan, It's just you and me, I promise."


Meghan accepts, as she knew she would, even if she has her doubts about his promises.

Archer wanted a huge wedding party, but Meghan is uncomfortable in crowds and wants a simple private wedding. So Archer obliges her and the marry privately, and celebrate their union in the hot tub in their back yard.

Griffin graduates the day after Meghan moves in. His dream is to be a great artist and photographer.

The huge fortune his parents have amassed allowed them to build him a mansion in the empty lot across the street.

Archer passes up his personal patrol car in favor of a new motorcycle.

Meghan is pleased that she won't be required to work outside the house. She prefers being alone and outdoors, and immediately starts seeing to the dying garden that Lyle Carlton left behind.

Though he's a newlywed, Archer doesn't change his pattern of hitting the Red Rendezvous after work. He loves his wife, but he's not in a huge hurry to get home to her. Fellow cops Irving and Joaquin join him for a few drinks.

And drinks are the only kind of trouble Archer can get himself into tonight; Joaquin is Meghan's uncle, and anything Archer does or says  in his presence can and will be used against him later. 

On Saturday, Archer doesn't have to work, so he throws a party at the Red Rendezvous for all his friends and anyone else who wants to show up. On his way to the bar he runs into Sharita. He hadn't seen her since their fling the night of his birthday, and he can't help but notice how huge her belly has gotten since then.


"Oh, wow, Sharita, that's not..."


"Not yours, don't worry," she giggles, "Kristian Merrick-Curious is the culprit."


"I'm really sorry," Archer says, "You know he's a dog, don't you?"


Sharita nods, "He moved in with me, with one of his other kids. But I know he's sleeping around."


"And he's kind of known for not paying his child support most of the time," Archer adds, and takes her hands, "If you need anything, let me know. I can help."


"You're a sweetheart, Archer," Sharita answers, "I'm fine with raising this child without Kristian's support, and the fact that he's sleeping around. But I may have other needs I'll want to call you on."

Archer slips away from Sharita before anyone sees him with her, and heads into the bar to join his party. Nickey is there with her new boyfriend, Allan Eckert-Craven. What has Allan got that Archer doesn't?

Of course Archer invited his little brother to his party. And Lucinda Merrick shows up despite the fact that Archer didn't invite her.


"Are you still seeing her?" Archer asks, worried about Griffin, "She's a fully grown vampire now."


"Yes, she's fully grown," Griffin laughs, glancing appreciatively at her, "And we do date. But we're both seeing other people, too. I told you when we were kids, I don't want to go down that 'marry right out of high school' road. I'm going to live a little before I settle down."


"Who have you been dating?" Archer asks.


"Elena McGraw, Yvette Sargeant, Jodie Merrick-Curious..." Griffin rattles off a list.


"Wow. You deserve my reputation more than I do!" Archer complains.


"I keep a low profile," Griffin answers, "Something you might consider trying..."

Archer has to leave his party early to attend the birth of his son, Emery.

Still in shock over being a father, Archer pours himself a stiff drink.

Drew has never gotten over his fear of ghosts, and still faints nearly every morning at the sight of one of his wife's ancestors playing video games in his office.

But once he regains consciousness, he joins Ewan for a game and enjoys a some heady write to writer discourse.

While compiling reports on his neighbors for work, Archer glances at a snapshot of his grandfather Lyle on the desk. Archer was closer than Lyle than to his father, and looked up to him. He wanted to be the kind of father Lyle was, but so far he's been more like his own father, too involved in himself to spend time with his family. But he has time to change that.

Meghan got pregnant again almost immediately after Emery was born. Archer tries to improve his record by coming home straight from work, at least a few days a week to spend time with her and their son.


"Genius runs in your family," Meghan remarks, "The doctors says they already see signs of it in Emery, and that there's a high chance this baby will be a genius, too."


"Genius doesn't necessarily make a good person," Archer says, "They say I'm a genius."


"And you're not a good person?"


"I'm trying, Meghan."

Archer likes a good drink before he goes to work.

Meghan gives birth to twins this time, both girls, Carys and Bronwyn.

Emery's birthday is the same day his sisters are born.

Reclusive Drew has been coming out of his office more often to help Meghan with the babies.

Faced with own mortality, Drew has realized that he's spent most of his life locked away from his loved ones, and now he's trying to make up for lost time, to connect with his grown sons and his new grandchildren.


Challenge Notes:
So, Drew did finally achieve level 10 of the writer career, finishing off that generation's goals. He still spends a lot of time writing, but he's not a slave to it like he was before, and whenever he gets stir crazy, he goes to bother Griffin who conveniently lives across the street.
Griff is a self-employed photographer.  I gave him a camera before he moved out, and story progression makes him work on his career. His LTW is to max painting and photography.
For gen 9, I have achieved the property mogul goal, the family has partnerships in the bookstore, grocery and bistro, plus full ownership of the Red Rendezvous dive bar.
For the Partier goal, Archer throws a party at the bar every Saturday. Having it on saturday is the only way I'll remember to get it done every week, lol.
Three out of five kids are born. Since I rolled the 4th as heir, we still don't have an heir yet. I gave Archer & Meghan fertility treatments to increase the odds of twins. Right now there are 7 Sims in the house, so they can only have one more while Drew and Briar are still alive. I'm kind of wanting wait to have another pregnancy until there is room for two, so we can finish off the 5 in one go. But if the elders take too long to die off...
The roll for generation 10 is Couple, 2 kids, Education career and Inventor as secondary. The goal will be Fulfilled and misc. fun is Runs in the Family. That one applies to the kids in this generation. The way I determined the trait for this is to roll random traits for the first born, Emery, he got Brave and Eccentric. I then rolled random traits for Carys, the 2nd, and she got Genius and Eccentric. Since Eccentric came up twice in random rolls, thats the trait. So, I rolled random traits for Bronwyn (3rd child) and got Light Sleeper and Slob. I switched slob for Eccentric. I hate the slob trait, so I'm glad it didn't come up as my run in the family trait.


Thanks to Nickey Elysse for her self Sim. Nickey the Sim turned down the gig of mothering Archer's brood and chose her own destiny. She's now married to Allan Eckert-Craven and has not started having kids.