1.7 Will he have pink hair????

Being married wasn’t that different to being in a relationship, as far as I could tell. I still was the one to cook delicious meals (even if this one looks extraordinarily gray and disgusting), and I was still the one to eat them alone, because my beloved husband still chose to eat stale food and lick old dishes. At some point I started cleaning the dishes straight after I ate from them, preventing him from continuing to eat like this. Wasn’t this even dangerous for this health? After all, he could get some little splinters into his tongue, and then he would have to go to the hospital to get them out, and then I would be alone with our brand-new baby and I would fail everything. 

*checks traits again* Honey, you’re still not Dramatic. Where is that coming from??? You’re going to be fine. I’ve never had a Sim hurt himself this way. 

Kate, could you come to the bathroom for a minute? I think there’s something wrong with my tongue…  

You’re kidding me. 

See, I knew it! I’m coming, darling! *runs over to the bathroom* 

So, what happened? What was wrong? 

Uh, nothing. I just had started the shower and thought maybe she wanted to join me *wink wink* 

You DO realize that you have a newborn baby in the house that requires your full attention, yes? 

I do! In fact, I just ran over to take care of him. Oooh, look – he smiled at me! This must be the first time he smiled at all! Having kids is amazing. I want more of them. 

I can see that *locks wish in*

All that physical activity made me hungry. Oh, look! Kate left some plates for me. I should clean them. Yummy, pasta! 

There’s a plate full of fresh pasta right next to this stale one. Look, you can even see it on the pic…never mind. Enjoy your meal. 

While Dustin was being gross again, Kate went over to the autumn festival in order to have some fun. Competitions were her thing at the moment, and so she participated in this apple catching challenge. Unfortunately, she didn’t win. Geoffrey Landgraab had practiced grabbing them with their teeth for a couple of weeks, which is why nobody could steal the gold medal from him. Not even his son, who is right next to him. But since Kate was distracted most of the time anyway, it didn’t bother her long. Being married was about much more than being the best at everything. 

With this new insight she wasn’t even mad about not being invited to a costume party along with Dustin. He went over to his old house, which is where the party was being held, in a ridiculous astronaut costume, while she stayed at home and prepared lots of dinner for a party herself. 

Kate, didn’t you want to cook yourself? 

Have you seen the guest list? I don’t want to spend the entire day in my kitchen! 

Buying that buffet had been completely unnecessary, since each guest brought a plate of something. We had pasta, turkey, cookies and much more. 

If simfood didn’t get stale, they would be able to eat off those plates for at least a week, I swear! 

Dustin didn’t appreciate all the food when he got home from the boring costume party – this food definitely was too fresh! In addition, he was too busy with controlling his bladder to eat something. Bladder: 1. Dustin: 0. Sigh. -5 

The next morning, after he had showered, he decided to check on Brian once again. Even if he had disgusting eating habits – he was good at taking care of his child and behaved quite well in all other situations. 

Unlike other creatures. This cat, which is the same one that sneaked into Kate’s house on Day 2 or 3, decided to take her mood out on our newspaper. Thanks, we didn’t want to read that anyway.

Meow – you’re welcome :) 

That was sarcasm. 

What's a sarcasm? Are those related to mice? 

Er…. Not really. 

Kate and Dustin didn’t see the cat or the newspaper attack – they were too busy with themselves to realize much around them. Luckily this didn’t include their son Brian, who they still took care of conscientiously. 

See? Adorable. 

After all, he is my son and he has my genetics :) 

We don’t know that yet. I’m still hoping for pink hair and his birthday is pretty soon. Sooo excited! 

I don’t really know what to say, except “those two really love each other”… *skips at least 100 pictures*

While the weather outside had gotten colder and colder, Kate was looking forward to her first day back at work. Just to remind you: she worked in politics, but didn’t get very far, due to her pregnancy. Whenever she thought of that little office of hers and the nice colleagues, she had to smile. This was going to be really fun! 

To practice being around people again, I took my guitar out to the spa and played a few tunes there in broad daylight. It was sad to see that nobody really cared about me playing. Only one woman, who was dressed foolishly light, listened to every song and even applauded every now and then. The others just ignored me :(  

You’ll get better, honey! 

See, a few people are paying attention to you now! And do you see any disgusted faces? No, because you’re doing a great job! Unfortunately you can’t play for tips yet, but we’ll get there soon. 

Simis Bachelor was especially impressed by her play and congratulated her later. His insinuating smile scared me and her a little, but apart from that the conversation went fine. Until he said something about his wish to get together with her in private. He said this very loudly, which made everybody’s heads turn with disgust. This woman was married! 

…and pregnant as well! Congratulations, Kate! But why didn’t you have any kind of morning sickness? I didn’t know you were expecting… 

Well, you can’t know everything. I can’t wait to rush home and tell Dustin about this! Maybe I should leave the conversation with Simis out, though.

Before we could think about possible names for the unborn baby (although we already had one in case it was a girl!), it was Brian’s birthday! Time had passed by so quickly and now we had our little showdown. Would he have my beautiful hair? Or would it be Dustin’s rather..well…ordinary color? I couldn’t wait to blow out his candles! 

It’s safe to say that he got your hair color, Kate! Hooray! And even though he has Dustin’s eyes, I’m more than happy. This is a good ending for this chapter, don’t you think? 

No, we should show our house first! So far these guys have only seen parts of different rooms, but never the whole thing at once. So, On the left we have the foyer, dining room and kitchen. In the middle is our living room. Then comes our bedroom, the bathroom and Brian’s room at last. Not that big, but it’s enough for us. Well, this is it for today. 

Bye, folks! 

1.6 Welcome!

The morning after I told Dustin about my pregnancy started with a loud scream, coming from the dining room. When I hurried there, to see what was wrong, Dustin smiled at me and said something about a fly wanting to bite him. But that he was fine now. 

It was terrible – she came straight for my nose and bit me! Probably the revenge for eating what she’d had her eye on. 

Maybe this tells you something about your eating habits? 

No, should it? And by the way, who are you? You interrupted some of our conversations before, and I even hear you giggle once in a while. Where did you come from and what are you doing in our lives? If necessary, I will defeat you! 

Whoa, slow down, Dustin. I’m not going to harm you, Kate or the unborn baby. Kate, could you explain to him where he is and what my role in this is? 

Sure, boss. Honey, you better sit. This could take a while.

I’ll continue telling the story in the meantime… 

Kate had some pretty exciting days at the autumnal festival. Harvesting pumpkins, shooting pictures in front of pumpkins or some hay, watching random animals run through the park, talking to a few strangers – she wasn’t bored at all. Every time she had a minute to herself, she gently touched her belly and smiled. It was nice to see how much she was looking forward to the baby! We still had no idea what it was going to be, but we didn’t want to know, either. Kate and Dustin were definitely ready to be parents. 

Until then Kate had every excuse to eat 

and eat and eat. After all, she was eating for two! 

Yes, I am. And look how well the ice cream fitted my hair! 

While she had fun outside, Dustin stayed at home to prepare things for school. He was still a supply teacher and had to be prepared for everything when he entered the building in the morning. One day it was chemistry in grade 8, the next music in grade 5. One day he was teaching history to some pupils who were close to their final exams, then explained the general structure of simlish to first-graders. It wasn’t very easy, but he had fun doing it. The unpredictability and the need to be spontaneous were two of the best things about this job. 

Since he was obviously busy with different things, I had to prepare all of our meals. Not that he ate them on time – usually they had to be steamy and develop some sort of mold before he would even look at them *sigh* But I wanted to eat healthy food, which is why I didn’t complain. 

Pancakes are healthy? 

Hello, they had apple jam on them! Apples are fruits! 

……………. 

My free time I dedicated to painting. Since I had only recently taken this hobby up (which was supposed to be a part of my destiny, my pictures weren’t that impressive. But not bad, either. I decided to hang this one up in the baby’s room, which was yet to come. Unfortunately we had kind of financial problems. Hey, wasn’t there some of kind of cheat, the one you told me about? 

Uh, yeah, but I’m only using that when I am playing a game without any rules. Not when it’s official. 

Crap. Oh well, my baby will have to sleep on the floor then. 

Don’t be so dramatic! That’s not even one of your traits! 

However, one of them was artistic, which meant that she was very creative. This showed in her first novel “Politics for Beginners”, which she had told you about earlier and which she finished shortly before she gave birth to little… no, still not telling. 

The day after, when she was working on her painting again, she surprisingly went into labor. 

Ouch, help!! This hurts so much! Can I go to the hospital, please? Maybe they can give me something. Or beat me till I faint, then I won’t feel the pain anymore… 

No, not going to happen. Sorry ^_^ But I really want to be there when your first child is born. *drumroll* And it’s a… 

It’s a…… 

It’s a… oh, come on! 

Sorry if I’m not acting according to your expectations! Ooooh, it’s happening! It’s happening, I feel it! It’s a……. 

BOY! We’ll name him Willie. 

Uh..no?! I’m not naming your child after your TV-husband. That’s just weird. We will name him Brian, that’s a beautiful name. 

Can we name the next one Willie? 

That’s NEVER going to happen! 

As soon as little Brian was born, we only focused on him. Our own needs didn’t really matter –although we didn’t completely ignore them –, but it was more important that he was fine. Dustin fed him, I changed his diapers and cuddled with him – our life was perfect. 

Except one little thing. Dustin and I were in an official relationship, but now that we were a family, this was no longer enough for me. So I took all of my courage and asked him to marry me. Before I spoil the pictures with my babbling, just look: 

(I love this picture, it’s so romantic!)

(Who just said that? Well, it doesn’t matter. Everybody probably thought the same thing.) 

But we weren’t over. Why only be engaged when we could get married right away and be a real family?! 

Happy End for now! :) 

Cheers, Kate. And Dustin. And Brian!

1.5 Moving damn fast

Sleeping next to my darling meant the world to me. I felt so safe being close to him, and I could feel that he was more than relaxed, too. 

We literally couldn’t keep our hands off each other when we got up the next morning. Everything was so new and so exciting! Although I knew that I was pretty good-looking, he made me feel much more special than I already did. The way he touched my hand or stroked my arm let my heart beat faster than usual, and sometimes I felt like I was no longer able to breathe properly. Whenever he kissed me, I felt like I was about to faint. He was perfect. 
Honey, you DEFINITELY read too much Twilight. 

Well, if YOU had read it properly, you would have known that what happened between Dustin and me didn’t happen between Bella and Edward until Breaking Dawn. 
Pssst, spoiler alert! Some people might not have known that before. And by the way, I DID know. 
And did you see how the directors re-wrote that for the movie? That was romantic!
 I…sort of didn’t watch the last two parts. Or, to be precise, the two parts of the last part. 
You didn’t? But… but… Edward. 
Why don’t we get back to you and Dustin, I like that much better. You rolled that one wish last night that at the same time shocked and delighted me. It had something to do with rings and vows. 

You mean that I want to marry him? That’s right, I do. He really is the perfect guy for me, there is nobody else. Which is why, after I got a vaccination for autumnal diseases, I immediately started reading a book about wedding ceremonies. How was it going to be? I couldn’t really decide between a romantic wedding at the beach – everybody wearing light clothes, celebrating in the sunlight – something in the local church, dressed in white. Either way, this was going to be the best day of my life! 

Even if I already was so happy at the moment, that I couldn’t imagine feeling any happier. I’m not ashamed to say that he had an amazing body and was willing to share it with me every single hour. 
Well, I’m not really ashamed either, just don’t think this is appropriate for a story young readers could follow… just saying.
 Don’t be so prude! 

And you, Dustin, don’t be so GROSS! For f..gods sake. I know that you’re a slob, but licking plates that have a green steam coming from it is just disgusting.
 But it’s so tasty…! The flies left me a few of those delicious crumbs. I need to taste them! 
Urgh. Gross. 

After “dinner”, Dustin and Kate decided to dance a little – you know, burn off some calories. Even though they had much more effective methods for that at night. And in the morning. And in the afternoon. See?! Not prude at all. 
Pssssst, quiet. I have to focus. Isn’t he cute when he is dancing? Nevertheless, I feel so… dizzy.My stomach grumbles and I feel like I ate something that wasn’t good for me. Oh God, I think I have to run to the bathroom really quickly…

...Hooray! 
What? Are you kidding me? This is a cause of joy for you? 
Not you throwing up, obviously. The fact that you’re pregnant *dances around happily* A little Star-baby coming up, hopefully with red/pink/purple hair!!! 
What, I’m pregnant? Really? Are you sure? Oh, this is so exciting!!! I should run and tell Dustin. Or… I’ll just wait. Hey, amhranai? What if he doesn’t want the baby?
 He wants it. Believe me. Ever since he moved in, he wished for another child and specifically asked to have it with you. He is madly in love with you and wants to found a new family with you. Go ahead and tell him :) 

Uh…honey? I need to talk to you about something. 
Whaaat? I can’t hear you over the stereo! Come over here, this song is awesome! 
Never mind, it’s not that important… I’ll just tell him later. 

After what seemed to be a couple of weeks of dancing, Dustin decided to watch some TV as well. You know, address different senses. He seems to be both a visual and auditive learner. Although I’m not saying he actually learns something there. 

Kate wanted to check out a discotheque that night, straight after she had finished work for the day. Not having built a discotheque in Sunset Valley until that moment, I hastily re-arranged some houses and finally placed one in the suburbs. Then she went over there – still wearing her summer outfit, by the way! 
Heeeey, look, my shirt doesn’t really fit any more – oh my God, I am ACTUALLY pregnant! You were right! I can’t believe it. Probably I should wear something more appropriate, though, since I don’t want to harm my unborn baby. Ooooh, this is so exciting. Will it be a boy or a girl? 
I don’t know, do you prefer one of them? 
No, I want it to be a surprise. I already thought of names for both sexes. 
What a coincidence – I did, too. If it’s a girl, we will name him… no, I’m not telling yet. 

Back home, I felt the desperate need for some mac and cheese. Dustin had already gone to bed, which is why I couldn’t tell him about the pregnancy anyway, so I used the hours until I got tired to eat something and then sat back and thought about our baby. It was going to be the most precious thing in my little virtual world and I was going to take good care of it. 
Stop it, Kate, you’re making me cry… I’m not used to you being so sentimental! 
But it’s something so important and significant and beautiful! 
I know. I’m really happy for you. 

Author's Notes: Surprise! :) You thought Kate was moving fast, but that was NOTHING compared to the speed she now has! Dustin immediately rolled a wish for a baby with Kate, and I liked the idea. So there you are :D 
Stay tuned to see the first baby in the Star-Characteracy-ISBI!