Round Eight - Chalmers

Jacinta had moved in with her boyfriend, Ash Chalmers, and was trying to put the whole kissing-a-girl-and-liking-it incident behind her.


Unfortunately, just because she'd moved out didn't mean her mother wasn't going to interfere. Sabrina stopped by the apartment for an impromptu visit and instantaneously started getting on her case.

"When are you two getting married?"

"Mom! He hasn't even asked yet! And we'll get around to it in our own time! I'm too concerned with my career right now."

"Well hurry up, I want grandchildren. Legitimate grandchildren."


As much as Jacinta did want to marry Ash, her career was indeed the first thing on her mind. She perfected the last few skills in her mental armoury, hoping she would soon reach the highest ranks she could in the scientific community. She didn't want to be like poor Lisa Mackenzie, kept behind in her career due to too much maternity leave...


Despite Sabrina's frequent intrusions on their privacy, they were happy together. They hadn't... "done the deed", as it were, but they were plenty romantic enough without.


Jacinta wasn't surprised when Ash popped the question, but she WAS delighted. She wanted to be reserved and sensible, consider it, ask if it was too soon, but she started doing an awkward little dance of joy.


Jacinta found herself enjoying the domestic life and rediscovered her love of the culinary arts. She happily made pancakes for the two of them every morning, as Ash was definitely not a morning person and probably would have burned poptarts.


They got married in a small, private ceremony, but asked Jacinta's family, including her step-family, over for a reception party at their apartment.


It went swimmingly. The whole family seemed on the same level as Ash about things, with the possible exception of Ruth who was considerably less down-to-earth.


Jacinta was happy. She was sure she could get used to married life...


...and finally being "an honest woman" had a few extra advantages!

Note: I refused to let Ash and Jacinta do anything beyond make out until they were married. As soon as the party was over, they got busy on the couch and Jacinta instantly got pregnant. What happened to your career dreams, lady?!?!

Round Eight - Knox 3

Danny was trying to keep his mind off Emma by throwing himself into his training routine, but it was no good. He was a rising sports-star! He could have any girl he wanted! Why was he so hung up about this? He decided he was going to join his teammates and go out for a night on the town.


He met a young lady while clubbing and they got chatting. She looked a bit like Emma, and Danny supposed that was where his attraction to her lay. Still, a date couldn't hurt, could it?


Unfortunately the girl saw right through his attempts.


Like his father had done years before, Danny ended up waiting at the bar. If only Emma would come round to his point of view...


Then a miracle occurred. Halfway through his day's training, Emma marched in through the front door.

"Danny... I've been thinking. Shiina's got a new man and she doesn't need me around anymore. So I was thinking, maybe we should move in together."

"That's... a bit quick?"

"And don't even try to pretend that isn't one of the things you like about me. I'm forward and to the point. I'd never mess you around and you know it."


Danny couldn't believe his luck.


Emma settled in quickly, trying to be a perfect housewife and keep her double-life hidden. For all she'd said about how open she was and how she wouldn't lead Danny on, she still hadn't told him what she did for a living. How would her clean-living athlete take the knowledge that she was rising up through the criminal underworld?


She finally decided to bite the bullet and tell the truth.

"I've got a confession to make... You see this outfit? It's no party costume. This is what I do. I'm a crook. A criminal."

"Yeah, I figured. And you know what? I don't care. I know who you are inside, and that's the girl I love."

It was a corny line, they both knew it, but they didn't care. It was true - they were in love, and nothing else really mattered.


Note: Sorry if all these updates seem really disjointed. My game's been having problems - everything is so bugged and sometimes the photo taking just doesn't work! But I'm doing my best...

Round Eight - Nakamura 2

Shiina's pregnancy was progressing quickly, and despite her frantic work schedule Emma was there for every check-up, every little kick. They were ready to be the perfect heterosexual life-partners parenting team!


Luckily Emma wasn't at work when Shiina went into labour. She rushed her best friend to the hospital and they welcomed a little baby boy into the world.


Shiina named him Jin. He looked more like his grandfather, Nobuo, than anyone else - his skin was a little darker than Shiina's and he had Nobuo's eyes, although he did have Shiina's jet black hair. He didn't take after his father at all, so far. Emma and Shiina were grateful - they didn't need any reminders of THAT deadbeat loser!


Emma and Shiina shared parenting equally. Whenever Emma wasn't at work she'd take over, allowing Shiina to get some much-needed sleep.


Jin grew up fast. He was a handsome little boy, and very boisterous. Shiina regretted the way he'd come into the world but she certainly didn't regret that he had.


She still hadn't broken the news to her mother and decided it was time.

"Mom, I've got something to tell you... no, it's not an emergency! I'm... well... you're a grandmother."

Sachiko took it well, thankfully, and made Shiina promise she'd bring Jin round to see them as soon as he was old enough.


Motherhood had kept Shiina off the party circuit for too long. A lot of her so-called friends didn't seem to have noticed but her friend Gabe, who she'd once tried to set up with Emma, called around to check how she was doing.


Gabe kept dropping round to help out with Jin and Shiina found herself growing fond of him. She could see herself settling down with someone like him - he was charming, intelligent, and RICH, having inherited a fortune from his parents, and he didn't want to rest on his socialite laurels.


And so, she made her move. Soon it was decided. Shiina and Emma were going to go their separate ways - Shiina was going to move in with Gabe, which left Emma free to go after Danny. A perfect solution!

Note: Gabe and Shiina only have one bolt but ACR decreed it was time for makeouts and falling in love, which was quickly followed by Shiina spinning up a want to get engaged! Crazy stuff...

Round Eight - Davies 2

Looking after two toddlers was proving more difficult than Jill had anticipated. Didn't they realise she needed at LEAST four hours a day on the phone if she was going to stay popular?!


It wasn't all Jill's lack of maternal instincts, either. The twins were not the easiest children to look after - constantly grumpy, fractious and unpleasant. Sometimes it took hours to get them to go to sleep, and once you'd managed one would wake up and start crying and the whole cycle would begin again.


Jill proposed a solution, and James was all ears.

"We've gotta get out of this place and find a bigger apartment. And get some kind of a live-in nanny..."

"What, like an au-pair?" Visions of blonde European teenagers danced around in James's head.

"...something like that." Jill realised she was going to have to find someone that wouldn't tempt her husband, and someone who'd be cheap enough for them to be able to afford the rent on a larger place. She had just the candidate...


Heaven Louie hadn't heard from her youngest aunt for a while and was surprised to get invited over. Being a fortune-minded young lady who hadn't managed to get a job yet, she was thrilled at the notion of moving in with them, even if it did mean looking after two difficult little girls.


The arrangement worked out perfectly. They moved into the larger apartment and Heaven took to looking after the kids like a fish to water, leaving Jill and James with enough time and energy to work and, more importantly, play.


The twins were soon more fond of Heaven than they were of their own parents, although they had a tendency to grab at her hair.


Jill, meanwhile, was reaping the benefits of not having to act like a mother. She'd had to call off her little "arrangement" with Will Knox due to his wife finding out and needed an outlet. James was nice enough, her husband, the father of her children, all that jazz, but he wasn't exciting anymore. Luckily for Jill, while on her weekly outing to the beauty spa she met someone new. One thing lead to another, in front of onlookers.


They spent the whole afternoon together, lazing around in the hot-tubs.


They would have taken it further than kissing if it weren't for some nosy old busy-body getting all up in their business. It was at that point Jill realised she'd stayed out a lot later than she said she would. She needed a good excuse...


When she got back, Heaven was waiting for her. "You're back late." Luckily, Jill had prepared for just such a situation.

"You're my niece, not my mother! If you MUST know, I stayed out later because I was picking out some new clothes for YOU. That's right, feel bad." She shoved the bags into Heaven's hands and stormed off.


The twins were soon children and ready to start school. Every morning they demanded hugs from Heaven, although Nicole was still attached enough to her parents to know something was missing.

Leah, on the other hand, had no such feelings. She was quick to take out her frustrations at James and Jill by demolishing the doll house they'd bought for her. James just stood by and watched in confusion.


Leah and Nicole may have been twins and they were very close, but it didn't mean they got on all the time. Their distinct differences in personalities meant they sometimes clashed. Nicole was meaner and messier and delighted in tormenting neat-freak Leah.


But even after all their fights and disagreements, they were still each other's best friends.


Notes: Okay, I admit it, a lot of this was me playing around and seeing what I could do with various hacks! Plus it seemed rather in character for Jill and James to call on someone else to do the actual grunt-work of parenting. Leah and Nicole repeatedly spin up wants to torment someone, and always get positive relationship points when they torment each other!

Round Eight - Knox 2

Will may have been an expectant father, and he may have had a wedding band on his finger, but that didn't seem to be able to stop him from his womanising. A simple trip to his favourite club became an impromptu party when a singer he'd appeared in a video turned up with her entourage, which included three cute blondes who were very conspicuously not his wife.


Will kept his distance for a while, jumping into the DJ booth and spinning a few tunes. He had a great time - maybe that was the next step for him once his dance career was over? He'd be an elder soon and his joints weren't what they once were, but he still had music (and cool) in his veins.


His fun didn't end when he let the resident DJ get back in the booth and do her thing - a request for a slow song here, a few words in the ear of a pretty lady there... the night ended with him and the three blondes all in one hot tub. What a party!


Will wasn't so good at keeping his other indiscretions secret. Jill turned up in the apartment one morning wearing nothing but a tiny silk nightie, and Will was powerless to resist. Unfortunately Elle chose that moment to emerge from the bedroom, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes, and saw them canoodling in a corner.


She didn't wait to consider her options and went straight for the jugular, delivering a mighty slap to Will.

"You lying scumbag! In OUR apartment, while I'm pregnant with YOUR child!"

Jill giggled.


"And YOU! I thought you were my FRIEND!" yelled Elle. This was becoming quite a pattern for the red-head, it seemed - her inability to keep her hands off other people's husbands was indeed becoming legendary in the clubs and pubs downtown.


Once she had forcefully shown Jill the door, Elle turned her rage back on Will. "You aren't allowed to see her anymore!"

"Aren't ALLOWED?! Or what?"

"Or I'm leaving, and I'm taking my baby."

Will could almost see the ghost of his father frowning at him. He must be rolling in his grave. He sighed. "Okay, honey."


Will threw himself into his career, and was away with a dancing troupe when Elle went into labour. It was actually Jill who rushed her to the hospital, perhaps returning the favour for how helpful Elle had been regarding the birth of her twins. Maybe she even felt remorse.


Elle gave birth to a little girl called Adeola. She may have still been absolutely furious with Will, but she couldn't be angry with his daughter, even if she did look exactly like him. She was just so adorable! Elle could hardly believe she'd grown something so pretty inside of her for 9 months.


Elle took on all of the baby-care and as many chores as she could handle, working off her aggression by being the perfect housewife. Will stayed as far away as possible.


After a while, though, he dared to approach his wife, bringing a peacemaking gift of an expensive rose. She was very touched. Her anger had been ebbing away; she was just so tired of the animosity, and she had to admit Will had kept his side of the bargain. She hadn't seen Jill around since the ultimatum.


She still monopolised Adeola's time, but not maliciously. It was just that she loved her little bundle of joy, and Will wasn't naturally one for midnight feedings, diaper changes and getting puked on, regardless of how cute the puker was.


But as Adeola got older, she got a little more interesting to her dad. She was like a mini-girl-version of him! And toddlers were fun. Now she was potty trained and didn't throw up so much he could concentrate on the important things, like teaching her nursery rhymes and how to play the xylophone. He'd make a musical superstar out of her yet!


But the new domestic bliss couldn't last. Elle cornered her husband as he attempted to get to the coffee machine before a hard day's work rehearsing for the latest music video. "Will, we need to talk. We can't live in this apartment forever. I think we need to get out of the city, go somewhere our daughter can run around and play. Plus that little witch Jill is still lurking around..."

"But we can't afford - "

"Save it. We are MOVING. My great-uncle just died and left me enough money for a house in his will. If you're too much of a cheating low-life to do this for me, at least do it for Adeola's sake."


Elle chose their new house, of course. It was her money. She went with a pretty (if a bit ostentatious) cottage far away from the temptations that lay down town, complete with a small garden with a swing-set. It was perfect for her and Adeola. Will, on the other hand, felt awful. He was getting old, his romancing days seemed to be reaching a close, he was banned from having any contact with Jill, AND he was stuck in the suburbs. He'd never felt so trapped before in his entire life.

Notes: Dammit Jill! Ah well, it was a good excuse to move them to a proper house. This is the second time she's stolen a friend's husband, and the second time she's autonomously flirted with them and caused a slap-fest... remember? She was Sabrina's friend too, once upon a time. Oh treachery, thy name is Jill.