Round Ten - Straight

Cameron was taking his studies very seriously. In between that and his part-time job at a building site he had no time for romance.


Lisa and Taylor weren't about to let the fact they were old and grey get in the way of their lives. They spent every free minute painting or working on pottery.


Caitlyn also loved arts and crafts, and her creative abilities didn't end there. She was getting pretty good at playing the violin, too!


Douglas, on the other hand, preferred lazing around.


It wasn't long until Douglas and Caitlyn hit their teens. Douglas dragged Cameron out to a café to meet up with their big brother Ewan, but he seemed more interested in talking to Junko Nakamura than to them. It was worrying.


Caitlyn was just glad she was finally old enough to use the pottery wheel.


Note: One of Junko's turn-ons is fat, so thanks to Ewan's sudden weight-gain she's now got two bolts for him?!?! Stay away, Junko, stay away. There is already too much drama there...

Round Nine - Straight

The Straights were enjoying life in their new farmhouse on the outskirts of the town. Lisa was still perfecting her art - she was so close to the top of her career she could almost taste it!


The twins weren't quite as serious as their parents or older brother - they loved to gossip and tell secrets to each other.


Cameron had decided he wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a City Planner someday too. His natural skills lay more with mechanics than art but he was trying his best - architecture demanded at lease SOME artistic skill.


However, his natural gift for tinkering meant that he was the one who usually ended up having to deal with the old farmhouse's cantankerous plumbing.


Taylor had struck up a friendship with Elle Knox, and had to admit to himself that she was very attractive. Secretly, she agreed, but they were both married and staunch Family-types so nothing would ever happen.


Despite their occasional laziness in the area of academics both Douglas and Caitlyn were soon getting excellent report cards. The combined forces of Lisa, Taylor AND Cameron helping them learn how to study couldn't have resulted in anything less.


Caitlyn had made friends with Zillah Knox. They were very similar in many respects, although Zillah was more outgoing and had some crazy ideas about the paranormal that didn't fit into Caitlyn's more practical world-view.


Lisa was busy at work and was often out all day. The kids would stop whatever they were doing to welcome her back home.


Lisa and Taylor both reached retirement age. Taylor was keen to collect his pension but Lisa pointed out they needed more money - even though she had no plans to retire soon, they weren't going to be able to get the house absolutely perfect on her salary alone. She had dreams of getting her children into private school someday and giving them the opportunities she'd never had and hadn't been able to give her first son, Ewan.

Round Eight - Mackenzie

The twins were getting older and into everything. Caitlyn had already discovered a love for drawing, like her parents, although her scribbles weren't exactly masterpieces yet. Douglas preferred building blocks, and sometimes actually built things rather than just sticking the pieces in his mouth.


Although Lisa was still upset at the amount of time she'd had to take off work, she couldn't resent her children. They were her babies! So what if she hadn't made it to City Planner yet, she still had plenty of life in her!


Ewan was working on writing the most comprehensive restaurant guide for Virtue Falls and its environs, and doing quite well. Whenever he and Meadow went on a date they tried to find somewhere new and discussed the food afterwards, although Meadow suddenly flirting with vegetarianism limited their options. He'd have to tempt her back into a life of steak.


"You need to get a job," said Cameron, ever the little grown-up. "How are you and Meadow going to get married if you're just sitting around on the computer?"

"For your information, bro, I've almost finished my restaurant guide and I've already got several magazines and publishers interested. Besides, me and Meadow don't need money as long as we've got each other."

"Ew, gross."


Ewan proposed to Meadow in the 50s style diner where they'd had so many dates as teenagers in front of a crowd.


Of course she said yes, and almost suffocated him with a hug.


Meadow moved in, which meant that the Mackenzie house was insanely crowded. But somehow they made it work.


It helped that Cameron was now a teenager and could help look after the toddlers. He was quite a handsome young boy, but he was hardly aware of it - he was more interested in his grades and in studying to become the cleverest person ever. Love could wait; books were right here, right now.


Meadow also did her share. She absolutely loved her soon-to-be-siblings-in-law, hugging them and playing with them whenever she could, and they loved her too, especially Caitlyn. They had a special bond.


Time flew and the twins were ready to start school. They were both good kids - neither of them looked like to cause any trouble or be disruptive in class. However, it did turn out that Caitlyn needed glasses. She was less than happy.


She had a strange gift for perception. "Are you going to have a baby? You can't have a baby unless you're married, you know."

Meadow gulped. She'd missed a period - there WAS a possibilty she was pregnant. Thankfully it wasn't long until the wedding. Hopefully she wouldn't be showing or she'd have to buy a new dress...


She wasn't, and the wedding went ahead as planned with Hiro Nakamura as best man. It was a quiet, friends-and-family affair in the yard, but that didn't stop everyone from dressing up. Meadow Thayer was now Meadow Mackenzie.


After the cake, Meadow felt like she was going to be sick. Yep, definitely pregnant.


The party went on for a while and everyone separated off, doing their own things.


Apparently it was too much to ask for the best man not to abandon the party and join in an impromptu video game session. Cameron just rolled his eyes and sipped his beer.


After the wedding was over and Meadow was officially a Mackenzie, the Straight family moved out. They'd saved up enough money to buy a house of their own, and the newly-weds would need their space... especially now Meadow had gone to the doctor and confirmed that yes, she was pregnant.




Note: Wow, that was a lot of pictures... but a lot happened simply because there were so many people in the house! Ewan and Meadow certainly wasted no time in starting a family... sigh!

Round Seven - Mackenzie

The combination of Lisa's age and the fact she was carrying twins made this pregnancy difficult. She felt like she was permanently tired and nauseous! The doctor confined her to the house and said she should spend as much time in bed as possible.


For the most part life continued as normal.

"Hey! Quit it! I'm trying to watch television!" shouted Ewan over his morning espresso. But his teenage rage was forgotten the moment the caffeine fully entered his system.


Ewan's life didn't only centre around his family and Meadow. He did have other friends. Ricky was one of them. They tended to hang around playing video games, typical guy things. It escaped Ewan's attention that Ricky mostly chose to hang around when Meadow was over, though...


Meadow was considerably less oblivious to Ricky's intentions.

"Ew! I'm with Ewan, you creeper!"


Ricky eventually got the hint and things went back to normal, with Meadow and Ewan glued together at the lips most of the time.


With his mother on virtual bed rest, Ewan found himself making all the family's meals, which suited him down to the ground. Maybe he would look for a job as a chef again, after all... but there was still the restaurant critic idea. No point tying himself to one particular career yet!


Cameron was having difficulty dealing with how tired Lisa was, and curled up in bed with his mother at every opportunity. Taylor would tuck his son in and smile. This would make excellent ammunition when Cameron started bringing dates home.


After all the stress and hassle, Lisa finally gave birth to her twins. They were a bonny, healthy pair; a boy and a girl, named Douglas and Caitlyn. Like Cameron, they both had their mother's skin-tone and eye-colour, and their father's brown hair.


Lisa went back to work as soon as she could but didn't neglect her babies. The heavily pregnant Jill Davies was a friend of the family so Lisa invited her over to give her a taste of the realities of childrearing, but Jill quickly got distracted by talking to Ewan's teenage friends. They were all about the parties, not the dirty diapers! Much more interesting!


Time flew, and both Ewan and the twins had birthdays. Ewan ditched the punk look for something a little more restrained, and was considering moving out. But he was too close to his siblings to make any real decisions yet, and a little bit too much of a slacker to be trusted not to get evicted for forgetting the rent...

Notes: Ewan is definitely staying for at least another round. I still haven't decided what to do after that; either he and Meadow will find a place and this will become the Straight family house, or Lisa, Taylor and the kids will move and found a house of their own, keeping this as the Mackenzie house. I'm more likely to pick the latter, I think; Lisa's getting pretty high up in the Architecture career so she'll bring in enough money to found a new house, whereas Ewan is still unemployed...

Round Six - Mackenzie

Ewan and Meadow were still inseperable. They went on dates almost every day, and on the days they didn't Meadow was around the Mackenzie household like part of the family.


Ewan had temporarily put aside his dreams of becoming a famous chef and was instead considering the life of a restaurant critic, which gave them the perfect excuse to travel around the neighbourhood trying out as many eateries as possible. Their current favourite was the 50s style diner.


"Do you think we'll get married? When we're grown up, I mean," blurted out Meadow over fried chicken.

Ewan was a teenage boy like any other so he had a sudden stir of dread at those words. But he paused to consider it. He couldn't see himself with anyone other than Meadow, ever.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think we will. We'll have a really swanky house and gorgeous little babies. Of course, with a mam as pretty as you they couldn't be anything else." Meadow smiled broadly.


Lisa was moving on up through the architecture world quickly. Taylor was still working but he was considerably less driven, preferring to stay home and look after Cameron whenever he could. Cameron was growing quickly, although not as quickly as his hair.


Cameron was a playful but shy child. He couldn't understand his big brother's obsession with hogging the phone-line, always talking to Meadow or his other friends like Hiro, Jacinta and Destiny (he was still keeping a long, long way away from Amanda for the sake of not getting kicked somewhere important). Cam preferred writing stories and messing around with toy cars to talking to people other than his family.


Meadow counted as family, though. They got on well unless he started talking about mechanics, which was a subject she didn't grasp at all.


Ewan and Meadow decided it was time to take the next step in their relationship. It was slightly awkward but they didn't regret it.


Lisa hadn't been feeling her usual self. It didn't escape Meadow's attention that she'd been moping around the house in her pyjamas and having frequent naps rather than obsessively studying or working at the pottery wheel.

"Is there anything wrong?" She was expecting something about work or maybe even an argument with Taylor, but not what Lisa actually said.

"I remember feeling like this before. I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant... if I am then at least I'm not morning-sick this time around, thank God. It's poor timing though."

Meadow was shocked. Lisa wasn't old but she wasn't that young either, and she seemed so responsible. She couldn't help thinking about how things were going with Ewan. They'd have to be very careful until they got married and were ready for babies.


Lisa was indeed pregnant, and the first ultrasound showed it was twins. Taylor was ecstatic but Lisa was less pleased. She was so close to her next promotion and more maternity leave would only get in the way. At least it would give her more time for the pottery wheel.


Note: ARGH! Curse ACR! Not only is Lisa pregnant again when I need the house for Ewan and Meadow to carry on the Mackenzie family name, but it's with natural twins! I'm considering breaking the rules already by renaming this the Straight house and sending Ewan and Meadow off to found their own one. Gah! Meadow really was the first person she told. Ewan and Meadow foreverrrr.

Regarding Ewan and Meadow's booty call, I usually cancel the interaction for teens but they're most of the way through teen-hood and seem pretty devoted to one-another, plus they do keep discussing babies and marriage, so I reckoned it was okay to let them. I haven't got teen pregnancies turned on so they might as well have their fun now while there aren't consequences ;)