Happy New Year - Part Three

Samantha Bradshaw is 25; Helen Green is 34; Andrew Goss is 25


January 2025


Warning: Long.  And kind of intense in parts.  And lots of people hugging :)


Helen Green stretched out on the sofa.  "I am sooo tired of being pregnant!"

 "Its only... what... two more weeks?" Samantha said.
 

"Supposed to be two weeks," she groaned.  "My cousin had her baby two weeks late.  I could have a another month of this left."

Samantha nodded distractedly.  It was about the tenth time they'd had this conversation anyway, and it wasn't that she didn't sympathise with her room-mate, but she just had other things on her mind today...

"Samantha... hey, Samantha?!"
"Huh?" So, Helen had noticed that she wasn't listening...
"Samantha, what's up with you?  You've been going around in a daze all morning."
"What - oh, yeah... Jeff's going home today."
"And did you guys sort anything out in the end?"

"Sort of.. I guess.  I mean, he's not mad at me any more, now that he knows why I left.  I guess that counts as sorting something out... "
"... But...?"
"... But I just keep thinking about something your father said... about being able to run away from a thing, but not from the consequences..."

"Yeah, he tried to tell me that, too," Helen sighed.  "And he was right."  She patted her middle.  "I've got this little consequence here to prove it."
"Was that what you were doing with Roman?  Running away?"
"Sort of," said Helen.  "When my last serious relationship went bad, I decided I didn't want anything to do with commitment any more.  Just casual fun, that's all." she sighed.  "But then now Leo's come along, and in case you haven't noticed, I've kind of run away from the idea of just casual fun, too..." she grinned.
Samantha smiled back.  You'd have to be blind not to notice that there was more to Helen and Leo's relationship than casual fun.

She started to say something to that effect when the doorbell rung.  "I'll get it," she said... then almost wished she hadn't, when she opened the door.
"Andrew."

"Hi, Samantha," he said, after an awkward silence.

"I was just going upstairs," Helen said, getting up quickly.  When she had gone, they just stared at each other again, until Andrew finally spoke.

"Jeff talked to me," he said.  "He told me why you left him.. that it wasn't your fault... "
"Andrew, it doesn't matter if - "
"Yeah, it does matter," he said.  "I thought some bad things about you, and I said some bad things, too.  I owe you an apology for that.  I should have waited to hear the whole story."

"It's ok," Samantha said.  "Even Jeff didn't hear the whole story until this week."
"I know, he told me that, too."

"So... so, does this mean that everything's the way it was before... that we're - '"
Andrew sighed. "I guess it depends on what you think about the way it was before..."

"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you and I - I've been thinking about this a lot, and I just don't think we're the right people for each other.  Maybe that was why I was so quick to think the worse... because something was wrong, even before Jeff came... "

"But - "
"No, no 'but', Samantha... don't you see, this just isn't going to work for us.  I don't know... it's like you're there, but you're not... maybe you want something different, I really don't know.  But I know it isn't going to work."

"You've really made up your mind, haven't you?"
Andrew nodded sadly.  "I'm sorry, Samantha."
"So am I," she said, very quietly, then they just stared at each other, again.

"Well, I... I guess I should go," Andrew finally said.  "I... um... I'll probably see you around."
"Yeah, probably," she said, with a weak smile, sitting down heavily after he closed the door.  She stayed there, just sitting, thinking, for longer than she even realised herself.

It wasn't until she finally made a decision, that she looked up at the clock.  With a gasp, she jumped up and ran to the door, then stopped and ran back up the stairs for something from her room.  Then she was running again, all the way to the station.

----

Jeff was relieved when Samantha finally came running onto the platform.  "I thought you weren't coming," he said.  "My train will be here soon."

 "I know," she said, out of breath, "but something happened... and I've been thinking... Jeff, I want to come back to Kayton with you."
"Come back...?" he repeated.

"Yeah... I mean, not right now, not today.  I have to sort some things out here first... but maybe in a couple of weeks or something...  I can do that now, there's nothing to stop me."

 There was an awkward silence before Jeff finally replied.  "I think that's probably a bad idea," he said slowly.
"What are you saying?"
"Just that... I... a lot has changed since you left... I never even realised how much until I came here.  I just don't think that there's anything there for you any more."

"I don't understand..."
"Samantha, if you really want to go back to Kayton, I can't stop you, but don't go back for me.  Don't go back expecting anything from me."
"Right," she said, taking a step back away from him.  "Well...

"Samantha, I'm sorry. But I can't pretend anything... I can't let you expect one thing then - "
"It's ok.  I mean... it wasn't just you, I had friends there.  I had... I had other people, who... who I miss, and I... I mean, why would you think you were the only reason I'd - " she broke off and turned quickly away from him.

"Samantha, don't... "
When she turned back, a few seconds later, she was calmer.  She took a small box out of her pocket.  "I - I think you should have this back," she said, holding out the little swallow necklace he'd given her, the night she left Kayton.
"You bought it with you?"
"I was going to put it on... but I ran out of time.  Here, you take it."  She tried to hand it to him again.
"No," he said gently, closing her hand over the necklace.  "It was a gift, it's yours.  It suits you... a little bird who flies away."

In the distance, they could hear the train approaching.  As it drew up to the station, Jeff suddenly pulled Samantha into his arms.

"Goodbye Samantha," he said, into her shoulder.  "You know, I'm glad I got the chance to say that."
"I am, too," she replied, as he let her go. "Goodbye, Jeff."

She stood on the platform for a long time after his train was gone.

----

Helen was nowhere in sight when Samantha finally got home, just a radio playing softly behind her closed bedroom door.  Samantha was relieved  She didn't feel like facing Helen, or anyone else, right now.. she just needed time to think.  To think about why it was that, wherever she went, she just made such a mess of everything.  To think about what to do next.  So she wouldn't be going to Kayton.  That was clear.  But Kayton wasn't the only place in the world, and really, she'd already been in Richmond longer than she'd ever intended.  Maybe all this was a sign that it was finally time to move on.  Maybe, she just -

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cry.  She ran into the hallway to find Helen doubled over in pain, outside her bedroom door.

"You're having the baby?!"
"No kidding!" Helen gasped.  "You need to call a taxi.  And Roman.  And my parents, and Leo, and -
"Hey, slow down!"

"I haven't got time to slow down!  And stop panicking!"
"I'm not panicking, you're panicking... "  Samantha figured that if she said it out loud, she might actually believe it.  "I'm going to call the taxi, ok?"  They could worry about the rest after Helen was safely on her way to the hospital.

It all happened quickly from there, although to Samantha, it seemed like hours before they were safely in a cubicle in the admissions area of the medical centre.
"We need to go up to the ward soon," the nurse told Samantha and Helen.

"Can we just wait a little while?" Helen asked.  "There are some people we've called who aren't here yet."
"I can wait down here," Samantha suggested.  "I'll be able to tell them where you are."
"We can wait a few more minutes," the nurse said.  "I need to get some more details... " she looked down at her clipboard, then turned to Samantha. "Are you Helen's partner?"

"No, I'm her room mate," said Samantha.  "Her partner's a man.  You kind of need that, you know, to get pregnant and all..."
"Well, we see all kinds of arrangements here... " The nurse ignored Samantha's sarcasm.  "So, who is the baby's father?"
"He's not here yet, but - "  Helen stopped when she heard Leo's voice from the other side of the screen.
"Um... excuse me... is it ok for me to come in?"
"Of course it is," Helen called, but the nurse stopped him anyway.

"And you are...?" she asked.

"Her boyfriend."
"So, you're the baby's father?"
"No.  I'm just her boyfriend."
"Then who is the father?"

Cory, Serder and Brandi came rushing into the room.  "Sorry we took so long," Cory said.  "I couldn't find a car park."

"Are you the father?" the nurse asked him.
"No," said Cory.  "I'm her brother."
"And I'm her mother," Brandi added.
"Well... then who is the father?!"
"I am," said Serdar.

The nurse looked from him, to Helen, then back again.

 "Uh... right... yeah," she said. "Well, we do see all kinds of arrangements here."  Then, realising that she'd dropped her professional manner, she quickly added. "We should be getting up to the ward now.".

Roman came racing through the foyer, just as they bundled into the elevator.   "Hey, wait!" he yelled, as the doors closed in front of him.  "Hey, what about me?!"

---

"So have you thought of a name for your baby?" Cory asked his father.

"Very funny!" said Serdar.  "I thought she meant, who was Helen's father."

"I know," Cory laughed.  "But, the look on that nurse's face... "

The waiting room door swung open before Serdar had the chance to reply.  Smiling broadly, Brandi crossed the room to her husband.  "It's a girl," she said.  "We have a granddaughter."

It was only at that moment, that Cory realised the full meaning of what she'd said.  Both his father and his stepmother had other grandchildren, but this was the first that they had together.  And suddenly he understood... for all that he usually appeared conservative and old-fashioned, Serdar had never once condemned Helen for her pregnancy.  Or for the casual relationship that had bought this child into being, now, rather than in some distant future when Helen would have decided herself ready for motherhood, if she'd had the choice.

The implications of that both pleased him, and frightened him, all at the same time.

He caught Samantha's eye across the room, and she smiled.  She'd been unusually quiet, the whole time they'd been here.  He wondered if it was concern for Helen, or something else going on, and if it was a good idea to ask her about it.  Since New Year's Eve, he wasn't even sure if it was a good idea to be in the same room as her, never mind encouraging her to share anything potentially deeper with him.  Right now, it wasn't the time to think about that, though.

Right now, it was time to congratulate his parents.

----

"So, any ideas what we're going to name her?" Helen asked Roman.

"Yeah," he said.  "I kinda wanted something classy... so I think we should call her Elizabeth... you know, after the queen."

"You want to name our daughter after the queen of England?"
"Yeah... I mean, if you want classy, you really can't go past the queen, right?"

"Um... right," said Helen.
"Hey, ok if I come in too," Leo asked.

"Of course it is," said Helen, getting up to meet him.  "I already told you that... "

"Well, while you guys are... uh... talking, I'm just gonna take Lizzie to meet the rest of the family..."

"Ok," said Helen, "but - wait, Lizzie?!  I thought you wanted something classy?"

"I do," he said.  "But she's got to have a pet name for special people.  I bet even the queen's special people call her Lizzie."

Helen doubted it, but she decided not to say anything.  

When they were gone, Leo turned to Helen.  "Do you think I'd be special enough to call her Lizzie?" he asked, with a laugh.

"Hell if I know," said Helen.  "I can't keep up with him."
"Do you think I'd be special enough, if I were her stepfather?"

"What are you saying?"

"I think you know what I'm saying."

"I think I do, too... but I want to hear you say it."

"I might as well do this properly, then... " he muttered, bending down.

 "Helen Green, will you marry me?"

---

"She's so little," said Roman.

"The twins were smaller," Remus replied.
"I don't remember that,"
"I think you notice it more when it's your own."
"She really is my own, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," said Remus.
Roman shook his head. "How am I supposed to know what to do with her?  How do I know how to look after her?"

"You've been looking after my kids for the last 4 years.  You're going to tell me now that you don't know what to do with them?!"

"Well, no, but... every time I look after your kids you  leave the food and you tell me when to feed it to them and when they should sleep and... well... no one's gonna tell me that stuff every day I have Lizzie.  How am I supposed to know what to do with her?"

"Well... Helen's mother has probably told her a lot... and I think Kyla still has a bunch of baby books from the first time she was pregnant.  You could have a look at them."
"Wow... you mean you can get instruction manuals?"
Remus laughed.  "Not exactly.  But Kyla found them useful all the same... "
"She's so little... I really need to see those books."

"I'll get you the books," Remus said.  "And Roman?"
"Yeah?"
"Congratulations... welcome to fatherhood."

----

Samantha walked slowly down the hall to Helen's room.  She wasn't looking forward to this as much as she should.  Not when she was thinking about leaving.  Somehow, seeing Helen with the baby was going to make the decision all the harder.  Just like spending all that time in the waiting room with Cory and Serdar had.  They'd invited her to wait with them, and she'd spent the whole time trying not to tell them what was going through her mind.

She knew it wasn't the time now.  Probably, it was better to wait until she'd made a definite decision one way or the other.  In the meantime, she'd act like she was happy, say all the right things about the baby... pretend that everything was ok, for now, at least.

Helen had even more good news to share.  "Apart from my parents, you're the first person to know we're engaged," she said.  "The wedding won't be until late spring or summer, but we'd already started planning stuff.  Samantha, I want you to be my bridesmaid."

"Me?!"  Samantha didn't know what to say.  "But... I... shouldn't you pick someone from your family or something?"

"You are family now, don't you know that?" she said.  "You've been here for me almost the whole time since I've been back in Richmond.  And anyway, you ask Dad or Cory, I bet they'd say the same thing."

"But - " Samantha started, then stopped.  She really didn't know what to say.

"But what?" Helen asked.

But I can't be family when I don't know if I even belong here any more.  But I might be long gone by late spring. But... 

"But -but - ok." she heard herself say.  "Ok, I'd be honoured to be your bridesmaid"

----

Sorry this is so long, it probably could have been two parts but I wanted to get this part of the story over since I've left it hanging for so long.

I sooo put off writing this!  More specifically, I kept putting off writing the scene where Samantha and Jeff say goodbye.  Deaths aside, I've never had to farewell a character forever before - even my move-aways have a chance of coming back!  And he was only here a short while, so I'm gonna be a wreck when I have to say goodbye to Samantha :)


At least I'll get to see how Jeff gets on back in Kayton!  I wanted to give their relationship some closure, before he goes back home... Billy and I decided that would be part of the point of the visit.


Meanwhile, I couldn't bring myself to actually kill off Jeff-sim or do anything drastic like that, so he has had makeover and name change, before being released into the hood as a townie.  I made him over right after taking the train station pictures, and he looks nothing like Jeff-character now, so that really felt like a goodbye.  But who knows -  my sims are free to develop relationships with (almost) whoever they want, so he may end up back here some day after all...


And in the meantime, we have a wedding to plan... :)