Chapter 2 Interlude 2 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.14

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Surprise!

Life continues, day by day, to be a blessing. My children are healthy and happy, and Aleki has always been the partner I have needed him to be. Even my career has been a dream come true, and being the boss now means that I can direct others to keep the islands clean and beautiful.

However, even in what seems to be a perfect life – the unexpected can and will happen. I have noticed that breakfast has been making me queasy the last few days, and, with a sinking feeling, I took a pregnancy test.

The results were what I feared, and I retreated to Aleki and my’s bedroom, my mind reeling. I don’t know why we never sold the baby bassinet, but I guess I’m glad that we hadn’t yet, now. It would be one thing, however, if this baby had been planned for. But it hadn’t. And now I had children who were nearly grown with a new baby on the way. And- where were we going to put another baby in this house?! I couldn’t ask any of the kids to give up their bedrooms, and adding on to the house seemed like a poor idea. I knew Aleki would be supportive and excited about a new baby – but I’m not sure I was ready for this idea.

I headed out the back door, and decided to go for a swim. The cool salt water soothed my scales, and, ultimately, my soul. I watched the fish swimming in and amongst the corals, and I enjoyed watching the turtles peacefully swim past.

I noticed a pod of dolphins I had never seen in the distance, so I swam over to say hello.

To my surprise, the leader of the group was a unusual gem – an albino dolphin. Their name was Coral, and they seemed friendly. We chatted for a while, and I found a couple fish to feed them.

Then, they congratulated me on my upcoming baby, which is something I certainly hadn’t mentioned. I guess I was showing more than I had thought – or maybe Coral was just very perceptive. I thanked him for the congratulations, and, I don’t know why – but I confessed all my misgivings to him. He listened quietly, soberly, and agreed that maybe the timing could have been better. Then he reminded me what a huge blessing a new baby was – no matter when it happened.

I was still unsure how I was going to tell my family, but I felt more at peace about the whole idea now. I watched Coral’s pod cavorting in the waves, and giggled as several of them purposely splashed me.

On the way home, Squirt met up with me, and celebrated the new life with a dance. She, too, was expecting, and she was thrilled to find that there was a new mermaid expected in the isles.

I arrived home, and took the boat out to patrol the islands for work, my mind still very much occupied by the new baby.

I tried to make some grilled cheese for dinner, but the stove broke. So I fixed it… and then finished cooking dinner. By this time, everyone was home, and I decided I should call a family meeting.

I had no idea how to tell them, but I knew it needed to be done, so I just blurted it out.

“I’m pregnant.”

There were a range of emotions immediately evident on faces around the table. Mari looked confused, Jayce looked completely unfazed, and Aleki’s face lit up with a huge smile.

“MOM! How could you!?” Kali wailed. I could immediately see she was going to be the one I had to convince that this was a good thing.

“It wasn’t planned, Kali.”

“I thought you guys were done with kids! How am I going to tell all my friends that there’s a new baby at home. How embarrassing!”

“We thought we were done, too, Kali.” I replied. “Sometimes things just happen.”

“Ew, Mom. The things I don’t want to know…” she stood up and stalked out of the house.

“Let her go.” Aleki said quietly, “She will need to come to terms with it on her own.”

The other two children were easy to convince that this was the natural way of things, and I assured them that neither would lose their precious “private” rooms to the new baby.

Over the next few days, Kali proved to be very stubborn. She was sullen and withdrawn, and I couldn’t seem to get her to sit down to actually discuss this. Days slid by, and between keeping up with work and the housework and kids – it was “time” before I knew it.

Of course, it was the middle of the night, and I tried to not wake Aleki, because I wasn’t 100% sure it was true labor. He woke up anyway, and predictably – panicked. He tried to insist we go to the hospital, but I disagreed.

Within a couple of hours, our new little boy was born. We named him Reed, and got him settled.. and gratefully fell back into bed. The morning would be soon enough to introduce him to the rest of the family. I was too exhausted to even worry about Kali’s moodiness and getting her to be okay with this. I curled up under the covers and was almost instantly back to sleep.

(A/N: Yes, this truly was an unplanned baby. I’ve recently caved and installed MCCC, and I turned on the story progression and risky woohoo in this particular save. The first time they woohoo’ed – and risky already struck!)

Chapter 2 Interlude 2 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.14