simmora

"That's all tonight is about?"

"We've also been living together for six months. It's a milestone."

Pearl smiled, and the lovebirds made their way to the underground restaurant in Myshuno Meadows.

The hottest new spot in town had crawled all over themselves to make room in their reservation book for a Landgraab, but the night they arrived, the reservation system was down. "Sorry sir, I think we overbooked," said the host.

"Are there any tables available?" Ash pressed, but the host apologized profusely.

"We can book you in for another night."

But he didn't want to wait for another night. "Thanks," he said, but he shot a sorry look in Pearl's direction.

"Let's just go somewhere else," she suggested. "There are more than enough restaurants in town."

He headed back outside with a frown and Pearl felt his anxious energy. "It's not a big deal," she said calmly. "What do you feel like eating?"

"I'm sorry," he said, offering a comforting kiss on the cheek. "I just really wanted to try out that restaurant."

(When they went the lot was working fine, but the build uses landscape and terrain tools to create the underwater effect and I could not, for the life of me, get the camera underground to show them in the restaurant. Other than that one spot in the centre of the lot by the host stand, the camera kept bouncing above ground whether I tried the Sims 4 or Sims 3 cameras. I gave up before they ordered and we all moved to plan B.)

In truth, he was too nervous to eat, but at the next place the pair went, that didn't even matter. The waiter came by to take their order, but an hour later they were still waiting for their drinks.

Pearl's stomach growled loud enough that Ash could hear, and he tossed his napkin on the table.

"Forget this place," he groused. "The service is terrible."

"Maybe they're just busy," said Pearl, but they both looked around the mostly empty restaurant with awkward stares. "Or understaffed."

"This is not how tonight was supposed to go," he muttered in frustration.

"How was tonight supposed to go? I thought we were just having a night out?"

The weight of the ring box felt heavy in Ash's jacket pocket. The perfect dinner setting the perfect mood for a proposal hadn't materialized, but marriage was about 'for better or worse,' anyway.

"Let's just go," he said, waving the waiter down to cancel their order. "We can heat up some leftovers when we get home, but...do you want to take a walk first?"

Pearl smiled. "Yeah. I really should walk off all the nothing I've eaten all night."

Her joke put Ash at ease again, as they headed out for a walk in the cool evening. Spring was almost here, and the snow had already melted in San Myshuno, but they stayed close to beat the creeping chill of night.

They found themselves back outside the underground restaurant, and Ash stood still. Pearl took another step before she realized he was behind her, and as she turned the streetlights cast a perfect shadow. He smiled, and she laughed.

"What? Are you done walking now?"

"I'm just taking a second. I never want to forget how you looked tonight. I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

He was stalling. He'd planned a whole speech, but as he stood before her, every word seemed inadequate.

"I know you suspected this was coming, and with my grandmother asking questions at the lab I was even more determined to plan the perfect surprise. But screw it; you're the most perfect thing about tonight and that's the point," he said, getting down on one knee and pulling the ring from his pocket.

Pearl's eyes bulged as she gasped at the exquisite ring, but she let Ash continue.

"We've been through a lot together, but I want so much more. I want to spend the rest of my life proudly telling everyone I meet that the most beautiful, most charitable, most kind, most graceful, most incredible woman on the planet tells me she loves me every morning."

"You always say it back," she said, laughing through her tears.

"And I'll always mean it. We've known each other for so long, and you've always made me strive to be a better version of myself, even when you didn't know it. You were a year older and I thought you knew everything. The first day we met, I said I had the whole VoidCritter collection to try to impress you, and you called me on my bullshit but still wanted to be my friend. And you've always stood by me through every decision I've ever made, good and bad. When I think about life in fifty years, I'm still beside you, always your biggest fan. Will you marry me?"

She started nodding before she formed the words, accepting as he slid the ring on her finger. Her eyes were too bleary to catch every detail of the glistening jewelry, but she still stared in awe before they shared a romantic kiss. "Of course I'll marry you!"

The newly-engaged pair made it home for leftovers and decided to call their parents. "But I want to make my grandmother wait a couple days to find out, and I know my mom won't tell her," Ash reasoned.

"Is Nancy really serious about a whole magazine wedding?"

"She's totally serious," he said. "But we can always say no."

Pearl was quiet. "We don't have to say no, unless you want to," she offered, and Ash grinned.

"You don't want to say no," he realized. "I'll get married any way and anywhere you want. But I still don't want to tell her tonight. She'll start booking venues before we get her off the phone."

So they called Pearl's elated family to share the news, and then Heather picked up her son's late night call in Brindleton Bay.

"Oh Ash, that's so exciting! Conrad, Ash proposed and Pearl said yes."

Lavender was knitting in the rocking chair, but as she overheard, she dropped her needles and sided up to her parents with interest.

"That's great!" said Conrad, but Heather knew his tone of voice. "I'm glad this wasn't another call like your sister announcing Betta decided to become a mermaid."

"You knew about this?"

"He helped me pick out your ring years ago, so he asked my advice when he decided to propose. I just told him to call the same designer who made Bella Goth's black diamond ring from Grim, but I didn't ask anything else."

Heather was aghast, but in too playful a mood to be angry. "I can't believe you didn't say anything!"

"Congratulations, you guys. We can't wait for the wedding," Lavender said, getting her excited mother back on track. (If Heather rolls her eyes at this wedding because she's unflirty I won't be surprised, but I will be disappointed.)

"It's probably going to be a big wedding in a crowded room full of people you don't know," Ash said. "Think you can handle it?"

"Just don't ask me to perform."

"Deal." Large crowds made Lavender anxious, but she would do anything for her family - even if it meant spending the night worried the floor would cave in from too many sims in a crowded place.

But Lavender loved love and looked up to her big brother, and for the wedding of Ash and Pearl, she was prepared to face a Landgraab-style wedding. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 3 Start

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary | Gen 2.2 Summary | Gen 2 Finale

I know we're meant to hate him, but he's hot, okay? I love that side profile 😭 And thank you @abbysimsfun for giving me post ideas! You mentioned in a comment that he could be visited by ghosts like in A Christmas Carol. Then I thought of him being visited by Patchy!!! I'm curious what kind of voice you guys read for Patchy here 😏

...

Patchy: Diego, Diego, Diego…

[Diego falls at the sight of whatever that thing is beside him] Patchy: Do your assignment with Harlow, or there will be consequences.

Greyson was Ash's mother's godson, and Lucy Burb he'd met at the wedding of Felix Psyded, Esquire and Lucy's cousin, Lilith Pleasant, years earlier. Felix and Lilith had travelled through time on a device designed by Ash at age ten, and Greyson and Lucy first met through Ash's family.

Now, "Grucy Burbcakes" had been together for years, and the two of them were starting their final term at Foxbury's rival college across town, the University of Britechester.

"Anything you want to know about the place, Luce and I can help. But don't believe all the UBrite-Foxbury rivalry stuff - they just hype that up for recruiting and sporting events."

"And the campus pranks are all in good fun," said Lucy. "Last year, Greyson and I even worked with a few Foxbury students to yarnbomb each other's statues on the quad. But our yarnbomb of the Foxbury statue was still way better!"

Ash listened, finishing the last piece of pizza from the pie he'd bought for Pearl in the city, as a waitress in red flannel plaid approached their table.

"Welcome to Pepper's Pub. Can I get any drinks for anyone?"

The group ordered drinks but Nyon stammered in her presence. With short blonde hair pulled into pigtails, he noticed a small crescent moon tattoo on the back of her neck. Decked out with a sleeve of tattoos of his own, he was instantly interested in its meaning.

Nyon was attracted to everything about her, and his self-conscious nature began to take over. "I'll take, uhh...a beer."

"What beer?" she pressed.

"What-whatever you'd recommend. You look like you know your way around a bar."

The blonde waitress turned up her nose. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Nyon grimaced. "Nothing! I...I, uhh..."

"What my friend wants to say is he'll have a dark beer - and probably your number," Ash cut in.

The waitress looked Nyon over and smiled. "We'll start with the beers, anyway. Four dark ales?"

The group nodded and returned to catching up, with Greyson and Lucy sharing everything they'd learned about life in Britechester since their arrival a few years earlier.

The longtime couple had been by Ash's side while he resurrected Lady Mimsy and Lord Bernard at Von Haunt Estates. So he felt comfortable enough to share with them now his latest problems dodging Charlie the vampire while trying to maintain an A average.

"Sounds rough," agreed Lucy. "But Nyon's probably right about hanging garlic, and maybe try not to be alone on campus after dark. You can probably research vampires at the library up the road, too. That place has books on literally everything, and if it's not on the shelves it's in their database."

Ash and Nyon were thankful for Grucy Burbcakes' expert advice for living in their new town, and the foursome spent the night bonding over drinks with roommates Rowan and Meagan, who brought along one of her girlfriends.

The night was going so well, Greyson even managed to surprise his girlfriend with a proposal right inside the crowded pub. It wasn't completely out of the blue - they'd talked about their future, and Ash even knew what Greyson had been planning for months.

Pepper's Pub was special to them as they'd spent so many nights here throughout their time at university. Every successful final had been celebrated with a pint at Pepper's, and Lucy's cousin, Lilith, had even had her bachelorette night at the pub almost a decade ago.

As they closed in on their degrees, Greyson and Lucy were almost ready to turn talk of forever into action, and Lucy's new engagement ring signalled the start of their happy ever after. Ash was thrilled for his old friends and excited for the wedding, but all Nyon wanted to do was spend more time getting to know the beautiful waitress.

Her name - Annie H. - was on the bill, and when Ash got up to settle the tab at the bar, Nyon found her ready to head home for the night.

Before he'd offered to pay, Ash made Nyon promise to ask for her number. "The worst she'll say is no," he insisted. "And if she does, we'll just find another bar."

Summoning every ounce of courage he didn't even know he had, Nyon called her over before she walked out the door. "Annie, wait."

She looked back when he said her name. "My name's Nyon," he blurted, but he wanted them to be on equal standing. "I've liked talking to you tonight and I was wondering if I could get your number. Or give you mine. Or...I'd like to see you again."

"I work here six days a week, but after serving you and your friends all night, you don't seem like heavy drinkers."

"Just heavy studiers these days."

"Sometimes I work days, and I'm available at night. But not every night. Some nights I have family commitments and I can't get out of them."

Nyon wanted to know more about her family, but she didn't say anything else. "I'll make time," he promised. "Between all my projects and papers; whenever you're available. You should come by Tidal Tower after work sometime. I can show you around and you can meet the rest of our roommates."

She chuckled softly. In a university town, everyone always had something academic to do. "I'll see you soon, Nyon."

She was about to leave when Nyon pulled out his phone. "Wait. Could I...do you mind? Could I get a photo? I just have this feeling like I'm going to want to remember tonight."

Annie laughed. "Remember me?"

"No, tonight," he insisted. "To remember the night I met a girl I'd never forget." ->

<- Higher Education: Part One

NOTE: If you're looking for a wedding, Greyson and Lucy probably won't get married before the end of the Higher Education miniseries, primarily because Greyson's little sister is Lavender's close friend and crush, Violet Pancakes. Since I'll want to focus on the two of them, the wedding will probably have more to do with the main timeline and take place soon after Sims In Bloom is back from its current pause, instead.

Bonus pic!!! And @elipsaa you wanted butterflies, here are the butterfly feelings <3 (I hope this post makes up for besties falling apart 😭)

...

Francesca: Woah, it's slippery out here. Bradley: I've got you, just hold on to me- Francesca: [grabs hands] Ahhh I'm gonna fall!

Her first not-so-subtle secret was an attraction to the evil ballet dancer. She was obvious enough that Charlie could tell, and he decided not to tell anyone in his life anything about her. He told Pearl he wanted to keep his therapy totally private to work on himself.

Desperate to see him become less angry, Pearl accepted his terms and never pried about his sessions when they dated, and never asked about them once she'd called off their engagement. But after one last disastrous rehearsal of The Nutcracker before the festive season, Charlie called Sonia to book an emergency session.

"I hate it there and I think I'm ready to quit," he admitted. "But without the job, I have nothing."

Sonia was sympathetic, listening at his side in their clearly unconventional client-therapist relationship. "Maybe now's the time to really diversify your interests," she suggested. "Or maybe just another form of dance?"

She invited him to a nightclub in the Spice District, with movie posters for old vampire films hanging on the walls. She asked him to dance, but Charlie's heart wasn't in it. For him, it was ballet or nothing.

And being Charlie, he lashed out at Sonia over her failed attempt to "fix him."

Charlie had been seeing Sonia for quite a while, but there was plenty he didn't know about her. She had a bit of a temper, for one thing, and she hadn't taken kindly to being disrespected in over 400 years.

With a hiss and a wave of her hands, Charlie's hallucinations began. He saw his parents, his biological father and all his siblings, each one totally disgusted by him. He saw Pearl kissing Ash Landgraab on a beach and Connor Kibo dancing his solos on a stage. Rage boiled within him.

When the hallucinations stopped, he grabbed Sonia by the waist and pulled her to a sofa. Releasing pent up attraction, Charlie and his therapist moaned in quiet ecstasy.

"There's one way you'll be able to have just about anything you want," she purred.

"Tell me," he begged, as her lips trembled against his neck.

Her eyes gleamed black. "Come with me."

He got up willingly, following her out the door and through Myshuno Meadows. The park was quiet this late at night. Never empty, they could still get far enough from another person to feel as though they had every snow-capped tree and powder-dusted pathway to themselves.

Finally, Sonia turned to face him in the moonlight as her skin turned green, ears shifted into points, and her eyes turned a violent shade of red. Charlie peeled back, but she raised her hands, hissing as her long fingernails danced in front of his vision.

Charlie smiled, leaning in for a kiss. He closed his eyes, but her lips brushed softly against his before landing on his neck. His pulse quickened, and Sonia snarled like a wild animal before he felt two pricks in his jugular vein. His body heaved as Sonia drank from him, while his mind raced with alternating horror and endless bliss.

Finally sated, Sonia pulled back and wiped his blood from her lips. "Nicer people taste a lot better than you do," she said, holding out her bloody wrist. "You'll want to remember that. Drink."

Too ravenously thirsty all of a sudden to turn her down, he drank heavily. It tasted metallic and bitter, but he craved as much of it as she'd let him drink. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"You'll see," she said, flashing her fangs.

"You turned me into a vampire?"

"You haven't turned yet. Give it about 72 hours."

That was all the time Charlie had to prepare himself for the inevitable. Sonia took him back home, warning that he'd feel deathly ill for a few days. He responded by finishing what he and Sonia had started on the sofa in the club before he woke up the next morning feeling wretched.

He ghosted work because he didn't know how to tell them what happened. But stage lights were so bright and so hot, a vampire would burn to a crisp if they had to dance beneath them every night. He could never go back.

Before he completely transformed, Sonia encouraged him to leave with her for Forgotten Hollow, which she said would be a much more welcoming place to their natural selves. A safer place for him to come to terms with his new abilities and need for plasma.

So without a word to anyone he knew, they left town, and that's where his vampire form was born.

Evil Charlie found just as much to dislike about life in gloomy Forgotten Hollow. But as a baby vampire in a coven of two, there was little Charlie could do about his new reality.

His anger toward his biological father, Hayes Harms, only amplified while he existed with aimless immortality. His life could have been so different if his biological father hadn't discarded his pregnant mistress, but instead he subsisted on plasma packs like a fully grown toddler.

As his bitterness grew, he resolved to do something about his father. With a little online research, he learned exactly where Hayes and his wife had moved after they left Brindleton Bay. When Sonia had to leave for scheduled meetings with old clients back in San Myshuno, Charlie raced to Windenburg in the dead of night.

(His entire look randomized when he turned and I was satisfied enough not to change anything about his face, while completely unaware all his outfits would randomize, too - he's my first vampire so I really didn't know what to expect, including this outfit...)

Hayes acted like he couldn't remember him while also calling him a terrible mistake, which only hastened the man's fate. Charlie had come with a purpose, and with the man's family nowhere in sight, the vampire sated his feral hunger by draining the old man of his blood.

He watched from the shadows as Grim appeared to deal with the man's soul. The reaper made curious notes on his Slablet when he noted the fang-shaped scarring on the man's neck, but Charlie wasn't worried. Those holes would heal over in a matter of minutes, leaving it impossible for any coroner to conclusively determine a thing - even if massive blood loss without any blood in the snow inferred an occult cause of death.

Proud of himself and buzzing on sanguine fumes, Charlie returned to Forgotten Hollow to find a concerned Sonia in the living room. She'd seen reports on the news and knew what had happened, because she knew Charlie's hatred for his father and exactly what death by vampire looked like.

She even knew why he did it. She understood how this life state could be agony without violence, but Charlie was young and reckless.

"I should have tried to meet my clients when you were still too sick to go anywhere," she complained. Vampire law dictated unruly vampires were the responsibility of their makers, and Sonia knew she'd face the wrath of their kind if Charlie couldn't control his urges.

"I'll teach you to be charming so people will let you drink from them sometimes, but you can't suck them dry. You'll have to get used to plasma packs, Charlie. Your actions risk all of us, and a herd of angry vampires isn't good for anyone - including us!"

Although Charlie's new life meant he was all but dead to everyone he'd ever known, he didn't want to die. He stayed in Forgotten Hollow for a while, until hallucinations again told him to seek out his former fiancee, Pearl Richards.

The prima ballerina listened nervously to his story, drenched in heartache as she realized Charlie was trapped living a life he didn't choose, but Charlie hadn't come here for her pity.

"I don't need you to feel bad for me, Pearl. I want you to fear me." She peeled back nervously. "I want you to live your life wondering every minute if today's the day I'm going to show up to do to you and your precious Landgraab the same thing I did to Hayes."

"Charlie, please," she begged, as the door to her family's apartment opened behind her with a sudden click.

Her father approached sternly and her heart raced. Silently, she begged Charlie not to hurt them.

"Charlie? Is that you?"

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Richards."

His tone was casual and his smile forced, but Gavin never saw or liked Charlie enough to notice the subtle differences in his appearance. But Gavin could tell his daughter didn't want Charlie there.

"Nice to see you, too, but it's a little late for a visit. Maybe you should head home."

Charlie grinned, his laugh as sinister as ever. "You're right, Mr. Richards. New job's got weird hours and I didn't realize how late it was. Sorry to bother you."

Pearl watched him go with trepidation. If fear was what Charlie wanted her to feel - for herself, for her family, and Ash in Britechester - he'd succeeded. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary | Gen 2.2 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

Sometime print model Bridgette was soon to leave for @rosienthe's Idolized: K-Pop Trainee challenge and Ash was just about ready to enroll in university, so they took this week as an opportunity to spend precious time together - time they truly valued following the sudden death of Nancy's husband, Geoffrey, a decade earlier.

Nancy was happy to be surrounded by her loved ones - and happier still that a polite invitation to her brother, Johnny, and his family, was declined so he could film a New Year's Eve comedy show in Del Sol Valley. Nancy had grown a lot in her decade as a widow, but she still thought Johnny's jokes were pedestrian and unoriginal, his wife a bore, and her nieces and nephew bordered on ambitionless.

(l-r: Eva Capricciosa Zest, Johnny (Landgraab) Zest, Cristal, Deven, and Noemi Zest)

But she still paid the mortgage on their Uptown penthouse - because it gave her a right (in her opinion) to express her feelings at will - and Johnny still cashed her cheques because he'd never been too proud to turn down the family's money.

The lifelong antagonistic relationship between Nancy Landgraab and her little brother Johnny notwithstanding, this trip to Sulani marked another successful year for the Landgraabs - maybe even the most successful in centuries, after Conrad Gordon's trip through time to end the Landgraab curse.

Unfortunately, the weather in Sulani was overcast for most of the trip, but at least they avoided rain or snowfall!

The Landgraabs took advantage of breaks in the clouds to sunbathe on the exclusive private beach in Lani St. Taz, which wasn't far from their expensive rented villa. Ash and Pearl, as wholesome as ever, built sandcastles and raced each other on the sand, with Pearl happy to relax at the end of another season with the ballet company.

She hadn't laughed this much in years - life with Charlie had certainly never felt so carefree - and she relished the changes to her lifelong friendship with Ash. As the new year approached, she could reflect. Finally, she was in a relationship with someone who made her life better, not worse.

They both knew this was how love was supposed to feel, and Ash trusted that Pearl would never treat him the way Scotti once did. That was in the past, and these young lovebirds preferred to think about the future.

Sixteen-year-old Bridgette put her phone away when a teenager in a polo shirt passed their shaded cabana. "Oh waiter, could we get some drinks please?"

The teen boy stopped in his tracks, taking in the beautiful blonde in her lacy white bikini. "Sorry?"

"We'd like to order drinks," Bridgette repeated.

The teen boy laughed. "I don't work here," he said. "I live up the beach with my moms and my little sister."

Bridgette blushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. My name's Tane."

With a nervous grin, Bridgette introduced herself. She was always so confident, happy to carry on conversations with practically anyone, but she didn't like looking foolish in front of a cute guy.

Sensing his daughter's growing crush like a perfectly annoying doting dad, Malcolm walked up to the blushing teens to introduce himself. Bridgette silently begged him not to embarrass her. "Looks like you've torn her away from her phone for the first time since we got here. You must be pretty special."

Bridgette's stomach dropped. "Dad! Uh, do Ash and Pearl need help with their sandcastle, maybe?"

"I don't think so."

But Tane didn't mind talking to Bridgette's father if it meant getting to talk to her, too, and a conversation on the beach turned into an afternoon on the swings before the lovestruck teens made out on the sand.

She never expected her family vacation in Sulani to result in her first kiss, but she enjoyed living in the moment with him. Before long, she'd be off competing as a K-Pop Trainee, and he'd return to making art from his home on the beach.

They had this trip, if nothing else, and wanted to make good use of it.

Her romantically-reserved grandmother advised her to be careful - as much for her heart as the family's money and reputation, but Bridgette's eyes were focused on her career and appearance on Idolized. "Don't worry, Nan. Maybe Tane and I will stay in touch, but I know where I'm going."

Nancy grinned. Ambitious and outgoing, with her mother Miko's sweet nature to top it all off, Bridgette was a perfect Landgraab. The family matriarch couldn't be prouder, but she kept a watchful eye on the teens from the infinity pool when Tane paid a visit on the last night of the trip.

With the family's vacation coming to an end, Nancy grilled Krabby Patties to mark their last night at the villa - which vegetarian Pearl ate to be polite (because I forgot I'm sorry!) and then felt violently ill.

(I'm trying to play it like she's vegan, not just vegetarian, and it's not easy! After this, Ash made her some lactose-free fruit and yogurt parfait since he has a little gourmet cooking skill, and she got through my fumble - I was too excited to see what moodlets the new recipe gave but didn't plan on these - without actually getting physically sick. That earned her the Home Remedy Mastery Perk, which she can use when she learns someone's family recipes someday.)

But this wasn't even the most nauseous feeling she experienced that night. While the family relaxed either in the infinity pool or catching up on the world back home with TV news, Pearl and Ash's flirtatious evening came to a halt when the news cut to wintry Windenburg.

"The mysterious and gruesome discovery of the retiree, Hayes Harms, who'd only recently moved to Windenburg with his wife, has set everyone on edge from here to Ravenwood and the Mystical Zones."

"I know that name. Hayes Harms was Charlie's biological father. He mentioned something before he disappeared about his bio-dad leaving Brindleton Bay. He was saying the town was so bad it wasn't even good enough for the man he hates more than anyone in the world."

'"Even more than he hates me?" Ash cracked.

"I'm serious," she said as they changed into pajamas and crawled into bed. "Charlie's still missing, and now his bio-dad turns up dead?"

"You think he killed his own father?"

It sounded outrageous when Ash said it out loud, and she tried to shake off a weird feeling.

"I just hope wherever Charlie is, if he's still out there somewhere, he's okay. It doesn't feel right not knowing what happened to him." ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary | Gen 2.2 Summary

Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary

Malcolm (age 46) and Miko (now about 38, noted for reference) were not to be outdone in the holiday romance department by Ash and Bridgette - they spent their vacation getting steamy and violating the infinity pool! There was love all around!

NOTE: I planned to bring Bridgette to Sulani when Deck the Palms was announced because I wanted to introduce her and Tane, the premade son of townie Oliana Ngata who, as a child, led Conrad to finally find Rafa hiding out in the abandoned ship. Then @rosienthe announced Idolized: K-Pop Trainee and it felt too perfect for Bridgette to pass up, but I still wanted to see what would happen when she met Tane.

Sometime print model Bridgette was soon to leave for @rosienthe's Idolized: K-Pop Trainee challenge and Ash was just about ready to enroll in university, so they took this week as an opportunity to spend precious time together - time they truly valued following the sudden death of Nancy's husband, Geoffrey, a decade earlier.

Nancy was happy to be surrounded by her loved ones - and happier still that a polite invitation to her brother, Johnny, and his family, was declined so he could film a New Year's Eve comedy show in Del Sol Valley. Nancy had grown a lot in her decade as a widow, but she still thought Johnny's jokes were pedestrian and unoriginal, his wife a bore, and her nieces and nephew bordered on ambitionless.

(l-r: Eva Capricciosa Zest, Johnny (Landgraab) Zest, Cristal, Deven, and Noemi Zest)

But she still paid the mortgage on their Uptown penthouse - because it gave her a right (in her opinion) to express her feelings at will - and Johnny still cashed her cheques because he'd never been too proud to turn down the family's money.

The lifelong antagonistic relationship between Nancy Landgraab and her little brother Johnny notwithstanding, this trip to Sulani marked another successful year for the Landgraabs - maybe even the most successful in centuries, after Conrad Gordon's trip through time to end the Landgraab curse.

Unfortunately, the weather in Sulani was overcast for most of the trip, but at least they avoided rain or snowfall!

The Landgraabs took advantage of breaks in the clouds to sunbathe on the exclusive private beach in Lani St. Taz, which wasn't far from their expensive rented villa. Ash and Pearl, as wholesome as ever, built sandcastles and raced each other on the sand, with Pearl happy to relax at the end of another season with the ballet company.

She hadn't laughed this much in years - life with Charlie had certainly never felt so carefree - and she relished the changes to her lifelong friendship with Ash. As the new year approached, she could reflect. Finally, she was in a relationship with someone who made her life better, not worse.

They both knew this was how love was supposed to feel, and Ash trusted that Pearl would never treat him the way Scotti once did. That was in the past, and these young lovebirds preferred to think about the future.

Sixteen-year-old Bridgette put her phone away when a teenager in a polo shirt passed their shaded cabana. "Oh waiter, could we get some drinks please?"

The teen boy stopped in his tracks, taking in the beautiful blonde in her lacy white bikini. "Sorry?"

"We'd like to order drinks," Bridgette repeated.

The teen boy laughed. "I don't work here," he said. "I live up the beach with my moms and my little sister."

Bridgette blushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. My name's Tane."

With a nervous grin, Bridgette introduced herself. She was always so confident, happy to carry on conversations with practically anyone, but she didn't like looking foolish in front of a cute guy.

Sensing his daughter's growing crush like a perfectly annoying doting dad, Malcolm walked up to the blushing teens to introduce himself. Bridgette silently begged him not to embarrass her. "Looks like you've torn her away from her phone for the first time since we got here. You must be pretty special."

Bridgette's stomach dropped. "Dad! Uh, do Ash and Pearl need help with their sandcastle, maybe?"

"I don't think so."

But Tane didn't mind talking to Bridgette's father if it meant getting to talk to her, too, and a conversation on the beach turned into an afternoon on the swings before the lovestruck teens made out on the sand.

She never expected her family vacation in Sulani to result in her first kiss, but she enjoyed living in the moment with him. Before long, she'd be off competing as a K-Pop Trainee, and he'd return to making art from his home on the beach.

They had this trip, if nothing else, and wanted to make good use of it.

Her romantically-reserved grandmother advised her to be careful - as much for her heart as the family's money and reputation, but Bridgette's eyes were focused on her career and appearance on Idolized. "Don't worry, Nan. Maybe Tane and I will stay in touch, but I know where I'm going."

Nancy grinned. Ambitious and outgoing, with her mother Miko's sweet nature to top it all off, Bridgette was a perfect Landgraab. The family matriarch couldn't be prouder, but she kept a watchful eye on the teens from the infinity pool when Tane paid a visit on the last night of the trip.

With the family's vacation coming to an end, Nancy grilled Krabby Patties to mark their last night at the villa - which vegetarian Pearl ate to be polite (because I forgot I'm sorry!) and then felt violently ill.

(I'm trying to play it like she's vegan, not just vegetarian, and it's not easy! After this, Ash made her some lactose-free fruit and yogurt parfait since he has a little gourmet cooking skill, and she got through my fumble - I was too excited to see what moodlets the new recipe gave but didn't plan on these - without actually getting physically sick. That earned her the Home Remedy Mastery Perk, which she can use when she learns someone's family recipes someday.)

But this wasn't even the most nauseous feeling she experienced that night. While the family relaxed either in the infinity pool or catching up on the world back home with TV news, Pearl and Ash's flirtatious evening came to a halt when the news cut to wintry Windenburg.

"The mysterious and gruesome discovery of the retiree, Hayes Harms, who'd only recently moved to Windenburg with his wife, has set everyone on edge from here to Ravenwood and the Mystical Zones."

"I know that name. Hayes Harms was Charlie's biological father. He mentioned something before he disappeared about his bio-dad leaving Brindleton Bay. He was saying the town was so bad it wasn't even good enough for the man he hates more than anyone in the world."

'"Even more than he hates me?" Ash cracked.

"I'm serious," she said as they changed into pajamas and crawled into bed. "Charlie's still missing, and now his bio-dad turns up dead?"

"You think he killed his own father?"

It sounded outrageous when Ash said it out loud, and she tried to shake off a weird feeling.

"I just hope wherever Charlie is, if he's still out there somewhere, he's okay. It doesn't feel right not knowing what happened to him." ->

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Malcolm (age 46) and Miko (now about 38, noted for reference) were not to be outdone in the holiday romance department by Ash and Bridgette - they spent their vacation getting steamy and violating the infinity pool! There was love all around!

NOTE: I planned to bring Bridgette to Sulani when Deck the Palms was announced because I wanted to introduce her and Tane, the premade son of townie Oliana Ngata who, as a child, led Conrad to finally find Rafa hiding out in the abandoned ship. Then @rosienthe announced Idolized: K-Pop Trainee and it felt too perfect for Bridgette to pass up, but I still wanted to see what would happen when she met Tane.