Familiar Faces Chapter Twenty Three

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Welcome back to Familiar Faces! Chapter Twenty Three - Don't Fear The Reaper - Part One

Transcript of Familiar Faces Chapter Twenty Three

Page 1: Familiar Faces Chapter Twenty Three

Welcome back to Familiar Faces!

Chapter Twenty Three - Don't Fear The Reaper - Part One

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"Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap!"

No matter how she turned it around in her head Denise figured she was doomed. All the way home from the secret society lot she'd been trying to think of a way to break the news to Emma and now she was home and still hadn't come up with a good solution. If she was lucky everyone would be in bed and she could somehow possibly rationalize not waking them up. It wasn't like there was anything that could be done tonight anyway, might as well let Em have one night of happy engagement dreams.

*KATHUNK! KATHUNK! KATHUNK*

"Crap"

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*KATHUNK! KATHUNK! KATHUNK*

"I could just turn around, head over to the dorms and crawl into bed with Dane; he'd be happy to see me."

But Demi and Chay hadn't raised a coward, and Denise knew she couldn't put off the inevitable. Someone had to tell Emma that Aldric was dead. It would be better hearing it from a friend and a cousin than from the campus police.

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*KATHUNK! KATHUNK! KATHUNK*

"Emma could you stop that a minute, and sit down? I . . . I need to talk to you."

"So talk I can hear you just fine."

"Em it's important, please just sit down."

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"Fine, I'm sitting what's the problem? Hey is Aldric with you? He told me he'd be stopping by once everything was done at the SS house. He's going to give me my ring, make our engagement official."

"Yeah well about that, you know it's kinda funny really. Okay so it's not funny"

Denise hurriedly explained the situation to Emma how after her initiation ceremony was over and while everyone had been gathering around congratulating her on her acceptance into the Familiarity Foundation the foundations cowplant Aubrey had caked and apparently Aldric had been drawn in and attempted futilely to fight the plant for her cake slice.

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"Well that was a really stupid thing for him to do, really really stupid. He knows what grabbing the cake does; he knows that the magic of playability isn't as simple as birthday cake and besides he's already secured playability. It's not like he's a knowledge sim with a death wish. I'm assuming you ressed him right? You did res him didn't you Denise?"

"I tried to res him."

"What do you mean you TRIED?"

"I tried to res Aldric but it didn't work"

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"The sweet sound of bitter grief is cleansing my soul, perhaps now the Familiars will understand what it's like to no longer being in control of ones own fate."

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Emma's crying brought the rest of the house running.

"Em what's wrong, Denise what's going on here, why's she crying like this?" Elliot and Elle tried to comfort Emma but they couldn't make much out of what she was trying to say. All they could get out of her was "He's dead" before she'd start wailing again.

Bo and Delphy exchanged a glance; it was obvious to them that Emma wasn't going to explain.

Delphy glared at her little sister "Denise what's going on here? What happened? Who's dead?"

"Aldric's dead, I tried to res him Del honestly I did but Grim wouldn't let me."

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"What? Why wouldn't he let you res Aldric? There was plenty of money in the foundation fund right? There better have been, Uncle Bob's been sending regular contributions to the foundation for generations. Wright knows they don't use the money to hire maids." Bo had been disgusted by the general slovenly appearance of the Foundation house when she'd been there for her induction a few semesters earlier.

"I don't know why he wouldn't let me res him, not exactly. There was plenty of money and I told him that Aldric was Emma's fiance and that we needed a full res But then Grim started spouting numbers and codes at me at said that it was unfortunate but that he couldn't do what I asked, at least not yet. There was something about a resurrection abuse lawsuit and papers that were supposedly sent to us. I didn't understand what he was saying; I've never seen any papers."

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At the mention of papers Emma looked up. She seemed to be calming down somewhat; the initial wave of despair had been quenched with a single word - yet. Yet signified hope, as long as there was a yet there was something that could be done.

"There was something in the mail a few weeks ago, right after we got back from Twikki. It was in with the bills and such; I didn't really look at the envelope I just set it on the table in the TV room with the meal vouchers."

"I'll go look" said Elle. Elle never felt comfortable around emotional outbursts she never really knew what she should do when someone cried, and was happy to have something tangible to do. Elle quickly found the envelope along with a few past due bills. Elle shook her head, those would need to be paid immediately; Denise would have a conniption if the Repo man paid the house a call.

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Returning to the living room Elle read the envelope to everyone else. "It says it's a 'Notification of Revocation of Resurrection Rights Pending Review' return address is G. Reaper -Judge and Jury of the Death Court. That has to be Grim."

"Cripes Emma you get a letter from Grim and you didn't even bother to open it? How irresponsible can you be? Someone please save us from Pleasure Seekers!" Always quick silver in her emotions Delphy was prone to lashing out when something upset her world.

"Del now's probably not the best time for you to get on her case about that, come on." Bottom was pleasure as well.

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"I'm just saying, that maybe she should have read it before now. Elle open it up and see if you can figure anything out you're the law student here."

Elle scanned the documents within the envelope "I don't know guys, I've still got three semesters before I even start my internship. Obviously these are legal documents, but I've never heard of a death court or resurrection abuse before. The complainant is listed as Suzi Philippine. With co-complainants listed only as the Familiarity Foundation Council of Superiority. I've never heard of a Council of Superiority in the Foundation before."

"Suzi's that weird zombie that was placeholder here before Puck moved in right?" Denise asked

"Yeah she's kinda whacked Mom said that she fell hard for Uncle Dwight back when he was here and she never seemed to grasp the concept of him being a romance sim. She ended up catching him with some one else back when I was a kid and never really got over it." Delphy shrugged

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"I remember something Suzi said way back when Em and I were freshmen about how 'they' - and she never defined who 'they' were - were going to be voting regarding seeking legal recourse for past zombifications done by the family. I really never gave it much thought after that though, I figured it was just Suzi talking out her backside." Elliot turned to his sister. "Look Em you know Deanna and I are heading to Mom's tomorrow why don't I drop you off at Dad's and you can talk to him about it; maybe he can give you some advice on where we stand. I'll see if Robert knows anything about death court as well, he may have heard something about it when he was a cop."

"I want to go too" chimed in Elle "We're going to need to talk with a real legal representative about this and I don't even know who represents the family now that Uncle Clint's gone. Besides there's no way I'm going to pass up the chance at home cooking."

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The next day Elliot and Deanna dropped his sisters off at their parent's house and then started across town to Juliet's house. Elliot wanted to make a stop before going home though. There was something he'd been meaning to do for quite awhile and now seemed exactly the right time to do it.

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"What are we doing at the park Eli? Your Mom is going to be upset if we're late and you know who she'll blame." Deanna wasn't looking forward to spending a weekend with the McCauley's she loved Elliot but she did not love his mother. The feeling was mutual.

"It's a nice day and I just wanted to stop by and see it, nostalgia maybe?" Elliot shrugged "I remember us playing here as kids it seemed so huge. But you know it's not even a quarter of a block."

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"Life's like that though isn't it? As we get older we view things differently. Sometimes our perceptions change. Take this park, when we were kids this park was as big as the world there was a new adventure to be found under every rock and in every corner. Remember that?"

"Um hmm, I remember." Deanna smiled

Elliot took Deanna's hands in his. "I loved you even then. I loved you because you were my friend and because you shared those adventures with me. Then we weren't kids any more and we didn't come to the park as often and when we did it was different, it was smaller but it was still an adventure. Would you hold my hold my hand? Would you let me kiss you? Maybe I'd get lucky and you'd make out with me on that bench over there."

"I remember that too" This time Deanna's smile was a little more mischievous "I have fond memories of that bench over there."

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"I loved you then, not just because you were my friend but because you were my girl and because you let me kiss you sometimes. Now we're adults and I love you more than ever before. The park is smaller than it was back then but it's still a nice place to start an adventure." Elliot reached into his pocket and then got down on one knee. "Deanna Indie, if you'll take this ring I'll promise you an adventure that will last a lifetime."

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The ring was just a formality that needed to be taken care of, there was never any doubt regarding Deanna's answer. Of all the couples I've had in my game Elliot and Deanna are the two most devoted to each other, there are no excess memories of other people in their panels, no stray crushes because of a casual friendly flirtation. I'm pretty sure they decided to get married back when they were kids; and it only took me a little longer to catch on.

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When Elliot and Deanna had dropped Emma and Elle off at their parents house, Elle walked straight in but Emma stood on the sidewalk a while and just stared at the house. She'd promised herself that she wasn't going to break down again; she needed to remain calm so that she could relate the events of the past few days to her parents and get their advice but when she saw her mother heading for her she lost most of her reserve.

"Mom, I don't know what to do, what am I going to do Momma?" Emma collapsed into her mother's embrace as hers tear started up again. Whether it's a skinned knee or a broken heart when you're hurt you sometimes just want your Mom.

"It'll be okay sweetie whatever it is we'll figure something out." Titania didn't know what had upset her daughter, she didn't need to know. All she knew was that her baby was in pain. Titania stood there rocking her daughter until Emma was mostly cried out.

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While Emma was telling her parents all about the troubles that were going on in her life, Elle was thinking primarily about her stomach. Home equals food and Elle had her heart set on some of Adonis's infamous Berry Pie.

"Adonis, Yo Adonis, where ya at tin-man?"

"How dare you mention that name in this house?" Elle's call hadn't brought the family servo but instead her sister Eva the terror. Apparently the news that Adonis had dumped Eva and gone running for the hills hadn't yet made its way to campus.

"Whoa Evie take a chill!" Eva might be a bit scary but she was Elle's 'little' sister and Elle wasn't willing to get into a punching match without knowing what the score was. "What's going on around here? Where's Adonis?"

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"Adonis left, he just walked out! The coward is living at Uncle Dwight's house now, and that's perfectly fine with me, who wants a no account barrel of bolts hanging around anyway?"

"Weird why'd he leave? I always figured he'd be here forever."

"Some nonsense about not wanting to get married, he kept trying to claim that he wouldn't make a suitable life partner for me. Pfft he never even gave it a try."

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"Well like no duh! He's a romance servo; romancers never want to get married."

"But I love him!"

"Of course you love him Eva, we all love Adonis. I'm sure that Adonis loves you too; well at least as much as a non-emotionally programmed romance robot can love anyone but that doesn't mean he's the guy for you or that he would be willing to give up his hardcore bachelor ways and get married."

"Look sis Adonis isn't going to marry anyone ever it would be much better for you to get off that barge now and move on down river. Have you even looked, I mean really looked at any of the other men around? It seems like you set your sights on the first one you saw. You settled on Adonis early on and haven't given anyone else a chance." Elle couldn't understand why anyone would be willing to settle. "Adonis is a good guy to have as a friend but isn't it better to know now that he's unwilling to go the long haul than to find out later?"

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"Hey I got an idea, you know my boyfriend? Dov? His brother Dryas was a spore just like you, and Dov was telling me how Dryas and a few of the other spores get together once a week or so just to talk and hang out. They talk about their experiences and help each other adjust to the quick changes that plant spores go through. Why don't I hook you up with Dryas? Least that could happen is that you'll meet some new folks, and it'll get you out of the house a bit more for something other than work. And maybe you'll meet somebody special."

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"What about that Dryas? Is he married?" Eva asked, another spore child might be the answer to her problems, she'd considered that Adonis would be a good husband not just because she thought she loved him but also because he was an outsider just like she felt she was.

"Yeah sorry sis Dryas is not only very married but he's very gay. You know every guy you meet doesn't have to be a potential husband, heck you don't even have to get married. There's nothing wrong with just being friends with a guy. You need to just come hang with us on campus more often; I think it would be really good for you. Hey, did Adonis leave any leftovers in the fridge? I really wanted some pie."

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When Elliot and Deanna pulled up in front of his mother's house, Juliet was watching for them. She was out the door and pulling Elliot into a hug before they made it half way across the yard. Say what you want about Juliet but she loves her son.

As she released him from her hug she chided "You're late I expected you almost an hour ago. Robert has had the salmon ready for the grill for hours." Juliet tossed a blaming look at Deanna it was obvious that she felt Deanna had held up their arrival in some manner. "Hello Deanna."

"We're not late Mama I told you we'd be here in time for supper, it's only four thirty now."

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Elliot pulled Deanna up beside him he really wished his mother would make an effort to try and make her feel welcome just once. It was such a different reception here than what he was used to receiving whenever he visited the Indies. There he was welcomed like a member of the family.

"We had to divert and drop Emma and Elle off at Dad's and then we drove around town a bit I wanted to officially seal mine and Deanna's engagement so we stopped at the park for awhile." Elliot watched his mother's eyes narrow in speculation "You could say you're happy for us Mama."

"Well of course I'm happy for you darling! I can't say I'm surprised, though I've wondered what it was that made you delay this long. But of course you had your reasons; and if you had doubts it was better to wait than to rush ahead."

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Deanna gave Elliot a squeeze. "Sweetie I'm going to go on in and call my parents let them know we made it to town and see if Dad can pick me up in the morning. Why don't you talk to your Mom for a little bit?" She gave him a look, one that said she understood while at the same time saying she didn't want to talk about it.

"Mama how could you?" Elliot hissed "Would it have been so hard to just say congratulations and not bury your tidings in a dig? I'm very lucky that Deanna knows exactly how much I love her and that she knows I never had any doubts about that. I'm going to go see if Robert needs any help with the fish."

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"Listen to me Pumpkin, loosing anyone you love is difficult and it's going to take you some time to come to terms with that but you need to keep in mind that this is only a temporary loss. You're going to need to be strong for awhile. It's not going to do either you or Aldric any good to be so consumed by the hurt that you can't find the solution."

"But what if it's not temporary what if we can't get him back? What if he's gone for good? What if we lose the case? What if I fail to bring him back?"

"Then we'll deal with that when we need to, for now what you need to focus on is that you have a chance to bring him back. We have great faith in you Emma, in all of you. You have to remember that you aren't in this alone; everyone will do everything that we can to help you out."

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"I know you are Daddy; I'm just having a problem getting past the shock. Everything seemed to be going so well for me. I was making good grades, I had a bunch of friends, I was half way through my lifetime want and most importantly I'd not only found the man that I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with but he loved me in return. He proposed to me Daddy; we were going to get married."

"You're talking as if that's all in the past, it's not. You are a straight A student. You have a lot of friends and you will still spend the rest of your life with Aldric. This isn't an ending this is only a pause."

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"First things first though I'm going to need copies of those papers. I can start making some phone calls tonight and see if anyone knows anything that will be useful. We also need to find out how wide the resurrection ban is, and see if it may be possible to get Aldric back sooner. I'll call grim from here and ask our other family members and friends that have access to phones to try theirs as well. I'm not happy to hear that the foundation itself is at the root of this, if it was just the zombies or just one zombie in particular I might understand."

"Elle thinks we're going to need someone to look over the papers and cut through the legal work. Who's the family lawyer now?"

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"There are a few lawyers in Clint's old practice, most of the family matters are being handled by Cort London at the moment but he's looking forward to retirement. There is someone else though, and she may have more insight on this particular matter than anyone else but then . . . I don't know."

"Who is it Mom? If you think that there is someone who can help I'll go talk to her today."

"No not today, we're going to need to talk to her first. There's a possibility that she's more involved in this than we'd like. It would be best if your father approached her."

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"So Deanna, Elliot says that you aren't planning on working once you get married?" Robert was doing his best to include Deanna in the dinner conversation.

"Well I'll probably get a job of some sort, but I don't foresee actually being at work all that often at least in the beginning. Since Eli and I want to start our family right away, I'm sure I'll have my hands full just managing the house and the kids. My parents had three kids and I've always thought that was a good number, I'd like at least that many as well. Once the kids are all school age then I'll go back to work at least part time. But before that I'm hoping to be able to sell some of my sewing to help with the bills."

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"I would have loved to have been able to take more time with my son when he was a child, unfortunately I didn't have the ability to choose not to work. But then I never really had a problem balancing a full time job along with raising a child all on my own. Some people are just naturally better equipped for handling the balancing act I suppose."

"It's not that I don't think I could balance both a career and children it's just that both my parents worked full time while we were growing up and between work and all us kids they seemed tired most of the time, I'd just like to be able to enjoy my children while they are small."

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After dinner Deanna offered to help with the dishes while Robert and Elliot went out to the hot tub to have a chat about what was going on with the Greek house and the Death Court. Unfortunately Robert didn't really know much about Death Court, the laws of Grim's realm are much different than those of the earthly world. While cops see death more regularly than many do, they don't have any control over who goes with Grim and who gets returned. Death has his own laws and he is the only one that has the power to make pass judgment on them. Robert was worried though he'd never heard of anyone entering Death's Realm while still living. Elliot had wondered about that as well, but the papers indicated that the court would be held at in an undisclosed location and that the participants would be called directly to the court where protection would be granted.

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Juliet stuck her head out the porch door "I'm going to head on in to bed Hon, don't stay out too long, I don't want any popsicles poking me in the back tonight." Juliet winked at her husband a late spring snow had fallen in the last few hours and the temperature had dropped dramatically.

"Deanna's taking a bath she'll probably be out to join you shortly. Elliot, don't let her keep you up too late you've got to drive back to campus tomorrow."

After Juliet had gone back in Elliot looked at his step father. "What's up with Mom? She's always been a bit uh edgy maybe? But she seems even more so today than usual. When I talked to her about this weekend she didn't seem to have any real problem with Deanna being here but ever since we arrived it's like I don't know."

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"You're Mother's just having some mood swings lately. Pretty typical with pregnant women, so I've been told."

"What? I mean umm congrats! Why didn't you guys tell me before now?"

"I think your Mother's a little embarrassed by it actually, she's thinks she's too old for another baby at this point. I guess you're an adult now so you're probably familiar with the why's and how's. But she's doing it for me really, I was around some while you were little but I wasn't here from the beginning and I've always wanted my own child. We'd been trying for awhile, and I'd pretty much given up hope and then well it worked."

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Deanna slipped into the hot tub.

"Well I think that it's wonderful news Robert! You both must be so excited!"

"We are very excited Deanna, thank you." Robert grinned "I'm going to head on in, I'm sure the two of you would like some time alone."

"Robert is such a nice guy, he'll make a great Dad don't you think?"

"He was always a good to me, but I was pretty much grown by the time he moved in and well you know Mom she didn't even let my own father have anything to say over how I was raised let alone Robert. I think that was part of the reason why they didn't get married till they did she wanted me all to herself."

"She still does, that's why she hates me because she's always seen me as the women that taking her son from her. I want to respect her because I know that a large part of who you are is because of her but it's really hard to respect someone that's always on your case when there's no reason. I don't want to take you away from her why can't she see that?"

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"Deanna don't worry about Momma, I don't expect you to adore her at this point. That's her fault, and her loss. But at least now with a baby on the way maybe she'll be more understanding about us not moving in here after graduation. I wasn't looking forward to that discussion but I have another reason to add to the list now."

"Are you going to tell her tomorrow? You won't mind if I leave for my parents before you do will you? I'd rather not be around for that."

"Just let me handle Momma, your parents will be fine with us getting our own place right? Dante and Deirdra will be living there right? It'll be easier for Mom to handle it if she doesn't think we're choosing your folks over her."

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On the other side of town with almost everyone in bed for the evening David was making good on his promise to Emma to call the various family and friends that might be able to help her out. He would eventually speak to all living members of the UA, but the most valuable member at this point would be Uncle Bob. Not only was Bob the original founder of the UA but his connections to the existing membership extended deeply throughout the entire population of Familiarity. In the most recent generations the Familiar family had become somewhat enclosed in itself. The larger the family became the easier it was to ignore connections outside the family itself, and Bob would be key to bringing in support from the townie and NPC population.

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"Vampirism is exceedingly different from being a zombie David particularly in the way that we view each other and in the way that Grim views the two subspecies. The zombie members of the UA resent the manner in which they are recruited and I can't say that I'm greatly surprised by this turn of events."

"What! If you expected something like this why didn't you mention it? Why would you let the practice continue? You're in charge of the UA Bob; we've all just followed your dictates in the creation of the zombies. Frammit Bob! I created Suzi!"

"Dave, calm down the last thing we need now is misplaced guilt from you. None of this is your fault. When I said that I'm not greatly surprised I meant that I'm not surprised that there is a form of retribution being sought, not that I expected this exact turn of events. As far as letting people know that? You know that there are risks with every experiment, and with this particular experiment I didn't have much choice."

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"What do you mean by that Bob? Why wouldn't you have a choice?"

"Look Dave I'll be happy to sit down with you and explain what I can about the ways of immortality sometime but right now the baby is crying and I need to check on him. What I can do is promise you the full support from myself and the UA. I'll call the rest of the vampires tonight and inform them of what's going on. If you could call the Plants in the morning that would be a starting point. I'll have Adam contact the other servos and I'll see what can be done to put a feeler out to the zombie community but I don't have much love there, it might be better if you did that."

"Titania and I are already planning on calling on Kiernan and DJ so you don't need to do that. Thanks for everything Bob I'll talk to you soon."

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Bob was chilled by what he'd just heard from David, he was most likely the only sim in town that had any idea what the possible consequences that could come from this might be. There were various possibilities of course but based on Bob's knowledge of Grim none of them were good. He needed to call his old adversary; the game had taken a surprise twist and he wasn't sure of the new rules.

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"Robert told us about the baby last night. He sounded really excited. You're happy too right?"

"I am happy about the baby, I always wanted more children. But well your father and I of course and then when Robert and I first got married there were other considerations so the timing wasn't right." Juliet was a bit flustered, she'd always believed in open communication with her son but that was more in regards to his life not hers. "Once the timing was right it seemed like I'd waited to long cause nothing happened. Then we had pretty much accepted that maybe I was too old when we found out I'm not."

"I think its wonderful Momma, I'm happy for both of you."

"Eli? Daddy will be here soon. Thank you so much for inviting me Mrs. McCauley; I had an enjoyable time last night." Deanna forced herself to smile at Juliet.

"Of course dear, we always enjoy seeing Elliot's friends." Juliet's smile was just as false as Deanna's had been.

Elliot rolled his eyes at his fiance "Mom I'm going to walk Deanna out."

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Elliot walked Deanna out and waited with her until Caleb picked her up. She was going to spend some time with her folks while Elliot had lunch at his father's house.

"You 'enjoy seeing my friends'? Momma you're going to have to come to terms with the fact that Deanna is much more to me than just a friend. You can't keep relegating her like that in hopes that she'll take the hint and disappear. She's not going away, no matter how rude you are to her, she's sticking."

Elliot sighed he hadn't planned on starting the conversation that way so he tried a different tact. "Momma I love you. That's never going to change; I also respect you and your opinion in most matters."

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"Mom, I have one more year at University then I'm going to graduate and when I do I am going to marry the woman I love. The woman that I've been in love with for most of my life, I didn't always know that that's the way I felt about Deanna but I've come to realize that I've been in love with her since we were kids. Deanna is an amazing person; you'd be able to see that if you took a few minutes to actually talk to her. The most amazing thing about her is that she loves me, just as much as I love her. And she proves it every time you take a punch at her and she refuses to punch back. You see Deanna knows that as much as I love her, that I also love you and she realizes that hurting you would only hurt me."

"But . . ."

"No Momma, I don't want to fight with you, I'd just like you to listen."

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"Mom the reason why I put off asking Deanna to marry me for as long as I did had nothing to do with any doubts regarding our future together. The only concern I had about our future revolved around what would happen if you and she tried to live in the same house together. I know that you're expecting me to move home after graduation, but that's not going to work out. Deanna and I have looked around and we've got our eye on a little house here in town; we've decided that instead of moving in with either set of parents we're going to go it alone. If you want to leave the house to one of your children it's going to have to be the new baby not me.

When I was growing up you made a point to keep the problems that you and Dad had away from me. As I've gotten older I've heard bits and pieces of what went on, things that I never saw. I'm going to do my best to follow your lead and shield my future children from similar strife. Remember that before you take your next punch at their mother."

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Elle wanted Berry Pie, and Eva was feeling a bit guilty that Adonis wasn't around to make her one. Not that she'd admit that she felt guilty to anyone else of course; it was after all Adonis's choice to leave. Perhaps she had pushed him to hard to fast, but there were still so many things that she didn't understand. Since she'd been spored from David she had been surrounded by the warmth of love, it was as essential to her as sunlight was and as a toddler it had been provided unequivocally by all the inhabitants of the household. When she'd gone through her treeing experience there had suddenly been new emotions and new feelings attached to that love. Did anyone wonder why she had become confused?

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"That wasn't too hard was it Eddie? Just mix a bunch of things together in a bowl and then pop it in the oven. Why do you mammals need to eat anyway? Why isn't water good enough for everyone? Elle wants pie and I have the skill to make pie so Elle will get pie, Elle will be pleased, and it is little enough to do to please my sister. Don't you think?"

Is it at all surprising that Eva's first delving into cooking was filled with epic quality fail? The Familiar household at the moment is fairly devoid of sims that eat and so Eva hasn't had much experience with food in general let alone with cooking. Neither David nor Eva eats anything and Titania being a devout vegetarian only eats salad or drinks juice. Before Adonis left he of course didn't require food either, though he would cook on occasion for others. Eva has a fully maxed cooking skill bar she's never had the need to use it.

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Like a cross between Mighty Mouse and Sir Galahad firefighter Ted Langrek swept in to save the day. Ted's heroics caught Eva's interest immediately; not surprising really any reader of romance novels will tell you that one of the key elements in capturing the heroine is for the hero to rescue her in some manner. The fact that Ted wasn't completely adverse to Eva's first topic of conversation 'marriage' scored him points with her, telling her he'd prefer to be friends first scored him points with me.

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"What's with the smoke Dad? Are you trying to send signals to someone?"

"No Eva decided to try her hand at cooking for the first time. It didn't go all that well. We've just cleared out the fire brigade. So what do you think about slightly crispy Berry Pie for lunch?"

"Sounds good to me, even burnt home cooking has to be better than the constant pizza diet we've been on the last few years."

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Back at the Greek House Bottom was contemplating the effect of Aldric's death. As normal when she had a concern she'd turn to one of two people; her fiance Alex or her best friend Delphy. In this case Delphy was the better choice as an immediate sounding board since Del was more directly affected.

"Psst Del wake up, we need to talk. Del?"

Del eventually woke with a start and sat straight up. She wasn't really surprised to find Bo waiting for her. The two of them had been practically inseparable since childhood; the past few years of living together had only brought them closer, if that was possible.

"I don't see how you could sleep Del with everything that's going on. Aren't you at least a little bit concerned?"

"Of course I'm concerned. But really there's not much we can do at the moment."

"There has to be something we can do, should we call the cousins? I don't really understand the protocol in a situation like this. Are people going to be dropping by? Should we make food?"

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"Bo some things can't be fixed with food. The best we can hope for is that once Emma, Elle and Elliot get back here they'll have a better idea of how things stand." Delphy knew that her answer wouldn't satisfy Bo, if anything her friend was born trying to make things right. "If you want to do something useful, call Alex let him know what's up. Between him and the rest of the folks in his dorm they'll get the word out. I'll do the same with Dallan and Denise will call Dane. If we do it that way we aren't gossiping, if they decide to pass on what we tell them it's up to them. By the end of the day the entire campus will know what's going on. Oh and your brother too, he'll want to know."

"I already have, Puck's probably on the phone with Dorme now; but she most likely had the news from Alex 10 seconds after I hung up with him."

"Well if you want to fix something then set your mind towards trying to figure out how we're going to throw a graduation party while in mourning for Emma's fiance."

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As far as the court case was concerned it wasn't just the Familiar family that was interested. Almeric was keeping abreast of the details while reading various members of the family's blog updates. He wanted to know what they were up to.

Nothing had gone right; it should have been easy really. He had bide his time until an appropriate heiress was available and then he'd presented himself as a candidate for her hand. Emma should have fallen all over him and been properly impressed by his credentials. After all he was legacy legal, he was face one, and he had a compatible aspiration to Emma's pleasure seeking. But she hadn't acted as he'd expected her to. Instead she'd snubbed him and turned instead to his overweight, clumsy and socially inept twin.

Well he'd gotten rid of Aldric hadn't he? What's the difference between one twin and another really?

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Almeric had decided that his best course of action was to play the concerned brother. By doing so he hoped to gain points with Emma while at the same time find out what was in the works as far as bringing his brother back. He'd then do what he could to obstruct any progress on that front.

"Uh hi Almeric, what are you doing here?"

Emma had never liked Almeric, the first time she'd met him in person he'd felt slimy and consequential meetings later both in person and online hadn't changed her opinion of him in any way. She also knew that Aldric had had plenty of problems with his twin from the time they were little. But Denise had told her about how Almeric had freaked out at the Foundation after Aldric had died. Maybe he had cared for his brother, maybe he wasn't the complete scum she'd always thought.

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"Hey Emma, I well I just wanted to see how you were holding up. I called before but one of your roommates said that were pretty torn up and that you'd gone home for a while. I thought I'd check on you. I um I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot originally and I wanted to apologize for that. I made a bad assumption that because you were the legacy heiress that you'd be less uh down to earth than you actually are. And well you know what they say about assumptions."

"You thought I'd be spoiled and pretentious and that I'd enjoy being pandered to in an obnoxiously superficial way?"

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"You know when you say it that way I guess I can understand why you'd think I was a jerk. Like I said I just wanted to apologize."

"I still think that you're most likely a jerk but I'll accept your apology. Look I appreciate you coming by to check up on me that was thoughtful of you. Uh Denise said that you were pretty upset the other night how are you handling things at the moment? Have you spoken to your parents? I wanted to call them but I couldn't find a number and I also didn't really know what to say I mean 'Hi we've never met but I'm engaged to your son and I just wanted to let you know that he's temporarily dead' just didn't sound like a great opening."

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"Yeah it'd probably be better all around if you didn't try to contact them. I spoke to mother earlier and explained the situation at least as much of it as I knew. She was pretty upset. What did you mean when you said temporarily dead? I thought that the resurrection failed? I was there when Denise said that Grim wouldn't let her res Aldric. Did you find out something different?"

"Well it's complicated; did you know that the secret society had filed a resurrection abuse suit against me and my family?"

"The Foundation filed suit against you? I don't understand why would we do that? You're a member of the Foundation why would we sue our own membership?"

"It's not the full Foundation that's suing us it's something called the Council of Superiority. Have you ever heard of that?" Emma asked Almeric but he only shook his head.

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"No one I've talked to knows anything about it, but Dad's going to talk to some people he knows. And well it's a complicated mess but the bottom line is that we're going to have to appear in Grim's death court and settle the issue. Once it's settled then the family should have access to resurrections again. That'll be next semester, but there might be other options that we are exploring. I promise you Almeric we're going to get your brother back."

"Do you really think you'll be able to? Aren't you worried about this court thing, I'd be pretty scared if I had to face Grim like that."

"We're going to get him back, we have to. I can't think about failure, I can't be scared the only thing I can do is believe." Emma's voice broke as tears started to run down her cheeks.

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"Hey don't cry, uh heck. I'm sorry I shouldn't have doubted you. Emma just please stop crying okay? Please?" Almeric tentatively put his arms around Emma offering her his shoulder while he patted her on the back. He didn't have much experience with women crying but he thought it was something he should do.

"I'm sorry I can't seem to help it, I try not to but I miss him so much. Daddy says that I have to keep thinking in positive terms if I'm going to get through this, then I start having doubts. . ." Emma kept talking and crying but Almeric wasn't really listening to her. As he absentmindedly continued to pat her on the back he was thinking how having a girl cry on your shoulder wasn't the worst thing that you could have happen to you. He could get used to holding Emma; of course it would be better if she wasn't making all that noise but it was still nice. She had a lot more curves than he'd originally thought, and she smelled really good too.

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"What the heck! Gaw Almeric I'm sorry I cried on your shoulder but that doesn't give you license to grab my butt!"

"Hey force of habit, sorry!"

"Yeah well take your force of habit and get out of here."

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Elle came through with her promise to Eva to introduce her to Dov and plenty of the other cousins on campus. Eva was beginning to be a fixture in the hot tubs in certain dorms. Dov made a point of inviting his brother Dryas over in order to introduce the two Spores. As expected Eva and Dryas hit it off really well and quickly became good friends. They were both fortune sims with similar interests and personalities and delighted in pranking each other continually.

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Through Dryas Eva was getting to know the other Plant Spores.

They had weekly group counseling sessions at Dryas's Popular Night Club, Darkness Falls.

There weren't that many Spores so it was a small group, Dryas was the 'eldest', the most centered of the four, the only male and the only one that had yet taken the cure. Daffodil was fairly certain that she would be taking the cure as well; Dandelion on the other hand defiantly would not. Eva hadn't decided, she wanted to own her own business and Dryas had sold her on the practicality of remaining a plant sim during the process.

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"I'm surprised to hear from you my friend; you above all should know that once the bargain has been struck the game must be played. Will you play the gallant and offer yourself up for them? There are others that have tried others not as wise as you in the rules of the game."

"You wound me with your accusations mon amie when have you known me to be cruel? Besides I am held by the rules of our game as well am I not? No bargains are made with those that are yours without their consent."

"You'll have to concede that she who began this bargain isn't one of yours but one of mine, how could I refuse my pet?"

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David and Titania had decided to have a visit with some old friends. It'd been a while since they'd seen DJ and Kiernan. David was a bit concerned after talking to Bob about the zombie unrest, he'd always thought of DJ in particular as a good friend. He didn't want to believe that either of them would be a part of the troubles that were effecting his kids. But she'd been living with Kiernan for quite awhile and Kiernan had always had issues with Bob and with the family.

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DJ greeted them both warmly at the door and escorted them into the living room.

"The house is lovely DJ; I don't think we've been here since you moved in. Usually we only seem to see each other over birthday cake these days." Titania handled the small talk

"Well you know, we stayed at the UA safe house for quite awhile after my graduation, but the decor there is so stark and once we'd gotten adjusted a bit we decided that we really wanted our own place something more intimate, more personal." DJ looked up as a teenage girl walked into the room. "Someplace that could accommodate family."

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"Dad my homework's done, can I go now?" The girl looked pleadingly at Kiernan. "The gang is waiting for me."

"If your homework is done then you can go, as long as you remember your curfew. But before you leave you should say hello to our guests. Gvaudoin these are our friends David and Titania Familiar, I'm sure you've heard us speak of them." Kiernan stood up and dug into his pocket for car keys which he dangled while looking expectantly at his daughter.

"Yeah hey, nice to meet you. Thanks Pops cya later Deej!" Gvaudoin grabbed the keys and waved as she rushed out the door, a few moments later they heard an engine start followed by a squeal of tires as the teen took off.

Kiernan fell back into his chair and laughed "That was my daughter, Gvaudoin the whirlwind. Ever since she got her license she's been gone more than she's been here. That's normal though right?" Kiernan hoped it was normal; he wasn't always sure when it came to the whole family thing.

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David and Titania looked at each other and laughed. "Very normal"

"Kiernan and I were considering adopting but before we do that we wanted to give Gvaudoin the opportunity to finish up high school and head off to university. She should be ready in time for the next semester. I hope you don't mind if I give her your kids names, I'd feel better if she had someone to turn to if she has questions." DJ asked David

"The kids would be delighted to meet someone new, but we need to tell the two of you why we stopped by. It has to do with the kids and the college zombies. There's been some trouble."

"What?!" DJ and Kiernan were apparently shocked enough that David put aside any doubts he might have had over their loyalty.

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Titania and David explained the situation to their friends, and asked for their assistance and help for the family. In particular they wanted DJ to look over the legal paperwork, and hopefully give advice over where they stood and what could be done on that front.

"I'll be happy to look over the paperwork, but don't you want Cort to do that he mainly handles the legal work for your family?" DJ was a partner in the Familiar law firm

"Well I'll talk to Cort and explain my reasons for wanting you to handle this. I'm not a lawyer but from what I've deciphered in these documents I don't think that the kids can have an actual legal representative present in the courtroom. What it says is that the parties named and only those parties will be summoned directly to court room when it's time to make their appearance. Farther on buried in a bunch of jargon, which I'd like you to examine, it states that they will be able to call up to three witnesses as well."

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"I think that you'd be the better choice to help them with this. You're a zombie and your personal history and experience with that is going to be more pertinent than Cort's. You're also the UA liaison for the university zombies so you know the parties involved and I think your foundation experience would come in handy as well. I want them to be able to pump you for as much information as they can. Both of you, as I'm sure that Kiernan's history will be brought up during the trial, his story might be the only one that they could prove was resurrection abuse."

"They'd have a hard time proving it without my co-operation. Which they won't get, I want you to trust me on that David." Kiernan shook his head "If this had happened oh forty or fifty years ago they might have but not now. Look I'm not proud of my past but it's the past. The best things in my life have happened since becoming a zombie." Kiernan looked at DJ and smiled.

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DJ grinned she was proud of the growth that Kiernan had achieved over the years, but she didn't accept the credit for it that he always tried to give. He had changed because he wanted to change and because it was time for him to do so.

"It would probably be best if my connection to all this was kept quiet. If the campus zombies are involved I'm going to need to talk to them, they won't be as open to their opponents' lawyer as they will be to plain old DJ who they'll probably see as one of them." DJ proposed "I've tried to keep in touch but most of them already hold a grudge against me because I escaped campus. If we can find one of them that is amenable it would probably be best to transfer the liaison title to someone that's living on campus once this is all over."

"We'll see what we can work out. I'm sure there will be a way to keep it quiet." David agreed

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Graduations, weddings and the future as a whole were on several people's minds presently. When Bo and Alex met for their nightly dates they spent most of their time going over their plans.

"I don't think we're going to have a graduation party here. I think we're just going to celebrate with everyone else in the dorms instead. It sucks breaking tradition like that but I wouldn't feel right about throwing a blow out with Emma so upset. If we don't have a party here she can avoid some of it and everyone will understand. There's no way we can avoid having a huge wedding at this point, every thing is already planned, and the invitations have been out forever. Daddy's been grumbling about the bills enough if he doesn't have a chance to give me away he'd blow."

"No way are we canceling the wedding. Bo you've been working on the wedding plans for a long time. I know how important it is to you. More than that Emma knows how important it is to us. You're stuck with me no backing out now."

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"No chance in that happening, I promise. It won't feel right if Emma's not there for our wedding or for Puck's wedding either but I feel bad about putting her through them."

"Bo, we can't stop living our lives because you're afraid we might do something to upset your sister. Emma wouldn't want us to; I suspect she'd be appalled if you suggested it, she'll be there for you and she'll handle it. Bad things happen to good people every day, some are worst than others. But if the world stopped every time something bad happened no one would ever get anything done."

"I know that, I'm just worried I so wanted everything to be perfect."

"Everything will be fine with the wedding, but you know I think that we should practice for the honeymoon. You want that to be perfect as well right?"

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Unlike Bo and Alex, Dallan Familiar had a problem with the future he was imagining.

Ya see Dallan's a romance sim and being a romance sim means that he's supposed to be free and easy with his affections. He's not looking for entanglements just fun. And it really is fun there was no doubt in his mind about that. It was also easy. He didn't have any problems bagging chicks, just hone in on the one you want flash that dazzling smile and then lay on a bit of the charm. It really didn't even matter what you said it was how you said it. Most of the time he didn't even need to ask if they were interested or not, they'd end up dragging him off for a little privacy before he'd even gotten to that point in the program.

Life was good right?

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Right, life was great except. . .except for that one little thing.

Delphine Nova. Sometimes he wished he'd never heard of her let alone seen her face. She haunted him and had since he was sixteen. It didn't matter who he was with or what he was doing she was always there, right there; her voice whispering in his ear, her fingers in his hair and her fist clamped tight around his heart. No one else had the ability to tie him up the way she did, no one.

The worst part was she didn't even know it.

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Not that he was going to tell her, hell no. She'd only laugh that sexy laugh of hers, the laugh that was guaranteed to get him even more worked up; and tell him he was talking crazy. Delphy was much more dedicated to their shared aspiration than he was.

Wasn't she?

She'd been the one after all to break off their relationship before college, the one that had sworn she was going to leave a trail of broken hearts thru campus with no regrets...the one that had called first. She was the one that didn't want a commitment the one that didn't care if he saw her with other guys...the one that usually apologized first after one of their all too frequent fights, even when he knew darn well that he was to blame.

How had he missed those things before? Maybe there was a chance after all, Dallan needed to make some phone calls.

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Elle had no problems with the future she was planning. She knew exactly what she wanted out of life. She wanted Dov, and what Elle wanted Elle normally got. Things generally seemed to fall into place perfectly for Elle; it was a trait that others found rather annoying. It was as if Elle had been blessed by the good luck fairy at birth. Elle didn't believe that luck just happening, when she wanted something she went after it. She wasn't afraid of hard work.

Dov wasn't falling in place though and that was annoying. He was going to graduate at the end of the semester but he hadn't yet proposed. What was she doing wrong?

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With just about anything else Elle would have taken the bull by the horns and done the proposing herself, but in this area she was a little old fashioned. Dov was supposed to do the proposing, her life plan was very specific about that. Fall in love with the perfect man; be proposed to over a candlelight dinner at a nice restaurant, graduate from University with a perfect 4.0, get married immediately following graduation so that there would be time for an extended honeymoon on a marvelous beach somewhere, finish her law degree while working at the family law firm, and then take off time from work in order to have one possibly two but no more than two perfect children.

When Dov had asked her to go downtown for dinner tonight she'd imagined Londoste or the Botanical not the Cyber Cafe. Just how adaptable should she be? The food would still be good, the man would still be perfect and it was a more fun atmosphere than stuffy Londoste, one that suited Dov completely.

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So why was she sitting in the booth waiting for Dov to finish his desert with no ring on her finger?

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Everyone was doing their part to help Emma prepare for the eventual court date. It was still a ways away but they needed to be prepared. A cryptic introductory phone call from DJ and a variety of email conversations with Cort, Bob, Boris and various other members of the family had given them the start they needed. It was expected that Grim's court would be handled differently than a normal court but how different no one seemed to know. Since the papers had indicated that everyone in the Greek House would be considered part of the defense team everyone needed to be prepared.

Research was being done on all facets of zombieism, resurrection rules and stipulations, the founding of the UA the decision to add a zombie division made up of foundation members that had been caked. Boris was the only remaining member of generation four but some of his recollections were questionable, he was 85 after all.

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Neither Bottom nor Delphy expected to be called for the court session; they wouldn't officially be members of the Greek House at that time. But they still did their part to help out. Bottom saw her role as a moral support position. Whenever it looked as if Emma was going to sink into depression Bo would try to find some way to pull her right back out. A lot of wear and tear was done to the Greek House couches during the support sessions.

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As for Delphy? Well Delphy was part of the zombie surveillance force that had set themselves up at the campus housing locations. They wanted to keep tabs on who was visiting with whom and where the various zombies congregated. It was an important role, but there was also a certain voyeuristic thrill that Delphy greatly enjoyed.

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DJ wasn't having much luck in getting the college zombies to confide in her. Only Suzi and Tammy seemed to know anything about the court case and Suzi at least considered her to be part of the enemy camp. DJ had after all lived at the Greek House during the prior generation.

"Suzi I'm a zombie, you're a zombie. We both became zombies in the exact same manner. We were both recruited to serve as place holders for Familiar Greek. The only difference between you and I is that I didn't spend my place holder time kicking over trash can's and bad mouthing everyone's favorite Uncle every chance I got. What did you expect?"

"I expected to be given some respect and allowed to graduate from this hell hole not be shuffled back into the dormie pool."

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"So is the point of all this that you want to be allowed to graduate? I can help you make that happen, have you spoken to anyone in the UA at all about what you wanted to do?"

"I never asked to be a zombie; I was never given a choice in the matter none of us were. The Familiar family is playing Wright with the Foundation membership, and they need to be stopped. If you think this is only a zombie concern you're wrong it's more."

"I'm very certain that if there was any possibility of settling this out of court that the Familiar family would be more than happy to sit down with all of you and make some type of arrangements."

"We're not going to settle, we want justice not pandering."

Tammy looked at DJ and shook her head "You're not going to change her mind D, and she's got the majority of the council behind on this. The more she bemoans being a zombie the more panic spreads through the foundation. Everyone's afraid that they're going to be next."

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"Hey Elliot? Did you take Mr. Mickles out to get dry cleaned or something? Cause he isn't on his shelf."

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"There you are! I've been waiting for you. Are you happy now? Isn't it enough that your family comes in here every few years acting like you own the world? Everyone walks on egg shells to keep you all happy. We hold our breath hoping to be one of the chosen. When we are we'll happily walk away from friends and lovers at a nod from one of you."

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"Well you got Aldric, didn't you? He had his pass. No matter that in order to get the pass he had to spend time with what were his words? Oh yeah 'a stuck up spoiled princess' in order to get it he was going to make his escape. But then you couldn't even manage to do that right could you? Some princess you are! Shouldn't you have a fairy godmother hanging around to clean up your messes for you?"

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"Okay I did what you wanted now you have to keep your promise. That was a really rotten thing I did if I didn't need the gold so badly I never would have done it. Stupid epic mounts they shouldn't cost so much."

"You did well Meadow very well indeed. I'll have my mule send you the gold as soon as I get back to my dorm. Look for an email from Tuskinator."

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The semester was quickly drawing to a close; graduation would be upon them before they knew it and quickly following that would be a flurry of weddings. Alexander just wanted to get it all over with. He didn't know what the difference between butter creme and lemon pearl was they both looked yellow to him. But if Bo was determined to have butter creme fabric for the guest chairs then by Wright she'd have butter creme. Just please don't ask him any more dreaded 'which one do you like?' questions. He figured out months before that it was a trick question; it went along with 'does this dress make me look fat?' and 'what are you thinking about?' there was no right answer. The one time he had tried to form an actual response by stating that he really didn't get the point of marble cake and why wasn't chocolate an option, Bo had declared that 'you just don't understand' and then she'd burst into tears.

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But there were moments of lucidity mixed in with the madness. Bo had promised that there would be no wedding questions tonight and so far, so good. She and Delphy had decided that if they weren't going to have a blow out graduation party at the Greek House that they would at least each celebrate privately with their favorite guys. A quick check of the program had indicated that yes at least for now that meant Alex and Dallan respectively.

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The itinerary for the evening included, dinner and dancing on the back patio at Annie's, followed by a walk thru the park and then a quick run by the new house to check on things. The quick run by the house was sure to be delayed once Bo discovered that the bed had been delivered and that Alex had spent the afternoon getting the room they'd chosen for their bedroom set up for a little honeymoon practice.

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"Why'd you want us to get so dressed up tonight Dally?" Delphy asked a bit puzzled. . She knew Dallan wasn't the type to put a suit on unless it was required.

"I just figured that since this was going to be our last date that we might as well go all out." Dallan gave little smile and waited for the explosion that he knew was about to happen.

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"What do you mean this is our last date? You asked me to get all dressed up just so you could break up with me? What? You thought if I was in heels I wouldn't be able to kick your ass or something?"

Dallan held up his hand "Now Delphy would I do a thing like that? I'm just trying to face reality here. Besides how can you break up with someone that's not even willing to go so far as to admit that they're in a relationship?"

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"Of course we're in a relationship. What else would you call whatever it is we've been doing for the past six years?" Delphy couldn't always determine exactly what type of relationship they had but she was sure it qualified as a relationship.

"Six years three months twenty-two days" Dallan said half under his breath.

"What?"

"It was six years three months and twenty-two days ago that we went on our first date. You were the hottest girl at Familiar Academy and I was the luckiest guy in the class because you said yes."

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"I remember it a bit differently. I remember watching you on the soccer field and just about losing my breath every time you kicked that ball. And one fine day after you'd scored the winning goal you sauntered over to where Bo and I were sitting and asked if we were interested in going for a soda. You said you had your Daddy's car and you'd be sure to get us home safely. You would have gone out with either of us or both of us, I wasn't anything special."

"Dang Del, do you actually believe that? Everyone knew Bo was seeing Alex and I knew they had a date that night. Alex was going to take you both to Speedy's for a hamburger and then they'd drop you at your parents house and he'd try to convince Bottom to go parking with him down by the river. Bo knew what was going on, she knew I was just being polite by including her, she gave me a little wink and then whispered something in your ear, you giggled and then you turned those big brown eyes of yours on me and said sure why not?"

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"She told me to stop drooling and go for it but to call her later and tell her everything that had happened."

"I knew there was a reason why I'd always liked Bottom."

"So what reality were you talking about before we took this little trip down memory lane? Before I get all misty eyed over nostalgia I want to know how you can say this is our last date and then claim that you aren't breaking up with me."

"Well we've graduated right? We're going to be going back to Familiarity. You've arranged to rent a room at Caitlyn's and I'm going to be taking the spare room over at Uncle Clay's."

"Yeah so?"

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"So I talked to Uncle Clay and he explained 'the rules' to me. Told me how the room-mates all agree that they won't touch each others female relations, and how if I wanted to live there I'd have to abide by those rules. I figure it comes down to if I want to live to see another birthday I won't be able to see you anymore."

"But that's so silly, they only made up that rule because Uncle Dwight couldn't deal with thinking about me being with Cameron, just cause Cam was so much older than me and Uncle Dwight thought I was fragile enough to get hurt by him. As if! But you're different; he's used to seeing us together, he likes you."

"He likes me now, but do you really think either he or your Uncle Cody would like seeing you walk out of my bedroom? Or that they'd want to see me coming home early in the morning knowing where I had been, who I'd been with and what we'd been doing? Besides the rules are the rules and I've got to agree to them just like everyone else does its part of the rental contract."

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Delphy popped her elbow into Dallan's ribs and shoved him away from her. 'Then don't live there, live someplace else instead."

"Where am I supposed to live? Move home with Mom and Dad? With Darius and Darcy there and the horde of kids you know they're going to be popping out right and left as soon as we graduate? Move in with Doyle and Felicia? That would be even worse; you know how uptight my little brother is. Sure I could buy myself a place but even if I cashed in my trust fund it'd still be a cheap little crappy place with secondhand furniture and no one to talk to."

"You could get a dog, it wouldn't be that bad."

Mr. Familiar? Your table is ready

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At the various dorms around campus graduation preparations and celebrations were going on. The generation hadn't quite hit the halfway mark as far as numbers of sims still on campus versus those that had graduated but it was getting close.

"Eva when I said that you should spend more time hanging out on campus with me, I didn't mean that you needed to always stay with me when you're here. Why don't you get out and go talk to Darlene? Or you know I think I saw Puck slip in with Dorme a bit ago."

"The hot tub is very good for plantsims, it helps us to restore our hydration and in addition to the social aspects of the tub. We always hold our spore group meetings in the tubs for that reason."

"Yeah but this isn't a group session it's time for mine and Dov's intensive one on one couples therapy."

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It wasn't that Emma wanted to be anti-social; she just couldn't summon the desire to celebrate. She knew she was probably disappointing her friends by not attending their graduation parties, but she didn't want to be a party pooper either. It seemed like whenever she entered a room these days there was a pause in the conversations as everyone turned to look at her. The pause was usually followed by a quick increase in conversation that she was sure focused on her.

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It wasn't as if she was alone in the house, Denise and her boyfriend Dane were wailing away off key on the karaoke machine in the next room. If she'd wanted conversation, company or entertainment they'd be happy to provide it. That was part of the problem as well; she didn't want people to feel as if they needed to keep her mind off things. She just wanted to be left alone.

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"I figure if I move in with the Uncles and I toe the line, I can get myself a good job and sock most of my paychecks in the bank. In two or three years possibly; five at the most I'll have enough to get my own place. One that doesn't suck all that much, maybe I'll look around for a room mate someone that's not related to you, and if by then you haven't forgotten all about me maybe we'll hook up again sometime."

"And between now and then you'll be hitting on every thing that crosses your path?"

"Like you won't be? Come on Del we both know the lifestyle, it's not like Caitlyn's running a convent over there."

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"It's not a cat house either. It's just a good group environment for women that are single and are likely to remain so."

Dallan snorted "Is that the line you used on your parents? It's a party palace just like the Uncles place is only it's one that caters to female entertainment rather than male. You can dress it up all you want but we both know better."

"It's not as if there are all that many options available for me either. I could move in with Mom and Dad but Dad doesn't like admitting we're adults and would probably try to force a curfew on me again and Mom? All Mom talks about is grand babies I'm pretty sure I'd end up having dinner with lots of nice single men that would love to help me give her those grand babies Thank you no; I'll leave the diapers and the 3am feedings to Denise and Dane."

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"Dane?" Dallan laughed "Has she told him that they're getting married yet?"

"I don't think so but it looks like she's heading in that direction. I expect that she's still hoping that he'll figure it out on his own and ask her properly." Delphy shook her head. "That's a long shot though; the boy got whacked in the head too many times playing football to have any real thoughts."

"Probably good to let them have your folk's house then. Denise will need all the help she can get if they have kids."

"Yeah so I guess we're both stuck huh?"

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Dallan just looked at Delphy and cocked his eyebrow as if to say "are we?" The solution to the problem was pretty obvious; he just wanted Delphy to voice it. He was praying that she would.

Delphy took a deep breath and said "Well I guess you and I could get a place together. If we both cashed in our trust funds we could manage something fairly nice." She glanced up at him and continued "Don't you dare smile at me Dallan Familiar; I know that this is what you had in mind all along. But I'm warning you, if you so much as breathe the words engagement or marriage I'm turning you into the Romance Police."

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"Now why would I do a thing like that Delphine? I don't need a ring on my finger to know who has my heart."

He could only hope she wouldn't end up crushing it too badly.

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You may be wondering where my simself is during all this and why I'm not sticking my nose in, waving a magic wand and fixing the problems that my heiress is having.

Well after a year of playing and writing this legacy I felt that I deserved a bit of a vacation. Was it my fault that the legacy exploded while I was gone? And anyway there wouldn't have been much she could have done in this matter. The laws of death are a completely different game.

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Besides I had a bone to pick with a certain scurvy dog pirate ghost.

The second half of this update should be posted shortly. So if you want to find out what happens head on over and check it out.

Thank you for reading and Happy simming!