A Buffyverse Apocalypse: Chapter FourteenBy RoseFyre

Still not much for the recapping, so enjoy the earlier chapters before enjoying this one!

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Still don’t own the names/places from Buffy/Angel.

Riley found that living at home alone with his parents was fairly boring - and that they often seemed to forget that hewas there, which was fairly annoying when he was trying to get his skilling out of the way.

Though at least concentrating so hard on his books made the skilling go faster.

And his teen job in Gamer let him explore new worlds - even though they were virtual worlds, they were still fun toexplore.

He also spent a lot of time with Harmony, and found that, despite being her best friend, she had no problemscheating him at chess.

He decided not to care; it wasn’t like he could stop her, anyway.

Besides, even with the cheating? He still won more than half the time.

It wasn’t the most exciting life, to be sure, but Riley was simply biding his time. He would get through high school,and college, and lifting a restriction, and then? Then he would have adventures.

And until then, he could visit college, and have fun with his cousins.

College was certainly fun, as Tara and Lilah were discovering, and Lilah immediately set about wooing one of herprofessors. She was quite successful at it, too.

Therefore, she took him up to the hot tub.

Which happened to already be occupied.

And, well, Tara was at class - what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?

Especially if Lilah changed the sheets before she got home.

And thus, Professor Who-Cares-About-His-Name became Lilah’s first woohoo.

Lilah wasn’t the only one working on woohoo, or the only one not caring about Tara’s squeamishness aboutwoohooing in her bed - as soon as Lilah and the professor were gone, Lorne could be found woohooing in the bedwith a woman whose name he thought might be Kea.

When Tara got home from class, I was visiting, and we spoke a bit about the reconstruction efforts. She expressedher willingness to help fix things.

I told her that it was nice to know, but that she should probably tell her parents that as well, since they were actuallyin charge.

Not much else happened that semester - Wesley spent time with Lauren and Lorne, Tara, and Lilah did homeworkand went to classes.

And, at the end of it, Wesley calmly and quietly grew up into horrible clothing and returned home, ready to get towork on lifting a restriction.

He wasn’t the only one, either - Charlie and Sophie both grew up as well, and while Sophie’s dress and Charlie’s shirtwere fine, if not perfect, Charlie’s pants needed immediate changing.

When Wesley returned home, there wasn’t much to do, as the jobs that were available weren’t at all useful.

However, soon after midnight, he checked again - and this time, there was an opening for a job as an EntertainmentAttorney.

He took it immediately, and then went to bed. He needed to be well-rested for his first day of work!

Riley, meanwhile, had fun looking for the aliens. He hadn’t found them yet, but getting abducted would definitely beexciting, and he was willing to live through the boring parts so that he could reach the interesting ones.

And there was one exciting thing on The Hellmouth these days.

Riley? Was quite determined to enjoy every minute of it.

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Xander is my most compliant ghost thus far. He has scared one sim - Riley - exactly once, and Riley was deliberatelyput in his path. This means he does not have to go to the graveyard…yet.

“Thanks for inviting me over, Harmony.”

“No problem. I knew you would want to see Uncle Xander’s ghost.”

“I definitely did.”

“Good. Want to go play chess?”

“You going to cheat again?”

“Do I ever not?”

“I bet I can win anyway.”

“You’re on.”

College, meanwhile, was full of romance.

Lorne enjoyed the attentions of Patty Mullins, though he wasn’tquite so happy with the attentions of Mrs. Crumplebottom.

Lilah had fun with Ayala Smith, who placeholds Joss’s old dorm- two woohoos down, eighteen to go.

Even Danny found a new girlfriend - a fellow college studentnamed Bridget Warren.

Tara decided she couldn’t be bothered to care, especially asshe’d taken over Wesley’s single bed the instant he moved out- though she did ask her siblings to please not go too far whileshe was in the room.

They mostly listened, but sometimes got carried away.

And when it got to be too much, she headed upstairs to write her term paper or play on the computer.

Tara spent a lot of time on her own, since her siblings were often busy.

For Lorne, the girls were distractions, and fun, and something to do with his time.

For Lilah, they were grades (such as the time she woohooed her second professor).

And, more importantly, they were a goal. She knew if she could woohoo twenty different sims, she could be happy.This professor was her third.

Of course, neither Lorne nor Lilah neglected their studies completely.

Lorne managed to graduate with a 4.0 in Literature, without cheating, woohooing his professors, or influencingsomeone else to do his work for him even once.

The next day, Harmony started college.

“You…have lost your fashion sense,” I said, staring at her.

“Not entirely.”

“Yes, yes you have.”

“Then you’ll just have to get me new clothing.”

“…Get back to me on that.”

Back on The Hellmouth, Wesley became The Law on his first day at the office.

He promptly moved out, to get a new house and marry Lauren.

The house was quiet again, with only Rupert, Lynne, Riley, and Miss Kitty, so Rupert and Lynne started teaching MissKitty tricks. It was something to do, after all.

She found the process rather bemusing, but went along with it anyway.

When Wesley moved to his new house, the first thing he did was invite Lauren over and ask her to move in. She saidyes, of course.

Then he called his family.

So that they could witness his wedding.

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Pet peeve with the game: why do sims not pay attention to a wedding if there’s no arch? I can’t have an arch yet(locked under Natural Science) and so no one ever pays attention to my sims’ weddings. Not everyone wants to bemarried under an arch, EAxis!

They left immediately for their honeymoon, on Lihue as all vacations are.

And promptly got makeovers.

They had a good time on their honeymoon, though they didn’t spend much time seeing the sights. It was a vacationfor them, to celebrate their new marriage and finally being able to live together, and they treated it as such - whichmeant a lot of time in their hotel room and not much time seeing sights.

Of course, all of that time in a hotel room had fairly predictable results.

Wesley also switched careers - now that he had created the Law, he wanted to help enforce it. He achieved the rankof Captain Hero very quickly, while Lauren followed him up the ranks more slowly.

---

At this point, having completed his first LTW, his second was to have six grandkids. He may get it, but it’sunlikely…and if he does, it will be far, far, far into the future.

Back at UC Sunnydale, romance was once more in theair. Harmony got her first kiss with Amin Sims, andDanny and Bridget shared their first woohoo.

Harmony and Amin then found time in the hot tub towoohoo, and I sighed at the censor blurs - two fullyoutgoing sims is going to be quite interesting. Ofcourse, with my luck? Their kid will have 0 outgoingpoints.

That year, Lorne, Tara, and Lilah hosted a family gathering, inviting all the relatives they knew over for a pseudo-party.

Tara still wasn’t sure about the whole concept of romance, but her brother and his wife seemed to be doing welltogether, and both were certainly happy about the baby she was carrying.

It wasn’t just family who came over, however; Lorne spent quite a long time in the hot tub with Jessie Pilferson.

And Lilah spent some time talking with Joe Malone, who had walked by the house during the gathering. She’dhappily invited him in - he would do quite well for another woohoo.

By the end of the game, they were friends, but not close enough to woohoo.

That was fine. Lilah could wait.

After their game, Lilah brought Joe downstairs, where they chatted for a while.

Tara, who was cleaning up after the gathering, idly thought that Joe was attractive - well, as attractive as anyone,really.

Lilah decided to be gracious and let Tara have him if she wanted - it was the first time Tara had shown any interest ina guy at all, and Lilah wasn’t going to interfere with that.

Tara talked to Joe for a while, and while she found him interesting, she wasn’t sure if she wanted romance, let alonewoohoo, with him. Still, he could be a good friend.

The next day, Lorne was caught cheating by the cheerleader.

He was somewhat annoyed that she’d just barged in without knocking - he liked having some privacy for his variousromances, thank you very much.

Then again, he was cheating on her…though, honestly, she should have known.

However, even catching her boyfriend cheating didn’t stop the cheerleader from wandering the house - and evenbarging in on Lilah with Gunnar Roque, woohoo number four.

While her siblings woohooed their way through the university, Tara found herself at loose ends a lot of the time, butstill wanting to talk to people. One of the people she spoke to often was Joe.

“So, you and Joe?” Lilah asked Tara one day over breakfast.

“I…don’t know,” Tara said.

“How can you not know? Either you want him or you don’t.”

Tara rolled her eyes. “And you want everyone.”

Lilah smirked. “True.”

Tara sighed. “I don’t know. Really, I don’t know.”

Lilah shrugged. “Let me know when you do know.”

“You want him?”

“If you don’t, sure, but not…look, you’re my twin. He’s the one guy you’ve showed any interest in at all. I’m notgoing to get in your way. But if you ever say no, hell yeah, I’d do him.”

Lilah didn’t mind missing out on Joe too much.

She was quite happy with having someone else for her fifth woohoo, despite not remembering his name.

Soon after, Lorne grew up into a decent-looking but not really appropriate outfit.

Then he headed back to The Hellmouth, to lift a restriction and live his life.

Lorne was not able to find a job in the career I wanted him to lift immediately, so he took a job as a SymphonyConductor - if he couldn’t lift a restriction immediately, he could at least work on his lifetime want.

Lilah spent a lot of time in the hot tub, wooing various partners, to sometimes devastating results.

Luckily, she was in a good enough mood to use the Energizer, or “death by hot tub lightning strike” would have beenadded to our list of interesting deaths.

And she could get her sixth woohoo in a bed instead, anyway.

Her seventh was in the hot tub - on a sunny day, this time - and her eighth was in the photobooth.

All of those woohoos kept her pleasantly platinum, in a good enough mood to skill, do her homework, and use theEnergizer.

Soon after Lorne left for The Hellmouth, Riley finally finished his time as a teen and joined his sisters and cousins atcollege.

He grew up into decent clothing - or, at least, clothing that I could live with.

He also promptly took over Lorne’s empty bed - like Tara, he wasn’t willing to share an actual bed with Lilah.

The day after Riley left for college, Lorne got his final promotion to Rock God, making him permaplat.

He immediately searched for a new job, and found one as a Blockbuster Director, which he took, despite having a dayoff and not being able to work immediately. It wasn’t like food was a problem, anyway.

He then went upstairs to begin watching the skies, though nothing exciting happened.

Well, almost nothing exciting.

This is when the Weather Machine came out. No way was Lorne going to die of lightning when he tried to stargaze.Therefore, on rainy nights, he began using it to make sure he wouldn’t get struck by lightning.

That night, Lynne also introduced The Hellmouth’s new fad: tai chi.

Honestly, when compared with the sea chantey? Tai chi is about 70 gazillion times better. Possibly more.

Two days later, Lorne went to his first day of work as a Blockbuster Director.

And when he came back, he was an Icon.

He brought home a dresser and the knowledge of how to use mirrors for stuff other than skilling, and promptlychanged from that tourist outfit to the clothing he’d worn as a Rock God.

Both of his parents immediately took advantage of his lifting Show Business, though in different ways. Rupertchanged his clothing, deciding that he’d worn his hair that way all of his life and wasn’t going to change now. As formakeup? It wasn’t something he wanted to wear, though he certainly liked it on his wife.

Lynne, on the other hand, kept her suit - it fit her quite well - but put her hair up, in a style more appropriate for herage. She also changed her makeup a bit, but not much. Understated was perfectly fine in her opinion.

And, afterwards, they both headed downstairs to take some Elixir.

At the moment, it wasn’t quite necessary - Rupert had a couple of days left, and Lynne had a couple more.

However, Lorne was about to move out, and the twins wouldn’t be returning from college for two full years.Someone had to be in the house when they returned.

In addition, neither Rupert nor Lynne was happy about the idea of dying without knowing their grandchildren. Forthat matter, neither was I.

Rupert and Lynne weren’t the only ones to get makeovers. The rest of the hood changed their clothing as well -sometimes to nicer clothing, and sometimes to…well, Will liked it, and that’s what was important.

They also weren’t the only ones expecting grandchildren. Anya and Lester’s eldest son Charlie and his wife Sophiehad a little boy who they named Jonathan Levinson Whedon. He was immediately nicknamed Johnny.

“Goodnight, Johnny,” Anya said quietly as she tucked him into his crib. “Sleep well. And know that your grandmaloves you, for as long as I’m here.”

While Anya had some time left, her husband wasn’t so lucky.

Lester was barely in his 70s when he died; he hadn’t become permaplat until after he’d aged to Elder.

Anya was devastated.

And that night, after she cried herself to sleep, Willow climbed into bed with her.

While she’d never understood Anya’s love for Lester - the fact that he was a man, the fact that he was only oneperson, the fact that he would age the way that they would instead of always being the same - she understood thatAnya had loved him, and that she was hurting.

She didn’t know the right words to say, but she could at least comfort her as she slept.

Over at Wesley’s house, Lauren came home from work and immediately went into labor.

“Ow! This hurts!”

A few minutes - and a twirl - later, Lauren gave birth to a baby boy with unsurprising black hair and brown eyes.

As Lauren was the first one home, she brought the baby upstairs and waited for Wesley to get home.

“Lauren!”

“Hey, Wesley.”

“You had the baby!”

“Way to state the obvious.” She grinned at him and offered him the baby. “I didn’t name him, yet. Did you haveany names planned?”

“I was thinking Andrew, or maybe Connor.”

“Andrew…I like Andrew.”

“Andrew it is, then. How does Andrew Wells Whedon sound to you?”

“Perfect.”

There were no shortage of caretakers for Andrew.

While Riley was fairly good with the baby, feeding him a bottle and putting him in his crib, Lorne…wasn’t.

But Wesley and Lauren were always there to take care of their son, and to deal with issues caused by Wesley’ssiblings, all of whom were unaccustomed to dealing with actual babies.

And when the time came for Andrew to become a toddler, his mother brought him to the cake.

He grew up to look very much like his father, with his father’s exact personality.

Andrew immediately received a makeover, along with a bottle of Smart Milk.

After the party, Lorne quietly moved out of his parents’ house and in with Wesley and his family. At his new home,he had privacy - his own room with a double bed - and the freedom of not living with his parents anymore.

He also had an angry cheerleader kicking over his trashcan every day, but that couldn’t really be helped.

Over at UC Sunnydale, things were much the same for Riley; he still hung out with Harmony, and she still cheatedhim at chess.

Now, though, she didn’t wear a huge fur coat while doing so.

He also got dragged on a shopping trip to April Fools, a new store that had opened on The Hellmouth.

He managed to escape most of the experience, by insisting on getting casual clothing and not changing his hair.

His sisters, however, went all out. Tara got new clothing and a new hairstyle, along with some understated jewelry.

Lilah got new clothing, a new hairstyle, new jewelry, and new makeup. She enjoyed the trip quite a lot.

On a day soon after the makeovers, Tara invited Joe over to study. Her siblings then took the initiative and invitedhim to stay for lunch.

Or, rather, a late breakfast for Lilah and Riley, lunch for Tara and Joe.

“So,” Joe said, trying to break the somewhat-awkward silence, “you work hard, Tara.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, blushing a bit, “we’re all working hard. For, you know, grades and stuff.”

“You seem to work extra hard, though.”

“So do they, though,” she said, gesturing to her siblings, “it’s a family thing.”

“Oh, don’t be so modest,” Lilah cut in, “I work just as much as I have to, and then go off to do something moreinteresting. Riley’s the same. You work much harder than either of us.”

Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew her sister was just trying to help, but she wasn’t sure shewanted help. “Not that much harder, Lilah.”

“No, she’s right,” Riley agreed. “You do. Though I’m definitely not a slacker.”

“Wasn’t saying you were, Ri,” Lilah said.

“Ri? No.”

Lilah pouted. “Please?” When Riley shook his head, she sighed. “Fine, Riley. I wasn’t saying you slacked off. Justthat Tara goes the extra mile.”

“Agreed,” Riley answered.

Tara rolled her eyes and turned to Joe. “I work hard, but we have to, and they both know that.” She shot a glare ather siblings. Lilah smirked in response; Riley simply cocked his head. “Our family is responsible for fixing theApocalypse, for making things better. We all have to help with the reconstruction efforts, and if we don’t work hard,we can’t do our parts. I’m just being smart and working hard now, so things are easier later.”

“Oh,” Joe said, chewing on his omelet thoughtfully, “that sounds interesting.”

Tara smiled at him, then shot her siblings another glare. Then she got up from the table with her empty plate andbrought it to the bathroom to wash.

“Just wanted to say,” Lilah said in a cloyingly sweet tone, “that, while you seem to be very nice and all that shit, ifyou hurt our sister, you will die.”

“Painfully,” Riley added. Then he took a bite of his omelet.

Joe looked at them both wide-eyed, clearly unsure what to make of them.

After their conversation, Joe headed home, Tara headed upstairs to work on a term paper, and Riley and Lilah headedoutside - for very different reasons.

Lilah worked on (and eventually got) her ninth woohoo.

Riley worked on his new obsession - perfecting the art of tai chi. He’d seen his parents doing it at Andrew’s birthdayparty, and once he’d tried it, he wanted to be the best at it.

And, after an hour or so, he spent some time digging for treasure.

The family didn’t need money, as they had when Wesley and Lorne had first gotten to college and had to dig fortreasure to be able to feed themselves.

But there had been talk of going on vacation to Lihue soon, and Riley had heard rumors of a mysterious hut - and hewanted to find a map to get there.

It didn’t take him long.

Lilah’s woohoo did not go unnoticed; one dormie spent a while staring at her and her lover.

I found it slightly creepy, but suspect Lilah would have been flattered had she realized.

Tara also decided to live by that age-old maxim: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Well, not really join. She would never be as free with woohoo as Lilah was.

But she could write about it.

And she did desperately want to write a bestselling novel. And it didn’t really matter what kind.

Romance novels? Well, they did sell fairly well…

“Hm,” she said, as she stared at the screen. “What do I call her? Oh! Morgan. Definitely Morgan. But she needs alast name, too. Maclay? No, don’t want to name her after me. Or Riley. Fitzgerald, maybe, for Mom? But Mom’snot like that. Something after Lorne? He doesn’t have a middle name.”

“Oh!” She typed furiously for a second. “The Chronicles of Morgan Rosenberg! That’ll work!”

And Lilah definitely gave her plenty of fodder for her new novel; woohoo number ten, with some random downtownie,happened the next day.

Number eleven was later that afternoon.

And number twelve was that evening.

Riley managed to steal the computer while Tara was showering, so that he could write his term paper.

I rather boggled at him actually rolling a Knowledge want AND getting aspiration points for filling it.

While Lilah woohooed her way through the campus and the hood, and Tara and Riley showed very little interest inromantic pursuits, their cousins had much more conventional relationships.

Harmony proposed to Amin, and Danny proposed to Bridget; unsurprisingly, both proposals were accepted.

Towards the end of Tara and Lilah’s junior year and Riley’s freshman year, Tara took a very important phone call.

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

“Would now be a good time for your mother and I to stop by? We need to talk to all three of you.”

“Yeah, Lilah just got back from class and I can pull Riley away from his tai chi. What do you need to talk to usabout?”

“I’ll tell you when we get there.”

“…Okay. See you soon.”

“So, Dad, what’s up?” Lilah asked when they’d all gathered. She and Riley had flopped on the floor, while Tara andtheir parents had taken the couch.

She hadn’t been happy to send her next possible conquest away, but Tara had said that their father sounded prettyserious, and that maybe it was an important discussion, so emptying the house would be a good idea. She hadreluctantly agreed, and together they had cleared out the house, then dragged Riley inside from where he’d beendoing tai chi.

“Well,” Rupert said, “we need to discuss the heirship.”

“The heirship?” Riley asked.

“As you all undoubtedly know, both of your brothers have moved out of the house, which means they can’t be heirsanymore. We spoke before either of them moved home, and they both told me they didn’t want to be heir. Thatmeans it’s up to you three. I won’t force it on any of you, but I hope one of you wants it.”

“Well, what’s involved in being heir?” Lilah asked pragmatically.

“The heir has to be in charge of the reconstruction efforts in the future, after your mother and I die.” All three kidsmade noises of surprise. “Yes, die. We won’t - we can’t - live forever. You’ve had us a lot longer than I had myparents, and it will be our time soon. The heir will have to lead the family. All three of you will have to contribute tothe reconstruction effort - lifting restrictions and solving problems. But the heir will have to continue that effort,marrying someone who will also help and having enough children to lift the last set of restrictions. There are eightleft - one for each of you, and one for the spouse; that means there are four more after that, so the heir will have tohave four children. The heir will get the house, and the businesses - the graveyard and the workshop - to do with asthey please. There are responsibilities to being heir, but there are also advantages, and it’s up to you three to decidewho will get both.”

Lilah was thoughtful. She knew her siblings thought she couldn’t be serious about anything, but she could, and oftenwas. While she had a lot of fun woohooing everyone she could, she also knew there were places she wasn’t going to go- like anyone her siblings or cousins or other relatives were interested in or married to. Besides, woohooing was seriousbusiness. She was going to reach that goal, those twenty woohoos, no matter what it took.

Therefore, when she spoke up, her words had thought behind them. “I don’t think I can get married,” she said. “Imean, I can. But I don’t particularly want to. Don’t think I want to lead the family, either. It’s not for me. I’ll do mypart, but I’d rather not be heir. None of it appeals to me all that much, really.”

“Yeah, same here,” Riley said. “I’ll do my part, but then I want to travel, have adventures. Do something excitingwith my life. I don’t want to be tied down to a house and businesses or a family, or especially the responsibility ofbeing heir. I think it should be Tara, anyway. She’d be best.”

“Me?” Tara asked. “Why me? I don’t…you guys think I should be heir?”

“Yeah,” Riley said, nodding, “you’re the hardest worker, the most concentrated on helping the family.”

“You can lead it,” Lilah said. “Better than me or Riley, anyway.”

“But I…I’m not any more attached to getting married than either of you!” Privately, while she’d gotten used to hersister’s romantic pursuits, she wasn’t sure she was ready to woohoo anyone herself, let alone have four children. Thebusinesses, she could do. Leading the family, she could do. But having the family?

That one she wasn’t so sure about.

“Tara,” Lilah said, “I doubt it’s possible to be less interested in marriage than I am.”

Tara smiled. “True, I suppose.”

“And I really do think you’re the best one to lead the family.”

Tara put her hands in her lap. “Maybe.” She did think Lilah was right about that. Riley was so removed fromeverything, and Lilah certainly wasn’t the right choice to get married. She would be better than either of them.Secretly, though, she thought Wesley would have been a better choice, and wished he hadn’t refused the heirship.

Lilah looked at her twin. She knew what Tara was probably thinking - that she would have to do it all alone.

That wouldn’t be the case if she had anything to say about it.

“Dad,” Lilah said, “the heir doesn’t have to do it alone, do they?”

“Well, no, they’ll have their spouse.”

Lynne nodded. “I’ve certainly done as much as Rupert has when it comes to leading the family and thereconstruction efforts.”

“Not quite what I meant. I meant, the heir doesn’t have to be the only one to live in the house, right?”

“Well, technically, no. Why do you ask?”

“If Tara becomes heir, I could stay in the house, help with stuff. It’s not like I have other plans, the way Riley does.I don’t want to travel, I don’t want a family, I don’t really need much besides a bed to myself or maybe a hot tub.Can I move in too even if I’m not heir?”

Rupert was thoughtful as he looked at his wife. “I don’t see any reason why not. My mother , my aunt, and my uncleall spent their entire lives in the house, and I did offer Will the same option after Fred decided to live with Xander. Therules are that you can’t move out and move back in, other than for college, and you can’t have more than one spousefor the generation - but Lilah has said outright that she doesn’t want a spouse.”

“Will there be enough room?” Lynne asked.

Rupert counted. “Tara, Lilah, one spouse, and four children is only seven people.”

“And you two,” Tara said.

Rupert smiled. “For now, yes. But probably not by the time you have that fourth child.”

All three kids winced, but decided not to debate the point.

“Alright,” Tara said. “I’ll be heir. But only if Lilah moves back in with me.”

“Can do,” Lilah said.

“Good!” Rupert said.

Lynne smiled at her daughter. “Do you have a man in mind for your spouse? Your father and I met while he was incollege, you know.”

Tara froze. She had to get married. She would have to woohoo. She wasn’t sure she could do this. I can, she toldherself firmly. Lilah will be there to help, and Riley will while he’s there, and I’ll have Mom and Dad. I can do this.

Lilah spoke up, as always, smirking at Tara. “I think she does.”

Tara’s thoughts immediately went to Joe, knowing he was who Lilah meant. Could she marry him?

Maybe.

But maybe was better than any other man she thought of, so he would have to do. She’d start talking tohim…tomorrow.

“Well,” Rupert said, standing up, “now that that’s settled, does anyone mind if I use your hot tub?”

The next day, Tara invited Joe over.

Tara tried flirting with Joe, and while he accepted her advances, she felt incredibly awkward doing so. She had noclue how to flirt, but she knew that Lilah’s way of doing things wasn’t right for her.

Though the flirting went well, she couldn’t quite bring herself to talk about the fact that she was heir now, and wouldhave to get married - or that he was her choice for her spouse.

She wasn’t sure how to say that.

She did manage to invite him inside, but wasn’t sure where to go from there. She wasn’t about to take him to thehot tub, or the bed, or the photobooth that Lilah had bought for the roof.

Instead, she asked him to join her in a sea chantey. He didn’t know it, but she was able to teach him the words, andthat was quite fun.

And then they chatted for a while, about school and inconsequential things.

Lilah watched them as she actually studied for class, and hoped that Tara would learn how to talk to boys. If shewould just take Joe to bed already, then she could get over that silly fear of woohoo and figure things out.

After Joe left, Riley fixed the very dead TV. Luckily, he didn’t get shocked.

And Lilah worked on woohoos number thirteen and fourteen.

She also decided she was sick of skilling, and she might as well get her skills the easy way. So she invited up one ofher old teenage boyfriends and, using a SimVac, stole enough skills to get everything maxed.

“Why?” he asked, later.

“Look, kid, I may have made out with you, but you’re a teen. I have needs, you can’t satisfy them, so you might aswell be useful in another way, and that way is letting me steal your skills. Don’t worry, we’re done.” She turned toTara. “I’ve got class, see you soon.”

Tara managed to send the teen away eventually, and grabbed a book so she could study. Riley joined her on thecouch a bit later.

“Do you think it’s right, what Lilah did? Stealing skills?”

Riley shrugged. “Quicker than earning them the real way, though I would feel like a cheat if I did.”

“Me too.”

“Lilah clearly doesn’t, though, and as long as it’s not a family member…I’m not going to stop her.”

“She wouldn’t. With family.”

“No.”

That night, Lilah found Tara before she went to bed. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, stealing skills.”

“It’s okay, Lilah.”

“I booked us a flight to Lihue for tomorrow.”

Tara pulled back and looked at her sister. “Tomorrow?”

“We’re all caught up on our classes, and Riley’s been dying to go. I know you want to see some of the sights too.Consider it an apology.”

Tara smiled. “Just the three of us?”

“Just the three of us.”

“Good.”

The next day, they arrived at Lihue, and Riley checked them into the hotel. He and Tara had decided to share aroom, while Lilah would get her own.

“How’s the hot tub?”

“Hot.”

“Well, I would hope so.” Tara gingerly put her foot in. “Ooh, that does feel good.” As she lowered her body into thewater, she looked at her sister. “That suit looks good on you.”

“Thanks for letting me steal it.”

“Thanks for letting me have yours!”

The next day, they explored some of the sites, having a blast while doing so. Tara bought souvenirs, Riley went ontours, and Lilah enjoyed the sauna…and woohoo in the sauna - her fifteenth.

That night, Riley took out his secret map and led his sisters to the mysterious hut.

Tara and Lilah weren’t sure about going, but Riley wanted to, and he so rarely wanted anything that they were willingto indulge him.

The mysterious hut held a silent man who gestured to his appliances, all of which were broken.

Not that that was a problem for the trio - they all had a surplus of Mechanical points. Lilah fixed the TV, Tara fixedthe microwave and the bathtub, and Riley fixed the dishwasher and cleaned the floor - he couldn’t stand how messythe hut was due to the broken appliances.

And when they were done, the man gave Riley a gift.

All three of them took advantage of the appliances they’d fixed and the fact that the man wasn’t kicking them out.They hadn’t really had plans for the evening, and they were hungry, dirty, and tired after spending so long searchingfor the hut and fixing his things.

The next day, they had fun on the old pirate ship.

Riley enjoyed the cabin, and wouldn’t tell the girls what he’d seen inside it - it was his secret, and his alone.

They chose to respect that wish for privacy.

Besides, the girls had fun doing other stuff on the ship. Lilah quite enjoyed fighting with the dummy, while Tara likedraising the flag and pretending to steer the ship.

Aside from the cabin, Riley had fun walking the plank and climbing up to the crow’s nest.

That evening, when they returned to the hotel, they all split up to do what they wanted.

Riley did more tai chi - he was quite close to perfecting his technique.

Tara decided a nice swim was called for.

And Lilah had woohoo number sixteen. It was a new experience for her - using a hammock - but a very fun one.

That night, they checked out of the hotel - finals were coming up, and all three of them had to be back at UCSunnydale for those.

It had been a good vacation, but it was time to go home.

Afterwards, they all had to cram a bit, but none of them minded. The trip to Lihue had been worth it.

Not that they spent all their time working.

Lilah quite enjoyed her seventeenth and eighteenth woohoos.

And, really, they didn’t distract her much from her finals - since she managed to maintain her 4.0 average, the sameas her siblings.

Back on The Hellmouth, things were fairly boring, and Rupert and Lynne searched for new - and old - ways toentertain themselves.

Miss Kitty also looked for exciting things to do - things like escaping nosy college students who tried to pick her up.

Also, chasing random people.

And waiting for the humans to finally let her eat their food. “Food. Now.”

Unfortunately, they weren’t very good at obeying her (completely reasonable and very important) orders.

One distraction that they attended was a party at Willow and Anya’s.

Actually, everyone attended.

Me?

Oh yes, I was there too.

It was a full house, with lots of people there, and rather insane, and, after a while, I escaped to the hot tub whereWillow was waiting for me.

I knew her time was coming, and so did she, but what could I do? I could save her…but she was ready to go, and Iwouldn’t do that to her.

Instead, I took advantage of the time we had left and simply enjoyed her presence.

While Willow spent much of her remaining time with me, Anya chose to spend most of hers with her oldest - and sofar only - grandson.

And, as with so much else, I was right - that night, as soon as she returned from work, Grim came for Anya.

She was 83 years old, and mourned by all of her siblings.

While Will cried as Anya went, Willow waited until later, when she was alone.

She had just lost her sister, her twin.

In order to feel closer to Anya, she spent that evening with Johnny, teaching him how to talk. She wasn’t hisgrandmother - she couldn’t be and didn’t want to be - but she was his great-aunt, and he was part of her sister.

It made her feel closer to Anya, being with Anya’s grandson.

She knew Anya would have been pleased.

The other way she mourned her sister?

Well, Anya probably wouldn’t have loved her woohooing with me in Anya’s bed, but Willow knew she’d have laughedand shaken her head and said “oh, Willow” and let us be.

And the next night, it was Willow’s turn to go.

She didn’t know why she’d lived a day longer than her sister, but she had.

It had been a good day.

But now it was time for her to join Anya, and Anya’s husband, and Xander, and Xander’s wife, and leave the familybehind.

And she was ready.

So she accepted her drink, and Grim’s hand, and was soon gone.

Elsewhere, life went on, as Wesley taught his son - his son! - how to walk.

Lorne continued chasing girls.

Lauren spent a lot of time skilling - she needed to be better at cleaning and logic if she ever wanted to join herhusband as a Captain Hero - but she also spent time with Andrew whenever she could.

Wesley was Andrew’s primary caretaker, however, as he had the most free time.

Not that he minded.

Lorne also spent a lot of time at the telescope - though not much came of it other than new conversation topics.

At least Andrew had no problem listening to Lorne’s talk of aliens.

And Lauren was incredibly happy when Andrew learned to say Mama.

Altogether, he had a very happy toddlerhood, with two doting parents and one somewhat-doting uncle on handwhenever he wanted or needed them.

And he became a good-looking child…who was quite happy to surprise his grandmother with a water balloon.

Lorne finally made up with the cheerleader, though he didn’t take her to bed again quite yet.

And back at UC Sunnydale, Riley began experimenting with the toy the mysterious man had given him.

He quite enjoyed using it on the cow who had hurt Wesley a few years before.

Lilah worked further toward her goal of twenty woohoos…and finally reached it, with Cynthia Kim.

Now? She wanted to be a Rock God. Or Goddess, rather. The title sounded quite fun.

Tara chronicled those woohoos, though she used pseudonyms for all of them…and often changed the details around.

Lilah gave her plenty of material for her novel.

She also spent more time with Joe.

He was a very nice guy, though rather shy, and she liked him quite a lot. She really did.

So did Lilah - but she still didn’t do anything about that.

Joe was Tara’s. Period.

Instead, she woohooed other sims.

She’d reached her goal, yes. Twenty woohoos were hers.

But hey, woohooing was fun, and there were plenty of people willing to join her whenever she wanted.

Therefore, she kept going, enjoying it all the way.

“So, Mr. Big, want to go to the photobooth and see if you live up to your name?”

Wesley, who’d come by to see his siblings, backed away slowly. “I do not need to watch this. I really, really do notneed to watch this.”

Luckily, he managed to get off the roof before Lilah and Mr. Big actually woohooed.

Lilah did still do homework, and when she was working on her last term paper ever, she found some very interestingfiles. “The Chronicles of Morgan Rosenberg: Book One? What is this?”

She opened the file and read, and a slow smile started to form on her face as she did. “I always knew you had somewicked in you, Tara.” Then a sentence made her laugh. “We have got to educate you about woohoo, though. It’sdefinitely not like that.”

She considered for a moment, then scrolled back to the top of the file and wrote a note in very big bright red font.Tara would probably just blush if she mentioned it out loud, but might actually take the advice if it were written.

Then she finished her term paper, smirking all the while.

A few hours later, Tara opened her almost-finished novel and found the note. “Lilah? Oh for…”

At first, she was upset that her sister had read her novel and commented on it. But as she read Lilah’s comments,she realized that maybe Lilah was right - and edited her novel so that it worked better.

When she received the call that it had been a best-seller, she resolved to leave her future novels (which she hopedthere would be many of) where Lilah could find them and edit them.

She definitely wasn’t going to mention it out loud, though.

“Hey, Dad, thanks for coming over.”

“How could I not come over to celebrate my favorite girls graduating from college?”

“We’re your only girls.”

“And you’re still my favorites. Congratulations, Tara.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Any idea where I can find your sister?”

“Uh, she’s probably upstairs. But you might want to knock before entering.”

“…I’ll find her later.”

“Congratulations, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Lynne pulled back from her daughter. “How are you doing, dear? Have you found your spouse?”

Tara looked at her hands, picking at a broken nail. “Yes.”

“What’s his name? What’s he like? When will we get to meet him?”

“Joe Malone. He’s very nice. And soon. I need something that’s just mine, Mom.”

“And that’s him?”

“Yes,” she said. She brought the finger up to her mouth as though to bite the nail, then put it back down.

“I hope he realizes what a lovely girl he’s found.”

“I’m sure he does, Mom.”

“He’d better.”

Tara smiled. “I’ve got Lilah and Riley looking after me already. Don’t worry.”

“It’s my job. I’m your mother.”

Tara smiled as she tucked some hair behind her ear. “I know. Thanks.”

Lilah, of course, spent a good portion of the gathering - it wasn’t quite a full-on party - doing what she did best.

And when everyone was gone, Riley maxed his skills, actually fulfilling a want of his.

He actually rolled a skilling want. I was as surprised as you are.

After she returned home, Lynne taught Miss Kitty how to shake hands.

Well, she tried.

“What are you doing, human? I do not like when you move my paw like that. Put it down.”

Eventually, she got Miss Kitty to shake hands…when she moved Miss Kitty’s paw for her.

“What is this green glowing thing and why does the human want me to eat it?” Miss Kitty wondered as she sniffedgingerly at the bowl.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for her, the command to eat that food was one she couldn’t resist.

It did make her feel younger, however, so she decided not to fight too much about eating it.

Due to scheduling issues (no one was willing to miss an entire day of work), Lorne was the one to teach Andrew howto do his homework.

Finally, however, Lauren was permaplat, and could begin her new job - working as Captain Hero alongside herhusband. Not being able to teach her son how to study had been a small price to pay.

She did successfully get him into private school, however.

And celebrated quite happily with her husband.

At UC Sunnydale, the graduates spent their days celebrating and having fun.

Sometimes to rather…unexpected results.

Apparently, three of Lilah’s woohoos had been members of the UC Sunnydale Secret Society.

Well, who was she to protest being taken to a secret lot with lots of attractive people?

LOTS of attractive people.

She didn’t woohoo anyone while there - it would have been too noticeable, and she didn’t really want to get peopleangry with her…and there wasn’t anywhere to woohoo, anyway. But she met some new people, and new contacts,and made a list of the ones she wanted.

She’d been interrupted in the middle of a date, though, so she returned home fairly quickly and finished that date inthe hot tub.

And then she started talking to her contacts, and inviting themover.

None of them seemed to have problems woohooing her.

Tara wrote it all down in her second novel.

When all was said and done, Lilah had woohooed thirty different sims during her time in college - and was still in lovewith all of them.

And then Tara and Lilah grew up into appropriately horrible outfits and headed for home, their college career over.

Riley was left alone, to finish his last two years of college.

“So,” Tara asked her sister as they stood outside their parents’ house where the taxi had dropped them off, “are youready to start lifting restrictions?”

“Start? I’m just doing one, you know.”

“I know. But you have to start before you can finish.”

“Speaking of starting,” Lilah said, “when are you going to invite Joe to move in so you can start a family?”

Tara shrugged a little. “Soon.”

“Tara…”

Tara sighed. “Tomorrow. I promise. Give me a day to get used to living at home again?”

Lilah raised an eyebrow. “Okay. But don’t forget, the family is depending on you!”

Tara knew that. She didn’t need reminding.

“Don’t worry. I know. It’ll all work out.”

“It had better.”

---

Turn the page for more info!

There were actually four deaths that happened during the time this chapter was played, but I didn’t really have agood place for Marisa’s, so you get to see it here.

It sucks that I’m having to give up the spares, but honestly…there are just too many of them. At this point, I’mconcentrating on the main house sims - Rupert, Lynne, Tara, Lilah, and Miss Kitty. Riley will be a main house sim fora bit, and I have plans for him, and Wesley and Lorne’s house will certainly get attention, but anyone farther thanthem…unless they’re actually a sibling of an heir, they’re pretty much not going to show up in chapters.

Well, they’ll be in the background, but probably won’t be named or have speaking roles unless they’re directly relatedto a sim who is important.

I do intend to show some cute pictures of those sims on my livejournal - rosefyre.livejournal.com - so go there forsome behind the scenes stuff…whenever I get around to writing it.

As you can see, everyone got makeovers this chapter, due to Lorne lifting Show Business.

This is the whole family as it was after Marisa and Lester died, but before Anya and Willow did.

Well, the whole family, minus the pets, plus my simself.

There’s a better view of this pic, which is labeled with who is who, on my livejournal as well.

In case anyone is curious, Andrew is 10/3/9/4/1 - as I said in the update, the exact same personality as his father.

Based on how he’s been acting, I’m considering assigning him the aspiration of Popularity when he teens, as, in twodays as a child, he’s rolled something like four or five wants to make friends/best friends. This is with only 3outgoing points, and not many playful or nice.

As you may have noticed, Tara is heir. I have my reasons - most of which I went over in this chapter or the last one.Wesley didn’t want it, Lorne and Lilah are both Romance, and Riley is…well, he’s too young. And he doesn’t care,anyway.

So yes, you’ll see how she handles it in Chapter Fifteen, which will hopefully be out before my turn at the RoundRobin…but I make no promises, as I’m about to head out on vacation, and won’t have time to do much sims stuff forthe next two weeks.

Why yes, Wesley CAN walk on water.

Lifts that have been lifted:

Hopelessness (Joss)Alien Tech (Liam)

Pet Showbiz (Kobe)Service (Kim)Security (Miss Kitty Fantastico)

See you all for Chapter Fifteen!

Music (Joss)Science (Eloise)Military (Martin)Culinary (Buffy)Education (Anya)Adventurer (Willow)Business (Lynne)Paranormal (Will)Medical (Fred)Gamer (Rupert)Law (Wesley)Show Business (Lorne)