2. Cooper decided to go out and explore the downtown area. He was going to invite Lark, his cousin, to come with him but she had to work. So, he was left alone.
3. He stopped by a nice restaurant and he entertained the patrons by playing the piano. The bartender seemed rather impressed by his talent. She wasn’t the only one that was impressed, though. The restaurant patrons tipped him, thus he earned 100 bucks for his performance.
4. But Cooper wanted to see more of the downtown area, so he headed on over to the Four Corners Shoppe.
5. Once there, he met a rather pleasant seeming teenaged girl. She wasn’t too bad to look at either. Although, that could have been because she wore a miniskirt.
6. Unfortunately, Cooper’s mean nature kicked in for the first time ever and he noogied his new acquaintance. She promptly left the vicinity, her mouth hanging open.
7. Cooper quickly forgot the rather stuck-up girl when he met Nicole Thompson, a cashier for the clothing store. They had a pleasant conversation.
8. Cooper had to head home, though, so their conversation was cut rather short. Before he made it back out to the car, he met a strange green woman that had sparkles radiating off of her. She greeted him in a kind manner but he couldn’t help but notice the sudden lightening storm that occurred upon her arrival. He quickly vowed not to associate himself further with this strange woman.
10. Gemma then proceeded to go outside and make an evil snowman, complete with pointy horns.
11. Melanie was content with life. She had three wonderful children, the perfect husband, and she had completed both of her lifetime wants. Thus, everything was wonderful and fluffy at her home.
12. Meanwhile, at Phoebe’s house, Noah and Leon played a nice game of Cops ‘N Robbers before they had to head off to school. Leon always seemed to be the robber but he didn’t complain.
13. “ But there’s snow on the ground! We should get to stay home!” Noah complained as they walked up to the school bus. “I agree,” Leon chimed in. “The problem is that there isn’t enough snow on the ground. If we built a weather machine, we could probably make it snow more,” Lark explained. “Or we could ask the Snow Fa—” Leon began. “Please, don’t even complete that sentence,” Lark interrupted.
14. While they were complaining, an old woman sneaked up to the house and dropped off a genie lamp. Then she just walked off, whistling “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain.”
15. At long last, it was time for Leon and Noah to grow up. Holden prepared to call the asylum since he figured that he’d go insane with three teenagers in the house. Either that or he was totally unconcerned about his sons growing up.
16. Noah grew up first as usual. He seemed surprised at what he’d grown up in. Holden and Phoebe felt their sanity slowly ebb away.
17. “ This is the ugliest thing that I’ve ever seen,” he declared. “Leon, don’t insult yourself. You look fine,” Lark said. “I meant the sweater not myself,” Leon retorted. “You set yourself up for that,” Lark rejoined.
18. Noah grew up rather nicely. He was the only one to get Holden’s nose and Phoebe’s eye shape and mouth. He’s a Popularity Sim.
19. Leon, on the other hand, is literately a complete clone of Lark. But he’s a Fortune Sim instead of a Knowledge Sim. Needless to say, Phoebe and Holden’s children have grown up quite well.
20. At Melanie’s house, Janae and Gemma enjoyed some sister bonding time with a game of chess.
21. Then Melanie shared her love of music with her youngest daughter. At least Gemma would be little for a bit longer than Janae.
22. But Janae was soon going to join her cousins and older brother in the teenage wasteland. They threw a huge birthday party for her. Everyone except for Lark made it.
23. “ Oh, yeah. I love this outfit but this hairstyle has got to go,” Janae announced. She surprised me by growing up into a custom outfit.
24. Janae is a fine blend of her parents’ genetics. She is a Pleasure Sim. Yes, she has the same eyeliner as Lark. I didn’t realize that until later.
25. Janae walked right up to Leon and she demanded to know where Lark was. “Uh…she’s at work. She said she’d try to stop by later,” he said. Janae grinned and she hugged Leon. As she let go of him, she heard a very familiar voice announce, “Alright! I’m here! Where’s the birthday girl?” “Lark!” The birthday girl squealed.
26. She embraced her cousin tightly. “I’m so happy to see you!” Janae cried. “Yeah. I’m happy to see you too. But…I…can’t…breathe,” Lark responded. “Oh,” Janae said. She released Lark from her death grip.
27. Janae immediately began questioning her cousin about what it was like to be a teenager. “Like, what do we do now?” Janae asked. “Anything that’s not against the law,” Lark answered wisely. “Sweetness!” Janae replied. Lark then began listing off some things that they could do together (some of those things may have been illegal but she could always claim ignorance).
28. Right as they started dancing together, they heard police sirens. “Don’t those guys have anything better to do? Like catching real criminals?” Lark sighed.
29. “ Fail,” Gemma remarked as she watched Leon dance. “Oh, what do you know about dancing?” Leon grumbled. “Well, I know quite a bit about dancing. But the police are here to break up yet another one of our birthday parties. You’d think that they had better things to do with their time,” Gemma answered. “That was a rhetorical question,” Leon responded. “A what question?” Gemma said. Leon shook his head.
30. “ Stupid police officer. The stereo wasn’t that loud,” Noah muttered as he was corralled by Officer Dorian Kauker. Despite the rude interruption, Janae’s birthday party was a roof raiser.
31. “ Why did we come here again?” Leon complained loudly. Noah grinned at his twin. “It’s fun here,” Noah answered. Leon rolled his eyes. “You only like it here because you get to juggle cups,” Leon said.
32. “ Oh, shut it, Leon,” Lark responded. She turned to look at the cashier. “Don’t mind them. They won’t break anything,” Lark said to the girl. “We’re not children!” Leon shouted. “Silence, little brother, or else!” Lark yelled back. “Just ignore them,” she added to the cashier.
33. “ Why am I in the backseat?” Leon griped. “Oh for the love of… you are in the backseat because you are an annoying little nit,” Lark snapped. “Um…shouldn’t your eyes be on the road?” Noah asked. Lark shot both of her brothers a look and then she kept driving.
34. “ Ah…peace and quiet,” Lark sighed. They had gone to Four Corners Shoppe, much like Cooper had earlier. Lark played pool with some locals.
36. Noah bought a cell phone and then he immediately called Janae. All in all, everyone was happy about the trip. And maybe even cleaner.
37. But while the kids were out playing around, their parents were having a serious discussion. “ So…that’s why we had three children? Because we had to?” Holden asked. Phoebe crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes. That’s why,” she said. “Now, we just need to think of how to tell them,” she added. “Can it wait?” Holden inquired. “Yes. We should wait until Melanie’s kids are older. This way, all of them will know at the same time,” Phoebe answered. “That sounds like a good idea,” Holden said.
38. “ Oh!” Phoebe threw her hands up in the air. “We need to think of who should continue on our legacy.” “ You mean…like an heir or heiress?” Phoebe nodded. “Okay. I’ll think about it,” Holden replied.
39. “ Do you ever get that feeling that something big is going to happen?” Noah asked his brother the next morning. Leon gave his twin a strange look. “Like what?” He replied. “I don’t know. I just have this weird feeling,” Noah responded. “Well…it could be indigestion,” Leon said. “I know what that feels like and this feeling isn’t even close,” Noah retorted. “How long has this been happening?” Leon inquired. “Are you acting like a therapist?” Noah replied. Leon shrugged, “I figured you wanted to talk about your feelings like a little sissy girl.” “Sometimes, I wonder if you have a heart,” Noah remarked. Then they stopped talking.
40. Lark was blissfully unaware of the world that morning. She just had her MP3 player, which was all she needed.
42. … she had to work. “ Nice hair,” Leon commented. “You know, I was thinking the same thing about you. And that’s a darling suit that you have on,” Lark retorted. “At least I’m not wearing a tracksuit,” Leon rejoined. “At least I don’t look like a total dork,” Lark remarked.
43. Later that night, Noah got a headache. He wondered if there was something wrong with him…
44. He figured that the only way to get rid of his headache was to play the guitar. And it actually worked!
45. “ Why did it have to break?” Melanie grumbled as she tried to fix the bathtub. Up above her, she could hear sweet music.
47. However, Janae didn’t get to spend all day playing her violin. She and Cooper were going out for a day in downtown.
48. They ended up at Red’s Diner. Oddly enough, they were both wearing red and their waitress was a red head. “ So, why did you bring me here?” Janae asked her brother. “I just figured that you were hungry,” he answered.
49. The waitress suddenly glared at him. “Is that any way to talk to your girlfriend?” She demanded. Janae nearly choked on her water. Cooper’s mouth fell open and then he responded, “She’s my little sister.” The waitress kept glaring at him, though. “Seriously, I’m his little sister. We have the same parents, eye color, and, heck, we even have the same noses!” Janae cried. The waitress shook her head and she asked what they wanted to eat.
50. “ I…I really can’t believe that she thought that we were dating,” Cooper muttered once the waitress was gone. Janae smirked. “If you think about, though, it’s kind of funny. I could’ve sworn we looked like siblings,” she remarked. “But we do!” Cooper replied. “Hmm. Well, maybe she has vision problems. Maybe all of the red in this place causes her eyes to cross and thus makes her unable to see properly,” Janae suggested. “That makes no sense,” Cooper rejoined. But he laughed anyway.
51. Their waitress brought their food out and they fell silent. The lady didn’t even say anything to them, she just put their food on the table and flounced off.
52. Once she was gone, Janae started the conversation back up. “Speaking of girlfriends, have you found yourself a woman yet?” She asked.
53. “ Uh…what?” Cooper mumbled. “Do you have a girlfriend yet? Like, a girl that you want to share your first kiss with and stuff?” Janae inquired. “Let’s not talk about this, shall we?” Cooper responded. Janae noticed how red his face turned, though. “This place is the breeding ground for redness,” she thought.
54. Meanwhile… “ Okay, Mel. I know you’re keeping something from me,” Talin remarked. “The kids are all yours,” she replied almost automatically. Talin couldn’t help but chuckle. But then he said, “I knew that already. But what I don’t know is…I don’t even know what it is that I don’t know. I just know that there’s something.” Melanie sighed.
55. “ Fine but you can’t tell the kids or anyone else this yet. Although, I should have told you this after we got married or something,” Melanie replied. She told him her life story and the reason why they’d had to have three children. When she finished, he was quite shocked. But he recovered quickly. “How are we going to tell the kids?” He inquired. “We’ll wait until Gemma is a teenager,” Melanie answered. Talin nodded.
56. “ What are you doing in my room?” Janae asked, trying her best to sound angry. It worked because Gemma started to run for the door. Janae got in her way and then she tickled her little sister. “What’s with the hair and dress?” Janae inquired. Gemma grinned at her sister. “I was thinking it was time to prepare for spring,” Gemma answered. “Good idea!” Janae cried.
57. Moments later, Janae was at the local clothing shop. There she met Alvin Futa. Janae found him rather attractive, so she went over and talked to him. They appeared to hit it off…
58. Is it odd that I have two good witches in my neighborhood?
59. Alrighty then! Here we have them! It’s generation two of the Aldrich legacy. Aren’t they adorable?
60. Of course, if their cousins get makeovers, then these guys deserve one too!
61. You may have noticed that Lark no longer has the same eye shadow as Janae. Or maybe you didn’t. Really, this picture is only here to show how adorable Lark is.
62. This picture is to show just how mean Leon is since he’s about to cheat at chess. He must know how gullible his twin can be.
63. Lark must have pushed herself too hard when she went jogging…
65. However, Lark was cheered up when she saw what Leon had to wear to work. “ Hahahaha…oh my gosh…did the llamas get released from the zoo? Oh, oh! Is that a real llama head? Do you have fleas now? Should we get you tested for rabies?” She teased. “Lark, I swear…I will kill you,” Leon grumbled. “Oh, come on! Get a sense of humor! Don’t you have to have one of those for your job?” Lark replied. Leon just muttered under his breath as she continued laughing hysterically.
66. Before breakfast the next morning, Lark apologized to Leon and then she sat down for her pancakes. Their mom definitely made great pancakes.
67. Much later that day, Cooper randomly showed up. Lark ran out to greet him.
68. As Cooper showed his cousin his Rubik cube (how exciting, right?), Phoebe suddenly called for Lark to come inside. Slightly relieved, Lark said good bye to her rather dorky cousin.
69. Night fell as Lark came inside. Then… “ So, kids, there’s a reason behind this family meeting. I want to tell you a story,” Phoebe announced. “Are you kidding me? We aren’t little kids anymore,” Leon responded.
70. “ Hush. This is obviously important,” Lark snapped. She looked up at her mother. “So, what’s the story?” Noah asked.
71. “ It’s a story about twin sisters…” Phoebe muttered. She got a far-off look in her eyes.
72. Then she began. “ There were some woods in a place called Winter Harbor.
73. Deep in those woods was a huge house, a beautiful house. A dirt path led up to the front door of this wonderful house. “ We get that it was a house,” Leon remarked. Noah elbowed him to shut up. Phoebe cleared her throat and continued.
74. In this house there lived a woman named Willow McCarthy. She ran an orphanage inside of her house. She provided the children with everything that they could ever want.
75. Two of these children happened be identical twins. Although, they were only identical if you looked at them. They had totally different personalities. One was named Phoebe* and the other was Melanie. They had been orphaned at a young age, before they really knew their parents. *Phoebe is on the left, Melanie is on the right. For those who are directionally challenged, like I am at times, Phoebe is wearing pink and Melanie is wearing red.
76. Of course, being that they were twins, they were always within range of each other. Melanie often spent her time on the little jungle gym. She always scanned the trees for any intruders.
77. At least, that’s what she told me. I figured that maybe she was searching for our parents.
78. Of course, there were other children at the orphanage. There was Sarah Turner, a playful little red head. Kayla Pierce was a rather shy blonde. Caroline Rogers was an introverted girl with curly black hair. Basically, the orphanage was rather small and there were only girls in it. Willow loved each girl as if they were her own daughters.
79. However, time went on. Sarah and Kayla grew up and they both headed off to college. No one had adopted any of us.
80. Even after Caroline grew up, still no one had even come by the orphanage. Caroline went to college also. Melanie and I were obviously the youngest. “ Mom, does this story have any point to it?” Yes, Leon, this story does have a point. I’m getting there. Hush.
81. At long last, it was time for my twin and I and Willow to all get older. Willow didn’t seem too thrilled about this at all.
82. Quite frankly, we all grew up quite well. Even though it was the middle of winter with snow in the forecast, I still decided to wear a skirt…oh. Is that too detailed for you? Anyway, it was great being older. But we really wondered what it would have been like had our parents not died…or at least, that’s what we thought had happened. But…we were wrong.
83. That very night, Willow sat us down. She started talking about how lovely we looked and stuff like that.
84. I really stopped paying attention after awhile. That is, until she told us something that caught my attention. ‘Your parents are still alive. They’re upstairs right now,’ she remarked. Then, I heard footsteps.
85. I looked over and I saw them. They were our parents. Melanie couldn’t believe it. They smiled at—”
86. “ Wait a minute,” Leon cut in. Noah groaned and Lark rolled her eyes. “We have grandparents, then? Why haven’t we met them? Why is this story even important?” Leon demanded. “Let me finish,” Phoebe snapped. “ Moving on. Our parents basically told us that we had to leave…and fast. As in, no waiting for a taxi or anything. When we asked why, they told us it was because some protection on our family was broken. We’re supposed to have three kids each or else a great evil, called the Council, will destroy us.
87. The reason why this Council wants to wipe us off the face of the world is…well…to make a long story short…apparently, one of our ancestors wandered into a sacred grove and disrupted the sleep of the Council.
88. Our ancestor, whose name was Lilian, managed to get away. She was a witch, so she cast a spell on our family making it to where every heir or heiress must have three children in order to protect us from the wrath of the Council. She chose the number three at random, of course. Our parents broke that protection. Our mom couldn’t have another child after Melanie and I were born. This is why the two of us had to start our own legacies. It’s a loophole of sorts.
89. After we were told this, we had to run away. Our parents told us about teleport located just outside by a small pond. At first, the portal merely looked like some sort of archway. We could see right through it to the other side. But when Melanie stepped into it, she disappeared. I ran in after her and we ended up at Sim State University. And that’s the story of our family. Well, we later found out that our parents had been killed but Willow was spared since she wasn’t an Aldrich.”
90. They sat in silence for awhile. Then Noah said, “Well, that was interesting.”
91. Leon shrugged. “Not really,” he said. Lark glared over at him. Phoebe suddenly cleared her throat. “Oh. Right. About the whole heir and heiress thing…your father, your aunt, and I have decided who should carry on my side of the family...and it’s Lark. She’s the heiress.”
92. Lark’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “Me?” She gasped. “Yes. Also, just so you know, you can have more than three children if you’d like. You just can’t have less than three kids,” Phoebe replied. Leon and Noah didn’t appear to care very much that they weren’t the heir. In fact, Leon seemed relieved. Now that all was said and done, everyone went back to their normal routine.
93. Everyone except for Lark. She couldn’t believe it. She was the heiress. She had to carry on her family’s bloodline. She had to have three children. And she still didn’t really understand that spell…or, rather, curse. Lark wanted to know where the sacred grove was. She wanted to know who the Council was and why they’d still be after them. From what Phoebe said, it sounded like it had been a long time since the Council awakened. Yes. There was definitely a lot to think about. But she decided to wait…maybe after college. That sounded like a good plan.
94. Back at Melanie’s house, things weren’t quite so serious. Obviously, Melanie wanted to wait until Gemma was older to tell them their history. Of course, Gemma was busy making friends, something she was quite good at.
95. Just before nightfall, Cooper invited over Nicole Thompson. Ever since their meeting at the clothing shop, they’d called each other and hung out together. Tonight, Cooper hoped to take their relationship to another level.
96. He wasn’t the only one wanting a girlfriend. Well, in Janae’s case, it’s more like a boyfriend.
97. With each flirt, Cooper and Janae felt themselves getting closer to their goals. It was almost like a competition of sorts.
99. Although Alvin was accepting every flirt that Janae threw at him. But he had to leave a lot sooner than Nicole did, so the flirting was cut short. But there was always another day, right?
100. “ Land ho! Land ho! Oh nooo…we’ve crashed into the island. Now I’m stranded here. But where is here? Oh! Shiny!” Talin crowed out. There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Arrr…who be there?” Talin called. “Honey, I love you but if you don’t stop playing in the bathtub, I’m going to have to hurt you. You aren’t Prince Alexander and you certainly aren’t a pirate,” Melanie said.
101. “ Our dad is weird,” Gemma pointed out as she danced with Cooper. “Yes, he is weird. Maybe that’s where you get it from,” Cooper replied. “Hey! Be nice! Today is my birthday!” Gemma cried. “Yes. It is, isn’t it?” Cooper responded.
102. Once the kids were at school, Melanie and Talin sat down to talk. “ I’m telling them today as soon as Gemma is a teenager,” Melanie announced. “What? So soon?’ Talin asked. “Yes. It has to be done soon. Phoebe already told her kids, so I should tell ours,” Melanie explained. “I see your logic,” Talin said. Not that he would’ve been able to stop her from telling them…she was rather persistent.
103. Shortly after Cooper got home, he called up Nicole and she came over. Cooper was able to snag his first kiss from her.
104. Janae, on the other hand, wasn’t having so much luck. She didn’t feel like it was time to try to kiss Alvin yet. She was still getting used to the idea of him being her boyfriend instead of her friend. But there were other things happening that day.
105. “ Remember, Gemma, that any boys who come near you will have to endure my ‘You Hurt Her, You Die’ speech,” Talin said. “You didn’t give Alvin that speech,” Janae replied. “Yes, well, I did, actually,” Talin responded. “Did you use your pirate voice?” Melanie asked. “Moooom…you guys need to pay attention to me!” Gemma whined.
106. And they definitely paid attention to Gemma as she exploded in a burst of sparkles…
107. … grew up quite well. She even got a nice outfit! “ Alright! My skirt is as short as Janae’s shorts!”
108. However, Gemma decided that the skirt wasn’t working, so she changed into something pinker. If you didn’t already guess, Gemma is a Popularity Sim. Woo!
109. “ So, am I adorable or what?” Gemma asked her older sister. “Er…yeah. You’re adorable. You’ve always been that way,” Janae answered. “Good!” Gemma said beaming. It was then that Melanie called the children into the living room.
110. Cooper and Janae started talking about Nicole and Alvin, though, the moment that they sat down. Melanie tapped her foot, waiting for them to finish. Finally, Gemma hissed, “Shut it, you two! Mom has something to tell us!”
111. So, they both fell silent. Melanie looked at each of her kids, wondering where time had gone. But she didn’t have time to think about that. Melanie told her three kids about her childhood, their grandparents, and Lilian Aldrich’s protection spell. Basically, she told the same story that her twin had told. Maybe it wasn’t word-for-word but it still the same story.
112. Then she had to announce the heir or heiress. It had been hard choosing between them, just as it’d been hard for Phoebe. Each and every member of generation two was unique. Melanie looked at each kid again, very carefully. She locked eyes with Gemma and then she quickly looked away.
113. “ I have to choose one of you to carry on the legacy. Your father, your aunt, and I all discussed this and we decided together who it should be. Sooo…we decided on...” Melanie hesitated. She knew it was the right choice. “I’m sorry to say that it’s not Cooper. That means there’s an heiress.” “Mom, please, just get to it. The suspense is killing me,” Janae remarked.
115. “… Janae is the heiress. I’m very happy for her. I don’t think I’d like being the heiress. I’ve never planned on getting married and starting a family. I feel like I have another purpose in life. What that is, though, I can’t say,” Gemma thought to herself.
116. That’s the end of the chapter! Lark and Janae are the heiresses this time around! I decided on them because I liked them from the beginning. Speaking of heirs and heiresses, I don’t think I’ll ever do an heir poll since I want to go with the Sims I like. After all, I’m the one who has to play them all of the time. Oh, yeah. By the way, Phoebe and Holden want to let you know that they’re both Family Sims. Holden’s secondary aspiration is Family. And they do this every time they come home from work. Every. Time.
