2.6 Wrong About You

"You cheated on me?!"

Brooke confessed everything to Mariposa in a phone call. Mariposa called Brooke a "lying [swear]", of course, but when Lynx started making arrangements to house two more babies, the truth was too obvious for even Mariposa's delusional mind to deny.

Lynx braces himself for drama. "Look... you and me weren't really together. I told you we were just casual."

"I thought that meant you wanted to take things slow. I didn't know that meant you didn't love me."

"I love you in a way..."

"In a way?! In a WAY?! Lynx, I loved you for real, in every way!" Mariposa bursts into tears. "I loved your face and your voice and I just wanted to make you happy! I would have done anything you ever asked! I cook for you, I clean for you, I fix your stupid broken telephpone shower! I do whatever stupid thing you want in bed-"

"You never LISTEN to me."

"What are you talking about?!"

A dozen incidents come to mind. The fact that he used to lock her out of the house and she'd just break in comes to mind. "...Look, it doesn't matter. Just break up with me."

"You. Filthy. COWARD! How long have you been sleeping with Brooke?!"

"Not as long as I'd like!"

"When were you going to tell me?! You piece of garbage! You didn't think about me! You didn't think about Solana!"

"Because Solana didn't exist at the time!"

"I existed..."

"And you broke my heart," she hisses. "And you knew you'd break my heart. And you didn't CARE."

Lynx doesn't defend himself.

Mariposa sucks in her breath sharply. "We're done. I'm taking Solana and I'm leaving you."

"You can't just take Solana."

"Well I'm not leaving her with you. I was wrong about you. You ARE a lizard. Just like your father."

She stares at him with hatred, and at the mention of his father, his chest tightens. He is not like his father. His father would have never done this to someone.

Lynx's life changed rapidly after that.

Mariposa left the household, and three baby daughters joined it.

There were police involved. There was a custody battle over Solana. Lynx 'won' that, not because the judge approved of him, but because Mariposa was homeless and mentally unstable. And she'd rather be homeless than live with Lynx.

At first Lynx thought he should be happy to be rid of Mariposa, but for a while, every time he sees Solana, he cries.

Her mother wanted her more than anything in the world, and he was barely interested, yet he's the one with the kid, and he feels guilty about it... and while he tries hard not to feel responsible for his ex's mental unfitness, a trait she had before he even met her, the tears just won't go away.

He's finally empathizing with someone, but that someone hates him and there's no way to fix it.

Brooke, by contrast, wants nothing to do with their babies. She signs over her parental rights and visits exactly one time, to donate a few baby care items she and her husband would have had use for, had the paternity tests come out differently.

This little one is Lydia Law. Her twin sister, Laurel, is currently upstairs.

Neither had a name when they first came to live here.

"I don't know if I said it before, but, I love you, Brooke." Lynx's voice is shy, sad... a tone Brooke is not used to.

She doesn't want to hear it, though. "Don't. This is hard enough, okay?"

"I mean it. I'm not going to take it back. I love you. We could have a future together."

"Now that Mari left you? Yeah. Convenient."

Lynx flinches. "I'd have kicked her out for you at any time. I think you know that."

"You cheated on her, and you'd do the same to me."

Lynx stares at her, incredulous. "Chen's not going to trust you again, you know. He's going to double down on on his controlling bull and he's going to hold the twins against you and over your head, to justify himself, forever."

"Well maybe I deserve it."

"No, you don't!"

"Oh, stop it! Stop trying to rescue me! I don't need to be rescued!" She bares her teeth at him, and before she can stop herself, she has come up with words she is certain will wound him enough to end this, "I don't even like you. You know what? I was only ever nice to you because we're coworkers."

Lynx recoils a bit. "I... do not buy that..."

"I can't stand you!" It's a lie, but there's a grain of truth it. Lynx has become a symbol of her emotional and moral weaknesses. Everything she hates about herself, he has brought to the surface, and she can't stand it, and the more furious she becomes with herself, the more she convinces herself she should be angry with Lynx as well, "Look at you... just coasting through life on your parents' names. Getting every promotion. Do you think Valter and I haven't worked just as hard as you? Well we have. But we don't have the right name, we don't come from some sports team owning, politician pedigree, our parents didn't stage charity events to make themselves look good, the bosses didn't mark us as leadership material and quietly fast track us like they did with you."

"I work hard!" Lynx objects.

"So what? So do I. So does everyone. But we don't get fair consideration so we might as well not."

Clearly there are more unresolved issues in this relationship than Lynx even knew about.

"Please don't brush me off like this. I've loved you since we were little. I would have asked you out, but Chen got there first."

"Loved me since we were little..." Brooke sneers. "How long has Mariposa loved you?"

Lynx makes a face.

"Exactly!" Brooke snaps. "It doesn't matter! You can't have me just because you want me."

Lynx won't look at her. "I know that. It would be okay if you wanted me too, wouldn't it? But you don't. So okay. That's fair. I won't ever bother you about it again. I just... don't believe that you've never even liked me. At least as a friend."

"Of course you don't believe me. Your massive ego won't let you believe me."

Brooke leaves his house, and his life. On Monday he'll find out she quit her job.

And just like that, Lynx is a single father of three.

What an absolute mess.

Epiphany returns from a tourist trip to Monte Vista, only to find her tales of adventure pale in comparison to her little brother's tales of dramatic break ups and sleepless nights. Three infants to handle alone is a lot of work, keeping Lynx miserable and exhausted, often hungry as he has so many other needs and priorities to attend to before he can stop to eat.

"Did you ask our sisters for any help?" Epiphany wonders, while not offering to help.

"Astral laughed at me when I offered her money to babysit. Ivy is obviously busy, and Lily's a teenager now but she has better things to do or whatever."

"I just can't believe there's three of them..."

"Me neither!"

"Did you ever think of, you know... not taking this on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you could give them up for adoption, while they're still of an age couples deem desirable."

"...No. I didn't think of that." Lynx seems uncomfortable with the suggestion. "I guess you don't think I'm fit to raise even one daughter."

"Your treatment of women is suspect."

"Lies and nonsense," Lynx grumps. "I hate everyone equally. My treatment of people is suspect."

"Ah, yes, such good qualities for a parent to have." She punctuates her point with a roll of her eyes. "I'm just saying, it's going to get a lot harder before it gets any easier. Lily and Andrew were not easy to deal with as toddlers, and we got to handle them one at a time, with three adults in the house. You basically have triplets and you're on your own now."

"I can handle it," Lynx says stubbornly. "And I thought you were excited."

"That was before I saw the toll it's taking on you."

Lynx can't work from home all the time, for whatever nonsense reason, so he does end up having to hire a babysitter eventually.

This is Nils, and the first thing Nils does is pluck Lydia out of her swing.

Then he puts her on the floor.

Then he takes Solana from her crib, only to lay her down on the floor in the solarium.

And then it's Laurel's turn to be on the floor.

What is your problem, Nils?! Why are you like this?!





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Etc.: I'm sure every single one of you called Brooke getting pregnant.

But the twins thing was a surprise to me. I'd only rolled for two kids, and now there's three.

It's like the game really hates the idea of my sims living in a small house.

I should probably say something about Mariposa. This is not a second chance roll... it is a single parent roll, so Mariposa needed to be out very soon after Solana's birth. I did not roll medical career. Story Progression put Mariposa in the medical career before she moved in with Lynx, and as per the rules, she was allowed to stay in it. She's sick of Lynx's crap now, but he does have her child, so I doubt we've seen the last of her.

Now that some of the major spoilers have played out, I have updated the rolls page.