Mesa Vista - my BaCC for fun: Week 3, Part 2(a)
Hi, and welcome to more of Week 3 in my Build a City Challenge for fun!
(You should go back and read Part 1 if you haven't yet, since it leads up to this moment, the nuptials of Diane Shin and Stephan Go.)
Even though Mesa Vista was a desert community, it still experienced the full range of seasons, which meant Diane and Stephan got to have a winter wonderland wedding.
In attendance were Madeleine Mazza and future salon owner Yvette Tan in the front, and founder Zach Adams and employee Laura Langarek in the back.
Zach brought Nikki along, who was feeling rather playful.
Whoops, Kerie Ng had been invited too. What on earth was "Diane" thinking?
"I didn't know you were coming," she said stiffly.
"Same here, but it's fortuitous nonetheless," Zach replied, his eyes boring into hers so intently she started to squirm.
"I don't know what you mean."
Zach decided to take a different tack. "I'm sorry, I honestly don't want a scene, but I heard about your..."
"There you are, darling!" Nikki called, returning from one of her frequent potty breaks, and then she giggled. "Oh dear, Kerie, what have we done? We could be twins!"
Kerie gritted her teeth. There was something so smug about the way Nikki was always flaunting her happiness, and her pregnancies, with Zach. The irony though was that they probably could have been friends under different circumstances. But not under these, she thought bitterly. And it was that bitterness that made her ignore Nikki and continue conversing with Zach, although no longer about the subject Zach wanted, now that his wife was within earshot.
"So, does the SCIA have any openings for you yet?" Kerie smirked.
"You know it's only a matter of time," Zach said evenly, his smile confident.
Kerie's snub was not lost on Nikki, nor was the fact that her husband's attention remained on the blonde. Nikki was not nearly as smug, or more accurately, confident, as Kerie thought. She knew there had been other women competing for Zach's affections, but Zach also assured her in many ways that she was the one who had won his heart.
And she had won it, more than she knew.
They must be reminiscing about old times, she reasoned.
Zach didn't stay away from Nikki for very long... he never could.
"Are you cold?"
"No, it feels good out here."
She caught sight of Kerie in the corner of her eye, and very deliberately took Zach's hand in hers.
Oh yes, Nikki knew exactly what she was doing as she brought his hand up to her lips. She knew exactly how she had won Zach in the first place, and it had the desired effect this time as well. A furious Kerie ran full-steam up to them, although of course, Nikki didn't know the half of it.
"We are finished, do you hear me, Zach Adams? Fin, finito, finished!"
Good, Nikki thought.
Kerie hated Zach. She hated Nikki. She hated her dress. And most of all, she hated how right Diane had been.
I should just leave.
But she didn't. Instead, she spent the rest of Diane's wedding outside, alone.
Nikki's sense of victory was hollow and short lived, however, and she desperately needed reassurance from her husband. "What was that all about, Zach?"
"She's crazy!" Zach growled, totally furious with Kerie for slapping him and creating such a scene.
"But what did she mean, finished?"
"It's obvious she's still very resentful that I chose you over her."
"That's... all it is?"
"What else could it be?" he snapped, still miffed at the timing of Nikki's earlier interruption.
Nikki looked down and shrugged.
"I'm going inside, are you coming?"
"I think I'd like to go home," she said forlornly.
"Fine, I'll see you later then."
"Can you believe it? It's our wedding and they're getting all the attention."
Despite the antics of her guests, Diane's wedding party was a Roof-Raiser anyway.
Zach got home a couple of hours later, and when he saw Nikki he felt like a total heel. "You were meditating, weren't you?"
"I wasn't feeling good."
"I'm sorry I was such a jerk at the wedding."
"I tried being friendly with her and when you kept talking to her, I thought you... I got worried and jealous."
"Believe me, you don't have to be," Zach said, still fuming at Kerie.
"I did it on purpose," Nikki whispered.
"You..?" His sweet, mild-mannered Nikki had provoked the wrath of another woman because of him? God help him, but that made his male ego soar, and his tender cheek began to feel more like a badge of honor. If Zach thought he had loved Nikki before, it was nothing compared to what he felt now.
"And she looked so perfect in her dress, whereas I... looked like a huge Hostess Snowball in mine."
"Poor Nikki. It isn't your fault I can't stop wanting to have babies with you."
And he wasn't just blowing smoke um... yeah. Whenever she isn't pregnant, Nikki and Mr. Fortune here keep rolling wants to have a baby.
"So you really don't mind this big old belly of mine?"
He pulled her closer until it rested fully against his. "Bring on that belly, baby!"
"Zach!" she giggled, brightening considerably.
"The bigger the better, Nikki."
"That's what she said, darling."
A very pregnant Nikki never missed a day of work (she walked... she's tough) and finally got promoted to Business Tycoon, which unlocked the Business career and gave Mesa Vista its first Business District. Hooray!
....
In Takemizu, Diane and Stephan chose to stay at Jade's Exclusive Villas for their honeymoon.
One of the reasons being there was a nice spot right on the Villas grounds for drinking tea.
"I'm worried about Kerie. Zach seems bound and determined to find out who the father is. What is he going to do once he finds out?"
"I'm sure she can take care of herself. Didn't you say she used to be a Criminal Mastermind? Don't know about him, but I sure wouldn't want to mess with that."
"Yes, and Nikki seems devoted to Zach so he must have a softer side we don't see."
"Stress can make big jerks out of people. I know I'd be stressed in his shoes."
"He deserves it."
"I'm sure Kerie will be fine, but if you want, you could call her."
Back in Mesa Vista, the very subject Diane and Stephan were talking about was going down at the Ng household...
Zach was done pussyfooting around. As his love for Nikki grew, so did his regret for what he had done with Kerie, and after the wedding he liked Kerie less and less, but that didn't mean he could just blow off the possibility that he had fathered another child.
"What are you doing here!" Kerie practically snarled.
"May I come in?"
"No!"
"Neil told me you have a baby." No pleasantries, no dancing around the issue... this was a fact finding mission and nothing more.
"I never told..." Kerie began and then slapped her forehead. Of course Madeleine would have told Neil...
"Is it true?"
"It has nothing to do with you!"
"Can I see it?" It was posed as a request, but Zach intended to stay firmly planted on her doorstep until he got what he wanted.
Kerie was tired and cranky. Her house was cramped and had a poor layout for a new baby and Brandon staying there. And to top it off, she had been demoted after admitting to her supervisor she had been playing a video game on her lunch hour, her lunch hour for crying out loud! Zach was going to find out sooner or later anyway, so what was the difference if it was sooner?
"Do what the hell you like!" she said before storming into the house.
Zach went into the living room and picked up the baby he found lying quietly on the floor. "Is it a boy or girl?"
"Boy," came her muffled reply from the bathroom.
"He sure is a handsome guy. What's his name?"
"Noah."
"Noah... I like that name."
"So glad you approve," was her sarcastic reply.
"He's got brown eyes."
"And your point is?"
"I'm not going to waste your time or mine beating around the bush any longer... am I his father?"
"Go to hell, Zach Adams! Get out of my house and stay out of my life! We don't need you, do you understand?!"
The fury in his mother's voice startled little Noah and he started to scream.
"Okay, okay, I'm going," he said, putting Noah back in the crib.
"Good! Stay far away from us!"
Thinking again of Nikki, Zach couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
He told himself he was just respecting Kerie's wishes, but we all know that what he was really doing was taking the easy way out of Noah's life.
Kerie had gone to bed after Zach left, and when she heard someone hanging around outside, she was afraid it might still be Zach.
"Good, it isn't him," she sighed in relief.
"I'll keep an eye on Noah. You need to go back to bed or you'll be a zombie at work tonight," Brandon said.
"Hokay," Kerie yawned.
That night a well-rested Kerie once again joined the ranks of Mesa Vista's swing shift Paramedics.
....
**Click here for Part 2(b)**