The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 11
Author's Note: Hey guys! It's finally time for another chapter! Once again, I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long to get out... I wanted to finish shooting chapter 12 before posting this, and it took FOREVER! But it's finally done, which means the generation is finally done in-game!!! I can't wait to post the next chapter... but first, I gotta post this one! :D I hope you all enjoy it... I think I left you hanging just a little last time! ;) So, I'll shut up, and let you read the chapter!
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 11
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LAST TIME: After one night as Ho Sung's fiancé, Rue decided that nothing less than James would satisfy her...and that if she couldn't have James, it was better to have no one at all than to pretend she was in love with Ho Sung. Back in Hidden Springs, she and James spent a lot of time together (as friends), and James experienced some conflicting feelings about his engagement to Kayla. He also invited Rue to the grand opening of his wheelchair-accessible amusement park. Rue, meanwhile, was experiencing some unexplained nausea; and the chapter ended with Rue taking strength from her wonderful mother and resolving to tell James how she really felt about him. With all that in mind, let's see what happens next!
Rue eventually decided on a time to talk to James. It was finally April 15-the grand opening of the amusement park James had been working for years to set in motion. Of course James had invited Rue to the grand opening, and of course she had agreed to come. She hadn’t asked where Kayla would be that day… all she knew was that Kayla could only come later that night. Rue would have James to herself all day.
She wandered around the central plaza of the park for awhile, passing picnic tables, games, and plenty of booths selling a variety of food. James had told her that this part of the park was meant to blend in with the neighborhood style of Hidden Springs: woodsy and green. Rue loved it.
She finally found James by what appeared to be a dance floor. Spying a bench nearby, she sat down to talk.
“James.” She wouldn’t even try for a lighthearted tone, not today.
“Rue,” he replied just as somberly.
“I have something…serious to talk to you about.” Rue shifted nervously, her stomach churning wildly. Don’t give out on me now, she commanded it. She’d already thrown up once this morning. She couldn’t afford to let it happen again, not now that she was finally going to come clean.
To Rue’s surprise, James nodded and said, “Good, me too. But go ahead, you first.”
That’s not fair! Keeping me in suspense… What if he’s going to say we can’t see each other anymore? That he’s too in love with Kayla to let me ruin things? But Rue knew James wouldn’t let her go second, now that his mind was made up. Fine. “James, I… Shit, I have no idea how to say this, so I’m just gonna go for it.”
James grinned and nodded. “Okay.”
“James, I’m hopelessly in love with you. I have been since before I went to Egypt. Shit, I have been since elementary school, if we’re being honest. And the truth is, I can’t just keep it inside like this anymore. Seeing you every day… it’s the best and worst thing ever. Best, because I love every second I spend with you. But worst, because I know that at the end of the day, you’re Kayla’s fiancé, not mine. And it’s killing me.” She paused, unsure how to continue. “So I have a proposition for you.”
James was sitting in shock, trying to absorb the fact that Rue was openly professing her love for him. A month ago he would not have thought this would ever happen. Ever. “W-what is it?” he stammered, coming out of his thoughts enough to reply.
“I love you more than I can even explain, James, and there hasn’t been a day since graduation that I haven’t regretted leaving you. What I’m asking you to do is not easy. You have two options. One, you can keep your life pretty much the way it is. Stay engaged to Kayla, marry her whenever that time comes, all that. The thing is, if that’s the course you choose to take, I can never see you again.” Rue blinked irritably, trying to clear her eyes of tears. “I c-can’t live like this anymore, James. I can’t see you every day, knowing I can never have you. I can’t fake being ‘just friends’ with you anymore. It’s killing me.”
“I wouldn’t want to kill you,” James said, a hint of snarkiness in his tone despite the serious situation. “What’s the other option?” He was waiting with bated breath, hoping that maybe Rue was going to suggest…
“Leave Kayla for me.” Rue said it bluntly, plainly. There was no point at all in beating around the bush. He knew it was coming, anyway, Rue decided. He could always tell what she was thinking. Plus it wasn’t exactly hard to guess that that was the other option.
“I…”
“I don’t expect you to decide now,” Rue said quickly. “You don’t even have to decide at all. If it’s a hard decision, it probably means you shouldn’t pick me. I don’t want to make you do that.”
“Rue, I-”
“I know I hurt you, more than I ever, ever wanted to. And I know I don’t deserve a second chance.” Rue sniffled just a little. “I’m so sorry for what I did. But I know that might not be enough.”
“Rue, listen-”
“I can’t even believe I’m asking you to uproot your life. You’ve been putting everything back together after I destroyed it all, and now I’m back to destroy it again. I know I’m terrible; I’m a mess, I really am. And I’m really just burdening you with that, which is not fair at all.”
“I won’t deny that you have basically been like a tornado through everything I thought I knew. Not only at graduation, but last year, and right now, too,” James said. He grinned a little. “But Rue, I’ve been trying to tell you something.”
“I’m sorryyyy,” Rue wailed. “I wish I could take it all back! I wish I could go back in time to graduation and never have that talk with you in the park! I know I destroyed everything, and I know now I’m being a homewrecker and an awful woman just like all those women I hate, but James, I just-”
“Rue!” James exclaimed. “Good Lord, woman, let me talk!” He laughed. Rue couldn’t understand where all this good cheer was coming from. She could no longer stop herself from crying softly, convinced as she was that everything she had hoped for was about to be destroyed.
James, on the other hand, couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Rue, I appreciate the fact that you recognize how insane you’ve made my life. I haven’t been sure of what I wanted since we were eighteen. Since then, I’ve tried to forget you, and I’ve tried to move on. I thought I’d done it, too, til you showed up again. And then you left again, and I felt lost. I had thought I was happy with Kayla, and what I realized when I saw you was that all she ever did was fill a hole where you used to be. Everything she and I had was a shabby substitute for my relationship with you.”
He wheeled his chair a little closer to Rue. “But when you left, and I didn’t know where or for how long, I thought it was over again. I thought I was destined to a second-best love, that you were too good for me and I didn’t deserve you. So I tried to go back to Kayla. I called off the wedding, Rue, because every time I looked at Kayla I wished for you. Every time I talked to her or touched her I was wishing for you.” James shrugged sheepishly. “When you asked why I called off the wedding, I told you I wasn’t ready for marriage. That’s not true at all. The truth is I would marry you in a heartbeat.”
Rue breathed in sharply. Although she had been hoping desperately to hear this, she still couldn’t actually believe it was coming true.
“Do me a favor, will you? Stand up,” James said.
Perplexed, Rue did so, walking over to face James. She liked to sit down when she talked to him, so they could be at eye level. She wasn’t sure why he would suggest this now. “There. Now, Rue, I have to tell you my serious news.” He took one of Rue’s hands. “I ended my engagement with Kayla. Remember what you said to me about your relationship with Ho Sung being ‘an empty shell’? That’s how I felt too. I never loved Kayla. I convinced myself I did, because without something I was going to go crazy without you.”
“Now,” he said, “I may not be able to get down on one knee like most guys, but I can still ask you this: Rue Rachel Atwood, love of my life, will you marry me?”
* * *
“RUUUUEEEE!” Millie shrieked.
“Aaaaaahhh!!” Both girls screamed and hugged and danced around the room.
“Rue I am so happy for you!” exclaimed Millie.
This is right, Rue thought, feeling so happy she could fly. This is what getting engaged is supposed to be like. She gave another high-pitched shriek, unable to put her feelings into words.
“Tell me all about it,” Millie demanded. “What did he say? What did you say? What did he do?”
Rue laughed. Twirling around and around, still completely elated, she said, “I told him I loved him but couldn’t see him anymore unless he left Kayla for me. He told me he had already done that! Then he called me the love of his life and asked me to marry him!”
“And what did you say?!”
“YES, obviously!” Rue yelled gleefully. “I could barely talk, and I was still kind of crying from before when I was apologizing for being awful, and then when he asked I just started bawling, because I was so convinced this would never happen, and then it did!”
“So I just cried and hugged him, just flopped right on top of him in his chair and threw my arms around him and sobbed.” Rue giggled. “I don’t know what he thought, exactly, but hopefully I got the message across.”
“I can’t believe this is happening!” Millie cried enthusiastically. “It’s like something out of a movie!”
“I know! Mil, I never in a million years thought he would take me back, much less propose! I’ve wanted to marry him since I was seven years old. That was when I decided he’d make a really good husband. That hasn’t changed. And I know him going from one fiancée to another will look weird, but to me it’s not weird at all. We dated for four years in high school, and I’ve wanted that back ever since. I just know he’s the one. And I think he feels the same way… that’s why he didn’t waste any time.” Rue laughed. “I’m so happy!”
“I can see that!” Millie exclaimed. “It’s pretty contagious.”
“There’s just one thing,” Rue said, growing more solemn. “James wants to move out of Hidden Springs.”
“Ohh,” said Millie, thinking she knew the reason.
“He feels awful for what he did to Kayla, and he… well, I can’t imagine she will be very happy when she finds out he proposed to me the day he broke off his engagement with her.”
Millie nodded emphatically.
“I don’t really have much attachment to this town, and honestly, if Kayla never knew that James and I were going to get married, I’d be very happy,” Rue said. “I don’t want to leave you, but…” She bit her lip.
“Well,” said Millie, “where are you thinking of moving? Because honestly, I’ve about had it with all the men in this town. I think it would be nice to start over somewhere new.”
“Really?” Rue said excitedly. “We aren’t sure yet, to be honest, but we need to pick soon! We might go on a trip together, in fact-he really wants to show me France, since that’s where his parents are from and all… I’d be so happy to go traveling with him! So we might do that until we have a better idea of where we want to live, and then we’ll pick somewhere permanent.”
“That sounds so fun, Rue! I can imagine that all you’ve ever wanted was to go on a trip with James. It’s like your two favorite things combined!” Millie giggled.
Rue laughed as well. “You’re right!” She paused for a while, then said quietly, “There’s one other thing.”
“What’s that?” Millie asked, worried by Rue’s tone.
“I… Millie, I’ve missed two periods now.”
“What?” Millie demanded. “Two? But… you’ve been back from China for…”
“Two and a half months. I know. And I’ve been throwing up the whole time I’ve been home. Every morning. Mil, I’ve only ever had sex one time, but… I figured it out, and I was ovulating at the time, and we definitely didn’t use protection, and I’m not on birth control because I thought there was no way I…”
“Rue! You’re saying…”
Rue bit her lip. “I think I’m pregnant with Ho Sung’s baby.”
“Shit.”
* * *
“I can’t tell him.” Rue was whispering into her phone in the bathroom of the hotel she and James were staying at in France. It was the middle of the night for her, but that meant it was a good time for Millie to talk, plus James was peacefully asleep.
“Ho Sung? Or James?” Millie sighed, trying to figure out her friend’s distraught emotional state from thousands of miles away.
“Both. Neither.”
“You have to. Rue, you have to tell both of them! James will find out eventually anyway, and Ho Sung deserves to know.”
“I thought I’d never have to speak to him again!”
“He’s the father!” Millie exclaimed, exasperated. “You have to tell him! At the very least, for child support!”
“Oh, I don’t need that. You’d be surprised how much you can get for relics these days. Museums pay me in advance for things they hope I’ll find on my trips.”
“So screw the money, then! You still have to tell Ho Sung.”
“Well, I’m not going to China. If he wants to meet the kid, he has to come to me.”
“Are you even positive you’re pregnant?” Millie asked.
“Oh yeah. I sure am. Took a test yesterday. Took three tests. All came up positive.”
Millie sighed, a sound that crackled through the phone. “Well, no hope in that, then.”
“Don’t be like that,” Rue pleaded. “I want to be excited for this! It’s just…”
“I’m sorry,” Millie apologized quickly. “I am happy for you, I really am. I know you don’t think so, but I’ve always thought you’d be a fun mother. You’ll stimulate that kid’s mind like no other.”
“And I won’t let it turn out like Norah,” Rue said firmly. She hadn’t thought about her sister in years… I wonder where she is, what she’s doing.
“It won’t.”
“But Millie, I’m just… I’m turning out just like my mother!”
“What? Why do you say that?”
“Because of Hope! You know, my cousin-slash-sister? The one my Aunt Alice adopted when my mom was seventeen and couldn’t take care of a baby. I’m… I’m worried I’m not cut out to be a mother yet. What if I have to give this kid up? What if I…”
“No abortion,” Millie said firmly. “Maybe that’s justified sometimes, but you’re in a perfectly good place to become a mother. I know you may wish for a few more years to roam around Europe or Asia, Rue, but that is no reason to give up this baby. You’re 24 years old now. You have to think of someone besides yourself now.”
“God, okay, Mom,” Rue said with a chuckle. “I won’t get an abortion, don’t worry. You’re totally right, that would be selfish. Plus, I’m engaged now. This baby will have a stable environment to grow up in. Not at all like it would have been for Hope if Mom kept her. I can’t imagine keeping a baby you got by rape.” She shuddered. “At least this kid isn’t like that. I may regret my relationship with Ho Sung, but it was a relationship. Consensual. All that.”
Millie was silent for a moment. Then she said, “Oh, I forgot you can’t see me! I was nodding.” She laughed. “I think whatever you do, don’t conceptualize your night with Ho Sung as a mistake. Maybe it wasn’t your best decision, but at the time you thought it was right, and you shouldn’t regret it. If anything, it made your love for James stronger, right?”
“You’re so positive, Mil. But yeah, you’re right, it did. I realized what I really want, so that’s a plus. And no matter what, I’m happy that it resulted in a baby. I gotta admit, I am kind of excited to be a mom.”
“Good!” Millie said happily. “And I’m sure James will be thrilled. I’m serious; can you imagine him being mad at you? No way. He will be so happy. I was wondering, Rue… Can James… you know…”
“What, Mil?” Rue said, laughing to herself at her friend’s discomfort. “Have babies? Have sex?” She could just picture the shocked look on Millie’s face right now.
“Well… yeah. That is what I was wondering.”
“I’m… not sure, to be honest. We’ve, you know, been enjoying our vacation, but I haven’t brought it up with him yet. I guess I’m avoiding the topic for more reasons than one. I’ll let you know when I find out.”
“At least either way, you guys get to be parents!” Millie said. “Now get off the phone and go cuddle your fiancé! You’re costing me millions with this international call!”
Rue giggled. “Sorry, Mil! Thanks for always talking me through my problems. Now, you go make sure there are definitely no more viable bachelors for you in Hidden Springs, that way we can justify you moving away with us!”
* * *
“This is the cutest café I have ever seen,” Rue gushed.
“I knew you’d like it,” James said affectionately. “I found it yesterday while you were exploring.”
“Thank you for being okay with that,” Rue said, almost apologetically. “I didn’t mean to just leave you all day…”
“Are you kidding? I found the best place to draw,” James said. “Plus all this gorgeous French architecture has been inspiring me! I know I’m an amusement park architect, but damn, sometimes I wish I could make buildings too!”
“Why not?” Rue said. “It’s never too late to change specializations.”
She hadn’t thought about James’ amusement park in awhile. After the grand opening it had kind of slipped her mind. But now that she remembered, she was troubled by something. “James?”
“What’s up?”
“If we really move out of Hidden Springs, what will happen to your amusement park?”
James looked thoughtful for awhile. Then he said, “Well, no matter what, the park is up and running. In fact, I’ve been getting texts from my co-architects for the past few weeks telling me what a national success it has been! Apparently people have come from all over the country to visit it, because it’s the first truly accessible park of its size in the nation. But I see what you’re worried about… It’s not a big deal. They have plenty of staff, and my co-architects will take care of everything in my absence.”
“Aren’t you kind of sad about that, though? It was your pride and joy… I can’t ask you to abandon that.”
“Are you kidding? Don’t you think I’m the one asking you to abandon your life in Hidden Springs? As far as I’m concerned, my work on that park is done. I put my soul into that project for years, and now it is finally finished. I don’t feel that they need me there anymore, and if I’m honest, I’d love to go somewhere entirely new and work on making another town wheelchair-accessible. Maybe I don’t have to make another amusement park, or maybe I will, but whatever I do, I don’t have to be anywhere near Hidden Springs.”
Rue grinned. “In that case… how would you feel about living in Italy?”
“What?”
“I know that seems like it’s totally out of nowhere, but I’ve always kind of dreamed of living in Europe. Ever since I went to Italy and Germany as a kid, I’ve wanted to go back to this Italian town called Monte Vista that I visited with my parents. And now I’ve been thinking, I mean… wouldn’t it be fun to live there?”
James’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Live in Europe? Like, permanently?”
Rue smiled to herself, thinking back on the days when she had worried that James’ wheelchair prevented an adventurous spirit. That was obviously not the case. “I mean, why not? New life, new start, new continent?”
“My dear,” James said. “I’d be delighted.”
* * *
James and I have a system going for our France trip. I wake up super early and leave the hotel before he’s even up. Then I go exploring, or complete whatever “missions” are posted on the notice board.
Meanwhile, he draws in his sketchpad or wheels around town looking at buildings for inspiration.
He also spends a lot of time at the art museum! Even though his specialization is architecture, he’s still an artist at heart and I know what he really loves is painting. The museum is full of those, so he’s always happy! Plus, they have sections for Chinese and Egyptian art, and he says he likes to feel a connection to my adventures when he goes there.
Meanwhile, I’ve been doing some cursory exploring. As has become my custom in any new place, I started out with the town, getting to know the merchants and purchasing anything I thought was notable. My favorite shops are always the bookstores-I don’t know how I’ll fit all the books I bought into my suitcase!
The best part about this trip is that both James and I are fluent in French! I guess I have dear Mrs. Beaumont to thank for that. Because of that, I haven’t had to work as hard to earn the respect of the locals as I did in China and especially Egypt.
The notice board is always helpful when I don’t know what to do. One woman sent me to these awesome Celtic ruins to find something she had lost.
I just adore riding my little Vespa scooter around Champs Les Sims. It is absolutely gorgeous here-the countryside is so lovely and lush, a wonderful contrast from the years I spent in Egypt!
Part of the fun of it all, though, is the mystery that lies beneath the quaint exterior! Underground somewhere I found this enchanting little maze, complete of course with a grave in the middle. Can’t have tombs without dead bodies, right?
The funny thing about these French tombs is that, unlike Egyptian pyramids that fill the tombs with treasures of the deceased, all the treasure chests and pedestals here just have wine on them. I mean, I knew the French loved their wine, but seriously?
They also love their elegant statues!
Side note: that chest is full of wine.
Oh, and they also do the thing where a lever to a secret room is disguised as a torch. Come on, that’s the oldest trick in the book!
One lady wanted me to examine the source of mysterious noises coming from her basement (she was “too busy” to do it herself, which really means “too scared”), and below I found this gorgeous little underground garden! That’s what I love about France-this long, deep history that goes back for centuries and is often completely undiscovered, just waiting for someone like me to find it!
But no matter how busy I am, James and I always meet up for lunch in our favorite little café, called The Catania. I just adore this place! It has delicious food, as well. James has been really interested in French cooking, and might start taking lessons from the owner of the Catania.
After lunch, we switch off every day-some days I go back to exploring, and some days we spend the afternoon together. If it’s one of those days, we usually find a romantic bench to sit on somewhere, where we read or draw. That’s when I find the time to chronicle all my adventures, too!
If we don’t do that, we find a secluded piece of countryside where we can snuggle and kiss and just act like a couple. Since I’m practicing allowing this to be a feelings journal as well as an adventure journal: I’m so, so, so unbelievably happy to have James in my life again. Now that I have him I can’t imagine how I ever let him go.
In the evenings he has started making dinner for me, which is so romantic! He really seems to like the cooking thing. Who knows, maybe it’ll be his next ambition! We eat together in the dining room of the hotel, and then the evening is ours to spend together how we will.
And by that I obviously mean sitting by the fire pit behind the hotel! We would never do anything else in the evening in a romantic hotel in France. Nope. Anyway, the fire pit is lovely and cozy and we spend plenty of time gazing at the stars, just like we did the night he told me he loved me, back in Appaloosa Plains when we were teenagers.
* * *
Hehe okay, who saw that coming? (Probably all of you xD) Come on, how could I NOT get those two back together? Are they not just the cutest couple you have ever seen? I love them so much AH D: Anyway, pleeeease let me know what you thought, I love to hear from you! Now, I'm off to get chapter 12 organized so I can post hopefully soon! And then write the beginning of generation FOUR WOOOOOOO :D Thank you guys so much for reading, you're all the best <3 See you next time, and until then, happy simming!