Between the new Sims 2 expansion pack, some personal drama, computer technical problems, and a serious case of writer’s block, the latest installation to SOM had been delayed for far too long. Here’s the long awaited sixth chapter, and you can look forward to Chapter 7 being up by Wednesday. I’ve also gone back to some of the previous chapters to touch up and make some corrections, but if I overlooked something, please let me know.

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CHAPTER 6: Domestic Disturbance

Hank stood outside of the door that led to his apartment. He had just returned from his big day out in Sugar Hill Valley, and although he had a great time, he was also rather exhausted. Between Katie’s antics at the movie theater and the trip to Gizmo’s arcade, Hank have had his share of fun for one day (not to mention that he was convinced that he and his friends were now banned from Littleton Multiplex). But at least he had the comforting thought that soon he could have a relaxing dinner and wind down for the rest of the night in peace. Hank took out his house keys with one hand, since the other juggled a rather large bag of food, and unlocked the door – only to be met with blaring rock alternative music.

“Jeez, Mo! Turn that down!” cried Hank, hurriedly closing the door. Morgan, who was sprawled out upon the cushions of the couch, just flipped him off and continued to watch her music videos. Hank rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen area and set the bag of food he was carrying inside of the fridge. He then walked over to the back of the couch.

“Ma and Jason?” he inquired.

“Bedrooms…” she simply replied.

Hank nodded and headed back into the kitchen to get something to drink. “There’s burgers and fries in the fridge if you want,” he stated, reaching for a soda. Morgan however never responded back. Just then an adult golden retriever raced over to him from the back of the apartment and Hank began to stroke the dog’s head. “How’s it going, Buddy?” he smiled warmly.

“Hank?” called a woman’s voice from the master bedroom.

“I’m in the kitchen!”

A door is heard closing, and a middle-aged woman with her long black hair caught up into a pony tail and sad brown eyes entered the main area. She wore an oversized t-shirt, some loose fitting capris and a pair of flip-flops. The woman then made her way to a nearby recliner and took a seat.

“I brought dinner home from the Moonlight Café,” said Hank.

“Thanks,” answered her mother. “Goodness knows that I didn’t feel like cooking tonight. So how did today go?”

“It was actually pretty cool. The movie was excellent, we got to hang at Gizmo’s for a bit, and one of the evil prep girls from school totally got what she deserved. The only thing missing today was Kurt.”

“Well that’s good to…”

“Do you mind?” growled Morgan, cutting her eyes at the two of them. “I’m trying to watch my videos here.”

“Well actually, I came out here because I needed to discuss something important with the two of you. So,could you turn that off for a moment?”

Grudgingly, Morgan turns the TV off, throws the remote onto the coffee table and folds her arms. Hank finished up in the kitchen and walked over to join Morgan on the couch.

“Thank you,” replied their mother.

“So, what’s up, Ma?” Hank asked.

“Well, it’s in regards to your father calling yesterday…”

“Yeah, I know. The Kid told me that he spoke with him.”

“Right. I’ll just get straight to the point, then. You see, the reason why your father called is because he asked if Jason could spend some time with him this summer. And, I’ve decided that it would be in Jason’s best interest that he goes up to Platinum City to see him…”

Hank and Morgan blinked

“Well?”

Hank and Morgan blinked twice

“Say something.”

“Ok, Mother?” replied Morgan. “That has got to be the worst idea you’ve come up with …ever!”

“Excuse me?!”

“Oh, god…” mumbled Hank under his breath, wishing that he wasn’t so inconveniently sitting in between the two. Morgan had a violent temperament as is, but when their mom got upset, well, she could be downright scary.

“You’re sending the midget into the jaws of the lion!” screamed Morgan. “What am I supposed to do-- praise you for that?”

“Mo…”

“You have a lot of nerve!” shrieked their mother, her calm disposition rapidly fading. “All the times that you can’t even watch your little brother! You should be happy that someone is, as you would put it, ‘taking him off your hands’!”

“Ma…”

“Well you know what I’m saying is true!”

“Ladies, cool it!” screamed Hank standing up in between them. Buddy whined and found it wiser on his part to leave the room. As he trotted out of the room and towards the back of the apartment, Hank’s mother relaxed a bit and sat back down, while Morgan backed away from Hank. “You want the Kid to hear you?” he said in a more hushed tone of voice. “Be easy. Besides, Ma… sending Jason to stay with Dad? I’m certain that he still hangs out with that ‘crowd’ of his.”

“Pizzaface here has a point. You may still be in denial, but the sperm donor doesn’t put his children’s interests first. Send him up there, and there’s going to be trouble.”

“Well, I really think Jay-Jay should go. Hank’ll be busy preparing for college, I have work, and you hardly watch him as is. Besides, Jay-Jay has never seen his dad since the divorce.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Mo, please stop making things more difficult.”

Their mother tensed up and sighed deeply. “If Payne really wants to see Jason, then I should let him. He has done some unspeakable things before. God knows I do. But perhaps he’s really trying to change for the better, not just for himself…but for all you…”

Morgan snorted indifferently and rolled her eyes. “However, I also don’t want to send my baby up there by himself, especially by bus…”

“He’s not picking him up?” inquired Hank.

“He can’t. And with the way our car’s been acting, it probably wouldn’t even make it pass the town limits, so we can’t drive him up there.”

“What do you mean ‘he can’t’ pick him up?”

“Something about his car being impounded and that he can’t leave the city…”

“Beautiful,” quipped Morgan. “A sign of things to come…”

“Anyway, that’s the main reason why I wanted to speak with you two, because I wanted to see which one of you would be willing to go along with Jay-Jay for the stay.”

Once again, the two siblings blinked.

“No way am I going anywhere near that prick...”

“Morgan!”

“…I’ll go,” answered Hank half-heartedly and rubbing his temples, since these ‘family moments’ often wore on his nerves. Morgan and their mother quickly turned to him: Morgan with a look of defeat and resentment, their mother with a look of surprise and release. “Sweetie, are you sure?” his mother asked.

“Absitively posolutely. This way, everyone’s happy. You can go to work without missing any days, Jason can see Dad, Mo can stay well clear away from him, and I’ll have a bit of a vacation before school starts. Besides, it’ll be good to see some of my old friends and what’s become of the old neighborhood.”

“Very well then…”

Morgan grumbled something unintelligible and stormed off towards her room. Their mother then took out some papers and handed them to Hank. “Here are the print-outs from online for the trip. We’ve arranged for Jay-Jay to head up there a week from today, on the 9th. With pit stops included, you guys should arrive there sometime early Monday morning.”

“For how long are we staying up there?”

“About two weeks. You’ll catch the bus coming back on Friday the 22nd.”

“So basically, we’ll be gone from the 9th until like the 24th…”

“That’s about right.”

Hank studied the paperwork, and the phone began to ring. “I got it,” replied his mother, rising to pick up the phone. “Keep the paperwork to look over, and thanks for volunteering to go, love.”

Hank nodded absentmindedly as he continued to stare at the paper. Just then Jason exited from the back of the apartment. He started to head for the fridge when his mother gestured at him to stop and pointed toward the sink. Jason wrinkled his nose, but he did as he was told, and after washing up he took out a burger and went to sit at the island.

“You’re not going to heat that up?” inquired Hank. “Iz ‘ill woom,” said Jason with his mouth full.

Hank just smiled. “So guess what, kid? I’m going be the one to go with you to Platinum City to see Dad.”

“Really? That’s so cool! Mommy says that we used to live up there, but I don’t remember it.

“You were really young when we left… Barely a year old.”

“Well I can’t wait for next Saturday!” said the perky blonde, reaching for his burger again. Hank smiled lightly and turned to leave the room. With his back now turned to his naïve little brother, Hank let the smile wash away, and in its place was sheer exasperation.

“I certainly can…” he murmured to himself.

-----

Several streets over, the Larson family was enjoying each others company in a more civilized manner. Gathered around the dinner table, the family of five was now exchanging stories about their day. “All in all though, I think that everything worked out fine,” said Muriel. “Gina seems to have come out of her shell some, and now there looks as if there’s a chance for her and Alex. Worked out in her favor that he had gone to see the same movie we saw.”

“Sounds like today was a smashing success,” said Mr. Larson.

“Aye. And it was worth it to see Gina so happy. She seems more confident in herself now. And she even said that she would probably like to hang out with us next Saturday too.”

“It’s a wonderful thing what you lot did for her,” beamed Mrs. Larson. “And you know, such kindness never goes unrewarded, love…”

Muriel smiled and continued to eat. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Mr. and Mrs. Larson looked at each other in confusion. “Who could that be at this hour?” asked Mr. Larson, starting to get up.

“I’ll go see,” said Muriel, hopping out of her door and skipping to the door. As she neared the front door, Muriel could just make out the silhouette of a young man leaning along the banister of the porch. When she was closer, she could see that he had light blonde hair – just like her mother’s, and warm brown eyes – just like her father’s.

“Oliver?” gasped Muriel, opening the door. The lanky young man now walked over to her and leaned on the door frame. “Hey Powderpuff. Miss me much?”

“Of course I…”

“Muriel?”

Oliver and Muriel turned to see Mrs. Larson, who had left the kitchen to see who was at the door. Oliver chuckled and threw his hands out. “Surprise, Mammy,” he smiled.

“Oh Oliver! My dear boy!” cried Mrs. Larson, rushing over and taking him into her arms. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Can’t…breathe…Mammy!” wheezed Oliver.

“Oh! So sorry, love!” Just then, Peter came bounding out of the kitchen screaming Oliver’s name repeatedly and fell into his older brother’s arms. “Oliver! You’re back!”

“S’up Pete? You’ve been holding down the fort while I was gone?”

“You know it!”

“My word, this is a grand sight,” said Mrs. Larson, all aglow now that all of her children were home. “Whenever did you get into town?”

“About twos hour ago actually. I wanted to stop by a few places first to…”

Oliver stops in mid sentence to see his father standing in the background holding baby Brita. The other members of the household look on to see if either one of the men will greet the other. However the two of them instead have a mini staring contest before Mr. Larson ‘lost’ interest, and he and Brita finally disappear up the stairs.

“Since when did it get so cold here in the summer?” said Oliver sarcastically.

“Oh, pay your father no mind, Olie. He’s happy to see you. Really…”

“I bet.”

“Well come in, me boy. Come in. Let’s get you a wee bite to eat and then we get you settled in for the night. Plus you can tell me all about what you been up to these days.”

Oliver nodded and he and Mrs. Larson headed back into the kitchen. Peter then turned to Muriel, who was still standing by the door. “Are they going to start fighting again?” he asked. Muriel smiled lightly. “Let’s hope not, aye?”

Peter nodded and then yawned. “Yeah. I don’t want Oliver to leave again.”

“Well he does have to go back to school eventually. But yes, I know what you mean. We’ve missed him too.”

Peter yawned for a second time. “You should probably be getting ready for bed too,” said Muriel, ruffling with his hair. “But I’m not tired,” whined Peter, and raced off into the kitchen. “And I want to hang out with Oliver some.”

“Alright, but I don’t want to hear about you being tired come the morrow,” shouted Muriel, closing the front door.

-----

“What a total bummer, man. Two weeks with that dick of a father of yours?”

Over at the Bershadskys’ home, Kurt is in the living room talking on the phone. He was about to turn in for the night when he got a phone call from a rather troubled Hank.

“I know. But I’m really doing it for the kid. He’s hardly ever seen Dad, and Mom can’t afford to take time off to supervise the stay. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even bother.”

“I know, but still, two whole weeks?”

“At least it’s only that. I’d have a serious problem if it were for the entire season.”

“True, but still. Besides, how do you even feel about going back ’home’?

“I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of heading back to PC, and seeing the familiar sights. But for the most part, I’m really nervous.”

“Nervous?”

“Sort of. I’m worried that I’ll run into…certain people. I’ve been doing so well, man, and I don’t want to start relapsing.”

“Hey, leave the pessimism to me.”

“I mean it. I swore that I would never touch the stuff or run the streets again, but when you get around your old friends, you sometimes let down your guard, and with you guys a thousand miles away, I’ll have no moral support.”

“Dude, it could be a hundred thousand miles. Nothing’s going to keep us from being there for you.”

“…You’re sure about that?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know what I mean.”

Kurt bit his lip and stared down at his feet. “If this is about me not showing up today, then you’re getting upset over nothing. I…”

“It’s not just that, Kurt. I don’t expect you to spend every waking minute with me and the guys. However, lately, you haven’t been around for anything or anyone. And that solitary behavior of yours is really tuning people off. What’s going to happen if something major goes down with one of us? Would you be there then, or will you leave us hanging when we need you most?”

Kurt sighed exasperatedly and ran his free hand across his face. “I just have some other things on my mind right now,” he said after a period of silence. “But you know that if the time came, I would be there for you guys. Just give me some more time to myself, and I promise things will be back to normal.”

There was a noticeable pause. “Deal,” replied Hank. “Don’t forget that while I’m gone, I’ll call often, alright? I want to be up to date on anything that happens down here.”

“As if. Nothing ever happens around here…”

“You say that now and the second I leave, something will. You see about what you missed today, right?”

“I know, I know, and relax. I promise we’ll be in touch the whole time you’re gone.”

“Great. Well let me let you go. I know you guys have to be up early for your fishing trip. Later…”

“Later…”

Kurt hangs up the phone, and turns off the living room light on his way out. As he made his way down the hall, his dad exited the bathroom.

“You’re still up?”

“Yeah. That was Hank on the phone.”

“Oh really? How are things over his way?

“Ok, I guess. Hank and his little brother are getting ready to go to Platinum City in about a week to see their dad.”

“I see. Good ol’ father-son time.”

“Right…”

“Speaking of which, are we still on for our father-son time tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“Great. Be sure that you and your brother are both ready by 5:30 a.m. We’ll need plenty of time to get to Moon Mountain Park.”

“Sure thing, Dad. Good night.”

With that Kurt left his father in the hallway and continued towards his bedroom. When he entered, he found Joe still dressed from his day out and in front of the computer.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for bed?” asked Kurt, walking over to the dresser to change.

“In a bit…” answered Joe, in a trance-like state. Kurt shook his head, for he knew that if left alone, Joe could easily sit there playing games until the wee hours of the morning. Coupled with the fact that he is also not a morning person, an overly tired Joe would be almost impossible to wake up in time for the fishing trip.

“That’s why you said an hour ago. You’re going to be exhausted come tomorrow morning.”

“Uh-huh…”

Kurt flung his clothes into the nearby hamper and then walked over to Joe and the computer, occasionally tugging at his pants leg. “Come on Joe. I really don’t want to have to fight with you in the morning. And I really don’t want to face the wrath of Dad for not being ready on time. You know how he gets.”

“Fine…” mumbled Joe, saving his game and eventually shut down the computer. “Thank you,” replied Kurt. Joe however never responded back. In silence, he got up from his seat and walked over to the dresser and began to change into his pajamas.

“Oh now what?” said Kurt mockingly. “You’re not talking to me because I interrupted your playtime?”

“No…” said Joe, pulling his pajama shirt over his head. “I’ve just been thinking…”

“You? Thinking? That’s rich…”

“Very funny.”

“Ok, ok. So what’s on your mind?”

“…I should be asking you the same question…” said Joe, both his face and his voice unusually serious. Picking up on this, Kurt raised an eyebrow.

“What’s with you?”

“Dude, what is with you? You’ve been acting so distant …more so than usual.”

“Oh god, not you too…”

“Skipping meals, ditching your friends and family, constantly glued to the computer…And who is ForsakenScribe?”

Upon hearing that question, Kurt’s eyes grew large. “How do you know about ForsakenScribe?”

“I had walked into the room one day when you were away from the desk. The chat window was minimized, but at that moment, he - or she- replied to the last thing you said.”

Kurt frowned. “It’s …complicated, Joe. Let’s just leave it at that…”

“Is it really? Or is that an excuse to shut me up?”

“Boy, do you catch on…”

“I’m serious, Kurt. I know at times I may seem like the last person willing to lend a hand or be of any use, but…I don’t like seeing you like this. And don’t say that it’s nothing because honestly, you’ve been like this for a while now. I…just never brought it up before. I didn’t know how to bring it up before…”

That all too familiar uncomfortable silence soon filled the air, and Kurt once again sighed in exasperation and ran his hand across his face. “I’d like to tell you, but I’m sworn to secrecy. If I were to talk about this person to anyone, it could leak out to the public and the media and the paparazzi will have a field day with it. Plus…she would probably have to leave…and I may never see her again…”

“Oh…”

Once again, things grew silent between the two brothers, and Joe went to lay on his bed. “I see,” he said. It kind of makes sense now that you’ve finally given me a reason. You’ve never really been one to gossip about other people and if they swore you to secrecy, you’d take it to your grave before you squealed.”

Kurt nodded in agreement. “One question though, and then I’ll drop the issue,” said Joe. Kurt gestured for him to continue.

“Does she live at the Clove Villa?”

Kurt’s eyes fell to the floor.

“I think I got my answer,” said Joe, smiling lightly. “Gina was acting pretty much the same way you are.”

“Really, now?”

“Yeah. She practically went postal today when I went into one of the rooms I wasn’t supposed to.”

“I would’ve loved to seen that.”

“Yeah, you missed a lot of craziness today. And I do mean a lot.”

Kurt smiled. “So I’ve heard. Anyway, let’s turn in. We’ve got ourselves a long day ahead…”