Chapter 27

Broken Silence

And now we enter a bit of an awkward time in the Black Household. We're only a day or so before the Twin's birthday...

"Pardon me."

...K2's a little confused... okay, more than a little confused... and out of commission...

"Excuse me!"

...and...

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*pause*

*blinkblink*

Um... V... are you... talking... to me?

"Is anyone else talking to you right now?"

Um... well... no. But... you don't talk to me. None of the clones seem to talk to anyone. Heck, even your archetype didn't talk to his controller for ages.

"I'd think you would have realized by now that I am not my archetype."

Er, no. Point taken. So... why are you talking to me?

---

"I want to know what you did to my wife."

Excuse me?

"You had to have done something to her. First, last night she gives me a bad scare with the trash compacter. I know, I know. You couldn't have arranged that. I highly doubt you have an "electrocute on command" button installed on it."

No, but you might not want to mention it too loudly. You might give EO ideas.

"EO? Hmmph. My question though is more focused on what happened second. This morning K2 wandered into the bathroom babbling about Ray Go and being a single mother. She then took one look at me as I stepped out of the shower, screamed like she'd seen a ghost, and passed out cold. K2 is not a 'scream and faint' sort of woman."

Well, she is in a bit of a delicate condition right now.

---

*V raises an eyebrow* "I'm going to assume you're referring to fact she tried to barbeque herself from the inside out last night. I fail to see where that would cause her to think I'm going to leave her."

Er, that's not quite it.

"And how does Ray fit in the picture? I know she and Ray were more than just 'study partners' in college, but does this mean that she and Ray have been up to things recently? Is she feeling guilty? I know that Clay Simpson, that bastard, has been all 'kiss kiss' the last few times he's been around. Admittedly he's that way with every breathing female he's near, but I just wish he'd keep his damn hands off K2."

Temper V...

"As long as Clay stays away, we won't have any 'temper' issues. But I'm more concerned about Ray at the moment."

Ray is a bit... well, a lot... infatuated with K2.

"Which I've known since college."

But he wouldn't be the only one fixated on another man's wife.

---

"That is a carryover from my archetype. I can't help it."

Um... Selene isn't married V.

"..."

Did you forget that I can see your want slots?

"Ah..."

How do you think K2 would feel if she found out her husband had 3 bolts for one of her best friends from college?

"Ah... well... Allyn and Stephan have been together forever. She and I are only friends, despite the attraction between..."

I can see your memory slots too.

---

"And you wonder why I have never spoken to you before." *V fumes* "You will not ride roughshod over me like you do K2. I asked you about my wife because I'm worried about her and you're trying to drag my college indiscretions into it."

Well, those little lightning bolts for other women are causing K2 a bit of distress here.

"So what would you have me do? Change my wants and desires at the drop of a hat?"

Well, changing would be a start. There are ways to tweak those things.

"And I've seen what happened to the last sim you helped use the 'cement mixer'."

Kasson turned out fine. Scared SK a little bit in the process, but he's a happy knowledge sim now.

"It must have been the one before that then. I'm even less fond of cheese than he was before his run in with that contraption. I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Oh, you mean Orrin. Pfft. *shrugs* It's just Orrin. I'm sure you'll be fine.

"But what about K2? She has little lightning bolts for other men as well. What about the 'distress' they're causing me?"

I'll have K2 tweak hers as well. Only fair that she does some changing too.

---

"How about we try something less... drastic and cheese inducing first. Such as you stop twisting the facts when you talk to K2. Oh, and it was dirty pool of you to start showing her carefully angled pictures and dropping implications in her ear when her pregnancy hormones were running rampant. Bah. No wonder she thinks I'm going to leave her."

Er, that's not what triggered the fainting spell.

"Then, pray tell, what did trigger it?"

---

I'd... ah... rather explain it to K2 first.

"Oh very well. And while you're chatting her up, could you try to convince her that I'm not going to leave her for anyone, ever."

I've tried that. And I've tried to get her to talk to you about it, but that just went in one ear and out the other with her.

*V sighs* "I love her. I've been in love with her since our freshman year. I adore her and our three..."

*cough*four*cough*

---

"...wonderful kids, and I know she loves me... wait, what did you just say?"

Nothing. Nothing at all. Frog in my throat. I'm still recovering from that lung rot I had. Carry on waxing poetic about your wife.

"Don't try to change the subject. You can't use your finger-wave-these-are-not-the-sims-you're-looking-for jedi mind tricks with me. Now what did you say? You corrected me on something."

Ah... yeah... I said 'four'.

---

"Four? As in four chi..." *pole-axed steer-esque look* "Oh @&*%$, she's going to kill me. We'd agreed three was a houseful, especially since Rhyl wants a puppy. But... when... how? We've been careful..."

I think you two are very familiar -- and experienced -- with the 'how' part. We might want to bump up the timetable for you guys moving to a new house though.

*glare* "Unless this explains why she was babbling about Ray this morning. If she hadn't been careful with him... if it's his child she's carrying."

V, K2 doesn't even know she's pregnant yet. And trust me, she's not carrying Ray's, Clay's, or anyone else's child but yours.

"Trust you? After all the chaos you've tried to sow, why should I?"

---

Because you know I'm telling the truth. Even though I've accused her of it, you and I both know K2 is no DHW. She's as unlikely to sleep with someone else as you are.

*V sighs* "I know. But that still doesn't explain the 'when' part? We've..."

...been careful. Yeah, you said that. But you were only careful in the bedroom. In case you forgot, Rhyl wasn't conceived in bed either.

"Oh f... the mini-van."

"A'yup. And you spun up the vehicular recreation wants first, remember?"

*V grumbles* "She's the one who thought up the... thing... with the reclining seats."

That's not how she explained it.

"What?!"

---

V, Where is your wife?

"She's asleep, upstairs. Um... that electric shock last night isn't going to cause problems with her pregnancy, is it? I don't want to risk losing K2 or the baby."

I don't have InTeen installed, so she'll be fine. But we should probably go talk to her. There's a lot of explaining to do.

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