Chapter Five - Arrivals and Departures

Johnny couldn't take up residence in the Deliah household indefinitely, and in the cold, early morning, he made to leave. Sharing one last goodbye kiss with Jessi, he could have sworn that he felt a kick in her stomach. The motion made him feel sick, and he held back tears.

"My kids...they're going to be fine, right?"

"Trust me, I only give the best of care to my kids. They'll be okay."

Johnny sniffed. Jessi pretended to not noticed the vulnerability and instead smiled, waiting for him to look back into her eyes.

"Take care." he eventually stated, hands deep in his pockets.

Jessi grinned. "You too, Johnny."

With a final nod, Johnny was out the door, never to return. Watching him as long as she could until he rounded the corner in his clunker, whose loud wheezes and shakes convulsed the early morning dew, Jessi cracked her knuckles. It was her time to start writing a novel or two. She considered it to be one of her greatest de-stressers during a pregnancy, and besides, after her experiences last night, she had plenty of ideas to put onto paper. Money would still be an issue for a while - even with Julian's offer, he had agreed to only pay her in full at the end of his stay, to prevent Jessi from taking his money and then kicking him out. There was only so far his down payment of thirty thousand could stretch, especially in such an old, rickety house in need of so many repairs. Plus, there was the added burden of feeding the men, which would complicate matters for a while. At least Carlos' work was free, laboring in the name of science. Heading for the writing room, it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps said men upstairs would have been interested in interviewing the now long gone suitor. Ah, well. It was their fault for not waking up early.

When the men did eventually awaken, they rose to a mostly empty house. The teenagers off at school, the men found that there was no one to interview, what with Jessi busy and the suitor from last night vanishing into thin air - an event Julian entirely blamed Carlos for; why hadn't he kept a more careful eye on him? They were left to their own devices, and largely avoided one another. Carlos began reviewing the notes that he had taken on the Delilah family, the fruits of an extensive research; they had to be brought into consideration before he could even begin his testing. The day prior, Jessi had confided her worries about her son Mars in Carlos - apparently, the teenager had been a happy child a few hours before his arrival. Could he save him before it was too late?

Julian, on the other hand, contented himself with a game of chess and lounging around in bed. He had no need for silly research - he was a naturally born charismatic, and he was confident that once he got to interviewing, the secrets of the Delilah family would come pouring out. He might as well enjoy what little splendor the home had to offer in the meantime.

"Oh, Jimmy Sprocket," he laughed, slapping the back of the hardcover with the flat of his hand, "You never cease to entertain."

Sudden gasping from the downstairs forced his attention away from the book. He turned to ignore it, the yells were feminine in nature: Julian had just assumed that Carlos had found a mouse in the kitchen. But when the sounds failed to cease, he sighed, throwing the children's book onto his dresser and slowly making his way to the staircase.

Julian was almost correct; Carlos had found something, alright. In the kitchen, Jessi sunk to the ground and ground her teeth together painfully.

"D-don't worry about me," she moaned through gritted teeth. "I'll be fine." Why did she always go into labor in the kitchen? It couldn't have been hygienic.

Carlos, who had discovered Jessi before Julian, was currently panicking. This situation was entirely new to him - it didn't matter how many times he read about it, experiencing it for himself was something alien and strange.

He continued to wave his arms in a flurried panic as Julian stood, stoic to the situation.

"Oh my God, is there anything we can do to help?" Carlos asked, for what must have been the hundredth time. Julian cut through him - there were more important matters at hand.

"Miss Jessi? I have another deal for you."

"What, Julian? I'm kind of busy at the moment, if you haven't noticed." She tried pushing her way through the men toward the nursery, but Julian held her arm. If it hadn't been for his money, his sudden act of rudeness would have flung Jessi into an uncontrollable rage.

"Let me record a video of you giving birth on my cellphone, and I will triple my original amoun-"

"Shove your deal! There's a baby on the way!" Jessi yelled, another contraction rippling through her. The last thing she needed at the moment was to be under the stress of a camera lens! Pulling away from Julian, she crawled toward the nursery, past the bathroom where Lotus was dutifully working on repairing the toilet after coming home early. She had blossomed into quite a Handy individual.

"Need anything, Mom?" she asked casually.

"Nothing, sweetheart. Come visit in a few hours, see your new siblings. I think it's triplets."

"Sweet." Lotus replied, continuing to bang her hammer on the soft porcelain.

Jessi's prediction was right on the money. After a handful of painful contractions, she gave birth to two boys and one girl, all healthy upon delivery. She named her female Marine, and the boys Alton and Neptune. She was feeling a longing for the ocean lately - the pictures she had seen of it online made her wistful.

Realizing that the nursery only had two cribs, she went to the guest room to lay down Marine. As soon as she had shut the door, there was an instant knocking, and, assuming that it was Lotus, she opened it once more. Instead, Carlos stood in the doorframe. She laid a baby down in a crib and smiled at him.

"Congratulations," he said, hugging her, "They look beautiful."

"Oh, well, you know, I try my best."

Carlos laughed. "I, uh, can see that." What a sense of humor.

"There's two males, Carlos. Over the next few weeks, do you think you can monitor them for me?"

"Well, that's why I'm here! What did you name them?"

"The girl is Marine. As for the boys, Alton and Neptune. They're both in the other room. Alton is the fairskinned one, Neptune is the other. Well, obviously. You can go check up on them now, if you'd like."

Thus began his research. In the next few weeks, he partook in lengthy observations of the babies, monitoring their habits and, with Jessi's permission, their brainwaves, which involved tight caps hooked up to Carlos' laptop and an inappropriate amount of gel to keep said caps functioning. The babies didn't appreciate the process, and there was much crying throughout the house, driving everyone to their limits. Fortunately, they all aged up normally, and Carlos agreed that in light of this fact there would be no more need for heavy testing - much to the household's relief.

Marine and Neptune quickly formed a strong friendship. So inseparable were they that it was almost impossible to get the two in different rooms from one another, for then they would just cry and yell until seeing the other one again. Both had inherited their father's signature hair.

They often played at the block table together, gurgling in a language only the two of them could have understood. It was rather hard to drag them away from this activity, even to go to the bathroom. Potty training the two proved to be the biggest challenge Jessi every had to face.

Alton, on the other hand, largely stayed separate from his siblings to play on his own. He was even somewhat distant from his own mother, accepting of the food and drink she offered him but mostly keeping to himself. Jessi could have sworn he taught himself how to walk.

 For all of his abnormalities, he did exhibit the qualities of a child prodigy, and often contented himself with the xylophone, a toy his siblings wouldn't use, unless chewing on the sticks counted. All three aged quicker than the household expected, but that too was a normal aging up. The kids seemed unaffected, and Jessi could breathe a sigh of relief for now.

Neptune and Marine, mischievous little devils, would often play practical jokes on the rest of the household, whether it be silly things like filling the toilet bowl full of stale jelly beans (Lotus did not appreciate unclogging their joke, and on that day, the siblings quickly learned to fear their older sister) or simply pulling a disappearing act: ironically, the two had developed keen Angler traits, and it was not uncommon for Jessi to check their rooms at four AM in the morning just to found them gone, looking for the freshest catch. She supposed that there were no complaints for getting the free food, but it was terrifying, nonetheless, to have her children disappear on her, and she invested in some heavy-duty locks for their bedroom window.

Not much had changed with Alton. He would still spend long hours by himself, playing chess or reading books with large words in them. Coming downstairs only to go to school and to eat, it was hard for Jessi to not worry for him - she'd try communicating with him, only to be met with one word replies. "Yes." "Okay." "No."

What a strange child.

The growth of the new generation did come with some heartbreaking news. It would soon be time for the older sisters to move out of the home, their birthdays in just a few days. This was a fact that Petal enjoyed to bring up every once in a while, much to Lotus' chagrin. Her reminders came to a boiling point a mere day before their aging ups.

"We're aging up tomorrow, you know. There's no need to do homework, seeing as we won't be in school."

"I know."

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Stop reminding me."

Petal sighed at her sister's quick dismissal.  "Look, I know it's a painful topic, but we really need to plan our future."

"Our future? You mean, me and you?" Lotus stopped looking at her work and instead stared straight at her sister, shocked by the idea.

"Well, yeah. You think I'd just leave you after we age up?"

"Well...I guess not." Lotus admitted. "I guess I never really thought much about it. What did you have in mind?"

"It'll be great. Tough for a while, but great. We'll rent a small house, and I'll buy you an easel and some paint and work so you don't have to full time. I'll squirm my way through college and into some astrology lab. That job I took at the grocer and my scholarships are funding all of this. I've got it planned out."

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

Petal twiddled her thumbs. "Well, to be honest...ever since I was I kid. I thought it might make you, you know, like me. I always had included Axel in it, but...well, you know." There was an awkward silence. Lotus fiddled her thumbs.

"I'm still really sorry about that, you know."

"It's fine."

Soon, their birthday came and departed, leaving the sisters to stumble around in their newly adult bodies.

Lotus blossomed into an artistic young woman, who dreamed of having her fantastic artwork on display across the world.

Petal planned on taking a career in the science field, where she could finally be close to the stars she had relied on for comfort for so long.

The goodbyes exchanged were long and tearful, but none so more so than the one between the girls and Jessi, who would never again meet. Letting go of their bodies shattered Jessi's heart, who had to excuse herself to the bathroom a few minutes afterwards. Before their final departure, however, the nosy Julian insisted on an interview with the two sisters. Apprehensively, they agreed - something about the green skinned man skeeved them out, even if only slightly.

Leading them into his room and pulling out chairs to sit on, Julian quickly got to work, asking the sisters intrusive questions on their sexual orientation and the finer details of their upbringing. Lotus was rather flushed throughout the entire period, often turning her cheek to Julian in favor of her sister's face. It was a more welcoming sight. The questions become more and more focused on their mother as the session went on, to a questionable degree.

"Yeah, we help around the house a lot." Lotus replied to one of Julian's questions. "Mom gets busy a lot, you know? It's the least we can do."

Julian smiled sadly. "Busy, huh? With what, writing? Instead of taking care of her own children?"

Petal frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. "Are you attempting to go somewhere with that statement?"

Whatever percent of irritability that was present in his voice disappeared, and his charm reared its head once more. "Well, girls, I think we're done here. Have a great time out there."

With an unfinished painting still hanging in the easel and the telescope immobile, the house was unnaturally quiet.

Chapter Four - The Two Men

Even Axel's heartbreaking departure couldn't keep Jessi inactive for long. When her thumb fell on the phone number of Johnny Illinois, she knew it was high time to get back to work - moping didn't do her good.

When he stepped out of his car, Jessi was instantly intrigued. Johnny was a relatively good looking young man who smelled of old coffee beans and walked with a slight limp in his left leg.  His face was sculpted with the same softness of a budding teenager's, and he was adorned with the same glasses as Lotus. She wondered how old he was, but then again, maybe she didn't want to know, strictly for moral reasons. Despite her lingering doubts, the two instantly hit it off, so invested in one another from the moment he stepped out of his old junker that they soon forget that they were still standing outside, exposed to the elements and curious neighbors.

"I know that you must get this a lot, but man, am I a huge fan of your books," he smiled. Jessi's interest was piqued. No man had ever mentioned her literary classics, such as The Okay Gatsby and To Mock a Killing Bird. Something about his words seemed sincere. "They're so...flavorful. I'm rather into writing myself, you know."

He sighed, looking to the floor. "Unfortunately, I doubt I'll ever be quite as good as you." 

"As long as I'm here, maybe you could give me a little private lesson inside?" Johnny smiled, tilting his head softly. He wasn't exactly sure how this entire process went, and a little flirting couldn't have hurt, right?

Jessi, not one for catching onto hints, smiled. She was amazingly unflirtatious for someone of her livelihood."Yeah, sure! I'd love to teach a willing student." It was nice to finally meet someone appreciative of her skills. And while it wasn't quite what he had meant, Johnny appreciated the effort on her part, even if he was just a little disappointed. In fact, this entire ordeal was going better than he had expected - rumors had him believe that by now, he would be stripped of his pants and tied to her springbox.

He was almost right. Somehow, their trip to her writing den led them to the upstairs master bedroom, where one thing happily led to another.

Jessi was quite proud of her new lingerie, and even more proud to show it off.

After the third or so WooHooing session, Jessi felt no need to steal away to the bathroom in search for her stash of pregnancy tests, complements of Town Hall tax money. She already knew.

With Johnny softly snoring in the bed beside her and the warm breeze of the outside caressing her legs, it would have been a peaceful conclusion to the day's events if the doorbell hadn't rung just as she settled into bed. The clock beside her claimed that it was six o' clock AM. She was shocked at her lack of sleep - it seemed that Johnny had more of an effect on her than she'd care to admit.

Jessi's trip to the doorway stopped short as the sight of an unfamiliar shirtless man standing in her living room came into vision. Her hand reaching for the nearest blunt object, the stranger turned around at the sound of movement. It was then when she realized that said foreigner's eyes were unmistakable.

"Mars? Is that you?" she asked tentatively, inching toward her son. He had apparently aged up while she was upstairs with Johnny, and the fact pulled slightly at her heartstrings. What a terrible mother she was.

"Oh. Sorry, Mars. Mommy didn't recognize you." Wait, she couldn't talk like that to him anymore, he was a teenager. Jessi swiftly changed topics. "Why are you not wearing a shirt, sweetheart?"

"SHUT UP MOM IT'S CALLED EMO ROCK YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND."

All prior feelings of guilt were evaporated within Jessi's heart. He was going to be one of those teenagers. Fantastic.

"Right, well. Was it you ringing the doorbell?"

"PUNK'S NOT DEAD MOM, GOD."

Apparently, as she was learning, the Grumpy and Insane traits were never meant to coincide. She ignored him, too tired to argue, and headed for the door. A little part of her hoped to open the door and see Axel standing there, waiting in the dusty morning glow.

What she instead witness was two men violently, verbally grappling on the front porch, their yells breaking what would have been a peaceful morning.

One of the two, wearing a heavy pair of glasses, took a deep breath. "I'm going to ask you again. Why do you keep lying to me, Julian? There's no way that the professor gave us the exact same assignment, and you know it. He's smart enough to know that we would have bickered endlessly like this." He ran a light hand through his hair, drumming his fingers on his hips. His counterpart sneered rudely, apparently not intending to answer his question.

"I'm sorry, can you give me a minute? I still can't get over this cruel joke that my professor just played on you. I mean, really, asking you to cover this? You can't even hold a pen right."

The other man reeled. "Jesus Christ, I'm just trying to resolve this before she comes out here. Look, I know that I'm not the absolute best researcher out there, but I really want you to treat me as your equal. Obviously, your professor sees something in me. For the sake of this project, c'mon."

"Can you please take a mint before getting that close to me? Better yet, can you just do us both a favor and not talk at all?" 

 "Oh my God, you're such a child! I can't work with such a..."

"Excuse me, gentlemen?" Jessi yawned, interrupting the conversation. She walked outside, confronting the two. "Can I help you two?"

The green skin man didn't waste a second when he pushed aside his companion with a flick of his wrist and kneeled on one knee at Jessi's feet. "Miss Jessi," he cooed politely, kissing her outstretched hand, "My name is Julian Georges. I have come a very far way to meet you."

Jessi pulled back her hand. Not another donor! "Look, I appreciate the effort, but if you're looking to become my suitor, I'm afraid you're too late..."

"Oh, no, no!" he laughed jubilantly. He had a clear, ringing laugh. Jessi noticed his partner couldn't keep from rolling his eyes. "You're a funny woman! No, I've come here to document you instead." His eyes twinkled at the word "document".

"Document?"

Julian stood up, straightening his bow tie. "I don't know if you know it, Miss Jessi, but you're big news across the world. Everyone who's anyone wants to read up on you! You and your ancestry have been at the center of many psychological studies across the globe, research papers, presentations, you name it, yet no one has been able to secure an interview with a Deliah for as long as you've been around. The mothers refuse to talk to any outsiders, your grown up children evade us - even if we can get any information as to who they are - and there's only so much the partners can say. We intend to end this today."

Jessi sighed. "Look, guys. There's a lot of people who come to my door with the same intention, and I just can't let you do this. I'm going to have young children in this house, and I don't want you distracting them with big fancy cameras and interviews and...well, anything, that's going to prevent them from living like normal kids. Plus, the tradition is pretty clear: there are no adults other than suitors and myself allowed in this home." Except, you know, for nosy baby daddies, but she didn't say anything about Hubert. Besides, that was different.

Julian's face become solemn. "Hold out your hand." he suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Please, just do it."

Jessi sighed and held out her hand to the green skinned man, expecting another kiss. Did he really think that a little courtesy was all it took to do her in? Men could be so one dimensional.

Reaching into his pocket, Julian slapped a wad of cash in her hand. "That's thirty thousand simoleons, cash." he said as Jessi thumbed through the stack, dumbfounded. "And there's much more where that came from if you let me live with you for a year."

His colleague abruptly entered from the sidewalk, where he had slunk off, phone in hand. "I just called the professor," he stated. "Apparently, we were assigned to the same job, Julian. Something about learning to get along and complementing one another? Looks like we'll just have to make the best of it."

Julian's faced turned sour, but suddenly aware of Jessi's presence, he forced a strained smile. Apparently, he didn't want to ruin any of his chances with the potential client. "Fantastic."

The other man approached Jessi and shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Carlos Veea. Scientist. I'm here to study the men of the Deliah household."

Jessi tilted her head, confused. "Why just the men?"

"Well, surely you know why. I want to be able to save them."

"Save them from what?"

Now it was Carlos' turn to be baffled. "You mean that you don't know?"

"Know what?"

He twiddled his fingers, suddenly interested in a ladybug that had skittered across his foot. Julian was silent, neutral to the conflict. "I just don't see how you can't know. Doesn't any family visit home every once in a while?"

"Can't. It's against the tradition." she answered curtly. It was a rather touchy subject.

"Oh. Uh, right." He adjusted his glasses. Man, how had he forgotten that crucial fact? The Delilah family was only his lifework. Now him and the subject of his research had immediately gotten off on the wrong foot.

"Look, uh, I don't know if I should be the one to tell you this, but...Well, the thing is, some of the Delilah men age at a bizarre rate. It's one of the few things we do know about your family. For whatever reason, this ailment never seems to affect the females of the family and only some of the males, but-"

"What do you mean, bizarre rate?" she interrupted. Panicking, her last son came immediately to mind - wasn't Mars just a five foot child a few hours ago? "You mean that this isn't how people are supposed to age?"

Carlos tapped his foot, unsure of how to answer. "Well, yes. I mean, no, as in, that's not how they're supposed to age. It doesn't work like that."

"Well, what can you do about it, then?"

"Me?" He sounded genuinely shocked, as if no one had asked anything of him before.

"Yeah, you. Can you prevent it in any way?"

"Well, uh, I'm not sure yet, but I can start doing some testing on your current children, and see where that takes us."

"And when can you start?" she asked, tapping on her belly. She knew that her consideration to let this scientist live in her home was against all of the rules, but then again, if this could save her children, well, she'd just have to do it.

Julian cleared his throat, interrupting her thoughts. "And me?"

Plus, Julian's money bonus was pretty attractive.

"I guess you can stay, too. But a few conditions."

Both were quiet, and she took their silence as the right to continue. "First off, you two are not to interact with anyone in the household under the age of a teenager unless they approach you first. No interviews, no photography, nothing. And my teenagers must be willing to give either of you interviews, the only exception being, for Carlos only, my boys. It's for their health, after all."

"Understandable." Carlos nodded.

"Second of all, no matter how much stress it seems I'm under, you two are not to interfere with the caretaking process. Don't make dinner for my kids, don't clean their rooms, don't do anything for them unless they're, god forbid, in some sort of physical danger. Call it paranoia, but it's a popular old wives tale in my family that when someone other than a Delilah raises our children, it will only bring bad luck to the household. It's another reason, besides the obvious, as to why we don't marry."

Julian took a notepad out of his left pocket and started scribbling.

"And lastly? If you do anything to harass my children, I have the right to kick you out of my home. Deal?"

The two looked at one another briefly, then turned back. "You have a deal, Miss Delilah." Carlos smiled.

"Oh, call me Jessi." She beckoned the two into the house with a flourish of her hand. "I have rooms for you upstairs."

They walked past a sleeping Johnny, who had apparently tried to follow Jessi downstairs before passing out on the couch.

"Oh, is that one of your sons?" asked Carlos. Jessi blushed a deep red.

"Uh, no, that's my last suitor."

"...oh. Sorry." Carlos felt embarrassed while Julian snickered very softly.

Carlos couldn't help but notice that his room felt rather...lived in.

"Oh, this used to be my son Axel's room. Feel free to move some things around, if you need to."

"I know that it's a little intrusive of me to ask, but do you ever miss them? The kids that leave."

"Well, I've only had one so far leave, and I admit that it rattled me a bit, but you've got to let them live their life, you know? I think I raised him well enough to survive in the world."

"He didn't...you know. Age too quickly?"

"He aged at the same time as his sisters, if that's what you mean."

"Well, if it's any comfort, then he should be fine."

"Thanks." she smiled softly. It had been a short conversation, but already, Carlos seemed to be a very kind man.

Meanwhile, in the next room over, Julian gussied himself up in the large mirror. He was liking this house already.

The next day would start the men's work.