Bassy's Side of the Story

I got a phone call yesterday.  It was Bassy.  My beloved baby brother.
He's not happy with me.  Apparently he got wind of my demand that he sign over his parental rights to Kady.  And I told him that I meant every word.
"You can't take my daughter, Vanna!" he yelled, but it didn't even seem convincing.
"Well, someone has to," I retorted. "You had, what, six years since you got custody, and what happened?" I retorted.  "She basically has not had a childhood."
He sighed.  There was silence on the other end.  Then, the tone of his voice changed from anger to resignation.
He admitted to me that he is actually overwhelmed with her.

 "I cannot keep enough mental stimulation in the house for her. She loves watching the History channel."

 "It was easy back in Starlight Shores when we had that huge library, she'd just go in there and read all day and all night, but since I don't have nearly as many books here, it's hard -"

"The night before I left to film my show, Kaydence and I had a huge fight... Vanna, I - I've never seen Kaydence like this. She was positively raging. I got flashbacks of Madison."

"There wasn't a thing I could do or say, Savannah, she completely went off. It was like a bomb exploded. There was no stopping her, no calming her down. I did everything but she continued..."

"She's so smart, Vanna - I can't believe sometimes how smart she is."

"It's like I'm walking on eggshells with her, Vanna.  Like I'm not good enough or something.  The only time she seems to be happy is when she's reading some thick book or working on some project. She doesn't really socialize with the other kids at school - I've heard that she socializes with their parents and the teachers."

 "Kaydence once spent an entire Saturday afternoon balancing my financial records, and then said afterwards that she had fun doing it." 

 "I think - I think if anyone can handle Kaydence, it'd probably be you."

I stood firm.  "Does that mean you're going to sign her over, Bassy?"
He didn't say yes.  But it seemed like he was considering it.

What am I thinking?  I've got enough problems with Sierra and Skylar and Sawyer... and now I add Kaydence to this mix? 
I will say this, though, the day she walked into our house and into our lives, none of us have been the same. 

Kady, just... stop...

If Sierra wasn't bad enough... I now have to deal with Kaydence.
My niece, frankly, is scaring the crap out of me.  And as you well know, I do not frighten easily.

And the fact that those two are together, well, should make every sim quake in their shoes. 

I heard Bassy's little angel clapping and cheering loudly in approval.  I walked in to see what she was looking at...

...and on the TV apparently some mad scientist had built an army of Servos!

Then it dawned on me.  The reason Sierra took to Kady is because they are kindred spirits. 

I'd hoped that Kady would befriend my youngest daughter, Skylar, as they're the same age.  Instead, she's befriended Skylar's older sister.

Which makes sense, in a way.  Kady may be chronologically thirteen, but in many ways she's much, much older. 

Kady is an old soul.

I noticed that the first day I met her, when she was seven.  She'd said back then, "Everyone thought we were this happy little family.  But it was all for show.  The only time mommy ever kissed me, she did it while the cameras were flashing." 

When asked which parent she wanted to live with, Kady replied with, "Do I have to live with either of them?"

At seven years old, Kady knew exactly what was going on.  She was one sharp little cookie.

Bassy says that even when Kady was little, she preferred being around older people.   She never really talked to the other kids in the neighborhood.  She preferred talking to their parents.

Oh and get this... Kady wants to befriend Sierra's bot, too.

The way Kady is talking scares the crap out of me.   Even at our Snowflake Day celebration, before she came to live with us, she'd casually mentioned that she was considering emancipating herself from Bassy and Madison.

Emancipation!

I explained to her that she was still too young to even consider it at the moment, but she'd told me that she'd thought about it since she was nine.

The other day, I found Kady lying on her little pink blanket that my mother sent her when she was a baby next to my dad's grave... in the rain.   I had no idea she even knew him.

My father's death still hurts.  All of us.  Badly.

I've also found out that Kady is actually actively writing a memoir.  Writing a memoir.  At 13.

I found out about it accidentally.  She'd rushed out of the house and left her laptop running.  And part of a chapter was up.

In it she talks about her childhood - or, quite honestly, her lack of one. 

The stuff that happened to Kady, no child should ever have happen to them.  That this happened to my niece at the hands of her own parents, my baby brother and his ex-fiancée, is just unconscionable.

But... if Kady wasn't the way she is, there's no way she survives what she went through.  She's tough.

And that isn't all. Kady made a new friend.

He has the unfortunate name of Terry Ho.   And, quite unfortunately for him, he's crazy about her.

They apparently met after Kady joined CSG's creative writing club - which comes as a galloping shock to absolutely no one.

They connected over a shared love of and interest in books, film, and literature.  I heard Kady telling him she might want to be a director.

I actually think this is doable for her.  After all, the movies are in her blood as the daughter of an actor.  Wonder how her actors are going to deal with that scary temper of hers, though.  I could see her being impossible to work with and a complete and total perfectionist. 

I could see Kady wanting to be in control.

Funny thing is, she enrolled in school under the name "Kaydence Westley."  Westley, of course, being Madison's real last name that only few people know because she uses her stage name.  And that's what he knows her as.  He doesn't know her name is actually Kaydence Westley-Plumb, that my brother, the actor Bassy Plumb, is her father, or that her mother is the pop star Madison Avenue. 

He doesn't know who she is.  All he knows is he's smitten.

But Madison's little dumpling, though, doesn't seem interested in him in any capacity except as a friend.  Terry is having to jump through hoops.   

Good luck, Terry.  You're going to need it.

"Sign over your rights, Bassy!"

I've come to a decision.
I know it might be rash... but Bassy is NOT getting Kaydence back.  Period.
He had six freaking years to raise this child.  I even helped him draw up the papers to get custody and went with him to court.
Instead, Kady was stuck trying to raise him.  She's got no idea how to just be a kid. 

Now that I think about it, I had no business letting Bassy go to Bridgeport.   When he said he was considering going he'd basically asked for my permission to go, and I said yes.

I now know I shouldn't have.  He would have listened to me, back then.

When my sweet little Bassy went to that dirty rotten place he was a wide-eyed boy who hadn't even seen the world. 

Bridgeport was where everything changed.

Bridgeport is a place where dreams go to die.

My baby brother first started going off the rails with that whole sordid mess with Kyra Foster there in Bridgeport and his childhood sweetheart Daisy Ramsey here in Sunset Valley. 

In my opinion he was already down that slippery slope when he then packed up and moved to Starlight Shores to be with that modern Calypso, Madison.  Their relationship was doomed from the start.  Madison was nothing if not extremely high maintenance and Bassy was just content to be his lackadaisical self, allowing her to just steamroll him. 

Bassy's descent was complete.

But for all that...all their drama...they still created Kaydence. 

The most highly combustible set of genes I've ever seen.  Those two made a kid?  Still unfathomable to me. 

Kaydence inherited Bassy's love of food and practical jokes, but she's also inherited a hefty dose of Madison's temper as evidenced by the rage-fueled rants she delivered on Sky and Bassy. 

Now my beloved Bassy is back.  My beloved baby brother.  I've been responsible for him since the day he was born.  And probably will be until the day I die.
That name Bassy, that name that made him very, very famous, I gave him that name when he was that small. 

I still even remember the day my mother broke the news that she was pregnant with him.  I had just gotten grounded for my zillionth curfew violation...
"You're going to be a big sister, Savannah," my mother had said excitedly.

For the longest time it was just Bassy and me, as our parents were busy with their involvement with the musical theater.

My Bassy came back to Sunset Valley a broken man, financially and professionally in ruins, being steamrolled by his own daughter who basically lectures him like I lecture my own kids...

And yet, he's still. well, Bassy.  Still my beloved baby brother.

As I am responsible for Bassy, so I am responsible for his daughter, too.

Even when Bassy was the biggest movie star in Simland, he was still my beloved baby brother.

I let Bassy down all those years ago.  I left Bassy adrift on a sinking ship.  I'll be damn sure not to do the same to his daughter.

Bassy, what you and Madison have done to Kaydence is simply unconscionable and unforgivable.  And you, as her father, stood there and allowed Madison to abuse and neglect her.

You didn't protect her, Bassy.

You and Madison were the kids.  Kaydence was your mom, more mature than either of you could ever think or hope to be.

You, as her father and the custodial parent for the last six years, needed a substitute mother so you drafted poor Kaydence for the job.  Of course, she was all too willing because she loves you, you're her father.  She probably thought it was normal for a daughter to take care of her father.  She didn't know it was supposed to be the opposite.

She knows now.

Bassy, wherever you are, I've got one thing to say to you.

Sign over your rights!  I'm taking over from here.

What Friends Are For

My oldest son, Andrew, Jr. (AJ), was visited over Snowflake Day by his old pal, his bestie, Princess Alexandra of Hidden Springs.  (I've always felt like she wanted to be more than friends but because of her position it wasn't possible.)

He was down because of the breakup of his relationship with his college girlfriend, Samantha Grey.  The reason AJ and Samantha broke up finally is as shocking as the fact that they even got together in the first place.

He was at Barnstormer's picking up his final report card from the University when he ran into Sierra.  The two of them were chatting over pizzas when AJ mused that he thought he might want to marry Samantha at some point.
Sierra interjected, "You know, AJ, you might want to reconsider that."
"Why?" AJ asked.

"Your girlfriend tried to hit on me last night at a party."

Sierra got uncomfortable and left the party.
When Sage told me the story my mouth just about flew open.  The fact that Samantha had attempted to hook up with AJ's own sister is just unbelievable.

So AJ and Samantha had broken up, and he was feeling down about it.  Princess Alexandra just 'happened' to be in town for a military meeting on funding for a super rocket.  And AJ, of course, just happens to be one of the military officers she was meeting with.  (She was in AJ's cadet class in Hidden Springs' royal military academy, that's how they met).  Both are high ranking military officers.

In many ways their reconnection was just like old times.

They shot the breeze at the local sports bar...
 

...then stayed up talking and beating the crap out of each other in Call of Duty half the night.

 
"She did what?" I heard Alexandra exclaim in disbelief.  "She hit on your little sister? Oh, that's real low.  I mean, I'd think she'd try it with anybody but not one of your own siblings.  I mean, sheesh."

"That's just it, Alex.  Why would she do that to my own sister... it just didn't seem right.  Nothing happened, though, Sierra ran out before anything could.  Could you imagine if anything had actually happened?"
"I'm not sure I want to, actually."
"I didn't believe Sierra at first, especially with her history of telling tall tales, but -"

"You didn't want to believe her."
"Well, yeah!"
"She did cheat on you with a girl before, AJ.  I told you back then that she was no good for you.  You could do so much better."

"Like you?" AJ asked, the words having slipped out of his mouth without even thinking.  And he surely couldn't take them back now.

Alexandra gave AJ a surreptitious smile.

Role Reversal

I've found out some stuff about my brother's TV show that he's doing.  

It's not even a TV show, it's on Simflix.  It's an internet show. 

Apparently he's playing a police chief attempting to find a serial killer, with his teenage daughter as a helper.   

I now know why he took this part. 

The latest rumor is, he's lobbying the studio hard for Kady to get that role.  But the producers want Alanna Starr Stanley (Emmy Starr and Alan Stanley's daughter), but Emmy might be asking for too much money... Stay tuned.  

And the thing is, I'm not even sure Kady wants to act...

Especially not if what I've seen and what she's told me is any indication... She seems more inclined to write than act.  She's at the computer typing nearly all the time. 

Kady says that before her dad left to go film the show, they had a ginormous fight.  It wasn't about one thing, she says, it was about a lot of different things.
"What do you want, Kaydence?"
"You know what I really want?  You to start acting more like a dad and less like an overgrown frat boy!"
"What more can I do?  I mean, I do my best.  I'm a working actor -"
"With an overactive sex drive.  Don't tell me you didn't hit on Tasha the other day -"
"I didn't know you saw that!"

"You run around like - ugh, you are my dad!  For Watcher's sake, will you act like it?"
"Kaydence Michele -"
"You really think this is a game, Dad!  It's not.  I've been babysitting you and Mom my whole life.  It's felt like I've been the parent, watching you two battle it out.  If Mom wasn't coming home stone drunk every night with a different man from her wild parties, it was you chasing down anything with tits.  And when the two of you were together, it was just, you two were fighting one minute and kissing the next, and then you'd go back to fighting again, the cycle was just endless..."
"Kaydence, I appreciate that you're such a serious, strong-willed girl, but I just wish you'd go out and have fun like the other kids - you're thirteen, not thirty-three -"
"I'm not like the other kids, Dad!  I never have been.  When the other kids talk about concerts, I've been to all of them and backstage at most of them because of Mom.  When the other kids talk about going to the movies, I've seen them already because I get advanced tickets for being your daughter.  When the other kids talk about parties, I've been to every A-list party in Simmywood and don't really like going.  I have nothing to gain from going to another party.  And I'm not ready to date yet, I'm hardly comfortable talking to anyone.  I prefer my own company, with my books."
"And I get that, Kaydence, really, I do.  It's just that -"
"Dad, I'm serious!  You need to start acting like you're my parent instead of me being yours!"

The more stuff that comes out of my niece's mouth about what happened to her at that house of horrors in Starlight Shores, the angrier I get.  Not at Madison, I kind of expect this kind of crap from her - after all, she thought she was being creative and show-businessy by spelling my niece's name with a K instead of a C - but my brother.  My beloved baby brother.
Bassy.
I know Andy is a gentle guy, but he would literally kill if anyone had done to his children what Madison has done to Kady.  Or even Imsety and Satis - and they're not even biologically his.
Bassy is as much to blame for the way Kady is as anyone - perhaps even more so, because he has had custody of her for the last six years.
It's even worse than I thought - and I thought it was bad, given that the whole thing blew up in a Hidden Springs courtroom.  A six-year-old girl with an eidetic memory on a witness stand testified to unspeakable horrors inflicted upon her by the two people who are supposed to love her the most.  I couldn't even get through the court papers completely when I started reading her testimony, I was shaking so much. 

Bassy, you really want to know why your darling little Kady is the way she is?
Do you really want me to tell you why you can't handle her and she has no respect for you? Listen, baby bro... I'll tell you.
Kady doesn't trust anyone.  And she's got no reason to, especially when she walks in on the man she's supposed to trust more than anyone wrapped in the arms of her nanny.
She's got no reason to trust anybody when the woman who's supposed to love her more than anyone in the world has told her to her face that she should never have been born.
The two people who are supposed to love and protect her and give her a safe home did not do that.
The two people who are supposed to help prepare her for the next stages of life did not do that.
The two people who are supposed to love her more than anyone in the world didn't even want her.

Her mother drags her to nightclubs, ridicules her for her love of books, and puts more makeup on her than I wear in a year, and you as her father just stand there and watch it all happen.  

Your little girl (and yes despite her protestations she is still exactly that) has wrapped a hard crusty prickly shell around herself, making it next to impossible for anyone to get close.  She's clammed up like a turtle, Bassy.  She has buried herself in books and copes with things by basically working herself to exhaustion. She goes to school, then does glee club, drama club, and debate, goes to work, and then comes home and does homework.  By the time she's finished with all that, it's time to go to bed.  And she barely even sleeps because she has nightmares.  That's no kind of life for a young teenage girl!  Yet it's the life your little girl is leading.
You did this to her, Bassy.  You and Madison, you did this. 
Once again, Bassy, I'm cleaning up your mess.  I've been doing it my whole life. 
It's going to take a miracle for Andy and I to undo what you did.  But we're sure as hell going to try for as long as we have her with us. 

Crime and Punishment

Baby girl cannot get away with this.

That's what I said to myself when I woke up the next morning.  She'd never really been in trouble before, except a couple times when she was accidentally late for the school bus - but man, what a way to get in trouble, by throwing the wildest party this side of AJ and Imsety. There was even a bartender there.  A bartender!!!
That told me this party had been in the works for some time.  That took serious planning. 

Andy and I had to come up with a punishment that would tell Skylar that she wasn't supposed to do it, and she'd have consequences for doing it, consequences she'd actually feel.
"Mmm," he mused as he tore into his slice of bacon, "this is delicious."
"Sure is, dad," replied Skylar.
"Your mother and I are very, very disappointed with your behavior. Not just last night with the party, but recently, and especially with the party. We know you do well in school and you do your sing-a-grams and performances locally. So when she and I were discussing punishment options, several things came up..."

Andy came up with his part of the punishment, that she'd have to accompany us on our camping trip next weekend - no questions asked, no excuses, not even her "I've got a show" excuse or "I've got something for school" excuse.  She'd have to come.

But mine was a little more straightforward and to the point. 
"Skylar, I realize you're in the running for prom queen, but you're not going to your prom, you'll be on our family camping trip -"
"Mom!"
"Oh, and as for glee club and drama club, you're not going to any more meetings until further notice - and your foreign exchange trip to France, you're not going there either -"
"Mom, you can't do that, the tickets are nonrefundable! I already paid my deposit!"
"And you're grounded until further notice -"
Skylar stormed away from the table and out of the front door.

 

"That went over well, didn't it?" Andy mused.

"Like a lead brick," I replied.