Frida loved weekends and snow days, she was able to sit in the study relaxing while watching her children play chess. Frida wasn’t sure how Gwyneth did it, but she had noticed on more than one occasion that Gwyneth was able to keep her brother clam if there was an unexpected change in schedule.
Gwyneth didn’t even complain about the lack of other children at the school.
One particular day Gwyneth came home from school with a flyer and excited. Frida read the flyer stared at Gwyneth’s hopeful face and said yes, she would get them a used lab station from the science center. It wasn’t until after it arrived and was carried down by 6 delivery people that Frida learned it was dangerous, so she instructed it to be placed in the large room with the shower. They delivery crew glared at her and with much grunting an swearing got the table placed next to the shower.
Seeing Gwyneth and Gilroy’s happy faces when they got home from school eased Frida’s apprehension a little bit. Frida told Gwyneth that had the flyer mentioned how dangerous the lab station could be she wouldn’t have gotten. Gwyneth smiled and promised to always be careful when working with the chemistry set. It turned out that Gwyneth spent more time trying to understand the instructions than anything and never tried any of the experiments, until years later.
Frida and Fae both listened as Gilroy talked rapidly about the two new students in his and Gwyneth’s classroom, after several minutes of rapid talking in a high and excited voice he quieted down and ate his soup. Frida glanced at Gwyneth who responded that there wasn’t much to tell, other than one student was a boy and one was a girl but they weren’t related to each other. After a pause she asked if it would be possible to invite them over for their upcoming birthday in a few days time. Frida hesitated, shocked to realize that her babies were almost teens already, then answered that if their new classmates had family that could come over with them then it would be ok. Gwyneth smiled and thanked her mom.
Frida kept her word and that weekend, they invited over Gwyneth and Gilroy’s two classmates, Devon and Issac. Frida wasn’t sure but she thought that Gwyneth seemed upset that Issac had had his birthday a few days before hers, and it was hard to tell if Gilroy was upset that Devon never showed up.
Frodo gently nudged Frida and gave her a knowing wink when Gilroy chose to wear his hair back in a ponytail like Gwyneth’s. Both twins demonstrated their newer traits almost right away. Gwyneth decided to show off a daredevil stunt to the guests while Gilroy started obsessively cleaning everything while talking in his high fast voice that indicated he was upset and having trouble working out his feelings.
As the guests were slowly filtering out Frida pulled Fae to the side, and asked Fae to do what she could not do, which was to teach the twins how to drive, starting with Gwyneth. Fae promised to do her best but couldn’t promise much because of the problems she had with being out in the sun for to long. Frida sighed and thanked her cousin, she had forgotten about the day light restrictions Fae lived with.
When Gwyneth asked why she, her mom, wasn’t teaching them how to drive. Frida explained that it wasn’t safe for her and Frodo to leave home due to their age. What Frida didn’t mention, but she knew that Fae had picked up on it, was that she was getting weaker with her old age. Frida refused to let her children see just how weak she was becoming, how long it took her to get out of bed. How on some days it was all she could do to sit in a chair instead of laying in bed. Frida knew that Frodo was in the same condition as herself, she saw it in the shake of his hand as he tried to eat his soup and spilled more than he ate. That Fae had picked up on their weakened states Frida was sure of, because Fae always seemed to be there when she or Frodo needed to get up from the bed or a chair.
Fae decided that early morning and evenings were the best time to teach the twins, Gwyneth and Gilroy how to drive. That Gwyneth seemed to be a fast learner made Fae happy. The lessons turned into verbal tap dances as Fae would skirt or avoid questions from Gwyneth that she had no intentions of answering, eventually Gwyneth took the hints and they practiced in silence from then on. Gilroy’s lessons didn’t really happen, at least not right away, that was due to his excitability and how nervous he got just sitting in the drivers seat.
Frida took her time and ate slowly, so the shaking of her hand wouldn’t show as much. Frodo had finished eating before the twins were up, it was getting to hard for him to hide the shaking of his hands when he ate. In a casual off hand manner, Frida announced between bites of soup that she had filed forms with the city council making Gwyneth the head of household. Then just as casually she stated that she and Frodo might be late getting back from the doctors that afternoon, it was nothing to worry about they were just going in for a routine check up that was conducted on twins by the medical community.
Just as Gwyneth opened her mouth to ask questions, the horn for the school bus sounded and she and Gilroy had to leave.
Fae glared at Frida across the table.
“You didn’t have to lie to her”
“I didn’t …” only sounds of water splashing could be heard as she paused “I just didn’t tell her everything, it would have distracted her from her school work.”
Frodo stared at the book, he had looked through it before. His eyes were tired and he could no longer make out the smudged printing on the pages. Soon it would be time for Fae to drive them into town.
Frida pulled the bed cover up, she supposed it didn’t matter that much now, it was Gwyneth’s bed, but it would be nice for her to have a made bed to come home to. She felt her heart slow and miss a beat then speed back up. They had made the appointment with the doctors the month before when Frodo’s heart started skipping beats, Frida hadn’t been surprised when her heart started doing the same a few days later.
Slowly Frida straightened and called to Fae saying they were ready to go to the hospital.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Fae felt it as it happened, Frida and Frodo’s hearts both stopped at the same moment, before Fae could call out for a nurse they were gone and there was nothing Fae could do to bring them back. Fae felt her heart swell with the pain of loss and anger at the rude tourist, stealing herself against the pain she forced herself to go back to the house instead of inflicting the harm her vampire side wanted to inflict. She had a promise to keep, and she planned on doing her best to keep it no matter the cost.
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Note: I had planned on at least one more picture for this chapter as Frida and Frodo gracefully bow out to get their much deserved rest but the game decided to act up, first it wouldn’t save properly and then it crashed just as I got them to the hospital. So please be patient as I try to restore the game and hopefully have not lost to much game play. I might have to repeat a few game days, if that’s the case the twins may end up in different clothes when next you see them.
Added 11/25/2013 got the game fixed and had to replay a few sim days. The twins have the same everyday outfits, but some of their other outfits might have changed. Everything below the “~*~ ~*~ ~*~” has been added today and what was meant to be with this chapter in the first place.
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