Chapter 3.6 Arlyn - Maybe a little too hasty

She knew it was going to happen, but Arlyn still cried as she felt her grandfather pass from this world. She thought she had a few more hours, why had she decided to go fishing today of all days? She wept as she felt Silas's soul pass from this world to the next.

Evelyn cried out as she watched her father shake hands with the very being he had loathed his entire life. He was older and grumpier than the last time he looked Death in the face, but he was also wiser, and knew it was his time. He'd be reunited with the woman who had been taken from him far too soon. He missed her.

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"You're not going to win, babe, just give up." Loki looked at Arlyn has she thought long and hard about her next move.
"It's not over yet, there's still hope!"
"Uh...yeah, sure." he chuckled. She was never one to just give up on anything.
"Ugh! I have to be at the town hall in like 15 minutes, this sucks!" Arlyn slapped her knee, wincing at her self inflicted pain. She hated losing. She'd have to see if Wyatt would teach her some new tricks so she could finally beat Loki.
"It's gonna take you 20 minutes to get there if you don't leave now." he teased her.
"It's like a 5 minute walk."
"Yeah but you're you."
She hated when he was right. She huffed and stood up, stretching her legs out. They'd been playing for over an hour now, and she could see a few people staring angrily at them for hogging the only chess table in the building. Hey, it's not her fault they only have a single chess board in the entire school!

"So you finally graduated, huh? Valedictorian too! I'm proud of you, Ar!" Ryan clapped her shoulder and Arlyn beamed up at him.

"I told ya you wouldn't be the only one, Mr. Mad Scientist!" She said, Ryan chuckled.

"How's Grady doing? Still screaming through the night?" Arlyn could hear the set of lungs on that little boy from her bedroom, two houses and across the street away!

"He's getting a little better now. It doesn't help that Jen thinks she's being quiet when she's practicing. She's convinced that any day now she'll be 'discovered' and become a rock star overnight." he sighed, but he was smiling. Arlyn knew how much Ryan loved Jen, and how much he loved his son even more.

"How's Loki?" Ryan was still unsure about this relationship, but it's been 2 years now and nothing has happened.

"He's at home, playing some new game the company sent him to test out. He's been complaining about how terrible it is, but he's just there to playtest it, not review it." After he graduated, Loki got a job testing video games, saying he plays them enough anyway, might as well get paid for it. Arlyn wasn't sure how lucrative his chosen career would ever be, but she's one to talk, she just got a job as a damn horoscope reader, the bottom of the barrel for becoming a fortune teller. Pfft. She knew all her coworkers were frauds, but they did a few magic tricks to convince people they were telling the truth. She got hers done years ago and they said to watch out for someone in orange! She'd never had a problem with anyone wearing orange!

Loki had basically moved into the Rivers household without officially saying it, considering he was here almost every day, all hours of the day that he was free. He liked it here, it was much nicer than his house, filled to the brim with cool stuff and the newest gaming consoles (his favorite part). He also didn't have to listen to his over dramatic sister whining about how some girl started snubbing her at school. He liked his new job, he literally gets paid to play games all day long, his girlfriend is smokin hot and cooks his meals for him, and they even had a maid service here so he never even had to clean up after himself! Why would he ever go home?

This is the life.

At least the house was quiet enough now than Evelyn and Anthony didn't have to sneak around to avoid the embarrassed and grossed out looks from their kids every time they made out. They should be so lucky to having parents that still loved each other after all these years! Evelyn and Anthony spent every single spare second they had to cozy up to each other (and often escape to their bedroom). She loved her kids, but man was she happy that they no longer spent so much time at home. Ryan had his own baby to teach him how tough parenting can be! haha! Karma! Evelyn greedily grabbed Anthony's hands and pulled him to the nearest closet.

Some time in high school, Arlyn found a love of fishing. She spent hours every week in front of a lake or the ocean or even a small pond, lost in her thoughts. Sometimes she was so zoned out she completely missed things happening around her. Like when a Unicorn walked right next to her.

Or one curious night when a very very pregnant Jen decided to take a swim in the freezing waters just behind her.

Really, what business does a late trimester pregnant woman have doing swimming in the middle of a lake after midnight in the dead of winter?
Not that Arlyn ever noticed to ask.

Today is love day and Arlyn gathered up all the family she could and headed over to the festival. She was hunting for eggs, hoping to score some sweet candy.

From somewhere behind her, Loki called for her.
"Babe! Babe! Come over here! I want to try this thing!"
"Um, a 'Love Tester'?"
"Yes."
"I'm pretty sure you're about to lose a dollar."
"Just put your damn hands on the handle," Arlyn grinned at him, she didn't know he was so sappy.
"It says it's never seen a love so great, that it should be paying us instead of us paying it!" Arlyn laughed, "Maybe it'll give us our dollar back." Loki just kissed her, smiling to himself. Everything was going exactly as planned.

Arlyn spotted her brother and ran over to him, leaving Loki in her dust. Loki chose to stay where he was, trying to avoid Ryan. Ever since he'd started dating Arlyn, Ryan had been really weird around him. He had no idea why. Ryan had even asked his sister out a couple times, even if it never went anywhere due to Erin's flighty tendencies. Now Loki just tried to steer clear of his once best friend.

They spent the rest of the daylight dancing, and eventually were crowned King and Queen of the festival! Today could not be going any more perfect for Loki.

He suddenly stopped, and grabbed Arlyn's hands.
"Arlyn...I have something I want to ask you." He looked into her beautiful, deep green eyes.
"What's that?" She was getting a little nervous, pretty certain what was about to happen, right here, right now.

He got down on one knee and lifted a little black box up, "I love you, Arlyn Rivers. Will you marry me?"
Arlyn gasped, not completely believing her eyes. She really didn't think he'd ever propose.

"Oh Loki, of course I will!" she squeeled, drawing attention to them. Evelyn and Anthony looked on, tears in both their eyes. Ryan just glared.

Arlyn lept into Loki's arms, and didn't let go for what felt like an eternity. She'd never been happier.

Once they'd managed to let go of each other, they made their way back over to the dance floor, greeted by a few claps and cheers.
Arlyn wasn't sure what Ryan had done this time, but she both heard and felt the slap Crystal gave him. She'd have to ask Crystal what that was all about later. For now, she just couldn't believe that she was really engaged!

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Arlyn and Loki decided that they didn't want to wait to tie the knot before moving in together, and picked a cute little house nearby. It didn't take very long to move some stuff into it, but she was already considering it home. She loved her parents, but she wanted to start her own life, with Loki.

Of course, they played a lot of video games together. It was quickly becoming routine for them: wake up late, Arlyn would head down to start breakfast while Loki took his shower, they'd eat together, then both would head out to work. Arlyn got home sooner than he did, so she'd have dinner ready by the time he got off, and if she didn't feel like cooking, she'd order them some take out. After dinner, they'd play a few hours of Loki's new games, then head to bed.

Not that they were sleeping.

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They had been living in their new house for less than a month when the morning sickness started.

She managed to hide it from Loki, for now at least. She wanted to wait until they got married to give him the big news that he was going to be a father! The wedding was in a few months, but suddenly she wanted to drop the large wedding Evelyn had insisted on (paid by her of course) and opt to just elope, considering she'd be too big for her gown soon.

She decided to bring it up the next morning, after she was done in the bathroom, of course.

"So I've been thinking," She said after finishing her pancakes.
"Oh yeah? Should I be worried?" Loki grinned at her.
"I want to elope. Right here, in the backyard. Just us. Today." Her gaze slowly lifted to meet his, hoping that he'd agree.
"Oh. Wow. Really? Didn't you want to invite everyone?" He remembered her side of the guest list....it wasn't exactly small.
"Well, that was mostly mom, you know how she can get. She loves a good party. I just want it to be us. A small ceremony then head to the town hall to do the paperwork. What do you think?"
"What are we waiting for?"
He'd never heard a more beautiful string of words in his life.

Hours later, they set up a makeshift wedding arch and threw some old sheets around it, and dressed in their best clothes. Him, a nice suit, and her, a dress Loki bought for her as a housewarming gift. She almost didn't fit into the already skin tight, revealing dress. Loki didn't seem to notice, though, his eyes were...elsewhere.

They said a few words, exchanged the rings.

Had the first kiss as a married couple.

And then Loki was immediately suggesting other ways to make the marriage official.

And so their honeymoon was spent just a few feet away from the wedding arch.

It was still a very exciting honeymoon.

It was only a few days later that Loki insulted her, for the first time since she'd ever known him.

"How could you burn pancakes! It takes an idiot to screw up pancakes!" He shouted. Arlyn had no idea what to make of this extremely sudden change in behavior. She'd only ever known him as sweet and kind and thoughtful. Now here he was ranting and raving at her about a few burnt pancakes.

"How can you be so absent-minded! 'I spaced out for a second' what kind of lame excuse is that! What if you burnt the house down! What then!" He paced around the small kitchen.
"I'm sorry? I really didn't mean to, whats gotten into you?" she asked, already regretting it.
Loki stared at her for a few minutes before he seemed to calm down a bit.
"I'm sorry, babe. It's work. It's stressing me out, you know? Deadlines n shit." He really looked ashamed of his actions.

"It's alright, just don't let it happen again, okay? You really scared me." Arlyn let out a few tears before Loki swept her up in an embrace, kissing her.
"I promise." He said, and he meant it.

At first.

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Author's Notes: Loki's YA trait given to him was mean-spirited and it started to show immediately after moving him in, which honestly is super fitting if you ever played Strangetown in TS2 (I even tried to dress him like his TS2 version). SP has Sims pair up so fast that I generally move future spouses in asap to keep them from entering the dating pool, since I hate breaking up families, as long as my heir is only a couple days from YA too.

I wanted to try out buying a second house for Arlyn and Loki to move in to without moving them out, but it turns out the second house is very limited if you don't make it your main house, which was disappointing. I won't be doing that again.