Gen 3 Ch 7: Where It Hurts

"It's your birthday today, Dolores! Tonight we'll have a big party with uncle Broccoli and everyone - I even invited some of your classmates!"

"Ugh, no way, Mom. No party. Just gifts will be fine, thanks."

"You know that fatty foods like this lead to an early death, right, Dad?"

Darwin had been looking everywhere for the unicorn, but so far he had had no luck. He really wanted to tame it before Dolores' birthday, fearing that in her upcoming teenage years, her behavior could only get worse.

As per Dolores' request, there was no party and no guests. Just the immediate family, cake, and lots of gifts.

Her teenage sense of style was just a small thing compared to the defiant look on her face, almost daring her family to disagree with her choice of attire. No one said a word.

Darwin really, really wished he could have tamed the unicorn in time. He had a feeling that they were in for trouble.

The other adults seemed to quietly share his worries.

After finishing her cake, Dolores went upstairs and took a good, hard look at her room. There was a lot of work to do.

There, that was better.

However, in a very dark corner, she did keep her favorite stuffed toys.

The whole family was at the town's spring festival when Darwin spotted a large meteor and called everyone over to show them.
"Look at the size of it!" Darwin was visibly excited.
"Nothing compared to the one that crashed into Steve's Business Complex in Bridgeport", Bloom reminisced.

"The great meteor of Bridgeport, I read about that!" Dolores ran  over to her grandfather excitedly. "You were there? How was it? Was there a lot of fire?"
Bloom was a bit taken aback. It was a memory he was none too fond of recalling.
"Well, Dolores, there wasn't much fire actually... just a lot of smoke and debris..."
"Neat! What happened to the meteor? Did you manage to snatch it up and sell it before anyone else could? I bet it was worth a fortune!"

"It was a tragic accident, Dolores. Many Sims died... I even knew some of them. It was horrible! The last thing on my mind was selling the thing that had killed them!"
"Aw, it's alright, gramps," Dolores voice softened as she spoke and patted his arm. "Not everyone can be a quick thinker, I guess."

Clover and Darwin thought that maybe some exercise would do Dolores good. Tire her out a bit.

At the gym they ran into Cypress and Citrus.

"Hey, uncle Citrus, I almost didn't see you there behind Chubby McJigglepants here... OH! Oh, so sorry, uncle Cypress!"

"She didn't mean it, Cypress, really! She... she wasn't talking about you at all!" Clover tried desperately to cheer her brother up.
In the meantime, Dolores chatted up her other uncle.
"Oh uncle Citrus, it must be so awesome to be unemployed. Just doing whatever you want, when you want it. Sounds so great!"
"I'm self-employed, Dolores, not unemployed."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Must be so nice living without responsibilities. I want that too when I grow old like you."

And as Cypress quietly slinked away to the other end of the room, Clover had another brother that needed some cheering up.

A few days later, it was time for a big birthday celebration. Clover, Cypress and Citrus were about to become full-fledged adults. None of them looked too excited at the prospect of new wrinkles.
Left to right: Ginny, pregnant with another child; Tyree; Bloom, still grieving for his younger siblings; Citrus; Darwin; Broccoli; his daughter Kacey, green but not a PlantSim; Dolores; Clover; Liam, Ginny's husband, who strikingly resembled Bloom's father Artur; Matilda and Cypress.

The party was going great. The conversations were pleasant and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

After the last guests had left, Darwin and Clover even had some time alone.

 And soon it became clear why: Dolores was absent. She had snuck out to prank the school.