1.8--Robbery/Aging Up Dennis Style

On a quiet, peaceful Tuesday night, a robber decides to enter the Dennis household.

As luck would have it, this particular family decided to purchase a security alarm just two days prior.

"Shit!" Nick Zit yelled. "Of course I pick the one house in this neighborhood with a damn alarm."

When the cops finally showed up, Mya went through her usual range of emotions....

...before fainting in front the cop.  

"Hey... uh, is your wife okay?  Do we need to call an ambulance or something?"

"No." Robert replied. "Trust me, my wife... has a wide array of emotional responses, one of which is fainting in the sight of danger.  Although this time, the danger had already passed so she was a bit late on the uptake."

When Robert began laughing at his own morbid sense of humor, and presumably at his wife's unconscious body on the floor, the cop slowly backed out of the house... wondering to himself if the Dennis's were all there in the head.

Despite the tumultuous night, the day went on as usual with Mya and Robert spending their morning cleaning and playing with the girls.  Once everything was settled, the Dennis clan took a short break to discuss the girls upcoming birthday.

"How about the park?" Mya began, "There's plenty of space and there is a playground for the children to play in and you know, get out of their parents hair for a while."

"Sounds fine to me and I'm definitely okay with the children having their own designated area.  Can you think of the chaos that many kids can produce?"

"Well, we have two little ones that will be kid-age soon... I'm a little scared to think of the possibilities."

Robert laughed.  "Our children will be angels."

Somehow, that didn't calm Mya.  The Dennis family and "obedience" weren't exactly synonymous.  Hell, Mya and Robert met in College when they both used fake ID's to enter the local bar and got caught.  Their first date was spent at the police station.  "Oh God," Mya thought to herself, "...is this what we have to look forward to?"

Sensing another emotional variety show courtesy of Mya, Robert quickly interrupted her thoughts.

"I'll take care of the cake... and I'll take Syb with me since Olive doesn't seem too keen on taking another stroller ride this week."

"All right.  I'll make the arrangements... And honey?" Mya added before Robert could head out the door. "I swear, if you buy a bachelorette cake or anything else inappropriate, I'll withhold you-know-what and you'll be sleeping on the couch."

Robert pretended to shudder. "Appropriate cakes it is."

Mya was on the phone soon after...

... while Robert walked Sybil to the store.

"It's not nice to point, dear." Robert laughed as Sybil took notice of a particularly odd looking fellow walking on the opposite of the street.

--Quicker than they expected, the afternoon passed to early evening and it was time to take the girls to their birthday party.--

"Do you think anyone will actually show up?" 

"Oh yes." Mya stated simply, "Our last party for the girls was a roaring sensation and I don't think tiny Twinbrook will be willing to pass it up. Plus, free food always tends to draw the crowds."

Robert laughed. "You always have a way of looking at the positive, Mya."

"That's why you married me! And my stunning good looks, of course."

 --Time Skip!--

After two hours of playing with the girls, talking to the guests, and pretending to tolerate the other kids attending the party... Mya and Robert were ready to jump right in and have the kiddos blow out their candles.

Being the eldest, Olive was up first.

She was more excited for the cake than anything else.

Next up was Syb...

...Who, unlike her sister, was more interested in the strange guests than the treats.

After her fair share of cake had been consumed, Olive went looking for her sister.

"Well Syb... what do you think so far?  Of being older, I mean."

"I don't know.  I mean we start school soon... and other kids will be there, a lot of other kids.  And germs! And cramped desks. And projects in front of the class..."

"... and homework, and teachers, and rules."  Olive wasn't aware that she was just making Sybil more anxious, if that was even possible.

"I'm not going.  They can't make me! I won't be stuffed into a small room with a bunch of germ-covered kids who will most likely just laugh at me, and..."

Before Sybil could finish her anxiety-ridden ramble, Olive pulled her into a hug.

"You worry too much Syb.  It will be fun! Besides, no one makes fun of my sister except for me... and maybe mom and dad, but I don't think they would." 

Sybil laughed. "Thanks, I guess."

Olive feigned looking nervous, "...there's, uh... something I should tell you though." 

Sybil began wringing her hands.  She never liked bad news. "Wh-what?"

"You better run because I'm it!" 

And the Dennis sisters spent the rest of their birthday party playing tag and pretending that the rest of the world, and more importantly their first day of school, didn't exist. 

"The girls seem to be having fun..." Robert stated as they were cleaning up the last remnant of birthday cake.

"And a good thing too.  I was worried for a bit there.  Syb reserved herself to the corner making disgusted faces at the other kids, and Olive was busy convincing one of the local boys to drink the lake water..."

Robert laughed. "Well, I know which one takes after you."

Mya gasped in mock surprise before slapping Robert on the shoulder, "Oh goodness. Don't even joke about that!"

Once home, the Dennis's got ready for bed... with the girls settling into their new room.

"I call dibs on bottom bunk!" Olive yelled as soon as the girls entered their room.

"That's fine with me.  I would much rather be away from the floor... and the bugs."

Olive laughed. "There's no bugs... Besides, I move a lot and I would probably fall off the top bunk and break my arm or something."

"Yeah, you probably would." Sybil giggled. "Do you really think school will be fun tomorrow?"

"Sure. I mean, the homework will suck... and so will the teachers, but we'll get to meet new friends!"

"Ugh." Was all the response Sybil gave.

It was Olive's turn to laugh. "We'll be fine Syb, I promise."

That night, Sybil and Olive fell asleep both dreaming and dreading the coming of tomorrow.

But a different scene was happening in their parents bedroom.

"Well... this is it.  Everyone is getting older and pretty soon we'll be that wrinkly old couple sitting on a bench grossing all the kids out."

Robert looked sincerely at his wife.  He knew she was using humor as a means to cope with the fact that her babies were growing... and someday they would leave them. "Nah... we'll be that old couple sitting on a bench surrounded by grandchildren and everyone will be jealous.  Besides, I don't care how much it grosses others out... I'm kissing you no matter our combined wrinkle-age."

"Oh?" 

 And then a very different scene took place in the Dennis Sr. bedroom.

----The next morning----

The girls were reluctantly dragged out of bed to eat breakfast...

... and then go to school.

While at home, Mya underwent a familiar sickness... one that told her that the Dennis family would be expanding again.

As soon as Robert returned from work, Mya gave him the news.

"So... Robert, my dear, sweet, wonderful husband..."

"What do you want?" Robert asked sarcastically.

"I don't want anything. I simply want to give, because I'm such a generous, giving person."

"If its a slap, you already gave me the one I was owed for that crude joke the other day."

Mya laughed. "I said the crude joke, remember?"

"Yeah, and I got hit for it."

"You were supposed to stop me! We were in front of the girls! But that's not what I want to give you.  It's something much better. Something that will require care... and diapers... and tolerance."

Robert caught on right away to Mya's not-so-coy hints. "It better be a boy this time."

Mya laughed theatrically while twiddling her fingers together in a mock evil gesture, "Or it could be another girl.  And then we'll plan an intricate coup against you and all boys."

"I would laugh at that, but I could totally see that happening.  And it haunts my dreams. But, if we do have another girl I call dibs on naming her!"

"You taught Olive that, didn't you?  She's been calling "dibs" on everything in this household all morning!"

"And you said you would plan a coup. I believe this is the right time to say, 'the tables have turned!'"

Mya turned to her husband and for the millionth time since she married him, knew that they were meant for each other."I love you." She stated simply, but sincerely.

Robert smiled. "I love you too and always will."

Mya and Robert decided to forgo telling the children until she cleared her first trimester, in case anything happened and the girls would be disappointed.

So things continued as normal for the next couple of days.  The girls would return from school and whine theatrically about their homework.

"Do we have to do this? I mean, when am I ever going to need to know the circumference of a circle in real life?" they would ask.

Mya and Robert learned early to just laugh and then help them, because reasoning with a child was often more work than either of them could handle.  Although Robert often sympathized with their reasoning. "I've never had to know how to calculate the circumference of a circle in adulthood," he thought to himself.

And one night while Robert was at work and the girls decided to cause mayhem in their parents bedroom...

... Mya began to show. 

"Well, here we go again.  Our third little monster is on the way and it's time to tell the other two."

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This marks my longest chapter as of yet. I tried to fit so much in! 

Here is a close-up of Olive (who will most likely be my heir for Gen dos):

She got the Athletic trait, which worked out for me since the primary income for generation two will be athletic trainer. I'm not sure where I'm going with her character as of yet, but so far she is just as smart-mouthed as her mother and protective of her sister.

And here is Miss Sybil:

She got the Computer Whiz trait (hacking ftw!). In case you didn't notice, I'm building Sybil's neuroses early... so far she is obsessive compulsive (when it comes to germs and washing her hands, but she is willing to forgo her fear only with physical contact between people she knows and trusts), and claustrophobic. Whew! I'm not sure what I'll be adding later, but she gets another interesting trait when she ages up to teenager...

I have to admit, I'm happy with how both girls turned out.  This is one of the few instances in my legacies where both children weren't borderline fug.  Here's to hoping the third doesn't break the trend.