2.3--Getting Serious

The next to reach Elderhood is Robert; he had been attempting to avoid the topic of his birthday all week, but his wife (and children) absolutely would not allow it.  Just like Mya, he only wished for a small family gathering. 

Look! It's Snuffle! He still exists, I promise.  He'll be featured more later on.

It looks like he is trying to master some strange lop-sided jig. 0_0

Also just like Mya, he felt the process to be way less foreboding than he originally anticipated.

Corrigan was excited for his dad, albeit a bit weirded out that he was a teenager with elder parents.

Olive was a bit sad to see her parents get old. 

So am I, Olive. So am I.

Mya remained consistent and laughed in her husband's face when he joined her in the "wrinkle club."

"I'm not that wrinkly." Robert scoffed.

Later that afternoon, Mya went to her very last lecture as the District Superintendent; she couldn't be more happy to be done with work.

As soon as Mya returned home, she made the call to finalize her retirement paperwork.

"Now you will be paid to be lazy." Robert said laughing.

"Damn straight.  I earned this.  Do you know how many kids' noses I've had to wipe? And how many children I've had to send to the nurse because they ate dirt?"

"You still haven't let that go?"

"Hell no! I swear there is some genetic predisposition with Twinbrook citizens that somehow makes dirt look appetizing." Mya shuddered theatrically.

Robert shook his head, smiling to himself. "How much is your pension?"

"Nothing to get too excited about.  Eighty dollars a day... for a Superintendent.  They sure know how to make you feel worthy."

"I can help with that." 

"Prove it." Mya said as she guided Robert towards their room.

And to spare everyone having to use brain bleach after witnessing the horror that is an elder woohoo; I'll just leave it there.  Although, now you're picturing it aren't you? *cue evil laugh*

Olive had been feeling nervous all day in anticipation of her and Ada's date with Feng later that night.  She decided to distract herself with odd-jobs around the house and teaching Adamaris how to walk; hoping that it would calm her down a bit.  It didn't.

"We can always come up with some elaborate excuse and ditch the date tonight. Couldn't we Ada-Mar-Mar?"

"Pickle!" Was the only response she got from Adamaris.

Olive laughed.  "Is that your word of the day?"

"Pickle."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Despite her initial reservations, Olive went on the date.  Feng picked her and Mar up at six, as promised.  

And took them to the local park for a picnic.  Olive couldn't help but sate her curiosity about this new man in Twinbrook who was willing to overlook her past and take her on a date (not to mention meet her daughter right away).

"So... why did you move to Twinbrook?" 

"My whole family lives here, for one.  My mom recently died and my sister just had a baby, so she couldn't be with our father as much as she wanted to; so I moved home to help out."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Olive felt a tinge of sadness course through her when she realized her parents were getting to that age as well; her mom and dad were elders now and she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with losing one of them when the time came.

Feng shrugged. "It happens to everyone; but I will admit I was happy to come home after living in Bridgeport for College.  The city may be fun for a few years, but I was really starting to miss the quiet of a small town."

"So you were raised here?"

"My parents and sister didn't move here until I was almost ready to graduate.  We lived in Shang Simla until I was ten and then moved to Riverview.  So technically Riverview is where I grew up, but it's pretty similar to here. And you?"

"Twinbrook is my home, born and raised.  I endured a pretty normal, run-of-the mill childhood; that is if you count getting pregnant at 16 'normal.'"

"And the father?" Feng asked nervously.  He really liked Olive, but if he was getting in the way of a budding family, he would happily leave her alone.

"Not in the picture. He wasn't really in the picture to begin with to be entirely honest; we just rushed too fast... and well, you see where this is going."

Feng looked over to Adamaris. "She is beautiful, just like her mom."

Olive sighed. "I just hope she doesn't turn out just liker mom."

"I don't know about that.  Despite the circumstances, you seem like you have a good leash on life."

"Pah!" Olive scoffed sarcastically. "I must be a really good actress then.  Trust me, me and life have a longtime duel going and life is kicking my ass."

Feng laughed. "Perhaps you just need a sparing partner."

"Like you?"

Feng just smiled in response. "How about we make this date more entertaining for Adamaris."

Feng took Ada and Olive to the little gazebo in the park.  Without a moment's hesitation, Feng deftly picked up Adamaris and put her on one of the rides.  It was definitely a turn-on for Olive to see Feng relate with children (and more importantly, her daughter) so easily.

Olive laughed. Feng seemed to be more excited about Adamaris mastering the rides than she was. "How are you so good with kids?"

"My niece and nephew have taught me much.  Except they are way more of a handful than little Ada here."

"Don't let her fool you.  Mar definitely knows how to make a proper fuss. Although she seems strangely content with you."

"Must be my charm." Feng said with a wink.

When they returned home, Feng was the one to put Adamaris to sleep.  She had formed an attachment to him in the brief span of time they spent together which made Olive feel a bit guilty; what if this didn't work out?  She didn't want Mar to have to go through losing another potential father-figure; it made Olive nauseous to put Randy on par with Feng in that category.

"You really are good with her." 

"Well, I like her... and I like you.  I hope it isn't too soon to ask for a second date?"

Olive quickly kissed him. "Is that a good enough answer for you?"

"I don't know.  I might need another to be sure."

Olive laughed. "Well that is all you are getting, stud." 

Feng feigned rejection, hanging his head low and slouching his shoulders. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to make due."

Olive playfully slapped him on the shoulder. "You can however stay the night; that is, if you want to... but I don't think I'm ready to do anything more than just sleep, especially considering Adamaris is in the room."

"I would love to just sleep with you, Olive Dennis."

And with that, for the first time in years, Olive had someone to share a bed with.

The Next Morning...

Feng had woken up early the next morning in order to get to work on-time, but not before wishing Olive and Adamaris a good day and having a brief run-in with Corrigan downstairs.  Feng tried to introduced himself, but Corri's "stink eye" was all he got in response. Feeling awkward, Feng mumbled a quick "nice to meet you" before rushing out the door.

Later, when his parents met for breakfast, Corri unleashed his worry. "I don't like him." He began.

Mya laughed. "You and your father are determined to not like anyone Olive decides to date.  From Olive's description, he seems like a nice fellow and I'm glad she has found him."

"Love is blind, mother..." Corrigan continued, "...and he seemed fishy to me; perhaps even crazy. He was mumbling to himself a lot and rubbing the back of his neck like he had something to hide."

"It just sounds like nerves to me."

"Or schizophrenia!"

"Snuffle's right..." Robert interjected, "...we don't know much about this guy."

Mya sighed. "Rob, you are supposed to be the voice of reason here, not me. You have our roles mixed up!"

Robert laughed. "All right, all right.  We'll give this guy a fair chance. Just everyone make sure to keep their eyes on him, is all I'm saying."

Later that day, Olive made her way over to Sybil and Hayley's new house in the hopes of catching her sister before she went to work.  She really needed to talk to someone that wasn't living in the Dennis household; someone who wasn't entirely convinced that Feng was mildly crazy (courtesy of Snuffle's wild imaginings).

"Mom already told me you went on a date." Sybil said as soon as they entered the house.

Olive laughed. "Figures."

"Well? How did it go? Is he nice? Did Adamaris like him? Tell me everything."

"He's really nice... almost too nice, if you ask me.  And Mar loved him; that's what worries me the most."

Sybil sighed, obviously frustrated with her sister. "Ollie, you deserve someone nice so don't discount him on that alone.  And you can't keep judging future relationships on that ass-hat Randy; like it or not, not all men are like him and are going to just leave you and Mar.  Plus, he wanted to meet your daughter on the first date, which shows that he is aware you and Mar are a package deal."

"Well that speech was suspiciously level-headed of you."

Sybil laughed. "Me and Lee discussed it right after mom called.  It's pretty much her speech, but I threw the 'ass-hat' portion in there to really make it my own."

"So you and Lee think I should go along with this?"

"Yes.  I know you are worried about Mar, but you have to figure yourself in there too.  You deserve to be happy sis and if he can help with that, then go for it."

Olive narrowed her eyes at Sybil. "Lee's speech again?"

"Totally." Sybil said sheepishly.

After Olive's conversation with her sister, she decided she would do as advised and jumped right into dating Feng seriously.  Over the course of the next few weeks, she and Feng grew quite close.

He was pretty much a fixture around the Dennis household and often spent his nights with Olive and Adamaris.

Despite their initial reservations, Corri and Rob began to like Feng.  Although it was much easier for Feng to get on Robert's good side; all he needed to do was fix a few appliances around the house and Rob and him were pretty much in a bro-mance ever since.

Corrigan proved to be a different matter entirely.  It was only after he had managed (after many aborted attempts) to beat Corri at videogames, did Corrigan start to look at Feng as anything other than an insane intruder.  

"After all, anyone who is going to enter the Dennis family had better damn well be good at videogames." Corrigan reasoned.

"Then I guess I better practice because I'm pretty sure my recent victory was just a streak of luck."

Corrigan winked. "Or I felt really bad for you and let you win."

"I take it that means you approve of me now?"

"I guess if my sister likes you, I should too.  Plus, anyone willing to sit through three hours of losing videogames in order to prove they like my sister is all right in my book.  I'm still going to call you 'insane-Feng' though."

"Does this mean I can call you 'Snuffle?'"

Corrigan gave Feng his signature "stink-eye" in response.

Feng laughed. "All right... I won't push it."

A few days later and Feng was ready to take their relationship to the next level.  He basically lived there anyway, he was convinced that Olive was the woman for him, and he pretty much adopted Adamaris as his daughter... so why not make it official?

He decided to ask Rob and Mya for her hand first, as the Dennis family seemed particularly protective of Olive (and with good reason).  They both graciously gave their permission.

Mya and Robert had been discussing this possibility for a while now and decided to give him Mya's wedding ring as a present (and a gesture of their consent) so he could propose properly.

"I want this ring handed down in the family.  I was going to give it to Syb when she got married, but she thought Olive would appreciate it more.  So here you go.  Take care of it and welcome to the family."

Feng didn't have words to express his thanks, so he pulled them both into a hug instead.

Robert laughed at his potential son-in-laws enthusiasm. "I'm glad she found you.  And I'm glad we found you; now you'll be here to fix all of the appliances I break."

Mya rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that. This man is human wrecking ball."

"So I've seen." Feng said laughing.

Robert shrugged. "It's part of my charm."

As soon as Olive returned from training a client, Feng proposed.  Olive was ecstatic and said yes without a second thought.

"This is my mother's ring." Olive said while they were still locked in embrace.

"I asked for their blessing and they gave me your mother's ring to propose with.  They said they wished for it to be passed down."

Olive smiled. "Then it will be."

------------------------------------------

*Finally* Olive has found someone who doesn't make me cringe.  And by "found" I mean, I totally kidnapped, made a past for, and then integrated into the Dennis household.  I love Feng, so I'm excited to see their kiddos (or kid, since Olive is only supposed to have one more to meet the "two children" requirement). 

I mentioned in my last Chapter how much of a hassle it was to get Feng over to Twinbrook... so just let me reiterate... IT WAS A HASSLE! But I think it paid off, so I'm happy... for now.

Twallan's SP is not being nice to Sybil and Hayley.  They apparently fight all the effing time, so I have to cheat and change households to fix their relationship (they will not break-up! I'm absolutely determined).  They also had a daughter named Michelle (which can be seen >>HERE<<, but be warned that I'm quite ahead in-game so there is massive spoilers).

Also, there was the small debut of the house calisims made for Sybil and Hayley.  I absolutely love it! And it has just enough room for future additions to the Dennis clan.  Thanks again, cali!