something in the water

February 2081 - Blake Miller is 35, Clarice is 34, Elliot is 3. Last update, October 2078.

Blake couldn't resist telling Clarice all about how Joel ran himself to the ground trying to make sure he and Aurora weren't having an affair. It was funny, you have to admit (though Blake suddenly gets an overwhelming suspicion as to why Joel doesn't really like him...)

Oh, but it's all in good humor! If he and Joel aren't friends, it hasn't been through any lack of effort on Blake's part. He guesses Joel is just a strange character - not really shy, but still a bit of a loner; not deadly serious, but a career military man. Maybe the only thing they even have in common is Aurora. So Blake jokes.

Maybe he also jokes to ease any fears Clarice might have of her own. Blake really really likes his wife. He wouldn't want her to get any similar wrong ideas.

Though Clarice isn't really insecure like that. She likes Aurora and she knows her husband has maybe hundreds of friends, male and female, and she's not threatened by it. Clarice is wholly focused on her endeavors in career journalism lately. She's only writing obituaries right now, but she's a really good obituary writer, and she's going places!

Blake has spent a lot of Elliot's toddlerhood at home, keeping up his connections, since his move up from City Council has been pretty stagnant anyway. He doesn't mind, really. His work is easy, the hours are nice, and it leaves him plenty of time to spend with his friends. He's never been quite as high-achieving as Clarice.

So Clarice heads off to work and leaves the boys home in their pajamas.

They do plan on getting dressed eventually...

Blake and Clarice have very full lives and a very full house most of the time, after all, they are friends with just about everyone. Nessa says, "God, I have to pee, like, all the time!" She and Jack just found out that she's pregnant. Jackson wonders if they have enough money for a baby. He plans on being a stay-at-home dad, since Nessa doesn't plan on slowing down for a second!

There are a lot of people getting pregnant this winter. Jackson mentions that his buddy Matthew and his wife are having another baby too. Blake and Clarice would welcome one more if it came along, but they're not really making any efforts either. Leaving it up to fate, we suppose.

Cameron was just stealing their old crusty newspaper when he noticed that, hey, it's snowing! There hasn't been much snowfall this winter since that one storm back in December.

Elliot is just hanging out in his highchair, eating his applesauce, and talking quite well these days, but he can't quite find the vocabulary to say, Daddy, there's some creepy dude in a trench coat standing outside our door...

Clarice makes it home early one afternoon, and finds Blake and Elliot both still napping. But she's anxious to share her good news! She's been promoted!!! She's been working so hard this month, and she was just promoted to horoscope writer! It's so much more optimistic than writing obituaries. But man, she just doesn't feel very good... maybe some bad shrimp at lunch? Maybe a case of the flu? Maybe she'd better slow down, just a little. Yes, a nap, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe she'll have one of those.

Clarice works a lot and doesn't get to see Elliot as much as some moms see their children, so she's happy to relieve Blake of toddler duty so he can spend some time out with the guys.

For the record, Blake did try to invite Joel. Blake doesn't know why Joel has a problem with him, if that's what it is. Aurora didn't fail to make quick friends with Clarice, but after all this time, he and Joel are barely any more than strangers. But Joel says, "On a scale of one to ten, I'm going to have to say no."

Blake says, "Dude, you got the line wrong." And he's moody to boot! Well, Blake tried.

Blake also invites out their new political intern, Micah Buchanan.

LOL, Micah! You're having a night out with the guys! Have a drink, complain about work, fart some hearts over the bartender, and quit thinking about babies!!!

That's more like it...

Farting hearts at the bartender is one thing, but trying to get her phone number is entirely different! Berjes, shame, shame, with your wedding ring on and in plain view!

Berjes would like to claim that talking is NOT cheating. Hmmm, we wonder if Hailey would agree with that?

Sheldon has a lot on his mind this winter. It was just before the new year that he discovered that his wife is sleeping with one of her ex-boyfriends. Not like he caught them in the act or anything, but she told him. Because it wasn't just an accident. It was quite intentional, and she's leaving him. Sheldon says, "I'm almost fifty, what am I going to do?"

"Forty-eight," Blake says. "That's not so old. Not these days. You'll live to be ninety probably, maybe eighty, seventy at worst."

"Thanks, Blake, that's really reassuring."

Maybe it's the beer buzz settling in, but after about an hour, Micah finally starts gushing about Mariah. We give him credit for waiting that long, actually. He barely even knows these guys yet, but it doesn't matter. He's smitten. He's never been so in love! She's so beautiful he can hardly breathe sometimes!...

Berjes is thinking, Yeah, Ally is kind of like that, and Jodie, and the bartender, and my gardener...

Blake wonders, "Once you have two kids, do you have to get a dog?"

Micah had just about the best time ever. But he has class in the morning and has to head back to campus. He kind of wishes Blake could be his adoptive big brother. Maybe he's too old to be adopted, but you know, if he wasn't.

Blake and Sheldon hang out at the bar a little while longer after the others have gone home. Blake has a lot of friends, and he would consider Berjes a friend as well. But maybe there are different kinds of friends, for different kinds of purposes. Berjes is fun to hang out with, but they don't really talk about real things around him so much. Or not about things like marriage at least. Everyone has noticed the way Berjes drools all over Ally at their Governor's meetings. And everyone knows she's not the only one either. Berjes doesn't even realize that his own marriage is falling apart right in front of his eyes.

"Benjamin Long was his name," Sheldon says. "Man you should see the nose on this guy, and having a last name like Long?!?" They both had a good laugh at that. "He doesn't even live around here. She's moving there to live with him, you know. What if she tries to take Melissa?"

Blake says, "Man, I don't know. That would be shitty."

Neither of them really know what to say after that.

There must be something in the water. Marriages are falling to crap all over the place! Blake just wants to go home and hug his wife.

And that's just what he does.

***

notes: ack! Somthing in the water, for sure! So the current count stands as Jack/Nessa baby due in October, and Blake/Clarice baby due in November. Anybody else want to jump on the bandwagon? LOL!

Jack and Nessa both had the baby want locked, and were declared "actively trying" which means that they get to bypass the ACR calculations and I'll pop into their house once every six months or so. Since I'm playing with real-to-life age spans, I figure if a couple is actively trying, it would be abnormal for them to have to wait until their next turn, two years later, and since my fertility rates are set pretty low, they might have never gotten one that way. But they only needed to try once.

Aurora and Joel are not actively trying. She has the want locked, but he has a fear, lol. So they're probably done at this point.

I also wondered if Charlotte and Paul might want one, but they're not actively trying yet either - she has the want, he doesn't, so they'll have to wait for their next turn. But they're still enjoying their newlywed time ;)

So there you have it! Half of my couples are knocked up, and the other half are headed towards trouble, it seems... Maybe you're already starting to piece things together, but in case you're not - yes, Alana Fortney did draw the final move-away ROS for the round. There's a little more to the story than that though, and it will all be finalized in her family's turn.