in real life

December 2081 - Berjes and Hailey Monif are 36, Hazel is 12. (Jodie Larson is 26. Mariah Riley is 23. Hayden Phoenix is 32.) Last update, October 2079.

Maybe nobody's really happy, so maybe it doesn't matter that Berjes has screwed everything up really, really bad.

Hailey is throwing around the D-word. She says Aurora's brother is a lawyer, and could have the papers ready as soon as she wants. She's bad-mouthing him to their daughter, and she gloats at it when Hazel echoes her tone in perfection, saying, "Eeew, Dad, you are not from this planet, I swear it! Put some clothes on! Nobody wants to see your hairy back!"

Berjes would like to state that his back hair is perfectly groomed, thank you! And he says, "I see you've been talking to your mother."

Maybe Jodie was the aggressor this time, but that doesn't really matter, not when it's been happening again and again, for as long as anyone can remember. Ally, Jodie, bartenders, check-out girls, gardeners... the list goes on. Hailey has seen this before. Women throw themselves at her husband - is it the position of power, that he is Head of Health Services, and the top plastic surgeon in the city? Is it the red hair, the sculpted body, or yes, the perfectly groomed lack of back hair?

He usually indulges them with a little flattery in return. He says talking isn't cheating, but Hailey doesn't like it. She never has, and she just doesn't want to be that woman who turns her head to look the other way anymore. Yet she can't bring herself to see it either, and covers her eyes.

But she is ANGRY! This is not okay.

Hailey started writing her novel seven years ago, but she's finally finished it, or at least finished some semblance of it. It's really not at all the same novel she thought it would be. Looks like her old college buddy, Aurora Harris has the market on smart and tragically funny tales of love and heartbreak. Ah well, Hailey isn't very deep anyway.

She shakes up the novel by renaming her heroine Jessie, who is unattached and sassy, with a shoe fetish and a publishing job in the city. All of her girlfriends are getting married, yet she can't snag a man, so instead of settling down with a good man, she fills her life with some new friends and a closet of shoes, and just when she's not looking for it, a romantic excursion with a handsome and charming new friend... could he be the one?

Hailey can do chick lit. She can fake it, at least, even if her own marriage is falling apart.

The book does decently, though she's no Aurora Harris or Violet Deppiesse. But she can crank out a formulaic plot with some pink shoes.

She arranges to do a book signing and reading at the Lit' Cafe in Lakeside Heights. Hailey is honored to meet Violet Deppiesse, who is such an accomplished career novelist, and one of the most poignant writers of their generation.

Hailey is so grateful for the chance to read here that she offers Violet a free copy of her novel, you know, just to be polite. But Violet mutters something about the cheapening of fiction these days, and says, "No, sorry, I don't think so."

Of course, her real fans are the bright young twenty-somethings who can't snag husbands. Piper loves it! Carly doesn't entirely get it, but she thinks it sounds really good anyway, and she likes shoes. Piper and Carly live together, but they each have their own copy signed.

Aurora comes just to be a supportive friend, and she brings her sister-in-law who likes to read. But Aurora can't help but notice this isn't real literature, and she kind of falls asleep.

Ally nudges Aurora and whispers, "Aurora, you're snoring a little."

After the reading, Piper says, "I felt like you were writing about my life! Except for the shoes, because I'm just really not that into shoes. And except that in real life the charming man has two kids and a dead wife, but you know, I just really felt it!"

"Me too!" Carly says, "Except that in real life, you've been dating the charming man since college, and he would actually move in with you if you got yourself knocked up first, but you aren't really sure if you want children or not. But I get the shoes. I liked the shoe parts!"

Hailey is glad the novel is mostly well-received. There's a niche for everyone, it seems. But you just can't please everyone, unless you're Violet Deppiesse.

"So I just met Violet then," Hailey says. "And I don't think she likes me."

"Oh, that's just Violet," Aurora says. "She's one of those closed-off apocalyptic sci-fi writers, she doesn't talk to anybody about her work."

***

Berjes has a new intern at the hospital this year. Mariah Riley just graduated with her pre-med degree in psychology, and she's taking on a big workload the next couple years with her position in the Lake County Social Services as a domestic violence counselor, and on top of that, she's doing graduate studies here to earn her doctorate degree in psychology. And in light of other recent bombshells, she just doesn't know how she'll make it all work.

But Berjes doesn't have time for her hesitance. He has a hospital to run, and no time to mess around, especially with his own home life falling apart. Berjes thinks maybe she might have her first try at things with marriage counseling.

In the end, she agrees to try.

Mariah says, "So how would you describe the problem?"

Berjes says, "Eh..."

Hailey has a lot to say though, "My husband is a dog! He never takes me on dates. Not ever! Do you know how many dates we've been on? One, and it was in college! We graduated 13 years ago!!! We never DO anything, he never TAKES me anywhere. I sit around the house with my twelve-year-old!"

Berjes says, "I thought this was about the flirting?"

Hailey says, "And THEN there's the flirting!"

"Maybe he's just a flirty person?" Mariah asks him, "Have you ever wanted to take things further than flirting?"

"No," he says. "Never. It's just talking, you know. How do you define a flirt? I have no further intentions."

"But how about these books?" he says. "She writes these books with these ridiculously charming men, who always do and say the right things, and in real life, men just aren't like that. It's like she wants me to be this person who can't possibly exist."

"Ugh," Hailey says. "It's not asking too much that you be romantic a little, and say sweet things to me."

"I'll have to agree with that," Mariah says. "My fiance is pretty romantic sometimes."

"Like when I met him, we were at this really great party. And we stayed out all night, laying on the grass under the stars until the sun came up. So it was morning by this point and he leaned over to me - I had dew in my hair, and a leaf. And he picked out the leaf and he said, "You have a leaf in your hair." Which sounds really simple and all, but it was the way he said it, and how his fingertips brushed my cheek, and I kind of stopped breathing for a minute."

Mariah's voice starts to crackle at this point, her eyes glass over. She and Micah are still not really talking yet, and it's been TWO WEEKS, which is like forever with your soul buddy! But she goes on anyway, "You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach like you know your whole life just changed, right before your eyes? And you didn't ask for it, and you weren't looking for it, but it just happens, and you know nothing will ever be the same again."

Mariah starts to cry.

Berjes says, "Oh, give me a break!"

Hailey says, "I think she needs one of those scan things."

Berjes says, "If we might continue..."

Mariah composes herself, and they go on. Hailey says, "My mother told me I should have married a construction worker, an honest hard-working man who would come home to my bed every night. These surgeons always have such egos."

Berjes says, "I DO come home to your bed every night! Only now you're not letting me sleep in it!"

Berjes says, "Hailey, I have never cheated on you, ever, not even once. I never even wanted to."

It's a nice speech, but Hailey isn't moved by it. She doesn't say anything, so he adds, "And I can buy more flowers!"

"Well, that sounds like a good start," Mariah says. "Why don't we wrap up for this week."

***

Berjes knows he's screwed up really bad this time. He's never seen Hailey so mad. There might not be forgiveness. Has a man ever been in SO much trouble for NOT having an affair?

No, he gets it, the technicality of it - she doesn't like the flirting, and that's as bad as having an affair in her mind. She walks around the house with her little books, avoiding him. She won't even hear an apology.

And she charged up all of their credit cards on the sexiest lingerie she could find, and she just parades around the house in them. She's a beautiful woman, and she's not giving up anything, not a smile, not a hand, not even a blanket!

The worst of it has to be the couch. It's December, and these living room windows are drafty!

He supposes it's finally taught him the value of family, and maybe he didn't realize it before. Isn't that life though, now that he wants to pay attention to his family, his wife hates his guts, and his little girl isn't so little anymore and way too cool for her daddy?

He buys Hazel that new cell phone she wanted, and she scarcely takes a minute to even say thank you before she calls up her best friend, Natalia.

He tries to pry her away from it, and says, "Hey you want to have a snowball fight or something?"

"Snowballs? Dad, I'm busy, using the new phone, you know?"

She laughs at him. He should have known better, it's not like she's still a kid or anything.

Hazel is in the sixth grade this year, and her biggest goal of the moment is to get a knock-out body like her mommy. Because she would really really hate to be fat. Along with junior high comes body image issues, we suppose.

Hailey has the kind of job someone should like to go to, working for the Lake County Social Services as an adoption caseworker. How neat is that? Helping little kiddies find loving homes! But as family-oriented as she is, she's honestly just not that into it. And she hasn't been for years now.

The one day Hailey does go to work this week, she gets demoted. Apparently they frown on that non-attendance thing. Well, she hated going to work anyway. She takes it as a sign, and she finally quits her job to spend more time at home, thinking about the failing state of her family, and apparently, her daughter is in need of some entertainment, because Hazel is bored on an epic level!

Lakeside Heights sees its first big snowfall of the year this December, and Berjes is ankle-deep in snow as he comes home from the hospital. Hazel hasn't run down those front stairs to greet him since she was a little girl, but there she is, running out from the house in a dusting of snow, and the sight of her warms his heart.

Hazel says, "Hey, Dad, I guess we could have that snowball fight, if you really want."

So they snowball fight.

He says he misses his family. He seems honestly remorseful. He's spending time at home, and shifting his priorities. She wonders if he really means it, that he's never cheated, and never even wanted to. Maybe talking and cheating aren't the same thing?

But she deserves better. She'll say that much flat out. When they were young and naive and newlyweds, she dreamed she would spend her lifetime being romanced by this man, over and over again... or at least twenty-five times.

But it didn't work out that way. She meant it when she said she had a lawyer ready. She does. But in real life there are stipulations. She and Berjes have a daughter together, they make a family, the three of them. In real life, it's just not that easy to walk away.

***

Jodie says, "You're at about nine weeks, everything looks normal. You'll be due in August."

Mariah says, "So what now then?"

Jodie says, "What do you mean, what now? You grow the damn thing. Or not, whatever you choose. Don't drink, take your vitamin, come back for your check ups. It pretty much takes care of itself at this point."

"I can keep working and everything?"

"Yeah, sure," Jodie says. "Whatever feels comfortable."

"Do you have kids?" Mariah asks.

"Oh, God no!" Jodie says. Mariah looks startled, so she adds, "But, I admire you all for propagating the species and everything. Somebody's got to do it." Jodie changes the subject. "So you're advising them then, Berjes and his wife? How does that look?"

"They're rocky," Mariah says. "But I don't know, I like to think there's hope."

"Hmph," Jodie mutters. "Hope is overrated."

Berjes calls Jodie into his office that evening. He says, "Listen, I want you to put together a lecture on birth control or something. Maybe do some talks at the schools and colleges. So many pregnancies around here lately. For crying out loud, I have a daughter!"

"She's twelve," Jodie says.

"Yeah, better safe than sorry," Berjes says.

It wasn't even supposed to be funny, but she actually laughs. "Ha, ha, ha, look how funny you are."

She's a bizarre character, he thinks, though not unpretty when she cracks a smile. Maybe she should do it more. Her laugh is stifled, stale, like she's still practicing an approximation of human laughter.

He sits down. She doesn't know why, but she sits too. She thought maybe they might hang out or something. But he says, "Oh, that's all Jodie, will you send Mariah in?" He doesn't even look up at her. "Have you ever tried one of these things? Crazy hard!"

Mariah says, "Bad meeting?"

Jodie rolls her eyes. "It's your turn," she says.

Mariah sits down in Berjes's office. "I think you did a great job the other night!" he says. "Hailey said maybe we should go out on a date some time. I think I might just have a chance!"

"That's great," Mariah says.

"So, you've got another appointment tonight, Hayden Phoenix. He's a little emo, just try not to make him off himself."

"Oh my god, are you serious?" she says. "What if I mess up?"

"Ummm," Berjes says. "Don't."

So this is her own permanent office then. She makes a quick run to Target to buy some supplies. She tries to make it soothing and homey, because she doesn't want anybody offing themselves. She has some good magazines, chilled out music, and candles - the aromatherapy kind!

This check up marks the 2 year anniversary of his wife's death, and 18 months since his failed suicide attempt. Mariah is nervous, but she thinks she's got a pretty good grasp on her people skills, so maybe she can handle it.

They talk first about his new career in gaming, which is something he's always wanted to do. He talks about his parents, who have been so supportive and helpful throughout all of this. He is really happy for his brother who just had a baby, and his own two children are doing great. Ryanne is eleven, and Summer is seventeen.

"Seventeen?" Mariah says.

"Yeah," he says. "Well, when my wife -"

Hayden stops on the word "wife." It brings him to silence.

Mariah says, "You still think of her as your wife."

"Yeah," he says. "I guess I do. I don't know, what would I even call her now? I mean, I'm the widower, right? But we didn't get divorced. We didn't break up. So what is she?"

"You're right," she says. "I don't think there is another word for it." Mariah couldn't even imagine losing Micah like that. It makes her feel suddenly clingy, like she wants to wrap him up in her arms and never let go.

"But anyway," he says. "What I was saying, Rhianna, I mean, when we had our first, Summer, we were still fifteen."

"Fifteen?" Mariah throws her hands up in the air. "Whoa! Fifteen???"

He says, "I thought you guys were supposed to be impartial."

"Oh, yeah," she says. "Sorry." She's wondering what the hell is anybody doing having sex at fifteen??? But then she remembers, her own baby sister was splashing around in their parents' hot tub with Chandler Price at around that age... And she's also thinking that while she might have it rough right now, other people have been through much much worse.

He says, "Well, it was rough, but you know, now, I wouldn't trade her back for all the free youth in the world."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he says. "They kind of grow on you, kids. Do you have any yet?"

She says, "No, not yet."

"So would you consider yourself happy then?"

He says, "Yeah, I'm seeing a really great girl. I like her a lot, she's great kisser, a real firecracker in bed, if you know what I mean... And my parents are great, and my girls are happy, and I'd say I'm really happy, probably ninety-three percent of the time."

"Ninety-three percent sounds pretty happy," she says.

"It's not bad," he says.

"I could deal with ninety-three percent," she says. "Maybe most people are lucky to get ninety-three percent. Maybe in real life, ninety-three percent is as best you get."

And when she's finished, she calls Micah. "Hey," she says. "I'm done now, if you want to come get me." Even though they're not really speaking, he still insists he walk her home every night. It's only three blocks, but there's snow on the ground, and it's dark, and she's pregnant - he's kind of looking out for his whole little family now.

Maybe she broke his heart a little, the way she reacted to their big news. What did he expect though? This is Mariah Riley we're talking about, who has been terrified by much lesser things before. They've had two weeks of near silence, and it's excruciating. Even if they're sharing the same space and sleeping in the same bed, she misses her soul buddy. She says, "Micah, I miss you. I think we need to talk about everything."

And even though it's December, pregnancy cravings and all, it doesn't seem weird at all that she says, "And can we stop and get some ice cream on the way home?"

*****

notes: Okay, so I'm sorry if Mariah is taking over all of my updates lately (just ask Keri! lol!), but I already planned on her being a psychology intern in this update, and doing the whole therapy thing. I already had planned that she would counsel Hailey and Berjes, and talk to Hayden, but then add on top of that the new layer of drama she's going through lately, and what they would obviously talk about just becomes that much more meaningful.

And you guys never get sick of Mariah and Micah, right? ;)

There's one more, and then those two should be quiet for a little while.

And poor Hailey, LTW of 25 dream dates, and Berjes hasn't given her ANY yet! Can you see why she's angry? And lol, she is ANGRY! She is NOT making this easy for him. I swear she's seen the flirting before, but I guess she's finally had her fill of it. Maybe she wouldn't mind the flirting so much if he would take her on some damn dates!!! They have a massive three bolts though (153 ACR!) so maybe they'll work it out?

Or at least work things out in bed for now. Hailey says, "Just so you know, this doesn't mean I like you, it just means I still think you're really hot, and I have certain NEEDS if you know what I mean..."

BTW, if you're curious, Berjes and Jodie also have a pretty hefty three-bolts (133 ACR).

in real life, dudes have body hair: (lol!)

Cool find! (courtesy of Lunar Fox over at Tierra de Legado)

Male body hair overlays at sexysims2 (link is 18+, and not work appropriate)

Berjes does strike me as the type to shave his hair off - he is actually wearing light body hair in this update, though you would only see it in a couple of the pictures, and it is red hair on his tanned skin, so kind of hard to see.

So I'll use Hayden to model this, since he's our big friendly teddy bear ;)

I've given him the second hairiest option, though I could actually see him with a little more chest hair than this, but there wasn't anything between this, and the woolly mammoth below, lol.

I don't think Piper would enjoy that back hair, lol! But maybe he'll have this one when he's older, or maybe I'll give this one to his dad :)