playdates

April 2080 - Jackson and Nessa Phoenix are 30, Patrick Nova is 28, Lara is 26, Raine is 18 months.

(Spring Break 2072 - This bunch was a fun group of college kids, back in their day! Probably as much fun as the Bradshaw cousins are at LCU now. The girl in pink is Patrick's high school sweetheart - oh how he broke her heart when he met Lara! Carly and Joseph are still around the neighborhood. They actually started dating during this spring break trip. Carly works for Aurora Miguel at Jolie, Jolie, and Joseph used to DJ at Maxwell Shaw's club, and Stephanie (Nova) Day had a crush on him for a minute.)Jackson Phoenix was always closer to his cousin Patrick than he was to his own twin brother Hayden. Even though they shared a womb, they looked nothing alike, and shared almost nothing in common. Jackson and Hayden led completely different lives, Jackson excelling in school and going to college, and Hayden getting himself into just about every kind of trouble imaginable. Maybe there has always been a little bit of resentment on Jackson's part, for Hayden being the one always getting their parents attention... even now that they're thirty years old. So how ironic that Jackson would be the one to pull Hayden out of the swimming pool?

He visits his brother as often as he can, as do their parents and Summer and Ryanne. Hayden's doctors say it does him good to have family around, and they also say he's improving, and doing really well.

Of course, Jackson has to call for a taxi across town. Nessa is still not allowed to have a car in the household because of her little mishap a few years back. And Jackson wonders to himself if there's someone they might be able to buy off to get that penalty removed. He'll have to ask his dad. It's only been three years of a six-year penalty. But on a good note, it's also their three-year wedding anniversary at the end of the month.

Hayden is permitted to have lunch with his brother in the cafeteria, and Dr. Monif stops by. Hayden says, "No, I don't really feel like a robot anymore. I feel okay."

Dr. Monif says, "That's great! We'll probably have you out of here by the end of the month."

Jackson tries to think of things to lighten his mood when he visits. It's hard to know what to say, since anything - red-heads, mothers, the color blue - reminds Hayden of Rhianna. Jackson says, "Hey, did mom and dad tell you Steph ran off and got married." Immediately he wonders if that was a wrong topic to bring up. Hayden takes the news in good spirits though. "That crazy kid," he says.

One fail-safe way to lighten the mood is good old brotherly vulgar humor. Jackson let's one rip, and Hayden says, "Man, that was foul!" But funny, of course - maybe some things never get old, even at thirty years old...

Jackson's wife, Nessa likes her job. And why wouldn't she? She gets paid good money to go to lunch with Bryson Riley and listen to his ideas and file a little bit of his paperwork. But the thing is, there's nowhere to go, really. She always wanted to rise up the corporate ladder to run a big company some day, and it's not likely to be the Riley Estates Company. So when she sees a job offer online, for a corporate executive position it makes her think maybe it's time for a career change. It dawns on her how much she wants a promotion, and since she's gone as far as she can go at the Riley Estates Company, she e-mails her resume.

Jackson stays late at the hospital a lot lately. These past few months have been hard on everybody, and most evenings she's left alone. She understands though - family in crisis and all.

Nessa calls Clarice over, which is nice since she's just two houses down - and she brings little Elliot over too, who has grown a nice thick head of hair now that he's almost three. They talk about her job, and she wonders if maybe she could talk to a judge maybe about her DUI penalty - Blake might know about that kind of thing, and Clarice promises to ask him about it. There's not much for a toddler to do in the house, but Elliot rocks out to some music while they talk.

And when in doubt, dance? That's right, Elliot, Auntie Nessa sure is making a funny face!

Nessa tells Jackson about the job once he's home. He's got Hayden on his mind, as he usually does, but he acknowledges her and says, "That sounds good." Nessa asks how Hayden is doing, and Jackson says, "You know he said he's not going back into law enforcement when he looks for work again. He wants to go into gaming? He says he wants to do what's going to make him happy."

"I guess that makes sense," Nessa says. "But how is he going to support the girls on that?"

"That's the thing - I think my parents are keeping the girls," Jackson says. "At least for a while, and you know Summer is almost sixteen now, so soon it'll just be him and Ryanne."

But it did register with Jackson what Nessa said about her job - because everybody lately seems to be going after what they really want to do with their lives, and maybe he is even slightly jealous of both Nessa and Hayden. Jackson never did get that break into a sports career. He supposes he never really did have a natural talent for it, like some people do. And at 30, he's nearly too old for that chance now.

Ah, well, you know what they say, if you can't be a sports star, you can always blog about it instead...

***

It's understandable why Jeremy and Alice want baby pictures so badly, because little Raine Nova might possibly be the most adorable little girl to ever live! Maybe she takes after her daddy a little - the fierce concentration in her brow, the precision, the ear for pitch. She looks up at him and wonders, how does he do that? This composition is sunshiney and melodious, and Patrick calls it, "Ode to Raine." She hopes some day she might glow like her daddy does.

But glow as he might, there's still potty training to facilitate, even for minor local celebrities...

The doorbell rings, and look who stopped by! Good thing Jackson and Nessa are in walking distance to their friends because that cab fare is really cutting into their budget. Lara works evenings as a patrol officer, and hey, since he and Raine are stuck in the house anyway, they might as well throw a little party!

Nessa says, hey, I'll call Clarice and Blake, and Clarice says, hey, I'll call Aurora and Joel - but the tone of these parties has changed quite a bit in the past couple years...

... everybody has kids now, and before they know it, they've got themselves a little playdate! Party in Raine's room!

Zachary Harris (13 months), Elliot Miller (2 years), and Raine Nova (18 months), Lake City toddlers at play - how fun for this close-knit group of friends to have children at the same time who can all grow up together :)

Raine just couldn't handle all the fun!

And it wasn't long before the boys passed out too...

So with the baby monitors on, they let the grown-up shenanigans go on downstairs! This is more like the parties they remember.

***

Lara booked a professional photo shoot for those baby pictures everyone is nagging for. She got a promotion this week - the work isn't exciting, she'll just be sitting behind a desk, but they gave her a nice bonus, so she and Patrick feel okay spending the extra on some pictures. You know, they're only little once, and Raine is just a gorgeous, gorgeous little girl!

Phoenix McCullough is gaining quite the reputation as a photographer, and he even sets up a makeshift studio in their home. He charges $400 per session, and $200 for each print.

Lara likes all six photos he shoots and she buys them all!

Patrick is out for the afternoon. Jackson called earlier and said Hayden is out of the hospital now, and he thought they should take him out somewhere. You know, Jackson can't really take him anywhere without a car. So the guys all head out for the evening.

Hayden suggests that they drive out to Bluewater and visit Chad at the Gamer's Den. He just wants a quiet evening with the guys. He doesn't want to meet any women. He's just not ready for that yet, and he honestly can't imagine that he'll ever be - not that anyone suggested it, but Hayden makes the point firmly anyway. Jackson says, "You don't have to meet any women, I promise." So they have a simple game of poker. Good fun with the guys, just what he needs. Jackson thinks it's good to have his brother back again.

They stop in Lakeside Heights to drop off Hayden at home. And crap, Jackson still hasn't picked up his wedding portrait! Orlando gives him a stern look and says, "I was just about to scrap the thing." Jackson feels bad. He has a bunch of excuses, "We don't have a car, and we live in the city, and we've got some family issues going on, I swear." Orlando looks like he's heard all of these excuses before. Jackson buys some pottery to make up for it.

And speaking of their wedding, Jackson knows things have been crazy, but he didn't forget their anniversary.

It's been a nice three years, and Jackson thinks Nessa is growing more and more beautiful every day. He wants to thank her for being so understanding, and he hopes she likes the pottery too.

***

notes: He really does think she's more beautiful than when they were married. They always had an ACR score in the 120s or something, but for some reason her fitness turn-on didn't trigger until now, and now they're 151 ACR, lol! :)

I had to remember to enforce that DUI penalty. I almost forgot and bought them a car :)

Both of these families want some/more children, but things were just too hectic this round for them to even try. Jack and Nessa have some time still, but hopefully they'll try next time around. And I hope Pat and Lara do too, because they sure make gorgeous babies together! :)