A Wall Between

Chapter 49

Sasha felt a little awkward as he followed Bianca and Mason down the hall and into a bedroom. They hadn't actually invited him along, he'd just been sent with them by Cooper.

Sometimes Sasha worried that people perceived him as being more weird than he actually was. He was self aware, rational, and intelligent, but sometimes he worried that people might think that he was disabled to the point that he was unable to comprehend other humans. Mostly he was just super awkward. And sure, sometimes he did find people hard to understand, but not in the way he was worried people would think. He could hold a full, deep conversation about all the ways in which other humans baffled him.

Bianca sat down on the edge of the bed, hand clasped against her stomach as she drew in a breath through her teeth.

"You good?" Mason asked.

Bianca nodded. "It'll pass in a minute."

Mason sat down next to her, dragged the mewling kitten out of the sling, and passed him to Sasha so that he could put his laptop on his lap. He glanced at his watch. "Man, does my watch think I've burnt a lot of calories today. Anxiety is great for increasing your heart rate."

Bianca took a slower breath in and managed to lay down. "I think that might actually be bad for you."

"I don't care about reality. I care about numbers, and the numbers say it's good."

Bianca managed a smile. "Fair enough."

"Anyway, let's age up this sim so that you can finally see what your baby's going to look like, because both in the sims and in real life, all babies look the same."

Sasha sat down on the bed with them and cuddled the kitten as he watched Mason send his sim family home with the babies.

"Wait, why do they have two babies?" Bianca asked.

"Oh, this one?" Mason asked. "Don't worry about him. He's a boy."

"Wait, did you name him Stupid Fuckface? Our poor son!"

"Just the latest in a long string of unwanted children. If you play with the volume off, you don't even have to listen to them cry."

"You can't do that with real babies."

"Sure, but this house is big. You just have to put the baby far enough away from you. Now, that may sound unethical, but I watched a Youtube video about shaken babies, and that's what they say to do. Put the baby down somewhere safe and leave the room. So that you don't scramble its little brain out of frustration, you see."

Bianca made a face. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'm not sure why so many of your random facts are about pregnancy, childbirth, and babies."

Mason gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "That's just how my anxiety manifests. I learn about everything that can go wrong."

"That's oddly sweet. That you've been thinking about it, I mean."

"Of course. Now, let's age up this little spud."

Mason clicked on the baby and selected 'age up'. She exploded out of the cot and, after Mason selected a trait for her, descended to the floor on a cloud.

"Aw, her hair's the same kind of chestnut brown as mine," Bianca said. "And she has Logan's eyes, I think. I guess The Sims can't do that pretty hazel justice, but I get the idea. She's so cute."

Mason aged her up into a child and then a teenager while her unwanted siblings screamed because they were hungry and filthy in the background. Bianca shut her eyes and clutched her stomach again, breathing through whatever discomfort she was experiencing,.as Mason aged the sim into adulthood.