"So, you're definitely coming?' Paolo confirms for the third time.
"Yes dad, I'm coming."
"Ok, sorry, I'm just...excited to see you."
Tula smiles, though he can't see it. "See you tomorrow then."
Paolo hangs up, then takes a deep breath. There's someone else he hasn't seen in a long time.
"Paolo...hi," Tulip starts, uncharacteristically nervous.
Paolo smiles softly, "Hi there stranger."
It's not funny by any means, but it shatters the unease. Tulip stifles a laugh but smiles broadly. "How about a game of dominoes?"
"So, um...how have you been?" Paolo asks after they've set up their dominoes.
"Ok. On maternity leave now. I try to only go out at night, don't want to risk a sunburn with the baby and everything."
Right. The baby. Paolo tries not to stare at his sister's stomach.
The silence is long and awkward. Only Tulip's decades of police training keep her from losing her composure. Paolo was the one who called her but he isn't saying anything. Stalling or trying to guage my mood, Tulip theorises. Well, she'll have to take the bait.
"I hear Haliya will be having a birthday soon," she ventures.
"Yeah, tomorrow...you're invited, you know."
Tulip sighs, "I didn't want to push it. The last time I came things were a bit..."
Paolo shakes his head. "That was over 10 years ago. I...I've had time to think about it. Everything. I..." he pauses, places a domino onto the board, "I can't pretend that I hate you. It just took a long time for me to really come to terms with it. With everything." He doesn't want to talk about "forgiveness" or "amends". Those things seem way too overwhelming to delve into for something as complicated as his ex-wife's death.
Tulip nods, silent.
"It's just that...with Haliya growing older, I wanted to stop running away from my emotions. Krista's death really destroyed me, mom and dad passing away so soon after...it was too much. I totally shut down, stopped connecting or engaging with anyone. Not just you, but...my own kids." He clears his throat. Guy was his kid. That's how he chooses to remember him. "Um...anyways. I don't know if it's wrong, or messed up, or whatever, but lately...I've missed you. We see each other around town all the time, but we haven't really talked since the funeral..."
"Um, please say something," Paolo requests sheepishly, "I just poured my heart out there."
"You sure it's not just a tactic, to distract me and win the game?" Tulip flashes a joking smile.
Paolo laughs, relief, sadness, and bittersweet memories causing tears to form in his eyes. "So you don't hate me?"
Tulip blinks away tears of her own. "No, I never did. You're my brother. If anything, I thought you hated me. Given what happened..."
Paolo frowns. "It wasn't that I hated you...but it was too complicated being around you afterwards. I'm sorry..."
Years of guilt and grief melt away. Tulip feels like a wave has crashed down on a beach, wiping everything away.
"Don't be. I understand."
The heavy conversation out of the way, Paolo feels comfortable enough to ask about the baby.
"So you're finally having your first kid? For once you're a bit behind," he smiles mischeviously.
Tulip blushes. "It wasn't...really planned. I wasn't sure if I would ever have kids, to be honest with you. Work has always been my priority.... but, I have to admit, a part of me is really excited."
"Only a part?"
Tulip nods fervently, "The rest of me is scared as hell! I've lived alone for such a long time, just taking care of myself..." Her second husband, Alexander, passed away shortly before Tula left Appaloosa Plains all those years ago. Dating is a recent development.
"Do you...want to talk about your new boyfriend?"
"Sure. His name is Abraham, he works at the science lab as a tech assistant. Moved here...about two years ago? We met a few months after he got here, Roman invited me and some of his forensics co-workers for dinner. We found out we both really liked to read, but hate each other's favourites," Tulip chuckles. "I can understand a difference in opinion, but really, he hates "Nautilus". A masterpiece!"
"Tulip..."
"Ahem. Right, sorry... well, we had a great discussion about hating each other's tastes... then found out we're both decent with software, he asked me out and fast-forward about a year and a half and I'm heavily pregnant with his baby."
"...wow."
"I know. Before you ask, like everyone does, no, I don't know if we'll get married. But...it could happen." Tulip shrugs, then finally takes her turn.
"Well, well, well, looks like I win. Genius getting rusty in your old age?"
"...shut up," Paolo grumbles.
Just like old times.
The siblings hug, their reunion going much better than either of them could have hoped.
"It was really good to see you," Tulip says, smiling widely.
"I hope we'll meet up again soon. Will we see you tomorrow at the party?"
"If my kiddo cooperates... he's been kicking a lot lately. Could come out any day now," she says with a laugh. "I'll let you know tomorrow."
When Paolo comes home it's very late.
Sun is not happy about this.
"Where were you?" she asks accusingly.
"To see my sister, like I told you..."
"How can you just leave me here with Haliya without telling me where you're going!?"
"I did tell you!" Paolo defends himself, "Really! At breakfast, don't you remember?"
"You mean when I was in the middle of helping Haliya with her homework, that she did last minute again, and you just rushed past us and muttered something?"
Did I just mutter? Paolo really can't remember. He looks down guiltily.
Stressed and tired, Sun feels tears prick her eyes. She quickly wipes them away.
"I told you so many times to just tell me where you'll be going. You know I hate seeming so crazy and angry..."
"I know, I'm sorry, I'll get better..."
Exhausted from the day's events, and both of them starting early the next morning, the couple goes to bed.
***
Tula arrives late into the afternoon the next day. Paolo made sure to take time off of work to be here.
"Why hello...captain dad?" Tula eyes his military uniform.
Paolo smiles. "Captain is right. I got promoted a while ago, I think I forgot to mention it..."
Tula grins, "That's alright. So, where's the birthday girl?"
"She should be home soon," he answers.
Tula frowns. "Are you ok dad? You look really tired."
"It's nothing," he says too quickly, "Just...lots of planning for today, you know? The party, getting your old room ready, the house renovations," he sighs. So much seems to be happening all the time.
Tula can see that he doesn't want to talk about the real source of his unease right now, so she decides to keep the conversation light-hearted. "Renovations, huh? Good thing about your promotion, then."
"Ha, no kidding... it's cost more than anything I've bought in my entire life!" Paolo exclaims. Seeing as his parents were the ones to buy the house and pay it off, his largest bills before were for new furniture. He never imagined building materials, tiling, wall paper, windows could all be so expensive!
"Oh...you guys aren't...in trouble, are you?" Tula lowers her voice with concern.
"Honey, you don't have to worry about that..."
Tula squeezes her dad's hand reassuringly. "Of course I do. You supported me for so many years... if you need help you just have to say so..."
Paolo shakes his head, "Actually no, we're doing well financially. Still plenty of savings left, we just can't build a basement or a third floor anytime soon!" he weakly laughs.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of someone getting off a bike and setting it against the house
"Is that her?"
Paolo nods, "Should be. She bikes home a lot."
Tula smiles softly. "It's been such a long time since I've seen her..."
Haliya walks into the house, completely normally at first- trying to scurry away before anyone can bother her about homework or chores-but she stops in her tracks when she sees who's here.
"TULA!!!"
Throwing off her coat and mittens, Haliya launches herself into her older sister's arms. "I can't believe you're actually here! Wow!"
Tula chuckles, "Wouldn't miss it for anything."
Shortly after Sun gets home from selling her latest consignment, the party guests come pouring in.
"Tula?" Ephraim is pleasantly surprised to see his old classmate. "It's been ages!"
Tula opens her arms wide, "Come here!"
"Oh, I missed you! We should really see each other more often," Tula sighs wistfully into his ear.
She suppresses a smirk when she sees him blush and pull away. No amount of time has made Ephraim any less nervous and shy around her affections.
"Well, I guess I should find an excuse to go to Bridgeport then..."
Tula winks at him, "Whatever it takes."
Also in attendance are Xara and her son, Seth. He's her second child from her brief relationship with Booker Singleton, the younger brother of Tulip's first husband.
Seth is not happy to be at a "lame kid's party". Why his mother chose this sinkhole over the glamorous streets of Bridgeport, he will never understand. (AN: Seth has the diva trait, like a certain other Ceth haha. The game really works miracles sometimes!)
"Wow, so many people are here!" Haliya exclaims to her aunt.
"Well of course sweetie, it's not everyday someone turns thirteen, is it?"
Haliya giggles excitedly. "Thanks for coming and inviting so many people..."
"Of course, honey."
Soon enough, it's the long awaited for blowing of the candles.
Haliya wishes for true love.
A minor stylist session later and Haliya is a fully fledged teen.
Upstairs, Tula is trying to sneak to bed early.
Unfortunately, her aunt's super-vampire eyesight and intuition from years on the force don't let her escape that easily.
"Hi there. Maybe we know each other?" Tulip jokes.
Inwardly Tula cringes, but when she turns around she has a sheepish smile on her face.
"Aunt Tulip, hi! Sorry, I'm just so exhausted from all the travelling today," Tula says honestly, "I was going to sleep early. Still, I should have said hello to you first. How's the force?"
Tulip shrugs, "Haven't been there for a few months, maternity leave. I actually had my baby this morning-"
"And you're here? Already??"
Tulip laughs, "Maybe it's a vampire thing? But I feel fine."
"Well now I feel bad for wanting to go to bed just from a long bus ride..."
Tulip waves her hand dismissively, "Nonsense. You can be tired. I don't want to keep you up, but I just wanted to know how long you'll be in town for?"
Unbidden, a troubled look crosses Tula's face. "...Or maybe you don't want to talk about it?"
Well...Everyone needs advice sometimes, don't they? Tula decides to take a risk. "Promise you won't be mad?"
Tulip's eyebrows raise, "Okaaaay, I promise..."
"....I'm actually pregnant. I came back here to figure things out. To see Haliya too! But I don't know what to do."
"...paid leave is no issue! Though my boss doesn't know yet... still, Bridgeport isn't the best city to raise a kid, and I was planning on moving soon anyways. The living costs there are just too high." This is all partly true. Tula can't mention her...other...activities in Bridgeport. Not that anyone there is really sad to see her go. She really did burn her bridges before she left...
"I see," Tulip keeps on a neutral expression well. Even Tula can't tell how she feels about this news. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but is the father involved...? Is he living in Bridgeport? I mean...what are your options."
"Please don't laugh. I think you know him."
"....I'm listening."
"William Fangmann. He mentioned that you two had worked together before."
Tulip is stunned into silence. Fangmann? Really? Why?
Tula sighs, "I thought you'd have that reaction. I don't know what he's like on the force, but he's a really sweet guy... though he does do that thing... you know, where he tries to say a joke but instead of it being funny it just comes off as super insulting?"
Tulip can't help herself and starts laughing, "Tuuuuuuulip, this is serious!" Tula protests, beginning to laugh herself.
"Pfffffft, you look so judgemental! You're the worst!" Tula says in between giggles, hitting her aunt's shoulder.
"I'm sorrrry, I really wasn't expecting that! Fangmann just..." Has no game? "Isn't...a people person? But anyways, none of that is important. Sorry. Back to your immediate problems." Tulip takes a deep breath, composes herself. "I know what you mean about Bridgeport. I've been there so many times for work but I wouldn't want to live there, especially with a family. Though I did think about it..."
"Oh, really?" Tula is eager for new information. She so seldomly talks to her aunt. Besides, another connection in the police force can't hurt, right?
"Yeah... I've never really told anyone this before... but I think you would understand. You've been around... most people here, it's so black and white. They stay here for life...or they leave the town forever. No grey area," Tulip scratches her head, "...anyways. On paper it would make sense for me to move there. Being the only vampire in town, especially one as small as this one can be...lonely. Knowing that everyone will age much faster than I do. Most of the people I know now will be elderly before I even get my first grey hair," she admits with a sad smile.
"But after a while of seeing the pollution, the high prices, and the crime...I realised it's nice living here. It's peaceful. I might be the only vampire here, but I'm a lot less alone here than I am in Bridgeport. It might be melodramatic of me to say, but in a city like that the only person who watches your back is yourself."
Tula listens with great interest. They have such different outlooks. "I can understand that. People here are more...community oriented," Tula muses.
Tulip nods, and a silence descends upon them.
"Ok, look I'm trying so hard not to judge...but Fangmann?"
Tula giggles. "Like I said before, he's really sweet despite his...bad choice in jokes sometimes."
"You care about him," Tulip observes.
Tula's eyes drop to the floor, reflecting. "...Yes, I do."
Tulip decides to be bold, "But do you love him?"
Tula looks up, and considers her aunt's question. "Well, we date on and off a lot. We both have crazy hours... honestly, there is a cycle."
It always starts the same way. We try to make time for each other.
Things are good for a while, a few months max.
Then one of u has to leave town for a few days, then there's some big missed event one of us promised to attend for the other....
Someone ends up disappointed...
We fight...
We end things. Go our separate ways.
"...then we stay apart for a while, maybe even see other people, and somehow we bump into each other at a club, or one of us gets sentimental and tries to work it out... it's funny, we've known each other for nearly nine years but we've never dated for more than six months at a time. It's like we never got to the very serious stage of our relationship since we never dated long enough."
Tulip shakes her head, "Well...if you don't love him...then why keep dating him?"
"Hmm, good question..." It's not the sex-which is good, but not enough to sustain this endless cycle- it's not the police connections anymore. She needed those in the beginning, but nine years is a long time. You find more reliable ways than your boyfriend and his boss carelessly leaving his phone around. It's certainly not his sense of humor... she thinks wryly to herself.
Tula clears her throat. She needs to say something. "I don't know if I have commitment issues, or like, some deep rooted psychological trauma, but the thought of falling in love just seems so...alien to me."
"What do you mean?"
With no one else to overhear, no real gains to be made, Tula answers her aunt's question. "I saw what it was like for my dad. He was in love with my mother and her death totally destroyed him. My grandma too... she was so quiet after grandpa passed away. I'm not talking about simple grief. They both changed so much... I can't imagine giving someone that kind of power over me, not...subconsciously." Tula looks away. Was that too much?
Tulip once again conceals her surprise well. "Sometimes...it's like we're so alike. It feels like...at times...I'm just trying to shield myself from that kind of pain."
"But you've been married before, right? Unless you didn't love them...?"
"Oh no, I did! Very much. But my husbands were both so old... much older than me. After Rodney, my second husband, passed away, I had to do a lot of thinking. My life and my choices. I always tried to be someone who would never look back when I was young, younger than you are now. But, before Rodney passed away, there was your mother..." Tulip pauses, not wanting to make Tula upset. Her niece places a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving her support to continue. "I dwelled a lot on it. Twisted myself up. It was the first time that I ever felt like I had made a huge mistake. For a while after I played it safe. With work. With my love life. Everything." Tula has to remind herself that decades would count as "a little while" to a vampire. "...I think the reason I went after Alexander and Rodney, with them being as old as they were, was to protect myself. It was like...I was just more at ease with them passing away before me. At their age it was just natural that they would go before me. Of course I loved them for other reasons too!" Rodney could talk about computers, the galaxy, and the world endlessly. So much scientific curiosity. Alexander made her laugh like no one else. "But once Rodney was gone...I had to consider whether or not I overlooked other opportunities for a relationship because I was scared...scared of the risk of getting hurt." The thought of outliving her siblings had always bothered her.
She clears her throat. How long has she been speaking? "Anyways...it took some time...but I realised that while it's scary to make yourself vulnerable, to make choices without knowing exactly how it'll turn out, it's just a part of life. If always play it safe, who knows what you'll miss out on."
Tula nods, processing all of this information.
So...you have to take risks for the most reward. An interesting hypothesis. It's been somewhat true for her so far. She did have to deal with some unknowns to get to China, and then to survive her double life for as long as she did in Bridgeport.
Maybe the safe route with William isn't the best one after all.
"Tula, I have to go...but if you need anything, or want to talk, don't hesitate to text me, alright?"
Tula smile tiredly. "You've been so open and helpful with me already...but if I need more advice I will definitely let you know."
Her aunt leaves, feeling much closer to her niece.
After a quick shower, Tula decides to just rip off the bandaid.
She sends him the address of the karaoke bar. We can meet here. Let me know if you can make it soon.
----------------------
AN:
SURPRISE.
This chapter's title is meaningful in multiple ways, haha. I honestly thought I would never write for this legacy again. My writer's block was just that severe. Life also got in the way for a whopping three years. However, this story kept calling back to me. A few months ago I thought about re-writing all of the Tula centric chapters after she aged up into an adult to re-work the plot into something I could write about, but after reverting those chapters to drafts and reading over them again I just couldn't think of anything better. I put them back up but now they're all jumbled and out of order- I'm really sorry about that! I tried to fix it but it didn't really work.
So what will happen now? I feel bad about this, but a time skip was the best I could do. My original intention was to cover every. single. year. of Tula's life in Bridgeport up until Haliya's teen birthday, but that got crazy and out of control with the sheer amount of plot I would have to make up for about 9 or 10 years of stuff. I also ran into the issue of sim time being really short so even though more than 10 sim days had passed in my Birgeport save it still didn't feel like a lot story wise. I do intend on having some flashbacks to fill in some gaps of what Tula has been doing in later chapters. I don't want to leave everyone hanging on what has been the most interesting part of the story so far.
Anyways, so for anyone wondering, Tulip had her baby the day of Haliya's party which is why she didn't show up until very late into the party. She has a baby boy named Danny now.
Haliya's traits up until now are:
-Hopeless romantic
-Absent minded
-Family oriented
-Friendly
To confirm once again, she is the heir. I'll reveal some spoilers since I kept everyone waiting for literal years.
-Tula will be living in the house as a +help role. The roll is Couple + help.
-Tula's career is criminal (evil branch).
-Generation goal is idle careers which is why I've had Tula work on some of her skills while we wait for Haliya to age up and take over as heir.
-Misc. fun is IT'S SO YOU! Which means making everyone's room their favourite colour, I think? Haliya's favourite colour is actually orange, Tula's is yellow, so their rooms will be changed accordingly.
Tula is therefore in the house TO STAY.
Alternate title for this chapter could have been "The Return of Never Ending Dialogue." Didn't you guys miss me?
Funny outtake:
For anyone new to this blog: Whewwww there are a lot of chapters and melodrama waiting for you. TL;DR is that Tula is bad news and now she's back in town!
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