Chapter 2.04 Daughter Dearest

Not much had happened, life was almost routine. Today was a special day though.

Belle's birthday. It was weird to Alyssa to think that her little girl was going to be a toddler. It felt like just yesterday that she was born. Time happens to fly when routine sets in. Luckily, there was a cute cake with an adorable owl on top to celebrate.

Even though it was only the two of them for her birthday, Belle had met her aunts, uncles and cousins (even though Alyssa doubted that she would remember her first meeting with them.) As Alyssa put down Belle, so her little girl could have her birthday, she couldn't help but think of her and her brother's conversation on Snow Day.

"So, I was honestly surprised when Rosie told me about Belle." He half smiled. It was pretty obvious that he would have been surprised. Alyssa never even told him about Tyler, and hadn't told neither him nor Rosie the truth about what happened in France.
She laughed a little. "Yeah, she was kind of a surprise to me too." It was honesty. Belle was probably the furthest thing that Alyssa had planned, but she was glad that it happened. She loved her daughter, and it didn't matter to her that she was on her own. But, it didn't all too matter what she thought.
"And it was a shock to Tyler as well, right?" Connor raised an eyebrow, and she decided in that moment that maybe honesty was the best policy.

"Well... I kinda lied about me being with him." She smiled cautiously, and quickly added before he could interrupt. "I didn't intend on lying, he showed up, and it just happened." She shrugged, knowing her brother would be angry for keeping a secret like that.
Connor sighed, "I just hope you know what you're doing. You probably don't realize it, but a lot of people here are judgemental over single parents." He told her. "No one will ever say anything to you, but they'll get the wrong idea of you."
She furrowed her eyebrows, "What? Why? Its not like it's hurting anyone me being on my own for now." She shrugged.
He shook his head a little. "People are just like that. They don't like anyone being different or changing how the town is. You've just got to watch your reputation."

"Watch my reputation." She repeated, and picked up Belle. Even though she was an adorable toddler, Alyssa couldn't help but wonder how she was a brunette... Her mom was blonde (as far as she was concerned) and her dad had strawberry blonde hair, it didn't make sense. Maybe it was from Matteo's side? That made sense, but still. It wasn't the same shade of brunette...

Belle wasn't all too bothered by her hair colour though. She had exploring to do. The main thing that caught her eye was the house on the rug. She went straight over to it. 

At first it was puzzling how the little people didn't seem to move, so she decided to reach into the house and grab one. 

She didn't get why the little sim didn't move. Sims move, and they do things. They don't just do nothing! What kind of sim does that?

How boring.

Unless she was supposed to move it? Belle hit the doll against the floor, and the house a few times, wondering if it would move then.

Maybe a good amount of toddler slobber on the tiny sim's head would be enough to make it move. However, it stayed as inanimate as ever.

Belle wasn't all too impressed by this. Perhaps there was something more fun around the house?

Alyssa broke her attention away from Belle for a second. There was something she had to do.

She was going to delete her online dating profile. It was stupid for her to get it anyway. She had cheated, had a child, lied and found out her ex had a girlfriend in a matter of days. She needed to slow down. Of course, she didn't get to this conclusion by herself.

"You lied to me?!" Rosie's voice was a harsh whisper, and it was of course understandable. Alyssa had confessed her lie to her sister, on Snow Day. She had told her everything, including Matteo and her return to France.

She was smiling uneasily. "At least I've told the truth now?" She tried, remembering that she felt really intimidated by her sister then. After all, her sister had managed to freeze a really powerful fairy to death when Alyssa was only a child, imagine what she could do now...

"Alyssa..." Rosie's voice was a warning sign of her anger, and Alyssa had never seen her sister like this. 

Alyssa frowned. "I'm sorry for lying. I just, I don't know." She murmured, remembering that she felt stupid about her lie. She could have just trusted her sister.

"Its fine. If you didn't want help, you should have just said." She smiled ever so slightly. 

"Actually, I'm trying to find someone new." Alyssa gave her sister a small smile back. 

Rosie's arms dropped down to her side, mostly out of shock, again. "Please tell me you're kidding." She murmured.

Alyssa shook her head, feeling a little defensive. What was so wrong with it? At least she was trying to fit in this time. "No, I'm not. I want to be like the other families here. One where there's both a mom and dad and they're both together and married. You know what I mean?" She asked. It seemed like such a simple thing, but weirdly enough, neither her nor her half siblings had that. Alyssa was the closest to having that, apart from her parents weren't properly together. "I want a perfect little family." She smiled softly.

Rosie sighed, her hands going back to her little sister's upper arms. "Because you want something to be perfect doesn't mean that you should go off trying to find someone." She shook her head slightly, dismissing the idea. "So what if you don't fit in? I know you're used to being Little Miss Popular, and forever fitting in with the crowd, but if that means you running around like a boy crazy teenager, then it's not worth it."

Alyssa looked down, knowing it was best to delete that dumb online dating account. What was the point in it anyway?

"You need to slow down, okay? Just spend some time as it being just you and Belle." Rosie continued, smiling softly. "I know you said you wanted a perfect family, but it won't be all too perfect if you ignore your daughter."

That was the furthest thing from Alyssa's mind at that point, but even imagining ignoring her little Belle, it was a heart breaking thought.

So, she decided then to delete this stupid account, and try and forget she even signed up anyway. What luck was it going to bring her anyway? That is if anyone had even messaged her. 

However, someone had.

It didn't take Belle all too long until she had managed to find something that was a little more interesting. This room looked a lot more fun! She especially seemed to like the black and white thingamajig in front of her. What did it do though?

Belle managed to scramble up on to the thingamajig stool. However, she was could have sworn that she had felt someone help her up on to the thingamajig stool, but there wasn't anyone there. 

She looked down at the thingamajig, seeing all the buttons and all the keys, so she did like what any toddler (Or not even a toddler) would do.

She slammed down on it, creating a magnificently loud noise! She slammed again and again, giggling at the rough mismatch of music notes coming from the speakers. This was a lot more fun than that silly pretend house will ever be. She continued to slam down on the notes, a little more softly and found it made different noises.

"Dear Alyssa," She started to read aloud, "I noticed your profile, and I couldn't help but at least message you." She raised an eyebrow, making mental notes about this guy. He seemed a little creepy right now. "I looked over your profile, and we have quite a lot in common. In fact, I have a child too. It would be nice to meet you Alyssa, but if you're not interested, it's okay." She murmured the end, furrowing her eyebrows. This guy was very forward, and she begun to think about it until she heard a crash from her mom's old music room.

Alyssa scooped Belle up off of the keyboard when she went into her mom's old music room. "What are you doing in here, cheeky monkey?" Alyssa cooed, mostly just thankful that she was okay. The loud crashing noise really worried her, and she was terrified that something had happened to Belle. Luckily though, the little girl was laughing as she was lifted up high into the air.

Alyssa looked around the room, and stayed quiet for quite a while. This room was the same as it has always been, she couldn't bare to move anything, and she didn't have the strength to even come in here. This room held her mom's greatest passion, her music. Her dad's stuff was a little different, mostly because he wasn't as focused on exercise and fitness as her mom was to music. 

Alyssa sighed, looking around once more. "Come on, this isn't our room." She murmured, holding Belle close. It took her a moment before she walked out of the room, mostly just to try and hold on to those memories just that little bit longer. 

She walked out of the room slowly, not fully wanting to leave just yet. It wasn't that she was much closer to her mom than her dad, but there's a special relationship that a mother and daughter have, and its still difficult for Alyssa to face that her mom is really gone. She didn't even get to meet her second granddaughter.

Well, at least that was what Alyssa thought.

Of course Little Miss Scientist would never believe in spirits. Well, it wasn't exactly like Erin could prove that she was there, but at least she did manage to at least see Belle on the keyboard, even if it was just her hitting the keys in a random order. 

She couldn't help but grin when Alyssa was confused about how Belle would have gotten up on the stool, who else could have helped her up? 

As she watched her daughter and granddaughter leave, she smiled. Hopefully, there would be someone who could look after these instruments, and make sure that they wouldn't collect too much dust. After all, Erin couldn't keep them to herself from beyond this world. She just hoped that if her granddaughter did want them, she would give her instruments the same dedication she gave.

Chapter 2.03 Beauty and the B**ch                                                                   

Chapter 2.05 Dolled Up

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AN: I was going to add another scene, but then I was like, "No, I've added enough to this." and I wanted it to have a fairly sweet/sad ending. That's the last we're going to see of any ghosts though.

This has been a fairly odd week for me, it's been my brother's last ever week at school (which is weird as hell thinking that he's not going to be there, Lord knows how he feels.) and I've had an ugh/WOO! week this week, which has made me feel somewhat bipolar. 

However, I am feeling quite proud of myself right now. Even prouder when I caught someone out in rounders (baseball). Those poses with Belle and the keyboard are one that I made. They're not quite perfect, and the second one has some clipping with her arms and the keys, but I think they're pretty damn good!

Long AN, I know. Sorry. I should be updating more frequently now my Spanish exams are over.