The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 4
Author's Note: Hi again everyone! I guess I'll apologize again for the delay between chapters. I really wish I could say I'll do better but the truth is I won't... College is sucking up all my time! I mean it's great, I'm having tons of fun, but I have no time for sims anymore xD Oh well. I'd expect about one chapter a month, ish. Hopefully you are all still reading! :P
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 4
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Last time....
Reagan and Finn discovered that Jaden was missing and had to re-evaluate their parenting strategies. With Jaden's protection gone, Norah was free to bully Rue mercilessly. As a result, Rue grew closer and closer to her friend James.
Let's continue, shall we?
It was late at night when Rue was 11 and Norah was 14. The house was silent. All four Atwoods were asleep: the parents in their peaceful upstairs bedroom, the girls in the room they had shared since Rue was born.
No matter how much Norah had begged, their parents had never let her use Jaden’s old room. It had sat unused for four years, untouched since Jaden had left, but neither Finn nor Reagan had any mind to let their daughter take over the space. It had become a sort of shrine to their missing son, a place where they went to mourn when they felt no hope of ever finding him again.
Indeed, the investigation was going badly. Finn had followed several leads on reports of rape by a dark-haired, intense-looking man, all of which had taken place in a radius of four or five towns in the neighboring county. Yet no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many people he interviewed, no matter how many sobbing women he offered his shoulder to cry on, he could not find Dominic.
Finn also firmly believed that Jaden’s disappearance was linked with Dominic. How could a boy of-how old now?-nineteen be doing well in the world, be happy and content, without relying on his family? And how could he have been okay at fifteen, when he left? There was no way.
Half an hour ago, Finn had been sitting in Jaden’s room, thinking. He still had no idea why Jaden left-Rue had never shown anyone the note she had found the day her brother went missing, so Finn had no knowledge of its contents-but he had several theories. “I just hope you didn’t think you were no longer welcome here,” Finn said sadly to the picture of Jaden posing happily with Finn that sat on the bedside table. Finn preferred to believe that Jaden had left for other reasons.
After quietly shutting the door to Jaden’s room, Finn checked on his daughters and then went up to bed. Reagan was already asleep; he cuddled close to her and was soon slumbering peacefully.
Everyone was too deeply asleep to hear the key turning in the front door, so they had no idea when two men entered the house, dressed entirely in black. No one heard the soft footsteps padding across the floor, silent and purposeful, as the men made their way toward the stairs.
The taller of the two men stopped suddenly. The shorter one kept going a few paces, noticed his comrade was not beside him, and turned around inquisitively. “Go ahead,” whispered the taller man, motioning his partner on. “I just have to check something.”
The shorter one didn’t trust the taller one, but he didn’t say a word as he turned around to continue on his way. Probably nothing, he assured himself as he continued through the living room.
He headed up the stairs and into Finn and Reagan’s room. Slipping a handkerchief over each of their noses, he ensured that they would not wake up for quite some time.
I can’t carry them on my own, he realized. Where the hell is he? He headed back downstairs to find his partner.
The living room and kitchen were alarmingly empty. The shorter one checked the office and unused bedroom at the back of the house, but a sinking feeling in his stomach told him he would not find the taller man there.
Walking much more quickly now, he made his way to the game room. No sign of the taller man. There was only one room left in the house: Norah and Rue’s bedroom. He climbed the spiral staircase with apprehension.
He was horrified by what he saw. The two girls had been knocked out by the handkerchief the taller man was carrying. They had been arranged together on one of the beds-and the man was carefully removing their clothes.
“Get the fuck away from them!” the shorter man shouted, not caring how loud his voice was. No one would wake up at the sound, anyway. He made to shove the taller man out of the way, but was stopped by the man’s vicious grip.
“Don’t you dare speak to me that way, son,” the man spat. “What, feeling a little protective all of a sudden? Getting your big brother instincts back? Don’t you think it’s too late for all that now, Jaden?”
Jaden jerked himself away. “I said, don’t touch my sisters,” he growled. “You told me you wouldn’t hurt them!”
“They’re not hurt at all,” Dominic said with a laugh. “They don’t even know what’s going on.”
“You’re disgusting,” Jaden spat. “I don’t know why I even agreed to this.”
“They mistreated you!” Dominic exclaimed, a glint of frightening madness in his eyes. “They hated you because of your heritage. They’ll never appreciate you the way I have. All we’re here to do is repay them for their favors!” He laughed, an evil, ruthless sound. “So? Did you get your ‘parents’? Come on, wouldn’t it just be even more satisfying to get all four of ’em in one go?”
Jaden had no idea what to do. On one hand, there was Dominic: his father, the man who had brought Jaden into the world. The man who had taken in Jaden, a helpless and scared sixteen-year-old, when he had nowhere else to go. And Dom was right-Finn and Reagan had never loved Jaden as much as they’d loved their real kids, their daughters, the girls who now lay helpless before him, at his mercy. In fact, all of them were powerless now. Jaden could do anything he wanted, anything to pay them back for the years of hurt and fear he’d gone through after they’d effectively thrown him out of the house. This was his chance for revenge, just like Dominic had said. They had been preparing for this moment for over a year; Jaden couldn’t screw it up now.
But on the other hand… Being back here reminded Jaden of all the good times he’d shared with his adopted family, all the ways they’d done right by him. He had seen the pictures on the walls: all three kids were represented equally. And he remembered, now, the gifts he had gotten, the love he’d been shown, the care Finn and Reagan had given him even though he wasn’t their own. He had once been proud to call these people his parents.
And most important of all were his sisters. Norah and Rue, the girls he had known and loved all their lives. Now they were in danger, and Dom was right-Jaden’s brotherly instincts were kicking in. He hadn’t had a problem planning his revenge on Finn and Reagan, but the girls… that was another story. I won’t let anything happen to them.
“Don’t you dare touch my sisters,” Jaden said as soon as he reached this conclusion. “And you know what? Don’t touch my parents, either. They loved me more than you’re even capable of. Get out of my house!”
Dominic stood in shock for just a moment. Then he launched himself at Jaden, fists flying. “You little shit,” he exclaimed as he punched every part of Jaden he could reach. “You’re about to wreck everything we’ve worked for! We planned this for months, and you’re just going to throw that away? Don’t you want your revenge for everything your so-called family put you through? Saddling you with raising their kids, never loving you as much as they loved their girls, throwing you out when they discovered it was me that got your mama pregnant with you? You should be happy about what I’m gonna do to these girls. They deserve it!”
That was the last straw for Jaden. With a massive effort, he fought back at Dominic, throwing every ounce of strength he had into beating the living hell out of the man in front of him. “Don’t … touch … my … family!”
Jaden fought with a strength he didn’t know he had. When he finally stood up, he was worn out and panting, but Dominic lay unconscious before him. “You got what you deserved,” Jaden muttered.
* * *
The investigation closed rapidly after that. Dominic was tried and convicted for his crimes, and Jaden received his fair share of credit for putting the man behind bars where he belonged.
Jaden was also welcomed home with open arms. His whole family was overjoyed to see him after four long years of absence. Jaden told Finn and Reagan everything that had happened-even his own part in the attempted kidnapping. They didn’t blame him for what had happened, however. They were just glad he was home.
“I just can’t believe you lived with that man for so long,” Reagan said with a shudder.
“I know; I just had nowhere else to go. I was sixteen and I thought everyone in this house was out to get me; I couldn’t come back here. But I’d never realized how hard it would be to make it on my own, especially as a minor. I went looking for him, originally thinking I could just mooch off him and then get back at him later… But when I found him, he spun me this elaborate yarn about how I’m his long-lost son, the one kid he always wished to know… I fell for it. I guess I always wanted my father to want me. But it was all a lie. He was using me to get to you, Reagan, and you, Dad. He knew I’d want revenge, and he knew I had insider information on you guys. He was going to kill you, I think. Bring you back to his place, stop your investigation, and kill you.”
“I just don’t understand how you were able to find him so easily, when it’s been an ongoing struggle with my department for so many years,” Finn said, shaking his head ruefully.
“Oh, he’s part of this huge crime ring,” Jaden said. “I’m positive he has every one of your men tracked. Any of your cops tries to get within a two-town radius of him or his men, he books it outta there. I only got to him because he wanted me around.”
“Crime ring, you say?” Finn said, a spark of interest in his tone. Now that the biggest case of his life was over, he’d been wondering what to do with himself. Maybe this was just the thing.
Reagan, on the other hand, felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. A door had closed in her life, separating her from her awful past once and for all. She felt a massive sense of relief that Dominic had been found, and allowed herself to relax for the first time in more than twenty years. She cut back her hours at work (she’d always suspected she worked so much to distract herself from what had happened to her) and, although she had achieved her dream of becoming CEO, found herself taking work less seriously than she had before.
* * *
Jaden eventually moved out of the Atwood home to live on his own. He always made time for his sisters, of course-especially Rue. Though he did love both his sisters, it was sometimes hard to forgive Norah for her attitude toward Rue. Luckily, Norah had toned it down a little once Jaden reappeared.
Still, now that both girls were in high school, Norah couldn’t help but remind Rue of her place. “You’re just a fat, wimpy, pathetic loser who can’t even say her own name,” Norah would jeer. “And you hang out with a cripple because you can’t get any real friends.”
Luckily, these days Rue could come up with a good retort. “Screw off,” she’d say. “At least I have a friend, unlike you and all your preppy Barbie doll ‘friends’ who would just as soon stab you in the back as talk to you.”
Rue’s speech had improved greatly since her childhood, but her r’s still came out just a little funkier than most people’s. “No matter how I try, I just can’t get the sound exactly right. I just wish I could be normal…” she lamented to James one day.
“Come on, don’t say that,” James said. “You are normal. I promise, no one notices it as much as you do. It’s ten times better than it was when we were kids, and I liked you back then, too, remember?”
That was one of the many things Rue loved about James. Not only was he a persistent optimist, always making her feel better about her troubles; but he never played the wheelchair card. He had never once said, “At least you can walk, unlike me,” when she complained about something.
“Everyone has their own difficulties,” he said when she asked him about this one time. “Just because mine are visible doesn’t make them worse than yours.”
In fact, Rue loved everything about her best friend. She had never seen what others saw-a guy severely limited by his inability to walk, confined to a wheelchair. What Rue saw was a compassionate, friendly, optimistic guy who was kinder than anyone else had ever been to her in her life.
It seemed James liked Rue just as much as she liked him, too: around the time Norah graduated from high school, the two started dating. “It’s about time,” Reagan said happily when her daughter told her family the news.
Norah just rolled her eyes and walked away.
“Hey, don’t let her get to you,” Reagan said softly, seeing Rue’s face fall. “She doesn’t mean any of what she says to you.”
“How do you know?” Rue snapped. She couldn’t stand her mother’s ‘she really loves you deep down’ attitude anymore. “Norah’s never been anything but horrible to me, Mom. She hates me.”
“Yes, but you two are sisters,” Reagan implored. With her background, she just couldn’t understand not loving your siblings unconditionally. “Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“Not to her,” Rue said, her voice catching in her throat. “Maybe it would to me, if she weren’t so…” She trailed off, unsure what she wanted to say. “Just forget it.”
* * *
“You’re so beautiful, Rue,” James said softly. “Thanks for putting up with me.”
Rue tucked a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “That’s not what this is about at all. I’m not ‘putting up with you,’ I’m here because I genuinely like you.”
“Hey, I have a question,” James said. Rue, who sat on a bench so as to be eye level with him, leaned forward. “Will you watch the stars with me?” he asked softly.
Rue smiled. “Of course.” She helped James out of his chair and onto the grass, then settled down next to him. They gazed at the sky together. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“Rue, I wanted to tell you,” James said seriously, “it means everything to me that you’ve been here for me the way you have.”
“Don’t be silly,” Rue began.
“No, I’m serious,” he countered. “Don’t dismiss it. Without you I’d be completely alone. Nobody looks at me like a person the way you do. To them I’m just a charity case.”
“Screw all of them,” Rue replied. “You have me, right?”
“I do have you,” he replied with a smile. “You’re the champion of my charity.”
“Shut up,” she snapped, a trace of actual irritation in her voice. “I’m not doing this because I feel sorry for you.”
“I know, I know, easy,” he laughed. “That’s the best part about you. You’re my friend because you genuinely like me. And if you ever stop liking me, I want you to stop being my friend. Don’t stick around because you pity my disability.”
“James, don’t be ridiculous,” Rue said reassuringly. “I’ll always like you. I’ve already liked you for twelve years, haven’t I?”
James grinned. “Well, when you put it that way…” He leaned closer to Rue and kissed her lightly. “You know, I’ve liked you for a long time, too. In fact… I love you, Rue. I wanted you to know.”
Rue caught her breath. “I… I love you too, James.” She smiled, thrilled at the words. “I really do.”
“Well, that worked out nicely,” he said with a laugh, and then he kissed her again.
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So yeah... I'm obsessed with these two <3 A lot of you called it... I mean it wasn't exactly subtle, was it? xD Also, I'm so happy to have Dominic's stuff finally wrapped up!! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment if you'd like! And until next time, which may be awhile, thanks for reading and happy simming!