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.
The door opened and Cooper slipped in. He immediately found his way to Sasha, climbed onto the bed, and pressed up against Sasha until Sasha wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.
"Okay?" Sasha murmured.
Cooper nodded, but he still seemed to be on a mission to cuddle in as close to Sasha as he could without disrupting the kitten.
"What did mum do this time?" Mason asked.
Cooper shook his head. "Nothing, just..." He took a deep breath in and let it out again. "I just wish I could make her understand how I feel. How she makes me feel. I think she cares, but no matter what I say, I don't feel like she understands."
"Because she doesn't fucking want to," Mason said. "That's all there is to it. Understanding means accepting that she's been fucking up our entire lives, and she is not a humble woman."
"I'd settle for her just changing how she treats me now."
"Don't ever settle," Mason said. "Besides, it's all connected. She's not going to change what she does now until she can accept that there's a problem and that the problem is and has always been her."
"I guess we'll see."
"Mm, well, I'm not holding my breath." Mason turned to Bianca. "You be careful with her around your daughter, okay?"
"Oh, don't worry," Bianca said. "I try to keep the peace, for the most part, but I'm aware and she doesn't scare me. She's a bit annoying sometimes, like with the nursery, but nothing I can't deal with."
"Yeah, the PTSD really makes it a lot worse, I think," Mason said. "Not having childhood trauma must be nice."
Bianca's expression pinched in sympathy. "I hope she didn't ruin the day for you too much."
Mason waved away her concern. "Nah. There's something uniquely enjoyable about attending a family event and ignoring everything everyone expects of me."
Bianca smiled. "It made me feel better, honestly. It's hard not to feel a little out of place in all of this. How was your day, Sasha?"
Sasha was a little startled at being perceived. Apparently he was not invisible just because he was sitting quietly and listening. "Oh, um. Good? I've never actually gone to a wedding before, so... now I have."
"I've never been to a wedding like this before," Bianca said. "I don't even want to know what Logan paid for it all. Not that I'm worried about money, because he makes way more than me so I'm not bothered how he spends it, but... man. It's a whole different world."
"It is weird," Cooper agreed. "I have to think about money completely differently now that we live on a budget, then I come back here and people are spending like it's nothing."
"You looked like you were having fun, at least."
"Oh, yeah, for sure," Cooper said. He'd slumped down against Sasha's side and was resting the side of his head against Sasha's bicep. "If you ever have a wedding again, I'll for sure come."
"Let's hope not."
"What about you?" Mason asked Bianca. "Did you have a good day?"
"Ah..." Bianca made a face. "That speech Logan gave during the ceremony was really sweet, and everything went well, but having it so late in my pregnancy wasn't the best idea. I'm just a mess of pain and discomfort, and these fucking contractions..."
Mason glanced at his watch and nodded. "Mhm, mhm."
A moment later, Bianca clutched at her stomach and winced.
Cooper pushed himself up on his knees and looked ready to do something, but he didn't seem to know what, so he just stayed there, braced and waiting.
Mason watched until Bianca had relaxed again. "So, it's kind of starting to seem like you might be in labour."
"Oh, God," Bianca said. "That would be really bad timing. I thought maybe if I laid down, it would settle a bit, but..."
Mason nodded. "Doesn't seem to be."
"I'm not due for another few weeks."
"Oh, well, you can't be in labour, then. Babies only ever come exactly on time."
Bianca gave his arm a light shove. "I should call my doctor and see what she has to say. How far apart are my contractions? Have you been keeping track?"
"About five minutes."
"Ah, fuck. Okay. Help me up."
While Mason helped Bianca up and got her phone for her, Cooper sat in front of Sasha and bounced Sasha's hands up and down. Ten minutes ago, the plan had been to head off to bed, and now... maybe not. That was okay. For some reason, urgent situations tended to push past Sasha's anxiety a little and it wasn't too bad. At least not in the moment. In the long run, nothing was free.
Bianca ended the call and sighed as she turned back towards them. "Well, I guess I need to go to the hospital. Do you know where Logan went?"
"Oh!" Cooper said. "He's driving our mum home because our dad left without her. I'm not sure how long he'll be. He was going to pick up that train for you while he's there, Mason."
"Oh, sweet," Mason said. "Terrible timing, though."
Bianca tapped her phone a few times, held it to her ear, and then swore when a ringtone started playing from the bedside table. She hung up. "He left it there after he got a couple of business calls this morning. He didn't want anything to interrupt our day."
"I haven't had any alcohol, so I'll drive you to the hospital." Mason slipped the sling off over the top of his head and passed it to Sasha. "Logan can meet you there after he gets back."
Bianca took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. Thank you. I really didn't even want to think that I might be in labour, but you're right. I've got to go and get it checked out."
"Sasha, if I take Cooper with us, are you okay to go and find Ellie and Abra and tell them what's going on so that they can help manage things here? And you're trained in kitten care, of course."
Sasha nodded. "I can do it. Bianca, can I take Logan's phone so that I can give it to him as soon as he gets here?"
"Please do," Bianca said as she used Mason's shoulder to help haul herself to her feet. Once she was standing, she let out a long breath. "Let's go."