Ch. 1.15: The Birds and the Bees

“I wasn't expecting to have this conversation with you so soon,” Polaris admits, “I thought I could put it off for a while. She’s stalling—this is going to be uncomfortable. The triplets stare at her, wide-eyed.

“So you are pregnant?” Solaris breaks the silence, “you’re going to have a baby?”

“Yes, I’m pregnant. Probably just a few weeks along, but you’re going to have a little brother or sister.” Or both, she shudders at the thought of having another set of triplets.

“With dad?” Luna asks. Elysia and Solaris laugh, “What? Why are you laughing?” She looks genuinely confused.

Polaris hesitates, “No, not with your father. We’re not together anymore, Lulu.”

“Why not,” Luna whines, “I don’t understand.” She’s held out hope for a while that her parents would get back together.

“It’s simple Luna. Ummm…well…I guess it’s time I told you about this,” Polaris explains, ignoring the subtext of Luna’s statement,“when a male and a female of a species desire to procreate, or when they…um…want to show their love for each other, they engage in—they, um—they copulate.” Luna and Elysia exchange horrified glances. It’s The Talk.

“Mom, we—“ Elsyia tries to speak, but Polaris cuts her off.

“This will go faster if you don’t interrupt me,” Polaris insists, “Anyway, back to business. The man inserts his penis into the woman’s vagina, though usually he requires the woman’s guidance. He quickly ejaculates and releases sperm—“

“Mom, please, we—“

“Shush! The sooner we get through this, the better. Anyway, where was I…right, the sperm. They’re often personified as agile swimmers, but it’s quite the opposite—most are feeble and clumsy. Anyway, if the woman is ovulating, there’s a chance the sperm will bump into an ovum—or an egg—in the uterine tube…”

Solaris is wondering what he’s done to deserve this while Elysia tries her hardest not to read her mother’s mind. Luna’s eyes glaze over as she tunes out most of the information.

“…the sperm releases an enzyme that breaks down the membrane of the egg, and then the two fuse together. Once they unite, the egg becomes a zygote. See, the egg participates in this process too; it’s just not as mobile as the sperm.”

“Mom, we just want—“

“People describe this whole process as miraculous, but miracles are for the birds. I’d say a miracle is when something unexpected happens. It’s not like you all fall out of the sky like rain or anything,” Polaris rambles a lot when she’s nervous, “though it feels that way sometimes…but my point is that one day the three of you will likely participate in such as process.” Luna and Elysia giggle and Solaris gives his mother a mortified look.

“Though, this is not the only type of intercourse; it’s just the type that produces offspring. You’ll likely experience those other types, too, once you meet the right men,” she looks at Luna and Elysia, “or woman, Solaris. “ She smiles at her son. He grimaces.

“Okay then, can we—“

“Though that’s a bit narrow minded,” she declares, “I mean, I don’t want to box you all in! Your sexuality isn’t set in stone. And I’ll love you no matter what: gay, straight, bisexual, whatever!”

“Mom!”

“Keep in mind that sexuality often falls on a Kinsey scale, too. So it wouldn’t necessarily be correct to say that you’ll find yourself attracted to only one sex; it’s possible to experience all kinds of attraction,” Polaris feels herself losing steam, but she feels there’s an important point to make here.

“MOMWEJUSTWANTTOKNOWWHOTHEFATHERIS,” Elysia, having designated herself the triplet’s spokeswoman, finally interrupts her mother.

“You’ve been seeing a man and you haven’t even told us about him,” Solaris says quietly. He’s not like Luna—he isn’t holding out hope that their parents will get back together. He just didn’t want to imagine his mom carousing with some random guy.

“How could you do this to dad?” Luna demands, her eyes watering.

“Lulu, we’re not together anymore! You can’t keep expecting that we’re going to get back together.”

“Then who?” Solaris demands insistently.

Polaris pauses. She can feel her face growing hot. “His name is Crux. You haven’t met him.”

“Does he even know that you already have three kids?” Solaris asks.

“Yes, of course! I talk about you all the time. It’s just,” she hesitates, “I didn’t know how to introduce you to him without upsetting you.”

“Yeah, this isn’t upsetting,” Solaris remarks.

“Tomorrow is feast day. I was thinking of inviting him over, so you can meet him. Does that sound okay?”

“Whatever,” the triplets respond in unison. They don’t often speak all at once, but it’s unnerving when they do.

“Alrighty then,” Polaris sighs.

***

Crux is wondering how to deal with this situation. He cannot recall ever having to interact with children before, and now he’s been placed in an enclosed environment with three strange kids. He’d been reluctant when Polaris had called him and invited him over to meet the triplets; with his conversation with Xharor on the forefront of his mind, he is overwhelmed and unprepared for such a scenario.

Despite his cool behavior, Elysia sees the appeal of this purple man—he’s rather cute, and his mind feels calm, relaxing. She smiles at him. Solaris, on the other hand, wonders about the chances of his mother meeting another sim with ‘Alcyonian Syndrome,’ and Luna has decided that she does not care for not-father.

Polaris is comfortable with her decision to throw Crux to the sharks—he can fend for himself. Besides, she needs to finish dinner. This sushi ain’t going to assemble itself. She’s so focused on cooking that she doesn’t notice the front door open.

 “Hey, Polly. Thanks for inviting me.” Polaris shrieks and whips around to face the intruder.

“Luke! What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Shit, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” he looks at her apologetically.

“No, what are you doing here. In my house. At dinner time. Without telling me first.”

“Luna called me and invited me to dinner,” Luke sounds surprised, “I thought you said it was okay.”

Polaris sighs, “I didn’t know she invited you.”

“Oh. Well…um. Do you want me to go?”

In the other room, Luna’s ears perk up. She leaps off the couch and bounds across the living room to the dining room. “Daddy!” She squeals.

“Hi darling!” Luke brightens at the sight of his daughter. He picks her up and spins her around before hugging her tight.

“I missed you,” she mumbles into his shoulder.

“I saw you two days ago,” Luke laughs, but he’s not complaining. It feels good to be so loved.

“Luna, you need to ask before you invite people over,” Polaris sighs.

“Dad’s not just anyone, mom! He’s family,” Luna insists, “He has to stay for dinner.”

“Yeah, I guess it’d be pretty cold-hearted to kick him out now,” she says. She had planned to break the news to Crux over dinner, but she didn’t

“I see we have company,” Crux says coolly. Uninterested in being sucker-punched again, he’s taken a wide, defensive stance.

“Yes, we do. Luke’s here, to join us for a lovely, friendly dinner,” Polaris’ tone is firm, “and everyone is going to be on their best behavior.” Elysia, having followed Crux, assesses the situation. She can feel a snarl of anger coming from her father, but Crux’s mind remains serene.

“Crux Court,” Crux cordially extends his hand to Luke, “pleasure to formally meet you.” Luke grabs it and grips as hard as he can as he shakes, but Crux seems unimpressed.

“Luke Loveday. Sorry about what happened before,” his reply is measured, almost rehearsed, “I didn’t know you had a glass jaw.”

“No need to apologize. Polly tended to my wounds,” Crux raises an eyebrow suggestively.

Polaris covers her face with a hand, “Oh, maker…”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“What do you suppose it means, dullard?”

“Boys!” Polaris snaps, “stop this right now or I will send both of you home. For fuck’s sake…”

“Polly! Language!” Luke looks pointedly to the children in the room. The triplets are unfazed—they’ve heard much worse.

Dinner is mostly silent, interspersed with short perfunctory comments. Luke and Crux do their best to ignore each other while Polly attempts small talk.

“So, Luke…how’s the band?”

“Okay. Might have another tour coming up.”

“And how are Lily and Lyra, Crux?”

“They are well.”

“Hmmm…how’s school—“

“School’s fine, mom,” the triplets mumble together, more or less.

“You are quite unskilled at conversation, Polaris,” Crux whispers to her with a grin.

“It’s a two-way street, and you’re not helping!”

“I have nothing to say; at least, nothing in the company of others…” he grins. The two of them giggle conspiratorially.

Luna eats slowly while watching her mother and Crux through narrowed eyes. Seeing his opportunity, Luke spears one of Luna’s rolls with his fork and pops it in his mouth.

“Hey!” she whines.

“You weren’t eating! So I thought’d I’d help myself,” he winks at her playfully. He pauses when he sees her crestfallen face. “I’m sorry, Lulu. I’m just playing.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not that hungry. Actually, my tummy feels bad.”

“Are you sick?” Luke feels her forehead with the back of his hand.

“That’s not it,” Luna pauses hesitantly, “I feel yucky because mom and Crux are having a baby.” She doesn’t know what compelled her to reveal the information, but it’s done.

“Luna!” Polaris yells, “you weren’t supposed to say anything!” Crux chokes on his food.

“You’re—you’re pregnant? How'd this pansy manage that?” Luke is incredulous.

“Polly, is this true? Are you with child?”

“Surprise,” Polaris says weakly.

“But you made me put that prophylactic on my peni—“

“We should discuss this later!”

“When were you planning on informing me?”

“Tonight. At dinner. Eventually.”

“Maker, Polly! Why’d the hell’d you invite me to dinner if you’re planning on breaking the news tonight?!” Luke says.

“Well, one, I didn’t invite you, Luna did. Two, I was going to be a lot more tactful about it,” she says.

“Yeah, I’m sure you were planning on being so tactful,” he sneers, “whatever. I’m leaving.”

“Dad, no! I didn’t mean to,” Luna pleads, “please stay for desert.”

“I’ll see you this weekend,” Luke says gruffly as he bolts out the back door and into the night, “Thanks for the fucking lovely dinner, Polly.”

Elysia is thankful that for once, she wasn’t the one to let the cat out of the bag.

“Can you watch the kids real quick? I’m going to see if he’s okay,” Polaris sighs, “I want to try to smooth this over.” Crux wants to question her (why bother comforting a worthless Neanderthal?), but knows better than to disparage Luke in front of his children.

It turns out Luke didn’t get very far. Polaris finds him sitting in her new patio furniture, seemingly oblivious to the snow.

“Way to explode, dickhole. You comfortable?”

“Not really,” he mumbles. She sits down next to him, trying not to shiver. “Sorry for that. I just…sometimes I have a hard time holding it in.”

“You don’t say,” she rolls her eyes, “you can’t act like that in front of our kids. It scares them.”

“I know,” Luke says, “and I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to them, too, if you’ll let me. I just—I guess I’m turning into my father.” Luke mentioned his father to Polaris a couple of times during their brief relationship, and it was never positive.

“Make sure you do apologize,” Polaris says, “though I’m sorry you had to find out that way. I did intend to tell you at some point.”

“So what’s next? You gonna get married?”

“Did we get married after you knocked me up,” Polaris laughs, “We haven’t talked about it. It’s a possibility.” Luke looks forlorn. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, I’m just being an idiot. As always,” he sighs.

“And…?”

“I just have to accept that this new guy’s taking over. I’m old hat.”

“What the hell, Luke?! You moved on, made your choices to put your band before your family.”

“I know! And I’m working on it!”

“You are, admittedly, doing a great job with the kids. They love you,” she says, “and no one’s going to replace you. Not even Crux.”

Luke is silent for a moment. “Wouldn’t it be funny I you had triplets again?”

Polaris groans, “don’t even joke about that.”

“Twins?”

“Ugh! Please, maker, give me just one!”

“Polly?”

“What, douchebag?”

“Are we friends?” Luke looks at her pitifully.

“I don’t know what the hell we are, Luke,” she looks thoughtful, “frenemies? You’ve really pissed me off, what with your alpha-male schtick.”

“I can be pretty shitty sometimes.”

“You’re telling me.”

Luke stands, and pulls Polaris into a hug. “Congratulations,” he says.

“Thanks,” she says with a wide smile.

 ***

“So…” Crux looks at Luna with uncertainty.

“What?!” Luna snaps, “what is it?!”

“You do not really care for me, do you Luna?”

“Duh. Of course not.”

“She just wants dad to like her most,” Elysia explains, “and she thinks you’re trying to replace him.”

“Elly! Stop!”

“She’s also afraid you’re going to marry mom and kick us to the curb.” She’s trying to impress Crux.

“I said stop, Elly! I hate it when you do this!”

“What makes you think I would be so cruel, little one?” he looks at Luna, “I assure you, I have nothing but the purest intentions.”

“I’m not little,” she sniffles.

“My apologies. Of course you are not."

“Ugh, you talk like a nerd.”

“Nerd? Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t think so,” Solaris says. He’s often been called a nerd by his peers.

“What’s he thinking, Elly?” Luna, suddenly forgiving of her sister’s intrusion, turns to Elly. Elysia tilts her head and looks at Crux. He stares back at her, puzzled.

“It’s hard to tell. Mom, a little bit. Someplace far, but I can’t tell. Mostly, he’s tranquil,” Elysia smiles and blushes a little. Crux is taken aback. Something about her reminds him of Lily.

“Your mother never mentioned that you were a telepath,” he says. Now it’s Elysia’s turn to be surprised.

“We don’t talk about that,” Solaris says, “some unspoken rule. We like to pretend we're a normal family. We're not.”

“Do you love mom?” Luna asks abruptly.

“Of course,” he hesitates, “though I do not believe I have told her so.”

“What's going on here?” Polaris leans against the wall and smiles. She’d initially had some doubts about Crux and the children—she could never imagine Crux interacting with anyone other than her or Lyra or Lily—and yet here he is, having a halfway civilized conversation with her children. “Okay, break it up. Time for the brood to get ready for bed.” Solaris dutifully complies. Luna begins to follow him, but turns back to Crux.

“I still don't like you,” she says.

“Then I will do my best to win you over, little one,” he promises. He finds himself surprised by how charming he finds Polaris’ children. He thought they’d be tiny little nuisances.

“I’m not little!” she tries to hide a smile. She’s determined not to like him, out of solidarity for her father, but he’s rather endearing.

“Oops—again, my apologies.”

“You too, Elly,” Polaris points towards Elysia’s bedroom.

Elysia tugs on Crux’s arm. He leans down, and she kisses him on the cheek. “Thank you for coming over, Mister Court.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Bee,” Crux’s reply is stiff—he’s surprised by her affection.

“Should I be jealous?” Polaris jokes.

“Mom!” Elysia giggles, “he’s so old.”

“Old?” Crux looks genuinely hurt, “I am not yet thirty…” Elysia giggles again as she skips off.

“That was actually kind of adorable,” Polaris smiles, “I’ve never seen her be so sweet.”

“Yes, she seems to be rather interested by me.”

“I’d say she has a crush on you, Crux.”

“So I suppose we must speak about the fact you are pregnant,” Crux ignores her last comment, “that seems to be a rather important matter.”

“Yeah, it probably is.”

“How did this happen, Polaris?”

She groans, “I already explained sex to the kids, please don’t make me explain it to you.”

“I am perfectly aware of the fertilization process, Polaris. I mean, we were careful…”

“Apparently not careful enough,” she shrugs, “it’s a happy accident, I guess.”

“You are hardly showing. How far along are you?”

“Just a few weeks, probably. First trimester."

“First trimester! Polaris, you are not supposed to announce a pregnancy until the second trimester! I read so in a book,” his voice is grave. He had been devouring etiquette books recently in order to train himself in the art of conversation.

“That’s ridiculous--what does that book know? Besides, I’m showing a little already. People will be able to tell soon,” She grabs his hand and places it on her stomach, “feel.”

He rubs her stomach—there is definitely a baby bump.

“You are pregnant,” it suddenly real to him, “with our child.”

“Yeah, dummy, that’s what we’ve been talking about.”

“Incredible,” he says as he holds his ear up to her stomach.

“What are you doing?”

“I am trying to hear her. She should be kicking, no?”

“I’m not even sure it has legs yet. Also, why ‘she’?”

“I am wagering that you are pregnant with a female,” he says, “in fact, I will bet 100 simoleons it’s a girl.”

“You don’t have 100 simoleons, you dweeb,” she laughs, “and you’ve been spending too much time around Lyra if you’re gambling.”

“You will see. I am correct,” he smiles, looking into her eyes, “and then you will owe me 100 simoleons.”

“You’re such a dope. I'll take tha—” With no notice, Crux grabs her, spins her around, and dips her, “what the hell are you doing?”

“I do not know,” he admits, “I am just ecstatic. Gleeful. We are having a child! This is a happy accident indeed. I love you, Polaris.”

“I know.”

***

Author’s Note: This was a longer chapter than I expected! I don’t know why, but I felt it would be wrong to gloss over everyone’s reactions to Polaris’ pregnancy. Maybe I’m just too invested in these stupid little pixel people.