Chapter 2.3 - Cops and Robbers

“Doe!”

“Yes?”

“You aren’t working on anything right now, are you?”

“Well, I have some paperwork here…”

“So nothing important, good. We need you on a case.”

Dylan sprang out of his chair immediately. He hadn’t been put on many cases yet (he and Miraj were still the rookies), but he had acquitted himself excellently on the few he had been assigned to.

When he entered the conference room, he was surprised to find Officers Keaton and Wainwright already there. The Sunset Valley police force was extremely short-staffed, so it was unusual for more than one or two officers to handle a single case. This must be big.

“Doe, you’re here, good. We have a serious problem.”

Dylan grew more and more concerned as she explained. Crime was on the rise in Sunset Valley. It had been since shortly before he joined the force. Usually, the criminals of Sunset Valley mostly committed petty theft, plotted to conquer the world, and occasionally flooded their “secret base” by accident. In short, they were pretty harmless, which was why it wasn’t a huge problem that the police force was so short-staffed. Lately, though, bad things had been happening. Priceless antiques were stolen from the museum. Houses were set on fire and left to burn. There had even been one kidnapping case, and though the child had been returned, the force was on high alert in case it happened again.

These crimes weren’t the work of the usual set. No, there was a new crime lord in town, and it was their job to track him down. The trouble was, they were so used to the usual type of crime that they had no idea how to approach this.

“So you see our dilemma.”

 “Yes, but I don’t see what you expect me to do about it.”

Officer Keaton sighed. “Not much. We want you on this because we thought a pair of fresh eyes might help you see what the rest of us had missed. We just caught a burglar, one of the usual suspects. We’re going to ask him some questions about the new folks in town. We want you to sit quietly and watch.”

Dylan nodded. He could do that.

--------

“It’s nice to see you again, Officer.”

“I wish I could say the same, Mr. Bland. Can you not stay out of trouble for more than a week?”

The man shrugged. “What can I say? It’s in my nature to be bad.”

“We both know you don’t really believe that.”

“So why’d you call me down here, anyway? I would’ve thought you had wrung all the information you could out of me.”

“What do you know of the recent crime spree in town?”

 The burglar suddenly turned serious. “Well, we’re not the ones doing it, I can tell you that.”

“We know that. We want to know who is.”

“Look, I swear I don’t know. All I can tell you is that a man came down to the warehouse one day and offered a king’s ransom to anyone who came and joined him and his boss. Not a lot of folks defected, but a few of the newbies took him up on his offer.”

“What did the man look like?”

“Big guy. Older, but still pretty big. Looked like he was good-looking once upon a time, but those days are past. Longer hair than you usually see on a career crook. Nose had been broken at least once.”

Dylan leaned over to Officer Keaton, who sat next to him. “How do we know he’s not feeding us lies?”

“It’s always a possibility, but this guy isn’t his colleague. There’s no rule against ratting out the competition.”

After the interrogation was over, Dylan was released. He doubted he would be able to contribute much to the investigation, but he was going to try.

--------

In the meantime, his personal life was going remarkably well.

“Tara, come on!”

“Not all of us are in as good shape as you are, Dylan. If anything, you should wait for me!”

Finally, they reached the top of the hill. Well, Dylan called it a hill. Tara was of the opinion that it drew a marked resemblance to a mountain.

“But now that we’re here, isn’t this nice?”

“I'll give you that much. How did you find this place?”

“Honestly? I asked my brother where the most romantic place in town was.”

Tara burst out laughing. “That's so Dylan of you. I didn't even know you had a brother.”

“Half-brother, technically. Sam's a lot older than me. He and his wife just had a baby.”

“You'll have to introduce me to them sometime.”

Dylan smiled at her, a warm fuzzy feeling filling his chest. “Yeah. I will.”

Author's Note: So if you're on the Random Legacy thread on MTS, you might know that my game broke. The save file just stopped working. I had a full on attack of the clones going on, the relationships in town were all screwed up, the save file wouldn't open - it was crazy. I managed to get all of the people absolutely necessary for the story saved, then I moved them all to a brand-new clean version of Sunset Valley. The problem I have now is that before I moved anyone in, I deleted all the original Sunset Valley pre-mades, because I don't want any weird time paradoxes happening in my legacy neighborhood. I then moved in all of my saved households, all of the households in the family bin, a couple of households that I made for different things - and I still only have about fifteen households, and four of those are made of Does. The neighborhood is empty. So I thought I'd ask: if any of you have any sims you wouldn't mind donating to help me populate my neighborhood, that would be amazing. I can make some more sims if you don't have any, but I personally think that all of my sims that I made in CAS kind of look the same. I'd rather have some genetic diversity scattered around my neighborhood.

On a different note, Sam and Kaylynn's baby isn't actually born yet (I wrote this chapter before my game broke), but I'll try to have a picture for you next chapter. Join us next time for more attempts at plot and a surprise!

Chapter 2.2 - New and Improved

“Thanks a lot for helping me with this.”

Tara smiled at him. “Well, it’s not the most romantic first date I’ve ever been on, but it’s not that bad. It’s been nice talking to you.”

“It’s been nice talking to you, too.”

“Still, maybe next time we can go see a movie or something? This moving stuff is exhausting.”

Dylan laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to move again any time soon. I really just wanted to get out of my dad’s house.”

She nodded. “I get it. This is actually a really nice place, though. A little small, but nice.”

He looked around. “Yeah, I like it. It doesn’t seem that small to me, but my dad’s house is tiny. Anything would seem spacious after that.”

They were quiet for a bit. After a while, Tara spoke hesitantly. “If you don’t mind me asking… why did you wait so long to move out?”

“I don’t mind. I wanted to wait until my sister was ready to move out. She’s younger than me, and our father hasn’t been fit to parent for years. I wanted to make sure she was okay until she was old enough to move out on her own.”

“What about your mother?” When he was silent, she blushed. “Sorry, is that a delicate subject?”

“A little bit, but I don’t mind telling you. It’s not exactly a secret, it’s just hard to talk about. She’s in a mental hospital. My dad goes to visit her every Saturday, but I haven’t seen her since I was thirteen. I tried to visit her once, right after her breakdown. She started screaming and saying I was infected. I haven’t been back since.” He stopped, a little shocked at the amount of information he’d just shared. He forced a smile. “I’m a little surprised you don’t know about it. It’s such a small town.”

“Well, I’m new to town. Just got here last year. I’ve made a few friends, but nobody’s felt the need to share decade-old gossip with me.”

“Where are you from? And why’d you move here, of all places?” He was honestly curious. They got very few newcomers here.

“I’m from Bridgeport. I moved here because my aunt used to live here. She invited me to stay with her after my parents died, but she retired and moved down to Sunlit Tides not too long after that. I just decided to stay here. I like it. It’s very quiet. Bridgeport was always so busy. You couldn’t hear yourself think.”

Dylan tried to think of a good thing to say. “It sucks that your parents died.” Yeah… that wasn’t it.

Tara just stared at him for a second. Then she started laughing. “You really have no idea how to talk to people, do you?”

“Not a clue. I mean it, it does suck, I just… couldn’t think of a better way to put it.”

She shook her head. “Most people would say ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘My condolences’ or something like that, but you just came out and said what you meant.”

He was blushing at this point. “I’m really sorry about that. But… at least you know that I’m honest, right? I’m never going to say something I don’t mean.”

Something strange flickered over Tara’s face, but it was gone before Dylan could even try to identify it. “That’s definitely an upside. I kind of like it, actually. The idea that you can’t lie to me.”

He looked at her. “You just made it weird.”

She grinned unrepentantly back at him. “No, you made it weird when you told me it sucks that my parents died.”

He groaned. “You’re going to hold that over my head, aren’t you.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

They chatted for a while longer. Several more awkward moments ensued, but they managed to get past them.

Eventually, Tara checked her watch and said, “I should go.”

Dylan walked her to the door. When they got there, she turned to him. “This definitely wasn’t what I expected from a first date, but it was… surprisingly awesome. I really enjoyed it.”

Dylan smiled at her. “Does that mean I’m cleared for a second date?”

“Without a doubt. But I get to make the plans next time, okay? No offense, but spending several hours hauling furniture isn’t my idea of a good time, even when it’s with you.

He grinned. “No problem.”

After she had left, he surveyed his new house, still smiling. He’d lived here for less than a day, and he’d already made more happy memories here than he’d ever had at his parents’ house. He could only hope things stayed this good.

Author's Note: Yeah... I forgot to take pictures for that last section. What makes it worse is that I have at least ten pictures of Dylan and Tara talking that I didn't use. They're just so photogenic! And Tara is the queen of unprompted cute faces. She constantly makes just the right face at just the right time, and I have to take a picture of it!

In other news, I am thrilled by the new house! It is a little bit small (it's a Sunset Valley premade), but it has plenty of room for Dylan, and the rooms are all big enough that I can take pictures without the wall going transparent on me! That's another part of the reason I took so many pictures this chapter, because there was so much space for me to move the camera. I'll probably be sick of it by the end of this generation, but for now, I love the new house. It's the reason behind the chapter title. Join us next time for more slightly awkward Dylan and Tara moments, and to finally get into the career-related plot for this generation! Warning: I took my ideas primarily from various police-related books and TV shows. They have almost nothing to do with how criminal justice works in real life.

Chapter 2.1 - Police!

Dylan sat in the living room of his parents’ house, thinking about his life choices. He'd imagined his life a certain way. This definitely wasn't it.

First, he still lived with his dad. He knew that wasn't all that unusual, but he'd always thought he'd move out as soon as he was legally able to. Instead, he was still here. He'd stayed for his sister, but he'd started to wonder if that had been worth it.

He and Ayla weren't really close. They were very different people, and that mattered a lot when you were a teenager. But he hadn't wanted to leave her alone in this house. Technically, their dad lived there too. But their dad hadn't really been there in years. He went to work, he came home, he slept. Dylan, Ayla, and their older brother, Sam, had been fending for themselves for more than five years now. He knew Ayla could handle herself, but he hadn't wanted to leave her alone.

He was thinking how that might have been a mistake when he heard the police car pull up. He sighed as he got up. “Right on time,” he muttered to himself.

“Again, Ayla? Really?”

She had the decency to look sheepish. “I was out with Carla and we -”

“Lost track of time, I know. But this is the third time this week you've been caught out after curfew. You're going to be labeled a delinquent if you keep this up.”

“Not to mention I'm embarrassing you in front of your co-workers.”

He sighed. “That's not important, but I should probably go apologize to whoever’s on duty tonight.”

She shrugged and went inside. He went over to the officer standing next to the car parked at the curb.

“I'm really sorry about that, Officer…”

“Rose. Tara Rose. And it's fine. All kids act up every so often.” She frowned at him. “Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”

He rubbed his neck, embarrassed. “You might. I just started working at the station. I mostly just pour coffee and organize files, but…”

She was grinning. “I have seen you there! It's Doe, right?”

“Yeah. Dylan Doe.”

“That girl's your… sister?”

“She is. Again, I'm sorry for all of that.”

“It's no big deal. Honestly, this part of my job makes me feel like a hypocrite. It's not like I never stayed out after curfew, but now it's my job to make kids feel like they're criminals if they do the same thing I did not even ten years ago.”

He nodded. “I get it. But if we want to make a difference, we have to deal with this part of the job.”

She smiled at him softly. “That's how I think about it, too.”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then her radio rang, and they both jumped a little bit.

She laughed nervously. “Sounds like I should go. But…” She bit her lip. “Here’s my number. Call me sometime?” Emerald eyes peered at him through dark lashes.

He nodded.

She smiled and drove away, leaving him standing on the sidewalk, feeling conflicted.

--------

“So what's the problem?”

Dylan had asked Miraj Alvi, his co-worker and fellow rookie, for his advice on the matter.

“The problem is that I'm not sure whether or not I should call her.”

“Why wouldn't you?”

Dylan sighed. “Because of Johanna.”

Miraj stared at him, not comprehending. “Johanna French-McGraw? What about her?”

“We're sort of together.”

“Sort of? How are you sort of together? Especially since she's out of the country.”

Dylan told him the whole story.

“Ok, I see your issue. But she told you that you'd talk about it when she got back, right? So you're not together.”

“Yeah, but I like her. I want to be with her when she comes back.”

“That doesn't keep you from exploring your options while she's gone.” When Dylan hesitated, he continued. “If it makes you feel any better, you could call Johanna and tell her about it. See how she feels.”

Dylan thought about it, then nodded. “Okay. I think I'll do that.” He checked his watch, and seeing that it was about time to go home, started walking. He paused on his way out of the park. “Thanks for the help.”

Miraj nodded. “Any time.”

--------

Dylan looked at his phone, his stomach fluttering. He knew why he was so nervous. He’d called Johanna before, but never about something like this. Still, he knew he had to do this for his peace of mind, so he took a deep breath and tapped call.

The phone rang a few times. Then, “Dylan? What’s up?”

“Not much. But I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“So… there’s this girl. She gave me her number, and I wanted to know if you would be okay with it if I -”

“Went out with her? That’s fine.”

“Really?”

“We’re not together, Dylan. Maybe we will be someday, but for now -” Her voice cut off, and Dylan heard the faint sound of another voice in the room with her. “Look, I have to go. It was sweet of you to call me about this. We’ll talk later, okay?” Then she hung up.

Dylan was more than slightly discombobulated. He hadn’t expected that conversation to go well. At all. But he was terrible at people, so what did he know?

He picked up the phone once more, this time to dial a different number. “Officer Rose? Okay, Tara. Yeah, it’s Dylan. I was wondering…”

Author's Note: I thought I'd gift you all an extra-long chapter for the beginning of the second generation, but it ended up longer than I planned. I figured that would be okay, though.

Fun fact! Miraj Alvi is actually Sandi's ex-boyfriend. I got rid of her and Darlene in this town when I sent them to Bridgeport, but now I'm kind of regretting it because she and Miraj would have had gorgeous kids, and now he's married to elder Dorie Hart. Hopefully she dies soon and he finds somebody else, because he's pretty and I don't want him to go to waste.

I had lots of plans for Johanna, but then as soon as she became a YA, she got pregnant with Hank Goddard's lovechild and then immediately started dating Malcolm Landgraab. I decided that if Story Progression wants her that much, it can have her. She'll have a final write-out later, but I'm effectively done with her.

Ayla becomes a YA between this chapter and the next one, so here's her final age-up picture. Her traits will be up on the Rolls and Traits page shortly. I didn't get to pick the last one because I fail as a simmer.

The chapter title is because three out of the five people who speak in this chapter are police officers. I've decided to start doing my chapters the way a lot of the rest of you do them, because the way I was doing it was inefficient and I wanted to start adding titles. Next time... I'm actually not entirely sure what will happen. I haven't written it yet. Probably, Dylan will move out and I'll show a little more of his job.