Even if she pretended that she found his behaviour ridiculous, his comic routine in the bathtub could still make her laugh. Joy was the only one in the family who could do it as well as her father.

Brandi's pregnancy (which they had not talked about until it showed) was still not the last event before Beau moved to college. The life of their two teenage boys had been very happy, but Brandi noticed that Barry suddenly stayed at home with the family more and that she also had not seen Melanie for some days.

Following Joy's birthday, one after the other of her age group became a teenager, but it was also time for some other children to make the step into the next stage of their life. When Jean was ready to turn into a toddler the Simmon girls invited a lot of friends over, using the occasion to have a party for Louise, who they expected to leave soon.
Eleonor was there too, but that afternoon Lisa posed the bigger temptation and maybe Melanie had already sensed danger when they arrived.

First they all had a lot of fun and cheered Jean into her new life stage. He talked a bit to Louise, who intentionally had not invited Beau, because she finally wanted to get to know his brother better.
Barry later asked himself what temporary insanity had led him to flirt with Lisa (or accept her caress) while Melanie was around. Louise looked surprised too and he felt that she had invited Melanie to avoid a scene like that.

When he looked at her face, he realised how much he had hurt her with his innocent flirt. He had just not taken into consideration how serious family sims were taking those kind of things.

First she looked like she was going to cry, but then he could see her arm swinging into his direction and she slapped him, without saying a word.

Barry did not get angry with her for hitting him. He felt guilty and more than anything sad. He had not wanted to hurt Melanie and he definitely did not want to break up with her. Had he seriously wished to start a relationship with Lisa or with Eleonor, this would have been the chance. But he could only think about Melanie and how he could bring her to forgive him.
Maybe he had not really cheated on her (not like Alice Simmon and Patrick Bendett, who could not say that anymore when the day ended), but to flirt with another girl in front of your girlfriend was not a nice thing to do.

Melanie did not look like she enjoyed being angry with him and after some apologising from his side, she said that she was sorry for hitting him. For most of the afternoon she stayed away from him though and they did not talk much.

After thinking about it all evening and the night, Barry got up before dawn and drove to Bluewater. Melanie was still in her pyjamas when she came outside to greet him.
He told her that he had not slept all night and how terrible he felt about them falling out with each other.

They could not talk for long because Melanie had to get ready for school, but before he left she pulled him towards her and kissed him, which filled him with hope.
'Is it alright if I come over again in the afternoon?', he asked.

When he visited her again in the afternoon, they sat on the pavement and talked for a long time. Every little improvement in their relationship filled him with immense relief. He had not even known himself how much he cared for Melanie until this happened.
He understood that Melanie's jealousy was partially due to the fact that she worried what would become of them when they were at college and he had to admit that up to then he had sometimes wondered if the cards would be mixed anew when they went there. The fear of loosing Melanie did a lot to change his opinion in that regard.

Their friendship was almost repaired, but Melanie looked very sad when he said goodbye to her in the evening and Barry knew that he still had some way to go.

The next days he stayed at home, but then he kept thinking about Melanie all the time and he was afraid that she might decide to end their relationship after all.
He almost expected her to refuse when he invited her on a date and he was glad that she not only accepted his invitation but actually turned up (that she would not had been his next fear).

In the club he quickly changed from his school uniform into his normal clothes and then joined her on the dancefloor. He did his best to be interesting and charming and his efforts convinced Melanie that he was serious about her.

When Barry was sure that Melanie was not so angry with him anymore he dared to be more forward and he flirted with her suggestively.

Step by step their former bond was tied again. Barry had never known how grateful you could be for being allowed to dance with a girl and holding her tight.

'I'm so glad you didn't break up with me. I love you so much', he said and hugged her.

After relaxing in the hot tub for a short time they ended the date and said goodbye to each other.

A few days later Melanie called and invited him over and when they were in her parents' bedroom she proved that she had forgiven him completely.

Meanwhile Brandi's pregnancy progressed and she was on maternity leave.

Maurice told her that she had never looked more beautiful and he meant it.

'You know, it's strange. I really thought it would not be a good idea, but I am extremly happy that we are going to have another child', he said to her one day.
'I'm glad you say that', Brandi replied and smiled.
Maurice felt that she had wanted this pregnancy very much. She looked so content and satisfied and it was one of the reasons why he was looking forward to the child so much now.

They were cuddling on the sofa when Beau returned from school. It was Friday and a big day for him, because he was finally leaving for university.

He told his mother that he regretted that he would not be there when the baby was born and Barry had to turn away, because for him it was probably the hardest to see Beau leave. He loved his other siblings, but Beau had always been by his side, they had been children together and teens. He could not imagine what it would be like without him.

He and Joy had already said goodbye to Beau the night before, so there was mainly one sim that Beau had to see one last time before he left and that of course was Louise. There was no disagreement with regard to them living together and they had already picked the dormer, but he still wasn't sure how long he would have to wait for her. The worst case scenario was that he would be a whole semester ahead of her.

But towards her he was cheerful and optimistic. 'We will not be separated for long. I am sure we will see each other again in less than a week.'

He stayed outside with Louise until Francis and Philip returned from school and then he said goodbye to his younger brothers.

He hoped that he would keep up the good relationship with them, especially with Francis. He was a wonderful child and everyone loved him, but it had always been harder to remain close to him.

Louise had not seen Joy since she became a teen and Beau introduced her to his sister. The children often had their own friends over and did not use to take much notice of the older ones around, so Louise hardly knew her.

Then Beau disappeared with Louise into the gardenhouse 'to pack a few last things'. After their woohoo he would have liked to hold her a lot longer, but it was getting late.

'I see you in a few days, don't worry', Beau said when they were dressed again and Louise was about to leave.
'Yes, we will', Louise replied with a smile.

But the expression on her face when Beau could not see it anymore betrayed how sad she really was. Even if she had to wait a week it sounded like an awful long time. It wasn't only the separation, during this period they would belong to different age groups, a thought she didn't like at all.

After Louise had left, Beau called the taxi and then said goodbye to the family again. He was sad that he and Barry could not go to college at the same time and was hoping that apart from Louise, his brother would also follow him shortly. It was possible since aging did not follow strict rules and depended on other factors apart from the passing of time.

He was walking towards the taxi when Brandi came storming out of the house.
'What do you think you're doing? You didn't think of going without me?', she shouted, running after him.
Beau only grinned. His mother would never forgive him if he would not let her come to the campus with him, but he was also glad that she would be there for his age transition. They both got into the taxi and left for college, where a new chapter of Beau's life would start.

A few days later Brandi went downtown to distract herself for a few hours. Marlon could really relate to her happiness about the pregnancy.

He told her about his own children, two sons. Brandi thought that it was impossible not to like Marlon. Earlier on she had watched him with Kaylynn and she looked very happy to see him too. He had not lived in their neighbourhood that long, but had already become friends with many of them. His children would not be much older than the one growing inside her and she could imagine them becoming friends one day. So many sims had come to this area since she had been a single mother and pregnant with Barry, but Brandi had the impression that it was a tighter knit network now than it had been at that time. They were all linked by the relationships between the family members of all ages.

In the evening of that day something strange happened, or rather it was strange that Francis chose to let it happen on such a very ordinary and unspectacular evening. Maurice was sitting in the living room with him and Philip and the two boys were doing their homework.
When Francis was finished, he put down his notebook, looked at his father and said: 'I want to grow up now.'
Maurice looked at him with astonishment and asked if he would not want them to arrange a birthday party and invite his friends and relatives.
'No. I want to grow up now.'

Brandi got an ice cake out of the freezer and the family assembled in the living room. They did not really understand why Francis was in such a hurry and had picked this moment out of all, but they recalled that he had turned into a schoolchild in the bathroom, so maybe it was just his style to be spontaneous about his age transitions.
The family accepted his decision and they tried their best to turn it into something he would like to remember, despite the lack of preparation.

The well known coloured sparkles began circling around Francis and then he swirled while the family cheered him into his teenage life.

Francis looked at his body. He was unable to explain why exactly he had wanted to grow up all of a sudden. He simply had known that it was the right time, that he was ready. Maybe Joy's age transition played a part in it. He was close to Philip, but he belonged more to her generation, that was how it had always felt to him.

Whatever, being a teenager was as great as he imagined it to be.

He grabbed a piece of cake while he began to consider the new options he had now. His aspiration had been swinging towards popularity, but had turned into romance in the end.

Then it occured to him that there were more important matters to attend to and he put the plate on the table and went to check what other clothes were available and to get rid of the hair that was hanging into his face and annoyed him.

When he returned into the dining room, Joy gave him a close inspection.
'It's not only the haircut. I didn't expect it, but you look a lot like Barry.'

Later Barry congratulated him on growing up well. 'You look really good, brother.'
'No wonder that you think that', Francis replied, 'Joy said I look like you'.

'Don't worry, there will be a small child in the family again soon enough', Maurice said to Brandi when they were alone.
Brandi tried to smile, but she was aware that there would come a point when they would all grow up and start their own life.

On the other hand the first grandchild was already on the way and she had Maurice by her side. Life was really rather good.

The next evening they went downtown again to get some clothes for Francis (and the mobile phone that teenagers considered absolutely necessary these days). When he checked himself out in the mirror afterwards, he was very convinced of himself.

It was a Saturday morning in autumn and Maurice and Brandi were in their bedroom. Maurice was longing for her, but she was so close to give birth - although it did not show - that they did not dare to woohoo anymore.
He had never told her about his encounter with Marisa Bendett shortly after Charlene and Dustin had returned to Pleasantview and the truth was that he did not think about it either. He had realised how much this harmless flirt without serious intentions had stirred his emotions. Maurice was easygoing but not weak. That it was not serious would not matter much to Brandi if she ever caught or heard about him cheating and he would not risk to trouble his family life for a meaningless affair. He was determined to remain faithful, which was not that difficult because he had everything he needed. He had fulfilled his life dream to become Hall of Famer, he had fulfilled his second biggest dream to have a large circle of friends and he had a lively home and the parties and family reunions of his clan.

Before he could reflect anymore on it, another sim was making its way into the family.
'It's a girl', Maurice informed Philip, who was the first to welcome the baby.

The other children followed and they all greeted their sister, who was named Annie.

Even the gardener came up to have a look at her.

When Barry came closer to welcome Annie into the family, he and his mother exchanged a long glance. They did not need to speak, Barry knew what his mother was thinking. She was happy about the baby of course (and that it was another girl among the five boys), but with each day of Annie growing up, so would he, and this was very much on Brandi's mind too.

When all the other family members had said hello to Annie, Brandi passed her on to Maurice. The way he handled their children was probably what she loved most about him. It looked like the easiest thing in the world to bring them up and like Charlene, Joy and Francis were seeing him as a friend as well as a father now. It would be the same when Philip was old enough.

Since he had grown up, Francis had often wondered how he would think about Amy now and one day he called her and asked if she would like to meet him downtown. Amy was a close friend, but he had not known what to expect. Although he had no experience and no comparison, when he saw her he knew immediately that he would not easily find another girl he liked so much. Amy seemed to think likewise. She told him that she really liked black hair and her smile indicated that she liked the rest of him as well.

Amy was always up for fun and they had a great time together. Francis had not played pool before and he tried to concentrate on it, but her sight distracted him quite a bit. It was really a very short dress she was wearing.

They tried to order at the restaurant, but all the tables were taken - this the maitre d' insisted on even if it wasn't true - and so they began to flirt with each other instead.
'You know Amy, I wanted to tell you the whole day how beautiful you are'. Francis was a very outgoing sim and not frightened to try charming.
'Oh really?'

Jennifer could not stop herself from having a quick check on her youngest daughter, but tried to stay in the background and be seen as little as possible. Although Francis had not invited Amy on a date, Jennifer had already expected that the day would not pass without some romance. She saw no reason for concern though, because her daughter and Francis seemed to genuinely like each other.

Francis had seen his day out with Amy as a test, knowing that they still would have a good time if they turned out not to be romantically interested in each other. He thought that he had considered all possible outcomes, fancying her, not fancying her, but he was not prepared for liking her so much.
Since they had been friends when they were children, he already knew that he liked the way she was, now he found out that he really liked the way she looked too.

Actually Francis thought that Amy came so close to being perfect that he began to wonder why he had turned into a romance sim. At the moment he could not see the point in dating other girls while she was around.
It was getting late and Jennifer left her position as observer and indicated to Amy that she should say goodbye to Francis. Francis promised her that he would invite her on a date soon (hoping her mother would not always be around) and then went home too.

A few days later Joy had a friend over as well. She had been invited to Christopher's birthday party and had asked him to come and see her one of these days. She liked Christopher a lot, but thought that there were other teens living in the neighbourhood, who were more appealing than he was. He was one of her best friends and she hoped to get all of them together, Amy, Rose, Dyson.. It would be great if they would become one big group.

Her thoughts were interrupted when they came closer until they had their arms around each other. Suddenly she was beginning to see a lot more in Christopher. He was cute really and so nice. And did it really matter that he was a family sim?

Nobody has found an explanation yet, why none of the older ones warn their younger brothers and sisters about the risk of falling in love with your best friends when you are a teen. There is no doubt that they keep it a secret, because in this generation - like it happened so many times in previous ones - Joy and Christopher (as well as Amy and Francis) reacted with the same confusion and disbelief.

Brandi and Maurice encouraged their children to go out and meet with friends. They did not really need their support in bringing up Annie, and Brandi in particular wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.

She accepted that Annie was to be her last child, although Maurice felt the need to inquire if she had any intentions of getting pregnant again before they woohoo'd the next time.

Barry, who knew that he did not have much time left to get to know his sister, was the one who spent most time with her apart from her parents.

This was also due to the fact that he was staying at home more now and trained his skills like the others who were close to going to college.
His relationship with Melanie was as good, maybe better, than it had been before falling out though, even if they weren't seeing each other often.

A short time ago the news of Beau's and Louise's engagement had reached them. Nobody had expected anything else, they had already talked about it before growing up, but Barry wondered if his relationship with Melanie would develop in a similar way. Beau had told them that he and Louise were going to stay in the dormer for the time being, which was very small anyway, and Barry and Melanie were planning to move into the two remaining rooms. They were occupied at the moment, but the students who lived there belonged to a secret society and said that they could arrange to swap rooms on short notice.
Barry was glad that he and Beau would live in the same house again. It was still strange to him that his brother was not around anymore.

When it was time to leave, Barry started his round of goodbyes with Annie and Maurice. Although Barry remembered the time when they were alone with his mother and Dustin, it seemed an awful long time ago. As the father of their brothers and sisters, he and Beau were seeing Maurice the same way.

Then he went upstairs, where Brandi was getting ready to take him to university.
'I know you would have liked us all to become family sims, but although we didn't, I think we have learned a lot from you in that respect. Even when we were poor, we were a great family.'

Next came his brother Francis. 'I guess you do look a bit like me and to add to it, I heard that you fancy a Stratton girl as well. Amy told Melanie that you had a lot of fun in town the other day.'
Francis was visibly pleased to hear that Amy had enjoyed their outing. He regretted that Barry and Melanie would not be further available to pass on valuable information like that. He was not so sad to see him leaving though, not because he would not miss him, but because he understood that Barry was ready to grow up and full of anticipation.

He expected that Barry and Beau would come over to visit them anyway, and so he and Barry parted with a short hug and a kiss.

Saying goodbye to Joy was more emotional. He was as fond of Francis as of her, but - like Beau - she was special to him for being (until recently) his only sister. Brandi had gotten dressed and was already waiting for him.

But Barry could not leave without saying goodbye to Philip of course. He had invited a friend and they were inside playing chess.
'What's up with you Philip? Don't you want to say goodbye to me?'

Philip ended the game and jumped up to hug his brother. Everyone in the neighbourhood anticipated that many of the children would grow up in winter and when this happened Philip would be among them. Barry had no doubt that he would turn into a family sim as a teen.
After he said goodbye to him he went back outside to his mother, who had called a taxi in the meantime, and they drove to college.