A Pleasant Story
Chapter Ten
Mary-Sue Digs Too


Mary-Sue was surprised when Lilith asked if she could speak to her. Lilith didn't usually seek her advice, so she was happy to put aside her studying for work and hear what she had to say.




"Mom," Lilith began, "I decided I really want to go to college. I used to think it would just be boring, but now I want more job options, and I need college to do that."

Mary-Sue was delighted. "That's great, sweetie! I'm glad you want to do this! One thing about college I know you'll enjoy is all the new people you'll meet. I wish I hadn't given up my chance to go."





"Well okay," Lilith responded, "so here's my problem. I really don't like school, so I haven't worked hard to get good grades. I don't know if I can get into a college with my grades the way they are now."

"Do you think you could help me with my homework?"




Mary-Sue quickly agreed. She'd taught Angela how to study the first day she came home from school, but Lilith had always been so stubborn and independent she'd never let her mom help her. Of course, she was so smart she didn't really need help, but there were certain tricks Mary-Sue could teach her that would help her complete her assignments more quickly, thus giving her more time to build a skill that could earn her a scholarship.
Lilith settled down and opened her homework as her Mom started explaining how to approach it most efficiently. What she hadn't told her Mom was that part of the reason she wanted to go to college was to get out of Pleasantview and get away from Angela. But she was glad her relationship with her Mom had gotten better.

When the homework was finished, Lilith thanked her Mom and then told her, "I'm planning to get a job after school so I can save up for some of the school expenses. And if I get an A+, I can qualify for the Sim City Scholar's Grant."

Mary-Sue said that was a great idea and added, "I think I'll be able to swing some help for you, too. I got promoted the first two days at my new job, so I've put aside those bonus simoleons for both you and your sister's schooling. We have some time until you need to head off to school though, so anything you can save before then will help, too. And once you get to school, you'll get a grant each semester--the higher your grades, the higher the grant."



"Well, thanks Mom," said Lilith. "G'night." She paused for a moment, then spoke again. “It's really been so much less stressful around here with Dad gone. Are you doing okay?”

Mary-Sue gave her a hug and reassured her. “Of course, honey. I agree with you! And now we won't have to worry about your father hurting us again.”

Lilith smiled and headed upstairs to bed.




Mary-Sue waved goodnight to her and headed into her room to sleep also. Things had been going so well since Daniel left! Maybe things would continue to get better.

As the sun rose the next morning, Mary-Sue was awakened by a knock at the door. As she went to answer it, she was stunned to see the former maid, Kaylynn, standing on the porch. Pregnant.



Pregnant? Oh no, she thought, then it must be Daniel's. . .

Mary-Sue opened the door and Kaynnn said hesitantly, "Ms. Pleasant, I am really sorry to bother you, but I found out something I think you should know about."





Mary-Sue was a little stunned, but invited Kaylynn inside and then asked her what she wanted to tell her.

"Ms. Pleasant," Kaylynn said, "You know what I did, and I can't do anything but apologize for it, but this isn't about that. But yes, this is Daniel's baby. I'm really sorry."

Mary-Sue put her hand on Kaylynn's arm. "It's all right," she said softly. "I don't blame you. And you can call me Mary-Sue. You don't work for me anymore, after all." She smiled at the young, scared girl.




"Thank you," Kaylynn replied. "Daniel had told me all kinds of things that weren't true, but I was really lonely and, well. I am sorry."

Mary-Sue couldn't help but like this sweet, shy girl, but she wanted to hear her news.

"I said that's okay--but didn't you have something you wanted to tell me?"




"Oh!" Kaylynn squeaked. She then proceeded to tell Mary-Sue about all that had happened since they'd last seen each other--losing her job, being evicted, going to Don Lothario's and him sending her away. . .

"Wait!" Mary-Sue interrupted. "You were seeing Don Lothario?"

Kaylynn acknowledged it and Mary-Sue shook her head. Cassandra had been so right to dump that cheater!

"Go on," she encouraged Kaylynn.

"So then I went to Daniel's, hoping I could stay there for a while." She continued with the whole story of what she'd discovered while she was there, including the pirates and the submarine.

Mary-Sue was intrigued. "So what did you find at Daniel's?" she asked.

"Just you wait and see," Kaylynn said, and began removing items from her inventory and setting them on the floor.




Mary-Sue watched in amazement as Kaylynn filled up the hallway with sculptures, and treasures, and strange little robots, and all kinds of things!





"You found all this buried in a hole in the back?" she asked.

"Yes, some of it," Kaylynn agreed, "but some was in his closet, too."

Mary-Sue was stunned. "He used to dig holes here all the time! I had no idea he was hiding things! Where did it all come from?"

Kaylynn said, "I didn't find out where it came from. But when I found it, and after I followed him, I figured you should see it."



Mary-Sue wandered among the sculptures in amazement, trying to calculate how much the whole haul was worth. She didn't know the price of every piece, but she had seen some things she knew were worth thousands of simoleons each.

She wondered if THIS is what Daniel had been spending all their money on over the years--but he'd only been digging holes for about a year.

She picked up a small sculpture from the floor. It was a cow. "I've seen this one before--I thought Daniel left it behind when I divorced him. I don't remember where I put the other one, though."



She put the cow back on the floor and returned to Kaylynn.

"I have a friend named Carla who's a police officer," Mary-Sue told her. "I'm going to get dressed and call her over to ask her advice. She'll know what to do."





When Carla Copper arrived, Mary-Sue filled her in on the whole situation, including how Kaylynn had found the items and what she suspected of Daniel.




She introduced Carla to Kaylynn, and Carla asked her several questions about what she'd observed, where she had found the items, and the people she'd seen Daniel with.

Carla thought to herself, "I wish she'd just called the police instead of digging the stuff up herself--she probably messed up the evidence. But oh well, can't be helped."

She asked Kaylynn if she suspected any criminal activity by Daniel.

"Criminal?" Kaylynn considered. "I don't know if he's a criminal. A little suspicious maybe. But we don't know that these things are stolen yet, right?"




"Do you think he'll go to jail?" she asked Carla.

Carla responded, "I'm not sure about that yet, Kaylynn. We are not sure what crime, if any, has been committed here. It's not illegal to bury things in the ground--just odd. But if these items are stolen, then yes, he'll probably go to jail. And I can't say much as the case is still ongoing, but some of these items do match the description of some stolen things we've been looking for."




Carla said, "I need to call my brother over. He's the one assigned to the other case. He can recognize if these are the same things missing."

Mary-Sue asked her, "Where were they stolen from?"

Carla shook her head, "I'm sorry I can't reveal any more details. Let me get my brother over here."

She phoned him and gave him a few details about what she'd found out, and he said he'd be over right away.



The women continued discussing the loot, and were interrupted by a plaintive call from Lilith.

“Mom? I can't get downstairs! There's a . . . PEACOCK in my way!”



“What is all this stuff?” Lilith asked in amazement as Mary-Sue moved the peacock into the dining room.

“Hang on until your sister gets down and I'll explain,” Mary-Sue replied.

Angela joined them downstairs and seemed equally surprised to find the three women and her sister staring at a huge pile of loot. She payed special attention to a blue vase that she knew cost 4000 simoleons.



Mary-Sue and Kaylynn told the girls what had happened and that maybe this explained their father's digging hobby. Angela acted uninterested, even when Mary-Sue explained that Kaylynn was pregnant with their half-sibling.

Lilith, however, was immediately excited. "This is my sister? Or brother?" she squealed as she gestured at Kaylynn's stomach . "No Sh. . . !"



"LILITH!" Mary-Sue warned, but laughed. "Let's express ourselves a bit more delicately, shall we?"




They were interrupted from their exclamations by the honking of the school bus. Angela just headed directly out, but Lilith waved at everyone and told Kaylynn how cool it was that she was going to have a sibling.



"This rocks," she thought, as she went to the school bus. "I've always wanted a sister, or brother--one who doesn't hate me!"



Carla's brother Carl arrived shortly after the school bus left, and Mary-Sue got him caught up on recent events. He seemed to react rather oddly when she suggested the items might be from his other case and he said, “Oh no, now let's not get ahead of ourselves, little lady!”



He then asked Kaylynn some questions about what she'd seen and heard while following Daniel, and where exactly she'd found the items.




He and Carla then began doing an inventory of the items and Carla asked if any of them matched the description of the ones from his other case. He told her there might be some similarities, but would have to do a complete evidence examination of each item back at the station.



"Have you found a necklace?" he asked his sister.

"No, I don't think so--just all these sculptures. Nothing small like that, I don't think." She called back to Kaylynn and asked her, who responded in the negative.



"If there was a necklace,” Kaylynn said, “I didn't find it. But I was in a hurry to leave. I might have missed something."



Kaylynn then asked Carl about his other case and he responded as though telling a story to a child. He said there were some items stolen from a rich estate on an island and that "We are looking for some big, bad criminals! And we will arrest them!"

Kaylynn was a bit surprised by his manner, but responded with "oooh" and "ahhh" as he seemed to be expecting.




When Carl had finished, Kaylynn again said "ooooh," and "ahhh," and then "OOOOH" and "AHHH!" loudly.

"Mary-Sue!" she yelled. "I think the baby's coming!"



The three of them gathered around to watch Kaylynn as her yells and gestures indicated that indeed, the baby was coming.



Kaylynn hollered, "THIS IS NOT FUN!" Mary-Sue, who had been through it before, silently agreed but said out loud, "It won't last long honey--hang in there!" Mary-Sue and the others cheered her on.




“It's not ending!” Kaylynn yelled.





Mary-Sue continued to offer encouragement to the expectant mother. “You can do it! You're almost there!”




Suddenly Kaylynn began to spin around, and when she'd stopped she was back in her maid's outfit, and holding the cutest little baby sim ever.




She checked in his diaper and then held him up.

"It's a boy!" she announced.




Everyone gathered around her to cheer for the newest arrival in Pleasantview. Mary-Sue marveled at how she was feeling. Here was her ex-husband's baby with his mistress, and yet she felt no jealousy, only wonder at the miracle of life. She guessed because she'd stopped having feelings for Daniel a long time ago that she could simply appreciate what had happened. It truly was amazing.



She walked to Kaylynn and asked to hold the baby and Kaylynn complied. She looked a little overwhelmed.

Mary-Sue said to her, "Why don't I feed him a bottle while you finish up with Carl? And then go lie down on the couch--I'll bet you need a rest!"



Carla congratulated Kaylynn, and then finished up with her questions about the loot while Carl packed everything in his inventory.



Well, not quite everything. He left one small item hidden behind the stairs.




Carla went into the kitchen to say goodbye to Mary-Sue.

"I'm glad you finally got to meet my brother! And listen, when we figure out what all this is about, I'll let you know. Just between you and me, I think this is the stuff from his case, but don't tell anyone I said so!



"Oh, and I love your new look! I almost wouldn't have recognized you!"

Mary-Sue told her friend the story of all that she and Cassandra had gotten up to lately, and then asked, "Whether or not these things are stolen, why wouldn't Daniel just sell them and keep the simoleons? This is a lot of stuff to keep hidden."

Carla said, "Think about it--if he turned them to simoleons while he lived here, then you would have had access to it too. This way he could keep it all to himself. And he could take it all with him when he left."

Mary-Sue then asked, "But why not just keep it in his inventory? Why bury it in holes in the yard?"

"That I don't know," Carla replied. "Unless maybe he was afraid someone could take it from him if it was always with him?"

She paused to coo at the baby, then told Mary-Sue that she should probably keep Daniel's loot a secret among the family and kissed her friend goodbye.



Mary-Sue cooed at the baby and cuddled his warm little body against her neck, then realized she didn't know what to call him! Naming a child was something known only to the mother. Or Plumbob.






She walked into the living room to find out what Kaylynn had decided to name him, but found her sound asleep on the couch. "Poor thing," Mary-Sue said softly, "I'll ask her later."




Kaylynn frowned in her sleep and murmured worriedly, "no home. baby. kicked out. home. baby. no home. need a home."

"You have one, dear girl," said Mary-Sue, and went up to the attic to dig through the twins' old baby clothes.