Chapter 71: Shades of Blue

In the days following her failed wedding party, Ashby throws herself into her job. She upgrades all of the firehouse equipment and works overtime.

Her coworkers, for the most part, are incompetent and cannot be trusted.

Soon she is unable to hide her growing belly, and announces the second pregnancy. Rex merely nods in acceptance of the news, too uneasy to even smile sincerely about it. He doesn't know where this relationship is going, and would rather not have dragged another child into it.

Pablo confronts Rex about the small matter of him being still unmarried to Ashby, and still sharing her bed.

"You're right, Mr. Archer," Rex says stoically. Ashby is rarely home at night to actually share this bed, but Rex thinks Pablo knows that. "I'll stay in the guest room from now on, if you'll allow it. I can't say what Ashby intends to do in the future. But I don't want to leave my children. And I still want to marry your daughter, if she ever decides that's what she wants..."

Meanwhile, Iago scares the crap out of poor Luke.

Today the police have a theft crime they can't solve, so it's up to Rex. Rex goes to meet his client, Lucy Newbie, only to discover she's a small child. And she thinks her father has stolen her mouthwash.

Rex doesn't want to be involved in such petty nonsense, but he really needs the money.

At that moment, Lucy's grandfather Helmut dies in front of her, Quincy, and Kimberly.

You were too late, Arthur.

None of this stops Rex Wainwright, Licensed Snoop, from turning around and beating the shit out of Lucy's father, Rex Newbie.

"I took the mouthwash!" the man sobs.

"Don't steal from your children," the investigator snaps. "Conserve resources and fight global warming."

"I will!" Rex Newbie clutches his side, while his daughter stands there like a post. "Just stop hitting me!"

Iago has fangs, so the vampire Archers attend his birthday party to make absolutely sure he doesn't age up craving blood. Not that they'd object to it; they'd just be obligated to report it to the scientific community.

Zephram's grandson Andre also attends...

Nol grills Arthur about his pregnant girlfriend, but Arthur is under the common misconception that all non-fiction writers will mercilessly exploit their friends and family members. So he doesn't give her many details.

Ashby socializes with Rio and a coworker. She wishes Tristan had shown up. He's the only smart one.

After the party, Iago sets himself into a political career and moves out of his parents' house.

Luke becomes a toddler. He has Rex's eye color and his grandmother Susan Wainwright's hair. Still, he strongly resembles Pablo.

Ghosts are becoming more and more frequent around the house, especially since Rex moved some of the vandalized graves from the family graveyard to rest with close relatives in the backyard.

Fiona's grave, for example, has been moved next to Leona's.

Rex ninja-wallpapers the room while Pablo cries over his inability to defeat Randy Archer at this game.

Ashby and Rex try to make small-talk at the breakfast table, but it's just awkward, and not helped when Rex's phone rings every few minutes.

"I wish you'd tell me what I've done wrong," he says, "so I can try to fix it."

Ashby and Rex have a second son, Fischer.

As the words person, Nol tries to teach Luke to talk. Meanwhile Fischer cries for no reason, as babies sometimes do.

Pablo stays in shape.

Excitement!

Emergency parking!

Tristan congratulates Ashby on her well-deserved latest promotion, and inquires about her relationship with Rex. Tristan heard she turned Rex down at the wedding, and can't help but fear this means Rex is mistreating Ashby in some way.

Ashby pulls Tristan into a kiss. "You're so sweet," she whispers.

Tristan's schoolboy crush on Ashby has never evolved into anything mature. He wants to be her hero, and happily takes her home. He stopped asking questions when she told him to.

Tristan has no wife, girlfriend, or children. A part of him knows Ashby isn't seeking to fill those "holes" in his life, but it's so easy to ignore...

While his girlfriend cheats on him, Rex suffers through yet another deranged theft cast. This time it's a cheap plastic lawn flamingo, and the owner is convinced it was stolen because it was "a work of art."

Rex hates working on such silly cases. He's beginning to suspect there is no real crime in Riverview. People merely invent their own misery.

"A lawn flamingo?" Lucy's mother Anissa sneers, pinning Rex with those glowing lilac eyes. It's not a sensual stare, but rather a frightening one. Rex has never wanted to flee a situation quite like he wants to flee this one. "Is this some kind of joke? Of course I haven't seen it."

 

"I can't stay," Ashby reminds Tristan.

She washes away the physical signs of her misdeeds, but can't help feeling she now carries some emotional baggage. What just happened didn't make her feel happy or free. It just made it clearer how she was playing with Tristan's heartstrings. He thinks the world of her.

And what about Rex? He's the same genius Ashby fell in love with. Now he lives in her home and plays with the decor. He fathered her sons. Ashby can't decide which of these things has so damaged their relationship.

While Rex shows up at the firehouse the next day, Ashby thinks she's been figured out. But Rex just wanted to ask more people about this lawn flamingo business.

"I'm sorry it sounds ridiculous," Rex explains to Tristan, "but I don't turn down cases. You're the woman's next door neighbor. Do you know if she has any enemies?"

"Um, not really," Tristan replies. Seeing Rex out on the job is rather disconcerting; the unassuming investigator standing in front of him can in no way match the evil monster Tristan built up in his head. "Old lady Simovitch never does anyone any harm. She's a bit annoying, with all the flamingo talk, but I've never seen anyone get mad about it."

Luther Remington has not seen Simovitch's flamingo.

"And I won't be looking for it, either," Luther growls. He walks around Rex and continues into the bookstore, out of the hot sun.

Ashby corners Rex in the bathroom. He has an interesting story today, about a crazy old woman who wanted everyone to see her mass-produced plastic pink lawn flamingo as art and so placed it in the art gallery and then reported it as stolen to draw more attention to it. But Ashby doesn't give Rex a chance for idle chatter.

"I'll go with you if you're going hot tubbing," she says, embracing him romantically. "I'm so sorry I've been cold to you."

"I'm sure I haven't been sweet as pie either," Rex says.

"We can fix this. You've been sleeping in the guest room, haven't you?"

"Ashby, I need to know where this is going, before we go any further."

"I'm ready to marry you now, Rex." The pain in his eyes stings her a bit.

"Are you sure? Ashby, I don't want a repeat of our last wedding, and I don't want to pressure you into something you're not ready for."

"I'm very sure."

The couple celebrate their engagement by sharing the same bedroom again.

Tristan is well within reason to wonder about Ashby's third pregnancy.

"I don't know if it's yours or my fiance's," Ashby admits, well out of earshot of the other firefighters. "But I'm going to pretend it's Rex's. He's not a bad guy. You have to understand. All I've done is hurt him."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Tristan."

Tristan stands back from their game, letting Ashby break their tie and win. "I hope it's Rex's."

Feeling like an evil person, Ashby visits her little brother for some advice on the subject.

Iago has a really nice house.

"It could be Rex's, but it could be Tristan's," Ashby whines.

"Epic!" Iago grins. "But I haven't even been by the house to see Fischer yet. You need to slow down."

"What's wrong with me, Iago?" As a good-hearted sim, the guilt gnaws away at her a little more each day. "I did things I knew were wrong."

"Well it's not as much fun if you don't even realize you're doing something wrong," Iago says gently.

"Maybe I did it so I'd know how I really felt." Ashby begins to cry, so Iago meekly hands her a tissue. "I married Rex and I'm glad I did. I'm just scared he'll find out, and disappointed in myself for toying with Tristan."

"Forget them!" Iago suggests. "You don't know how to have any fun, you know that? Why don't you and I go to Sunset Valley and be corrupt politicians? Leave this crappy small town behind."

"I can always count on you to tell me what not to do, little brother."

Rex hopes for a daughter this time. Ashby just hopes she can be a better wife and mother than she was a girlfriend.
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Etc.: I remembered the mouthwash case from my first Private Investigator. She solved the case by snooping around and paying off witnesses, without resorting to violence. The result? The child and her family were conspiring together to get my sim to bribe them, so they made more money off of her than she made off of them. Then they mocked her. So instead of having Rex bribe people to complete the quest (kind of unrealistic anyway), I told him to beat up the other Rex (also unrealistic). To my surprise, Rex Newbie immediately confessed and my Rex was paid. So it appears PI cases can be solved in different ways.

Ashby's refusal to marry Rex was so funny, I couldn't leave it alone. Even though she has the "good" trait. Her relationship with Tristan started out pretty much as I described in previous chapters; the guy walked up and started flirting with her on his own. To get Ashby to Tristan's house, I had to use MC to have him quit his job, and then returned his job to him when the scene was done. I still have the glitch where none of Ashby's coworkers have off time.

Fischer is the heir.