Cory Family Season 4 Summer

Amanda Cory—Adult female popularity sim
Aries personality
Neat 5, Outgoing 8, Active 6, Serious 3, Grumpy 3
Lifetime want—have 20 simultaneous best friends

Alyssa Cory—Teen female family sim
Cancer personality
Neat 6, Shy 4, Active 6, Serious 4, Nice 6
Lifetime want—reach top of education career

Season 4—Summer

Romance was blooming in the Cory house. Alyssa was completely smitten with George. Even though she was wary of most men in general, she was starting to trust George. She could imagine having a family with him someday.

And since Amanda and Cameron were back together, it was finally time for some make-up woohoo.

Amanda woke up the next morning not quite feeling herself. She was more tired than usual and nauseous, too. “Oh no, this is not the time for the stomach flu,” she told herself as she ran to the bathroom to throw up. She was finally up for a promotion, and she was not going to let her work performance suffer just because she was sick.

Amanda managed to clean herself up in time to just make the carpool. It was a good thing she showed, too, because her boss informed her that day that she was being promoted to Sports Columnist.

The flu bug wouldn’t go away, though. That nauseous feeling was constantly with her. Amanda was starting to get worried, so she looked at her calendar to see how long she’d been sick and realized . . . oh no . . . it couldn’t be . . . but her doctor confirmed her suspicions. She was pregnant.

Amanda was a little upset. She’d planned to do thing right this time. She’d wanted to have the elegant wedding party she’d always dreamed of, marry Cameron, and then think about kids. Amanda wasn’t even sure if they could get in a rush wedding before she was showing. First she had to tell Cameron, and Amanda honestly wasn’t sure how he would take the news.

“Cameron, I’m pregnant,” Amanda went with the direct approach.

“You’re . . . you’re what?” Cameron asked in complete shock. He went so pale; Amanda was worried that he was going to pass out. “I mean . . . are you sure?” he asked after a minute.

“Of course I’m sure, what kind of question is that?” Amanda couldn’t hold back her anger at the question. Did Cameron think she was lying about being pregnant to rush him to the altar or something?

“This . . . this isn’t happening,” Cameron said as he started to hyperventilate. “I . . . I can’t be a father . . . I can’t . . .”

“I thought you wanted to get married to me. Or was that just an act so I would woohoo with you again?” Amanda spat back.

“I never signed up for a family. I . . . I wanted to be with you, Amanda. I agreed to commit to only being with you. That was a huge step for me, but I’m not a family sim . . . I can’t . . . I can’t do this.” He was feeling trapped and was about ready to run.

“Cameron, wait,” Amanda grabbed his arm before he had a chance to bolt for the door. “You’re not ready for the whole family thing, fine. We don’t even have to get married, okay? All I’m asking is for you to just stick around. A child needs to know his father.” Amanda was very disappointed in Cameron, but she wouldn’t push him away. Alyssa had already grown up without a father, and she would not make this baby go through that, too. Children needed fathers in their lives.

“Maybe he’d be better off not knowing me,” Cameron said quietly.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Amanda was furious, but then she saw how truly terrified Cameron looked. He was hyperventilating and pale, like he was really having a panic attack. Amanda grabbed his hand and gently urged him to sit down on the couch for a minute. As he sat there his body began trembling and his erratic breathing continued. Amanda was positive now; Cameron was having a full-blown panic attack.

“Shhh, it’s okay Cameron,” Amanda comforted, “try to take a deep breath in. That’s it, now let it out.” Amanda sat with him and did nothing more than coach him on breathing for a few minutes until he seemed to calm down. She waited until he was taking relatively normal breaths. He still looked shaken, but maybe he was okay enough to talk now. “It’s okay now, Cameron. I’m not mad anymore, but you need to talk to me. I can tell something’s going on here. Remember, you promised to always be honest with me. Now, what’s wrong? What did you mean the baby would be better off not knowing his father?”

“I’d have been better off not knowing mine,” Cameron whispered.

“Why?” Amanda asked.

“He . . . he . . .” Cameron was struggling not to cry. He looked down at his hands as he tried to find the words to explain things so that Amanda could understand without pushing himself back into the panic he had been in. “He . . . hurt . . . me, and Gary. Bad, Amanda . . . I . . . I lost track of how many times he put us in the hospital . . . broken ribs, broken clavicle . . . please don’t make me go into the details . . .”

“Oh my God, Cameron!” Amanda was shocked. She’d known that Cameron and Gary’s relationship with their father had not been the best, but she’d had no idea that they grew up in an abusive situation. The knowledge went a long way toward explaining both of their personalities, though.

“I can’t help but wonder how different things would be if my mom had just left him.” Cameron looked off into the distance as he blinked back tears. “What if being a father . . . what if it flips something in me . . . what if it turns me into him? I won’t do that, Amanda. I won’t hurt you or our baby. Maybe it’s best if I just leave.”

“Cam, Cameron look at me,” Amanda insisted. “Your dad hit your mom?” she asked. Cameron nodded, but he quickly looked away. He couldn’t hold her gaze.

“Cameron, you’ve never raised a hand to me. You’ve never even raised your voice to me, not even when we were fighting. And you’ve always been sweet to Alyssa. Even when she was being pretty mean to you, you were kind to her. You don’t have it in you to be mean or hurt us. You put up a huge wall to hide it, but at your heart you’re one of the nicest sims I’ve ever met. I know you would never hurt me or our baby.”

Cameron didn’t respond. He seemed deep in thought.

“What about Evan? You’ve been living with him for a long time, practically his whole life. Don’t lie to me and tell me that Gary takes care of everything for him. Alyssa and Evan are best friends. I’ve talked to Evan. He says that you’re the one he always turns to when he needs someone. He trusts you.”

“It’s . . . it’s different. Evan isn’t my responsibility. I just help him when he needs me, but I’m not his father. He’s not my responsibility to . . .”

“So what if we take the responsibility out of the equation? You don’t have to be responsible for the baby, okay? The baby is my responsibility. I just want you to move in and be around for our little one, like you are with Evan. What if we set it up like that?” Amanda asked.

Cameron nodded slowly. “I don’t want to be responsible for discipline. I’d be too scared that I’d . . .”

“You wouldn’t, I’m sure you’d never hurt our baby, but that’s fine. I can be in charge of discipline and teaching. I’m the responsible one. You just have to be around if he wants a man to talk to or a dad to hug. I don’t want you to feel trapped. We don’t even have to get married yet. If at any time you want to leave and move back with Gary or move on, we can talk about that. You’re not trapped here.” Amanda knew Cameron well, and she knew he’d be less likely to run if he felt like he had options.

Amanda had waited until the last possible moment to tell Cameron. She started showing right in the middle of their talk, and right there at the end she felt the baby kick for the first time.

Cameron stood up and hugged Amanda. “Thanks for being so understanding,” he whispered. He couldn’t imagine telling anyone else his horrible family secret. He knew no one else could accept his flaws the way she did.

“Thanks for staying,” she whispered back. Fears could be overcome. Now that she knew what was wrong, Amanda could deal with it. They were going to be a family after all.

Cameron moved in that night. The Cory family was growing.

Amanda was ecstatic. Finally she had the man she loved in her bed, not just for one night, but for every night. And now, her child was going to have a father.

Cameron found that being a professional party guest was enough to keep him happy. He didn’t need the other women anymore. He was even doing an okay job of handling his fears of fatherhood. As long as he got to go in that limo to an amazing party a few times a week, he was happy.

Amanda was placed on maternity leave from the paper, but she didn’t want to just lie around and do nothing. She kept herself entertained by learning to play the piano. She hoped that the creativity she learned from it would help her writing as well and possibly get her a promotion when she did return to work.

That night Amanda went into labor. She remembered how much this part hurt from having Alyssa. “Cameron! Cameron!” she screamed with the pain.

Cameron rushed into the living room. “Oh my God! Oh my God! What do I do?” Cameron put his hand on his chest. He was starting to hyperventilate again.

“Just get the car,” Amanda said through gritted teeth. She was trying to be strong through the pain. The last thing she needed was for Cameron to go into another panic attack right then. “You have to drive me to the hospital.”

Amanda didn’t ask Cameron to go into the delivery room. She knew that was too much for him. Gary’s wife, Regina, was actually Amanda’s Lamaze coach. The delivery went fine, and it wasn’t long after that Amanda was bringing home their baby boy. She named him Matthew after her brother. She wasn’t permitted to have contact with any of her family anymore, but Matthew had been the one to stand up for her before her parents disowned her.

“Cameron, would you like to hold your son?” Amanda asked him.

“Oh, oh no,” Cameron shook his head. “I might hurt him.”

“You’re not going to hurt him,” Amanda insisted, but she didn’t push the issue.

“Can I hold him, Mom?” Alyssa asked.

“Sure,” Amanda agreed. If Cameron was so afraid of parental duties, she was going to have to rely on Alyssa for a lot of help with the baby anyway.

Amanda had to decide whether or not to stay home for an extended maternity leave. She wanted to spend time with Matthew, but she also wanted another promotion at work. Cameron was home all day every day anyway, so she wouldn’t have to hire a nanny. The problem was that Cameron was still too afraid to even hold his son, much less take care of him. But, Amanda wondered if she wasn’t there if his parental instincts might kick. She doubted that he would leave his son screaming and crying in a stinky diaper. Still, just in case, she made sure to take care of all of Matthew’s needs in the morning before she went to work. Cameron and Matthew would only have to be alone for a few hours before Alyssa got home from school, and Matthew would probably sleep through most of that anyway.

The newspaper was happy to have Amanda back, and the paper’s editor was very impressed with her increase in creativity. He promoted her to investigatory journalist right away.

That night Amanda convinced Cameron to at least come sit in the nursery with her while she took care of Matthew.

“Are you sure you don’t want to hold him?” Amanda asked once again. “You aren’t going to hurt him,” she said firmly. “I think it would be good for him to bond with you a little.”

“I don’t . . . I don’t think he’d like that,” Cameron said.

“Just hold him for a minute. Let him get used to you, you know, just in case he starts to cry when I’m not here,” Amanda coaxed.

Cameron reluctantly agreed, and Amanda gently handed their son over to him.

Two seconds later Cameron was ready to hand him back. “I . . . I think he wants you,” Cameron said as Matthew made a few fussy noises.

“Give him a minute,” Amanda said.

Instinct did kick in and Cameron was quickly cuddling Matthew. “I’m doing it. I’m holding our son,” he whispered with a touch of pride.

“I think he likes you,” Amanda whispered when she heard Matthew coo. Perhaps Matthew would get to know his father after all.

Season Recap

1. Cameron moved in with Amanda. He’s already achieved his lifetime want of reaching the top of the slacker career, so it’s okay that he can’t romance other women anymore. His new lifetime want is to reach the top of the music career.

2. Amanda had a little boy, Matthew.

3. Alyssa continued dating George and worked on skill building for college. She enjoyed helping out with the care of her little brother.

Points Recap

Previous Subtotal 15

New Points
New sim, Matthew +1

New Total 16

Author’s Comments

I’m not doing such a good job of helping Amanda reach her lifetime want of 20 simultaneous best friends, but I had a really fun time playing with her and Cameron. I absolutely love the photos of them interacting with the baby.