2.10 - No Name

The last thing in the world Isabel was expecting upon returning home was a baby laying on her front porch!

She hopes this is just a simple case of random abandonment and they could sort this out with social services help.

The only thing she could do was scoop the poor little thing up. She couldn't just leave it there!

"Aww hey, don't cry - you look kinda chilly out here ..."

As she picks the baby up, an envelope falls out of her pink blanket. Isabel stoops to pick it up. "Oh boy, the dreaded letter, begging us to take care of someone's unwanted baby ... here we go ..." but then, her heart drops when she sees the envelope has Nate's name written on the front. Things seem to be getting very strangely complicated, very quickly.

"Well ... let's go find Nate and hopefully this is just some kind of mistake ..."

Nate, completely oblivious, is in the middle of a big death match in some online shooter game ... sitting outside in his boxer shorts and fuzzy bunny slippers.

"Nate ... you need to get off the computer. I'm back and we have an issue ..."

"Oh hey Izzy, your flight back in was early. Hang on lemme get killed again, be right there."

"No, seriously Nathan Twist. Get off the computer NOW."

The next few minutes are as awkward as one could possibly imagine.

...

"Uh, what's that?" Nathan asks cautiously. "It's a baby, obviously," Isabel quips back in a sarcastic tone. "Any idea why it would be laying on our front porch?"

Nathan blinks, obviously as completely clueless about this as Isabel. He shrugs and then his eyes widen when he reads the name on the envelope as Isabel hands it to him. The letter is brief, and Nate scans it quickly. His eyes go from surprised to shocked, his mouth dropping open as he reads:

Hey Nate, sorry to dump this on you. Surprise. Just couldn't bring myself to come tell you and I was gonna put her up for adoption but I chickened out at the last minute and kinda bailed from the hospital without telling anyone. Then I panicked and din't know where to go.

Yeah, she's yours. I know we only messed around that one time, maybe that time in the hot tub too at the black box, I dunno ... but I stopped workin' for Claudia after that and din't mess with no other guys so she's gotta be yours. The paperwork's at the St. Claire hospital, you need to go down there and sign it to keep her.

I'm headin' outta town so don't go tryin to find me or make me go to court or nothin' - I don't wanna be found and I'm not exactly Mom material you know? You an' your sister got a lotta money, you take care of your kid.

- Coco

This is probably an appropriate moment to have a freakout.

Isabel grabs the letter and reads it herself. Her own reaction is a bit more like what you'd expect.

"Nate, are you kidding me?? How could you be so stupid, you're just a freakin' teenager!!"

Nate stands there and takes it all as Isabel rails at him about every possible thing she could think of to go off on him about. To his credit, he keeps his cool.

"Nathan this is amazingly irresponsible. How do you expect to take care of this baby, go to school, and also run our relic business??"

But Nate's already got the gears in his mind spinning how to make it all work out.

"School's online, I can do that whenever she's asleep, and keep running things from home for you too."

Of course, Isabel's got a dozen questions how this could happen and who this girl was and why he had gone and had unprotected sex with her.

She goes on to embarrassingly point out, "I can't believe you are already having sex!!  I didn't think I needed to have the 'birds and bees' talk since you're online all the time looking at porn anyways!" (Doh!!)

Where did he meet her? Who was this Claudia woman she worked for ... was she seriously a prostitute??

"Does this all have something to do with that music gig you told me about? How could you get into this much mess?"

(Nate isn't really given much opportunity to respond to all the rapid questions here)

After she had blown her anger out and asked every question she could think of, the only thing left to do was hand the baby over to "Daddy" and sigh in resignation.

Still not completely convinced, especially considering Coco's occupation, Isabel demands they go down to the hospital immediately to have a paternity test done and to get the baby's birth certificate if indeed she's Nate's baby. They don't even know if she has a name yet!

Nate is obviously quite awkward about holding the baby for the first time ...

"Wow ... she's like, really tiny. I don't know how to hold her ..."

They take a cab down to the hospital, immediately, just like Isabel said. She hopes this is all just a big mistake and the baby is actually someone else's so they can give it over to the social workers for adoption. She's not really that heartless, but right now she's mad, and reeling in shock from the fact that Nate's been having sex with a prostitute, so she's not thinking very clearly.

They pause at the doorway, and Nate looks down at the little baby girl in his arms and he gives her a small hug before they go in.

Nate whispers, "I'm sorry little girl ... I don't know what's going to happen to you yet ..."

The lab work takes a really long time, but at least the hospital here in the city is sophisticated enough to do it onsite and not send it away to a lab for weeks of waiting!

It's a match. Nate is the biological father of this little girl. Nathan signs his name to her birth certificate and they leave the hospital.

They're both stunned.

"Well, what do we do now? You ready to be a Father?"  

It's a big step to take and a huge responsibility for a young guy. Nate is going to need a lot of help.

Isabel, deciding to make the best of it, peeks over Nate's shoulder trying to see the birth certificate.

"Well ... what's her name Nate??"

Nate's looking away, trying to hold it together. "It says her name is Nona. Nona-Me Twist"

Isabel squints and eyes the scribbling on the paper. The nurse hadn't been very neat. "What kind of name is Nona ME?"

More squinting at a smudge on the paper where the ink had not dried right.

"Nate, I don't think that's right. I think the lady up in Labor and Delivery smudged it and the administrative lady downstairs didn't notice when she filed it." She tries to make light of it and laughs a little, "You know - when a baby is born and the Mom doesn't give it a name right away, they just put it's last name and leave it blank, or write in 'baby X' or whatever? Nate, I think the smudge is not a dash, it just says "Noname" all scrunched together!"

"Well you like that name, don't you Nona?"

Isabel sighs. Nate's still just an immature kid, and now he has a kid of his own.

Well a few things had to be dealt with immediately.

"Nate, you realize your uh, rather premature party days are over, right? Now every minute of your day (and night) is going to revolve around taking care of a baby. I still have to travel for my job, how are you going to handle it alone?"

"I still need you to help me run my relic sales - can you handle that and not let me down?"

Nate's not really sure yet how he's going to handle this, but he doesn't really have a choice. Giving Nona up for adoption was not an option. Her Mom had already abandoned her, and something protective inside of Nate went off like a bomb. Maybe its because he had lost his own parents so young, but Nate feels determined to somehow make it work out for this little girl and to be there for her the best he can.

He tells Isabel how strongly he feels about his decision as he holds little Nona close to him. She seems to be smiling and hasn't even cried this whole time they've been out!

"I'm going to do the best I can for her Izzy. She's our family now and I won't leave her without parents too."

Of course this has a pretty significant impact on Isabel who has probably been over-thinking this whole thing and not letting her heart have any feelings yet for the baby. She was their family now and Nate was right, there wasn't really another choice that would feel right. They'd do what they had to do.

They talk a long time on the cab ride back home and both feel a lot better, but still woefully unprepared when they arrive at the front steps of their still mostly bare home. They'd have to do a lot more shopping to deal with a baby in the house!

They stand outside for a moment, and Isabel glances at Nate holding his daughter.

"Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, Nona Me Twist"

~~~~~~~

Notes:

Nona is actually the biological offspring of Nathan and Coco, not an adoptee. You will have to imagine the woohoo'ing happening while Isabel was gone in France!  I used MC to do instant baby action on Nate with Coco as the 'donor' Sim so that the baby would be added to the Twist family as his daughter.

The same day Nona was "born" Coco aged up to young adult, and I had her removed from my game (saved to my sim bin of course) to fit with the story that she's left town for the great unknown. Some other city to start over in as a working girl I'm sure.

Here's a bonus shot of her that night, right after she aged up. She's a pretty girl with lovely medium dark skin and big hazel green eyes (I think she looks like she's from a tropical island race) and of course the yellow tips on her black hair. Nona should grow up interesting looking, but I haven't peeked yet!

"Coco Pie"