2. Noel followed his older siblings to the bus. Last night had been crazy. First
Snowie burst through the front door demanding to know if Claus was
home, her shrieking sent his parents into a frenzy. People were called up
and when they all reported that the hadn’t seen Claus, Jack called up his
fellow officers. A very distraught Claus had been brought home in a police
car, he shot Snowie a dirty look and didn’t so much as glance at their father.
3. Noel took a seat behind his older siblings, they shared a seat but the tension
was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Something was wrong, Noel was not
used to this much negative energy in his usually happy family.
4. Noel questioned his parents that evening, they were both confused as to what
had happened between the older children, both Snowie and Claus refused to
speak to Jack.
5. Sighing the man ordered his youngest to get his homework, then they sat on the
floor in the dining room. Jack listened as Noel told him how much he hated school,
he said that the teachers were fine but he was being bullied. Jack promised to
address the situation. After his talk with his father Noel felt a lot better, the tension
inside the house forgotten.
6. Later the two older Winter children found themselves at the dining room table. “Are
we going to talk about this?” Snowie asked.
“You two just told me that my entire life was a lie, and the man who raised me may
not be who I think, so no, we’re not going to talk about this. The last thing I need is to
be more confused than I already am.”
“I understand.” Snowie said, and she did, she was just as confused as her brother, not
knowing what to believe.”
7. Determined to get to the bottom of his older children’s negative mood, Jack tried to
get at them one on one. He found Claus in the bedroom and began questioning him
immediately. “What’s going on with you and Snowie? The two of you are really close
and it would be foolish to let a simple argument get between you.”
Claus gave his father a disgusted look. “We didn’t have an argument, we just…realized
some things.”
8. “Some things like what?”
Claus’ face crumpled even more. “That our mother’s dead and it may be our
father’s fault.”
Jack’s temper flared immediately but before he could shout at Claus, the boy
mirrored his temper. “No! Don’t you dare say anything. I’m going to get to the
bottom of this Dad. Sorry if I’m falsely accusing you of something but God help
you if I’m not.”
9. “Your criminal past, we know all about. The fact that you lived each day not
sure where your next meal would come from, we know about that too. If you
never loved our mother and she was only your ticket to an easy life, now is
the time to tell me, to get everything out in the open, to come clean.” Claus
waited, when Jack said nothing his son made a disgusted sound in his throat
and left the room.
10. His family situation did not affect his social life though. Claus’ girlfriend who was also
his younger brother’s babysitter Regan came over unannounced. She and Claus
spent a lot of time together, so much so that they could read each other like a book.
Regan was curious about the moments she caught her boyfriend staring into space, a
deep frown on his face. “Is this about your mother’s very late funeral?” She
demanded.
“No Ray, it’s nothing you need to worry about yet.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll
tell you eventually though.”
11. While her brother eased his girlfriend’s mind and her father tried to regain his
composure, Snowie enjoyed her birthday in solitude. She stared at the beautiful
cake Jack had bought her and felt guilty for the way she and Claus had acted toward
him lately. He did truly love them, they just wished that there wasn’t such a big
mystery surrounding their mother’s sudden death. Jack never spoke about Agnes,
never. Unlike Claus who was on a mission, all Snowie wanted was closure.
12. Snowie grew into a brown haired clone of her mother. Her signature
pigtails were back.
13. She was pleased to find her family still preoccupied with their activities when she left
the kitchen to change her clothes and fix her hair. Tonight, her life began, but could it
truly begin without her knowing her past? Tomorrow she would join the science
career, as suggested by her brother. She had no idea what Claus was up to, she just
hoped that he wouldn’t get himself in trouble.
14. Claus finally managed to calm Regan down. Her showing how much she cared about
his well being solidified his love for her. They agreed to throw a big birthday party at
the Winter house, they would start their lives together in a few days and Claus would
tell her everything he’d just found out and what he planned on doing about it, he
just hoped that she could handle it.
15. “Claus?” A small voice distracted Claus from his homework and completely broke
his concentration. He was doing college level math and the interruption really
pissed him off, but he figured it was best to hear Noel out and be done with it.
“Yes Noel?”
“Do you hate Daddy? I heard you arguing.”
Claus sighed. “No, I don’t hate Daddy, we just don’t see eye to eye right now.”
16. “Did Daddy do something bad?”
Claus sighed. “Look Noel, sometimes people just don’t get along, it doesn’t
mean that one person did anything bad. You’re a kid, enjoy your childhood, Dad
and me are going to be fine.” Or maybe his father did do something terribly
wrong and they would never be okay.
“Okay.” Noel said unconvinced.
17. Later Claus told his sister about their younger brother’s discomfort. “We’ve got to put
an end to this, it’s making Noel nervous, you know how he gets. The problem is
though, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust Dad completely again. You know,
there’s so many unanswered questions. Maybe he did kill her.”
18. “You sound convinced all of a sudden Claus. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t,
maybe he didn’t intend to. I’m moving out soon and I would like to know that
you will behave yourself.”
“I promise.”
“Good, I was also thinking that maybe I should join law enforcement and you
do science, all of the chemistry and chemicals and math stuff throws me.”
That got a smile out of Claus.
19. Snowie returned her brother’s smile. “I was thinking, maybe not knowing isn’t a
bad thing, I mean, I would like to know, but perhaps the whole mystery made us
the people we are today. Mom would be proud of us and Daddy deserves some
credit, he pretty much raised us on his own, we never needed for anything. Even if
he murdered her in cold blood I don’t think I’ll be able to hate him and you
shouldn’t either. Now, I think we should go talk to Noel.”
20. Noel was still in the dining room, Snowie gave him a big smile. “Hey kiddo, I heard
you’re a bit worried.”
“Everyone is just so angry Snowie.”
Snowie ran her fingers through her brother’s silver hair. “Hmm. Noel, your mother was
there for you your entire life, both Claus and I love her very much and we’re thankful to
her for raising us but we miss our own mother. Do you understand?”
“Yes Snowie.”
21. “Everything is going to be fine for my birthday then?” Noel asked. “I really want a happy
birthday, but things weren’t very happy lately.”
Snowie gave Claus an amazed look. “Our little brother is getting old Claus.” Then she
beamed at Noel. “You are going to have a wonderful birthday, in fact Mom and Claus are
going to throw one of those big parties that they always do for you.”
Noel shook his head. “No, I just want everyone to be there, and be happy.”
22. The next evening Noel got just what he wanted, a birthday surrounded by his
cheering family and the ever present repairman.
23. Noel grew into a familiar face, it was clear that in his teen and adult years he
would be the spitting image of his mother.
24. Once she had kept her promise to her youngest brother, Snowie piled all of her
belongings into the car Jack had given her for her birthday and drove away.
Thornton was considerably older now but Snowie was still very much in love with
him, although the feeling was clearly not mutual as the man seemed to have
gotten closer to his wife. He never went anywhere without her.
25. In a few days time another birthday was celebrated. Claus stood beside the love
of his life as they prepared to blow out the candles together.
26. With his entire family present and a whole host of family friends, Claus leaned in and
blew on the candles, his wish made he transitioned into adulthood.
27. He was nearly a carbon copy of Jack, he had his father’s lips, eyes and those
prominent ears. His nose a testament to Agnes and the Crumplebottom family
much like Mortimer’s. His hair the perfect combination of both Jack’s and Agnes’
genes.
28. The future Mrs. Claus Winter grew up into a vision of beauty that had her soon to
be brother-in-law blushing for all he was worth and also got an approving look
from Jack’s former wife.
29. Jack caught up with his first son in the living room and handed him a black box. “Its
not mine, this ring was your mother’s engagement ring, given to her when Erik
proposed. You’re my son and I love you Claus, no matter what. I wish you good luck
in your attempts to reopen and solve this closed case, and I will let you know that I
won’t make it easy for you, but believe that I am proud and respect you.” Jack
smiled at his son, genuinely pleased with the man Claus had become, and
wondered how he had raised such a great man.
30. Claus nodded at his father and went to find his girlfriend. Regan was just leaving
when Claus captured her, she was surprised when he dropped to one knee and
opened the black box, tears filled her eyes when he poured his heart out to her
and asked her to be his wife.
31. Regan was so excited, so happy, that she couldn’t even speak, she nodded her
agreement then threw her arms around Claus as he bowed to her as if she were
royalty, promising that he would treat her like a queen.
32. The wedding was a small affair in the park, only close family and friends were
invited. Another surprise, poor Regan didn’t even get a chance to find a dress but
the truth was she would have married Claus yesterday if he’d suggested it.
33. Jack’s last show of affection to his son was purchasing Claus a home, the young man
refused to take anymore money from his father until he had solved the mystery
surrounding his mother’s death.
34. Here ends the reign of the Jack
Winter. Thanks to everyone for reading.
I loved him. I know it got confusing but
I hated him. please excuse me because there
Then I loved him again. are millions of things going on in
my head as usual, and my sims
kind of took on lives of their
own. Hopefully Claus’ generation
is a bit easier to follow and the
storyline flows a bit better.
Also *prays* there was a glitch
this chapter that left me
surprised that Claus is still
alive, hopefully his turn as the
focus of this legacy is without
glitches and close calls.
Once again thanks so much for
reading.
--Pixx
