Food for Thought

Although the Kane family was now expecting another member to its ranks, not much had changed for them. Jebidiah was working extra hard, and even Meredith was wading through the morning sickness in order to try to inspire Twinbrook to embrace the world of art. Travis was making plenty of friends at school, and Bradley was... still a toddler. He didn't quite understand yet that he was going to be a big brother.

For Meredith, pregnancy didn't really change much. There were mood swings, sure, but they were practically indistinguishable from her normal ones -- no, the only thing that changed about Meredith while she was with child was the sudden increase on the intake of food.




And man, was it delicious.

However, for the first time, she had hit an impressive streak of inspiration with a baby growing in her tummy. When she wasn't chugging ice cream or laying on the couch rubbing her nauseous belly, something was driving her to sit behind the easel and crank out painting after painting.



They still weren't selling too often at the consignment store, but she figured, if she varied her artwork and was persistent... Someone would notice her hard work, and it'd finally help make ends meet with the family.

She was ready to have more than 20 Simoleans in the family savings.



Jebidiah was, as well. But, for him, all that hard work was beginning to pay off... somewhat. He'd begun to make a name for himself among the town, and after various promotions and recommendations from the police department, he'd found himself a rather reputable niche in the investigation market.

It still paid next to nothing, but at least the cases were getting more interesting.



Mary Baker, an up-and-coming chef in Twinbrook's populus, had a morsel of news for him that she wanted him to scout out. For once, Jebidiah felt like the request was more than a joke or a waste of time: she was confident that there was something wrong with the food at the bistro she worked at, and she felt obligated to have someone search for the source in order to present proof to her boss and get him fired.

While Jeb and Mary didn't see eye to eye on some things, he did feel it was something worth investigating... "As long as the price is right."



First, to investigate if the claims were true. Jebidiah had had his strings pulled enough times in this town to know that he should get a few solid testimonies before running around and snooping for fish to fry. The cops didn't seem to mind him doing anything a little shady as long as they didn't get any formal complaints, and so far, it'd worked to his advantage. It was a beautiful partnership -- perhaps Tana, who'd taken up a lower position at the police department, was easing them into the transition of having a rogue detective in their town... But perhaps, they were all a little shady to begin with.

He was starting to like this town. And for once, he was finally enjoying his job.

But, back to the case. The first stop: the Red Rendevous. Anyone who was anyone in this town was going to be there, and maybe they'd have some answers.



And that they did. "The bistro? Yeah, lately, I've gotten sick every time I've eaten there. I bet it's bad for their business." "Haven't eaten there since I got a plate of seafood that had me locked up in the bathroom for like two days." "Yeah, something's fishy over there... And it's not just the fish."

They were a strange bunch of people, but at least they were willing to dish the dirt.



Jebidiah wanted proof for himself, though. After throwing on some less suspicious clothes, he decided to grab a meal there...

And he got just the results he wanted. He could barely contain his grumbling stomach. "Ugh, that was awful," he moaned to himself, holding his stomach. "Well... I guess I better start from the bottom up."



Holly Greenwood. He'd remember that, when she'd told him about her family 'going green', that she'd mentioned a good deal of her produce went to the town bistro. "I swear, Mr. Kane, I only bring them the best supply. The plants haven't been tampered with one bit. If you don't believe me, look for yourself."

And he did. And found nothing. After even sampling the food, he realized that he'd have to go somewhere else... But where?



"Harwood Clay's no good. I bet he's up to somethin' rotten," Jeb remembered Mary Baker saying. But it seemed a little odd. Why would she openly try to point fingers at the bistro's owner, who had almost no contact with the food? Unless...

There was only one other thing to do: Mary Baker had to be checked out. Luckily for him, his years working for the Company had served him well learning how to break into houses. It was certainly handy having a lockpicking kit, too. It looked like someone might be home, but.. The last thing he wanted to do was tell Mary he was searching her house, and then have her clean up the evidence before he got to it!




"It's weird, playing the good guy," he chuckled to himself as he entered the kitchen, breaking out his magnifying glass and dusting kit to try and find anything suspicious.

Chemicals. Non-lethal, in appropriate doses, but just the sort of thing you'd want to add to someone's food if you wanted them to get sick! She hadn't even bothered to hide them. "These people," Jebidiah muttered under his breath... Before hearing the sound of steps down the staircase.

Time to go!



The next day, he searched Mr. Clay out. "So, essentially, Mary Baker's been trying to frame you." Jebidiah finished, shrugging. "I don't know about you, but I'd considering letting her go. That's not the sort of behavior you want at your Bistro."

"No, it's not..." The man considered. "I'll have a talking-to with her. Perhaps we can work something out. She's been trying to get promoted for ages, that's probably what this is all about. She's been a thorn in my side for some time, but... Damn, if she's not a good cook."

As long as she's not mixing anything into the food, at least.



In celebration of solving the case, the family decided to take a trip to the pool. Meredith wanted to get some water aerobics in -- and Jebidiah couldn't help himself trying to find the growing baby in her still rather flat tummy. "You're so beautiful when you'r pregnant, Mere," he said, more to her stomach than anything else.

"You're just saying that to try and get back on my good side," she replied, but with a hint of laughter.



She couldn't help and smile when she saw him with Bradley, either. He may not be the best example of a father... But he managed. "I could've done worse," she mused.

"Why don't you guys head on over to the library?" Jebidiah called as Meredith pulled herself out of the pool. "I suppose Travis will be over there as soon as he's out of school. I've got something I need to go take care of though... I'll meet you there in a few, okay?"



Meredith was still doing her best to teach Bradley as much as she could before his birthday. It seemed like only yesterday he'd been born, but time had passed so quickly... Now, she was having another child she wasn't sure she was ready for, and Travis was close to entering high school. "I'm getting old," she mentioned to Bradley as they read. "You better ignore mommy's wrinkles."



Jebidiah was taking longer than she'd expected. "Where is he?" She got so lost on the time that she even got caught up playing with toys with Bradley... but Jeb had a surprise for her when she finally looked up to see he'd arrived.

"Farah!"



"Oh, sweetie, it's so good to see you. I'm sorry I'm so late, it took ages to get everything settled back in Riverview, what with the whole town in an uproar over my dear son disappearing... But, luckily for me, no one there believes I'm close enough with him to have any idea where he may've gone." She smiled, before looking at Meredith's stomach.

"Good gracious me!" she said. "You`re pregnant! Girl. Absolutely a girl." The strange doctor voodoo does it again.

"How are you always able to tell, Farah?" Meredith asked, so confused about her mother-in-law's strange abilities.

"The nose knows!" she responded with a laugh. "You don't think the Kanes all have this abnormally large nose for no reason, do you?" She chuckled again, as she turned to look down at Bradley. "See, he's got it, too. Gonna be a genius someday, that one."



Things finally felt like they were falling into place. With a little bit of luck, Meredith's newly inspired works had caused quite the stir in the consignment store ("Looks liyke some talent has moved inter our town here, boys!") and people were willing to pay top dollar for her beautiful paintings. Where things had always flopped in the more mainstream Riverview, Twinbrook had finally embraced Meredith's talents... And there was finally a little jingle in their banks.

She even received an award from City Hall for her fantastic artistry. Observing it hanging on her wall, she quietly thought to herself,  "I wonder if Tana ever expected our family's talent to be noticed... I guess I knew it would happen, someday."



Perhaps it was just the pregnancy hormones making Meredith more accepting, but as she and her husband prepared to climb in bed that night, she found herself happy to be laying into his arms. Maybe it was because she believed he was turning over a new leaf... or that they no longer had to worry about money for now. Maybe it was Farah's proclamation they were having a girl... But maybe it was that things had finally seemed peaceful the last few days, and she`d been spooked by neither nightmare nor poltergeist.

But whatever the case, she embraced it, for while it lasted: it was better to remember the man she had thought she had married, than the man she really knew him to be.

---

Kind of a rather uneventful update, but I managed to squeeze three album's worth of screenshots to give me enough story for one post. Not a lot happened in Twinbrook when I first showed up, so I may continue to skip things to speed up getting to the more interesting stuff. I do love showing  baby shots and tummy squeezes and smoochy smoochy and family outings and all Jeb's mundane cases, but it doesn't add much for story. :) I'd like to get to the meat of the issue a bit quicker so that you don't have to wait a whole month to hear what happened to Chandra! ... Because that's how long it would take me to get to that point, if I went one album at a time. I have taken way, way too many screenshots! (Close to 2000 since Ambitions came out. Woo.)

Anyways, may not be another update until after this weekend is over. According to the calendar, tomorrow... today... whatever... Is my birthday, and I shall be celebrating it in any way possible. Most likely, taking advantage of the fact that it is now legal for me to drink in the States... Even though I'm now living in Canada.

Who cares. Bring me the margaritas!

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Unexpected

Life... It takes a different direction for all of us, regardless of what we do to try to steer it in the direction we want. The Kanes had felt the awful sting of what it was like to go a path different than their choosing, but the alternative was definitely not desirable, either. If they had not fled from Riverview, where would they be, now? Jebidiah would still be in prison -- likely for much of his boys' lives if not more -- and Meredith feared what would happen when the investigation of the disappearance of Chandra Hawkins reached her door. One mistake would have caused utter disaster for the whole family...

They were lucky, then, that Tana had been able to prevent it.

Ever since they arrived in Twinbrook, Meredith had wondered what had become of her sister. It had been less than a week since their arrival, but not a phone call or a rumor had passed itself her way. She was becoming worried... All she wanted to know is what had happened to her.



It was lucky for Meredith that she didn't have to wait long.



"Tana-- Oh, Tana... I was getting so scared," Meredith sighed as she squeezed her sister harder than she ever had before. Tana didn't even have to ring the doorbell -- Meredith had pounced on her before she had even reached the door.

"Don't be," Tana chuckled as she hugged back. "There was just some things I had to take care of before getting Howard and the kids ready to go."



"Th-- The park... The bo--" Meredith began, squeezing her sisters shoulders as she looked up at her for reassurance.

Tana couldn't help but smile in return. "Mere, you never had a thing to worry about. I told you I took care of it. Lucky for us, the only two cops in Riverview's dinky forensic department was me and Carl Strummer... And we all know what happened to him. Without us, they'll have to go to a neighboring department or rely on themselves to solve anything, and well... I know how to take care of a crime scene."

Meredith was still scared, but relieved; Tana got another hug, after that.

"Jebidiah's inside, if you want to go see him. I'm sure he'll be glad to see that you guys made it out of Riverview okay."



Glad... Wouldn't be the word I'd use. "Awww, c'mon Tana, aren't you happy to see me?" Jeb joked, but Tana only backed away, putting her hands up as shields.

"Uuugggh, Jeb, don't," Tana said, disgusted... Especially because Meredith was right behind them... And it didn't take long for her jealous radar to pick up her husband's stupidity.



"What is wrong with you, Jeb?" She didn't even have the energy anymore to be mad. "After everything we've been through, why do you have to keep pulling these stunts? I..." She put up her hands. There weren't the words anymore to express how he was hurting her. She'd already said them all.



As he left the room, Tana turned to her sister and shrugged. "You know he pulls practical jokes like that all the time, Mere. You shouldn't worry, there's never been anything between him and I."

"That's not the point," Meredith said with a sigh, putting one hand on her hip. "He doesn't understand what it could do to the kids... And it's just... I need his support right now more than ever, the last thing I need is to be worrying he's off doing something with another woman."

"Why, has something else com--"

"Tana, we're having another baby. I just found out this morning."




"Oh, honey..."

Tana knew Meredith was stressed enough right now to not want to deal with this, but after putting her hand on her shoulder, she tipped her sister's chin up and smiled. "Mere, you should be happy. Tell Jeb... Maybe it'll stop him from acting like an overgrown kid."



Well, Meredith decided to take Tana's advice, but there was still a pang in her heart. Things between her and Jeb still hadn't returned to normal, and now with the move, their lack of wealth, and her increasing paranoia that she was being followed by the ghost of Chandra, the news was tinted with a touch of darkness.

But she tried to remain happy; a baby was supposed to be a good thing. A gift. Right?



Jebidiah hung his head for a moment. "I'm going to need to start working extra... And your painting..."

"We'll manage. It's just going to be a lot of hard work is all." Something neither of the parents have ever liked.



She laughed and rolled her eyes as Jebidiah started to play hide-and-seek with her stomach. "Jeb, I'm pretty sure the baby is much too small to hear you. Probably doesn't even have eardrums, yet."

"Hush, woman! Any baby of mine can sense my awesome presence! A booga booga boo! A booga booga boo!"



The Kanes path had taken the unexpected, and with it, a surprise was waiting for everyone around the corner of every new day. For Meredith, the surprising taste of morning sickness mixed with worry...



... for Travis, confusion why things in their house were floating on their own ...



... for Bradley, that his aunt was so fascinated with stealing his candy once everyone had gone to bed ...



... and for Jebidiah, that there was something -- someone -- unexpected playing on his computer ...



... a sight he refused to believe ...



... that vanished right before his very eyes.

"What the heck was that?"

Jeb... You don't want to know.

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Skeleton in the Closet

"What did you do to me, Meredith?! What did you do?!"

"Please... Chandra... I didn't do anything... I'd never... You know I'd never..."


"Don't lie to me, Meredith! Don't try to hide from the truth! I know what you did... I know what you'll do!"

"N-n-no, no, this isn't right, please, believe me, Chandra--"


Chandra began to clutch her stomach. stumbling to the ground as she turned her eyes up to Meredith. "You... can't... lie... to me..."

"I'd never-- please..." Meredith began to sob, watching as she saw blood trickling over the dying woman's fingers.

"You'll... Pay for this... With everything... Everything you've taken from me..."



Meredith backed away, stumbling over a tree branch, but the fall didn't stop her. She kept scuttling away on her palms and feet, watching in horror as a cloaked shadow approached from the darkness. It raised it's bony fingers, holding a long scythe within it's grasp as it uttered some raspy words... and from Chandra's ailing body, a wispy form emerged.

"Please, don't take me!" She pleaded with death, her voice turning into ghastly breaths with each more moment she spent in corporeal form. "I don't deserve to die! Give me another chance! Please!"


Meredith tried to cover her face with her hands, holding back the tears and heavy, wretching breaths. But through the small gap in her fingers, she watched as the glowing ghost of the dying woman turning to her.

"If you wouldn't do this, then why are you letting me die, Meredith?! Save me! SAVE ME!"

.......................

"Meredith, are you alright?"

Meredith awoke to the soft touch of Jebidiah's hand on her shoulder. Her heart was racing, her breath heaving in and out of her chest with increasing speed. "Nightmare," she managed to stutter out, reaching a hand to clutch her chest. She felt there, and on her pillow, that she was covered in sweat. Great.

"I'm gonna go get a drink of water," she said as she climbed out of the soaked sheets and threw on her robe. But, when she turned to look back at her husband, he was already back asleep.

She weakly descended the stairs, doing her best to stay upright as she approached the kitchen and turned on the lights. After taking another deep breath into her aching lungs, she grasped the faucet of the kitchen sink with a shaking hand and filled a glass, and knocked it back into her dry mouth. Rinse, repeat. When she decided she was finally calm enough to go back to bed, Meredith returned the glass to the dishwasher, trying not to make too much noise as she shut the washer door.


Her eyes turned to gaze out the window. For a moment, she was confident her eyes were playing tricks on her. She blinked. This couldn't be. Her heart began to start racing again, but her body was frozen solid -- there, outside the window, was a glowing shape that was distinctly familiar.

"It's just another dream," Meredith chanted to herself. "Just. A dream. You'll wake up soon."



But as she turned to walk towards the stairs, the recognizable floating figure began to descend upon them, seemingly oblivious to Meredith's presence. "No... This can't be! This just can't be!"

She remained there, stiff with fear, until the ghost of Chandra Hawkins was no longer in sight.

---

It was already morning, so there was no use on going back to bed. Jebidiah didn't seem to remember his wife's chaotic dreaming, and it relieved her that he didn't. She tried everything to focus on forgetting what she'd seen; but she was caught up trying to  explain how the ghost was a dream... unless she was still dreaming. The questions arising in her mind kept her from focusing on anything else.



Travis didn't even make it out the door in time to catch the bus, since Meredith had completely lost track of time. He had to race to catch it, but it was no use; Jebidiah was not pleased that he had to drive his son to school, but Meredith barely even registered Jeb's words to her about the matter. There were more important things on her mind.

Jebidiah's mind wasn't completely clear, either. He'd finally gotten a case that wasn't a normal person's idea of a practical joke, and it was keeping his brain fully occupied. Holly Greenwood's car had been stolen, and she wanted to know what'd happened to it.

Well, Jeb knew exactly what kind of people stole cars and why -- and he'd done his research when he first decided to take on this job. He knew exactly where the main criminal activity was located... All he had to do was throw on some convincing clothes, and talk to someone that was a little loose with their tongue.



"Cheap little car, old model, dingy red paint job? Naw, not sure I'd tell you even if I did hear anything about it. But if you're lookin' for answers, you pry wanna check out the beach. No one in their right mind goes there at night, if you know what I'm sayin'..."


Jebidiah took what little a lead that was, and somehow, surprisingly enough, there was a set of tire tracks that he bet anything would match Holly's car make.


At home, Bradley was playing with a car of his own...


... while his mother was searching for her own answers. Unfortunately, she found none. Nothing about Chandra appeared anywhere. She wasn't surprised -- Riverview was 8 days drive from Twinbrook, which seemed like a whole world away -- but she was desperate for any news of whether or not the woman's death had been publicized... Or if anyone even knew she was dead at all.


After some careful observation, Jebidiah had found where the tracks led... And it was no where good. The car had hit a dead end, but it had clearly been totalled -- there was car debri everywhere. The car body itself had been towed away, but that made it a lot easier to track down -- from the junkyard, to the towing company, he was able to track down the car thief...

And luckily, only their mojo was injured. They agreed to pay up as long as the story didn't go public, and no one revealed any names (see, I'm not revealing any either!) so Jebidiah got the money to hand over to Holly... Which she practically gave right back to him, afterwards.

"I was planning on selling the darn thing, anyways. Our family is going green, you see. Good riddance of it!"

At least she was positive.


After he'd wrapped up Holly's case, he gave Meredith a call. "I'm at the library," she said briefly before hanging up. He went to go check out what she was doing, and what he found was a bit of a surprise -- reading a book on ghosts and ectoplasm? Was this town rubbing off on her?

"Sweetie, it was just a nightmare, you're making a storm out of a raindrop," he said as he approached her and patted her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go home. I'll cheer you up, alright?"


And cheer her up he did. At least a little "rolling in the hay" would get her mind off things for a while, and it was about time that Jebidiah got to do a little more proving of just how much he loves his wife. They both desperately needed the connection, as well... It had been far, far too long.


But it was back on the job for Jebidiah soon after. When you don't get paid the full worth of an honest day of work, you've gotta stretch your hours as far as they'll go. However, after seeing Meredith's schnazzy new body art -- which turned into a marvelous surprise for Jeb during their Woohoo! -- Jebidiah decided it was time to spend some of their extra Simoleans on a buff tattoo for himself. Or two or three.

A man needs to splurge when he needs intimidation factor for his job!


He didn't bother changing back into his Investigator gear for his next case, though: some kid bothered to call and ask him who was messing with his toothbrush. Or mouthwash. Heck, Jebidiah didn't care that much, so neither did I -- but he came by the boy's house nonetheless, to at least talk with the kid and find out how he'd gotten his number. "I think my dad is playing jokes on me. I bet he did it," Parker Prudence told him. So, Jebidiah decided to ask...

... but after Phoenix denied his son's accusations, Jebidiah was too frustrated with these @%$!$@ cases to take any more @#&*%@$ from anyone! The people in this town needed to stop hiding everything, especially from him! He was undefeatable, irresistable, the dark knight, the rogue detective, the...

"Um... Mr. Kane sir... I just made it all up... Can you stop beating up my dad now?"

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