#sam weseman

[whibleysims]

“Hey, Lee!”

“Hey! Mornin’ Kate.”

Then the teenaged boy turned to the sight he was waiting for since he woke up that morning. “There they are!”

Through panted breath Jo Payne was so excited to tell him, “We literally ran all the way here!”

Lee opened his arms and cheered, “It’s the home stretch! Don’t stop now!”

“Stop pullin’!” her bitter sister Hannah complained.

The second Jo let go of her sister’s hand, Lee swooped her up in his arms. “I missed you!”

The young couple yearned to be physically close to each other at all times, it didn’t matter that they kept in constant communication by spending most nights talking on the phone. As soon as they were apart, he missed her touch, her warmth, her breath, the sparkle in her eye when they looked at each other — all of it! Everything was only right in the world when they were together, and Jo matched Lee’s intense feelings with happy and hearty laughter she reserved just for him as he tightly squeezed her small frame.

But Hannah winced at the embarrassing sight: “Blech!”

Still in Lee’s unyielding embrace, Jo gracefully lifted a foot to spin around and face the street. “Hi Kate! You ready?”

She answered cheerfully “Yep!” on her short jog across the street to meet them.

Poor Hannah could barely keep her breakfast down at this point. Would this disturbing display of teenage PDA never end?

“Hangin’ in there?” Kate asked Hannah with a grin.

“Why do they have to touch like that? It’s gross.”

“Yeah,” Kate chuckled, “it is.”

Then Lee joked, “Come along, little children; Mom and Dad are taking you both to school now.”

Jo laughed along with Lee.

Hannah Payne still didn’t get it. Why was her blonde hair, blue-eyed Daddy Sam no good, but her sister’s gross goth boyfriend a saint? It wasn’t as though she didn’t like Lee exactly; she didn’t forget how he rescued them in the park on her complete failure of a birthday, or how his jokes on that dark night dried her tears. But the young girl hung back on their walk to school that morning as she futilely tried to reach an answer to a question far beyond her: the difference between good and bad men.

She didn’t hear Jo whisper to Lee, “Is she alright back there?” Hannah also missed Lee’s quick peek over Jo’s shoulder and his whisper back, “A little sad maybe, but she’s here.”

But Hannah did hear Kate Rose in between them ask a little too loudly, “Hey, since when did we get adopted by you guys? I’m not complaining, just wondering.”

[whibleysims]

Sam Weseman dragged his sad, sorry feet into his home where he was immediately met with his overly concerned wife. “Sam,” she said in a breath of relief, as if she didn’t already know who was sulking towards her.

“Sadie called,” she told him, “I heard all about it.” Gauging from her face and eagerness to be close to him now, Sam figured she didn’t know everything perfectly at least.

“Crazy, right?” he said vaguely.

“Oh, Sam, it’s just so terrible! A child, with a—! I mean, I knew they were having troubles, but this?”

Then she said, “I’m so proud of you.”

“Really?” he asked, genuinely hoping she’d admit why for him.

“You stood up to that sleazebag! Sadie told me you really put Adam in his place tonight. I always knew you were a good man; a good boyfriend, husband, a good father — you got a good head on those shoulders, Sam Weseman.”

“Oh yeah?” he pouted.

“Sadie told me she might've never found out if not for you.”

“Huh. Picture that.”

“I’m so lucky to have you.” Bonnie was beginning to choke up as she touched his exhausted face.

“Hey, don’t cry. It’s not like we’re the ones breaking up, right? It's late, let's just try to forget all this and go to bed, okay Bun?”

Bonnie nodded with a weak, “Mhm.”

[whibleysims]

Joanne Payne felt herself naturally attracted to darker, gothier themes in her teen years. It served as a nice contrast from the unbearable superficial happiness that cursed the Payne townhouse.

Her younger sister Hannah didn’t get it. “You don’t like Daddy Sam, but he got you all your new clothes?” It was true: his reckless spending habits sponsored Jo’s new aesthetic.

“Phft—yeah, with Mom’s money,” Jo muttered back. “Look, you don’t know what you’re talking about so just shut up, okay? And don’t call him that, it’s gross.”

“But I like Daddy Sam!” Hannah punctuated her protest with a foot stomp. “He said he’s gonna get me the biggest present for my birthday. He’s so nice! I hate you for being so mean to him!”

Jo knew better than to count on their mother’s greasy boyfriend for anything, but she held her tongue. It was useless talking — or, more accurately, fighting — with her sister on the topic of their pseudo step-father.

Her concerns were doomed to be misunderstood from the start. Jo, now a fumbling teenager with too much hot blood running through her veins, could not maturely articulate the right words so that every time Sam came up it ended in screaming matches and door slams. Pretty soon all of what Jo had to say would be swiftly dismissed by Sam’s two biggest fans: bratty little Hannah, and their hopeless mother Cynthia Payne.

Jo was forced to learn that the painful way was the only way for either of them to understand, because of course when Hannah’s birthday arrived Sam once again did not deliver. But the situation they were in was quickly becoming worse than just broken promises:

He was taking their mother away from them.

The couple returned home extremely too late and equally unsober on Hannah’s birthday. The hush money from Adam Green endorsed Cynthia’s laziness so it didn’t take long before Sam’s nagging about splurging got them both into dangerous indulgences. And now that Jo was old enough to babysit they went out like this a lot.

She tried. Didn’t she try? Jo knew nothing good was ever going to come from this greedy asshole, that something terrible like this was bound to happen, but no one listened! Least of all the so-called parents.

[whibleysims]

Jack Parker found Brandon kicking a rock along the pier alone. “B-man! Got a sec?”

“Oh, hey Uncle Jack.”

Jack asked, “What’re you doing out here?”

“I was just walking home, took a bit of a detour I guess. Why? Did Mom call you?”

“No, uh, I’m also on a bit of a detour. Hey, I know this is a weird question but your Mom isn’t pregnant by any chance, is she?”

“What? Gross, no. Pretty sure Mom and Dad are separating, or they should be.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Oh, uhh—never mind.”

The nervous teen followed his uncle’s lead by slouching next to him on a nearby bench. Despite what Jack said, he couldn’t shake the feeling like he was in trouble for something even though Brandon was pretty sure screwing up your first kiss wasn’t illegal. Pretty sure.

Meanwhile, Jack sensed Brandon’s uneasiness and remembered all too well his own teenage drama he had with Gina Marion once. After he learned about the couple’s walk from Kate Rose earlier, Jack safely assumed young Brandon was going through a similar experience. However, Jack was older, wiser and a lot happier now; so, as much as he held sympathy for the sweaty bag of hormones next to him Jack swiftly decided whatever happened between Brandon and Kate was the least of their concerns tonight.

“Brandon, kid, I know this uniform probably ruins what I’m about to say here, but I hope you know you can talk to me. I guess you’re learning our family is a little more than a handful by now, eh?”

“Uhh, yeah, somethin’ like that.”

“What if I told you I heard something about you having a sister?”

“You know about Jo?”

“Joe, huh? Well, not everything — care to fill me in?”

“I-I don’t know. Dad could get in trouble and I don’t know what that means for Mom or Nick.”

“Sam Weseman,” Officer Parker shook his head, “why am I not surprised?”

Then Uncle Jack sighed looking out to the water. “Brandon, I gotta be honest with you, kid: I don’t like your father much. I don’t think he treats your Mom, my sister, with respect. I think whatever it is you’re hiding is just the tip of the iceberg with that guy, and these fast and furious types tend to burn out everyone around them before themselves. Do you understand, Brandon? It’s only a matter of time before Sam Weseman gets what’s comin’ to him and when that happens your mother will take his fall the hardest.”

Brandon didn’t dare say anything.

“Look, I get it, but if you did want to fill me in I might be able to help save your Mom a lot of hurt. You don’t want that kind of regret hanging over you, trust me.”

But Brandon knew that the damage was already done and on track to start university in the fall. “I better not. But, uh, thanks anyway, Uncle Jack. Um, I should probably go home now before Mom really does call you. That’d be pretty embarrassing, right?”

“Right,” Jack sighed again, suddenly regretting the deal he made to Kate Rose. He was frustrated to gain and lose this lead so quickly at the hands of fumbling teenagers no less, but there wasn’t much else he could say without exposing the couple and breaking his promise. He knew something bad about the boy’s father haunted his poor nephew and threatened his sister’s family, but Detective Jack would have to find the answers himself. “If that changes though, you’ll call me? Anytime, day or night, I mean it. Okay, kid, let’s get you home.”

[whibleysims]

The sun had just set and the first dim stars of twilight were beginning to reveal themselves when the teens were loitering at the playground on the verge of a massive discovery.

Jo suddenly stood from the swing, horrified by her own conclusion: “Brandon—your dad is Sam Weseman?”

Ben let go of a fistful of grass and instinctively stood up with Jo without fully knowing why yet, like a dog sensing danger. Lee, who did know better, grimaced involuntarily as he also pieced it together.

But Brandon shrugged off the unfortunate fact slouching against one of the thin metal poles of the swing set. “We share DNA I guess.”

“All this time I only knew you as Brandon W., I didn’t know your last name was Weseman!”

“Yeah, I don’t know, don’t like my last name much so I shorten it when I can. My Grandpa did it a lot too apparently, back in the day: good ol’, crappy ol’, Frankie W.” He chuckled a little to himself.

“But that means—Brandon, I’m pretty sure we have the same dad.”

“What? But what would mean…” He trailed off trying to find the connection everyone else already beat him to, so Kate mumbled the answer out loud for him:

“So you guys are brother and sister then.”

Brandon flinched, “Me and Jo aren’t brother and sister, that’s impossible.”

“Well, half-siblings,” Kate clarified, “but if you share a father, yeah, you and Jo are brother and sister. We learned this stuff in elementary school, remember that old ‘My Family Tree’ project?”

“Huh. Does this mean Jo’s my cousin too?” Ben wondered aloud, who apparently also didn’t do his homework.

Brandon continued to futilely protest, “N-no, we can’t be, because we’re the same age. My Dad would’ve had to—”

“—cheat on your Mom with my Mom.” Jo finished his thought much to everyone’s discomfort, but none more so than her own sinking deeply into her mother’s secondhand shame.

“Or vice versa,” Lee mused. “I mean, no one knows except him, right? Then again, he still would’ve been married to Brandon’s Mom first, so technically speaking—yeah.”

The estranged siblings took a couple timid steps towards each other. It was like they were seeing each other for the first time, neither of them felt fully sure who exactly the other one was anymore.

“Ohmygod, we have the same eyes! His eyes!”

“Whooaaaa, you totally dooooo,” Ben gawked.

“I-I can’t believe it. I knew he was a lying piece of shit, and a selfish asshole jerk, but this? Holy fuck you guys.”

Kate tried gently, “You okay, B?”

Her tone, however innocently intended, made Brandon squirm. He wanted to say “Shut up!” for how she carelessly exposed his vulnerable state to their friends like that. To him, just like how the guys beat him to the punch about his father, Kate beat him to his own feelings before he could swallow and hide them.

“Hey, wait. Isn’t this a good thing actually?” Ben asked.

“What?” he panicked at Brandon’s frown. “Our family just got bigger, didn’t it? You gained a sister, man! That’s a good thing!”

In a sudden change of heart, Brandon smiled at Jo and agreed, “Ben’s right.”

He is? Kate’s face said it for her.

“Hell yeah I am! Family sticks together, man!”

“What’d’yah say, Jo? You, uh, wanna be my sister?”

She answered with a shy smile and nodded her head ‘yes.’ Lee spoke for the two of them when he said, “Hope you’re cool with adding one more, me and Jo are a package deal.”

The friends hugged each other for the first time as brother and sister.

In the embrace Brandon smiled at Lee and told them both, “Wouldn’t want it any other way, bro! We couldn’t’ve asked for a cooler couple to join the clan. ‘Sides, I sorta figured you guys for family by now anyway.”

“Right on! That’s the spirit, brother!” Ben cheered. “The more the merrier!”

[A little family tree explanation: Jo and Brandon are half-siblings connected by their father Sam Weseman.]

[Brandon and Nick Weseman only share blood with Jo and not her younger sister Hannah.]

[This is because Hannah Payne is fathered by Adam Green so she has her own separate half-siblings with Melanie and Claire Hill. At this canonical point, Hannah/Mel/Claire do not know they’re related even though Sadie Hill (Mel/Claire’s mother) is aware another child from Adam exists.]

[To answer Ben’s question, he is first cousins with Brandon and Nick on their mothers’ side, and he is also first cousins with Claire, Melanie, and Hannah on his dad’s side. However, there is no blood relation between Ben Parker Green and Joanne Payne.]

[whibleysims]

There was extra bounce in Kate Rose and Brandon W.’s walk today.

He was proud to say, “I knew you’d like Sim41, I knew you’d get it.”

“So good, right? I’m obsessed. They’re my favourite.” Then she started air-drumming in tune with the song, and he beamed in tune with her puffed out cheeks.

Kate snort-laughed and Brandon smirked to himself. As the current song started its fade out she asked excitedly, “What else, what else?”

He was already mid-way through scanning the small pixelated list on his MP3 screen for something they didn’t already listen to earlier. “I think we’re gettin’ to the end, heh. Damn, gotta download more.”

The sun was hot while the air stayed comfortable, it was too early in the season for any heavy humidity to cloak the air and make things sticky and uncomfortable. So Brandon and Kate crossed the field from the Whibley pier to Brandon’s house with laughter and shoulder punches following a full afternoon walking around town listening to music together. Their first of many walk n’ listens.

“Hey Mom.”

“Hi, Bonnie.”

Nick exerted an exaggerated whine-groan, he wasn’t too happy his brother and his friend interrupted his video game.

Bonnie welcomed the pair with a kind smile. “Hi, sweet peas. Go wash up please, supper’s ready. Kate, you’re staying, aren’t you honey? At this point I just kinda assumed. There’s plenty if you want it, sweetheart.”

Kate answered courteously, “Thank you, I’d love to,” for which Brandon quickly and rightly mocked her:

“I’d love to? Don’t be weird. You’re always welcome here. Right, Mom?”

“Of course you are,” she assured, nodding to Brandon’s favourite friend lately. “No one leaves my house hungry, you know that, Little Miss Skinny.”

“I eat!” Kate pleaded. “I eat more than Brandon!”

“Thank goodness I see it with my own two eyes, hm? You know the drill: phone your mother first please, then both of you go wash your hands. That goes for you too, Nick! Who knows when Brandon last cleaned those controllers, if ever.”

Kate had supper at Brandon’s house a couple times a week. They usually timed it well so she’d come over on the nights his father was “working late” because then they’d get more time to hang out together after the meal. Ol’ Cranky Frankie stayed away from their guest if Sam wasn’t around to laugh at his crude jokes, often opting to have his supper alone in his room much to the joined relief of Bonnie and Brandon.

“What the hell was that? You totally cheated, B!”

“Like to see you prove it.”

“Like this match even counts now.”

“Sure it does, I’m about to win. Every round I win counts. My house, my rules.”

“You’re such a—! Rematch. Hurry up, let’s go; load the next game.”

“Hold yer horses there little lady, I’m busy winning.”

Sometimes after supper the teens played cards with Bonnie and Nick, other times the friends played video games or hid downstairs in Brandon’s room. As long as her boys shared a room, young Nick was the mother’s peace of mind buffer when it got awfully quiet down there as Kate and Brandon talked about “stuff.” But admittedly, Bonnie liked it a lot more when the teens were upstairs so she could listen to their cute bantering. It was nice hearing the Weseman house be filled with something other than shouting. Well, the bad kind anyway.

But once Sam returned home that was always the cue for Bonnie to give Kate a ride home. Brandon tagged along riding shotgun, usually messing with the radio and trading jokes with his mother for Kate’s giggling amusement.

[whibleysims]

With a happy spring in his step, Sam Weseman professed, “Well! Where do you wanna go first, baby?”

“Where’re we going?”

“A three-month long vacation! Our long, lost honeymoon! What else?”

“We’ll put the kids in the car and just drive wherever we want. We can hit the road this weekend!”

“I’d need a car first.”

“A car!? Wh-What was I thinking? We should go helicopter shopping!”

She laughed a little through her nose.

“Oh, pleeeeeeease can we go helicopter shopping?”

“Sam, come on. Be real.”

“But I am! You’re loaded now! You can buy whatever you want, and all I’m asking is that you take me with you when you go helicopter shopping.”

“I already know where the money’s going.” Cynthia smiled at her daughter Hannah in her lap. “It’s a lot now, yeah, but after I pay down some debts and set aside enough for the girls’ tuition so they actually have the option to fuckin’ go to university—well, okay, it’s still a lot of money. I’ll have a savings account for the first time ever. We can get new clothes, and good quality things for a change. We’ll never worry about going hungry or paying rent again!”

“Uhh, who is this boring, responsible person and what did you do with my Cynthia Payne?”

[whibleysims]

As Sam Weseman spent more and more time at the Payne townhouse, his absence at home did not go by unnoticed.

“Moooom,” Brandon whined. At the same time, his younger brother Nick also cried out, “Mama! Mama!”

“What is it, Brandon?” she sighed.

“You said you’d help me with my homework.”

“Right, okay, I’m here,” she said in a hurry as she moved further away into the kitchen. “What’s the question?”

“Two plus two or A-B-C?” Frank Wesemann joked in a muttering breath to himself, mostly.

“Umm.” Brandon tried to read the question but he couldn’t. “I don’t know, I need your help.”

“Those darn ABC’s,” the grandfather teased.

“I’ll be right there, sweet pea, just need to get Nick’s bottle ready.” She said this while setting their microwave timer.

“Baba!” Nick cried.

“I know, baby, it’s comin’.”

“It’s due tomorrow,” Brandon stressed.

Once again the old man chirped, “Not tomorrow! Whatever will we do? If only there were two parents around who could properly look after these dumb brats.”

The microwave dinged just as Bonnie stomped back into the room. “What was that, Frank?”

He laughed a wicked laugh, and suddenly Brandon regretted asking for help. “He’s got you good,” the old man snickered.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just talkin’ to the TV, lots of drama.” He was watching a televised poker tournament.

“A-huh.”