Heaven knows

Round 16: May 2026

Sam Cooper is 48, Grace is 43, Madelyn and Ross are 15 and James is 10.

(Greg is 33 and Jeremy is 15.)

Narrated by Sam.

Ross came out as gay last year and I'd be lying if I said I was happy about it. I didn't say anything to him about it but I guess he noticed because at some point it felt like he spent more time at his boyfriend's house than at home. I'm okay with it now that I've gotten used to the idea of my son having a boyfriend. Seeing him happy is what matters the most.

It's not like Jeremy is new to our household. He's been friends with both Ross and Madelyn ever since they started school so sometimes it's just like the old times when I catch them playing kicky bag indoors - which is totally forbidden but they always do it anyway.

Jeremy often stays for dinner when he's over. He's a good kid and he makes Ross happy so I try to be nice even when he rambles on and on about video games. Ross can be a pretty serious guy but Jeremy seems to make him relax and have fun.

Years of being a dad has taught me that if the kids are too quiet then they're up to no good. So I know that when Ross and Jeremy go upstairs to do homework it usually means that I find them rolling around in Ross's bed if I leave them alone for more than 15 minutes. Teenagers and their hormones!

Most of the times our kids are very good though. Madelyn and Ross both got part-time jobs this year and we also make them participate in the household chores. It's usually mac&cheese if it's Ross's turn to cook but at least he's learned not to burn it.

Madelyn is in charge of keeping Oscar clean - which is really not a chore for her because she loves taking care of the dog. She wants to become a veterinarian but the program is very popular so she has a few other options in case she doesn't get in. She still has two years before applying but she's already planned ahead.

Madelyn hasn't dated anyone yet but she had met this boy that she thought was nice. It turned out he wasn't.

I got a call to work one day from the police station that Ross had been in a fight. I was stunned because I never would have expected it from him. I think I would have been less surprised if it was Madelyn.

Ross was pretty shaken up when I got there and so was I when I saw his face. He had a black eye and some other bruises on his face.

He was very remorseful when I got there. He explained that he was just finishing his shift at the restaurant where he works as a waiter when this guy he didn't even know had started talking about Madelyn.

"He was bragging to some other guy how he got into bed with her on the first date - and they haven't even been on a date, let alone done anything else together" he said. "I'm sorry dad but I just couldn't listen to him talking shit about Maddie! So I confronted him and then he and his friend started punching me!"

Officer Newman confirmed that it had been the other boys who started the fight. "All the witnesses stated that Ross only defended himself after the other boys got physical."

He also explained that the boys would get a marking on their criminal record and that it would be up to the prosecutor to press charges although he didn't believe it would come to that. "Most likely it will be handled with the social services instead of in court."

I felt really bad for Ross but also quite proud of him for defending his sister's honour. I held my hand on his back the whole time we walked out of the police station and I could feel him trembling.

Needless to say that Grace was shocked when she heard about the whole thing. The police had tried to call her too but she was in a surgery and only heard about the fight at the end of her workday.

I think Ross thought we'd be angry at him but we just explained that we were more worried than angry. "It wasn't your fault but you have to be more careful" Grace said.

Ross was very relieved when he realized that we weren't going to punish him in any way. Grace only said that he should probably stay home from school for a couple of days so that the bruises would heal a little. I promised I would teach him self-defense so he could better protect himself if he ever ends up in a similar situation.

"But the best thing is to walk away" I told him. "I know it's hard to do but it saves you from a lot of trouble."

Ross and Madelyn have always been close so understandably she was very shocked when she heard about the fight. She keeps telling Ross that he's her hero but she'll kick his ass if he does something like that again.

"I don't care what some brainless idiot says about me and neither should you" she said. "The only people whose opinion I care about know the real me and that's that."

I think it's going to take some time for all of us to recover from this though. Grace and I talked about it at dinner but it's not like we can just wrap our kids in a security blanket and never let them leave  the house. We just have to do our best to prepare them for the real world.


Notes:

• Title reference: Heaven knows by The Pretty Reckless.
• This update revolved around Ross again - sorry about that. I promise I'll include the other kids better in their next update.
• The idea for the fight came from this:
  
  
• I've never had that pop-up before because usually my sims have a good reputation without me paying any attention to it. At first I was just going to ignore it but then I thought I'd include it in the update... I had to download a police station and everything.
• I've always thought that Madelyn would become a veterinarian. It's a very popular career though so she'll have to work really hard to get in to study it. For example this year there were 745 applicants for the vet school in Finland and only 68 got in. Make it work, Maddie!
• Ross works in the new italian restaurant Casa di Mama that I built just a few days ago. I'll post a tour later. Initially I put him on the culinary career but the restaurant needed staff so he was hired. Speaking of employees, I had never realised that owned businesses could hire locals from the vacation destinations! This helps a lot because I'm planning to build more themed restaurants which will need new staff and I'm running out of townies, lol.
• I figured that at first Sam would find it hard to accept the fact that his son is gay but I didn't want to write him off as a total douchebag so he's coming to terms with it.