Chapter Twenty-Five:



This chapter begins the night that Ziggy asked Petra to marry him.

Petra was expecting it but she was still so very excited when Ziggy slid that beautiful ring onto her cool ghostly hand.

They had their graduation the next morning, but this young engaged couple didn't waste any time in beginning their lives together.

Dressed up in her graduation robes the next morning, Petra had a secret smile on her ghostly face. She hadn't even graduated yet and she had nearly everything in the world she could want.

The family gathered outside the school auditorium for the graduation. Nora couldn't have been prouder of the young people standing in front of her. Niki was climbing up the music ladder, Ziggy had made a life from the most humblest toy beginnings and her young daughter Petra had grown up into a fine young woman, despite the grief that had started it.

Ziggy graduated with high honors and was voted by his classmates as most popular.

Petra graduated with high honors, was the class valedictorian and was voted  most likely to fail. Petra didn't mind the judgement, she was just looking forward to later on that week.

The young couple wasted no time in tying the knot. Just one week after they left behind the high school hallways this loved-up pair were embarking on one of life's biggest journey's together.

Niki and Nora gathered by Ziggy as the blushing bride got ready.

Petra and Ziggy were so very happy that day.

As Ziggy held on to Petra's cold hands and slid her ring on, he promised her that he would be with her always. Through the good times and the bad and he promised that no matter what happened in their lives together Petra would always be the most important thing in his life.

While Niki wouldn't have chosen this married life for herself, she was proud of her little cousin.

Nora had tears in her eyes as she watched her little girl get married. She only wished that Alvin could have been there to see his little girl on that day. But the past was the past and Nora was just glad that she could see it.

The newly weds wasted no time in getting on with starting a family.

Niki did worry about her aunty as the weeks began to move on after the wedding. Nora wasn't getting any younger and Niki knew that women didn't live too long in their family, it wouldn't be too long before Nora was joining her husband in the netherworld. And Niki wished it would never come.

Petra and Ziggy settled in to married life. They had begun trying for a baby almost immediately, and Petra was waiting with bated breath for the first sign she was pregnant.

Ziggy decided to get a job. And what better place to get a job than at the science lab. After all, he may even be able to find out more about the potions Nora cooked up to make her daughter a ghost and to make him real. If there were going to be any side effects from these chemicals, like making it difficult to have kids, Ziggy wanted to know about them.

Nora eventually had to retire from the bookstore. She spent more and more time around the house with the kids. She just hoped that Petra would get pregnant soon, she wanted to see her grandkids.

Ziggy and Petra talked about the possibility that they wouldn't get pregnant. For one, Petra may not be able to get pregnant considering she was a ghost, for another Ziggy didn't start out life as a real man, he may not be able to have kids either. But they both decided one way or another, they would raise a family together.

The weeks turned into months, the happy couple continued to try for a baby, Ziggy settled in to his job at the science lab, Niki continued to live it up as a stagehand and Petra waited day by day for a baby.

Nora knew that she was nearing the end of her reign as matriach of this long standing family. Overall she was happy with what she had accomplished in her life. She just hoped that her ancestors were proud and her descendants would be happy to belong to her family.

Petra, like her mother before her, was a home body. Happiest when she was pottering around the house. But this gave her plenty of time to contemplate what her children, if she was blessed with them, would be like. Would they inherit her ghostly appearance? Or would they resemble her gorgeous husband?

One day Petra found herself burying her head in the toilet and a wonderous thought occured to her. Could she be pregnant??

Indeed she was. Finally the ghostly young woman had a tiny life growing inside her.

Petra was in the bathroom most of the day, morning sickness had struck her particularly bad. When she finally managed to go to bed she whispered the good news to her husband. The young couple slept soundly that night, their minds full of dreams of babies.

Ziggy was so happy when he woke the next morning, knowing that his wife was finally pregnant.

Ziggy decided to make an addition to the house. He added a sliding door and a garden for Petra.

While the baby was still small enough so Petra didn't have to tell people she was pregnant, she got a nice vegetable garden started.

It wasn't long before Nora guessed that her daughter was expecting. It made her so happy to see Petra in a strong, loving relationship. And now with her first grandchild on the way, Nora hoped she'd be around to help raise them.

Every day since her wedding day, Petra had been preparing for when she was pregnant. And with her mother close by and the first sign of a baby bump, Petra began preparing for the baby's arrival.

Ziggy's love for Petra made him protective. He knew how taxing a pregnancy could be on a woman's body, and so he reminded her every day just what she meant to him, and how happy he was that she was with him.

Worries plagued the happy couple when they should have been sleeping. They would pray together that their baby was happy and healthy.

The baby grew day by day. And so too did Petra's garden.

While her little cousin was settling in to maternal bliss, Niki was living it up as a stagehand. Her music was her priority. Oh and whatever handsome man she happened to come across at night. These flings were a nice distraction from all the hard work she put in to her job.

Niki always had a few different men on the go at once, just to keep things interesting. But she always made time for Shelby.

The family didn't really mind the strange hours that Niki would come home, still in the same clothes that she headed to work in the day before. They still loved their Niki, no matter her indiscretions.

During the afternoons Niki had work, during the nights she was enjoying some random man, but during the day she spent the time only on her. She loved her life.

Nora was beginning to feel completely at peace. She knew her time was all but up. She didn't tell her family how close she knew she was to leaving them, she just gave her little grandchild a kiss and retired for an afternoon nap.

Nora's time was up.

Petra was just settling down to read a pregnancy book in bed, when she heard an odd sort of noise coming from her mother's room. The only time she had heard that before was when the reaper had come for her family. Fear gripped her heart as she headed to her mother's room.

Now that the sun was down, Niki was heading inside from the hot tub. When she saw her beloved aunt. 

Both girls were distraught over losing Nora. Despite the fact that they knew it was coming.

This loss felt particularly hard for Niki. Unlike Petra, she had never come to terms with the death of Lexi, Mia and Alvin. And seeing her beloved aunt pass away before her own eyes only broke her heart again.

What Niki didn't know was that as one life was ending another was about to start.

Nora was laid to rest with her family. Finally after all these years she was reunited with her sister, niece and husband.

Although Petra and Ziggy felt the loss of Nora, they knew she was happy where ever she was. And they turned their thoughts to the due date of their first born, which loomed ever closer.

The grief of losing Nora had taken a grip on Niki and she didn't notice the first warning sign that her life was about to change forever.


Thanks for reading chapter twenty five! Stay tuned for the first chapter of generation six, Chapter Twenty-Six. Here's a quick preview of what's to come.

Petra's due date is finally here. Will she be blessed with a healthy baby?

With her grief over Nora's departure still fresh on Niki's mind, will she wake up to the possibility that this isn't just food poisoning?

Find out what happens to this family in Chapter Twenty-Six!

 

Chapter Twenty-Four:

Welcome to chapter Twenty Four! This chapter begins just a few days before Niki's birthday. When we last saw our family, Nora was working part time at the bookstore and raising the three teenagers alone, Niki had found a way to finally let go of all her grief through her music and Petra and her imaginary friend turned boyfriend Ziggy were as happy as ever together.

 

Nora was pretty content with the life she had managed to build. She had thought that her husband Alvin would be there with her, but fate had other ideas. She coped with the loss most days, but sometimes she would think back to the day she lost nearly everything.

Work carried on for Nora. She worked most afternoons during the week at the bookstore and although the money wasn't good she loved every minute.

Niki was always bringing home a new sheet of music to try. And it didn't matter what instrument it was for, anything worked at her hands. She couldn't wait for the day she graduated and could join the music industry.

Petra made sure to work hard on her homework each night. She had study club a few nights a week and on the days she wasn't staying back at school with her other quiet, geeky friends she made sure there was time to do her homework before anything else. Like sucking face with her boyfriend out the back.

Pretty soon it was Niki's birthday. Even though she was quite excited to be growing up, she was still saddened that her twin sister and her mother were missing this.

Nora was so very proud of her young niece. While Petra was quite young when she'd lost her father, aunty and cousin, Niki had been old enough to know the meaning of loss. And Nora was so very happy that Niki had turned into such a beautiful young woman.

Niki added some nice pink tips to her blonde hair. She looked more like her father than ever before. And once again, Niki wished he had stayed.

Her first stop was the theatre to make good on her job offer. Pretty soon Niki was walking out of the theatre on the first step up the music instustry.

Next stop Niki took before she headed home again was to the tattoo parlour.

Niki decided to add some ink to her skin. Each tattoo she got was a symbol of the things she lost. On her back she had her mother's name scrolled down her spine, on her arm she had a dagger to symbolise her uncle's brave sacrifice and on her other shoulder she got her sister's name in chinese calligraphy.

Nora was soon celebrating her birthday too.

Nora had mixed emotions about entering the next stage of her life. But she was determined to keep happy in her golden years and she was looking forward to watching the kids make the most of their lives.

Niki decided against moving out of the family house right away. She knew she wanted to travel around and see the world as part of her career, but for now she would enjoy her time in this home with her family.

Niki was as popular with the guys as a young adult as she had been as a teenager. Her on again off again flame Shelby Beltran was still around and they were both pretty happy to pick up their steamy relationship.

Nora and Petra were close. They always had been. Petra would ask her mum about what Alvin had been like and Nora would ask her daughter what she wanted from her life and what Ziggy meant to her.

Niki loved her new lifestyle. Her bedroom remained the same, only now she spent less and less time in it. She found herself sneaking home at various un-godly hours in the morning, usually with her knickers in her back pocket.

Talking to her mum helped Petra a lot. She often found herself worrying about what her ghostly appearance would mean for her own kids. If only they knew more about how exactly she ended up like this, and if there was a way to cure it.

The morning of Niki's graduation Nora and Niki had a rare breakfast together. Nora told her neice just how proud she was. Niki took this moment to tell her aunt how much it meant to her that there was still someone who loved her. Both women pretended that they had allergies, and they weren't crying.

Niki was actually excited to don her graduation robes and race to the taxi.

The family all got dolled up and joined Niki in celebrating her graduation.

Niki graduated with high honours and was voted most likely to be mediocre.

Ziggy and Petra enjoyed the day off school and made the most of the sunny afternoon out in town.

The family went back to normal. Like his girlfriend, Ziggy thought often about their future kids. But he was more worried about whether or not he could actually have kids. After all he started out as a children's toy.

In addition to having something going on with Shelby, Niki also had something on the side with one of the local paparazzi, Rolando St John. It was nothing serious, just some innocent flirting and a couple of hook-ups behind the music studio.

But Niki still made time for her main toy boy Shelby.

Neither of these two amitious people had any plans for a future together, but they both enjoyed these steamy moments, knowing there weren't any further expectations.

Niki's late night escapades ended up saving the family one night. Over the years the locals forgot what happens to theives who invade the old Summer-Moon residence, and lucky for our family Niki was awake when this one brave soul decided to break in.

The fight brought the rest of the house running and unlucky for the robber, Niki was quite the fighter.

The cops were grateful for the help from Niki and she was just glad the house was safe.

The break in really got to Petra. She was suddenly reminded of how fragile life was. Luckily she had Ziggy to comfort her, like always.

 Nora thought about the stories she heard from her mothers about the house being protected by their vampire relatives. But she guessed that it was finally time that their vampire ancestors let them be.

Nora took to visiting the graveyard more and more often as the months went by. Now she was closer than ever to joining her husband, Nora thought more about what her life would have been like if Alvin was still with her. They could have had more kids, they could have retired and watched on for years together as their kids grew up and they were given grandkids. But dwelling on what might have been would never be healthy.

Niki was slowly getting used to being a part of the ever changing music world. She was still at the bottom of the food chain, but she was getting closer every day to being the rock star she wanted to become.

Nora was aging day by day, and it helped her to rely more and more on an old cane. She tried to use it when the kids weren't around, but she found it harder and harder to make it around with out it.

They wouldn't admit it to Nora, but Petra and Ziggy noticed the cane. Without a discussion they picked up more work around the house and made sure life was a little easier for their matriach.

Niki also noticed Nora's ailing health. Nora felt fine, she was just a little slower than usual, but she was touched by Niki's worried looks and her offer of help.

Despite the cane, Nora still continued to work at the bookstore. Her regular customers loved her so much that they didn't mind the extra time it took for her to get to work each afternoon.

Soon it was Petra's birthday. She had been waiting for this day since she first kissed Ziggy and now she was one step closer to starting her life with the man she loved.

Petra took after her mother's family.

Ziggy was celebrating his birthday then too.

All the working out during his teen years paid off and Ziggy cut quite the intimidating figure. Those blue eyes were as bright as ever and he couldn't wait to ask Petra the question he had been burning to ask her for years.

Niki was quite proud of her little cousin. These two were quite different, but they still got along very well.

After the birthday cakes were cleared away and the family finished celebrating the birthdays, Ziggy took Petra out to the front driveway to watch the stars. Just like they did when they were teenagers.

Petra was reminded of the night she and Ziggy had first watched the stars, after he had finally been changed into the man he was.

Petra hoped she knew where this evening was leading, Ziggy couldn't keep a small secret smile off his face as he told Petra just what she meant to him.

As Petra had hoped Ziggy was soon down on bended knee, pulling that much anticipated box from his back pocket.

Even though she had been expecting it, Petra was still surprised as Ziggy proposed. She barely let him finish uttering those words before she excitedly shouted yes!

The ring just seemed to fit perfectly on Petra's cold ghostly hand.

And here we leave Chapter 24. Thanks for reading, leave me a comment to let me know what you think. Here's a sneak peek for Chapter 25...

Petra and Ziggy are completely and totally in love with eachother.

Nora and Niki help the happy couple celebrate their graduation.

And as Nora gets ever closer to the end of her reign as Matriach of the family, she prepares to hand over this long standing family to her ghostly daughter.