It was birthday time in the Populous household again, as Willow, Wendy, Vikram and Udagawa were all celebrating.  Asa, newly reminded of how much he loved these children, who may not have been his biologically, but to whom he was daddy, wanted to make sure he took the little ones to their cake.

He still wished he could see his son Loren regularly, but he was grateful for all his children, both those he had fathered biologically and those he fathered in practice.

The girls were both adorable, with masses of hair.  Willow’s couldn’t be tamed, no matter how much Bebe and Asa tried to style it.

Wendy’s was more malleable.  Both girls were eager to play with all the toys in the nursery.
Vikram, meanwhile, made a play straight for the blocks table.  Even though he was very young, he knew he wanted to master handiness and logic and become a tinkerer when he was older.
Vikram was so different to any of Bebe’s children. It wasn’t just his voice, he seemed so much more technically minded than any of the others.
Since his birthday, Bebe and Asa had noticed something else unusual about the little boy.  When he walked, his whole body distorted and his limbs moved uncomfortably, as if his skeleton and his skin were mismatched.  When he got excited, his feet let off jets of smoke and he seemed to fly.
Although Bebe was delighted that the little boy seemed so unfazed by how unusual he was, she felt really uncomfortable that she had no idea how she would help him were his physicality to cause him any problems.  She knew at some point she would have to let Glenn get to know his son – as he was the only one who could understand what it was like for Vikram.
Udagawa looked very much like a Populous, although she’d inherited her biological father’s brooding expression.
As Bebe watched her youngest children growing and changing, she marvelled at how her grandchildren were developing.  Elisabeth was a striking beauty.  Bebe saw something of her biological grandfather Thornton in her, as well as Julie and Jambo.
Pawel had his mother and biological grandfather’s nose, but had inherited Bebe’s colouring.  Bebe was delighted to discover he’d started dating a local girl.
She knew her children would have been proud of how their own children were developing, and Bebe felt a lump form in her throat.  She missed Katya and Julie deeply – she missed all of her children incredibly and could still not understand why none of them had wanted to prolong their lives as she did.
It had not been long ago that Bebe and Asa had buried their first grandchildren, Adam and Mandie, and Asa’s son Sterling.  And now Mandie and Sterling’s daughter Barbara was in a steady relationship and expecting a child of her own.  Bebe marvelled at how her descendants were starting to fulfil the desires she had for them.  The town was full of her and Asa’s offspring and their children, and they were still increasing in number.
A day later, her first great-great-grandchild, Lorenzo was born.  Bebe was delighted that he was here, and healthy.  The Populous family was increasing further – Rosemary had married a man named Jermey, Nick a woman named Meghan, and Paige was seeing Micah Lazarus and expecting his child.
Todd, Scott and Udagawa continued to pursue their dream.  With elevn perfect specimens of fish, they hoped to complete their aquarium very shortly.
However, Bebe was beginning to feel the urge to have another child, and so when Asa left the oven on when he went to work and a fire started, Bebe couldn’t resist calling for help…
She tried to do her best helpless victim impression, hoping the firefighter would be an attractive man.
She was delighted when someone very attractive walked through her door…
As a thank you for his assistance, Bebe invited the firefighter to stay for Vikram’s birthday party.
Asa returned home to find the party in full swing.  Although the firefighter was excited to celebrate, he ran home as soon as the party was over, and Bebe didn’t even get his name.
Now Vikram was older, Bebe decided to tell him the truth.  Although his skeleton seemed to have adjusted with age, and he no longer stretched uncomfortably, sometimes his limbs seemed to stretch out at awkward angles and she wasn’t sure it would be comfortable.
Matters had been somewhat complicated by the news that Glenn had married Rebecca, and so Bebe had made a very uncomfortable phone call to her daughter explaining the matter, having to go into detail about how Rebecca, Rosemary and Vikram were all conceived and how it didn’t mean Bebe or Asa didn’t love them any differently.
Bebe was nervous as she introduced father and son.  She wondered if, one day, she’d have to do the same for Udagawa or any of her future children whose fathers lived in town.  She had to go to work, and left Vikram to speak with Glenn, who was both the boy’s father and his brother-in-law.
Vikram was incredibly nervous about meeting this – could he say man? – who could teach him so much about why he was the way he was, why sometimes his bones creaked, why his voice was so different to his siblings’, why occasionally he got the desire to eat metal (though he’d never tell his mother that, as she was an excellent cook).
Vikram told Glenn about how he loved to tinker and how his greatest pleasure was watching the stars at night, and to his surprise, Glenn was incredibly encouraging.  Vikram began to relax a little.

Although Vikram wasn’t sure he could ever call Glenn ‘dad’, as he tucked into a bowl of Rebecca’s finest apple crumble, he realised a weight had been lifted, a weight he’d not even realised he was carrying. Vikram Populous suddenly found his life made a lot more sense.

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