This is my first attempt at a fanfiction...so I decided to go with the Sims2 and what I ended up doing with the pre-loaded characters in Pleasantview. Obviously I don't own Sims, EA Games, or any of that. Please leave reviews so I know what you like or don't like. :)


- 1 -

Goth Family

"I'm sorry, Mr. Goth, but we have to face the reality of the situation right now," Officer Callahan said calmly. Mortimer glanced over at his daughter, Cassandra, and watched as sadness entered her eyes. They had hoped there would be good news when the police called them to come to the station today, but it didn't look that way now. "We just don't have any new leads to follow, and all the old ones came up with nothing."

"What do you suggest we do? Give up?" Mortimer asked a bit testily. His wife had disappeared over three years before, gone with no trace. At first, there were rumors that she had been having an affair and run off with the man, but Mortimer knew for a fact that his wife's lover was still in town and that Bella wasn't with him. It would have been easy to think Don had killed Bella, but the police had cleared him of any wrong doing almost immediately. It was frustrating, but Bella was just gone.

"The police will always be open to investigating further, but we need somewhere to look first. Until then, we are stuck waiting." Officer Callahan took a deep breath and continued, "It's hard, but we don't have anything else to go on."

"We understand, Officer," Cassandra spoke softly, disappointed that there wasn't any news about her mother. She didn't want to go home and tell her little brother, Alexander, that the search had been officially called off.

Mortimer stood up and reached for his daughter's hand.

"If you ever hear anything, let us know." He shook the officer's hand and then turned and walked out of the Pleasantview Police station. Cassandra followed him sedately, as they climbed into his brand new Lexus to drive home.

"Don and I have decided to get married," Cassandra announced into the silent car. "We've been planning it for a while, I guess I just wanted Mom to be found before setting a date."

Mortimer didn't say anything to his daughter's announcement. He hated the fact that Don Lothario had weaseled his way into Cassandra's heart, but didn't know how to get the man to go away without destroying his daughter's life. If it was just Don she ended up hating, he would have told her right away about Don's affair with Bella, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Cassandra about her mother's infidelity. So now he had to sit back and watch his daughter marry the man who had seduced her mother. It was nearly incestuous, and made him sick to think about, but there was no easy way out from the situation.

"I decided I wanted a small wedding at the house, that way Mom can still kind of be there…at least her memories and all, you know," Cassandra went on talking about her wedding, hurt a little that her father didn't seem to be interested. She had fallen hard for the drop-dead gorgeous Don nearly four years before when her mother and she had run into him at the gym. He hadn't notice her then, but at 19 she hadn't been exactly beautiful. Over the years Cassandra had run into him more frequently around town and he had begun to see her as a woman.

It wasn't long before her father turned into the driveway of their large home, and they sat there in silence for a minute, both dreading seeing Alexander. He was a late addition to the family, a surprise pregnancy that had thrilled them all. Cassandra had been twelve years old when Alexander was born, and loved being a big sister and babysitting. For the past three years, she had fulfilled a surrogate mother role for him even.

"I guess we should go in," Mortimer stated. He glanced at Cassandra and then smiled encouragingly. "He doesn't really remember her, you know." Bella had been pulling away from the family for about three years before her disappearance, leaving Alexander at home with the staff and going out at all hours, so the boy hadn't had his mother really present in his life since he was 5 years old. "You remember how Mom was so busy with her charities, I guess she figured she would have time to make it up to him later." Numerous charity functions had been her excuse, but Mortimer had hired a private investigator and had known about his wife's true activities. Unfortunately, Bella had been carrying on with Don for years, not really interested in leaving Mortimer, but not willing to give up her handsome lover either.

"He still misses having a Mom," Cassandra did remember her mom being absent a lot, and had been angry about it at the time, but it was hard to stay mad when Bella disappeared. She knew Alexander had been missing his mom since long before she had physically disappeared, but it would still be a blow to hear the case had been officially halted, pending more information.

Father and daughter walked hand in hand into the house and faced the eleven-year-old waiting anxiously in the front entryway. He looked a lot like Bella, and if Mortimer hadn't known for sure the boy was his son he would have wondered at his complete lack of Goth features. But Cassandra hadn't inherited her mother's good looks, another reason to doubt Don's true affections, as the ladies' man never went out with anyone less than super-modelesque.

They were the richest family in town, though, and that was a whole lot more attractive than a fit body and perfect features to some people. Again, Mortimer wanted to tell his daughter all he knew about her future husband, but he held back. He wasn't sure why he wasn't willing to destroy Bella's memory, it wasn't like he loved her much anymore, but he did love his daughter, and knew that she was a weak person emotionally, had always been that way, and might not be able to handle her world falling around her. All he could do was be supportive and loving to her when Don finally revealed his true self as he was bound to do one day.

Caliente Family

"I heard they were calling off the search for Bella," Nina Caliente announced at dinner, watching her sister's reaction to the news. The Caliente sisters, Dina and Nina, were both stunningly good looking, every man's dream; trim figures, beautiful faces, larger than average breasts, long legs, and firm asses. They were twins, but despite being non-identical, they were both fantastic to look at and had numerous admirers. They were also determined to be rich by any means.

"About time…" Dina winked at Nina, "I was getting tired of waiting." Dina had claimed Mortimer Goth the minute they moved into the neighborhood two years before and had heard the current Mrs. Money-bags was out of the picture.

Growing up moderately well-off the sisters had enjoyed a normal average childhood, until their parents' marriage had fallen apart and the girls had bounced between their mother and father's homes. They had seen first-hand how their mother's life had deteriorated into poverty once their father stopped supporting her. Nina had already married once and had a tidy sum in the bank as a result of his life-insurance payment once the cancer had claimed him. She wasn't as anxious about her financial security as Dina was, but was still a little jealous that Dina had seen Mortimer first. The Goth's were beyond ordinary wealthy, and the next Mrs. Mortimer Goth was going to be living the High Life.

It didn't matter to Dina that Mortimer was old and wrinkly, well into his 60's, and no longer handsome. She worked at the local bank and had snuck a peak at his account balance years ago and knew that a few million dollars was just waiting for her to claim.

"It's too bad Don isn't rich…" Nina mused as she twirled her spaghetti. Both sisters were open about their love affairs, and so they knew that each had dallied with the attractive Don Lothario. They also knew that Bella Goth had enjoyed his manly company, as well, and that Don was currently engaged to the young Cassandra Goth. He was too much like them for any serious relationship, but a quick visit to his bed wasn't out of the question for either sister or him when the mood struck. They had even enjoyed a three-some once in his hot tub, a circumstance that Dina still laughed with Nina about when they saw Don out on the town with the homely Cassandra.

"Wish me luck, Nina, I'm going digging for gold tomorrow," Dina stated and then laughed before she downed her wine in a silent toast to her future.