The chapter follows several romantic storylines in the Legacy household. Elaine remains afraid of commitment in her relationship with Ian, despite their feelings. Many couples bicker but remain together, including Zane and Lenore. Bunthorne pursues Dusty, revealing he comes from a wealthy family. At a graduation party, Regina is unhappy but Lydon enjoys time with his pet lamb. Molly, daughter of Doc and Ulysses, excels at building skills and securing scholarships despite challenges of her vampire father's schedule.

1. The Squeaky Clean Legacy: Chapter 17.5
What Comes Out of the Fire: Part One

2. When we last le+ the Squeaky Clean Legacy, our Ninth
Genera;on heiress Elaine had put her bad rela;onship with
Angus Pleasant behind her, and she and Ian Legacina had
admiDed that their feelings for each other went beyond
ordinary friendship.

3. There is a good deal of this going on.

4. Also a good deal of this, because while Elaine’s first cousin
Nausicaa is a Pleasure Sim, she very much disapproves of PDA.

5. But no maDer how much affec;on she feels for Ian, Elaine persists in
being afraid of geNng engaged. It’s a classic Romance Fear, but it’s
understandable considering what happened the last ;me.
Most of the other couples in the house have glitch‐free rela;onships.
Well, almost glitch‐free.

6. Zane Marius‐Jacquet: Hey! That ball hurt! I thought you weren’t mad at
me anymore!

7. Lenore: Heh‐heh, sorry, Zane. One nice point. Nothing personal.

8. You do almost understand Nausicaa’s point of view. There really is quite
a lot of this.

9. At almost any ;me of day.

10. At least Nausicaa’s boyfriend Nino Caliente makes himself useful around
the house.

11. On the other hand, Ian makes himself useful around the house, too.

12. And then there are par;es, in this case, a gradua;on party for
LyDon’s younger daughter Regina.
Gawaine: Hey hey, Bunthorne, you should go for it.

13. Bunthorne: Um, ahem, hi, Dusty.

14. Dusty Broke: You’re not going to give me a hard ;me about Angus, are you?
Because I swear I didn’t know he was engaged.
Bunthorne: No. Elaine doesn’t have a problem with it. Why should I? No, I
just wanted to tell you that I think you can do a lot beDer than that.
Dusty: Really?
Bunthorne: Yes. With me.

15. Dusty: Oh, you’re pulling my leg.

16. Bunthorne: Have I men;oned that I’m a Fortune Sim and that my family
owns a business at which we sell artwork of dubious origin?
Dusty: No, but I want to hear all about this.

17. Elaine: Congratula;ons on gradua;ng Summa Cum Laude, Regina!

18. Regina: Don’t say anything. Just don’t.

19. I’m sure LyDon will be happy to have his daughter home, though not as
happy as he is to play with his and RubyBlue’s pet dog, um, lamb, Baa‐
Baa.

20. At the boys’ house, romance also proceeds apace. There are plenty of
toga par;es to which Palomides’ fiance, Stacey the Grocery Girl, is usually
invited.

21. Gawaine: See, I knew this would work out.
Why don’t you find your own girlfriend?
Gawaine: Because it’s much more fun fixing up other people.

22. Dusty admires Bunthorne because he’s a good cook. OK, I’ve seen him
make creampuffs, and he’s a bit creampuffy himself when he’s not being
a pill, so that’s fair enough.

23. Even people who don’t live here find romance. Linus Burb spent quite of
lot of his ;me with his boyfriend Ethan.

24. Telemachus: *whine*
Oh, geez, you’d think I’d asked him to do something hideous.

25. It really does make him happy to propose to Asia. He’s just painfully shy.

26. I do try not to insert the standard line about “oo, sparkly,” here, but that’s
how Asia is. She’s a Family Sim and she’s got three bolts with
Telemachus, and ‐‐
Asia: Ooo! Sparkly!
Thank you.

27. Asia: Thank you, swee;e.

28. I really do not like geNng pop up messages about how Saxe‐Coburg‐
Gotha’s food dish is almost empty and we need to fill it right away. I
always panic. Your dish is full, ok?

29. Ian: Was there something you wanted?
Parsifal: Yes. I have a Want to Be Your Friend.
Ian: OK. Make it speedy.
It would be much speedier if Ian wasn’t so thorny some;mes.

30. And if he didn’t keep geNng distracted.
Palomides: Remind me why we worked so hard to get them together
again?

31. Doc: Do you ever miss the paDer of liDle feet around the house?
Ulysses: Um, no.
Doc: Good . Neither do I.

32. Their daughter Molly is quite enough for anyone. For one thing, she’s got
a wicked aim with a dart.

33. She’s also very obviously a baby Knowledge Sim. She rolls Skill Wants
again. . .

34. And again. . .

35. And again.
Doc: Scholarships ahoy!
No;ce the eggplant juice on the counter? That’s how Ulysses maxed his
skills before he was a teenager, and if it’s good enough for her daddy, it’s
good enough for her.

36. The one down side about being a vampire’s daughter is that he isn’t
available to help you with homework when you come home from school,
so Molly racks out on the sofa instead.

37. I suppose it would have been possible to have Doc or Achilles do it.

38. But Ulysses really wanted to. He always rolls Skill Wants for his daughter,
unless he’s rolling the want to Encourage her to Be Grouchy, encouragement
that she does not need.
Also, this makes them Best Friends, so it’s worth it.

39. Molly: And I wanted to ask for homework help, so it all works out.

40. This is why I say Molly is a baby Knowledge Sim. She keeps doing this
autonomously.

41. Daddy’s a vampire, Uncle Achilles is a Rock God, and Mommy’s in the Criminal
track, so they’re all night people.
Doc: Shoo flee? I s;nk?

42. Molly: You want to buy lemonade, Uncle Achilles.
Achilles: I do? Enough to get out of the hot tub where I was with one of
my girlfriends?
Molly: Yup.

43. Yeah, I’m sorry to say that Molly gets preDy much whatever she wants.

44. Doc and Ulysses are an extremely stalky couple when he’s up and around.

45. Dates do have to come to an end at some point, though.

46. I think you should kiss your husband goodbye before he burns up. Not
with passion. Literally.

47. Molly also got a bird. Call him Psmith. The “p” is silent, as in “psiDacosis.”
__
Shamelessly ripped off from PG Wodehouse.

48. Children can’t teach birds to talk, so Doc had to.
Doc: Global warming.
Psmith: Gluggly walnuts.

49. Molly: And while you swoop down and aim for his eyes, I’ll li+ his wallet,
ok?

50. Molly: You may fire when ready, Gridley.

51. Cue up the seventeenth ;me this has happened today—
Doc: Congratula;ons, Ulysses, you’re hot.

52. Nausicaa: Agh, do they have to do that?
Well, you know they’re going to do it anyway.

53. Everybody in the family has to be there, of course, including Molly’s older
brother and sister, and they ought to be used to all the stalking by now.

54. She is much too smart to say anything about her wishes, but I will bet it is
something scary.

55. And the first set of booster rockets go off!

56. Sophia: Go girl!
Doc: Not terrible clothing!
Molly grew up Well. And lucky. Her oufit suits her. She just had to be
Knowledge. I didn’t even roll.

57. Doc: Congratula;ons on a fabulous wedding party, Ulysses!

58. Ulysses: Thanks! Hey, did Molly just earn a scholarship?

59. Doc: Also, you are hot.

60. Psmith: Let’s talk financial reform.
Telemachus: Do we have to?

61. Kai is the youngest of the Goodytwoshoes knights, and he’s Pop, so he
had to have a cell phone. He happened to meet Molly while he was out
buying one.

62. Making friends went well in some ways‐‐

63. Not so well in other ways.

64. Molly: You are dead, do you hear me? DEAD.

65. Molly: Are you guys too busy for a Talk Through Bear or what?

66. Garden Club Guy: Thanks for invi;ng us for an inspec;on, Mr.
Goodytwoshoes. I didn’t know you were interested in gardening.
Achilles: I’m not, really. My brother’s the gardener, but he’s asleep in his
coffin right now, and I could use a Wishing Well.

67. “Excuse me, you appear to be having an emergency on your lot. Maybe right
now isn’t the best ;me for an inspec;on.”
The Garden Club. Always helpful.

68. Doc just went permaplat. She’s a Criminal Mastermind now.

69. And Molly topped her Teen Career, so she’ll be ready to go to college
when Kai is ready to go.

70. Kai: Hey, did you know that phone call just made us Best Friends? So you
don’t want to kill me a+er all?

71. At the Squeaky Clean Legacy house, it’s business as usual. Penelope and
Dinadan con;nue their three bolt stalkiness. They’re the ones who got
themselves together in the first place, and I’ve never regreDed it.

72. Penelope: Look! I have a kiDen!
Dinadan: I’ve got one too.

73. There are finger‐gunning Servos:
Killick: Which it Is a ^&(^%^Tin’ honor to be pumpin’ the bilges out
around here, swelp me.

74. And there are ghosts who can’t figure out how to get through a wall.
They do this all night long. I think they’re trying to get to their bed in the
basement, only they can’t reach it. No bed, no cheer, no scaring anyone.

75. The fi+h genera;on heiress Ruby is too bright to get stuck and manages
to get in a good Haunt or two. No doubt this is why Killick misses her and
keeps rolling the want to see her ghost.

76. LyDon seems to have decided to drop by the Legacy House to check up on
things.
LyDon: I am the family historian, a+er all.

77. And De/Fireflower dropped in—because she’s a simself and they do that
kind of thing?

78. Since Kai and Molly are Best Friends, why not let them Sneak Out, right?
It was a Snow Day anyway, and they didn’t get caught.

79. It occurs to me that there have been far too few kiDen pictures lately. I will try
to make up for this.
Don’t ask which ones are which. I can’t really tell them apart at this stage.

80. The next several cap;ons are some version of “D’aw.”

85. Kai: KiDens are what we do.
Since Kai’s Popularity, and obviously we have some ;me to kill before the
kiDens grow up, why not have a party?

86. Kai: Party! Yessss!
Molly: Of course I was invited.

87. Gawaine: Of course I was invited. I throw most of the par;es at school.
It’s true, Molly, you want to be nice to him.
Molly: Did you know your legs are glitching through the end of the table?

88. Let’s make it a New Year’s Bash! We’ve never had one of those before!

89. Yayyy Happy New Year yaaay!

90. Molly: Yayyy Happy New Year yaaay!
Penelope: This is a bit disappoin;ng.
Kind of like the real thing.

91. Palomides: And THAT is creepy.

92. Toddler New Year really is creepy.

93. Babies are not supposed to smustle.

94. But Kai gets his first Roof Raiser party out of it, so it was worth it.

95. Ooo! Time for kiDens growing up! This is what we were wai;ng for!

96. Caramel‐‐

97. Cappucino‐‐

98. ‐‐who grows up half in and half out of the liDer box.

99. They look iden;cal. And striking.

100. And Chocolate.

101. They’re just as nice when they’re cats, people.

102. We haven’t had enough cat pictures, either. More Chocolate.

103. There are four other beds.

104. Eventually she found one.

106. Cecil: My clock appears to have weathered my absence.
Clearly he missed it.

107. I think Cecil worried about the fish, too, but it’s nice to see Cecilia
bonding with Max.

108. Sparkle was watching them the en;re ;me.
Fish: Our nerves cannot stand much more.

109. Cecilia seems to have accepted the reality that her husband is gone, and
that her Papa and her son are alive.

110. She is much sadder, but she seems much more mature.

111. Also, like everyone else in the house, she cheats at chess. And her family
has not stopped worrying about her.

113. Max: Mama?

114. Max: Mama, what are you doing? Are you quite certain you feel well?

115. Cecilia: I thought—I thought since you have your garden, that maybe I could
add a liDle brightness, a liDle color. . .
They’re not important; they’re just flowers. But I do like them, Max.
Max: Since you are fond of them. . .

116. Max: ‐‐I do not see what harm it could do.

118. And yet, Max s;ll tends his garden at midnight.

119. Max: If Mama no longer requires my assistance—I wish someone would let me
know.
You s;ll worry about her.
Max: Yes.

120. To be continued. . .