It was summer and Darren and Darleen Dreamer had been married for two years. One day, when they went to the park for a picnic Darleen told him that she was expecting a child. It was something Darleen had wished very much and all that was lacking for their complete happiness.

Dirk was born and they loved watching him grow up. They did not believe that anything could trouble their family life.

And then one day the cooker went on fire. Countless times did Darren wish he would have been at home that day wondering if he would have been able to save Darleen. Dirk had already grown into a teen but it didn't ease the pain of loosing his mother.

Darren gave up his job and tried to overcome the loss by starting to paint.

He then became close to Cassandra Goth and fell in love with her. But either because he was still missing his wife or because Cassandra chose to get engaged to Don Lothario instead (something Darren could not understand to this day), their relationship went nowhere.
They were still in love in some way and still friends, but lately Cassandra - after failing to marry Don Lothario who had run away from the wedding and moved to another place - had met someone else and Darren did not see that he would ever get together with her. He wasn't sure if he would have wanted it, since he wasn't sure what he wanted at all.

On one hand there was hardly a woman in Pleasantview that he didn't find attractive. But then they all seemed to be going out with someone else already and when he was on his own he remembered the time when he lived with his wife and he missed Darleen badly.

Often he would sit outside at night looking at her grave under the willow tree.

Dirk had picked up his life. He had regained his good grades in school and had become friends with some teenagers from the neighbourhood. Ben for example was the son of his father's friend Darren Jenkins and a very nice person. To be with sims like that helped Dirk even if he still thought a lot about his mother too.

Even if Lilith Pleasant had been a difficult girl at one time Darren was happy for his son having a steady girlfriend. Lilith was rebellious but apart from getting busted once she didn't really get Dirk into trouble.

Darren had hoped to earn enough money as a painter to support himself and his son. But comparing the bills with his income it became clear that they would soon run out of money if he didn't get a job. First he found a job at the local hospital and the hours he worked were an advantage as he was often at home in the early afternoon to spend time with his son. Knowledge mattered to Darren and even if he considered it very important for Dirk to have a good social life he wanted him to do well in school so that he could go to college one day.

Dirk had nothing to complain about. After retreating for a while after the death of his mother he had gained all his new friends and his relationship with Lilith was good too.

When the new downtown area opened up nearby, they started going there more and he always had a great time when he was on a date with Lilith.

For Darren it was harder to cope. Like some other of the old inhabitants of Pleasantview he first found it hard to make friends with the neighbours who had arrived there lately. As has already been mentioned there were quite a few women in Pleasantview that he found attractive. But none of them seemed to be very interested in him. After a while Darren managed to find some friends among his new neighbours, but there was no sight of romance.
When his best friend Darren Jenkins got married he was glad for him and proud to be best man, but he was also reminded of his own loss once again. Darren was his direct neighbour and in the distance behind the happy couple he could see the grave of Darleen.

There wasn't much time left before Dirk was to go to college. Dirk didn't like the idea of his father sitting all alone in their house. He thought that there was a good chance that his father would become very depressed and so he suggested a trip downtown and mixing with people a bit more. Darren wasn't too impressed the first times he went there. There always seemed to be a lot more guys than women too.
Then one day it was all different. Darren had met a couple of people through work (he was now working in a restaurant) and been promoted a couple of times. He was not aware of it but it helped his confidence and it showed.
Meeting Brandi was a good start for an afternoon out and she paid an unusual amount of attention to him that day. He was also intensely watched by a girl named Christy. He had seen her before and they began chatting. She looked very badly dressed in her track suit, but Darren thought that she had a nice face and she turned out to be nice to be with as well.

They spend a long time with each other and got a crush on each other. Seeing Brandi in the background still made Darren a bit nervous though, because she was really a very attractive woman.

The same day he met another woman called Diane and they soon started talking too. Darren couldn't believe how popular he had all of a sudden become. Unlike all the other times women were obviously attracted to him.

The next day Diane called him and invited him to go out with her and some friends. He met Lauren, one of Dirk's friends and tried to talk to her a bit, but mainly he was concentrating on Diane who was a quiet, nice and very good looking woman.

When all the others had left he still stood with her for a while and he noticed that she looked at him very romantically.

She had obviously enjoyed the evening with him and he fancied her too especially with that beautiful smile on her face.

He didn't wait long before he invited her to the house and after they had been sitting and talking at the table over a meal for a while they were kissing until Diane had to leave.
Darren did already know her well enough to tell that she was not a flirt. He liked her very much and had enjoyed kissing a woman again after such a long time.

Before he went to sleep he went into the garden for a moment and there his mood changed. His prospects with Diane were good and she was a very nice person, but out there in the dark his thoughts immediately turned back to his wife. It was as if her presence was still there and he was not sure if he could forget her over another woman.

Dirk had started to think more about his mother again too lately. In only a few months he would go to college and he thought how proud she would have been, because it had always been her dream.
He also remembered how much time they had spent together when he was a child. He had not told anyone about the strange dreams he sometimes had, in which he would hear his mother crying out for him.

Then one night he was awake and he thought he could in fact hear a wailing outside. He went out to have a look but he couldn't see anything apart from a faint shimmer near the pavement.

He went closer. For a moment he had an image of his mother before him and she had a longing and sad look on her face. But then the image disappeared again and all he could see was the dark grass and the house on the other side of the road.

He turned round and walked back to the house thinking that his mind was playing tricks on him when he heard a noise behind him. Dirk nearly died of shock when he saw the ghost of his mother. She laughed and looked like she was going to embrace him, but at the same time she looked angry too and he was frightened.
He did not doubt for a moment that he truly had seen her ghost, although it disappeared again after a few seconds.

When he returned from school the next day he walked up to her grave and cried bitterly. Thinking about his experience had kept him awake most of the night. If she was a ghost now it meant that she was not resting in peace and maybe when he had thought to be dreaming she had been there all along.
But it also meant that she was not gone completely. She was still there, close to them.

Dirk wasn't sure if his father would believe him, but in the end decided to tell him what he had seen. It added another load to Darren's mind which was already full of thoughts. He was wondering if he should start going out with Diane, knowing that it would most likely result in a serious relationship. Then there was this other girl Christy, who really seemed to be in love with him. Marylena Hamilton, a woman from his former work place often called him and even Gabriella Martinez, a young and very attractive woman, came round to visit him every other day. They were all nice women and he liked them all, but in the end his thoughts always returned to his former wife.
Darren needed a while to take in the information he got from his son, although he did not think that Dirk was lying. Still, it wasn't until the next day that he began to understand what it meant reaching the same conclusions as Dirk. Before, when he thought of Darleen he had always believed her to be gone forever.

Darren began to wonder if the rumours he had heard regarding ghosts were true. Was it indeed possible to bring a person back to life if they still existed as a ghost? He had not listened to this type of talk before, but it was on his mind now.
He decided not to make any steps towards the women he had recently met and to see more of his friends instead. Once again it was the Jenkins household who gave him a push into one direction. Marisa was already expecting her second child and she looked very happy about it. It made Darren miss a family bitterly and with dread he thought what it would be like when Dirk moved to college.

You hear a lot working in a restaurant and when Darren heard people talking about ghosts now he listened very closely. From what he gathered he needed a special apparatus to resurrect a sim, which was only available to highly educated people who had dedicated their life to the paranormal. Knowing that such a thing existed he did not rest until after making the right contacts and a lot of bargaining and begging he managed to acquire such a machine.
Dirk had not believed that his father would really attempt this and now watched the whole procedure curiously. Darren was nervous. There had been warnings that the grim reaper was fond of money and not being generous could have disastrous consequences and he checked his account statement once again, before he picked up the main device which looked remarkably like any ordinary phone. Luckily his promotions had earned him good bonuses and although he had planned to use these for Dirk's education the wish to bring back his wife had become too strong.

Darren was surprised about the business like voice of the grim reaper and the speed of the transaction. He didn't hesitate and transferred most of the savings from his account and in the next moment a cloud of green vapour began to appear in the middle of the living room and inside it the shape of Darleen materialised. Dirk almost missed the whole spectacle because he had not expected it to work.

But it did and a few minutes later Darleen stood there, alive once again, as if she had never been gone.

Until then Darren had been in doubt, whether he was only clinging to an impossible dream and seeing Darleen alive before him now was almost too much to take in.

Dirk's brain needed a while too before he understood that his mother had returned. There was no more pain on her face only joy and cheerfulness. She looked slightly confused and when they all had finally gathered themselves enough to be able to speak she told them that she knew who they were, but had no memories of any important event in her former life.
Darren informed her that he had expected it. Apparently it was not possible to regain your memories without regaining the memory of dying as well and no one was able to handle that.
'It is not important. You brought me back. Thank you for that.'

Even if Darleen could not recall any of her past life, her feelings were still there and so after only a few hours there was the same love for her family as before her death.

And although she did not remember being dead and a ghost either, Darleen felt like she had been brought from a long and dark dream into a life that was bright and new and filled her with immense joy.

It made Darren, who couldn't stop looking at his lovely wife, only happier.

'Darren, if I could only tell you how I feel. Seeing you again, seeing Dirk, I am so happy.. oh it doesn't even come close to it. I would not have known what I missed but you have brought me back and now I do.'
'And I know that it would have never been the same with anybody else. You are the woman of my life Darleen and when you were gone I had nothing left apart from Dirk.'

It was very late at night and Dirk had already gone to bed hours before, but Darren and Darleen were still up talking. Eventually Darren told her that he was tired and if they should go to bed. He was longing for her, but he wasn't sure how she would react. He could imagine how strange it would feel to have no recollections of anything that happened in your life before. But Darleen just looked at him very romantically and then walked ahead pulling him into the other room.

As soon as they were in the bedroom they started kissing and making out.

Once they were sitting on the bed and holding each other there was nothing strange about the situation anymore.

Darren was the happiest man in the world when he woke up the next morning.

Darleen was full of joy and energy and even the maid was affected by her happy mood. Darren could not stop smiling all day, especially when he watched his wife who apparently had no need to recover from her experience and was as friendly and sociable as before.

Even eating meals again was exciting to Darleen and the woohoo with Darren the night before had been an particularly pleasant experience.

Darleen had returned to the world with the same look she had worn before her tragic death and one of the first things she had done was to retreat to the bathroom for a while checking her hair and her face. A few days later she went to a shop and bought some new clothes. Those tasks were no problem for her, but some other skills she had lost like her memory. The days following her resurrection were quiet with both Darleen and Darren studying.

To have Dirk around was very important to Darleen as well. She did not regain her memories, but crying out for her son when she was a ghost was like a recollection from a dream and a faint echo of the sadness she had felt remained inside her.

Dirk had not known how much he had missed his mother until she returned. Soon he could not imagine how they had coped without her in the years when she was dead.

So Darleen was surrounded by the love and care of her family when she returned to a new life.

'Why are you looking at me like that?', Darleen asked, seeing the glance of Darren upon her when she turned round. He just grinned. Both he and Dirk still enjoyed watching Darleen.

College was not far away anymore, but Dirk wanted Lilith to meet his mother before he left. They had started going out with each other after Darleen had died. Lilith was not a girl to make friends on the first day, but she got on well with his mother and agreed that she was cool, being very youthful and lively.

Later on they sat outside for a while talking about college as they usually did now. While Lilith was determined to study arts, Dirk had no real plans for the future. At one time he had wanted to earn a fortune, but now he was more interested in just having fun. He was sure that he and Lilith would always remain good friends but not so much, if their lifes were heading into the same direction. Since the birth of her brother Lilith had become more serious and responsible and even if she still looked the same she was different from before.

Another week passed and then the day to enter college had arrived. Darleen looked at her son sadly. She had only been back for such a short time and already her son was to grow into a young adult.

Darren was going to take him to college and the dormer where Dirk was meant to live and had taken the day off for it. Before they left they sat down and had breakfast together.

'Don't worry I come over and visit you soon', Dirk assured his mother before he went into the bathroom to get ready. Darleen could not answer. She tried to memorise the face of her son as he looked now. She wished they would have taken more pictures when he was a child.

Soon after Dirk had left Darren agreed to a business proposal that looked stupid at first but turned into a huge success. As a result they were suddenly a prosperous family. Darleen still had an interest in fashion and she was thinking about buying a clothes shop, maybe specialising on wedding dresses. During the day when Darren was at work she was a bit lonely occasionally. She had made some friends, but they were working as well.
A few more months passed when Darren, talking about the shop and touching the subject of marriage, heard that apparently he and Darleen were not legally married anymore. Since marriage lasted only 'until death do part', after one of the spouses died, the marriage was over. Marriage and family were the world for Darleen and she immediately wanted to renew the marriage or be properly engaged at least after he told her about this.
There was nothing to think over and so Darren bought a nice ring and proposed to her.

Since they had believed that they were still married, getting engaged wasn't really a big thing but Darleen could not stop thinking about it all day. At least she would have a memory of getting engaged and then married again, even if it wasn't the original one.

In the evening when they cuddled on the bed, Darleen kept looking at the ring on her hand. Darren gently stroked her back. He had grown a little bit older, but Darleen was as young as she had been when they got married the first time and she had become more beautiful since. They had not spend much of the money he had gained from his enterprise and he was planning to prepare a dream wedding for Darleen.

Unfortunately those big moments in their life spurns the romantic feelings in most sims and also tends to make them a bit careless. Darren and Darleen did not differ. The evening ended with some very passionate lovemaking.

Darleen felt the first symptoms of pregnancy almost immediately afterwards.

Some other women in the neighbourhood had opted to get married at a later date, like Marisa Bendett, but this was not an option for Darleen. Darren was surprised at the speed at which she managed to organise a wedding party.

Darleen had strong family values, but she was not prudish. It was not a topic he would talk about with his mother, but she still guessed that Dirk was longing for his first sexual experience. When he arrived for the wedding she introduced him to Gabriella Martinez, who for some reason he had never met. Gabriella's behaviour was talked about in the neighbourhood, but nobody condemned her. She was a very kind and lovely woman and not much older than Dirk. Darleen was sure that if her son only wanted to have his first time and was not looking for true love, he was in good hands with Gabriella. He did indeed get on with her very well and hardly paid any attention to Charlene who had been invited by his mother as well (they had become friends shortly before Charlene went to college).

Although not a wedding dress, Darleen looked splendid in the dress she had chosen for the occasion. After the ceremony - Darren Bendett was taking his turn of best man this time - she congratulated Charlene on her looks and the compliment was duly returned.

The wedding was as perfect as if they had planned it for months and it was a good thing they had not waited any longer. The sickness was regular now..

and shortly after a small belly grew on Darleen. They were both extremly happy. At the time a lot of the women in Pleasantview were pregnant and Darleen was glad to join them.

The Dreamer Family pt. 2
(For Dirk at university see Jenkins)

Dirk had never dealt with small children before and he was surprised how natural it felt to him.
'Now who's that?! Who are you little man?' Dyson smiled happily at his brother, when he was picked up by him and Dirk could understand a bit better why Lilith had spend so much time with David.

Dirk played with Dyson for some time until Darleen put him in the crib and he sat down with his parents for lunch. Darren wanted to know everything about his studies and told his son that he wished he had been able to go to university himself. At the time when he and Darleen grew up it was not common, actually no-one ever did.

Dyson woke up again in the evening and Dirk played some more with him before he left.
'That was a nice day', Darren said, when he was alone with Darleen. 'Where's Dyson?'
'I brought him upstairs, he was falling asleep on the living room floor.'
'So, it's just you and me? No toddler that needs attention?'
'No, just you and me. Shall we go upstairs too?'
Even though Darleen had said otherwise, they did not get much sleep while Dyson was small and so it had been a while since their last woohoo. They both missed it.

The next morning Darren was still in bed when he suddenly heard the noise of something heavy dropping on the floor coming from the kitchen. He turned round, the bed was empty. He rushed downstairs and found Darleen lying curled up on the floor with the grim reaper hovering over her.
'No!', he screamed, 'You can't do that, you can not take her away from me again!'
The grim reaper turned round. 'It depends, my friend, it depends. You have to gamble for her, let's see who wins.' Darren refused, but there was no discussion with the reaper. 'You gamble, or I take her with me.' Sweat ran down Darren's forehead as he played rock paper scissors with the grim reaper, but he was lucky and won. The reaper reluctantly whispered a few words over Darleen who began to stir with colour returning to her cheeks.
'Darleen, from now on I make sure that you are more responsible with yourself. You can not leave me and our sons alone again. When was the last time you've eaten? Promise me that you do not overstrain yourself.'

Darleen admitted that she had woken up from being hungry and when she went into the kitchen she had been sick after the first bite and then she had fainted and could not remember anything after that.
There were examples of sim women feeling the onset of pregnancy immediately and it turned out that Darleen was one of them. She was throwing up every morning now and it became clear that she had conceived in the night after Dirk's visit.

In the afternoon she told Darren that she was expecting another child. Darren hugged her and told her how happy he was about the news of her pregnancy.

But when he was alone in the kitchen later in the evening he picked up his son and held him very tight. 'My baby, I'm so glad you don't know anything about the dangers in your life. Let's just hope that your mother is more careful from now on.'
Darleen's condition deeply worried him. There surely was a limit how often you could snatch a person from the grim reaper and he had already pleaded for Darleen twice.

But Darleen did avoid any risk from then on and when Dyson was ready to become a school child, she was fit and healthy, looking forward to her third child.

Dyson had been a slow beginner, but he picked up afterwards and was not much behind the other children when his age transition came.

In the evening he got slightly confused though. He was so used to sleep in his parent's bedroom that he automatically went in there when he was tired. It took him a moment to remember that he was now to sleep in his own room downstairs. Before he left the bedroom he had a look at his mother. She was smiling in her sleep and looked very peaceful.

Dyson was old enough now to understand that his mother was carrying a baby and Darleen also explained to him how it originated. She managed to communicate the joy that she and Darren felt about the pregnancy and soon Dyson was looking forward to a new family member too.

Dionne was born in the early morning hours.

They were both extremely happy, especially because it was a baby girl, which was what they had hoped for.

When Dyson woke up his father told him the news and he ran upstairs to greet his sister.