Gen 10 Ch 1

It was the morning after Crystal's birthday party. Stephan, Rose, and Diamond were saying their last goodbyes to Crystal, before they left Champs Les Sims for Moonlight Falls.
"Call us when you get to Lucky Palms, sweetheart. We'll miss you! Oh, and I almost forgot."
Rose Beryl pressed a large, old key into Crystal's hand.
"Here is the key to Moonstone Manor in Bridgeport. The old place is yours now. If you still want to turn it into a museum, you have my blessing."

Crystal watched her family until they disappeared down the road in the distance. She would miss them, for sure, but she was also beside herself with excitement to start her new singing career in Lucky Palms. She was about to sit on her new trunk one more time in order to force it closed, when she heard a small out of breath voice calling out from behind her.
"Wait! *puff puff* Wait for me!"

Crystal turned to see a somewhat familiar looking tiny girl staring at her with sad eyes. Crystal racked her brain trying to place her, and finally the light came on. This was her estranged father's young daughter - Naomi, she thought her name was. But what was she doing here?
"Take me with you, please. I can't stay here anymore. I'm so scared of my papa. He wants to hurt me.  He owns the whole town, you're the only one I can trust. Please take me with you?"
Crystal didn't know what to do. She had only a few seconds to decide. The taxi was about to leave, and she would miss her plane if she stayed to sort things out.

When she saw Pascal racing up the street, murder in his eyes, she made her decision.
"Quickly. Get in the taxi. Keep your head down. Driver, take us to the airport. There's an extra twenty in it for you if you hurry."

Crystal kept checking behind her the whole trip, but they never saw anyone. Naomi was overjoyed that they had gotten away cleanly, but Crystal wasn't so sure. She'd be watching her back nervously for a good while, she knew.
After registering Naomi at school, she started house hunting. The small room at the casino that the she'd been offered as a perk of her new job wouldn't do any more.

"So. Here we are. Do you want to tell me what happened with your papa?"
Naomi shook her head mutely.
"Will you tell me later?"
Naomi nodded slightly.
"Okay then. Later it is. What do you want to do now?"
Instead of answering, Naomi grabbed a pillow off the bed, and whacked Crystal, the small beginnings of a smile at the corners of her mouth.
"I always wanted to to that. Papa never let me."
"Oh ho. So that's how its gonna be?"
Crystal grabbed a second pillow and whacked her back, albeit gently. Her newly found sister was only half her size, after all. Soon they were both laughing merrily.

"Okay, little sis. What's next? You need some new clothes. How about shopping?"
"Shopping? I never had new clothes before. I always wear my big brother's hand-me-downs. Pierre was always papa's favorite."
Naomi sighed heavily.
"It's because he's a boy. That's what papa said. Girls are worthless."
That set Crystal's blood boiling, but she tried to answer calmly.
"That's just not true. Girls are just as good as boys. We can do anything they can."

"I get to pick out my own clothes? Yay! A purple dress! My favorite color!"
Crystal helped her pick out a new wardrobe, and then after a quick hair restyling at the salon, they were ready to head for home.

On the way home, they passed by a quaint shop with the odd name of Jack's Elixirs and Potions.
"Oh, Naomi, lets go check it out! It looks just like the place my mom worked in when we lived in Starlight Shores!"
Crystal was a little freaked out when she discovered that the inside was also a carbon copy of the old magic shop.

The owner looked vaguely familiar too, and stepped out from behind the counter to greet her like an old friend.
"Crystal? Is that you? Don't you remember me? It's Jack. From the troupe? The last time I saw you you were a little kid. And now look at you. All grown up!"
Suddenly Crystal remembered - he'd changed a lot from the young man who had left the troupe years ago to have a settled life, but yes. It was definitely Jack, one of her old babysitters.

Crystal introduced Naomi as her adopted daughter: she felt it was safer that way.
"I have a daughter, too," Jack replied. "She looks about the age of yours. We should set up a play date sometime."
"Oh.. so you are married then?" Crystal was vaguely disappointed, she wasn't sure why. Maybe Jack's merry blue eyes and infectious smile had something to do with it.
"No.. Shani's mom and I parted ways a long time ago. She wanted to travel, and so we agreed that Shani would stay with me for a more stable life."

Crystal and Naomi fell into a routine of sorts in the days that followed. Breakfast, dishes, and off to school and work. Crystal signed her up for ballet after school as well, to keep her occupied and safe until Crystal returned from work.
 She tried to teach her sister to be sure and always check the stove before leaving in the morning, but Naomi refused to touch the stove whatsoever. Crystal tried to ask her about her fear of the stove, but it only resulted in a terrible temper tantrum.
For the most part, though, Naomi was a joy to have around, her hot-headed and over emotional side only showing up sporadically.

Crystal was assigned the day shift at the casino, due to her being the newcomer and all - nights were always better in the tip department. She dutifully showed up in the bar area every morning in the awful costume the casino insisted she wear...

... and sang to the bartender all day. Seriously, sometimes she wondered what she was even doing there. Her career seemed to be going nowhere.

Sometimes the casino sent her out on what they internally called 'advertising runs', which usually entailed traveling to some forgotten corner of the town and delivering a sing-o-gram to some unsuspected soul, always with a mention of the casino's amenities at the end, of course. They almost always turned out embarrassingly bad.

Most days she was able to leave work early enough to stop at Jack's store on the way home. Although there seemed to Crystal to be some sort of spark between the two of them, there never seemed to be time to expand the relationship. They had even tried several times to set up play dates for the girls, but something always came up.

One afternoon when she showed up at the store, a shocking sight met her eyes. She was about to turn and high tail it out of there, when...
"Uh.. Crystal. It's me, Jack. I.. kinda screwed up while I was working on a new potion, and well.. you see what happened."
"Jack?? Is that really you?? Can I do anything to help?"

"Actually... yes. There is something you can do. Kiss me?"
"Uh... wha...?"
Crystal wasn't sure about that at all.
"It's the only way to turn me back... please?"

So she put aside her reservations and closed her eyes, and touched her lips briefly to the cold slick frog's head.

Much to her, and Jack's, relief, the frog's head began to dissipate into a fog of glowing green.

The 'frog incident', as they came to call it, provided the necessary spark to lift their relationship to the next level.

Crystal received a promotion at work, and was given a slightly less horrible outfit to wear for the late afternoon shift. Either she was getting noticeably better, or there was just more traffic through the casino later in the day. Either way, she had an actual audience besides the bartender for the first time. She had asked Jack to stop over and check on Naomi, since she would be getting home later than usual. She could hardly wait to get home and tell them both all about her promotion.

She was absolutely horrified to arrive home only to find Jack in a heated argument on the front lawn with... could it be? Yes, she'd recognize him anywhere - it was Pascal, and he was insisting on taking Naomi with him. He was red in the face, and Crystal could almost see steam coming from his ears.
"Never!" Jack growled at him. "You killed that little girl's mother and got away with it. There is no way I'll let you anywhere near her!"
"So what if I did! She's mine I tell you!"
Crystal gasped in shock. "Mama was right! You did do it! I'm calling the police right now!"

It was Pascal's turn to look shocked then, as he realized what he had said in the heat of the moment. He tried to run, but Jack jumped on him, swinging with both fists...

...while Crystal called the police.

Jack was no match for Pascal's superior strength, however, and Pascal gave the two of them one last evil glare before racing off into the night.

Crystal rushed inside to check on Naomi, and found her a whimpering mess of fear and anger.
"Don't worry, baby, he's gone. Jack chased him away. Everything will be all right, I promise."

It took a long time, but finally Naomi was calm enough to crawl into bed. Crystal stayed with her until she was asleep, watching and wondering if she'd be able to keep her promise. When she was sure Naomi was asleep, she tip-toed back downstairs.

It was so late, she assumed that Jack would be gone, but much to her relief he was still waiting for her in the living room.
"Are you okay?" They both spoke at once.
"I'm fine, I was just worried about you.." They laughed as they answered each other in unison.
Then Jack continued, "I was going to ask you something tonight, but with all the excitement - well, I'm gonna ask you anyway, I can't wait any longer."

"Crystal Moonstone, I love you. Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will."