Not all the aliens that live in Pleasantview are of the same outer space region/origin, and not all of them are green but Ilia just happens to be green and he has lavender eyes, but other than that, he looks like any other Sim out there in the hood.
It's no secret that Steele recently had a HUGE wake up call in regard to his animosity towards aliens, (stemming from his tragic experiences with the TAO when he was a kid), when his sister, Audrah, got romantically mixed up with a very married alien, (Flagg Orbitz), and had a son, Flynt, with him. Having a nephew that is half alien really put Steele in a position of having to look inside himself and come face to face with a rather ugly side of himself. He adores Flynt and the day his sister gave birth to him he made a promise to himself that he would do all her could to overcome his bitterness towards aliens.
And now, here was assigned an alien partner on the job. He figured best thing to do was just bite the bullet and do his best to get along with Ilia. The first week he and Ilia worked together Steele didn't talk to his new partner much. He kept their conversations focused on job related matter and that was it. When their first work week as partners came to an end, Ilia invited Steele over to his place for dinner. Jess was working that night, Autumn had plans to hang out with Lily at her dorm house, baby Noah was being babysat by Melanie and Audrah was having some of her Yoga Club girlfriends over for some kind of cookie exchange slash yoga-fest.
Anything was better than a house full of yoga ladies chatting up cookie recipes so he accepted Ilia's invitation.
As much as Ilia had tried to get to know Steele on the job and tell him about himself, Steele hadn't paid attention to anything Ilia was talking about, unless it was work related of course. When he sat down at Ilia's dining-room table it dawned on him that he knew absolutely nothing about his partner. He was quite ashamed of himself for that and made a point to ask Ilia about himself and how he ended up in the law enforcement biz.
From the look on Ilia's face Steele realized that he had just asked his partner about something about himself that Ilia had already told him while they were working. He tried to think of something to say that might help him escape looking like such a indifferent clod but Ilia jumped in, acting like he was telling Steele about himself for the first time.
This time Steele paid attention to what his partner was telling him.
Ilia is a very outgoing and friendly Sim. Steele was surprised at how the two of them got along so well. Here he'd worked alongside him for a whole week and it wasn't until he finally began listening to Ilia that he realized how much the two of them have in common, especially when it came to their childhoods.
Ilia was also a victim of the TAO and his parents were also victims of a heinous crime committed by the TAO. Long story short, his parents owned a little 24 hour mom and pop grocery store alongside the main highway leading from Pleasantview to Strangetown. It was in the wee hours of the morning when a TAO gang ambushed the store. Ilia's father was killed instantly from a shotgun blast after giving the criminals all the money from the till. His mother was killed not long after when two of the gang members found her hiding in a back room of the store. Ilia didn't go into detail about how his mother was murdered but Steele got the distinct impression that it was a cruel and torturous murder committed against the poor Sim.
Ilia wouldn't talk about his parent's death but did tell Steele their ghosts come around him often, which he finds to be an odd comfort.
Ilia was 11 years old when his parents were killed. An only child, he was sent to go live with his aunt in Strangetown. As an adult he returned to Pleasantview and was part of a special unit that helped round up the TAO and send them back to the planet they came from. His life mission is to make sure they never return.
After Ilia was so candid about his past Steele revealed his own, also telling him about his stern conviction in making sure alien gangs like the TAO never get victimize their planet again.
A bond was formed between Steele and Ilia that day along with a unique friendship that neither one ever expected to find with the other.
Steele also met Ilia's son, Lodi.
Ilia is a widower. He lost his wife to cancer when Lodi was 4 years old.
It was a tragic time for both father and son but they got through it. He confided to Steele that he finally felt ready to get out there and date but so far hadn't met anyone that sparked his interest.
The face of his sister, Audrah, flashed in Steele's mind but he decided to not jump into anything, like setting up some kind of date between the two of them. He was actually quite stunned with himself for even thinking of setting his little sister up with an alien. Sure wasn't anything he would have considered before now.
He went home that night with a whole new outlook on aliens and couldn't shake the feeling that Ilia and Audrah would really hit it off.
He decided not to say anything to his sister or even Jess about introducing them. A couple birthday celebrations were coming up soon and he'd invite Ilia and Lodi over to meet everyone then. The rest would be up to his sister and his partner if love were to be found.
The first birthday to arrive was Noah's!
And Steele did invite Ilia and Lodi over to help celebrate.
Both Ilia and Audrah were a bit shy when they first met, but they did like each other and Audrah was very flattered at the way Ilia made a point to compliment her on how she pretty was is.
And then it was time for Noah to kid up!!
TA DA!
Kid Noah!!
Steel's hunch about his work partner and his little sister were right on the mark!
It didn't take long for the two of them to fall in love.
Jess was thrilled that Audrah had found such a wonderful guy and of course the fact the Ilia is an alien doesn't matter one bit to her! And Steele was actually quite pleased they were together too!
He'd come a long way for loathing ALL aliens to being happy about his little sister being in love with one. He had a lot of respect for Ilia and the thought of having him as a brother-in-law was something he hoped for.
But Ilia and Audrah weren't rushing into anything just yet. They were content with being in love and spending as much together as they could.
Now that Noah was a kid and having Audrah so happy in love did have a positive effect on Jess, helping to bring her out of her funk. She was one promotion away from becoming a Captain Hero, so close she could taste it!
And Audrah decided it was time for her to take on a career too.
She's always been fascinated by the world of medicine and that's what she chose.
Everything was falling into place for Audrah.
She took to working in the medical biz like a duck takes to water, her son, Flynt was pulling straight A's and she was head over heels in love.
She couldn't ask for anything more!
Jess was still struggling.
When Autumn headed off to college she was thrilled for her daughter but so very sad to not have her at home. There were a lot of up's and down's for Jess.
Lily graduating college was a wonderful occasion and she couldn't have been happier for Lily and Sheldon when they moved into their lovely beach view home.
Steele was promoted to Captain Hero and that was a HUGE accomplishment for him but also kinda hard for Jess as she wanted that herself position so badly!
Every time she thought the promotion to Captain Hero was hers, it went to someone else. It was getting hard for her to keep up the optimism and not be jealous of Steele's position.
It was turning into one very long winter and everyone in the house was looking forward to spring arriving. Jess found herself feeling extra tired and not even wanting to go to work. Of course she went but the tiredness lagged with her all day long and she found herself not even wanting to eat dinner, opting to head to bed early instead. Steele and Audrah were getting rather concerned about her, especially Steele. Jess had been in this depression for awhile now and he didn't know what to do to help her get out of it.
As it turned out, the tiredness ended up being easily explained.
Yep, Jess was pregnant!
And finding out her and Steele had a noo-boo on the way was enough to bring her out of the blues. And she decided to not worry about the promotion to Captain Hero so much too.
It was one very cold and icy night
when Jess and Steele's newest addition to the family decided to arrive.
It's A Noo-Boo!!
And it's a GIRL!
Meet Dakota!
It was the last night of winter when the time came
for Dakota to poof into a toddler.
Another beautiful daughter for Jess and Steele!!
And just how life can be, when everything is going good -
it just gets BETTER!
The day after Dakota toddlered up Jess made Captain Hero!!
No more Noo-Boo Blues for Jess, she was on Cloud Nine -
or at least flying over it every morning on her way to work!!
Jess loved flying off to work every morning
with her Captain Hero husband alongside her!
They're quite the powerful team!!
With Spring in the air, everyone was in a great mood!
Especially these Love Birds!!
Spring got Ilia feeling so good he decided it was time for this!
Of course Audrah said yes!
They aren't planning on a wedding right away. Ilia took on being part of a special force, (which is a real hush-hush mission), and is putting in tons of over-time which leaves him with no free time at all.
Steele is also part of this very elite task force that is working closely with the Mayor. They are currently in the heavy stage of planning and putting together some strategies to take care of a few things.
(Sorry, if I told you anything more I'd have to kill you).
To be Continued,...