1980s: Being stuck

While the new decade sparks change for a lot of the family, Susan, on her end, feels frozen in place. It's not that she doesn't have things to do - career-wise she has never been more busy. Immediately, Evergreen Harbor needs cleaning up after Mount St Helen's eruption, and in the long turn the fight against nuclear power has been taking up an ever larger part of her days ever since the Three Mile Island accident less than a year ago. And Susan is working hard, pouring herself into her job and reaping the benefits in a new promotion.

But once she is home, she is lonelier than ever. She rarely goes out - afraid that Tony will show up and be angry because she wasn't there. She doesn't invite people over - because Tony doesn't like surprises and can't be seen coming and going. Ken has made it abundantly clear that he does not approve, and while he says nothing, he no longer visits the way he used to. It leaves her with plenty of time to ponder her life, and those thoughts are not always pleasant.





Still every time she decides to do something about her situation, Tony shows up and as he showers her with affection she feel alive again. Sometimes she wonders if this was what her dolls felt like when she was a child. Stuck in the doll house, lonely and stale until she came and breathed life into them like Tony does to her now.

More than anything, she's developing a fear of solitude. Which might be why she says nothing about the passing of time, of the fact that Tony's children are no longer toddlers and should be able to handle a divorce just fine, and why when she sees him and his wife together she swallow every last ounce of her pride and pretends not to see what is right before her eyes. After all, who else would be able to love someone like her? Someone who is this immoral? Someone who cannot even break it off with a married man? A father? She's lucky that someone loves her at all. That's what Tony keep telling her. That she ought to be grateful. It used to make her angry when he said things like that, but more and more, she's starting to believe he's right.



Hearing the news of her new nephew being born doesn't help. Yes, she's supposed to be happy for her brother. She is happy for her brother. She is. Definitely. But that doesn't stop the jealousy from eating her up from the inside. As happy as she is for her brother, as much does she herself want to be a mother, but she knows that with her life being what it is, that might never happen.

So when Michael host a combined "meet our son" and birthday party for Robin, it's with some trepidation that Susan makes the trip south to be with her family. Michael, of course, is bursting with pride, showing off his son to everyone in the family.

With his son being born, he's discovered something new about himself.

Betty is of course delighted with the new addition to the family, taking to her new role as a grandmother with energy and passion, and all the knowledge that a mother of four has.



Michael is a bit hesitant of the bottle, however. Having read up on the newest findings, he is convinced that being breastfed would be better for Christopher, but here he and Robing has different views. While he says nothing as his mother feeds his son, instead focusing on entertaining the other guests, it is a discussion which he and Robin needs to have - and soon - but for now they are just enjoying the day and their guests.





The next morning, Robin and Michael sit down. Robin is eager to get back to work, and has no intention of staying at home longer than she has to. Michael on the other hand argues that their child needs his mother, and should be breastfed.
"Then you figure out how to do that!" Robin snaps. "Because I have no intention of stopping my career in its tracks. I took enough of a hit when speaking the truth, I will not be the stay-at-home mom you imagine."
"So you're just going to ignore Chris' needs?"
"If you wanted a stay-at-home-wife, perhaps you should have married a woman who wanted to be one! I have never been anything but honest about my ambition!"





Michael cannot deny this is true. He has always known, and it's part of what he is attracted to. What drew him in and made him fall in love when all Linda could talk about was having babies and getting married. His mother has told him she has two or three children now, and is a house wife and stay-at-home mother, just like she always wanted to be. But he also knows that life was never for him and he'd be miserable with a wife that knows nothing beyond the four walls of the house.

In the end they settle for a compromise. Robin will breastfeed Chris at night, and he won't have to be sent to day care until he's older. In return Michael will find and hire a nanny for the day, someone who can take care of him at home.
"We could move closer to my mom," he starts suggesting, but stops when he sees the look on Robin's face. "Forget it, stupid idea." This Robin wholeheartedly agrees with. How could she ever hope of becoming a judge living in a small town like Oasis Springs?