Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch 9: Real Family

Thrilled at the news of Bridgette's pregnancy, Lakshmi visits her daughter-in-law meet her new grandchild before he is born.

Max goes directly to Rukmini's house after work everyday and sleeps over every night, as though he lived there. He's wanted to propose to her more than once, but every time he's tried to get the words out, she stops him from speaking.

One morning while they were enjoying some cuddle time before work, Max decided he could wait no longer, and delayed a kiss to say, simply, "Marry me."

To his surprise, Rukmini pulls away from his embrace. "I'm sorry, I'm just not ready for that," she says.

"Why not? Don't you love me?" Max asks, trying to get his head around her rejection, "Is there something I should be doing, or not doing?" As far as he knew, they were passionately in love and happy together, and marriage seemed like the obvious next step in their relationship.

"I love you, Max. You're great, the relationship is great, everything is perfect. I'm just not ready for marriage," she answers.

"I just don't get it, Rukimini. We're in love, we've been together since high school, we're great together and spend all our time with each other. We live like we're married. Why can't we make it legal?"

Rukmini has known this was coming, and has tried to put together the explanation she would give him when he finally proposed, but she never been able find them. "I don't understand it myself, Max. I love you, I want to be with you, all the time. But I'm just not ready for marriage yet."

Max leaves for work disturbed, angry and hurt by the rejection of his proposal. But it doesn't stop him from returning to her house that evening, and carrying on just as they had been doing, and hoping that with the persistence of his love he'd overcome her commitment issues.
Max's persistent attentions hasn't produced the desired effect, but it has lead to unexpected pregnancy. Rukmini tells him of their impending parenthood, and before he can react says, "I see that look in your eyes. You're going to propose again. Please don't. I'm still not ready for marriage."

"I'm willing to wait for you, Rukmini," he answers,"But this isn't just about us anymore. We're having a baby. I want us to be a family, a real family. I don't want to be just some guy her mother sleeps with."

Because she's known him since childhood, Rukmini knows the trouble Max has had dealing with his father's complete absence in his life, and his mother's many boyfriends. "Max, it won't be like that, you'll be a real father to our baby. You aren't like Thornton, you never will be."

Meanwhile, Liam and Bridgette have given birth to a baby boy named Sidney. Lakshmi is thrilled to have a grandchild, and already hoping to have five of them in the future.

Her parents have been nagging her about her rejection of Max's proposals, and now her best friend and sister-in-law Bridgette chimes in. "Why don't you want to get married? You and Max are so good together?" Rukmini tries to explain her reluctance, but how do you explain what you don't understand yourself. She can't imagine a future without Max by side, but the thought of actually committing to that makes her choke.

"I'm just not ready for that," she answers, knowing it's no answer at all.

Because Max spends every night with her, he's with her when she goes into labor in the late hours, and accompanies her to the hospital, where she gives birth to a daughter named Saranya.

They return at dawn with the baby to find Lakshmi and Maximus waiting expectantly to meet their new granddaughter.

Lakshmi can't make her daughter marry Max, but she can find other ways to interfere. "This is my house," she tells her would-be son-in-law, "Rukmini is being stubborn about it, but I can invite you to move in with us."

"I appreciate that, Mrs. McDermott, but going over Rukmini's head like that would just piss her off," Max answers with a slight smile. They may not be the real family he'd wanted, but Rukmini's parents treat him like he's one of them, and that's something, at least.

Before the morning is over they get the news that Thornton Wolff died suddenly last night, while Rukmini was in labor. Max takes it a little harder than she expected, "I hardly knew him. I shouldn't care, right? But I do."

While she has the maternity leave, Rukmini spends some time in the gym working off her baby fat. She runs into the grieving Morgana Wolff working out there, and after she expresses he condolences, finds that Morgana wants to talk with her.

"Thornton talked a lot about Max in recent years," Morgana says, "He wanted to do something for him to make up for...well, you know. I understand from my daughter that Max wanted to go into the medical field but hasn't out of respect for me? He's concerned about how I'd feel having him working in my hospital? Could you have him come see me? I'd like to speak with him about this, and about his father."

Rukmini thinks it must take a lot of strength for the widow to want to do right by her husband's son with another woman, and she thinks about the encounter she had with Thornton Wolff in the park when shewas a teenager, his questions about Max and the odd way he hugged her, as though he could reach Max through her. Rukmini promises Morgana to relay her message, and she does so as soon as Max comes to her house that afternoon.

Liam and Bridgette's son Sidney grows into a toddler. Maximus remembers when his hair was that color.

(Challenge Notes: Generation 3 rolled a couple with one child, Firefighter for primary income, and part time job for secondary. Perfect careers is the generation goal, and No Strangers is the misc. requirement.

Right now my biggest challenge is having Max over as a guest every night. Rukmini has to work the flirt interactions for a time before 'Do you want to sleep over?' appears. She has less time to work on skills because of this, so that's a new twist for me.)