Malibu - Gen 3 Ch 5

I hated maternity leave. I missed my teammates, and I worried the whole time that I'd lose my starting position. I did the best I could to keep up with my conditioning at home, but it was difficult without the advanced equipment at the stadium. On the plus side, spending my days at home helped me reconnect with with rest of my family again.

I noticed right off, that as soon as Seashell returned from her teacher's job, she headed straight to the bar. When she wasn't mixing drinks, she was drinking them.

And it wasn't long before I noticed that when she wasn't at the bar, Peri and Seashell spent most of their their remaining time in the hot tub together - and their relationship had obviously progressed to be way more than just best friends.

Mom spent her evenings out looking for deer and raccoons, and more often than not ended up playing with the birds in the new pet store that had recently opened in town.

Every evening after she arrived home from her wanderings, she and Rain would play catch late into the night.  

I never knew mom was so into sports. One morning, bored of my calisthenics routine, I asked her to play with me. I figured, with my athletic ability, it would be an easy game. I tossed the ball lightly over to her, not wanting to hurt mom, at her age.

To my astonishment, she caught it handily, and fired it back with such force it stung my hand and caused me to drop it! When I looked over at mom, she was giggling up a storm.

"Ohh... you are so going to get it now, mom!"

Even pregnant, I could wind up a good throw when I wanted to. She just laughed and motioned with her hand.

"Bring it!"

She easily caught everything I threw at her, and we were both out of breath and laughing by the time we stopped.

That night, Benji and I spent some quality time together out in the yard. We watched the sun set over the hills, and we had a good laugh over that game of catch.

He had just leaned over for a kiss, which I hoped would lead to .. other things.. when I felt a sharp pain. The baby was coming! Benji freaked out..

... and so did mom. I thought at least she would know what to do.

But we eventually made it to the hospital, and later that night returned home with a beautiful little girl - Robin. Benji thoughtfully ran ahead to pull the car around.

I wish I could say he was as thrilled as I was about our new daughter, but sadly that was not the case. After her birth, he began spending more and more time away from home.

Mom was overjoyed to finally be a grandmother. She had often wondered if she'd live long enough to see her grandchildren.

Sometime I had a hard time getting even a few minutes in with little Robin, as Mom and Rain were constantly arguing over who was going to get to hold her next.

So I took the opportunity to get in some workout time. I could hardly wait to get back to my team.

When I finally wore myself out exercising, I'd grab a book, and sit watching Robin sleep, and wait for Benji to finally make it home. This particular night, he'd gone directly from work to the theater. I guess they needed him to cameo in a play - walk on stage in his uniform, flex his muscles a few times - you get the picture. Then he was off to the school, where Peri had convinced him to give a lecture on bike safety. I had something on my mind, that I'd been wanting to ask him for a few days now. I struggled to keep awake, listening for his police car to pull up in the driveway.

Mom and Rain were up to their usual - playing catch in the yard. I was doing more yawning than reading, and decided to head for bed early, without waiting up for Benji.

Suddenly I heard Rain scream. By the time I reached the front yard, mom was already gone.

Benji arrived home soon after, and immediately locked himself in the bathroom. We could hear him crying in there for hours. Finally he agreed to let me in, but nothing I could say would console him.

"Oh, Mali, I'm gonna miss her so much. She was the only mother I every knew."

Finally I just left him, tears in my eyes. He was so caught up in his own grief, he couldn't even see how much I was hurting. 

After that, he spent even less time at home, if that was possible. Occasionally he'd show up in Robin's room, long after I'd heard her fussing and already fed or changed her. Then he'd just give me a frustrated glare, and go off to play his video games again, or whatever he did when he was home.

I wanted desperately to reconnect with the love of my life; I could feel him slipping away from me more each day. I still had that question I wanted to ask him, but now it seemed like a distant dream.  I cornered him out in the yard one evening anyway, and tried to put my arms around him, but he pushed me away.

"Not now, Mali, can't you see I'm not in the mood?"

"Please, Benji. Talk to me. I can't bear this any longer."

"Not now, Mali. Just leave me alone. I'm going out."

I watched in tears, as he hopped into the car, slammed the door, and drove off, tires screeching on the pavement. I knew right where he was going.

Blake Grayson. I'd heard the rumors. He'd never mentioned her name, but I knew she was the one he ran to.

I was so upset, I never realized it was my baby's birthday. Seashell was the one who lifted her out of her crib, and set her on the floor - although Seashell, too, was grieving so much, even she missed our little Robin as she grew up.

I cried again when I saw her. She had so much of Benji in her, except for her hair and eyes. I only hoped he would come to his senses, and make his daughter part of his life.

That night when I put her to bed, Benji still wasn't home. I tried to smile as I tucked her in.

"Happy Birthday, sweet girl."

But the tears again welled up in my eyes, as I plodded off to bed alone.

Notes

Erika finally passed on - I think she was 111 or 112 - I know she was over 110. I was glad she got to see her first grandchild. Benji really did spend several hours crying in the bathroom, I guess because of his over emotional trait, and he's been acting like a really a**. I know it's because he has multiple negative moodlets from the death, and for having a baby out of wedlock, but still! And he's been rolling all kinds of wants to spend time with Blake. Bad Benji!