[For Rob]

[be_normal]

Gwen's been feeling a bit like a beached whale lately. It's to be expected, the books tell her -- When you hit the home stretch, you just want it to be over. She's on the cusp of her third trimester, which apparently is designed to be so awful that you can't help but look forward to the pain of childbirth just to have the kid out of you, and has

Comments

[be_normal]

"Good," Gwen answers, and settles onto the couch with a heavy exhaltion. "Lively. I think he may be destined to be a football star."

That the Doctor isn't home is both a relief and a disappointment. She wants this time with Rob, thinks it's important that it be theirs, but is past ready to be forced into a reconciliation. She's no good at grudges, never has been, and can't use her unfortunate circumstances as an excuse any longer.

[dr_robchase]

Chase let her sit down and settle before he made his way over to join her, nudging her with his hip and giving a broad grin. "So long as I'm the one who gets to teach him footie," he said, with a slight pout and plead in his tone. "Did I tell you about Will?" Chase asked, eyes sparkling slightly. "It was his birthday the other day. Christ, he's fifteen. Soon enough, he'll be out there on his own here."

[be_normal]

"You'll have to be," Gwen counters with a faintly bemused smile. "I'm not sure Peter even knows how to play. He grew up in New York City. Plus, you know how Americans are. It's like another planet."

Gwen's been so involved in her own orbit lately, in dealing with Peter's amnesia and the baby and then the fallout from Sylar, that she actually doesn't know who Will is. The look in Rob's eyes is simultaneously encouraging and upsetting, as with it comes the realisation of exactly how far she's drifted these last few months.

"Will? No, I don't think so," she answers, head canted.

[dr_robchase]

Even if Chase is Australian, there's still a sort of alliance between Queen's Countries and all. And god, he'd love to teach the kid footie. "I'll probably roll in some rugby lessons," he warned with a bit of a grin.

"Will," Chase said again, furrowing his brow and wondering if he did tell her about him. He was trying to dance lightly around the darker subjects that he knew happened, considering he'd seen the reports and he knew, but god, how was he supposed to bring that up? "Uh, Parry," he finally offered a last name. "He lives in one of the rooms here," he explained with a nod. "He uh, he's a good kid." His nerves were evident within his speech.

[be_normal]

"Oh," Gwen says, on an upward lilt to mask her uncertainty. "So, you've adopted him, then? That's nice. I worry about the children when they show up alone."

It is nice, it really is, but this is just one more thing, one more way she's pushed out, and Gwen can't quite help feeling a bit unsettled about it all. "How is fatherhood suiting you?" she asks in an attempt to focus on the positives and not dwell on her insecurities.