[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

[dr_robchase]

"Not really adopted," he admitted, feeling comfortable discussing this with Gwen compared to other people. Even with the Doctor, there were shades of complication. "It's complicated," he said, shifting closer and lifting her legs to rest them in his lap. He'd missed this, a lot.

"I sort of just offered him the room after we first spoke because I get him?" he offered lamely. He had the feeling Will wouldn't want this spread around, but this was Gwen. "He and I are a lot alike," he tried, a second gambit. "A lot, Gwen."

[be_normal]

"Sounds close enough to me," says Gwen as she settles back against the sofa. "You're looking after him. Calling it adoption or not is mostly semantics, isn't it? He's becoming family, yeah?" It sounds like, with the emphatic way Rob's presenting it.

After a quiet moment examining Rob's face, she asks, "And the Doctor? How does he feel about it?" It's odd, she thinks, that discussion of children seems entirely limited to Rob, given that the Doctor is supposed to be her best mate.

[dr_robchase]

"I feel protective over him, yeah," Chase admitted with a rueful, but soft smile. "Like I feel protective over you," he pointed out. That had hit him one night without even dragging it forward. He'd just been thinking about Will, about his future, and it had hit with alarming certainty. "You're like a sister to me, Gwen," he spoke quietly, just between them and it was hard for him to admit this. "Not, you know, blood sister, but...I'd do anything for you," he said, fairly sure on that point.

"I love him like a son," he said quietly. "The Doctor, he's good with him," Chase offered with a half-there smile. "He knows how much it means to me that Will's well-cared for, considering his life."

[be_normal]

"I think you feel protective over everyone, sweetheart," answers Gwen with a smile, teasing him. "But thank you, Rob. I do love you a rather ridiculous amount, so that's nice to hear."

She catches his closest hand and holds it between both her own. "You seem uncertain," she points out. "Just jitters, or is there something going on you're not telling me?"

[dr_robchase]

Chase wrinkled up his nose at her retort and was tempted to stick his tongue out at her, but he manager to curb himself, but just barely. "I love you too, Gwen," he offered instead, settling in and taking a deep breath. "Nervous in general, I guess?" he admitted, biting on his lower lip and gnawing away at it. "I mean. Between everything that's going on, I'm a bit worried about everything," he said, looking at her earnestly. "You and him and...you," he added, asking without asking, which was as close as he'd gotten.