[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

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[dr_robchase]

Chase didn't blame her for it. In fact, he felt oddly...reassured by that sentiment, as if he knew Gwen would always be okay because of it. "Okay," he agreed with a firm nod, brushing his thumb over her palm and then easing his other hand atop her stomach to simply rest there.

"So, got ideas for names?" he asked, ready to switch that topic and fast.

[be_normal]

"We've settled on one, actually," Gwen replies, her smile brightening. This is a much better topic, for both of them. "I thought it would take us longer to decide, what with the way we went back and forth over the wedding, but it was just one of those obvious things, I suppose."

Rubbing her right hand idly over her swollen belly, she looks to Rob and says, "Nathaniel Chase Petrelli. What d'you reckon?"

[dr_robchase]

Chase stared at her in shock for a long moment, his mouth actually open as he gaped and tried to wonder if maybe he'd misheard or maybe it was something else, but it couldn't have been. It had to be.

"Me?" he finally asked, the word shocked and soft, like it had been dragged out of him and presented in the world in its initial vulnerable state. "But why?" he couldn't help but ask. "Why not Jack or...or a family member?"

[be_normal]

"I can't believe you need to ask me that," Gwen scoffs, and shakes her head at him in dismay. "Nathaniel is for Nathan, Peter's brother, so that's the family name." Getting into why she'd not name her child after Jack Harkness doesn't seem entirely prudent just now, so she skips that question. "Didn't you just say I'm like a sister to you? Honestly, Rob, don't seem so surprised. We're family, aren't we?"

[dr_robchase]

"No one's ever been friend enough to name anything after me," Chase pointed out and gave her a raw smile, eyes shining with genuine emotion. "No one's ever been a friend to me the way they'd want to name their child after me. God, Gwen..."

There just weren't words.