#can't be too far ahead since morse hasn't called himself a parent until now

[dccontramundum]

@galacticforces / for joan / married verse

IT COMES A LITTLE OUT OF NOWHERE. They've been talking about family, and how they might want to introduce the baby to them. And he's been thinking about saying it, this horrible thing he wants to say, for the last ten minutes. He's considered trying to imply it, say something like 'it would be best if we don't visit my family', or 'it would be easier to just focus on your family, for now, until they're older'. In the end, though, none of his ideas say it strongly enough. There's no other way he can say it without losing the meaning and the significance. He can't suggest it, can't slide it in like a side thought, tangential. He has to just say it. So, he does. "I don't want you or the baby to meet my stepmother. Ever. Even when they're older." 

THERE IT IS. Morse takes a breath, and carries on. "As... as their parent," which is a strong word, and one he hasn't felt confident enough to use until now, "I don't want Gwen anywhere near them. I can't tell you what to do, but... I can ask." He doesn't like asking anything of her so decisively. He prefers to suggest, or just deny himself without saying anything to her about it. But this... this, he has to ask. "Please don't ever arrange any sort of a meeting with her." He isn't looking at her. Can't look at her. "She was awful to me from the very beginning, when my only offence was having a dead mother and a father she was married to, and being too young to go and live on my own. She begrudged me every scrap of food I ate and every breath I took of the air in her house. I can't know for sure exactly what she would say to you, or to our child, but I do know that there would be constant criticism, and that she would try to make you feel small. Gwen isn't kind. Being young would not protect our child."