Broken Boulder but then the special secret sickness starts to eat through you

he offers her a tight, strained smile, easing his way onto whatever middle ground they'd managed to carve out. it's better than nothing. even if he doesn't really want to think about them. "soon," delight agrees vaguely, turning it over in his head. trying to remember what his line of logic had been at the time besides smells nice and mato might look at me again. 

sheesh, poor queenie. "i'm ready, i think," he says, hoping it's an acceptable enough answer for her. "queenie's not used to being.. benched, so to speak, so i'm sure it's been harder for her." and boy he should really make an effort to uhhh check in with her sometime, shouldnt he? that's what fathers to be do?? with their ... with the mothers of their children? haha oh hell.