I love Chris and have wanted to write about him for a while, but never found the right inspiration, so I really loved getting this prompt. I'm sorry it's fairly short, but I didn't want to add to it just to add to it; it felt right as is. I promise to post the next story really quickly to make up for it. :) As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think!

A Boy Named Christian

Prompt: Chris' feelings about being a father after Denise surprises him with Christian.

Featuring: Chris

Takes place at the end of 3x12.

He turned the knob and nudged the door to his bedroom open a few inches, careful not to wake those sleeping in his bed. Denise was on one side of the bed, pillows lined the other and Christian's tiny body lay in the middle. Chris watched the rise and fall of his son's chest - his son, what a foreign concept until hours ago.

He couldn't believe he was a father. Or that Denise kept it from him for so long. He'd spent the last two hours simply watching his son and trying to catch up on 2.5 years of seeing him laugh and play. He took in every feature; his brown hair, brown eyes, tiny nose and mouth, his little fingers moving quickly as they played a video game. Christian had looked up occasionally and Chris figured he was probably wondering who this strange man was. He didn't know how to explain to his son why his father hadn't been around for the last 2.5 years. It most definitely hadn't been by choice.

He closed the bedroom door softly before heading to the living room. He sat down on the couch heavily, a pillow and blanket stacked up next to him.

What was he going to do? Denise had made it clear she wanted to live in Timmins and have nothing to do with Toronto, but this was where his life was. However, he realized his life now included Christian and that changed everything. He'd do whatever he needed to do to be with his son. If he couldn't convince Denise to stay in Toronto, then he would move to Timmins. If keeping Christian in his life meant transferring to the small-town Timmins Police Department or even ending his career as a cop, that's what he would do. He grew up without a father and he wasn't going to let that happen to his son.

He was going to be there for everything from this point forward. He was going to teach him his ABC's and how to ride a bike. He'd take him to the park, and show him how to play basketball and football and hockey. He'd buy him a dog he could grow up with. He'd spoil him with all his love.

But he wondered if he really knew how to be a dad? Growing up he'd imagined what a perfect dad was like, but it didn't replace actually having one to model himself after. He wanted to be the best dad ever, but he didn't even know what that meant. He thought about the type of dad Oliver was to his kids; maybe that's the model of a father to follow. No matter what, he was going to love this child with his whole heart, his whole being. This child was part of him and maybe the best thing he'd ever done in his life.

Chris continued to ponder what being a dad meant and was still sitting there when Dov came home. Without a word, Dov grabbed two beers from the fridge, offered one to Chris and plopped down on the couch. Dov saw the bedding in between them and didn't have to ask if Denise was still around, so he moved onto the next question. "What are you going to do?"

Chris took a swig of beer before looking over at his friend. "He's my son. He's my responsibility."

They drank in silence for a few minutes. "You okay with all of this?" Dov finally asked.

"I...I don't know. I never dreamed of having a son this way. I thought I'd be married. I thought I'd be there for the birth of my first child. I thought..." Chris sighed heavily. "I thought a lot of things."

Dov got up and walked around the back of the couch, stopping to pat his friend on the shoulder. "You know I'm here for you, right? Anything you need, I'm here, we're all here." Not waiting for a response, he continued walking to his bedroom, leaving Chris alone with his thoughts.