This story takes place after the Alien Force episode Busy Box.

From Kevin's car, Gwen and Kevin watched as Ben walked to his front door. After Kevin drove off, Gwen turned to him inquisitively, having worked up the courage to ask the question which had been on her mind during the drive over. "You said something earlier about not letting your kid play with that robot thing."

He let out a snort. "Would you?"

"Of course not," she said, waving his question away. "What I meant was, I didn't know you wanted kids."

His lips formed a straight line. "Just slipped out."

She challenged his response with a smirk. "Yeah, right!"

Good thing he was driving so he didn't have to look her in the eye. This was beginning to feel like an interrogation. "Okay, fine, go maybe I want kids." He (rather irresponsibly) took his hands off the wheel to toss them in the air. "So what? It's just wishful thinking, anyway."

His attempts to brush off the subject did not deter her from digging deeper. "What, you think you won't be a good dad?"

Though she had asked her question out of sincere curiosity, his sharp tone indicated his distaste for it. "Don't exactly have a frame of reference."

Averting her gaze, she lowered her voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean..." What was supposed to be an innocent conversation had turned into an awkward mess. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut.

"Why are we even talkin' about this?"

"Nothing wrong with talking about the future," she defended herself.

"That future's like a decade away. Who knows if I'll even make it that far, or if I'll even be able to have kids if I'm stuck like this?" He raised his right hand in front of his face. He'd been stuck in his mutant form long enough that he was beginning to forget what his human body felt like. To say he hated that would be a massive understatement.

At that moment, they reached a red light. Grasping his cold metal fingers, she gently guided his hand to the gear shift, placing her own above it. Without a word from either of them, he diverted his eyes from the road, his features softening at the sight of her caring glance. A look of understanding passed between them. The comfortable silence lasted for minutes, broken only when the light turned green and Kevin continued driving. "What about you? Wanna be a mom?"

She gave him a weak shrug. "I don't know yet. I don't wanna think about it until I'm older." She chuckled softly. "Got enough to worry about as it is."

"I get it, but, uh... I think you'd be a great mom." Good thing he physically couldn't blush, or he would have been red in the face. Did normal teenagers usually talk about this stuff?

She smiled shyly. "Thanks! I think you'd be a great dad."

His eyes widened in her surprise at her compliment. "Really?"

"Wiiiiith some anger management and a lot of therapy," she added.

He chortled. "No arguments there."

I know this was short, but I didn't think they'd talk about this stuff too deeply at their age.