“Okay.” It’s all he can think of to say, stunned as he is by the sudden turn this night has taken. Maeve grabs his chin and Steve furrows his brow, fighting the urge to pull away from her because that wouldn’t be fair.

He has no right to be upset with her about this, no more than she could be mad at him for wanting children. He isn’t mad at her, but he just feels so devastatingly sad in a way that he wouldn’t have anticipated.

“I had this dream,” he says quietly, and then shakes his head a little and gently pulls his face out of her grip and swallows hard. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. I just— I always kind of thought that all that time spent with those kids, that I was practicing for something.”

He sits back and looks down at his hands, fidgeting slightly before getting to his feet because he doesn’t know what else to do. He opens his mouth to say something and then shuts it again, covering his face with his hands as he exhales.

If he just hadn’t opened his dumb mouth, everything would be fine right now and he wouldn’t feel like he was about to cry. He can’t argue his case. It’s her body. If she doesn’t want kids, they won’t have kids. That’s all there is to it.

“I just, um—“ He slides his hands up to his hair, pulling it back from his face. “I need to process this.”