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Uhh, like... fifty?

Won't it be hard to .. I don't know, run around after a non-stop toddler at fifty?

I thinks so, yes - I'm exhausted by the two I have and I'm in my thirties. But I guess if they really wanted to...? I dunno, I think as long as you can be a good dad. And I mean a REAL good dad, not some dickhead who thinks the mom has to do everything.

[He snorts bitterly.] Well, it's all hypothetical. There is literally no immediate prospect of me becoming a father in the near future. Still, I cannot help but wonder. I'll be 36 this year, so .. I feel like time is starting to run out on me.

You could always adopt.

[He doesn't say anything right away, then sighs.] I feel - and maybe this is because we look so alike - but I feel like I could say this to you, and you would understand ... I think a big part of why I have put off trying to settle and have a relationship, have kids is the fear that I would turn into my father. I know that we are not the same, but - there's still that .. fear, I suppose.

I understand. But the thing is... you're not him. You can see what he did, and decide NOT to do it.

Ja, I suppose you are right. Did you fear that? When you had your children? Oh! I met your wife recently; she's lovely.

I completely did.

Was she weirded out?

Did having them help you get over it?

[He shakes his head.] Not at all. It didn't come up until we'd been talking for some time, and I mentioned meeting someone who looked exactly like me except for the eye. She pulled out her phone and, I guess, a photo of you and realized that the resemblance was uncanny.

I kinda had to, yeah. It was like, oh shit, here we go. Our first kid... we'd been thinking of having some, and I didn't want boys. Not at all. But then Carl came into our lives and everybody else thought we'd have to hand him off somewhere, but... I dunno, I loved him. And it was like, hey, I can handle this after all without becoming a dick.

Hah! Yeah, that's my Jen. She's really something.

Mm. I would be terrified of having a son, too. For the same reasons. [He smiles a bit.] It is good to hear, that it is possible to be - a good father. Even if you have never really known one in your life. I guess we are either doomed to become them all over again, or aware enough to choose the opposite path. Hopefully it's the latter, most of the time.

[He laughs.] She seems very nice!

I think if you worry about it, you're clearly aware.

She's the best. Was she green when you met her, or...?

I suppose that's also true.

[A laugh.] She wasn't, no. Was originally upset at me for being upset with the American healthcare system, but we got along after I explained where I was coming from. She did turn green, though. Sort of as a .. demonstration? She said something about a Shehulk, but I didn't know what she meant, so .. she showed me.

That's her superhero name, yeah. She-Hulk. She's the original Hulk's cousin. Our kids are hulks, too.

I don't think there is one.

[London, walking the Thames Path to see how far they can get while he's here. Started at the locks and used her flat as a home base for the first couple of days. Today's the first day where bipping home isn't a convenient option. The goal today is to reach a pub for lunch and a B&B for the night. Daypacks are a little heavier than prior days]

I-I think that the age limit is more on the woman. For having a healthy baby with few complications. Although a man's sperm are fewer and aren't as strong after middle age.

Why?

Just sort of .. thinking about things. [He laughs a little] I don't have any plans to - you know, have kids any time soon. I was just figuring that being a new 50-year-old dad would be difficult.

OOC: BTW, did you want to do his visit to London in a journal? :) I can set it up, if you want.

Edited 2016-07-25 17:31 (UTC)

No? Don't you think it would be difficult for an older guy to be able to run after his kids when they're toddlers?

Oh, really? They also do the green and muscular thing?

[ooc: sure, this chat could be part of it.]

[Looking at it from a medical angle] Might want to freeze some sperm though. Testosterone goes down as a man ages.

I've been - [admitting] I want to get my Consult first, to make sure my job is secure, then have a child on my own. I've been reading about the cost and saving up.

OOC: Here you go :)

Freeze sperm? You can do that? Just ask them to .. hold onto it for later?

[He nods a bit.] Children are expensive. That much I know. Forgive my ignorance, but what is a Consult?

[Skipped a step to catch up to his much longer stride. At 5'3", she's used to walking quickly to keep up.]

A Consult for a doctor is like what a Professor gets...A tenure? These days though, someone has to die before there's an opening. But, anyway, banking sperm is just like banking eggs. I've started to do that, banking, I mean. Age isn't friendly to reproductive systems, and I want to catch the healthiest eggs I can.

Ah, okay. Tenure. [He blinks.] You have? I feel like I should've been doing that when I was younger and probably more virile.

For women, peak health is thirty. I haven't read up on men, other than a few things here or there that were mentioned at my appointments. [Head tilts at she looks up at him. The muscles in her neck saying that he was taller than Sherlock.] You're not terribly old.