#[edward; verse six] ʟᴇᴛ's ᴅᴇᴠɪsᴇ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴇ'ʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴛᴡɪᴄᴇ [90s au]

[strtravels]

It made him laugh now, even if the statement had caught him off guard all those years ago. It had been the first Christmas that they had spent together; as it had been tradition – and still was – they had found themselves in his mother’s living room on the first day of Christmas, celebrating with the family. And then there had been the statement. A look at one of the pictures his mother kept around, and Gordy had noticed how much Ed looked like his own father. Everything except the eyes. It had been a sore spot. It still was one, if he was honest. Especially now that he was a father, he couldn’t understand his own father and what Ed saw as negligence towards the family, at all. Family was the most important thing in his life.

– Which was why he just gave his son a bright smile and shrug his shoulders. “It's all forgotten now, Gordy. Y’didn’t know that, did ya? An’ I was never mad at ya for sayin' I look like my dad. Just to make that clear again! – But to answer your question: I was still on active service then, yes. Till ‘round late ‘ 96. So I was on active service for ‘round… 15 years. 14 with UNIT.” That maths sounded off to his own ears, but it was true. Over a decade he had been troubleshooting, only to stop, because he had to. For his own health and for, what might even have been more important to him: FOR LOVE. He didn’t regret it. It had been a good decision, and he had found a job more suitable for caring for a family and for his own age; he couldn’t ignore the latter for forever.

“But look – I'd say that's a proper example, innit? You don’t 'ave to do the same thing your whole life, so you don’t 'ave to be listenin' to some advice they give ya now, based on some daft algorithm or whatnot. You can go an' study biochem now, if that’s what you want, an' if you fancy bein’ a geography teacher 15 years after you’ve finished uni? Nowt should stop ya from just doin' that, then. I’m not gonna tell ya what you should do and what you shouldn’t do – I’ll throw in some exceptions, 'cause I’m still responsible for ya, y'know? But there’s nowt wrong with changin’ yer mind about things. Your mum’s gotta be with me on that.”

He was sure about it. Kate had changed her mind, after all, too and while they both wanted for Gordy to go through life a little easier than either of them had (even if that had been for different reasons), there were some experiences one couldn’t avoid. And who said that Gordy wouldn’t just end up loving biochem and a job in a lab? For Ed it was easier to imagine that, then his son as a soldier.

“Maybe you should have a conversation with your mates about it. I know it ain't as fun as other stuff, but – hearing it from your dad's probably as useful as him saying you’re not a boring git.”

"Better or worse than when I said you look like your dad?" He's never quite forgiven himself for that, though he'd been genuinely unaware of what Ed's father had been like - and quite a bit younger - when he'd made the comment. He can't imagine working to support his family, though, being the main breadwinner for so many people. It's a lot of pressure, and that makes Gordy sad ( although maybe sad is too basic a word to apply here ). "How long were you in, in the end? 'Cause I remember that you were still on active service when you started coming round regularly." His memories of living on the houseboat are hazy by now, but he remembers the fallout after he'd almost drowned with a certain kind of clarity that often makes him wonder if what he remembers is actually just a mix of other people's memories and his own imagination.

It's not like he's given zero thoughts to his future --- but it's also not like he's focused a hundred percent of his attention on it either. It's just... there, hanging over him like a threat or a promise depending on the day. And isn't it better to keep your options open, rather than to close more doors than you open? Just because he's not very happy with the questionably accurate results of his careers quiz, doesn't mean he's going to say that he'll never become a geography teacher or a policeman. "I think... I might like to go to uni and study Biochem, though." That'll get him into a lab for sure, and there should be enough jobs in a variety of fields to give him options later.

"Nah, telling us why we ended up with the results we did might actually involve them knowing how the algorithm works." A snort; a roll of his eyes ( one of his careers advisors still struggles to use a computer --- not the best start to discussions about his future, honestly ). "I don't have to listen to their advice, right?" Just because the careers people think he might be good at something, doesn't mean that he will actually be good at them. Honestly, looking at the state of some of his teachers, Gordy's not planning on going back into a school once he's left if he can avoid it.

"We're applying for university places in like a year, though. There's not that much time to keep working stuff out. At some point, I'm going to have to commit to something." And as for his friends... "We don't really talk about stuff like that that much."

[strtravels]

Moving to London hadn’t been an easy decision, but in the end, it had seemed like the only sensible thing to do – he wanted some distance between Evelyn and him and finding a new, desk job within UNIT had been a lot easier moving closer to the HQ, too. That didn’t mean he didn’t mean the city he had grown up in sometimes. Missed the rest of his family. Missed friends and familiar places. London, even if they had lived here for a while now, wasn’t Liverpool, and while that was exactly what he had wanted, it some way, it also made it clear how much had ended up in pieces; broken and destroyed… Not just his marriage, after he had found his now ex-wife…

He shook the thought off; didn’t want to remember, and especially not now, with his son slowly settling down again. If he said something that reminded Gordy of Evelyn, there would be another conversation to have, and he really didn’t have the nerves to do this now. A sore spot for all of them. Except maybe Moira, but that was a whole different story.

“So, is there owt you wanna do at the weekend then? A trip down the beach or... Anythin’ you fancy seein’ in the city? We’ve got loads of museums here that we still haven’t had the chance to check out.” Hand on his son’s back; gently pulling up the blanket for him. It was late – this conversation could probably wait until tomorrow, too, but if he was honest, he was just glad the conversation had shifted away from the guilt burning into his already guilty conscience. A nice weekend as a family. When did they last manage that? Couldn’t even shake the feeling now, that someone would be missing, even if he didn’t miss Evelyn.

Another silent sigh; biting it back and hiding it underneath a small chuckle at Gordy’s words. “ – Eh, no chance of brussel sprouts on the meal plan, eh? Always makes me think of Christmas, that... But we could sort something else. Gotta get your five a day in, though. But with a trip this weekend, we'll be havin' fish and chips at least once, right?”

Immediately, he feels rotten for biting. Dad's doing his best to support the three of them, and Gordy shouldn't be so ungrateful or making things difficult for Dad and Aunt Ruth when they need him to be more grown up than he feels sometimes. Christ, he's tired --- maybe that's what's making him quite so sharp, so quick to mistrust. Dad can't help the late nights; things happen, people need him, just like the country used to need him when he was away on active service. Still, not knowing when Dad was going to come home made something inside him so anxious, like maybe he was waiting for someone to call and say he was never coming home again --- an old fear that had resurfaced since they'd moved to London. He missed Liverpool, missed his old group of friends and his old school and the Albert Docks, hanging out where they could hear the Mersey and the traffic of the city.

London was too different still, different sounds and smells and unfamiliar territory as yet mostly unexplored because there were different rules here.

With his head against Dad's chest, Gordy softens, believing this promise, if nothing else. "I've got no plans," he murmurs, even dares to smile just a bit as he pulls his blanket up a little higher, settles down like he might just fall asleep curled up on the couch with his dad holding him. "Sounds nice, Dad. Thanks."

"To be fair," he mumbles, "sprouts are disgusting. Especially when they're so soft you could paint with them." He wants to gag at the very thought of those sprouts, doesn't blame Moira at all for not being keen on them ( he's managed to shove his in a plant pot before ). "I don't care what we eat, I just don't want to eat fish."

[strtravels]

“No need to say sorry. You didn’t know, and I’m not gonna judge ya for it, ‘cause it ain’t the world you grew up in, is it? I had a few jobs while I was still at school, ya know. Washing dishes and all that. Just didn’t pay enough for all of us. There was your nan, your aunts, and uncle Artie was just a baby then. I figured I needed summat that paid better than what I could find. The army wasn’t too bad, and at some point, I just thought I couldn’t leave again.” UNTIL THE INCIDENT. But even then he had struggled with the thought of leaving active service. He had only known that – years and years following protocols and trying his best to keep his family – and the world – safe. It had taken a few conversations with Kate – long nights talking, while his bones were still healing – to convince him, but if he hadn’t left active service, then… They wouldn’t be here now, either. Kate couldn’t be with someone, who she had to worry might not come home again. AND HE UNDERSTOOD THAT AS WELL. He only wondered whether it had changed, now that she was move involved in UNIT, too.

He would have to ask her, hearing Gordy’s honest answer. Couldn’t help, however, raising an eyebrow at it. He had never thought Gordy would want to follow his footsteps, or that of his grandfather. Gordy, in Ed’s opinion, was brains not brawns, and while he wouldn’t necessarily put himself into the latter category either, he just – could see more for Gordy. Was this just parental instinct and something you said, like telling your kid that he wasn’t boring, or was there more behind it? He had wished the career talks at Gordy’s school would give him an answer to that as well, but they seemed to have failed completely.

He sighed at it, before he couldn’t hold back THE LAUGH as his imagination tried to come up with a picture of Gordy as a geography teacher. “I know you can read a map, sound, but I reckon there's more to it than just knowing where North and South are. Don’t they tell you WHY they reckon it’d be a good career for ya? – And a copper… I dunno. Even yer Uncle Ben's not happy in his job, is he?” Couldn’t see that either for Gordy. Ultimately, of course, it would be his son’s decision, what he wanted to do with his life, just as Moira would be encouraged to go whatever way she wanted – but a parent’s role was still to care, and Ed did; furrowing his brows as his eyes rested on the other.

“You’ve still got a bit of time to work it all out, an' it’s alright to try stuff an' then realise it ain’t what you wanna do for the rest of yer life. Do yer friends already know what they wanna do?”

Gordy's never going to be known as the fun kid in his class - his ideas of fun don't really match up to the outgoing nature of the popular lot - but he's got a small but steady group of friends he's happy with, and their interests seem to have aligned quite nicely. Fun for Gordy at home is still a trip to the beach to collect fossils or sea glass or to look for Lego pieces that might've washed up on the shore, or a visit to a museum, or even going outside in the middle of the night to look for a shooting star or a meteor. Fun for Gordy at school is hanging out with his friends, messing around just enough to make the school day pass quickly but not enough to land them in seriously hot water, kicking a football around without any real aspirations of playing an official game.

His idea of fun, he's pretty sure, is mostly parent-approved.

"Sorry-" Gordy begins, kicking himself for not being clear enough in his question, "I wasn't... criticising you, or anything. I just wondered why specifically the army instead of cleaning or working in a cafe or whatever." Some of the kids he knows have already got jobs like that; paper rounds before school, dishwashing shifts on weekends. Gordy hasn't got a job, but he helps out enough around the house to earn some extra pocket money to not need a job ( and he's been thinking about that recently too ). The tone of the conversation's turned a bit from what it'd started out as, not into something negative, but something heavy is starting to grow in the pit of Gordy's stomach as he thinks more about the future.

"Haven't ruled it out. yet." No lies, no secrets; he's thought about enlisting before, done his research and listened to talks arranged by his school when visitors had come to try and drum up some interest. When he really thinks about what he wants to do in the future, though, he tends to draw a blank; ideally, he'd like to work in a lab somewhere, conduct experiments that might lead to exciting advancements for the future or lead research that might reveal answers about the past. Realistically, he knows that the likelihood of that happening aren't great, but it's nice to dream.

"Thanks," Gordy grins, helps himself to another biscuit from the plate and takes a bite just before Dad says he wants to hear about the school's careers advice. "---Apparently, I've got a bright future as a geography teacher ahead of me," he rolls his eyes, still indignant about the 'accurate' results of the quiz they'd all been made to take, "or a policeman. Honestly, I don't think the test is as accurate as they think it is. They didn't even want to know how well I can read a map."

[strtravels]

Everybody likes fun. Well, he couldn’t really argue with that now, could he? A SMALL NOD was all he gave his son as an answer. A generational thing, he was sure – he wasn’t saying he was too old to keep up with what the kids were doing, and he really couldn’t say he hadn’t done some truly stupid things in his youth, but he was sure their definitions of the word FUN would always slightly different. What had been fun when he had been young? A lot of things. Some of them only because his father had disapproved. Maybe he should be lucky that his influence on Gordy hadn’t been this big, in this regard, and that Moira wasn’t turning out much like him there, either.

“ – I know every job pays, Gordy, but there weren’t many jobs knocking about when I was on the lookout. When my father died, we were left with barely anything, and I didn't have time to hunt for a job and find summat I reckoned I’d be good at. I had no clue what I wanted to do when I was 18! The army was there, and joining up meant I’d be earning a few quid SOON.” It wasn’t quite the conversation he thought he would be having, while they were on their tea break from building shelves, but he also couldn’t deny Gordy an honest answer and explanation, when he has asked for it. Not after having pointed out how important honesty was over and over again. It also wasn’t a secret, wasn’t it? That he had grown up differently than Kate, for whom money never really had been an issue.

“You're not thinkin’ about joinin’ the army now, are ya?” Hint of a smile on his lips, as he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. Couldn’t really see it for him, and Gordy had the luxury of being able to find out what was the one thing he really wanted to do in life, because no matter what, he could count on his parents to support him. At least he had managed to do this for his kids, too! And after all, he had found the thing he wanted to do in life, simply because life had taken him there, had he not? When he had been 18, he’d never thought he’d be happy behind a desk, talking to people all day. Here he was; smiling happily.

– Laughing even, because of the question asked. “Go on! Have another biscuit! But I wanna hear more about those career talks you’re having in school. I know they’ve been going on 'cause we got a letter about it, but you’ve not said owt till now! I reckon we can 'ave a few more minutes of tea break for that.”

"Fun's better than boring, though. Everybody likes fun." And no, hearing that Dad doesn't think he's boring doesn't really help things ( privately, Gordy sometimes thinks that his parents might need to buy an updated dictionary so they can look up the modern definition of fun ), but he appreciates the thought all the same. Sure, his own definition of fun probably didn't line up with theirs either sometimes - setting wrapping paper on fire in the back garden to see the different colours the flames would burn comes to mind - but nobody could ever accuse his idea of fun of being harmful to people or animals or deliberately destructive to property. Gordy's ideas of fun things mostly involve science and methods of finding out how things work --- and honestly, his parents only really have themselves to blame for that.

He'd be lying if he said he hasn't thought about a career at UNIT, though he's definitely looking for more science-based jobs than a military career. It's not a subject he's broached with either parent yet, though, simply because he doesn't know what their response will be. Best leave that until after uni, anyway, just in case.

"But... every job pays, dad." Maybe not as well as UNIT or the army, but a job is a job, so... "why those ones specifically?" Neither really seems like a job you'd find in your local paper, or something you apply for on a whim - no prior experience needed! - so there must've been some draw that wasn't just money, surely? At least Dad's honest about his motivations, though. It's a lot more than he can say about most people he's come into contact with over the years. "We've been having careers talks at school recently." There was most likely a letter sent home to parents about it, but Gordy had forgotten until the assembly where it had been announced that they'd be starting to chat to advisors and take quizzes and other such 'fun' activities to determine their 'true' place in the working world.

Gordy, it turned out, was apparently ideally suited to become a policeman or a geography teacher.

"Yeah, I think I'd like to stash it away for now," he agrees, bumping his shoulder lightly against Ed's. "Have I also earned an extra biscuit, d'you think? Only all that hard work's made me hungry. Or is our tea break over for now?"