#Doctor Odyssey spoilers

[redgoldblue]

so assuming Avery is actually pregnant / doesn't early-trimester miscarry (which is not a given), there's two reasonable ways this can go, right. number one is she gets an abortion, the plotline is used to pull them all back together again, and they all have some collective hurt/comfort about it. number two, the one i would write - don't get me wrong, i'm all for women getting career-driven abortions, but hear me out - is the one where she does have the baby. under the cut bc it got long.

she goes to med school at first while pregnant - Max is right, it can be done, people in my cohort did it - and either gets lucky with the timing of the actual birth being during holidays, or just works her way to getting time off for a few weeks around it. And then... there's a baby. And you know what else there is? There's two dads (because we're 100% Mamma Mia-ing this bitch. they never find out who the bio dad is and they never seriously try. Baby comes out with Avery's exact skin tone so that's no clue.), and an entire cruise ship worth of backup babysitters. So Avery goes back to med school, and leaves the baby with Tristan and Max.

And, yes, raising a baby while also running an infirmary with a rotating cast of temporary substitute nurses filling Avery's role isn't the easiest thing they've ever done, but Robert loves fulfilling grandparent duties any time he's not on duty; Rosie gets one of those strap-on baby carriers and walks her (i don't know why i've decided the baby is a her but i have now) around the engine room pointing out parts and explaining concepts and hey, the baby never complains about her Michigan stories; Corey gets a cart and a bundle of clean sheets and pushes her down the corridors until the smell of laundry powder automatically makes her start laughing.

Max and Tristan make a pact to send Avery at least two photos a day - which ends up getting supplemented by everyone else who's with Baby - and FaceTime her most days, and whenever she gets a few days off she meets them in port. (The most expensive part of baby-raising ends up being her flights to wherever the Odyssey happens to be at the time, at least until Robert finds out and figures out a way to start paying her 'maternity leave', despite her insistence that the whole point of this is that she isn't maternity-leaving and he should probably be paying himself that and anyway, isn't she technically not an employee right now?)

And the thing is, during this time, Max and Tristan start... realising some things. Like how neither of them feel like they've lost their only partner, because they.. haven't. Like how the co-parenting's been working out better than either of them expected, because they fell instantly (minus a few minor bumps) into a shared rhythm. Like how sometimes they look at the other one holding Baby and feel like their heart's about to explode.

Also, they've both started sleeping in Max's bed. Because Baby's spent so much time sleeping in the corner of the infirmary that now if she wakes up at night and can't see both of them, she starts crying inconsolably. And obviously Max's suite is more suited to multiple inhabitants, and they're usually too damn exhausted to even remember the first time they were in this bed together.

(usually. most of the time. and when they're not, they don't make it the other's problem)

So at the end of the first year of this, the last two days of the year's last cruise have been packed with crisis after crisis after demanding patient after crisis, and as soon as they finally wave the last passenger off they hand Baby gratefully over to Robert and go crash out in Max's bed.

Avery was supposed to be meeting them on board tomorrow, but her last exam gets unexpectedly moved up by a day (believe me, med school loves to pull that kind of shit on you), so a couple hours after the passengers have gone, she shows up to surprise them. And finds Robert (a known ody3 shipper) first, who lets her take Baby with minimal captainly sulking about it, and while she rocks and kisses Baby, tells her (as a known ody3 shipper) that the two dads will be on the Pelican deck, but they're probably asleep.

Avery kinda frowns at him, but doesn't question it, and takes Baby up with her to Max's suite to find them. And they are both fast asleep, on either side of Max's bed with a space carefully preserved between them (because it's usually where Baby would be and they're both terrified of accidentally rolling onto her in the middle of the night). She's also exhausted after exams, so she crawls into it, lies on her back with Baby on top of her chest, and goes straight to sleep.

Tristan and Max wake up before her, and when they look across at each other, at Avery and Baby between them, they both simultaneously realise, oh. oh. oh, this - this three, two-and-half, four people, all together - this is it. this is the love, this is the children, this might even be the home - the second, third, fourth bucket list items to happen in this bed.

[ilianitta]

Tristan x Avery x Max in Doctor Odyssey, 1x05 Halloween Week

+

[emziess]

I am not a Daddy. Doctor Odyssey, S01E07

[stevenrogered]

The thing is, Max, you and me, we can weigh in on this but…

[maxanor]

Doctor Odyssey | Season 1, Episode 7, “Oh, Daddy!”

[crashthatcopter]

DOCTOR ODYSSEY - MAX AVERY & TRISTAN 1x01 TO 1x06

[fleabagdiaz]

boat show remains awesome btw. john stamos had two boyfriends + autobrewery syndrome and a gay couple ate so many yams they almost died and the one straight couple on the boat birthed a giant premature baby to bob the drag queen performing I’m coming out. and they’re literally doing a slow burn will-they/won’t-they throuple.

[startedwellthatsentence]

We should also probably acknowledge that:

The traveling gay couple are non-monogamous (they hooked up with at least two guys) and are still happily together at the end of the episode

The Captain’s brother has two boyfriends in a (presumably) closed triad and they are ALSO still happily together at the end of the episode

Avery acknowledges that polyamory can have multiple configurations including 4+

They actually say the word polyamory on the show and underscore that it’s a normal part of the human condition and that there is no reason to expect that one person should be required to fulfill all of your needs in a relationship.

Like. Leaving aside any relationship drama in the main cast, which is SUPPOSED to happen in an episodic dramedy series, the show actually did SHOCKINGLY well as a positive portrayal of polyamory.

[peachypaddys]

while the threeway was obviously the highlight of ody3 this episode, i'm also obsessed with tristan "objecting" to the maxavery fake wedding and then WALKING DOWN THE AISLE WITH THEM HOLDING HANDS?!?!?!?

[cobbbvanth]

"gay week? that can't be right" "I thought I noticed an unusually high concentration of mustaches" eddie diaz catching strays on the horny boat doctor show

[asexual-fandom-queen]

Okay but can we talk about the Accidental Hetero Couple as an audience surrogate for a second? The show really said, "hello traditional heterosexual monogamous guests of The Odyssey. I see you came aboard without a full understanding of what you're getting into. You're welcome to leave, but actually we'd love it if you stayed." and this couple really went "you know what, yeah! Even if this is different to what we're used to, at the end of the day, this is a boat full of people living their lives the way we're trying to live ours, and what's so incompatible about that?" Because maybe to the general public, stepping into a slowburn polyship feels a lot like accidentally booking a stay on a Gay Themed cruise. It's just not what they went into this expecting. But like our Resident Straight Couple, they can still have a good time here, and still appreciate the people they're on this boat with, even if, when their time together is up, their lives aren't likely to intersect again

[taylitruther]

Also I want to talk about how antithetical episode 8 was, in a good way! Like character subversion.

Avery, who this whole time has been very “strong independent woman I don’t need a man I’m gonna be a doctor” is now pregnant and considering keeping the baby and settling down.

Max, Mr. “One-Woman Man” who wants kids and a marriage immediately panics when faced with the possibility of kid (not a bad reaction, just again, subverting the character).

And then Frat Boy Tristan showing that he’s actually been through this *twice* before, and showing immense maturity with talking about it being Avery’s decision and that he’s there for whatever she needs him for.

I just think it’s so interesting that they decided to have this episode have all the characters kind of living in opposite land.

[ilianitta]

"It's him. The real Ken doll." "The who?" "The man who has made himself look like Ken. He has a reality show with Barbie and skipper and Allen, the whole gang. They've devoted their entire lives to looking like these characters."

+

Doctor Odyssey, 1x03 Plastic Surgery Week

[emziess]

So you wanna watch Doctor Odyssey? Doctor Odyssey ((Template))

[angstics]

They are doing. and i can not emphasize this enough. Threesomes. On ABC TV. AND IT'S GAY WEEK ON THE ODYSSEY

[maxanor]

#avery conspiring to get her boyfriends to kiss

Doctor Odyssey | Season 1, Episode 7, "Oh, Daddy!"