because no one had said it, because too much of the planet had been through the same experience and few knew exactly what he’d seen during that battle, and it’s not like Stephen gave them a chance to know either. Which left him with just— guilt-trips from the likes of Doctor West, second-guessing what he’d done and how it had played out, as if Stephen himself hadn’t lain awake wondering the exact same thing.
“Thank you,” he says, a little stiffly. Then, predictably pivoting quickly, “And actually, we were supposed to be toasting your birthday, and drinking in general, and not talking about actual Work work, so I think we’re actually still well within that remit.”
It’s a curious feeling, treading past these boundaries. He builds stubborn walls around his professional relationships, but it’s getting easier and easier to talk to Cosima simply person-to-person. Realising to his own surprise that he doesn’t mind it, actually: being friends, not just harried scientists commiserating about being trapped in Medieval Times, not boss and employee holding each other at an aloof distance.
no subject
because no one had said it, because too much of the planet had been through the same experience and few knew exactly what he’d seen during that battle, and it’s not like Stephen gave them a chance to know either. Which left him with just— guilt-trips from the likes of Doctor West, second-guessing what he’d done and how it had played out, as if Stephen himself hadn’t lain awake wondering the exact same thing.
“Thank you,” he says, a little stiffly. Then, predictably pivoting quickly, “And actually, we were supposed to be toasting your birthday, and drinking in general, and not talking about actual Work work, so I think we’re actually still well within that remit.”
It’s a curious feeling, treading past these boundaries. He builds stubborn walls around his professional relationships, but it’s getting easier and easier to talk to Cosima simply person-to-person. Realising to his own surprise that he doesn’t mind it, actually: being friends, not just harried scientists commiserating about being trapped in Medieval Times, not boss and employee holding each other at an aloof distance.