The question surprised Will, but it didn't make him freeze up in panic the way he would've last year. Instead, he rolled it over in his mind, testing out the feel of it.
"I never did," he admitted slowly. "After Robert... and Christopher, too... losing the both of 'em..." He trailed. There were things he still had trouble saying. He knew she'd understand, though. "And anyroad, I thought I'd had my shot at love, y'know? Never figured I'd meet another woman I'd want to go all-in with."
He looked down at her, nestled so cosily into the crook of his neck, and he smiled again. "But then... just about a year ago, I met this incredible woman. Brilliant. Beautiful. Loves people with a fierceness. And this woman... this wonderful woman and her little girl let me into their family. And, truth to tell, I can't imagine being anywhere else."
He'd asked Clio early on, he couldn't help himself: didn't it scare her, knowing her daughter was mortal? They'd both lost kids before. He didn't know if he had it in him to open his heart to that inevitable pain again. Of course it scared her, she'd said. But I wouldn't trade not being scared for not getting to know her.
And then he'd got to know Ella. He'd taught her knucklebones and thieves' cant, and she'd taught him about Transformers and TikTok, and without his even realising it she'd slipped straight through his armour and into his heart. And Clio had been right. She was right. The world was better with Ella in it, thinking her uniquely Ella-shaped thoughts and making her Ella-shaped mark, and Will would face down armies to make her time on this Earth as long and as happy as possible.
He studied Clio contemplatively. "Is that what you've been thinking about? More kids?"