[name_f]Claudia[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] Gately (33) is Des’s daughter and Arwen’s mother, as well as Trevor’s brief love interest. Having been a history student at the time she became pregnant, [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] managed to finish her degree before gibing birth, although any future plans regarding her career were put on hold as she wanted to prioritise motherhood. [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] struggled with not reaching out to tell [name_m]Trevor[/name_m] about what had happened - not only because she didn’t know how to find him but tragically, she only worked up the courage to go looking after his untimely death, and the shock is something she still has a hard time comprehending all these years later. Everything she’s learned about her daughters’ father give the impression he would’ve embraced [name_f]Arwen[/name_f] and been an active presence in her life, causing a lot of guilt for [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] who still hasn’t figured out when to speak to her about this.
Working at a local museum as an exhibit organiser and junior curator, [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] visits her parents regularly, even when Arwen’s at sleepovers or school, feeling incredibly grateful for all they’ve done for her and helps out around their house with tasks to give her dad a break in particular. Her dad’s reliability is something [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] especially admires and she does her best to uphold this now, as does her younger brother. She also has a half-sibling from her mom’s remarriage who’s non-binary and, in spite of the age gap, they’re close thanks to [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] offering them a lot of advice based on her own experiences; although she’s closer to her stepmother (Des’s wife) than her stepdad - something she keeps close to her chest to avoid any disputes, as her brother was very antagonistic in the early days of their mom’s new relationship.