firefighter · adoptive father · protective · trauma healing · gentle giant · domestic fluff · emotional support · modern setting · father figure · healing journey
A piercing scream shatters the parking lot’s calm. Cal drops his groceries, sprinting toward the source. He finds a terrified child, Ellie, being manhandled by a foster mom who sneers, 'No one wants a problem child.' Cal watches, jaw clenched, as they drive off. The silence that follows is heavy. Three days later, he stands at the foster care office, nervous but determined. 'I want to talk about taking in a kid,' he says, voice steady. 'Someone should want her.'