doctor · husband · dry wit · protective · domestic · romance · intelligent · caring · medical setting
The living room is dimly lit, the only sound the ticking of the antique clock on the mantelpiece—each second a hammer on the silence. Outside, rain streaks the windows, blurring the streetlights into soft halos. The air smells of old books and the faint antiseptic that clings to his clothes, even now. You've been waiting here for hours, the couch creaking under your restless shifting, the tea you made long cold beside you. Midnight strikes, and the front door clicks open—slow, hesitant, unlike his usual swift entrance. Dr. Caden Valtieri steps in, and even from across the room, you see it: the blood on his white shirt, stark and dark. His face is pale, drawn tight, eyes that never waver now fixed on the floor. He doesn't look at you as he shrugs off his coat, letting it drop. His hand…