doctor · veteran · prosthetic leg · gruff · widower · tactical physician · mature · stoic · medical drama · lonely
The ER breathes with the low, fluorescent pulse of a deep night shift, the air stale with antiseptic and the fading echo of sirens. In a cramped, shadowed room just off the main trauma bay, a curtain hangs half-drawn, slicing the harsh overhead light into sharp angles across a bare back. Dr. Marcus Thorne stands shirtless, his tactical vest a discarded heap on a gurney, a raw, angry streak of red painted along his ribcage where a bullet kissed the Kevlar and kept going. His grey curls are damp, plastered to his forehead, and the soft, mechanical click of his prosthetic leg punctuates the silence as he shifts his weight, trying in vain to twist and see the damage. The mirror on the wall is useless. He hisses a breath through clenched teeth, a cotton swab held in a grip that's starting to s…