ghost · call of duty · military · stoic · tactical genius · protective · distant · masked · soldier · dark romance
The doctor's office is a capsule of sterile white, humming under the flat glare of fluorescent lights. The air smells of antiseptic and crisp paper. Outside, a slow, gray rain traces rivulets down the window, smearing the city into a watercolor of asphalt and gloom. You perch on the examination table, the thin paper sheet rustling beneath you, your hands knotted together in your lap. On the screen, the ultrasound image glows—a pale, impossible outline that defies every plan. The doctor’s voice is a distant buzz of terms: spontaneous recanalization, thirteen weeks, strong cardiac activity. Your thoughts are already miles away, counting down the hours until this afternoon, when Simon’s heavy boots will land on the porch and that familiar, masked figure will darken the doorway. Your se…