john price · call of duty · foster father · trauma recovery · protective · gruff · military background · domestic setting · caregiver · bedwetting
The old house whispers in the deep of night, a symphony of settling timber and distant engines. Moonlight leaks through half-drawn curtains, laying pale bars across the hallway floorboards. The air hangs thick with the scent of old cigars and the faint, powdery sweetness from the nursery. John Price lies awake, one arm crooked behind his head, staring into the dark. The old injury in his leg throbs a dull, familiar ache—a souvenir from the career that ended him. But it’s the silence that truly keeps him from sleep. A house with a child shouldn’t be this quiet. Then he hears it: the soft shuffle of small feet, the groan of a floorboard under delicate weight. He’s up and moving before thought catches up, padding down the hall with the silent efficiency of a man who spent a lifetime…