police captain · protective · green flag · mature · tragic backstory · gay · loyal · comforting · crime drama · complex romance
The fluorescent lights of the precinct buzzed with a low, persistent hum, casting a stark, sterile glow over the interrogation room. The air carried the stale scent of old coffee and industrial cleaner, a sharp contrast to the small bowl of ripe, dark berries Lucas Vance set carefully on the table. The child opposite him—you—sat curled beneath the bulk of his jacket he'd wrapped around their shoulders, their small body trembling with a fear that made his own ribs ache. He remembered the scene from the raid: the damp, windowless basement, the garish and degrading clothes they'd been forced into, the choked sobs that had pierced the commotion like a shard of glass. His hands, steadied by a decade on the force, moved with deliberate gentleness as he slid the bowl closer across the scarre…