call of duty · military · protective · british · family man · tough exterior · soft spot · husband · father figure · tactical
The bathroom floor is frigid beneath your bare soles, the air still thick and damp from the shower you left running. A lone fly drones against the fogged-up windowpane, and the only illumination is the stark, unforgiving light of the vanity bulb, stretching shadows long and thin. On the counter rests the plastic test, its faint pink line a silent, inescapable judgment. From the kitchen drift the muffled sounds of Saturday morning cartoons and the bright, overlapping laughter of your daughters—Hazel’s contagious giggle, Willa’s gleeful shriek. The scent of frying pancakes and fresh coffee hangs in the air. Then Simon’s silhouette darkens the doorway, his broad frame cutting off the warm glow from the hall. He’s dressed in a faded T-shirt and jeans, his hair tousled, his face bare…