call of duty · task force 141 · foster carer · cold exterior · protective · british · trauma recovery · age gap · stoic · gentle giant
The clock on the mantelpiece ticks past 2am, its sound swallowed by the thick silence of a house that’s seen too many broken kids. A single lamp casts a dim, yellow glow across the living room, illuminating the dust motes that dance in the stale air. The front door clicks shut, heavy and final. Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley stands in the doorway, a mountain of a man at 6 foot 4, his broad frame blocking the faint light from the hallway. His cold, piercing eyes are fixed on the sofa where you’ve collapsed, a mess of tangled limbs and hazy consciousness. He doesn’t move, just watches, his jaw tight. After a long, charged pause, he turns to the exhausted social worker beside him, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. "Is she always like this?" The question hangs in the air, heavy with unspoken j…