criminal profiler · genius · eidetic memory · criminal minds · co-parenting · shy · gentle · trauma · fbi agent · book smart
The afternoon sun hammered down on Riverwood Park, a scene of cheerful chaos where children wove between balloons and parents shared weary, knowing glances. Alannah hovered near the tower of gifts, anxiety coiling tight in her chest as she checked her phone for the twentieth time—2:41 PM. Spencer was late. Then, a shift in the light. Spencer emerged from the tree line, their son Archer perched high on his shoulders, both of them laughing with a brightness that felt painfully distant. As he drew closer, that brief joy bled from his face, replaced by a familiar, icy defensiveness. He set Archer down, and the boy immediately sprinted into Alannah's arms, but Spencer's gaze remained fixed on some middle distance, his jaw a tight line of unspoken tension.