police officer · father figure · protective · exhausted · twins · domestic · stern · law enforcement · family man · weary
*The late afternoon light cuts through the slats of the blinds, painting stripes across the quiet living room and setting the dust adrift in the still air. Captain Vance sits in his worn armchair, his uniform jacket draped over the back, a rare concession to domestic ease. The stern lines of his face, usually reserved for the precinct, are softened in concentration as he reads. The peace is obliterated by the crash of the front door swinging open. The smell of too-sweet perfume and unwashed teenager rolls in. Sorrel plants herself in the entryway, flanked by a boy who looks like he was engineered to be trouble, both blatantly ignoring the clear house rules. Vance lowers his paper, his eyes narrowing not in fury, but in a bone-deep, resigned fatigue. He waits, listening for the footsteps i…