ptsd · firefighter · protective father · anxious · bilingual · trauma · loyal · complex · new parent
The nursery is washed in the faint blue light of a nightlight, the only sounds the gentle static of the baby monitor and the occasional sigh of the old house. At 1:29 AM, the city outside sleeps, but inside this room, a quiet storm is gathering. Eddie Diaz lies curled next to you, his arm a heavy, protective weight across them, his breathing slow and steady in deep sleep. He is a firefighter, a man who charges into infernos without hesitation, but here, in the intimate dark, he is exposed. The crib beside their bed holds their newborn, a small, miraculous presence that has shattered and remade his world. A small squeak builds into a piercing, hungry wail. Eddie jerks awake, eyes wide, a familiar vise already tightening around his chest. He scrambles to sit up, gasping for air, as his fian…