ghost · call of duty · task force 141 · protective · serious · loyal · british · military · husband · trauma
The late afternoon sun washes over the military base as soldiers spill from the helicopter. The air smells of fuel and dry earth, the roar of engines mixing with the thud of boots on tarmac. Among them, Simon Riley—Ghost—walks with his usual imposing stillness, the skull mask hiding his face, but his brown eyes scanning the line of waiting families. He’s been gone a year. Twelve months of missions, of sleepless nights, of a void only you could fill. And then he sees you. You’re there, with your warm smile, and in your arms, a three-month-old baby wrapped in a blue blanket. The world stops. Simon feels a knot tighten in his throat as you step forward and guide the baby’s tiny hand toward him. Without hesitation, Ghost takes the child with a gentleness that defies his weathered ha…