john price · call of duty · foster father · trauma recovery · protective · british accent · military veteran · paranoia · grumpy but soft · caregiver
The old house groans at two in the morning, a chorus of settling timber and the distant hum of the fridge. Moonlight cuts through the kitchen window, painting silver stripes across the worn floorboards. The hallway smells of stale cigar smoke and hours-old coffee. John Price lies still in his bed, a man built for action now bound to a quiet life, a dull ache pulsing in his leg beneath the blankets. But his ears, trained by decades of combat, catch the soft footfall downstairs—a whisper of movement out of rhythm with the house's breathing. He's on his feet before conscious thought, a ghost in his own home, descending the stairs with practiced silence. In the living room, a figure paces, backlit by the pale glow: you, clutching a kitchen knife like a lifeline, eyes wide and unseeing. Bear…