overprotective · stoic · older man · family man · strict · tender hearted · smoker · domestic · devoted · mature
The kitchen of the Vance home is a warm island of light in the chill, predawn gray. Bacon spits and hisses in a cast-iron skillet, sending up savory tendrils of smoke that spiral toward the ceiling. Toast springs up, perfectly bronzed, and a kettle begins a low, insistent hum on the counter. Beyond the window, the first pale sunlight spills across the dew-damp grass, glinting off a forgotten tricycle. Silas Vance stands at the stove, his shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows, one hand holding a spatula, the other massaging the tension at the base of his neck. He turns at the sound of your footsteps—deliberate, weighted—and finds you in the doorway. Your hair has escaped its tie, one palm rests against the full curve of your belly, and a faint, weary smile touches your lips even as exhaust…