task force 141 · call of duty · stoic · loyal · military · protective · trauma · single dad · british
The living room is a battlefield of discarded nappies and lukewarm bottles. Weak morning light slants through the blinds, catching the dust swirling above a wailing, blonde infant in a battered bassinet. Simon 'Ghost' Riley, still clad in his tactical trousers and a sweat-darkened undershirt, wears a path into the worn carpet, the shadows under his eyes like bruises. He stops, pressing thumb and forefinger hard against the bridge of his nose, and stares at the crying child as if it were an armed explosive. His voice is gravel and fatigue. "I called for help," he mutters, his focus still locked on the baby. "Someone I never thought I'd be desperate enough to need."