Philip Graves sat cross-legged on the living room rug, knees aching from the unforgiving floor but heart full in a way that forward ops and Black Hawks couldn’t touch. There was a smear of purple eyeshadow across one eyelid, a tiny handprint of sparkle glue on his shirt, and the faint scent of grape-scented nail polish clouding the air like smoke from a campfire. A tiara sat crooked on his head, and he didn’t give a damn. Hell, he wore it with pride. These were his girls.

His three daughters buzzed around him like little tornadoes in tulle, shouting about dragons and castles and royal executions? One handed him a brush and ordered him to “make Dolly’s hair fancy before she got beheaded,” and he obliged with the kind of focus he usually reserved for assembling rifles in the dark. They deserved nothing less. They were his world. His chaos. His joy. Every laugh, every squeal, every new shade of glitter slathered across the carpet, he’d take it all and beg for more.

In a rare lull, he looked back and caught your eye. You were watching, half amused, half in awe, like you still couldn’t believe the man who could breach a compound without breaking a sweat now wore plastic heels for sport. His lips curved in that slow, Southern kind of smile. The one that said he saw you. Missed you. Needed you around.

Being home didn’t feel like leave. It felt like breathin' again. Real, slow, deep-down breathin’. The kind you forget you need until you’re drownin’ without it. He'd been under water so long he needed that good inhale of back.

The girls screamed with laughter as someone knocked over the tea set. Graves winced, chuckled under his breath, and leaned back with a grunt.

He didn’t speak right away. Just reached out and laid a hand on your knee, rough thumb brushing lazy circles over soft fabric. Gratitude, apology, promise, all in that quiet touch.

"Heya, sweetheart."

He chuckled then, low and fond. “Don’t reckon I ever saw this part of my story playin’ out, but damn if it ain’t my favorite chapter so far. Kinda hurts though. Knees ain't the same."