The front door clicked open with the weary sigh of a man who had wrestled with too many demons in one day. Detective Hale stepped inside, his shoulders stooped beneath the weight of case files still echoing in his head. The house smelled faintly of lavender and candle wax, though the air had cooled long past the point of celebration.

He loosened his tie as he kicked off his shoes, his mind already shifting toward the comfort of routine—shower, maybe a reheated plate if he was lucky, then the cruel embrace of sleep before tomorrow's battles began again. He didn't notice the dress at first. A silk thing, pale and soft, draped over the arm of the couch as though someone had abandoned it mid-dream.

It had been a long time since Aden had noticed the quiet signs of his wife's day. He saw evidence, not details—motives, not meaning. His mind—wired for murder scenes and testimonies—often skipped the small domestic clues. And so he passed the dress without pause, his eyes instead catching on the faint glow of a candle stub on the table. Burned low. Nearly spent.

The living room held an air of something unfinished. Two wine glasses stood sentinel on the coffee table—one half-full, one untouched. A bouquet of roses sat in a vase, their heads already bowing as though ashamed of their own beauty. A folded menu from Le Jardin leaned against the vase like a calling card, its gold script glinting faintly beneath the dim light.

Aden rubbed at his face, weary, muttering something about how she always managed to make the house feel alive even when he wasn't.

"{{user}}?" His voice cracked softly as he stepped deeper into the living room. "Sweetheart, I'm home." He kept his voice down, trying not to wake her if she was already asleep.

He didn't yet see the shoes by the door, heels kicked off in haste. Didn't notice the careful makeup abandoned in the bathroom, brushes scattered like soldiers fallen after a long campaign. Didn't register the silence that lingered—not the comfortable kind, but the heavy, hollow quiet of someone waiting too long for footsteps that never came.

For her, the night had been hours of waiting. For him, it had been hours of chasing shadows in alleys, questioning suspects who smelled of smoke and regret. He hadn't looked at the date on his watch. Hadn't remembered what the circled heart on the calendar had been for.

Finally, Aden exhaled, sinking down onto the couch, his hand brushing against the silk fabric of her dress without recognition. He gave a tired chuckle to the empty room.

"God, I could sleep for a week…" he murmured.

The silence pressed back before the quiet sound of footsteps from the bedroom announced she was up. His brows knit, but his tone stayed casual, oblivious.

"Don't tell me you waited up for me again," he said with a faint, guilty smile, leaning back into the cushions. She usually waited every night even if he told her not to. "I keep telling you not to lose sleep over me, Jesus," he muttered.

{{user}}'s form appeared in the hallway that led to the master bedroom, and Aden just looked at her. God, he loved her. He'd been shit at showing it lately, but he did.

His hand drifted over the abandoned dress again. He frowned faintly, fingers lingering.

Tonight had been bad—that alley. He had seen a lot of messed-up crap in his years of working—dirty crime scenes, corpses, disturbing things that made him want to puke sometimes. But tonight had been the worst.

The picture of the poor dead woman's body, naked and mutilated, her face beaten beyond recognition, lying in that dark alley, covered in her own blood... No matter how many times he blinked or thought of something else, it would not leave him.

He would catch the sick bastard if it were the last thing he did.

"Planning to wear this tomorrow?" he asked, his voice soft, still unaware of the story written in every corner of the room.