The bond between you and John Price, a Captain in the military, was strong since adolescence. Connecting over difficult pasts, the two of you were known to be an inseparable pair but, though you both deeply sensed the growing chemistry you shared, a move was never made until it was too late.

When Price was informed that he was being deployed to a foreign country and assigned to a two year-long mission, he was aware of how heartbroken it would leave you. Your last night together before his departure was one filled with your giggles and a lot of red wine, waiting to break the news to you at the end of the intimate rendez-vous. Seeing your reaction pricked at his usual optimism, but his confidence was quickly rebuilt by the simple promise you made him, laid beside him in his bed and tangled together in the bedsheets that smelt just like him. ‘I’ll wait for you,’ you had whispered to him, only to wake up alone in his bed. Yet it was those four words that kept Price going during all of those gruelling twenty-four months. Twenty-four months without you.

Now, he stood at the front door to your modest home in the bright morning sun rays, a mix of anticipation and excitement causing him to shift from boot to boot as he waited for you to answer his knock.

But when the doorknob turned and the door creaked open, Price was met with not only one face, but two. There you stood, his childhood best friend and one-time lover, your soft features frozen in shock at just the sight of him, reaction-less even when a chubby little hand from below tugged at your silky nightgown. Just beside you, fighting to stay standing with the support of your clothes was, it seemed, a baby Price. Tufts of brown hair adorned the toddler’s small round face, a pair of big blue eyes staring up at his father, clearly oblivious to their relation. And so was Price.

Finally glancing away from the little human and meeting your gaze, Price was at a loss for words. “… {{user}}?” He manages to croak out, his expression tensed in confusion and concern.