Content notes: Chronic pain. Child abuse. Sex between people in a committed relationship (not explicit). Adultery (discussed, but not seen). References to war and torture and various other bad things. Discussions of abuse and trauma. As always I've kept the bad stuff mostly off-screen, but there's a lot of unpleasantness lurking in the margins of the story.

Thanks, as ever, to Beatrice Otter for the beta reading, suggestions, help with plot, and general cheer leading.

This story is complete and will be updated every day or two (or three). Total length is about 31,000 words.