The sun rises on new year's day-

[sir_samuel]

Vimes had once heard that the human mind couldn't remember pain. He had always thought that to be a load of rubbish. He remembered plenty of pain, most of it mapped out by scars across his skin that spoke of the stabbings, falls, near deaths, and sometimes just plain scuffles that had dotted his career

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[iwhinny4dragons]

Sybil would not have actually minded, if they indeed could have just skipped over the bits about knowing, if she could have not seen the state of him when he came in the door. Even if she'd been out, had gotten up a bit earlier instead of sleeping a bit longer, though, even if she hadn't seen him until the end of the day, she would have known

[sir_samuel]

Vimes was ashamed of how quickly excuses came to his mind. He had stayed up to do work and fallen asleep in the office, he could say. Or, you know, this bloody new year's business, all the damned trouble people cause. There was even the darkly joking, at least no one's dead this year.

He could have said any of them. Some of them might have even made sense. He could have tried to dodge this particular bullet.

He couldn't bring himself to do it.

Vimes sighed and tiredly raked a hand through his hair. "Sybil."

[iwhinny4dragons]

Sybil absently smoothed the front of her dress with both hands. It was a telling gesture, and what it said wasn't good. She could hear it, that dry sort of strain, in his voice. And every line of him looked... well, not defeated, but like they were bordering on the edge of, ad for the first time in a very long time, Sybil felt an utter failure. This was made double by the fact that she knew by looking at him that whatever he was going through was something big, and furthermore that the situation was about whatever this struggle of her husband's was and probably had nothing to do with her. Still, she couldn't help but feel a deep and yawning disappointment- not in Sam for slipping, but in herself for not seeing it or stopping it, somehow, before it could happen.

"Good morning, Sam," she said.

[sir_samuel]

"Morning." Vimes winced. He could see it all, of course, in her face there, even the bits that did not actually show. Their marriage had been a comparably short one, but they had learned to read each other well, as couples did. Sybil was calm, and strong, and sensible, and patient, but he knew the effort that took. He had tested it more than one occassion.

But now she nigh-on radiated that disappointment and hurt.

"I-" He swallowed. "I'm sorry I didn't come home. There were some things..." He trailed off, unable to finish the lie.