It was in his smile. The one that had once been so full of happiness and love, it was different now. Yeah, he still smiled, but only when someone was watching, and even then it always fell short of meeting his eyes. And then as soon as he thought no one was watching, it would fall off his face like it was never there to begin with. Like it had been a struggle to keep it there at all.
Roxy didn't know what to do. Did that mean that he wasn't happy with her anymore? That he had realized that he could do so much better? He said he had forgiven her for everything with Whit, and by all standards he was normal. But he just… wasn't. It was in the smile. Or lack thereof.
The one that used to light up whole rooms, and give any one around him no choice but to smile back. She missed it. She missed how he had a different one for almost every occasion. Like the sarcastic tilt of his lips that was almost always accompanied by the rise of his eyebrows, or the smirk he wore when he knew that he was getting her hot, or the one that he used to wear on his face when they were naked and holding each other, and the one that graced his face when he was watching the boys play soccer in the front yard. Even the one that he flashed her whenever he had a good day or was just happy in general. The ones that showed off his perfect teeth and lit up his face. It was contagious, and it was addictive, and she hadn't seen it since he got home from Afghanistan six months ago, after he saw Jeremy die. And the thought that she may never see his face light up like that again… It terrified her.
Pamela was worried. She had noticed Roxy acting differently, but what she couldn't figure out was why. After all Trevor had forgiven her the instant she apologized, which in Pamela's opinion was more than she'd deserved. So why did she keep acting like she was petrified of something all the time. It wasn't until she and the kids moved in with the small family after the hurricane that she figured out what the deal was. Trevor didn't smile. Well he smiled but he didn't smile. The ones he did occasionally show were faker than Lenore Baker's boobs. But he hadn't smiled a Trevor smile since she moved in. And thinking about it, she hadn't seen him smile since he got home. And worse than that when she talked to Roxy about it, neither had she.
Joan watched as all her soldiers broke apart to go their own ways, carry out duties, and follow commands, she watched as Trevor turned to follow them. She frowned though as she noticed that something seamed different about the soldier that she had come to know and grown to truly care about and respect. She couldn't exactly place her finger on it but something was definitely… off about the soldier. Definitely something. It took her a moment to place her finger on it. It was the smirk. The slight tilt of his lips that had been there all the time was gone. She made a mental note to ask Roland about it but was sidetracked as she heard someone request her attention; she tore her eyes from the young soldier and turned to look at the Corporal who needed her to sign some papers.
Frank Sherwood was at a loss. Trevor Leblanc was… He wasn't quite sure what to call it. He was acting a lot like Jeremy had before he had tried to kill himself, and Frank knew that. Trevor was just going to the motions, not smiling, or laughing, or chatting with his fellow soldiers. Just doing what he had to do. Nothing more, nothing less. His uniform was larger on his thin frame then it had been in the months before, and there was a permanent downturn to his lips. And then if you were looking closely enough you could see that every now and then his eyes would glaze over for a few seconds before he caught himself and shook his head before going back to whatever he had been up to before. But he refused to acknowledge it. It was still too painful to think about his son at the moment. Frank sighed as he went back to his paperwork; it was really none of his business. He would just leave it alone.
It was another two months before he smiled that contagious sparkling smile again. Eight months after he came home, seven since he had forgiven her, and six months since she realized that he wasn't smiling. He had been standing next to Roxy who was sitting on the exam table, with his arm wrapped around her waist when the doctor came in with a huge smile on her face. As soon as the words, Congratulations, you're pregnant, left her lips she turned around to look at her husband only to find that a huge sparkling smile had taken up residence on his face like it had never left to begin with. He looked truly happy for the first time in months.