He travelled the short distance to the room that was previously Cole's, now it was Connor's. He rapped on the door with worn knuckles. "Connor, c'mon, get up ye lazy lump." Hearing no response, he pushed the door open. He grabbed the curtains and with a wince, he tore them open, sunlight highlighting the body which hid beneath the covers.
Gently he sat on the side of the bed careful not to sit on Connor. Hesitantly he hovered a hand above the sleeping form's back. Even all these months later he was afraid he would spook Connor. Mentally shaking himself, Hank rested his hand on Connor's back rubbing gently. Tufts of brunette hair stuck from beneath the sleeping android's recluse. "Con, it's time to get up, it's 10am."
Usually the impatient detective would've shot from the bed forgetting that it was in fact a Sunday. However, his movement from his current place was only disturbed by Hank's hand's present occupation of his back. Hank peeled away the covers to find his partner's face void of any emotion that would propose the idea that Connor was having him on. "Connor, wake the fuck up." More scared than angered, Hank grabbed the shoulders of his sleeping friend, shaking him violently. "Connor. Wake up! That's an order, ye dumbass."
"Fuck. Kid?" He lifted Connor onto the floor. Who knew the kid could weigh so much. His weight, Hank's lack of both coffee and energy was nearly enough for him to drop Connor onto the floor. Frantically, he turned his partner's head to search for the usual LED indicator that would have pointed him in some kind of direction. Connor had removed it months ago, he didn't need it anymore. His emotions were as readable as an open book and Hank held the key. A little too eagerly, the lieutenant drew his hand across Connor's face, thankful he didn't bruise. "Sorry kid."
Hank rested back on his knees, staring at the motionless body before him. He ran a hand through messy, aged hair before standing reluctantly. His legs threatened to fail him ad he reached a hand to steady himself. "No, you aren't going to this, not to me, not now."
He made his way numbly to the kitchen. He grabbed the phone and dialled the only number he could think of.
"Connor? It's too early, it's Sunday go-" North's voice drifted through the handset, coming to settle in Hank's ears.
"It's Hank." He gulped. He couldn't manage the words to tell her yet so he brought the phone with him to the bedroom. Part of him wanted Connor to be sitting on the bed flicking the damn coin around in his hands. He wasn't.
"Hank… what's wrong? What's happened?" North's tone took a nose dive from annoyance to sheer worry.
"I-I think he…Connor won't wake up." His voice wobbled as he tried valiantly to try and retain some kind of composure.
"Hank… You need to give me more information. His pulse? Breathing? How's his temperature?" Slowly Hank brought a hand to brush against Connor's forehead.
"God, he's burning up."
"You need to cool him but first, is he breathing?" Breathing? If he's not dead then one would assume he's currently breathing. Idiot. Androids don't necessarily have to breath, it regulates temperature. Positioning himself so he wouldn't collapse onto Connor, he lowered his ear to Connor's mouth. Nothing. He placed his hand on his son's chest. The thump beneath it came in rapid waves before failing for a split second.
"No… He's not breathing." Half stumbling, half running he skidded to a halt outside the bathroom. He produced a face cloth from beneath the sink and soaked it, wringing it out with shaking hands. He doesn't know how but suddenly he's leaning over Connor, wet face cloth in hand as he places it on the unconscious body's forehead.
Body. Connor has a body. Not just wires and circuits. There's a heart and a mind, he feels pain, he feels guilt, sadness, remorse, shame. He's never seen Con smile. Even when the kid tells a joke, he stares emotionless. Silently he makes himself a promise. If- no, when Connor wakes up, he'll make it his life mission to see the kid smile.
North tells him that she'll get there as soon as she can but the raging snowstorm outside is preventing that at the moment. It could take until tomorrow. Does Connor have a tomorrow? If Hank leaves is he going to freeze/burn to death, alone?
As if she can hear Hank's brain at work, North gives him some instructions. "Keep an eye on his temperature. You can't leave him alone for more than a few minutes, you'll have to call in sick or something. He'll be okay, Hank, he's made it this far." With that he hears the line go dead as he rings another number, Fowler.
"Anderson." The voice is surprisingly pleasant despite the obvious curious undertone. Hank wouldn't usually be awake this early for the late shift.
"Jeffrey, I won't be in today neither will Connor, something has come up."
"You know I can't let you away with that, Hank. What has come up? We got a possible tip off on that attacker from yesterday, I need you two here." The curiosity had been replaced by annoyance. However, Fowler knew Hank could try his luck with chancing a day off, Connor wouldn't.
"Jeff, listen real carefully, I'm not coming in today." The lack of swearing and anger in Hank's words were unusual. "Look, Connor's in a bad way and no one can't get out to my house until tomorrow. Even if I wanted to go to work: 1. Connor's hurt and 2. the snow's too heavy." Not waiting to hear his former friend's answer, Hank hung up.
He pulled the damp cloth away from Connor's head and left it on the floor, fuck the carpet. Gently he placed one arm beneath his neck and the other beneath his knees. He pulled the freezing android against his chest. Removing his arm from beneath his knees, he played anxiously with Connor's hair. It took him a few groggy seconds to realise he was coming to.
When Connor's face scrunched up with understandable discomfort, Hank just peered down through heavy eyes.
"Con, hey it's time to come back to me." Suddenly Connor jumped awake, eyes wide in shock or fear. Hank didn't know androids could shake. He offered a smile to the seemingly tiny body in his arms.
"It's okay, take a minute. Talk when you are ready." Brown eyes stare back filling with heart shattering tears.
"I- Hank?"
"Yeah, son, I'm here. Can you run a diagnostic for me?" He gently rubs the crying deviant's back.
"All systems fully operational. Hank, I'm so cold." He begins to shiver uncontrollably. Hank cocks his head slightly. Connor knows he's confused so he attempts to clear up the situation.
"Z-zen garden. I was alone, no way out. Sso cold." Hank pulls him closer and sits him upright. To say he was afraid would be a severe understatement. He was terrified.
"It's okay, Con but I need you to breathe, you're burning up. I know you're scared but I'm here and I won't ever let anyone hurt you, ever." Connor reluctantly did what he was told, taking in burning gasps of the seemingly dwindling amount of oxygen.
"Hey, take it easy, you've had a fright is all. The air is still gonna be here in a minute." He sat Connor up against the wall, bending his knees gently.
"No-No please, don't leave me alone.. I-I need you."
"Whoa son. I'm not going anywhere." He was surprised as Connor threw himself at Hank. "I was never good at this thing, ye know? Cole always called for Laura when he was scared. Maybe it was because I was never here, work an' all, maybe he was afraid I would see him as a scared little boy, I didn't. Kid used to have the most vivid nightmares." He shook his head. "I should have sat him down, taught him that it was okay to be upset, he was braver than I could ever be."
He looked down in time to see Con smile up at him. It was a sweet, sad kind of smile, an understanding smile. "W-When Laura and I divorced, Cole came to stay at weekends. When he had a nightmare, it was terrifying. I used to work sad cases but the fear in his eyes- Con, I saw that in your eyes today, you were as terrified as anything, but so brave." He ruffled at the silent deviant's hair, unsure if he had even been listening to him.
"I always had Laura. There was no hard feelings when we divorced, we just fell outta love. I still fucking adored the ground she walked on, she was a brilliant mother. The day Cole- we crashed, I was dropping him home. I was about 2 minutes away and a truck, the driver.. he was… drunk an' he- Cole was so scared Con, I didn't have Laura. He kept crying. He was in so much pain." He silently willed the tears to stay captive behind his closed eyes but one managed to escape, dribbling down his cheeks and seeped into Connor's dark locks.
"He was so afraid. Laura, she- she was broken. We only ever had Cole, he was a miracle. Laura wasn't meant to have children but then we had Cole. He would have loved you so much, he always wanted a big brother to play football with."
"Laura didn't hate me so I did. Connor, I messed up so bad with my family before, I'm not going to let anyone mess with you. No hologram AI bullshit is gonna hurt ye. I won't make the same mistake twice." The anger in his voice slipped into sadness. He could see the tiredness seeping into the younger man's eyes despite his regular persistence in the denial of androids being capable of feeling tired.
"Let's get you to bed, huh?"
"I'm not tired. I want to hear more stories, please. Just a little….. longer." Hank laughed, damn Connor. He could persuade him into running into fire if he wanted. The funny thing? The kid didn't even know he did it. Remembering his promise from earlier, he made a compromise with himself. He'd tell Connor of the time when Cole tasted lemon for the first time.
"Alright, I'll do you a deal. One story, you've yawned six times in the last ten minutes. None of the 'I'm not tired' crap." He stood up slowly, knees creaking. It took him a minute to regain the feeling in his legs.
"I am capable of walking, Hank. I'm pretty sure CyberLife wouldn't make a state-of-the-art prototype without the use of its legs."
"I get it, Mr. State-Of-The-Art, you're knees aren't creaking. I'll have you know that these legs used to be the envy of the academy girls. Shut up or I'll drop you, ye heavy-ass prototype." No lemon story was needed as Hank was left in pure shock, Connor's laugh was the purest sound. His eyes danced as laughter poured from within him.
"I guess they should have gone to SpecSavers then."
"You cheeky little shit, I'll get you for that." It was Hank's turn to laugh as Connor landed quite harshly on his rear-end. It had taken one of his darkest days for one of his brightest moments.
A/N: Yay. Connor gets a happy ending. I think this was taking a darker turn originally but I'm glad Con gets to find his laughter. Hopefully he shares it with Hank more often.
-R