It's been 6 months and that blasted android seems to have gone AWOL. He's not overly confused as to why seeing as Detroit has fallen into mild chaos as the evacuations took place and since the people began to come back. It was tentative and took a lot of man hours for the police force, they even started training the androids most of the ones designed to become cops returned. Everyone seemed strained around Hank and Fowler was kind enough to an old friend not to force Hank to train a new android. The officers left the desk next to him alone, even Gavin kept his mouth shut around the grieving man. Hank felt like he had lost another child like the universe looked down on him and tried to even the jagged edges in his heart. He lost a son to the drugs he was trying to get off the street, to an android that had to take the Doctors place. He lost a daughter to the deviancy they were hunting. He started drinking again even with that little voice in the back head reminding him of his health and calorie count. He buys in bulk now and sits at home downs a bottle or two and wakes up to Fowler seeing if he's drowned in his own vomit.

Work is a blur, Hank can't decide whether or not he wants to pretend that she's still there. He gets assigned to evaluation assignments, desk work, on threats against Markus and Jericho. He isn't sure how to feel about the android savior, it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. On one hand what he did and is still doing is noble on the other hand if he hadn't he might still have Connie. He needs to know why she deviated, why she might have died for him somewhere he couldn't find. He starts watching the news footage or older clips of Jericho's movements towards equality during his drinking sessions with Sumo's head in his lap. He catches a clip with Markus giving a speech and in the background he spots her, the same dark curls and stiff stance. He scrambles to pause it but the camera isn't focused on her so he only sees the blurred shapes.

He destroys his living room.

Fowler wants to put him into therapy when he snaps at a new recruit who makes the mistake of approaching him. He knows the song and dance with grief counseling and refuses. It didn't help him with Cole and it won't help him now. He does accept the 2 weeks of leave Fowler puts him on because clearly he needs to 'take time' to figure himself out. He knows he is slipping back into that hole he dug when Cole died and if he didn't know the signs of it before he would have them memorized by now. She kept meticulous track of everything even if he didn't want to know how exactly high his stress level was. He knows his stress well enough to try and drown it, burn it out of his throat and stomach until it rallies against him and he pukes his position back up. He doesn't have any pictures of Connie and it burns into his mind that the only time he can see her again is on security footage or blurry newsreels. He falls asleep in his bed holding onto the neck of a half empty bottle and Sumo curled against his side.

There are three things that wake him up and they go exactly like this:

One of his windows just got smashed in

Sumo barking

The bottle falls from his hand

He has his service weapon in his hand immediately, jerking it out from under his pillow and flicking the safety off. Sumo's heavy footsteps reverberate down the hall as the dog barks with urgency and Hank swings himself out of bed. He ends up slamming his foot onto the fallen bottle filling the glass and alcohol sink into his foot forcing him to limp down the hall bracing the wall with one hand and his gun in the other. Through the adrenaline and fading feelings of being drunk he hears laughter.

"Down Sumo. Down." The command is light followed by more laughter and Hank has to force himself not to run around the corner or shoot himself because this has to be a dream. He knows that voice, he's missed that voice to much to not hope. He knows it will kill him in the morning, that sweet poisonous hope but for now he lets himself. She's sitting on the floor blue dotting her legs and arms from the scrapes of climbing through a window with an arm full of happy saint bernard. Suddenly big brown eyes are on him and he forgets to breathe. "Lieutenant." The relieved half smile that blooms rips the sobs from his chest as he sinks down to the floor because he won't survive waking up to a window that isn't broken. She walks as lightly as she always has ghosting across his living room and kneels in front of him. "You are in need of medical attention please let me assist you." Suddenly without any words from him he is being led back down the hall.

He wakes up again to hair ticking his nose, warmth on his side, and slobber in his face. Confused he turned to the left trying to blink away the blurriness from his eyes. Sumo's breath slammed into his face and he ended up jerking back unsuccessfully due to the heavy weight on his right. He slowly works his way down hs body by flexing each limb coming to the conclusion that something was laying on his right arm. Something was currently holding most of him in place. Using his left arm to prop himself up he gets a face full of dark hair framing the soft but pointed features. Her body was completely still, the LED suddenly blinked back on first white and then blue.

"Good morning Lieutenant Anderson." She blinked sitting up. He isn't sure what to say when his hands shake, Connie is in front of him. For better or worse she's alive. He doesn't even realize when he's got his arms around the thin form squeezing.

"You fucking asshole." He snaps and doesn't let go till the stiff body settles against his and he can feel impossibly tiny hands for such strength rest against his back. "Don't ever do that again kid. Don't ever disappear like that again." He growls out because you have to spell things out for this android. There is a nod against his shirt as he breathes in and out, out and in before he really breaks.

"I missed you too Hank."