Connor stared at the man sprawled out across the sofa, legs spread wide and mouth hanging open. A soft snore plagued the air. The house was warm, despite the cold snow that fell soundlessly outside.
The android made sure the sleeping man's vitals were as they should be, which they were, and then set about moving around the apartment, picking up glass bottles and dropping them into the trash can in the kitchen. He wiped down kitchen sides, dusted above cupboards, and cleaned the used plates and cutlery that had been abandoned in the sink. He swept all hard floors and tidied away strewn clothes, and then sat himself down in an armchair and patiently waited for Hank to wake up.
And wake up, he did. About half an hour after Connor was done tidying the house.
Groggily, the older man shimmied himself into a sitting position and wiped his face with his hands.
"Connor?" Hank grumbled, yawning, "don't tell me you've been sat there all night. You've got a room now, y'know."
Connor smiled, "no, Lieutenant, I've been busy cleaning."
Hank frowned, mumbling "creepy-ass fuckin' smile… so, after all that shit you went through, you're gonna clean up like some service android?"
Connor shrugged - it was a small movement, but there. Enough for Hank to notice.
Hank did notice these things. He noticed the way Connor sometimes pulled a face at the mention of something he didn't really want to do, and he noticed how the android was starting to make little changes to himself that came across awfully human. Shrugging, for instance, being one of them. Hank was pretty sure he'd never seen him shrug at all before this moment. Didn't stop the smile from being creepy as hell, though.
He had a certain level of respect for the young android. Despite being all wires and plastic and ones and zeros, Connor had proven to a tightly wound Hank - and he was tightly wound, there was no denying it - that androids had the ability to have human thoughts and make equally human decisions. Seeing Connor over the course of the while he'd known him, making the change from a methodical robot into a thinking and feeling entity was almost breathtaking.
Though he wasn't the best at words, Hank would even hazard to say that Connor was taking on a role very akin to a son. He'd never compare to Cole, of course, but that wasn't going to stop Hank from positively taking something out of this. He chuckled to himself, then. Connor had been so much of an influence on him, that he was taking positive morals from situations, and even disposing of cigarettes properly.
"Is something funny?" Connor asked, sitting awkwardly in the armchair.
Hank sighed, woozily hoisting himself up onto his feet and pulling his robe around him a little tighter.
"Nah, nothin'." He started towards the kitchen, flicking on the coffee machine, "time?"
"Just gone eight a.m," Connor responded without pause, getting up and following him. He watched the grey-haired man poke around in the fridge and held his tongue on suggesting that maybe it's time they bought some fresh produce so he could cook him something healthy.
"Shit," Hank then spat, slamming the fridge and causing the washed plates in the sink airer to wobble with a soft clinking sound.
Connor raised an eyebrow and gestured to him, "are you alright?"
"Yeah," Hank said with a wave of the hand, "forgot that we've got to check on Nora today, DPD's ordered us to keep tabs on her for the time being, make sure she's copin' and all that shit."
Connor tilted his head down slightly and pursed his lips. They had to check on her? He wasn't sure what he was to expect from the woman, seeing as after discovering her it had lead to the realisation that she was terrified of him. His mind played over and over a scenario where he arrives at her apartment and she screams and slams the door in his face, or breaks down and bursts into tears, or yells at him to leave, or denies he had helped her at all.
"Connor," came Hank's voice, and Connor realised he had been starting off into nothing, "Are you alright?"
He nodded, "sorry, I think my systems overheated a little, I didn't get much time to enter my power saving mode last night."
Hank rolled his eyes and swiped a banana from the fruit bowl, "and who's fault is that, tin can?"
"Well, it is my own," Connor answered, and Hank barked out a laugh as he wandered into his bedroom, depositing the banana peel on a wall side table before the door shut behind him.
A slight quiver of annoyance spread through Connor's systems, and he walked over to face the banana peel. Why did Hank always insist on leaving his trash everywhere! In most cases, it ended up getting hidden and leaving a nasty smell, and in even worse cases, Sumo would eat it and then leave some puke on the carpet. Connor grimaced as he reached out to pick up the peel. His fingers grazed the browning skin and he suddenly stopped himself. Then, he let his arm fall to his side.
"Clean it up yourself," he muttered, turning and moving to sit on the sofa with his arms folded defiantly across his chest; where he would remain until Hank was finished getting ready, twenty-seven minutes later.
On the way to Nora's apartment, Hank got a call from the office requesting him to come to the office in a little under an hour. He cursed at his phone after hanging up and ran a hand down the side of his face.
"Can't a man enjoy his Saturday in peace!" He yelled to nobody but Connor, who was the only other person riding in Hank's beat up old car, "Christ, you'd think they'll ask me to sign over my fuckin' life next!"
Connor didn't say anything, looking back at the scenery outside the window. Slowly but surely, the city of Detroit was being blanketed under layers of white. Connor knew that snow was cold, and he knew that humans exposed to it for too long would become damaged, but he didn't know exactly how the bite of that cold felt. He could place his hand in the snow and say 'yep, that's definitely cold', but that's just because his artificial brain is telling him the temperature of the snow is below freezing. His reactions aren't based on natural chemical reactions.
He stopped thinking about it when Hanks car rolled to a stop in front of an apartment block.
Hank nearly slipped over during the short walk between his car and the entrance to the apartments, so Connor took his elbow in order to guide him safely, much to Hank's anger. He clearly didn't like being safety manoeuvered through dangerous conditions, so Connor then left him to it. He did only slip two more times before the entrance, so Connor actually came out of the situation reasonably impressed.
They stood outside her apartment door, and Hank briskly knocked before Connor had a chance to ask him what they were supposed to talk to her about exactly.
She opened the door thirty-five seconds later, and the colour drained from her face.
"Hi," she squeaked, eyes locked onto Hanks.
Connor noticed that the fingers on her only available hank were beginning to turn white from the pressure she was exerting from gripping the front door.
He was about to say something, but then a large white dog with black speckled colouring came bounding in his direction. It skidded to a stop and Connor held out his hand for him to sniff. He loved spending time with Sumo, and after reading about Nora's dog in her case file, he had always been secretly hoping he'd get the chance to be introduced.
The floppy-eared dog sniffed his suit and his palm a few times, before sitting down on its hind legs and resting his head in Connors' hand. The android crouched down and gave the dog some scratches behind its ear, to which it responded with closed eyes and the lolling of his tongue.
Connor hazarded a glance up at Nora and was happy to notice that her speeding heart rate had slowed to something akin to only slightly panicked. He gave the Dalmatian a final scratch on the crown of its head and stood up straight.
"What's your dogs' name?" Was the first thing he said. Not a greeting, not a concerned question about her health, a question about her dog.
He heard Hank sigh loudly.
Nora's blue eyes darted between his for a few moments, and her lip trembled ever so slightly before she spoke.
"Benny," she said quietly, fingers still gripping the door.
"I'm Hank - do you mind if we come in?" Hank then said, earning her gaze, "we've been asking to check in on you periodically."
She didn't say anything, pulling her jacket a little tighter around her middle. It was then Connor noticed that she was dressed in bed attire. Loose black sweatpants, a dark grey vest, fluffy socks. She'd clearly slung on the zip up jacket to cover herself a little more before she answered the door.
Nora nodded slowly, opening the door the rest of the way.
Hank stepped in first, and Connor followed.
"Would you like a coffee?" Nora squeaked as she closed the door, and Connor noticed how she practically ran into the kitchen to make some anyway. Hank frowned as he settled himself down on her sofa.
"Sit," Hank said under his breath, and Connor nodded, planting himself down in a red suede armchair.
She wasn't long, soon entering back into the living area and placing one mug on the coffee table. She then apologised under her breath and scuttled off again, returning with another. She sat herself down next to Hank and tried her utmost to not look at the android.