Despite his overall reluctance to leave Hannah alone for so long as he still acclimated to being a father all day, every day, Connor set about his new morning routine of getting ready for his shift at the precinct and getting Hannah ready for her day at New Jericho Tower. As he tightened the knot in his black tie Connor smiled at Hannah as she laid in her crib already dressed in a dark purple 'onesie' with a trail of pink kitty paw prints running up the side. She was completely content, awake and seemed to be fascinated by the blue pulsing L.E.D. in her daddy's right temple.

"I don't like leaving you alone all afternoon long, Hannah." Connor explained as he scooped his one month old daughter out of her crib and gently held her up against his left shoulder. Using his left arm to support her weight Connor rubbed his right hand over her back softly. "But I need to do it so I can save up enough money to purchase a larger house to accommodate our family."

Walking down the hallway with Hannah in his arms Connor met Hank in the livingroom as the senior detective finished packing up Hannah's diaper bag and picked it up by the bag's handle. "Ready?"

"Yes. Hannah has had her formula, she has been changed and she is wearing a clean 'onesie'. She'll be content during the drive."

"Good. Since we have this weekend off you can spend all day Saturday cuddling with Hannah, and then I'll spend time with her on Sunday."

"I don't think it's wise to divide our bonding time like that, but I understand what you're saying."

"Come on." Smirking at the comment Hank rubbed his left hand along Hannah's soft dark hair and motioned for Connor to accompany him outside. "Let's get her to New Jericho and get our butts to the precinct. I don't want to deal with Fowler trying to chew me out for being late."

"Of course. We need to set a good example for Hannah."

As per usual Connor carried Hannah and her diaper bag to the front of New Jericho Tower where Simon was expecting to meet them, and passed the baby over to his awaiting hands to be tended to throughout the day. Simon slung the bag over his left shoulder as he held Hannah up against his right shoulder for a moment before heading off into the tower.

"Hannah has been a little restless at night as of late." Connor stated in a somber tone as he rubbed his right hand along Hannah's back. "But she seems to be quite happy this morning."

"Colic?" The blond deviant asked as if already knowing the answer.

"Correct. Once she does fall asleep she sleeps well into the night, but if she has difficulty in taking her nap-"

"I know the drill. Carry her, rub her back and try cuddling."

"That's right." Connor's blue L.E.D. shifted to yellow for a moment as he realized that Simon was far more experienced with childcare than he was. "It seems to work every time, I just wish it didn't need to happen so often."

"Don't worry, Connor. The family I took care of had twin boys, and if I could handle the two of them all day long then I know I can handle Hannah for an afternoon. Again."

"Right, of course. Thank you." Leaning forward Connor gave Hannah a small kiss on her hair, a gesture Hank insisted was the perfect way to show the baby affection in a very human manner, and said goodbye to his daughter for the afternoon. "I'll be back this evening, Hannah. Be good for Simon."

The small baby's dark eyes, which were slowly turning a rich chocolate brown from a dark blue, seemed to be searching Connor's face as he leaned down to look at her before leaving the tower. Hannah's hair was taking on a dark brunette color and her eyes were slowly turning brown as she aged and was now the perfect blend between her two biological parents in every way.

"Don't worry about Hannah." Simon smiled as he adjusted the baby resting up against his chest and shoulder. "She'll be just fine."

"I know she will. I just dislike being away from her."

"It's just for a few hours. We'll see you soon."

"Right. I'll be back by six-fourteen this evening."

Watching as Connor took his reluctant leave of the tower Simon sighed and turned on his heels to take charge of Hannah for the day again. "Come on 'little one'. Let's go upstairs and see who needs our help today."

Sitting in the small private office of the tower's emergency repair bay Simon cybernetically filed through the tower's current roster of deviants seeking shelter at the moment, and used his right hand to gently rock Hannah in a makeshift and perfectly functional bassinet beside him. The small baby was calm and seemed completely content in the soft padded bed as she suckled on her purple pacifier and looked up at the small plastic mobile spinning above her head as she was rocked slowly.

From the doorway of the office Markus watched as Simon flawlessly multi-tasked at taking care of the tower and taking care of Hannah. It was impressive to say the least, and whether it was a part of Simon's programming or not, it was still interesting to see.

"Don't stare, Markus." Simon noticed the deviant leader watching from afar. "If you want to see the baby then come in and see the baby."

"Uh, sure." Taking a shaking step forward Markus neared the bassinet as Simon stopped rocking it and looked down at Hannah curiously. "I've never seen a human infant this close before. She... She somehow seems different."

"It's not uncommon for human infants to have their features change a few weeks and months after birth. Hannah's hair was a little lighter than it had been and her eyes were far more blue when she was first born, but now her hair is beginning to darken and her eyes are turning brown."

"Huh."

"Something wrong?"

"Not really, it's just... Don't you find it strange that her features are starting to mirror that of Connor?"

"Well, from the photographs I've seen of her biological parents the dark hair and eyes were to be expected. It's just a neat coincidence that her features would also be reminiscent of her adoptive father."

"That is pretty neat." Hannah began to stir and Markus took notice of her seemingly getting restless. "...She sounds uncomfortable."

"Pick her up."

"...Me?"

"You took care of Carl for years," Simon laughed as he plucked Hannah from the bassinet and held her in his arms. "are you telling me you're intimidated by holding a baby?"

"I've never held one before."

"Here, like this." Waiting for Markus to mirror his pose Simon placed Hannah down gently in Markus's arms and watched her quiet back down. "There."

"She just wanted to be held?" Markus stared down at Hannah with wide eyed wonder as she settled down and stared up at him.

"Baby's need a lot of attention and since she can't speak just yet the only way to communicate is through various sounds and body language. She was probably curious about your voice and wanted to meet you."

"Oh. Well, I guess we should be introduced. It's about time after all." Careful as he readjusted Hannah in his arms Markus found himself oddly fascinated by the small baby and gave her a kind smile. "Hi, Hannah. I'm Markus and I'm friends with your dad."

Simon noticed that the glimmer in Markus's mismatched eyes and gave the deviant leader an odd glance. "Do you think that because of Connor's now very well known adoption of Hannah that all androids will be given the right to adopt children through an application process, or through the foster care program?"

"I'm not sure. I've been more focused on passing laws to protect deviants from discrimination and less focused on technicalities in childcare." As Hannah began to squirm about in his arms Markus seemed to readjust his arms again on instinct and moved Hannah up to his shoulder to rest. Unknowingly mimicking Connor's position from earlier Markus supported Hannah's weight with his left arm and held his right hand to her back. "Do you think more androids would like to have children to take care of?"

"I know I would. And I think Josh would be willing to spend more time with young children as well."

"Interesting. I'll start pushing requests for deviants to be granted rights to look after children."

"So... Do you like Hannah?"

Glancing down at the baby's face as she rested her right cheek against his shoulder and looked up at him Markus smirked again. "Yeah, I think I do. She's so small and innocent. Now I know why Connor risked his life to save her from the fire."

"The thing is Connor didn't know she was an infant, he just knew there was a person inside the burning house."

"Then it sounds like Connor having custody of a child is in fact a good thing."

"Why's that?"

"He has that guardian instinct to protect anyone and everyone who needs his help. Hannah will be raised in a loving and supportive environment, and I think a human being raised by an android is the perfect foundation to begin building bridges between humans and androids after the Revolution nearly burned everything in the city to ash."

Hannah let out a grunt of discontent and her right hand grabbed onto Markus's shirt collar in a weak grip.

"...Did I upset her?"

"No, she's just hungry." Simon noted the time and had quickly recognized Hannah's small noises as she tried to communicate with the world around her. "I can take care of that with a bottle of formula."

"Can I try?"

"You wish to feed her?"

"Why not? I'm already holding her."

"Alright. Sit down." Rising from his chair to give it to Markus to use Simon picked up Hannah's diaper bag from beside the bassinet and pulled a pre-made bottle of formula from a small refrigerated compartment within the bag's pocket, and then took the small rechargeable bottle heater from the next pocket. "I just need to warm up the bottle for a moment, and then she's good to go."

Carrying Hannah over the chair Markus sat down let Simon reposition the baby in his arms so she could be fed appropriately. "You really do miss taking care of kids, don't you?"

"I do. When Connor asked for help with finding a suitable form of daycare while he is at the precinct I jumped at the opportunity to help out." Motioning to the bassinet Simon checked the temperature on the bottle and let it sit for a few more seconds. "I even made that little bassinet and swing for Hannah by recycling an old CyberLife biocomponent storage container, lining it with thermal insulation and covering that up with a thick pillow and clean sheets from our emergency repair bay."

"What about the swinging part?"

"I used one of the old technician's repair arms from the warehouse down in the basement, and I constructed a crude mobile from the various items that previous CyberLife employees abandoned in their offices after CyberLife was shutdown."

"That's very clever."

"I thought so, too." Picking up the bottle from the warmer Simon handed it over to Markus and smiled. "Let me show you how to support her so she can drink without choking, or drinking too fast..."

At the precinct Connor was cybernetically filing his reports on the recently arrested bigot who spray painted graffiti a nearby Android Emergency Care Facility with hateful slurs while he also began looking for a larger house to move the trio of his family into within the next few months. Despite Hannah only being one month old Connor was already anticipating how she'd need her own bedroom to have some personal space, as well as a large place to play without anyone accidentally stepping on her or breaking her toys.

From his own desk Hank could see that Connor was thinking deeply about something, his yellow L.E.D. betraying his emotions, and asked the young deviant what was on his mind in a low voice. "What the hell are you thinking so damn hard about?"

"...Pardon?"

"You're in a trance, kid. There has to be something big on your mind." Leaning forward Hank gave Connor a knowing look and sighed. "What's up?"

"I was merely looking for a larger house to purchase within the next five months."

"Already?"

"Yes. I already have a substantial sum of money saved up due to my rather minimal lack of personal needs, and because you allow me to live under your roof without paying rent. If I continue to work for the next-"

"Connor." Holding up a 'shushing' hand Hank gave Connor a stern glance. "Stop."

"...Stop what?"

"Obsessing over the future."

"I'm not obsessing, I'm planning."

"How far in advance?"

"...I estimate that by the time Hannah is applying for college-"

"Holy shit! She's barely four weeks old!"

Connor's L.E.D. blinked red once before returning to yellow and he slumped down in his chair. "...Perhaps I am obsessing."

"Yeah, just a bit."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just learn to pace things out and for fuck sake remember that Hannah will be making her own decisions regardless of what your computer brain has already scheduled."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if Hannah doesn't want to go to college? What if instead of going right into college after she graduates high school she wants to travel the world and gain new experiences to help her decide what she wants to do with her life, rather than pick a career at age twelve and settle for that?"

"...I hadn't considered that."

"No one does."

Arching his brow a little Connor gave Hank an odd glance. "You didn't want to be a cop when you were a child?"

"Nope. When I was six I wanted to be a cowboy, then when I was about eight I wanted to be an astronaut. Then when I was fourteen I looked into a steady construction gig, but in the end I found the idea of protecting innocent people as a cop to be the most fulfilling idea when I was seventeen."

"I see..."

"Relax, she'll be just fine as long as you make sure she knows she's loved and supported." Picking up his empty coffee mug from his desk Hank walked past Connor's desk to get to the breakroom and get himself a refill. "I'll help ya' look for houses later tonight, okay?"

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate it."

As Hank walked away Gavin, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, scoffed at the notion swore at the idea of Connor being a supportive father for a human infant in need. "Fuckin' plastic trying to play 'daddy' and 'house'? What a fuckin' joke."

Suddenly feeling more defensive about anyone making comments toward his person, especially in regards to being able to take care of Hannah, Connor addressed the gruff Sergeant in a protective tone of voice. "Do you have an issue with the way I'm raising my daughter, Reed?"

The authority in Connor's voice made Gavin visibly flinch and his hazel eyes narrowed with shock. "I didn't say nothing about your kid, asshole."

"I didn't imply you did. I was referring to your perceived grievance with me raising her as my own child."

Scoffing at the comment Gavin tried to brush it off but failed to do so as now the entire bullpen was looking at Gavin with a curious disgust.

"If you're going to make a comment about my person I'd prefer if you did it to my face and not make unfounded comments behind my back."

Realizing his unfavorable opinion on Connor being a father wasn't too popular in the bullpen Gavin quietly stood up from his desk, took his car keys out of his jacket and walked away from the precinct without a word.

Connor glared as Gavin walked away, his red tinted L.E.D. glowing a crimson aura in his temple the entire time, and only calmed down when he felt Hank's left hand press down on his right shoulder.

"Good job, son."

The compliment made Connor's brow arch again as his L.E.D. cycled back to yellow as he watched Hank reclaim his seat. "...To what are you referring?"

"You standing up for yourself and not letting Gavin get away with being a prick to you anymore."

"Oh." As his L.E.D. cycled back to blue Connor realized his reaction to Gavin was fairly out of character for him. "...I suppose his comments toward Hannah has made me more protective than usual, and less willing to simply put up with his verbal abuse and bigotry."

"Damn right." Sipping at his coffee Hank gave Connor an approving nod of his head. "Let those paternal instincts grow. You'll find yourself being far more protective and willing to fight back against assholes like Reed more often."

"I'll become more aggressive?"

"Not aggressive, assertive. Huge difference."

Nodding a little himself Connor pressed his right fingertips over his blue L.E.D. in his right temple warily. "...That is true. I wonder how else I'll change as Hannah grows up."

Walking back and forth across his personal office Simon rubbed Hannah's back as the small baby fussed and squirmed in his gentle grip. As another bout of colic reared its ugly head Simon patiently waited out the baby's crying and did everything he could to comfort her. It wasn't easy but the experienced deviant put up with the high-pitched crying and continued to pace in a calm and smooth manner across his office.

"How in the hell can you stand that?" North asked as she stood just outside Simon's doorway and stared at Hannah with disgust. "It's so loud!"

"Crying is the only way she can communicate. She can't help it."

"Why is it freaking out?"

"SHE," he emphasized the term over North referring to Hannah as 'it' as he continued to pace. "is physically uncomfortable and in pain."

"What did you do to her, then?"

"Nothing. She's just small and struggling to adjust to her body constantly growing and needing to digest more formula in order to continue to grow."

"She can't handle eating?" North crossed her arms over her chest as if genuinely disgusted by Hannah's distress. "And humans say androids are inferior."

"Can I help you with something, North? Or did you just come up here to pick on a helpless infant?"

"Chill, I just wanted to pick up your roster report on the deviants you took care of last week."

"It's on the desk."

Noticing that the desk was behind Simon, which meant she'd have to go near Hannah in order to get the report, North let out an annoyed sigh. "Great."

"I'd give it to you myself but my hands are full."

"Yeah, I noticed." Marching over to the desk with purpose in her steps North grabbed onto the report and immediately detected another trait about Hannah that disgusted her. "...Please don't tell me she just soiled herself."

"She's an infant and she's wearing a diaper. That's what happens."

"Gross." Taking her leave of the office with the report in her hand North stopped in the doorway and gave Hannah a somewhat annoyed glance. "I can't believe Markus actually wants to have one of those some day."

Shaking his head Simon just pulled the changing mat out of the diaper bag and smoothed it over his desk as he placed Hannah down atop of it to give her a much needed diaper change. "Don't take it personally, Hannah. North doesn't seem to like anyone except for Markus. She just tolerates the rest of the world."

The rest of the afternoon shift seemed to be going about as routinely and smoothly as possible for the officers in charge, and yet Gavin's sudden departure felt a little off. It wasn't like the Sergeant to back down from a fight with Connor, especially when his ego was on the line, and to see him leave without a word or being told to cool off by Captain Fowler was all the stranger. Tina was trying to locate her partner but Gavin wasn't answering her texts which always meant he needed to be left alone, so in turn she told Captain Fowler he went home sick for the day to keep her partner from getting in trouble for leaving his shift early.

"I'm going to order from the local diner down the street, kid." Hank stated as he picked up his phone and turned on the app to place his order. "I'll give ya' the cash and you can bring it here for me."

"That sounds reasonable."

"I also put in an order for one of their brand new Thirium based cookies for you to try, so I'm also gonna' give you a little extra cash to give them a nice tip for being accommodating and open minded."

"I like that idea. Thank you."

"Sure." Passing Connor some money from his wallet Hank gave the young deviant a quick smirk. "Be sure to let them know you're a cop, it might help with getting extra treats on the side or something."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah, when I was a rookie I saved a pizza delivery boy from getting mugged and ever since that particular pizza joint has given me extra toppings without ever charging me for them."

"Oh, that explains why you always order from that one place."

"Yup."

"I'll be back soon." Pocketing the money Connor took his leave of the precinct to walk down the block to get to the small diner on the corner. Once inside Connor was met with a wave of conflicting aromas from so many different meals being cooked at the same time, and did his best to tune out the white noise of so many human voices chatting among each other. "Now I know why Hank asked me to go in his stead. It's quite crowded here."

A waitress saw Connor come in and noticed the L.E.D. glowing in his temple. "Hey, are you hear to pick up an order that included a Thirium cookie?"

"That is correct. The order should be under the name Hank Anderson from the local precinct."

"That's the one. It's almost finished, it should only be another five minutes or so."

"I understand, thank you."

As Connor stayed back and patiently waited for the order to be finished he felt a gentle hand wrap around his left wrist as another waitress got his attention in a subtle manner. "Excuse me, did I hear that you work for the police department?"

"Yes." Confirming the question Connor showed the waitress his badge and told her his name. "My name is Sergeant Connor Anderson."

"I think I might need your help."

"Oh?" His blue L.E.D. shifted to yellow quickly. "What's wrong?"

"There's a guy in the back booth who's been here for almost five hours. I think he's sick or maybe drunk."

"Has been aggressive to you or anyone else?"

"No, but he's a little out of it and I was about to call 911 to see if the paramedics could help him out."

"Thank you, I'll take a look at him and if it becomes necessary I'll contact emergency services."

Pocketing his badge Connor walked into the back of the diner to check on the seemingly inebriated customer, only to stop short upon recognizing the man's face and immediately knew that the man wasn't drunk, he was in fact sick. Sitting down in the booth across from the man sprawled out over the surface of the empty table Connor picked up the man's wrist and counted his pulse. "...Gavin?"

The dazed detective lifted up his head slowly from the table and gave Connor a pissed off glare. "...Don't touch me!"

"My apologies." With his L.E.D. cycling a nervous yellow Connor lowered his voice and spoke to Gavin with only respect in his words. "You are ill."

"...Not sick." Pressing his right palm over his eyes he pulled back and used his left hand to pull a small plastic container from a hidden pocket beneath the left front portion of his leather jacket, and placed the plastic case down on the table. "...Blood sugar's fucked up."

"I see. Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Nooooooo." Dragging out the response in a slurred sarcasm Gavin shot Connor a dirty look. "...I can take care of myself."

"Again I didn't imply to the contrary, I was merely asking if you needed to see a doctor."

"Fuck off!"

"Not until I know you're going to be okay."

"I'm fine, beat it."

"You're not fine. You're angry and ill."

"NOT. SICK."

"...But you are angry."

"Fuck yeah, I am!"

Connor could hear the other patrons in the diner whispering amongst themselves upon hearing the uncivilized outburst. "Please, lower your voice and do not draw any unwanted attention to yourself."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Gavin, you're making yourself a public nuisance and are disturbing the peace. I don't want to have to arrest you; the waitresses here already know that I'm a cop."

"Oh, fuck you!"

"Last chance. Either lower your voice or I inform Captain Fowler of your current location."

Shaking his head as he opened up the plastic case Gavin shrugged off his jacket and placed his left arm down on the table to adjust his blood sugar with his insulin injection. "...Fuck Fowler, too."

"You should at least let Tina know that you're here. She has been trying to locate you and seems worried."

"...I'll talk to Tina later." Hearing the name made Gavin mellow out considerably as he used a sterilized alcohol wipe to clean the bend of his left arm to administer his injection. "...Don't worry about it."

"Considering you've been officially cleared for the day under the nature of being ill courtesy of Tina, and I am currently off the clock as I'm on my break, we can speak to one another person to person rather than officer to officer. Please tell me why you're so angry."

"Why the fuck do you care?"

"Because I can see you're in distress and I don't want you to get wounded in the line of duty if you're not able to fully focus as you should."

"...I can focus just FINE."

"Is that why you let your blood sugar get so dangerously low that you're on the verge of blacking out?"

"...Fuck you." Holding the preloaded syringe over his left vein with his right hand Gavin lowered his hand down, but it was shaking too much to accurately locate the vein he needed. "...Fuck."

Without a word Connor grabbed onto Gavin's right wrist to help him hold his hand steady as Gavin located the vein and administered his insulin. "...I don't know why you hate me and I don't care, but why you hate Hannah is-"

"I don't hate your kid." Gavin stated in a slightly more clear voice as the insulin steadily worked to balance out his sugar levels and help him regain his senses as he sat at the booth. "...I hate that you get to have one."

The answer was unexpected and made Connor's brow furrow with confusion. "...Are you jealous?"

"No! I'm pissed."

"...I don't understand."

Yanking his right arm out of Connor's grip Gavin slumped back in the booth and sighed. "You get to take care of a newborn baby, fought tooth and nail to protect her and raise her as your own, and have the courts on your side... But when I needed someone to look after me as a kid no one could give a single shit."

Things were beginning to make sense. "...You were abandoned as a child and no one helped you?"

Fighting back his own emotions Gavin lowered his voice and looked away from Connor bitterly. "Worse. I was stuck with my piece of shit parents until I was fifteen and then removed by foster care. I went to a nice family until I was eighteen and that was the end of it. I never had a real family and no one bothered to help me until after," his left fingertips trailed over the scar on his nose as he sighed deeply. "I was too hurt to pick myself back up. I'm pissed that you fought so much to help one baby, but no one fought for me."

"I see. You're angry that the childcare system is still so broken and at times corrupt." The memories of the social worker attempting to sabotage Connor's case for custody over Hannah was still vivid in his mind. "You're not angry at me or Hannah, you're angry that I was successful in helping Hannah because no one helped you."

"It's petty garbage, I know."

"No. It's emotional projection. Your anger is founded but I'm not the one who hurt you."

"Yeah, whatever."

"You seem stable now." Connor cybernetically ran a scan over Gavin's person and found his vitals all in normal parameters. "I'm going to pick up Hank's lunch and return to the precinct. I suggest you go back to your apartment to rest, and to keep the diner staff from being worried about you."

"Fine, I'm gone. Just don't tell anyone about this."

"I won't. It was off the clock."

Scoffing at the comment Gavin slipped back on his jacket and packed up his medical kit. "...Plastic freak."

With Hannah now settled down for the evening Simon continued to watch over her as she napped in the bassinet and set about his new report regarding the deviants under his care in the emergency repair bay. As he used his right hand to gently rock Hannah back and forth in the bassinet Simon sensed someone joining him in the office and his blue eyes lit up as he saw Josh's face admiring the baby.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself." Josh knelt down beside the bassinet to get a closer look at Hannah. "North said you were babysitting and the way she said it made me think you were attending a funeral."

"She doesn't seem to like kids."

"A lot of people don't."

"I was surrounded by entitled college kids before I took off and ran to Jericho, but I never spent time around small children."

"Yeah? Want to try holding her?"

"Won't that wake her up?"

"Not if you're gentle." Slowing the rocking motion of the bassinet Simon lowered his hands into the small bed and picked up Hannah without waking her up as he did. Keeping his motions slow and careful he passed Hannah over to Josh's arms to hold for himself. "See? As long as you're gentle and calm she'll stay quiet and sleep comfortably."

"...Wow. She's so small."

"She won't be for too much longer."

"It's kind of nice knowing that this little human is going to grow up and be one of our allies."

"And I think it'd be even nicer if more of us androids could have the chance to take care of human children, too."

"You want one of your own to take care of?"

"I really do. I love kids."

"...I'll keep that in mind." Standing up slowly from the floor Josh held Hannah in his arms and smiled at her sleeping face. "Connor is very lucky. He gets the chance to be the first android to really have a baby, a family of his own, and we just get to watch her grow up from afar."

"Markus says he's working on a new law to help the androids get the chance to adopt. That'd be... amazing."

"You're right, it would." Adjusting Hannah as she made small noises and squirmed in her sleep Josh felt an odd sense of peace fall over him. "It might be a new kind of challenge for us to undertake in the future."

"...Us?"

"Well," blushing a little Josh cleared his throat awkwardly as he tried to clarify his comment to his dearest friend. "you know. Maybe we could have our own kids, or... Yeah. You know."

Simon closed his eyes as he received a cybernetic message from Connor and smirked a little. "Connor's pulling down the driveway. It's time for this 'little one' to go meet her dad in the lobby." Quietly Simon picked up the diaper bag from the floor and let Josh carry Hannah for him as they left the office to get to the elevator and head on down to the lobby. "I imagine Connor is anxious to be reunited with her, and I know she'll be happy to see him, too."

It was almost midnight and Connor was still awake. Watching over Hannah as she slept peacefully in her crib, the first night in almost a full week where she didn't fuss and deal with colic before going down to sleep, Connor admired his small daughter and was truly grateful to have her in his life. Thinking about what Gavin had said and how the fate of one child being lost through the cracks of the foster care system broke his heart. He tried to not imagine how differently Hannah's life could've been if her evil grandmother won custody, but it was hard to not think about.

"Connor, go to sleep." Hank whispered from the opened bedroom doorway. "She's fine."

"I know. I'm just fascinated by her."

"Kid, you need to sleep."

"...I'm fine."

"Sure, you say that now but when you keep putting off your rest mode to stay up with Hannah you keep pushing yourself closer and closer to exhaustion."

Looking over at Hank as he stayed in the doorway Connor nodded a little and adjusted the small blanket over Hannah's legs to make sure she was still comfortable and warm. "Okay, I'll enter rest mode."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes. I just can't stop thinking and I know you dislike it."

"Connor, don't act like you thinking about the future is a bad thing, it's just one of those things that needs to be handled in small doses instead of all at once."

"I know."

"If you're worried that you're somehow going to mess up Hannah as she grows up, stop. You're too empathetic and patient to make such a mistake. And I'll be there to help you out."

"Thank you, Hank."

"Now, go to sleep." Looking down at Hannah himself as he silently entered the room Hank used his right index finger to lightly caress Hannah's left cheek before he went into his own bedroom for the night. "We can start looking at bigger houses tomorrow, and then you can focus on that stuff."

"Yes, you're right."

"Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight, Hank." Sighing as he looked down at Hannah's face once more Connor smirked a little and made her another promise. "You won't be lost or forgotten about, Hannah. I swear to it that you'll always be safe and happy."

-next chapter-