It was now the middle of December and Connor had wrapped up Hannah in a protective warm yellow colored winter coat over top of her purple 'onesie' an extra layer of purple pants, and pink hat, small pink mittens and thick pink slippers to help the five month old keep warm as the frigid winter air began to set in. After doing his usual weekly grocery shopping; picking up fresh diapers, formula, fresh fruits and veggies and yet another book for Hannah, as well as picking up some groceries and other essentials for Hank, the deviant father decided that since Hannah had been behaving so well during their weekly outings and since Christmas just a few weeks away that he'd take her into a local toy store to find her a gift or two to open up on Christmas Day.
Celebrating the holiday was Hank's idea, and he had even gone out of his way to recover the old Christmas decorations he had buried in storage after losing Cole, and was really getting into the holiday spirit for the first time in almost five years. Not wanting to disappoint his father or let Hannah's first Christmas go by without acknowledgment Connor chose to step up and begin shopping for gifts for his family.
"It's rather crowded, huh, Hannah?" Connor addressed his daughter as he carried her in his arms and against his chest. With Hannah facing the store ahead of himself and her diaper bag hanging off his right shoulder Connor let the baby see the world around her as he walked down the first aisle of toys and waited for Hannah to find something that interested her. "I'm glad people don't shop like this all year round, it'd make grocery day a lot more taxing."
As he slowly walked through the aisles waiting for Hannah to react to a new toy or anything new and exciting in general Connor could feel someone staring at him; watching his every move. Testing his theory Connor skipped over the next aisles to get to the rear of the store to begin moving forward toward the doors, rather than move from the front of the store to the rear, and Connor noted that the same person of interest continued to follow after him. He was also trying to discreetly use his phone to record the deviant and baby as they went about their business.
"We're being watched..." Cybernetically Connor contacted the precinct to let them know of the potential threat, and uploaded an image of the man's face to the precinct to try to get an identity. Tightening his arms around Hannah as the memory and flashback of being confronted at the park by an angry bigot filled his mind Connor sighed and kept himself calm. "Don't worry, Hannah. I won't let anyone harm you."
Acting as normal as possible Connor continued to walk down the aisles of toys and waited for Hannah to show an interest toward any new toy on the dozens of shelves. Passing by a wide selection of stuffed animals Hannah suddenly made excited noises and reached out for a bright white stuffed kitty cat on the nearby shelf with both of her hands.
"You like the cat?" Connor noted as Hannah kicked excitedly in his arms and tried to grab the toy with her left hand. "Okay." Picking up the toy from the shelf Connor gave to it to Hannah who immediately pulled the stuffed toy in for a weak hug. "Then we'll pay for your new toy and head for home. Now I know what you might like as additional gifts this will making shopping easier."
Making his way to the front register Connor noted the stalking young man's current location and confirmed he was still following Connor and recording him with his phone. Paying for the toy Connor intentionally stood outside the front of the store, shielding Hannah from the cool breeze with his own body, and waited for the stalker to step outside of the store.
Sure enough as Connor walked toward the parking lot, intentionally avoiding the Oldsmobile so the man couldn't get the car's model or license plate, the man followed with his phone still recording him. Pausing beside an unmarked police car Connor nodded at Gavin behind the wheel and watched as he stepped out of the vehicle and approached the man with the phone quickly.
"Hey, buddy." Gavin showed the man his badge and caught his attention with a voice full of authority. "Hands where I can see 'em."
"H-Huh?" The young man stammered and his face paled as he looked at the cop addressing him. "What?!"
"Hands. Up." Taking the phone from the young man's hands Gavin took charge of the scene. "We got a report of some creep stalking another cop and his kid through a toy store, and you fit the build."
"What? No!" Reaching into his own pocket the man presented his own identification that confirmed he was a private investigator. "I'm not stalking anyone, I'm tailing a person of interest. I was hired for a job."
"By who?"
"I'm not at-"
"Kid." Putting more authority in his voice Gavin made sure the young P.I. knew he was in trouble. "Give me a name. You were stalking a fellow officer through a store and recording his every move. Unless you can give us a name and the truth you're in deep shit."
"Al-Alright. I was hired by Debra Wemilat."
"I should've fuckin' known..."
Connor sighed as he kissed the top of Hannah's hair as he stayed beside Gavin's car. "She was legally ordered to stay away from us and if she were to hire anyone to watch us she'd be in direct violation of the restraining order presented by the judge."
The young man paled again as he realized he had in fact screwed up. "Wait... She... She told me that the baby was kidnapped by a faulty android nanny!"
Gavin barked out a single laugh at the ludicrous story the kid believed. "And you BELIEVED that shit?! Are you serious?!"
"Well, I..."
"If the baby HAD been kidnapped then she would've gone to the ACTUAL cops, not hire some rookie 'private dick' who didn't even know to look into the details of the supposed claim instead of just taking word of mouth as fact."
"I... I was told she went to the cops but no one would help her since the nanny android was a former cop. I'm sorry. I messed up."
"Yeah, you did. BIG TIME." Looking at the footage on the phone Gavin sighed and shook his head with disappointment. "You didn't even do a good job at staying discreet! Fuck... You're under arrest for stalking and harassment."
"What?! No!"
"Yup." Pulling his cuffs from his belt Gavin made a move to arrest the kid. "And until you give us the full story and prove that Wemilat put you up to this you're going to be sitting in the interrogation room for a long, LONG time."
Connor sent Hank a cybernetic text message as Gavin cuffed the young man and informed him of his rights. "I'll follow you to the precinct, Gavin. I wish to file a complaint against Debra Wemilat and ensure she is arrested for violating the conditions of the restraining order."
"Fine by me." Opening the rear passenger door of the car Gavin put the arrested young man inside and then gave Connor a somewhat relieved look. "You file reports faster than anyone, so if anything you'll make my end of the report much easier to handle."
It was a little awkward holding Hannah in his arms as he watched the interrogation through the one-way mirror in the connected observation room, but Connor had to know why the young private investigator was stalking him, and he needed to know what Debra Wemilat had told him in order to hire his services. Sitting down in the chair beside Captain Fowler, who was just as interested in the arrest as Connor was, the deviant father gave Hannah prepared bottle of formula and entertained her with her new stuffed kitty toy.
'Your name is Derek O'Neal and just got your clearance to act as P.I., nice work... So spill it.' Gavin ordered as he sat down across from the arrested suspect and waited for the young private investigator to talk. His voice was somewhat muffled by the glass barrier but he was still audible all the same. 'What did Debra Wemilat say to you to get you take her case?'
'Mrs. Wemilat old me that her daughter had a baby last summer and signed over full custody to Mrs. Wemilat as a result. Then Mrs. Wemilat said she had hired a deviant android who was a former detective to be a nanny and bodyguard to the baby when she was working.' Derek was understandably nervous and trembling a little where he sat. 'She said the android went nuts and ran off with the baby, and she said she reported him to the cops who looked the other way since the android used to be a cop and he messed with the official documents making it look like he was the baby's legal guardian.'
'Oh, for fuck sake...' Gavin was as annoyed as Connor was offended. 'Seriously? That Wemilat bitch is the richest person in the whole state! She would've hired the F.B.I., the C.I.A. even the whole fuckin' army to get the kid back if any of that was true!'
'I... I'm beginning to understand that.'
'Uh-huh, so why were you following him around and filming him?'
'Mrs. Wemilat told me if I could get footage of the android being neglectful of the baby then she'd be able to present the evidence to the police force and make them do their job and give her back the baby. That's why I was filming him, I swear!'
'How'd you find him?'
'I went to his old address but the house was up for sale, and none of the neighbors knew where he went, so I used a different method to track him down. I was told which precinct he worked at... This one.' He pointed up at the ceiling as if needing clarify his location. 'I followed his car back to his new house, and then followed him here.'
'Are you seriously that fuckin' stupid?'
'Huh?' Derek was thoroughly confused. 'What do you mean?'
'She said the android USED to work as a cop and yet you found him at a precinct where he STILL works. That should've been red flag number one.'
'...You're right.'
'You should've also verified that Mrs. Wemilat was in fact the baby's legal guardian before you did ANYTHING else. Why didn't you?'
'Well... I...' As the young man wrung his hands together he paled and blushed at the same time. '...She offered me a lot of money, and-'
'She waved a fat check in your face and you did a half-assed job that's going to end up with YOU getting your authority as a private investigator revoked, and it's going to put that Wemilat bitch in jail for violating her RESTRAINING ORDER.'
'She... I didn't know! I didn't know she was crazy! I swear!'
'Obviously!' Pushing an electronic notepad toward Derek's right hand Gavin shot him an angry glare and pointed at the screen. 'Write. Tell us everything that happened and give us the check as evidence. We'll also need any and all texts she sent you, and other proof of her hiring you.'
'O-Of course... Yeah.' Taking the pad in his hand Derek picked up the stylus and began writing his statement. 'I'll cooperate fully.'
Having heard the confession and now knowing that Debra Wemilat had tried to make another move toward Hannah put Connor on edge. Tightening his arms around the baby as she finished off her formula Connor sighed and gave her another kiss on her hair.
Captain Fowler took notice of the reaction and thought about how he'd feel if one of his own kids was being stalked by a crazy person. "Want us to put patrol around your neighborhood for a while?"
"...Please."
"Consider it done."
"Thank you, Captain."
"Just file your report and I'll have a warrant for Debra Wemilat's arrest approved. We have all the proof we need through Derek, so just take care of your report and head on home. Chris will pick her up, I'll tell the judge and I'll make sure this 'slips' to the media so she can be shamed all over again."
"Right... I'll take care of my report." Exiting the observation room with Hannah still in his arms Connor gave his daughter a kind smirk as he entered the bullpen. "I promise that I'll keep you safe, Hannah. No one will harm you."
"Hey." Tina noticed Connor and Hannah, and her eyes lit up immediately. "I heard what happened. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just need to file a report." Sitting down at his desk with Hannah on his lap Connor used his left hand to gentle run through Hannah's dark locks of hair as they grew longer, and used his right hand to type up his report quickly. "Thank you for your concern."
"Hannah is just too cute." Kneeling down beside Connor's chair Tina offered Hannah her finger to hold and smile kindly at the baby. "And her hair is already so long!"
"Yes, I'm contemplating either cutting it until she's older."
"No, don't do that! Baby hair is so soft and so much fun to play with!"
Connor's eyes drifted over to Tina for a moment as an interesting idea popped into his head. "Do you know how to properly tend to hair for an infant?"
"Of course! One of the perks to being the big sister is having a little sister with long hair to play with."
"Could you-"
"Yes!" Beaming brightly Tina gently lifted Hannah up from Connor's lap and took the diaper bag from his shoulder. "I'll show you a few simple styles that'll keep her hair from tickling her face or getting in her eyes."
"Thank you."
Fishing the small soft brush from the pocket of the bag, how she knew her way around a diaper bag was a wonder, Tina then opened her top drawer of her desk where she kept various hair ties, clips, barrettes and even small ribbons for either herself or other kids in need of police protection. "This is going to be fun..."
While he typed his report Connor watched Tina's movements very carefully and observed how she gently brushed Hannah's hair, pulled the locks back into a simple bundle at the top of Hannah's head, and used a simple strand of pink ribbon to tie the hair into a neat and tiny bundle with a bow. With her long hair pulled back Hannah looked more comfortable and the little bow made her look like a small present.
"Ta-da!" Proud of her own work Tina turned Hannah around so they were face to face and cuddled with her for a moment before adding some additional hair ties and ribbons into the diaper bag for Connor to use later. "You look so cute!"
Appreciative of Gavin for quickly going to the store to arrest the stalking man, Captain Fowler for assigning more patrol to his neighborhood and Tina for helping him learn to style his daughter's hair Connor felt more at ease. "Thank you."
"No problem! If you need help with anything else with the little one just ask." She was truly content as she kept Hannah entertained and made sure she was happily laughing. "I want a refresher course before I have my own baby. Or six!"
"...Six?"
"Well, more than one anyway." Grinning as she used the new toy kitty to make Hannah laugh and smile Tina looked truly content. "I'm so glad you were able to give this little lady a loving family. No child should grow up feeling unloved or unwanted."
"...Yes." Remembering how Gavin had grown up alone and angry motivated Connor all the more to keep Hannah safe and happy. "You're right. And I promised Hannah that I'd keep her happy, no matter what. I won't fail her."
-next chapter-
