The unfortunate circumstance of an auto accident left Connor and Hannah stranded in the middle of downtown with no way to get back to the house by vehicle. Unwilling to walk the distance with Hannah exposed to the bright spring sunlight, and not wanting to leave the Oldsmobile parked at the department store parking lot all night long Connor sighed and decided he'd have to find a way to pass the time until the traffic was cleared up before he could even try to head back home with his daughter.

Fortunately the precinct was only two blocks away and the safe space would be ideal for Hannah to stay until everything in the city settled down.

"Come on, Hannah." Holding his daughter to his chest as he walked down the sidewalk Connor kissed her left cheek and watched as she happily held on to her stuffed white kitty in her hands. "We can go to the precinct and wait for the accident to be cleaned up. I know the bullpen will enjoy your company."

Entering the large building with his daughter in his arms and her diaper bag slung over his right shoulder Connor was greeted warmly by the receptionist androids, and was soon swarmed by Tina who was more than willing to take a minute out of her day to visit Hannah.

"Hi, Hannah!" Smiling at the happy baby Tina gently put her hands on Hannah's perfect pigtails approvingly. "Looks like your daddy master hair styling, huh?"

Hannah let out a happy sound as Connor let Tina take her from his arms.

"What brings you by on your day off, Connor?"

"We're waiting for an accident to be cleared off the road before attempting to return home."

"Gotcha'. Traffic jams in this kind of heat can be brutal, especially for a little baby."

"Agreed. Being here will ensure Hannah remains comfortable and safe."

"Well, I know I'll keep her entertained for a while. I just started my break and I know I could use some companionship that won't be complaining about suspects or reeking of stale coffee."

"You don't have to watch her, Tina."

"I know I don't." Taking the diaper bag from Connor's shoulder Tina smirked again and went off with Hannah to have her break. "But I want to! I'm not having a kid any time soon, so being able to spoil my coworkers kids rotten will have to do for now."

"I see..."

With Hannah now being thoroughly entertained Connor decided to busy himself at his and Hank's desk, not to do any actual work but to clean off the desks now that Hank wasn't around to complain about it, or call Connor a 'neat-freak'.

Carefully picking up the empty coffee mugs, pens, pencils, notepads and tablets from Hank's side of the desk Connor swept his arm over the surface to push all the empty fast food containers, bags and wrappers into the nearby trashcan for proper disposal. Just as he was about to carry the empty mugs into the breakroom to washed at long last the sound of a belligerent and angry man shouting profanities sounded off as Chris and Gavin dragged a obviously high man into the precinct for questioning.

Noting that the two officers were struggling with the six foot four man, his strength seemingly doubled thanks to the drugs in his system, Connor rushed over to help them both out and drag the man into interrogation to cool off. The room was sound proofed which meant it'd be more productive to keep him locked up in the isolated room rather than lock him up with other suspects a few feet away from the officers who had just arrested him.

"We got his ass, you plastic-prick!" Gavin grumbled as the three officers worked together to drag the suspect into interrogation. "What the fuck are you even doing here?"

"I'm waiting for traffic to-"

"FUCK YOU!" The man shouted in anger as he tore his arm from Gavin's grip and elbowed him right in the ribs.

Falling to his knees Gavin wrapped his arms around his chest as he fell forward onto the floor, his forehead resting against the cool tile, and tried to catch his breath after being violently winded. "...F-Fuck..."

Connor looked back at Gavin and ran a scan over the human to check for any sign of internal damage, but fortunately the worst of Gavin's injuries was a deep bruise forming over his sternum. Nothing had been broken, fractured or even dislocated.

Chris wanted to go back to help Gavin but the Sergeant lifted his hand to silently tell his colleagues to not worry about him.

The sound of the door opening and then sliding shut again gave Gavin a moment of reprieve as he knew the man was now locked up and he was no longer looming overhead.

"...Asshole." Rocking back on his knees Gavin used his left hand to support his weight as he stood up from the ground and limped back toward the bullpen to catch his breath. His legs were shaking and he was feeling a little lightheaded. "...That was a cheap shot."

"Gav?" Tina noticed that her partner was struggling to get to his desk and approached him curiously. With Hannah still on her hip Tina gave the winded detective a worried once-over. "What happened?"

"That ass-" Seeing Hannah made Gavin stop short and correct his chosen term. "That jerk elbowed me in the chest."

"Did he break anything?"

Pressing his right palm over his chest Gavin took in a slow deep breath and then released it just as slowly. "...No. I'm just sore."

"Here." Passing Hannah over to Gavin to hold for a moment Tina set off for the breakroom for a moment. "I'll get you some ice to hold on your ribs."

"It's fine, Tina." Holding onto Hannah in a gentle grip Gavin winced a little as the added weight of holding the eight month old had unexpectedly pulled on Gavin's sore ribs. "...Ow. Wait," recognizing Hannah's face Gavin was suddenly wary of the small child. "is this Connor's kid?"

"Yup."

"Maybe you should take her-"

"Don't be a wuss!" Tina ignored her partner's complaint as she went in search of the ice pack as promised. "She's not going to hurt you!"

Hannah smiled up at Gavin as she showed him her stuffed kitty and made small noises that were surprisingly close to words.

"So... You like cats, huh?" Looking at her toy Gavin smirked a little pressed the toy's nose up against Hannah's nose to give her a little 'boop'. "I gotta' cat, too. Her name is 'Lucky'. Not the most original name, but since I managed to rescue her from the apartment parking lot so she didn't get run over or something, I'd say that was pretty darn lucky."

Laughing at the way Gavin was playing with the toy Hannah made lots of happy sounds and her blue eyes lit up happily.

"Seems like the 'Tinman' is taking pretty good care of you. You're happy, you're healthy... You have someone to love you." Watching as Hannah pulled her toy from his hands only to offer it back to share Gavin gave the baby an envious stare. Her innocence and joy was something to be coveted. "You're lucky, too. I wish I had someone in my life who had taken the time to help me out when needed it as a kid."

"Well, you can't undo the past." Tina quipped as she rejoined her partner and Hannah at their connected desks. Handing him the ice pack Tina lightly fussed with Hannah's pigtails as the baby's soft hair was just begging to be combed through. "You're okay now, Gav. Your crappy parents are gone," automatically censoring herself because of the baby sitting beside her Tina tried to reassure her partner's lingering worries. "you're your own man and you're protecting innocent people every day. You're so much better than either one of them."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't make the memories and nightmares go away."

Putting the diaper bag on the floor beside the desk Tina gave Gavin a somewhat surprised glance. "Again with the nightmares?"

"Can't help it, Tina."

"I know you can't, but come on... Your ex isn't going to bother you again."

"Hey, I was in high school and I was an idiot. Idiocy takes a while to get over."

"Have you even seen George since you transferred high schools?"

"No," pressing the ice to his sore ribs Gavin sighed and let the coldness numb his burning pain. "but he was a monster and I don't want him hurting me or anyone else. That bas- jerk threw me against a wall and tried to strangle me. The only reason he stopped is because the principal happened to catch him and pulled him off of me. George threatened to kill me if I tried to break-up with him, and it turns out he wasn't bluffing. I should've known..."

"Have you spoken to the precinct 'shrink' about this?"

"Why would I?"

"Maybe it'd explain why you turned away your sexuality from men and keep getting in toxic relationships with women?"

"Maybe I'm just bi and have shi- crappy taste in people in general." Noting the offense in Tina's eyes Gavin defended himself. "Present company excluded!"

"Darn right."

"Besides, people can't help who they fall in love with. If we had any say over it then no one would be trapped in an abusive relationship to begin with."

"You and Patricia fight again?"

"Gee, how'd you know?"

"Cop's intuition."

From within his own office Captain Fowler noted Tina at her desk and opened up his closed office door to call out to her for a moment. The skilled officer had been asking about taking the detective's test to take a step up, and now that it was relatively quiet in the bullpen Captain Fowler decided it was time to speak with her.

"Tina." His deep voice called out in a level tone. "In my office."

"Coming Cap'!" Handing Hannah back over to Connor she gave her partner a smug look. "Hannah is staying here until traffic clears and Connor and head home. Enjoy baby-time while you can!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Holding Hannah on his lap Gavin continued to entertain her with the toy and hold his ice to his sore ribs. "I bet if you had nightmares or a bad break-up, or anything crappy in general happen in your life you'd have your father there to help you through it. You really are lucky. Not everyone gets to have a father to rely on."

Hannah giggled and pulled at the stuffed kitty in Gavin's hands as he danced it around in front of her eyes and kept 'booping' her nose with the toy's nose.

"Hard to believe that piece of plastic has been a better father to you in the past couple months than either of my parents had done for me throughout my entire life. You know, uh..." Looking Hannah in her eyes Gavin gave the small baby a sincere stare. "Your dad and me don't get along well, but he is a pretty good guy. I mean, anyone who would risk their own life to save a total stranger... Let alone end up adopting a baby who had been abandoned without having a second thought about it... He has to be a good guy, right?"

Smiling at the kitty and biting onto its ear Hannah just laughed and smiled around her toy as she made small noises in Gavin's direction.

"...Yeah. He's gotta' be a good guy." Gavin had to remind himself that everyone isn't necessarily dangerous. "Plastic or human that 'Tinman' has a real heart after all."

-next chapter-

Author's Note: I had always written Gavin as a straight character because that's just how I imagined he'd be, but I recently learned that a majority of the writers/actors in the game confirm that Gavin is supposed to be gay. So a little "retconning" on his character in this story will more accurately reflect his character as he had been originally written/portrayed in the game itself, plus give him some emotional background.