Brooke rolled over in the bed, groaning at her aching body. Connor really couldn't control himself last night. She felt his side of the bed was cold and empty, he had been up for a while. She looked at her bedside table to see a small piece of paper.
Gone to help around the farm and meet the animals.
Find me when you're awake.
-Your love.
Brooke smiled at the note, she was happy he was getting out of the house and keeping productive. She looked at her phone, seeing it was nearly 10 am, she'd slept in longer than usual. She rolled out of bed and went straight for a steaming hot shower to help her aching joints.
The night before was magical but nearly broke her. She wasn't sure she could do this all the time for Connor, but the thought of not satisfying him really hit her hard.
Connor had been awake since 6, the noises outside from the chickens woke him up. He couldn't help himself but go and look around. During his stroll, he bumped into a young lad who was mucking out the horse stables. He introduced himself as Jackson, soon enough Connor found himself joining the eighteen-year-old.
By 9 am, they had finished all the stables, milked the cows and fed all the animals. Usually, they'd not be done until 11 am. Connor was currently brushing the goats and hand feeding them treats at the same time when he looked up at a barn that seemed to be shut and barely stable enough to call a barn.
"Jackson," he shouted, getting the lads' attention. The young ginger-haired kid looked up from behind a goat, staring at Connor. It seemed the lad was somewhat scared of Connor, the android was a tank compared to the skinny, sweet kid, but Connor tried his best to treat the kid with respect and humoured him at times.
"What is that barn?" Connor asked as he pointed at it. Jackson looked before walking over to him to explain.
"The barn came with the property when Mr Quinn bought this land. He never used it, he said it was not worth the trouble and we never gave it a second thought. We can't even get inside." Connor raised a brow at him, the barn was definitely old. Early 21st century old, it creaked against the wind and all the windows were either smashed or completely pulled out.
"Why can't you get inside?" Connor asked as he stood up, Jackson backed away when the tall android towered over him.
"Apparently we cannot pull the doors open, you'd need a tractor which would probably pull the whole thing down." Connor hummed at his response and was now intrigued. He said his goodbyes to the young lad and left the corral, locking the gate behind him and went to see the barn.
Brooke had come outside, saying hello to some of the workers she knew. They were always friendly and asked her many questions about Detroit and her work. Brooke found the goat carrol Connor was just in, she leant against the gate and saw Jackson cleaning up.
"Excuse me, have you seen Connor?" Jackson looked up at her, he seemed surprised to see her. She'd never seen this kid before, he was shorter than her, pale and skittish.
"I'm John's daughter, Brooke. Nice to meet you," she called, trying to get some sort of conversation from the kid.
"Oh, hello Miss Quinn. Connor is over by the old barn." Brooke looked past the kid and saw Connor standing in front of the barn, studying it as he scratched his chin.
"Thanks, but call me Brooke," she said with a wave as she jogged over to the barn. Jackson half waved back as he watched her leave. "Babe?" she called as she got closer. Connor turned to her voice, smiling when she came to a stop next to him.
"Morning, my love. I wondered when you might wake up," he joked as he kissed her cheek. Brooke smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"Well, after last night, I needed the sleep," she whispered with a kiss to his ear. "What are you doing anyway?" Connor pulled himself away and walked up to the barn doors, they were at least eleven feet tall, they creaked when he put his hand on it.
"Jackson said no one could get this open, I wanted to see why." Brooke looked at the barn, it was there when she was a kid and wasn't something she paid much mind to.
"We've had this for years, not worth it..." She was cut off when Connor groaned as he pulled the door's metal, moulded handles. The doors creaked against the weight being pulled, Connor pulled harder, digging his boots into the ground as the door started to move.
"Jesus, Connor," Brooke shouted as the doors started to pull, they rubbed against the hard, overgrown grass. Connor dropped one arm to move Brooke, not wanting her to get hit with the door. He then pulled harder, near grumbling as his arm muscles worked at the top peak.
Jackson and most of the workers heard the creaking and came to watch, they all watched with shocked expressions as the one young man pulled the doors completely open. Connor finally let go, the doors now as wide as they could go. He panted, letting his systems try and cool down.
"Brooke!" John shouted as he stormed over to them both. Connor stood up taller, wiping the small amount of sweat away. "What is going on here?" he asked as he looked at them and the open barn. A layer of thick dust came out towards them, making them all but Connor cough.
"Connor just opened the barn doors," Brooke explained as she waved the dust away, trying to not cough between words. John looked at Connor, he seemed pissed at first, but a small smile crept to his lips.
"We've tried many times before, many men tried at once and we couldn't get it to budge." He looked into the empty, dusty barn. "How did you do it?"
Connor looked at Brooke, he wasn't sure how he could exactly explain that without giving away he has super strength, which would give it away he was human. "Just luck, sir. I guess I just pulled it at the right time."
"I doubt that," he replied. "Well done, son." He moved closer to him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry for what I said yesterday. If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything."
Connor smiled at him, nodded with appreciation. "I understand, sir. I wouldn't expect you to know anyway. Let's start fresh," he said with his hand open to be accepted. Brooke smiled at both men as they shook hands, agreeing to start over.
"Right," John announced as he watched them all. "Let's get back to work. Jackson, how are you doing?" The young lad approached them, a small smile as he spoke.
"I am all done, sir." John looked at him in shock, Jackson was one of his slowest workers, but he never told the kid that. He let him get on with it and never rushed him.
"How? You've never finished this early." Jackson looked at Connor with a big smile.
"I had help from Connor. We finished it all by 9 am." John looked at Connor, he was shocked. This man who he treated like shit the day before still helped his employees and his livelihood.
"Thank you, Connor," he said with a gentle shake on his shoulder. "Now, how about you and my daughter go horse riding?" Brooke almost bounced at the idea, she hadn't been horse riding in nearly three years.
"Please tell me you still have Sugar?" John only just partly nodded before she took off towards the stables.
"You best follow her, son," John chuckled as he turned Connor towards the stables.
Connor had never seen a horse before until he stood in front of a dapple skin Thoroughbred. The horse watched him as he slowly approached, carrot in hand. Brooke was next to him, making sure he was okay.
"What is his name?" he asked as he held his hand out to the horse and let it take the carrot, he bobbed his head with a show of his teeth, expressing he was happy with the carrot.
"Eclipse," Brooke replied. "Dad got him six years back, old owners said he was uncontrollable. Turns out he just wanted some friends, once he met the other horses, a new Eclipse was born."
"Am I riding him?" Brooke nodded, she turned to the side to grab the saddle and bridle.
"Yeah, why don't you give it a go and put his riding gear on? I will get Sugar ready in the stall next door." Before he could reply she left him to it, looking at the stable door behind her.
"Okay, I can do this," he muttered to himself. Eclipse bobbed his head again, seeming to give him confidence. Connor decided the best thing to do would be to look up through his processes what he was meant to do.
Brooke had Sugar ready, she grabbed her riding boots and helmet as she led the chestnut Thoroughbred towards Connor. "You ready?" she called as she stopped next to the stall, she gasped when she saw him finishing the last of the saddle, it all looked correct down to the smallest detail. "Wow, you know what you're doing."
"Good thing about being able to access the internet at any time," he replied as he grabbed the side of Eclipse's reins and led him outside.
They both went towards the closed-off paddock before climbing on, Brooke was about to tell him what to do, but it was pointless. Connor knew what he was doing and ten minutes after they started he was a master at the sport.
"You know, I forget you're an android at times, but Jesus do you learn everything so quickly?" she shouted as she set up some jumps for them both. Brooke had horse ridden for years and considered herself a near expert, but Connor blew her out of the park.
"I am designed to be perfect at anything, I can learn a whole new language in fifteen minutes if you asked," he smugly replied. Brooke chuckled as she climbed back into Sugar, lightly kicking the horse into a canter towards the jump.
She landed it perfectly, turning the horse around to wait for Connor. He also did it with no faults, they both brought the horse close together, Sugar dug her foot into the ground as Eclipse sniffed her face. They both laughed at the horses.
"I'm glad we did this together, it's romantic," Brooke said as he looked at her. Connor nodded, looking at her lips as he slowly placed his hand against her cheek.
"I love you, Brooke," he whispered.
"I love you too," she replied as her lips gently pressed against hers. The kiss only lasted a second before Sugar was dramatic and pulled away. "She knows how to ruin the moment," Brooke joked.
"How's it going?" John called from the gate, they both turned to look at him.
"Good, we were just finishing up," Brooke called back. John smiled as he opened the gates for them both to come out and jump down from the horses. Jackson came along and took the horses off to be washed down and fed.
They all walked back towards the house, Connor took his helmet off, his hair didn't budge a little from it, but Brooke's hair was a hot mess. "You and your perfect hair," she chuckled. Connor patted her hair down, laughing at her as it bounced right back up.
"I wanted to know if you both would like to go out for dinner tonight?" Connor's smile quickly fell as John asked. Brooke was about to answer when Connor walked into the door, slamming his nose into the frame of it.
"Fuck," he hissed. He wasn't sure why it hurt, maybe because he wasn't expecting it? He rubbed his nose, John and Brooke both surrounded him, concerned.
"You okay?" Brooked asked as she rubbed his cheek.
"Yeah, fine," he replied. Connor knew why he wasn't expecting to walk into the door. He was so surprised at John's invitation it took all his attention away from his sight, he could only look at the man, not what was in front of him.
"That was quite the bang, son. We should check your nose," John said with concern. Connor just shook his head, he knew he didn't do damage. Not until he pulled his hand away and blue blood was in his hand, his HUD then lit up, he had busted the metal noise bridge and cracked up one of his blue blood circulators.
"Why... why is your blood... blue?" John asked with concern. Both Brooke and Connor looked at him, their lips trembled. "Your... an... android..."
A/N: Dun, Dun, cliffhangers. So the title might be confusing, but if we remember Connor is now Connor Anderson, taking Hank's name as his adopted son. I was trying to figure out how John should find out Connor was an android, in the end, I thought the least expected way, an android walking into a door. Not something you would see every day, but hey, we all make mistakes. See you next time!