This was complete bullshit.

Gavin took the corner hard, not at all concerned about how the tires screeched on the pavement. It wasn't his car, why should he care.

He'd rather it was his car. He'd rather be out on the investigation he actually cared about rather than being forced into a standard issue patrol car to follow some fucked up anonymous tip about squatters or some shit.

Who the hell even cared? So someone or ones were crashing in an abandoned building, why was that an issue? They weren't hurting anyone. Maybe themselves since the place looked like the perfect place for a whole new species of mold to develop, but that was their problem, not his.

"Fuck this," he swore out loud, despite being the only one in the car.

He got it, he did. Just because Connor was missing, didn't mean the rest of the world stopped. And as far as the department was concerned, he was a good choice. Gavin knew he had been hard on Connor, downright antagonistic if he was being honest. Of course they would pick the guy who had been vocal about not liking the kid to work other cases.

But that was before. Yeah, they had a long way to go, but they were moving. The precinct just wasn't the same without him and, fuck it, he missed him and wanted him home safe.

And now, instead of helping with the investigation, instead of finding Connor, he gets stuck on some bullshit domestic crap.

Gavin pulled up to the mansion and glared at it as though it were personally responsible for his current mood. He'd burn the whole place down if it meant he could get back to the case that mattered. But no, he was a good cop and was going to do his damn job.

He was just going to be pissed about it.

"Better get this shit over with," he grumbled, kicking the car door open.

The whole building seemed quiet and undisturbed. Unkept dry grass crunched under his shoes as he made a semicircle around the house and tangling weeds threatened to trip him with every step. A quick check, that was all he intended to do. Then maybe a knock on the door to try scaring off the squatters. He didn't really care to put much more effort into the matter.

"Probably isn't even anyone here," Gavin grunted, only more annoyed at the waste of time.

Deciding that it wasn't worth it to even go up to the door, he headed back to his car, shoving his hands in his pockets as he went. "Stupid, fucking, waste of time." He kicked a stone as hard as he could. It bounced against the drive once before skittering into the underbrush near a parked van.

Gavin froze.

There was no way. It couldn't be the same van. He scrambled for his phone, unlocking the screen and pulling up the security photo he had of the vehicle they believed took Connor. His hands were shaking from how perfectly they matched. He knew it was the same before he verified the license plate. Everything, even the dent in the rear bumper was the same.

He didn't waste time with dispatch, choosing instead to call Captain Fowler directly. Gavin had never heard the Captain switch from irritated to downright hopeful in the span of a single sentence before, but that was sure as hell what happened as soon as he mentioned the van.

"Are you sure?" The Captain asked. It wasn't in a doubting manner, he realized. He was gaging how much heat he should deploy on this. They couldn't go in guns blazing without reasonable cause.

More importantly, he was probably trying to determine what to tell Hank.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said without hesitation. Gavin made a slow circle of the van, eliminating any and all doubts about the vehicle. He noted the tracks leading from it, like someone had been dragged. A tiny, painfully familiar shoe lay across the path like a gravemarker. "I'm damn sure. Connor's here, I know he is."

Every available officer, and several that were going to make themselves available, would be sent out immediately. For now, he just had to wait.

Fuck, he hated waiting.

Gavin knew it would only be a few minutes, that they would be there before he knew it, but it still felt like the seconds were ticking by like hours. Connor could be in that house right now. Just a door away. And here he was, standing in the weeds like a garden gnome.

The first squad car came silently, no siren so as not to alert anyone in the house they were there. He was so close to letting himself relax when it pulled up. But then, like a crack of lightning, the unmistakable sound of a gunshot echoed from within the house.

His feet were moving before Gavin could even register where instinct had led him. Fuck backup, they were close enough to count as being there. He had to get into that house now.

The door was, predictably, locked. He kicked at the heavy wood only succeeding in making a hollow thud.

"Fuck!" Gavin swore. He pounded on the solid barrier uselessly. If that shot had something to do with Connor, if he was hurt, or worse…

Chris appeared behind him, pulling him away from his useless assault on the door. He held up the lock-breaker with a small smirk indicating he had, in fact, witnessed his show of idiocy.

Damn it, he was getting to be as bad as Anderson.

The device did its job in seconds.

More officers had filed in, taking position, readying for the encounter as soon as the door opened. And Gavin didn't give a shit. Screw protocol, he had one directive in mind and that was to find the kid. He'd kick the crap out of the assholes that took him if he got the chance, but that was lower on the to-do list.

By the looks on the faces of the other officers, he wasn't alone in his thinking.

They filed in, more uncoordinated in their haste then they would be normally, but it was balanced by the singular focus of retrieving the little boy they had all managed to get so attached to.

The interior of the house was just as rundown as the outside. Dust and cobwebs had overgrown every surface like weeds had done to the exterior. Floorboards squeaked and cracked under their shoes, but not one of them slowed to think about how much noise they were making. This sure as hell wasn't a stealth mission anymore.

It didn't matter either way. The android they were looking for rounded the corner right then, evidently rushing up the stairs from the basement and distracted enough not to notice them immediately. Whatever he was running towards or from was apparently enough to hold his attention until it was too late to run.

To his credit, he followed the orders shouted at him and froze like a deer staring into high beams as soon as he saw the sea of police in the foyer.

Someone, Tina by the sound of it, took charge of issuing demands to the android suspect. It took someone who knew her like Gavin did to pick up on the slight tremor to her voice, the only thing giving away how emotional she was about the situation.

Gavin could hear his own heart beating loudly in his ears. They'd caught him. They actually caught him! But the blue blood that streaked across the android's body was not giving him a good feeling. It didn't appear to be his own, but it was fresh. It had to have come from somewhere.

Horrific visions of finding a much-too-small body clouded his mind, but he shook them away. Murderers didn't run from dead bodies.

"Where's the kid," Chris demanded, voicing Gavin's own thoughts.

The android, stubbornly exercised his right to silence, choosing instead to glare at them. The bastard probably knew that they didn't have any proof he had actually taken Connor, just heavy suspicion. Not until they found him anyway.

They were going to find him, dammit.

With the suspect in custody, they finally began the search of the house. They went in pairs, making sure to have someone at their backs in case an unknown accomplice was hiding somewhere nearby, but Gavin wasn't too worried about that. Especially after Ben called in that another android had been found, violent and wounded. One co-conspirator he would believe, but he felt it unlikely there were more. Still, he remained cautious and stuck close to Chris as they made their sweep of the upper floor.

They were being diligent, looking for anything out of place in the creepy house that looked like if Dr. Frankenstein was into sci-fi instead of horror. They expected creaking and clunking. Odd groaning from old wood. The meow surprised him.

"The hell?" he breathed to himself.

Gavin motioned for Chris to continue on then turned back to the closet door the sound had emanated from. If this dick was smuggling cats too, he was gonna be pissed.

With probably too little caution, Gavin opened the closet. It creaked on its hinges noisily and a tearful gasp was the only warning of what he would find inside.

"Connor!" Gavin cried, heart clenching at seeing the kid again. He was visibly scared, covered in blue blood, and holding both a cat and a gun, but very much alive.

The cat meowed again, displeased by how tightly the small android was holding it. Connor remained silent. He was shaking violently, eyes unfocused even as he stared at Gavin, gun pointed at his chest and finger hovering over the trigger. This wasn't the overly rational robo-cop he was used to. This was a scared little boy.

He'd need to be careful.

"Hey," he called softly, slowly crouching to his level. He'd dealt with traumatized kids before, but they usually weren't armed. "It's ok. It's just me."

Silent tears streamed down Connor's dirty face in rivlets. The shaking didn't stop.

Gavin dared to reach out to him, hoping the contact would comfort rather than startle Connor. He jerked as his fingers brushed against his arm, but thankfully didn't shoot. "It's ok," he repeated. "Come on Tamagotchi, I'm gonna get you back to your dad."

"D…dad?" He said, finally responding.

"Yeah, your dad." Gavin moved closer, getting a gentle hand on him. The cat let out a low warning hiss that he largely ignored. "Hank's been losing his shit worrying about you."

"Dad," Connor repeated shakily.

Gavin nodded slowly, deliberately, reassuring him and being careful not to do anything that would make him startle. "Yup, I'm gonna take you to your dad."

His grip apparently relaxed enough for the cat to wiggle free of his tiny arms. It slid to the ground, ruffling its fluffy white fur and landing on all fours with a soft thump. It gave itself a couple of licks before trotting away unbothered. "Dog?" Connor's tiny voice called after it.

He chose not to comment on the fact that it was quite obviously a cat. Gavin, a well known cat lover, would have gladly gone after the feline if he didn't have something more important to focus on.

"It's ok, let's just get you home. We'll get the cat later," he promised. With the kid distracted he chanced going for the weapon, not trusting it in his terrified little hands. "I'm gonna take this, alright?"

"No!"

The response was immediate and frantic. He reared back, out of Gavin's grasp, and clutched the gun tighter. His fake skin thinned where it stretched over his clenched knuckles whitening like it would on a human.

"Ok, alright!" Gavin relented automatically. He held up his hands in surrender, half certain the kid was actually going to shoot him. There was no way to really tell just how far the fear and panic was distorting his mind. "I won't take it."

"Y-you won't?"

God, the kid was shaking so much he could blow him away by accident. That sure as hell wouldn't be ideal. "No, you can keep it, ok?" Compromise, he needed to present a compromise. This may have been a scared little boy, but it was also still Connor. If anything was going to get through to him, calm him down, it was reason. "But let's put it on safety, huh? How's that, can we do that?"

Wide brown eyes blinked at him like they were only now really seeing him. "Safety?"

"Yeah, safety," he repeated. Cautiously, Gavin reached for the gun again. "I'm gonna put the safety on. We both want to be safe, right?"

"S-safe," Connor echoed unsteadily. Big, watery tears cascaded down his cheeks. "I… I want to be safe."

"Ok." Gavin reached the gun, flipping the little switch without protest from the tiny android. He was well aware it wasn't a perfect solution, the thing was still plenty dangerous, but it was a start. "There we go. If you're gonna shoot me, it sure as hell better not be when I'm rescuing you."

Connor nodded, an unnatural jerking motion, but he finally lowered the gun. He was still crying, but there was more clarity in his eyes than he'd had since Gavin had found him. Progress. Definitely progress.

"Come on, kiddo," Gavin's hand moved from the gun to his shoulder, coaxing the boy forward into his awaiting arms. Never in his wildest imagination would he have imagined tucking Connor of all people into a protective hug, but here they were. "Let's get you home."

The tiny android nodded then wedged his head under Gavin's chin, practically nuzzling him. Gavin's heart sure as hell didn't stutter at the affectionate gesture. He wasn't that fond of the kid. Dammit. He held him a little tighter.

"It means 'friend'," Connor said suddenly through his sniffles.

"What's that now?" Gavin asked, not following the kid's thought process. He hoisted him up out of the closet, settling him comfortably against his chest. He ignored how the handle of the gun dug into his side as the boy clung to him.

"Tamagotchi," he clarified, reminding him of the nickname he had used just a moment ago. "It comes from the Japanese word tomotachi, meaning 'friend'."

"Is it now?" He didn't bother closing the door, turning away and beginning to make for the exit.

Connor nodded again, rubbing his wet nose on his shirt. That really should have grossed him out more than it did. "Does… does that mean we're friends?"

Ok, wow. Shit. He didn't want to be having this conversation. Not now, not when he was coming down from the adrenaline of finding the kid alive and reasonably well. But there it was all the same, and it wasn't like he could just ignore the question.

"Yeah, we are," Gavin admitted, less reluctantly than he intended. "But don't you go spreading that around, you hear me? I'll deny it if anyone asks."

"That's fair," Connor agreed, fully concealing his face in Gavin's shirt. "I'm glad you're my secret friend."

Dammit, no wonder the kid had melted Hank's heart so thoroughly. This shit was hard to resist.

They continued down the hall and Chris ducked out of the room he had just cleared. His eyes went wide as soon as he saw the bundle in Gavin's arms. "Connor?"

"Call it in," he told the other officer. He'd do it himself, but his hands were currently occupied. "Sooner we get him back to Anderson, the better."

Chris immediately agreed, calling it in through the radio and giving Connor a gentle head ruffle. Connor didn't respond much. He kept his face buried in the soft fabric, leaving a wet spot where he continued to cry.

"Oh," Gavin called to Chris before leaving. "Keep your eyes open for a cat. It's Connor's."

He didn't wait for a reply, descending the staircase and heading to the front door. Out of that shithole of a house. Away from the assholes that kidnaped him. Out of danger. The kid's weight in his arms made his heart feel lighter than it had in ages. Gavin's radio was still on, he heard the replies to Chris's announcement, but he didn't really care. He ignored the exclamations of joy along with the various reports that filled in from throughout the house. Android bodies, parts, evidence of horrific experimentation. Even the heavily decayed body that was apparently found in the backyard. He ignored all of it. All that mattered right now, was the scared little boy in his arms that needed his father.