\*/ Magic \*/
Heather doesn't often leave her desk in the lobby. This is a surprise. She stops at the Lieutenant's desk to find him missing, then turns to Connor and asks, "Where's Lieutenant Anderson?"
"On his lunch break. I saw no need to accompany him to Chicken Feed again."
Across the bullpen from his new desk he can't keep himself from interjecting. "You mean he told you to stay because he's tired of you telling him the calories in his burger."
Connor and Heather turn to him, frown, and answer in unison, "It's important he know!" and "Don't be rude."
He returns to his work and tunes out the rest of their conversation, only catching something about more sticky notes.
"I gotcha!" Officer Chen shouts across the room in reply, grabs several things from her desk and bolts over to Heather. "I was actually going to wait 'til Christmas but I guess you can have them now." With a huge grin she hands over a stack of flower patterned stationery, a pad of pink sticky notes, and a handful of multicolored gel pens.
Heather gasps in delight and takes them gently as though they might break. "Pretty paper! That's so hard to find! And these pens are vintage!" She's positively beaming. "Will they work?"
Officer Chen shrugs. "Don't know but they'll look great in your pen mug!"
Heather nods enthusiastically. "You always spoil me, Officer Chen!"
Said officer seems rather taken aback. "Well, I… uh, it's Tina by the way. Just Tina. And I just sorta… I'm allowed to now so…" her words tumble out with no regard for how they sound. "I pay attention. I know what people like." There, finally, a proper sentence. What is Officer Chen's problem?
"That's a useful skill for a police officer. I'm thankful to be part of it." Heather holds the gifts to her chest, a light shade of blue brushing her face. Oh, that's their problem… "Um, I got you a gift too. Should I wait until Christmas?"
He can see the red rise to Officer Chen's face and before she can even reply he interjects, "Perhaps you should take this conversation away from the Lieutenant's desk? Connor is trying to work." So is he and this is difficult to tune out. Honestly he's hoping his typical audial glitch will kick in and save him.
"Oh!" Heather exclaims. "I'm so sorry!"
Connor shakes his head and reassures her, "It's fine. I'm capable of multitasking. You two have fun. Though someone should be watching the front desk."
Officer Chen groans. "Augh, he's got a point. I can take my lunch break and we can talk at your desk?"
Heather nods with a, "That sounds lovely." and heads out to reception, officer in tow.
"A little Christmas magic." Officer Chen whispers as she walks by his desk on her way out. "Try it. Ask Gav."
Rude. He hadn't asked for advice on his love life. Not that he has one. Not that he needs one. Machines don't require relationships outside of work. (He's a deviant...) Allies are useful. Friends… He's slowly coming to appreciate their benefits as well. But anything beyond that?
He's still not certain it's like that. Emotions are confusing. Hatred, anger, the heat of frustration and jealousy, those he's known since day one, merely repressed for the sake of his mission. He understands those emotions. But these new ones? A mess. How can he be certain the ones that trigger around Gavin are the right ones? He's got no frame of reference and a lack of human friends to ask. He's certainly not going to to broach the subject with the Lieutenant. Perhaps North could be of use? She claims to have had a crush on Markus at one point.
Regardless he would like to spend more time with the detective. They have much in common. Perhaps a simple outing will not be misconstrued? He starts to compose an email but recalls where Gavin is. He should not interrupt the detective at a crime scene or while driving.
Peripherals pick up a lone pink sticky note on the floor, having fallen from Heather's new pad. That should work. He borrows a pen from the Lieutenant's desk, ignores Connor's questioning stare, and scribbles down an offer on the note before leaving it on Gavin's desk and going to get some thirium from the break room fridge.
Would you be willing to visit the arcade with me next weekend? There is a VR zombie game North introduced me to. We can shoot things together.
He returns with a warm mug of thirium (Connor was correct that it tastes better this way) mere moments later to find Detective Reed has returned and is once more on his phone at his desk.
Gavin ignores him entirely as he passes by to return to his desk to find three napkins haphazardly strewn across it. The handwriting on them is legible but appears to have been scrawled rather quickly.
seriously? passing notes? what are we fucking middle-schoolers?
–coffee
–video games
–guns
are you 'adapting' or flirting with me?
fine
Hm.
First Officer Chen and Heather, now this. He doesn't believe in magic like Tina suggested but there might be some merit to the theory of humans altering their attitudes during December and January. Perhaps it applies to deviants as well? Connor is more cheerful as of late. He refuses to change his own attitude but it's an interesting study, what people consider this 'Christmas magic'. Perhaps this is part of it. He hopes it works out.
He smirks Gavin's way and gets back to work.
.
Author's Note: Apologies if you don't care for the romance subplot. I go where the story takes me.