Hi again!
I'm glad you all seemed to like the resolution to Katie and Gavin's mini-arc in this story! And, as promised, Under My Skin is now live! For everyone curious as to their story, head over there and check out the first chapter.
Special thanks for reviews: Mayday Maria, MugetsuPipefox, xNarielx, Minecraft Guardiansaiyan, AnUnorthodoxDecision, inuchara2511, Surfwriter, lordvaatithewindmage and one Guest.
This one is mega fluffy by the way! I'm just too much of a sap for Hank and Connor feels.
PS. I have one of these suspension tents, and they are freaking awesome. This is a prank I wish I could do, but I doubt I could pull off.
Determined to give Connor a well-deserved break after all of their recent stress, Hank booked a couple of extra days off for the pair of them when they got two days off together again. With four days to now relax and unwind before going back to the mayhem of the precinct, Hank had a plan.
And for once…it didn't involve a prank.
No, it was something that he had been planning for what he had deemed Connor's birthday (or more accurately, his activation date in August), but with all the other crap which had been going on, he decided to bring it forward. He'd seen Connor smiling less and less lately, and even pranks seemed to only bring him back momentarily.
Between Katie and Gavin's near miss, the fallout of Katie's reveal as an android and the revelation that the two of them were in on the secret all along, and the stalled progress of their investigation into the string of murdered androids, he knew Connor was struggling under the strain. He needed something to draw him out of his own head for a while, show him that life was bigger than their jobs.
Which was why he packed the car with the leftovers of his camping gear and loaded it up while Connor was still in his stasis cycle.
As it reached 7am, when Connor was due to emerge from his diagnostics, Hank was just finished strapping the tent to the roof of his car. They weren't going far or for long, just the two nights if all went to plan, but it would be nice to get out of the city for a while. He'd not left for a trip since…since Cole. He was long overdue for another journey: and now he got to do it with his second son.
"Hank?"
The human smiled at the confused tone in Connor's voice and saw him staring at the car in obvious puzzlement. Hank beamed over at the android. "Morning sleepyhead. Any issues?"
"No, all my software checked out. What is all this?" Connor asked slowly, scanning all of the equipment.
"You're a detective, Connor. Don't play dumb," Hank chided in obvious amusement.
Connor scowled at him. "All right: clearly you are planning on going camping. Might I ask as to why I did not know of this?"
"That's cause it's a surprise, Connor. We're going camping."
The android's eyes widened comically. "We?"
Hank scowled at him. "Well…yeah. Come on, Connor, did you really think I would go and not take you with me?"
Realising that Hank had misunderstood his surprise, Connor shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant at all. I just-Hank, there is so much I could still be doing here. There is a large backlog of cases, we have to brief-"
"Ah-ah!" Hank yelled, silencing Connor. "All of which will still be here when we come back in a few days. We have a whole squad of people now, all of whom are highly competent. They'll hold down the fort while we take a breather. You especially need it after everything which has been going on recently. You've barely stopped in a week as you've been reconstructing what happened to Gavin and Katie in painstaking detail, and that's on top of the rest of our work." Hank approached Connor was a knowing smile and pulled him into a hug.
"Come on, Connor. You need the break, and I want to spend some quite time with my family."
That had the android welling up slightly and he hugged Hank back tightly. Leaving for the quiet with just Hank and Sumo sounded very appealing, despite his urge to keep working. Hank had always called him a workaholic.
Pulling back with a watery smile, Connor nodded at the human. "When do we leave?"
Hank grinned widely – that had been a lot easier than he thought it might be. "Grab a few spare changes of clothes, I've got plans for us, and then we'll head away. Make sure it's shit that is easy to move in and you don't care about getting potentially ruined."
Connor gave him a disbelieving stare but obliged with a final nod, going back inside.
With his son suitably distracted, Hank pulled out his phone and fired off a quick message.
We'll be gone within the hour, I've left a spare set of keys behind a loose panel on the right-hand side of the door. Don't go raking through my shit, don't prank the house, and don't fuck this up!
He got the reply almost instantaneously.
You just know I'm going to go raking through your whole bedroom now, old man. Thanks in advance for the blackmail material. And of course we won't fuck this up for him, he means a lot to us too.
Hank smiled at North's snarky reply. So far, so good.
It was a three hour drive to Hank's chosen camping spot, right in the middle of a large forest not too far from the coast. He could see Connor's LED spinning between blue and yellow through much of the journey as he took in their surroundings and he was thrilled with the android's company. The two of them swapped various stories and addressed topics they didn't normally broach at home, making an effort to single out the trip as something special. Which it was: Connor's first excursion for fun, and Hank's first since regaining himself.
Not to mention their first as father and son, they'd never really done anything to mark the change in their relationship before. They were making up for it now.
As Hank pulled up in a car park deep in the forest and went in to register them for the next two nights, Connor stared at the large trees surrounding them while he fetched Sumo out from the back. The dog had quite happily curled up in the back of Hank's car once his bed had been moved there, but he was still rather stiff by now. Once Hank returned, he led the way up a secluded path as the two men carried the camping gear between them. Connor would have easily taken more, but knew better than to offer. Hank could be stubborn when he wanted to.
Connor was stunned when Hank came to a stop and he saw the view.
They were in a small outcropping of trees atop an overlook, and it stared straight down to the beach only a mile or two away. The drop from the cliff was impressive, but everything felt so wild, untamed and…free.
The android rather resolutely decided he liked it.
"So?" Hank prodded while offloading one of the bags swung on to his back. Connor's beaming face was answer enough, but he wanted to hear it too.
"It's beautiful here, Hank. How do you even know about this place?" Connor asked in wonder.
"I haven't been here for fifteen-odd years, not since me and my ex-wife took a trip out here. Broke down after a camping trip and just happened to wind up around here. Decided to take a look and found this spot. We came here a few times before we had Cole…but never found the time." Hank's expression became wistful and Connor's LED cycled to yellow. The human was having none of that, however, and smiled unsteadily at Connor. "I may have missed the chance to come here with one of my sons, like hell was I going to do it with the other."
Connor's smile was a little shy as he began unpacking all of their supplies, while Sumo went snuffling around the area. "I'm honoured that you've brought me here, Hank. It's…amazing."
Hank nodded slowly as a smile crept on to his face. "Yeah, it really is." Coughing in an effort to get the conversation moving again, he beckoned Connor to help him set up the fancy tent his ex-wife had bought years' ago when they were both avid campers. It was a suspension tent, kept up either by three tight cables along the bottom and fixed between three trees, or it could be hung by the top and stabilised by the same three ropes.
Due to the nature of their location and the high winds, Hank knew from experience it was better to keep the tent fixed above and stabilized at the bottom, and showed Connor how to do so. Having an android who could easily scale trees and fix the roped in place securely without any fears over heights made life a hell of a lot easier, and it only took them an hour to get the tent set up. It would comfortably fit the two of them and even Sumo if the weather was bad, but Hank had brought a second, smaller, tent for the hound which wouldn't be elevated. His joints didn't deal so well with the two foot elevation of their tent to keep all the bugs and animals out.
Now ready, Hank decided to show Connor around. He introduced him to fishing, took him down to the beach to see the sand for the first time, watched as Connor quickly picked up surfing…and all while he watched the smile on the android's face get wider and wider. It was exactly what he'd hoped for.
It was only at the end of the day that Connor pointed out to him that he'd been grinning like an idiot for most of the day too.
Their second day saw Connor want to go back down to the beach, and Hank was more than happy to oblige him. As Connor learned more about water sports and even went exploring underwater (damn bastard could do that since he didn't need to breathe), Hank stayed sprawled on the sand with Sumo right next to him, snoring away. It was peaceful, relaxing…just what the doctor ordered.
When Connor came tumbling back over, Hank pulled him down and asked a passer-by to take a photo of the two of them with Sumo, seeing as they'd never done one. Not in such a relaxed setting anyway. Connor positively beamed at the end result.
He completely missed Hank firing the picture off to North when he got enough signal to do so.
Connor's broad smile was exactly what Hank had been hoping for, he'd never seen the android so relaxed before.
It was perfect.
Or at least it was…except Hank had made one grave miscalculation. He'd thought that Connor would hold off on one of his signature pranks while they were away.
Stupid. A completely stupid and naïve sentiment. Connor was the absolute embodiment of mischief when he wanted to be, so what happened when the android was happy and playful? He got bad ideas. Really bad ideas.
Such as pulling their tent up higher as Hank slept during the second night. He'd almost shit himself the morning after to find he was now thirteen feet up, not two.
"Connor!"
The android was sat on the edge of the cliff, staring out at water when he heard the angry shout. His devious smirk was back, and it only grew at the glare Hank aimed at him. "Good morning, Hank," he replied cheerfully. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah…slept brilliantly, Connor," Hank growled back sarcastically. "Everything was dandy until I tried to get out for a piss, only to find I almost fell to my death!"
Connor rolled his eyes. "I was keeping an eye on you, Hank. I would have alerted you had there been any real danger of you leaving the tent and injuring yourself. At least at this distance, your snoring had less chance of bothering Sumo," he shot back with a smile. When the St Bernard barked in almost agreement, Connor snickered.
"Fucking traitors, the pair of you!" Hank groused. "Come on, Connor, let me down already!"
When the android smiled devilishly at him, Hank's stomach dropped. "I see no reason why you cannot just aim from there, Hank."
The human howled in equal parts horror and embarrassment. "For fuck's sake, Connor! I'm not used to you coming out with shit like that! You've been spending too much time with the Jericho crew!"
Connor did not let him down. Not for another hour, by which point Hank was contemplating aiming at the android out of pure spite. He was not happy.
By the point they were back on the road towards Detroit, however, he could almost see the funny side of it. And he'd never complain at seeing the sparkle in Connor's eyes after a successful prank: even when he was the one on the wrong end of it.
They arrived back at the house right as planned, and Hank smiled internally at seeing the lights were on inside. Looks like the Jericho quartet had been successful.
Connor, however, knew something was wrong. "Hank, we didn't leave any of the lights on," he stated seriously, his LED flashing yellow.
Hank smiled at Connor and patted his knee. "Nah, it's all good, Connor. I know about it. Come on, let's go in. I'm fucking knackered after all that driving." The android raised an eyebrow at Hank, but followed him regardless as he let Sumo out of the car. Hank opened the front door with a knowing smile, but jumped almost a foot high at the airhorn which sounded right as it reached full swing.
Glaring behind the door, he found it set up so that the handle of the door would trigger the airhorn when opened fully. "Fucking bitch…" he muttered under his breath, steadying his racing heart. As he looked back at Connor, he could see the mirth in the android's eyes and pointed right in his face. "Not. A. Word."
Connor chuckled and turned back into the living room, but instantly saw the change. His LED flashed frantically between yellow and red, his emotions spiking as he realised just what had happened in their absence. "Hank, what did you…?"
The human was now smiling broadly and swung an arm around Connor's shoulder, pulling him closer to see the end product himself. "Okay, so this is where I have to fess up. The trip? It was actually a distraction for this. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to show you the overlook, but, well-I'd intended to have this done for your birthday, but given all the shit we've gone through recently, I wanted to get it done. Just something to remind you that there's always family beyond all the shit we see."
Tears were in Connor's eyes as he took in the myriad of photos which were now sprawled across the wall to the right of the fireplace, above the edge of Hank's desk. It was the story of their prank war, images taken from some of the androids' memories, some from CCTV and others being pictures taken by humans.
From that very first day when Hank had pelted Connor with the water balloons, all those months ago, to a still from Connor's optical memory (that he had no idea how the others had gotten a hold of), showing Katie overbalancing when Connor had messed with her gyroscope.
Some of their favourite and most memorable moments.
A still of Connor and Hank tag teaming Gavin to change his ringtone from the DPD CCTV, just as Hank had deliberately spilt coffee all over him.
The Jericho crew all laughing in Katie's car – taken from her optical feed based off the angle she was looking into the rear-view mirror – after magnetizing Connor to the living room chair. It was right next to the looks of horror on Connor and Hank's faces taken from the mobile camera they'd set up.
Connor dyed pink, from Markus' optical feed, with Kara and Alice laughing in the background.
A screenshot of the group chat when they'd been sending Gavin in circles, when Katie had asked Connor to change his password.
The photo Hank had taken with everyone smiling and laughing while Markus was pinned in the cement, still technicoloured and glaring at all of them.
An image of Hank and Connor shocking each other as they tried to expose Gavin and Katie, taken from her memory.
Twin shots of the Jericho crew tarred and feathered next to a still of Connor, Alice, Kara and Luther were laughing above. Both were taken from Kara and North's optical feeds.
There were so many photographs, and they'd all been linked by a set of vines which Markus had painted on the wall below. Dozens more branched off all around the collection, just waiting to be added to.
The tears ran freely down Connor's cheeks as he spluttered a laugh, and Hank smiled broadly at him before noticing a note left on his computer desk. He picked it up and grinned at the contents, making sure Connor read them as well.
We hope you are as pleased with the end result as we are, Hank. It was an absolute joy to work on.
Connor, never forget the joy you have around you, even when you feel overwhelmed. This is the tapestry of your family.
And I already have more plans for you: both to inflict upon and team up with.
See you both soon.
Markus
Overwhelmed was a good word for how Connor was feeling right now. He'd never felt so loved and happy in his short life.
He swiftly buried his face in Hank's shoulder and the older man chuckled at seeing him so emotional. The soft, choked whisper almost went right past him, but it made his heart clench once his mind finally caught on to the words.
"Thanks, Dad."
Hank's own eyes welled up slightly, and as he looked over, he noticed one last photo which had been set up separately from the others. Atop the fireplace, right next to the image of Cole that he knew so well now, was the picture taken of the two of them and Sumo the day before. Sat on the sand, arms around each other's shoulder while petting Sumo between them with beaming smiles.
The printer beneath Hank's desk burst to life and the pair separated upon hearing it. Curious, they walked over and Connor pulled the new photograph out, laughing heartily as he realised what it was. Hank scowled, though his eyes were dancing in amusement.
It was him having almost jumped out of his skin as the airhorn went off behind the door.
"Those bastards, where did they get that from?" he wondered.
"They must have left a camera behind somewhere," Connor deduced, just as another photograph emerged. The two shared a smile as they saw the two of them locked in their hug from only a minute ago. Another sheet of paper followed, and while Connor almost doubled over laughing, Hank went scarlet at the note.
Keys are where you left them. Told you we wouldn't fuck this up.
Nice cartoon underwear, Hank. Hope you realise I'm never going be able to take you seriously again!
"I'm going to kill that fucking bitch!"