Chapter 25

Early the following morning after visiting Wilson the other evening, Hank drove to the hospital to visit Connor.

The nurse stopped him on the way to Connor's room.

"Are you here to see Mr Bourne?"

"Yes, I'm a friend of his."

"Good, you're here."

Hank was surprised by the urgency in her voice.

"What's the matter?"

"We applied some bandages to his wound but he won't let the nurse anywhere near him."

Hank sighed before stepping in the room.

Connor looked up, frowning once he saw it was Hank.

"So stubborn you even give the nurses a bad time?" he asked.

"I'm surprised you remembered to drop by and visit. It almost seemed like you were trying to get rid of me."

Hank chuckled stiffly.

"Don't tempt me."

Connor snorted.

"I've heard you wouldn't let them anywhere near your wounds."

"Yeah and why would I? So they could grovel at me? It's embarrassing."

"It's nothing they haven't seen before."

Connor rolled his eyes.

Hank snorted.

"You don't believe me. You are being persistently stubborn."

"You don't know anything about their intentions. You can't read their mind," Connor snapped.

"You don't know anything about my intentions," Hank replied defensively with just as much rancor.

Connor deflated, his eyes dilated as he took in Hank for the first time. He visibly swallowed.

Glaring defiantly at him, Hank lunged towards him.

"What are you doing?" Connor squeaked backing away from his questing hands.

"What does it look like I'm doing? If you won't let the nurses remove your clothes, then I guess it's up to me."

"W-Wai-" Connor stammered as he continued to back away. Hank however wasn't hindered by the words continuing to move closer.

Glancing to the side, Connor took some pillows from the bed and tossed them in his direction.

Some missed him, others hit his face blocking his view.

"Connor! D-mn it," he hissed.

He lunged at Connor who had slipped from the bed with a yelp.

Quickly he stumbled to his feet just as Hank reached for his collar.

Connor was so surprised he stumbled to his feet causing Hank to fall head first into the floor.

He growled.

"You better hope I don't catch you because you're dead."

Hank got up and turned sharply before running towards him.

Connor sidestepped him before Hank ran for him again.

He hopped over the bed.

Hank wasn't so foolish as to continue this game.

He spotted the pillows Connor had tossed in his face before kicking one to the right out of sight. Hank picked up the other one tossing it at Connor before jumping over the bed.

Connor ran to the end and tripped on the pillow Hank had kicked falling face forward. His hands caught his fall.

He turned just as Hank straddled him to the ground before he grabbed the collar of his gown.

His hair was disheveled and his cheeks slightly flush.

Connor gasped, grasping onto his wrists.

"Hank!"

Hank sighed. Something softened in his expression, now instead of looking furious it looked like he was just sad.

"How do you expect to get better if you continue being so stubborn?"

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't hadn't insisted on sending me to the hospital in the first place."

A nurse had dropped by as this had been going on.

"Oh my," a woman's voice cut through their dialogue.

Connor and Hank turned to see a nurse had dropped by the room, her expression sly and her face flush.

They both looked at each other before they turned to the nurse with flushed faces.

"It's not what it looks like," Hank tried to explain.

"Sure."

The nurse's smile widened.

Hank turned to Connor and noticed he was still clinging onto the collar of his gown. He released it like it had burned him and he got up.

"Sorry."

"I'll get one of the nurses to pick up the pillows," she said before leaving.

Once she was gone Connor got up, a light blush remaining on his upper cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be acting like such a child."

Hank snorted occupying his time by putting the pillows on the bed.

"The nurse will still have to tidy up the sheets."

"Yeah, you going to help me with my shirt?"

Hank glanced at him. His eyes seemed to drift far away.

"You seem preoccupied."

"I was just thinking, I am being a little difficult about this."

Hank unbuttoned his shirt carefully.

"No, I think I understand it entirely. You don't trust me. I had thought it odd that you had confided in me like you did."

Connor glanced at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"That day Kamski dropped by."

Connor looked away.

"This may seem odd but that thought never crossed my mind."

Hank glanced down when he noticed that one button was being particularly difficult. Something about this seemed oddly intimate.

"I could have ditched you."

"You did ditch me but at least it wasn't because I was difficult."

Connor sighed before he smiled.

"I guess at that time, I knew deep down that you would come," he said.

Hank raised his left brow.

"How? We just met. You didn't even know me."

"You invested time to talk to me. You even made jokes just to get me to open up. Earlier that day you were concerned about me. No one would do that for a complete stranger unless there was something to gain in return."

Connor's smile turned sad.

"I wish I knew it was genuine at the time then maybe none of this would have happened."

He remembered a time in school where he had a class trip and the teacher had asked Carl if he'd chaperone.

That day he'd been busy.

Only after he'd gone home did he see that Carl had taken care of Markus who had got sick at school.

He felt fire rage up in his gut and a sinking feeling of despair. Even when he hoped, Carl wouldn't appear.

These feelings made him feel horrible however with time he just grew to accept that Carl would never reserve time for him so he didn't hype himself up for disappointment.

Connor hadn't wanted to expose himself in case Hank had told him a lie because he knew it would hurt him if it was.

"Perhaps, but if we didn't you would have continued to shut yourself off."

He hadn't thought about it like that but perhaps that was true.

The nurse returned to see Connor had unbuttoned his shirt.

"I managed to remove his shirt so you can change his bandage."

Her face flushed.

"Oh...alright I'll get on that right away," she stammered.

Once some time had passed and Connor's bandages were changed, Hank headed home.

"Thank you," Connor murmured as he left.

Something in the sentiment warmed his heart.

Early the next morning, Hank had dropped for the police promotion ceremony at the local auditorium.

Many officers were inside lying in wait for their promotion. Hank decided to take a seat next to Wilson who was seated directly behind Tina.

"Hey."

"Oh Hank, you're here," Wilson said.

"I told you I wouldn't miss it."

"You going to the party after the ceremony?" he asked.

"Party?"

"Yeah, we're throwing a party at Jimmy's. Tina invited you to come."

"I'll see what I can do."

After the ceremony, Tina stopped him on the way out.

She had a huge grin on her face, her eyes wide with pleasant surprise.

"You came."

"Of course I did. You asked me to didn't you?"

She grinned.

"I'm glad you're here. You going to the party?"

"Wilson already told me about it. Did you want me to come?"

"Of course I do. What kind of friend do you take me for?"

She playfully punched his shoulder.

He chuckled.

"Well I better get going then."

With that he headed out driving up to Jimmy's. He must have arrived early because the bar was empty. The only person present was Jimmy who was cleaning glasses behind the front counter.

"Hey," Hank called out to him.

"Oh, you're that old man from yesterday. Intending on throwing a party or something?"

"Just waiting for a couple of friends."

"Hard to come across good friends these days," Jimmy said.

"You sound like you're talking from experience."

"One of my old friends who used to work at the Chicken Feed would drop by here every day after work. I think he was fined by the city. I helped him pay the fine but haven't heard a word from him since."

"Richard works there now," Hank said.

"Yeah, that's the old man," Jimmy said. "He always talked smack about his old man."

"Hey Hank."

Hank turned and saw Wilson had arrived. Chris was following him from behind.

"I got a call from Tina. She should be dropping by soon."

"That's good."

Chris glanced at Jimmy for a moment before his lips curled into a smile.

"So what were you two talking about?" he asked in mischief.

"Just talkin' about Gary," Jimmy said. "Practically old news at this point."

At some point Tina joined them sitting between Hank and Wilson.

"So your partner still out for the count?"

"You could say that."

"He's been around for a while but he doesn't really talk much does he?" Tina asked.

Hank snorted.

"Once you get to know, it's hard to get him to shut up," he said.

Tina's eyes widened.

"I would have never guessed with him being so closed off. Chris tried to talk to him a while back wanted to take him out for a drink but he always refuses."

"Well Connor's a bit of a health nut so I kind of see why. He tries to keep a good rep, can't do that if you arrive at work buzzed on the job."

"Yeah, he seems like a pretty nice guy in spite of all that."

Hank turned to glance at Chris.

'So why did you leave him there with Gavin then?'

Still he didn't address his thoughts to the police officer. Now was neither the time nor the place.

"Yeah, he was the one who defended me when Gavin showed his true colors. It's why Gavin still hates him even now."

"What happened?" Hank asked.

"He was pushing me around, when rumors started coming around that I was dating him. I hadn't known at the time but he has the habit of taking a woman to bed every night. So for a time I was known as one of the Detroit sluts."

"The lieutenant heard him call her a slut," Chris said. "then he walked up to Gavin and punched him across the face."

Hank chuckled.

"That's hilarious. Serves that dickwad right. If it were me I would have punched him for less."

After the party, Hank drove up to the hospital to visit Connor again.

As he drove up to the hospital, Hank spotted a flower shop nearby with a beautiful display of flowers.

'I wonder if Connor likes flowers?'

He dropped by to pick up a bouquet for his partner putting it in the backseat before dropping by the hospital.

It was as this was going on that a nurse had dropped by his room.

Connor turned and saw a familiar blond haired man walking to him in some blue scrubs.

"Simon? What are you doing here?"

Simon chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious? I work here. I told Markus you were down here and he asked me to come by and see you."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Well one of the nurses told me you were giving them a hard time."

"That was the first day I arrived. Why didn't you come here sooner? It would have saved me a lot of embarrassment."

Simon smiled avoiding his eyes.

"Oh yeah. The next day didn't your partner drop by to remove your clothes. I heard it was quite a scene. It's a pity I wasn't there that day or I would have dropped by to see what the fun was about."

A dark flush appeared on Connor's cheeks.

"You're taking things out of context."

"Am I? I heard he was very concerned about your well being once he found out you wouldn't let the nurse change your bandages."

Connor snorted looking away.

"Well that's all said and done. You've seen me. That should be enough for Markus, shouldn't it?"

Simon grinned.

"You're cute when you get defensive."

"I'm not being defensive."

"Ok, ok, I know when to quit. Markus may be one reason why I'm here, but I actually have another reason for being here."

Connor glanced at him with confusion.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking we ought to tell your partner what we discovered."

"What does Hank have to do with this?"

"He's your partner isn't he? He'll eventually know about the interview with Dempsey."

"What's your point?"

"Those androids that were tailing Markus, that were tailing Luther and Kara, they were police androids programmed by Cyberlife. Dempsey has been trying to keep his activities low key. Do you really think he's going to let you in their entire operation without a fight?"

"No, but-"

"Once Cyberlife discovers that someone else knows about their operation they're going to try to keep you silent however they can. They might even try to use Hank against you."

Connor sighed.

"I see. Even if he knows, what can he do about it?"

"Ahem."

Connor gazed past Simon's shoulder to see Hank standing in the doorway with a bouquet of orange marigolds.

"So who's this 'Hank' fellow? Is he good looking?"

Strange enough, Simon saw Connor's face turn an even darker shade of red.

He turned and grinned at the old man.

"Hank, just the person I wanted to see."

Hank frowned.

"Simon, isn't it? What do you want?"

"It's a long story," he said before smiling up at Hank. "So who're the flowers for?"

"I...I-It's for, it's for..."

A similar blush appeared on his face as he looked away from Connor.

"It's for Connor," he said.

Connor's eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh? Thank you, Anderson."

The man's mouth was agape as if the idea of receiving flowers hadn't even crossed his mind.

Hank handed him the flowers witnessing Connor give him a genuine smile unlike the other smiles he had received so far.

He set them aside.

"Simon, I'm back."

Hank turned and saw Josh standing in the doorway.

"Josh, what are you doing here?"

"Are you ready to tell them?" Josh asked Simon.

"Yeah," he said.

"Tell them? Tell us what?" Hank asked irritably.

"Remember that night, the same day you took me to the hospital?" Connor asked.

"Of course I do. You going to tell me what happened?"

Connor told him everything.

"So you think Cyberlife might come after me next?" Hank asked.

Simon stared at him grimly.

"Undoubtedly."

"Great, that's not depressing," he said.

"Fortunately Josh thinks he might have a solution," he said.

"Before I was sent to the outskirts of the city, I managed to get ahold of an android. I managed to study the programming behind the components of the more advanced models with preassigned protocols," Josh explained.

"In english, please," Hank said.

"I found a way to reverse the destructive programming that Cyberlife implemented in androids they've constructed specifically for police protocol without switching them to manual mode. Cyberlife implemented a red wall on the newer androids to prevent hacking. It's just a matter of removing that to remove their destructive programming."

"That'll take weeks to learn..." he said.

Josh grinned smugly.

"Unless you're an android. I did my research and if I'm not mistaken you're an android too. Am I right?"

"You're going to have me binge watch tutorials on how to hack your creator's robots? For goodness sake, I have better things to do with my life."

Josh chuckled.

"That won't be necessary. Why do that when we could just interface? It'd make the process much easier."

The skin on his right hand peeled back to reveal white.

Connor looked on in fascination as Hank's own hand peeled back as he reached out to grab Josh's hand.

After about a minute had passed, Hank released his hand.

Across from him Josh glanced at him smugly before glancing briefly at Connor.

"Get that sly giddy look of your face," Hank said. "It's times like these, you make me really hate being an android. I mean practically no privacy."

"So did you manage to get all the information?" Connor asked.

"Of course I did. Kind of hard not to when the android insists on downloading the protocol in your memory banks."

Josh grinned slyly.

"I also gave him information on self-repair."

"Give him too much information he might overload," Connor said smugly.

Simon chuckled.

"Well, be careful you two. I'll see you later," he said before heading out with Josh in tow.

Hank turned to Connor, his left brow twitching.

"So what was that about overloading?"

Connor frowned.

"It was just a joke."

Hank grinned smugly.

"Well I think you're the one who's overloading. What man in the world smiles after receiving a bouquet of flowers from their friend?"

Connor looked down at his covers in shame.

Hank snorted before he chortled.

"Still I'm glad you loved the flowers but you needn't be so happy about it. You might make someone jealous."

Connor glanced up in confusion.

"Who?"

Hank choked.

"Nevermind."

"I really appreciate the flowers, but maybe next time you might want to get the fake kind because I tend to get really bad allergies."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Is that why I didn't see any pets at your house?"

"I have a pet goldfish in the living room."

"Does that even qualify as a pet?"

"Goldfish are relaxing and soothing especially watching them swim around their tank."

Hank chuckled sitting at the corner of his bed.

"You're really something else, Connor. I'd have thought you'd be lonely with just your fish to keep you company."

Connor glanced at Hank unable to look away at his blue eyes. Unaware that Hank was drawing closer to him glancing at his lips.

"For a time I was, but can you really be lonely when your co-workers got your back. I may have been alone at one point, but not anymore. Even more with-"

"Hey Connor."

Hank broke away as Connor turned towards the door way. Cole stood with a smug smirk on his face.

Something about his appearance irritated Connor for some reason.

"Finally came by to visit me?"

"Consider it a favor. I figured since my father drops by here everyday I could muster the time to visit you."

"Are you sure it wasn't any trouble? I know how busy you can be."

"I can always make time for my favorite older brother."

"Well, guess I better head back. You two have fun. You look like you have a lot of catching up to do," Hank said getting up from the bed.

Connor was about to reach for him, his mouth agape but stopped himself.

"I'll catch you later."

Cole reclaimed the seat left by his father.

"See you at home, dad."

Once Hank was gone, Connor spoke.

"Why are you really here? Are you still bitter about the other day?"

"Of course not, I'm not a child. You think my dad still loves you at this point?"

"Are you jealous?"

"He'd never fall in love with someone like you or did you forget he's married to someone else."

"Isn't that for him to decide who he loves? Unless you think he might love me more than a friend."

"Don't play dumb. You had to have seen the way my father treats you. You think he'd visit just anyone. The last time he dropped by the hospital for someone was when my mother was in an accident."

"It could be platonic for all you know. Friends visit each other in a hospital. It's alot more common than you think."

"Don't be a smarta-s," Cole said. "You'll stay away from him if you know what's good for you?"

"Why I thought you'd love the idea of a second father."

Cole seethed, clutching his nose with his fingers.

"Connor..."

"I'm not going to tell him what he should or shouldn't do. You shouldn't meddle in his life. What do you hope to accomplish dictating how he feels like this? You think you're getting revenge for the time you think I left you alone to grieve over your father's death?"

"What would you do if you didn't see him anymore? You'd be just as effected by it."

"Well I did know him as a child."

Cole snarled.

"Don't push it."

"You really think hurting me is going to bring him back? If an android can't even take his place what makes you so sure that hurting me will change a thing."

Cole glanced at him, his features contorted in disgust. His hand reached out to pull Connor towards his face. His other fist drawn back ready to punch him.

He was about to until he stopped himself releasing his grip on Connor's shirt before walking out.

"Sometimes I really hate you, Connor."