Chapter 5: Promise

Connor opened the door to the workshop and noticed Valerie sitting at the desk and staring at her terminal. She had her headphones on and was swaying her head gently.

"Are you busy?" he asked, closing the door behind him.

Her head darted at the sound of his voice. Valerie looked at him, took off the headphones and tossed them aside. "No, I got Hank's message and I've been waiting- … what the hell happened this time, Connor?!" Valerie's eyes widened as she jumped from her chair and rushed towards him. She parted his unbuttoned shirt slightly and gasped. "My God, did somebody rip your thirium pump regulator out?" Her voice was tense as her eyes scanned him quickly, looking for more traces of blue blood. "And your hand..."

I wonder what was in that message that made her this... agitated. Connor shook his head and placed one hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"It's nothing serious. See?" he reached into his pocket for the coin. As he tried to roll it on the knuckles of the injured hand, the coin fell on the floor. Connor picked it up quickly and tried again, but only to the same result. Shit.

Valerie smacked her lips and crossed her arms. "Riiight… Anyway, you know the drill. You can leave the shirt on this time, though," she winked at him and smiled.

She went back to her desk and handed him a bottle of thirium as he sat down in front of her. "So, what happened today? I've seen the news."

While Connor was talking, she started wiping the blue blood off his left hand with a wet piece of cloth, glancing at him from time to time and nodding. He exposed his hand fully and discovered that the feedback from its sensors grew stronger every time her long fingers ran back and forth over his while she checked their range of motion. Suddenly his mind started drifting towards the memory of her touch on his bare chest, so he forced himself to focus on his story. In the meantime, Valerie took another piece of cloth and moved her chair a bit closer to him. She pointed at his pump regulator and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for his consent to proceed.

Connor nodded.

Valerie tilted her head and started unbuttoning his shirt - or what was left to unbutton anyway. When she got to the last button she looked up to meet his eyes and her lips curled into a smirk.

His mind went blank.

He took a sip from the bottle, running the complete internal checkup at the same time. All systems are fully operational. No errors detected.

"-what is your internal checkup saying?"

Connor froze. How does she know? He blinked twice. "What do you mean?"

Valerie's brow quirked at that question. "I asked about your pump regulator? I don't wanna take it out unless it's absolutely necessary. So if everything is alright there, I'll just run a few tests-"

"Thirium pump and its regulator are fully operational," he said and the corner of his lips twitched into a smile.

"Glad to hear it," she smiled back at him and started wiping down the edges of the bio-component. "So you shot him?"

"Yes," Connor said, going back to his story. "I wanted it alive. Maybe I should have done something different, but Lieutenant Anderson said that I saved human lives… so I think that is good enough in the end."

"Of course it is," she said, grabbing a welding pen. She took his hand and started fixing the wires. Suddenly she snorted and shook her head.

"What is it?" he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"It's nothing. I've just remembered the first time we met."

He searched his memory banks. "You were on the team that was assigned to my repairs after that deviant PL600 case."

"Yes, Negotiator," Valerie rolled her eyes and chuckled. "It was a coincidence really, I was just dropping something for my friend when you got back and he asked me to cover for him so he could go on a date."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, I figured," she shot him a quick look. "You seem… different."

That caught him off guard. "I've received some system upgrades since then," he said slowly, unsure what to make of that comment.

"No, I'm talking about you, as in you've developed a certain personality. And don't tell me that it is only your ability to adapt or that it's just your programming simulating all that to make you more efficient at your job, I know all about it, remember?" she said and pinched the bridge of her nose, smiling. "I'm sorry. What I really mean is… it's just so interesting to observe this process. Definitely one of my favorite parts of this job."

She focused back on his hand. Connor's LED flashed yellow, as he considered her words.

"Can I ask you a question, Valerie?" he asked after a while.

"Sure, Connor, what's up?" she said, turning his hand around so she could check the other side of the wound.

"I'm just curious... how come that after all this time working as the CyberLife's engineer, you still look at androids as something more than just machines? I bet you could disassemble any unit and put it back together in less than one hour."

She looked him in the eyes and hesitated for a moment, then she swapped her tools and proceeded with repairs. "Okay, first of all, I scored 29 minutes at that test, thank you. Second of all, do you think that every -" she snapped her fingers twice as she tried to think of a good comparison "- surgeon sees other people as nothing more than a pile of meat and fluids just because they happen to see all of the stuff inside? Sure, maybe some of them do, but you get my point, right?"

"I think I do," Connor said, watching her body tense. He suspected that there were some things that she didn't want to tell him, but he decided to not push her further.

They sat in silence until she finished fixing his hand.

Finally, she rubbed her eyes and smiled. "Done. Give it a try now."

Connor took the coin out of his pocket, rolled it across his knuckles and tossed it between his hands. Everything was back to normal.

"Wow. You have to teach me some of that one day," Valerie said, watching the tricks in awe.

"I can teach you something now. Unless you have something else to do?" he asked, hoping to stay with her a little while longer. Even though sometimes he couldn't understand her, he really enjoyed her company.

"Well, I should prep this one android for the evidence room… but I guess he wouldn't mind," she ran her hand through her hair. "Show me something basic for starters."

Connor rolled the coin slowly across his knuckles and handed it to her. "Your turn."

Valerie tried to copy his movements, but the coin kept sliding between her fingers and landing on the floor.

"Oh God, I am useless," she laughed, embarrassed, as she picked it up again.

"No, you're not. May I?" he took her hand and placed it on top of his own. "Relax your hand and let me guide you… like this. See?"

With his help, she managed to make the coin move across her knuckles back and forth few times before she dropped it once again.

"Shit! I'll get that," she said diving under the desk. While Valerie was trying to get up, she banged her head on it. "Fuck!" she hissed and staggered back to Connor. "Bloody hell, why do I have to be this clumsy..."

He grabbed her gently by the arms to help her regain balance and scanned her quickly - heart rate slightly elevated, no signs of concussion.

"Are you alright?" he asked and Valerie laughed nervously.

"Yeah," she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Just another addition to my never-ending list of injuries."

He tilted his head and pointed at the scar on her eyebrow. "What about that one?"

"That, actually, was me being stupid and getting into a fight with a girl wearing a big-ass ring," she said as she frowned at the memory.

"You're quite a fighter," Connor said rising his eyebrows, amused.

"I guess I can stand up for myself and people I care about," Valerie shrugged and sighed. "Speaking of…" she said quietly and put her hand on his chest. "Promise me you'll be more careful next time, please?"

He opened his mouth to tell her that if something happened he would be replaced and nothing would change. That he was irrelevant. That his mission was all that mattered. But then he looked into her eyes.

Connor put his hand on hers and squeezed it lightly.

"I promise."