"Why are we here Detective?" The synthetic's blue eyes turned to the human beside it as the auto pulled itself into a small parking lot.

Tucker gave no indication that he had heard the even voiced comment as he stepped out of the vehicle.

The area around him was a small market district. It wasn't the kind of place one went to find anything high-end, but the well-priced markets and quaint boutiques made it far more tolerable to the Detective then one of the multi-level shopping centers.

Tucker only glanced behind him long enough to ensure that the synthetic was following him before continuing toward an insignificant looking building.

"Detective?" Came the voice of the synthetic as the door of the clothing store swung closed behind them, sounding a bit more forced than it had earlier

"Go find yourself some fucking clothes already. I'm not taking you to my Precinct like that." He finally addressed the synth, ignoring the blatant bareness of its chest as best he could. Though the few other customers in the small building didn't seem to be showing the same restraint.

"I see." The smooth voice commented from just behind the Detective, but he didn't feel the machine move away.

Tucker heaved a sigh, abandoning his plan of pretending to look at the postcard rack for the duration of the visit. He turned back a degree, teal eyes lifting to the pale face of the synth. Its eyes were sweeping the store with a subtle confused expression, nothing about its posture indicating that it intended to move anytime soon.

"Shopping doesn't work from a distance." The Detective commented, earning himself the synths attention, only to turn his back on it and start farther into the store "Let's just get this over with. I have more important things I could be doing…. bow chika bow wow"

"What, was that?" The synthetic's voice had a strange note to it that instantly made Tucker snap back a defensive. "Nothing!"

"Here." Tucker grabbed a random shirt from a display, throwing it towards the synth. He wasn't patient enough to do his own shopping, he shouldn't have to suffer through doing it for a machine.

"Detective?" The synth questioned, holding the clearly too small tan shirt up to its chest.

Tucker frowned, glancing more closely at the pants he'd been about the pick up, quickly pulling his hand back.

Neither synthetic, nor human uttered a word as the two walked into the adults section of the store.

"That was your fault." The man eventually muttered, hands shoved deep in his pocket as he looked blankly at a rack of men's clothing.

"I'm curious Detective. How did you come to that conclusion?"

Great now it was sounding like a smarter version of Church.

"If you had just gone and picked out a pair of clothes when I told you to, we could have avoided the whole fucked up situation." He argued his point, not looking towards the synthetic who was clearly staring at him over the rack.

"That reasoning is… interesting." It said, turning its unsettling pale blue gaze to a pair of deep red chinos.

Tucker thought offhand that something grey would suit the synth better, but those were one of the only pairs of pants that looked to be around the correct size.

"Here." The detective held out a shirt, earning an almost skeptical look from the synthetic. Tucker rolled his eyes in response, shaking the shirt threateningly in his hand, prompting the synth to take it or risk having the fabric thrown at it again.

The machine got the hint. It reached for the folded cloth almost immediately. The action causing its smooth fingers to brush against the human's darker hand. Tucker pulled back instantly, almost causing the shirt to fall to the ground, had the synthetic not caught the material.

"They have a backroom for customer's to try on clothing. Go change, the cashier will understand" Tucker instructed, turning away immediately as if the encounter hadn't even taken place.

"Detective?"

Tucker turned at the sound of the synth's voice. It was standing in a pair of dark grey faded jeans, with the grey and yellow baseball shirt Tucker had found. Its soft yellow sleeves pushed midway up the synth's forearm, exposing the light colored skin as it held out three handwritten tags. The light green medical pants now folded carefully and held in his other hand.

The Detective took the white cards carefully by the edges, raising an eyebrow at the synth who merely looked down at the black shoes now covering its feet.

"Right. Shoes, that would make sense."

This is why Tucker didn't do shopping, he always forgot something.

As he thought, the woman behind the register didn't question the synth already wearing the three items the Detective was purchasing. She was older than Tucker, but still pretty with blonde hair falling in perfect spirals.

The darker skinned man considered flirting throughout their exchange, it really had been too long since he'd been able to use one of his lines, but the woman's lingering eyes hardly left the blonde synth behind him.

"Come back soon" She smiled suggestively as she spoke, her gaze sweeping once more down the synthetic's body.

Tucker had to fight back and indignant retort, feeling more than a bit annoyed at being overlooked for a machine.

He sent a chipped glance back at the synth, only to find its eyes pointedly staring outside of the shop's door, a tinge of pink to its cheeks. Odd, Tucker thought off hand as he turned to leave the shop, why would a military synth need blush response software?

A subtle beep sounded in his right ear, immediately drawing his full attention. Tucker paused in place, lifting a finger to tap his tragus twice, allowing the communication.

"Is it working?"

"Ow Ow Ouch. Stop it!"

"It wouldn't hurt if you would stop moving!"

"Kai? Simmons? What the fuck is going on?" Tucker demanded harshly as he strained to make sense of the noise and cursing coming through the emergency channel.

A smooth hand gripped his forearm gently, making the Detective jump in surprise. He glanced back at a pair of inorganic blue eyes, hurriedly pulling away from the synthetic's grip.

"Detective, perhaps you want to continue your… conversation somewhere that is not in the middle of a street." The synth's expression was tense, its pale eyes shifting to the auto stopped no more than a foot from where they were standing, and more importantly the very large and very angry man inside it.

"I see your point." Tucker stated without argument, quickly continuing to the sidewalk.

The civilian graciously showed the pair his middle finger as his auto started forward again, earning himself a yelled challenge from the Detective before the darker man turned his attention back to his communicator.

"HEY!" Tucker yelled, not caring that a couple crossed quickly to the other side of the street to avoid him. "What the hell is going on? This is a 'BLU' emergency channel assholes, and you to almost got my ass kicked by gorilla in an auto, so you two better have a fucking good reason for hacking it."

Silence greeted him for almost a full minute.

"W-well… You see… It's Kai's fault! She made me do it." Simmons stuttered and he could imagine the pale man flushing nervously.

"Narc!" The reporter's voice suddenly cut across the channel.

"Seriously Simmons, learn how to talk to fucking girl, and then learn how to tell her no, when that girl happens to be Kai, who's asking you to do something stupid!"

The com channel dissolved into another bout of shouting, which Tucker assumed was due to the RID Captain's appearance, namely because Simmons eventual response was a shouted "Suck it BLU"

"The Roosterteeth Investigator's Department. There another police force in the city, there Captain's a lot of insane and obsessed with colors." Tucker explained to the synth, if only to give the group enough time to figure out why they had called him in the first place. "They call themselves (red)RID, and apparently that makes us BLU's their sworn enemies or some shit. I'm not really clear on how all of that works most of the time."

The synthetic frowned slightly, looking back at the detective with an expression of slight confusion. "Wouldn't their acronym be R-I-D?"

"Did you miss the bit about their Captain being crazy? Technically, it is RID, but if someone pronounce it like that to his face he shoots them with his fucking shotgun. So it's easier to just go along with it." Tucker sighed, tapping his tragus to end the communication. "Let's go, I'll call Kai back from the car."

"What do you mean you can't pick him up?! Damn it Kai I'm on the other side of town, I'll never make it there in time!" Tucker was shouting into the thin mobile phone pressed to his ear, his auto already making its way towards his son's school.

"I told you I have a date-"

"With a really hot guy I know, I heard you the first fucking time, but you can't just bail on me last minute. You know what, fine. I don't even fucking care right now, just don't ever use the emergency channel for this shit again."

"You weren't answering, and I know you always leave your phone in your auto so I thought, Hey Simm-"

"No Kai. Not ever again"

"Fine, Co-"

The Detective ended the call without waiting for her shouted 'insult', dropping the phone aside in favor of pinching the bridge of his nose against the oncoming headache.

The synthetic had been quiet throughout the exchange, and didn't actually seem to be paying any attention to the human. Its head was tilted toward the window at its side, pale blue eyes staring at the expense of sky seen above the city.

From Tucker's position on the other side of the auto he couldn't see much of the synth's face, but something about it made him bite back his rant about Kai. Instead the man turned his eyes forward, the car falling into an oddly comfortable silence.

The autonomous car parked itself along the road in its usual spot. Tucker glance at the time display, about to quickly instruct the synth to wait here when he realized the blonde was already out of the car.

"Fuck!" Tucker swore, too loudly given his proximity to the elementary school, but he was more concerned about getting to the synth.

A car zipped by, almost taking his door and leg off in the process. The Detective made note of what he he could tell of the vehicle at its speed, deciding to later track down the owner who had clearly hack the auto's speed regulator.

By the time the dark skinned man made it safely to the sidewalk the synthetic had almost disappeared from sight.

Tucker paused beside his auto, his eyes catching a patch of ash blonde hair in the distance. He had to force himself not to sprint after the sight, but he kept his pace quick as he slid through the thinning crowd of parents and children.

"Synth!" The Detective called as he neared the machine, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as a familiar pair of teal eyes lifted to meet his own.

"You know Wash, Dad?" Junior questioned curiously, his eyes darting between his father and the synthetic at his side.

"He's meant to be my partner" The man started to explain, glancing towards the synth wryly.

It hardly seemed aware of his presence, blue eyes focused on something near the school's metal fence.

"Does that mean we can keep him?" The child asked, tugging on his father's hand to demand his attention.

"Junior, I think he's malfunctioning. I'm going to have to take him back to Dr. Grey..." Tucker trailed off as his son's face fell, not having the time to mentally brace before those blue-green eyes blinked back up at him in a look of pleading.

"But he helped Kid."

"Kid? What kid?" The man looked down at his son in confusion before sending the synth a suspicious glance.

"No, his name is Kid, I think. But he's my best friend here, and the other kids all pick on him. The big kids stole his skateboard, and kept pushing him around. Wash made them go away, and he even got Kid's board back!" Junior explained, raising a hand to point in the direction the synth was still looking.

Tucker's teal eyes searched the fence for a moment, before picking out a small boy on the other side. He looked younger than Junior, in baggy purple and pink clothing. His hair was black and sloppy, almost covering a pair of wide, pale green eyes. He stood mostly hidden behind one of the metal posts, barely peeking out at the trio.

Tucker frowned, glancing back at the blonde synthetic. Its lips pulled into a gentle smile, one of its hands raising to wave slightly at the ragged boy.

The child seemed to consider ducking away for a moment before stepping out enough to wave back at the synth, a grin brightening his features for an instant before his eyes fell back on Tucker. Kid's lips twitched back into the worried frown, nodding once to the dark skinned child at the man's side before dropping an actual skateboard to the ground.

Not a hoverboard, a real, wheels and all, skateboard.

Tucker could understand why the boy would be a target, his clothes were too girly and too big, not to mention he rode a normal skateboard of all things, but he still felt the familiar stir of anger in his gut.

"What protocol made you leave the vehicle?" The man asked the synthetic, though the question had less heat in it than he had meant.

The synths pale gaze shifted back to the Detective once the child was out of sight. "The child was in distress. I resolved the situation without bringing harm to any of the minors involved. Was this the wrong reaction, Detective?" Its voice was calm but there was an almost challenge hidden there that made Tucker want to rise to meet it, but not having the argument to do so.

"No… " The man conceded, with a final glance at the machine. "Let's go kid, you get to hang out with your old man at the Precinct today." He smiled at his son's mock groan, ruffling the smooth dark hair they shared before walking towards his auto, leaving his son and his partner to follow.

Tucker knew something was off as soon as his auto pulled into place behind the glass building. Nothing was blatantly out of place, but he had the urge to peer over his shoulder every few moments. He wasn't paranoid, but in his line of work, he'd learned to trust his instincts.

"Is something wrong Detective?" The blonde synthetic asked as the trio stepped into the elevator.

The man glanced down at his son, now looking up curiously at the two. "Not at all, just my first day back in the office." Tucker gave an easy smile, watching his son mirror it in the glass reflection. The synthetic, however, was clearly unconvinced but it did not voice its concerns again.

Stepping onto the main floor the group was immediately greeted by the stern face of Vanessa Kimball. The dark skinned woman blinked at them in surprise for only an instant before placing a hand on her hip, the other holding a datapad to her chest.

"Ah.. Hello Junior. It's been quite some time" She smiled uncomfortably at the child, who seemed less than impressed but unsurprised at the greeting. With a clearing of her throat, Kimball turned her blue eyes on her co-worker. "You're late Tucker, how many personal stops did you make after seeing ."

Tucker rolled his eyes openly at the woman's reprimand. "Things might have gone faster if Church hadn't set me up with a crazy synthetic, or if Grey had thought of having clothes for the thing, or maybe if Kai hadn't bailed on picking up Junior because she wanted to go have s-" He carried out the sound as he quickly turned it into another word "-ushi"

That was a decent save, and Tucker didn't care how exasperated the woman looked but she simply turned her gaze to the blonde haired synthetic. Its posture suddenly seemed too tense, its features carefully blank.

"You must be our new addition. I'm Kimball, the intelligence analyst for BLU." She held out a hand in greeting.

"Wash." It replied simply, taking her hand in its own.

"Well, Wash, I look forward to working with you, but for now I have things I need to get back to." Her gaze shifted to the similar looking father and son. "It was nice seeing you again, and Tucker the Captain has company" With that, she was walking away, her eyes already fixated on the screen in her hand.

Tucker frowned, his eyes falling on his Captain's office, and it's now opaque walls. "Let's find you something to do, alright? I promise we won't stay late today" He sent his son a smile, not sure how much of his father's unease the child had picked up on.

Tucker tugged open the last drawer to Caboose's desk, but somehow even the odd officer had very little that would prove useful for entertaining his kid. Which was odd in and of itself. He figured the childish man would have had his area filled with any number of toys or random object with no relation to police work what-so-ever. Yet, it seemed that his synthetic partner kept him away from the Precinct for most of the day, likely to lessen the dangers of having the man armed and in an enclosed space.

The detective groaned, returning to his desk and the waiting pair of teal eyes with his meager hall. He placed the stack of printer paper and the half box of crayons in front of the unimpressed seven year old.

"We won't be that late, I promise… " He offered, ruffling the child's black hair.

The blonde synthetic had stayed beside Junior for the duration of Tucker's search. The tension in its posture seemed to lessen while in the child's presence, but its blue eyes had not lifted to the Detective since the encounter with Kimball.

"I'm going to go speak with the Captain, find out what's going on. You can do whatever, I guess." He shrugged, not really certain how to work with the machine, but not caring enough right now to figure it out.

The dark skinned man hesitated a moment, before making his way to the Precincts breakroom. Andersmith still had a file laid out in front of him, but he paid it little attention, his eyes focused on his synthetic partner.

The Detective didn't understand why a synthetic would have use of the break room, or breaks for that matter, but he didn't question it.

"Hey, Smith." He announced his presence, having learned the hard way not to sneak up on a cop. "Look, I'm going to see if I can find out what the hell is going on with Church, would you mind keeping an eye on Junior?"

"Aren't you leaving Wash with him?" The older man questioned, sounding a bit confused by the request.

"Yea, that's the other part. Can you keep an eye on the synth to?"

"Are you concerned that Wash may be a threat to your son?" Sheila spoke for the first time, her voice still high but not as cheerful as when they had met. "John and I already met him. He did not seem to have any core malfunctions."

"Well, not exactly. It's not a normal synth. Grey said its military, and she couldn't understand all of its programming. Plus it's a bit… weird. I'd just feel better if I had Andersmith looking out for Junior." Tucker explained a bit awkwardly, his eyes straying between the two.

"Of course." The other man assured, though his brown eyes seemed more resigned than understanding.

Still, Tucker knew he would hold to his word and that was enough for him to focus on whatever bullshit Church had gotten himself into, without constantly worrying about his son.

Felix was still smiling from his place across the office, his head tilted slightly as if he enjoyed showing off the pattern buzzed into his black hair. "You don't really think that you idiots can keep my backers from obtaining the information they want, do you...? Well, good luck with that."

The amber eyed man pushed away from the glass wall, his cocky grin not faltering once throughout the exchange, though the Blu Captain looked ready to gun him down.

Actually, Tucker was considering doing that himself, but as tempted as he was, he couldn't fire on a military contractor. Not to mention Felix had brought his built-as-fuck synthetic with him.

"Detective, please see our piece of shit guest to the door." Church instructed, sounding almost livid after the argument.

With only a jerky nod the dark skinned man followed the contractors out of his Captain's office. His eyes scanned the room immediately, searching for signs of his son.

The caramel skinned child seemed to be looking at something intently from the floor beside his father's desk. The blonde synthetic was standing directly between him and the group moving to the elevators. Tucker might have thought it was coincidence, but its pale eyes were intently focused on the visitors with a far from friendly expression.

The human contractor paused casually, his bright gaze flicking in the one direction the Detective hoped wouldn't draw his attention. "What do we have here? Looks like you assholes finally got a new model."

Tucker didn't reply as the man's amber eyes swept appraisingly over the ash blonde synthetic.

He knew Felix loved to hear himself talk, and right now he just wanted him gone, not walking towards his son.

To the darker man's surprise, his partner synth walked out to meet the contractor. Its posture was tense, but its eyes were outright cold.

"Hmmm..." Felix grinned, not noticing as his own dark skinned companion regarded the other synthetic with caution. "Does he take orders well, Tucker? I think I would like to try out a version of him at home. I don't suppose you'd be willing to share. Pity to, his scars really are something."

The hand the contractor had reached out to touch the synth's face was suddenly stopped in place, a strong pale hand wrapped around the wrist in a way that looked almost painful.

"Felix." The tall synthetic spoke up, its voice deep and gravelly.

"In a minute Locus, things are just starting to get interesting." The contractor grinned up at the blonde, his features pulling into a slight grimace as the synth increased the pressure on his wrist.

"You should listen to your partner." The pale synth stated, dropping the man's hand as if it held no interest to him.

"Yea, get the fuck out." Tucker interjected harshly, feeling oddly grateful towards his machine partner.

"We have orders to report back." The synthetic's emerald eyes lifted to meet the pale blue pair facing it for only an instant before turning away and moving towards the elevator without its human partner.

Felix almost growled in response to his synth's words, but an instant later his cocky smirk was back, if a bit darker this time. "This is not over." He promised, staring down the two opposing him before following after his dark skinned partner.

"That guy's a fucking dick." Tucker stated from beside the synth, his gaze trained on the pair until the elevator blocked them from view.

"Yes." Came the synthetic's agreement, drawing curious teal eyes to the slowly relaxing, pale face. Its blue eyes still staring after the contractors.

The Detective hesitated, feeling as if he should say something else but deciding against it. He turned towards his son, whose eyes were still lifted after clearly watching the exchange. Tucker hoped that he didn't understand all of what Felix had been referencing, though with his genetics… It was a vague hope.

"Hey, kid. Sorry that took so long, Church needed help dealing with some things. You didn't get too bored, right?" The man took a seat on the floor, smiling at the child beside him.

"It's okay, me and Wash wrote a book." Junior looked down at the papers clutched in his hands, seeming a bit embarrassed, like he always did after enjoying something he thought he should have outgrown.

"You did? Can I see it?"

"It's kind of childish… but it was fun anyway... It's about you." The child smiled up at his father, shyly handing him the stack of papers.

Dozens of staples held the papers together on one side, though it looked like most of them only went about halfway through. The cover held an impressive drawing of himself and Junior. The synth had likely sketched the portraits, while it was obvious that Junior had colored them both. BEDTIME STORIES was written in a child's handwriting along the top, two signatures marking the bottom. Junior was written large and sloppy in a bright green, with Wash written in much smaller, neat, grey letters underneath it.

Tucker found himself smiling at the cover, pulling the first paper aside carefully so he could read the next.

The book was both incredibly childish and very mature. Most of the pages had neat, almost perfect drawings, later colored by its younger author, accompanied by either a few sloppy sentences or longer neat written passages.

It wasn't a very long book, but it was the story itself that had the man reading each page quietly, that and the child watching him expectantly.

Junior must have told the synth about the coma, some of it at least, the Detective realized.

The bedtime story was mostly about Tucker and Junior. They go on an adventure together, and get separated for a little while but Tucker always finds his way back to his son. The last few pages included Wash to, though his only mention was in Junior's scrawl and a messy drawing of him added beside the father and son on the last page.

"Wow Junior..."

"You don't have to pretend to like it because you're my Dad." The boy crossed his arms stubbornly, making his father just smile down at him.

Tucker set the book carefully aside before taking his son in a huge bear hug, ending of course in him tickling the child until both of their eyes were watering from laughter.

The Detective lifted his eyes as Junior caught his breath beside him, looking to see if they'd drawn the attention of his colleagues, but the only one around was the blonde synthetic, turning its head away from the pair to hide the obvious grin gracing its features.

The teal eyed man didn't know what to think of the synth's expression, even if he had only gotten a glimpse. It had seemed too genuine for any engineered to have manufactured.

"Alright, kid." The darker man, turned his attention back to his son, offering him the home-made book carefully. "Get your stuff together and we can get out of here."

Junior nodded, taking the book and clambering to his feet, but he hesitated instead of leaving his father's side. "Is Wash coming home with us?" His question held a note of worry to it at the possibility of his father's refusal.

"Yea, for tonight at least." The Detective confirmed cautiously, his eyes flicking towards the blue eyed synthetic.

Its expression once again neutral. The detective would even have called it blank, had the synth's eye not seemed so alert.

"Detective Tucker?" Andersmith's voice called from the door marked 'Intelligence', Kimball barely visible sitting at her desk within the room. "Have the contractors finally left? Not speak ill of them, but the shouting coming from the Captain's office was... unsettling."

"Yea, they're gone. Knowing Felix though, they'll be back." Tucker sighed, rolling his stiff inorganic limb, his right palm pressing against his false shoulder.

"Your arms still bothering you. It's been seven months since the procedure hasn't it? Isn't there anything your doctor can do to ease it?" The lighter skinned detective questioned, his usual concerned frown pulling at his lips.

"No need. It's fine, really. I've just had a long day." The younger man lied easily, his eyes warning the other detective away from the topic.

"I see." Smith nodded his understanding, before letting the subject drop entirely and turning his attention to the synthetic still at Tucker's side. "It has been good working with you Wash, even if for today it was only to track down my stapler. I still can't figure how I managed to lose it."

"My records indicated that Officer Freckles was forced to hide the object from Officer Caboose 6 days ago." Sheila inserted as she emerged from Kimball's office. "You had no need of it in that time, and I thought it best to leave the object stashed away to avoid another incident."

"Yes..." Andersmith agreed, his eyes distant as he seemed to be remembering something. "Officer Caboose's words that day were truly inspiring, even given his injury."

A throat cleared quietly from beside the darker man, drawing the pair from their conversation. "I am sorry, but I believe that the Detective wishes to take Junior home soon." The synthetic apologized, its pink lips pulling into a courteous smile. "Thank you both for your kindness today. I look forward to working with everyone here, for as long as I am permitted."

Andersmith looked over the synth carefully at his added uncertainty, but it was Junior who spoke next, startling all four adults with his sudden presence.

"I like your other smile better." The child stated, his teal eyes looking critically at the blonde synthetic.

"Junior, mind your manners." Andersmith scolded oddly, despite his words being directed at the machine.

Tucker's eyes shifted to the synth at his side. He couldn't help thinking back to the flash of a grin he had seen earlier, and found himself tempted to agree with his son. The bright flash of amusement had been much more calming than a smile plastered over a blank face.

The darker Detective wasn't sure what his expression had shown in that moment, but it was enough for the other man to speak up.

"Whether Wash is a synth or not it is always prudent to practice good manners." He explained, his eyes focused more on Tucker then the child beside him.

"But I wasn't trying to be rude." The boy protested. "I was just saying that I like his other smile better, when his eyes wrinkle like Dad's, and he gets those little dents in his cheeks."

Again Tucker found his gaze shifting to the pale synth, its soft eyes staring back at the child, no trace of the smile left on its features

"Wash's programing could allow for alterations to his preset expressions if he deems it necessary. While implanted in my tank-body, I changed my voice algorithm 11 times before finding one that put the soldiers at ease." The green-eyed synth informed, her tone almost defensive of the other synthetic as she addressed the darker Detective directly.

The drive from the Precinct was silent.

The synthetic did not utter a word, its soft gaze trained at the brightly lit clouds of the evening's sunset.

Tucker was lost in his own thoughts, mostly those about the synth sitting quietly beside him. He couldn't deny that there was something different about this synthetic than the ones he had met before his coma, but he was having trouble convincing himself that there was something dangerous about it. The machine had been blatantly protective, if not over protective when it came to children, especially Junior, and it had made no attempt to harm Tucker or anyone else it had come into contact with.

The man spared a glance back at his son, curled half asleep in the auto's backseat. Well, that certainly explained the quietness of the drive.

The auto pulled soundlessly into the drive, the dark skinned man reaching towards the synth, but stopping short of touching in and instead waving to catch its attention. He motion for the machine to be silent with a finger to his lips and a gesture to the sleeping boy.

It nodded in understanding, wordlessly sliding out of the autonomous car.

Tucker slipped out a moment later, making his way to the secondary side of the car, but pausing there. The synth was already ducked into the back seat, straightening slowly as to not wake the child now grasped carefully in its arms.

Soft blue eyes met Tucker's gaze evenly for a silent moment before tilting questioningly to one side.

The man shook his head quickly as his only response, turning to lead the synth towards the front door to his home.

Theoretically, he could have whispered directions to Juniors room once he signaled the house to unlock itself, but instead he led the synthetic up the wooden stairs.

There was a small grunt from behind him, instantly drawing his eyes to the blonde synth, which seemed to actually have stumbled over one of the steps. The Detective hadn't even known synthetics could be clumsy, but that would be just his luck, wouldn't it?

He shot the synth a sharp glare, biting his lip nervously all the same. It responded with an apologetic smile as it continued moving up the stairs behind the man.

Tucker huffed quietly, but could do no more then continue to the seven year old's room, opening the door quickly to allow the blonde haired machine easier access, and considering its earlier misstep he was going to make this trip as easy as possible while it was holding his son.

Amazingly, the synth managed to lay Junior in his, still unmade, bed without even causing the boy to stir. It reached out to pull the spaceship comforter up to the child's shoulder, before placing a familiar homemade book on the end table beside him.

The darker man traded places with the synth as it stepped towards the open door. He kneeled down beside his son, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Sleep tight, kiddo."

"Don't let… mnmh… bedbugs... bite" The boy muttered back the familiar phrase, clearly still mostly asleep, but his father grinned just the same.

He stood to see the synthetic's eyes focused on him from just outside the door, the bright blue ring around its pupil glowing unsettlingly through the dim lighting. The man's first instinct was to call it out on the intrusion, before he remember that he hadn't told it where it was meant to go.

Tucker motioned for the synth to follow as he carefully stepped around it, leaving his son's door cracked open behind him.

The man paused at the base of the stairs, his eyes sweeping over the living area before lifting the synthetic a step behind him. "You need to recharge overnight, right? Hibernate or something?" He asked, his voice slightly hushed.

The blonde nodded once in response.

"Well, I'm not sure how that all works, but you're free to take the couch." He rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly, averting his eyes to the black piece of furniture.

"That is acceptable… Thank you Detective." Its voice took on the same hushed tone as the humans.

This time it was Tucker's turn to nod silently. He hit the lightswitch in the entryway, plunging the house into darkness, aside from the dim halo shining from the automatic fireplace. The man didn't wait for his eyes to adjust to the low light of the false embers, he knew the house well enough to find the door to his room without his sight.

He paused considering the synthetic he left at the stairs, but he guessed that it could make its way to the couch with little light. Hell, it might have night vision for all he knew.