After It All

Connor rang the doorbell to Adrian's home and waited. While he waited he took in the surroundings. Adrian's home was pretty similar to Hanks, except a little larger, it was an old brick home that, from the moss growing up the walls, needed an external pressure clean. There wasn't much of a garden, the yard was mostly grass that was kept neat and some small hedge bushes. It was simple, but only because Adrian felt that he did not have a green thumb and didn't want to garden.

The door opened and Connor was met with the sight of Adrian in his boxers and an old baggy Metallica shirt, in his hands was his mobile, he was talking to someone on speaker phone from the sound of the feminine voice flowing through it. Adrian nodded for him to come in and closed the door behind him. Connor followed Adrian to the living room, which was fairly simple, a grey loveseat with a glass coffee table. On the wall was the black entertainment unit which contained the television and a combination of books, movie disks and other electrical devices.

"Are you listening to me?" the voice from the phone snapped.

Adrian sighed and plopped onto the love seat. "Yes Mom." He sounded less than pleased with his situation.

Connor raised an eyebrow at his words. He was talking to his mother? He sat down beside Adrian and held his hand, he saw the detective smile and squeeze it back.

"You should have been at your sister's wedding Adrian." The voice stated. Her voice had a slight accent to it, a quick voice scan told Connor that the accent was Texan, but not native, a learned accent. He felt Adrian tense and he rubbed his thumb against the others hand.

"Was it nice?" Adrian placed the phone on the coffee table. He then placed his cheek on Connor's chest, he snuggled into him and wrapped an arm around Connor's waist. "I saw the photos, her dress was beautiful."

"Her dress was beautiful. The whole event was beautiful- and the bridesmaids, they were something else. You should have been there, you could have met yourself a nice young-"

"Mother." Adrian interjected. The hand holding Connor's tightened. "We've been through this, I'm not going to meet a 'nice' girl. I don't want to meet any girls." His voice was full of his irritation. "I'm in a relationship, and I'm quite happy." He released Connor's hand so he could twist around so that he was lying on his back with his feet hanging off the sofa and his head in the android's lap.

"Now dear, I think it's time that you get over this silly phase and come home."

Adrian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Goodbye mum." He reached over and picked up the phone. "Don't you hang up-" he pushed the end call and dropped the phone back on the table. He let out an exaggerated groan and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Are you alright, Adrian?" Connor asked stroking the other's hair.

Adrian reached up and touched the other's cheek. "If you weren't here, I probably wouldn't be, but you just being here makes me feel better." He rubbed Connor's cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

X

"Excuse me!"

Hank and Connor, who had been discussing details about their latest case, looked up to see a young man with short brown hair and bright brown eyes looking at them with a vibrant smile. The pale faced young man raised a hand in greeting. Connor noted the fresh uniform that he was wearing, an indicator that he was new to the job. Possibly his first day?

Hank leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Yes?"

"You're Lieutenant Anderson, and Mr. Connor, aren't you?"

Hank raised a brow and Conner answered. "Yes we are."

The young man's eyes widened and he held his hand out to Connor. "Mr. Connor it is… it's an honour to meet you!" when Connor took the offered hand, the man went about shaking it with vigour. "I've read so much on your case and everything that you did for the revolution and your work with Lieutenant Anderson and-"

"Hey!" Hank raised his hands. "Take a breath kid, calm down."

The 'kid' looked down, his cheeks red and he pulled on the edge of his jacket. "I.."

Connor looked down at his hand, which was still linked with the other mans. He felt something twitch in his system. "M-My name is Connor, what's yours?"

Connor could feel Hanks eyes on him, he was not sure why though.

The 'Kid' looked at Connor with a shy smile. "I'm Detective Adrian Archer, but you can call me Adrian. Today is my first day and I look forward to getting to know you- I'm sure that I can learn lots from you and Lieutenant Anderson." It was then that he seemed to realise that their hands were still linked. He pulled his back with an awkward smile.

Connor pulled his hand back and looked up at Adrian. "I am sure that you will be a valuable asset to the force."

Adrian's white teeth flashed as he smiled. "Thank you! Now, I was going out for coffee. Is there anything that I could get you guys?"

"Yeah, I'll take a coffee, three sugars." Hank said.

"I do not require anything, thank you." Connor answered.

When Adrian left Hank shot Connor a sly grin. "I think he likes you."

Conner looked back at Hank. "He seems quite nice. I will be glad to become friends with him."

Hank chuckled. "I think the kid has a little hero worship," his grin went sly. "Or a crush."

Connor felt something in his systems twitch at Hanks suggestion. "I don't see where you are getting that idea from. Nor do I see how it is relevant, Adrian was trying to be nice. Nothing else."

Hank chuckled.

Some time later, when Adrian returned. He passed Hank a coffee before looking at Connor. "You said that you do not require anything. But I thought that that was not fair, so I brought you this instead." He held out his hand and presented Connor with a small dog statue.

Connor's eyes widened. "I… that is to say, thank you."

Adrian smiled. "I hope that you like it." He then left to give out coffee to other members of the DPD.

Hank took a sip of his drink, a smug look on his face. "Connor's got himself a boyfriend." He teased.

"Connor?"

Connor opened his eyes at the sound of Adrian's voice. He looked down, and saw Adrian staring up at him. At some point while watching the television, Adrian had looked up and noticed him deep in thought. He reached down and stroked the other's hair. "Yes?" he asked.

Adrian reached up and touched his forearm. "You looked out of it, you okay? I know that the news isn't all that good to watch but I wanted to find out about the new marriage and adoption laws your friends are trying to get passed."

Connor smiled, Adrian had taken a real interest in the subject, and he could remember Adrian talking about it some time ago. He loved how much Adrian cared about Android rights. He ran his fingers through the human's hair. "I was just remembering." He answered softly.

"Remembering what?"

"When we met." Connor rubbed the other's cheek. "I always appreciated how much effort you put to make me feel included."

A bright blush took Adrian's cheeks. "I will always put the effort in. I love you, I knew it then, it's stronger now." He touched the hand rubbing his face, a spark shot between the two and Adrian pulled his hand back and mumbled, "Fucking static."

"You said that you knew that you loved me then," Connor began, her voice turning serious. "How did you know? How did you know that you loved me?" Connor was genuinely curious, he had never been in love, he understood what Love was, he loved Hank, but to be in love, he had never experienced that. He didn't even know if he loved Adrian, he enjoyed spending time with him, but love? He did not know.

Adrian smiled wistfully, his eyes glazed over as he reminisced. "I had read about you before meeting you, I thought you were interesting, your photo was attractive." The blush increased and he pushed his hair out of his face- another nervous habit. "But when I met you, when I held your hand…" he went quieter and when he spoke again, his voice was soft. "..everything stopped, heat swelled through my body at the touch, and for those few moments, while our hands touched, everything was perfect… I knew, I knew that I would never experience that again."

Connor looked down at Adrian with wide eyes, the emotion in Adrian's voice had filled him with something that he could not describe. It was pure, it was powerful, he could feel the love that Adrian had for him just from listening to his words. He felt a little envious, what Adrian had described sounded perfect, he wanted to feel that for himself. He watched as Adrian pulled himself up to a seated position, Adrian then cupped his face and leaned forward, his lips brushed against his own.

"I love you." Adrian said before deepening the kiss.

Connor wound his arms around Adrian and pulled him flush to him. He did not know what he felt for him, but it was certainly not something that he wanted to give up. Adrian moaned and climbed onto his lap. Definitely not something to give up.

XXX

"You looked all fancy." Hank commented as Connor walked into the living room from his bedroom.

Connor, who was dressed in a simple black suit, adjusted his tie. "Thank you, Hank." He went to the kitchen and fed Sumo who jumped from his bed with a happy bark and practically jumped at the bowl when Connor filled it.

"Busy night?" Hank asked, his eyes moved back to the television, the game was on and he wasn't missing it.

"I'm meeting Adrian at his home and we're going out to dinner- I cannot eat but I want to do something that Adrian would like, he always goes out of his way for me." Connor heard the doorbell ring and moved to answer it.

"You two are so fucking sweet." Hank commented as Connor walked past him. "You shouldn't bother putting me on a 'healthy eating plan, I get enough sugar watching the two of you."

Connor rolled his eyes and opened the door. He was only mildly surprised when he saw Simon standing there, he was, however, surprised when he saw Markus standing beside him. "Hello, Simon, Markus." He gestured for the two to come in.

Simon smiled. "Hank invited me to 'watch the game'," He motioned to Markus. "Markus wanted to meet the man who has been such an influence on both you and myself." Simon then looked over at the back of Hank's head. "Hello Hank." He walked over at sat himself beside the Lieutenant.

"It's good to see you again, Connor." Markus grinned at him.

Connor nodded in response. "How is New Jericho?"

"Simon!" Hank grinned. "The game's gunna start soon, watch, you'll learn a few things!"

Simon nodded. "I brought Markus, I hope that you don't mind."

Hank twisted his head to look back at the other android. "Markus! Simon's told me about you, Connor too, come sit down!"

Markus' grin widened. "I'll see you later."

X

Connor stepped out of the taxi, the first thing that he noticed was that Adrian's car was not there and that there were no lights on in the house. He frowned. Perhaps Adrian had run down to the store? That did not make sense though, Adrian would have called him if something had happened. He walked to the door and rang the doorbell. When after a few moments, there was no answer so he rang it again. When again there was no answer, he walked around looking through the windows, it was dark, clearly no one was home.

His LED flashed yellow as he tried to phone Adrian, when the mobile rang out and went to voicemail, he left a message and walked back to the front door. He sat down on the porch and waited, Adrian couldn't be that long.

Five minutes later, he attempted to phone Adrian again. Like the first time it rang through.

Fifteen minutes later, he tried ringing Adrian again. Still no answer.

Thirty minutes later, he was starting to get worried.

An hour later, he was panicking.

Three hours later he took a taxi home.

X

"Hey Connor!" the sound of a pepped up Hank greeted him as he walked through the door. Clearly his team had won. "What's wrong? You look like someone kicked your dog." Bless Hank, always knowing when something was bothering him.

"Adrian did not turn up." Connor said quietly.

"The fuck you mean, 'did not turn up'?" Hank tilted his head in confusion.

Connor looked away sadly. He absentmindedly noticed that Simon and Markus were watching them, well that just made the night. "I tried calling him, twenty-six times, he never came home."

"Was he at the restaurant?" Hank asked.

Connor shook his head. "We were going to buy pizza and go to a park."

"Was he stuck at work?" Simon asked, knowing that Adrian was a police officer.

Hank reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I'll find out!" Connor tried to protest, the last thing that anyone needed was a drunken Hank calling Captain Fowler at eleven o'clock at night. Hank batted his hand away and walked towards the kitchen. "He Jeffery!" Hank's voice was loud. "You heard from Archer?" Hank was silent for a few moments, the android's in the room watched as his shoulder's tensed. "Oh fuck…" Hank said softly. "Shit.." He ran a hand through his hair. "I gotta tell Connor, thanks Jeffery."

Hank hung up his phone and ran another hand through his hair. He let out a 'fuck' and exhaled deeply. When he turned, his eyes were closed and he took a deep breath, Connor felt something in his systems drop when Hank opened his eyes. The expression on his face was grim. "Connor… Adrian's… well he's… he's in hospital… he's been shot."

White noise rang in Connor's ears.

X

"Uhh ma'am, we need to see a patient, an Adrian Archer." Hank said politely to the Android at the hospital's reception. He looked over at Connor briefly, the android had barely reacted since hearing the news in the house. He had been behaving in a way that concerned Hank, he was so still, so quiet, he had been staring at nothingness since the news and had been limp as he, Simon and Markus had led him to the car to drive to the hospital.

The nurse android touched the terminal. "I'm sorry," she looked at them with a sad frown. "Mr. Archer is still in surgery, he will be unable to take any visitors for at least twenty-four hours."

Hank eyed Connor wearily. He couldn't even tell if Connor had heard, or registered what had been said; one glance at the other two showed that they shared his thoughts. He reached over and touched Connor's shoulder. "Son?"

Connor looked up at the nurse. "I need to wait." His voice was quiet. "I need to wait for him. I need to see him."

Hank eyed the nurse and wondered if she would let him stay. The nurse was quiet and eyed Connor for a few moments before her eyes softened. "You can wait in the waiting room, I can't guarantee how long you will be waiting though."

She had not even finished talking before Connor took off. Hank and the other two had to speed walk to catch up with him. "It'll be okay son." Hank said as Connor sat in one of the chairs. They were ergonomic fold out chairs, and as he sat down in one, Hank knew that they were in for a long haul.

"We can stay with you Connor." Markus said as he and Simon sat across from the pair. "I don't want you to go through this on your own.

Connor rested his elbows on his knees and clutched his hands together. He ducked his head and his eyes locked onto a random space on the floor. He felt his hands tremble and his eyes watered. This couldn't be happening, this could not be happening. Why had this happened to Adrian? What had Adrian ever done to deserve being shot? Adrian was perfect, he was kind, he was gentle, he was caring. He was the most perfect human that Connor had ever met, what had he done to deserve this?

As tears welled up in his eyes, he felt Hank's hand touch his shoulder.

X

"Any word?" Hank asked as Simon cam back to sit with them.

Simon shook his head. "The won't tell us any more until he is ready to take visitors."

Connor's hands trembled.

X

Hank jolted awake, he reached back and pushed down on his spine as he sat up. The stupid chairs were doing wonders for his back. He looked around, nothing seemed to have changed from when he fell asleep. "How long was I out for?" he held back a burp, then scowled at the foul taste in his mouth.

"Two hours." Markus replied with a sad smile.

"Shit." Hank winced as he moved in the chair. "How long have we been here now?"

"Twelve hours, thirteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds." Connor's voice shook as he talked, he had not moved from the spot since they had arrived.

Hank noticed how pale Connor looked, though he was not sure if that was the fluorescent lighting.

"It will be alright Connor." Simon said softly.

X

Hours later, many hours later, Hank was eating some peanuts while Simon and Markus had a silent conversation and Connor still had not moved.

"Excuse me?" three of them looked up to see a Nurse standing by their chairs. "Are you four the gentlemen who are waiting of Mr. Archer?" At Hank's nod she continued. "Well he's awake and is happy to have visitors, only for a little while mind you, he's in room twenty-three A-" She jumped back as Connor jumped from the chair and sprinted away. "Sir! This is a hospital, please don't run!"

Hank groaned as he pulled himself out of his chair. "Ma'am no offence, but I don't think anything is going to stop him."

"He really loves Adrian, doesn't he?" Markus commented as he pulled himself from the chair.

Hank let out a chuckle. "If only the idiot would figure it out for himself."

X

Connor all but slammed the door to Adrian's room open. He stormed in, only to freeze at the sight. Adrian was pale, almost grey, he had bruising on his arms and side- possibly from falling- and bandages wrapped around his chest. He did not need to do a body scan to tell that he had been shot in the pectoral. He felt something in him clench at the sight. He never wanted to see Adrian in such a state, the sound of the heart monitor was deafening to his ears.

Adrian opened his eyes wearily and smiled. "Hey Connor."

The sound of his voice seemed to trigger something in him. he snapped to attention and charged towards the bed. He grasped Adrian's hand tightly, as though he were afraid that he was going to disappear, or something else would happen. He brought the hand to his lips and kissed it firmly.

Adrian felt the trembling in Connor and frowned. "Are you okay?"

Connor shook his head, his eyes watered. "I should be asking you that." he reached out and touched the other's face, his hands were shaking. "You were the one who was shot."

Adrian let out a breath of laughter. "I'll be fine. I'm sorry that I worried you." He tilted his face and pressed his lips against the palm. "I'm so glad that you're here. I love you Connor." He kissed the palm again.

Hank and the other's reached the room, only to turn and wait outside, the two deserved their privacy.

Connor held Adrian's face with both hands and leaned forward. He pressed his forehead against Adrian's, his body was still shaking, he was unsure if he would be able to stop any time soon. "I was scared." He admitted. "I don't want to lose you."

"Hey," Adrian soothed. "I'm not leaving you, I might not be able to leave the hospital for a few days, but I'm alive, I'm okay."

"Please…" Adrian's eyes widened at the sound of Connor's voice. So innocent, so weak, so frightened. "Please don't leave me, I was so frightened that you were going to die…I… I love you too much for that…" as the words left his lips, he wrapped his arms, mindful of wounds, around Adrian and buried his face in the other's shoulder.

"Connor…" Adrian's eyes watered. "Oh Connor…" he returned the embrace tightly. "I love you too."

A/N: I hope you guys liked the chapter.