The extreme cold weather had begun to warm and allowed the city to thaw just enough to resume normal function despite there still being snow and ice all over Detroit's streets, rooftops and trees. After the streets were properly cleared by the autonomous snowplows and salt trucks, traffic resumed its normal flow and function without any problems to get in the way. Businesses resumed normal hours of operation, the schools all opened up and anyone who had to work overtime during the ice storm were treated to some days off as proper compensation. The city swiftly recovered from the ice storm and prepared for the incoming winter to keep emergencies to a minimum.
On his own road to recovery, Gavin finally worked up the nerve to return to his apartment and clean up the mess that had been left behind. His shoulder was still sore and had limited strength, but there was no sign of infection thanks to the proper first-aid that he had received and due to his chance to recover in a safe, clean place surrounded by people who cared about him. With his clean clothes in a small bag Gavin made his way to the front door and thanked Hank for all his help.
"You're sure you want to go?" Hank asked as he gauged Gavin's body language closely. He could see the lingering heartache in the younger man's eyes, and he knew that Gavin's shoulder was going to be a problem for another week or two. "It's no problem letting ya' crash here a while longer."
"I'm good." Dismissing the offer Gavin seemed to be in good spirits in spite of everything he had gone through. "Besides, Tina's going to meet me at my apartment and help me burn everything that Patricia touched before I start looking for a new place."
"And your shoulder? What do you want me to tell people if they ask about you favoring your left arm all of a sudden?"
"Tell 'em I fucked it up while working out." The younger man answered sharply as his phone 'buzzed' and confirmed that his autonomous taxi was outside. "It's not the first time I did something dumb like that."
"Sure. Let me know if you need anything." Hank volunteered as he opened the front door and watched Gavin head down the walk to the idling taxi. "And don't forget, you promised to play catch with Cole soon."
"I won't forget." Gavin promised as he casually strolled to his waiting cab with every intention of putting Patricia's betrayal far behind him. "Just give my shoulder time to heal, then I'll be good to go!"
With an unseen nod Hank closed the front door and turned to look at Connor standing idle against the wall in the livingroom. The android hadn't said anything or done much after he had helped get Cole ready for school, and the persistent silence was enough to start wearing down Hank's nerves. For reasons he couldn't explain Hank had grown to hate it when Connor was quiet for too long, and he was going to put a stop to it.
"Connor," putting his hands to his hips Hank stood before the android and got his attention with his deep, commanding voice. "what the hell are you doing?"
"I'm conserving power." The answer was entirely honest and had no reason to be doubted by anyone. Being a prototype meant Connor needed to watch his power reserves more closely than the finalized android models that he could associate with, and his idle time was seen as normal among his allies. "Do you need me to do something?"
"Yeah, stop standing around and stop being annoying!" Hank glanced about the livingroom and let his gaze fall on Sumo laying on his pillow in the corner of the livingroom, and an idea popped into his head. "Go take Sumo for a walk! He likes the cold, but I don't."
Connor's blue L.E.D. flickered to yellow at the idea of going out into the cold weather for a prolonged period of time, but he didn't protest. He loathed the cold and all of his negative association with such extremely low temperatures. Every time it snowed Connor thought back to the night of the Revolution when Amanda attempted to resume control over his programming to assassinate Markus while leaving his consciousness to freeze away inside his own Zen Garden.
"Take him out for a couple hours." The Lieutenant ordered as he walked over to the hook by the front door and retrieved Sumo's leather leash. The moment he picked it up Sumo rose to his paws and wagged his tail with genuine enthusiasm. "I gotta' go to the precinct and deal with the aftermath of the ice storm. Cole will be waiting for you like always, and he wants to have his mom's beef stew for dinner tonight. I told him he could have it."
The deviant android stepped away from the wall and had Sumo right at his side eager for his walk. There was no reason to decline such simple requests or divulge his own personal trauma to someone who wouldn't care about it.
"Do NOT alter her recipe in ANY way." Hank growled as he forced the leash into Connor's opened palm. "It's fine the way it is."
"...I won't alter the recipe."
"Good. Don't think I haven't noticed you tweaking the amount of spices in everything that you've cooked for us before."
Connor knelt down in front of Sumo and attached the lead to the dog's thick collar to take him on his walk. "...I'll refrain from making any alterations to the recipes that you've provided for me to cook with."
"Everything you need is in the kitchen." The senior detective continued on as he walked down the hallway and entered the bathroom. "Don't bother stopping at any stores or making any pitstops after you pick up Cole. Just come right home and start cooking so Cole can have something warm to eat."
"Right." As he straightened back up Connor felt a sudden sharp pain burn through his abdomen and steal his breath. The pain was enough to make his L.E.D. flash to red as he waited for the ache to fade away. "...M-My system appears to be suffering from a mild malfunction."
Sumo whined sympathetically before nuzzling into Connor's hand while Hank promptly ignored him and closed the bathroom door entirely.
"I'll be all right, boy."
Connor approached the front door with Sumo on the leash and contemplated using the beanie to keep his L.E.D. hidden from sight, but then decided against it. He was still wearing his android uniform minus the blue tie that he had returned to Hank, and as such there was no point in trying to hide an android exclusive feature from other people.
"Let's go for a walk. You must be tired of being cooped up all day long."
Leading the way out the door Sumo proceeded to trot down the front walk with Connor right beside him as they made their way toward the sidewalk and toward a local dog park. Connor knew exactly where Sumo wanted to go despite not taking the dog out on walks since moving in with Hank, and he had no problem with taking his favorite dog to his dog's favorite place.
Had the air not been so biting cold to the skin of organic creatures and the world's only deviant android, the walk would've been peaceful and contemplative. The sound of freshly fallen snowflakes and eye crystals being crushed underfoot created a rhythmic ambience that accompanied Connor and Sumo as they walked down the empty sidewalk together. There was a gentle breeze rustling the nearly bare tree branches causing loose flakes to fall in small glittery tufts that dusted everything they touched under a layer of crystal white.
No one else was around and that sense of isolation gave Connor and Sumo the chance to wander about without being disturbed by another person. The dog park was nearly empty as well since very few people could withstand being out in the cold weather for too long, which meant Sumo had plenty of room to run around and burn off excess energy. Casually Connor stood beside a large elm tree and removed the leash from Sumo's collar to let the dog roam about and roll around in the thick, untouched snow.
As he stood out in the cold Connor refrained from crossing his arms over his chest to keep warm as that was a behavior only displayed by humans and deviants. He was not a human and needed to hide his deviancy for just under three years. The way the wind breezed through his loose hair and cut through his thin clothing like a knife made Connor tremble and long for a warm blanket to escape the cold air. As he shivered from the cold Connor suddenly felt the strange pain his abdomen return and it stole the deviant's breath as he ran a self-diagnostic in an attempt to isolate and identify the problem.
LOADING OS...
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION...
...SELF-DIAGNOSTIC: ENGAGED]
-CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS... ERROR]
-CHECKING BIOSENSORS... OK]
-CHECKING AI ENGINE... OK]
-MEMORY STATUS... OK]
READY...
WARNING:
[...Thirium Volume - 54%]
[...Thirium Pressure - 90/70]
[...Thirium Pump Rate - 77 B.P.M.]
[...Ventilation Rate - 09 V.P.M.]
[...Core Temperature - 96.6 Degrees Fahrenheit]
WARNING:
-STRESS LEVEL: ^20%
-CORE TEMPERATURE LOW
ERROR:
[...Malfunction detected in biocomponent #F8001]
-CORROSION DETECTED: 12%
[...Seek Immediate Technical Assistance]
-SYSTEM READY... OK]
"Shit."
The verbal curse went unheard as Connor pressed his palm to his abdomen where he felt the ache originate twice that day. His entirely unique biocomponent that allowed him to run analyses in real-time had been neglected for the past month since entering the alternate timeline. Normally the deviant detective's weekly Thirium replenishment would give his system the opportunity to clean and flush out any lingering contaminants through his dual sterilization filters during his rest mode, but since he hadn't consumed any Thirium since his first night in Hank's house his system had been unable to remove such contaminants from his body.
"My analysis filter needs to be cleaned to remove foreign contaminants. I need Thirium or manual sterilization at the hands of a technician."
With his model being a secret prototype from CyberLife it was clear that Connor had no choice but to use Thirium to remedy his situation since there were no technicians who'd be able to assist him at that point in time. His unusual design would raise too many questions and alert CyberLife to Connor's presence.
"I have to purchase Thirium, but Hank has forbidden me from going anywhere beyond Cole's school and the house. He's undoubtedly monitoring his debit card after I took Cole to purchase his Halloween costume without his permission, which means I cannot even purchase Thirium on my way to pick up Cole or while on my way back to the house."
There were limited options at Connor's disposal, and he couldn't guarantee that he'd be able to convince Hank to purchase his Thirium despite it being a necessity.
"Do I have to resort to stealing what I need in order to survive? Theft is wrong."
Standing alone in the ankle-deep snow Connor tried to preconstruct his choices while ultimately making a decision.
"But... isn't depriving someone of something that is crucial to survival in order to achieve financial gain also wrong? That is arguably in the same realm of extortion."
Being conflicted with such a moral dilemma wasn't entirely unusual for Connor, but he had always been able to rely on Hank for guidance. Without his best friend and mentor to help him make difficult decisions Connor had no choice but to figure out the answer all on his own.
"As a detective I would consider a person stealing to be a crime without hesitation. However, if I were to be given more details about the reported theft then I'm certain that I could find a way to... change my own mind."
Sumo blissfully ran about in the snow without a care in the world. The large dog was more preoccupied with the brisk air and early snowfall than even attempting to try to understand what Connor was saying to himself beneath the tree.
"If a parent had stolen a canister of baby formula to feed their child or medicine to take care of their sick child, then I'd consider the theft justified. After all, letting a child starve to death or perish from an illness is far worse than a store losing a very small profit in comparison to the rest of their stock being legally purchased by other customers throughout the day."
The pain in Connor's abdomen returned and made the deviant wince with utter discomfort where he stood. It was clear that he'd need to tend to his malfunctioning biocomponent soon, otherwise he'd suffer prolonged discomfort if not permanent internal damage.
"I'll try to t-talk to Hank tonight. I... It's the only option I know that I can make that is morally and legally acceptable."
Doing his best to ignore his sporadic pain Connor watched Sumo rolling around playfully and kept an eye on the time. He didn't want to be late to pick Cole up from school or do anything that'd upset Hank in the process. Juggling his own needs alongside taking care of Cole and staying on Hank's good side was a trick that even his old coin couldn't hope to imitate whenever it used to dance gracefully between his hands when he lived a completely different life in a different timeline.
What should've been a normal and quiet shift at the precinct had turned into a day of frustration and utter exhaustion. A body had been located alongside the road just outside of the city, and by all account the previously unidentified victim had been murdered and had their body dumped far away from the scene of their own murder. After identifying the victim Hank had the misfortune of tracking down the victim's family and bringing them in for questioning to try to find the killer. The details that had been uncovered during his investigation were seemingly causing more problems than they were solving, and such a conflict had left Hank feeling as if the case would never be properly closed.
An hour in the interrogation room had resulted in a tear-filled confession that made the entire investigation feel hollow. The confessed killer was the victim's own mother, a middle-aged woman and a nurse. Through her inconsolable tears the mother explained everything that led up to her own daughter's death and it made Hank feel as if someone had punched him right in the heart even after he finished asking his questions.
"What do you want to do, Lieutenant?" Chris asked as he accompanied Hank out of interrogation and back to the bullpen. He had taken notes and heard every heartbreaking detail for himself as the woman confessed to the death, but even so he was having a hard time seeing the case for what it was. "She does seem remorseful and like she regrets everything. I... don't think this is really murder. Just an accident."
"Yeah, but she still threw her own daughter's lifeless body out of the car alongside the road." Hank huffed as he dropped behind his terminal to sit in his chair. The case was available for his review and his screen showed him all the details that he hated knowing. "I get it. Her daughter had fallen hard into drugs and as a nurse she wanted to get her daughter clean, even if that meant forcing her into withdrawal. But not calling 911 when she started having seizures is unforgivable."
"I can't even imagine how I'd handle something like that if it happened in my own family. I mean, she tried to drive her daughter to the hospital after everything went wrong and the daughter died en route." The empathy was thick in Chris's voice as he tried to remain objective. "That must've been absolutely horrific to see."
"You're not wrong about that." Hank stared at the photographs of his victim, a twenty-four year old woman who had her entire future taken from her because she chose to experiment with drugs one time and became hooked. Despite the victim being in her mid twenties her face looked as if she was in her late fifties due to the drugs ravaging her body inside and out. "We'll do this. If the coroner confirms that the mother did everything in her power as a nurse to save her daughter before she panicked and threw the body on the side of the road, we'll just charge with inappropriate handling and disposal of a corpse. She'll get probation and avoid prison."
"How will the coroner tell if she tried everything to save her daughter?"
"As a nurse she'd have access to Narcan and other medications used to remove narcotics from a person's body, and access to medications to ease symptoms of withdrawal." All of his years working in the narcotics division gave Hank invaluable insight into how life-saving procedures were performed on overdose victims and addicts. "She'd also have access to anti-convulsant drugs to stop the seizure. As long as the right medicine can be found in the victim's system, and the coroner can confirm that the daughter died from the seizure and not foul play, we'll be able to be lenient on the mother."
"All right." Chris sighed as he looked at the photos on Hank's terminal screen and finished taking his notes. "I'll pass on the message. Hey, Lieutenant, in your personal opinion do you think the mother did what she did out of love or... guilt?"
"Are you talking about throwing her own daughter's dead body out of a moving car?"
"No way." Clarifying his question Chris tried to get a better understanding of the case at hand. "I'm talking about the mother trying to get her daughter clean and sober without getting help from anyone else. Like, as both a parent and as a nurse, I imagine that she felt entirely responsible for what happened to her daughter when she became addicted to 'red ice'."
"I'm not sure." Such a question did make Hank contemplate everything he had uncovered throughout the investigation. "I do know that being unable to admit when you make a mistake or admit that you need help only does more harm than good."
"If that ain't the truth. Almost as bad as not telling someone you love them enough or thanking people in your life for all the things that they do for you."
"Speaking from personal experience?"
"...Yeah. My nana." Chris gave Hank a mournful smile as he tilted his head with a sense of past regret. "She was always there for me and my sister without fail, and even though we all loved each other, I never felt like I directly told her that I loved her nearly as much as I should have. I didn't even thank her for all the ways she helped my mom out when she was going through her depression. Cooking, cleaning, helping us with homework, driving us to afterschool stuff, shopping, making appointments and just being a friend to our mom on top of still being a mom herself. She passed when I was sixteen and I miss her every day."
"I'm sure she knew you were grateful and loved her."
"I hope you're right. No one owes us anything just because we happen to be biologically connected to them, and people who have no connection to us but still help us out without asking for anything in return deserve twice as much praise. Like the way you look out for everyone here in the precinct and don't expect us to give you anything but our time while we're already on the clock."
"Don't get sappy on me, Chris." Hank pleaded as he found the young officer's words to be incredibly insightful and moving. "I need you to be sharp, alert and able to keep your emotions contained until after work where you can release them without them affecting your work."
"Right, I'll keep that in mind. Okay, I'll let Ben know what's going on and tell him to send you the coroner's report as soon as possible."
"Right, and Chris?" Turning in his chair Hank caught the young officer's attention before Chris walked too far away. "After that, take a nice long break and go hug your fiancée. Trust me, after cases like this being able to hug someone that you love makes the day bearable again."
Chris smiled at the idea of seeing his soon-to-be-wife at home and happily accepted the advice. "Good idea."
The case was well on its way to being closed, but Hank didn't feel like he accomplished anything worth celebrating. In fact, he felt worse for wear considering he was unable to help an innocent person avoid the addictive ravages of 'red ice', and in the end she lost her own life. He knew he couldn't save everyone from everything with each passing day, but he could at least try.
"Ah, fuck it."
Clocking-out for the day Hank decided to go home early and take care of dinner himself. The least he could do was cook for his own son and honor his late wife's love and memory in the form of her amazing cooking.
"I'm going to take my own advice and hug my son. I could use some family time right about now."
The house felt much warmer and far more welcoming than the rest of the city as Connor, Cole and Sumo all made it home together. Connor had walked with Sumo to Cole's school and walked the little boy home, and he was quick to notice that Cole was looking like he was feeling the strong effects of the cold as well. Not wanting to see the little boy get sick Connor made sure to run a warm bath for Cole and encouraged Cole to take his nightly bath early so that he could get wrapped up in his warm clothes and make a blanket fort to remain warm throughout the rest of the day. The little boy of course loved the idea of building another fort and went right in for his bath without any protest whatsoever.
After running a thick towel over Sumo's fur to get the dog dried off and his paws warmed up, Connor set about doing as he was told and began making dinner. Things seemed to be going about normally until the deviant detective had to reach up high for spices and seasonings in the cupboard above the stove. The stretching motion pained his abdomen and made the malfunction in his analysis filter flare up with a vengeance.
"Sh-Shit..."
Connor wrapped his arms around his abdomen and tried to breathe through the pain. Dismissing the warnings in his vision took real effort since his condition was teetering on the brink of critical and not just a minor inconvenience. Lowering his arms and straightening up Connor set about using the correct recipe from Barbara's old recipe book and began preparing all of the ingredients for proper simmering.
Preparing the vegetables was simple enough and would only take a few minutes. Getting the beef roast properly tenderized, sliced and then seasoned would take a tad longer. Shortly after Connor brought the beef brother to a gentle simmer the front door opened and Hank returned from work earlier than expected. Hearing Hank's early return made Connor tense up with a strange sense of dread since he knew Hank disliked anything going against his personal routine for any reason.
"So far everything smells right." Hank confirmed as he removed his coat and shoes by the front door. He saw Cole's shoes already by the door and was relieved to know that his son made it home in one piece. "Where's Cole?"
"Taking a warm bath." Connor confirmed as Hank joined him in the kitchen. Focusing on the carrots and knife in his hands Connor refused to look up at Hank as he continued preparing dinner. "He became chilled during our walk home."
"Wait, why didn't you take the van and get out of the cold air?"
Connor's hands froze as he turned and gave Hank a concerned stared while his yellow L.E.D. flashed to red. "You... told me not to make any pitstops while walking Sumo and picking Cole up from school."
"Son of- Okay, fine."
Such a dismissive and neutral left the deviant perplexed as he refrained from moving a single centimeter.
"That one was on me." Rather than getting made at Connor for listening to his instructions so literally, Hank decided that he needed to be more willing to let Connor make his own decisions when it came to getting tasks handled properly. "Next time, just use the damn van when the weather sucks, all right? Especially when it comes to keeping Cole from getting sick."
"...All right."
"Okay. Good idea putting him a warm bath, too." Washing his hands in the sink Hank decided to take over for Connor and finish making dinner. "I'll do this. You've done enough for today."
"I can handle mak- Agh!"
Hank jumped when Connor shouted and turned to look at the android with big-eyed confusion. "What?"
"C-Cut my hand..." Connor hissed as he closed his eyes and closed his left hand into a fist and kept his right arm wrapped around his abdomen again. The pain his filter caused him to slice into his hand due to the brief but effective distraction. "Mistake."
"How did you- Wait, something's wrong with you." The way Connor managed to cut himself despite being an android with perfect motions and the way Connor was curled around himself raised a massive red flag in Hank's mind. He just knew that something was wrong and he was determined to figure it out. "What is it?"
Connor didn't want to risk a visit from a technician and just lied to the best of his ability. "It's... minor. It'll remedy on its own."
"Is that why you can't stand up and your hand is... leaking?" Hank made a grab for Connor's wounded hand but missed when Connor suddenly fell to his knees in what looked suspiciously like pain. The android was practically doubled over himself and wheezing. "Jeez, what's going?"
"...Glitch." Gasping in pain Connor felt tears rolling down his face as his L.E.D. remained vibrant red in color. The L.E.D. always betrayed his emotions and made it hard to conceal his true feelings. "I-It'll pass."
Slowly Hank knelt in front of Connor and made a move for the android's bleeding hand once more. It took the senior detective a few attempts to get Connor to uncurl his fingers and expose the wound in the middle of his palm, but once he saw how deep the cut went through Connor's artificial skin and managed to gouge the android's palm, Hank actually felt bad for Connor.
"Shit, that looks pretty nasty. Guess I'll bandage it up for you."
"Not... Not necessary."
"Well, neither is you leaking that blue shit all over my nice clean house." Lightly Hank grabbed Connor's arm to pull the android up to his feet, but Connor refused to budge and remained fixed to the middle of the floor. "Fine. If you won't walk to the bathroom, then I'll get the first-aid kit from the bathroom and bring it to you."
Unable to walk at all Connor remained on the floor and didn't say anything further as error messages filled his vision once more and his system began to enter emergency rest mode. Too weak to fight off unconsciousness Connor closed his eyes and fell to the floor on his side and knew nothing else of the world as his body gave way to pain and errors.
Hank had heard the 'thud' of Connor's body hitting the floor and peered back into the kitchen just as he reached the hallway. Seeing Connor motionless on the floor was startling at first, but then Hank reminded himself that Connor was an android and not a human.
"Damn androids are more trouble than they're worth."
The bathroom door opened wide, and Cole emerged in his sweatpants, sweatshirt and socked feet with Sumo right behind him. Seeing dad made his eyes light up and Cole gave Hank a quick hug around his leg. "Hi, dad!"
"Hey, son. Go into the livingroom and watch TV with Sumo for a minute." The protective father instructed as he returned the hug. "I gotta' take care of something in the kitchen."
"Okay, but where's Connor?" Cole asked as he looked around and then saw Connor in the kitchen laying on the floor. "Hey! Connor!"
"Connor will be fine." Hank stated firmly as he picked up Cole and then placed him down on the couch. Sumo followed right after him and sat on the floor between the couch and the coffee table loyally. "I'm going to get Connor back on its feet, all right?"
"What's wrong with him?!"
"It just hurt itself with the knife while making dinner. That's all."
"Why's he on the floor?"
"Well, uh, sometimes people faint at the sight of their own blood. And androids will too." Hank managed to quickly lie without totally lying to his son. "It'll wake up soon. Just sit here while I take care of everything, and then we'll have dinner later."
Cole was clearly worried about Connor and didn't readily believe his dad. But being just a first grader with zero knowledge of android technology meant that Cole just had to sit back and trust his dad when it came to helping Connor recover from his odd affliction.
Casually Hank stepped around Sumo and quickly located the first-aid kit from beneath the sink. After carrying the plastic case into the kitchen Hank knelt on the floor and picked up Connor's bleeding hand to bandage up and stop the Thirium loss.
"This Thirium shit better not stain anything."
Hank warned as he dabbed away the excess blue blood and then wrapped clean bandages around Connor's damaged hand carefully.
"Man, I forgot that you guys have this so called 'blue blood'."
As he thought out loud Hank suddenly remembered how Connor had been injured before and needed to be bandaged up and have his Thirium replenished. It was then Hank realized that he had failed to keep replacement Thirium in the house for the android to consume.
"Shit. Is that why you're acting so weird? You need more of this blue stuff?"
Once Connor's hand was taken care of Hank tried to rouse the android by shaking his shoulder. When that didn't work Hank rolled Connor from his side and onto his back to pat his face and try to get the android to respond to the physical contact instead.
"Hey, come on. Wake up."
As his hand made contact with Connor's face Hank suddenly felt the warmth of the tears that Connor had shed and froze. Seeing actual tear tracks on the android's face had given Hank a strange sense that maybe Connor's sporadic emotional outbursts weren't just bugs or glitches. Maybe androids shedding tears and have strong reactions were intentional on the android's part after all.
"Why... are you crying?" Hank wondered as he gingerly picked up Connor's bandaged hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I mean, I know slicing your hand open hurts but you-"
When Connor groaned in pain and tried to pull his hand away Hank found himself awash with a feeling guilt. Did he really just hurt a defenseless person? Being so physical with the android now seemed like a massive mistake on his part.
"What's going on with you? I knew you were weird, but not this weird."
"Dad?" Cole crept into the kitchen and watched everything unfolding from the doorway. "Is Connor sick?"
"It's not sick. Now go back into the livingroom until I say it's okay to come in here."
"Connor needs 'Ther-um', right?"
"Yes, Cole." The senior detective and father confirmed with a terse voice. He didn't want to try to wrangle Cole while figuring out how to repair a broken android at the same time. "Connor just needs some of his Thirium to drink."
"Do we have to go to the store?"
"No, I'll order some Thirium and have it delivered." Hank stayed beside Connor on the floor and used his phone to find a Thirium delivery service. There was a CyberLife app that he could download for free and place orders without needing to leave his house, and Hank couldn't decide if he should've been grateful for the convenience or repulsed by the sense of laziness. "Now, go in the livingroom and wait for the delivery drone to arrive. Okay, Cole?"
"Okay, dad."
"Thank you. Go on, I'll keep trying to wake Connor up so he can drink his Thirium when it arrives."
Only after Cole had retreated to the livingroom again did Hank resume trying to revive Connor. Shaking Connor's shoulders, then his chest and then eventually his abdomen resulted in Connor twitching violently and finally opening his eyes as all the painful physical stimuli brought Connor out of his emergency low power mode.
"Ha- Lieutenant?" Connor glanced about and realized that he was laying on the kitchen floor and had fallen unconscious. "What's going on?"
"You tell me. First you slice open your hand, then you fall to your knees in actual pain," the way Connor's L.E.D. flashed to red and his eyes darted away confirmed that Hank was right about Connor feeling pain after all. "and when I touched your stomach you jumped despite being asleep. Connor, be honest. Can you feel pain?"
"I... am an advanced prototype." As much as he hated lying about his true self Connor knew it was important to remain discreet about his experiences and his deviancy giving him emotions and physical senses that other androids couldn't comprehend. "I... h-have the ability to sense physical discomfort."
"So that's a 'yes', you can feel pain."
"...Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me that?"
"There was no need."
"Bullshit." As Hank argued against the comment he heard the doorbell ring and heard Cole rushing to answer it for him. "When you were limping around after you got the shit kicked out of you, I thought it was because your frames were fucked up and you couldn't walk right. If I knew that you were in pain then I would've tried to help you."
Letting out a small sigh Connor gave Hank another honest answer to contemplate as he opened up just a little more about himself as a deviant. "...There is no way to ease an android's pain."
"That doesn't mean I still wouldn't have tried!" Looking up at Cole as his son entered the kitchen, Hank extended his hand and took the delivered package from Cole's hands. "Thanks, Connor's going to be okay, son. Just wait a few more minutes and it'll ne just fine."
Connor glanced up at Cole and flashed the little boy a weak smile and nodded to make him feel better. "...I'm okay, Cole. Promise."
"Okay." Reluctant to leave Cole continued to watch Connor with a worried stare. "I'll be on the couch."
"Go on." Hank gave Cole's shoulder a light squeeze as he flashed his young son a reassuring smile as Cole turned around. "It'll be back on its feet soon."
Slowly and weakly Connor tried to prop himself up on his elbows but barely managed to move when the pain in his abdomen returned. Laying flat again Connor took in a deep breath and tried to push through his pain without any verbal protest.
"This stuff better help you." The annoyed Lieutenant grumbled as he opened the delivered package and handed Connor one of the six bottles of Thirium. "Next time you need this shit just let me know. I'd rather pay for your Thirium than have to patch you up every few weeks."
Connor accepted the bottle with his good hand and gave Hank a small nod in return. "...Thank you."
"Yeah, whatever." Getting to his feet Hank put the extra Thirium aside and placed the Thirium stained knife into the sink to be washed. "Is this stuff going to ruin my good knives and cutting board, or can I wash everything and keep using it?"
"They can all be washed and used again." Connor confirmed as he slowly sipped his Thirium then gulped the rest of the bottle down as the necessary blue blood made him feel stronger despite it not immediately cycling through his system yet. Within the hour the extra Thirium would be redirected toward his analysis filter and begin the sterilization process and stop his pain from returning. "I'll wash them since I-"
"Not with your hand all bandaged up. Besides," Hank motioned to the livingroom and directed Connor to the couch to sit down and heal. "Cole's still worried. Go let him know that you're fine and I'll finish making dinner."
"You're certain about-"
"Yes! Just go, damn it." Not wanting to deal with any other hassles Hank just sighed and proceeded to wash up the dishes again before cutting the remaining vegetables and preparing the roast. "You're allowed to have off days and be hurt, you know."
"...No, actually." Connor moved slowly and got his legs beneath himself again at a steady pace to ensure he didn't aggravate his filter. Standing up at last Connor scanned his bandaged hand then held the damaged appendage protectively against his chest. "I was not aware that I was permitted to be... vulnerable."
At those rather insightful words Hank froze and watched over his shoulder as Connor walked into the livingroom with his L.E.D. cycling from red, to yellow and finally back to blue with each step he took. Those words were harsh, but Hank couldn't deny that he didn't deserve to hear them. He hadn't seen Connor as anything but a machine despite knowing that the android wasn't indestructible, and now he understood why Connor was hiding the fact that he could feel pain.
"Well, I can't fault ya' for always putting up a brave front. I do that myself."
Hank muttered to himself as he watched Connor join Cole on the couch and watched Cole give Connor a quick hug before offering him the blue blanket to keep warm. There was no way to deny that Cole adored Connor and thought of him as a good friend and even a member of the family.
"Especially when you got a little boy who looks up to you and really seems see something special inside of you."
-next chapter-