Running as quickly as his legs would allow him Connor chased after a confirmed mugger with the intent to apprehend the criminal and retrieve the stolen wallet he had pick-pocketed from an old man at the park in broad daylight. Easily able to outpace the human at every step of the way, Connor managed to run the mugger to a chainlink fence at the end of the alleyway and cut off his only retreat as he shouted for the man to stop fleeing and to surrender peacefully. The warmer weather made it much easier for the police to chase people on foot and identify muggers without any heavy clothing slowing people down or shrouding their faces.

While Connor chased the man on foot Hank kept up in the car. It was surprisingly difficult to keep up with the pursuit since Connor was so swift and nimble when he was focused on a mission.

"Stop! Detroit Police!" Connor shouted as he presented the man with his badge and kept his gun holstered behind his back and under his gray blazer. With his L.E.D. flickering yellow he honed in on the thief with righteous authority in his voice and his presence. "You're under arrest for theft."

The man stopped at the fence, turned around to face Connor and spat profanities. "Fuck off, you piece of shit!"

Taking the cuffs from the back of his belt Connor approached the man as the man pressed his back up to the fence. Connor had every intention of bringing the man into the precinct to be charged accordingly. "Do not add resisting arrest to your-"

The man threw the stolen wallet at Connor which caught the deviant off guard, and then swung his fist wildly and strongly enough to crack Connor in the side of his jaw and send the stunned deviant to the ground in sudden pain. While Connor was incapacitated the thief turned around and scrambled up the fence, climbing over the top, and dropping back down to the ground on the other side with a graceless plop long before Connor even had the chance to try to get up.

Just a few yards away Hank had managed to catch up on the foot pursuit after driving down unorthodox roads and alleyways as he followed after Connor and the thief. Stopping the car a few feet away from where Connor was pushing himself up from the ground into a sitting position to grab onto the surrendered wallet, Hank opened his car door to approach his downed partner and check in on him.

"Connor?" Hank called out to the deviant sitting on the ground and rubbing at his sore jaw. There was a trail of blue blood running down the side of Connor's chin as it oozed over the corner of his mouth and onto the pavement beneath him. "Are you okay?"

Spitting out a mouthful of blood on the ground in front of him Connor nodded his head and handed over the stolen wallet. "...I'm good."

"Uh, no you're not." With a grimace Hank pointed to the puddle of blood that Connor had spat out as he crouched down beside the deviant. Sitting in the middle of the dark blue liquid was a single white colored tooth that had been knocked loose from Connor's jaw. "Open your mouth, let me see."

Connor's brow furrowed as he picked up his now lost tooth and held it in the palm of his hand. His yellow L.E.D. flashed to red for a moment before returning to yellow in confusion. "I lost a tooth?"

"Yup, looks like it. Come on, kid." Hank gently put his hand under Connor's chin and tilted the deviant's head so he was looking at him. "Open up."

Confused but cooperative Connor opened his mouth and let Hank inspect the damage.

The last molar in Connor's lower left jaw had been knocked out by the powerful blow by the fleeing thief's strong punch. A gush of Thirium marred the opening left behind in the artificial gum-line that held Connor's equally artificial, but perfect, teeth in place. Though difficult to see through all of the blue blood Hank was able to inspect the injury adequately enough to give his unprofessional prognosis.

"Only one tooth got knocked out. It doesn't look like any of the surrounding teeth were damaged, either." Letting go of Connor's chin Hank took the wallet from Connor's hand to slip into his coat pocket. "Where do I find an android dentist around here?"

"Dentist? There are none." Rubbing his hand along his now sore jaw Connor put his lost tooth in his gray blazer pocket for safekeeping. "Androids don't require dental care in the same manner as humans."

"So a technician, then?"

"Correct."

"All right, come on. Let's get the wallet back to our victim and then get you to a facility. Hang on to that tooth."

Connor nodded only to immediately flinch at the pain in his lower jaw from the motion. Spitting out another mouthful of blue blood Connor pressed his hand firmly to his aching jaw and tightened his fist around his tooth in his pocket as he followed after Hank to head back to the car parked just a few feet away.

Uncomfortably and impatiently, Connor silently sat on the exam table of the Zeta Facility's first exam room while Abby held up the internal viewing screen to the left side of his face and cranium to check for other damage. Aside from the missing tooth Connor fortunately hadn't received any fractures or full breaks to the white plastimetal frame of his jaw or the side of his head from the strike, and he'd fully heal just fine in less than an hour after the tooth was replaced. A simple procedure would be enough to replace Connor's missing tooth and would do so without any form of complications in the process that'd keep him from finishing the rest of his shift.

The wallet had been returned, the suspect had been picked up by patrol and everything would be right with the world.

"How's your pain?" Abby asked as she positioned a light directly over Connor's face to better illuminate the area and gave him a external visual assessment. "There's no sign of further damage but that doesn't mean I didn't overlook something."

"The pain is uncomfortable," the yellow tinted L.E.D. confirming his statement. "but it's not severe."

"Okay, that's a good sign. I'm going to ask you to enter stasis mode for twenty minutes while I replace your tooth." Abby motioned for Connor to lay back against the table as she propped the head of the table up at a slight incline for an easier procedure. "It makes it much simpler to replace a tooth when the patient is completely still."

Intrigued by the procedure Hank watched Connor curiously to see if the deviant would have a childlike fearful reaction of the dentist, but he was seemingly unphased by the experience. "So how many teeth have you replaced over the years?" Hank asked casually as Connor handed Abby the tooth from his palm. "You seem pretty confident in what you're doing."

"Including Connor? Fourteen."

"Not bad."

"Yeah, it's a lot better than trying to pop joints back into place. There's little to no resistance when it comes to teeth."

"Is he going to have a slur or anything after this is done?"

"Nope. He won't require anesthesia or Novocaine, either. So, you don't have to worry about babysitting a doped up deviant this evening."

Connor nodded slowly as he prepared to enter stasis mode whenever Abby gave him the word. "I'm ready."

"Good. I just need to rinse off your tooth and your mouth to keep things sterile, then we can begin."

Turning to face Hank beside him Connor gave him an awkward apology. "I'm sorry if this endeavor makes you late for your date tonight."

Hank wasn't surprised that Connor apologized, even tough it was totally unnecessary. "I highly doubt this will take four hours, kid. It's fine."

Abby's ears perked up at the statement as she rinsed off the tooth in sterile saline solution in a metal basin. "Date?"

"...Yeah." Hank admitted as he blushed a little. "Never too old to date, right?"

"Never." Abby agreed as she finished taking care of the tooth then turned her attention back to Connor. "After I rinse out your mouth spit into the basin."

Once more Connor nodded and patiently waited for Abby to administer the saline into his mouth for a few seconds before he spit out the mixture of blood and saline into the basin as requested.

"So, Connor," Abby picked up his tooth and a strange metal tool that wasn't too dissimilar to massive hole punch in her other hand. "do you have a date?"

"I don't know how to date." Connor confessed as a pale blue blush fell over his face then quickly faded. "I've never even considered it despite finding a particular deviant to be... attractive."

"It's easy. You just ask out the girl or guy; I don't judge, and you spend a few hours getting to know each other one-on-one. No distractions, no objectives, just the two of you enjoying one another's company. It's simple."

"But the only girl I've been really interested in is already married."

"Just one girl? I find that hard to believe." Abby lightly joked as she prepared the tooth to be replaced efficiently. "There has to be others out there. You're a really nice guy."

"I'd like to believe that." He thought for a moment about Kara and then to Skye. "But I doubt the other deviant I've been... drawn to, feels the same."

Hank let out an audibly annoyed sigh as he spoke up on the deviant's behalf. "You saved Jericho, helped the Revolution, returned to the precinct as a detective and as my partner, you've saved hundreds of lives, saved a puppy and just the other week you saved a baby. You're a good guy!"

"Wait..." Truly interested Abby gave Connor an intrigued look as she finished prepping the tooth. "I can get you saving a puppy, but... a baby? How'd that happen?"

Happy to tell the tale Hank quickly explained to keep Connor from trying to remain too quiet or humble about the good deed. "A newborn showed up at the house while I was out, and Connor took care of her like a real pro without any problems. We got her to the hospital and now she's in good hands."

"Aww, that's cute!" Abby commented in such a way that Connor blushed again. "Anyone would be lucky to have you."

Connor blushed a darker shade of blue as he broke eye contact with Abby.

"All right, we're just teasing. We're sorry!" Abby apologized sincerely as she could see she went a little too far. "Okay, go into stasis mode and I'll replace your tooth." She instructed calmly as she backed off with the joking and stopped picking on him. "Twenty minutes."

As his blush faded Connor leaned back against the table and closed his eyes. The yellow tinted L.E.D. flickered a few times before cycling back to blue and pulsed slowly as his processor engaged stasis mode allowing him to remain perfectly still and quiet during the procedure. Looking like he had fallen unconscious rather than asleep, Connor was numb and oblivious to the world around him.

"Shit." Hank still couldn't get over how easily android's fell asleep. "Wish I could do that."

After twenty minutes passed Connor's eyes fluttered open slowly as his system came back online easily after enduring the dental procedure. There was no pain, no red warnings regarding damage to his tooth flashing over his eyes and impairment to his speech or forensic analysis software. With his L.E.D. now blue in color and a small bottle of Thirium waiting for him on the nearby table, Connor was ready to be released from the facility to return to the precinct and finish off his shift with Hank as soon as possible.

Being able to recover quickly made things easier for Connor but more exhausting for Hank to deal with from time to time.

"Hey kid." Hank watched Connor awaken from his stasis mode without any difficulty. "How's your jaw?"

Connor sat up slowly and pressed his hand to the side of his jaw but didn't flinch in pain as he expected. "Fine. No pain whatsoever."

"That's good."

Looking about Connor realized Abby was nowhere to be seen. "Abby?"

"Taking care of another patient." Offering Connor his hand Hank helped the deviant off the table. "Come on, we have a few hours left to go and then we can clock-out."

Picking up the bottle of Thirium to take with him Connor followed after Hank who was visibly eager to clock out and head home to get ready for his date. "Are you running late?"

"No, it was only twenty minutes like Abby said." The senior detective was a little confused by the question. "Why?"

"You seem like you're in a hurry."

"Sorry, I'm just looking forward to spending my time with Rose tonight instead of a stack of paperwork. I can assure you that spending the night with a lovely woman is far better than work."

"I see..."

"Hey, don't think that means I don't enjoy hanging out with you and Sumo after work." The good-humored senior detective joked as he and Connor returned to the car outside in the parking lot. "It's just been a long time since I found a woman I can really connect with. I didn't think I ever would after Barbara... Well, you know."

"Do you think I can do the same?" Connor's question was as sincere as it was unexpected. "I mean, do you think I can find someone to connect with in the same way you've connected with Rose?"

"Well," Hank pulled open his car door and gave the deviant a reassuring glance. "Markus and North found each other, Kara and Luther found each other, and now Rose and I found each other, so I really believe there's no reason you can't find someone, too."

The reply was genuine and it made Connor feel more confident. "Thanks, I appreciate that."

"Yeah, sure. Let's get back to the precinct. Filling out paperwork on a damn pick-pocket is going to be a waste of time and energy, but the city demands it..."

-next chapter-