Don't Get Attached

Chapter Five

"Hey Connor, can I ask you a question?" Hank didn't look over at the android as he continued steering the car back towards his home.

"Of course, Lieutenant." Connor replied. It was unlike the hardened detective to speak when they weren't talking about a case. Usually they rode together in the car in silence or discussed clues and deviants.

"Where do you go every night?" Hank wanted to know. "Ya know I go home, [Y/N] cooks me dinner, we hang out and watch TV before bed. But you, you disappear until the next day."

"I take an android permitting bus back to the Cyberlife center, where I catalog and compile the evidence from our cases. If I have time, I will also file a report with my superiors." Connor explained.

"Oh." Again Hank gave no physical reaction, he just continued looking forward.

"You seem displeased by my answer." The android observed.

"No no, it's not that." Hank shook his head. "I mean I don't know what I expected your answer to be, but that sounds...I don't know, lonely."

"I am an android Lieutenant." Connor reminded him. "I am not supposed to feel lonely."

"Yeah? Well you're not suppose to put anything else above your mission, right?" Hank pulled his car into the drive way. After throwing the gear into park he looked over at his partner. "Those girls at the Eden Club the other day? You could have shot them when they tried to get over the fence, but you didn't. You let them go. And at that crappy apartment with all the pigeons? You could have caught that guy too, but instead you chose to save me."

"If you are not satisfied with my performance Lieutenant, I could put you in contact with my superiors." Connor said.

"What? That's not what I'm sayin'!" Hank grumbled. "I was just thinking, ya know, if you get tired of filing paperwork and stuff you could always stay here with [Y/N] and me." Connor opened his mouth to comment on the Lieutenant's suggestion when you came charging out of the house, being pulled by a very excited Sumo on a leash. Connor found himself smiling at how joyful you looked despite being tugged at by the giant Saint Bernard. He took in the state of your casual attire and noticed it was the first time he'd ever seen you with your hair up in a messy ponytail and your oversized sweatpants. You seemed surprised to see your father and his partner sitting in the driveway in your father's car.

"Hey you two!" You waved at them as they both exited the vehicle. "I was just about to take Sumo for a walk. Want to join me?"

"Nah, I gotta shower." Your father waved off your offer. "But Connor, why don't you go? You like dogs right?"

"I do like dogs." Connor confirmed. "Are you sure it would be alright for me to join you on your walk with Sumo?"

"Yeah, of course!" You smiled back at him. "Here, you can even hold the leash." You held out the braided rope to the android. Connor accepted with a polite nod. "It's been awhile since we last talked hasn't it?" You said walking side-by-side with him.

"Yes, it has." Connor agreed. "How are your students? Are they progressing well?"

"Yeah." You nodded enthusiastically. "Almost all of them know how to read an analog clock now. Though it seems kind of silly teaching them things like how to use an old fashioned clock or how to write in cursive when technology has advanced so far now. For example one of my kids, a little boy named Kevin, pointed out to me that he doesn't need to know what time it is, he can just ask his android who's always around. I can't argue with him, it's a fair point. Technology, especially the Cyberlife Androids, are such a large part of our lives now. It's so different from when my dad was a kid, computers were barely around in the 1980s. I bet it won't be long now before people are proposing human-android weddings!"

"Is that something you would be against?" Connor questioned curiously.

"Well, I don't know." You shrugged. "I suppose it depends on what you and Dad discover in your investigation, doesn't it?"

"How so?" Connor asked.

"Well, if you find that android really are nothing more than machines and the deviants are just rare outliers with defective programing, then of course marrying an android would be absurd, right? I wouldn't marry my cellphone." You explained. "but, if there's even a slight chance that androids could be a new form on intelligent life? If they are capable of developing beyond their programing to achieve genuine emotions? Well then, who would I be to stand in the way of progress?"

"I understand your internal confliction." Connor told you. "I suppose the answer lies in what causes an android to turn deviant." You stopped walking suddenly, taking Connor by surprise. "What's wrong [Y/N]? Have I said something to offend you?"

"What? No. I just felt a raindrop." You said, pointing up at the sky. "We should start heading home. You don't know what it's like trying to dry off a 200 pound dog without smelling like wet dog in the end."

"My receptors do not indicate any precipitation in the area." Connor replied. "But perhaps you are right. It may be better to return to Hank's house before we are caught in the..." Before Connor could say the word "rain" the sky opened up and rain began to pour down.

"Oh shit! C'mon." You grabbed Connor's wrist and tried to pull him along.

"[Y/N] wait. Please hold Sumo's leash." Connor passed the leash back to you. He shrugged off his coat and held it out to you. "This will keep you warm until we get you home."

"Connor, I'm not going to take your jacket. You need it!"

"I am a machine, [Y/N]." He disagreed. "I do not get cold, but you are human. Please wear my jacket, it is waterproof. Hank would be angry with me if I bring you home soaking wet."

"Are all androids this worried about what their human friends think of them?" You wanted to know as you traded Connor's jacket for Sumo's leash. You were surprised how warm a jacket built for a plastic bot with no sense of cold actually was. When you zipped up the coat you watched the raindrops roll right off the exterior.

"Only the ones who have humans worth worrying about." Connor said before letting Sumo drag him away. Again a Software Instability Warning flashed across Connor's heads op display. They were happening more frequently now. They seemed to increase the more he spent time with you or Hank. He decided it would be best not to ask Amanda about them anymore.